Spanish Actress Alba Flores Stands in Solidarity with Palestine and Gaza at The Goya Awards Ceremony
New
Age Islam News Bureau
13 February 2024
·
Spanish
Actress Alba Flores Stands in Solidarity with Palestine and Gaza at The Goya
Awards Ceremony
·
Iranian
Woman Prisoner, Armita Pavir, Protests Transfer to Mental Hospital
·
Self-Defence
Training in Port Sudan For Women
·
Maintenance
For Muslim Woman Under Personal Law or CrPC? SC Seeks Amicus Curiae Views
·
Declaring
Banigala as Sub-Jail IHC To Hear Bushra Bibi’s Plea Today
·
Lack
Of Women At International Court Of Justice 'Striking', Says South African Lawyer
Adila Hassim
Compiled
by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/spanish-actress-alba-gaza-palestine/d/131710
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Spanish
Actress Alba Flores Stands in Solidarity with Palestine and Gaza at The Goya
Awards Ceremony
Actress
Alba Flores was one of many who wore sticker reading 'Stop the arms trade,
ceasefire now – Gaza'. Reuters
------
13th
February 2024
Spanish
actress Alba Flores stood in solidarity with Palestine and called for a peace
in Gaza at the Goya Awards ceremony on Saturday, February 10 held in the
Spanish city of Valladolid.
Flores,
known for her role as “Nairobi” in the popular show “Money Heist”, wore a
water-melon shaped badge on her dress in support of the Palestinian people,
which contained the phrase “Stop Arms Trade, Stop Fire Now, Gaza”.
In an
interview on the red carpet, she affirmed her full support for Gaza, which has
been under bombardment since October 7, 2023, and said, “I did not know if I
would have the opportunity to speak. So I want to bring a reminder. For me,
these are dark times because nearly 29,000 people have already been killed in
Gaza.”
“It’s
hard for me to come and celebrate anything without remembering what’s happening
in Palestine, so at least I’m wearing a pin. Even if it’s just a small thing, I
wanted to acknowledge it.”
Watch
the video here
“I
know this may not be the place for it, but it’s time to listen to them. And we
hope that the government of this country (Spain) can do what they should to
stop the war.”
She
concluded it by saying, “I hope there are more people who are really making an
effort to say what is really happening. I hope this genocide will end. I hope
we will have a free Palestine soon.”
When
Flores presented the Goya award for Best Original Song, leaving the audience
with a message of “Goodnight and peace for Palestine.”
During
the ceremony, several others Spanish artists and actors have also called for an
end to the Israeli genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
The
Gaza war began on October 7, 2023, with Hamas militants’ attack on Israel,
resulting in the deaths of approximately 1,200 people.
Since
then, Israel launched air strikes and a ground offensive against Gaza,
resulting in more than 28,000 deaths.
Source:
siasat.com
https://www.siasat.com/money-heist-actor-alba-flores-stands-in-solidarity-with-gaza-2976604/
---
Iranian
Woman Prisoner, Armita Pavir, Protests Transfer to Mental Hospital
Armita
Pavir
------
FEBRUARY
12, 2024
Armita
Pavir’s voice trembles with emotion as she speaks from behind the walls of
Tabriz prison. This university student has been on hunger strike for the past
17 days – her third over the past five months.
In an
audio file obtained by IranWire, Pavir expresses her fears that the prison
authorities might put into execution their repeated threats to transfer her to
a psychiatric hospital.
The
young woman was first detained during protests in the northwestern city of
Tabriz on October 31 last year. Before that, she was suspended and then banned
from university for her student activism.
Pavir
ran a Telegram channel where he shared her daily experiences and emphasized the
need to keep up the resistance against the Islamic Republic to bring changes in
her country.
Security
agents confiscated her mobile phone and electronic devices, and pressured her
to sign a letter of apology to justify her arrest.
The
judiciary claims to have arrested her for "financial" reasons, citing
a debt she allegedly owed the university for running a café at Tabriz Madani
University.
However,
an informed source has told IranWire that this is merely a pretext, as she
remains incarcerated despite having paid the debt and damages.
