Zarah Sultana, UK Lawmaker Urges British Premier to 'Stop Arming War Crimes'
New Age
Islam News Bureau
17 January 2024
·
Zarah
Sultana, UK Lawmaker Urges British Premier to 'Stop Arming War Crimes'
·
Iranian
Women Activists, Maryam Jalal Hosseini and FatemehTadrisi Handed Long-Term
Sentences
·
More Than
500 Athletes to Compete At Arab Women Sports Tournament In Sharjah
·
Muslim
Women Need No Legal Order to Record Divorce: Kerala High Court
·
Australia Urged
To Speed up Visas for Afghan Women Who Fear Being Sent Back to Taliban Rule
·
Afghanistan’s
Women’s Rights Violations and Humanitarian Crises Require Decisive Actions: Purple
Saturdays Movement
Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/zarah-sultana-war-uk-british/d/131533
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Zarah Sultana, UK Lawmaker Urges British
Premier To 'Stop Arming War Crimes'
Zarah Sultana, UK Lawmaker
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BurakBir
17.01.2024
British lawmaker Zarah Sultana accused
the government on Tuesday of being "deeply complicit" in Israel's
"genocidal assault" in Gaza, calling on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to
“stop arming war crimes."
In a letter to Sunak, Sultana mentioned
the genocide case brought by South Africa at the International Court of Justice
(ICJ) in which she said the world "heard in painstaking detail the
horrifying facts of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza."
Recalling the UK’s arms sales to Israel,
she accused the government of being "deeply complicit" in Israel's
attacks on the Gaza Strip.
"Not only has it refused to support
an immediate cease-fire at the UN Security Council, but it has also licensed
arms sales to Israel worth more than £474 million ($598 million) since 2015,
including parts for F-35 fighter jets, planes that are currently unleashing
hell on Gaza," she said.
Sultana said that is why she introduced
the Arms Trade (Inquiry and Suspension) Bill to parliament last month "to
stop arming Israel’s war crimes."
"The Bill would suspend arms sales
to any country where there is a risk that they will be used in violation of
international law -- and there is no doubt this includes Israel," she
said.
She added that the bill would also
launch an inquiry into British arms sales, assessing the clearly inadequate
licensing regime and "ensuring that we never again sell weapons for war
crimes."
Reminding that the bill will come before
the House of Commons on Friday, she urged Sunak "to entrust your MPs not
to block the Bill, allowing it to continue its journey to becoming law."
Her letter came a day after she faced a
controversial reply by Sunak, who has been accused of using an "Islamophobic
trope" against her.
In response to Sultana's question on
whether he will seek to de-escalate the situation in Gaza and call for an
immediate cease-fire," Sunak replied: "Perhaps the honorable lady
would do well to call on Hamas and the Houthis to de-escalate the situation”
rather than the UK government.
Later in the session, another Muslim
Labour Party member of parliament, Naz Shah, criticized the prime minister's
response, saying it was "a new painful blow."
Israel has launched relentless air and
ground attacks on Gaza since a cross-border attack by the Palestinian
resistance group Hamas, which Tel Aviv said killed 1,200 people.
At least 24,285 Palestinians have since
been killed, mostly women and children, and 61,154 injured, according to
Palestinian health authorities.
According to the UN, 85% of the
population of Gaza is already internally displaced amid acute shortages of
food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave’s infrastructure is
damaged or destroyed.
Source: aa.com.tr
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/europe/muslim-lawmaker-urges-british-premier-to-stop-arming-war-crimes/3110938
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Iranian Women Activists, Maryam Jalal
Hosseini and Fatemeh Tadrisi Handed Long-Term Sentences
HRANA said
on January 16 that the Revolutionary Court in Karaj, near Tehran, also ordered
Maryam Jalal Hosseini and Fatemeh (Mojgan) Tadrisi to spend two years in exile
after their release.
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JANUARY 16, 2024
An Iranian court has sentenced two
Iranian women activists to six years in prison on charges related to their
political activities, according to a U.S.-based human rights network.
