Iran’s Narges Mohammadi ‘Expanded Geography Of Fighting’, Even Cleric, Sedigheh Vasmaghi, Came On TV Without Hijab
New Age
Islam News Bureau
20 October 2023
·
Iran’s
Narges Mohammadi ‘Expanded Geography Of Fighting’, Even Cleric, Sedigheh Vasmaghi, Came On TV Without Hijab
·
'Adolescent
Girls Must Control Their Sexual Urges,' Says Calcutta HC
·
Israeli
Strike Kills Hamas’ Woman Leader, Jamila Al-Shantee
·
Persistent
Closure Of Sports Clubs Sparks Concern Among Afghan Women And Girls
·
Telangana
Muslim Women Back Palestine, Walk Over US, Israel Flags
Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL:
https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/iran-narges-cleric-sedigheh-hijab/d/130939
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Iran’s Narges Mohammadi ‘Expanded
Geography Of Fighting’, Even Cleric, Sedigheh Vasmaghi, Came On TV Without Hijab
Cleric,
Sedigheh Vasmaghi,
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Vandana Menon
20 October, 2023
New Delhi: When Sedigheh Vasmaghi, one
of Iran’s foremost female religious scholars, was invited by BBC Persia last
week to comment on the country’s latest ‘hijab bill’, no one was prepared for
what she would do — appear in the newscast without a headscarf.
Her decision to reveal her hair to the
world was an act of rebellion against a government angling to pass even more
stringent laws and fines for women and girls who break Iran’s strict dress
code. It came days after an important event that has emboldened and empowered
women in Iran: This year, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to prominent
Iranian human rights activist Narges Mohammadi, who is currently serving a
10-year prison term. Her perseverance and courage are inspiring hundreds of
women across Iran to keep up the fight, despite considerable pressure from the
government.
“Narges has expanded the geography of
fighting against patriarchy—from the home, to the streets, to prisons, and to
the diaspora,” said veteran human rights activist, writer, and researcher
Mansoureh Shojaei, who is also a friend of Mohammadi.
Vasmaghi’s interview also came a year
after the entire country erupted in protests over the death of 22-year-old
Mahsa Amini, who died in custody after being arrested by the morality police
for an allegedly improper hijab. Now, a bill, introduced in September 2023,
aims to increase prison terms for ‘inappropriate’ clothing—up to 10 years in
jail.
While the scale of last year’s
protests—where women took to the streets of Tehran and other cities and burned
their headscarves—has subsided, Iranian women are still finding everyday ways
to protest the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei-led conservative regime.
And jailed human rights activist
Mohammadi has been the wind beneath their wings. She has been a formidable
public figure in Iran, fighting for gender equality and human rights and
spearheading the massive protests in 2022. The establishment has arrested her
multiple times to muzzle her voice—while driving other dissidents like her
husband to live in exile outside the country. Iran’s Ministry of Foreign
Affairs even condemned the Nobel Prize as a biased political move.
“We are all honoured by her winning the
Nobel Peace Prize. Now we can continue to work under its safe shadow,” said
Shojaei.
But Mohammadi’s win is “first and
foremost a recognition of a whole movement in Iran with its undisputed leader
Narges Mohammadi,” according to the Nobel Committee. And Iranian women and
activists see their struggle reflected in her win.
“Narges is the best symbol for this
prize,” added Shojaei, who has been living in exile in the Netherlands since
2013. “It draws global attention to Iran. Now Iranian women, standing
shoulder-to-shoulder, can continue their work towards equality, justice, and
freedom.”
Woman, life, freedom
When Shirin Ebadi—an Iranian lawyer who
was the first Muslim woman Nobel Peace Prize laureate—won a human rights award
in 2010, she dedicated it to her colleague Narges Mohammadi.
“This courageous woman deserves this
award more than I do,” she said.
And in 2023, 20 years after Ebadi won
it, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Mohammadi.
Ebadi founded the Defenders of Human
Rights Center in Iran in 2001 but has lived in exile in London since 2009.
Mohammadi, an engineer-turned-activist, began working at Ebadi’s foundation in
2003.
“Narges is a true fighter,” said Behrouz
Afagh, international media consultant, who was head of the BBC World Service‘s
Asia & Pacific Region. “She’s not your typical human rights activist, who
comes from a legal background. Her politics have evolved and developed over the
decades,” he added.
He describes Mohammadi as a formidable
woman with a strong, powerful public presence because her work has been
relentless. Her bravery is remarkable because she’s seen speaking out against
the regime everywhere—from within prison, at rallies, visiting the homes of
people who’ve been victims and even at people’s funerals. Her fight isn’t
restricted to gender equality: She also raises awareness and campaigns against
the death penalty, torture, solitary confinement, and religious oppression.
