Israeli jails are 'brutal', say Palestinian women released after prisoner deal
New Age
Islam News Bureau
28 November 2023
· Gender-based violence: 1 in 3 women faces physical or sexual harassment in her lifetime, says WHO
· Violence Against Women ‘Systematic’ In Islamic Republic, Activists Say
· Iranian Nobel Laureate’s Chat With Angelina Jolie Divides Dissidents
· Muslim girls walk ramp wearing burqas in UP college, Jamiat-e-Ulema erupts in protest
· Tehran Hijab Enforcer: “I Need This Job to Feed My Children”
· Afghan female journalists face unemployment and information barriers
Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/israeli-jails-palestinian-women-prisoner/d/131205
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Israeli jails are 'brutal', say Palestinian women released after prisoner deal
27 November, 2023
Israel committed to release some 156
Palestinian women and children in exchange for 50 Israeli women and children
hostages [Qassam Muaddi /TNA]
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Palestinian women released from Israeli jails over the weekend warned of "brutal" conditions in jails since 7 October.
Around 119 Palestinian women and children have been released from Israeli detention since Friday, as part of a truce deal reached between Israel and Hamas.
In exchange, the Palestinian group has released 49 Israeli hostages and 17 foreign citizens, who were captured during its attack on Israel on 7 October.
"Our detention conditions worsened a lot after 7 October, to unprecedented levels," SamahSouf, a 24-year-old Palestinian detainee who was released on Sunday, told The New Arab.
"In the room I was in, at the Damon prison, we were six inmates in just enough room for the six of us", she said. "After 7 October, we became 11 in the same room, and most of the inmates slept on the floor."
Israeli prison authorities have severely limited prisoner access to electricity and water, according to Souf.
Another report by Al-Araby Al-Jadeed has suggested harrowing conditions in Israeli prisons with conditions worsening since 7 October.
"The occupation authorities cut off electricity, so we could not use ventilators despite the very hot weather in Damon, which is close to the sea, and we were allowed a few hours of running water," the former detainee said.
"Before 7 October, we used running water to wash, but not for drinking as it is mixed with a high concentration of chlorine and other chemicals, so we bought bottled water, which we were no longer allowed to buy since 7 October and forced to use the little non-fresh water we had.
"Our courtyard time, the only time we can see the sun, was reduced to half an hour, and our cell was raided and searched by the prison security several times.
"Because we didn't have enough water, we couldn't wash off the smell of tear gas, and we had to get accustomed to it."
Souf was arrested last May and placed under a four-month administrative detention order without charges, which was renewed for an additional four months in September.
"After 7 October they told us that administrative detention orders were going to be renewed, so I was preparing myself for more unknown time in jail," she said.
Sunday's release of prisoners was delayed for hours after Hamas halted the release of hostages in response to Israeli violation of the truce's terms, namely reducing the number of humanitarian aid trucks allowed into the Gaza Strip.
Detainees and hostages were released again late on Sunday night, after Qatari mediation.
In Ramallah, thousands of Palestinians including families of prisoners to be released, gathered in the town of Beitunia, close to the Israeli Ofer detention centre. Israeli forces dispersed the gathering using tear gas and live bullets.
Four Palestinians were wounded in the assault, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent Society.
The exchange included several sick prisoners. One of them, 50-year-old Samira Hirbawi, was unable to speak to media due to her health conditions. Her brother told The New Arab that "she arrived at home devastated and tired".
Israeli forces arrested Hirbawi at an Israeli checkpoint in July, after shooting and wounding her. Hirbawi was charged with attempting to stab Israeli soldiers, and remained in the trial process until her release.
Her family denies the accusation, insisting that she was in company of two of her seven children at the time of her arrest.
"Samira spent a month and a half at the Damon prison, before her wounds worsened and caused additional problems due to lack of treatment," her brother said.
"She had inflammation in her limbs and was transferred to an Israeli hospital, where her lawyer filed a release petition for humanitarian reasons, which the occupation court denied.
"Later, her health condition deteriorated, and we lost contact with her after 7 October. She told us that when she asked for treatment, Israeli prison services told her that she could be treated after her release."
Sunday's release also included 38-year-old IsraaJaabees, who spent eight years in Israeli jails. She was considered one of the most critical humanitarian cases in Israeli jails, and deemed one of the most likely to be released in the exchange deal.
Israa was arrested in October 2015, after her car caught fire due to an electric malfunction on the way to Jericho. She was charged with attempting to attack Israeli soldiers.
