Divorced And Remarried, These Afghan Women Are Outlaws Under Taliban Rule
05 March 2023
•
Divorced And Remarried, These Afghan Women Are Outlaws Under Taliban Rule
•
Afghan TV Fame Broadcast Journalist Basira Joya Working At A Manufacturing
Plant In Ohio
•
Iran: Schoolgirls Across Five Provinces Hospitalised In New Wave Of Poisoning
Attacks
•
Nooryana Najwa Najib Has Thrown Her Hat Into The Ring To Be The Next Umno Chief
•
Author To Discuss Work Of Female Writers Of Arab Heritage At Lichfield Event
•
What is Pakistan's Problem With Women's Day 'Aurat March'? Explained
•
Firebrand Imam Says Iran Regime Too Weak To Enforce Hijab
Compiled by New
Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/afghan-divorced-remarried-taliban/d/129250
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Divorced
And Remarried, These Afghan Women Are Outlaws Under Taliban Rule
A 22-year-old woman who has been forced into hiding
after the Taliban ruled her divorce to be illegal. (Lorenzo Tugnoli for The
Washington Post)
------
By
Susannah George
March
4, 2023
KABUL
— After her stepfather sold her into marriage at the age of 13 to support his
drug habit, the young Afghan woman fought for years to escape an abusive
husband. She eventually fled his home, secured a divorce and remarried, she
recalled.
Under
the previous government, this woman from western Afghanistan could get a
divorce by testifying that her first husband was physically abusive, even
though he refused to appear before the judge. But under the Taliban’s draconian
interpretation of Islamic law, her divorce is invalid and, as a result, so is
her second marriage.
Former
judges and lawyers estimate that thousands of Afghan women who earlier secured
divorces without a husband’s consent are now in danger under Taliban rule,
facing potential imprisonment and violent reprisals.
The
“one-sided” divorces under the previous government were largely granted to
women trying to escape abusive or drug-addicted husbands, according to the
former judges and lawyers. Since that government’s collapse in 2021, power has
shifted in favor of the divorced husbands, especially those with Taliban ties.
Changes
to the country’s marriage laws are another wrenching example of how the Taliban
has stripped women of their rights. Taliban rule also has severely restricted
their access to education and employment, banned them from public parks and
mandated ultraconservative female dress.
“I
was living a new life — I was happy. I thought I was safe from my [first]
husband; I didn’t think I would be hiding again,” said the woman from western
Afghanistan, speaking on the condition of anonymity, like all of the women
interviewed for this article, to protect her safety.
A
22-year-old woman who has been forced into hiding after the Taliban ruled her
divorce to be illegal. (Lorenzo Tugnoli for The Washington Post)
The
woman, originally from a rural area, had been living safely in an urban area
for several years. But when the previous government was ousted, the legal
system and security forces that once shielded her dissolved overnight.
The
woman, now 22, said she began to get threatening calls from her ex-husband just
weeks after the Taliban takeover. He told her that he had informed Taliban
members in her home village about what she had done and that they were helping
him find her and seek revenge.
Last
year, her second husband abandoned her, fearing that he could also be charged
with adultery because their marriage was no longer considered valid. She was
left behind with her two young daughters from her first marriage and four
months pregnant with his child. “I never heard from him again,” she said.
Her
neighbors started asking questions about where her husband was, and Taliban
security forces were routinely conducting house-to-house searches. So, she
said, she fled with her daughters to another area. Since then, she has moved
four times and hasn’t seen the rest of her family, fearing that a visit could
help her ex-husband track her down.
“When
I’m too scared to leave the house, I send my daughters to the bakery to beg for
old bread so we have something to eat,” she said.
Taliban
spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid refused to respond to questions about how divorce
law has changed under the Taliban or the status of divorces granted during
Afghanistan’s previous government.
Afghanistan’s
deeply conservative society made it difficult for women to secure a divorce
even under the previous government. Especially in rural areas, it’s rare for
women to live outside a traditional family unit.
