Saudi Arabia Appoints Khulood Al-Khamis As First Female Head of Regional Council
New Age Islam News Bureau
11
Aug 2020
Loujain al-Hathloul
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•
Sister of Loujain Al-Hathloul Fears She Is Being Tortured, As She Hasn’t Been
Heard From In Months
•
Bangladesh University Turning Women Garment Workers Into Leaders
•
US Rep Ilhan Omar Readies for Tough Primary Challenge
•
Jawahir Roble ‘Going All Out’ To Blaze A Trail as Female Muslim Referee
•
All Religious Marriages Must Be Registered to Protect Women from Abuse and
Discrimination, Report Warns
•
UN Receives Additional Funds To Support Yemen Women
Compiled
by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/saudi-arabia-appoints-khulood-al/d/122595
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Saudi
Arabia Appoints Khulood Al-Khamis As First Female Head Of Regional Council
11
August 2020
Al-Khamis
formally met with the Governor of Tabuk Region Prince Fahd bin Sultan bin
Abdulaziz. (SPA)
-----
Saudi
Arabia has appointed Dr. Khulood Mohammed al-Khamis to become the head of
Tabuk’s regional council, effectively making her the first woman to hold the
role across the region.
Her
appointment became official after approval from Saudi Arabia’s Interior
Minister which made al-Khamis the Secretary-General of Tabuk’s regional
council.
For
all the latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.
Al-Khamis
formally met with the Governor of Tabuk Region Prince Fahd bin Sultan bin
Abdulaziz on Monday.
“His
Highness congratulated Dr. Khulood al-Khamis on this confidence as the first
woman to hold the position of Secretary-General of the regional council at the
level of the Kingdom, wishing her continued success in her new work,” read a
statement of their meeting published on the Saudi Press Agency.
“I’m
happy to be the first Saudi woman to hold this position and to be a daughter of
Tabuk, and this is not surprising from the leader on the matter, and from (His
Highness) Prince Fahd bin Sultan, Governor of Tabuk region, and the keenness to
empower Saudi women to assume leadership positions in the Kingdom,” al-Khamis
told Al Arabiya.
Al-Khamis
holds a Ph.D. in inorganic chemistry from Howard University in the United
States in 2018, and worked as a teaching assistant, a lecturer, then an
associate professor at the Faculty of Science at the University of Tabuk. She
also presented many research studies during her career and participated in many
specialized activities in the fields of science.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/gulf/2020/08/11/Saudi-Arabia-appoints-Khulood-al-Khamis-first-female-head-of-regional-council.html
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Sister
of Loujain Al-Hathloul Fears She Is Being Tortured, As She Hasn’t Been Heard
From In Months
Maya
Oppenheim
August
10, 2020
The
Nobel prize-nominated campaigner was arrested in May 2018 alongside 10 other
women’s rights activists in Saudi Arabia
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The
sister of a prominent jailed Saudi women’s rights campaigner has raised fears
the activist is being tortured in prison, as she has not heard from her in two
months.
Loujain
al-Hathloul, who campaigned to win Saudi women the right to drive and was
arrested several times for breaking the newly overturned driving ban, has
allegedly been previously tortured in jail.
The
Nobel prize-nominated campaigner, who turned 31 at the end of last month, was
arrested in May 2018 alongside 10 other women’s rights activists in Saudi
Arabia.
Lina
al-Hathloul, her younger sister who lives in Brussels, has now told The
Independent the family have not heard from Loujain for 61 days.
Loujain’s
25-year-old sister raised concerns about her condition and safety and said it
subsequently emerged the last time the family stopped hearing from her back in
2018 that she was being tortured during that time.
Ms
al-Hathloul said: “We are very worried because no calls or visits for two
months is very suspicious. The only thing that makes them want to hide her now
is the fact she is potentially being tortured. When she was being tortured
before, she wasn’t allowed any visits and that is why we have the legitimate
right to think she might be being tortured now.