Her family and lawyer denied the charges, stating that her car caught fire more than a kilometre away from an Israeli checkpoint to which she was heading.
She was transporting her belongings to her new house in Jericho when the car caught ablaze and suffered burns to 50 percent of her body leaving her severely disfigured.
Jaabees saw her 14-year-old son on Sunday for the first time since he was six years old.
She returned to her home in Jerusalem, where Israeli police dispersed journalists and other Palestinians who had gathered to celebrate her release.
As of 6 October, Israel held more than 5,000 Palestinians in its jails, including 1,300 under administrative detention without charges with 2023 seeing an unprecedented spike in arrests and administrative detention orders.
There are now more than 7,000 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, including some 2,200 administrative detainees, 200 children, and 60 women.
On 7 October, Hamas's armed wing took some 200 to 250 Israeli and foreign hostages during its large-scale attack on Israeli military bases and civilian towns. According to Hamas, Israeli bombings have killed some 50 hostages since 7 October.
Israel's bombing of Gaza since 7 October has killed almost 15,000 Palestinians, including more than 6,000 children. Israel's assault on the Gaza Strip has also destroyed about half of the territory's homes and forced many of its hospitals out of service.
Source: newarab.com
https://www.newarab.com/news/released-palestinian-women-say-israel-prisons-brutal
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Gender-based violence: 1 in 3 women faces physical or sexual harassment in her lifetime, says WHO
28th November 2023
People take part in a candlelight march
at the India Gate in protest over Kathua gangrape case in New Delhi. (File
Photo | PTI)
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NEW DELHI: Nearly one in three women globally experience physical or sexual violence in her lifetime, said WHO on Monday. Estimates suggest that the South-East Asia Region (SEARO) ranks second highest, at around 33%, in the world where women experience physical or sexual violence.
Stressing that everyone has the right to a life free of violence and coercion, the WHO SEARO regional director Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh said that most women are at greater risk of being abused by the people they live with. Most of this is in the form of intimate partner violence, she added.
“Violence against women, especially intimate partner violence, has serious health impacts, both immediate and long term. These encompass injuries as well as serious physical, mental, sexual and reproductive health problems,” she said.
The very high prevalence of violence against women and its significant health impacts place it among today’s priority public health issues, she said. Marking the start of ‘16 Days of Activism’ against ‘Gender-based Violence’, she said violence against women is preventable. “It is rooted in gender inequality and harmful gender norms that make violence against women acceptable. In particular, evidence shows that intimate partner violence and sexual violence result from factors occurring at individual, family, community and wider society levels,” Dr Singh said.
Source: newindianexpress.com
https://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/2023/nov/28/gender-based-violence-1-in-3-women-faces-physical-or-sexual-harassment-in-her-lifetime-says-who-2636849.html
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Violence Against Women ‘Systematic’ In Islamic Republic, Activists Say
28th November 2023
Maryam Sinaee
Pro-government people rally against the
popular protest rallies in Tehran (September 2022)
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On the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, civil society groups emphasized that serious violations in Iran is deeply ingrained and systematic.
The Women's Revolution, a coalition of rights activists advocating for social and economic equality, modernism, and the separation of religion and state, highlighted the roots of women's rights violations in the laws and governance of the Islamic Republic.
These violations include granting men the right to divorce and child custody, obliging women to provide marital relations on demand, endorsing child marriage, imposing death sentences on women for extramarital relationships, idealizing traditional gender roles, restricting women's entry to stadiums, and imposing limitations on their education and professions.
“We, the signatories of this statement, know very well that women will never be freed from violence and this cycle of sexism will continue given the domination of a gender apartheid system. But we believe that the Woman, Life, Freedom revolution has sparked the hope in everyone's hearts that the end of this tragedy is conceivable,” the statement said.
In a statement which it published on Facebook, the banned Iranian Writers’ Association (Kanoon-e Nevisandegan-e Iran), also said violation of women’s rights in the Islamic Republic is “systematic”.
The Writers’ Association said in their statement that imposing hijab on Iranian women by the Islamic government after the 1979 revolution was a first step that was quickly followed to embrace many other areas of their lives including laws, family, work, and education. These, the statement said, revealed themselves in deepening of women’s oppression and revealed themselves as domestic violence, child marriage, and honor killings, and other forms of violence such as acid attacks.
“This misogyny revealed its ultimate barbarism against the movement that began with the Woman, Life, Freedom slogan,” the statement said and warned that the “dominance of reactionary cultural and religious elements” has elevated violence against women and their oppression to “disastrous new dimensions”.
