Execution Postponed for Iranian Woman, Samira Sabzian, Victim of Child Marriage
New Age
Islam News Bureau
13 December 2023
·
Execution
Postponed for Iranian Woman, Samira Sabzian, Victim of Child Marriage
·
Dr.
Fatemeh Rajaei-Rad, An Iranian Doctor Fired From University For Not Wearing
Hijab
·
Birmingham
Woman's Personal Protective Equipment Hijab Design Now Available Worldwide
·
Scores Of
Underage Rohingya Girls Forced Into Abusive Marriages In Malaysia
·
PTI
Supporter And Fashion Designer Khadija Shah Remanded In Quetta Police Custody
·
The
Terrifying Journey of an Iranian Woman Refugee from Türkiye to Greece
·
Woman
Allowed To Make "Blood Money" Deal To Save Daughter On Death Row In
Yemen
Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/execution-iranian-marriage-sabzian/d/131307
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Execution Postponed for Iranian Woman,
Samira Sabzian, Victim of Child Marriage
Iran Human
Rights calls on the international community to do everything in their power to
save Samira’s life.
------
DECEMBER 13, 2023
Iranian authorities have postponed the
execution of a victim of child marriage who had been sentenced to death for
killing her husband, according to local human rights activists.
Samira Sabzian was set to be hanged on
December 13 in Qarchak prison, Tehran province, but the Norway-based Iran Human
Rights (IHR) group said that the execution was postponed for a week.
“However, this week will pass quickly,
and we must continue the campaign to save Samira with greater strength,” IHR
Director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam said on the social media platform X.
The HRANA news agency, citing a relative
of Sabzian, reported that the inmate was given several months to obtain her
husband's parents' forgiveness and avoid execution.
The source said that Sabzian lost her
ability to speak after being transferred to the quarantine ward. She was also
unable to walk back to the general ward and had to be transported there in a
wheelchair.
Ahead of the planned execution, Sabzian
was allowed to meet with her two children, aged 17 and 10, for the first time
since the start of her incarceration a decade ago.
Sabzian was 15 years old when she got
married. She killed her husband four years later, in 2013. Her children were
aged seven years and six months at the time of the murder.
Under Islamic Penal Code, those accused
of murder are all sentenced to death, regardless of their motives and the circumstances
of the crime. The victim's family is given the choice between accepting the
death penalty or opting for financial compensation.
In Sabzian's case, her children's
grandparents were the plaintiffs and requested the death penalty to be carried out.
The Islamic Republic stands as the
world's leading executioner of women, having hanged at least 16 of them in
2022. At least 17 women have been executed in the country so far this year.
“We are concerned that during the
Christmas holidays, when most of the world is on vacation, more people will be
at risk of execution,” Amiry-Moghaddam said.
"In these times, especially
individuals whose executions under normal circumstances could provoke stronger
reactions are at risk: women, children, protesters, and other political
prisoners," he added.
Source: iranwire.com
https://iranwire.com/en/prisoners/123475-execution-postponed-for-iranian-woman-victim-of-child-marriage/
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Dr. Fatemeh Rajaei-Rad, An Iranian
Doctor Fired From University For Not Wearing Hijab
Fatemeh Rajaei-Rad
-----
TZVI JOFFRE
DECEMBER 12, 2023
Dr. Fatemeh Rajaei-Rad, a professor and
surgeon, was fired from the Babol University of Medical Sciences a little over
a month after she attended an award ceremony for doctors without wearing a
hijab, the doctor announced on her Instagram story on Tuesday.
During the ceremony in late October,
Rajaei-Rad was honored as an exemplary doctor in the city of Amol, northeast of
Tehran, and was seen in a video from the event receiving the award with her
hair uncovered and a scarf wrapped around her neck.
The footage sparked outrage among
Iranian officials, with the Friday Prayer Imam of Amol, Ebrahim Yaqoubian,
calling for "legal and decisive action" to be taken against the
surgeon. Yaqoubian added that the health officials present at the event should
have confronted Rajaei-Rad and not given her the award.
