Middle East Press on Iran, Women’s Voices, Egypt's Salafists and Hezbollah: New Age Islam's Selection, 28 September 2020
By New Age Islam Edit
Bureau
28
September 2020
• Tehran’s Tightening Repression Forebodes More
Unrest
By Amir Toumaj
• Women’s Voices Must Be Part of the Middle
East’s New Narrative
By Heba Yosry
• Uncertain Future for Egypt's Salafists
Following Senate Election Defeat
By Amr Emam
• How Hezbollah Destroyed Everything That Made
Lebanon Great
By Baria Alamuddin
------
Tehran’s Tightening Repression Forebodes More
Unrest
By Amir Toumaj
28
September 2020
The Islamic
Republic of Iran has recently stepped up its repressive tactics with a series
of high-profile executions in response to mass anti-government protests over
the last two years. As the root causes of protests remain unaddressed, more
violence and terror should be expected.
Despite
global protest, the state executed national wrestling champion Navid Afkari on
September 12, after rights group raised concerns that he had been tortured and
forced to confess without a fair trial.
Afkari’s
execution follows a successful high-profile campaign against death sentences
imposed on three young men convicted for their involvements in the November
2019 protests. Like Afkari and countless other political prisoners, authorities
tortured them, denied them a fair trial, and tormented their families. A court
upholding the men’s death sentences triggered global outcry including from US
President Donald Trump, and an unprecedented online campaign on Iranian social
media. In response, authorities commuted their death sentences, although they
are still imprisoned indefinitely.
After that
tactical retreat, Iran’s judiciary executed an alleged spy and then political
prisoner Mostafa Salehi, arrested during the late December 2017 – early January
2018 protests, to fortify the state’s wall of fear.
Protests
mobilized again on the web and the global stage after the judiciary announced
it would uphold Afkari’s death sentence for allegedly stabbing a water
municipality employee in a mass protest in August 2018. Afkari’s brothers too
have been given lengthy prison sentences. International athletic associations
and Trump called for Afkari’s release. It seemed as if the international and
domestic pressure would work again. Or so people thought.
Authorities
suddenly announced Afkari’s execution; he himself was apparently unaware until
the last minute, and his lawyer and family say he was denied a last visit.
Authorities have reportedly blocked roads in the vicinity of Sangar village in
Fars Province to prevent more people coming to his grave.
The
judiciary does not plan to stop with Afkari. At least 30 political prisoners
are reportedly on death row Activists have warned that one Kurdish man and 4
Ahwazi-Arab political prisoners are at risk of imminent execution.
Rights groups
have recently warned of an increase in the use of execution. Prominent
political prisoner Narges Mohammadi on September 18 penned a letter from prison
warning about the gravity of political prisoners’ plights, urging to act before
it is “too late.”
Repression
has also tightened. Mohammadi and another prominent prisoner Nasrin Sotoudeh
say their treatment in prison has deteriorated. Dozens of members of the Baha’i
faith were arrested over the summer. A number of Christian converts were exiled
to cities far from their homes after their prison sentences, a new form of
punishment for them according to International Christian Concern. At least
3,600 such as whistle-blowers have been arrested and at least one newspaper
suspended for spreading “fake news” about the spread of COVID-19 in Iran.
More Protests Expected
The Islamic
Republic is preparing to crush more protests. Since November of last year, the
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has introduced neighbourhood-based
Basij paramilitary units across the country to, as a senior commander put it,
deal with “thugs and disruptors of security” in cooperation with the security
and judicial apparatus. The Law Enforcement Forces (LEF), the first line of
defines against protesters, has also restructured and declared commitments to
implement more advanced weapons and technology. This allocation of resources
amid a budget shortfall and cuts to salaries of security forces including in
the IRGC reflects fears of more unrest.
The
mounting use of execution is rooted in the Islamic Republic’s desire to secure
its rule amid shaky grounds and fears of more looming protests. The regime has
used repressive tactics throughout its history, including when authorities hung
over 5,000 political prisoners toward the end of the Iran-Iraq War in 1988. One
of the judges who liberally handed death sentences was Ebrahim Raisi, who today
is the chief of Iran’s judiciary.