“She
was in an unofficial prison when she got arrested and Saud al-Qahtani, a former
top adviser of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was there in at least one of
her torture sessions. She was sexually harassed, he threatened her with raping
her and then murdering her afterwards. During her time in prison, she was also
waterboarded, electrocuted, whipped, flogged, and force-fed during the month of
Ramadan when she was supposed to be fasting.
“I
think about her all the time. It is affecting my whole life. I have nightmares
there is news saying she is dead or she has been released but is in a bad
condition. I have heard of other prisoners being released and dying with their
families two weeks later.
“Everyone
who meets Loujain likes her. She is very spontaneous and funny. She never
judges anyone. She is a very honest and real person. She sacrifices herself for
the people around her. Everything makes me think of Loujain. It is killing me
every day. I always tell myself Loujain would have done everything I do and
much more to save me. I have to keep on going until she is free.”
Ms
al-Hathloul said the Saudi authorities stopped her sister’s trial and visitors
from being allowed to see her due to coronavirus but warned the kingdom is now
“opening up” after the public health crisis.
Loujain,
who has the right to have contact with her family under Saudi Arabian law, has
been blocked from calling her siblings, who live abroad, since March 2019 and
is only permitted to ring and be visited by her parents who live in the Saudi
capital of Riyadh, her sister said.
Ms
al-Hathloul said her parents have been trying to contact the authorities but
have had no response — adding that there has been “total silence” despite them
having contacted Al-Ha’ir prison, where she was transferred in February, the
state security, royal court, and the human rights commission.
She
added: “They don’t tell you why she isn’t calling. They don’t reassure you that
she is okay. The prison is known for human rights abuses. People disappear in
it. They have their own laws there. It is difficult to get accurate information
about the prison.
“The
thing Saudi Arabia seems to understand is that if no one has news of prisoners
then people forget them. It is very tiring for us to campaign for her release
when there is nothing new and she has just disappeared.”
Ms
al-Hathloul said the only time Loujain has spoken to her parents about the
alleged torture she previously suffered was during a prison visit — adding that
her sister cannot talk openly about her experiences on the phone otherwise
calls will be temporarily banned afterwards.
She
said the first time her parents saw her sister after she was allegedly tortured
in 2018, they “barely recognised” her and could see from “her eyes” she had
been “traumatised” – as well as noticing scars and red marks on her body.
Ms
al-Hathloul urged the British government to call for her sister to be released
from jail and “at the very least” force the Saudis to allow Loujain to let them
know where she is imprisoned and the current state of her mental and physical
health.
Lucy
Rae, a spokesperson for Grant Liberty, a human rights charity, hit out at the
activist’s “enforced silence” and argued Loujain’s “only crime” is campaigning
for rights women “in the west take for granted”.
She
added: “Her continued imprisonment is a stain on the conscience of the world –
and she is not alone. At Grant Liberty, we campaign for more than 150 human
rights activists who have been imprisoned in Saudi Arabia.
“Many
have been tortured, sexually abused, and prevented from communicating with
their families. It’s time for governments around the world – including the UK –
to take the human rights seriously, and insist that Saudi Arabia ends its
barbaric treatment of these prisoners, and they should start by insisting on
Loujain’s release.”
Loujain,
a University of British Columbia graduate, has previously told her parents she
has been beaten, waterboarded and threatened with rape and murder while in
prison.
“They
saw that her hands were shaking, they saw the signs of torture – the burns and
bruises on her legs,” her brother told The Independent in February last year.
He
added: “One of the interrogators put his legs on my sister’s legs like you
would put your legs on the table. He was smoking and puffing in front of her
face.”
Human
rights organisations say Loujain was previously placed in solitary confinement
and forced to endure abuse including electric shocks, flogging and sexual
harassment.
She
is awaiting trial on charges of communicating with foreign bodies hostile to
Saudi, recruiting government employees to collect confidential information and
delivering financial support to entities overseas who are hostile to the kingdom.