Mohammad Baqer Mohammadi Laini, the
representative for Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in the Mazandaran
Province, expressed outrage as well, saying, "This hijab burning is worse
than the hijab burnings during the protests," according to Radio Farda.
Laini complained that the medical
officials at the ceremony "presented a plaque of appreciation to a brazen
insulter of the greatest Islamic commands and applauded."
The surgeon was summoned to the Amol
prosecutor's office soon after the event, according to Iranian reports.
Reza Hajipour, the representative of
Amol People in Iran's parliament, as well as the head of Amol's paramedical
faculty, the head of Imam Khomeini Hospital in Amol, and the head of the
medical system of the Mazandaran Province were present at the ceremony.
The head of the hospital was fired and
replaced after the event, according to the Fars News Agency.
After the incident, a video was
published showing the surgeon apologizing for not wearing the hijab and for
"insulting the sanctities" of religious citizens. In the video,
Rajaei-Rad also said that she doesn't intend to seek asylum elsewhere, saying
"My roots are in this land and water and I have no intention of leaving my
country. I chose Iran to live, serve, and die, and that's why I have to obey
all laws, including observing hijab."
Shortly after the video was published, a
close relative of Rajaei-Rad told the Independent Persian that the surgeon had
been detained, beaten, and threatened by agents of the intelligence department
in Amol and forced by the agents to read a pre-written text for the video.
Iranian authorities have regularly
published videos of detainees confessing and apologizing for supposed crimes,
with human rights organizations finding that the detainees were often abused
and tortured and forced to film the videos with a pre-made script.
The president of Babol University of
Medical Sciences told Fars News Agency in October that the misconduct board for
legal procedures to be carried out for her membership on the academic board to
be revoked. On Tuesday, a final decision was made to fire her from the
university.
"The roaring river finds its way,
even if it has to pass through hard and impenetrable rocks," wrote
Rajaei-Rad on her Instagram story as she shared the news that she had been
fired.
Later on Tuesday, her Instagram page
became inaccessible with an error page saying the page may have been removed.
Mahsa Amini, protesters awarded EU human
rights award
The firing of Rajaei-Rad came as the
European Parliament awarded the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought to Mahsa
Amini and the Woman, Life, Freedom Movement. Amini's family was originally
meant to be present at the award ceremony, but Iranian authorities confiscated
their passports and banned them from leaving Iran on Saturday.
Amini, a Kurdish Iranian woman, was
arrested by "morality police" officers in Tehran in mid-September
last year for allegedly incorrectly wearing her hijab, with her family saying
that she was beaten by the officers in the van that brought her to the police
station.
At the police station, she collapsed and
was brought to the hospital where she later died. Her relatives have told
foreign media that they were kept largely in the dark about the situation.
Amini’s death sparked intensive
nationwide protests, commonly referred to as the “Woman, Life, Liberty” (“Jin,
Jiyan, Azadî” in Kurdish) protests, last September, which continued in full
strength for months on end.
The protests drew the world’s attention,
with videos showing demonstrators openly clashing with Iranian security forces
in an unprecedented way. In a number of videos shared online, armed security
forces could be seen fleeing as masses of protesters confronted their attempts
to suppress the demonstrations.
In August, the commander-in-chief of
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Hossein Salami, called the
protests “the strongest, most dangerous, and most serious” such demonstrations
in the regime’s history.
While Iranian authorities temporarily
stepped back enforcement of hijab laws after the protests, since the summer
enforcement of hijab laws has been intensified, with police deploying
technological measures to catch women without the headscarf.
Source: jpost.com
https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/iran-news/article-777766
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Birmingham Woman's Personal Protective
Equipment Hijab Design Now Available Worldwide
13th December 2023
Oprah Flash
A personal protective equipment (PPE)
hijab created by a woman from Birmingham has now become available worldwide.
Aminah Shafiq, a Severn Trent water
quality scientist, wears a headscarf and felt more accessible gear was needed
for water treatment site visits.
The 26-year-old then created the design
in 2021.
"Your choice of clothing shouldn't
be a barrier to the career you want," she said.
