Protests Rage On Bangladesh Streets After The Rape Of An 8-Year-Old Girl
New Age Islam News Bureau
11 March 2025
· Protests Rage On Bangladesh Streets After The Rape Of An 8-Year-Old Girl
· Generation Z Leads Hijab Rebellion on Tehran’s Streets
· Kurdish Civil Activist BaranSaeidi Arrested In Sanandaj By Intelligence Forces
· Syrian Women Fear For Their Status And Rights Under Rule Of Hay’at Tahrir Al-Sham
· UNESCO Gives Voice To Afghan Girls And Women And Calls For Their Rights To Be Restored
· 13 Women-Led Start-ups Graduate From Program By Pakistan’s Largest Digital Bank
Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/protests-bangladesh-streets-rape-girl/d/134843
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Protests Rage On Bangladesh Streets After The Rape Of An 8-Year-Old Girl
Mar 11, 2025
Several hundred Students of Rajshahi University again blocked the Dhaka-Rajshahi Highway, demanding the prevention of rape across the country. Photo: STAR
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Students across the country took to the streets for the third day in a row yesterday, demanding justice for victims of sexual violence, stricter punishment for offenders, and the resignation of the home affairs adviser.
The protests erupted after the rape of an 8-year-old girl, who is now fighting for her life, sparking outrage nationwide.
Demonstrations were held at universities and key locations, with students blocking roads and forming human chains to press home their demands.
Protesters called for swift legal action, with some demanding special tribunals to ensure faster trials for rape cases.
Many students boycotted classes and took to social media, posting blindfolded photos in solidarity with victims.
In Dhaka, Bangladesh Samajtantrik Chhatra Front (Marxist) held a demonstration at Raju Sculpture.
Protesters criticised the government's failure to curb sexual violence and condemned the adviser's dismissive remarks on recent harassment cases. They also denounced the culture of impunity that allows perpetrators to escape justice.
As part of their nationwide programme, Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal leaders and activists formed a human chain in front of the High Court.
Addressing the event, JCD President Rakibul Islam Rakib expressed concerns over the increasing incidents of rape, online harassment, and violence against women, as well as the deteriorating law and order situation and the lack of justice for victims of such crimes.
He urged the government to take immediate action and ensure the quick and fair trial of those responsible for the rape of the eight-year-old girl from Magura.
In Rajshahi, several hundred students from various institutions blocked the Dhaka-Rajshahi Highway, demanding the implementation of the highest punishment for rapists to ensure the overall safety of women
The protest march started from Rajshahi University's Paris Road around 11:30am. The march moved towards the university's main gate around 12:15pm. They then blocked the highway until 1:00pm.
Fahim Reza, one of the protesters, said, "We demand setting up a special tribunal to accelerate the trials of rape cases. We will continue our movement against rape. Interim government must take effective steps to stop rape and ensure women safety."
Students from different departments boycotted their classes and joined the protest. Students have also undertaken a programme of uploading blindfolded photos of themselves on social media to show solidarity against rape.
Students of Chittagong University staged a sit-in protest on the campus.
Teachers of the university were also present at the demonstration. During the programme, they addressed the issue of illegal expulsion orders of female students at CU.
The sit-in took place at the Shaheed Minar premises on the university campus at 11:30am.
Speaking at the event, Prof GH Habib from the English department said that incidents of murder, rape, and violence continue to occur in this country, but justice has not been served in any of these cases year after year.
"The culture of impunity persists day after day. We must collectively, strategically, and persistently fight against this. Reforming our education system should be the first step. Only then can we gradually overcome these issues."
In Cumilla, a student blockade on the Dhaka-Chattogram highway led to a 10-km tailback.
When police intervened, students warned of escalating actions if authorities failed to ensure exemplary punishment for offenders.
Source:thedailystar.net
https://www.thedailystar.net/news/bangladesh/news/violence-against-women-protests-rage-streets-online-3844126
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Generation Z Leads Hijab Rebellion on Tehran’s Streets
MARCH 10, 2025
In Tehran, women without mandatory hijab now walk openly from Railway Station to Tajrish Square and across the city
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Streets have become centers of women’s visible resistance in Iran.
In Tehran, women without mandatory hijab now walk openly from Railway Station to Tajrish Square and across the city.
Enghelab (Revolution) Street, the site of the first women’s protest against mandatory hijab on March 8, 1979, continues to be significant in this movement. Hijab officially became mandatory by law on August 9, 1983.
Ten years after this law, physician HomaDarabi set herself on fire in Tehran’s Tajrish Square in protest against mandatory hijab.
Today, women throughout Tehran walk past morality police patrols with indifference. IranWire interviewed several women of different generations about their experiences challenging these restrictions.
Generation Z on Revolution Street
Enghelab (Revolution) Street, from its beginning until today, has been one of the most important symbols of protest, both for the government and the people.
