Iran’s Next Revolution Will Be Female, Says Cannes Winner Zar Amir Ebrahimi
New
Age Islam News Bureau
27
June 2022
• Female
Political Prisoners Victims of Torture In Iran
• Ledby
Foundation Study Finds Recruiters Discriminate Against Muslim Women in Hiring
At Entry-Level Jobs
• Madrasa
Graduates in Asia Have Less Favourable Attitudes about Women: UNESCO Report
• Men
Dominate Senior Positions in First Women Bank Limited (FWBL)
• Egyptian
Scholar Says Women Should 'Wear Hijab to Live' After Student Murder
Compiled
by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/iran-revolution-female-ebrahimi-cannes/d/127335
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Iran’s
Next Revolution Will Be Female, Says Cannes Winner Zar Amir Ebrahimi
'Women
are fighting," says Zar Amir Ebrahimi JOEL SAGET AFP
----
June
27, 2022
PARIS:
Iran´s next revolution will be brought on by women taking back the freedoms
denied to them in the Islamic republic, said Zar Amir Ebrahimi, the winner of
this year´s Best Actress award at Cannes.
Amir
Ebrahimi took the prize for her role in "Holy Spider" as a journalist
in Iran who investigates a serial killer murdering prostitutes, and who has to
contend with a deeply misogynistic society placing many obstacles in her way.
But
in contrast to the movie´s hopelessly grim take on attitudes towards women in
Iran -- which became an Islamic republic after the 1979 revolution that
overthrew the Shah -- Amir Ebrahimi said she was now detecting signs that women
were finally fighting back.
"If
there ever is another revolution in Iran, it will be a revolution by
women," she said in an interview with AFP. "Women are fighting to
keep the few rights they have in this society. They are rolling up their
sleeves and they dress differently. They go out and sing, and form clandestine
dance groups. There has been so much pressure on us, we´re ready to explode.
That´s why I have hope. Change has to happen," she said.
Young
women were even daring to defy the decades-old law that makes loose clothing
and a headscarf compulsory for women in public, she said. "We never dared
take off the headscarf in the street," said the 41-year-old actress,
"but the young generation, they do."
Directed
by Danish-Iranian Ali Abbasi, "Holy Spider" is inspired by the true
story of a working-class man who killed prostitutes in the early 2000s and
became known as the "Spider Killer". Abbasi was denied permission to
film in Iran and it was ultimately shot in Jordan.
Amir
Ebrahimi said she herself has first-hand experience of unequal treatment of
women in Iran. She became a star in her early twenties for her supporting role
in one of the country´s longest-running soap operas, "Nargess", but
saw her life and career fall apart when a sex tape featuring her and her
boyfriend was leaked online in 2006.
Amir
Ebrahimi initially denied being on the tape, acknowledging only years later
that it had been really her. Her boyfriend had nothing to do with the leak, she
told AFP.
"We
were very much in love," she said, blaming instead "a mutual friend
with access to our computer" for releasing the footage. Intimate recordings
of celebrities are "big business" in Iran, she said, estimating that
the tape featuring her raked in some $3 million on the black market.
The
high-profile case was taken on personally by Tehran´s chief prosecutor, and the
leak´s author put on trial and punished. But far from getting the public
support she hoped for, Amir Ebrahimi herself was shunned by her acting
colleagues who felt she had "endangered Iranian cinema", and found
public opinion to be firmly on the side of the man who had leaked the tape.
Source:
The News Pakistan
https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/969509-iran-s-next-revolution-will-be-female-says-cannes-winner
--------
Female
Political Prisoners Victims of Torture in Iran
June
25, 2022
The
United Nations declared June 26 the International Day in Support of Victims of
Torture. This day marks the moment in 1987 when the UN Convention Against
Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment came into
effect.
In
1997, the UN General Assembly implemented the convention and declared June 26 a
day of support for torture victims. On this international day, we will examine
the situation of women political prisoners, who are among the most oppressed
victims of torture in Iran.
Under
the mullahs’ rule, these women have constantly been subjected to severe
pressure and harassment. They are victims of this dire, painful condition. The
brutal torture of imprisoned women is a major disgrace in the record of the
mullahs’ dictatorship.
More
than 45 types of torture practiced against political prisoners in Iran
The
Iranian regime uses more than 45 types of torture against political
prisoners.