Since making the initial prototype with
PPE manufacturers Pulsar, she has been approached by other companies looking to
implement the PPE hijab in the workplace.
Her creation is now being used by firms
across the globe.
Ms Shafiq added: "Unless it impacts
you directly, people won't really know the barrier something like this can have
and it's been a true experience in why diversity matters.
"For me, it was the issue of having
to excuse myself to adjust my headscarf if it was a little uncomfortable under
PPE jackets, or my hard hat not fitting properly or having lots of material to
think about where to place it."
Ms Shafiq has travelled the world to
raise awareness about inclusion in the workplace through conferences and
seminars, and hopes to empower other Muslim women.
She said: "Since creating it I've
had so many women and young girls get in touch who have told me they are
looking into a career in engineering now, now they know that something like
this exists."
The creator went on to win awards at the
Water Industry Awards and British Muslim Awards for the design, and was also
one of the baton bearers at the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games.
She now sits on Severn Trent's Ethnicity
Network Group, to help boost inclusivity within the company.
Source: bbc.com
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-birmingham-67695189
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Scores Of Underage Rohingya Girls Forced
Into Abusive Marriages In Malaysia
13th December 2023
KUALA LUMPUR: In a bedroom in Malaysia that has become a
prison, the 14-year-old girl wipes away tears as she sits cross-legged on the
concrete floor. It is here, she says, where her 35-year-old husband rapes her
nearly every night.
Last year, the Rohingya girl sacrificed
herself to save her family, embarking on a terrifying journey from her homeland
of Myanmar to a country she had never seen, to marry a man she had never met.
It wasn’t her choice. But her family,
she says, was impoverished, hungry and terrified of Myanmar’s military, which
attacked the country’s Rohingya Muslim minority in 2017. In desperation, a
neighbour found a man in Malaysia who would pay the 18,000 ringgit ($3,800) fee
for the girl’s passage and — after she married him — send money to her family
for food.
And so, the teenager — identified along
with all the girls in this story by her first initial to protect her from
retaliation — hugged her parents goodbye. Then M climbed into a trafficker’s
car packed with children.
Deteriorating conditions in Myanmar and
in neighboring Bangladesh’s refugee camps are driving scores of underage
Rohingya girls to Malaysia for arranged marriages with Rohingya men who
frequently abuse them, The Associated Press found in interviews with 12 young
Rohingya brides who have arrived in Malaysia since 2022. The youngest was 13.
All the girls interviewed by the AP said
their controlling husbands rarely let them outside. Several said they were
beaten and raped during the journey to Malaysia, and five said they were abused
by their husbands. Half the girls are pregnant or have babies, despite most
saying they were not prepared for motherhood.
“This was my only way out,” says
16-year-old F, who in 2017 watched as Myanmar’s soldiers burned her house and
killed her aunt. “I wasn’t ready to be married, but I didn’t have a choice.”
These unwanted marriages are the latest
atrocity bestowed upon Rohingya girls: from childhoods marred by violence to
attacks where security forces systematically raped them to years of hunger in
Bangladesh’s squalid refugee camps.
Global apathy toward the Rohingya crisis
and strict migration policies have left these girls with almost no options. The
military that attacked the Rohingya overthrew Myanmar’s government in 2021,
making any return home a life-threatening proposition. Bangladesh has refused
to grant citizenship or working rights to the million stateless Rohingya
languishing in its camps. And no country is offering large-scale resettlement
opportunities.
And so the Rohingya are increasingly
fleeing — and those who are fleeing are increasingly female. During the 2015
Andaman Sea boat crisis, in which thousands of Rohingya refugees were stranded
at sea, the vast majority of passengers were men. This year, more than 60% of
the Rohingya who have survived the Andaman crossing have been women and
children, according to the United Nations’ refugee agency.
In Bangladesh, Save the Children says
child marriage is one of the agency’s most reported worries among camp
residents.
“We are seeing a rise in cases of child trafficking,”
says Shaheen Chughtai, Save the Children’s Regional Advocacy and Campaigns
Director for Asia. “Girls are more vulnerable to this, and often this is linked
to being married off in different territories.”