For the government, it has served as a venue for official ceremonies, including the 1979 Islamic Revolution celebrations, while for the people, it has been a site of pro-freedom and pro-democracy protests throughout the past century.
Notable demonstrations include the women’s march against mandatory hijab in 1979, coinciding with International Women’s Day on March 8, and subsequent protests, including the million-person Green Movement march on June 15, 2009, the Tehran Ashura protests of 2009, the December 2017 protests, the November 2019 protests, and the Woman, Life, Freedom movement protests.
These days, the majority of women and girls go without mandatory hijab. This is especially true for the generation referred to as Generation Z, who played a crucial role in the Woman, Life, Freedom movement.
Sarina, Nika, Hadis, Hasti, and Yalda were among those killed from this generation during the Woman, Life, Freedom movement.
Hana, without a headscarf, is walking on this street with her mother, who wears a loosely arranged headscarf.
Hana is 17 years old, and her mother appears to be forty. When asked about the most important event that happened in the month after the February 1979 revolution, neither of them knows about the large women’s march against mandatory hijab and have not read or heard anything about it.
However, they both agree on one thing: the bitter and tragic fate that the 1979 revolution has created for both of them, one from the eighties generation and the other from Generation Z.
Hana says, “I wear my own style of clothing, my mother wears hers. No one objects to the other, not even my father. Each of us has accepted a different lifestyle, but sadly, this acceptance came at the cost of the blood of many in my generation.”
Asman, Zahra, Nazanin, and Maryam are four girls between seventeen and nineteen years old, studying gold work and painting at the Farshchian Art School and College.
They knew about International Women’s Day but were unaware that forty-six years ago on this day, the largest women’s march against mandatory hijab took place on Revolution Street.
The girls, who are not wearing hijab, have come to Revolution Street during their break between classes and are talking with their male classmates.
All of them are smoking cigarettes and discussing the history that has unfolded from that great march to the present day.
Asman says, “Although I’m happy about such an event, I must also have a critical view of that generation, asking why they didn’t resist to prevent this clothing choice from becoming mandatory hijab.”
Nazanin says, “Although these days we go without hijab on the street, when we enter college, we are forced to wear headscarves. We are constantly moving between this dual life, and it’s not a good thing at all.”
Zahra and Maryam extinguish their cigarettes and, agreeing with Asman and Nazanin, say, “International Women’s Day became an opportunity for us, the generations of the 90s and 2000s, to reread the history that has passed over this country.
“This rereading might help us prevent the repetition of another tragic history. Hope for a better tomorrow is what has kept us alive.”
The Echo of HomaDarabi’s Name in Tajrish
Tajrish Square, though pictured with Imamzadeh Saleh shrine and the traditional market for the religious or older generation, is also the path to Darband, Niavaran Palace complex, and Sa’dabad.
However, beyond all these nostalgic places, for a large segment of political activists, especially human rights and women’s rights defenders, it is associated with the name of HomaDarabi.
Darabi was one of the student activists in the student movement of 1960, imprisoned as one of the most prominent students and main activists.
She, who was herself one of the revolutionaries of 1979, was dismissed from her professorship in the academic year 1990-1991 due to stricter enforcement of hijab rules, under the accusation of “not observing Islamic propriety.”
Later, her medical office was also closed. On February 21, 1995, she set herself on fire in Tajrish Square in protest against mandatory hijab.
Most women and girls who pass through this historic square remain unaware of this incident. Despite walking here without a mandatory hijab, they do not know what happened.
Two women around 60 years old, with their gray-white hair flowing over their shoulders, were the ones who mentioned the event.
Recalling that day, they told IranWire, “It was a bitter day. We found out with a delay of a few days. In those days, we had unwillingly accepted mandatory hijab, but when we heard about Ms. Darabi’s case, we still didn’t dare to remove our headscarves.
“Time had to pass until the fall of 2022, when the generations of the 90s and 2000s removed their headscarves, burned headscarves - for that courage we had in the 1979 revolution and then showed in the International Women’s Day march—to rise again from the ashes.
“Now we too, alongside various post-revolution generations, have removed our headscarves. Now we have reclaimed our lost courage.”
In addition to women and girls with optional clothing, the presence of girlfriends and boyfriends, couples, and parents with their children in optional clothing are among the recurring images of Tehran’s streets, all walking toward freedom with the dream of that bright day.
Every street or square is reminiscent of one of the many killed over the past forty-six years, especially the more than five hundred killed in the Woman, Life, Freedom movement.
Farnaz and Alireza, a young couple in their mid-thirties to forties, are walking hand in hand on Keshavarz Boulevard, a place that evokes the name of NikaShakarami.
Farnaz says, “Finally, we got rid of the headscarf. If in the past, parents constantly told us to wear our headscarves, today even they have put aside these dos and don’ts.