Many allege that the Islamic Republic has given free rein to reactionary religious groups for violence against women such as mass poisoning of female students that began in November last year and continued for several months.
Authorities denied any responsibility or involvement in the attacks that affected hundreds of schools and thousands of girls across the country for months but did not take action to find and arrest those behind the attacks.
Authorities have also stepped-up pressure on women’s rights activists who are increasingly being arrested on various pretexts and heavily sentenced in unfair trials to silence them. Women’s rights activists are also increasingly being subjected to violence in prisons.
In a letter from Evin Prison in August, NargesMohammadi who won the Nobel Peace Prize in November warned about escalating systematic violence against female prisoners and revealed disturbing details of physical harassment, abuse, and assault inflicted on women inmates in the months leading up to the anniversary of the nationwide Woman, Life, Freedom protests.
In a resolution adopted Thursday, the European Parliament strongly condemned the latest attacks against women, girls, and women's rights defenders in Iran and called on the Iranian leadership to immediately stop the systemic oppression and all discrimination against women and girls, including mandatory veiling, and to withdraw all gender discriminatory laws.
Source: iranintl.com
https://www.iranintl.com/en/202311279820
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Iranian Nobel Laureate’s Chat With Angelina Jolie Divides Dissidents
28th November 2023
Iranian Nobel Peace Prize Laureate NargesMohammadi’s prison call with Hollywood star-turned-activist Angelina Jolie has caused controversy among Iranians.
In spite of the horrific conditions of Iran's prisons, Fars news agency, a mouthpiece of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and hardliners, ran a report saying that Mohammadi’s interview with Jolie has “busted the lies about the poor conditions of political prisoners,” claiming that it was the reason behind online criticism of the interview.
It has also raised questions as to how Mohammadi is allowed what are seen as special privileges when so many suffer abhorrent conditions including torture such as amputation and stoning, as documented by Amnesty International, and denial of legal counsel inside Iran's jails. Human Rights Watch has also documented the widespread abuses and primitive conditions endured in Iran's jails.
One of the notable people who criticized Mohammadi was Yasmine Pahlavi, the wife of the exiled prince of Iran who has become a leading opposition figure during the Women, Life, Freedom protests – ignited by the death in custody of 22-year-old MahsaAmini in September 2022. In an online post, she said, "How can a political prisoner obtain permission to speak with Angelina Jolie but is unable to get permission to talk to their own son? This is a challenging puzzle for many of us."
She referred to an interview with Mohammadi’s son Ali and husband TaghiRahmani, in which they say Mohammadi has not spoken to her son for nearly two years. Following the rebuke, Rahmani – himself a frequently jailed activist who fled Iran in 2012 and has close ties to Iran’s reformists – explained that his wife is only allowed to call a limited number of people from the prison and their children are not on the list. He claimed that they sought to arrange for his son to talk to Mohammadi via a third party, but the intermediary was threatened by the authorities to be removed from the list of permitted individuals.
According to the accounts of former prisoners, Mohammadi – and other prisoners – can make a phone call from the prison’s landline to one of the people allowed by prison authorities. Their confidants then can make a phone call to whomever they want by another device. With both phones on loudspeakers, they can then talk to each other. It was apparently the case with the interview with Angelina Jolie, who according to her article published by Time last week talked to Mohammadi for a brief time before the call was disconnected, forcing her to finish the interview with written questions.
However, critics argue that if such a method is possible, how can Mohammadi did not apply it to talk to her children. Another point raised by the critics is how Mohammadi’s actions do not lead to any consequences similar to other prisoners. Earlier in the month, MahvashSabet, a former member of the Baha’i community’s leadership group wrote a letter from Tehran’s Evin Prison, bemoaning the persecution of the minority groups by the Islamic Republic. Iran International learned earlier this week that Sabet has since been banned from contacting her family because of her letter under the orders of the Intelligence Ministry.
Criticizing the jailed activist, MojtabaVahedi, a former reformist politician who has become a dissident foreign-based journalist, said, "Here in America, when an American sees NargesMohammadi's interview with Angelina Jolie, they conclude that we are lying about problems of Iran’s prisons.”
On the other hand, supporters of Mohammadi are of the opinion that activists in Iran, especially the jailed ones, should take every opportunity to make the voices of dissent heard to the international community.
