Iranian Activist, Mahvash Seydal, on Fifth Day of Hunger Strike in Evin Prison
New Age Islam News Bureau
29 May 2025
· Iranian Activist, Mahvash Seydal, on Fifth Day of Hunger Strike in Evin Prison
· Iran Deports Schoolgirls To The Taliban’s Afghanistan Due To Their Legal Status
· At Oslo Forum, Afghan Olympian Denounces Taliban And Global Hypocrisy On Women’s Rights
· Saudi Women Coders Describe Inspiration Behind Award-Winning Apps
· Zenobia Women's Gathering Condemns Violence Against Women, Children
· Women’s Peace Symposium Held At Mosque In Halesowen
· Women In Sudan’s Darfur At ‘Near-Constant Risk’ Of Sexual Violence: MSF
Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/iranian-activist-hunger-strike-evin-prison/d/135707
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Iranian Activist, Mahvash Seydal, on Fifth Day of Hunger Strike in Evin Prison
MAY 29, 2025
Civil rights activist Mahvash Seydal entered the fifth day of her hunger and medication strike on Thursday while imprisoned in Tehran’s Evin Prison.
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Civil rights activist Mahvash Seydal entered the fifth day of her hunger and medication strike on Thursday while imprisoned in Tehran’s Evin Prison.
According to a post on Seydal’s Instagram account, she is experiencing severe fluctuations in blood pressure and intense migraines.
Prison authorities have not responded to her condition or addressed her demands, the post said.
Seydal is currently serving a three-year sentence in two separate cases related to her activities on the Clubhouse social media platform.
She has been held in the women’s ward of Evin Prison since October 2024.
The activist said that she would continue the strike if authorities continue to ignore her demands and held the Islamic Republic responsible for any consequences.
Source: iranwire.com
https://iranwire.com/en/women/141594-iranian-activist-on-fifth-day-of-hunger-strike-in-evin-prison/
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Iran Deports Schoolgirls To The Taliban’s Afghanistan Due To Their Legal Status
MAY 29, 2025
IRANWIRE
Iran has ordered more than four million undocumented Afghan migrants to leave the country by July 6, in what could become one of the largest forced deportations in the region in years
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Mahboubeh has never set foot in Afghanistan, yet Iranian authorities insist it is her home.
She speaks Persian with the fluency of someone born and raised in Iran, dreams in the language of a country that now rejects her, and excels in schools that would be nonexistent under the Taliban's rule.
At 18, she should be choosing universities, not mourning lost opportunities.
Despite her achievements, Mahboubeh faces barriers to education in Iran due to her legal status. While many of her peers prepare for university, her own future remains uncertain.
But the deportation order she holds says otherwise. By July 6, she must leave Iran for Afghanistan, abandoning her education and her dream of becoming a flight attendant.
She is one of thousands of Afghan schoolgirls the Islamic Republic is deporting to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.
Iran has ordered more than four million undocumented Afghan migrants to leave the country by July 6, in what could become one of the largest forced deportations in the region in years.
Nader Yar Ahmadi, head of the Interior Ministry’s Office for Foreign Nationals and Immigrants, said the deadline applies to Afghans without valid residency documents and those whose census registration papers have expired.
About 2.03 million Afghan nationals currently hold expired census documents, and another 2 million are living in Iran illegally, Yar Ahmadi said in an interview.
Iranian authorities reported that over 2 million Afghans entered the country after the Taliban took power in 2021, adding to the many more who had arrived over the recent decades.
Roughly half of those with invalid papers have already received exit orders.
“I really cried when I found out my mother got the exit order,” Mahboubeh says, her voice breaking. “Do you know the current situation in Afghanistan under the Taliban? I really don't know what to do.”
Since returning to power in August 2021, the Taliban has systematically restricted women’s rights in Afghanistan.
High-ranking Iranian officials, including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, have expressed both explicit and implicit support for the Taliban.
Meanwhile, the clerics in Kabul have shown growing internal tensions in recent months as they attempt to transition from a guerrilla group to a functioning government.
Born in Iran to Afghan parents, Mahboubeh’s life has been shaped by the precarious nature of refugee existence.
