Female Journalist Nada Sabouri Is Sentenced To 3.5 Years in Prison in Iran
New Age Islam News Bureau
10
September 2020
• Canadian Judge Apologizes to Muslim Woman for Hijab Ruling
•
Voices from The Arab Press: Give Kuwaiti Women the Rights They Deserve
•
UN: Houthi Rebels in Yemen Recruited Teenage Girls
•
Prominent Women Attacked As Afghanistan Eyes Peace
•
Saudi Rights Body Empowers Women, Youth Through Partnerships, Workshops
•
Two Kurdish Women Start Hunger Strikes in Women’s Ward of Evin Prison of Iran
•
How Beijing Targets Uyghur Women
•
Tabuk Emir Congratulates Al-Khamis, First Woman Head of Regional Council
Compiled
by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/female-journalist-nada-sabouri-sentenced/d/122829
--------
Female Journalist Nada Sabouri Is Sentenced To 3.5 Years in Prison in Iran
4
September
Female
Journalist Nada Sabouri
-----
Tehran
Province’s Revision Court upheld the sentence of 3 years and 6 months of
imprisonment for a female journalist on the charge of “assembly and collusion.”
Female journalist Nada Sabouri has been serving her sentence since August 7,
2020 in the women’s ward of Evin Prison.
In
April 2014, female journalist Nada Sabouri accompanied the families of
political prisoners in their protest gatherings outside the mullahs’
parliament, the Prosecutor’s Office and the office of the mullahs’ president.
The gatherings were in protest to the brutal beating of political prisoners in
Ward 350 of Evin Prison. Ms. Sabouri and six others were arrested during these
protests.
On
April 14, 2014, the special guards of Evin Prison raided Ward 350 and viciously
brutalized the political prisoners detained there. A number of political
prisoners were wounded and subsequently taken to solitary confinement. One of
these political prisoners, Gholamreza Khosravi, was subsequently executed.
On
August 31, 2020, intelligence agents in Tehran apprehended civil activist
Shakila Monfared as she was leaving home. They took her to an undisclosed
location and by the time this report is being prepared, there is no information
available on her conditions and whereabouts.
In
another development, the 2nd Branch of the Public and Revolutionary
Prosecutor’s Office of Sanandaj extended the detention of Faranak Jamshidi for
another month, presumably for continued investigations by the Department of
Intelligence. Ms. Jamshidi is held in the detention center of the Department of
Intelligence of Sanandaj during the day. She spends the nights in the
Correctional Center of Sanandaj, the capital of Iranian Kurdistan.
Faranak
Jamshidi is a civil and environmental activist. She was arrested and detained
on the charge of “propaganda against the state” and “acting against national
security.”
https://women.ncr-iran.org/2020/09/04/female-journalist-nada-sabouri-is-sentenced-to-3-5-years-in-prison/
--------
Canadian
Judge Apologizes to Muslim Woman for Hijab Ruling
September
9, 2020
Muslim woman whose hijab was compared to wearing
a hat and sunglasses in court, finally received an apology Tuesday from a
Quebec judge
----
A
Muslim woman whose hijab was compared to wearing a hat and sunglasses in court,
finally received an apology Tuesday from a Quebec judge.
But
the apology was five years in the making after Judge Eliana Marengo refused in
2015 to hear the case of Rania El-Alloul, who was seeking to have her impounded
car returned, unless she removed her hijab.
The
apology was ordered by the Quebec Council of the Magistrature, the body
responsible for disciplining judges. The judge admitted she was wrong to ask
El-Alloul to remove her hijab and comparing it to other items.
“My
reference to hats and sunglasses was simply meant to exemplify how the rules of
decorum are generally applied in the courtroom and was most certainly not meant
to disrespect either you or your beliefs,” the judge said in a statement read
at a hearing. And she admitted she was wrong not to hear the case.
Dozens
of complaints were filed after Marengo refused to hear the case unless
El-Alloul removed her hijab. The case was suspended and El-Alloul eventually
had her vehicle returned.
While
the judge apologized and admitted she was wrong, Marengo challenged the
Magistrature’s authority to act on the complaints.
She
tried to appeal to the Quebec Supreme Court, but it refused in 2018 to hear the
case and that led to the apology in exchange for no further disciplinary action
against Marengo.
