Woman escapes stoning to death

Mokarrameh Ebrahimi was released from prison in Qazvin province on the orders of Iranian judiciary's amnesty commission, said her lawyer Shadi Sadr.

Ms Ebrahimi's partner, Jafar Kiani, was stoned to death in July 2007, causing an international outcry. The reasons for

Ms Ebrahimi's release are unclear, but Ms Sadr said rights campaigns had certainly played a part.

Human and women's rights groups in Iran and abroad had lobbied to prevent Ms Ebrahimi sharing the same fate as her partner. On March 17, after a total of 11 years in custody, she was freed.

"She's very surprised," Ms Sadr told the BBC. Before she was actually freed, Ms Sadr said, she couldn't believe it and in fact suspected it to be a trick. "But today she's very excited and happy," she stated. 

Ms Ebrahimi was reportedly freed along with the son she had by Mr Kiani, and is said to have returned with him to her family in northern Iran.

Death by stoning is still enshrined under Iranian law.

According to the London-based human-rights group Amnesty International, Article 102 of the penal code dictates that men should be buried up to their waists and women up to their breasts while being stoned; another article prescribes the size of stone to be used.

However, in 2002 the head of Iran's judiciary, Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, imposed a moratorium on such executions.

So the stoning of Mr Kiani last year - the first of its kind to be officially confirmed by the Iranian authorities since 2002 - was unexpected, causing additional shock among campaigners.

Ms Sadr says it is unclear what led the judiciary to free Ms Ebrahimi.

But "you cannot deny the role of public opinion and domestic and international pressures", said Ms Sadr, herself a prominent women's rights and anti-stoning activist.

Amnesty International says a total of 12 people - mainly women - are currently at risk of being stoned to death in Iran.

-- BBC 18-03-08

What is stoning?

Stoning, or lapidation, refers to a method of execution in which an organized group throws stones or rocks at the person they wish to execute. Stoning has been used throughout history and in many religious and cultural traditions as a kind of community justice or capital punishment. Although there is no mention of stoning in the Quran, the practice has since grown to be associated with Islam and Muslim culture.

How is "adultery" proven, before a stoning sentence is passed in the courtroom?

In states where stoning is codified in law (Iran and Sudan,) adultery must be proven in court. According to many interpretations of Islamic Law (including the Iranian Penal Code), proving adultery is very difficult, and a guilty sentence is nearly impossible to obtain through hard evidence. Adultery punishable by stoning must be proven by the eye-witness testimony of either four just men (or three just men and two just women) or through four separate confessions by the defendant before a judge. But in fact, most stoning sentences are issued not on the basis of testimony or confession but on the judge's "knowledge" or "intuition." Article 105 of the Islamic Penal code of Iran allows a single judge to rule according to his personal opinion instead of hard evidence. As a result, most if not all adultery cases are unfairly tried.

Is stoning not already banned in Iran?

In 2002, the Head of the Judiciary of Iran, Ayatollah Shahroudi, mandated that stoning would no longer be practised in Iran; but the laws were never officially removed from the penal code. As such, stoning sentences continue to be handed down by lower judges today, because all judges in Iran are obliged to follow the law over the order of a higher judge. Hence, Iran allows individual judges to pass a stoning sentence without checks and balances or the burden of proof. Only a change in law will stop stoning.

How is stoning carried out?

The Islamic Penal Code of Iran is very specific regarding the details of how stoning should be executed. Article 102 states that men shall be buried up to their waists and women up to their breasts for the execution. Article 104 states, referring to the penalty for adultery, that the stones used should "not be large enough to kill the person by one or two strikes; nor should they be so small that they could not be defined as stones (pebbles.)". In some cases, if a victim can escape from the ditch during the stoning, they will be freed. However, because women are buried up to their breasts and men only at their waists, women will have a smaller chance of escaping than men.

Is stoning a tenet of Islamic law?

Stoning is a highly debated issue among Muslim religious clerics, and there is no consensus within the global Muslim community over the validity of the practice as Islamic Law. Although there is no mention of stoning in the Quran, many Muslim clerics cite instances in the Hadith, the acts and sayings of the Prophet Muhammad, when discussing the legitimacy of the practice of stoning in Islam. In the Hadiths (the collected traditions of the Prophet), the Prophet Muhammad is said to have prescribed stoning explicitly for Jews who had been found guilty of adultery. Although the Quran (24:2 Surah al-Nur) only stipulates 100 lashes for adultery, the Prophet Muhammad reportedly had a number of men and women stoned in his time, hence giving evidence to those who argue for the codifying of this punishment as Shariah, or Islamic Law. After the Prophet Muhammad's death, the first generation of Muslim legal scholars included adultery as one of the six major offences in Islamic law for which the penalty is fixed by God and Quran (Hudud). However, because the justification for stoning relies completely on the Hadith and not on the Quran, many scholars question its label as Hudud, the very definition of such being "punishments mandated by God". Such inconsistencies between the Hadith and Quran have been a source of confusion and remain controversial to this day.