For years, her family maintained legal residency through her father’s documentation. But eight years ago, when his severe drug addiction consumed him, everything changed.
Her father abandoned the family, taking with him not just his presence but their legal status. Once he left, their residence cards became invalid.
“My father had a very severe addiction. Then he completely abandoned me, my mother, and my brother,” Mahboubeh explains. “At that time, we had legal residence cards because we were living in Iran. But after he left, they became invalid.”
Her mother, left alone with two young children, did what she could to hold the family together. She took multiple jobs - first in agriculture, then in a food company.
She pursued a divorce through Iran’s complicated legal system and registered herself as the children's guardian at school. For years, this arrangement held — fragile but functional.
Now, the authorities are forcibly detaining undocumented migrants and sending them back to Taliban-ruled Afghanistan.
Shops have reportedly been instructed not to sell bread to Afghans in one province.
The United Nations estimates that about 4.5 million Afghans currently live in Iran, many of whom arrived after the Taliban seized power in 2021.
In an effort to stop more from entering, Tehran is building a 10-meter (13-foot) wall along part of the 900-kilometer border with Afghanistan.
Yet, even amid mass deportations, many Afghans continue to pay smugglers to help them flee Taliban rule and enter Iran.
“We don’t know anyone there. I was born here. Home is here. I have dreams,” says Mahboubeh.
Despite the hardships, Mahboubeh has excelled academically. She speaks with quiet pride about her accomplishments - participating in academic competitions, ranking in her city, and dreaming of language classes and aviation school.
Even while facing discrimination at school, where administrators “said every kind of insult you can imagine,” she persevered.
“If you look at my report card, I score above 18 [out of 20]. I’ve participated in many competitions. I’ve represented my school in various contests,” she says before breaking into tears. “I really want to achieve my goals and dreams.”
Now, those dreams face an absolute wall. Mahboubeh's family has received their final exit order. Their destination is Afghanistan, where the Taliban has systematically dismantled women’s rights. Girls are banned from attending school beyond the sixth grade.
Women are forbidden to work, travel alone, or appear in public without a male guardian. For an 18-year-old with academic ambitions, this means the end of everything she has worked for.
“Imagine being sent to a country that denies women the right to work or education,” Mahboubeh says. “I really feel bad. I just wish the conditions were better so that my mother could work and I could work, too. But they don’t even allow that to women.”
Adding to her fears is the threat of being separated from her mother by her father's family in Afghanistan.
Under Taliban rule and traditional Afghan tribal customs, a woman alone has little power to retain custody of her children against male relatives.
“One hundred percent, the Taliban government would take me and my brother from our mother,” she says. “Because a woman alone has no power to fight them.”
Her father's family had already been hostile during the divorce proceedings, blaming her mother for his suicide attempt and threatening her.
“My brother and I have even longed for something as simple as a school snack. We’ve never had the chance to own a new pair of shoes. People have helped us with secondhand clothes.”
She adds, “Ever since I learned what dreams are, I’ve dreamed of having nice things - the things I’ve never had.
“It’s really hard not having a father to support us. And our mother is sick and weak from working so much. Her small income barely covers rent and food. She has medical documents but can’t afford a basic doctor’s visit."
“I’m asking, please, if someone could help us. Even just stopping our deportation would mean everything.”
Meanwhile, Iran has announced it will no longer accept new Afghan migrants. Exceptions will be made for six unspecified categories eligible for temporary residence cards.
Deportations have surged since the Taliban returned to power in August 2021.
Iranian authorities are reportedly expelling hundreds of Afghan migrants daily, many through the border crossing in Afghanistan’s Nimroz province.
Mahboubeh's story is like that of thousands of young Afghans who were born and raised in Iran, built their lives, and now face being sent back to a place where their basic rights are not respected.
“From the beginning, I intended to migrate to a country where I could continue my education. Where I could have the right to freedom,” she says. “But when we received the exit order, it was devastating. All my dreams and goals were destroyed in a single day.”
Source: iranwire.com
https://iranwire.com/en/features/141591-i-have-dreams-iran-deports-schoolgirls-to-the-talibans-afghanistan/
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At Oslo Forum, Afghan Olympian denounces Taliban and global hypocrisy on women’s rights
29/05/2025
By Habib Mohammadi
OSLO — Fariba Rezayee, Afghanistan’s first female Olympian, delivered a searing personal and political address at the 2025 Oslo Freedom Forum on Wednesday, condemning both the Taliban’s repression and what she called the world’s complicity in abandoning Afghan women.
