Shamima Muslim, A Gender Advocate, Appointed Ghana’s Deputy Presidential Spokesperson
New Age Islam News Bureau
21January 2025
• Shamima Muslim, A Gender Advocate, Appointed Ghana’s Deputy Presidential Spokesperson
• The Arabian Business 100 Most Inspiring Women 2025
• Preston Muslim Girls High School To Get Much-Needed Additional Space With Expansion
• UN Experts Condemn Rising Persecution of Baha'i Women in Iran
• UK Teenager, Axel Rudakubana, Admits To ‘Unspeakable’ Murders Of Three Girls In Southport
• Beaten And Insulted: First Batch Of Released Palestinian Women And Children Describe Abuses By Israel
• What Was In The Hamas 'Gift Bags' Given To Freed Israeli Women?
Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/shamima-muslim-advocate-presidential/d/134391
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Shamima Muslim, A Gender Advocate, Appointed Ghana’s Deputy Presidential Spokesperson
Kweku Zurek
Jan - 21 - 2025
Shamima Muslim appointed Deputy Presidential Spokesperson
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President John DramaniMahama has named Shamima Muslim as the new Deputy Presidential Spokesperson, tasking her to work closely with the Acting Presidential Spokesperson, Felix KwakyeOfosu.
A broadcaster, gender advocate, and development communicator, Shamima Muslim brings a wealth of experience to her new role at the Presidency. She is the Founder and Convener of the Alliance for Women in Media Africa (AWMA), a non-governmental organisation dedicated to improving the visibility and impact of women in the media.
Muslim’s career spans several achievements, including her role as one of the moderators of Ghana’s 2012 Vice-Presidential Debate and her selection as a pioneer representative of Ghana at President Obama’s Young African Leaders Initiative in 2010. Her expertise encompasses advocacy, negotiations, leadership, and media communications, making her a strong addition to the President’s communications team.
In her advocacy work, Shamima has been a member and ambassador for numerous initiatives, including the Ghana Right to Information Coalition, the Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition, and UN-Youth Ghana, where she champions Sustainable Development Goal 5 on gender equality. She has also collaborated on projects funded by organisations such as the EU, USAID, DFID, and the Commonwealth Foundation.
Speaking about her transition from media to politics, Shamima recently shared that her decision was deeply personal and driven by the need to increase women’s participation in Ghanaian politics. “The decision to go into politics was not forced on me. There are a lot of people who support political parties behind the scenes, but I wasn’t going to use a media platform to execute the political agenda of any political party,” she explained.
Her professional integrity as a journalist has been widely praised, with Shamima reflecting on her career with satisfaction. “I am glad that I was able to do a very professional job that people today can say that yes, you did execute your job professionally guided by the ethics of the profession,” she stated.
In her new role, Shamima Muslim is expected to enhance the Presidency’s communications strategies, contributing to effective public engagement and advocacy for the government’s programmes and policies.
Source: Www.Graphic.Com.Gh
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The Arabian Business 100 Most Inspiring Women 2025
21 Jan 2025
Female business leaders in the Middle East are rewriting the narrative, shattering stereotypes, and making an incredible mark across industries. Their contributions are not only rising the region’s economic growth but also driving a cultural shift towards greater gender equality. These exceptional women are breaking barriers, inspiring change, and carving a path for future generations of female entrepreneurs.
Source: Www.Arabianbusiness.Com
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Preston Muslim Girls High School to get much-needed additional space with expansion
21st January, 2025
A secondary school in Preston that says it is suffering from a shortage of space has been told it can expand.
Preston Muslim Girls High School is set to build a new two-storey block at its Deepdale Mill Street site after getting the green light from city council planners.
The extension will add a further four classrooms to the 600-pupil establishment. It will form the second phase of the school’s Crescent Building development, the first part of which opened in 2020.
In a planning application to Preston City Council, the school had said the new-build would provide “much needed additional space…[to] ease the pressures on the current facilities”.
The school – rated ‘outstanding by Ofsted’ – stands in an industrial area, with the nearest residential properties being around 50 metres away. No objections to the plans were received from the public.
The new Crescent building will sit in the north of the site, alongside the phase 1 scheme and behind the Deepdale Mill building that overlooks the road.
Outlining the reasons for approving the latest expansion, town hall planning officers said in a report that the proposed materials for the block either matched or were in keeping with those of the existing school.
They added: “The principle of the proposed development would be acceptable and would not result in any unacceptable impacts on residential amenity or highway safety.”
Source: Www.Blogpreston.Co.Uk
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UN Experts Condemn Rising Persecution of Baha'i Women in Iran
January 21, 2025
United Nations human rights experts have expressed concern over the increasing systematic persecution of women from Iran's Baha'i religious minority.
The experts report that Baha'i women, who make up two-thirds of all Baha'i prisoners in Iran, are subjected to a range of systematic targeting measures, including arbitrary arrests, interrogations, home raids, and enforced disappearances.
