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Islam, Women and Feminism ( 13 May 2018, NewAgeIslam.Com)

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Online Outrage at Sudan Death Sentence for Girl Allegedly Raped

New Age Islam News Bureau

13 May 2018

For the first time, traffic signs in Saudi Arabia now address women drivers. (Courtesy: Sabq)

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• ‘My driver sisters:’ New traffic signs in Saudi Arabia address women drivers

• Pakistan: Police Foil Bid To Marry Minor Girl Off In Swara to Settle Family Dispute

• Islamabad Airport Security Female Personnel Being ‘Forced’ To Wear Hijab

• Iran: Pharmacy Denies Medicine to Mal-Veiled Woman, Ill With Cancer

Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau

URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/online-outrage-sudan-death-sentence/d/115229

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Online outrage at Sudan death sentence for girl allegedly raped

May 12, 2018

KHARTOUM: The sentencing of a teenage Sudanese girl to death for killing her husband has sparked online outrage, as Amnesty International said she was defending herself against being raped.

Noura Hussein Hammad, 19, was handed a death sentence by a court on Thursday for the “intentional murder” of the man her father forced her to marry.

“Noura is a victim and not a killer. Noura has been raped by her husband,” Sudanese novelist Hamour Zyada wrote on Facebook on Saturday, as part of a campaign tagged #justicefornoura.

“We have to come together to rescue Noura,” Zyada added — a sentiment echoed by others.

“We all have to unite for rescuing Noura and to fight against marital rape,” wrote prominent women’s rights activist Amal Habbani on Facebook.

Several activists changed their profile pictures on Twitter and Facebook to a painting depicting a white veil and three clenched female fists, to show solidarity with Hammad.

“All Sudanese people, activists and women’s organizations must unite to fight for justice for Noura,” tweeted political activist Amani Ahmed.

Hammad was married against her wish to Abdulrahman Hammad at the age of 16, with the first ceremony involving the signing of a marriage contract between her father and her husband, Amnesty International said in a statement on Thursday.

In April 2017 the second part of the marriage took place when she was forced to move to her husband’s home after completing high school.

When Hammad refused to consummate the marriage, her husband invited two of his brothers and a male cousin to help him rape her, the rights group alleged.

“On 2 May 2017, the three men held Noura Hussein down while Abdulrahman raped her,” Amnesty International said.

“The next morning he tried to rape her again but she managed to escape to the kitchen where she grabbed a knife.

“In the ensuing scuffle, Abdulrahman sustained fatal knife wounds.”

Hammad fled to her family home after the incident but her father handed her to the police, Amnesty said.

During her trial in July 2017, the court found her guilty of “intentional murder” after applying an outdated law that does not recognize marital rape, the rights group added.

“The way her family treated her is something that happens all the time in our community. We have to fight for her,” said political activist Amjad Fareed in a Facebook post on Saturday.

In recent years, women and children’s rights activists in Sudan have campaigned against forced unions and marriage of underage girls, a widespread phenomenon in a country where the law allows children over the age of 10 to marry.

http://www.arabnews.com/node/1301501/world

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‘My driver sisters:’ New traffic signs in Saudi Arabia address women drivers

May 13, 2018

CAIRO: Saudi social media users were widely sharing pictures of redesigned traffic signs that address both men and women drivers, according to Sabq news site.

The signs carried messages that read: “My brother driver, My sister driver, abiding by traffic regulations protects your own life and the lives of others from danger.”

The traffic signs grabbed wide attention because they are for the first time directed at drivers from both genders.

In September 2017, Saudi King Salman issued a historic decree that lifted a driving ban on women.

June 24 of this year has been set for the implementation of this reform, to meet all requirements for women to begin driving, Director General Mohammed al-Bassami of the General Department of Traffic said on Tuesday.

http://www.arabnews.com/node/1301586/saudi-arabia

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Pakistan: Police Foil Bid To Marry Minor Girl Off In Swara to Settle Family Dispute

Ali Akbar

May 12, 2018

Buner police on Saturday foiled a swara bid wherein a minor girl was to be married to a man in order to settle a longstanding dispute between two families.

District Police Officer (DPO) Muhammad Irshad Khan told DawnNewsTV that police, after receiving a tip-off, raided a location in Banda Tangi village in the limits of the Nagri police station where the nikkah of a four-year-old girl was underway with a man. The minor was recovered and 13 people from both families were arrested, including the would-be groom, police said.

The DPO said that a local jirga had decided the minor should be married off in swara to settle the dispute between two families.

Police registered a First Information Report against the arrested suspects under sections 301A of the Pakistan Penal Code (which prescribes three to seven years in jail and a fine of Rs500,000 for "whoever gives a female in marriage or otherwise compels her to enter into marriage, as badal-i-sulh, wanni or swara or any other custom or practice under any name, in consideration of settling a civil dispute or a criminal liability") and 39 of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Child Protection Act 2010 (which recommends imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years or fine which may extend to Rs100,000, or both, as punishment for harmful and abusive practices).

The DPO said that the girl is safe and in police protection, and that the case is being further investigated.

https://www.dawn.com/news/1407234/buner-police-foil-bid-to-marry-minor-girl-off-in-swara-to-settle-family-dispute

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Islamabad Airport Security Female Personnel Being ‘Forced’ To Wear Hijab

May 13, 2018

Leader of the Opposition in the Senate Sherry Rehman has voiced her concern over the “strict hijab” of the female members of the Islamabad airport security force (ASF).

In a tweet, Rehman wrote, “The new Islamabad Airport is staffed by women ASF ordered to be in strict hijab. ( I asked the women if they were doing so voluntarily while waiting at the security gates. They said it was an order) Are the Zia days back again? On whose orders are women’s bodies policed like this?”

https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2018/05/12/asf-female-personnel-being-forced-to-wear-hijab/

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Iran: Pharmacy Denies Medicine to Mal-Veiled Woman, Ill With Cancer

12 May 2018

A Tehran pharmacy refused to sell medicine to a woman suffering from cancer under the pretext of mal-veiling.

Thursday, May 10, 2018, the Sevom-e Khordad Pharmacy did not sell medicine to a cancer patient, claiming she had not properly covered her hair.

The patient's daughter cried out in protest, but her protest went unheeded.

The Iranian regime has imposed stricter measures to counter Iranian women's widespread opposition to the compulsory veil.

On April 23, Mullah Sadegh Amoli Larijani, head of the Judiciary Branch, stressed in a speech, “No one should be allowed to resist against law enforcement by the State Security Force. The SSF will not take even one step back.” (The state-run ISNA news agency, April 23, 2018)

https://women.ncr-iran.org/iran-women-news/5065-iran-pharmacy-denies-medicine-to-mal-veiled-woman-ill-with-cancer