Since the
end of 2017, Iran has witnessed two massive, nationwide protests, as well as
other sporadic protests like the one Afkari was arrested in, that have engulfed
the Islamic Republic’s traditional support base that encompass religious,
working-class rural and urban areas. The state’s crackdown in 2019 was far
bloodier than ever before. Whereas before security forces primarily used street
melee and arrests to crush protests, this time they opened fire from the onset.
The death toll has been in the hundreds - 1,500 according to Reuters -
surpassing in a matter of days the death toll of months of 2009 post-election
protests.
Iran is
facing more mass protests because the Islamic Republic because is incapable or
unwilling to address society’s political and economic grievances. Reformists,
who were instrumental in propelling Hassan Rouhani to presidency in 2013 and
2017, have experienced a crisis of public confidence since the 2017-2018
protests, as they have been unable or unwilling to deliver on promises to
meaningfully implement reform through the ballot for over two decades.
Iranian
officials are particularly concerned about economic triggers for more
nationwide protests. The 2017-2018 protests started in response to skyrocketing
staple prices, most notably eggs, and the 2019 protests followed sudden cuts to
fuel subsidies; both then spread to encompass broader political and economic
grievances aimed at the Islamic Republic. While re-imposed US sanctions
designed to pressure Iran into a new nuclear deal have significantly damaged
the Iranian economy and contributed to a plummeting currency, protesters called
out the Islamic Republic itself rather than US sanctions before and after the
US exit of May 2018, most notably in the bloody November uprising. Iranian
newspapers openly discuss how corruption and mismanagement have hit Iran’s
economy. The COVID-19 pandemic has compounded Iran’s economic misery, raising
the risk of further economic-induced protests.
Indeed,
while Iran has a long history of labor protests, strikes in August spread from
strategic energy-sector facilities like petrochemicals and refineries in the
south to the north. While a deputy minister recently blamed foreign media
coverage of strikes, accusing them of a plan to “Syrianize Iran,” he did
concede that calls for protests had tripled in the last year, and acknowledged
that “some” Iranians were involved – a tacit recognition that protest calls
were not just a foreign plot.
All signs
suggest the Islamic Republic is expecting more protests. On this point, they
are probably correct. Iranians will likely soon reach another boiling point,
and Tehran will only commit more violence to cling to power at any cost.
----
Amir Toumaj is an independent researcher
focused on Iran who has experience in the private sector and think tanks. He
has published dozens of articles and reports, and his research has appeared in
congressional testimonies and prominent global media outlets.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/views/news/middle-east/2020/09/28/Tehran-s-tightening-repression-forebodes-more-unrest
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Women’s Voices Must Be Part of the Middle
East’s New Narrative
By Heba Yosry
26
September 2020
Women and
girls in the Middle East must be heard. Progress on increasing women’s access
to decision-making spaces has been made, but there is still a long way to go.
The world
recently incurred a great loss with the passing of American Supreme Court
justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Her arduous work for gender equality and women’s
empowerment compelled even her ardent critics to pay respect and acknowledge
her legacy. One of her most abiding quotes will be “women belong in all places
where decisions are being made.” It is as simple as that. The apparent
dichotomy between the public and the private arenas must not dictate a woman’s
place. Women belong wherever the conversations are taking place that will shape
her, others, and the future.
But how can
women belong, have certainty that contributing to every conversation is their
rightful place, and participate in every decision when we silence them at a
young age? In Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan and so many other nations, the
World Bank data shows us the population parity between women and men: for how
much longer will we silence our children and women?
Today we
are witnessing the great change in the Middle East and the wider Muslim world.
Our leaders in Egypt Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain are catapulting our nations
from the historical nostalgia of our heydays to new and sustainable advances
that will allow Muslim countries to reclaim our place at the table of
civilization through applying visionary strategies on Artificial Intelligence,
dedicating the necessary resources for advancing education, technology,
sustainable development and improving women’s rights.