"In the larger context of the targeting of women in Iran and the challenges with gender equality, this dramatic rise in persecution against Baha'i women is an alarming escalation," the UN experts said in a statement.
Baha'i women are systematically denied access to higher education and face economic and cultural limitations, including bans from university attendance and public employment solely due to their faith.
The experts expressed concern over the use of vague charges such as "threat to national security" or "propaganda against the Islamic Republic" to restrict religious freedoms.
"The experts have raised their concerns with the Iranian government. In its response, the government asserted the full citizenship rights of Baha'is and claimed they face no restrictions," the statement reads.
"In the same week as the receipt of the government’s response, 10 Baha’i women in Isfahan were reportedly sentenced to a total of 90 years in prison, fined, banned from travel, had personal and family assets permanently confiscated, subsequent to their alleged arbitrary arrest and torture in Dolat Abad prison."
The government often accuses Baha'is of being spies or opposing the regime, but the Baha'i International Community asserts that no evidence has been provided to support these claims.
In the past two years, the Iranian government has intensified its crackdown on members of the Baha'i faith, imprisoning dozens on spurious charges, denying them access to higher education and livelihoods, and confiscating or destroying their properties.
Source: Iranwire.Com
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UK Teenager, Axel Rudakubana, Admits To ‘Unspeakable’ Murders Of Three Girls In Southport
21 January 2025
By Michael Holden
A British teenager on Monday unexpectedly pleaded guilty to murdering three young girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance event last July, an atrocity that triggered days of nationwide rioting.
Axel Rudakubana, 18, surprised the judge, prosecutors and police by admitting he had carried out the killings in the northern English town of Southport, making the trial that was about to start at Liverpool Crown Court unnecessary.
He also pleaded guilty to 10 charges of attempted murder relating to the attack, and to producing the deadly poison ricin and possessing an Al-Qaeda training manual.
After his conviction, British media reported Rudakubana had previously tried to attack former classmates at a school from which he had been expelled for carrying a knife. They said he had been referred to a counter-radicalisation scheme, but no action had been taken.
“It is clear this was a young man with a sickening and sustained interest in death and violence,” said Ursula Doyle from the Crown Prosecution Service.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the case was “a moment of trauma for the nation when there are grave questions to answer as to how the state failed in its ultimate duty to protect the young girls”.
Rudakubana, who was 17 at the time of the incident, initially refused to speak when asked to confirm his name, as he had at all previous hearings, which meant “not guilty” pleas had been entered on his behalf in December.
However, after consulting with his lawyer, he admitted to murdering Bebe King, 6, Elsie Dot Stancombe, 7, and Alice DasilvaAguiar, 9, who were at the summer vacation event.
Doyle said he had carried out a “meticulously planned rampage” while innocent children enjoyed a carefree dance workshop and made friendship bracelets.
Rudakubana, who was born in Britain, was arrested shortly after the attack in the quiet seaside town north of Liverpool. Despite finding the Al-Qaeda manual, police had said the incident was not being treated as terrorism-related, and his motive remains unknown.
In the wake of the murders, large disturbances broke out in Southport after false reports spread on social media that the suspect was a radical Islamist migrant.
The unrest spread across Britain with attacks on mosques and hotels housing asylum seekers. Starmer blamed far-right thuggery and more than 1,500 people were arrested.
The Guardian newspaper reported that Rudakubana, the son of devout Christians who had moved to Britain from Rwanda, had been referred three times to Prevent, a government scheme that aims to counter radicalisation.
It said there had been concerns he was looking at online material about US school massacres and past terrorist attacks. However, he was not judged to be a terrorism risk, the paper said.
Source: Www.Timeslive.Co.Za
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Beaten and insulted: First batch of released Palestinian women and children describe abuses by Israel
FayhaShalash
20 January, 2025
After a long wait at the point closest to Ofer Prison, west of Ramallah, families of released Palestinian prisoners related to the first batch of the ceasefire deal welcomed back their loved ones.
The exchange occurred once Hamas handed over three Israeli female captives Sunday morning under the ceasefire deal, and in turn, Israel released about 90 Palestinians, including 21 children and 69 women, most of whom were held without charge.
The second batch is expected to occur next Saturday, with Hamas releasing four Israeli female soldiers and Israel will release 200 Palestinian prisoners who were sentenced to life.
Although it was agreed that Israel would immediately release the female prisoners and children on Sunday evening, it used examination and inspection procedures as an excuse to delay their release until the evening.
Moreover, the Israeli army prevented their families from approaching the vicinity of Ofer prison and fired tear gas at them, suffocating some of the people there.
But that didn't prevent them from gathering in the nearest place in anticipation of receiving their children who had emerged from the "prison graves," as some described it.
At dawn on Monday, Israel released the women and children, and celebrations immediately spread throughout Ramallah, with pictures of Hamas leaders being raised and cheering for them.
