The Fearless Women Who Risk It All to Undermine Iran's Oppressive Regime
New Age Islam News Bureau
24 Jun 2024
·
The Fearless Women Who Risk It All to Undermine
Iran's Oppressive Regime
·
1,707 Saudi Women Hold Key Posts in Employment
Market
·
Datin Seri RosmahMansor Applies to Stay Hearing
of Suit by Lebanon-Based Jeweller
·
Fresh Mandate Spells Fresh Start for Both MUDA
and Me, Says Acting President Amira Aisya
·
Iranian-AmericanArtist HoomanKhalili Unveils
Mural Honouring Jewish and Iranian Women
·
UN Envoy Defends Failure To Include Afghan Women
In Upcoming Meeting With The Taliban In Qatar
Compiled by
New Age Islam News Bureau
URL:
The
Fearless Women Who Risk It All to Undermine Iran's Oppressive Regime
Jun 24, 2024
The
fearless women who risk it all to undemine Iran's oppressive regime (Image:
NCRI)
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BY day,
they are office workers and school teachers; ordinary citizens who struggle to
make their salaries stretch to cover basic necessities in a heavily sanctioned
country where inflation runs at a punishing 43 per cent.
But by
night they become the thorn in the side of Iran’s fundamentalist regime:
activists who risk their very lives to organise ways of undermining Iran’s
theocracy to remind Iranians that there is another way.
And,
with presidential elections this week to decide who should become president of
Iran following the unexpected death of “Butcher of Tehran” EbrahimRaisi, they
have never been busier.
Tara has
spent the past week tearing down posters of presidential candidates and
replacing them with those supporting the exiled opposition group People's
Mujahedin of Iran (MEK).
Banned
literature including leaflets, pamphlets and posters is printed at great risk by secret supporters
across the city.
“I have to admit I stayed completely away from
politics for most of my life. I led a normal life like any Iranian woman - like
many of my friends,” said the 30-year-old last night from her home in Isfahan,
“But
that changed during the 2022 MahsaAmini protests. It’s as if the pressure had
been building up and building up and finally it just became too much. “
Located
around 270 miles south of Iran's capital, Tehran, Isfahan was traditionally
famed for its palaces, tiled mosques and
minarets.
Now
Iran’s third biggest city has become more commonly associated with military
industry and development of the country’s nuclear weapons.
“We have
spent the last few nights finding suitable sights for anti-regime posters and
putting them up,” she said.
“One has
been torn down by regime agents, but the others are still there and people are
looking at them.”
With
elections in the offing, city walls are plastered with posters of candidates.
Much is being made of so-called “reformist” MasoudPezeshkian, the 70-year-old
former combat medic who is endorsed by all of Iran’s moderate groups.
His
inclusion by the 12-strong Guardian Council on the list of approved candidates
raised eyebrows, and has been taken in some quarters outside of Iran as a tacit
admission that Raisi’shard-line policies went too far.
But
inside Iran, most aren’t swayed.
Last
week Pezeshkian admitted his real objective was to prevent the regime's biggest
fear - low turnout - which prevents the Iran's government from proclaiming to
outside states that it is loved.
“I
joined this election to generate enthusiasm for participation against enemies
watching us," said Pezeshkian.
"If
people don’t show up, our country will be at risk.”
According
to research conducted by NCRI, only 8.2 per cent - 5 million people - voted in
March's legislative elections. Even inflated official figures had turnout at 41
per cent - 25 million people - which is still the lowest number since the
Islamic Revolution of 1979. Many ballots
were spoiled
“The
regime is trying to fool us into believing that Pezeshkian is a reformer,' she
said.
"They
need him to appear different from Raisi, who was a fanatic who used
uncompromising policies against us. They know these policies failed to control
Iranians following the Amini protests
"But
we know the truth: there is no difference between Pezeshkian and the others.
They are all hardliners who exist only to fulfil the will of Supreme Leader Ali
Khamenei, without whose direct permission nothing can happen.”
Just
four years ago Tara was living “a normal life “in which political activism
played no part.
The
Amini protests were seismic.
“I remember vividly going to work one
Saturday when I passed some young people who were very ordinary and were
cursing against the regime in the streets," she said.
Seeing
the scale of protests around the country reassured her.
“When I
came home from work at night, I would try to hear the news. The internet is
very slow in Iran. Sometimes the regime narrows the bandwidth so much that even
text messages can barely be sent. We resort to breaking the filtering and
testing different VPNs".