“No matter where we go - metro, restaurant, cinema, shopping center, etc - we have chosen this lifestyle and clothing.
“Everywhere in the city, the number of women and girls who go without mandatory hijab is growing day by day. No force can compel this large population to return to the times before the killing of Mahsa, Nika, and Sarina.”
Source:iranwire.com
https://iranwire.com/en/women/139663-generation-z-leads-hijab-rebellion-on-tehrans-streets/
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Kurdish Civil Activist BaranSaeidi Arrested In Sanandaj By Intelligence Forces
MARCH 10, 2025
Baran Saeidi, a 45-year-old Kurdish civil activist and women’s rights advocate from Sanandaj, was arrested by intelligence forces on Monday and taken to an unknown location
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Baran Saeidi, a 45-year-old Kurdish civil activist and women’s rights advocate from Sanandaj, was arrested by intelligence forces on Monday and taken to an unknown location.
According to the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, Saeidi’s arrest appears to be connected to her participation in a recent International Women’s Day event in the city.
A source close to Saeidi’s family reported that intelligence forces conducted a warrantless raid on her home, using intimidation tactics during the arrest.
She was previously arrested during the Woman, Life, Freedom movement on September 20, 2022, and held for nearly two months at Sanandaj’s Detention Center before being released.
The civil activist has faced multiple summonses and interrogations by government authorities due to her activism.
Source:iranwire.com
https://iranwire.com/en/women/139667-kurdish-civil-activist-baran-saeidi-arrested-in-sanandaj/
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Syrian Women Fear For Their Status And Rights Under Rule Of Hay’at Tahrir Al-Sham
March 10, 2025
The takeover of Syria by the Hay’at Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) organization, headed by Ahmed Al-Sharaa (until recently known as Abu Muhammad Al-Joulani), has sparked many concerns regarding the status and role of women under the new regime. These fears stem from HTS’ rigid and even abusive treatment of women in the past, when it was affiliated with the Al-Qaeda and ISIS terrorist organizations and later when it controlled the Idlib district in northwest Syria after severing its relations with those organizations.[1]
With the organization's takeover of Syria and the establishment of its transitional government, senior officials in the new administration began sending reassuring messages regarding the status of women, stating that the new regime would grant women all their rights and not exclude them from any domain. It is not clear, however, that these declarations reflect a genuine change in the organization's views on the issue of women. They are more likely meant to appease the international community and the West in order to gain legitimacy for the new regime and achieve the lifting of sanctions and the delivery of aid that is urgently needed for Syria’s reconstruction.
Western officials who visited Syria and met with its new leadership expressed the West's expectations that the new regime will respect the rights of women and minorities, and in fact presented this as a condition for supporting it. German Foreign Minister AnnalenaBaerbock, for example, who visited Damascus along with her French counterpart Jean-Noel Barrot, said after a January 3, 2025 meeting with Al-Sharaa, in which he refrained from shaking her hand, that she and her colleague had made it clear to the new Syrian government that the status of women is not just a matter of their rights, but is a measure of the degree of freedom in society, and that women, as well as all groups and sects, must be included in the country's transition process if Damascus wants European support.[2]
Alongside the positive signals sent by the new Syrian regime regarding women's rights, several of its leaders have made statements and taken measures that raised concerns within Syria and beyond regarding its stance on the status of women. For example, in several instances women – including non-Muslim women – were required to cover their hair when meeting with Ahmed Al-Sharaa. In other cases Al-Sharaa and senior members of his government avoided shaking hands with women, including Western diplomats, as happened with German Foreign Minister AnnalenaBaerbock. There are also reports that in various areas of Syria women are being encouraged to conform to the Muslim dress code, and that HTS activists are acting to prevent men and women from mixing in public places.
Moreover, the new administration has so far appointed only one woman to a government position: Aisha Al-Debs, who has been named “head of the Women's Affairs Office.” It is noteworthy that, unlike the male members of the government, she has not been given the title of minister. Furthermore, Al-Debs, whose appointment is apparently meant to allay concerns regarding the status of women under the new regime, is actually known for her anti-liberal positions and rejection of gender equality.[3] Another administration official stated that women are unable to perform certain roles in society due to “their biological and psychological characteristics.” A further worrying development is the appointment of ShadiAl-Waysi as Justice Minister in Syria’s transitional government. In 2015 Al-Waysi, then a qadi in the Idlib province, participated in the execution of women on charges of adultery.[4]
Against this backdrop, protests were recently held in various parts of Syria by women and men demanding to respect the rights of women and include them in the shaping of the new Syria. In addition, many voices on the media and social media criticized the new regime’s positions on women and the conservative views of its officials. Syrian women activists stressed that they will not allow such reactionary views to restrict them demanded that women’s rights be enshrined in the new constitution, so that “Syria will be a safe place for women.”
