Women's Rights Activists Tortured, Forced To Kiss, Perform Sexual Acts On Interrogators, Alleges Recent Report
New
Age Islam News Bureau
20
November 2020
• Women Refugees Learn To Read And Write In Malaysia
•
Saudi Women’s Participation In Sports Has Increased By 70 Percent
•
‘Tiny Terrorist’ Momena Shoma Stabbed Fellow Prisoner, Police Allege
•
Saudi G20 Women’s Group Rep Calls For ‘Gender-Equitable’ COVID-19 Recovery
•
Saudi Ladies Club Sees Over 1,000 Women Sign-Up To Learn Golf
Compiled
by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/women-rights-activists-tortured-forced/d/123526
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Women's Rights Activists Tortured, Forced To Kiss, Perform Sexual Acts On Interrogators, Alleges Recent Report
19
November 2020
Jailed
Saudi human rights activists (L-R): Loujain al-Hathloul, Eman al-Nafjan and
Aziza al-Yousef (Photo via Twitter)
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A
new damning report has revealed that imprisoned Saudi women’s rights activists
are tortured and sexually abused by their interrogators at detention centers in
the kingdom.
Scottish
barrister Baroness Helena Kennedy said in a 40-page report that the female
detainees are made to watch pornography, threatened with rape, hung from the
ceiling, beaten and suffered electric shocks during interrogation.
The
human rights lawyer highlighted in the report, entitled A Stain on World
Leaders and the G20 Summit in Saudi Arabia, that many of the activists had been
“subjected to treatment amounting to torture, including by individuals who are
closely connected to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, such as his advisor Saud
al-Qahtani and younger brother Khalid bin Salman.”
The
barrister cited one source which reported that Aida al-Ghamdi had been forced
to watch pornography; and several other sources which reported that Loujain
al-Hathloul and Eman al-Nafjan had been forced to kiss and perform sexual acts
on interrogators.
The
report noted that Hathloul’s interrogation had been overseen by Qahtani, who
has been implicated in the murder of US-based dissident journalist Jamal
Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2, 2018. Saudi
authorities have acquitted him though.
Qahtani,
in echoes of Khashoggi’s dismemberment, is said to have told one of the women,
“I'll do whatever I like to you, and then I'll dissolve you and flush you down
the toilet.”
Another
woman activist claimed her interrogation sessions were overseen by the de facto
Saudi ruler's younger brother, who would boast about his position of power,
saying, “Do you know who I am? I am Prince Khalid bin Salman, I am the
ambassador to the US, and I can do anything I like to you.”
The
prisoners were often transferred between Dhahban Central Prison near the Red
Sea port city of Jeddah and an “unofficial detention facility,” according to
the report.
Kennedy
called on the United Kingdom and other nations to boycott this weekend's G20
summit hosted by Saudi Arabia unless the women are set free.
In
recent years, Saudi authorities have rounded up hundreds of perceived political
opponents, detained more than a dozen women’s rights activists, and continued
mass prisoner executions.
Public
protests, political parties and labor unions are banned in the traditionally
closed-off country, where the media are tightly controlled and criticism of the
royal family can lead to prison.
The
crackdown gathered pace in September 2017 with the arrests of prominent
religious leaders, some of whom could now face death penalty.
Top
businessmen and senior officials were arrested two months later in a purported
anti-corruption campaign. The measure was criticized as a power play and
shakedown of Mohammed bin Salman’s potential political rivals.
Bin
Salman also stands accused of being directly involved in the cruel murder of
Khashoggi, after he entered the kingdom’s consulate in Istanbul to obtain
paperwork for a planned marriage with his Turkish fiancée Hatice Cengiz.
Turkish
officials say his body was dismembered by Saudi killers and his remains are yet
to be found.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/11/19/638962/Saudi-interrogators-forced-jailed-women-rights-activists-to-perform-sex-acts-Report
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Women
Refugees Learn To Read And Write In Malaysia
20th
November 2020
The
students are refugee women in Malaysia, some in their late 50s, who for the
first time are learning how to read and write.
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In
a bare room, students seated on the floor recite the alphabet and the sound of
the letters. But these are not preschoolers. The students are refugee women in
Malaysia, some in their late 50s, who for the first time are learning how to
read and write.