She
added: “One day I was reading the news of the protests when I saw how they
contained people from different strata of life, from retirees to workers and
teachers. I realised that other people, people just like me, were looking for
an opportunity to protest against the regime.
“I felt
I had to get involved.”
Raisi's
death in a mysterious helicopter crash caused no tear-shedding among MEK
supporters.
As a
senior Tehran judge in 1988 Raisi - a member of the infamous "death
committee” - sanctioned the execution of
some 5,000 MEK dissidents, after a “second fatwa” issued against communists and
leftists parties by former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
Now the
NCRI, the MEK's diplomatic wing and self-proclaimed "government -in-
waiting", has a ten-point plan which would see Iran become secular,
democratic - and non-nuclear.
Tara's
next act would be "on another level".
On
Thursday her small cell eschewed posters in favour projecting an image of
Maryam Rajavi, the NCRI’s president-elect, on to public walls.
“I could
see that the cars were slowing down or some people were stopping and watching.
Some openly cheered,“ she said.
“Others
paused and started thinking about it. This was the best gift for me because I
saw that my work was having an impact.”
The
nighttime forays are bursting with danger.
'It can
be challenging to be out at night, especially for a woman,” she said.
“I must
often pass men who I feel could hurt me. The other night, I was bothered by
drug addicts, There are so many drug addicts in Isfahan nowadays - mainly
younger men who don’t feel as if they have any future. But they can be
menacing.
It is
agents of the regime who present the biggest challenge, however.
“On
Tuesday night I chose my route to go and see what had happened to the posters
we put up on Monday," she said.
“I saw
two regime agents sitting a little way away , waiting for whoever put them up
to come and reveal themselves. I turned around and walked in the other
direction.
“Security
patrols roam the streets everywhere under any pretext and trap young people
breaking rules.
“I have
been able to escape many times just because of the speed of my actions. “
She
added: “We know we are risking our futures and possibly even our very lives
every time we step out of our homes to carry out this work.
“One of
our family friends is now in prison because of his support for the MEK and his
activities, and I know that the path I chose has a heavy price.
“But I
think that freedom and human dignity are worth it. “
Tara is
not alone. Across the country hundreds of little unassuming cells work
hard to the same effect.
In
Tehran, single mother Roya, 35, leads one of them.
“My
father was killed by this regime just because he supported the MEK, so I have
very different reasons for being involved," she said.
“Because
of this I know very well what will happen to us if we are arrested, but I fight
and overcome this fear. I always remember that it is said 'fear is the brother
of death.'
“Fear is
always there, but we must stand against it. I am a woman, and in Iran, under
the rule of this misogynistic and reactionary criminal system, the oppression
of women is much greater than that of men.
"
So I fight for the thought that, just maybe, omnedsu struggling with the
motivation that one day Iran will be liberated and my daughter and the rest of
the people will be able to live freely.”
Source: express.co.uk
https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1914481/The-fearless-women-who-risk-it-all-to-undemine-Iran-s-oppressive-regime
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1,707
Saudi women hold key posts in employment market
June 21,
2024
The
total number of women leaders in the Saudi labor market reached 1,707, thanks
to the leadership training and guidance initiative for women cadres under the
Vision 2030.
------------
RIYADH—
The total number of women leaders in the Saudi labor market reached 1,707,
thanks to the leadership training and guidance initiative for women cadres
under the Vision 2030. This figure exceeded the Vision target plan of 1,000 women
in key positions, according to a recent report.
The
Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development revealed in its latest
report that the total number of women who have benefited from the training
program within the initiative titled “Developing productive projects for those
who want to practice self-employment” reached about 320 beneficiaries during
the last year 2023, though the targeted beneficiaries of the plan was about 310
women.
The
ministry announced that Saudi women recorded many positive numbers in the labor
market during the year 2023. The share of women shot up during this period
compared to the period from 2017 until the end of 2023 to record levels in a
number of sectors. Women’s share in the labor market was about 21.2 percent
during the year 2017 and it rose to reach 34 percent in 2023. As for the rate
of economic participation, it rose to more than double, reaching 35.5 percent
from 17 percent. The percentage of women in middle and senior administrative
positions soared to 43.8 percent from 28.6 percent.
With
regard to the numbers allocated to both genders, the report indicated that the
rate of Saudization in highly skilled jobs continued its strong growth,
reaching 39.6 percent of the total jobs during the year 2023 while the target was
36 percent. The target percentage in 2025 is about 40 percent which means that
only 0.4 percent remains to reach the targeted percentage for the next year.
