Iran Sentences Shahla Abdi, An Ethnic Iranian-Kurdish Pregnant Woman, To Death
New
Age Islam News Bureau
26 January 2023
•
Bangladesh's Parliament Speaker Shirin Sharmin Likely To Become Bangladesh's
First Woman President
•
Muslim Homeowners In Mumbai Refuse To Rent UrfiJaved A House 'Because Of The
Way She Dresses'
•
Women’s Healthcare In Britain ‘Worse Than In China And Saudi Arabia’
•
UAE A Role Model For Gender Balance, Says Mona Al Marri, VP UAE Gender Balance
Council
•
Top UN Official General Amina Mohammed Urges Muslims: Move Taliban Into 21st
Century
Compiled
by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL:
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Iran
Sentences Shahla Abdi, An Ethnic Iranian-Kurdish Pregnant Woman, To Death
Ismaeel
Naar
Jan
26, 2023
Female
Iranian inmates in Evin jail, north of Tehran. AFP
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Iran
has sentenced an ethnic Iranian-Kurdish pregnant woman being held in Urmia
Central Prison to death, according to a report by IranWire.
Shahla
Abdi, from the north-western province of West Azerbaijan and said to be in her
early 20s, was initially arrested in Urmia in mid-October at the peak of mass
protests that were triggered by the death of MahsaAmini in morality police
custody.
Ms
Abdi is said to have received the death sentence after being accused of setting
fire to a portrait of former Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ruhollah
Khomeini.
A
female inmate in Urmia Central told IranWire that Ms Abdi had been held at the
jail for nearly a month before she was transferred to Tabriz Prison about three
weeks ago.
Other
prisoners said she might have been taken to a detention centre run by Iran’s
Ministry of Intelligence.
"When
I saw this woman, she looked very young but weak and abused, and I realised
that she was four months pregnant," the inmate told IranWire.
The
website reported that Ms Abdi was kept in solitary confinement in Urmia where
she was always accompanied by two officers to ensure she did not communicate
with other inmates.
"She
was in a very shocked state," another inmate said. "It was obvious
that she hadn’t taken a shower for a long time, and her hair was very messy.
She was very scared."
At
least 517 protesters have been killed in Iran, and more than 19,200 people
arrested, since the wave of Amini protests first swept the country in
mid-September, according to Human Rights Activists in Iran, a group that has
closely monitored the unrest. Iranian authorities have not provided an official
count of those killed or detained.
Demonstrations
started when the 22 year old died following her arrest by Iran’s morality
police over wearing her hijab "inappropriately". Women have been at
the vanguard of the protests, with many publicly taking off the compulsory
Islamic headscarf in defiance of the government.
IranWire
is a website for Iranian citizen journalists founded by MaziarBahari, an
Iranian-Canadian journalist, filmmaker and human rights activist who spent time
imprisoned in Tehran’s notorious Evin jail in 2009.
Source:TheNationalNews
https://www.thenationalnews.com/mena/iran/2023/01/26/iran-sentences-pregnant-kurdish-woman-to-death/
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Bangladesh's
Parliament Speaker Shirin Sharmin Likely To Become Bangladesh's First Woman
President
January
26, 2023
Photo:
Shutterstock
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Bangladesh's
Parliament Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chowdhury is possibly going to be the
country's first woman President.
Top
Awami League sources told IANS that the ruling party has decided to field
Chowdhury despite some factions pitching for senior party leaders like Matiya
Chowdhury and Amir Hossain Amu. Some suggestions about party general secretary
and roads-bridges minister ObaidulQuader as a likely candidate for President
was negated by most in the Presidium and Central Executive Committee because
Quader has recovered from his physical maladies and is seen as a tough
old-school Awami League organiser.
"Quader
must run the party in an election year when things could get tough," said
a senior leader.
Quader's
projected successor Joint General Secretary and Information Minister Hasan
Mahmud is seen by many as less of a party organiser and more suitable as a
possible forest-environment minister with an additional charge of science and
technology.
"Hasan
holds a PhD in environmental science and may be useful to plan government
measures to tackle climate change fallout which is a huge issue in Bangladesh.
The party also prioritisesdigitalisation and increasing scientific applications
in all spheres like agriculture, so it is better that a senior scientist is
better used for his domain expertise," said author Sukharanjan Dasgupta.
If
Shirin finally becomes President, it will be a milestone for Muslim-majority
Bangladesh. Not only will she be the first woman President, but also perhaps
one of the youngest ever in the world.
