New Age Islam News Bureau
29
Jul 2020
•
Shoura Proposal to Give Permanent Residency for Children Of Saudi Women
•
Germany Arrests ISIS Woman Who Abused Yezidi Woman in Syria
•
UKEF Supports College as It Offers Female Education in Saudi Arabia
•
Violence Against Women: Femicide On the Rise in Turkey
•
Egypt Jails Women for Two Years Over TikTok Videos
Compiled
by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/kylie-moore-gilbert-australian-academic/d/122494
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Australian
Academic, Kylie Moore-Gilbert, jailed in Iran Moved to A Notorious Prison
July
28, 2020
Kylie
Moore-Gilbert, a lecturer at Melbourne University, has been in jail since
September 2018
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LONDON
— A British-Australian academic serving a 10-year sentence in Iran for
espionage has been moved to a remote desert prison, notorious for violence and
stricken with coronavirus, according to media reports.
Cambridge-educated
Kylie Moore-Gilbert, a lecturer at Melbourne University in Middle East
politics, had been held in Tehran’s Evin Prison for nearly two years, before
her sudden move three days ago to Qarchak women’s prison, south-east of Tehran.
She
strongly denies all the charges against her.
She
spent almost two years sleeping on the floor in a cell in the capital Tehran,
according to a friend.
She
has been in solitary confinement and on several hunger strikes, and she is said
to have been beaten for trying to comfort new prisoners by passing notes and
writing to them on prison walls.
Reza
Khandan, the husband of imprisoned human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh, said in
a Facebook post that Moore-Gilbert was in "a very bad condition,"
according to BBC.
He
wrote that she had told him: "I can't eat anything, I don't know, I'm so
disappointed. I'm so very depressed."
In
letters smuggled out of Tehran's Evin prison in January, the lecturer said she
had "never been a spy" and feared for her mental health. She said she
had rejected an offer from Iran to become a spy.
"I
am not a spy. I have never been a spy, and I have no interest to work for a
spying organization in any country."
She
also said she feared her health had "deteriorated significantly".
"I
think I am in the midst of a serious psychological problem," she wrote,
worsened by "the ban on having any phone calls with my family".
Moore-Gilbert
remains adamant that she is "an innocent woman... imprisoned for a crime I
have not committed".
The
academic was traveling on an Australian passport and was detained at Tehran
airport in 2018 as she tried to leave following a conference.
She
was tried in secret last year for espionage.
https://www.saudigazette.com.sa/article/596056/World/Mena/Australian-academic-jailed-in-Iran-moved-to-remote-prison
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Shoura
proposal to give permanent residency for children of Saudi women
July
14, 2020
Last
week, eight members of Saudi Arabia’s consultative assembly, the Shoura
Council, have called for the granting of permanent residency status for the
children of Saudi women married to foreigners.
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RIYADH
— Eight members of the Shoura Council have mooted a proposal to add a new
article to the residency permit (iqama) law to give permanent iqama for
children of Saudi women married to foreigners.
Okaz/Saudi
Gazette has learned from well-informed sources that the proposal seeks issuance
of iqama for an unlimited period of time without charging any fee for children
of those women whose marriages with foreigners are held with the consent of the
authorities and their marriage contracts are notarized.
The
sources confirmed that the proposal was presented by members — Latifa
Al-Shaalan, Lina Almaeena, Noura Al-Masaad, Alia Al-Dahlawi, Moudhi Al-Khalaf,
Huda Al-Halisi, Faisal Al-Fadil and Atta Al-Subaiti. It is based on a number of
principles and goals, the most important of which are achieving social justice,
strengthening family bonds, and preserving human rights in line with the spirit
of articles 8, 9, 10, 11 and 26 of the Basic Law of Governance.
The
sources said that the movers of the proposal strive to promote the rights of
Saudi women and address the difficulties faced by non-Saudi children to obtain
a permanent residency permit.
This
proposal is said to be one of the interim solutions for the outstanding issues
related to the citizenship law. They noted that the children of Saudi women
citizens are under the Sponsorship Law, which ends with the death of the Saudi
mother, and that requires the children to find out another sponsor and thus
causing numerous psychological and social problems.