This report reviews HTS’s contradictory handling of the issue of women and reactions from Syrian women who fear for their inclusion and rights under the new regime.
The New Syrian Administration Promises To Uphold Women’s Rights And Include Them In All Domains
As stated, upon taking power, the heads of the new Syrian regime, headed by Ahmed Al-Sharaa, confirmed their commitment to upholding women’s rights and appointed several women to public positions, apparently in order to allay concerns inside and outside the country regarding the status of women under the new administration. Some of these statements came from Ahmad Al-Sharaa himself, who on January 29, 2025 was named president for the translational period. In a December 19, 2024 interview with the BBC, he stressed that he believed in education for women and noted that more than 60 percent of students in universities in Idlib, his powerbase, were female.[5] Asa’ad Al-Shaibani, the Foreign Minister in Syria’s transitional government, was more explicit, writing on his personal X account in December 29: “Syrian women have fought for decades for a free homeland that will protect their honor and status. We will act to uphold women’s causes and support all of their rights. We believe Syrian women should play an active role in society and are confident in their abilities and skills, for [today’s women] are the direct successors of generations of giving and contributing [women].”[6] Ali Al-Rifa’i, press relations manager at the Syrian Communications Ministry, told the Al-Arabiya channel: “In Idlib [a province that has been controlled by HTS for several years] women enjoy full rights. They are doctors, teachers and legal experts, and are present in every domain… In the new Syria,... women’s contribution will not be confined to any single domain; all domains in the country [will be open to them].”[7]
In addition to Aisha Al-Debs, who is head of the Women's Affairs Office in the Syrian government, several other women have been appointed to public positions: MaysaaSabareen is Governor of Syria’s Central Bank, and is the first woman to ever serve in this role,[8] and Diana Al-Asmar has been appointed Executive Director of the Damascus Children's University Hospital.[9]
Despite Some Positive Indications, Statements And Measures By The New Regime Spark Concern For Women’s Freedoms
Alongside the positive messages conveyed by some members of the new regime regarding women’s rights, statements and measures by other officials reflect a conservative position that restricts women’s freedoms, sparking concern among many inside and outside the country. For example, when interviewing Al-Sharaa on December 6, two days before the fall of the Assad regime, CNN correspondent JomanaKaradsheh wore a head covering,[10] and it was later reported that Al-Sharaa had specified that women who met with him, especially Arab and Muslim ones, should cover their hair.[11] As stated, Al-Sharaa has also avoided shaking hands with women.[12] Later on, however, perhaps in response to the criticism sparked by these incidents, Al-Sharaa apparently dropped these requirements. Several Syrian women from the U.S. who met with him on January 27 who were not wearing head coverings, nor was Bahia Mardini, a London-based Syrian journalist and researcher who met with him on January 6.[13] At a foreign ministers’ summit on the Syrian issue, held in Saudi Arabia on January 12, Syria’s Foreign Minister Asa’ad Al-Shaibani did shake the hand of his German counterpart.[14]
Conversely, Obaida Arnaout, Syria's new government spokesman, showed no flexibility at all regarding the status of women. In a December 18, 2024 interview with the Lebanese Al-Jadid channel, he said that it was too early to discuss the inclusion of women in the government and parliament, for "this must be left to the judicial and constitutional experts that will discuss the character of the new Syrian state. Women are important and should be treated with respect," he added, "and therefore the roles must be suitable for them…" As for women serving as judges, he likewise said that "the relevant authorities must examine and review this and it is too early to discuss this detail." Furthermore, "there are biological, psychological and mental characteristics that must be taken into consideration in certain roles. It is a mistake to say that a woman should handle weapons, for example, or should be in a position that does not suit her abilities, her physique or her nature."[15]
Arnaout's statements drew fire in Syria, especially from women, as well as abroad. Attempts by HTS officials to contain the damage only intensified the women's fears in some cases. For example, Ali Al-Rifa’i, the press relations manager in the Syrian Communications Ministry, said that Arnout's remarks had been misrepresented and that he had only meant that "the woman's honor does not allow Syria to place her in the front line of fighting as minister of defense."[16] Aisha Al-Debs, head of the Women's Affairs Office, appointed as part of HTS' attempts to make a show of including women in decision-making roles, said in a December 28 interview with Turkey's TRT channel that the new regime seeks to "create a model suitable to the situation and condition of the Syrian woman, with the Islamic shari'a forming the basis for any model." She added: "Why should we adopt the secular or civil model?" On the activity of women's organizations in the country, she said: "I will not make room for anyone who refuses to accept my way of thinking. We have suffered in the past from campaigns of foreign organizations that harmed our women and children." She added that these organizations increased the rate of divorce in Syria.[17] In a lecture she gave in 2023, she advocated "partnership" between men and women, rather than equality in the Western-liberal sense.[18]
The new Syrian administration also appointed some additional senior officials whose views on women's issues are problematic. As stated, conspicuous among them is the new justice minister, Shadi Al-Waysi, who, in a 2015 video, was seen supervising the execution of a woman in Idlib on charges of adultery and reading out the verdict meted out by the shari'a court.