With
Sheikh Hasina already the country's longest-serving Prime Minister who has
presided over a decade of development, it is perhaps the first time anywhere in
the world that both the President and the Prime Minister are women.
When
Hasina came to power in January 2009, most of her top ministers were women -
like Home Minister Sahara Khatun and Foreign Minister Dipu Moni. Moni continues
as Education Minister and is a strong voice against Islamist radicalism, having
insisted she will continue to use teep (bindi) despite objections by mullahs.
The
Election Commission (EC) has already fixed February 18 as the date for the
Presidential election although earlier the EC officials had said that the
Presidential election would be held between January 23 and February 23, after
President Abdul Hamid steps down.
Although
the name of Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury has not yet been disclosed at the Awami
League's party forum, a high-level source in the ruling party almost confirmed
that considering the personality, acceptability and performance as the Speaker,
the name of Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury is going to be proposed as the next
President by the ruling party.
Source:BusinessStandard
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Muslim
Homeowners In Mumbai Refuse To Rent UrfiJaved A House 'Because Of The Way She
Dresses'
Jan
25, 2023
Uorfi
Javed has spoken about finding it difficult to rent a home in Mumbai.
-----------
UorfiJaved,
who is often in news for her outfit choices, took to Twitter on Tuesday to
speak about the difficulties she is facing after Muslim homeowners in Mumbai
refuse to rent her a house 'because of the way she dresses'. UorfiJaved added
flat owners, who are Hindu, also don’t want to rent her a house 'because she's
Muslim'. In a series of tweets, Uorfi said because she was 'single, Muslim and
an actress', finding a 'rental apartment in Mumbai' was tough for her.
She
tweeted, "Muslim owners don’t want to rent me house because of the way I
dress, Hindi (Hindu) owners don’t want to rent me because I’m Muslim. Some
owners have an issue with the political threats I get. Finding a rental
apartment in Mumbai is so tuff (tough)." In another tweet, she said,
"It’s literally every time man. Single, Muslim, actress – impossible to
find a house."
UorfiJaved
tweeted about struggling to rent a home in Mumbai.
Many
reacted to Uorfi's tweet. One supported the actor, and tweeted, "Same
situation. I hope you get a good place to stay asap (as soon as
possible)." Some others questioned Uorfi's claims. A tweet read, "Yeh
pehlesochnathana (you should have thought of all this earlier). Actions have
reaction!" One Twitter user said, "Single, Muslim, actress. Isshisaab
se Tabu ji ko to 25 saal se Mumbai meinghar hi milnanahichahiyetha (by your
logic, Tabu should not have gotten a home in Mumbai for all these years). Stop
playing the victim card and shaming our city." Another tweet read,
"Why not dress in an appropriate manner so that you can get to stay in
both Muslim and Hindu areas?"
Uorfi
is often in news for her unusual outfits. Recently, Maharashtra Mahila Morcha
president Chitra Kishor Wagh filed a police complaint against her claiming that
the actor's dress sense was ‘vulgar’ and a threat to society. She had also
demanded Uorfi's arrest. The leader had accused Uorfi of roaming the streets of
Mumbai 'exhibiting her body', claiming that the actor's public display of her
body had become a social media topic.
Uorfi,
who started her career as a TV actor, and has been seen in a number of reality
shows, such as Bigg Boss OTT (2021), had reportedly received abusive audio
clips and rape and murder threats recently, and a broker was arrested in
connection with the case. Last year, Uorfi was detained in Dubai for reportedly
shooting videos in revealing clothes and in an open space, which is prohibited
in the city.
Source:
Hindustan Times
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Women’s
healthcare in Britain ‘worse than in China and Saudi Arabia’
By
Laura Donnelly, HEALTH EDITOR and Rosie Taylor
24
January 2023
Women’s
healthcare in the UK is worse than that of China and Saudi Arabia, according to
a global tracker.
Poor
efforts at prevention, diagnosis and treatment of health problems left the UK
ranked lower than several countries with a troubling record on women’s rights.
The
research, which compared a wealth of data, found Britain fared worse than most
comparable Western countries, including the United States, Australia, New
Zealand, France and Germany.
The
UK was placed 30th out of 122 countries, in the 2021 Hologic Global Women’s
Health Index published on Tuesday.
The
score – three points lower than when a similar exercise was carried out last
year – places it on a par with Kazakhstan, Slovenia, Kosovo and Poland for
women’s healthcare provision.
Overall,
the place of 30th was far worse than the position of 12 reached the previous
year.
