CNN’s Christiane Amanpour, An Iranian-British Journalist, Refuses To Wear Headscarf, Iran’s Raisi Cancels Interview
New
Age Islam News Bureau
23
September 2022
•
Saudi King Names Hala Al Tuwaijiri As Human Rights Commission Head, First Woman
To Hold This Post In Saudi Arabia
•
Hotel Visitors in Tunisia Surprised at Burkini Bans
•
Saudi Mission on SpaceX Capsule to Include First Female Arab Astronaut
•
Ahmadiyya Muslim Women Harps On Active Participation Of Women In 2023 General
Election In Nigeria
Compiled
by New Age Islam News Bureau
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CNN’s
Christiane Amanpour, An Iranian-British Journalist, Refuses To Wear Headscarf, Iran’s Raisi
Cancels Interview
CNN's
Christiane Amanpour
-----
22
September, 2022
Iran’s
president refused to show up for a scheduled interview with CNN’s Christiane
Amanpour on Wednesday night after she refused to wear a headscarf as demanded
by Ebrahim Raisi.
Amanpour,
an Iranian-British journalist, posted a thread to Twitter describing what she
encountered after waiting 40 minutes for the interview to start.
“40
minutes after the interview had been due to start, an aide came over. The
president, he said, was suggesting I wear a headscarf, because it’s the holy
months of Muharram and Safar,” she said.
Amanpour
said she politely declined, citing her presence in New York and no law or
tradition requiring wearing a headscarf.
But
the aide said there would be no interview if she did not comply with Raisi’s
demand. “He [the aide] said it was “a matter of respect,” and referred to “the
situation in Iran” - alluding to the protests sweeping the country,” according
to Amanpour.
Protests
have rocked Iran this week, with Iranians, specifically women, burning their
hijabs in response to the death of Mahsa Amini at the hands of Iran’s morality
police last week.
Amini,
a 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian woman, fell into a coma shortly after being
arrested for “improper hijab.” She died on Friday, prompting protests on social
media and the streets.
On
Thursday, Amanpour said the protests and death of Amini were topics she planned
to ask the Iranian president about. “As protests continue in Iran and people
are being killed, it would have been an important moment to speak with
President Raisi,” Amanpour said.
Speaking
on Friday to CNN, Amanpour said she has interviewed every Iranian president
since 1995 and was never asked to wear a headscarf outside of Iran.
Source:
Al Arabiya
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Saudi
King Names Hala Al Tuwaijiri As Human Rights Commission Head, First Woman To
Hold This Post In Saudi Arabia
Dr Hala Al Tuwaijri will be the first woman to hold
the position. Photo: KSA Human Rights Commission
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September
23, 2022
Ramadan
Al Sherbini
Cairo:
Saudi King Salman bin Abdul Aziz has issued a decree appointing Hala Al
Tuwaijiri as the chairwoman of the kingdom’s Human Rights Commission with a
minister rank in a boost of women’s empowerment, Saudi media reported.
She
has replaced Awwad bin Saleh Al Awwad, who has been relieved of the post and
appointed as an advisor at the royal court.
Al
Tuwaijiri is the first woman to hold this post in Saudi Arabia, news portal
Ajel reported, saying her appointment marks a “qualitative step” in giving women
high positions in the kingdom.
Born
in 1974, she obtained a bachelor’s, MA and PhD degrees in English literature
from the King Saud University where she worked as a lecturer.
Al
Tuwaijiri has also held several positions including the secretary-general of
the Saudi Family Affairs Council and head of the Saudi Women’s Affairs Council.
In
recent years, Saudi Arabia has taken major strides for women’s empowerment and
boosting their engagement in public life.
In
2018, the kingdom allowed women to drive for the first time in its history,
ending a decades-old ban on female driving, a step that came to the dislike of
conservatives.
In
another move enhancing women’s empowerment, Saudi authorities allowed women to
travel without a male guard’s approval and to apply for a passport, easing
long-time controls on them.
Source:
Gulf News
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Hotel
Visitors in Tunisia Surprised at Burkini Bans
September
18, 2022
Some
women visiting hotels in Tunisia are criticizing policies that ban a kind of
swimwear known as a burkini.
The
burkini is a piece of clothing used for swimming that covers the entire body
except for the face, hands and feet. It is worn by some Muslim women who wish
to demonstrate modesty. Burkinis are commonly seen on beaches across Tunisia.
But
numerous larger hotels in coastal towns have banned the swimwear from their
pools. The policy shows a lasting European influence in the country. It is also
evidence of divisions that exist between secular and conservative Tunisians.
On
the website Tunisiabooking.com, at least 20 hotels advertise that the burkini
is banned at their hotel, Reuters news agency reports.
Jannette
Mensi recently stayed at the Marriott Hotel in the city of Sousse. She said
hotel employees told her that because she was wearing a burkini, she had to get
out of the main swimming pool and go to another one in the back. That pool is
generally used by children.
