Nagham Abu Samra: Palestine Karate Champion, Victim of Israel’s War on Gaza Dies In An Egyptian Hospital
New
Age Islam News Bureau
28 February 2024
·
Nagham Abu Samra: Palestine Karate Champion, Victim
of Israel’s War on Gaza Dies In An Egyptian Hospital
·
University Female Student Beaten by Security Forces
in Tehran Campus To Enforce Dress Codes
·
The Iranian Women Risking Jail with Daily Act of
Defiance
·
Pakistan Woman Harassed by Mob Wasn’t Coerced into
Apologising for Wearing the Shirt with Arabic Script: ASP
·
US Announces Tech, Academic Opportunities to Empower
Afghan Women
Compiled
by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/nagham-palestine-karate-egyptian-gaza/d/131811
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Nagham
Abu Samra: Palestine Karate Champion, Victim of Israel’s War on Gaza Dies In An
Egyptian Hospital
Nagham
Abu Samra was expected to represent Palestine at the upcoming Olympic Games in
Paris [Screengrab: Palestinian Karate Federation]
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Abubaker Abed
27
Feb 2024
Deir
el-Balah, Gaza – At 24, Nagham Abu Samra was already a sporting icon in Gaza.
She
had not only earned a black belt in an inspiring karate career but also
completed two degrees (bachelor’s and master’s) in physical education from the
now-demolished Al-Aqsa University in Gaza.
In
2021, Nagham also launched her own sports centre in the besieged enclave,
urging young girls in Gaza to take up sports, especially karate.
She
was a role model for all girls studying physical education at the university,
which now lies as a pile of rubble.
It
was the only university in Gaza that provided this curriculum and she was keen
to inspire young girls to take up sport.
In
January, Nagham died in an Egyptian hospital, succumbing to her wounds
sustained during an Israeli attack that also killed her sister Rosanne in
December.
She
had been in a coma after having been moved from Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in
Deir el-Balah, central Gaza, to the border with Egypt before being taken across
it to a hospital in El Arish.
A
hospital official in Gaza told Al Jazeera that Nagham was brought in with her
right leg amputated and severe head injuries. Surgery was too risky given her
situation and she was on life support, the official added.
“Her
case was one of the most severe. We knew her survival chances were reducing by
the day but we had to give it a try whatever the circumstances,” nurse Mohammad
Yousef from Al-Aqsa Hospital in Gaza, told Al Jazeera.
“She
was unconscious [the day she was brought into the hospital] and spent almost
all her time like that, suffering and shaking immensely.
“We
were very keen to help her as much as possible. The fact that she was a sports
icon in Palestine and a former karate champion pushed us to work even more
vigorously on her case. We knew she needed the utmost care which we showed
complete readiness for.
“In
the first three to four days she was at the hospital, her situation was
improving. However, she started having high and unusual fever with chest
inflammations.”
Medical
travel permit came ‘too late’
Standing
by her bedside in the hospital, the young athlete’s father Marwan called on
sports fans across the world to help Nagham “stand on her own feet again”.
“I
don’t usually look like this – Nagham’s condition has devastated me and I can’t
bear to see her like this,” he said, his voice breaking with the pain of seeing
his daughter suffer.
Amid
its war on Gaza that has killed nearly 30,000 people and wounded at least
70,000, Israel has also targeted hospitals and medical infrastructure across
the Strip, where drones, jets and soldiers targeted the facilities’ vicinity,
laying siege before entering them.
Gaza’s
medical infrastructure was woefully inadequate due to the Israeli blockade of
the Strip but now even that has been destroyed by the war.
The
World Health Organization says Israeli attacks killed 627 doctors, nurses,
ambulance drivers and other healthcare workers between October and January.
Lack
of fuel, medical personnel, supplies and power has meant main hospitals across
Gaza were out of service. Some have become shelter houses for Palestinians in
Gaza, displaced multiple times amid Israel’s continued attacks since October 7.
Patients
have been treated on the floor in corridors while doctors have been forced to
carry out surgeries without anaesthetics.
“We
needed to move her out of Gaza but needed a permit to let her leave,” an official
at Al-Aqsa Hospital said.
“We
had been calling out to the international community and medical institutions
across the world for help over many weeks but we didn’t get any.
“When
she was allowed to cross into Egypt, it was too late.”
‘An
exceptional woman’
Marwan,
her father, was the young athlete’s first and biggest fan. He would proudly
call her “the most beautiful karate player in the world” when she rose to the
top of the sport in Gaza.
After
her death, Marwan said Nagham was “an exceptional woman.”