Arissa
Jemaima Ikram Ismail, 23, was a volunteer with a relief agency when a refugee
leader in Selayang town, which is home to many migrant workers, requested help
for women in his community.
She
and fellow student Davina Devarajan, 25, then met some of the women and were
surprised that they requested for literacy lessons, as education was often viewed
as a low priority for women.
The
duo then formed Women for Refugees and recruited teachers via Instagram. They
have now about 20 volunteers, giving weekly two-hour literacy classes in
English and Malay in a run-down two-storey block that houses some 50 families.
"It
was very essential for us to not pitch the refugee women as a charity, where
they are constantly requiring external aid. We want to equip them with the
necessary skills so that they can sustain themselves," Arissa said.
The
weekly classes in a dingy neighbourhood outside Kuala Lumpur are offered by the
Women for Refugees group, which was formed in September to help illiterate
migrant women integrate into the local community and empower them to be more
than just passive wives.
"I
cant read any alphabets, so if I can learn a bit then that's good," Zaleha
Abdul, 54, a minority Muslim Rohingya refugee, told the Associated Press as she
struggled to remember the letters during a class in early October. She said she
wants to be more independent when going to the shops or elsewhere.
Like
Zaleha, many refugee women in Malaysia have picked up the local language, but
without knowing how to read or write, their options are limited.
In
the long run, Davina said they hope to expand classes in other neighborhoods
and include technical skills that could help the women earn an income.
All
classes have, however, been halted since mid-October in tandem with a movement
restriction order in Kuala Lumpur and surrounding areas to curb a fresh surge
in COVID-19 cases. The curbs were expanded to most part of the country this
month, and all schools nationwide were shut until the year-end.
Arissa
said teaching still go on with pre-recorded lessons that are viewed on three
shared laptops in the migrant's living quarters. She said live classes were
also conducted once a week for older migrant children.
"We
are hoping that as the situation with COVID-19 subsides and gets better, we
love to integrate more volunteers... to actually come and teach them and have
this very community-based integration between them who are marginalized and the
locals," Davina said.
Their
group is not the first to offer literacy courses for refugees, but one of only
a few to focus on women. Some 178,000 refugees and asylum seekers are
registered with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, and many
pockets of the refugee community are left out in terms of educational
opportunities.
When
the AP visited in October before the classes stopped, Shahidah Salamatulah, 38,
was among three women learning how to communicate in English when seeking
treatment at the clinic. The women broke into giggles at the antics of their
Algerian volunteer teacher.
Shahidah,
a Myanmar Muslim and mother of two, said she is preparing for a new life abroad.
She was called for interviews three times last year by the UNHCR on possible
resettlement to a third country but there has been no news amid the coronavirus
pandemic.
"English
is important for us... when we go overseas we will need English," she said.
https://www.republicworld.com/world-news/rest-of-the-world-news/women-refugees-learn-to-read-and-write-in-malaysia.html
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Saudi
Women’s Participation In Sports Has Increased By 70 Percent
Marco
Ferrari
20
Nov 2020
Players
from Jeddah United, Saudi Arabia's first women's basketball team train at their
club in Jeddah. (File photo: AFP)
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There
has been a 70 percent increase in women’s participation in sports in Saudi
Arabia, Prince Abdulaziz Bin Turki al-Faisal said on Thursday.
Prince
Abdulaziz highlighted Saudia Arabia’s success in empowering women and youth
through sports, including the first ever Saudi women’s football league set up
on Wednesday, in a virtual talk entitled Opportunities for Youth to Create a
Better Future ahead of the G20 summit in Riyadh.
For
all the latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.
On
the women’s football league, Prince Abdulaziz said: “We are very excited, and
hopefully it’s one step towards many more steps to come, inshallah.”
He
also highlighted steps that the Kingdom has taken to make it easier for small
and medium enterprises (SMEs) to set up sports clubs.
Newly
developed technology has made it easier for clubs to gain licensing, he said,
which has boosted jobs for young people.
He
said: “We are looking at the bigger picture to see how we can empower everyone
in the Kingdom.”
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/gulf/2020/11/19/G20-Saudi-women-s-participation-in-sports-has-increased-by-70-percent
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‘Tiny
terrorist’ Momena Shoma stabbed fellow prisoner, police allege
NOVEMBER
20, 2020
A
convicted terrorist has been accused of stabbing another inmate at a Melbourne
women’s prison.