She
has been sentenced to a total of 22 months and 17 days in prison.
In
December, the Revolutionary Court convicted Pavir of "propaganda against
the Islamic Republic" and "insulting” the Islamic Republic’s supreme
leader, Ali Khamenei.
In
the audio file, Pavir recounts her harrowing ordeal at the hands of the prison
authorities.
She
reveals that the prison’s doctor tried to inject her with serum but failed, and
the prison authorities now want her hospitalized.
Pavir
adamantly refused, stating, "I will not lift my strike for a thousand and
one reasons. I refuse to yield under any circumstances, even if it means facing
death."
The
pressure tactics employed by authorities include preventing her from
communicating outside the prison walls.
She
has also been threatened to be transferred to Razi Psychiatric Hospital, known
for its harsh treatment of dissidents.
"I
refuse to bow down. Even if my body is removed from this cell, my spirit
remains unbroken. My voice falters and my throat is parched. I will not
falter," Pavir says.
The
source which provided Pavir's audio file to IranWire describes her as
"bold and resolute," noting her unwavering commitment even in the
face of death.
This
individual also reveals that Tabriz prison authorities aim to fabricate charges
against Pavir, alleging plans to incite riots among fellow inmates.
The
Iranian government has a history of using mental health allegations against
political and ideological dissidents.
Source:
iranwire.com
https://iranwire.com/en/women/125277-iranian-woman-prisoner-protests-transfer-to-mental-hospital/
----
Self-defense training in Port Sudan for women
February
13, 2024
As
the war in Sudan continues women and girls have been learning new skills at a
combat training camp set up in a former school yard.
The
10 months of clashes between the Sudanese military, led by Gen. Abdel Fattah
Burhan, and the Rapid Support Forces, a powerful paramilitary group commanded
by Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, has decimated vast swaths of the northeastern
Africa country.
The
conflict erupted last April in the capital, Khartoum, and quickly spread to
other areas of the country, after months of simmering tensions between the two
forces.
At
the training camp in Port Sudan, one of many set up across the country after
the Sudanese army called on civilian to take up arms, military officers have
been teaching women drills and how to use weapons such as AK-47 assault rifles.
Some
women told British broadcaster Sky News they were attending the camp to show
solidarity with their family members who had been conscripted to fight for the
Sudanese military.
Others
said they were learning new skills to defend themselves and their families.
At a
military hospital a teenager was receiving treatment after he was hit in the
spine by a bullet which went through his shoulder, Sky News reported.
The
18-year-old could only move his face and told Sky he had signed up to fight
because he needed the money due to tough living conditions.
He
was being cared for by another new recruit, a 20-year-old university student.
"We
never had anything to do with the military, it wasn't even on our minds,"
he said.
The
United Nations says at least 12,000 people have been killed in the conflict,
although local doctors groups say the true toll is far higher.
More
than 9 million people are thought to be internally displaced in Sudan, and 1.5
million refugees have fled into neighbouring countries as the conflict
continues.
The
U.N. food agency earlier this month warned it had received reports of people
dying from starvation.
According
to Michael Dunford, Regional Director for Eastern Africa at the World Food
Programme, the war had caused Sudan to be the "biggest humanitarian crisis
we have today" and he urged the international community for greater
support.
Dagalo’s
paramilitary forces appear to have had the upper hand over the past three
months, with their fighters advancing to the east and north across Sudan’s
central belt.
Both
sides have been accused of war crimes by rights groups.
Regional
partners in Africa have been trying to mediate an end to the conflict, along
with Saudi Arabia and the United States, which facilitated several rounds of
unsuccessful, indirect talks between the warring parties.
Burhan
and Dagalo are yet to meet in person since the conflict began
Source:
africanews.com
https://www.africanews.com/2024/02/12/self-defense-training-in-port-sudan-for-women/
-----
Maintenance
For Muslim Woman Under Personal Law or CrPC? SC Seeks Amicus Curiae Views
February
13, 2024
Ananthakrishnan
G
WOULD
A Muslim woman be entitled to claim maintenance from her divorced husband under
the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 — as was affirmed in the Shah Bano case —
or will The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act, 1986 — enacted
by the Rajiv Gandhi government to nullify the Shah Bano decision — prevail?