Yet there
is still a deep malaise in Middle Eastern societies. One could assume, like
many westerners do, that perhaps Islam is the problem, perhaps it is a religion
that oppresses and silences women. As a Muslim woman my answer is no, Islam is
not the problem, our captivity within religious dogma is the problem.
Historically, Islam championed women’s rights such as granting them right to inheritance,
initiation of divorce, and custody rights at a time when women in Greek
culture, for example, had absolutely no rights. Not to mention the many
examples of strong and outspoken women within Muslim history. One could look at
Khadija, the prophet’s first wife, who chose her husband a much younger man who
worked for her. Or Ayesha, the most beloved wife who accompanied the prophet on
battles and Muslim men and women would flock to benefit from her knowledge. She
led men in war. Or Zaynab, the prophet’s daughter whose husband didn’t believe
in the prophet and still she loved and lived with him in Mecca. Muslim history
is rife with stories of strong, willful and opinionated women who refused to be
silenced or their voices to be drowned out. Islam initiated the impetus for
advancing women’s rights. It is now time to transform this impetus into a drive
for achieving complete equality.
The
pervasiveness of historically strong Muslim women or Islam’s previous role in
advancing women’s rights shouldn’t deter us from acknowledging the dire
inequalities that many Muslim women endure. This oppression does not emanate
from the Quran, but from the static and historically contextual readings of the
Quran. One of the most essential premises of monotheistic religions is the
transcendence of God’s wisdom of any spacio-temporal conditions, i.e. its
freedom from limitations. Nevertheless, dogmatic and literalist readings are
being used to imprison women within a historically bygone era of
submissiveness. It was in the 1920s that the Egyptian icon Huda Sha’rawi
vehemently fought for girls and women’s inherent right to access education and
to full participation in public life. She fought for our right to speak and
demanded the world to listen. A woman’s totality is integral to the global
story.
We need to
acknowledge the strides taken by Arab governments to advance women’s rights and
achieve gender parity. In 2019, the World Bank recognized Saudi Arabia as the
top reformer globally due to the various policies and legislations that aim to
increase female economic participation. In Egypt, the National Council for
Women recently pushed for legislation to protect the anonymity of sexual abuse
victims to provide a safe space for survivors to report and hold the
perpetrators accountable. This week, the UAE's Gender Balance Council announced
a new law that will ensure equal pay for men and women in the private sector,
which will further improve the country’s position on the UN Gender Inequality
Index. Last year, the UAE ranked first in the Arab world and 26th globally.
Women’s issues are getting the centrality and attention they deserve on
governmental agendas. Yet, to create systemic and sustainable progress, taboos
and dogmas that are weaponized to silence women need to be abolished.
There is a
new narrative being written. A narrative where friend and foe are changing. A
narrative that aims to include diverse voices of those who can achieve
progress, not dwell on the past. This narrative must include girls and to
include our girls we must stop shackling them with shame and silence. We must
allow them not only to speak but also to sing, for one could never know when
the next Um Kulthoom might rise from the silent ranks and emerge unto her
stage.
----
Heba Yosry teaches psychology and philosophy in
Cairo. She holds a post-graduate degree in Arabic literature and philosophy
from the American University in Cairo.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/views/news/middle-east/2020/09/26/Women-s-voices-must-be-part-of-the-Middle-East-s-new-narrative
----
Uncertain Future for Egypt's Salafists
Following Senate Election Defeat
By Amr Emam
Sep 27,
2020
The failure
of Egypt's largest Salafi party to win any seats in the recent Senate elections
raises questions about the prospects of the party as well as the future of
political Islam in the country.
Al-Nour,
founded following the 2011 uprising against autocratic President Hosni Mubarak,
fielded 12 candidates who ran as independents in nine out of Egypt's 27
provinces.
Eight
candidates lost in the first round of the elections, which took place Aug.
11-12.
Four other
candidates secured a place in the election runoff, which was held Sept. 8-9.
However,
they lost too, pointing to what some analysts describe as a "drastic"
change in voters' moods.