Saudi
officials have denied the torture allegations and said they were investigating
claims of maltreatment. Government figures have claimed the activists were a
threat to national security.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/saudi-arabia-womens-rights-torture-jailed-activism-loujain-alhathloul-a9663881.html
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Bangladesh
University Turning Women Garment Workers Into Leaders
1
Aug 2020
Garment
workers return after work as factories reopen amid concerns over a coronavirus
outbreak in Dhaka, Bangladesh [File: Mohammad Ponir Hossain/Reuters]
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Five
years ago, Sadeka Begum was working 12-hour shifts in a garment factory as the
main earner for her family in Bangladesh.
Today,
the 23-year-old is one of the first graduates of a special university programme
that aims to inspire female workers to become leaders and boost women's rights
across industries.
Begum
now interns for the United Nations children's fund (UNICEF) and hopes to use
her economics degree to launch a project to improve the lives of the children
of Bangladeshi textile workers by addressing a lack of schooling and childcare.
"I
am an example of how education can change a person," said Begum, one of
four former garment workers to graduate from the Pathways for Promise course at
the Asian University for Women (AUW) - based in the southeastern port city of
Chittagong.
"Garment
workers are the reason why Bangladesh's economy is doing well," she added.
"Their children deserve better."
About
470 disadvantaged women including tea pickers and refugees have enrolled for
the free degree programme since it started in 2016, and receive a monthly
stipend while they study.
Dozens
of ex-textile workers are part of the cohort and the AUW's vice chancellor,
Nirmala Rao, said the university was involved in creating internships to tackle
a "dearth of female middle and senior managers" in Bangladesh's
garment industry.
Bangladesh
economy: Tens of thousands of people left jobless (2:17)
While
up to 80 percent of garment workers are women in largely junior positions such
as seamstresses, the majority of senior management positions are taken by men,
UN data shows.
Rubana
Huq, who heads the nation's largest trade association for garment manufacturers
and was also involved in designing the academic course, said seeing the
graduates take on management positions in the sector would inspire other women
to dream big.
"They
have different exposure and their outlooks are very fresh," Huq told the
Thomson Reuters Foundation. "They will be able to contribute to how we
look at female empowerment."
Workers'
rights at risk
Bangladesh
is the world's second-largest supplier of clothes to Western countries after
China, and relies on the garment industry for more than 80 percent of exports
and four million jobs.
But
the sector has been rocked in recent years - first by the 2013 Rana Plaza
collapse on the outskirts of Dhaka that killed 1,136 workers, then by the novel
coronavirus pandemic.
The
2013 disaster sparked efforts to improve labour rights and conditions but the
coronavirus outbreak led to thousands of garment workers being laid off in
recent months as Western fashion brands cancelled orders due to global store
closures.
As
workers push for overdue wages and the jobless seek to find work, the AUW
graduates want to help steady the sector and push for change by rising through
the ranks of management.
"I
want to see everyone with the same eye, it doesn't matter what category
someone's working in," said former factory packer Yesmin Akther. "I
want people to behave well towards workers."
A
recent report by a United States's Senate committee found Bangladesh was
backsliding on garment workers' rights. Union leaders faced intimidation,
hampering their ability to investigate claims of threats and abuse - mainly
from female workers - the report said.
Factory
owners dismissed the findings of the report as inaccurate while local
researchers said verbal abuse of workers was more prevalent across smaller
factories and subcontractors.
Students
from across Asia, Middle East
The
university, funded by donors including the IKEA Foundation and the Bill &
Melinda Gates Foundation, has female students from across Asia and the Middle
East pursuing degrees in subjects such as public health, philosophy and
politics.
The
students from the garment sector receive full pay - worth about $100 a month -
from their employers while studying.