“Narges Mohammadi winning the Nobel
Prize is a very clear sign that the voice of Iran’s civil society is heard and
recognised by the wider world,” said Afagh. “And it’s very encouraging to
everyone in Iran who’s struggling against the oppression, through the movement
of ‘women, life, freedom’.”
While Mohammadi belongs to a previous
generation of activists, her work proved integral to mobilising the Zan,
Zendegi, Azadi (Woman, Life, Freedom) protests in Iran in 2022, which were
triggered by Amini’s death.
The widespread Mahsa Amini protests were
historic because women played a key role in the movement, with thousands of
women and girls taking to the streets, tossing away their hijabs, chanting
“women, life, freedom,” and cutting their hair. Over 500 protestors — including
children and teenagers — were killed in the violent crackdown that followed. Seven
protestors were executed, while around 20,000 people were arrested. The
protests caught global attention, as women across the world voiced their
support for Iranian women.
Mohammadi is the fifth laureate to win
while imprisoned. She has been arrested at least 13 times, convicted five
times, and sentenced to a total of 31 years in prison and 154 lashes. Her
husband, Taghi Rahmani, is “Iran’s most frequently jailed journalist,”
according to Reporters Without Borders—he’s been living in exile with their two
children in Paris for almost a decade. Both Mohammadi and her husband have been
named Prisoners of Conscience by Amnesty International.
When the Nobel committee announced
Mohammadi’s win, the speech began with the chant “women, life, freedom.”
“We have two Nobel Peace Prize winners
from Iran,” said Shojaei. “One is in exile, one is in prison.”
Building a blueprint
The importance of Mohammadi’s work lies
in the blueprint she was building.
“Another generation took to the streets
of Iran during ‘women, life, freedom’,” said Shojaei, who is twenty years older
than Mohammadi. “It was neither mine nor Narges’s generation. But she still
stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the women, whether in the streets or in
prison.”
The work of Mohammadi and other
activists like Nasrin Sotoudeh helped the movement take off, according to
Shojai—it gave them the foundation to build their fight.
“Everyone talks of her bravery. I know
firsthand how brave she is,” said Shojaei. “But one of Narges’s most beautiful
characteristics is that she was always building a network, a blueprint, a
roadmap for women. This kind of movement can lack organisation, and there’s no
institution that can mobilise such large groups. That’s why I insist on
highlighting this characteristic—Narges took the task upon herself.”
A vocal critic of solitary confinement
and the death penalty, she wrote a book in prison in 2022 called White Torture:
Interviews with Iranian Women Prisoners, in which she interviewed twelve
prisoners about their experiences. She’s reportedly very active in prison,
constantly rallying women, and smuggling her writings out under the prison
guards’ noses.
“This text is not intended as an elegy
for Iranian women…Iranian women do not derive their credibility and legitimacy
of struggle from the intensity of the oppression and discrimination they have
endured, but rather from their continuous and courageous resistance and
struggle for democracy, life, freedom, equality, human rights, and peace,” she
wrote in a letter to CNN in July 2023. In September 2023, she managed to write
a guest essay for the New York Times titled, ‘The More They Lock Us Up, the
Stronger We Become’.
She’s also diligently been documenting
testimonies of abuse, torture, rape, disappearance, and illness, sending them
out of prison to activists across the globe to archive them.
“That’s why the state authorities
arrested her: to keep her silent. But it hasn’t stopped Narges from
meticulously documenting data—it is important for us to show fact-finding
missions,” said Shojaei.
The last time she met Mohammadi was
right before she left Tehran, in 2013. Mohammadi had just been released from
prison and was ill in hospital, slipping in and out of consciousness. Shojaei
went to meet her and say goodbye.
“She said to me, ‘Mansoureh, look, they
want to disappear all of us, save yourself.’ And that was the message she gave
to me.”
Continuing the legacy
Mohammadi’s win has galvanised Iranian
feminists and activists by drawing the world’s attention to women’s resistance.
Her book White Torture is receiving more
interest, and more screenings of its documentary version have been organised. A
recent editorial in the Seattle Times urged its readers to look towards her
bravery to fight their despair over the current situation in Gaza.
The most recent recognition for her work
comes from India: Mohammadi was awarded the Mother Teresa Memorial Award for
Social Justice on Wednesday, conferred by the Mumbai-based NGO Harmony
Foundation.
In November, her husband Taghi Rahmani
and their twin children—who haven’t seen her since 2015 and last spoke to her
over a year ago—will land in Mumbai to receive the award on her behalf.