"There
is a noticeable change in the mood of the voters who are no longer ready to
accept political parties with religious backgrounds," Cairo University
political scientist Akram Badreddine told Al-Monitor. "Ordinary people
view the Salafists as representing the same political brand as the Muslim
Brotherhood."
Egypt's
Salafists have come a long way since the 2011 uprising, demonstrating a high
degree of pragmatism.
They stayed
away from politics for decades before the uprising, preferring to focus on
religion and inviting people for prayer.
They have a
strict interpretation of Islam and many have a low view of non-Muslims and see
women as being subservient.
The
Salafists have a strong following in the Nile Delta. They have their stronghold
in the northern coastal city of Alexandria, where they control most mosques.
Come the
2011 uprising, the Salafists found a chance to advance their agenda in the new
Egypt that was evolving then, like other Islamists did, including the Muslim
Brotherhood, the movement of the late President Mohammed Morsi.
They formed
several political parties, including Al-Nour, the political arm of the Salafi
Invitation, by far the most important umbrella organization of the nation's
Salafists.
Having
organized themselves into political parties, the Salafists had to tailor their
strict worldview to realities on the ground.
They had to
answer questions on issues taken for granted in developed countries, but still
under debate in Egypt, such as the status of women and non-Muslims in society
and whether visiting antiquities is a sin. The Salafists were debating whether
visiting ancient sites was against the Islamic religion. Some Salafi figures
called for covering the faces of ancient statues with wax. Others called for
destroying them, considering them deities that date back to pre-Islamic times.
Salafi
politicians tried to attune their answers to these questions to what the media
in Cairo liked to hear.
Nonetheless,
answers to the same questions by some Salafi sheikhs divulged a wide chasm
between the new political class and moderates.
In 2012, a
Salafi sheikh called for the destruction of the Great Pyramids of Giza. Another
said Muslims should not congratulate Christians on Christian religious
occasions.
Such views
gratified a number of Egyptians, especially conservative ones. And many voters
backed the Salafi parties in the elections that followed the 2011 uprising.
The Salafi
parties Al-Nour, Construction and Development and Al-Asala won 128 seats in the
first post-Mubarak parliamentary polls between November 2011 and January 2012
(112, 13 and 3 respectively) out of a total of 498 seats).
This made
the Salafists the second-largest political force in parliament after the Muslim
Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party — now outlawed — which won 222 seats.
Al-Nour
also won 45 seats in the Senate elections in January 2012, coming in second to
the Freedom and Justice Party, which won 105 seats, out of a total of 270
seats.
"The
Islamists saw their political heyday after the 2011 revolution because they
were the most organized political force then," Muneer Adeeb, a specialist
in political Islam, told Al-Monitor. "The lack of strong secular parties
and prevailing security and political conditions made the rise of the Islamists
inevitable."
The
Salafists were allied with the Muslim Brotherhood all through the one year of
Morsi's rule.
Adeeb said,
however, "This honeymoon ended because the Brotherhood wanted to exclude
everybody else in its pursuit for fully dominating the political stage."
This was
why the Salafists welcomed the army-backed popular uprising against the Muslim
Brotherhood and Morsi in 2013.
They even
backed the post-Muslim Brotherhood authorities and President Abdel Fattah
al-Sisi — who formally came to power in mid-2014 — apparently to evade the fate
of the Muslim Brotherhood and to secure a continued presence on Egypt's
political stage.
Sisi, who
has a hard line against political Islam in general and the Muslim Brotherhood
in particular, also courted the Salafists in his bid to discredit Muslim
Brotherhood propaganda about his hostility to the Islamic religion, analysts
said.
Nonetheless,
the Salafists' courtship of the post-Muslim Brotherhood authorities failed to
help the Salafists maintain their popularity, let alone attract new fans.
In the 2015
House of Deputies elections, Al-Nour, the only functional Salafi party, won
only 12 seats out of a total of 596.
"This
result should have acted as an early warning for the Salafists,"
Badreddine said.
The failure
of Al-Nour to win any seats in the recent Senate elections appears to be yet
one more indicator of the collapse of the Salafists' popularity.
