Iran-Backed Houthis Torture Abducted Model Entesar Al-Hammadi in Solitary Confinement in Sanaa
New
Age Islam News Bureau
27
July 2022
• Location
of Iranian Actor Nazanin Bahrami ‘Not Known After She Is Detained’
• Female
Empowerment Biopic ‘Bergen’ Finds Success in Mideast Cinemas
• Shamima
Begum, the Daesh Bride Makes New Plea to Return To Britain
• Taliban
Crackdown on Rights Is ‘Suffocating’ Women: Rights Group
• Why
Arabic Media Coverage of Violence against Women Needs To Change
• German
Woman Jailed For Taking Son to Syria To Join Daesh
Compiled
by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/houthis-torture-model-entesar-sanaa/d/127584
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Iran-Backed
Houthis Torture Abducted Model Entesar Al-Hammadi in Solitary Confinement in
Sanaa
Abducted
Model Entesar Al-Hammadi
-----
Saeed
Al-Batati
July
27, 2022
AL-MUKALLA:
The Iran-backed Houthis brutally tortured and placed abducted model Entesar
Al-Hammadi in solitary confinement in Sanaa, government officials have warned.
The
Houthis abducted the model and actress early last year after snatching her and
a friend from a Sanaa street.
After
her abduction, the militia tortured Al-Hammadi, subjected her to a virginity
test and locked her alone in an isolated cell in the political security prison
in Sanaa. She was then sentenced to five years’ imprisonment on prostitution
and drug charges.
The
model has strongly denied the allegations and warned that she was abducted over
her refusal to work with the group.
This
week, a Houthi captor, Um Zaid, brutally attacked Al-Hammadi with electric
wires, causing bruising on her face and body. It came after the model was found
chewing khat, a natural stimulant widely consumed in Yemen.
Al-Hammadi
was found outside her cell, a Sanaa source told Arab News by telephone.
The
treatment of Al-Hammadi has sparked condemnation by Yemeni activists,
journalists, government officials and lawyers who jointly called on the Houthis
to immediately release the model.
Yemen
Information Minister Muammar Al-Eryani said that Houthis subjected the model to
“enforced disappearance, psychological and physical torture,” and “illegally
sentenced her to five years in prison when she refused to work with the
militia’s prostitution networks to trap political and media figures.”
Al-Eryani
accused the Houthis of breaching religious and tribal norms that give women
immunity in such circumstances.
“The
international community, the UN and human rights organizations that fight
against violence against women are demanded to condemn the crimes committed by
the terrorist Houthi militia against Yemeni women, and to put real pressure on
its leaders to immediately and unconditionally release the artist Entesar
Al-Hammadi, and hundreds of forcibly disappeared persons,” the Yemeni minister
said on Twitter.
Similarly,
dozens of Yemeni activists, journalists, writers, judges, lawyers and academics
wrote a joint petition on social media to condemn the Houthi captors for
abusing the model, demanding her immediate release.
“She
is subjected to beatings and harsh brutal treatment in the central prison in
Sanaa because she has no support or intercessor within the Houthi authority in
Sanaa ... Al-Hammadi is a young woman in her 20s and is the only breadwinner
for her old blind Yemeni father and her elderly Ethiopian mother,” the petition
said.
Source:
Arab News
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2130206/middle-east
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Location
of Iranian Actor Nazanin Bahrami ‘Not Known After She Is Detained’
Nazanin
Bahrami’s family say that she was arrested while returning from work, and that
her whereabouts are unknown. (rferl.org)
-----
July
27, 2022
The
family of Iranian actor Nazanin Bahrami says she has been arrested by
undercover police officers in the country’s capital Tehran after she signed a
statement hitting out at sexual abuse within her industry.
Ms
Bahrami was just one of 800 women who recently signed a statement condemning
sexual harassment and violence against women in the film industry in Iran.
The
actor’s relatives say Ms Bahrami was detained after undercover police officers
approached her while she was coming home from work and they have no idea where
she is currently located,Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty reported.