This
proves vital as their families rely on the income, according to the AUW, which
said it had persuaded several factory owners to back the initiative and allow
some of their brightest female workers to leave the workplace for five years.
The
former textile workers, who had to pass a rigorous entrance exam for a place on
their courses, said adapting to academic life was challenging as was improving
their English.
I
am an example of how education can change a person.
SADEKA
BEGUM, GARMENT WORKER
One
of the graduates said she used to "just stare at people" at the start
because her English was not good enough, while another recalled practising the
language in front of the mirror.
Dipali
Khatun, who is set to graduate in December, said her ambition was to work for a
charity or to return to the garment sector in a human resources role where she
could make a difference.
"I
would ... ensure that there is no bad behaviour against any garment
worker," she said.
Kalpona
Akter, founder of the Bangladesh Centre for Worker Solidarity, said she hoped
all the garment worker graduates would return to the sector rather than seek
other opportunities.
"If
the 100 girls who are studying get into 100 factories, that can bring change
because they have seen how difficult lives are for workers," Akter said.
"If they join other industries, they will be empowered, but that won't
help our situation."
Yesmin
Akther is one such graduate who wants to give back.
"My
factory paid me for the last four years and supported me so I could
study," the 23-year-old said. "Given the chance, I would like to do
something good in return."
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/08/bangladesh-university-turning-women-garment-workers-leaders-200801081127678.html
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US
Rep Ilhan Omar readies for tough primary challenge
August
11, 2020
Ilhan
Omar, a progressive United States representative from Minnesota who in 2018
became the first Somali-American and one of the first of two Muslim women to
serve in Congress, is readying for what is expected to be a competitive primary
challenge.
Omar,
who came to the US as a refugee, has garnered an outsized national profile
following her history-making election and while serving as a member of the
so-called "squad" - four progressive freshmen women of colour in the
House of Representatives who have been outspoken critics of President Donald
Trump.
She
is set to face off on Tuesday against fellow progressive Antone Melton-Meaux
for Minnesota's fifth district. The winner of the Democratic primary in the
overwhelmingly liberal district is all but assured to win the general election
in November.
Omar
and Melton-Meaux share much of the same political ideology, although
Melton-Meaux has presented himself as slightly more centrist on some issues.
The two specifically diverge when it comes to Israel.
Omar
has been an outspoken critic of Israel's policies, and supports the Boycott,
Divestment and Sanctions, or BDS, movement. Melton-Meaux, according to the
Huffington Post, has been backed by several influential pro-Israel groups.
Melton-Meux
has also sought to portray Omar as too divisive and focused on celebrity to be
an effective leader.
"She's
not grounded in this district, she's not keeping the residents involved in her
decision-making, she misses votes," Melton-Meaux told local station Fox 9
KMSP. "That's not the kind of leader people want."
In
the 2019 legislative session, Omar missed about 5.7 percent of House votes,
according to GovTrack.us, a Congressional tracking website.
Omar,
for her part, has questioned Melton-Meaux's motives and suggested he has
co-opted her platform for personal gain.
"I
don't know what he's controlled by. But what I do know is that until recently,
there was no platform," she told the news station. "Until recently,
it was, 'We just need to get rid of Ilhan.'"
Both
candidates have raised over $4m leading into the primary.
'Squad'
Omar
is the only member of the "squad" whose party nomination remains in
question. The other members include Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez,
Rashida Tlaib, and Ayanna Pressley.
In
June, Ocasio-Cortez handily beat more moderate challenger Michelle
Caruso-Cabrera for New York's 14th Congressional district.
Last
week, Tlaib, the other first Muslim woman elected to Congress, defeated Detroit
City Council President Brenda Jones for Michigan's 13th Congressional district,
after Jones attempted to portray Tlaib as too divisive.
Pressley
is not facing a challenger for Massachusetts's 7th Congressional district on
September 1.
