Samira Sabzian, Victim of Child Marriage Executed in Iran Over Husband’s Murder
New Age
Islam News Bureau
20 December 2023
·
Samira Sabzian, Victim of Child
Marriage Executed in Iran Over Husband’s Murder
·
Taliban Jailing Afghan Women
Abuse Survivors ‘For Their Protection’?
·
Saudi Arabia Wins Women’s
Empowerment Award at Tech Forum
·
Iranian Dissidents Renew Strong
Rejection of Mandatory Hijab
·
Parents And Uncle Convicted of
Murdering Pakistani Teen in Italy for Refusing an Arranged Marriage
·
Women’s Handicrafts go on
Display in Herat Province
·
Ghaziabad: Morning Tea Delayed,
Dharamveer, A Daily Wage Labourer, Beheads Wife with Sword
Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/samira-sabzian-marriage-iran/d/131348
-----
Samira Sabzian, Victim of Child Marriage
Executed in Iran Over Husband’s Murder
Samira
Sabzian, a child bride convicted of the 'deliberate murder' of her husband
------
DECEMBER 20, 2023
The Iranian authorities have executed a
victim of child marriage who had been convicted of killing her husband, a human
rights organization reported.
"This morning, the death sentence
against Samira Sabzian, a child bride convicted of the 'deliberate murder' of
her husband, was carried out," the Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR)
group said on December 20.
The IHR urged a strong response from the
international community to address the surge in executions in Iran.
"Samira Sabzian endured years of
gender apartheid, child marriage, and domestic violence. Today, she became a
victim of the execution machinery of an inefficient and corrupt government
which sustains itself through violence and intimidation," IHR Director
Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam said.
Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and other
officials of the Islamic Republic “must be held accountable for this heinous
crime," he added.
Sabzian was 15 years old when she got
married. She killed her husband four years later, in 2013. Her children were
aged seven years and six months at the time of the murder.
IHR cited informed sources as saying
that Sabzian initially refused to meet her children in prison, hoping to obtain
forgiveness from her husband's parents.
The children’s custody was granted to
paternal relatives.
Under Islamic Penal Code, those accused
of murder are all sentenced to death, regardless of their motives and the
circumstances of the crime.
The victim's family is given the choice
between accepting the death penalty or opting for financial compensation.
In Sabzian's case, her children's
grandparents were the plaintiffs and requested the death penalty to be carried
out.
The Islamic Republic stands as the
world's leading executioner of women, having hanged at least 16 of them in
2022. At least 17 women have been
executed in the country so far this year.
Under Iranian laws, women cannot seek
divorce, even in cases of domestic violence.
Source: iranwire.com
https://iranwire.com/en/women/123708-victim-of-child-marriage-executed-in-iran-over-husbands-murder/
------
Taliban Jailing Afghan Women Abuse
Survivors ‘For Their Protection’?
Since the
Taliban took control of Afghanistan 23 women's protection shelters have
vanished.
------
Dec 19, 2023
Mallika Soni
Taliban has closed 23 state-sponsored
protection centres which offered refuge to victims of gender-based violence.
The Taliban is sending women who have
survived abuse in Afghanistan to prison to protect them from gender-based
violence, according to a new UN report. Afghanistan's regime has mostly removed
women from public spaces and closed 23 state-sponsored protection centres which
offered refuge to victims of gender-based violence, the report said, but now
there are no such facilities to help women.
Taliban officials told the UN Assistance
Mission in Afghanistan said that there was no need for such shelters.
“A de facto police officer [from the
Taliban] in the northeastern region [of Afghanistan] said that women’s shelters
are a western concept, stressing that women should stay with their brothers,
fathers, or husbands,” the report said.
Another official from the department of
justice in southern Afghanistan said as per the report, “The Islamic Emirate
does not have any shelter for women. They must be with their husbands or other
male family members – their mehram.”
Taliban does not see any need for such
shelters as “no one will harm women while the Islamic Emirate is in power”, it
added.
Afghan women are sent to prison for
their protection “akin to how prisons have been used to accommodate drug
addicts and homeless people in Kabul”, the report said, continuing, “A de facto
appellate court judge in the northeastern region stated that the de facto
Cabinet was conducting research to assess if there is a need for women’s
shelters."
Taliban's record on women rights
Taliban has banned girls and women from
attending schools, colleges, universities and workplaces. Women are also
prohibited from travelling without a male guardian. Women are also no longer
working in the judiciary or law enforcement or allowed to deal with crimes of
gender-based violence, according to the UN report.
Source: hindustantimes.com
https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/taliban-jailing-afghan-women-abuse-survivors-for-their-protection-101702999194912.html
------
Saudi Arabia Wins Women’s Empowerment
Award at Tech Forum
December 20, 2023
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia has won a women’s
empowerment award at the Digital Government Forum being held here.