Nagham
fell in love with karate as a child. She was well-known for her agility,
softness and talent from the early age of six.
She
succeeded in being an icon for the Palestinian sports community, representing
Palestine from a very young age in 2011. She finished runner-up twice in the
Palestine Karate Championship (2017 and 2018) before finally winning the title
in 2019.
“The
first thing I gained from karate is personal strength, which encompasses the
strength of character and willpower,” Nagham said in an interview with
Palestinian outlet Quds News Network.
Her
impressive performances, quick rise and dedication to the sport made the
Palestine Olympic Committee take notice. Nagham was in line to represent
Palestine at the Paris Olympics scheduled to take place this year.
Jibril
Rajoub, head of the Palestine Olympic Committee, described Nagham’s loss as
huge, adding that it will leave a gaping hole for Palestine in the world of
sport.
In a
recent interview with Al Jazeera, Rajoub said he believed that sport can be a
good tool to expose the suffering of the Palestinian people and to highlight
the athletes’ determination and commitment to achieving their goals.
He
pointed to the football team’s success at reaching the Asian Cup 2023 knockouts
under terrible circumstances – “with people being buried in their thousands
amid the destruction, the atrocities, the genocide” – as motivating the players
to achieve something for the Palestinians.
The
war’s toll on sport in Gaza
In
addition to Nagham, Israeli air strikes have killed two Palestinian beach
footballers, Hassan Abu Zaitar and Ibraheem Qaseeaa, as well as a basketball
player, Basem al-Nabaheen, from Bureij, central Gaza, where a football star,
Nazeer al-Nashash, was also among the casualties.
Football
has in fact suffered the most among all sports in Gaza. Hundreds of players and
managers have been killed, including national team player Rashid Dabour, who
was slated to join the squad for the Asian Cup that took place in Qatar earlier
this year.
The
Palestinian Football Association building in Gaza has been targeted numerous
times along with football stadiums that have been completely destroyed.
Palestine
lost its judo star Abdul Hafeed al-Mabhouh, as well as head of its table tennis
federation Mohammad al-Dalou. Thousands of other athletes have been wounded in
the war as it continues to take a toll on sport in the besieged strip.
In
addition to hospitals, the Israeli military has also destroyed other
infrastructure from the north to the south, including schools, roads,
communication networks and the water system.
The
widespread destruction is part of a deepening humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza
– with tens of thousands of people starving and heavy fighting continuing to
take lives.
UNRWA
chief said the UN’s Palestinian refugees agency was last able to deliver aid to
northern Gaza on January 23. He described the “looming famine” as a “man-made
disaster”.
With
every passing day and falling missile, a part of Gaza’s history, culture and
existence crumbles and when it does stop, it will take a lot of money, effort
and determination to revive the sporting infrastructure that Israeli attacks
have targeted and destroyed.
Source:
aljazeera.com
https://www.aljazeera.com/sports/2024/2/27/nagham-abu-samra-palestinian-karate-champion-israel-war-on-gaza
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University
Female Student Beaten by Security Forces in Tehran CampusTo Enforce Dress Codes
IranWire
obtained a video capturing the cries of the beaten student held inside a room,
while individuals in plainclothes appear to stand guard, instructing others to
leave.
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FEBRUARY
27, 2024
Iranian
security forces beat a female student on February 26 at Tehran Azad
University’s main campus, IranWire has learned.
IranWire
obtained a video capturing the cries of the beaten student held inside a room,
while individuals in plainclothes appear to stand guard, instructing others to
leave.
A
female security officer can also be heard dispersing protesting students.
Credible
sources said that male and female members of the university's security forces
are patrolling the campus to enforce dress codes with unprecedented strictness.
They
also noted a surge in surveillance cameras across the university, with nearly
every corner being monitored.
Students
accused of not complying with regulations, for instance women allegedly wearing
a headscarf improperly, are immediately identified and referred to the
university’s disciplinary committee.
These
actions come as professors and students critical of the Islamic Republic
continue to be suppressed within the university.
Source:
iranwire.com
https://iranwire.com/en/women/125820-university-student-beaten-by-security-forces-in-tehran-campus/
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The
Iranian women risking jail with daily act of defiance
February
28, 2024
Caroline Hawley
Azad,
Donya and Bahareh don't know each other.
But
the three women - whose names we've changed for their own safety - share a
fierce determination to resist Iran's theocratic government, and the dress
codes it has imposed on women and girls for 45 years.
So,
every day, they head out of their homes in the capital Tehran - without
covering their hair - despite the potential risks.