Momena
Shoma was charged on Wednesday with engaging in a terrorist act in relation to
the alleged stabbing.
The
27-year-old sat stock-still and stared straight ahead during her appearance
over videolink in the Melbourne Magistrates Court on Thursday.
The
“altercation” between the two female inmates occurred on October 30, police
allege.
Police
say they were called to the prison, understood to be Dame Phyllis Frost Centre
in Ravenhall, to respond to the incident.
A
27-year-old woman was taken to hospital with an injury to her hand, police
said.
Magistrate
Carolyn Burnside said it could be more than a year before the matter reached
trial due to delays caused by COVID-19.
Shoma’s
lawyer Crystle Gomez Vasquez told the court the prisoner was only two years
into her 42-year sentence.
The
150cm-tall woman nicknamed the “tiny terrorist” was convicted in June 2019 for
stabbing her landlord, Roger Singaravelu, in front of his five-year-old
daughter in February 2018.
The
Islamic State devotee shouted “Allahu Akbar” – meaning God is great – while she
tried to deliver a fatal blow to his neck.
Judge
Lesley Taylor said when sentencing the Bangladesh native that her sole purpose
of coming to Australia was to carry out an attack that would “trigger the West”
and make her a martyr.
She
had been in Australia for just eight days when she carried out the attack on Mr
Singaravelu.
A
court previously heard Shoma had practised her attack by stabbing a mattress
while she had been boarding with a different family.
“She
did the practice run on the mattress with the first family that hosted her and
they felt intimidated enough to go to whoever organised it, saying, ‘We’re
scared, we don’t want her to continue living with us,’” Magistrate Charlie
Rozencwajghe said at the time.
Shoma
was sentenced to 42 years behind bars and will serve a minimum of 32 years.
At
the time of her sentencing, Justice Taylor said the attack was about terrorism,
even though it failed.
“At
the scene, you told police that you had come to Australia to carry out the
attack because you were ordered to do so by the caliph of Islamic State,” she
said.
“Your
deeds and words … have sent ripples of horror throughout the Australian
community. But they do not make you a martyr. They do not make you a beacon of
Islam.
“They
do not give you green wings to ascend to Jannah (Islamic heaven).
“They
make you an undistinguished criminal. You should not mistake your passing
notoriety for importance, nor equate it with achievement.”
Victoria
Police and the Australian Federal Police jointly said there was no need for the
community to fear an ongoing threat.
“(We)
would like to reassure the community that the threat has been contained and
there is no ongoing risk to the broader community posed by this individual,”
they said in a statement.
“Victoria
has well established and co-operative counter-terrorism and emergency
management plans in place and constantly monitor and assess our preparedness to
respond to a range of incidents.
“The
Victorian JCTT and the Victoria Police Counter Terrorism Command maintains
strong links with intelligence and other partner agencies, which gives us the
best possible understanding of emerging issues.
“The
community should continue to go about their daily business.”
Shoma
will return to court in March.
Report
any suspicious activity to triple-0, Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or the
National Security Hotline on 1800 1234 00.
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/breaking-news/tiny-terrorist-momena-shoma-stabbed-fellow-prisoner-police-allege/news-story/26bcf3f403d6dd9f9ad552c54561f791
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Saudi
G20 Women’s Group Rep Calls For ‘Gender-Equitable’ COVID-19 Recovery
November
19, 2020
DUBAI:
The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) crisis has highlighted and possibly deepened
existing gender inequalities, Saudi Arabia’s representative to the official G20
engagement group on women has claimed.
Speaking
to media ahead of the G20 Leaders’ Summit in Riyadh, Women 20 (W20) sherpa
Salma Al-Rashid called for a “more equitable approach” to post-pandemic
recovery.
“We
need to highlight how critical the full and equitable participation of women is
for sustainable and faster socio-economic recovery, as we rebuild our economies
in the post-COVID-19 era,” she said.
Al-Rashid
pointed out that it was important to recognize the “gendered” impact of the
COVID-19 pandemic, adding that women had faced unique challenges ever since the
virus outbreak.
The
prominent Saudi social worker said that the global health crisis had provided
an opportunity for G20 leaders “to reset economies through a more inclusive
approach.”
She
noted that the W20’s main function was to ensure gender considerations were
inserted into G20 negotiations, particularly on issues such as labor and
employment, political representation, and digital inclusion.