Since
the 1980s, flogging, beating, suspension from the ceiling, burning, insertion
of sharp objects (including hot metal objects) into the body, nail-pulling,
rape, eye-gouging, amputation, and mock executions have been standard
practices.
Pressure
and torture on women in prisons have always been accompanied by double
brutality and severity. Examples include raping women in front of their
husbands and torturing and shooting pregnant women.
Another
tactic the regime uses against victims of torture in Iran, especially women, is
to keep their whereabouts unknown and transfer them to solitary confinement so
they can be subjected to psychological pressure.
Once
a prisoner is isolated in prison, they have no access to anyone. This isolation
creates a disturbing psychological situation for the prisoner.
Female
prisoners are routinely insulted, humiliated, and threatened with rape. All
these tactics are clear examples of torture against imprisoned women in Iran.
Denying
medical treatment and medicine, poor hygiene, and lack of ventilation
Denying
treatment and medicine and deteriorating health conditions are clear examples
of commonly used torture tactics in Iranian prisons. The mullahs’ regime uses
these tactics to put constant pressure on prisoners.
Overcrowding
of prisoners
During
the mullahs’ 43-year rule, a strategy pursued by the Prisons Organization and
the Judiciary has been the deliberate overcrowding of prisons to drive
additional physical and psychological torture and terrorize the society.
At
Qarchak Prison in Varamin, as many as sixty prisoners are held in the tiny
quarantine ward. The Iranian Resistance leaked 100 documentary photographs of
prisons in 23 provinces under the supervision of the Judiciary. The photos
offer additional proof of prisoners’ deplorable conditions.
The
horrific conditions of women victims of torture in Iran
Zeinab
Jalalian
One
of the victims of torture in Iran is Zeinab Jalalian, a Kurdish political
prisoner who has been in captivity since 2007 without a single day of parole.
Zeinab
Jalalian has been under extreme physical and mental pressure for the past 15
years. She has been subjected to flogging, and her forehead was fractured when
it was banged against a wall. She was threatened with rape and forced to make
false confessions. To add to these forms of torture, prison officials kept
Zeinab in solitary confinement for months.
Zeinab
suffers from various diseases, including asthma, pterygium, thrush, and
gastrointestinal discomfort. She also contracted the Coronavirus and was never
treated for it.
The
Ministry of Intelligence has agreed to allow Zeinab to seek medical treatment
outside prison, provided she expresses regret, cooperates with the Ministry of
Intelligence, and appears in television interviews.
The
Jalalian family is extremely concerned about Zainab’s condition. According to a
reliable source, on January 12, 2022, Zeinab Jalalian was denied the right to
contact her family despite her physical and mental condition. She has been held
incommunicado for 530 days, and no information about her well-being is available.
Maryam
Akbari Monfared
Maryam
Akbari-Monfared’s siblings forcibly disappeared and were secretly executed
extra-judicially, in 1980 and 1988. Though she is the mother of three grown
girls, Maryam has been imprisoned for 13 years without a day’s leave.
The
regime’s laws state that she will be released after serving two-thirds of her
15-year sentence. However, the Ministry of Intelligence continues to prevent
her release and impose harsher conditions on this political prisoner.
Maryam
has been in exile in Semnan prison since March 2020.
Maryam
suffers from fatty liver disease. Nonetheless, the Ministry of Intelligence has
prohibited her from seeing a doctor outside prison. Maryam, one of the victims
of torture in Iran, was prescribed special food by the prison doctor, yet she
has received nothing but neglect during the 1.5 years. Mrs. Akbari’s physical
condition has deteriorated significantly due to the lack of proper nutrition
and access to treatment.
Earlier,
when she was held in Evin Prison, Mrs. Akbari was prevented from visiting a
doctor and was denied her medication.
Leila
Chegini
Leila
Chegini, a 43-year-old political prisoner and mother of two, has been
continuously tortured and beaten at Nowshahr Prison.
Intelligence
agents arrested Leila Chegini in Karaj on March 16, 2022, and transferred her
to the Department of Intelligence of Sari, the capital of Mazandaran Province
in northern Iran.
Leila
was tortured and interrogated there for 20 days and subsequently transferred to
Nowshahr Prison, where she had been detained in limbo.