Despite
social and family pressure, one 36-year-old woman recounted, her marriage had
been so abusive that she felt she had no choice but to seek a divorce. “It was
a shameful thing for me to ask for a divorce,” she said. “Both sides of my
family were threatening to kill me if I didn’t return to my husband.”
A
36-year-old woman who was granted a divorce before the Taliban retook
Afghanistan says she is not welcome in her village anymore. (Lorenzo Tugnoli
for The Washington Post)
After
she was granted the divorce, she contacted her brothers to see if she could
return to their family home. They refused to help. “They said the only option
is if you take rat poison and kill yourself,” she said.
The
sole family member she’s still in touch with is her sister, whose husband also
beats her. “She told me, ‘I wish I had been as clever as you and escaped
before, but now [under the Taliban] that’s impossible,’” she said.
Another
woman, a mother of three, recalled that her first husband had been addicted to
drugs, beat her and refused to provide her and her children with enough food.
After she ran away from him, she was apprehended and imprisoned for nearly a
year, she said, for fleeing her home. Her husband’s family took her sons and
daughter away from her.
Later,
she said, she was transferred to a women’s shelter and kept in a windowless
room for several more years. “It felt like a second prison,” she said. She was
able to leave the shelter only after she got a divorce and remarried. There was
no other way to support herself and her children, she explained.
Her
second husband was kind and provided her with a home and food, she said. But
after the Taliban took over, she began to receive threats from her former
husband’s family.
Her
new husband disappeared. “At first he would call and send me money, but now
it’s been months and I haven’t heard from him,” she said. Like the other women
interviewed for this article, she said she has gone into hiding.
“All
I ever wanted was to educate my children, but now I can’t even put them in
school,” she said, for fear that local authorities will inform on her if they
find out about her past.
A
27-year-old woman who ran away from her first husband saw her children taken
from her. (Lorenzo Tugnoli for The Washington Post)
Under
the Taliban, local aid groups that provided shelter and counseling for women
seeking to escape abusive relationships have been shuttered. One psychologist
said the security forces closed her practice after accusing her and her
colleagues of organizing protests against Taliban rule.
Proving
domestic abuse has also become harder. “Under the new law, women need to first
go to the police station and provide multiple witnesses to prove abuse or if
their husband is addicted to drugs,” she said. But in cases of marital abuse,
there are often no witnesses because the crime occurs behind closed doors.
The
Taliban has also banned women from holding many jobs in the judicial system —
including positions as judges, its spokesman confirmed to The Post — a move
that lawyers say will make it more difficult for women to seek legal help.
One
female lawyer said women often asked her to handle their cases because they
weren’t comfortable discussing private details of their marriages with a man.
She had practiced law for more than five years, handling criminal and family
law cases before the Taliban took over and barred her from going to work. She
said she’s afraid domestic violence will increase further as Afghanistan’s
economic situation deteriorates.
“I
think now fewer women will come forward,” she said. “More will stay in bad
situations and more will die from domestic violence.”
This
lawyer has herself gone into hiding after receiving threatening phone calls
from people she previously helped convict of crimes.
“The
Taliban have created the perfect situation for men seeking revenge,” she said.
“The courts have lost their effectiveness and instead we see on the news women
receiving [public] lashings for adultery.”
Source:
Washington Post
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/03/04/afghanistan-taliban-women-marriage-divorce/
-----
Afghan
TV Fame Broadcast Journalist Basira Joya Working At A Manufacturing Plant In
Ohio
Afghan journalist Basira Joya
------
05-03-2023
It
has been a year since 76,000 Afghan nationals were resettled in communities
across the US, but their stories - especially those of the female journalists
who fled home - are still untold, reports Stephen Starr for the BBC.
For
five years, broadcast journalist Basira Joya spent her days researching guests
and preparing interview questions for the television news show she anchored in
Kabul.
"After
I wrote an article and posted it on my Facebook page, I started getting calls
from the Taliban, so I went into hiding," she told the BBC. For weeks she
was forced to move from house to house with her brother to avoid being found.
Seventeen
months on, Ms Joya, 24, finds herself in a very different place. Gone is the
life of interviewing politicians and keeping up with the latest breaking news
in Kabul. Today, home is 7,000 miles away in Dayton, Ohio.