The Kingdom was represented by the
Ministry of Communications and Information Technology at the two-day event
which ends today.
The achievement reflects the Kingdom’s
efforts in supporting women across various sectors, as a part of Vision 2030,
the Saudi Press Agency reported.
The Kingdom has seen the participation
of women in the technology sector rise from 7 percent in 2018 to 35 percent in
2023, a level higher than the averages of the EU, G20 and Silicon Valley.
Source: arabnews.com
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2428841/saudi-arabia
----
Iranian Dissidents Renew Strong
Rejection Of Mandatory Hijab
19 December, 2023
Nine former politicians and civil
activists in Iran have demanded the abolition of compulsory hijab, calling it
“double suppression” of women.
“The Islamic regime has resorted to
hijab to double its discrimination against women in an era when human equality,
regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, creed and religion, plays a pivotal role
in progressive human discourse,” a statement published Monday by Zeitoun news
website said.
“The cruel and violent measures to
enforce the mandatory hijab have been disastrous not only for women, but also
for their fathers, husbands, and brothers. In other words, Iranian men have
also found it difficult to bear so much oppression of women,” said the
statement six of the signatories of which are also prominent political and
intellectual figures.
Most of the signatories, including
prominent female Islamic scholar Sedigheh Vasmaghi, are known as “religious
intellectuals” in Iranian politics, meaning they advocate a moderate view of
Islam.
Vasmaghi, 63, recently removed her veil
after decades and even challenged Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s hijab edict,
arguing that there is no foundation in the Quran or the Sharia for such an
edict.
Zahra Rahnavard, one of the leaders of
Iran's Green Movement, is also among the signatories of the statement.
Rahnavard and her husband Mir-Hossein Mousavi have been under house arrest
since 2011. The seventy- eight-year-old academic and artist chose to wear the
hijab before the Islamic Revolution of 1979 and has still held on to it.
Mousavi was prime minister in the early years of the Islamic Republic and both
were committed supporters of the regime.
Prominent human rights lawyer and
Sakharov Prize winner Nasrin Sotoudeh, 60, however, has for years fought
against the compulsory hijab and defended other women who were prosecuted for
protesting the mandatory hijab.
The statement also criticizes the regime
for denying civil and human rights such as the right to work, study, benefit
from social rights and services such as healthcare for not abiding by the hijab
rules.
“These extreme beliefs and methods have
imposed heavy costs on the country, particularly on Iranian women and girls,
and caused the shedding of the blood of the likes of Mahsa and Armita,” the
statement said.
The death of Mahsa (Jina) Amini, 22, in
September 2020 in the custody of morality police resulting from injuries she
sustained during her arrest for what the authorities called “inadequate hijab”
sparked widespread protests across Iran that went on for months and were
heavily suppressed by the government.
Tens of thousands were arrested during
the protests, at least 550 protesters including 68 children were killed, and
thousands including hundreds that lost their eyes to birdshot bullets fired
directly in their faces by security forces, sustained very serious injuries.
Armita Geravand, 16, who sustained a
head injury after allegedly being assaulted by hijab enforcers in a metro car
in Tehran also fell to the same fate after a month-long coma on October 28.
Fearing another round of protests,
authorities forced Armita’s family to bury her as discreetly as possible.
Nevertheless, dozens including Sotoudeh and Vasmaghi, two of the signatories of
the present statement, attended the burial at Tehran’s Behesht-e Zahra.
Sotoudeh who had previously called
Armita’s death a “state killing’ and attended the funeral without a headscarf
in defiance of the regime was detained, and Vasmaghi was assaulted by four
agents but was reportedly rescued by other people at the scene.
In a commentary entitled “Lesson Taught
By the Trumpeter Sadegh” published by the reformist Etemad newspaper last week,
reformist commentator Abbas Abdi warned the regime that insisting on imposing
hijab by all means including violence would only cause a massive negative
reaction from the public.
Source: iranintl.com
https://www.iranintl.com/en/202312199030
------
Parents and uncle convicted of murdering
Pakistani teen in Italy for refusing an arranged marriage
20th December 2023
MILAN: A court in northern Italy
convicted the parents and an uncle of an 18-year-old Pakistani woman for her
murder in Italy after she refused her family’s demands to marry a cousin in
their homeland.
Saman Abbas’ body was dug up in November
2022 in an abandoned farmhouse near the fields where her father worked in
northern Italy, a year and a half after she was last seen alive on surveillance
video walking near the same fields with per parents. Italian prosecutors argued
that she was was killed by her family on May 1, 2021. A few days later, her
parents flew from Milan to Pakistan.
