Saudi Arabia Appoints Haifa Al Jedea As Ambassador To EU, EAEC
New Age Islam News Bureau
04 January 2023
• Iran Left Without Women Chess Grandmasters After
Sara Khadem’s Defection
• Women In Qatar Start To Break Through Glass Ceiling
• Iran To Accept More Afghan Women At Tehran
University
• Body Of Minor Girl, Sania, Killed By Father For
‘Honour’, Retrieved From Well In Jhang, Pakistan
Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/saudi-haifa-jedea-eu-eaec/d/128799
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Saudi Arabia Appoints Haifa Al Jedea As Ambassador To
EU, EAEC
Haifa Al Jedea. (SPA)
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03 January ,2023
Saudi Arabia on Tuesday appointed Haifa Al Jedea as
ambassador and head of the Kingdom’s mission to the European Union and the
European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC), the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA)
reported.
Al Jedea took the oath of office along with a number
of other newly appointed envoys at Al-Yamamah Palace in Riyadh before King
Salman bin Abdulaziz, SPA said.
Prior to her latest appointment, Al Jedea was the
managing director of SRMG Think, a newly established studies department by the
Saudi Research and Media Group whose mission is to provide analyses on the
Middle East and North Africa in various fields, including the economy,
geography and foreign policy.
Source: Al Arabiya
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Iran Left Without Women Chess Grand Masters After Sara
Khadem’s Defection
Khadem, ranked 17th in the
world (among women), refused to wear a hijab as she competed in the world rapid
and blitz championships in Almaty, Kazakhstan from December 26-30.
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by Anil Dias
January 3, 2023
After Iranian Woman Grandmaster Sarasadat
Khademalsharieh, better known as Sara Khadem, competed in a tournament without
a hijab and subsequently decided not to return home but defect to Spain, Iran
currently has no women Grandmasters.
Khadem, ranked 17th in the world (among women),
refused to wear a hijab as she competed in the world rapid and blitz
championships in Almaty, Kazakhstan from December 26-30.
She finished tied 31st in the rapid competition and
19th in blitz, in which players must make their moves even faster.
The hijab, which is mandatory under Iran’s strict
Islamic dress code, has become the focus of protests against the Iranian
government.
Khadem not wearing the hijab was seen as being in
solidarity with demonstrations that brought unrest in Iran following the death
of Mahsa Amini. The 22-year-old died in custody in September after being
arrested by Iran’s morality police for allegedly not wearing her hijab
correctly.
Khadem is not the first Iranian women’s Grandmaster to
defect to another country. In fact, all the other four active Iranian women’s
Grandmasters have also defected to other countries. Dorsa Derakhshani defected
in 2017. Atousa Pourkashiyan, like Derakhshani, plays for the USA. Ghazal
Hakimifard has moved to Switzerland while Mitra Hejazipour plays for France.
Khadem has been outspoken in the past. In 2019, when
Grandmaster Alireza Firouzja protested and defected to France, upset at being
forced to lose by default against Israeli rivals — the Iran government had a
policy of its players not playing with Israeli opponents — Khadem had supported
Firouzja and warned that if the decision wasn’t overturned, more players would
follow Firouzja and find asylum somewhere else.
Married to popular Iranian film director Ardeshir
Ahmadi, who was once imprisoned in Iran for three months, apparently because of
documentaries he had made, Khadem, anticipating trouble if she goes back to
Iran, headed to a Spanish city with her husband and her 11-month-old baby.
According to El Pais website, Khadem and her family
own an apartment in Spain, but it is yet unknown if she has already obtained a
Spanish residence permit, or if she has requested, or intends to request
political asylum.
The first Iranian women’s Grandmaster to defect was
Berajshani who did not return to her country after playing without a hijab at
the Gibraltar Open six years ago. Ironically, Khadem also competed at that
event, and wore her hijab in the tournament room but removed it as soon as
there were no photographers around.
With Khadem, Pourkashiyan had also removed her hijab
at the 2017 tournament in Gibraltar as well the most recent one in Almaty. She
too was pictured without her hijab but unlike Khadem, she has already moved to
the US. Pourkashiyan is currently ranked 5th in the world, after having been
2nd in the Iranian female ranking for many years and winning the women’s
national chess competition six times.
In 2020, Hakimi had forsaken her Iranian nationality
to compete under the Swiss flag in international chess tournaments. While Hakimi,
who became a women’s Grandmaster in 2016, didn’t exactly reveal why she was
switching alliances, it was rumoured that her country’s strict code had a lot
to do with it. She was studying in Zurich at the time while playing for the
Iran national team.