This does
not augur well for the party, especially with the nation's political parties
preparing for the House of Deputies elections in October.
It also
gives insights into the looming demise of political Islam as a whole in Egypt,
especially with the ongoing crackdown by the authorities on the Muslim
Brotherhood, analysts said.
"My
belief is that political Islam is on the way out, given the changes happening
in this country," Badreddine said.
The Senate
elections were the first for the body to be held in Egypt since 2012. The upper
house of the Egyptian parliament was dissolved in November 2013 and then
excluded from the 2014 constitution. However, it was reinstituted by a package
of constitutional amendments in 2019.
Nonetheless,
the Senate elections were untimely for the Salafists. They were held after
months of suspension of services at the nation's mosques, the main sphere of
activity for the Salafists, because of the coronavirus.
The
Salafists were also negatively affected by hostile propaganda from the Muslim
Brotherhood, which is angry about their cooperation with Sisi.
Voter
turnout in the Senate elections and the runoff was also very low, 14% and
10.25% respectively, according to the independent elections commission.
"This
voter turnout, along with the practices of the other parties participating in
the elections, reduced our chances of success," said Salah Abdel Maaboud,
a senior Al-Nour official who ran as an independent in the Senate elections in
the Nile Delta province of Menoufia.
Abdel
Maaboud and his colleagues said they have started preparing for the House of
Deputies elections in October.
He told
Al-Monitor that the party has prepared lists of its potential candidates amid
hopes of making up for some of the losses in the Senate elections.
"We
hope we can achieve positive results in the elections," Abdel Maaboud
said. "This is possible if we communicate better with voters."
https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2020/09/egypt-salafist-political-parties-lost-senate-elections.html
----
How Hezbollah Destroyed Everything That Made
Lebanon Great
By Baria Alamuddin
September
27, 2020
Does anyone
know how many Lebanese prime ministers have been appointed over the past year?
With the resignation of Mustapha Adib at the weekend, Hezbollah has thwarted
every attempt to form a competent, technocratic administration to steer Lebanon
out of this catastrophe; demanding, like gangsters, that it must possess the
Finance Ministry, Health, Transport, and everything else it can get its hands
on.
We have
warned and feared for years that Hassan Nasrallah, Nabih Berri, Michel Aoun and
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei would burn Lebanon to the ground to protect their
interests — and here they are today, gleefully pouring petrol over the flames.
With the
departures of Adib and his predecessor Hassan Diab, and yet another caretaker
administration, Hezbollah fulfils its desire to remain in control while simply
buying time. It insists early elections are unnecessary, but after willfully
sabotaging one government after another, is there any alternative?
Hezbollah
and Aoun have destroyed everything that made Lebanon great. The Arab world’s
banking capital is bankrupt. Tourists don’t frequent destabilized states run by
terrorists. Former regional partners refuse to have anything to do with us. Our
celebrated culture is trampled underfoot by barbarian theocrats. Beirut no
longer even has a viable port.
Recent US
sanctions clarify why Hezbollah insists on controlling the Finance Ministry:
Ali Hassan Khalil, Finance Minister from 2014 to 2020, helped Hezbollah to
circumvent US sanctions by laundering money through public institutions, while
exempting Hezbollah personnel from taxes. Control of the department responsible
for financial oversight allows Hezbollah and Iran to manage their
multimillion-dollar criminal operations with impunity. This is putting the fox
in charge of the henhouse!
Transport
and Public Works Minister Yousef Fenianos (2016-20) enabled his Hezbollah
allies to siphon off millions of dollars of public funds and win contracts for
Hezbollah-controlled companies. Control of the airport and borders allows Iran
to keep Hezbollah supplied with weapons, while facilitating its income from
narcotics and other cross-border crime. US court documents show how Hezbollah
personnel facilitated cocaine shipments via the airport in conjunction with
Hezbollah security Chief Wafiq Safa.
If French
and American intelligence knew all this, shouldn’t it have been released into
the public domain long before these thieves emptied the treasury, drained the
bank accounts of every last teacher, widow and pensioner, and left Lebanon to
collapse like the husk of an ancient, desiccated cedar tree?