This
is the third attempt at the Shoura Council to address the situation of children
of Saudi women married to foreigners. Two of the eight members, Latifa
Al-Shaalan and Atta Al-Subiti, along with some other members of the previous
session, moved a proposal to amend the Saudi Citizenship Law in this regard but
it was not taken up for discussion by the council. Earlier in 2019, five
members made a similar proposal that lacked two votes to secure the minimum
vote for approval.
https://saudigazette.com.sa/article/595494/SAUDI-ARABIA/Shoura-proposal-to-give-permanent-residency-for-children-of-Saudi-women
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Germany
Arrests ISIS Woman Who Abused Yezidi Woman In Syria
July
27-2020
The
German police arrested the suspect after she was deported from Turkey. (Photo:
AP/Michael Probst)
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ERBIL
(Kurdistan 24) – German police arrested a German woman who is accused of ISIS
membership and was involved in abusing a Yezidi woman, the German Federal
Prosecution announced on Monday.
She
was arrested in Frankfurt airport upon her return to Germany, after being
deported from Turkey.
In
a statement, the Attorney General at the Federal Court of Justice (GBA) said
that the suspect, Nurten J., travelled to Syria in the spring of 2015 with her
four year-old daughter to join the ‘foreign terrorist organization, the Islamic
State (IS)’ and to live in their territory.
In
Syria, she married and raised children with a German ISIS fighter who had also
left Germany. They were living together and raising her children, according to
directions to serve ISIS.
The
suspect received monthly payments from ISIS and lived in apartments whose
owners were killed or evicted by ISIS.
Between
2016 and 2017, Nurten J. had frequent visits from a friend to her apartment. At
the request of Nurten J., her friend brought along an enslaved Yezidi women,
who was used by Nurten J. to clean her living quarters without pay.
“Nurten
J. thus followed the ideology of ISIS, from whose perspective the enslavement
of Yezidis was religiously justified,” the Federal Prosecution affirmed.
When
ISIS lost its territories in Syria, Nurten J. was captured by the Kurdish-led
Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF.) Later she was held in Turkey and deported to
Germany.
The
German prosecution did not make clear how the suspect was able to reach Turkey
from Syria.
Most
likely, the suspect escaped the infamous al-Hol camp. It was built to house
40,000 individuals, but currently holds around 65,000 people, mostly women and
children. This includes nearly 11,000 foreign women with alleged ties to ISIS
and their children.
According
to a recent UN report released on Thursday “a steady stream of ISIL (ISIS)
affiliated women are reported to have escaped the (al-Hol) camp into Turkey
with the aid of corrupt guards and smugglers.”
On
Friday, Nurten J. was brought in front of the investigative judge of the
Federal Court of Justice who ordered her pre-trial detention.
German
Yezidi journalist, Düzen Tekkal, told Kurdistan 24 that this case highlights
how ISIS women “are perpetrators, not victims or innocent ‘brides.’”
Often
the ISIS women are portrayed in the media as simple housewives who were not
involved in any crimes.
“They
committed terrible crimes also - and especially against other women - for which
they are responsible and therefore have to be held accountable. As a woman’s
rights activist, I believe in full equality between men and women,” Tekkal
said. “That means: the same law applies to men and women. In court, it has to
be about the deeds - not the chromosome set.”
This
is not the first case against a German ISIS female suspect.
In
March, Omaima Abdi, the former wife of two German ISIS fighters, was charged
with crimes against humanity; membership in a terrorist group; and the
enslavement of a 13-year-old Yezidi girl.
The
charges were the result of the work of two investigative reporters, Harald
Doornbos, a Dutch journalist based in the Middle East, and Jenan Moussa, a
reporter for Dubai’s Al Aan TV. The two exposed Abdi’s return to Germany from
Syria.
