Now, Hindu Women Threatened With Rape And Death By Right-Wing ‘Activists’ For Befriending Young Muslim Men
New Age
Islam News Bureau
06 September 2023
·
Now, Hindu
Women Threatened With Rape And Death By Right-Wing ‘Activists’ For Befriending
Young Muslim Men
·
"Honour
Killings": Tibaal-Ali, The Iraqi YouTube Star Killed By Her Father
·
French Schools
Refuse Dozens Of Girls Wearing Abayas
·
Iranian Forces
Arrest Mahsa Amini’s Uncle Before Anniversary Of Her Death
·
Iran: Authorities
Shut Down ‘Mojhaye Khoroushan Waterpark’ As Women Oppose Wearing Hijab
Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/hindu-muslim-men-right-wing-activists/d/130616
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Now, Hindu Women Threatened With Rape
And Death By Right-Wing ‘Activists’ For Befriending Young Muslim Men
Representative photo
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By SAMRIDHI TEWARI
New Delhi, September 06, 2023
Tanu (name changed to protect identity),
19, remembers her dream of becoming the first engineer in her family. “Now, I
only dream of being able to get out of my house,” she says. After she received
death and rape threats on social media last month, her parents won’t even allow
her onto the veranda of their home in Jamshedpur, Jharkhand.
Some weeks ago, Tanu posted a picture of
her and her Muslim boyfriend on Instagram. It was picked up and tweeted
multiple times, with details of her Instagram handle, school and home
addresses. Threats started pouring into her DMs.
There are increasing reports of social
media accounts associated with the right-wing (the bios usually use words like
“Proud Hindu”) targeting girls and women who are Hindu, with dire consequences.
Women who put out photographs with Muslim men or those who may dance to a tune
covering their faces (akin to a hijab) are all targeted. An excuse used for
this online violence is ‘love jihad’. ‘Informants’ report women to WhatsApp
groups or certain social media accounts, and a stream of online and offline
abuse begins.
Kalpana Srivastava, who says in her
Twitter bio that she is a lawyer, was one of those who had retweeted Tanu’s
photos and personal details, escalating the abuse and hate. “There is a sudden
rise in cases of ‘love jihad’, and young girls are trapped in it. Regarding the
tweet, I only shared my views and asked her questions about her friendship with
the boy,” says Ms. Srivastava, who has no relationship with either the woman or
the man. She has in the past retweeted similar content. Her timeline features
numerous pictures of her with BJP leaders.
“The girl’s details were available on
her account, and if she faced any kind of harassment or abuse, she should have
filed a police complaint,” Ms. Srivastava says, nonchalantly.
Going to the police was never an option,
Tanu says, because of the stigma of having a Muslim boyfriend and being “called
out” for it, with Bajrang Dal members even coming to her house to threaten the
family. “They keep an eye on me. It is difficult to imagine because these are
people from my own community. How could they do this to me?” she says.
Across north India
In her home in western Uttar Pradesh
(U.P.), Riya (name changed), 16, says, “I made a mistake by creating a social
media account and an even bigger mistake by posting a photograph with him,”
referring to her friend who is Muslim.
In Riya’s case, too, her parents do not
allow her to step out of the house following the threats. “Not just my photos,
the details of my school were leaked too,” she says. She deactivated her
account after a few days. “I was scared for myself and my family. Even my brother
received threats.”
Consequently, Riya dropped out of school
and tuition and now says that she wants a break. “Pursuing a career outside my
city is an unimaginable dream after what I have been through,” she says,
referring both to her own trauma and her parents’ fears.
A Bajrang Dal district coordinator from
western U.P., Vivek Tyagi, who has been actively working against Hindu-Muslim
partnerships, says, “We are only creating awareness about what is happening
with Hindu girls. If we don’t take action today, we will have to bear the
consequences tomorrow,” he says, admitting that personal details of the girls
are being shared on social media.
Looking for acceptance
Worried for her life, her parents and
siblings, Shilpi (name changed), 18, took the decision of moving out from the
city where she was studying to her village. “I paid the price for an Instagram
reel I did last year, in which I just covered my head,” she says.
Insinuating that she was being converted
to Islam, a tweet that received over 6,000 likes, spread this month. It was
accompanied by a photograph of her with a Muslim friend from her neighbourhood.
On her Instagram account, she had to individually delete hundreds of comments
and block accounts. “It is frustrating because these are people from my own
community, resorting to name calling,” she says, adding that when she tried to
explain it was just a song, “they would shut me down”.
“My parents don’t want me to work or
study further. They plan on getting me married. But because of this incident,
they think nobody will accept me,” she says, exhibiting the trauma and fear of
women who often bear the consequences of gender-based violence.