The
ministry explained that the impact of the transformation on women’s empowerment
was that about 234,000 Saudi women have benefited from the Wusool
transportation support program, and 1.6 million have benefited from the
vocational guidance initiative for school students.
The
ministry announced the completion of the proactive implementation of the phases
of the parallel training project for the year 2023-2024, bringing the number of
female trainees to 15,000, with a completion rate of 100 percent.
The
number of trainees has increased in many training sectors in preparation for
their participation in the labor market, as their number exceeded 16000
trainees, both male and female, in 49 training programs in many high-skilled
sectors within the Skills Accelerator Program, and the sectors included
tourism, retail, manufacturing and logistics services, health and social work,
energy, mining, electricity and gas, information and communications
technologies, and financial and insurance activities.
The
Skills Accelerator Program focused on boosting the efficiency of Saudi
employees in the private sector, targeting industries with the greatest impact
on the national economy. More than 10,000 individuals benefited from programs
fostering self-employment and specialized skills development.
Source: saudigazette.com.sa
https://www.saudigazette.com.sa/article/643763/SAUDI-ARABIA/1707-Saudi-women-hold-key-posts-in-employment-market
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Datin
Seri RosmahMansor Applies To Stay Hearing Of Suit By Lebanon-Based Jeweller
24 Jun
2024
KUALA
LUMPUR, June 24 — Datin Seri RosmahMansor has applied to stay the proceedings
of the suit filed against her by Lebanon-based jeweller, Global Royalty Trading
SAL, over the loss of more than 40 pieces of jewellery.
Her
lawyer, RajivanNambiar, said the application, filed on June 7, was to stay the
proceedings of the suit pending the decision of her appeal at the Court of
Appeal against a High Court decision which dismissed her application to include
the government and the police as the third party in the case.
In the
proceedings before Senior Assistant Registrar NorhainaZulkifli today, the court
fixed August 16 to hear the stay application to be conducted online before
Judge Ong Chee Kwan, said the lawyer when contacted today.
Global
Royalty filed the suit on May 29 last year, claiming that Rosmah had lied by
saying that 44 pieces of jewellery, including diamond necklaces, bracelets, and
tiaras that were sent to her by the company’s agent were seized by the
Malaysian authorities under the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing
and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001.
The jeweller
also claimed that the wife of former Prime Minister Datuk Seri NajibRazak had
shifted the burden to the Malaysian government when in fact, the jewellery had
gone missing.
The
company had initially sued Rosmah on June 26, 2018, and demanded that she return
the 44 pieces of jewellery or pay US$14.79 million. However, the suit was
withdrawn in 2019. — Bernama
Source: malaymail.com
https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2024/06/24/rosmah-applies-to-stay-hearing-of-suit-by-lebanon-based-jeweller/141241
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Fresh
Mandate Spells Fresh Start For Both MUDA And Me, Says Acting President Amira
Aisya
24 Jun
2024
KUALA
LUMPUR, June 24 — Ahead of its first party polls at the end of the year,
Malaysian United Democratic Alliance (Muda) acting president Amira AisyaAbd
Aziz said she hopes to be given the leadership mandate again.
The
PuteriWangsa assemblyman said she has plans to build Muda.
“I said
this to Muda members during my ‘JelajahPresiden’: If given the mandate, I would
be honoured to continue in the position of party president.
“I want
to do many things for the party and serve the country too,” she said during an
interview with Malay Mail recently.
A mere
11 days after becoming acting president, Amira Aisya announced that party
elections would be held earlier than the expected 2025.
In
November 2023, Muar MP Syed Saddiq Abdul Rahman stepped down as party president
following his conviction for corruption.
Amira
Aisya, who is also a co-founder of Muda along with Syed Saddiq, said she had
decided to speed things up because the time had come for the party to turn a
corner.
“We
believe that the youth leadership also requires a fresh mandate from all Muda
members to propel our party forward,” she said.
Amira
Aisya told Malay Mail that she did not intend to be “acting president” for too
long as it would be unhealthy for the party.
She also
encouraged new leaders to contest the central executive committee (CEC) spots.
“In
Muda, our rallying cry is democracy. It is part of our name.
“Practise
your democratic rights. If you feel there’s something that the party could do
better, if you feel there’s something that the party should be championing, a
party election is the best way to make your voice heard,” she said.