Another problematic appointment is that of AlaaBarsilu, the new director of Syria's Broadcasting and Television Authority. In videos he posted on a pro-HTS Facebook account he administered, Barsilu expressed opposition to women working outside the home.[19]
In addition, there have been reports from around Syria of intolerance towards women, sometimes on the part of HTS activists. For example, there were reports of religious fliers being distributed urging women, including non-Muslim ones, to wear the hijab or even the burka,[20] and of HTS activists attempting to prevent men and women mixing in an event celebrating the downfall of the Assad regime at Homs University and in a shop in Damascus.[21]
An HTS-affiliated official in a Damascus bussing company reported on January 10 that men and women would soon be segregated in the city's public transportation system, following a successful model used in the past in the Idlib, Aleppo, Hama and Homs districts.[22]
Protests Across Syria: Women Must Not Be Excluded From Any Sphere
In light of the concerns that women may face restrictions or be excluded from the political arena and from other spheres, Syrian women and men who advocate gender equality took to the streets to voice their opinion on the desirable character of the future state. One of the protests, held December 20 in Umayyad Square in Damascus and attended by hundreds of men and women, called for the establishment of a democratic state and for the inclusion of women in its construction. Among the slogans chanted was "religion for Allah and the homeland for all," and one of the demonstrators, Syrian actress RaghdaKhateb, said: "Women are partners and nobody can exclude women, certainly not the Syrian women, who have suffered so much yet remain standing." She stated that the protest was being held to preempt the establishment of an extremist regime in Syria.[23]
Several days later, on December 23, Syrian women held a demonstration near the Hejaz Railway Station in Damascus to champion women's rights and stress that the woman's voice in society is crucial.[24] Another demonstration took place on December 21 in the city of Shahba in the Druze-majority Suwayda governorate, which to date is not under the full control of the HTS. The protesters stressed that they will not compromise on the full integration of women in all domains of life and called to include them in decision-making circles.[25]
The city of Qamishli in the Hasakah governorate, the seat of the autonomous Kurdish government in northeastern Syria, which is known for promoting women's status and is not under HTS, also saw a demonstration by thousands of women who exhorted HTS to respect women's rights and refrain from excluding them.[26]
Furthermore, on January 8, 2025, the Syrian Women's Political Movement, which was founded in 2017 and, according to its website, has 200 members, men and women from Syria and other countries, held its first press conference in Damascus, in which it stressed it would work to promote the role of women in building a future Syria with freedom and diversity, and called to advance gender equality and to include women in decision making.[27] However, the movement refrained from directly referring to HTS or to its positions on women's issues.[28]
In addition, in response to fliers hung up in various parts of Syria instructing women on how to wear a veil in compliance with the Islamic shari'a, other fliers were put up instructing women on how to dress "freely."[29]
Syrian Women Activists: We Will Not Surrender Our Rights Or Allow Outdated Ideas To Impede Our Struggle For Equality
The demand of equality for Syrian women also found expression on social media, where women activists came out against the statements of HTS officials about women’s rights, specifically the remarks of government spokesman Obeida Arnaout and of the head of Women's Affairs, Aisha Al-Debs. Among these activists was Suzan Khawatmi, a Syrian diplomat and member of the Syrian Women’s Political Movement, who took to Facebook to respond to Obeida Arnaout's claim that women’s biological and psychological nature prevents them from performing certain roles. She wrote: “We, the girls and women of Syria, are activists, politicians, jurists, journalists, economists, academics, laborers and homemakers; we are rebels, prisoners and fighters – and above all we are Syrian citizens. The discourse of Obeida Arnaout and his gang is unacceptable. The Syrian woman, who has struggled and suffered along with millions of her fellow Syrian women, is not waiting for you, [Arnaout], to choose a place and a space for her that suits your mentality in building our homeland. There are numerous examples in the past and the present of women politicians, judges, fighters, doctors and working mothers. I wish you would read [about them].”[30]
Alaa Al-Muhammad, a Syrian activist and member of Women Now for Development, an organization for the empowerment of women in Syria and in Lebanon, also responded to Arnaout on Facebook, writing: “As women, we will not agree to surrender our rights or let [anyone] belittle our value and abilities. Our knowledge and achievements cannot be denied, and we will not allow outdated ideas to impede our struggle for justice and equality.”[31]
A feminist activist whose X handle is "Caroline" criticized the Women’s Affairs Office, headed by Aisha Al-Debs, saying: “The office for women’s rights is a new office [created] in order to obscure the fact that men dominate political life and the entire scene! Chosen [to lead it] is a minister who defends this male [dominance] and supports the rights of the men! Are we really demanding an office for women’s rights, or is it obvious that both men and women should be present in all government ministries?”[32]
"Syrian writer Lina Al-Tibi likewise slammed Al-Debs, writing: “Does a transitional government need a head of women’s affairs who comes out and declares that she won’t make room for anyone who holds an opinion different from her own[?]!!! One who will only accept the model that exists in her own mind[?]!!... Who are you, [Al-Debs], and where are you taking us[?] Syrian women have no need for a guide to teach them about their rights and obligations; moreover, a great and tremendous number of us obviously believe that the rights and obligations of women are completely different from what Mrs. Aisha Al-Debs has in mind…”[33]
Syrian Journalist: Women’s Rights Must Be Enshrined In The Syrian Constitution
Harsher criticism against HTS and its treatment of women was voiced by Syrian journalist Maisa Salih, who expressed concern about the rise of HTS commander Ahmed Al-Sharaa to the presidency, given his history which is rife with violations of women’s rights. She wrote that, although Al-Sharaa is currently seen as the savior of Syria and there are attempts to burnish his image, the harsh treatment of women by the organizations he led must not be ignored or forgotten. She stressed that women’s rights must be a significant part of the new Syrian constitution.