Have Islamic authorities spoken out against stoning?

Many Muslim clerics, religious scholars, and political leaders have spoken out against the practice of stoning, deeming it "un-Islamic". Ayatollah Nasser Makarem Shirazi, Ayatollah Yousef Saneii and Ayatollah Seyyed Mohamamd Mousavi Bojnourdi have all spoken out against the practice. Some Muslim clerics such as Ayatollah Hussein Mousavi Tabrizi argued that stoning should be stopped as a response to the demands of modern age. Others decry that any punishment, including stoning, that defames, embarrasses or depicts a bad picture of Islam is harmful to the religion and should be discontinued. Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi, in her discussion of the practice, points out that many religious leaders see stoning as an "endorsement" law that can be changed, as opposed to a "constitutional" law; and that many other Muslim countries such as Malaysia, Indonesia, Tunisia, Morocco, and Algeria do not condone stoning.

What is the relationship between stoning and human rights?

Stoning is a grave and serious violation of International Human Rights Law.

Stoning breeches the International Convention of Civil and Political Rights (1966), to which Iran, Afghanistan, Iraq, the Sudan are party signatories.

Article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) states that "in countries which have not abolished the death penalty, sentence of death may be imposed only for the most serious crimes", of which adultery is not one.

Article 7 of the ICCPR states that "No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment".

This last injunction is the content of a whole Convention: the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (1987), which is widely considered to have reached the level of customary law due to its strong international acceptance by more than 50 nations, including many Muslim nations.

Shouldn't we just accept stoning as part of someone's culture and their right to freedom of belief?

There is no excuse for the killing of women in the name of any 'religion', 'culture' or 'tradition'.

No 'culture' has the right to kill and harm women based on their perceptions of morality or honour.

The freedom of belief does not mean freedom to kill. Stoning is a brutal example of how culture and religion are being misused to perpetuate violence against women.

Two sisters await execution of the stoning sentence

Zohreh and Azar are two sisters from Khademabad, near Karaj, Iran. Both were arrested on February 5, 2007 on alleged charges of adultery.

One month later, they were prosecuted in court, found guilty, and sentenced to 99 lashes. This sentence was executed but however, due to reasons unknown, both were returned to prison. Six months later, another prosecution took place for the same crime. This time, they were sentenced to death by stoning. The Supreme Court of Iran has confirmed this verdict.

The sentence of Zohreh Kabiri (27) and Azar Kabiri (28) is awaiting execution. At their first trial, conducted in the absence of a defense attorney, the Judge interrogated the two sisters and unlawfully obtained a dubious confession for adultery. The women have reported that questions asked of them were manipulative and ambiguous and they had no idea as to the full consequences of their responses. The Judge then used these illegal confession and statements, along with his 'instinct' or 'knowledge' in order to justify a sentence of stoning for the defendants.

Mr. Jabar Solati is currently representing the two sisters and hopes to save their lives. He is trying to stop these two sisters' stoning verdict based on the fact that there was only one accused crime and that its sentence has already been executed.

For information please visit

www.wluml.org,  www.stop-stoning.org,
or write to wluml@wluml.org

14-year-old stoned to death by father

A 14 years old girl, identified as Saeedeh, has been stoned to death by her father, reported the daily newspaper Qods.

According to the report, the father who is identified as Mohammad Sharif told the authorities that when he found out about his 14 years old daughter's relationship with a boy, he took Saeedeh to the mountains around the city of Zahedan to stone her to death; he shot four bullets to put an end to her life. His friend, Gholam, accompanied and helped him, according to the daily. Both of them were reportedly arrested.

Another daily newspaper, Etemad, identified the 14 years old girl as Somayeh, and the person helping Sharif as Ghafour. However, the report does not mention that the girl was shot. It quotes the father as saying: "When we were taking her (somayeh) to the mountains, she was scared but didn't know what she was expecting. Once in the mountains, I threw Somayeh on the ground and started stoning. She was screaming and begging for her life, but I had to save my honour and did not have any other choice than to kill her...."

According to the human rights activists, the incidents of honour killings have increased in the past years in Iran. Iranian authorities have stoned to death at least one man in 2007 and one woman in 2006. Several people are in the row to be stoned to death in different Iranian prisons. At least two women and one man are at risk of death by stoning.

In 2004, Atefeh Sahaaleh Rajabi (16) was hanged in public in the town of Neka, convicted for "immoral" acts.

-- IranHR/WLUML / 15-02-08

Violence against Women

Benazir Bhutto pays with life for democracy 

Bhutto, twice prime minister and leader of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP), was killed on December 27, 2007 in what was apparently a suicide attack following gunshots that injured her as she was leaving an election rally in the garrison town of Rawalpindi.

Just 54 years old, and a mother of three children, she died in hospital in Rawalpindi, close to the Pakistani capital Islamabad, at about 6:15 pm local time -- barely an hour after an unidentified man fired shots at her as she left the rally venue, a fenced off park, before blowing himself up. Some 20 others were killed and dozens more injured.