In January 2020, Mitra Hejazipour was expelled by the
Iranian Chess Federation for boldly removing her scarf during the World Rapid
& Blitz Chess Championship in Moscow. The 29-year-old, who had been playing
for the Iranian team at the Women’s Chess Olympiads since 2008, said that the
hijab is a “limitation, not protection, as official regime propaganda claims”.
She moved to France soon after her ban. Like Hehazipour, Shohreh Bayat, a top
chess referee, was seen not wearing a hijab in Shanghai while officiating at
the women’s world championship in 2020. She said that she feared returning to
Iran and now lives in Britain.
Perhaps nobody has taken the Iranian protests to the
global stage more than its sportspersons.
On the biggest of stages, at the FIFA World Cup, the
Iranian team refused to sing the national anthem ahead of their first game.
Their defender Ehsan Hajsafi spoke in apparent support
of anti-government protesters at home.
“They should know that we are with them. And we
support them. And we sympathise with them regarding the conditions,” the AEK
Athens player said. “We have to accept the conditions in our country are not
right and our people are not happy. We are here but it does not mean we should
not be their voice or we should not respect them.”
Iranian women have played a prominent role in the
protests, removing their hijabs or in some cases, even burning them.
In October last year, Iranian climber Elnaz Rekabi
competed in South Korea without a headscarf, later saying she had done so
unintentionally. In November, an Iranian archer said she did not notice her
hijab falling during an awards ceremony in Tehran.
While all of Iran’s women Grandmasters have defected to
other countries, nothing has hurt the federation more than World No. 4 Firouzja
leaving the country when he was just 16.
In 2019, Firouzja, upset at being forced to lose by
default against Israeli rivals, defected to France. A chess prodigy, Firouzja
won the Iranian Chess Championship at age 12 and earned the Grandmaster title
at 14. At 16, Firouzja became the second-youngest 2700-rated player. He is the
youngest ever 2800-rated player, beating the previous record set by Magnus
Carlsen by more than five months.
Source: Indian Express
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Women in Qatar start to break through glass ceiling
January 3, 2023
By Javier Picazo Feliu
Doha, Jan 3 (EFE).- Many women in Qatar still need the
permission of a man to study, get married or leave the country, but a new
generation is breaking stereotypes and driving a social and economic shift in
the Gulf state.
Under Qatar’s male guardianship system, women cannot
take decisions over their lives and require authorization from a male relative
(parent, brother or husband if married). Mothers cannot take decisions on
behalf of their children nor gain custody over them in the case of divorce.
In its “Everything I have to do is tied to a man”
report, Human Rights Watch underlines that the guardianship system is a medley
of laws, policies and practices whereby adult women need male guardian
permission for many activities.
Once married, a woman can be deemed “disobedient” if
she does not get permission from her husband before working, leaving home,
traveling or if she refuses to have sex with him without a “legitimate” reason,
the report says.
Despite the nation’s Family Law, which says that
guardianship ceases when people turn 18, and an article in the Constitution
that says there can be no discrimination between genders, the guardianship
system is still applied by many households even after women come of age.
A lack in domestic violence legislation also means
women are left exposed and unprotected when it comes to abuse from husbands and
family members.
“Women in Qatar have broken barriers and achieved
significant progress in areas such as education, yet they have to still
navigate state-enforced male guardianship rules that limit their ability to
live full, productive, and independent lives,” Rothna Begum, senior women’s
rights researcher at HRWatch, warns.
The rigidity of these rules depends on how each family
applies them, and the Qatari women that have enjoyed open-minded environments
are now paving the way for a new generation of empowered women who have reached
the highest echelons in business and politics.
These women get divorced, travel without permission,
go to restaurants and launch businesses.
“I have always had the support of my family (…) I
never felt intimidated, my voice was always heard even as a fresh graduate,”
Fatima Sultan Al Kuwari, human resources chief at Qatar’s leading telecom
company Ooredoo.
“I have to brothers and two sisters and I never felt,
even at home, any discrimination between my brothers and us as women, actually
my dad was very equal in treating everyone, and coming here (Ooredoo) I was
never discriminated against for being a women although I was a minority at the
time,” the divorced mother adds.
According to the HR expert, women in Qatar have found
a space in private companies where they can freely develop their careers
without cultural or legal impediments whilst enjoying parental leave, a
work-life balance and flexibility.
“Women are really very empowered here in Ooredoo (…)
There are many female entrepreneurs that have boosted their businesses with
great success,” Al Kuwari adds.
