Video of Female Saudi Soldiers in Military Parade Goes Viral
New Age Islam News Bureau
15 November 2021
• Afghan Women Judges Flee To UK
• MP And Journalist Writer, Farida Al-Shoubashy to
Introduce Bill Banning Niqab in Egypt; Calls Niqab A Form of Disguise
• Nobel Peace Prize Winner Malala Yousafzai Fears
Taliban Will Keep Girls Out Of School
• Bilkis Bano, Famed for CAA-NRC Protests in Delhi’s
Shaheen Bagh, Among 500 Most Influential Muslims in the World
• Group of Women to Sue Qatari Authorities over
Invasive Airport Searches
• Survey: Over Half of Malaysians Blame Women For
Rape, Say Domestic Violence ‘Normal’ When Stressed
Compiled
by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/female-saudi-soldier-military/d/125776
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Video of Female Saudi Soldiers in Military Parade Goes
Viral
November 14, 2021
Photo courtesy: Saudi Gazette)
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RIYADH — The video of Saudi female soldiers
participating in a military parade and one offering a smart saluting went viral
on the social media. The video became instant hit when a large number of Saudi
users of social media, especially Twitteratis, shared and commented on the
video.
The military parade was held on the occasion of the
visit of Minister of Interior Prince Abdul Aziz Bin Saud Bin Naif to the
General Directorate of Prisons in Riyadh on Thursday.
One of the video clips showed a female soldier
standing in front of Minister of Interior to perform the military salute,
saying: “By your order, sir,” before the military parade began.
During the visit, the minister inspected the workflow
of the directorate and launched a number of centers specialized in the
rehabilitation and reform of prisoners.
The centers that were launched included the Fajr
Center, the Thiqa Center, and the Eshraqa Center and these centers are tasked
to carry out rehabilitation and reform programs in all regions of the Kingdom.
Prince Abdulaziz also monitored the progress of work
at the Women’s Capacity Training Center, which is responsible for qualifying
female cadres to carry out the tasks of prison security, military police, and
social and psychological care. Also, he witnessed some military exercises, self-defense
skills, and some lectures in the educational halls for the trainees.
It is noteworthy that Prince Abdulaziz recently
inaugurated via video conferencing the headquarters of the General Directorate
of Prisons in Riyadh. This was part of the efforts exerted to develop security
headquarters and keep pace with the best designs to provide a high-level
infrastructure that serves security work.
Source: Saudi Gazette
https://saudigazette.com.sa/article/613570
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Afghan Women Judges Flee To UK
4 Nov 2021
FILE Image. People who have been evacuated from
Afghanistan arrive at Melsbroek military airport. Photo: REUTERS
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A group of Afghan women judges who were considered to
be at risk under the Taliban regime in Afghanistan have arrived in the UK to
start new lives, officials here announced on Saturday.
They said that under Taliban rule, female judges and
others who stood up for women’s rights were persecuted and forced into hiding,
and were at risk of reprisals from criminals they tried or sentenced and who
have now been released from prison.
The group of three female judges, one male prosecutor
along with their families arrived in the UK on Friday.
They were granted permission to come to the UK by Home
Secretary Priti Patel during the recent evacuation under Operation Pitting and
had support from the International Bar Association and the International
Association of Women Judges.
UK judges will now work with the group to ensure they
can use their legal skills to rebuild their careers in the UK, the officials
said. In the past 20 years, nearly 270 women have sat as judges in Afghanistan.
Since the end of Operation Pitting in late August, the
UK has helped more than 1,800 people, including British and Afghan nationals,
to leave Afghanistan.
Foreign secretary Liz Truss said, “These brave people
have been defending rights and freedoms of women in Afghanistan. The UK is a
fierce champion of freedom and the rule of law, and ending violence suffered by
women around the world is a personal priority for me. We will continue to do
all we can to help at-risk Afghans leave the country”.
Helena Kennedy of the International Bar Association
added, “These women fought for human rights of all in Afghanistan and this work
turned them into targets. Now they need our assistance. We hope that the
families will be welcomed by their newly found local communities and will
embrace their new lives - away from the threats that forced them to leave their
lives behind and seek refuge away from home”.
