Iranian Activist Samaneh Asghari Begins One Year Prison Term After a Judicial Amnesty Decree
New Age Islam News Bureau
04 April 2024
·
Iranian Activist Samaneh Asghari Begins One Year Prison
Term After a Judicial Amnesty Decree
·
Mona Khashoggi: ‘I Want To Raise The Bar For Arab
Musical Theater’
·
Iran’s Kimia Alizadeh, Only Female Olympian Medalist,
Defected To Bulgaria
·
Israel Killed Over 24,000 Palestinian Women, Children In
Gaza: Authorities
·
Providing Vocational Training Opportunities for 200
Women in Badakhshan
·
Iranian Activists Condemn Sentences Against Women's
Rights Advocates
·
World Bank Allocates $16 Million To Support Women-Owned
Business In Afghanistan
Compiled by New Age Islam News
Bureau
URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/iranian-activist-samaneh-prison-amnesty/d/132082
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Iranian Activist Samaneh Asghari Begins One Year Prison
Term After a Judicial Amnesty Decree
Samaneh Asghari, a prominent advocate for children's
and women's rights
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APRIL
3, 2024
Iranian
women and children rights activist Samaneh Asghari has begun serving a one-year
prison sentence, her husband says.
Ismail
Nazari, the activist's spouse, said in an Instagram post on April 3 that
Asghari went to the prosecutor's office in Tehran and was transferred to Evin
prison.
In
November 2022, the Islamic Republic's judiciary sentenced Asghari, a student at
Kharazmi University in Tehran, to one year in prison.
This
sentence included time already served in detention.
Six
male police officers and a female agent, who falsely identified as water
department officials, apprehended Asghari.
The
student activist spent 35 days in solitary confinement at Ward 209 of Evin
Prison.
After
interrogation, she was transferred to Qarchak Varamin prison, where she
remained until their initial release.
Originally
sentenced to 18 years and three months by Judge Abolqasem Salavati of Branch 15
of the Tehran Revolutionary Court, Asghari was released from Qarchak Prison
under a judicial amnesty decree.
Security
forces rearrested Asghari from her Tehran house on September 14, 2023.
She
was again detained in Ward 209 of Evin Prison and was later released on bail.
Source:
iranwire.com
https://iranwire.com/en/women/126911-iranian-activist-samaneh-asghari-begins-prison-term/
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Mona
Khashoggi: ‘I Want To Raise The Bar For Arab Musical Theater’
Symphonic Journey in the World of Classical Arab
Song” is the latest show from Saudi producer and art patron Mona Khashoggi.
(Supplied)
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April
04, 2024
DUBAI:
On May 5, the Théâtre du Gymnase in Paris will come alive with the songs of
some of the Arab world’s most renowned singers and musicians. Tracks made
famous by Fayrouz, Warda, Abdel Halim Hafez and Mohamed Abdel Wahab — among
others — will be performed accompanied by an orchestra directed by Ahmed
El-Mougy.
For
the latest updates, follow us on Instagram @arabnews.lifestyle
“Symphonic
Journey in the World of Classical Arab Song” is the latest show from Saudi
producer and art patron Mona Khashoggi.
“This
artistic project is dedicated to exploring and appreciating the rich heritage
of classical Arab music through the lens of the symphony orchestra,” Khashoggi
tells Arab News. “It aims to bridge tradition with modernity by reinterpreting
classical pieces with symphonic arrangements, while also incorporating a
contemporary twist.”
“Symphonic
Journey in the World of Classical Arab Song,” which runs for one night only,
highlights the rich diversity of Arab musical heritage and music’s role in
building cultural bridges.
It
is through shows such as this that Khashoggi, a long-time patron of the Saudi
cultural scene — particularly performance art, is helping to preserve and
revive Arab culture.
“What
I’m doing is reviving the old way of musical theater, which used to exist in
Arab cities such as Cairo and throughout the Middle East,” says Khashoggi.