"She feared something like this would happen, but she was so brave," said PPP spokesperson Farhatullah Babar, who was with Bhutto at the rally. Speaking to IPS from Rawalpindi, shortly before the slain leader's body was transferred to her hometown Larkana on a military C-130 plane, Babar added: "She waved at the people, and then there was firing and the blast."

"I don't think people realise this, but she was one of the last hopes we had in Pakistan for a peaceful transition to democracy," said Karachi-based economist Haris Gazdar, who supported Bhutto's much-criticised "deal" with the military government that allowed her to return to the country and participate in politics.

Under the National Reconciliation Ordinance promulgated on Oct. 5, Pervez Musharraf, president and chief of army staff, gave Bhutto immunity against corruption charges brought against her after she was ousted from power in 1996 (none of these charges were proved in court). In return, her party, which is Pakistan's biggest, supported his presidential bid.

"The Americans think we are a dangerous state, and they want to come and sort things out here. This was our chance to do it peacefully," Gazdar told IPS. "Make no mistake about it, the state is responsible for her death. They may think that by removing the vehicle for a peaceful change, they can stop the change. But that will not happen. Now that the peaceful mediator has been killed, they (U.S.) will use armed force."

Bhutto's father, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto (ZAB), a former prime minister, and two brothers had been killed. In 1979, ZAB, who was overthrown by the military regime of Gen. Ziaul Haq, was hanged. "I was nine when ZAB was killed by a general. Now my son is nine and another general has killed his daughter. I grew up with Benazir. It's a personal loss. I want to cry forever," text-messaged to a lawyer in Lahore.

Bhutto's death ignited violence all over the country, particularly in Sindh, her home province. "They've shut down all the shops, and there is firing all around," said Abdul Jabbar, who works as a driver in Karachi, the Sindh capital and Pakistan's business capital. "People are just overcome with grief." …

Bhutto had chosen to return to Pakistan on Oct. 18, after nearly nine years in exile in London and Dubai, defying warnings by Musharraf to delay her arrival due to the danger of suicide attacks.

"This is why I am here," she said at the time, radiant atop her armoured truck soon after her arrival from Dubai. Waving to a sea of people who surrounded her truck in Karachi, she told this correspondent: "These people are the reason I am here."

But hours later, her slow-moving convoy bogged down by thousands of exuberant supporters on foot, her truck was struck by two bombs struck soon after midnight. At first, the blasts were thought to be a suicide attack. At least 130 people were killed and 500 injured.

Addressing a press conference the following day, a defiant Bhutto had pointed to the involvement of Pakistan's intelligence agencies in the attacks by mentioning three anonymous men whom she said she had named in a letter to Musharraf on Oct. 16. "I said that if something happens to me, I will hold them responsible rather than militant groups like the Taliban, al Qaeda or the Pakistani Taliban."

The PPP also demanded the removal of Intelligence Bureau chief, Ijaz Shah, hinting at its links with militancy. Bhutto's later claim that the Oct. 18 blasts were remote-controlled further implied the involvement of forces other than the "religious militants" who are traditionally held responsible for such acts …

-- Beena Sarwar
IPS / 27-12-08

Muslim teen choked by father dies

WASHINGTON: Sixteen-year old Aqsa Parvez, who was choked by her father for her reluctance to continue wearing the hijab, has died in a Toronto hospital despite doctors' effort to save her life.

Her death, according to progressive Muslim community leaders Tarek Fatah and Farzana Hassan, will send shock waves across the world.

Writing in National Post, Toronto, the two recall that Aqsa Parvez, the sprightly 16-year old, beloved of her friends and peers at Applewood Heights Secondary School, was only trying to be herself, wishing for a normal adolescence amid Canada's rich cultural mosaic.

The father has now been charged with murder, and his son with obstruction.

They write, "Radical Muslim men consider themselves ultimately responsible for the conduct of the womenfolk. This outlook is rooted in a medieval ethos that treats women as non-persons, unable to decide for themselves what they should wear, where they must go and what they must accomplish in life. If their conduct is seen as contravening this austere religious outlook, they are invariably subjected to abuse. The hijab in particular has become a thorny issue among Muslim families. It has been elevated as a sort of 'sixth pillar of Islam' among militant sects. Young teenage girls are often lectured over the virtues of the hijab by their family members. Once they hit puberty, compliance is deemed a non-negotiable religious requirement."

Fatah and Hassan argue that the hijab is not actually mandated by the holy Quran, which while speaking generally of modesty in dress and demeanor, falls short of specifying the details of that modesty. Scripture also makes allowances for non-compliance of religious edicts if the environment is not conducive to their observance. The Quran exhorts compassion upon parents, caretakers and guardians of young girls.

-- Khalid Hasan / Daily Times 14-12-07

Al-Azhar says women pregnant by rape must abort baby

CAIRO: Al-Azhar, Sunni Islam's highest seat of learning declared that any woman pregnant by rape must abort the baby immediately in order to maintain "social stability".

According to the independent Egyptian Centre for Women's Rights (ECWR), two women are raped every hour in this country of 76 million.