HRANA said on January 16 that the
Revolutionary Court in Karaj, near Tehran, also ordered Maryam Jalal Hosseini
and Fatemeh (Mojgan) Tadrisi to spend two years in exile after their release.
It quoted the judge who presided over
the court, Seyed Musa Asef-Al-Hosseini, as ruling that both women were guilty
of “inciting people to violence, engaging in propaganda against the regime,
insulting the supreme leader (Ali Khamenei), and forming groups to act against
national security,” it said.
Hosseini and Tadrisi were arrested in
August last year and transferred to Kachooie prison in Karaj, where they are
still being held.
The two activists had previously been
arrested due to their activism.
Source: iranwire.com
https://iranwire.com/en/women/124378-iranian-women-activists-handed-long-term-sentences/
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More than 500 athletes to compete at
Arab Women Sports Tournament in Sharjah
16 Jan 2024
Sharjah is set to host the seventh
edition of the Arab Women Sports Tournament, featuring 550 sportswomen from 14
countries.
Organised by Sharjah Women's Sports
Foundation, the prestigious event will take place from February 2 to 12.
The grand opening ceremony is scheduled
for February 2, at the Al Majaz Amphitheatre with a thrilling set of
performances and activities opened for the entire public to attend.
The championship will feature eight
sports — volleyball, table tennis, basketball, shooting, archery, fencing,
athletics and karate.
Athletics will witness the highest
participation with 12 teams, followed by volleyball with nine teams, and
basketball and karate with eight teams each.
Volleyball ranks third with seven teams,
while archery and fencing competitions will feature six teams each, and
shooting will feature five teams.
Organisers announced that a conference
on medicine and sports science in women sports will also be held during the
event.
Sharjah's state-of-the-art sports arenas
are ready to welcome the competitors from Arab countries.
The slogan, 'Our Courts. Her Story.'
resonates with all women.
The tournament aims to captivate the
audience with narratives of resilience, determination and triumph.
The previous edition witnessed a spectacle
as more than 1000 players and administrative staff from 78 clubs representing
18 Arab countries took part.
As the buzz builds around the seventh
edition, the stage is set for an adrenaline-fuelled experience that promises to
be nothing short of spectacular.
Source: khaleejtimes.com
https://www.khaleejtimes.com/sports/more-than-500-athletes-to-compete-at-arab-women-sports-tournament-in-sharjah
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Muslim Women Need No Legal Order To
Record Divorce: Kerala High Court
January 16, 2024
Kochi: The Kerala High Court has held
that a divorced Muslim woman need not be sent to a court of law for recording
the talaq if it is otherwise in order as per the personal law.
Justice P V Kunhikrishnan said that
merely because a woman registered her marriage as per the Kerala Registration
of Marriages (Common) Rules, 2008, she need not be dragged to a court of law
for recording her divorce if it was obtained as per her personal law.
"A divorced Muslim woman need not
be sent to a court of law for recording the talaq if it is otherwise in order
as per the personal law. The officer concerned can record the talaq without
insisting on a court order.
"I think that there is a lacuna in
Rule 2008 in this regard. The legislature should think about the same. The
registry will forward a copy of this Judgment to the Chief Secretary of the
state to do the needful in accordance with law," Justice Kunhikrishnan
said in his January 10 judgment in the matter.
The court observed that under the Rules
of 2008, a divorced Muslim woman cannot remarry till the entry in the marriage
register was removed by approaching a competent court of law, but the husband
faces no such hindrance.
The order and observations of the court
came on a divorced Muslim woman's plea seeking directions to the Local Registrar
of Marriages to record her divorce in the marriage register.
She moved the court for the relief as
the Registrar refused to record the divorce entry on the ground that the Rules
of 2008 do not contain any provision authorising him to do so.
While considering the plea, the court
questioned that once the husband pronounced talaq, can the marriage
registration as per the Rules of 2008 be a burden to the Muslim woman alone.