She
sustained injuries to her eye, face, and back. She did not receive any care,
and no investigation was carried out.
An
informed source reported, “Her legs are very swollen and bruised, and she can
hardly walk.” Leila has not been given any medication; instead, prison
officials are giving her dangerous, addictive drugs.
Soada
Khadirzadeh
Soada
Khadirzadeh, married and the mother of two, is another one of the victims of
torture in Iran. She was 1 month pregnant at the time of her arrest. She has
spent more than 8 months in prison, yet the reason for her arrest remains
unclear.
She
suffers from severe lumbar disc pain and heart disease. Although her health
condition is severe, authorities at the Central Prison of Urmia have denied her
request for temporary release.
Soada
Khadirzadeh went on a hunger strike on April 26, 2022, to protest the
uncertainty of her fate.
In
an audio file, Soada described her situation, stating, “During the first days
of my arrest in the intelligence detention center, I was under severe
psychological torture. I was disrespected and insulted many times. They even
assaulted me sexually.”
Shelir
Ahmadi
Naqshin
(Shelir) Ahmadi is from Ghezelghopi village in Mahabad.
On
March 16, 2022, Shelir Ahmadi was summoned by the Intelligence Office in
Naqadeh, where she was beaten in front of her husband. After her arrest, she
was severely tortured at the detention center.
In
March 2022, she was supposed to undergo chemotherapy due to her illness, but
she was denied access to any medical treatment. Her health is now seriously
endangered. She was released from the
women’s ward in the Central Prison of Urmia on June 8, 2022.
Fatemeh
Mosanna
Fatemeh
Mosanna, another one of the victims of torture in Iran, remains in critical
condition in Evin Prison despite receiving a formal report from the forensic
doctor.
The
53-year-old political prisoner suffers from an intestinal infection and cannot
tolerate the prison’s harsh conditions. In addition to ulcerative colitis, Fatemeh
Mosanna has endured poor nutritional conditions, nervous tension, and liver
problems due to her long years in prison.
Fatemeh’s
doctor had previously stated that she should not be under stress, yet she was
taken to the hospital repeatedly due to severe pain and high fever.
Nevertheless, she was returned to prison every time and did not receive
treatment.
On
April 3, 2022, Fatemeh was again returned to Evin prison without receiving her
complete treatment under the orders of Amin Vaziri, a prison official.
Zahra
Safaei, one of the victims of torture in Iran
Zahra
Safaei is suffering from heart disease and is going through difficult
conditions in Qarchak Prison.
She
is also one of the victims of torture in Iran. On August 31, 2021, Zahra had a
heart attack. Her health condition does not allow her to stay in prison. But
not only is she not being released on bail, but she is also not receiving any
treatments.
Mrs.
Safaei was banned from being sent to the hospital on April 12, 2022.
The
authorities told her that she could not go to the hospital unless her hands and
feet were cuffed, which she refused to accept. The prison authorities,
therefore, prevented her from going to the hospital.
Zahra
Safaei has done angiography and a balloon has been placed for her due to the
closure of two arteries, so preventing her treatment endangers her life.
She
has been harassed, attacked, and threatened with death several times by
dangerous criminals hired and incited by the warden of Qarchak, Soghra
Khodadadi.
Khadijeh
Mehdipour
Khadijeh
Mehdipour is a 34-year-old political prisoner from Ivangharb. IRGC intelligence
agents arrested her on October 10, 2021.
Although
she has developed coronary heart disease in prison, she has been deprived of
medical care and is suffering from symptoms such as fever, fatigue, and sore
throat.
She
has severe digestive problems and suffers from nausea when taking food or even
water.
She
has lost 8 kilograms in the last two months.
Due
to her health condition, she needs to be further examined in Tehran for her
gastrointestinal illness, but the prison’s prosecutor has opposed her transfer.
Nejat
Anvar Hamidi
Sixty-six-year-old
political prisoner, Nejat Anvar Hamidi has been sentenced to 15 years in
prison. She is on the verge of blindness in Sepidar Prison of Ahvaz.
On
the order of the Ministry of Intelligence, she is deprived of medical care and
sick leave. Mrs. Anvar Hamidi has cataracts in both eyes and needs emergency
surgery.
According
to reports received from Iran on January 15, 2022, the prison doctor told Mrs.
Hamidi, “You do not need surgery until you become blind!”