Nasrallah’s
insistence that certain ministries be exclusive fiefdoms of Shiite Hezbollah
appointees is inherently corrupt. The invariable result is departments flooded
with faction members, lacking the qualifications or motivation to do anything
other than extort bribes from impoverished citizens, while their bosses pocket
the departmental budget. These methods of doing business are what got Lebanon into
this current mess.
Hezbollah
invariably demands the Health Ministry, because it wields Lebanon’s
fourth-largest departmental budget at $338 million, while also allowing the
movement to secure free health care for its thousands of Syria veterans. With
this ministry under Hezbollah control, Lebanon’s pharmaceutical market has been
deluged with counterfeit Iranian medicines.
Aoun and
Gebran Bassil justified the Free Patriotic Movement’s (FPM) unpopular alliance
with Hezbollah to their Christian supporters by claiming that control over the
presidency and key ministries would empower Lebanese Christians. Instead they
have broken the nation’s back, prompting a vast diaspora of Christians and
other sects to take their families’ lives in their hands and flee Lebanon for
brighter prospects overseas.
The FPM and
Hezbollah have become inseparable partners in crime as they bleed the Lebanese
economy white. Thanks to their colossal corruption and incompetence, the
Lebanese state power company (under the FPM-controlled Energy Ministry) loses
$2 billion a year — about 40 percent of Lebanon’s national debt. While most
citizens pay extortionate bills despite going without electricity for much of
the day, about 80 percent of people in Hezbollah-controlled areas get free electricity.
Hezbollah
and Iran control Lebanese foreign policy via the FPM: Despite Lebanon’s
commitment to a self-distancing policy, former foreign minister Bassil
invariably takes Iran’s side in regional disputes. After Bassil boycotted Arab
League condemnation of 2016 attacks on GCC missions in Tehran, the GCC cut $3
billion in annual funding for the Lebanese Army.
By opposing
US efforts to reimpose UN sanctions, French President Emmanuel Macron and the
Europeans are trying to encourage Iran and Hezbollah to take a more
constructive approach to Lebanese Cabinet formation. Instead, this
softly-softly approach simply reassures Tehran that it can continue menacing
and dominating its neighbors.
Macron
challenged Hezbollah: “Everyone knows you have an Iranian agenda ... But are
you Lebanese — yes or no? Do you want to help the Lebanese — yes or no?” After
Hezbollah’s sabotage of Adib’s Cabinet-forming efforts, the answers to these
questions are obvious to everyone. If Macron is serious about penalizing those
holding Lebanon to ransom, he must go ahead; it’s the least these criminals
deserve.
Lebanon is
drowning. Macron, the IMF, the GCC have all thrown lifebelts, yet those
steering Lebanon are hell-bent on dragging it down into the depths of the
ocean. Will it be any surprise when Macron and the IMF conclude that Lebanon is
beyond saving?
If Lebanon
fails to grasp these lifelines, more people will be starving and impoverished;
schools, hospitals and essential services will close; society will collapse;
and those who can will flee overseas. State disintegration will be ugly. We
know what sectarian war looks like. Who desires to tread that path again?
I say this
not to foment pessimism and cynicism, but as a call to action. Hezbollah has
proved its refusal to compromise, so a critical mass of other factions and
components of society must forge an alternative way forward, demonstrating to
the world that Lebanon is deserving of the life-saving assistance we so
desperately need. There is no magic exit from this crisis. It will be slow and
painful, but we must commence the journey.
Maronite
Patriarch Bechara Rai has been heroically pressing all Lebanese parties to
commit to his principle of “neutrality,” putting the interests of Lebanon
first. Only once sovereignty is restored to its citizens, and we consecrate a
leadership wholly dedicated to the national interest, can Lebanon recommence
its long path back to greatness.
----
Baria Alamuddin is an award-winning journalist
and broadcaster in the Middle East and the UK. She is editor of the Media
Services Syndicate and has interviewed numerous heads of state.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/1740696
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