Many factors contribute to the increase in sexual harassment including rising unemployment, the huge cost of marriage and the fact that sex outside marriage is forbidden, experts say.

Egyptian law bans abortion except on the grounds of "necessity", which includes instances when a woman's life or health is in danger or in cases of fetal abnormality.

-- Daily Times / AFP / 01-01-08

IRAQ: 'Bad' women raped and killed

BAGHDAD: Women are being killed by militia groups in southern Iraq for not conforming to strict Islamic ways, the police say. And, increased threats from militia groups are driving many women away from their homes.

Basra police chief Gen. Jalil Hannoon has told reporters and Arab TV channels that at least 40 women have been killed during the past five months in the southern city. "We are sure there are many more victims whose families did not report their killing for fear of scandal," Gen. Hannoon said.

The militias dominated by the Shia Badr Organisation and the Mehdi Army are leading imposition of strict Islamic rules. The enforcement of these ways comes at a time when British troops have left Basra, the biggest town in the south, to the Iraqi government.

The Shia-dominated Iraqi government is seen as providing tacit and sometimes direct support to militias. The Badr Organisation answers to the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council (SIIC), the Shia bloc in the Iraqi government. The Mehdi army is the militia of anti-occupation Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

Women who do not wear the hijab are becoming prime targets of militias, residents say. Many women say they are threatened with death if they do not obey.

"Militiamen approached us to tell us we must wear the hijab and stop wearing make-up," college student Zahra Alwan who fled Basra for Baghdad recently told IPS. "They are imitating the Iranian Revolution Guards, and we believe they receive orders from the Islamic Republic (of Iran) to do so."

Graffiti in red on walls across Basra warns women against wearing make-up and stepping out without covering their bodies from head to toe, Alwan said.

"The situation in Baghdad is not very different," Mazin Abdul Jabbar, social researcher at Baghdad University told IPS. "All universities are controlled by Islamic militiamen who harass female students all the time with religious restrictions."

Jabbar said this is one reason that "many families have stopped sending their daughters to high schools and colleges."

Earlier this year Iraq's Ministry of Education found that more than 70 percent of girls and young women no longer attend school or college.

Several women victims were accused of being "bad" before they were abducted, residents say. Most abducted women are later found dead. The bodies of several were found in garbage dumps, showing signs of rape and torture. Several bodies had a note attached saying the woman was "bad", according to several residents who did not give their name.

A Shia cleric in Baghdad spoke to IPS on condition of anonymity to defend killings. "We are an Islamic country and we must commit to the restrictions of our religion," he said. "We must not allow corruption to invade our families under flag of freedom and such nonsense."

Sunni clerics offered a different view. "It is against Islamic regulations for women to expose their hair and bodies," Sheikh Tariq al-Abdaly told IPS in Baghdad. "But this is not an Islamic state, and so all we can do is to advise women, same as we advise men, to follow those regulations. In any case, punishment for such mistakes should certainly be much less than execution."

Iraqi liberals are deeply frustrated by the lack of personal freedom. "We are so disappointed with the loss of what there was of Iraqi women's achievements under a regime (of former president Saddam Hussein) that we saw as retarded," Salim Mahmood of the Iraqi Communist Party in Baghdad told IPS.

"The Americans promised they would make Iraq a symbol of liberty and prosperity. Now it has neither."

-- Ali al-Fadhily IPS 18-12-07

Iran: Zanan, a voice of women, silenced

On January 29, 2008 word emerged that Iran's leading women's magazine has been ordered to close.

Zanan Magazine, a reform-minded feminist magazine has been active in promoting women's rights for the last 16 years. Authorities revoked its license and people in Tehran say there's no hope for appeal…

According to reports it was banned for allegedly portraying a negative image of women in Iran…

The Iranian Journalists' Association condemned the closure. In the last two years, 40 periodicals, including Zanan, have been banned across the country by the Press Supervision Board, which is controlled by hard-liners.

Zanan (means women) used to be a "moderate" magazine. It never wrote anything extreme to prevent its closing. But now, after 16 years the only Persian women's magazine is closed.

-- Ramin Mostaghim  / LA Times
29-01-08

Iranian man to pay wife a 124,000-rose dowry

An Iranian court has ordered a man to give his wife the 124,000 roses that he promised in her dowry, after she filed a complaint to claim it, reports say.

The woman said she was claiming the dowry because her "very stingy husband" would not even pay for a cup of coffee, according to the E'temad newspaper. The court has seized the man's flat until he produces all of the roses.

According to E'temad, the woman, identified as Hengameh, decided to claim her entire dowry of 124,000 red roses after 10 years of marriage to "punish her very stingy husband".

"Shortly after marriage, I realised that Shahin was very cheap," she told the newspaper. "He even refused to pay for my coffee if we went to a cafe or restaurant."

Shahin told the court he could only afford to give her five roses a day and complained that it was his wife's "billionaire friends who had put such ideas in her head".