In the instant case the marriage between
the couple was solemnised in 2012, but it did not last long and the husband
pronounced talaq in 2014.
The woman also got a divorce certificate
issued by the Thalasseri Mahal Khazi.
However, when she went to make the entry
of divorce in the marriage register as required under the Rules of 2008, the
Registrar had refused to do so.
Disagreeing with the stand of the
Registrar, the court said, "If there is the power to register the
marriage, the power to record the divorce is also inherent and ancillary to the
authority who registers the marriage, if there is a divorce under the personal
law."
The court directed the Local Registrar
of Marriages to consider the woman's application for recording the divorce
entry and pass appropriate orders on that after issuing a notice to her
ex-husband.
It directed the authority to carry out
the process "as expeditiously as possible, at any rate, within a period of
one month from the date of receipt of a stamped certified copy of this
judgment".
With these directions, the court
disposed of the matter.
Source: ndtv.com
https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/muslim-women-need-no-legal-order-to-record-divorce-kerala-high-court-4873703
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Australia urged to speed up visas for
Afghan women who fear being sent back to Taliban rule
16 Jan 2024
Afghan women’s rights defenders who have
fled the Taliban’s rule say they are at risk of imminent return to Afghanistan
by Pakistani authorities, prompting calls for the Australian government to step
in and expedite their protection visas.
The federal government has received more
than 215,000 humanitarian visa requests from Afghan nationals since the fall of
Kabul to the Taliban in August 2021, granting 15,852 visas so far as of
December 2023.
More than 30,000 of those hoping for a
ticket to Australia, however, reside in Pakistan, where local authorities are
undertaking a mass deportation of Afghans back to Taliban rule.
With just 26,500 places for Afghan
nationals in Australia through to 2026, a Department of Home Affairs
spokesperson said it was prioritising “vulnerable cohorts within refugee
populations”.
But the uncertainty, and absence of
updates, weighs heavy on women’s rights defenders and their families, who fear
being jailed or killed if they are returned to Afghanistan.
ReshadSadozai studied in Australia
before returning to Afghanistan to work for the republican (civilian)
government there before he had to flee when the Taliban seized Kabul.
Photograph by Christopher Hopkins for The Guardian
Soroya Rahmat, once a law professor in
Kabul who ran a pro-bono legal clinic for women experiencing domestic violence,
said she was under threat of being returned to Afghanistan within weeks because
her authorisation to remain in the country was going to expire.
She said after the Taliban threatened
her, her husband and their three young children, the family spent six months
moving houses, hiding with friends and family, and wearing disguises before
eventually fleeing to Pakistan in the middle of the night.
Life in Pakistan, however, has not been
easy or safe. Rahmat said she and her family lived in constant fear of being
discovered by the Taliban and punished for her work supporting women before
they returned to power.
More than two-and-a-half years after she
applied for an Australia visa, Rahmat, who turns 44 next month, said she was
losing hope she would get an outcome in time.
“We don’t have a normal life here,” she
told Guardian Australia.
“We suffer many dangers here … and the
Australian government don’t pay attention, [they] don’t care … It’s painful for
us.”
Rahila Askari, 23, said she had faced
similar threats of deportation from Pakistan back to the Taliban-controlled
country she calls home.
Having co-founded the Afghanistan
chapter of women’s leadership advocacy group Girl Up and been outspoken against
the Taliban as a student at Kabul University, she said she feared being locked
up and tortured as some of her peers had.
One of those peers is ParisaAzada, a
friend and former classmate of Askari’s. Azada was reportedly arrested and
detained for printing protest banners in Dasht-e-Barchi by the Taliban in
November.
Askari stayed in Afghanistan for more
than two years under Taliban rule, running a hidden home school to teach young
girls to speak English. She left for Pakistan in November 2023 as the threats
for her safety worsened.
The Pakistani authorities have warned
Askari her visa will expire at the end of the month, possibly forcing her back
to the border office at Torkham, on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border where she
fears being arrested by the Taliban.