Source; thehindu.com
https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/now-hindu-women-threatened-with-rape-and-death-by-right-wing-activists-for-befriending-young-muslim-men/article67001934.ece
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"Honour Killings": Tibaal-Ali, The Iraqi YouTube Star Killed By Her Father
Tibaal-Ali, The
Iraqi YouTube Star
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5 September 2023
By Gem O'Reilly
Young, vibrant and bubbly, YouTuber Tiba
al-Ali became a hit with her fun-loving videos about her life.
She started her channel after moving
from her native Iraq to Turkey at the age of 17 in 2017, talking about her
independence, her fiancé, make-up and other things. Tiba appeared happy and
attracted tens of thousands of subscribers.
This January she went back to Iraq to
visit her family - and was murdered by her father. However, the killing was not
considered to have been "pre-meditated" and her father was sentenced
to only six months in prison.
Tiba's death sparked protests across
Iraq about its laws regarding so-called "honour killings", the case
highlighting how women are treated in a country where conservative attitudes
remain dominant.
Tiba built an online following of more
than 20,000 subscribers - a figure which has swelled since her death.
She posted videos daily and enjoyed the
new lifestyle Turkey had opened up for her.
In her first video in November 2021,
Tiba said she moved to improve her education, but chose to stay because she
enjoyed life there.
According to reports, her father, Tayyip
Ali, did not agree with her decision to move there - nor to marry her
Syrian-born fiancé, with whom she lived in Istanbul.
It is believed Tiba became involved in a
family dispute when she returned to Iraq to visit her home in Diwaniya in
January.
Reports say Tayyip Ali strangled her to
death in her sleep on 31 January. He later turned himself in to the police.
A member of the local government where
Tiba was killed said her father was sentenced in April to the short prison
term.
In the wake of Tiba's murder, hundreds
of women took to the streets in Iraq to protest against legislation around
"honour killings".
The Iraqi Penal Code permits
"honour" as a mitigation for crimes of violence committed against
family members, according to Home Office analysis.
The Code allows for lenient punishments
for "honour killings" on the grounds of provocation or if the accused
had "honourable motives".
Iraq's interior ministry spokesman, Gen
Saad Maan, told the BBC: "An accident happened to Tiba al-Ali. In the
perspective of law, it is a criminal accident, and in other perspectives, it is
an accident of honour killings."
Gen Maan said Tiba and her father had a
heated argument during her stay in Iraq.
He also explained that the day before
her murder, police had attempted to intervene.
When asked about the response of
authorities to the killing, Gen Maan said: "Security forces dealt with the
case with the highest standards of professionalism and applied the law.
"They started a preliminary and
judicial investigation, gathered all the evidence and referred the file to the
judiciary to pass a sentence."
'Rooted in misogyny'
Tiba's killing, and the lenient sentence
handed to her father, sparked outrage among Iraqi women and women's rights
activists across the world about the lack of protection from domestic violence
for women and girls under Iraqi law.
Women in Iraq and on social media have
been protesting after Tiba's death
For instance, in Article 41 of Iraq's
penal code the "punishment of a wife by her husband" and "the
disciplining by parents... of children under their authority within certain
limits" are considered legal rights.
Article 409 meanwhile states: "Any
person who surprises his wife in the act of adultery or finds his girlfriend in
bed with her lover and kills them immediately or one of them, or assaults one
of them so that he or she dies or is left permanently disabled, is punishable
by a period of detention not exceeding three years."
Female rights activist, Dr Leyla Hussein
told the BBC: "These killings are often rooted in misogyny and a desire to
control women's bodies and behaviour.
"Using the term "honour
killing" can be harmful to the victims and their families," she said.
"It reinforces the idea that they are somehow responsible for their own
deaths, that they brought it upon themselves by doing something wrong or
shameful."
The UN has estimated that 5,000 women
and girls across the world are murdered by family members each year in
"honour killings".
Five days after Tiba's death, Iraqi
security forces prevented 20 activists from demonstrating outside the Supreme
Judicial Council in Baghdad.
They held placards saying "Stop
killing women" and "Stop [article] 409", and chanted:
"There is no honour in the crime of killing women."
Ruaa Khalaf, an Iraqi activist and human
rights defender, said: "Iraqi law greatly needs to be improved, amended
and harmonised with international conventions."
Ms Khalaf said the sentence handed to
Tiba's father was "unfair", and that she saw such cases as evidence
of "provisions and legislations that violate women's rights".
HananAbdelkhaleq, an Iraqi advocate for
women's rights, said: "They need to find a solution. This must stop.
Killing women has become too simple.
"Strangling, stabbing. It has become
easy. We hope that the law will stop article 409, cancel it."
Other female activists on social media
also noted that Tiba's killing was not an isolated incident and that many
"honour killings" went unreported.
The murder has sparked conversations about
tougher laws to protect women in the country and beyond.