Iranian
authorities have yet to publicly release a statement on Bahrami’s case.
Women’s
rights are stringently restricted in Iran and wearing a headscarf is compulsory
in public for all women, with those who do not wear a hijab, or have some of
their hair on display while wearing a hijab, facing punishments ranging from
fines to imprisonment.
Ms
Bahrami’s apparent arrest comes in the context of the Islamic Republic staging
an operation to force women to wear the hijab – labelling women, many of whom
are young, who infringe the rules as “bad-hijab”.
The
“morality police” have been arresting women in the crackdown, with reports that
some officials have demanded public transport workers, staff in government
offices, and banks not provide service to the so-called “bad-hijab” women.
Medical settings and universities in some Iranian cities have been monitored by
the “morality police” to ensure women are keeping their heads covered.
Masih
Alinejad, an Iranian-American journalist and women’s rights activist, told The
Independent: “The irony in the Islamic Republic of Iran is that although the
entire system is purportedly protective of women in the words of the officials,
many Iranian women in various industries have been facing sexual abuse by
people connected to the regime.
“These
women are often intimidated into silence. Some like Reyhaneh Jabari have even
been executed. Rayhaneh, an interior designer, had faced raped by an official
of the Islamic republic of Iran.”
“When
she resisted her rapist, she ended up being executed. In Iran, laws are geared
to punish Iranian women seeking justice against sexual assault,” she said.
Reyhaneh
Jabari, who was 26, was hanged in the Rajaie Shahr prison outside Tehran in
2014 for allegedly killing a man whom she alleged was trying to rape her.
Prominent human rights organisations, including Amnesty International, called
for Jabari not to be subjected to the death penalty.
Jabbari
was arrested in 2007 for the murder of Morteza Abdolali Sarbandi, who was an
ex-intelligence ministry worker. She claimed she stabbed Sarbandi in the back
because he was attempting to rape her but insisted he was in fact killed by
another individual.
Source:
Yahoo
https://news.yahoo.com/location-iranian-actor-nazanin-bahrami-041349823.html
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Female
empowerment biopic ‘Bergen’ finds success in Mideast cinemas
July
26, 2022
DUBAI:
Musical biopic “Bergen” has hit new heights in the Middle East and is being
touted by theater chain Vox Cinemas as the most successful Turkish movie
screened in the region
The
biopic has reportedly garnered more than 371,000 admissions across eight
markets in five weeks, breaking box office records. The film has also made
history by being the first Turkish movie to be released in Saudi cinemas,
according to Vox Cinemas.
“Bergen”
tells the true-life story of the eponymous singer and her transformation from a
promising cello player to a world-famous singer in the 1980s. Known as “The
Queen of Arabesque,” she garnered a cult following and fought to continue
performing despite enduring a violent relationship with her husband, who
ultimately shot and killed her in 1989.
Directed
by Caner Alper, “Bergen” stars Farah Zeynep Abdullah in the lead role and is
currently showing across cinemas in Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar,
Lebanon and Oman.
According
to Variety, the film sparked heightened awareness of the government’s treatment
of perpetrators of femicide after the country left the Istanbul Convention, a
Council of Europe treaty that requires signatories to counter violence against
women, in 2021.
Source:
Arab News
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2129926/lifestyle
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Shamima
Begum, the Daesh Bride Makes New Plea to Return To Britain
July
26, 2022
LONDON:
A Daesh bride who left her home in London aged 15 to join the terror
organization has made a new appeal to return to the UK, the i newspaper
reported.
Shamima
Begum, 22, was stripped of her British citizenship in 2019 after she travelled
to Syria. She now wants to be “used as an example” to warn other Britons
against the dangers of turning to extremism.
She
said: “I could be used as an example, like you don’t want to end up like her.
If it stops children making the same mistake that I made of course use me as an
example. Tell the kids, ‘don’t be like her, don’t become like her.’”