While
direct comparisons are not possible because several of the countries examined
this year were not included last year, the findings show a deterioration in the
position of Britain, which was previously rated better than countries such as
China, Saudi Arabia, the US, France and New Zealand.
‘Government
consistently deprioritising women’s health’
The
index by Hologic, a global medical technology company specialising in women’s
health, is based on a survey of more than 127,000 people worldwide by Gallup,
the analytics firm.
Analysts
said that poor access to screening, long waits for diagnosis and a lack of
support for mental health were among the factors explaining Britain’s poor
ranking.
The
UK Government has been accused of “consistently deprioritising” women’s health
after it was reported last month that gynaecology waiting times in England had
trebled in a decade.
On
average, women now wait nearly four months for a first hospital appointment
with a gynaecology specialist. However, nearly 38,000 women in England have
been on the waiting list for more than a year.
The
index highlighted issues with mental health support provision in the UK, with
the country’s score for women’s emotional health falling eight points in a year
to 68 out of 100.
On
preventive care, such as cancer and diabetes screening, the UK scored just 23
out of 100. A separate Hologic survey of 10,000 people in the UK found those
from ethnic minorities were particularly at risk of missing out.
Women
in pain taking the strain
In
the UK, women in pain also often have problems accessing a diagnosis.
One
in five British women experienced pain daily. However, more than a quarter had
not been able to get a diagnosis at all and 15 per cent got one only after
eight or more visits to healthcare professionals, the UK-only poll found.
Women
in the UK who suffered with pain needed to see a doctor 4.3 times on average
before the cause was diagnosed.
Dr
NighatArif, a GP specialising in women’s health, said she hoped that the
Government’s Women’s Health Strategy, which was launched last year, would help
improve education and awareness around women’s health.
She
said: “I see barriers every day in my GP practice that women face in accessing
routine care and even life-saving preventative health measures, such as
cervical and breast cancer screenings, that can cause unnecessary delays to
diagnosis and treatment for women.
“Sadly,
often [women’s pain is] seen as something to put up with, rather than something
you can get support for. The reasons for pain in women are complex. For GPs,
who have a limited time for consultation, it can be difficult to pinpoint a
diagnosis in one appointment.”
A
Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said: “We have put women’s
health at the top of the agenda by publishing the Women’s Health Strategy for
England, appointing the first-ever Women’s Health Ambassador, and taking action
to increase supply and reduce the cost of hormone replacement therapy.
“The
strategy sets out our 10-year ambitions for boosting the health and wellbeing
of women and girls, and for improving how the health and care system listens to
all women.”
Adverse
reactions to medication
Elsewhere,
a separate study found that women are at least 80 per cent more likely than men
to suffer adverse drug reactions to pills doled out by their GPs.
Researchers
found that one in four people suffered at least one such reaction over a
six-year period, with women and those on at least five pills at least 80 per
cent more likely to suffer such harms.
The
study, published in the British Journal Of General Practice, monitored 592
patients aged 70 and older from 15 general practices in the Republic of Ireland
over a six-year period.
Prof
Emma Wallace, the study’s author from University College Cork, said women could
respond differently to men to the same medications and might be put on
different types of drugs, some of which might be more likely to cause stronger
reactions.
Source:Telegraph
UK
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/01/24/womens-healthcare-britain-worse-china-saudi-arabia/
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UAE
A Role Model For Gender Balance, Says Mona Al Marri, VP UAE Gender Balance
Council
January
25, 2023
Dubai:
The UAE leadership’s confidence in the competencies of women has enabled the
nation to be a global leader in gender balance, said Mona Ghanem Al Marri, Vice
President of the UAE Gender Balance Council.
Her
comments came on Wednesday at the 8th Dubai International Project Management
Forum (DIPMF), being held under the patronage of Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin
Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of The Executive Council
of Dubai.
The
rapid progress that the UAE has achieved in gender balance is demonstrated by
the country being ranked first in the Arab world and 11th globally on the
Gender Inequality Index (GII) of the United Nations Development Programme’s
Human Development Report 2022, Her Excellency said.
The
country has jumped 38 positions on the Gender Inequality Index since the
establishment of the UAE Gender Balance Council seven years ago. The UAE was
also ranked first for the second consecutive year both in the World Bank’s
‘Women, Business and the Law 2022’ report and the World Economic Forum’s Gender
Gap Report 2022, she added.
Speaking
at DIPMF, Al Marri said the year 2022 saw the country’s private sector further
strengthening its involvement in initiatives to accelerate the implementation
of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 5 (SDG 5). A total of 56
local and international companies based in the UAE have joined a national
initiative to raise the percentage of women occupying senior leadership
positions to 30 per cent by 2025. Some companies have already increased the
percentage of senior women leaders in their organisations to 27 per cent, she
added.