Twenty demonstrators stood outside the
country's Supreme Judicial Council the Sunday after Tiba's death
Ala Talabani, head of the Patriotic
Union of Kurdistan's bloc in the Iraqi parliament, said: "Women in our
societies are hostage to backward customs due to the absence of legal
deterrents and government measures, which currently are not commensurate with
the size of domestic violence crimes."
She called on fellow MPs to pass the
draft Anti-Domestic Violence Law, which explicitly safeguards family members
from acts of violence, including homicides and severe physical harm.
The United Nations Mission in Iraq said
Tiba's "abhorrent killing" was a "regretful reminder of the
violence and injustice that still exists against women and girls in Iraq
today".
It also called on the Iraqi government
to "support laws and policies to prevent violence against women and girls,
take all necessary measures to address impunity by ensuring that all
perpetrators of such crimes are brought to justice and the rights of women and
girls are protected".
For many, Tiba's story has put the
spotlight on outdated laws failing to protect women from harm and gender-based
violence across the world.
But for others she is just another
example of what is often covered up and the thousands before her who never had
their story told.
Source: bbc.com
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-64533577
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French schools refuse dozens of girls
wearing abayas
06 Sep 2023
PARIS, Sept 6 — French schools sent
dozens of girls home for refusing to remove their abayas — an over-garment from
the shoulders to the feet worn by Muslim women — on the first day of the school
year, a government minister said Tuesday.
Defying a ban on the Muslim robe, nearly
300 girls showed up Monday morning wearing an abaya, Gabriel Attal told the BFM
broadcaster.
Most agreed to change out of the robe,
but 67 refused and were sent home, he said.
The government announced last month it
was banning the abaya in schools, saying it broke the rules on secularism in
education that have already seen Muslim headscarves banned on the grounds they
constitute a display of religious affiliation.
The move gladdened the political right
but the hard-left argued it represented an affront to civil liberties.
Attal said the girls refused entry were
given a letter addressed to their families saying that “secularism is not a
constraint, it is a liberty”.
If they showed up at school again
wearing the abaya there would be a “new dialogue”, the minister said.
Late Monday, President Emmanuel Macron
defended the controversial measure, saying there was a “minority” in France who
“hijack a religion and challenge the republic and secularism”, leading to the
“worst consequences”.
He cited the murder three years ago of
teacher Samuel Paty for showing caricatures of the prophet Mohammed during a
civics education class.
“We cannot act as if the terrorist
attack, the murder of Samuel Paty, had not happened,” he said in an interview
with You Tube channel HugoDecrypte.
‘Elevated risk of discrimination’
An association representing Muslims has
filed a motion with the State Council, France’s highest court for complaints
against state authorities, for an injunction against the ban on the abaya and
the qamis, its equivalent dress for men.
The Action for the Rights of Muslims
(ADM) motion was being examined Tuesday.
France’s Council of the Muslim Faith
(CFCM), established to represent Muslims before the government, warned that the
banning of the abaya could create “an elevated risk of discrimination” and said
it was considering putting its own complaint before the State Council.
The absence of “a clear definition of
this garment creates a vague situation and legal uncertainty,” it said.
It expressed fear over “arbitrary”
controls and that the criteria for evaluating young girls’ dress could be based
on “the supposed origin, last name or skin colour” rather than what they wore.
A law introduced in March 2004 banned
“the wearing of signs or outfits by which students ostensibly show a religious
affiliation” in schools.
This includes large Christian crosses,
Jewish kippas and Muslim headscarves.
Unlike headscarves, abayas occupied a
grey area and had faced no outright ban until now.
The issue has been a dominant theme of
French politics after the summer holidays, with the hard-left has accusing the
government of trying with the abaya ban to compete with Marine Le Pen’s
far-right National Rally and shifting further to the right.
The announcement late last month of the
ban was the first major move by Attal, 34, since he was promoted this summer to
handle the hugely contentious education portfolio.
Along with Interior Minister Gerald
Darmanin, 40, he is seen as a rising star who could potentially play an
important role after Macron steps down in 2027. — AFP
Source: malaymail.com
https://www.malaymail.com/news/world/2023/09/06/french-schools-refuse-dozens-of-girls-wearing-abayas/89296
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Iranian forces arrest Mahsa Amini’s uncle
before anniversary of her death
5 September 2023
PARIS, France — Iranian authorities on
Tuesday arrested an uncle of Mahsa Amini, the young Iranian Kurdish woman who
died in custody sparking months of protests, just ahead of the first
anniversary of her death, reports said on Tuesday.
Safa Aeli, 30, was arrested by security
forces in the family’s hometown of Saqez in western Iran and taken to an
unknown location, the Kurdish-focused Hengaw rights group, France-based
Kurdistan Human Rights Network and the 1500tasvir protest monitor said in
separate statements.