The
Supreme Court will deal with the question after an amicus curiae appointed by
it gives his views on it.
On
February 9, a bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and Augustine George Masih
appointed senior advocate Gaurav Agarwal as the amicus curiae for the matter.
“We
find that this court would benefit by having the views of an amicus curiae…
Hence, we request Shri Gaurav Agarwal, learned senior counsel, to be appointed
as amicus curiae in this case. A set of papers of this case shall be made
available by the Registry to Shri Gaurav Agarwal, learned senior counsel,” the
bench said, posting the matter for further hearing on February 19.
The
order pointed out that “in this petition, the challenge is the filing of a
petition under Section 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (CrPC) by
the respondent divorced Muslim woman. Learned senior counsel appearing for the
petitioner submitted that in view of the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on
Divorce) Act, 1986, a divorced Muslim woman is not entitled to maintain a
petition under Section 125 of the CrPC and has to proceed under the provisions
of the aforesaid 1986 Act. It is also submitted that the 1986 Act is more
beneficial to the Muslim woman as compared to Section 125 of the CrPC”.
The
court was dealing with an appeal by a man, Mohd. Abdul Samad, who had been
ordered to pay Rs 20,000 monthly maintenance to his ex-wife by a family court
in Telangana. The woman had moved the family court under Section 125 of the
CrPC stating that Samad had given her triple talaq. He appealed to the High
Court, which while disposing the plea on December 13, 2023, said that “several
questions are raised which need to be adjudicated” but “directed the petitioner
to pay 10,000 as interim maintenance”.
Challenging
this, Samad told the SC that the HC had failed to appreciate that the
provisions of the 1986 Act, a special Act, will prevail over the provisions of
Section 125 of CrPC, which is a general Act.
He
contended that “the provisions of Section 3 and 4” of the 1986 Act “which
starts with non-obstante clause, will prevail over the provisions of Section
125 CrPC, which has no non-obstante clause and as such the application for
grant of maintenance by Muslim divorced women under Section 125 of CrPC would
not be maintainable before the family court when the Special Act gives
jurisdiction to First-Class Magistrate to decide the issue of Mahr and payment
of other subsistence allowance under Section 3 and 4 of the Muslim Women
(Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act, 1986”.
Section
125 of the CrPC says that (1) If any person having sufficient means neglects or
refuses to maintain — (a) his wife, unable to maintain herself, or (b) his
legitimate or illegitimate minor child, whether married or not, unable to
maintain itself, or (c) his legitimate or illegitimate child (not being a
married daughter) who has attained majority, where such child is, by reason of
any physical or mental abnormality or injury unable to maintain itself, or (d)
his father or mother, unable to maintain himself or herself — a magistrate of
the first class may, upon proof of such neglect or refusal, order such person
to make a monthly allowance for the maintenance of his wife or such child,
father or mother, at such monthly rate as such Magistrate thinks fit and to pay
the same to such person as the Magistrate may from time to time direct”.
The
SC has not issued any notice on Samad’s appeal.
An SC
Constitution bench had in its September 2001 in the case Danial Latifi &
Another vs Union Of India, upheld the constitutional validity of the 1986 Act
and said that its provisions do not offend Articles 14, 15 and 21 of the
Constitution.
Source:
indianexpress.com
https://indianexpress.com/article/india/maintenance-for-muslim-woman-under-personal-law-or-crpc-sc-seeks-amicus-curiae-views-9158199/
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Declaring
Banigala as sub-jail IHC to hear Bushra Bibi’s plea today
February
13, 2024
ISLAMABAD:
The Islamabad High Court (IHC) will take up the petition of former first lady
Bushra Bibi today (Tuesday) for hearing against declaring the Banigala House as
sub-jail.
Justice
Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb will hear the case as per the cause list issued by the
Registrar’s Office.The petitioner has prayed to the court to set aside the
January 31 notification of Islamabad chief commissioner declaring Banigala
House as sub-jail.