"It's
very scary," 20-year-old music student Donya tells me over an encrypted
app. "Because they can arrest you any minute and fine you. Or torture you
with lashes. The usual penalty if you're arrested is 74 lashes."
Last
month, a 33-year old Kurdish-Iranian activist, Roya Heshmati, made public that
she'd been given 74 lashes after posting a photograph of herself unveiled.
But
Donya, Azad and Bahareh say there is, for them, no going back.
"It
is symbolic," says Donya. "Because it is the regime's key to
suppressing women in Iran. If this is the only way I can protest and take a
step for my freedom, I'll do it."
The
three women will also protest later this week by not turning out to vote in the
country's first parliamentary elections since authorities brutally repressed
the women-led uprising that followed the death in custody of 22-year-old Mahsa
Amini in September 2022.
She
had been detained by the morality police for allegedly not wearing her
headscarf properly. Refusing to wear the hijab in public can lead to
imprisonment and torture - yet many women do it anyway.
"It's
true that there's no longer a strong presence of people on the streets,"
34-year-old HR manager Azad tells me.
"But
in our hearts, the regime has been completely destroyed, and people don't
accept anything it does. So their way of showing their disapproval will be not
to vote."
'Solitary
confinement was the worst you can imagine'
Azad
was arrested in October 2022 and imprisoned for a month.
She
was re-arrested in July last year, for social media posts criticising the
government, and spent 120 days in jail - 21 of them in solitary confinement.
"Solitary
confinement was the worst place you can imagine," she says. "The cell
door was locked all the time. The cell was 1m (3.3ft) by 1.5m (4.9ft). There
was no outside light, but artificial lights were on day and night. We were
blindfolded when we went to the toilet."
Azad
was so disturbed by the ordeal that she hit her head against the cell wall, and
is still traumatised.
"Sometimes
now I start crying without any reason," she says. "Sometimes I don't
want to open my eyes because I think I'm still there. The memory of the jail is
with me every moment."
She
described interrogations that lasted from 08:00 until night-time.
"It
is called 'white torture' and it is worse than a thousand beatings. They would
threaten and humiliate me. But I would mock them."
And
despite all that she's already endured, Azad's still willing to risk jail again
by going out without the hijab.
"After
we lost Mahsa Amini, I promised myself that I will not wear the hijab, or ever
buy another one for myself or anyone else," she says. "Every change
has a price. And we're ready to pay it."
Many
women in Iran now go out without a headscarf, although some have one around
their necks in case they're stopped by the morality police.
But
I've been told that around one in five are not wearing one at all - in a daily
act of bravery, defiance and principle.
"I
will never give up," Azad messages me - followed by a heart emoji and a
victory sign.
'I'm
not allowed to go to work without the hijab'
But another
woman I speak to in Tehran describes herself now as "worn out" by the
struggle against the regime.
Bahareh,
a 39-year old reporter and film critic, has taken a massive salary cut to work
from home, rather than going into her office - where she would be forced to
wear the veil.
"I'm
tired and disappointed," she tells me. "I'm not allowed to go to work
without the hijab and I'm not willing to wear it."
She
now has to rely on her husband's salary.
Recently,
while out driving without a headscarf, she was stopped by the police and had
her car confiscated.
She
was also arrested late last year, after posting pictures of herself without the
hijab on her Instagram account and encouraging others to do the same. A
Revolutionary Court gave her a six-month suspended sentence and a fine.
"I
was insulted and threatened, told I was wrong and accused of inciting people to
revolution and nakedness."
I ask
Bahareh why she thinks she wasn't actually jailed.
"Because
the prisons are full of people and they prefer just to scare people like
me," she replies.
"I
still go out, but it's difficult because restaurants and cafes and bookstores
can be closed down for letting me in without the hijab," she says.
"It makes me feel very bitter."
We
agree to delete our conversation as soon as we finish it, such is her fear of
being caught talking to me. "Then I will block you," she messages.
"I have no choice. If I am arrested no-one can help me and I will be
accused of spying and sentenced to death."
Terror
and courage exist side-by-side for many Iranian women willing to defy the
regime. Along with anger and hope.
'I
panicked and my dad got scared as well'
Donya
describes a recent theatre trip with her father to downtown Tehran.
She
was wearing a hat for warmth, and took it off in the metro, when she was yelled
at by a group of men and women in black chadors - the full-body cloaks worn by
female morality police - to put on her headscarf.
"I
didn't have one. Only my hat. And a stubborn urge in me refused to put it
on," she says. "It was so scary. I kept walking, ignoring them. And
there were so many of them, they'd occupied most of the station."
It
was only when she heard one of them say to the other, "Please take this
girl to the van," that she reconsidered.