But the judge rejected Shahin's pleas and ordered his $64,000 (£33,000) flat to be confiscated until he has bought them all. A long-stemmed rose costs about $2 (£1.09) in the Iranian capital, Tehran.

-- BBC / 03-03-08

Bahrain: Anti-trafficking law set to end minors' abuse

A blot in Bahrain's rights record is hoped to be erased with the enactment of a sweeping anti-human trafficking law.

The arrival of minors, particularly girls from south-east Asian countries to work in Bahrain as housemaids, has been a thorny issue for the government.

Cases of poor labourers being duped to take up 'high-paying' jobs are hoped to drop as the new law stipulates fines between BD10,000 and BD100,000 and jail terms.

The law was one of the bills the Shura Council approved in December 2008.

The law targets rogue recruiters in particular. "People come here for every kind of work and are brought in by recruiters with suspicious intentions. Some recruits are maltreated and in worse cases young women end up as prostitutes," a human rights advocate told the Tribune.

"This has been happening for so many years but no sponsor or people involved in the racket have ever been hauled to court," he said.

Cases of minors entering the country have surfaced in the past three years. The Philippine embassy is dealing with the cases of two minors who are among those waiting to take flights home.

The two were among several minors brought to work as housemaids from the Philippines, Indonesia or India. "We hope the police will crack down on rogue sponsors and protect the minors," Philippine embassy case officer Geoffrey Puy said. "We welcome the law because it will help eliminate abuse of young female workers."

Under new rules, people recruiting foreigners must have licence and facilities.

-- Bahrain Tribune/WUNRN
01-01-08

Bias against women on commercial registrations despite law in Bahrain

The Shura Council has criticised the implementation of the Commercial Law saying it discriminates against women and their rights. After a complete review of the law, the Shura women and children committee discovered that more privileges were given to men compared with women.

"Although the law states gender equality in granting commercial registrations (CR), women are being deprived of their right to obtain certain CRs and being excluded from certain types of businesses," panel head Dalal Al Zayed said.

The panel would review the law for possible amendments and plans to submit a series of questions to the ministers concerned on reasons behind discrimination against women.

-- Bahrain Tribune / 11-01-08

Women, Rights and Laws

Bangladesh retreats on women's rights after clerics protest

DHAKA: Bangladesh's military-backed government has backed down from a policy to ensure equal property rights to women amid angry protests by Muslim clerics that the move would override Islamic law.

The country's law minister Hasan Arif said the government "does not have any plan to enact any laws that goes against the Koran and the traditions of Prophet Mohammad".

Arif gave the assurance to top Islamic clerics and scholars late on March 12, after Islamic groups warned of nationwide protests, saying they would not tolerate any law that went against sharia, the Islamic law code.

Sharia is based on the teachings of the Koran, prescribing both religious and secular duties, from prayer to alms-giving, as well as penalties for law-breaking. There are many interpretations of the sharia.

The clerics' complaints followed a new government policy announced a week earlier which stated women should have equal property rights.

Bangladesh, whose population is 90 percent Muslim, has a secular legal system but in matters related to inheritance and marriage Muslims follow sharia law.

Sharia practised in Bangladesh's inheritance law generally stipulates that a girl would inherit half of what her brother gets. Women groups have long protested against the disparity and demanded equal rights.

The minister's comments came after Islamist parties and top clerics called protests across the country on March 7 against what they called "laws against Islam."

The leader of the group Mufti Fazlul Haq Amini said that despite the government's assurances they would go ahead with protests until the "anti-sharia" provisions were officially dropped.

"The new government policy has mentioned there would be equal property rights for women which is directly against Islam and the holy Koran. We will not tolerate anything that goes against the sharia," he told AFP on March 12...

The government had shown "scant regard" for the country's Muslims, he said.

But Shirin Akhter, head of one of the largest women's groups in the country, said she hoped the government would ignore the criticism.

"The policy spells out clearly that women should have equal rights to property, which includes inheritance. Our hope is that the government does not get distracted by any so-called religious group," Akhter, president of Working Women, said.

-- AFP 13-03-08

Forced marriage higher than official figures in Britain : study

LONDON: The number of forced marriages involving young women from Britain being taken abroad to wed is likely far higher than first thought, said an official report.

While a government unit investigating forced marriage deals with just 300 cases a year, the true figure could be up to 4,000, the Home Office-funded study into the issue said.

There are 300 inquiries about the issue every year in one town alone, said the report's author Dr. Nazia Khanum, citing figures for Luton, a town with a high immigrant population.

"It's a reasonable assumption that it is the tip of the iceberg," she said, noting that with rape and domestic violence only 10 to 12 percent of cases are thought to be reported.

Sayeeda Warsi, a Muslim member of the House of Lords, said forced marriages should be treated as a criminal offence like domestic violence, to protect young women from ethnic minorities.

"As a society we draw a line in the sand," she told GMTV. "This is not a culturally sensitive issue, this is an abhorrent act which we must stand together on."

Khanum added: "Forced marriage has nothing to do with religion. It is a part of a patriarchal system where parents believe they know what is best for their children."