She
spends up to 12 hours a day, six days a week working at a manufacturing plant -
work, she said, that is mind-numbing and back-breaking. While Ms Joya is not
required by her employer to work so many hours, she says she has little choice.
"I
need to work to help my family," she said, six of whom, including her
parents, live in Takhar province in north-eastern Afghanistan, which was
captured by the Taliban in June 2021.
"I
don't like this job at all, but due to economic problems, I have to work to
send money to my family, because they are in a worse situation in
Afghanistan," she said. "Here I can earn."
It
has been one year since the US government announced that the tens of thousands
of Afghan nationals in its care following the chaotic military pull-out from
Afghanistan had been resettled in host communities across the country.
While
dozens of highly-skilled, renowned female Afghan journalists managed to escape
the country before and during the Taliban takeover, few have been able to
continue their work as reporters.
"They
have left their country in such a traumatising way. They have lost everything
they had," said Zahra Nader, a Canada-based, Afghan journalist who last
year founded the online newspaper Zan Times.
"And
when you have worked so hard to become a journalist (in Afghanistan), you are
proud of what you did. Then suddenly that is taken away from you."
Ms
Nader, who reported for the New York Times in Afghanistan and faced similar
difficulties when attempting to continue her career after moving to Canada in
2017, said that since she started Zan Times, she has been inundated with
requests from female journalists in exile looking for work.
For
Mariam Alimi, a photographer from Kabul, her favourite experiences behind the
camera saw her travelling Afghanistan depicting its people and places.
Working
as an editorial photographer for outlets such as the Washington Post and London
Times during a 15-year career, the 42-year-old said she used her camera to tell
stories of Afghan women breaking barriers in business and sports at a time when
the wider narrative was one of conflict and loss.
Today,
Ms Alimi's life looks quite a bit different. Having fled the Taliban takeover,
she arrived in the US in October 2021, and following a stint in New Jersey, now
lives in Maryland. Like Ms Joya, her journalism career has ground to a halt.
These
days, she works at a senior living community. "I'm enjoying the job,
keeping people happy," she said. "But of course, not as much as I
enjoyed my job working with my camera."
To
help reboot her career, Ms Alimi said she needs to get a driving licence and
start making contacts in the photography world. She said she's lucky that her
family have all moved from Afghanistan and are now in the US.
But
in Ohio, Ms Joya's lot appears decidedly more difficult. She said it has been
painful to look on from afar as the Taliban banned women from attending
universities and from working with non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in
December.
All
the while, she spends up to 72 hours a week working on a factory floor to
support herself - at a time of near-record inflation in the US - and her family
in rural Afghanistan. Her father, a police officer before the Taliban came to
power, recently had to travel thousands of miles to Iran for eye surgery.
Ms
Joya is learning English and has not given up on her goal of continuing her
journalism career. She has reached out to several Afghan news broadcasting
organisations based in Washington DC and London, though none have indicated
there may be a position open for her.
Source:
Bbc
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-64562082
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Iran:
Schoolgirls Across Five Provinces Hospitalised In New Wave Of Poisoning Attacks
Story
by Harshit Sabarwal
4
March 2023
Dozens
of schoolgirls across five provinces of Iran — Hamedan, Zanjan, West
Azerbaijan, Fars and Alborz — were hospitalised on Saturday (March 4) for
poisoning. According to local media, the schoolgirls were transferred to local
hospitals for treatment and they are in generally good condition. Iran has been
seeing a series of poisoning attacks which come over five months into
nationwide protests following the death in custody of 22-year-old
Iranian-Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini, who was arrested for incorrectly wearing her
hijab.
On
Wednesday, at least 10 girls' schools were targetted with poisoning attacks —
seven in Ardabil and three in the capital city of Tehran, the reports said.
Ardabil
forced the hospitalisation of 108 students, all of whom were in stable
condition. According to a report by Fars, parents said that students at one
high school in Tehran's western neighbourhood of Tehransar had been exposed to
a toxic spray. But there are no more details available on this yet.