Monireh
Arabshahi
On
May 1, 2022, Monireh Arabshahi, a civil activist and the mother of political
prisoner Yasaman Aryani, was sent to Rajai Hospital in Karaj from Kachouii
Prison due to her deteriorating physical condition.
An
informed source said, “Mrs. Arabshahi must be monitored constantly by a doctor
after surgery and thyroid drainage, and her hormone levels should be checked.”
Monireh
was transferred to a civic medical center on June 14, 2022, due to a severe
drop in calcium levels and local anesthesia in her body.
According
to the doctors, after her thyroid surgery, she needs to be sent to a civic
hospital once every 10 days for tests. Nevertheless, prison officials have hindered
her dispatch to the hospital.
More
than 579,000 female prisoners constantly exposed to torture
According
to documents leaked by the National Council of Resistance of Iran, the mullahs’
regime has imprisoned more than 12 million people in the last 40 years.
Of
this number, 579,015 were women.
Of
course, these statistics and names do not include female prisoners from the
People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) in the 1980s. They were
victims of torture in Iran under the rule of religious tyranny.
Currently,
1,709 female prisoners are in a state of uncertainty and under investigation by
the police security services and the Ministry of Intelligence.
On
June 26, the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, the Women’s
Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran urges all UN member
states and all international bodies to support female political prisoners, who
are clear examples of victims of torture in Iran.
The
NCRI Women’s Committee calls for the dispatch of an international mission to
Iran to visit the regime’s prisons and speak to prisoners, especially the women
political prisoners.
Source:
NCR Iran
https://women.ncr-iran.org/2022/06/25/victims-of-torture-in-iran/
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Ledby
Foundation Study Finds Recruiters Discriminate Against Muslim Women in Hiring
At Entry-Level Jobs
BISMEE
TASKIN
26
June, 2022
New
Delhi: A study done by Ledby Foundation
has found significant discrimination against Muslim women across industries in
entry-level jobs, even when they are equally qualified for the role.
Founded
by Dr Ruha Shadab in 2019, the Ledby Foundation is a professional leadership
incubator for Muslim women which works with the aim to raise their
representation in the country’s workforce.
Released
in June, the report titled — Hiring
Bias: Employment for Muslim women at entry-level roles — was done in association with the Maulana
Azad National Urdu University’s Centre for Development of Policy & Practice
in collaboration with Centre for Development of Policy and Practice.
Dr
Ruha Shadab along with Vanshika Sharan and Deepanjali Lahiri are the authors of
the report.
“We
embarked on this study is because we heard a lot of anecdotal stories about the
challenges and discrimination that Muslims and Muslim women face in our
country, in a host of aspects of life, including employment. Employment was
particularly important to us because it is such a gigantic waste of Indian
talent to not select people based on implicit and explicit biases. We wanted to
be able to have hard facts to take to people in possession of power and show
that the anecdotal stories are statistically significant in numbers and the
need to take corrective action for this,” Dr Ruha Shada told ThePrint
For
the purpose of the study conducted over a period of 10 months, 2,000 job
applications were sent through 1,000 job postings on sites such as LinkedIn and
Naukri.com. Two equally qualified profiles — Habiba Ali and Priyanka Sharma —
were created matching the market standards for entry-level positions. The
profiles didn’t carry any photograph.
‘Bias
towards Hindu women’
The
report noted that while Habiba received only 103 positive responses, Priyanka
got 203 which is nearly double of what the Muslim woman’s profile got. The net
discrimination rate stood at 47.1 per cent, which was evident across
industries, based on the responses received.
“The
net discrimination rate for Indian Muslim women relative to Hindu women then
becomes 47.1% representing a massive discrepancy between call-backs for Muslim
and Hindu women and proving that a significant hiring bias favouring Hindu
women is present across industries,” the study observed.
Habiba
received only a rare follow up call, whereas a large proportion of Priyanka‘s
responses were call backs, according to the study.
It
also noted the recruiters were more cordial to the Hindu profile (candidate)
and that while 41.3 per cent of them connected on phone calls with Priyanka,
only 12.6 per cent opted for it with Habiba.
“This
research proves that a contributing factor to such a stark disparity in labour
market participation is discrimination within the hiring process. Equal access
to opportunities for Muslim women is vital to their social and financial equality
in society and tackling biases in the hiring process is one of the most
important mechanisms by which one can level the playing field,” the report
stated.