“They don’t stage musicals now that are up to international standard. Musicals
are lacking now in the Arab world. I want to raise the bar high for Arab
musical theater.”
To
do so, Khashoggi has been working with a West End team in London to revive Arab
musical theater within the Arab world and internationally.
“I
want to stage Western Broadway-style shows, but with Arab subjects and Arab
singing and acting,” she explains.
She’s
currently working on a new musical, “Sinbad the Sailor,” recounting the
adventures of the famed hero of a series of Arab folk tales (including one from
“One Thousand and One Nights”) across seven voyages. The folk tales were based
on the experiences of merchants from Basra, Iraq, trading with the East Indies
and China during the 8th century.
Meanwhile,
Khashoggi’s recent productions continue to travel the world. “Umm Kulthum and
the Golden Era,” which debuted in London’s West End in early 2019, and then opened
in Dubai in 2022, showed at the Bahrain National Theater in Manama in
January.
And
in November 2022, Khashoggi released “Jaffa Orange Groves,” a “romantic and
historical novel” based on real events and the stories of Palestinians from the
1940s.
Reflective
of the Khashoggi’s desire to uphold, revive and preserve Arab culture, the book
charts the story of Salma, a determined young Palestinian girl living with her
extended family in the bustling cosmopolitan port city of Jaffa. She meets
David, a German Jewish boy whose family had escaped the Holocaust and emigrated
to Palestine. They both question the rules and traditions that define them and
dream of a different reality. Then war erupts and their love is placed in
jeopardy. The book is now being translated into Arabic.
“I’d
like to turn the book into a movie,” Khashoggi says, adding that she is
speaking to several directors about this possibility. “During COVID, I learned
how to write for the screen.
“Because
the book takes place in Palestine, the best place to film it is in Jordan,” she
says. But the current events in Gaza will likely delay any filming. “We are all
in such mourning,” she says.
Khashoggi
is also dedicated to developing young Saudi talent, especially in the
performing arts.
“I
wish Saudi — and all countries throughout the Middle East — would introduce
more theater in schools,” she says. “It’s such a crucial part of education and
the enhancement of one’s creativity.”
Source:
arabnews.com
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2487921/lifestyle
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Iran’s Kimia Alizadeh, Only Female Olympian Medalist,
Defected To Bulgaria
April
04, 2024
ARASH
AZIZI
Last
Wednesday, an announcement made at a news conference in Sofia, Bulgaria’s
capital, broke many hearts in Iran. With her characteristic sunny smile, the
taekwondo athlete Kimia Alizadeh declared that she was joining the Bulgarian
national team, hoping to compete under its flag at the Paris Olympics this
summer.
Alizadeh
was accompanied by the chairman of Bulgaria’s taekwondo federation who called
her a “potential gold” and asked his government to work swiftly on the
necessary paperwork. The deadline for submission to Olympics was April 15, he
added.
The
news was bittersweet for those of us who have followed the remarkable career of
25-year-old Alizadeh. She became a household name in Iran almost eight years
ago, on August 19, 2016, when she won a bronze medal at the Rio de Janeiro
Olympics in Brazil, at the age of 18.
Having
defeated her Swedish rival in three rounds, just as she had previously defeated
Croatian and Thai competitors, Alizadeh made history, becoming the first
Iranian woman to win an Olympic medal. Sixty-eight years after Tehran first
fielded athletes in the games, an Iranian woman had finally climbed the podium.
It
was a shot in the arm for the advocates of women’s sports in Iran who had long
had to overcome many obstacles, most importantly a long list of misogynist
laws. The most contentious of these forces all women to cover their hair and
full body except for the face and hands, up until the wrist, a restriction that
could be especially limiting for athletes.
Another
law mandates that women athletes, like all other women in Iran, can only leave
the country with the permission of their husbands or other male guardians. Many
Iranians bitterly remembered how in 2015, Niloofar Ardalan, captain of the
national futsal team, had been barred from leaving the country by her husband
(a well-known sports commentator with the state broadcaster) and was unable to
compete in the Asian championship in Malaysia.
