New York County Police Forcibly Removed Hijab of Muslim Woman Marowa Fahmy: Lawsuit Allegation
New Age
Islam News Bureau
19 January 2024
·
New York County Police Forcibly Removed Hijab of
Muslim Woman Marowa Fahmy: Lawsuit Allegation
·
Afghan Girl Gul Afrouz’s Dream Of Becoming Doctor
Crushed By Forced Marriage
·
Afghanistan Women, Girls Bearing Brunt of Economic,
Humanitarian Crisis: UNDP
·
Women’s Rights Fully Secured In Afghanistan: Taliban
Leader
·
Lawsuit Alleges Widespread Sexual Abuse At California
Prisons For Women
Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/hijab-muslim-marowa-fahmy-nyc/d/131549
------
New York County Police Forcibly Removed Hijab of
Muslim Woman Marowa Fahmy: Lawsuit Allegation
Two girls
stand outside of a mosque on Coney Island Avenue in Brooklyn during funeral of
a police officer on 09 February 2023 in New York City (AFP)
-----
18 January 2024
New York's Suffolk County Police Department
(SCPD) is facing a lawsuit for allegedly taking off a Muslim woman's hijab
forcefully and not returning it until after she was released.
The lawsuit was filed on Wednesday by
the Council on American-Islamic Relations (Cair-New York) and Emery Celli
Brinckerhoff Abady Ward & Maazel LLP (ECBAWMM) on behalf of Marowa Fahmy
from East Setauket, and says that in 2022 she was wrongfully arrested by police
due to a false tip.
The legal action seeks compensation for
a rights violation and emotional suffering.
“SCPD’s hijab-removal policy is
inhumane, regressive, and clearly unlawful. Cair-NY asserts that the rights of
Muslim Americans do not stop at the doors of the local police precinct,"
Cair-NY legal fellow, Burhan Carroll, said.
"We will continue to fight on
behalf of our community members who have been wronged by law enforcement. We
hope this filing will result in justice for Ms Fahmy and will protect others
from future harm.”
The lawsuit alleges that during her
arrest, Fahmy's hijab was removed and she was inappropriately touched as male
officers observed her while undergoing a body search by the police department.
Cair said that despite repeated
requests, the police department did not return her hijab, leaving her without
it for several hours until her release.
The lawsuit claims that the actions of
the police department breached both New York State and federal laws.
“What happened here was wrong. Religious
practice and police practice are not incompatible," ECBAWMM partner, Andrew Wilson, said.
"We are hopeful that this case can
set a standard that requires Suffolk County to protect the religious freedom of
New Yorkers who, like Ms Fahmy, choose to wear religious head coverings.”
Source: middleeasteye.net
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/lawsuit-accuses-new-york-county-police-removing-muslim-womans-hijab
-----
Afghan Girl Gul Afrouz’s Dream Of
Becoming Doctor Crushed By Forced Marriage
Photo: Mena
FN
-----
Fidel Rahmati
January 19, 2024
Her face showed that she had accepted
the forced marriage with no other option. She looked resigned, knowing there
was no way out, but she carried it with a heavy heart.
International organizations are aware
that early and forced marriages, as well as the sale of underage girls in the
name of marriage, are ongoing issues in Afghanistan. These issues often involve
heartbreaking personal stories of human rights violations. This report features
the story of a victim of forced marriage who once aspired to wear a doctor’s
white coat.
Just one week ago, Gul Afrouz was
detained along with a group of girls on charges of “improper dress” by the
authorities promoting virtue and preventing vice. When her father and brothers
released her from custody and brought her home, they decided to marry her off
the same night.
Gul Afrouz says she is supposed to be
married to a man whom she barely knows.
She feels trapped and exclaims with
despair and anger, “Why should I get married just because the Taliban
imprisoned me? Wasn’t it my own choice?”
Over the past month, Taliban authorities
have detained many girls, mostly from western Kabul, on charges of “improper
dress.” Most of these girls were released on bail after spending at most one night
in detention, but according to Gul Afrouz, the situation is different for girls
who were subjected to the “Taliban prison experience.”
Like thousands of other girls, she had
her own dreams. Pursuing an education and securing a respectable job topped her
list of aspirations. She says, “I had a dream of becoming a doctor. I had a
strong fascination with the white coats that doctors wear. Whenever I saw them,
I felt inspired.”
Before the Taliban took over, Gul Afrouz
worked half a day at a beauty salon to cover her university expenses.
While gazing at the scattered flowers,
she recounts, “First, we lost our freedom of choice in clothing, then they
deprived us of education, threatened beauticians, closed the doors of beauty
salons, issued a ban on women working, and… How far will this situation
continue?”