Begum
also claimed she could act as a “voice against radicalization.”
She
left the UK in 2015 with her school friends Amira Abase and Kadiza Sultana and
is now living at Al-Roj prison camp in Syria where she was captured. The camp
is run by the Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces, and she is now awaiting trial
by the group.
While
claiming she wanted to be “as British as possible,” Begum admitted that she
expected to spend the rest of her life in war-torn Syria. “That’s how I feel
and that’s what it looks like,” she added.
Her
parents were born in Bangladesh, and she left her school in east London to
travel to Syria to join Daesh. There, she married a Daesh fighter and gave
birth to three children, all of whom died in infancy.
She
has previously made attempts to restore her British citizenship but failed in
her Supreme Court bid to return to the UK and fight her case in person.
Source:
Arab News
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2130146/world
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Taliban
crackdown on rights is ‘suffocating’ women: Rights group
27
July ,2022
The
lives of Afghan women and girls are being destroyed by a “suffocating”
crackdown by the Taliban since they took power nearly a year ago, Amnesty
International said in a report released Wednesday.
After
they captured the capital, Kabul, in August 2021 and ousted the internationally
backed government, the Taliban presented themselves as having moderated since
their first time in power, in the 1990s. Initially, Taliban officials spoke of
allowing women to continue to work and girls to continue their education.
Instead,
they have banned girls from attending school from seventh grade, imposed
all-covering dress that leaves only the eyes visible and restricted women's
access to work.
Amnesty
said the Taliban have also decimated protections for those suffering domestic
violence, detained women and girls for minor violations and contributed to a
surge in child marriages. The report also documented torture and abuse of women
arrested by the Taliban for protesting against restrictions.
“Taken
together, these policies form a system of repression that discriminates against
women and girls in almost every aspect of their lives,” the report said. “This
suffocating crackdown against Afghanistan’s female population is increasing day
by day.”
The
group's researchers visited Afghanistan in March as part of a nine-month-long
investigation conducted from September 2021 to June 2022. They interviewed 90
women and 11 girls, between 14 and 74 years-old, across Afghanistan.
Among
them were women who were detained for protests and described torture at the
hands of their Taliban guards, including beatings and threats to kill them or
their families.
One
university student who was detained said she was electrically shocked on her
shoulder, face, neck and elsewhere, while the Taliban shouted insults at her.
One held a gun at her and told her, “I will kill you, and no one will be able
to find your body.”
Another
woman told Amnesty that the guards beat her and other women on the breasts and
between the legs, “so that we couldn’t show the world.” She said one told her,
“I can kill you right now, and no one would say anything.”
The
report said rates of child, early and forced marriage in Afghanistan are
surging under Taliban rule.
The
increase is fueled by Afghanistan’s economic and humanitarian crisis and the
lack of educational and job prospects for women and girls, it said. The report
said it also documented cases of forced marriages of women and girls to Taliban
members — under pressure by the Taliban member or by the women’s families.
One
woman from a central province of Afghanistan told Amnesty that the economic
collapse compelled her to marry off her 13-year-old daughter to a 30-year-old
neighbor in exchange for 60,000 Afghanis (around US$670). She said she felt
relieved because her daughter “won’t be hungry anymore.”
She
said she was also considering the same for her 10-year-old daughter but was
holding off in hopes the girl could get an education and eventually secure a
job to support the family. “Of course, if they don’t open the school, I will
have to marry her off,” she added.
“You
have a patriarchal government, war, poverty, drought, girls out of school. With
all of these factors combined … we knew child marriage was going to go through
the roof,” said Stephanie Sinclair, director of Too Young to Wed, who was
quoted in the report.
The
Taliban seized Kabul as US and NATO forces were withdrawing from Afghanistan,
ending a nearly 20-year war against the Taliban’s insurgency. The world has
refused to recognize the Taliban’s rule, demanding it respect human rights and
show tolerance for other groups. The US and its allies have cut off billions in
development funds that kept the government afloat, as well as froze billions in
Afghan national assets.