Accurate statistics on how many Rohingya
child brides live in Malaysia don’t exist. But local advocates who work with
the girls say they have seen a spike in arrivals over the past two years.
“There are really a lot of Rohingyas
coming in to get married,” says Nasha Nik, executive director of the Rohingya
Women Development Network, which has worked with hundreds of child brides in
recent years.
Malaysia is not a signatory to the
United Nations’ refugee convention, so the girls — most of whom are
undocumented — are considered illegal immigrants. Reporting their assaults to
authorities would put them at risk of being thrown into one of Malaysia’s
detention centers, which have long been plagued by reports of abuse.
Malaysia’s government did not respond to
the AP’s requests for comment.
M didn’t even know her future husband’s
name when she climbed into the trafficker’s car alongside several other girls
headed to Malaysia for marriage.
For a week, they traveled through
Myanmar and Thailand. After crossing into Malaysia, they stopped at a house.
Four of the trafficker’s friends arrived and each selected a girl.
The man who chose M — who looked to be
around 50 — drove her to another house. When they got inside, she says, he
raped her.
In the morning, he locked her in the
bedroom and left her there all day with no water or food. The next night, he
returned and raped her again. She was terrified he would kill her.
M was then handed over to another man
who drove her to her fiancé’s apartment. She didn’t dare tell her fiancé she’d
been raped, because then he would reject her.
Her fiancé insisted they get married
that day. In agony and bleeding from the rapes, M told her husband she had her
period, so he wouldn’t touch her.
A Rohingya women’s advocate, who
confirmed M’s account to the AP, heard about the situation and brought M to the
hospital for treatment.
When M returned to her husband, she
learned he was already married with two children. She had no power to object to
the situation, or to the beatings, cruel taunts and rapes she regularly
endures. She said nothing about the abuse to her parents, lest her husband stop
sending them 300 ringgit ($64) a month.
She sits now in her bedroom, her thin
frame cloaked in teddy bear pajamas. Dangling from the ceiling is a rope
designed to hold a hammock for any babies her husband forces her to bear.
She once dreamed of going to school and
becoming a teacher or a doctor. But she has stopped thinking of her future. For
now, she just tries to survive her present.
“I want to go back home, but I can’t,”
she says. “I feel trapped.”
Source: newindianexpress.com
https://www.newindianexpress.com/world/2023/dec/13/i-feel-trapped-scores-of-underage-rohingya-girls-forced-into-abusive-marriages-in-malaysia-2641170.html
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PTI Supporter And Fashion Designer
Khadija Shah Remanded In Quetta Police Custody
December 13, 2023
QUETTA: An Anti-Terrorism Court on
Tuesday granted custody of PTI supporter and fashion designer Khadija Shah to
police for three days in a case relating to incitement to violence.
Quetta police had apprehended her in
Lahore and brought her to Balochistan by road amid tight security.
The police sought a 14-day remand,
alleging that Ms Shah was involved in inciting violence through WhatsApp and
social media. The investigation officer emphasised the need for a forensic
examination of the suspect’s mobile phone.
Ms Shah’s lawyer Iqbal Shah contested
the 14-day remand request, asking why the mobile phone’s forensic examination
had not been conducted over the past six months.
After hearing arguments from both sides,
ATC judge Sadat Bazai rejected the police’s plea for the 14-day remand, and
instead granted a three-day remand. The judge instructed the authorities to
present Ms Shah before the court after the completion of the three-day remand
period.
Earlier, Quetta police took Ms Shah into
custody after an ATC in Lahore released her following the withdrawal of her
detention order by the Punjab government. The Quetta police informed the Lahore
ATC that Ms Shah was wanted for investigation in connection with violent attacks
on May 9.
The Quetta ATC had previously issued
arrest warrants for her in this regard.
Source: dawn.com
https://www.dawn.com/news/1797416/khadija-shah-remanded-in-quetta-police-custody
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The Terrifying Journey of an Iranian
Woman Refugee from Türkiye to Greece
DECEMBER 13, 2023
Homa, 42, has experienced the hardships
of refugees and asylum seekers in Türkiye, where she endured 10 years of exile
without a work permit.