The women judges arriving in the UK previously took
part in a scheme that began in early 2021 organised by the UK Association of
Women Judges and supported by the British Embassy in Kabul to provide Afghan
judges with professional partnerships in the UK.
Source: Khaleej Times
https://www.khaleejtimes.com/asia/afghan-women-judges-flee-to-uk
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MP
And Journalist Writer, Farida Al-Shoubashy To Introduce Bill Banning Niqab In
Egypt; Calls Niqab A Form Of Disguise
November
11, 2021
MP
and journalist writer, Farida al-Shoubashy announced that she plans to submit a
draft law for discussion in the parliament, prohibiting and criminalizing the
wearing of the Niqab (a piece of cloth worn by some Muslim women, covers the
entire face except for the eyes) in Egypt.
Shobashy
added, in an exclusive statement to Al-Watan newspaper, that a Niqab is a form
of disguise, explaining: “We have all experienced the most horrific incidents
in which the Niqab was used and was a cover for criminals. There is no country
in the world that allows any of these forms of disguises, especially that it
has nothing to do with chastity.”
Shobashy
said that headscarf (hijab) is not obligatory for women in Islam, adding that
there is not a single Qur’anic verse that stated that covering the hair is
obligatory.
“God
the Almighty said in the Quran: (Let them draw their veils over their chests),”
Shobashy said, explaining that this reference to the chest, not the hair.
In
Saudi Arabia and other neighboring countries, men cover their heads to protect
themselves from the sun, and this means that this veil originated from the
conditions of their environment, not Islam, she added.
In
the mid-1970s in Egypt, the veil was not a sign of chastity and honor, but was
among other manifestations that the Islamists introduced.
“I
discussed this point with the late Imam Dr. Sayed Tantawy, (former) Al-Azhar
Grand Sheikh, and I told him that the veil is not an obligation in Islam, but
rather imposed by the circumstances of the environment”.
He
replied by citing a hadith that if a woman reaches menstruation, only her face
and hands should be visible, she added.“My response was that this is a weak
hadith, so he laughed and did not reply after that, and this was an affirmation
of the correctness of what I said,” she mentioned.
Back
in 2009, Al-Azhar University banned the niqab in university classes and
dormitories after Grand Sheikh Mohammed Sayyed Tantawi ordered a student to
remove her face veil while visiting an academy associated with Al-Azhar, and
niqabs were later banned during exams at Cairo University, prompting heated
debate. By 2012, Egypt’s minister of higher education said that female students
wearing face veils should no longer be banned from the university exams.
Instead, students wearing the niqab would be allowed to take their exams after
their identities are checked by a female staff member.
In
2018, MP Ghada Agamy proposed a bill to the House of Representatives banning
the wearing of niqab in public places, and suggested a fine of LE 1,000 for
those who disobey. In the case of repeated violations, the fine would double.
However, a wide number of parliamentarians in Egypt’s House of Representatives
rejected the draft law.
In
2020, Egypt’s High Administrative Court approved Cairo University’s decision to
ban its professors from wearing the niqab, or face veil, ending a controversy
that began five years ago over whether or not banning the niqab in public
spaces violates personal freedoms or constitutes religious discrimination.
In
2015, Cairo University decided to ban female staff members from donning a type
of veil worn by a minority of Muslim women that covers the face entirely,
except for the eyes. The university justified the decision to ban the face veil
by arguing that the niqab negatively impacts the ability of women who wear it
to communicate.
Source:
Egypt Independent
https://www.egyptindependent.com/mp-to-introduce-bill-banning-niqab-in-egypt/
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Nobel
Peace Prize Winner Malala Yousafzai Fears Taliban Will Keep Girls Out Of School
November
15, 2021
Malala Yousafzai
-----
LONDON:
Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai on Sunday said she was concerned that
the Taliban’s ban on girls’ education in Afghanistan would not be temporary, as
claimed.
Ms
Yousafzai told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show that “I’m afraid that this ban that
they have announced right now that they’re calling temporary might not actually
be temporary”. A similar ban in 1996 “lasted for five years”, she pointed out.
After
seizing power in August, the Taliban in September excluded girls from returning
to secondary school while ordering boys back to class.