“I
accept her apology,” El-Alloul said in response the apology. “This is what my
faith teaches me.”
https://www.globalvillagespace.com/canadian-judge-apologizes-to-muslim-woman-for-hijab-ruling/
--------
Voices
from The Arab Press: Give Kuwaiti Women the Rights They Deserve
SEPTEMBER
10, 2020
Two
weeks ago I posted a tweet that quickly went viral. In it, I demanded that
Kuwaiti women be allowed to choose their own life partner while preserving the
right, currently granted only to men, to reside in Kuwait.
Truth
be told, I didn’t expect the tweet to become so prolific. This made me happy
but also sad. Happy, because it received the attention it deserved. Sad,
because I realized just how many women in Kuwait suffer from social or
political norms that negatively affect them and their family. It is a shocking
paradox that nearly 20,000 Kuwaiti women who are married to non-Kuwaiti men
cannot get their children to be recognized by the state as legitimate
residents.
All
of this happens while three million expatriates from around the world enjoy
residency even though they have no real connection to the country. Driven by
curiosity, I looked into the number of countries that grant women the right to
naturalize their children even if married to a non-citizen. I found that the
number of these countries is large and growing, even within our region: It is
true for Bahrain, the Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Iraq, Egypt, Algeria,
Tunisia, Yemen, Mauritania, Iran and many Western countries far away from us.
Kuwait
remains alone. Kuwaiti women are not even asking for citizenship for their
children – just residency. But their pleas fall on deaf ears. The National
Assembly and its members are spending their time taking care of their own
electoral interests. Therefore, my advice to Kuwaiti women is to join forces
and form an electoral bloc; only then will your voices be heard and will
political representatives care about your struggles. My dear Kuwaiti sisters,
let us speak in the language that politicians understand. Let us express our
power now, with parliamentary elections around the corner.
Our
demand for equality is our basic right, protected by the Kuwaiti constitution.
As women, we have to organize and advocate for our rights. Only then will we
achieve change.
–
Modhi Abdul Aziz Al-Hamoud
The
coronavirus pandemic has made the world feel large again. The ban on international
travel has separated countries and split continents, leaving people confined to
their own home nation.
Thankfully,
one of the big blessings of this situation has been technology, which enables
employees to work from home, students to take classes virtually, and families
to stay in touch through video calls. However, it is clear to all of us that
these remote, virtual solutions are merely temporary. This is because human
relations cannot, over time, exist at a distance. This is also true of
“distance travel,” a phenomenon I recently stumbled across. Some tourism
marketing companies have begun offering virtual reality packages that seemingly
transport users from one country to another in an effort to mimic the
experience of international travel.
Even
if the technology were ripe and the experience entirely authentic, such
services would still be problematic. In travel, people look for a change of
place, a change of pace and a change of mindset. People want to hail a cab and
talk to the local driver. They want to walk down the narrow streets of old
quarters. They want to hear the local language. They want to taste local foods
and explore local cultures. They even like the breakfast buffet served at their
hotel. These and more cannot be achieved from afar.
The
truth is that we can all put travel aside until the time and circumstances
allow us to fly again. Indeed, far more important things have been disrupted in
light of COVID-19. If nothing else, this is a unique opportunity for all of us:
a chance to explore the tourist attractions in our very own countries and
hometowns. There’s plenty of rich history and culture in our own environment
yet we often rush to get on a plane and explore faraway places elsewhere in the
world. The coronavirus pandemic is forcing us to rediscover the beauty in our
own backyards.
–
Youssef Al-Qablan
NO
CELEBRATION WITHOUT HOPE FOR A BETTER FUTURE
Al-Mada,
Iraq, September 2
Fifty-five
years ago, the Republic of Singapore declared its independence. It turned from
a land of mosquito-infested bogs into a land of innovation, boasting one of the
most important and influential economies in the world. What’s even more
impressive than this tremendous achievement is the fact that every year, on the
occasion of Singapore’s Independence Day, the country’s prime minister delivers
a speech in which he promises the public to accelerate the growth rate of the
economy even more in the year to come.
One
can’t help but think about the stark contrast between Singapore and Iraq. We in
Iraq gained independence 33 years before Singapore and yet we’re far from an
industrialized country. We are plagued by corruption and the creeping menace of
bureaucracy. We turned down offers of foreign investment for the fear of
“jeopardizing” our values. Unlike Singapore, our country is plagued by armed
militias, separatist movements and foreign mercenaries. We can’t even afford to
distribute face masks to the public without taking donations from Turkey and
the United Nations.