Source: malaymail.com
https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2024/06/24/fresh-mandate-spells-fresh-start-for-both-muda-and-me-says-amira-aisya/139376
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Iranian-AmericanArtist
HoomanKhaliliUnveils Mural Honouring Jewish and Iranian Women
(June
23, 2024 / JNS)
Iranian-American
artist HoomanKhalili has unveiled a new mural in the Galilee city of Safed
honouring four Persian and Israeli women killed or injured by the Islamic
Republic in Iran or by its proxy Hamas in Israel.
The
symbolic painting, meant to highlight the historical connection between the
Jewish people and Iranian women, was unveiled two months after Iran fired more
than 300 missiles and drones in an unprecedented direct attack on the Jewish
state and as the war against the Iranian-backed Hamas in Gaza rages for a ninth
month.
The
Iranian-born artist’s mural depicts two Israeli soldiers of Persian heritage
killed by Hamas during the Oct. 7 massacre, which triggered the war, alongside
a Kurdish-Iranian icon who was beaten to death by the Islamic regime, and an
Iranian woman who was blinded by Iranian authorities during an anti-government
demonstration.
Titled
“Woman, Life, Freedom,” the rallying cry against oppression and for women’s
rights, in English, Hebrew and Persian, the mural of the four women reads:
“Esthers of the World Rise Up.”
It
features Sahar Saudyan, a 21-year-old IDF captain from Rosh Ha’ayin who was
killed during the Hamas onslaught while operating an Iron Dome anti-missile
battery in southern Israel; Staff Sgt.Shirel Haim Pour, a 20-year-old from
RishonLeztion killed when Hamas terrorists overran the Nahal Oz military base
near the Gaza Strip; Iranian MahsaAmini, who became an icon for oppressed women
around the world as news spread of her death after being arrested by Iranian
morality police for “improperly” wearing her hijab two years ago; and
ElaheTavakolian, who was shot in the eye and blinded during nationwide protests
in Iran in September 2022 against Amini’s death in custody.
“I want
to show that the Jews in Israel are standing with the women of Iran,” Khalili
told JNS over the weekend. “The images honor two Persian Jews who fell on Oct.
7 and the brave women of Iran who have stood up to their oppressive regime, and
the connection and love between the people of Iran and the people of Israel.”
‘Our two
nations’
Iranian-born
Helen Saudyan, whose daughter is memorialized in the mural, told JNS in an
interview on Sunday, “It is especially moving that someone who is from Iran is
commemorating Jewish Israeli soldiers in an effort to bring our two nations
closer together again.”
Saudyan
had reached out to the artist after hearing about him on TV. “This is an
extraordinary project,” she said.
Before
the Islamic Revolution of 1979, Israel and Iran were allies.
The
mural, which went up earlier this month at a public shelter in Safed, also
features four angels holding back the four winds, a motif associated with the
city.
“There
is a history of the people of Israel and the people of Iran having a loving
relationship, and this is a reminder of our common bond and friendship,” said
Shayna Paquin, a Safed resident whose volunteer nonprofit raised funds for the
shelter and 10 others in the city in conjunction with the Jewish Federation of
Palm Beach County in Florida and Operation Lifeshield, an NGO that provides
air-raid shelters for threatened communities.
“It is
especially significant for us that this painting went up at a shelter because
my sister’s whole military service was to safeguard civilians [with the Iron
Dome],” said Sahar Saudyan’s sister, Stav.
The
painting is Khalili’s 12th mural in Israel, with two additional ones hanging in
California.
“Israel
is the focus of my work as the only country in the Middle East standing with
the women fighting for freedom in Iran,” he said.
The
artist was 3 years old when his mother fled Iran with him a year before the
Islamic Revolution. He was adopted by the First Presbyterian Church in San
Francisco and subsequently converted to Christianity.
Source: jns.org
https://www.jns.org/iranian-american-unveils-mural-honoring-jewish-and-iranian-women/
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UN envoy
defends failure to include Afghan women in upcoming meeting with the Taliban in
Qatar
June 21,
2024
UNITED
NATIONS (AP) — The United Nations’ top official in Afghanistan defended the
failure to include Afghan women in the upcoming first meeting between the
Taliban and envoys from 22 countries, insisting that demands for women’s rights
are certain to be raised.
U.N.
special envoy RozaOtunbayeva was pummeled with questions Friday from
journalists about criticism from human rights organizations at the omission of
Afghan women from the meeting in Qatar’s capital, Doha, on June 30 and July 1.