She wrote: “I felt deeply conflicted before I wrote this article. Part of me was flooded with the collective feelings of joy and liberation due to [our] salvation from the Assad family and its barbaric regime, and the historic opportunity that has emerged for Syrian men and women to erase [the memory of] that eternal tyrant. [But] another part of me was aware of the uncertain situation in which Syrians find themselves today. [Yet another] part of me was filled with sorrow and concern about the rule of Abu Muhammad Al-Joulani and what he represents, and about the speed with which a narrative has been constructed that completely contradicts the role he has played from the moment he first appeared in the Syrian conflict and to this day. This narrative attempts to conceal the numerous crimes committed by the [Al-Qaeda and ISIS] organizations, to which Abu Muhammad Al-Joulani pledged allegiance, or by the organizations he founded and whose ideologies he espoused and still espouses in his process of transforming into Ahmed Al-Sharaa. This is a narrative of pinkwashing[34] that assumes that we women will be tolerant and forgiving toward the factions and organizations that barbarically violated and eroded our dignity…
"After he pledged allegiance to ISIS in late 2011, Al-Joulani chose to join the [Syrian] conflict… in order to transfer this [organization’s] experience to this country. He thus contributed to the establishment of ISIS in Syria, an extremist organization whose violations have been documented for years, especially those that harm women… [And] when Al-Joulani, [aka] Ahmed Al-Sharaa, repented and decided to distance himself from ‘the extremism of ISIS,’ he did not join the acting authorities and factions [of the Syrian opposition], but chose to embark on a new adventure and established Jabhat Al-Nusra as a Syrian branch of the Al-Qaeda terrorist organization… Like ISIS, Jabhat Al-Nusra controlled women's lives, forced them [to wear] the hijab and the veil, restricted them and stifled their freedom…
"The next [step in] the evolution of Abu Mohammad Al-Joulani Ahmed Al-Sharaa was to split off from Al-Qaeda and distance himself from the global [movement of] Salafist Islamic jihad. [He started] to present himself as a representative of the local Salafist jihad by changing the name [of his organization] – but not its activities – [and establishing] what is now known as HTS… and embarked on founding an Islamic mini-state [in Idlib]. He appointed a government, the so-called ‘Salvation Government,’ as a civil ‘political’ guise for the aspirations to form a caliphate and enforce Islamic law. The Salvation Government mandated the hijab and the veil for women, [including] schoolgirls and university students, controlled their personal freedoms and oppressed them, and determined the type of presence they could have in public life.
"Today, as feminists and as Syrian women involved in this existential struggle, we have no choice but to defend our narrative and mobilize against the pinkwashing and the political launching of Abu Muhammad Al-Joulani Ahmed Al-Sharaa, which presents him as the savior of Syria who liberated it from the Assad family and thus [justifies] the normalization of relations with him.
"Syria has a historic opportunity to recover and to rectify everything that happened in the cruel and difficult years of the past. Therefore, it must not turn the experience of desecrating the bodies of Syrian women and stripping them of their freedom, their dignity, and their rights [by Al-Sharaa's organizations] into an episode that can be glossed over, and into a bridge on which Abu Muhammad Al-Joulani can arrogantly stride as he goes through all his ideological permutations, his reexaminations of [the concept of] jihad and his evolving perception of the struggle for control in all the organizations he founded and led.
"This issue [of women’s rights] must be part of clear and significant articles of Syria's new constitution, so that Syria will be a safe place for women and for all the excluded and weak groups that lack the means or the space to negotiate their rights, a state that protects the dignity of all [its citizens], without exception.”[35]
*O. Peri is a research fellow at MEMRI.