More
than half a century ago, the late Lee Kuan Yew, the first prime minister of
Singapore, stood in parliament and apologetically announced that his government
could no longer afford to pay salaries to state employees. He expressed his
deep remorse but then proceeded to articulate his vision for the future,
promising to build a society that would not only be just, but also prosperous.
Although Lee passed away five years ago, recent figures published by the
Economist show that Singapore ranks first in Asia, and fifth in the world, in
citizen prosperity. Lee’s vision was fulfilled.
Here
in Iraq, we continue to hope for visionaries of his kind. And in the meantime,
we can’t really celebrate our National Day. To do so, you must be free from
poverty and fear. There is no real national celebration without a belief in a
better future for one’s country.
https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/voices-from-the-arab-press-give-kuwaiti-women-the-rights-they-deserve-641750
--------
UN:
Houthi rebels in Yemen recruited teenage girls
10
Sep 2020
UN-backed
investigators have found evidence that rebels in Yemen recruited nearly three
dozen teenage girls - some said to be survivors of sexual violence - as spies,
medics, guards and members of an all-female force.
The
findings came in the third and latest report on Wednesday by the "group of
eminent experts" commissioned by the Human Rights Council to investigate
alleged rights violations by all sides in the war since September 2014. The
devastating conflict in the Arab world's poorest country has spawned what the
United Nations calls the world's greatest humanitarian crisis.
"The
parties to the conflict continue to show no regard for international law or the
lives, dignity, and rights of the people of Yemen, while third states have
helped perpetuate the conflict by continuing to supply the parties with
weapons," said the report.
The
United Kingdom, Canada, France, Iran, and the United States continued their
support to the warring sides, the UN panel said.
"This
year we added Canada because there has been an uptick in arms sales by Canada
in 2019," said panel member Ardi Imseis, adding Spain, Poland, and Italy
had also sold arms.
"We
therefore reiterate our call for states to stop transferring arms to the parties
to the conflict."
Female
force
The
report, based on more than 400 accounts and focusing mainly on a period from
July 2019 to June this year, highlighted how a generation of Yemen's children
have been "immeasurably damaged through child recruitment, abuse, and
deprivation of their most basic human rights, including education".
Overall,
the group documented 259 cases of children who had been recruited and used in
hostilities by several sides.
It
said the Iran-aligned Houthi rebels recruited boys as young as seven years old
from schools, poor urban areas, and detention centres through monetary
incentives, abduction, recruitment by peers and indoctrination.
"The
group also received credible reports regarding Houthi recruitment of 34 girls
[ages 13-17] between June 2015 and June 2020 for use as spies, recruiters of
other children, guards, medics, and members of the Zainabiyat," the report
said, referring to the female force created by the rebels - an unusual
phenomenon in a conservative society such as Yemen.
"Twelve
of these girls allegedly survived sexual violence and/or a forced and early
marriage directly linked to their recruitment," it said.
'No
clean hands'
The
group underlined the governments of Yemen, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab
Emirates, and the separatist Southern Transitional Council were also
responsible for human rights violations.
The
warring factions - in particular Saudi Arabia and the UAE - have committed
"acts that may amount to war crimes", it said
For
the second year in a row, the three UN-backed experts were denied access to
Yemen by the Saudi-led coalition, which is allied with the internationally
recognised Yemeni government. The rejection came despite repeated requests,
said the report, which is to be considered by the 47-member-state rights
council, which starts its autumn session next Monday.
Overall,
the experts insisted there are "no clean hands" in the conflict,
which has involved rights abuses and violations, including arbitrary killings
and detention, rape and sexual violence, torture and other "cruel, inhuman
or degrading treatment" - all possibly involving war crimes.
The
experts also faulted the Saudi-led coalition air raids, saying it has failed to
do enough to avoid civilian casualties at times.
"Individuals
in the coalition, in particular Saudi Arabia, may have conducted air strikes in
violation of the principles of distinction, proportionality, and
precaution," said the group.
Kamel
Jendoubi, who chairs the expert panel, said: "Yemen remains a tortured
land with its people ravaged in ways that should shock the conscience of
humanity.
"The
international community has a responsibility to put an end to this pandemic of
impunity, and should not turn a blind eye to the gross violations that have
been committed in Yemen."
The
Houthis took over the capital Sanaa and most cities in 2014 after deposing the
Saudi-backed government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.