The family of journalist RulaHassanein welcomed her with much emotion. She was arrested last March and sentenced to a full year in prison on charges of incitement, leaving behind her infant daughter, who was born prematurely and needed constant care.
After her release, Rula was transferred to the hospital because she suffers from chronic kidney disease and didn't receive any medical treatment inside the Israeli prison.
She described to The New Arab the cruelty of prison and the humiliating Israeli procedures for the prisoners, in which she and others were deprived of food, clothing, humane treatment, and other minimum humanitarian necessities.
"I was very worried about my child, whom I left while she needed to be breastfed, and when she was less than a year old. I used to hug my pillow every night and imagine it as my child, and I fell asleep from crying," Rula said.
Her family were shocked by her weight loss, the paleness of her face, and the tired features that appeared on her, which reflects the reality of the prison she was living in.
Nidaa Salah from Jenin told TNA that all the female prisoners were subjected to abuse, beatings and humiliation before their release.
"They beat us while transporting us from Damoun prison, pulled our hair, threw us to the ground, and did not allow us to help each other get up. We were subjected to a humiliating search and procrastination for long hours, during which we were left in the cold inside the cells," she said.
But the joy of meeting their families offered some respite, and the faces of many of those released began to shine with happiness as soon as they met their loved ones.
"If it were not for the steadfastness of the people of Gaza, we would not have met our families. If it were not for their patience, we would not have got out of prison. We owe them all our lives," Salah remarked.
The Israeli army continued its arbitrary measures even after the release, as it set up military checkpoints and closed iron gates at the entrances to villages and towns in the occupied West Bank, preventing the return of prisoners and their families to their cities and towns until the morning.
Iman Nafi counts hours and even minutes in anticipation of the release of her husband, the oldest Palestinian prisoner, Nael Barghouti, 67, after a detention that lasted more than 45 years.
This long-awaited deal holds many hopes for the families of Palestinian prisoners whom Israel has previously been stubborn about releasing.
In the first phase of the ceasefire deal, Israel is required to release all Palestinian women and children, including prisoners re-arrested after their liberation in the Shalit deal, and more than 200 prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment, in exchange for 33 Israeli prisoners.
In their home in the village of Kober, north of Ramallah, Iman Nafi is trying to make the simplest preparations for fear of any Israeli backtracking at the last minute in releasing her husband.
Nael was arrested for the first time in 1977 for three months, then re-arrested in 1978 to be sentenced to life imprisonment. He was released in exchange for the Israeli soldier captured by Hamas, Gilad Shalit, in 2011 with 1,057 other Palestinian prisoners.
In the summer of 2014, Nael was re-arrested with dozens of prisoners who were released in the Shalit deal, and their life sentences were restored after Hamas captured and killed three illegal Israeli settlers in Hebron.
Nafi said to TNA that he and dozens of prisoners from the Shalit deal are "hostages in Israeli prisons", further expressing her fears of new Israeli violations because "it has been proven that it does not care about international laws and mediators".
"I have not seen Nael for two years, and due to the current prison circumstances, his health condition is deteriorating. We are concerned about their fate and at the same time we await their release with new hope," she told TNA.
Nafi believes that the price of releasing her husband was very high, especially the lives of tens of thousands of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and their horrible suffering for 15 months of an active genocide.
Source: Www.Newarab.Com
https://www.newarab.com/news/released-palestinian-women-children-describe-abuses-israel
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What was in the Hamas 'gift bags' given to freed Israeli women?
20 January, 2025
Three Israeli women captives released from Gaza by Hamas as part of the hostage exchange deal on Sunday were handed what appeared to be "gift bags" by fighters from the Palestinian movement on Sunday.
Hamas released a video showing the three captives - DoronSteinbrecher, Emily Damari and RomiGonen - being given paper bags, which were said to contain mementos from their time held in captivity in Gaza.
In the video, the women are seen smiling and cracking jokes with their captors who handed them the so-called 'gift bags' mostly off-screen through the window of a vehicle.
Footage shows that at least one item in the bags was a special certificate, again bearing the logo of the Al-Qassam Brigades, titled 'Release Agreement' in both Hebrew and Arabic, with Israeli media reporting that the document was signed by the Red Cross at the moment of handover.
Israeli media reported that the bags also contained photos of the hostages while they were in captivity, a map of the Gaza Strip, and Palestinian flag necklaces.
Israeli media has dismissed the "gift bags" as a propaganda stunt staged by Hamas. However, some social media users contrasted the gesture and the generally healthy and happy demeanour of the Israeli hostages, with the condition of Palestinian detainees released by Israel, many of whom showed signs of neglect and potential mistreatment.
Around 90 Palestinians were released as part of the hostage exchange deal, with most of them being detained in Israeli prisons without trial or even charge.
Source: Www.Newarab.Com
https://www.newarab.com/news/what-was-hamas-gift-bags-given-freed-israeli-women
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URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/shamima-muslim-advocate-presidential/d/134391