Additionally,
the report found that North India had a lower discrimination rate of 40 per
cent compared to West and South India where the figure stood at 59 per cent and
60 per cent, respectively.
Commenting
on the report findings, Rituparna Chakraborty, Co-Founder & Executive
Director, TeamLease told ThePrint that she was yet to experience such trend in
her career while “observing trends clinically about the private sector”.
“However,
it is possible that we were fishing in a different pond from what was sampled
to carry out this survey,” said Chakraborty, who has worked with over 3,500
companies across industries.
Source:
The Print
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Madrasa
Graduates in Asia Have Less Favourable Attitudes about Women: UNESCO Report
26
Jun 2022
In
Asia, faith-based schools may have an effect on the survival of patriarchal
attitudes and norms in society, offsetting some of the benefits of expanded
educational access for gender equality. In Asia, non-state faith-based schools
have boosted girls' access to education, but at a price, according to the
UNESCO-published worldwide education monitoring report on the topic of
"deepening the discourse on those left behind".
However,
the UNESCO report advises against exaggerating any potential adverse
consequences of faith-based schools.
It
was found that graduates of madrasas had fewer positive opinions toward women's
higher education and working mothers, believed that wives' primary role was to
raise children, believed that God determined the ideal number of children, and
expressed a desire for large families.
"Several
decades ago gender disparity in education was high in many Muslim-majority
countries in Asia. Significant progress to increase access and close gender
gaps has since been achieved, in partnership with non-state faith-based providers.
Rising enrolment of girls in madrasas helped relax social constraints on
women's mobility in conservative rural areas where madrasas have been low-cost
platforms to achieve universal education," the report stated.
"Madrasas
can also cancel out some of the positive impact on gender equality from
increased education access. First, their curricula and textbooks may not be
gender-inclusive, instead reinforcing traditional narratives on gender roles,
as studies have shown in Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan and Saudi
Arabia. Second, their teaching and learning practices such as gender
segregation and gender-specific restrictions on social interactions may leave
the impression that such gender-unequal practices are socially acceptable more
broadly," it said.
According
to the report, the teachers may lack training to address gender issues and may
act as negative models, for instance affecting students' attitudes to
fertility.
"Fourthly,
the more traditional institutions may have restricted environments with limited
exposure to progressive role models and media. Reproducing traditional gender
norms discourages participation in further education and employment. What
happens inside faith-based institutions has implications for the persistence of
patriarchal norms and attitudes in society," it said.
The
report notes that there are many different types of non-state faith-based
institutions with vastly-different educational offerings and financial backing,
and that they frequently function in a complex institutional setting throughout
Asia.
"While
madrasas generally follow a curriculum that promotes a religious way of life,
the situation is far from uniform both within and between countries. Some
countries integrate madrasas with the government curriculum while others stick
to traditional models," it said.
New
research for the report, according to UNESCO specialists, examined data
connecting faith-based schools, particularly the non-state kind, with
advancement or stagnation of gender equality in their societies.
"A
study comparing female secondary school and madrasa graduates found that the
latter held less favourable attitudes towards higher education for girls and
working mothers, considered raising children to be wives' main responsibility,
believed the optimal number of children was up to God and indicated a
preference for large families.
"Further
analysis suggested that madrasa students, especially from unrecognized
institutions, held less favourable attitudes about women and their abilities
than did their peers in secular schools. Teachers in traditional madrasas were
found to have a significantly larger families," it said.
"It
is very difficult to separate the impact of religious belief and socioeconomic
background from the impact of non-state faith-based schools on progress towards
gender equality. Madrasa enrolment has been found to be positively correlated
with degree of household religious belief and physical distance from a
non-faith-based school.
"Their
unique cultural and institutional histories, which often blur boundaries
between state and non-state institutions, further complicate analysis.
Differences between them may entail the school of thought followed, emphasis on
scriptures and Islamic sciences, presence of daily rituals, boarding
arrangements and attachment to local mosques. These important differences mean
experiences are country- and even school-specific," the report stated.
Source:
Live Mint
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Men
dominate senior positions in First Women Bank Limited (FWBL)
By
Ahmad Ahmadani
June
26, 2022
Men
have been dominating the senior positions of First Women Bank Limited (FWBL) in
contradiction to the vision of the Islamic world’s first woman Prime Minister
(PM) Benazir Bhutto Shaheed.