Hengaw said Iranian authorities deployed
a convoy of five vehicles filled with members of the security forces to
forcibly enter Aeli’s residence, without presenting any legal documentation.
State of Jerusalem: The Maqdasyin
Media based outside Iran have said that
the town of Saqez is under particular scrutiny ahead of the anniversary, with
hotels told not to accept outsiders and new security cameras being set up
including around Amini’s grave.
The uncle’s arrest comes as activists
accuse the Iranian government of stepping up a crackdown ahead of the September
16 anniversary of the death of Amini, 22, who had been arrested days before for
allegedly violating the strict dress rules for women.
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The ensuing protests shook Iran’s
Islamic authorities but have now subsided in the face of a crackdown in which
rights groups said hundreds were killed and the UN tallied thousands arrested.
Campaign groups, including Amnesty International,
have accused Iran of arresting and interrogating family members of those killed
in the protests in a bid to force them into silence and prevent further
demonstrations from erupting.
Activists say those arrested in recent
weeks include Mashallah Karami, the father of Mohammad Mehdi Karami, 22, one of
seven men to have been hanged so far in cases related to the protests.
Source: timesofisrael.com
https://www.timesofisrael.com/iranian-forces-arrest-mahsa-aminis-uncle-before-anniversary-of-her-death/
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Iran: Authorities shut down
‘MojhayeKhoroushan Waterpark’ as women oppose wearing Hijab
Sep 5, 2023
On September 4, 2023, Iranian
authorities shut down a water park after it was reported that it allowed women
to visit the park without wearing the mandatory headscarf, that is, the Hijab,
local media reported.
The closure of the water park is part of
extended increased measures adopted by the government authorities in the past
few months against businesses and women that do not abide by the rules and
strict dress code of the Islamic Republic.
Reason behind closure
“The MojhayeKhoroushan water park has
been closed since September 3, 2023, the complex manager, Mohammed Babaei, was
quoted by the Fars News Agency as saying. He stated that the closure of the
park had been declared by the authorities because of people ignoring the
chastity and hijab rules.
Since 1983 and the Islamic Revolution of
1979, the women of Iran have had to cover their heads and necks, and Babaei
stated that the park adhered to the laws and added that female visitors were
strictly and regularly warned to respect the Hijab rules.
Speaking to Fars, Babaei said around
1,000 people who are employed at the water park are now fearful of losing their
jobs. The MojhayeKhoroushan Complex, which is spread in 60,000 square meters,
is one of the largest indoor water parks.
Significance of the Water Park
The MojhayeKhoroushan Water Park is
located on the outskirts of the northeastern holy city of Mashhad, where the
shrine of the 8th Shiite Imam of Islam is located.
Challenges to the Dress Code
The dress code has been increasingly
violated and flouted by the women of Iran after the mass protests took place
after the death of Jinsa Mahsa Amini, a 22-year- old Kurdish Woman in the
custody of the Gasht-e-Ershad moral police. The demands of the people,
especially the women, are not just limited to dress code.
They want freedom and more freedom than
the Islamic Republic.
New Hijab Laws in Iran
The draconian Iranian authorities in
Iran have formed severe religious rules and regulations even after the mass
protests that jolted the country after the death of Mahsa Amini. They have
formed a seventy-article proposal that includes brutal punishments, such as
longer prison terms for women who refuse to wear the veil. This is called “The
Hijab and Chastity Bill”
The new bill would reclassify failure to
wear the hijab as a more severe offence, punishable by a five to ten-year
prison sentence as well as the highest fine of up to 360 million Iranian Rials.
Another section states the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) by the Iranian
police to identify the perpetrators of the illegal behaviour using fixed
mobiles and cameras. Cameras will be installed in public places to identify
women flouting the country’s hijab law.
Also, under the new law, business owners
who do not enforce the hijab requirements will face steeper fines, potentially
amounting to three months of business profit and face bans on leaving the
country or participating in public or cyber activity for up to two years.
The bill also targets celebrities who
may face a fine of up to a tenth of their wealth, exclusion from employment or
professional activities for a specific amount of time as well as the ban on
international travel and social media activities.
Reaction to the New Bill
On September 3, 2023, 175 members of
Iran’s parliament voted in favour of the move, while 49 voted against it. If
Iran’s Guardian Council, a separate unelected body in Iran’s theocratic system,
approves the bill, then it would go forward on a
pilot basis for between three and five
years, then the members of the Parliament could then progress these measures
into permanent laws.
Source: organiser.org
https://organiser.org/2023/09/05/194005/world/iran-authorities-shut-down-mojhaye-khoroushan-waterpark-as-women-oppose-wearing-hijab/
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URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/hindu-muslim-men-right-wing-activists/d/130616