Poisoning
of schoolgirls in Iran seems to be an ‘act of revenge’ for protesting
On
Friday, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said that he asked the ministers of
intelligence and interior to follow up on poisoning cases, dubbing them the
enemy's conspiracy to create fear and despair in the people.
This
comes after the country's Deputy Health Minister Younes Panahi said the
poisonings were aimed at shutting down education for girls, the news agency AFP
reported on Saturday.
Meanwhile,
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Naseer Kanani said that an investigation into the
poisonings was one of the immediate priorities of the government, to alleviate
the concerns of the families and to hold perpetrators accountable.
Hundreds
of cases of respiratory distress have been reported over the last three months
among schoolgirls mainly in Qom, south of Tehran, with some needing
hospitalisation. The poisonings have provoked a wave of anger across Iran, with
critics denouncing official silence in the face of the growing number of
schools reportedly being targeted.
(With
inputs from agencies)
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Nooryana
Najwa Najib Has Thrown Her Hat Into The Ring To Be The Next Umno Chief
By
Soo Wern Jun
05
Mar 2023
Kuala
Lumpur, March 5 — Nooryana Najwa Najib has thrown her hat into the ring to be
the next Lembah Pantai Puteri Umno chief.
The
only daughter of former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and Datin Seri
Rosmah Mansor comes from a long line of party stalwarts and joined Umno four
years ago but appears to be seeking to play an active role now.
In
an interview with Mingguan Malaysia, the weekend edition of Utusan Malaysia,
published today, the young mother disclosed that her interest in becoming an
active politician began with an initiative called Permata Interact, which
offers English classes and programmes to empower youths in Kerinchi — known as
the poorer side of Lembah Pantai.
“It
was from there that I fell in love with Lembah Pantai. Apart from that, I saw
the initiative receiving positive response among the children, teenagers and
parents in Lembah Pantai.
Nooryana
said she joined Umno in 2019 after returning from the US upon completing her
further education at the University of Harvard and that she was registered as a
member in the Lembah Pantai Umno division.
“Actually,
if people want to talk about it, the turning point for me venturing into
politics was during the 15th general election.
“But
GE15, I moved around solo and I saw for myself how the aunties and uncles
remembered Najib’s services and some missed the Barisan Nasional government,”
she was quoted as saying.
“For
example, there is a single mother who received BR1M and from the assistance she
was able to buy a wheelchair for her son who is a disabled person.
“Apart
from that, I was also able to meet Umno grassroots members who always gave
words of encouragement to my family in facing difficult times. Therefore, I
think this is the best time for me to repay their services and Umno,” Nooryana
told the Malay newspaper.
She
added that this is the best opportunity she has as Umno is currently in a weak
state and needs all the support of its members.
“We
all play a role and it is important to work together heading towards a clear
direction for the betterment of the party,” she said.
Asked
whether she was dependent on her father’s popularity, Nooryana said she could
not deny that Najib’s popularity does carry some advantage.
“But
as his child, I need to build my own strength, my own leadership style with my
brand by fighting for issues close to my heart.
“If
we look at it, it is the same with Najib when he was active in politics. Many
members recognised the services of the late Tun Abdul Razak but Najib later
succeeded in becoming a leader with his own personality.
“He
even advised me to meet as many Umno members as possible while I can. If we
look at why the Bossku brand is successful, it’s because he knows everyone, he
knows people’s names and which division they are from.
She
also expressed her views on who is best to lead Umno at the moment, suggesting
that there should be teamwork between the experienced and the youths.
“The
old timers should offer advice to the younger ones while the younger ones
should offer their views so that Umno is able to sustain and remain relevant.
“Throughout
the election process, I noticed that there are very young leaders who could
have been offered high positions in the party.
“For
example, among Puteri Umno, if they have exceeded the age [to be Puteri Umno]
they should get support from divisions to take over Wanita Umno posts.
“I
also see that Umno leaders have encouraged more youth leaders to be active in
the party and given them more primary posts. This is a positive development,”
she told the newspaper.
She
believed that after the party election, the party will receive support, and as
long as Umno is united, they will be able to regain the people’s trust.