But the government argues that criminalising forced marriage would only drive it underground.

Home Office Minister Alan West told the House of Lords that "The difficulty is that these things happen in families. We have taken a lot of advice and talked to many people.

"There is a feeling that the crime would go even further underground because people generally do not want to put their families through this."

A separate study highlights how many children have suddenly stopped attending school, amid fears that some have been forced into marriages against their will.

The BBC said it had been told by one teenage Pakistani girl that she was withdrawn from school aged 13, taken to Pakistan and forced to marry a man who raped her.

She blamed the authorities for failing to launch a search for her. "I think they let me down," she said. "I did still secretly think when I was in Pakistan, the school might search for me.

"Nobody looked for me. It was horrific."

It was disclosed in March 2008 that 33 girls were missing from schools in Bradford despite efforts to locate them. It is feared they have been forced into marriages.

-- AFP - 11-03-08

Dress Code

Turkey ends student headscarf ban

Turkish President Abdullah Gul has signed into law constitutional amendments which allow women to wear Islamic headscarves at universities.

The main opposition party in Turkey, where the state is strictly secular, has said it will ask the Constitutional Court to quash the law.

Correspondents say Turkey's secular elite fear the reform will undermine the separation of state and religion.

Parliament passed the amendments by an overwhelming majority a few weeks ago.

'No contradiction'

One states that everyone has the right to equal treatment from state institutions and the other that "no-one can be deprived of (his or her) right to higher education".

Mr Gul "did not find the amendments in contradiction with the general principles of law, the basic tenets of the republic and procedural rules governing constitutional amendments", said a statement.

A strict headscarf ban had been in force in Turkish universities since 1997. The ban came after the staunchly secularist military exerted pressure to oust a government it saw as too Islamist.

The changes state that only traditional scarves will be permitted in universities, tied loosely under the chin.

Headscarves that cover the neck are still

banned, as is the chador and the all-enveloping burka.

-- BBC NEWS - 22-02-08

International Women's Day

International Women's Day

Can women find unique ways out of war?

Women leaders from 45 nations met in India to discuss their role in conflict resolution

Sakena Yacoobi well knows the hardships of Afghan women, caught between a war and the hopelessness of poverty and illiteracy.

Yet on International Women's Day, March 8, 2008, the Afghan educator will not ask the world to help Afghan women. Instead, she will ask Afghan women to help the world.

In a time of growing conflict around the world, she believed the wisdom and compassion of women can offer a way out. "Women bring tolerance and patience," she said. "Women can bring solutions - we cannot accomplish that with weapons."

She is one of several hundred prominent female leaders from 45 countries who were in India to seek ways to raise women's voices worldwide. They hoped that their ideas - so often ignored - begin to move the world away from war.

It is a unique approach to International Women's Day - and intentionally so, says Dena Merriam, who had organised "Making Way for the Feminine," a five-day conference that began on March 6 in Jaipur.

"This is not about empowering women," said Ms Merriam, who also co-chaired the United Nations' Millennium World Peace Summit in 2000. "It is about how women can transform society to help us find new ways of addressing conflict."

There were men there, too. The goal, participants said, was not to antagonize men. Yet each believed that women bring to the issue of conflict resolution a different perspective. Many liken it to that of a mother, stern but caring, and more open to finding alternatives to violence.

That perspective is sorely needed, they said, as the path of power and aggression has led only to more fighting and division. "The feminine gifts of compassion, empathy, and caring prepare women for the urgent role as leaders and reconcilers," said the Rev. Joan Brown Campbell, chairwoman of the Global Peace Initiative for Women, at the opening press conference.

"This is about whether women, with men as their partners, can chart a new course," continued Ms Campbell, who has worked with leaders such as Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King Jr, and Bill Clinton.

The outlines of that new course were evident in the lives of those who attended the conference, both men and women.

It was evident in the compassion of Ali Abu Awwad, a Palestinian who has been imprisoned for his family's political activities and whose brother was killed in the second intifada, yet started a foundation for Israelis and Palestinians who have lost relatives in the conflict.

"The idea is to show people that if you are in the peaceful way, you are not alone," he said. "You do not need to be afraid."

It was evident in the activities of Ms Yacoobi, who operated secret schools for girls in Afghanistan during Taliban rule, and has since expanded her activities to eight provinces. While other schools have been burned or destroyed, hers have not, she says, because she is a part of the community and knows their needs.

"When the people trust you, they will protect you," she said.

In this is one of the lessons she brought to Jaipur. "You have to listen to the communities - to listen to their needs. You can't just depend on weapons," she said and further suggested that connection to the community tends to be a stronger trait among women than men. "We need people to listen to us, not to order us."

These are the voices that this conference hoped to amplify and inspire. Organizer Merriam acknowledged that the conference has an enormous task. The intent was to begin to change how the world thinks about power - spreading the notion that non-violent solutions are practical and not the fruit of weakness.

Her tools, she said, are the participants themselves. With few women voices in the corridors of power, the hope is to kindle greater awareness and confidence among women so they become more active participants in demanding a solution.