Speaking during one of the forum’s most emotionally charged panels, Rezayee — who competed in judo at the 2004 Athens Olympics — recounted the cost of her historic achievement: death threats, verbal abuse, and an armed attack, simply for defying conservative norms. “I was attacked in broad daylight just because I had short hair and no hijab,” she told the audience.
Her testimony traced a continuum of gender-based violence in Afghanistan, beginning before the Taliban’s return to power and accelerating under their current regime. “What we’re seeing now is not just repression,” she said, “it’s a slow purge of women from Afghan society — systematic, legalized, and deliberate.”
Rezayee directed sharp criticism at NATO member states, particularly Norway, for normalizing diplomatic relations with Taliban leaders while Afghan women faced escalating brutality. “How is it possible that the Taliban were treated with VIP protocol in Oslo while Afghan women were being flogged in Kabul that very day?” she asked, referencing the controversial 2022 visit by Taliban officials to the Norwegian capital.
She urged world leaders to draw a clear line between the people of Afghanistan and the Taliban, whom she described as “men who have nothing to do with our proud history, our culture, or our language.”
“We are sick and tired of the hypocrisy of world leaders. You can’t say the Taliban are bad and then shake their hands. Please, distinguish between the people of Afghanistan and the Taliban. They do not represent me. Afghanistan is a country with a beautiful language, rich culture, and proud history — and the world has handed us over to people who have nothing to do with that heritage,” she said.
Now based in Canada, Rezayee continues to advocate for Afghan women’s education. She launched the “Afghanistan Learns Online” initiative and a scholarship program for girls — which, she noted, recently received over 2,000 applications for just four spots. “It crashed our email server,” she said, a stark indicator of the demand for opportunity among Afghan youth.
Ending her speech with a personal note, Rezayee shared the daily struggle of resilience. “I wake up and wear a brave face like a soldier,” she said. “But my war is peaceful — fought with education, with hope, and with the voices of women who’ve been silenced.”
Her final appeal was direct: “Each of you can do something. Speak. Write. Apply pressure. Because extremism knows no borders. If the Taliban go unchecked, Afghanistan will become a global base for terrorism.”
Source: amu.tv
https://amu.tv/176988/
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Saudi Women Coders Describe Inspiration Behind Award-Winning Apps
WASAN ALMAKHLAFI
May 28, 2025
RIYADH: Two Saudi women spoke to Arab News about the inspiration behind their apps that were named in the top 50 of a global coding competition held recently by Apple.
Manar Al-Ghamdi, 22, began coding her app during the COVID-19 pandemic with encouragement from her father. What started as a curiosity quickly turned into a career path.
“It’s wonderful when you do something and you see the result of it,” Al-Ghamdi said. “(It is) a magnificent feeling, to see the result of your hard work.”
Her app, developed as part of a challenge-based learning module, aims to improve accessibility for visually impaired users. Drawing on Apple’s VoiceOver technology, she created a game centered on Lama, a blind girl who guides users through her world.
“When I worked on real-world challenges, that helped me understand the impact of technology on people’s lives. One of the most meaningful things that came during the academy was accessibility challenges,” Al-Ghamdi said.
“I talked to someone who is blind and a programmer (and) he showed me how he programs. It opened my eyes to how often accessibility is overlooked in app development, and how it’s crucial to design for everyone,” she said.
The app is both an educational and empathetic tool, introducing developers to the challenges faced by blind users. “We need the world to be inclusive, not exclusive,” Al-Ghamdi said.
“When I show anyone my app, they say, ‘Oh my God, that’s a real thing, that’s a challenge.’
“The more knowledge they have after using my app, I think that’s the rewarding part,” she added.
Both developers are graduates of the Apple Developer Academy in Riyadh, a program designed to nurture and develop coding talent in the Kingdom.
“My experience at the Apple Developer Academy has been truly transformative,” Al-Ghamdi said.