She
also said that by demonstrating their capabilities in various fields, women
have gained the confidence of the UAE leadership. Women comprise 27.5 per cent
of the UAE cabinet and 50 per cent of the UAE Federal National Council, and
hold key positions as members of the diplomatic corps.
“UAE
women have made substantial contributions in various sectors and play vital
leadership roles in accelerating the growth and sustainable development of the
nation,” she added.
Since
its establishment, the efforts of the UAE Gender Balance Council have been
instrumental in raising Dubai’s rankings in various global gender balance
reports and indices. Highlighting the remarkable role of Her Highness Sheikha
Fatima bint Mubarak, Chairwoman of the General Women’s Union, President of the
Supreme Council for Motherhood and Childhood, and Supreme Chairwoman of the
Family Development Foundation in promoting women’s development, Al Marri said
the ‘Mother of the Nation’ worked tirelessly to ensure that women became equal
partners in the UAE’s development process.
Guided
by the leadership of Sheikha Manal bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum,
President of the UAE Gender Balance Council, President of the Dubai Women
Establishment, and the wife of Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime
Minister and Minister for Presidential Affairs, the Council continues to foster
close collaboration with leading local and international organisations to
achieve its goals, Al Marri said. The Council has launched many projects and
initiatives including the Global Gender Circle, and the UAE Gender Balance
Index to encourage adoption of gender balance best practices.
She
further noted that the UAE Gender Balance Council constantly reviews existing
practices and legislation to recommend new policies to enhance the growth,
participation and wellbeing of women. From being ranked 49th in the UNDP’s
Gender Inequality Index in 2015, the UAE rose to the 18th place in 2020, and
11th in the 2022 edition of the Index. The growth in rankings is aligned with
the goals set by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice
President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, to advance gender
balance.
Partner
of World Economic Forum
Al
Marri further said the UAE Gender Balance Council’s selection as the World
Economic Forum’s knowledge partner to advance gender balance globally,
recognises the nation’s pioneering and influential role in advancing the gender
balance agenda in the Arab world. In partnership with the World Bank, the UAE
Gender Balance Council has set up a Centre for Excellence in the country to
share the UAE’s expertise in the field and provide assistance to countries in
the region to bridge the gender gap.
Al
Marri, who participated in the 52nd Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum,
held last week in Davos, Switzerland, as part of the official UAE delegation,
said that while many other countries are still discussing initiatives to set up
crèches in the workplace, the UAE implemented an initiative led by Sheikha
Manal to establish childcare centres in workplaces as early as 2008.
Al
Marri commended the Dubai International Project Management Forum 2023 for
including gender-balance related topics in the event’s agenda. She called on
the private sector to play a bigger role in advancing gender balance as part of
the leadership’s broader vision for women’s development and empowerment.
Highlighting
the priority that the UAE’s leadership has placed on women’s education, Al
Marri said 56 per cent of UAE’s graduates in STEM fields are females, one of
the highest rates in the world. Citing examples of exceptional gender balance
achievements in Dubai organisations, she said the Roads and Transport Authority
(RTA) employs 100 women engineers. Due to the country’s strong investment in
education, women are active participants in sectors across the economy.
Al
Marri also highlighted the role of the media as a vital partner in conveying an
accurate picture of the UAE’s gender balance achievements.
The
UAE’s gender balance model seeks to find the ideal balance between women’s
participation and empowerment in public and professional spheres with their
role in the family as mothers who play an active role in the development of
their children, Al Marri said.
Source:gulfnews
https://gulfnews.com/uae/uae-a-role-model-for-gender-balance-says-mona-al-marri-1.93449500
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Top
UN Official General Amina Mohammed Urges Muslims: Move Taliban Into 21st
Century
26
January ,2023
The
highest-ranking woman at the United Nations said Wednesday she used everything
in her “toolbox” during meetings with Taliban ministers to try to reverse their
crackdown on Afghan women and girls, and she urged Muslim countries to help the
Taliban move from the “13th century to the 21st.”
Deputy
Secretary-General Amina Mohammed, a former Nigerian Cabinet minister and a
Muslim, said at a news conference that four Taliban ministers, including the
foreign minister and a deputy prime minister, spoke “off one script” during
meetings with her delegation last week.
She
said the officials sought to stress things that they say they have done and not
gotten recognition for — and what they called their effort to create an
environment that protects women.