According
to sources, not a single man was part of the management team of FWBL till
December 2021 since the establishment (1989) of the FWBL. However, the former
Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) government inducted men in the bank and
currently top eight senior management positions including President of FWBL are
occupied by the men.
“This
is altogether contrary to the basic aim and vision of the then premier Benazir
Bhutto (Shaheed) for establishing the FWBL in the country,” said sources.
They
added that the then PM Benazir Bhutto Shaheed while congratulating the first
President of FWBL through a letter dated 03 December 1989 expressed the need of
the women staff to foster economic independence of the country’s women.
A
copy of the letter of former Prime of Pakistan Minister Benazir Bhutto Shaheed
available with Pakistan Today/Profit disclosed that the then premier while
congratulating Miss Akram Khatoon, the first President of the First Women Bank
Limited Karachi, said that the establishment of FWBL is aimed at giving a
fillip to career women of the country who at present have little access to
institutional credit.
“We
would also like to see that the women’s bank may employ, other than for
security purposes, only women,” said Benazir Bhutto Shaheed.
She
added that this will not only enable working women to have greater job
opportunities but it will encourage ‘pardah nasheen’ ladies to avail of the
services of the bank for purposes of account and saving.
Benazir
Bhutto Shaheed also said that the democratic government would like the women’s
bank to come up with saving schemes for women. It is also to encourage women
who do not have traditional collateral, to secure loans for employment ventures
and it is for the bank to determine what terms of collateral it should offer
its women clients, said Benazir Bhutto Shaheed.
“Let
the women’s bank be a pioneer in helping Muslim women secure economic
independence and career satisfaction within the cultural ambiance and social
values of an Islamic society,” reads the letter of Benazir Bhutto Shaheed.
According
to sources, regretfully, the number of women staffs has reduced significantly
within the bank and on top of that all-important portfolios are being held by
the men in the bank including Farrukh Iqbal, President, Amir Zuberi, Head Risk
Management (Chief Risk Officer),Faisal Hussain, Head Business Division, Furqan
Yaser, Company Secretary & Head Legal, Kashif Karimi, Head IT, Muhammad
Farrukh, Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Muzaffar Khan, Treasurer and Sajid
Ahmed Hashmi, Head Audit. They said the bank’s President is of significance
important to the overall vision of the bank. They said instead of promoting
leadership within the FWBL’s ranks (the women who are serving the bank for more
than 10-20 years) outside staff is hired on all the important positions. If
this continues very soon the bank (FWBL) will be dominated by the men and the
dream of empowering women and their economic independence will be out of the
question in the already male-dominated banking environment of the country, said
sources.
Farrukh
Iqbal Khan, President & Chief Executive Officer of First Women Bank Limited
(FWBL) was contacted to get his stance on the matter. But he did not bother to
respond.
FWBL
was set up in 1989 by the Islamic world’s first woman Prime Minister Benazir
Bhutto (Shaheed), who wanted a bank that would meet the banking needs of women.
The FWBL commenced its business on 2nd December, 1989 with a paid-up capital of
Rs. 100 Million; 90 percent of which was contributed in varying proportions by
five leading Public Sector banks of the country named as National Bank of
Pakistan (NBP), Habib Bank Limited (HBL), Muslim Commercial Bank Limited (MCB),
United Bank Limited (UBL) and Allied Bank Limited (ABL) while 10 pc of the
remaining capital came from the federal government.
The
unique charter of FWBL said, “Undertaking the conduct of all forms of business
of Banking Company in a manner designed to meet the special needs of women and
to encourage and assist them in promotion and running of trade and industry and
practice of profession.”
Similarly,
the vision of FWBL clearly said to create value for our stakeholders, and
contribute towards the country’s economic development through mainstreaming
women by creating an enabling environment as the dynamic agent of change and
prosperity. Furthermore, the mission of FWBL is said to be a sustainable bank
offering efficient, cost effective and need based financial products and
services with special focus to address women’s banking needs through strategic
alliances. Improve governance through capacity building and restructuring of
the Bank.