She
said that she wanted to serve the imprisonment sentence in jail like a common
prisoner.She said that declaring the Banigala House as sub-jail for her was a
discrimination. She was shifted to the Banigala House after being arrested at
the Adiala Jail, she added.
Source:
thenews.com.pk
https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/1157195-declaring-banigala-as-sub-jail-ihc-to-hear-bushra-bibi-s-plea-today
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Lack
of women at International Court of Justice 'striking', says South African
lawyer Adila Hassim
February
13, 2024
South
African lawyer and human rights advocate Adila Hassim is used to high-profile
legal cases — but when she walked into the International Court of Justice (ICJ)
on January 11, she was awe-struck.
"You
feel a sense of the power of that space," she says.
The
large room within The Hague's prestigious Peace Palace has a dramatically high
ceiling, huge stained-glass windows and multiple chandeliers.
But
another thought came to her as she took her seat, close enough to look into the
faces of the 17 judges — 15 permanent, two ad hoc — adjudicating the genocide
case South Africa had brought against Israel.
"It
is absolutely striking," says Dr Hassim, one of seven legal experts on the
case who were hand-picked to represent South Africa by President Cyril
Ramaphosa.
"I
was shocked that in this forum in particular, where your pool of judges is the
world, there would be only four women in the panel.
"[It's]
wholly inadequate."
In
the highest court in the world, why are women so outnumbered? And what does
that mean for the cases — and the people — represented there?
'You
are the other'
Since
the ICJ was created in 1945, only five women have ever served on its judging
bench.
That's
particularly problematic in a court that deals with war, conflict and genocide,
which impact women in a very specific way.
The
first female ICJ judge was British former president Dame Rosalyn Higgins, who
joined in 1995.
"That's
50 years, basically, before there was a woman appointed," says Melanie
O'Brien, president of the International Association of Genocide Scholars and
associate professor of international law at the University of Western
Australia.
"The
next woman was appointed in 2010 — 15 years later."
She's
still there — current president Joan Donoghue from the US — as well as female
judges Xue Hanqin from China, Julia Sebutinde from Uganda and Australia's own
Hilary Charlesworth, whom Dr O'Brien calls "an icon of international law
academia".
Appearing
at the ICJ, Dr Hassim was acutely aware of a lack of women.
"When
you walk into a court where there isn't a representation of women on the bench,
it immediately has an alienating, discomforting impact," she says.
"You
realise you're on the fringe, you are the other. [You realise] this is not
actually a place for women; this is really a place for men."
But
gender imbalance isn't reserved for the bench.
When
women advocates appear in legal teams — which is rare — they're often
"subordinated", Dr Hassim says.
"It's
not the woman who speaks, who delivers the argument, who is the leader of the
team."
"They're
hard workers, so they're brought on for their hard work, but often [the case]
will be presented by a man."
According
to a study published in the European Journal of International Law, of the 229
pleadings made to the ICJ between 2013 and 2022, only 16.6 per cent were made
by female advocates.
That
puts both South Africa and Israel ahead of most countries in the gender make-up
of the legal teams in their ICJ case.
South
Africa's team included four women, three of them women of colour. Two of the
four, Dr Hassim and BlinneNíGhrálaigh, addressed the bench. On Israel's side,
there was one woman, Galit Rajuan, who also addressed the judging panel.
Dr
Hassim says there's an unenviable connection between those on the bench and
those on the floor.
"The
woman who stands up and addresses the court and sees only four women shares
something with those four women immediately.
"On
both sides, you're in the minority."
To
deliver South Africa's opening ICJ address — the video of which has been viewed
millions of times — it was critical for Dr Hassim to not let that thought beat
her.
"My
own personal reaction is to very consciously grapple with it and not to be
intimidated by the fact that this is a space in which I am in a very small
minority; a small minority as a woman and a small minority as a brown woman.
"You
learn to have strength in yourself; you have to overcome a feeling that you
don't belong in that group in order to be able to do your job properly."
'Not
good optics'
Judges
appointed to the ICJ bench are elected by a vote of the UN General Assembly and
the Security Council, after being nominated by their respective countries.