Ocasio-Cortez,
Tlaib, and Pressley are all expected to win easy victories in the general
election on November 3.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/08/rep-ilhan-omar-readies-tough-primary-challenge-200810191913652.html
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Jawahir
Roble ‘going all out’ to blaze a trail as female Muslim referee
August
10, 2020
The
UK’s first female Muslim referee has set her sights on officiating in the
Premier League.
Jawahir
Roble, 26, moved with her parents to Britain at the age of 10 to escape the
civil war raging in Somalia.
Leaving
her home country, and all her friends, without a chance to say goodbye was
understandably tough for Roble, who is known as JJ by her friends.
But
for a football-mad girl, living in Wembley was the ideal place to settle and
she found that the game helped her integrate and communicate with her
classmates at a time when she spoke no English at all.
“You
don’t need to know anybody’s language to play football,” she told the PA news
agency.
“Football
has helped me so much, it has developed me as a person. Sometimes communicating
with people is difficult, especially with other kids. That’s how I started
learning the language – it was bringing my own football to the school and kids
would come to me and say ‘Oh, Jawahir, you have a football, can we please
play?’ Just with hand gestures they could say ‘come on, let’s play together’
and I was like ‘OK, let’s go’.”
Her
dreams of playing professionally were ended when her parents forbade her from
playing, but it led her into new passion – refereeing.
“I
started volunteering at my local clubs and then one time I was asked to this
local girls’ league and they did not have enough referees so they asked me to
volunteer,” she recalls.
“It
was such a cool Saturday, I just went straight into it. I love football, I love
the rules. I’ve learned to appreciate referees more and I’m so glad I gave it a
chance, because sometimes you have to give it a go.
“My
plan in life was to become a professional footballer and then a few years later
it became a passion with refereeing. That was never my plan but I am glad it
happened.”
And
now, for Roble, the sky is the limit. Asked whether she hoped to referee in the
Premier League or the Women’s Super League, she said: “Honestly that’s the
mission.
“I’m
getting my fitness up, I’ve lost a lot of weight you know, I’ve got cheekbones
and everything. It’s happening – university has finished and I am going all
out.”
As
a black Muslim woman, discrimination is something she knows can happen but says
she has little personal experience of it.
“I
am very fortunate,” she said.
“I
am a black woman, I am visibly a Muslim, I don’t think I can recall any
incidents. Once, a parent came up to me and said ‘ref, someone said something
discriminatory to you, you should chase it up’. But apart from that one
incident, I’ve been very lucky so far.”
Roble,
who was speaking as part of UEFA’s #WePlayStrong and its Strong Is…. series,
talked about her own definition of strength.
“Strength
is having your own weaknesses and sharing them with other people,” she said.
“It’s showing people that those weaknesses are not the end of the world and
they can do it, they can push themselves.
“Without
any struggles, no one is going to get anywhere, it doesn’t happen like that. I
want to inspire as many young girls as possible.”
https://www.fourfourtwo.com/news/jawahir-roble-going-all-out-to-blaze-a-trail-as-female-muslim-referee-1597057251000
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All
religious marriages must be registered to protect women from abuse and
discrimination, report warns
Maya
Oppenheim
August
10, 2020
The
government must make the registration of all religious marriages compulsory to
stop women suffering abuse and discrimination, a new report has warned.
Researchers
at Civitas, a social policy think tank, said substantial numbers of Muslim
women in the UK are in unregistered religious marriages which leaves them
vulnerable to being left destitute with no financial assets or property if
their husband divorces them.
The
report states many women do not realise they don’t have legal protections and
marital rights due to not registering their marriage after a religious
ceremony.
Researchers
warn the “asymmetric nature” of polygamous marriages and Islamic divorce –
which permits the man to instantaneously divorce his wife but makes it far more
difficult for the woman to initiate divorce proceedings – puts wives at risk.
Emma
Webb, the report’s author, said: “While successive governments have failed to
address this well-known problem, despite calls from Muslim women activists and
the international bodies, everyday women continue to suffer horribly because of
completely unjustifiable shortcomings in our legislation.