It
is pertinent to mention that Board of Directors of FWBL is consisted of six
directors and out of which three directors are male named as Najeeb Agrawalla,
Chairman Board, Wajahat Rasul Khan, Independent Director and Farrukh Iqbal
Khan, President & CEO FWBL while Ms. Naghmana Alamgir Hashmi, Independent
Director, Ms. Bushra Ehsan, Independent Director and Ms. Sumbul Munir, nominee
Director, Habib Bank Limited (HBL) also part of BoD of FWBL.
Source:
Pakistan Today
--------
Egyptian
scholar says women should 'wear hijab to live' after student murder
Salwa
Samir
June
26, 2022
Renowned
Egyptian scholar Mabrouk Attia stirred anger and controversy in Egypt after his
comments following the killing of a university student by her colleague because
she refused to marry him. In a video he posted on his Facebook page, he advised
the girls and women to wear the hijab and cover their body in order to live.
Attia
said, “So leave your hair touching your cheeks and wear tight clothes, then you
will be mesmerized by a harasser who will kill you. The woman should wear a
hijab to live and should wear broad clothes to not tempt youth.”
“If
your life is precious to you, get out of your house wearing a veil. As in case
you were seen by a man who has no money to marry you, he will kill you.”
Al-Azhar
University slammed Attia’s comment and confirmed that Attia did not speak for
the university.
Egypt’s
Dar Al-Ifta stated, “It is the duty of scholars to choose the appropriate
method in the appropriate event. The scholars should not blame people for any
shortcomings at a time of calamities.”
The
National Council for Women condemned Attia’s comment and submitted a report to
the Attorney General. Its head, Maya Morsi, said “We want to stop hate speech,
hostility and terrorism. You came out to us, Sheikh Mabrouk, with a speech that
terrorized the girls and women of Egypt. No appearance or clothing justifies a
crime. We have a law that protects us and a justice system that protects us,
and we will demand that the law be enforced.”
She
added:“Such words are contempt for women and incitement to violence and murder
against them, which is a crime punishable by law.”
TV
presenter Radwa El-Sherbiny said on Twitter: "You advised women to wear
the veil, not in order to please our Lord, but in order not to be killed? And
this is your opinion of religion? Is this a fatwa and justification that the
one who is not veiled can be killed!”
The
hashtag #Mabruk_Attia_trial took the lead on Twitter in Egypt. A Twitter user,
Amira Gaber, wrote “And now the main problem is in hijab?!!! You should wear a
hijab or be killed! I’m really shocked with everything that goes around, I
can’t believe that we’re living in a scary world justifying crimes and blaming
the victim for what she wears?!”
Abdullah
Al-Najjar, a member of the Islamic Research Academy, said that Attia’s
statements reflect a negative image of men in Islam.
He
said on a local TV channel, “Is the image of a man in Islam that he harasses a
woman? The Holy Qur’an urges people to lower their gaze…. So the women's attire
is none of men's business.”
Attia's
original comments were in response to a shocking video clip of a student at
Mansoura University named Naira Ashraf, who was stabbed to death by another
student in front of the University. An eyewitness said that the accused tried
to escape, but some students caught him and within moments the university
security came and tied his hands behind his back.
According
to the victim's sister, the deceased received threatening messages two days
before the incident, but didn't take the matter seriously.
Samia
Khedr, a professor of sociology at Ain Shams University, told Al-Monitor that
Attia should advise people rather than justify crimes.
She
pointed out that the state, including the media, should play a role in raising
people’s awareness not only of religion but also of culture and humanity.
“Young people need to be nourished culturally, religiously, and
intellectually,” she said.
On
June 23, a heinous murder shook the Jordanian street, when an 18-year-old
student was shot inside the Applied Science University, north of the capital
Amman.
Users
of social networking sites posted a photo documenting the victim receiving a
death threat from the offender. The threat stated: "Tomorrow, I will come
to talk to you, and if you refuse, I will kill you, as the Egyptian killed the
girl today."
Khedr
commented, “Humans like to imitate each other. The Jordanian killer learned
about the Egyptian incident from social media, which spread like
wildfire."
“Those
who shot the video of the Egyptian student, why didn't they rush to save her
from killing,” she wondered. “Unfortunately, the worst usage of social media is
spreading horrible accidents to get more views.”
Source:
Al Monitor
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URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/iran-revolution-female-ebrahimi-cannes/d/127335