In Iran, while the mass scale of the
protests has dwindled, there are still several smaller strikes and sit-ins
taking place, according to journalist Rana Rahimpour. Many retired people stage
gatherings across various cities, and workers also have weekly protests. Women
go out casually in cities, standing up to police when confronted.
“Although we don’t see street protests
in the way we saw them last year, peaceful movements in Iran are in full
force,” said Rahimpour.
Pointing to Vasmaghi’s appearance
without the hijab, Rahimpour said it was yet another sign that shows how
political the hijab has become.
““The demand for freedom is so widespread
that even religious women are joining it,” said Rahimpour. “Some of those who
are religious are taking now it off to show that they are against the regime.”
There’s also a culture of smart defiance
of the regime, according to Afagh. And it’s almost always women at the
forefront of it. Recalling the 2009 protests—the largest mass protests in
Iran’s recent history until 2022—Afagh said that young women were always seen
fighting with police and defending crowds from security forces. That’s why the
2022 protests were so remarkable: because it was entirely spearheaded by women.
“Resistance comes in various shapes and
forms. Women are probably the most successful fighters against the regime,
especially in the last year since the killing of Mahsa,” added Rahimpour.
Women now leave little messages for each
other on post-it notes, sticking to them on electricity poles or public signs.
Rahimpour paused to quote one that she saw fluttering in the wind in Tehran a
few weeks ago.
“Every woman who goes out in the streets
without their headscarf is restarting the revolution,” it read.
(Edited by TheresSudeep)
Source: theprint.in
https://theprint.in/feature/irans-narges-mohammadi-expanded-geography-of-fighting-even-cleric-came-on-tv-without-hijab/1811822/
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'Adolescent Girls Must Control Their
Sexual Urges,' Says Calcutta HC
Court
mandates the need sexual education for adolescents based on comprehensive
rights and raises concerns over consensual acts among adolescents.
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20th October 2023
By Online Desk
Adolescent girls must control their
sexual urges instead of giving in to two minutes of pleasure. On the other
hand, adolescent boys must respect young girls and women and their dignity and
bodily autonomy, observed Calcutta High Court on Wednesday.
A division bench of Justices Chitta
Ranjan Dash and Partha Sarathi Sen, according to the Bar and Bench, also
compiled "duties of" adolescent girls and boys while acquitting a
youth, who was convicted for raping a minor girl, with whom he had a 'romantic
affair'.
The list of duties of adolescent girls
includes, "Control sexual urge/urges as in the eyes of society she is the
looser when she gives in to enjoy the sexual pleasure of hardly two
minutes."
The court, Bar and Bench report, said:
"It is the duty/obligation of every female adolescent to: (i) Protect her
right to integrity of her body. (ii) Protect her dignity and self-worth. (iii)
Thrive for overall development of her self transcending gender barriers.
For adolescent boys, the Court said,
"...he should train his mind to respect a woman, her self worth, her
dignity and privacy, and right to autonomy of her body."
Source: newindianexpress.com
https://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/2023/oct/20/adolescent-girls-must-control-their-sexual-urges-says-calcutta-hc-acquits-youth-convicted-for-ra-2625725.html
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Israeli Strike Kills Hamas’ Woman
Leader, Jamila Al-Shantee
October 20, 2023
GAZA CITY: The first woman elected to
Hamas’s political leadership has been killed in an Israeli strike on the Gaza
Strip, the group said on Thursday.
Jamila Al-Shantee, 64, was killed on
Wednesday evening in Jabalia, in northern Gaza, Hamas said. She became the
first woman to be elected to the movement’s political bureau, composed of 20
members, following an internal ballot in 2021.
Another woman, Fatima Shurab, joined the
political top brass at the same time, through an automatic appointment as
president of its women’s commission.
Shantee had a long history in
Palestinian politics, having been elected in 2006 to the Palestinian
Authority’s parliament.
The chamber has not met since Hamas
ousted the PA from Gaza and took power in 2007, prompting Israel to intensify a
crippling blockade imposed on the territory.
Source: dawn.com
https://www.dawn.com/news/1782275/israeli-strike-kills-hamas-woman-leader
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Persistent Closure Of Sports Clubs
Sparks Concern Among Afghan Women And Girls
Fidel Rahmati
October 20, 2023028
In Afghanistan, women and girls are
banned from participating in sports and going to sports clubs, negatively
affecting their physical and mental well-being.
Reports indicate that the Taliban
administration has issued over 50 written orders and commands in the past two
years, limiting women’s freedom to work, study, engage in sports, or enjoy
leisure activities.