The
Western-backed coalition intervened in Yemen in 2015 to try to restore Hadi's
government to power but the war, which has killed an estimated 100,000 people,
has been deadlocked for years.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/09/houthi-rebels-yemen-recruited-teenage-girls-200909141254180.html
--------
Prominent
Women Attacked As Afghanistan Eyes Peace
10
September 2020
Just
minutes after Saba Sahar had left her home in Kabul, her husband heard gunshots
ring out. The actress, film director and senior police official had received
warnings of threats to her life in the past, so Emal Zaki frantically called
his wife.
"She
answered the phone and told me to come as soon as possible. She said she had
been shot," Mr Zaki told the BBC.
He
was the first person on the scene and found his wife crouched down by a wall
where she and her bodyguards had been trying to fend off the attackers. She had
been shot multiple times but was still alive. He bundled her into a car and
rushed to hospital.
Ms
Sahar is one of Afghanistan's first female film directors. Fiction and real
life have interwoven for her at times, as she has starred in and helped produce
a TV series about the Afghan police, and also holds a high-level role with the
police force and Ministry of Interior.
She
is now recovering in hospital, and is gradually starting to walk again. Her
husband believes she was targeted for her work promoting women's rights.
"Those
who raise women's voices are always at risk of being targeted," Mr Zaki
told the BBC, before adding defiantly, "but I think these attacks will
never succeed in silencing the voices of the women of Afghanistan."
Under
Taliban rule in the 1990s women were not allowed to attend school or work.
Since the hard-line group were overthrown in 2001, fragile progress has been
made in bringing more Afghan women back into public life, though challenges
remain.
The
Taliban now say they don't oppose women's education, or them working. But some
remain sceptical.
The
attack on Saba Sahar is one of a number of assassination attempts that have
taken place in Kabul in recent months, often targeting prominent figures.
In
many instances, including the shooting of Ms Sahar, the Taliban has denied
being responsible, but no other militant group has admitted involvement either.
The
spate of attacks - targeted shootings or blasts caused by small magnetic bombs
attached to moving cars - come as other forms of militant violence in the
Afghan capital have decreased. Since the Taliban signed an agreement with the
United States in February, there have been far fewer large-scale suicide
bombings, though violence in more rural areas has continued.
With
talks between the Taliban and Afghan officials due to begin in the coming days
in Doha, there are fears the attacks are attempts to marginalise vocal figures
and intimidate civil society.
Victims
include a senior Ministry of Education official who had participated in
informal discussions with the Taliban in the past, while on Wednesday, First
Vice-President Amrullah Saleh, who has been a staunch opponent of the
militants, survived a roadside bomb blast that targeted his convoy.
Women
have also been repeatedly targeted. The killing of Fatima Khalil, a bright
young employee of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, in June
caused particular outrage and despair.
Last
month, politician Fawzia Koofi, who is part of the negotiating team due to meet
with the Taliban, was shot whilst returning to Kabul from a neighbouring
province. She survived, with injuries to her arm.
She
told the BBC the shooting would not deter her from her work or from attending
the talks when they begin.
"In
fact, it has given me more strength," she said. "I could see that the
whole public stood by me. Even those who have views that are different from my
views condemned this attack."
Ms
Koofi, who has been a vocal proponent of women's rights, believes she may have
been targeted both because of her political stance, and in an effort "to
spoil the peace talks".
So
far, no-one seems clear exactly who is behind the attacks. Could the Taliban be
responsible, and deliberately not claiming them publicly? Or could other
militants such the Islamic State group, or even regional intelligence agencies
be trying to play a disruptive role?
The
targeting of prominent female figures is also, however, feeding into wider
concerns about what the outcome of the peace process will mean for Afghan women,
and whether there could be a rolling back of the progress made in the last two
decades.
Ms
Koofi says she worries in the coming weeks and months that more women will be
targeted.
"We
will, unfortunately, have to pay a bigger price before peace."
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-54084848
--------
Saudi
rights body empowers women, youth through partnerships, workshops
September
09, 2020
JEDDAH:
The Saudi Human Rights Commission (HRC) and the charitable group Alwaleed
Philanthropies will work to promote human rights through the empowerment of
women and youth following a partnership agreement between the two
organizations.
Under
the memorandum of cooperation (MoC) signed by Awwad bin Saleh Al-Awwad, head of
the HRC, and Princess Lamia bint Majid, secretary-general of Alwaleed
Philanthropies, people with special needs, along with women and children, will
be supported in accordance with international agreements and standards.