This
sent the already shattered economy into freefall, increasing poverty
dramatically and creating one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
Millions, struggling to feed their families, are kept alive by a massive UN-led
relief effort.
Amnesty
called on the international community to take action to protect Afghan women
and girls.
“Less
than one year after the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan, their draconian policies
are depriving millions of women and girls of their right to lead safe, free and
fulfilling lives,” said Agnès Callamard, Amnesty secretary general.
“If
the international community fails to act, it will be abandoning women and girls
in Afghanistan, and undermining human rights everywhere,” she said.
Source:
Al Arabiya
Why
Arabic media coverage of violence against women needs to change
26
July, 2022
This
article is part of The New Arab's States of Journalism series, a sustained exploration
of freedom, repression, and accountability in MENA and global media landscapes.
Read more of the series' articles here.
Recent
gender-based violent crimes in the Middle East and North Africa region have
provoked mass fury in Arab societies and via social media.
But
the brutal murders last month of Naira Ashraf, from Egypt, and Iman Rasheed
from Jordan have also brought attention to sensationalist Arabic media coverage
of violence against women.
While
Women make up 49.7% of MENA’s 345.5 million population, they still struggle to
gain equal representation and be heard on all fronts.
From
sensationalism to victim blaming, Arab media outlets and media personalities
often opt to cover gender-based violence (GBV) in a manner that is
disrespectful to victims and their families, and one that defies global
journalistic ethical standards.
The
media often perpetuate victim blaming in various ways. This can be carried out
in subtle and indirect forms, by highlighting specific details while reporting
on GBV or focusing on the victim’s attire, for example, her head covering, or
her type of clothing.
Other
details might include references to the victim’s ‘way of life’, or ‘manners’.
When referring to Naira Ashraf, for example, one reporter is heard asking a
neighbour, “we heard she was as innocent as a little blind kitten.” The
reporter here compares the victim, a fully grown 21-year-old woman, to a
voiceless, baby animal.
Sensationalist
headlines and personal images of victims, most likely pulled from their personal
social media accounts without permission, are other infractions that some
Arabic media commit.
Insinuating
that victims were in relationships with their perpetrators or that the way they
acted or dressed is to blame for their fate is something that often also creeps
into news stories.
In
such coverage, the focus is on the victim’s appearance, looks, and manners,
which should not have anything to do with the crime that was committed and the
fate of the victim.
Another
ethical violation often committed by media outlets is the posting of brutal
video clips. In the recent murder cases of Naira Ashraf and Iman Rasheed, media
outlets posted videos of the murders as they unfolded, ignoring how this
violates journalistic ethical standards and the impact these violent clips have
on victims' families and loved ones.
Justifying
a perpetrator’s crime is another clear infringement that is often noticeable in
Arab media coverage of gender-based violence. Stories on spousal murders or
spousal abuse will often start with a headline that justifies the 'why' of the
murder or the attack.
He
killed her because he suspected she was cheating on him, or he was a jealous
husband who was afraid she was going to leave him.
Glorifying
or romanticising the murderer is also a common theme, which is especially
manifest in media reports on honour crimes.
Although
there have been efforts by MENA governments to end honour killings, which are
crimes committed against a family member who is suspected of acting in a way
that has brought shame onto the family’s honour, the practice is still fairly
common.
According
to Statista, as of 2019, 27% of Algerians, 25% of Moroccans, and 21% of
Jordanians believed the practice was acceptable. The region’s media often
confirm this view in how they cover honour killings.
Headlines
that justify the killings or explain the killer’s reasoning are extremely
common. When the term 'honour killing' is used in a headline, this confirms
that the practice is accepted.
These
examples demonstrate the bleak reality that MENA women face when dealing with
media coverage, especially on issues of GBV. What exacerbates the issue is the
lack of equal representation of female reporters in newsrooms across MENA.