Mohammadi was arrested on November 16, 2021, and one year after being released, was detained again. Currently, she is serving a total sentence of 9 years and 8 months, along with 154 lashes and additional penalties in Evin Prison. Charges include spreading propaganda against the state. Mohammadi has been imprisoned several times over the past two decades for her work fighting for human rights. She is the deputy head of the Defenders of Human Rights Center, a non-governmental organization led by Shirin Ebadi, the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize laureate. Immediately after she won the Nobel Prize, she became the target of a barrage of criticism by ultra-hardline media in Iran.
The controversy is proof that the Islamic Republic effectively employs tactics to create discord among its opposition. Iran arrests activists vocally critical of its conduct and sentences them on trumped up charges. Subsequently, it selectively eases restrictions on some, allowing them to communicate with the world or granting them furloughs. Observing this discriminatory behavior, Iranians become suspicious about why they were singled out as the pawns of the Islamic Republic’s propaganda. In the end, the imprisoned activists either become less outspoken, serving the Islamic Republic’s agenda, or more publicly visible, only helping the regime further promote its propaganda campaign.
Source: iranintl.com
https://www.iranintl.com/en/202311272027
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Muslim girls walk ramp wearing burqas in UP college, Jamiat-e-Ulema erupts in protest
28th November 2023
Muzaffarnagar: A fashion show in Uttar Pradesh triggered an angry protest from Muslim organisations for allowing some college students to walk the ramp wearing burqas.
Organised at Shri Ram College in Muzaffarnagar district, the fashion show was also attended by yesteryear Bollywood actress Mandakini and many other celebrities. On the last day of the show on Sunday, some female students wore burqas and walked on the ramp. Soon after a video went viral on social media, Muslim organisations protested against it. Jamiat-e-Ulema
leaders said that the burqa is the veil of Muslim women, it should not be made a part of the fashion show.
The organisation said an attempt was made to hurt religious sentiments. Jamiat-e-Ulema's District Convenor Maulana MukarramQasmi said, "Burqa would not be a part of any fashion
show. Children have been exposed to obscenities. This was done to target a religion. By doing this, an attempt has been made to hurt the Muslim community and their religious sentiments."
He further said Jamiat-e-Ulema opposes such a move. The cleric further said he has appealed to the college administration and district administration to look into the issue.
Maulana Qasmi said that if anyone organises such events again, his organisation will fight a
legal battle against it. "We won't hesitate to go to the High Court or Supreme Court for this. The burqa is a cloth which is worn by a Muslim woman whenever she goes out of the house so that no other person can see her face. The burqa is used as a curtain. It is completely wrong to use burqa in fashion shows by sewing it in red or yellow clothes," he said.
According to one of the Muslim students, who was a participant in the catwalk, her college teacher had asked her to wear it creatively. The girl who is from the Muslim community, said she thought that wearing multi multi-coloured burqa would add a dash of creativity. "We wanted to wear a burqa of different colours this time. With this thought, we thought of wearing a burqa
in a different way at the fashion show," she said.
Source: etvbharat.com
https://www.etvbharat.com/english/state/uttar-pradesh/muslim-girld-walk-ramp-wearing-burqas-in-uttar-pradesh-college-jamiat-e-ulema-erupts-in-protest/na20231128065834310310845
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Tehran Hijab Enforcer: “I Need This Job to Feed My Children”
NOVEMBER 27, 2023
Zeinab, a single mother of three, is among women in Tehran who dedicate eight hours a day to safeguarding "chastity of society.”
Ismail, a resident of northern Tehran, spends his evenings patrolling the streets of northern Tehran to record the license plate numbers of vehicles in which women are not wearing the mandatory hijab.
These individuals are referred to as "hijab enforcers" by Islamic Republic officials.
Zeinab and other women from her neighborhood underwent several training sessions before embarking in July on her mission to warn women with uncovered hair.
She is part of a network responsible for "photographing and documenting" non-compliant individuals.
Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi denied issuing permits to individuals involved in the "Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice," claiming their engagement was "spontaneous.”
And on November 24, he acknowledged that such an activity is a public duty.
Two days later, Etemad newspaper revealed a confidential document showing that hijab enforcers are organized under Vahidi's supervision to "suppress" women.
In an interview with IranWire, Zeinab explains that she was forced to fend for her two daughters and her son alone after her husband abandoned the family.
Desperate to make ends meet, she responded to a job opportunity suggested to her by a woman she worked for as a home cleaner.