“The academy pushed me to grow, not only as a developer, but as a thinker, a collaborator, and a problem solver,” she added.
Al-Ghamdi was motivated to participate in Apple’s Swift Student Challenge after meeting previous winners through an academy-hosted session.
“The session I was very excited about is when the club invited the previous winners. They told us about how exciting it was. So I was like, OK, I want that too,” Al-Ghamdi said.
“After this magnificent journey I had here at the academy, the first thing in my mind now is, I want to create an app or develop something that really impacts people’s lives,” she said. “I want to build something meaningful.”
24-year-old Yomna Eisa’s app takes a more personal approach. Inspired by her own struggles with mental health, she designed an animated educational app that helps users understand internal stress responses through lighthearted, accessible storytelling.
“I wanted to create something that is personal to me, so that regardless of anything, regardless of outcome, to me, that’s still winning, that I created something that has meaning to me,” Eisa said.
“My cats were always a huge emotional support for me, so it was really important to me to incorporate them in this app,” she added.
Eisa taught herself animation using her iPad, despite not having an artistic background.
“I’m not an artist. I don’t know how to draw, but I wanted to try something different with this app, and I did all the animation myself on my iPad.
“I don’t think the person I was before the academy would have been the kind of person to try out risking learning something entirely new,” Eisa said.
“I hope that my app will teach them about what goes on internally in their body when they’re under chronic stress ... and deliver that message in a way that is lighthearted and comfortable to the user,” she added.
Eisa described the Apple Developer Academy as a key influence on her personal and professional development.
“The academy really pushes us to try new things and try our best to make mistakes and learn from those mistakes. And it’s been such a push for me, personally and professionally, and made me change entirely,” Eisa said.
“Honestly, I feel like an entirely new person.
The academy program, she said, was “motivational, encouraging, and comfortable ... being surrounded by our mentors and other women who share similar values when it comes to continuous learning has honestly been so encouraging,” she added.
Fueled by her experience at the academy, Eisa is now looking ahead.
“I want to use my knowledge in tech to create something that is useful,” Eisa said.
“I want to hopefully continue doing that and possibly work for a company or an organization that can help me support that and fulfill that goal,” she added.
The Swift Student Challenge is part of Apple’s broader effort to nurture young talent in coding, design and entrepreneurship. The 50 winners — including Al-Ghamdi and Eisa — will attend Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference at Apple Park in Cupertino, California, in June.
Their recognition highlights Saudi Arabia’s growing presence in global tech innovation, especially among young women.
Source: arabnews.com
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2602451/saudi-arabia
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Zenobia Women's Gathering condemns violence against women, children
28 May, 2025
Members of the Zenobia Women's Gathering Council, along with representatives of women's movements and organizations, the Future Syria Party Council, and the Democratic Autonomous Administration of Tabqa, gathered today in the square of the Zenobia Women's Gathering Council building. They held banners reading “Stop Femicide” and “Long Live the Will of Free Women.”
The gathering was held to deliver a public statement expressing outrage and condemnation of the increasing crimes against women and children across various Syrian regions.
The statement was read by Amina Al-Ali, a member of the Zenobia Women's Gathering Council. It said: “Horrific crimes have been committed in Syrian cities such as Aleppo, Damascus, and Homs, where women and children were brutally killed,” amid the absence of any real accountability or deterrence by the security forces under the Damascus authorities.
The statement also warned of the worsening state of impunity, stressing that the continued and widespread nature of these crimes across multiple provinces exposes the fragility of the security situation, threatens societal peace, and puts vulnerable groups, especially women and children, at greater risk.
It also mentioned two crimes that took place in the city of Qamishlo and the countryside of Tal Tamr, within areas under the Autonomous Administration. The statement emphasized that the Internal Security Forces there responded immediately and began pursuing the perpetrators, an action that reflects the administration’s commitment to protecting residents, especially women.
Through the statement, the Zenobia Women’s Gathering affirmed that women’s safety is a collective responsibility. It called for coordinated efforts between community and official institutions to protect women, hold aggressors accountable, and reject silence in the face of these crimes.
The statement concluded with an appeal to relevant local and international bodies, human rights organizations, and media institutions to take immediate action, shed light on these crimes, support the victims and their families, and put an end to the culture of impunity that fuels ongoing violence.