The
Taliban have claimed that they will allow girls to return once they have
ensured security and stricter segregation under their interpretation of Islamic
law — but many are sceptical.
“We’re
calling on the Taliban to immediately allow girls to have access to their
complete education, we’re calling on G20 leaders and other world leaders to
ensure that girls’ rights are protected in Afghanistan,” said Mr Yousafzai.
The
24-year-old activist, who revealed on Twitter this week that she had tied the
knot with Asser Malik, sent an open letter last month urging the ban be
reversed.
Source:
Dawn
https://www.dawn.com/news/1658169/malala-fears-taliban-will-keep-girls-out-of-school
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Bilkis
Bano, Famed for CAA-NRC Protests in Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh, Among 500 Most
Influential Muslims in the World
By
Syeda Faiza Kirmani
14th
November 2021
82-year-old
Bilkis Bano famed for CAA-NRC protests in Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh and an Uyghur
economics professor, Ilham Tothi are the persons of 2021 in Muslims 500, a
publication that ranks the five hundred most influential Muslims in the world.
Bano,
Muslim 500’s woman of the year 2021, who reportedly started the rebellion
against Central government’s Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National
Register of Citizens (NRC) with a simple Gandhian protest on a road in her
locality in Shaheen Bagh, Delhi managed to grab the attention of the world
towards the issue.
Initially,
a few of Muslim women joined Bano in her protest. But as awareness increased
people from different religions, castes and ages joined in to support the
cause. The NRC that was opposed had shown its colours, in the state of Assam
after Muslims were targeted and asked to prove their citizenship by providing
birth certificates. It is worth noting that a major chunk of the country is
dealing with documentation crisis and with the addition of NRC, Muslims are
most likely to suffer.
People
who failed to present the documents were moved into detention centres. The CAA
introduced alongside the NRC, protects all, but Muslims and other marginalised
groups, from falling prey to the NRC.
Bilkis
better known as Dadi, protested against CAA-NRC for 100 days which spread to 12
locations in Delhi and to a large number of cities across the country,
involving millions.
The
protests subsided with the rise in COVID-19 cases in the country. While the
cases subsided, the Supreme Court deemed protests in public places to be
unacceptable. But determined voices haven’t lost their spirit and the future of
the country is yet to be decided.
Ilham
Tothi: Uyghur activist
Ilham
Tothi, an Uyghur economics educator has allegedly been imprisoned on
separatism-related charges since 2014 with no contact with his family for the
past three years. Ilham advocated the rights of Uyghurs, their culture and
raised questions on the lack of opportunities for them in light of the Chinese
government ill-treating them.
After
reported clashes between the Uyghurs and the infiltrating Han immigrants in 2009,
Tothi was arrested but released within a month due to increasing international
pressure. However, he was arrested again in January 2014 and has been
imprisoned since then.
In
the heavily surveilled Uyghur region, people are reportedly arrested and sent
to “re-education camps” if they are found to be displaying “extreme behaviour”
which includes fasting during Ramadan, growing a beard, having prayer mats at
home, or owning religious scriptures etc.
Ilham’s
work has been recognised and he has won a number of awards, collected by his
daughter, for promoting the freedom of expression and resistance to oppression.
These include the PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award (2014), the
Martin Ennals Award (2016), the Václav Havel Human Rights Prize (2019), and in
October 2019, he was awarded the 2019 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought by
the European Parliament.
Source:
Daily Siasat
https://www.siasat.com/shaheen-baghs-bilkis-bano-among-500-most-influential-muslims-2225051/
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Group
of women to sue Qatari authorities over invasive airport searches
November
15, 2021
A
group of women subjected to invasive gynaecological searches at Doha airport
will sue Qatari authorities, seeking redress for an ordeal that sparked global
condemnation, their lawyer told AFP on Monday.
Women
on 10 Qatar Airways flights from Doha, including 13 Australians, were subjected
to the examinations late last year as authorities searched for the mother of a
newborn found abandoned in an airport bathroom.
The
incident caused outrage, and fuelled concerns about Qatar's treatment of women
as the Gulf state prepares to receive thousands of foreign visitors for the
2022 football World Cup.