As she tried to reach Greece for a
better life, she was raped by people in plainclothes while Greek border police
were watching.
Homa's journey began when the Ministry
of Intelligence raided her office in 2013 because she had converted to
Zoroastrianism.
However, tragedy struck when her
20-year-old child, who faced the discrimination and challenges of being
transgender, attempted to take her own life.
Homa's younger daughter, aged 13, left
Iran at a young age and is not able to read or write in Persian.
She has also had to endure the
anti-immigrant sentiment prevalent in Türkiye, making it difficult for her to
form friendships and pursue her interests, such as swimming.
Despite the hardships she has faced,
Homa remains determined to protect her children and share her story in the hope
of empowering other refugees who are struggling with challenges.
Homa has to support her family by
working odd jobs without proper authorization.
A few years ago, she separated from her
partner because his bipolar disorder had a negative impact on their children.
Despite being recognized as a refugee by
the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in 2016, Homa's
asylum application was abruptly rejected by Turkish immigration officials the
following year.
In such cases, asylum seekers have the
right to appeal the decision before a court. But according to human rights
activists and refugees living in Türkiye, the country’s courts usually uphold
the decision made by the Immigration Office.
"If the court's decision comes and
they deport me back to Iran, what will happen to me? If I'm lucky, they won't
execute me, but with the case they've made against me, I'll probably spend
several years in prison," Homa tells IranWire, in reference to the death
penalty imposed in Iran for "apostasy."
Before leaving her country in 2013, Homa
converted to Zoroastrianism, a religion that she had been practicing for some
time.
She was in contact with other
Zoroastrians inside and outside of Iran and was seeking to practice the customs
and rituals of her chosen faith when security agents raided her workplace, forcing
her to flee Iran.
Homa now lives in fear of being deported
to a country where the government could send her to prison for years or execute
her.
In mid-October of this year, Homa
decided to embark on a dangerous journey.
Haunted by nightmares of being deported
to Iran, raped by security forces, and executed, she found a Telegram group
with other people who sought to cross into Greece: "I knew it was a risky
path and that anything could happen. As a single mother, what I've endured with
my children during these 10 years led me to believe that I should take this
risk and find a way to save them and myself.
"I thought of the wild animals in
the forest, the unknown people I was traveling with, and the possibility of
being robbed or beaten. But I couldn't think of any other solution. I thought
to myself, ‘No matter how difficult it may be, I will reach Greece and then
bring my children. It's better than Türkiye anyway.’"
On October 20, Homa, along with seven
other people, including six-year-old twins, set off on foot toward the Greek
border.
After a day of walking, they crossed
into EU member state, where they were
apprehended by police. Homa and a young man managed to escape, while the rest
of the group was sent back to Türkiye.
Hiding in the forests around the highway
No. 85, the pair awaited nightfall to resume their journey.
Around 6:00 p.m., they were caught again
by police. This time, they were stripped of their shoes to prevent escape and
forced to descend the mountain barefoot.
Homa’s feet were lacerated by thorns.
After reaching a dirt road, they were
loaded onto a truck “like sheeps" and were transported to a police
checkpoint near a river, from where they were to be deported back to Türkiye.
Homa and the other man pretended being
married together to avoid further harassment. Before reaching the police
checkpoint, Homa informed them that she could face execution if deported to
Iran, but her pleas went unanswered.
Finally, Homa and the man were handed
over to a uniformed policeman and three people in plainclothes who had their
faces concealed behind masks.
They retrieved their personal
belongings, including mobile phones and money.
Subsequently, the agents subjected Homa
to a degrading search during which the police officer touched her genitals.
As the pair protested vehemently, they
were beaten with batons, punched and kicked by the plainclothes agents, whom
Homa calls "mercenaries."
Upon reaching this part of the story,
Homa's anger gives way to tears.
"A few meters away, there was a
shack, a police outpost in the middle of the forest. The policeman entered the
building.
"Minutes later, a mercenary
approached and informed me that the police wanted to speak to me. He escorted
me there (the shack), and the mercenary demanded my phone password.