Speaking
of party transformation, Nooryana said while she agreed that there was a need
to transform the party, the leaders need to take up the responsibility to study
how this can be done inclusively, taking into account the views including those
who are outside of the party.
“This
is important because it is people outside of Umno who will decide the fate of
the party. In other words it will be determined by the rakyat themselves,” she
said.
On
the party’s involvement in the unity government, she said that there still many
talents within Umno and they should be given an opportunity to serve in the
party.
“So
in my opinion, it is better for Umno to be part of the government because Umno
must show party leadership in determining the policies and direction of the
country.
“We
want to see Umno synonymous with the will of the people, so we have to play our
role in the government so that the people can feel that Umno has a clear
direction, that it will fight for the people,” she was quoted as saying.
Umno,
the country’s biggest political party, is holding its internal elections this
month, starting with the divisions.
Source:
Malay Mail
-----
Author
to discuss work of female writers of Arab heritage at Lichfield event
by
Lichfield Live
5th
March, 2023
An
author will explore the work of female writers of Arab heritage at a talk in
Lichfield.
Selma
Dabbagh will appear at The George Hotel on 23rd March as part of the Lichfield
Literature Festival.
“It
is a little-known secret that Arabic literature has a long tradition of erotic
writing. Behind that secret lies another – that many of the writers are women.
“We
Wrote in Symbols celebrates the works of 75 of these female writers of Arab
heritage who articulate love and lust with artistry and skill.”
Source:
Lichfieldlive.Co.Uk
-----
What
is Pakistan's Problem With Women's Day 'Aurat March'? Explained
By:
Vidushi Sagar
MARCH
05, 2023
Officials
in Pakistan’s eastern city of Lahore have denied permission for the Aurat march
- which commemorates International Women’s Day, and is frequently met with
harsh opposition in the traditional, patriarchal country. Since 2018, marches
have been staged in major cities across Pakistan to draw attention to women’s
rights. ALSO READ
The
“controversial cards and banners" typically shown by march participants,
as well as security concerns, were listed as grounds for the decision, which
was communicated to march organisers late Friday. These deal with with issues
such menstruation, divorce and sexual harassment, deemed controversial by
authorities in Pakistan.
According
to Hina Husain, a Pakistani-Canadian writer, the Aurat March has found
controversy since 2018, when when slogans such as “Mera Jism, Meri Marzi"
(“My body, my choice") sparked public outcry, and the event was branded
“un-Islamic."
Many
critics have said that the organisation just represents the country’s
bourgeoisie’s first-world problems, while ignoring the obstacles of poverty,
illiteracy, and domestic abuse suffered by millions of working- and
middle-class Pakistani women. This, according to Aurat March, is deliberate
propaganda designed to discredit the movement, Husain writes.
As
per reports, since 2018, numerous organisations of women have organised the
Aurat Azadi March and the Aurat March. Aurat Azadi March is organised by a
socialist feminist group, whilst Aurat March is organised by a liberal feminist
group. The same year, a group of individual women known as the “Hum
Aurtein" collective in Karachi and Lahore launched the Aurat March.
While
a lot of rhetoric revolves around the march in Pakistan, the Aurat March is
carried out by millions of women who having risen to middle-class status since
the 1990s, reject the notion that modernization in Pakistan must be in lockstep
with the West. “Instead, these women embrace “Islamic feminism" and want
to be a part of the global Muslim community, drawing inspiration from nations
such as Turkey. They promote for women’s rights within an Islamic context,
encouraging women to interpret the Quran and highlight the religion’s teachings
on equality,".
“Slogans
like ‘Mera jism meri marzi,’ ‘Apna khana khud garam ker lo,’ ‘I am divorced and
happy’ express defiance against these societal norms, according to a report by
The News.
The
Aurat March rallies have courted controversy because of banners and placards
waved by participants that raise subjects such as divorce, sexual harassment
and menstruation.
Organisers
and participants have been accused of promoting Western, liberal values and
disrespecting religious and cultural sensitivities.