She
told Reuters that, as a Muslim woman, she felt the hotel was discriminating
against her.
"I
respect, I accept next to me a lady with a bikini, or someone drinking wine...
I respect them, they should respect me," she said.
The
Marriott hotel worker did not explain the reasons behind the ban. But Mensi has
her own theory for the policy. "I told them: you are colonized from then
until now," she said.
A
Reuters reporter asked Marriott representatives about the incident involving
Mensi. A spokesperson for the Sousse Pearl Marriott Resort & Spa apologized
for what had happened. The spokesperson said the hotel would start permitting
all adult visitors to use the main pool "no matter the swimwear they
choose."
Burkini
bans at Tunisian hotels date back to the 2000s and became more common after the
2011 revolution. At that time, more women started wearing the Muslim head
covering called a hijab. The hijab was banned in the workplace during the
23-year rule of the country’s ousted leader, Zine el Abidine Ben Ali.
The
managing director of a 4-star hotel in the popular beach resort of Hammamet
spoke to Reuters about the issue. The individual, who did not want to be named,
said he banned the swimwear in 2008 following complaints from visitors.
"The
last people I spoke to said that it is disgusting to swim in a pool with
burkinis," the hotel managing director told Reuters.
The
burkini bans have also been criticized online. In a widely shared TikTok video
earlier this year, Emirati influencer Zainab Alsawalhi denounced the
burkini-free Movenpick Hotel in Sousse for "discrimination and hate."
The
Accor group, which owns Movenpick, did not answer questions sent by Reuters seeking
a reaction to the criticism.
I’m
Bryan Lynn.
Source:
Learning English VOA News
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Saudi
Mission on SpaceX Capsule to Include First Female Arab Astronaut
Sept.
22, 2022
PARIS
(Reuters) -Saudi Arabia's mission to the International Space Station next year
aboard a SpaceX capsule will include a woman who would become the world's first
female Arab astronaut, according to Axiom Space, the U.S. company arranging the
mission for the kingdom.
Neither
Axiom nor the Saudi government provided the name for the female astronaut, who
will be accompanied by another Saudi and two Americans as part of Axiom's
second private mission to the space station, slated for early 2023.
A
U.S. official familiar with the mission said the Ax-2 passengers have yet to
receive approval from a NASA-chaired panel of the space station's international
partners. Astronauts' identities are not usually confirmed publicly until that
panel provides approval.
Reuters
first reported Axiom's deal with Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, and that the
mission is slated for early 2023 under a deal signed earlier this year.
Source:
US News
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Ahmadiyya
Muslim Women Harps On Active Participation Of Women In 2023 General Election In
Nigeria
By
Shakirah Adunola
23
September 2022
The
Ahmadiyya Muslim Women Group, lajna Imaillah (the Servants of Allah) has called
on Nigerian women to participate actively in the success of the 2023 general
elections.
This
call was made in a communique at the end of the three-day National Conference
in Ibadan, the Oyo state capital, themed ‘National Building and Women of
Faith’.
The
group recognised the role of women as role models in all sectors of human
endeavours, including stabilising the home and the country in general.
According
to the communique, “women are National builders, homemakers and a force to be
reckoned with in the socio-economic and political landscape in Nigeria, with
the highest number of voters in any elections in the country.
The
group admonished women to vote for capable leaders at all levels and women
candidates with proven integrity.
The
three days gathering feature, Quranic and speech competitions, deliberations on
topical issues germane to national development, inter-faith harmony, medical
outreach and visitation to the Chief Imam of Ibadanland, Federation of Muslim
Women Association of Nigeria, FOMWAN, orphanage home, Broadcasting Corporation
of Oyo state, BCOS, and the Olubadan palace for royal blessings.
Speaking
at the convention, Hajia Taofeeqah Fagbokade, Sadr, Head, Lajnal imaillah
advised women to uphold the best moral behaviours and guidelines as stipulated
in the Holy Quran and Hadith.
“
women should be the moral compass and conscience of the society who will
continue to enjoin good and eschew evil in the environment” .
Dignitaries
at the event included the Iyaloja of Ibadan Land, Alhaja Atere Aminat Bamidele,
Perm. Sec. Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources represented the State Head
of Service, Alhaja Sefiya Oyediran and Deputy Chief Registrar, Oyo State
JudicialService Commission, Alhaja Modinat Akanni, International Amirah of
Criterion and CEO, Qibla Group of Schools, Ibadan, Alhaja Muslimat Ademola.
Also in attendance were the representatives of the Federation of Muslim Women
Association of Nigeria (FOMWAN), Women Wing of Christian Association of Nigeria
(WOWICAN) and Traditional Osun Worshippers, Ibadan, Oyo State.
Source:
Guardian Nigeria
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