"We can start by critiquing the policies that are creating the pain," said Joan Chittister, a Benedictine nun, at the press conference. "I might not have all the answers, but I cannot sit by in silence while the policies are destroying the very people I care about."

In recognition of the fact that many of the world's conflicts come from a clash of faiths, the conference had an overtly religious theme. It is bringing together female spiritual leaders from all faiths - such as an Islamic scholar, Buddhist nun, Hindu guru, and members of the Christian clergy.

To this end, Merriam hoped the conference brought a World Council of Women Spiritual Leaders, which would be a mechanism to guide and advance more inclusive solutions to global problems.

Yet many of the attendees said the gathering in itself, regardless of its outcome, enabled them to carry out their work.

Yacoobi needed such spiritual refreshment, she said frankly. "(The conference) allowed me to collect myself from all the things going on in Afghanistan," she said. "This war is destroying our country, our religion, and our faith, but coming here and seeing these people gave me a lot of energy to believe."

A psychologist in the West Bank, Laila Atshan, too, sees the worst of war - wives who have lost husbands and sons in the conflict with Israel. "I will go back stronger to give them strength," she said. For years, she has considered opening an interfaith community center. "I am hoping this will give me the guts to go do it."

So is Merriam: "The goal is to provide space for people to have a transformational moment - to have people come away so moved that they bring it back to their communities."

-- Mark Sappenfield
The Christian Science Monitor
07-03-08

Women in Turkmenistan to get $10 Women's Day gift

ASHGABAT: Women in the ex-Soviet state of Turkmenistan will be receiving $10 each from the state as a Women's Day present.

A decree signed by President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov said that every woman will be getting a 200,000 manat ($10) gift on March 8 "as a sign of respect". Berdymukhamedov came to power promising change and reform in late 2006 when his autocratic predecessor, Saparmurat Niyazov, died after a 21-year rule.

Women's day, marked on March 8, is a big holiday across the former Soviet world but its celebration was limited under Niyazov who saw it as a legacy of his nation's Soviet past.

-- Reuters / 03-03-08

Afghan male tailors barred from measuring females

KABUL: Male tailors in an Afghan province have been barred from measuring female clients for fittings following a new local ruling that resembles the restrictions the conservative Taliban imposed on the country when in power.

The decision was made by a council of Islamic clergymen in northeastern Takhar province recently, Governor Abdul Latif Ibrahimi said. "The male tailors have been told to stop measuring women," Ibrahimi told Reuters by phone, adding, "They need to be measured by female tailors."

While many Afghan women have excellent needlework and dressmaking skills, the overwhelming majority of commercial tailors are men.

Violators would have been punished publicly. Ibrahimi, however, did not say what would happen to anyone failing to comply with the new ruling.

-- Daily Times/Reuters
14-01-08

Challenging Norms, Changing Laws

Saudi Arabian women need support to help advance society
— UN expert

An independent United Nations expert hailed progress in Saudi Arabia on advancing the status of women but urged more action to prevent gender-based violence and raise their profile in public life.

"Women of Saudi Arabia, in full respect of their societal values, appear ready to embark on a new stage of engagement in contributing to the advancement of their society and that of the coming generations of women and men," said the Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women, its Causes and Consequences, Yakin Ertürk after visiting the country between February 4 and 13, 2008.

"Supporting them on their endeavour requires vision, courage, leadership and a firm commitment from the highest levels of the state and the involvement of all sectors of government in consultation with civil society actors," she said.

The expert stressed the variety of experiences among Saudi women. "There were those who have expressed contentment and satisfaction with their lives. Others have raised concerns of serious levels of discriminatory practices against women that compromise their rights and dignity as full human beings and undermine the true values of their society. And still others shared with me the domestic abuse they systematically encounter with little prospects for redress."

She noted a number of positive developments, particularly improvements in women's access to education, but said this has not been met with a comparable increase in their labour force participation. "Women are particularly excluded from decision making positions," she observed, while adding that the private sector, on the other hand, "appears to offer women potential for greater autonomous space for self actualisation."

Some professional women and officials said the policy of sex segregation at the workplace constrains them, while others argued that the creation of private sections for women in public space fosters greater participation.

"Whatever the preferred modality may be, the infrastructure for women's equal participation in all government institutions and private businesses needs to be set in place and women's participation in decision making processes needs to be ensured," Ms Ertürk said.

She hailed the recent demystification of the taboo around violence against women, praising a number of State initiatives to address the problem and promote awareness raising, referral, and care and protection for victims of violence, including access to shelters.

At the same time, the Special Rapporteur said women are prevented from escaping abusive environments because of their lack of autonomy and economic independence, practices surrounding divorce and child custody, the absence of a law criminalizing violence against women, and inconsistencies in the application of laws and procedures.

The lack of written laws governing private life "constitutes a major obstacle to women's access to justice," she said.