Support
will also be directed at women who have suffered psychologically, socially or
economically in the Kingdom as part of the foundations’ initiative, which also
includes training lawyers of the Waeya program in partnership with the UN.
Al-Awwad
said that the commission hopes to have partnerships with all agencies involved
in protecting human rights, and praised the Alwaleed Philanthropies’ efforts in
humanitarian services.
“This
MoC is one of the bases of the foundation regarding the empowerment of women
and youth and the development of societies. We need to work together to support
the empowerment of women in the Kingdom, and to address all the challenges they
face in economic and social development, as well as reduce violence and the
oppression of young and special-need people’s rights,” said Princess Lamia.
Meanwhile,
the HRC has highlighted the important role that civil society institutions have
in protecting human rights by expanding their capacity to deal with
international UN human rights’ mechanisms in line with the sustainable
development goals, the Saudi Vision 2030 and their role during the Kingdom’s
presidency of the G20.
This
came during Al-Awwad’s inauguration of a training workshop, titled “Promoting
the capacities of the civil society institutions in dealing with UN
international human rights mechanisms,” held by HRC as part of a technical
cooperation program with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human
Rights (OHCHR).
The
workshop’s first day of sessions will focus on the international human rights
system and the role of civil society institutions in protecting and promoting
human rights. An overview of the recommendations and remarks elaborated by UN
mechanisms to the Kingdom will also be offered.
On
the second day, sessions will discuss the role of civil society during the
Kingdom’s G20 presidency and the activation of its role in the human rights
work in line with the sustainable development goals and the Saudi Vision 2030.
Al-Awwad
said that protecting human rights is a religious and national duty, and efforts
should be combined in order to develop and encourage those rights and respect
fundamental freedoms.
Cooperating
with the relevant authorities is a central pillar for work in the area of human
rights, he added.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/1732131/saudi-arabia
--------
Two
Kurdish Women Start Hunger Strikes in Women’s Ward of Evin Prison of Iran
3
September - Two Kurdish women, political prisoners detained in the women’s ward
of Evin Prison, went on hunger strike on September 1, 2020.
Mojgan
Kavousi and Sakineh Parvaneh deprived themselves of food to protest the
authorities’ refusal to grant leave to political prisoners during the
coronavirus pandemic.
One
of the other demands of the two Kurdish women is to stop gender discrimination
with regards to prisoners’ right to use the telephone. All male detainees in
Evin Prison have unlimited time in using the telephone, but the women detainees
can use the telephone for only half an hour a week.
Kurdish
writer and researcher Mojgan Kavousi was arrested in November 2019 in the city
of Nowshahr, in northern Iran. She was transferred to the detention center of
the IRGC Intelligence organization in Sari, capital of Mazandaran Province, northern
Iran.
In
December 2019, she was returned to the Prison of Nowshahr. The Revolutionary
Court of Nowshahr subsequently sentenced her to 5 years and 7 months in prison,
and set her free temporarily on a 100,000-toman bail. Her sentence was later
increased to 6 years and 3 months by the Revision Court of Mazandaran Province.
On May 19, 2020, she was arrested and taken to the Prison of Nowshahr to start
serving her sentence. She was later transferred to Tehran and to Evin Prison on
June 22.
Sakineh
Parvaneh was born in 1988 in Kermanj in Razavi Khorasan Province. She arrested
on February 7, 2020, and taken to the Intelligence Ministry Ward 209 of Evin
Prison. She was detained for 10 days in solitary confinement and then
transferred to the women’s ward of Evin. In March 2020, she was sent to Qarchak
Prison as a punishment for writing graffiti on the walls of Evin.
She
was brutalized in the course of this transfer and was held in solitary
confinement while her limbs were in cuffs. Then to increase pressure on this
Kurdish political prisoner and break her, the authorities of Qarchak Prison
sent her to the Psychiatric Hospital of Aminabad in Tehran. After 25 days, she
was returned to the quarantine section of Qarchak Prison.
The
Revolutionary Court of Tehran has sentenced Sakineh Parvaneh to 5 years in
prison and deprived her of membership in any political group for two years. She
did not have access to any legal representation during her court proceedings.