The
sea of mostly white men also stunned Narnia Bohler-Muller, human rights and
international law expert and an executive director at South Africa's Human
Sciences Research Council.
"It
is not good optics, it's really not," she says.
Professor
Bohler-Muller says South Africa's team is reflective of a country making a
concerted effort to learn from its past.
"Apartheid
was a very masculine construct. It was a group of very white Afrikaner men
[who] were the architects of the system," she says.
"We
had obviously a very white, male-dominated judiciary and [after apartheid]
there was a real push to transform especially the judiciary."
Progress
is slow and continuing, but she argues that three decades of work to diversify
the country's courts with more women — and more black women in particular — has
demonstrated "that transformation is possible".
She
says emerging from that change are "role models not just important to the
women of South Africa, but to everyone".
The
power of lived experience
Gender
imbalance "absolutely has an impact on the court", Dr O'Brien argues.
"People
of different backgrounds make different legal interpretations."
That's
particularly relevant in human rights cases, such as those heard at the ICJ.
"[Women]
experience war and genocide in a very particular way, and in a very challenging
and difficult way," Dr O'Brien says.
Women
are over-represented in refugee populations, but they're also particularly
vulnerable to indirect effects of armed conflict, including psychological
trauma, displacement and lack of access to essential social and medical
services.
They're
also vulnerable to gendered crimes, Dr O'Brien says.
"One
example is the ubiquitous nature of sexual violence during conflict and
genocide … What we often see [in conflict] is torture and killing of men, and
rape of girls and women."
As
men are more likely to go away to fight, women, as civilians, are
"generally more vulnerable because of that; they don't have a means to
defend themselves", Dr O'Brien says.
These
points are particularly pertinent to the South Africa vs Israel case. In its
address to the ICJ, Israel raised allegations of horrific sexual violence by
Hamas in the October 7 attacks.
South
Africa also levelled accusations of reproductive violence by Israel against
women in Gaza, alleging it imposed measures intended to prevent Palestinian
births.
Dr
Hassim says "it's harder to make those arguments" about gendered
violence in a courtroom without women.
"I
did feel as if I needed to specifically address the women on the bench to try
to say, 'Well, this is something you'll understand if no-one else does.'"
The
lived experience of women is also key to representing and interpreting these
arguments.
"You
feel it personally as a woman — all women have been through some level of
vulnerability to violence or threats, in some form or another," Dr Hassim
says.
"No
man can really understand what it feels like, that kind of threat."
Time
for change
Dr
Hassim's powerful ICJ appearance has resonated around the world in a way she
says she never expected.
"I
have received hundreds of messages from young, female lawyers, speaking not
about the particulars of the case but about what it means to see a female
lawyer speak," she says.
"It
gives me a sense of pride in womanhood, as opposed to just pride in myself.
"I
feel really feel moved because it makes me feel like I've made a change in the
lives of women somehow."
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Professor
Bohler-Muller says it's essential more women like Dr Hassim bring their
experience, interpretation and decision-making to courts.
"Women
do think differently and bring something new that I think the older male
generation cannot do," she says.
"We
want more women in the legal profession, we want more women on the bench — they
should be half the bench."
Dr
O'Brien staunchly agrees.
"There's
no longer an excuse … for having a 'manel' — an all-male panel — and that
includes in your legal team make-up," she says.
"There's
no excuse anymore."
That
has to go beyond filling quotas, Dr Hassim says, and filter through "into
the actual application and understanding of law" on the ground.
"There's
an assumption that just by virtue of having women in positions of power, it
will be good for women all over.
"That's
certainly not true, because it requires the consciousness and the
conscientiousness of the women who are in those positions."
And
while Dr Hassim says those in power must recognise the gender imbalance and
commit to structural change, she places her faith firmly in women.
"I'm
very optimistic because I think that there are so many women who are brilliant
and ready to take their place in that forum.
"It's
not going to happen if we leave it to men to do it for us."
Source:
abc.net.au
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-02-13/icj-has-gender-problem-says-south-african-lawyer-adila-hassim/103413684
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URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/spanish-actress-alba-gaza-palestine/d/131710