This job, described as a mission to safeguard "the chastity of society," offered a prospect of financial security, with a monthly income and material benefits worth approximately 13 million tomans ($260).
Days after the woman introduced Zeinab to her husband, she was invited to participate in preparatory classes to become a hijab enforcer.
The classes began with lectures on hijab, described as a divine obligation, and the principles of the "Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice."
Subsequent sessions focused on practical aspects of the job, emphasizing the importance of maintaining a group presence, avoiding confrontation with women who do not adhere to the strict dress code, and utilizing photography to document instances of non-compliance.
Zeinab and her fellow hijab enforcers then embarked on eight-hour patrols across Tehran, reminding women to cover their hair appropriately.
"We only warn," Zainab says. "We say, 'My lady, my dear, your hijab, scarf, or shawl.'"
Each group of hijab enforcers typically consist of eight women accompanied by several men.
The men largely remain on the sidelines, but when a conflict arises between enforcers and defiant women they step in to support the female enforcers.
Zeinab acknowledges that occasional clashes occur during her patrols.
"We have been told that if we harm someone, we must be held accountable, and the headquarters will deny any connection with us," she explains. "From the very first day, they said that if we hit someone, we would be responsible for it."
"I won’t get involved in any conflicts because I need this job to feed my children. If something happens, no one would give a piece of bread to my children," the woman adds.
Ismail tells IranWire that he works for eight to 10 hours daily in a poultry farm in Shahriar, near Tehran.
After this job, he commutes to the capital, where he monitors and reports license plates of vehicles carrying women without head covering.
Ismail says he has received a "monitoring software" from the local paramilitary Basij force to identify cars with "bareheaded women."
For over four months, he has reported instances of "hijab violations" in the north of Tehran five days a week.
"The rich people in the north of Tehran are the agents of the West, the Israeli and American staff, trampling on the blood of my martyred father and people like me," he says.
Ismail's father died in the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s.
The man, who claims not to receive any money for his work, expresses frustration about being limited to reporting 40 cars every 24 hours.
"Some days it takes me two hours to reach Niavaranneighborhood and half an hour to record the plate numbers of 40 cars. I input them into the software and then I have to go back."
Ismail acknowledges that despite the intensifying crackdown on women without head covering, their number has not decreased.
He attributes this to the judiciary's lack of decisive action and the constraints put on the Basij force.
"If they had left us, we would have put a scarf and a chador on women's heads; it only takes a little determination and force," he says.
Source: iranwire.com
https://iranwire.com/en/women/122925-tehran-hijab-enforcer-i-need-this-job-to-feed-my-children/
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Afghan female journalists face unemployment and information barriers
Fidel Rahmati
November 28, 2023
An organization known as the “Afghan Women Journalists Association” has released the findings of their survey on the status of female journalists in Afghanistan over the past two years. According to the report, the majority of women journalists have become housebound during this period.
According to officials from this organization, more than 200 female journalists and media personnel from both the capital and the provinces participated in this survey. They were asked about the challenges they have faced in relation to the recent changes that have occurred in the past two years, providing insights into the current status of women journalists and potential solutions to overcome these challenges.
The results of the Afghan Women Journalists Association’s survey were announced during a press conference in Kabul on Sunday. According to Mina Habib, a representative of the organization, the presence of female journalists in the media has significantly declined following the collapse of the Republic system. She noted, “Most female journalists have become housebound, and some have even left the country.”
According to the survey conducted by this organization, 45% of female journalists have identified unemployment as their most significant challenge in continuing their work, with 5% of them citing poverty as a concern.
The survey also highlighted that 10% of female journalists consider lack of access to information as a serious obstacle, while 7% of female media employees have expressed concerns about job insecurity and personal safety.
Hajar Jafari, a reporter for a private radio station in Kabul, states that the major challenge for female journalists is the lack of access to information. She also emphasizes that members of the Taliban administration often prevent the presence of journalists at press conferences.
According to the survey conducted by this organization, 2% of journalists consider wearing a mask to be a hindrance to their media work. Additionally, there have been reports of mistreatment of female journalists by the Taliban.
MajabinSalar, another journalist in Kabul, views wearing a mask during event coverage as a mandatory requirement imposed by the Taliban and finds it uncomfortable.
While this organization has not provided details about the methodology of conducting this survey and data collection, the Reporters Without Borders organization stated in its latest report that following the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan, 86% of female journalists lost their jobs.
Source: khaama.com
https://www.khaama.com/afghan-female-journalists-face-unemployment-and-information-barriers/
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