Sakineh
Parvaneh went on hunger strike on June 18, 2020, to protest her own and her
family’s harassment, and demanded to be returned to Evin. In early July, her
demand was granted and she was sent back to Evin from Qarchak Prison
https://women.ncr-iran.org/2020/09/03/two-kurdish-women-start-hunger-strikes-in-womens-ward-of-evin-prison/
--------
How
Beijing targets Uyghur women
AYJAZ
WANI
SEP
10 2020
Uyghur
Muslims of Xinjiang and their rich cultural ethos are on the verge of excision
as Beijing has started its state-sponsored campaign against Uyghur women
through forced sterilisation, abortion and implanting contraceptive devices.
This “demographic genocide” of the most supressed ethnic minority was restarted
by Chinese Communist Party (CCP) with full vigour after Chinese President Xi
Jinping made his first visit to the restive Xinjiang region in 2014. During his
visit, Xi stressed on the integration of Uyghurs with the dominant Han culture.
Soon after his visit, Zhang Chunxian, a top official of Xinjiang Party
Committee stressed on implementation of family planning regulations according
to Article 15 of Chapter 3 of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region to stabilise
birth rates. The integration of Uyghur’s through family planning regulations
has served Beijing’s agenda to bring about demographic change, erosion of rich
cultural identity and subjugation of the ethnic minorities of the region.
Historically,
the women of Central Asia including Xinjiang were the powerful symbols of
cultural identity and considered the guardians of the same. After the communist
regime established its control over Xinjiang, China implemented its policy of
homogenisation of culture to introduce communist doctrine of “togetherness” of
all societies into a “whole unit” in the 1960s. Xinjiang, because of its unique
cultural identity and centrifugal tendencies, became the main target and their
culture, customs, ideas and habits were attacked. Mao’s wife, Jiang Qing,
considered the native Uyghurs as “foreign invaders and aliens”. Qurans were
burnt, mosques were closed, destroyed or used for pig breeding, circumcision
was banned. For example, 29,545 mosques in the whole of Xinjiang in 1949 were
reduced to just 1,400 after the Cultural Revolution.
During
the Cultural Revolution, the Uyghur women were at the forefront of resistance
against Beijing’s onslaught, upholding the native traditions and customs alive
by safeguarding culture and religion within families. They also kept these
traditions intact by production of traditional handicrafts such as doppas (a
white soft cap on with embroidered designs). Uyghur women used these doppas and
head scarves and even veils as a symbolic resistance to Chinese culture and
Sinicisation. Furthermore, the brave Uyghur women retained the stable birth
rates even during the horrific cultural onslaught on this particular minority
group by using traditional painful methods at the time of child delivery.
In
1955, Beijing created the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR), which was
granted autonomy in theory but not in practice. In 1979, the Chinese Communist
Party (CCP) made one child policy mandatory under the Article 12 of its new
Marriage Law. Xinjiang authorities issued the provincial regulations under
Article 15 of Chapter 3 of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region for family
planning in 1981 that was implemented on minorities from 1983. Under this
autonomous law, the minorities who are living in urban areas can have two
children, while those living in rural areas are entitled with having up to
three. This minority family planning policy led to riots in Xinjiang. Protests
erupted in Beijing, with Uyghur students, fearing further demographic
alteration of their land, demanding scrapping of the repressive family planning
regulation.
However,
in practice there was no autonomy even in family planning. The fate of the new
born babies in Xinjiang under this minority family planning law was decided by
the CCP officials at the county level and broken down to township, village and
group levels. Uyghur women and their families were forced to pay fines (2,000
to 6,000 yuan) and subjected to forced abortion at any stage of pregnancy even
if it was a third child under the provincial regulations. Uyghur women and
their families paid the fine and kept the increasing Han population under
check. All of this was done to change the demography of Xinjiang and assimilate
Uyghurs into the mainstream Chinese population. The Uyghurs women braved the
CCP and kept the birth of their babies outside of the quota system a secret.
This was done by not availing access to modern health services and preferring
the option of traditional midwives. Most women chose to go to their parental
homes or their relatives in other administrative divisions for their
deliveries.
The
geo-strategic importance of a restive Xinjiang increased manifold in the second
decade of the 21st century, especially after the inauguration of the much-hyped
Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in 2013. Three out of six major BRI land
corridors run through Xinjiang, where mass influx of the Hans led to further
alienation, which in turn led to the advent of militant separatism, like the
knife attacks at Kunming railway station in 2014. Soon after the attack,
President Xi in his maiden visit to region, demanded tough action against the
civic unrest and announced measures for greater integration and economic
growth. The CCP started repressive Sinicisation, hi-tech surveillance,
re-education camps and the socio-economic exploitation of the indigenous Uyghur
population with increased Han migration to alter the demography of the region.