The parents, Shabbar Abbas and Nazia
Shaheen, were sentenced to life in prison, while her uncle, Danish Hasnain, was
handed a 14-year prison term by a court in Reggio Emilia. Two cousins were
found not guilty and ordered released from jail.
Abbas, who was extradited from Pakistan
in August, professed his innocence during a tearful statement to the court
before deliberations. His wife, Shaheen, was tried in absentia and is believed
to be in Pakistan.
The trial was the most high-profile of
several criminal investigations in Italy in recent years dealing with the
slaying or mistreatment of immigrant women or girls who rebelled against family
insistence that they marry someone chosen for them.
An autopsy revealed the young woman had
a broken neck bone, possibly caused by strangulation. She had emigrated as a
teenager from Pakistan to a farm town, Novellara, in Italy’s northern region of
Emilia-Romagna.
She quickly embraced Western ways,
including shedding her headscarf and dating a young man of her choice. In one
social media post, she and her Pakistani boyfriend were shown kissing on a
street in the regional capital, Bologna.
According to Italian investigators, that
kiss enraged Abbas’ parents, who wanted her to marry a cousin in Pakistan.
Abbas had reportedly told her boyfriend
that she feared for her life, because of her refusal to marry an older man in
her homeland.
Source: newindianexpress.com
https://www.newindianexpress.com/world/2023/dec/20/parents-and-uncle-convicted-of-murdering-pakistani-teen-in-italy-for-refusing-an-arranged-marriage-2643274.html
-----
Women’s Handicrafts go on Display in
Herat Province
2023-12-19
HERAT (BNA): A four-day exhibition of
women’s handicrafts was organized in Herat province, funded by the Wadan
organization, with the objective of identifying and marketing products for
women.
Behnaz Saljouqi, the head of the Western
Zone Chamber of Commerce and Industries of Women, stated that such exhibitions
may empower female entrepreneurs in Herat and significantly contribute to their
success.
According to Saljouqi, business
conditions in Herat has been favorable to women, and many women are actively
engaged in commerce across many industries in the province.
Nasima Hashemi, an employee of the Wadan
organization, stated that 120 women presented their products for marketing
purposes during the four-day exhibition which is aimed for creating a conducive
work environment for disadvantaged and businesswomen.
Furthermore, exhibitors express their
satisfaction with such expos, emphasizing that such events provide an
opportunity to showcase their products.
The exhibition featured women’s
handicrafts such as carpets, food items, pottery, paintings, miniatures, bags,
hats, women’s clothing, and more.
Source: bakhtarnews.af
https://www.bakhtarnews.af/en/womens-handicrafts-go-on-display-in-herat-province/
-----
Ghaziabad: Morning Tea Delayed,
Dharamveer, A Daily Wage Labourer, Beheads Wife with Sword
Dec 20, 2023
GHAZIABAD: A 52-year-old man allegedly
beheaded his wife over an argument that began with a cup of tea in Bhojpur
village on Tuesday morning.
Dharamveer, a daily wage labourer, had
asked his wife Sundari for tea twice and flew into a rage when she said it
would take some time. A bitter quarrel followed, during which Dharamveer
brought out a sword and allegedly hacked his wife from behind. Sundari slumped
to the ground and died.
DCP (rural) Vivek Yadav said Sundari
woke up around 6am and started making tea in the kitchen. "Dharamveer woke
up a few minutes later and called out to her for a cup of tea. The couple's
four children (three boys and a girl) were asleep in another room," he
added.
"After around five minutes,
Dharamveer asked for tea again and rushed to the makeshift kitchen on the
terrace. He got angry when his wife told him it would take another 10 minutes
for the tea to get ready and kicked the utensils away," Yadav told TOI.
The daily wager rushed downstairs and
returned with a sword. As Sundari continued to make tea on the stove, he hacked
her from behind, the officer said.
"Jolted out of sleep by her cries,
the children rushed to the terrace and tried to save their mother. But
Dharamveer swished the sword at them too. They went back to their room in
fear," Yadav said.
Soldier, the couple's son, called up
police. "My father would often pick up fights over tea. He had a habit of
drinking tea at least 5-6 times a day. If my mother refused to make tea so many
times or took more time than expected, he would shout at her. But I had never
seen him hitting my mother. We were in shock when we saw her body on the
terrace, blood trickling out of the wounds," he told TOI.
Dharamveer, police said, sat crying
beside the body until cops arrived. He was arrested and the body sent for an
autopsy. "On the basis of a complaint by the woman's family members, an
FIR was registered against Dharamveer under Section 302 (murder) of the IPC. He
was produced in court and remanded in judicial custody," Yadav said.
Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ghaziabad/ghaziabad-morning-tea-delayed-man-beheads-wife-with-sword/articleshow/106137640.cms
-----
URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/samira-sabzian-marriage-iran/d/131348