Women's freedom is also restricted by misconceptions and ambiguities with respect to the system of male guardianship, which has an impact on marriage, divorce, child custody, inheritance, property ownership and decision making in family matters, education and employment, she added.

Members of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice "reportedly often act independently and are accountable only to the governor."

As a result, they are "said to be responsible for serious human rights abuses in harassing, threatening and arresting women who 'deviate from accepted norms'."

The expert recommended the adoption of a legal framework based on international human rights standards, the establishment of robust and independent institutions, and measures to foster women's empowerment through participation in all spheres of society.

She also called for training and awareness-raising measures aimed at law enforcement officials, the judiciary, health-care providers, social workers, community leaders and the general public, "to increase the understanding that all forms of violence against women are not only grave violations of fundamental rights but are also totally incompatible with the values cherished by the Muslim society."

Her visit, at the invitation of the government, included stops in Riyadh, Buridah, Jeddah and Dammam. She met with Government officials, the head of the Shura Council and representatives of various segments of the society, including academia, human rights organisations, family protection centres, women's groups, victims of violence, and women at a prison, as well as representatives of the diplomatic community.

She voiced appreciation for the Governments' cooperation and assistance and said she would submit a full report to the Human Rights Council.

-- UN News Service - 13-02-08

Woman faces execution for 'witchcraft'

A leading human rights group appealed to Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah to stop the execution of a woman accused of witchcraft and performing supernatural acts.

The New York-based Human Rights Watch said in a statement that the kingdom's religious police who arrested and interrogated Fawza Falih, and the judges who tried her in the northern town of Quraiyat never gave her the opportunity to prove her innocence in the face of "absurd charges that have no basis in law."

Falih's case underscores shortcomings in Saudi Arabia's Islamic legal system in which rules of evidence are shaky, lawyers are not always present and sentences often depend on the whim of judges...

Witchcraft is considered an offense against Islam in the conservative kingdom. In Falih's case, the judges relied on a coerced confession and on the statements of witnesses who said she had "bewitched" them to convict her in April 2006, according to the group. Falih later retracted her confession in court, claiming it was extracted under duress, and said that as an illiterate woman, she did not understand the document she was forced to fingerprint.

"The fact that Saudi judges still conduct trials for un-provable crimes like 'witchcraft' underscores their inability to carry out objective criminal investigations," said Joe Stork, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch...

An appeals court ruled in September 2006 that Falih could not be sentenced to death for witchcraft because she had retracted her confession. But a lower court subsequently reissued the death sentence for the benefit of "public interest" and to "protect the creed, souls and property of this country," the group's statement said…

Donna Abu-Nasr / HRW/AP News / WLUML
16-02-08

Rape victim pardoned by king of Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah has pardoned a female rape victim who had been sentenced to 200 lashes for being alone with a man at the time of the attack who was not related to her, reported a Saudi newspaper.

The case had sparked international outcry. In a rare criticism of its Mideast ally, the White House had expressed its ''astonishment'' over the woman's sentence. Canada called it barbaric.

Saudi Justice Minister Abdullah bin Muhammed al-Sheik told al-Jazirah newspaper that the pardon does not mean the king doubted the country's judges, but instead acted in the ''interests of the people.''

-- AP/New York Times / 17-12-07

First female-only hotel opens in Riyadh

RIYADH: For a country that strives to segregate unrelated men and women, it took Saudi Arabia a long time to hit on the idea of female-only hotels. The kingdom's first hotel for women opened on March 19, 2008, offering plush lodgings and health and beauty facilities — so ladies can pamper themselves away from the male-dominated society.

"Inside this physical structure, we are all women. We even have bell-women. We are women-owned, women-managed and women-run, from our IT engineer to our electrical engineer," Executive Director of the Luthan Hotel & Spa Lorraine Coutinho told Reuters.

"This is meeting a very big demand. There are women's hotels all over the world, from Berlin to the United States to everywhere," she said.

Saudi Arabia is one of the most conservative countries in the world, where hardline clerics restrict women's movement, preventing them from meeting male friends in public, driving cars or employment in many jobs. New rules announced in January allow women to stay in standard mixed-gender hotels without a male family member, but bureaucracy and conservative family values mean few have made use of their new freedom. The hotel is owned by 20 Saudi princesses and businesswomen, but it was left to seven princes headed by Sultan bin Salman, son of Riyadh's governor, to inaugurate it on the evening of March 19, 2008.

"This meets the Saudi woman's need for a place to stay as she moves around her country," he told the male journalists who stomped around rooms adorned with incense candles, rose-red fabrics and bas-relief cherubs. Prices range from 350 riyals ($93) per night to 979 riyals, with weekend "spa break" rates around 2,000 riyals.

The few female journalists present liked the hotel: "It's a pioneering idea. There was a big need, since you don't need a 'mihrim' (male guardian) with you," said Iman al-Samra of al-Rai TV.

-- Daily Times/ Reuters / 20-03-0

Muslims get their own clinic in Moscow

Muslims concerned about receiving medical treatment with practices in line with sharia can now go to the first medical center in the country specialising in Muslim patients.