[1] Daraj.media, December 27, 2024. HTS began in 2012 as a group called Jabhat Al-Nusra, which Al-Joulani established after being sent to Syria by ISIS founder Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi. In 2013 the group became the official branch of Al-Qaeda in Syria after Al-Joulani swore allegiance to Al-Qaeda leader Ayman Al-Zawahiri. In 2016, Al-Joulani severed ties with Al-Qaeda, and his group merged with several other Syrian Islamist groups and changed its name to JabhatFath Al-Sham. In 2017, after merging with additional Syrian groups, the group's name was changed again, to Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham. The group is a designated terrorist organization in the U.S. and in several other countries.
[2] Alhurra.com, January 3, 2025; Syria.tv, January 4, 2025. Barbara Leaf, former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, said in an online briefing following her December 20, 2024 meeting with Al-Sharaa that the U.S. supports the establishment of a representative Syrian government that respects the rights of all Syrians, including women and Syria’s diverse ethnic and religious communities (State.gov, December 20, 2024). Geir Pedersen, the UN Special Envoy for Syria, reported that his meeting with Al-Sharaa on December 15 had focused on the need for Syria’s next transitional government to include all the country’s sectors, and for women to have a role and for their rights to be protected (Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, London, December 15, 2024).
[3] See MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 11743 - New Syrian Government's Head Of Women's Affairs Supports Hamas, Opposes Gender Equality, Believes U.S. Officials Are Criminals – December 12, 2024.
[4] See MEMRI JTTM report: Justice Minister In Hay'at Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS)-Linked New Syrian Government Documented Participating In 2015 Execution; Anti-HTS Channel Calls For His Prosecution, January 5, 2025.
[5] Bbc.com, December 19, 2024.
[6] X.com/Asaad_Shaibani, December 29, 2024.
[7] Alarabiya.net, December 20, 2024.
[8] Alarabiya.net, December 30, 2024.
[9] Facebook.com.AlWatanNewspaper.sy, December 30, 2024.
[10] Edition.cnn.com, December 6, 2024.
[11] Raialyoum.com, December 19, 2024; Al-Sharq Al-Awsat (London), December 15, 2024.
[12] Raialyoum.com, December 19, 2024; alhurra.com, January 3, 2025.
[13] X.com/G_CSyria, January 27, 2025; x.com/mardinibahia, January 21, 2025.
[14] Alhurra.com, January 12, 2025.
[15] Al-Quds Al-Arabi (London), December 18, 2024.
[16] Alarabiya.net, December 20, 2024.
[17] December 29, 2024. Accusations against women's organizations were heard in the areas controlled by the Syrian opposition even before the fall of the Assad regime. See MEMRI Inquiry & Analysis Series No. 1607 - Syrian Women's Organizations And Women's Rights Activists: Islamic Opposition Organizations Backed By Turkey Are Inciting Against Us, Putting Our Lives In Danger – November 24, 2021.
[18] Youtube.com/@HouseCandK, August 4, 2023.
[19] Almodon.com, December 17, 2024.
[20] Al-Akhbar (Lebanon), December 19, 2024; alarabiya.net, January 16, 2025. See also MEMRI JTTM report: Hay'at Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) Supporters Document Preaching Campaigns In Which Hundreds Of Syrian Women Don Veil; Tell Secularists 'Die In Your Rage', January 28, 2025.
[21] Al-Akhbar (Lebanon), December 24, 2024; alarabiya.net, December 19, 2024.
[22] Al-Quds Al-Arabi (London), January 10, 2025.
[23] Alarabiya.net, December 21, 2024.
[24] Al-Akhbar (Lebanon), December 24, 2024.
[25] Facebook.com/Suwayda24, December 21, 2024.
[26] Rueters.com, December 23, 2024.
[27] Al-Arabi Al-Jadid (London), January 8, 2025.
[28] Syrianwomenpm.org, January 9, 2025.
[29] Facebook.com/L.N443, January 23, 2025.
[30] Facebook.com/profile.php?id=1047742640, December 17, 2024.
[31] Facebook.com/lots.lots.lots, December 18, 2024.
[32] X.com/Caro0987654, December 29, 2024.
[33] X.com/LinaTibi, December 28, 2024.
[34] "Pinkwashing" usually refers to a strategy in which an organization, figure or commercial company deploys messages that are ostensibly sympathetic towards the LGBTQ community in order to appear more open and liberal and garner support. In this case it may refer to a strategy of pretending to champion women's right in order to achieve the same aim.
[35] Daraj.media, December 27, 2024.
Source:memri.org
https://www.memri.org/reports/syrian-women-fear-their-status-and-rights-under-rule-hay%E2%80%99-tahrir-al-sham
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UNESCO gives voice to Afghan girls and women and calls for their rights to be restored
10 March 2025
“We have no right to education, no right to work, no right to even exist freely. They are removing us from society.” One woman in Afghanistan gives voice to what many Afghan women and girls are feeling: for them, life has become unbearable, limited to the four walls they live in.