Alizadeh’s
Rio victory was made more meaningful by the fact that Iran had sent one of its
largest-ever women delegations to the Olympics with a total of nine female
athletes (out of 63) in diverse fields such as archery, athletics, ping pong,
shooting and rowing.
Alizadeh
received immediate nationwide fame and official recognition by then-president
Hassan Rouhani and other officials. Yet even the very image of her victory gave
her audience a sense of the limitations she faced: her hair covered with a
white scarf. Interestingly, she stood next to Egypt’s Hedaya Malak who, like
her, won a bronze medal in the same category and wore an almost identical white
scarf.
But
there was a difference. Alizadeh had been forced by her government to don the
hijab whereas Malak was doing so out of choice. Of the 37 women representing
Egypt in Rio, some wore the hijab and some didn’t. The latter included Ebtissam
Mohamed, a road and track cyclist who engaged in a sport that was banned in
Iran for women, and Maha Amer and Maha Gouda who competed in professional
swimming suits in diving, something that Iranian women could only dream of.
If
the Egyptian delegation showed the diversity among Muslim athletes, the Iranian
team was a depressing reminder of the obstacles its women faced. At the time,
Iran was the only country in the world that enforced the hijab ban (the Taliban
in Afghanistan has since joined the club).
It
was thus not particularly surprising when, in January 2020, Alizadeh declared
that she had left Iran for good. Having previously endorsed Mr Rouhani during
his 2017 re-election campaign, Alizadeh had shown a political consciousness and
a hope for her country’s progress.
But
by 2020, following the brutal clampdown on the protest movements of 2017 and
2019, it had become clear that things were not getting any better and she
preferred to continue her career elsewhere.
In
a poignant Instagram post, she wrote: “I am not a maker of history or a
flag-bearer for the Iranian caravan. I am but one of the millions of oppressed
women in Iran. For years, they played me however they liked. They took me
wherever they wanted. I wore whatever they asked me to. I repeated whatever
they told me to. I won medals which they attributed to the forced hijab and
their own management and foresight.”
She
had simply had enough. Her defection came months after that of another Iranian
athlete, the judoka Saeid Mollaei, who had also competed in Rio 2016 and won a
gold medal at the 2018 World Judo Championships in Baku.
Mollaei
defected when he was forced to lose the games just so that he wouldn’t have to
face Israel and thus break the regime’s ban on competing with Israeli athletes.
He has since competed under the Mongolia and Azerbaijan flags, including during
the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo and the Grand Slam games in Tel Aviv the same year.
His enduring friendship with a fellow Israeli judoka has been subject to a
film, co-directed by Iranian and Israeli filmmakers, featuring at the Venice
film festival last year.
Unable
to sign up with a new team in time for the Tokyo Olympics, Alizadeh was
sponsored by Germany and joined 28 other athletes from the likes of Syria,
Congo and South Sudan by playing in the second-ever refugee team.
She
was one of the few athletes in the team not from a war-torn country. It was a
sad reminder that could also be observed in any visit to refugee camps of
Greece or North Macedonia: even without a war Iran was, in effect, producing
refugees on a grand scale.
Last
week’s news means that Alizadeh has found a new home in Bulgaria.
Some
media outlets in Iran are predictably attacking Alizadeh with slurs, claiming
that playing for Bulgaria is a big demotion for her, despite the fact that with
230 Olympics medals in its history, the Eastern European country is a force to
be reckoned with.
The
Hamshahri newspaper, run by Tehran’s hardline-led municipality, mocked Alizadeh
saying that she has finally found a home “after a few years of peddling around”,
simultaneously insulting her and other displaced people.
For
their part, Iranian feminists and advocates of women’s sports speak for many of
their compatriots when they share their dual reactions: happy that Alizadeh
will be able to continue her excellence on the tatami and sad that Iran has
lost one more talent.