“Their
definition of protection would be, I would say, ours of oppression,” Mohammed
said.
Those
meetings in the Afghan capital, Kabul, and the Islamic group’s birthplace in
Kandahar were followed by a visit this week by UN humanitarian chief Martin
Griffiths and heads of major aid groups.
They
are pressing the Taliban to reverse their edict last month banning Afghan women
from working for national and international non-governmental groups.
Speaking
from Kabul on Wednesday, Griffiths said the focus of the visit was to get the
Talian to understand that getting aid operations up and running and allowing
women to work in them was critical.
The
delegation’s message was simple — that the ban makes the groups’ work more
difficult, he said.
“What
I heard from all those I met (was) that they understood the need as well as the
right for Afghan women to work, and that they will be working on a set of
guidelines which we will see issued in due course, which will respond to those
requirements,” Griffiths said.
Mohammed
said her delegation, including the head of UN Women, which promotes gender
equality and women’s rights, pushed back against the Taliban, including when
they started talking about humanitarian principles.
“We
reminded them that in humanitarian principles, non-discrimination was a key
part … and that they were wiping out women from the workplace,” she said.
As
a Sunni Muslim, like the Taliban officials, Mohammed said she told the
ministers that when it comes to preventing girls’ education beyond sixth grade
and taking away women’s rights, they are not following Islam and are harming
people.
In
one setting, Mohammed said, she was told by a Taliban official she didn't name
that “it was haram (forbidden by Islamic law) for me to be there talking to
them.” These conservatives won’t look straight at a woman, she noted, so she
said she played “that game” and didn’t look directly at them either.
“I
gave as much as I think they gave, and we did push,” she said.
Mohammed
said the Taliban have said that in due course the rights taken away from women
and girls will come back so the UN delegation pressed for a timeline. “What
they would say was ‘soon,’” she said.
The
Taliban took power for a second time in August 2021, during the final weeks of
the US and NATO forces’ pullout from Afghanistan after 20 years of war.
Mohammed
said the Taliban, who have not been recognized by a single country, want
international recognition and Afghanistan’s seat at the United Nations, which
is currently held by the former government led by Ashraf Ghani. “Recognition is
one leverage that we have and we should hold onto,” Mohammed said.
Before
arriving in Kabul, Mohammed’s delegation traveled to Muslim majority countries,
including Indonesia, Turkey, Gulf states and Saudi Arabia, where she said there
was wide support against the Taliban bans.
She
said there is a proposal for the UN and the 57-member Organization of Islamic
Cooperation to host an international conference in mid-March on women in the
Muslim world.
“It’s
very important that the Muslim countries come together,” she said. “We have to
take the fight to the region … and we need to be bold about it and courageous
about it because women’s rights matter.”
Griffiths,
the undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs, and his delegation,
including the heads of Care International and Save the Children US, did not
travel to Kandahar, where the ban on Afghan women working for NGOs was issued
on the orders of the reclusive Taliban supreme leader, HibatullahAkhundzdaza.
Griffiths
acknowledged Akhundzada’s top status but said there are many important voices
among Taliban officials across the country.
“I
don’t think it’s a simple matter of simply asking one man to take
responsibility and to change an edict,” he said.
“There
is a collective responsibility for this edict, and I hope we’re building up a
collective will to compensate for its ban.”
Save
the Children’s JantiSoeripto said that there were meetings with eight
ministries in two days and that some among the Taliban seemed to understand the
need to reverse the ban.
“There’s
resistance, they don’t want to be seen doing a U-turn,” she said.
“If
people don’t see the consequences as viscerally as we see them, people will
feel less inclined.”
Mohammed
said it is important for the UN and its partners to work more in some 20 Afghan
provinces that are more forward leaning.
“A
lot of what we have to deal with is how we travel the Taliban from the 13th
century to the 21st," she said. “That's a journey. So it's not just
overnight.”
She
said the Taliban told her delegation that it is putting forward a law against
gender-based violence, which she called “a big plus” because rape and other
attacks are increasing in Afghanistan.
“I
want to hold the Taliban to champion implementing that law,” she said.
Mohammed
said it is important to maximize whatever leverage there is to bring the
Taliban back to the principles underpinning participation in the “international
family.
“No
one objects to a Muslim country or Sharia (law),” she said. “But all of this
cannot be re-engineered to extremism and taking views that harm women and
girls. This is absolutely unacceptable, and we should hold the line.”
Source:
Al Arabiya
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URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/iran-shahla-abdi-kurdish-pregnant-woman/d/128969