"My
blood ran cold. I panicked and my dad got scared as well. So I put on my
hat!"
The
only other time Donya covers her head is to enter her university, because she
wouldn't be allowed in without it. However, she says she - and others - then
take it off in the classrooms.
"My
friends and I wish we could wear cool clothes with gorgeous hairstyles at
university - like in other countries.
"People
were asleep before Mahsa's death - metaphorically - but now they're more
aware," she adds.
"The
protests are the reason why so many women refuse to wear a headscarf on the
streets. But they're also tired of the pressure and all the news of executions.
It's a difficult and exhausting path."
But
people still write graffiti on public walls, she says, and boycott state
television.
"I
see people fighting for change every day," she says. "I believe in my
generation, Gen Z. We can't stand oppression. People find every chance they can
to dance and cheer or sing in the streets, because dancing is illegal."
Azad,
too, is buoyed by the solidarity of strangers, and a new sense of unity against
the regime.
She
says even hijab-wearing women encourage her for refusing to cover her hair. And
she's convinced that, after 45 years in power, the days of the Islamic Republic
are numbered.
"The
revolution will happen," she says. "But nobody knows exactly
when."
Source:
bbc.com
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-68402016
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Pakistan
Woman Harassed By Mob Wasn’t Coerced Into ApologisingFor Wearing The Shirt With
Arabic Script: ASP
February
28, 2024
LAHORE:
Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Syeda Shehrbano Naqvi - who is the
sub-divisional police officer at Gulberg Lahore - said the woman harassed by an
enraged mob in Ichhra Bazaar was not coerced into apologising for wearing the
shirt with Arabic script.
The
cop added that the woman, who was later seen seated between two bearded clerics
in one of the videos, was shifted to a safe location and her consent was taken
before meeting those men. ‘We did not coerce the woman into saying anything
whatsoever.
The
consent was taken, she said what she said on her behalf,’ ASP Shehrbano said
while speaking during Geo News programme ‘Geo Pakistan’ on Tuesday.
The
ASP’s remark came in response to a question about why the woman was asked to
apologise when she was not at fault in the situation, particularly after it was
pointed out by social media users.
Over
Rs50m spent on cops’ treatment: Police authorities have expended more than Rs50
million on the health welfare of cops so far this year.
According
to the office of the Inspector General Police (IGP), Punjab, 670 officers and
personnel were provided financial support for their medical treatment.
Source:
thenews.com.pk
https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/1162311-woman-harassed-by-mob-wasn-t-coerced-into-apologising-asp
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US
Announces Tech, Academic Opportunities to Empower Afghan Women
February
27, 202
U.S.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken has announced new partnership programs
designed to empower Afghan women in the face of Taliban suppression of women's
rights in Afghanistan.
Speaking
at a meeting of the U.S.-founded group called the Afghan Women Economic
Resilience Summit (AWERS), Blinken said Microsoft and LinkedIn will provide
virtual training and certifications for Afghan girls worldwide, helping them gain
valuable skills and connect with potential employers.
Additionally,
he said, U.S. academic institutions will offer scholarships to Afghan women and
girls who have resettled in the U.S. over the last two years. The State
Department did not give details on which schools are involved with the program.
Established
in 2022, AWERS aims to empower Afghan women both inside and outside their
homeland.
"We
are investing in skills, training, jobs, and female entrepreneurs,"
Blinken told the State Department gathering in Washington. "This mission
is more important than ever."
Erosion
of women's rights
The
announcement comes as the United Nations has reported a systematic dismantling
of Afghan women's rights over the past two years.
Human
rights groups accuse the Taliban of imposing "gender apartheid" by
systematically erasing women from public life.
The
Taliban reject such criticism, insisting their policies uphold Islamic and
traditional Afghan values.
Blinken
did not say if the U.S. will resume its flagship Fulbright program for
Afghanistan, which remains paused since the Taliban seized power in 2021.
Restrictions
'suffocating Afghanistan's potential'
With
the Taliban's rampant persecution of women's rights activists, it is unclear
how the AWERS programs will reach women inside Afghanistan.
"The
Taliban's restrictions are suffocating Afghanistan's potential," Blinken
said, adding that the absence of women in the workforce is slashing more than
$1 billion from the nation's economy.
Despite
the Taliban's desire for international recognition, Washington maintains that
restoring women's rights is a core requirement for normalizing relations.
Source:
voanews.com
https://www.voanews.com/a/us-announces-tech-academic-opportunities-to-empower-afghan-women/7504942.html
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URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/nagham-palestine-karate-egyptian-gaza/d/131811