German
Minister of State, Niels Annen, during a meeting of the UN Security Council on
Thursday, said that Germany is putting members of the Syrian regime; ISIS; and
Jabhat al-Nusra, a Salafist group which has fought against the Syrian regime,
on trial for war crimes committed in Syria.
“Our
message is clear: Whoever commits crimes against humanity or war crimes cannot
feel safe anywhere and will eventually be held accountable,” he concluded.
https://www.kurdistan24.net/en/news/aece33ce-109b-4ebc-adf7-302700551875
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UKEF
supports college as it offers female education in Saudi Arabia
24
July 2020
Burton
and South Derbyshire College is a local college in Staffordshire with a global
outlook. A programme of international partnerships has allowed it to build a
global footprint with a presence in 15 markets. It now generates about 9% of
its turnover as exports.
The
organisation turned to UKEF when it wanted to expand into Saudi Arabia. The
college wanted to make sure it was protected against the risk of non-payment.
Unable to find cover in the private sector, the organisation approached one of
UKEF’s regional export finance managers, who found a policy fit for its needs.
Secure
in the knowledge that their exports would be covered, the college set up the
first international female college in Saudi Arabia, “Highbury Burton Saudi
Arabia”.
Chief
Executive and Principal, Highbury Burton Saudi Arabia, Sunaina Mann OBE, said:
The
world-leading support provided by UKEF gave us the confidence and security we
needed to expand into an exciting market and to dramatically improve the employment
prospects of young Saudi women. Successfully fulfilling this order is allowing
us to continue our growth across the Middle East.
https://www.gov.uk/government/case-studies/ukef-supports-college-as-it-offers-female-education-in-saudi-arabia
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Violence
against women: Femicide on the rise in Turkey
28.07.2020
Violence
against women is not uncommon in Turkey. The recent killing of 27-year-old
student Pinar Gültekin at the hands of her former boyfriend, however, sent
shock waves through the country. The woman from Turkey's south-western Mugla
province was beaten and strangled to death by the man. He then tried burning
the corpse in a nearby forest. After failing to do so, he disposed of her
corpse in a bin, which he then filled with concrete.
Several
days after the murder, the man was apprehended thanks to CCTV footage captured
at a gas station where he was loading a fuel canister into his vehicle. The
police say the man acted out of jealousy.
According
to the We Will Stop Femicide online platform, this year alone, 27 women were
murdered for similar motives; a further 23 suspected femicides were recorded as
well.
Women
in Turkey's cities, particularly in the country's west, have taken to the
streets to express their anger at the state of affairs. At a recent protest
march in the coastal metropolis of Izmir, however, Turkish police intervened,
arresting several activists. Scuffles ensued.
Police
crackdown on protest
Arzu
Sert, who attended the Izmir protest, told Deutsche Welle (DW) she was violently
abused while in police custody. She recounts how she and others had gathered
outside a cultural centre in the city's Alsancak district to make a press
statement. Then, as the march got underway, police officers attempted to block
the route with barricades, Arzu Sert says "Then we were illegally
detained, beaten and abused," she adds.
Lawyers
and attorneys have expressed outrage over the violent crackdown. Zeynep
Tepegoz, a lawyer, says Turkish citizens have a constitutional right to stage
peaceful protests. Police acted illegally, she asserts: "The events in
Izmir indicate that police deployed disproportionate force [ ... ] there is no
justification for pinning protesters to the ground and beating them," she
says.
Many
Turkish women's right groups say the crackdown reflects a wider societal
problem. They say many women who are being abused seek – but never receive –
proper help. Melek Önder of the We Will Stop Femicide initiative told DW that
Turkish police, the government and state officials must do much more to protect
women at risk: "There were cases where women who were being violently
abused asked for help, but nothing happened," she says.
Disingenuous
condolences?
One
day after Pinar Gültekin's murder, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan took
to Twitter to express his condolences. He wrote: "Yesterday, we were
overwhelmed with pain when we had to learn that Pinar Gültekin was murdered by
a villain. I despise all crimes committed against women."
