Paris Olympics Showcase Young Arab Women’s Talent
New
Age Islam News Bureau
28
July 2024
• Paris Olympics Showcase
Young Arab Women’s Talent
• Afghan Female Athletes
Appeal To Paris Olympics: “We Are Banned From Sports”
• US Congress to Hold Hearing on Rights of Afghan
Women, Girls
• 'We Don't Have to Live by the Sword': Why Israeli
and Palestinian Women Fighting for Peace Haven't Lost Hope
• Indo-Pak Romance: Mehvish, A Pakistani Woman Travels
To Rajasthan's Bikaner To Meet Married Lover, Rehman
• Turkish Attacks Against Sinjar Condemned At Third
Iraqi Women’s Conference
Compiled
by New Age Islam News Bureau
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Paris Olympics Showcase
Young Arab Women’s Talent
GIORGIA VALENTE
07/26/2024
Maha Alshehhi (Courtesy)
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Olympic swimmer Maha
Alshehhi tells The Media Line she was the first female Emirati swimmer her swim
instructor had even seen
The Paris Olympics start
this Friday, with 88 Israeli athletes set to compete in the Games. At an event
meant to highlight global camaraderie, the atmosphere for Israeli athletes is
tense.
On Tuesday, the
International Olympic Committee (IOC) weighed a Palestinian call to ban Israeli
athletes from the Games. Representatives from the Palestinian Olympic Committee
called the bombing of Gaza a breach of the Olympic truce and claimed that 400
Palestinian athletes had been killed in recent months.
The IOC rejected the
request. Due to the potential hostility around Israel’s participation, security
at the Games will be increased.
Although tensions around the
participation of Israeli athletes are high, the Olympics remains an occasion
for young athletes from around the world to honor their countries and promote
friendly competition.
The Media Line spoke to two
young Arab women, Amani Alobaidli and Maha Alshehhi, who are representing
Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, respectively, in this year’s Games.
Alobaidli, who is half
Australian and half Bahraini, has been swimming since she was less than a year
old. After moving to Australia at age 9, she quickly began competing in
national youth championships.
“When I turned 16, my father
was contacted by Ahmed Abdul Ghaffar, who is the current executive director of
the Bahrain Olympic Committee, asked me if I could represent Bahrain,”
Alobaidli told The Media Line.
She is excited to be a role
model not just for her country but for Arab girls from all over. Seeing many
Arab women competitors here makes my heart full and proud.
I really hope to stand as an
acting role model to the younger generations of Arab girls, to show that they
can do anything no matter how big or small their goals are, they will manage to
accomplish them.
“I really hope to stand as
an acting role model to the younger generations of Arab girls, to show that they
can do anything no matter how big or small their goals are, they will manage to
accomplish them,” she said. “Seeing many Arab women competitors here makes my
heart full and proud.”
Alobaidli said Bahrain has
been supportive of women athletes. Nine out of the 14 athletes representing
Bahrain at the Olympics this year are women.
Despite being a small team,
we are very strong and united. Our country supports us, and we feel the duty to
represent it in the best way possible.
“Despite being a small team,
we are very strong and united,” Alobaidli said. “Our country supports us, and
we feel the duty to represent it in the best way possible.”
For Maha Alshehhi, an
18-year-old half-Polish and half-Emirati swimmer, being an Arab woman athlete
has not always been seen as appropriate. She told The Media Line that when she
was in third grade, a swimming instructor told her and her sister that they
were the first Emirati girls he had ever seen swim.
“Our country has made huge
improvements in the last years in supporting women in sports,” she said. “Six
years ago, I recall that they didn’t allow us to use the pool because we were
women. Today is not the case at all. [UAE Prime Minister] Sheikh Mohammed [bin
Rashid Al Maktoum] told us that everyone has the right to do the sport they
want to.”
Alshehhi’s team won third
place in an Arab competition in Morocco in 2019.
“Without the support of my
parents, I wouldn’t have done it up to this day,” she said. “Hopefully, also my
sisters will join the Olympics with me in 2028.”
Few Emirati women swimmers
have made it to the Olympics. Nada Al-Bedwawi was the first Emirati woman to
swim in the Olympics in 2016.
It is a huge honor to
compete for my country as one of the few women swimmers in its entire history
at the Olympics. It is a lot of pressure as well, but it is all worth it.
