Day: June 29, 2009

(Bangladesh) Fatwa leads to 303 whips
— Piara Begum whipped
— Daily Star: “Piara, mother of five children, fell unconscious soon after the lashings and was taken to the Upazila Health Complex. The on-duty doctor ANM Bashir Ahmed said her condition was critical and she needed better treatment.”

Bangladeshi woman whipped 200 times in public
— Times of India: “A 40-year-old widow was whipped 202 times along with a man, following an edict issued by a local religious leader for her alleged involvement in ‘anti-social activities’ in southeastern Bangladesh, prompting police to arrest six persons. ”
— “Piara Begum, a mother of five, was whipped 202 times while 25-year-old Mamun Miah was executed 101 lashes before hundreds of people in Comilla on Saturday.”
— “The widow had earlier filed a case under the women and children repression prevention act accusing eight persons including the arrested six and 10 to 12 unidentified people.”
— “Dudmiah, who executed the whippings, said on being produced in the court: ‘I executed the fatwa issued by local religious leaders; I was given the task as a senior villager.'”

Bahrain Offers Women No Protection from Spousal Rape
— “Getting a divorce and custody of one’s children is very difficult in Bahrain, even in cases where a husband sexually attacks his wife.”
— “Similar to almost all Arab and Islamic countries, Bahrain offers women no protection from their sexually abusive husbands”
— “Scholar and judge at the Shariah courts, Shaikh Mohsin Al Asfoor says men have the right to demand sexual relations with their wives as the word ‘rape’ doesn’t exist between couples.”
— Mohsin Al Asfoor: “Shariah courts have declined many cases filed by women against their husbands because they forced them to have sex, especially females who signed the marriage contracts but were waiting to be wedded, because Islamic regulations are clear in the right of men to have sex with their wives whenever they wish”
— “Religious educator Fatima Busandel agrees with Shaikh Al Asfoor saying that women can’t say no to their husbands and that if they tolerate hardship in their sexual relations they will receive God’s blessing for trying to protect their homes.”