“Despite
bigamy being illegal in the UK, the fact that religious-only marriages can go
under the radar effectively allows men to enter into polygamous relationships
that leave the women with absolutely no marital rights or legal protection
under UK law. This leaves women and their children vulnerable to abuse,
exploitation and destitution – it simply cannot be allowed to continue.”
The
report calls for current legislation to be overhauled so the registration of
all religious marriages in England and Wales is compulsory – with researchers
arguing this could reduce the prevalence of unregistered polygamous unions
which damage “women’s rights and mental health”.
Researchers
argue “reluctance” to amend the law on religious marriages could be a
“political calculation based on perceptions about religious sensitivity”. The
report states: “In other words, fear of being called Islamophobic for
intervening on an issue relating to Muslim women’s rights within their community.”
Baroness
Cox of Queensbury, a cross-bench member of the House of Lords, welcomed the
report as she called for legislation to “at last” be introduced with “great
urgency” due to the fact so many Muslim women in the UK are suffering in ways
which would make “Suffragettes turn in their graves”.
A
bid to make religious marriages legally binding in the UK was rejected by
judges in February – dashing the hopes of campaigners who warned women are left
penniless with no support after the break-up of sharia unions.
Campaigners
claimed the landmark judgment, handed down at the Court of Appeal, could have
“profoundly discriminatory consequences” for women and upholds an antiquated
system of marriage.
The
Court of Appeal overturned a family court judge’s decision that a woman was
entitled to apply for maintenance payments from her estranged husband despite
the fact they were not legally married. The attorney general had appealed the
ruling.
The
pair, who had an Islamic marriage ceremony, were married for 18 years and have
four children together.
“The
Court of Appeal’s decision to deny Muslim women financial remedies by refusing
to deem a sharia marriage a void marriage is a travesty of justice,” Maryam
Namazie, of campaign group One Law for All, said at the time.
“The
court, like the government, is perfectly happy to relegate minority women to
kangaroo courts and faith-based parallel legal systems in order to appease
fundamentalists and manage minority communities at the expense of women’s
rights.”
A
2017 poll found almost all married Muslim women in the UK had had a nikah, an
Islamic marriage ceremony, while nearly two-thirds had not also had a civil
ceremony.
In
2018, a Home Office-commissioned review into the application of sharia law
reached the view that Muslims in the UK should undergo a civil marriage as well
as a religious ceremony to make sure women are protected under the law.
While
the report said the measure was needed to lessen “discriminatory practices” in
the councils, it argued abolishing sharia councils was “not viable” and they
were “fulfilling a need in some Muslim communities”.
Campaigners
previously told The Independent British women were increasingly being pressured
into polygamous relationships or left without child support when relationships
break up because UK law does not offer adequate protection to spouses in
religious marriages.
Activists
warned women are being forced to go through religious courts, which make
rulings that make them stay with partners they want to leave, or rule them unable
to claim money or property from their de facto husbands after marriages break
down.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/religious-marriages-register-muslim-women-uk-abuse-a9663441.html
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UN
receives additional funds to support Yemen women
August
11, 2020
The
United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) yesterday announced that it had received
additional funds to support its humanitarian activities in Yemen.
“UNFPA
has received $3.1 million from the Swedish International Development
Cooperation Agency (Sida) to provide life-saving protection services and
mitigate high risks against girls and women, including preventing epidemics in
Yemen,” the humanitarian organisation said in a statement.
The
fund, the statement added, would cover “establishing five safe spaces for women
and girls, increasing women-protection serving areas from 60 to 84 districts,
and pushing women to participate in livelihood and economic empowerment
activities.”
The
UN recently halted its activities in Yemen due to a lack of international
funds.
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20200811-un-receives-additional-funds-to-support-yemen-women/
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URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/saudi-arabia-appoints-khulood-al/d/122595