“If I go [to Torkham], it will be the
last time that I see this blue sky or my family because it’s not possible to
come back from there,” she said.
Askari is awaiting an outcome for the
Australian protection visa she applied for in April 2023.
Pakistan’s crackdown on undocumented
foreigns is believed to affect about 2 million Afghans in the country. At least
200,000 Afghans had been removed as of early November.
The federal government has said it
considers the plight of Afghan nationals awaiting an Australia protection visa
outcome and facing the prospect of deportation back to Afghanistan a “high
priority” matter.
Susan Hutchinson, the founder of women’s
rights defenders advocacy group Azadi-e Zan, said her attempts to bring the
urgent cases of these women to the government had been ignored.
Hutchinson, who has written directly to
the Australian foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, and the attorney general,
Mark Dreyfus, said the federal government was not prioritising women such as
Rahmat and Askari who are in need of urgent help.
Priority is given, according to the
department’s website, to those who worked as locally engaged employees before
the Taliban’s rule as well as their families. Women and girls, ethnic
minorities, LGBTQ+ people and other identified minority groups are also given processing
priority.
“These are people who have been
nominated by Australian organisations … or they have longstanding relationships
with Australians,” she said.
“But the government continues to ignore
my requests to communicate about their case.”
A total of 15,852 humanitarian visas
have been granted to Afghan nationals since the fall of Kabul, with 3,026 of
those granted in the five months to December 2023.
More than 50,000 protection visa
requests, however, have been rejected.
Australia only accepts applications from
those in Pakistan and Iran, and considers UNHCR-referred Afghan applicants in
Turkey, India, Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia.
Any applications made from Afghanistan
will be refused, the department’s website says.
A department spokesperson said: “A total
of 20,000 places in Australia’s 2023-24 humanitarian program will ensure that
we can provide permanent resettlement to those most in need from around the
world, and protection in Australia to those who require it.
“The 2023-24 Humanitarian Program intake
is the highest the core intake has been since 2012-2013, ensuring we can
continue to support commitments to the Afghan community.”
The immigration minister, Andrew Giles,
declined to comment, instead directing questions to the department.
Source: theguardian.com
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/jan/17/australia-urged-to-speed-up-visas-for-afghan-women-who-fear-being-sent-back-to-taliban-rule
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Afghanistan’s Women’s Rights Violations
and Humanitarian Crises require decisive actions: Purple Saturdays Movement
Fidel Rahmati
January 17, 2024
The Purple Saturdays Movement is
urgently calling upon the United Nations, the international community, and
human rights organizations to take immediate and decisive action against the
grave rights violations taking place in Afghanistan.
The movement on Wednesday on its social
media platform X, highlighted the alarming situation in Afghanistan where women
are being unjustly arrested by the Taliban simply for dress code violation or
Hijabs.
The statement said, “In a shocking turn
of events, women in Afghanistan are being subjected to a series of human rights
abuses that have sparked international outrage. The current situation is dire,
with women being arrested by the Taliban for wearing #hijabs, imprisoned,
forced into marriages, and even raped in prisons.”
Furthermore, women are being deprived of
basic rights like education, employment, and physical activity. These acts
amount to grave crimes against humanity, and the situation is deteriorating rapidly.
The organization has issued a stark
warning to the international community about the perilous situation of women in
Afghanistan. Unless swift action is taken, a humanitarian disaster looms.
Urgent pleas are being directed towards the United Nations, the global
community, and human rights organizations, urging them to intervene decisively
and address this urgent crisis.
The urgent situation in Afghanistan
requires immediate global solidarity and action to prevent further atrocities
against women. Swift intervention and support are vital to protect their rights
and lives and prevent a humanitarian crisis. We urge the United Nations, the
international community, and human rights organizations to act swiftly.
Source: khaama.com
https://www.khaama.com/afghanistans-womens-rights-violations-and-humanitarian-crises-require-decisive-actions-purple-saturdays-movement/
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URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/zarah-sultana-war-uk-british/d/131533