Seeing women competing from different Arab countries is a thing to be proud of
as well. We are all making history.
https://themedialine.org/student-journalists/paris-olympics-showcase-young-arab-womens-talent/
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Afghan Female Athletes
Appeal To Paris Olympics: “We Are Banned From Sports”
By Fidel Rahmati
July 27, 2024
A group of Afghan female athletes
has sent a message to the participants of the Paris 2024 Olympics, urging them
not to forget the systematic exclusion of Afghan women from sports. They
emphasize that global silence regarding the removal of women from education,
public life, and sports is unacceptable.
These athletes highlight
that the Taliban’s policies have sacrificed the potential and talents of Afghan
women, which could have contributed significantly to global achievements.
They describe the Taliban’s
treatment of women as “degrading” and argue that ignoring these restrictions
represents a “moral failure of the global community.”
In addition, the athletes
call upon the international community to take decisive action against the
restrictions imposed by the Taliban on Afghan women.
Despite these challenges,
six Afghan athletes (three women and three men) will represent Afghanistan at
the Paris 2024 Olympics. Additionally, five Afghan athletes are part of the
International Olympic Committee’s Refugee Team, bringing the total to eleven
Afghan athletes competing this year.
The Taliban has banned women
from participating in sports in Afghanistan for nearly three years. As the
Paris 2024 Olympics approach, the Taliban has declared that they do not
recognize Afghan women athletes participating in the games.
The ongoing exclusion of
Afghan women from sports highlights a broader issue of gender-based
discrimination and human rights violations. The international community’s
response to these concerns will be critical in addressing the systemic barriers
faced by Afghan women. The presence of Afghan athletes in the Olympics, despite
these obstacles, serves as a powerful symbol of resilience and a call for
global solidarity.
Source: Khaama.Com
Please click the following
URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.khaama.com/afghan-female-athletes-appeal-to-paris-olympics-we-are-banned-from-sports/
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US Congress to Hold Hearing
on Rights of Afghan Women, Girls
27-07-2027
The US Congress Human Rights
Commission will hold a session in three days to discuss the situation of Afghan
women.
The commission stated in an
announcement that the session will be attended by the US Special Representative
for Women and Human Rights in Afghanistan, the Deputy Director of Human Rights
Watch, and several women.
The announcement stated:
"Since August 2021, the situation of Afghan women and girls has
deteriorated dramatically. A growing list of severe and dehumanizing
restrictions imposed by the Taliban, including prohibiting women from working
and denial of access to education, have starkly reduced their ability to
participate in Afghan public life and tightened controls on women’s private
lives."
Mashhuda, a student,
commented on the demands of Afghan girls: "The demand of all the girls in
this nation is for the doors of universities and schools to be opened to girls
so that they can study just like the male population, because no society
progresses without females."
Meanwhile, several women's
rights activists and political analysts consider such sessions effective in
improving the situation of women in Afghanistan.
Mina, a women's rights
activist, told TOLOnews: "We are hopeful that this session can be
effective and have a positive impact on Afghan women. Our minimum expectation
from this session is for schools to reopen."
Samiullah Ahmadzai, a
political analyst, said: "The situation of women and the overall situation
in Afghanistan is not important to the US and Western countries. They use these
issues for their own benefit and achieve their own goals."
Although the Islamic Emirate
has not recently commented on the US Congress session on the situation of
Afghan women, it previously stated that women's rights in the country are
provided according to Islamic Sharia, and the concerns of other countries in
this regard are baseless.
Source: Tolonews.Com
https://tolonews.com/afghanistan-189951
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'We Don't Have to Live by
the Sword': Why Israeli and Palestinian Women Fighting for Peace Haven't Lost
Hope
Jul 27, 2024
Linda Dayan
This summer marks 10 years
to Israel's 2014 war in Gaza – a milestone that has been completely
overshadowed by the carnage of October 7 and Israel's subsequent incursion into
the Strip. But it also marks another, more hopeful anniversary.
Source: haaretz.com
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Indo-Pak Romance: Mehvish, A
Pakistani Woman Travels To Rajasthan's Bikaner To Meet Married Lover, Rehman
Rajesh Asnani
28 Jul 2024
JAIPUR: India and Pakistan
may often find themselves at odds politically, but social media and the internet
are bridging gaps in unexpected ways. In the latest incident, a 25-year-old
Pakistani woman named Mehvish has crossed the border into India, arriving in
Rajasthan's Bikaner district to be with her married lover, Rehman, whom she met
on Facebook.