Source: hawarnews.com
https://hawarnews.com/en/zenobia-womens-gathering-condemns-violence-against-women-children
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Women’s peace symposium held at mosque in Halesowen
28TH MAY
By Matty Airey
A PEACE symposium focusing on the role of women as ambassadors of peace was held at a mosque in Halesowen.
The event, organised by the Dudley branch of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Women's Association, took place at Baitul Ghafoor mosque on May 3 and brought together women from various sectors, including faith, politics and civic society.
The aim was to foster a deeper understanding of Islam and other faiths.
Attendees were welcomed with refreshments and an exhibition showcasing the Qur'an in different languages.
There was also a stall for trying on hijabs and community leaflets and books were available.
The event began at 2.30pm with a reading from the Qur'an, followed by a speech from Reverend Hazel Charlton, a Church of England priest.
She shared insights on peace-making from a Christian perspective, referencing Abigail from the Book of Samuel as an example of a wise and courageous woman.
Dr Monaa, director of Purple Mind Community Service, highlighted the importance of women in peacekeeping.
She said: "An empowered woman is not a threat to society, but an indication that there is nothing a determined woman can't do once she sets her foot to it."
Other speakers included Sharie Kaur, a senior clinical lead and interfaith advocate, and Rani Gundhu QPM, West Midlands Police's longest-serving female officer.
The keynote speaker was Saima Mushtaq, regional vice-president for the Ahmadiyya Muslim Women's Association Midlands.
She discussed Islam's role in addressing current and future challenges.
The event concluded with the presentation of a cheque to Millie's Foundation, a local charity supporting individuals with dementia, and a hamper donation to the Manna House Pantry Project.
A buffet of hot Pakistani food was served to the 65 attendees.
The event aimed to promote peace and understanding among people from different walks of life, faiths, and backgrounds.
Source: halesowennews.co.uk
https://www.halesowennews.co.uk/news/25198039.womens-peace-symposium-held-mosque-halesowen/
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Women in Sudan’s Darfur at ‘near-constant risk’ of sexual violence: MSF
May 28, 2025
PORT SUDAN: Sexual violence is a "near-constant risk" for women and girls in Sudan's western region of Darfur, Doctors without Borders (MSF) warned on Wednesday, calling for urgent action to protect civilians and provide support to survivors.
Since war began in April 2023 between Sudan's regular army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, the reported attacks in Darfur have been "heinous and cruel, often involving multiple perpetrators," according to MSF emergency coordinator Claire San Filippo.
The conflict has killed tens of thousands, displaced 13 million and left the country's already fragile infrastructure in ruins.
The RSF has been accused since the start of the war of systematic sexual violence across the country.
"Women and girls do not feel safe anywhere," said San Filippo, after MSF teams from Darfur and neighbouring Chad gathered harrowing accounts of victims.
"They are attacked in their own homes, when fleeing violence, getting food, collecting firewood, working in the fields. They tell us they feel trapped," she added.
Between January 2024 and March 2025, MSF said it had treated 659 survivors of violence in South Darfur, 94 percent of them women and girls.
More than half were assaulted by armed actors, and nearly a third were minors, with some victims as young as five.
In Tawila, a small town about 60 kilometres (40 miles) to the west from North Darfur's besieged capital of El-Fasher, 48 survivors of sexual violence were treated at the local hospital between January and early May.
Most arrived after fleeing an RSF attack on the Zamzam displacement camp that killed at least 200 civilians and displaced over 400,000.
In eastern Chad, which hosts over 800,000 Sudanese refugees, MSF treated 44 survivors since January 2025 -- almost half of them children.
A 17-year-old girl recounted being gang-raped by RSF fighters, saying: "I wanted to lose my memory after that."
According to Ruth Kauffman, MSF emergency medical manager, "access to services for survivors of sexual violence is lacking and, like most humanitarian and healthcare services in Sudan, must urgently be scaled up".
"People -- mostly women and girls -- who suffer sexual violence urgently need medical care, including psychological support and protection services," she added.
Source: arabnews.com
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2602478/middle-east
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URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/iranian-activist-hunger-strike-evin-prison/d/135707