Damian
Sturzaker, from Sydney-based firm Marque Lawyers, said seven affected
passengers now plan legal action to “send a message to Qatari authorities that
you can't treat women [...] in this manner”.
“The
group of women have suffered enormous distress on the evening concerned, now
just over a year ago, and they continue to suffer distress and ill effects and
trauma as a result of what occurred,” he told AFP.
Sturzaker
said the women were seeking a formal apology, compensation, and protection for
future passengers transiting through the airport.
Qatar
is an ultra-conservative Muslim monarchy, where sex and childbirth outside of
marriage are punishable by jail.
Ahead
of the World Cup, the country has struggled to reassure critics that its
promises on women's rights, labour relations and democracy are credible.
Facing
potentially devastating commercial and reputational damage after the incident,
Qatar vowed to guarantee the future “safety and security” of passengers.
The
country's prime minister also issued an apology, while an airport police
officer who oversaw the searches was reportedly convicted.
But
Sturzaker said the women had not been made aware of any improvements to airport
procedures and their attempts to seek mediation had been unsuccessful.
They
now wanted to highlight their case ahead of the FIFA tournament, to ensure
other travellers were well-informed before visiting Qatar, he added.
“They
should be aware that —- whilst there is a guise of a highly developed, highly
modernised airport and national carrier — these events have happened and
there's nothing preventing them from happening again,” he said.
Qatar's
embassy in Canberra and Qatar Airways did not immediately respond to requests
for comment.
Sturzaker
said the lawsuit would be filed in Australia against the Qatar Civil Aviation
Authority, Hamad International Airport, Qatar Airways and the country's
government within weeks.
Source:
Dawn
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Survey:
Over half of Malaysians blame women for rape, say domestic violence ‘normal’
when stressed
15
Nov 2021
BY
R. LOHESWAR
KUALA
LUMPUR, Nov 15 — Malaysians have a fairly good understanding of what violence
against women (VAW) is but less than half of the respondents support gender
equality, a recent study by rights group Women’s Aid Organisation (WAO) has
shown.
The
report from the study launched today found that just 46.3 per cent of
Malaysians polled support gender equality while 52.7 per cent of respondents
opposed to violence-endorsing attitudes.
Worryingly,
the survey found that 53.3 per cent of respondents believed that domestic
violence is a “normal” reaction of stress or frustration, and 43 per cent
believed that a woman can make a man so angry that he hits her when he does not
mean to.
Additionally,
30 per cent believed that women who flirt often are to blame for causing their
partners to hit them out of jealousy, while 26.5 per cent believed that
domestic violence is “forgivable” if the perpetrator is so angry that they lose
control.
“These
suggest that there are still circumstances for which VAW is acceptable such as
when perceived as an emotional gesture, or in the event the victim has behaved
in a way that triggers the abuse.
“Malaysians
also tend to underestimate the complexity of abuse, with 37.1 per cent of the
survey population believing that it is not as hard to leave an abusive
relationship, and 44.9 per cent who believe that women who stay with their
abusive partners, are also responsible for the ongoing abuse,” the group said
in a statement.
Other
findings showed that while 83.4 per cent of respondents believed that rape
happens when a man cannot control his desires, 51.3 per cent felt such sexual
crimes happen due to the way a woman dresses.
Malaysians
however showed less knowledge pertaining to cyber harassment, stalking and
controlling behaviour with 11 per cent of them considering controlling
behaviour as not a form of domestic violence.
On
the bright side, 70.3 per cent of respondents were strongly opposed to child
marriages which is still allowed under Shariah law, civil and customary laws in
Malaysia where girls aged 16 and 17 are allowed to marry under certain
circumstances.
In
response, WAO listed nine recommendations to tackle VAW, which included
increasing public understanding, actively challenge underlying
violence-endorsing attitudes that help to sustain VAW, and political will to
combat child marriages and female genital mutilations.
The
study included 1,000 participants from the Malaysian population administered
via
an online survey company, Ipsos.
It
was done with support from the Global Fund for Women, Yayasan Sime Darby,
contributions from a panel of five Malaysian academic experts, and sixteen VAW
survivors.
Source:
Malay Mail
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