This shift is also taking place within the Qatari
government where three women lead powerful portfolios with Hanan Mohamed Al
Kuwari as Health Minister, Buthaina bint Ali Al Jabr Al Nuaimi as Education
Minister and Mariam bint Ali bin Nasser Al Misnad as Social and Family Affairs
Minister, Al Kuwari says.
EMPOWERED WOMEN IN BUSINESS
Shams Al-Qassabi became a pioneer in Qatar when she
launched her business challenging cultural barriers and garnering respect
across the emirate thanks to her willpower and humble approach.
Al-Qassabi started making sauces and in 2004 opened a
small cafe in Doha’s souq.
It is now one of the most famous restaurants in the
country and a go-to for international celebrities and members of the emir’s
family.
Source: Laprensalatina
https://www.laprensalatina.com/women-in-qatar-start-to-break-through-glass-ceiling/
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Iran to accept more Afghan women at Tehran University
January 4, 2023
Iran plans to accept more female students from
Afghanistan following the ruling Taliban's refusal to allow women and girls to
study in the country.
The official Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA)
reported on Tuesday that Iran has increased the university's budget fivefold
for scholarships for Afghan students.
There are currently 470 Afghan students studying at
the University of Tehran, about 25 per cent of whom are women. A university
official said that more than half of these students have scholarships. The
official added that the budget increase will enable Iran to support more Afghan
students, especially women.
Source: Middle East Monitor
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20230104-iran-to-accept-more-afghan-women-at-tehran-university/
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Body Of Minor Girl, Sania, Killed By Father For
‘Honour’, Retrieved From Well In Jhang, Pakistan
January 4, 2023
TOBA TEK SINGH: Rescue 1122 divers and Jhang police
officials worked for three days in vain to recover the body of a girl from the
Korraywali Kachi canal near Jhang.
During the investigation, Babar Ali Sial, who
reportedly murdered his minor daughter for honour, told authorities that he had
dumped the body into a canal. He changed his story on Tuesday and directed the
police to the correct spot.
Sania, his 12-year-old daughter, was strangled and her
body was dumped in an abandoned water well in his village of Kot Khaira. Later,
he used a tractor to fill the well with earth.
Police excavated the well, retrieved the body and
shifted it to the Jhang DHQ Hospital for an autopsy.
Sania was hidden in the house of her aunt in Jhang,
fearing for her life, but her father and five relatives succeeded in kidnapping
her on Dec 27.
FIRs: Up to 350 FIRs were registered against LPG
cylinder decanting shopkeepers in the Faisalabad district in 2022 and action
was also taken against 616 illegal petrol and diesel sellers.
Civil Defence Officer Rana Muhammad Abbas said that
fire safety equipment was examined in 2,969 textile mills, weaving factories,
petrol pumps, flour mills, high-rise buildings, and cold storage facilities,
and of them, 765 were fined for violations of safety rules.
ENCOUNTERS: Two alleged robbers were injured
critically in two encounters with Faisalabad police early on Tuesday morning.
According to Faisalabad City police, the first
encounter took place with Jarranwala City police when a police party followed
three outlaws who had snatched a motorcycle and valuables from people near Chak
240-GB. As soon as the police asked the robbers to stop their motorcycle on Kot
Kabeer Link Road, they opened fire which was also retaliated. Two of the gunmen
fled, however, one was injured and arrested.
Identified as Muhammad Husnain of Jarranwala, he was
shifted to the Jarranwala THQ Hospital.
The second encounter occurred in the Tandlianwala
Saddar police area near Chak 612-GB, where the police stopped two motorcyclists
but they opened fire and in crossfiring one of them was wounded while the
accomplice fled. He was identified as Imtiaz Ahmad, of Chak 423-GB.
He was shifted to Tandlianwala THQ Hospital.
ACCIDENT: Two people died and a third was injured
critically on Tuesday evening near the University of Agriculture Faisalabad’s
sub-campus on Toba-Khikha Bangla Road when their motorcycle collided with a
tractor-trolley.
Rescue 1122 said both deceased were identified as Danish
Ali and Mujahid Hussain. Injured Raja Muhammad Amer was shifted to the DHQ
Hospital.
TEST: The University of Agriculture, Faisalabad,
conducted a written test for the English Works (EW) programme, meant for
polishing the English proficiency and entrepreneurial skills of the students.
The EW is sponsored by the Regional English Language
Office for the workforce development of students from the underprivileged
community of age group 17 to 25 years through enhancing their English
proficiency and entrepreneurship skills.
The selected students for EW will attend free-of-cost
classes for six months and receive stipends.
Source: Dawn
https://www.dawn.com/news/1729765
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