China
abolished its one child policy in 2016 with some provinces even announcing
financial rewards to encourage people to have more children. However, to check
the Uyghur population, much more stress was given on forced sterilisation,
abortions and forced implant of intrauterine devices of Uyghur women. The CCP
has poured in hundreds of millions of dollars for this campaign. Women were
detained in re-education camps where they were forcefully fitted with IUDs and
sexually humiliated. Some were given medications that stoped menstruation
cycles, especially in southern Xinjiang. Between 2015 and 2018, in two of the
famous cities of southern Xinjiang – Khotan and Kashgar, the natural population
growth rate fell by 84 percent, from 1.6 percent to 0.26 percent. While
Xinjiang accounts for only 1.8 percent of the Chinese, but 80 percent of IUDs
in whole of China were fitted among Uyghurs women.
The
CCP’s targeted campaign in Xinjiang, which has gained momentum after the visit
by President Xi in 2014, is not only aimed to contain the population growth of
Uyghur’s, but supress the custodians of Uyghur culture. The way the CCP has
gone about implementing its programme since last four years shows that Beijing
will never be the rules-based benevolent hegemon globally neither for its neighbours
nor for the Muslim countries who, under the politico-economic influence of
China, have endorsed it policies in Xinjiang. Most of the major Muslim
countries have endorsed the policies of CCP against the minorities of Xinjiang
at global forums from time to time. When 22 democratic countries, including
Japan, wrote a letter to close down re-education camps, 37 Muslim countries
including Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and the
UAE defended the Chinese hegemonic policies in Xinjiang and commended China’s
efforts in “protecting human and promoting human rights through development“.
Furthermore,
after reports of forced sterilisation and abortions of Uyghurs women broke, the
USA came down heavily on the CCP. The US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo
said, “We call on the Chinese Communist Party to immediately end these horrific
practices”. However, some Muslim countries like Pakistan even after these
horrific tales of Uyghur women have
reaffirmed their firm support to China “on affairs concerning China’s
core interests and issues of major concern, such as those related to Xinjiang”
during the second round of China-Pakistan Foreign Ministers’ Strategic
Dialogue.
Till
date the increased pressure on CCP to end the cultural repression of Xinjiang
from democratic world of Europe, the US, Japan and so on has failed to achieve
results. However, after the recent increased onslaught on Uyghur women,
authoritative Muslim world should give up its economic elite interests and join
hands with western democracies to save the last guardians of the Uyghur
culture.
https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/beijings-aggression-by-design-towards-uyghur-women/
--------
Tabuk
emir congratulates Al-Khamis, first woman head of regional council
September
9, 2020
TABUK
— Prince Fahd Bin Sultan, the emir of Tabuk and chairman of the Regional
Council, chaired the opening session of the council at the emirate office here
on Wednesday.
Speaking
on the occasion, the emir congratulated Dr. Khulood Al-Khamis on assuming
charge as the secretary-general of the Tabuk regional council. She is the first
Saudi woman to hold the position of secretary-general of a regional council at
the level of the Kingdom.
Prince
Fahd stressed the role and position of Saudi women in the Kingdom’s
construction and development process. She has become a shining face of her
country where women are actively participating in all walks of life, he said
while wishing her every success.
On
behalf of the council members, the emir expressed his sincere thanks and
appreciation of the tremendous efforts being made by workers in the health
sector and all other sectors to stem the spread of coronavirus.
For
her part, Dr. Al-Khamis highlighted the Kingdom’s great success and the wise
handling of the coronavirus pandemic under the leadership of Custodian of the
Two Holy Mosques King Salman and Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman. She noted
that the measures taken by the state have contributed significantly in
mitigating the effects and consequences of the pandemic.
The
council reviewed the reports of the field committees that toured various
governorates of the region to follow up the projects implemented in various
parts of the Tabuk region. It discussed the reasons that led to stalling some
of the projects. The meeting stressed the importance of taking care of private
museums and providing assistance to their owners as part of the initiative to
preserve the region’s heritage.
https://saudigazette.com.sa/article/597745/SAUDI-ARABIA/Tabuk-emir-congratulates-Al-Khamis-first-woman-head-of-regional-council
--------
URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/female-journalist-nada-sabouri-sentenced/d/122829