Gul Afrouz’s mother, who is herself a
victim of forced marriage, told Khaama Press, “Gul Afrouz had gone to buy a
cake from the market for Mother’s Day, but due to her ill-fate, Taliban took my
daughter to their police station because she was not wearing a hijab.”
According to Gul’s mother, “It’s been a
week; she hasn’t eaten properly, nor does she sleep well. She’s like a statue.
Whatever we say, she just does it. I curse the day I brought this girl into the
world.”
She continues, “Taking a young girl to
the police station is a stain of shame. My daughter has no honour left among
our tribe and relatives. They laugh at my grey hair and the pride of my
children, saying that a certain girl was taken to the police station.”
Gul Afrouz has not spoken about her
experience of detention by the Taliban. She has not shared her experiences even
with her family members. However, her mother reveals that her daughter has not
been in good spirits since her detention.
Source: khaama.com
https://www.khaama.com/afghan-girls-dream-of-becoming-doctor-crushed-by-forced-marriage/
----
Afghanistan Women, Girls Bearing Brunt of Economic,
Humanitarian Crisis: UNDP
Mitra Majeedy
The United Nations Development Programme
(UNDP) said that women and girls are bearing the brunt of the economic and
humanitarian crises where female-headed households work more for the same
household per capita income, consume a lower quantity of food, and women
constantly lose their share of employment compared to men, while girls’
education attendance is at alarmingly low levels.
Speaking at a press event in Kabul, UNDP
Resident Representative for Afghanistan, Stephen Rodriques, said that the
economic loss caused by the restrictions on the female workforce was estimated
to have reached US$ 1 billion at the end of 2022.
“This is largely due to a number of
facts including restricted banking services. Suspension of official development
weakened and isolated …economic institutions, and a lack of foreign direct
investment,” he said.
Rodriques said that 7 out of 10 Afghans
are unable to fulfill their basic needs for food, health care and employment.
“While the economy appears to be
stabilizing, it is simply not growing fast enough to meet the needs of the 35
million in growing population,” he said.
The chargé d'affaires of the Japan
embassy, Takuya Tanimoto, said Japan seeks to help the people of Afghanistan to
become self-reliant,
“to support Afghanistan’s people in
maintaining and improving their lives and becoming self-reliant through their
own efforts,” he said.
The UNDP released its report of 2 years
in review “Changes in Afghan Economy, Households and Cross-Cutting Sectors
(August 2021 to August 2023)” on Thursday.
Source: tolonews.com
https://tolonews.com/index.php/afghanistan-187027
----
Women’s Rights Fully Secured In Afghanistan: Taliban
Leader
Fidel Rahmati
January 18, 2024
Mulla Hibatullah, the Taliban leader,
has claimed in his latest statements that women’s rights in Afghanistan have
been fully secured. Tahira Nasiri, a women’s rights activist and founder of the
women’s liberation movement, however, says that the leader of the Taliban is
making these statements while girls in Afghanistan are being detained and
transferred to security offices on charges of “dress code violations” and
released in exchange for bail.
In an audio recording attributed to the
leader of the Taliban, which was released on Wednesday, January 17, during a
religious scholars’ meeting in Kandahar, it is stated that women’s rights have
been guaranteed in all areas under their rule.
Tahira Nasiri, a women’s rights
activist, says that the human rights situation of women has significantly
deteriorated after the return of the Taliban to Afghanistan, with more than 50
decrees issued to restrict women’s lives and work during this time.
Nasiri told Khaama Press, “Not only are
women deprived of their basic rights such as work and education, but women have
also faced forced and early marriages, murder, detention, and suppression for
over two years.”
Mullah Hibatullah claimed in this
meeting that he had issued orders to secure women’s rights in areas such as
inheritance rights, prevention of forced marriages, and providing a dowry for
women. Now, these rights have been guaranteed.
The interim government leader claims
that women’s rights are now better secured than in previous regimes.
On the other hand, UN human rights
experts say that what women in Afghanistan are going through is sexual
harassment and abuse in this country.
Meanwhile, Joana Cherry, a
representative of the Scottish National Party, recently stated in an article
that the situation of women in Afghanistan and Iran is an example of gender
apartheid and this should be officially recognized in these two countries.
The leader of the Taliban talked about
securing women’s rights completely while it has been more than two years that
educational opportunities for girls are blocked, and a large part of women are
deprived of working in government and non-governmental offices.
Source: khaama.com
https://www.khaama.com/womens-rights-fully-secured-in-afghanistan-taliban-leader/
----
Lawsuit Alleges Widespread Sexual Abuse At California
Prisons For Women
January 19, 2024
Richard Winton
Warning: This article contains graphic
descriptions of sexual abuse.