"I refused and I was beaten until I
complied. As he perused my gallery, he made disturbing comments about my
daughter's appearance, saying she is beautiful and that having sex with her
would be enjoyable…it was psychological torture.
"He reached down and undid his
pants, then forcibly turned my head toward him. I screamed, but he pushed my
head forward so that I could not make a sound. He was moving my head back and
forth...my mouth was closed and tears were streaming down my face. He pulled my
hair," she recounted.
After that, the "mercenary"
summoned another masked individual and forced Homa to perform oral sex again.
Homa was later taken behind the shack,
forcibly stripped and raped: "He did whatever he wanted with me. I was
speechless. He threatened me, claiming they had stabbed a couple the previous
night and thrown them into the river. I don't know if it was true, but I feared
for my children's safety, as they have no one but me."
The police officer and masked men took
Homa and her companion on a boat to cross the river and return them back to
Türkiye.
Even during the short river journey, the
"mercenaries" continued to sexually harass Homa.
Eventually, they reached the Turkish
side and, despite hunger, fatigue and physical injuries, they were compelled to
walk barefoot through fields for hours before reaching a border village.
They were then transfered to Istanbul by
car.
"I never imagined someone could be
raped by the Greek police in this manner. I was in such bad shape that a friend
in Istanbul screamed when she saw me,” Homa says. "She cared for me at
home for two or three days until I could walk again and return to Denizli. Even
now, my children are unaware of what happened.”
Following the harrowing events, Homa
reached out to the United Nations and reported the incident, but she received
no response.
After contacting Assam, a UN-funded
organization that supports asylum seekers and refugees, she secured a phone
appointment with a psychiatrist a month later to get medication.
Exhausted and in pain, Homa awaits the
court's ruling but has little hope about the result of her appeal.
She believes that if human rights
organizations hear her story, they may do something for her and other women who
dared to confront a government that suppresses dissenting voices.
Many of these women, especially over the
past year, have sought refuge in Türkiye and Iraq, enduring homelessness,
stress and the constant threat of deportation.
Source: iranwire.com
https://iranwire.com/en/special-features/123470-the-terrifying-journey-of-an-iranian-woman-refugee-from-t%C3%BCrkiye-to-greece/
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Woman Allowed To Make "Blood
Money" Deal To Save Daughter On Death Row In Yemen
December 13, 202
Abhimanyu Kulkarni
New Delhi: A Kerala nurse on death row
in Yemen for murder will now be represented by her mother, who was granted
permission by the Delhi High Court to travel to the West Asian country and
negotiate her daughter's release. The court, in a ruling on Tuesday, permitted
the mother to go to Yemen and try and negotiate a "blood money" deal
to save her daughter Nimisha Priya.
"Blood money" is the
compensation decided by the victim's family to secure her release, a direct
negotiation in accordance with the Shariah law prevalent in Yemen. But for this
negotiation, it is important for her mother to travel to Yemen.
But Centre imposed a travel ban in 2017
due to which Indian citizens cannot visit Yemen without the permission of the
government. Delhi High Court directed the Centre to relax its notification, and
allow Prema Kumari, Nimisha's mother, to travel to Yemen.
The high court took note of the Centre's
submission that India does not have diplomatic ties with Yemen and it has
closed down its embassy there, and that no international treaty is applicable
in that country in the present scenario.
The court has asked the mother to submit
an affidavit stating that she will travel at her own risk and responsibility
without any liability to the Indian government.
Nimisha Priya was found guilty of
killing a Yemeni national and has been in prison since 2018. She injected Talal
Abdo Mahdi with sedatives in an attempt to retrieve her passport from his
possession.
She was sentenced to death by a trial
court in Yemen in 2018 and her family has been fighting for her release since
then. With Yemini Supreme Court rejecting her appeal, the only hope for her is
a "blood money" deal between the families.
Source: ndtv.com
https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/kerala-nurse-on-death-row-in-yemen-her-last-hope-mother-negotiating-release-4664015
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URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/execution-iranian-marriage-sabzian/d/131307