The
Taliban seized power in 2021 as United States and NATO forces withdrew
following two decades of war. No country officially recognizes them as Afghanistan’s
government, and the U.N. has said that recognition is almost impossible while
bans on female education and employment remain in place.
Human
Rights Watch Executive Director Tirana Hassan said that, in the face of the
Taliban’s tightening repression of women and girls, the U.N. plans to hold a
meeting “without women’s rights on the agenda or Afghan women in the room are
shocking.”
Amnesty
International Secretary General Agnes Callamard said, “The credibility of this
meeting will be in tatters if it doesn’t adequately address the human rights
crisis in Afghanistan and fails to involve women human rights defenders and
other relevant stakeholders from Afghan civil society.”
Otunbayeva,
a former president and foreign minister of Kyrgyzstan, insisted after briefing
the U.N. Security Council that “nobody dictated” conditions to the United
Nations about the Doha meeting, but she confirmed that no Afghan women will be
present.
U.N.
political chief Rosemary DiCarlo will chair the meeting, Otunbayeva said. She
will attend, and a few of the 22 special envoys on Afghanistan who are women
will also be there.
The
meeting is the third U.N.-sponsored gathering on the Afghan crisis in Doha. The
Taliban weren’t invited to the first, and Secretary-General Antonio Guterres
said they set unacceptable conditions for attending the second in February,
including demands that Afghan civil society members be excluded from the talks
and that they be treated as the country’s legitimate rulers.
Undersecretary-General
DiCarlo visited Afghanistan in May and invited the Taliban Foreign Minister,
Amir Khan Muttaqi, to attend the upcoming meeting. The Taliban accepted and
said they are sending a delegation.
“We do
hope that delegation will be led by de facto Foreign Minister Muttaqi,” Otunbayeva
said, but the Taliban may send another minister.
Just
before the Doha gathering, there will be a hybrid meeting with Afghan civil
society representatives from inside and outside the country, Otunbayeva said.
And on July 2, immediately after Doha, “we’ll be meeting all the civil society
people.”
The
Taliban have used their interpretation of Islamic law to bar girls from
education beyond age 11, ban women from public spaces, exclude them from many
jobs, and enforce dress codes and male guardianship requirements.
Otunbayeva
said the upcoming gathering will be the first face-to-face meeting between the
Taliban and the envoys and will focus on what she said were “the most important
acute issues of today” — private business and banking, and counter-narcotics
policy.
Both are
about women, she said, and the envoys will tell the Taliban, “Look, it doesn’t
work like this. We should have women around the table. We should provide them
also access to businesses.” She added that “if there are, let’s say, 5 million
addicted people in Afghanistan, more than 30% are women.”
Otunbayeva
told the Security Council the U.N. hopes the envoys and the Taliban delegation
will speak to each other, recognize the need to engage, and “agree on next
steps to alleviate the uncertainties that face the Afghan people.”
The U.N.
expects a continuation of the dialogue at a fourth Doha meeting later in the
year focused on another key issue: the impact of climate change on the country.
Lisa
Doughten, the U.N. humanitarian office’s finance director, told the council
that “the particularly acute effects of climate change” are deepening
Afghanistan’s humanitarian crisis, saying over 50% of the population — some
23.7 million people — need humanitarian aid this year, the third-highest number
in the world.
“Extreme
weather events are more frequent and more intense,” she said. “Some areas in
Afghanistan have warmed at twice the global average since 1950” with the
country experiencing increasing droughts and deadly flash flooding.
Otunbayeva
said another outcome from the Doha meeting that the U.N. would like to see is
the creation of working groups to continue talks on how to help farmers replace
poppies producing opium with other crops, how to provide pharmacies with
medication to help addicted people, and how to address crime and improve
banking and private businesses.
As for
what the U.N. would like to see, she said, “we need badly that they will change
their minds and let girls go to school.”
Otunbayeva
said Afghanistan is the only country in the 57-nation Organization of Islamic
Cooperation that doesn’t let girls go to school, which she called “a big
puzzle.” Afghanistan has been very male-dominated and “we want to change the
minds” of young people from such a traditional society towards women,
Otunbayeva said.
The
humanitarian office’s Doughten told the council “the ban on girls’ education is
fueling an increase in child marriage and early childbearing, with dire
physical, emotional and economic consequences.” She also cited reports that attempted
suicides by women and girls are increasing.
Source: apnews.com
https://apnews.com/article/un-afghanistan-taliban-women-girls-education-rights-88e7f5aadb25439b328c90283ae6ab5a
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URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/women-iran-saudi-women/d/132566