Many
women's right activists, however, say the president's words ring hollow. After
all, the government has done little to implement the so-called Istanbul
Convention, which aims to tackle violence again women and domestic abuse, as
well as promoting gender equality. The initiative was launched by the Council
of Europe in 2011, and Turkey was the first country the ratify the treaty a
year later. It has since adopted legislation reflecting the treaty.
Women's
rights activists regard the Istanbul Convention as a powerful tool to fight
violence against women. But many criticise that the treaty is not being
properly implemented. Even though signatory countries have vowed to do so, in
reality few are applying and enforcing the enshrined principles. There are also
too few measures designed to help and protect endangered women. Turkish
protesters have therefore called for the treaty to be fully implemented in the
country.
Istanbul
Convention
Deeply
religious forces within Turkey regard the Istanbul Convention as a threat to
country's traditions and have been undermining efforts to see it implemented.
Ebru Asiltürk, the spokeswoman for women's affairs for Turkey's Islamic
conservative Saadet Party, is one such critic. In an opinion piece for Turkey's
conservative daily Milli this May, she wrote that the treaty would be like a
"bomb" destroying Turkey's traditional family structure. She argued
it would threaten the "financial and moral integrity of families". In
her view, the convention breaches Article 41 of the Turkish Constitution which
enshrines the protection and unity of the family. She therefore urges Turkey to
abandon the treaty altogether.
Many
people on social media expressed support for Asiltürk's viewpoint, with some
claiming on Twitter that the treaty is a simply means by the West to hurt
Turkey.
Turkey's
government, meanwhile, has not displayed any real determination to tackle the
problem of femicides and has failed to side with those who decry it. Protest
marches calling for women to be better protected are regularly dispersed. When
2,000 women gathered in Istanbul on 25 November for a demonstration marking the
International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, police
disbanded the protest using tear gas and rubber bullets.
https://en.qantara.de/content/violence-against-women-femicide-on-the-rise-in-turkey
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Egypt
jails women for two years over TikTok videos
27
Jul 2020
An
Egyptian court has sentenced five female social media influencers to two years
in jail each on charges of violating public morals, a judicial source said.
The
verdict against Haneen Hossam, Mowada al-Adham and three others came after they
had posted footage on the video-sharing app TikTok. The ruling, which can be
appealed, included a fine of 300,000 Egyptian pounds (£14,600) for each
defendant.
Hossam
was arrested in April after posting a three-minute clip telling her 1.3 million
followers that girls could make money by working with her. Authorities arrested
Adham in May. She had posted satirical videos on TikTok and Instagram, where
she has at least 2 million followers.
The
lawyer Ahmed Hamza al-Bahqiry said the young women were facing separate charges
over the sources of their funds. The arrests highlight a social divide in the
deeply conservative Muslim country over what constitutes individual freedoms
and social norms.
The
human rights lawyer Tarek al-Awadi has previously told AFP the influencers’
arrests showed how society was wrestling with the rapid rise of modern
communications technology.
“The
verdict is shocking, though it was expected. We will see what happens on appeal,”
said the women’s rights lawyer Intissar al-Saeed. “It is still a dangerous
indicator ... Regardless of the divergent views on the content presented by the
girls on TikTok, it still is not a reason for imprisonment.”
Egypt
has been cracking down on female singers and dancers over online content it
deems too suggestive.
Last
month, an Egyptian court sentenced the belly dancer Sama al-Masry to three
years over “inciting debauchery” on social media after posting a TikTok dance
video. In 2018, a female singer was detained on the same charge after an online
video clip of her dancing went viral.
The
previous year, a female pop singer was sentenced to two years in prison on
similar charges, also over a video deemed provocative. Her sentence was reduced
to a year on appeal.
“The
charges of spreading debauchery or violating family values are very loose ...
and its definition is broad,” said Saeed.
In
recent years, Egypt has enforced strict internet controls through laws allowing
authorities to block websites deemed a threat to national security. It also
allows the monitoring of personal social media accounts with more than 5,000
followers.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jul/27/egypt-jails-women-for-two-years-over-tiktok-videos
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URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/kylie-moore-gilbert-australian-academic/d/122494