Speaking
to media, Frankfurt-based scholar and activist Forough Kanani said she had
cried when she heard of the news, calling it a “painful” sign of “Islamic
Republic’s incompetence”. Oslo-based journalist Asieh Amini also called it a
“loss for Iran” and lamented that “Iran was depriving itself from such
talents”.
We
can only dream of a day when talented Iranian women such as Alizadeh can once
more find glories under the Iranian tricolour.
Source:
thenationalnews.com
https://www.thenationalnews.com/opinion/2024/04/04/why-has-irans-only-female-olympian-medalist-defected-to-bulgaria/
---
Israel
killed over 24,000 Palestinian women, children in Gaza: authorities
More
than 24,000 Palestinian women and children have been killed in the Israeli
army's attacks on Gaza over the past six months.
The
Government Media Office in Gaza said on Wednesday that the Israeli army
"has committed 2,922 massacres in Gaza since October 7, 2023."
A
total of 14,500 children and 9,560 women were killed, 7,000 people were under
the rubble or missing and 75,577 people were injured.
It
said that 73 percent of those exposed to Israeli attacks in Gaza were women and
children, adding that 17,000 children in Gaza live without one or both of their
parents.
Reminding
the starvation in Gaza, the media office said that 30 children lost their lives
due to malnutrition and dehydration.
It
added that 484 healthcare workers, 140 journalists and 65 civil defence
personnel have also been killed.
Medical
complexes, patients on target
The
number of injured people who are in serious conditions and need to be treated
abroad is 11,000 and 10,000 cancer patients are at risk of death due to
inadequate health care.
Israeli
forces detained 310 healthcare workers and 12 journalists, and 2 million people
were displaced in Gaza.
Some
70,000 houses were completely destroyed in Gaza, and 290,000 houses were
damaged and became uninhabitable.
The
Israeli army damaged 297 mosques in Gaza, 229 of which were completely
destroyed, and targeted three churches, causing destruction.
It
also targeted 159 health institutions in Gaza, put 53 health centres and 32
hospitals out of service, and made 126 ambulances unusable.
Israel's
Gaza invasion
Israel
has waged a deadly military offensive on Gaza since the October 7, 2023
cross-border attack led by the Palestinian resistance group, Hamas, which
killed less than 1,200 people.
More
than 32,900 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, and over 75,000
injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.
Israel
has also imposed a crippling blockade on Gaza, leaving its population,
particularly residents of northern Gaza, on the verge of starvation.
That
has dramatically heightened the need for international assistance in the
coastal enclave amid stringent Israeli restrictions on its entry.
Israel
is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which last week
asked Tel Aviv to do more to prevent famine in Gaza.
Source:
trtworld.com
https://www.trtworld.com/middle-east/israel-killed-over-24000-palestinian-women-children-in-gaza-authorities-17630519
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Providing
Vocational Training Opportunities for 200 Women in Badakhshan
APRIL
03, 2024
Nazim
Qasimi
A
woman has created a carpet weaving center in Faizabad, the capital of
Badakhshan, providing vocational training opportunities for about 200 other
women.
This
woman aims to engage girls who are left out of education in vocational training
through the establishment of this center.
Farkhunda,
the person in charge of the carpet weaving workshop, says: "We established
this workshop with a fund of three hundred thousand Afghanis to keep women busy
so they can contribute to their families' financial situations."
Several
women working in this center are asking the interim government for financial
support.
Sohaila,
a trainee, said: "Schools may be closed for a lifetime, that's why we came
here to learn something, to earn a wage for ourselves, and to promote carpet
weaving in Badakhshan province."
Another
trainee, Sabrina, says: "We ask the Islamic Emirate to ensure that women,
children, and girls are not left unemployed. Schools should be opened."
Meanwhile,
the Department of Industry and Commerce in Badakhshan says that over the past
year, more than 600 women in the center and districts of this province have
turned to business activities.
Samaruddin
Rahmani, the director of establishments at the Department of Industry and
Commerce in Badakhshan, said: "So far this year, 610 women are actively
engaged in various sectors under our supervision and with institutions,
involved in production and industrial activities, and the Department of
Industry and Commerce is aware of and supports their activities."