It was after the daily 9 p.m. head count
at the California Institution for Women in Chino when she was taken out of her
cell by a correctional officer she thought was her friend.
She was 21 and not even 100 pounds and
the officer, who stood about 6-foot-7, was twice her size. "It was unheard
of to be popped after the head count. I knew something was up," she said.
"He told me the lieutenant wanted to see me."
But when she got to the office, it was
dark. "He started to kiss me and put his tongue in my mouth," the
woman said, recalling the 2014 incident. The Times is not naming her as she is
a sex crime victim. "He put his hand in my pants. I tried to pull back,
but he was persistent. Then he put his fingers inside me." The next day,
she said, he acted as if nothing had happened.
The woman is one of 130 former inmates
at California's women's prisons at Chino and Chowchilla, suing the California
Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and more than 30 current and
ex-correctional officers who they say abused them in prison. They are seeking
unspecified damages for sexual assault, battery, negligence, infliction of
emotional distress and violations of civil rights.
Correctional officers at the California
Institution for Women in Chino and Central California Women's Facility
committed widespread sexual abuse against the female detainees whom they
guarded, according to a lawsuit filed last month. In many cases, the officers
targeted and allegedly isolated the inmates and forced them to perform sexual
acts, the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit documents graphic incidents
of sexual abuse stretching back a decade and reveals that the women, when they
were at their most vulnerable, were punished and sometimes the victim of
further abuse and punitive actions if they reported their assailants.
"Every woman's worst nightmare is
being locked inside a facility filled with sexual predators with no means of
escape," said Doug Rochen, an attorney at ACTS Law who is representing the
women. "And that's exactly what each of these women, and likely thousands
more, were subjected to for decades. California paid no attention to their
well-being, left them to suffer at the hands of the worst kinds of sexual
deviants, and made them relive their pain daily while being locked behind
bars."
The lawsuit accused one sergeant at the
Chino prison of more than 40 rapes — incidents of violence that often caused
bleeding — and sexual misconduct involving a female inmate in 2015. Out of fear
of retaliation and further confinement, one plaintiff, identified only as Jane
CL-1 25 Roe, never reported the sexual misconduct, assuming the complaints
would be "unanswered, dismissed, ignored, and buried without investigation
or redress, thereby allowing the sexual misconduct to continue."
One of the women is a victim of an accused
serial-rapist correctional officer, Gregory Rodriguez, who is charged with 96
counts of sex crimes involving nearly a dozen women at the Chowchilla prison
during his tenure, the lawsuit alleges. The 27-year-old woman in 2014 was
allegedly forced to perform oral sex acts on the guard at a time she was
pregnant, according to the lawsuit.
Another woman alleges she was sexually
abused by then-correctional officer Israel Trevino in 2014 when she was 25.
Trevino was terminated in 2018 after other allegations of sexual abuse. Several
pending lawsuits accuse Trevino of abusing numerous victims. Trevino has since
died.
That same former inmate, identified as
Jane MS0 8 Roe, alleges she was also victimized by two other correctional
officers, one who groped her and another who groped her and penetrated her
vagina, according to the lawsuit.
Sexual abuse would occur in areas
throughout the prisons, including cells, closets and storage rooms, the lawsuit
alleges. In one alleged victim's case, she was sexually abused in a cleaning
supplies cupboard five times and eventually reported it to another correctional
officer, who declined to take action. Rochen said it was part of a pattern of
prison officials who systematically ignored complaints of sexual abuse.
California prison officials didn't reply
to a request for comment on the litigation.
Sexual abuse of incarcerated women is a
widespread problem in facilities nationwide, with government surveys suggesting
that more than 3,500 women are sexually abused by prison and jail workers
annually.
In addition to the sexual misconduct by
prison workers, the lawsuit alleged the California Department of Corrections
and Rehabilitation had inadequate hiring practices, procedures and training to
prevent the sexual abuse and conduct.
The lawsuit is the latest in a series
targeting sexual abuse in California's female prisons. Last summer, another law
firm filed litigation involving more than 100 other plaintiffs, including
victims of Rodriguez.
State law gives victims of sexual
assault by police and correctional officers up to 10 years after their
assailants have been convicted of sexual assault or a crime in which sexual
assault was initially alleged to sue. Victims can also sue up to 10 years after
their assailants left the law enforcement agency they were working at when the
assault occurred.
Source: yahoo.com
https://news.yahoo.com/every-womans-worst-nightmare-lawsuit-044653024.html
----
URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/hijab-muslim-marowa-fahmy-nyc/d/131549