In
the Gulf region, for example, even though men and women study and graduate from
the same media universities, social norms impose glass ceilings that prevent
female reporters from acquiring journalism jobs or advancing their media
careers.
These
same social norms prevent female reporters in the region from covering a variety
of media topics, compared to their male counterparts.
Yet,
with the high number of gender-based violence recorded in the region more
female reporters are sorely needed. The MENA region ranks the second highest in
the world in terms of GBV, where at least 35 percent of women and girls have
experienced violence in some form by an intimate partner.
According
to Amnesty International, “despite some limited reforms, [MENA] women continue
to face entrenched discrimination and daily violence amid the abject failure of
governments to stamp out arbitrary arrests, abductions, assassinations,
so-called ‘honour’ killings and other forms of gender-based violence”.
GBV
can take many forms, including intimate partner violence (IPV), non-partner
violence, honour killings, GBV against children, female genital mutilation,
sexual harassment and cyber GBV.
In
Egypt alone, attempted murder cases by a family member against a woman reported
during the first quarter of 2022 reached 43 cases, while GBV cases by a family
member stood at 150.
Hence,
in a region where GBV is so common, it is imperative that media outlets and
prominent media personalities exercise more sensitivity when covering such
crimes.
The
media’s role is to inform audiences and correct dominant stereotypes about GBV
while protecting victims and their families and not displaying their personal
lives in public.
Yet
often such coverage, if not sensationalist, is lacking and offers no
information, statistics or quotes from advocates or experts on GBV. In other
examples, especially if the victim leads a life that does not fit the
conservative traditions of the region, coverage often points to the victim as
the guilty party, instead of blaming the perpetrator who took her life.
These
harmful discourses are problematic for many reasons, as accurate reporting is
crucial in enabling women and girls to have any chance at receiving justice.
According
to Equality Now, stereotypical reporting by media outlets on “violence against
women has both an immediate and a cumulative effect. It says to individual
perpetrators that there is some justification for assaults on women”.
This
inaccurate coverage also impacts society, as it affects how communities
perceive certain gender-based violent crimes and whether or not they believe justice
can be attained.
In
other words, the media can either offer fair and balanced reporting that
educates the public and raises awareness of gender-based violence, or they can
continue to spread sensationalist and stereotypical coverage of women that does
more harm than good.
Current
media coverage in the Middle East seems to exacerbate the gender-based violence
and oppression that women experience daily, rather than contributing to
understanding and ending it.
Nahed
Eltantawy (she/her) is a Professor of Journalism and Associate Dean at the Nido
R. Qubein School of Communication at High Point University.
Source:
The New Arab
https://english.alaraby.co.uk/analysis/how-arab-media-misrepresents-violence-against-women
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German
woman jailed for taking son to Syria to join Daesh
July
26, 2022
BERLIN:
A German woman was convicted Tuesday of membership in the Daesh group and other
offenses for traveling to Syria to join the organization with her young son.
She was sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison.
The
Duesseldorf state court said Verena M., whose full name wasn’t released in line
with German privacy rules, was convicted of membership in a foreign terrorist
organization and abduction of a minor, among other charges.
The
court found that the defendant traveled to Syria in 2015 with her son, then
aged 5, without the knowledge of the child’s father. It found that she ran the
household and brought up her son in line with Daesh ideology while her new
husband fought for the group, and that the couple had two Kalashnikov rifles.
The
child was lucky to emerge unscathed from two bombing attacks during their time
with Daesh, judges found. The defendant surrendered to Kurdish forces in 2019.
She and her three children — two more were born in Syria — were repatriated to
Germany in October last year.
The
case is one of several in Germany involving women who traveled to Daesh-held
terroritory. Last month, a German who took her young daughter to Syria and
allegedly took advantage of an enslaved Yazidi woman was given a sentence of
three years and three months.
Source:
Arab News
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2129891/world
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URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/houthis-torture-model-entesar-sanaa/d/127584