People
carry signs and chant slogans as they participate in Aurat March or Women’s
March in Pakistan March 8, 2021. REUTERS/Akhtar Soomro
Much
of Pakistani society operates under a strict code of “honour", systemising
the oppression of women in matters such as the right to choose who to marry,
reproductive rights and even the right to an education.
Counter-protests
dubbed “Haya (modesty)" marches are commonly staged by religious groups to
call for the preservation of Islamic values.
Source:
News18
-----
Firebrand
Imam Says Iran Regime Too Weak To Enforce Hijab
05-03-2023
As
rumors suggest that Ahmad Alamolhoda, a firebrand top Friday Imam, is likely to
be replaced, he may have gone one step too far in defending his hardline views.
Alamolhoda
said in his sermon on Friday that the regime is no longer powerful enough to
stand against women who defy compulsory hijab and [fundamentalist] men and
women may need to take the law into their hands.
By
this call, Alamolhoda, who is President Ebrahim Raisi’s father-in-law, may have
tried to align with the extremists said to be behind the gas attacks on girls'
schools in several Iranian cities.
The
hardliner cleric opined that the campaign against compulsory hijab has reached
a stage in which any institution defending the dress code will be seen as part
of the government. Alamolhoda's critics will certainly take his comment as yet
another indication of his opposition to what he thinks is the government's
"mild" reaction to defiance against the compulsory dress code imposed
on Iranian women.
On
Thursday, several social media accounts close to clerical circles in Iran
suggested that Almolhoda is to be replaced as the Friday Prayers Imam and
Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's representative in Mashhad. Earlier Alamolhoda was
criticized and cautioned by senior members of Khamenei's office about his
"too hardline" views that will anger women and fuel protests.
One
of the tweets on Thursday even named Ayatollah Mohammad-Javad Nezafat-Yazdi as
the man who is likely to take over Alamolhoda's position. The tweet said:
"Finally, several years of criticism of the controversial Imam in Mashhad
worked and Alamolhoda is going to be replaced by Nezafat-Yazdi." The tweet
charged that Alamolhoda violated the country's cultural policies, banned
concerts and called chaste women who defied the hijab "prostitutes."
On
Friday, Alamolhoda harshly criticized those who say that the Islamic regime
should not try to offend "the enemies". He later made it clear that
by "enemy" he meant the United States, nicknamed by Islamic Republic
officials as "the world's arrogant power." He further claimed that
Iran's revolution is spreading in the region and "That is why the United
States sees the Islamic Republic as its new rival in the region."
He
further charged that opposition to compulsory hijab is another tactic by the
United States to topple the Islamic regime in Iran. He claimed that a think
tank at the Johns Hopkins University in the United States has decided to
increase the rate of exchange for US dollar to 600,000 rials, a level the rates
reached last week. He even claimed that Mark Dubowitz of the Washington-based
Foundation for Defense of Democracies as the brain behind the “economic war
room” against the Islamic Republic.
Alamolhoda's
possible replacement from his high positions are likely to further weaken his
embattled son-in-law Raisi who is seriously under attack even by his own
supporters for failing to save Iran's ailing economy.
Meanwhile,
Iranian officials and politicians have said repeatedly that replacing one
hardliner by another will not solve the country's problems. In one of the
latest cases, Ahmad Alireza Beigi, a lawmaker from Tabriz, has said: "The
Islamic Republic is like a vehicle that has run out of fuel but we are trying
to replace the driver, hoping this will solve the problem."
Alireza
Beigi added: "No change will happen unless we return power to the
people." He further said: "First we need to return to the point where
we made a mistake. We need to allow the people to see the outcome of their own
will in running the affairs of the state."
The
lawmaker said elsewhere: "Short-sightedness and limiting people's choices
have led to the formation of a government in Iran which lacks the people's
support and thus, does not have self-confidence." He reminded that Raisi
was placed in a position of power when the Guardian Council's secretary said,
"We will have a good election even if the people do not take part in it."
He warned: "You cannot expect a good election if you ignore the people.
And you saw that Raisi was elected in an election with minimal turnout."
Source:
Iran Intl
https://www.iranintl.com/en/202303046571
-----
URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/afghan-divorced-remarried-taliban/d/129250