Last year, the current regime issued a
decree prohibiting the presence of girls and women in sports clubs, depriving
thousands of girls for whom sports was a part of life from this activity.
One female coach at a sports club in
Kabul, speaking to Khaama Press News Agency, said that in the past year,
alongside financial difficulties and lack of financial independence, she has
also experienced “isolation” from a mental perspective.
Ms Mursal Mohammadi, a coach at Kabul
sports clubs for six years, told Khaama Press that sports, especially for women
in Afghanistan, have numerous benefits, as she believes that exercising leads
to the release of happiness hormones and makes individuals happier.
She adds that in the past, many women
came to sports clubs for weight control and to address issues like back pain,
knee pain, and joint problems that specialists recommended exercise for. She
used to train many women.
According to her, the closure of sports
clubs for women has not only harmed many women but has also created challenges
for her, with the most significant being “financial difficulties” and improper
mental conditions. This has led her to experience a state of “isolation and
seclusion.”
She, who is currently idle, emphasizes
that she eagerly awaits the club reopening day and night.
Ms Mohammadi, while pointing out that
the closure of sports clubs for women has had significant adverse effects,
adds: “Even though women did not have suitable mental conditions in the past,
now, after the closure of sports clubs, I know women who are thinking of
suicide due to economic hardship and unemployment.”
Meanwhile, 26-year-old Karishma, who
used to go to a Kabul sports club for weight control, says in an interview with
Khaama Press that “after the arrival of the Taliban administration, sports
clubs for women were closed, and not being able to go to the club for weight
control has caused problems for me.”
She adds that exercising requires skill,
and in the absence of a gym and a coach, she cannot exercise regularly.
Irregular exercises, which she has been doing for two months without a coach’s
guidance, have exacerbated her problems.
Karishma emphasizes that the lack of
access to women-only gyms, irregular exercise, and physical problems have also
confronted her with mental issues.
The spokesperson for the Ministry of
Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice of the Taliban declared the
prohibition of women’s presence in public baths, sports clubs, and public
places last year through an oral order, stating that “people are disregarding
gender segregation orders, and women do not have the necessary hijab or
covering.”
This is happening despite doctors and
sports club trainers emphasizing the importance of reopening sports clubs for
women, stating that regular exercise is a choice and a fundamental right that
brings about physical and mental health for individuals.
Source: khaama.com
https://www.khaama.com/persistent-closure-of-sports-clubs-in-afghanistan-sparks-concern-among-women-and-girls/
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Telangana Muslim Women Back Palestine,
Walk Over US, Israel Flags
Oct 19, 2023
Amid Israel's ongoing war against Hamas,
some Muslim women on Thursday gathered at a Dargah ground in Hyderabad to
demonstrate solidarity with Palestine. In a video shared by the news agency
ANI, women can be seen walking over the national flags of Israel and the US.
The flags were kept on the ground at the entrance of the dargah in the Saidabad
area. The US has backed Israel in its fight against Hamas in Gaza.
In the past few days, Muslims from
different parts of the country have expressed their support for the
Palestinians, who have been fighting for an independent state.
AIMIM chief and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin
Owaisi recently expressed his support to Palestine and called Israel Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu 'a devil'. "I stand and will continue to stand
with Palestine," he said. "Millions of salutes to the brave men of
Gaza who are still fighting today! Netanyahu is a devil and a tyrant and a war
criminal!"
Owaisi also targeted UP Chief Minister
Yogi Adityanath for warning those backing Hamas, which carried out the
deadliest attack on Israel, killing over 1,400 and abducting over 200 including
women and children.
"A Baba Chief Minister in our
country said that cases will be booked against those who take the name of
Palestine, so listen Baba Chief Minister, I am proudly wearing the flag of
Palestine and our Tricolour too. I stand with Palestine,” Owaisi said during a
public meeting in Hyderabad.
Today, after women walked on the
national flags of the US and Israel, some social media users said that stepping
on flags is not good. "Insulting the National Flag of any country is not
good. There are other ways to protest," said one social media user.
Kamlesh Pandey, another social media
user, said that no one should disrespect any country's flag, whoever is
involved must be detained and sent to jail.
Nikhil, a software engineer, said that
these types of actions may affect bilateral relationships between friendly
nations. Tagging the Hyderabad Commissioner of Police, he asked whether the
cops would take any action against those walking on flags.
Source: businesstoday.in
https://www.businesstoday.in/latest/story/telangana-muslim-women-back-palestine-walk-over-us-israel-flags-in-hyderabad-netizens-react-402678-2023-10-19
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URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/iran-narges-cleric-sedigheh-hijab/d/130939