Since the Taliban returned to power in 2021, education has been forbidden to girls aged over 12. As a result of this ban, Afghanistan is now the only country in the world where girls do not have the right to attend secondary school.
To date, these restrictions have affected around 1.5 million Afghan girls. According to new UNESCO data, if the ban continues until 2030, over 4 million girls will be affected.
Disturbingly, this regression follows decades of progress. After an ambitious international campaign coordinated by UNESCO, the number of girls enrolled in primary school rose from nearly zero in 2001 to 2.5 million in 2021. By this date, 30% of Afghan girls and women could also read and write – compared to just 17% two decades earlier.
Today, these advances are at an end, with the current restrictions wreaking disastrous consequences. Punitive salary cuts and irregular salary payments for female educators have led to a shortage of qualified teachers; a lack of equipment and facilities have taken their toll on education services. This decline in the quality of education has gone hand in hand with considerable learning losses.
Even more concerningly, the restrictions are taking a toll on women and girls’ mental health. According to Afghan journalist Diba Akbari, “If women were studying, schools and universities were closed to them. Work was closed to them. Today, these women are all prisoners and struggling with mental health problems.”
Alternative learning methods
In this bleak context, alternative learning methods have offered a glimmer of hope. For the past three and a half years, UNESCO has provided financial support and training to Afghan media outlets, enabling educational programmes to be broadcast to an estimated audience of 17 million Afghans.
One of these media outlets is Begum TV in Paris, along with its Kabul-based radio station, Radio Begum. Created by women for women, Radio Begum offers on-air-schooling, mental health support and financial literacy classes, reaching an audience of around 5.9 million – nearly two-thirds women – in 19 provinces.
However, in February 2025, Radio Begum was taken off air, after its offices were raided by Taliban officials. This closure caused widespread consternation, as one of Afghan women’s few remaining lifelines to the outside world was cut off. As underlined by one woman, “There is no more voice for us in Afghanistan.”
On International Women’s Day, UNESCO is seeking to change this situation, by ensuring the voices of Afghan girls and women are heard. It is organizing an international conference for women journalists, musicians and artists to call for the unconditional restoration of the right to education for Afghan girls and women.
Participants include street artist ShamsiaHassani, who will produce a piece of artwork for the occasion. Ms Hassani’s works portray Afghan women in a different light – brave, resilient and ambitious. As she says: “The woman that I use in my work… she’s alone… she’s facing a lot of problems. But she still is strong.”
This is the key takeaway: Afghan girls and women are not weak, and they have a powerful message for the world. In the words of one defiant girl, “It is true that you have closed the gates of schools and universities, but you can never close our minds.”
Source:unesco.org
https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/unesco-gives-voice-afghan-girls-and-women-and-calls-their-rights-be-restored
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13 Women-Led Start-ups Graduate From Program By Pakistan’s Largest Digital Bank
March 11, 2025
ISLAMABAD: Thirteen women-led startups recently graduated from an incubator program offered by Pakistan’s largest digital microfinance bank, equipping them with skills, financial literacy and the tools to upscale their enterprises, Mobilink Bank said in a statement this week.
International and local rights groups have spoken out against women being marginalized in conservative Pakistan, where they are often subjected to gender inequality, suffer from lack of work opportunities, face violence and sexual abuse.
A graduation ceremony of Mobilink Bank’s ‘Women Inspirational Network (WIN) Incubator Program’ was held in Islamabad on Saturday, Mar. 8, on the occasion of International Women’s Day. The event was attended by key stakeholders, industry leaders, businesswomen, partner organizations and media representatives, Mobilink Bank said in a statement on Monday.
“As a future-ready bank, we’re not just providing tools and opportunities but paving the way for lasting change,” Haaris Mahmood Chaudhary, chief executive officer and president of Mobilink Bank, said in a statement. “When a woman rises, she lifts her family and community with her.”
Pakistani startupEcobricks received the “Best Startup Award” and a prize of Rs1 million ($3,573), while Recycle Bin and EcoGrow were each awarded Rs500,000 ($1,786) as winners of the Innovation Challenge.
“The awards recognized promising ideas and provided crucial financial support to fuel these businesses’ continued growth and success,” the bank said. “The bank also announced the launch of the program’s second cohort to continue nurturing a thriving ecosystem for women-led businesses.”
Pakistan’s foreign secretary Amna Baloch was the chief guest at the event. She described the incubator program as a “resounding success.”
“The stories of these women inspire hope and motivate others to take the reins of their lives into their own hands,” Baloch said in a statement.
Source:arabnews.com
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2593184/pakistan
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URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/protests-bangladesh-streets-rape-girl/d/134843