Previously,
a large number of girls who were left out of education and had turned to
learning vocational trades had asked the interim government to reopen
educational institutions for girls.
Source:
tolonews.com
https://tolonews.com/index.php/afghanistan-188147
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Iranian
Activists Condemn Sentences Against Women's Rights Advocates
April
04, 2024
Over
350 political and civil activists have come together to denounce the heavy
sentences imposed on women's rights activists in Gilan province, Iran.
The
activists released a statement demanding the annulment of all verdicts and the
immediate release of the imprisoned individuals.
"We,
a group of women's rights activists and civil and political activists, demand
the cancellation of all the sentences, the cessation of pressure on the
activists, and their unconditional freedom," reads the statement.
According
to the statement, the recent imposition of sentences on women's rights
advocates in Gilan highlights the ongoing struggle against oppression faced by
activists in the region.
Mustafa
Nili, a lawyer of two of the women, revealed on March 27 that the third branch
of the Revolutionary Court in Rasht sentenced 11 women activists to more than
60 years in prison on charges including "membership in an illegal
group," and “propaganda against the system."
The
signatories of the statement, comprising women's rights activists and civil and
political advocates, emphatically called for the reversal of the sentences, an
end to the pressure exerted on activists, and the unconditional liberation of
those incarcerated.
The
condemnation comes amidst a broader crackdown on dissent in Iran, with an
increasing number of women, including activists, students, lawyers, and even
insiders critical of the regime, facing arrest.
Rights
groups such as Amnesty International have condemned the crackdowns as part of a
broader effort to quash civil society in Iran.
Source:
iranintl.com
https://www.iranintl.com/en/202404045878
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World Bank Allocates $16 Million To Support Women-Owned
Business In Afghanistan
Fidel
Rahmati
April
4, 2024
The
World Bank has announced that it has allocated $16 million to support small
businesses in Afghanistan, with a focus on women-owned enterprises and
businesses led by women.
The
World Bank stated on Wednesday, April 3rd, through a press release, that this
assistance will be directly disbursed to the Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust
Fund (ARTF) via the Aga Khan Foundation in the USA.
Melinda
Good, World Bank country director for Afghanistan, emphasized that “supporting
small financial providers in Afghanistan is one of the few actionable options
currently available to enhance access to financial resources in Afghanistan,
especially for women.”
According
to her, “This project aims to strengthen the small financial sector in
Afghanistan so that owners of small businesses and women-led enterprises can
access the necessary financial credit to rebuild their businesses, rebuild
their lives, and contribute to the revival of the private sector.”
The
World Bank stated that the Afghanistan Credit Guarantee Foundation was
established in 2004 and added that the bank is striving to increase access to
financial resources in Afghanistan for small and medium-sized enterprises by
providing credit guarantees and technical assistance.
This
comes as support for women in the private sector, especially in investment and
trade, has increased from international organizations.
The
World Bank report stated that this project will be concentrated in 15 provinces
of Afghanistan, including Badakhshan, Balkh, Bamyan, Dykundi, Faryab, Herat,
Jawzjan, Kabul, Kunduz, Nangarhar, Parwan, Samangan, Sar-e Pol, and Takhar.
It
is worth mentioning that this project in Afghanistan will be implemented
through the Aga Khan Foundation and the Afghanistan Credit Guarantee
Foundation.
The
World Bank has stated that the goal of aligning this project is to support
“enhancing the financial resilience and growth of small providers and
companies.”
Additionally,
the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has announced the alignment of
several projects to create job opportunities for women and emphasized that
aligning projects strengthens the economy of Afghanistan and enables women
entrepreneurs to manage their businesses.
This
is while women’s interest in trade and investment has increased in Afghanistan
following educational and employment restrictions.
Source:
khaama.com
https://www.khaama.com/world-bank-allocates-16-million-to-support-women-ld-business-in-afghanistan/
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URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/iranian-activist-samaneh-prison-amnesty/d/132082