Al-Rashid
said there was a lack of female participation in government initiatives to
address COVID-19.
“Women’s
voices were largely missing, despite the fact that women constitute the
majority of frontline health and social workers and continue to bear a greater
burden of unpaid care work within their families and communities,” she added.
One
of the W20’s key recommendations, which was written through a communique to be
shared with G20 leaders, was to ensure a balanced growth by supporting women
empowerment as the world navigates the impact of the pandemic.
Women
should be represented at all levels of decision-making in the private and
public sectors, Al-Rashid said, adding that fiscal planning should be
“gender-responsive.”
There
should also be increased investment on social infrastructures for women, she
said, as well as income protection mechanisms for female workers in the
developing world.
The
Saudi sherpa recognized the difficulty of creating recommendations because of
the severe impact of COVID-19 on women, but she said the group remained agile
in championing gender equality.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/1765411/saudi-arabia
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Saudi
ladies club sees over 1,000 women sign-up to learn golf
November
19, 2020
JEDDAH:
A golf initiative launched by Saudi Arabia to get women into the sport saw more
than 1,000 new golfers sign-up in just four days.
Inspired
by the weekend’s debut Aramco Saudi Ladies International – the Kingdom’s first
ever professional women’s golf tournament – hundreds of women across the
country registered to learn golf for the first time.
The
newly launched “Ladies First Club,” will be giving free golf lessons, driving
range access and full rounds of golf at courses across the country.
Women
will be coached through the basics of the game at either Riyadh Golf Club,
Dirab Golf Club or King Abdullah Economic City’s (KAEC) Royal Greens Golf &
Country Club, host course of this week’s tournaments.
The
membership will also include a digital “Introduction to Golf” education pack,
which will provide monthly seminars outlining the key aspects of golf for
beginners. Each course will host a Ladies First golf clinic once a month, led
by a professional, which will conclude with an on-course induction for all participants
and an 18-hole round.
The
club opened for membership on the first the tournament on Thursday, where it
saw more than 500 women sign up.
There
were less than 20 female members across the Kingdom’s golf clubs ahead of the
Aramco Saudi Ladies International.
It
was launched as a way of bringing more Saudi women into golf, as part pf Saudi
Arabia Vision 2030 which aims to get more Saudis regularly active.
“We
have been absolutely blown away by the phenomenal response to the Ladies First
Club. One thousand new golfers is extraordinary for golf in Saudi Arabia and
will change the entire landscape of the game across the Kingdom,” Golf Saudi
CEO Majed Al-Sorour said.
“To
have a thousand of our women and girls commit to learning golf on the weekend
of our debut Aramco Saudi Ladies International presented by PIF is an
unbelievable legacy, and goes beyond even our most ambitious expectations,” he
added.
Arabic
golfer Maha Haddioui - was one of the 108 professionals competing in the Aramco
Saudi Ladies International – said she knew the event was making waves when she
came off the course to Instagram requests from Saudi women desperate to know
how they could get into golf.
“I
got direct messages from Saudi women saying: ‘I want to play golf, how do I do
it?’, which was great with the Ladies First Club launching this same weekend.
So I sent them the link and they signed-up, which is so exciting! I can’t wait
to follow-up with them a year or so down the line,” Haddioui said.
“They’ve
just been awesome, messaging me and asking questions all about golf. It shows
the impact this event – and the Ladies First Club – are having here. Something
like this I’d never have been able to even imagine two years ago when I first
came here to play,” she added.
Ladies
European Tour CEO Alexandra Armas spoke of her delight at the instant impact of
the Tour’s first event in the Kingdom, and paid testament to Golf Saudi for
ensuring women inspired by the tournament had a simple and accessible way to
carry that momentum forward.
“As
soon as I started conversations with Golf Saudi about bringing the Tour here I
was very keen to understand what their vision was for the game in the Kingdom,
and how they wanted to develop golf here,” said Armas.
“The
Ladies First Club is a superb concept and with a thousand members joining in
just its first four days shows that what’s happening on the golf course here is
already translating into women and girls picking up golf clubs, which is just
fantastic,” she added.
Off
the course, and the Ladies First Club will also provide a range of social
opportunities, including invites to social mornings, plus the likes of Pilates,
yoga, bridge and other wellbeing activities.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/1765401/sport
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