Mehvish, a resident of
Lahore, shared her story with the media. She lost her mother when she was just
two years old, and she also lost her father when she was 10. She then moved to
Islamabad to live with her sister, Sahima. She trained at a beauty parlour and had
been running her own beauty parlour for the past decade.
In 2006, Mehvish married a
man from Badami Bagh, and they had two sons, now aged 12 and 7. The couple
divorced in 2018, and her ex-husband remarried. Mehvish proposed to Rehman, a
transporter working in Kuwait, for marriage on March 13, 2022, after consulting
her sister and brother-in-law.
Just three days after the
proposal, on March 16, 2022, Mehvish married Rehman via video conference. They
later met and married in person in Mecca during her Umrah pilgrimage in 2023.
They announced their marriage on social media, which was how their families
learned of their union.
Mehvish travelled from
Islamabad to the Wagah border with her family on July 25. After her documents
were checked by Pakistani and Indian authorities, she entered India on a 45-day
tourist visa. Rehman's family picked her up and brought her to their village,
Pithisar.
The arrival of Mehvish has
caught the attention of intelligence and security agencies, which are now
investigating her. Local police have also questioned her and verified her
passport and visa.
Rehman, who married Farida
from Bhadra in 2011, has two children. The couple had a falling out, and Farida
is currently living with her parents. Upon learning about Mehvish, Farida went
to the police station and filed a complaint, alleging that Mehvish might be a
spy and demanded an investigation. She also claimed that Rehman had not legally
divorced her and that his second marriage was unauthorized. Farida is
determined to fight a legal battle, feeling wronged by the situation.
This case echoes previous
cross-border romances. Recently, Seema Haider from Pakistan came to India for
love, and Anju from Rajasthan's Alwar district left her husband and children to
marry Nasrullah in Pakistan, only to return later.
Source: Newindian Express
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Turkish attacks against
Sinjar condemned at third Iraqi women’s conference
27/07/2024
The third Iraqi women’s
conference, organised by the Iraqi Women’s Association and the Yazidi Women’s
Freedom Movement (TAJÊ), was held in Baghdad, Iraq, on 25 July, under the
slogan, “Become the voice of self-defence in a common fight against femicide.”
The conference started with
a minute of silence in honour of the victims of the 2014 genocide against the
Yazidi people in Sinjar (Şengal).
Several speeches by
representatives of the TAJÊ and Iraqi Women’s association followed, noting that
the majority of victims of the 2014 genocide were women and children, and that
the fate of 7,000 people captured by ISIS in 2014, among them 6,000 women and
children, remains unknown.
TAJÊ spokeswoman
FerîdeŞengalî pointed out that “all women share a common pain”, that attacks
against women “wherever they may be, are always the result of patriarchal
mentality” and that all women need to organise themselves to prevent these
attacks.
The participants strongly
condemned the Turkish military attacks on Sinjar, ongoing since the 2014
genocide, calling them “continuation of the genocide against the Yazidi people”
and stating that “Since 2017, there have been hundreds of attacks by Turkish
warplanes and drones against the Yazidi people of Sinjar.”
Adding that the Turkish state
has and is continuing to support ISIS in its attacks on Sinjar and other
regions in Iraq, the participants demanded called for Turkey to be put on trial
for its “ongoing support of ISIS”.
In the closing statement,
the conference made a call to the Iraqi government to officially recognise
Sinjar’s 2014 genocide of the Yazidis, which has so far been recognised by 13
countries. Referring to the ongoing Turkish military attacks against Sinjar and
other regions in Iraq, it demanded that the Iraqi government “establish a
no-fly zone over Sinjar”. It also called on the Iraqi government to recognise
the autonomous administration of the people of Sinjar.
Another call was made to the
Yazidi people who fled Sinjar in 2014 due to the genocide and now live in camps
in Iraq and in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq to “return to their homeland of
Sinjar”.
The statement ended with a
demand that “women’s rights in Iraq be renewed to ensure that women are
protected from harassment and violence in every field of life”.
Source: Medyanews.Net
https://medyanews.net/turkish-attacks-against-sinjar-condemned-at-third-iraqi-womens-conference/
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