Category: Women’s Rights Matter

UK: Forced Marriage reports up 16 percent – schools warned to watch out for abusive families

(UK) Forced marriage plea to schools
— “The government’s Forced Marriage Unit (FMU) says it has received 770 calls for help this year – up 16% on 2008.”
— “Experts say the coming month will be critical because there is growing evidence that abusive families use the school summer holidays to coerce daughters and sons to marry abroad.”

— ‘Punished for shaming my family’
— “Victim of forced marriage: ‘My breakthrough came when he threatened to kill me'”

forcedmarriage

UK: Man faces “honour killing” charge – murder of Banaz Mahmod

(UK) Man faces honour killing charge – murder of Banaz Mahmod
— UK Press Association reports: “A man wanted by police for the honour killing of a 20-year-old London woman is flying back to Britain after being extradited by Iraq.”
— “Mohammed Saleh Ali will be charged with the murder of Banaz Mahmod, from Mitcham, south London, who was strangled and buried in a suitcase in a back garden.”
— “Ali will appear before Greenwich magistrates, facing charges of murdering Ms Mahmod, perverting the course of justice and threatening to kill her boyfriend, Rahmat Sulemani.”

— Extradited Iraqi charged with honour killing

—- “A man will appear in court today charged with the murder of ‘honour-killing’ victim Banaz Mahmod.”
—  Extradited Iraqi appears in court accused of strangling woman in ‘honour’ killing
— Metropolitan Police take custody of first suspect to be extradited from Iraq

— See also June 21, 2009: IKWRO: On the trial of Saleh Hama Ali – regarding “honor killing” of Banaz Mahmod

Iraq: Iraqi-Swede woman attacked, attempted honor-murder suspected


Iraq: Iraqi-Swede woman attacked, attempted honor-murder suspected
— original article: Goteborgs-Posten
— The Local report (in English)
—- “The stabbing in Iraq of a local Swedish politician has prompted an investigation into whether or not the attack was paid for by the woman’s relatives back in Sweden.”
—- “The trouble started when the woman, who friends describe as a strong and self-assured advocate for women’s rights, refused to bow to the wishes of influential member of her extended family, many of whom live in western Sweden.”

Pakistan “Honor killings”: Couple, including teenage bride, mother, sister murdered

(Pakistan) Honour killings: Couple, 3 relatives gunned down
— “More than three-dozen attackers were dressed in Punjab police uniforms and fully equipped to avenge the so-called dishonour brought to the family due to the elopement of the girl.”

— Couple shot dead for eloping – police
— AFP: “Relatives of a Pakistani teenager who eloped and married without parental consent shot her dead in a raid on her new home which also killed her husband and in-laws, police said.”
— “‘They killed the bride, the mother and sister of the bridegroom,’ said Charsadda district police official Saleem Jan.”
— “‘They beat them first and then shot them dead,’ he told AFP.”

— Newly-wed couple among five shot dead in Charsadda
— police describe the bride aged 18-19 was “from the deeply conservative Mardan district next to Charsadda”

— Daily Telegraph: “Human rights groups have strongly condemned the practice of honour killings in Pakistan, which claim the lives of hundreds of women each year.”

Bangladesh: Extremist fatwa used for public whipping of woman 200 times

(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

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.”

DC: Theater Packed for Premiere of Film “The Stoning of Soraya M.”

On Friday night June 26, in Washington DC, the E Street Cinema theater had a packed showing for the film “The Stoning of Soraya M.” The audience reacted with concern and anguish over the suffering of women portrayed in the movie, based on the story of an actual stoning in Iran in 1986, as described in Freidoune Sahebjam’s book “The Stoning of Soraya M.”

To find out more about the film online, visit their website at:
http://www.thestoning.com/

We urge you to encourage others to go out and see the film which is playing in locations around the United States.

During the film, the characters are shown as using Islamic law as their defense and their basis for their false accusations against Soraya M. and for having the village stone her to death.

Thousands of women are murdered in so-called “honor killings” and stonings every year, around the world and in the United States.  Such terrorism against women must end. At the end of the film, Responsible for Equality And Liberty’s (R.E.A.L.) Jeffrey Imm invited the public to find out more about the honor killings and stonings of women that continue to go on around the world, and passed out cards with R.E.A.L.’s web site.   R.E.A.L. has several articles on Soraya’s story and activists who have tried to make more people aware of her story.  We welcome any interested new members to find out more about what we are doing and our events to be Responsible for Equality And Liberty for women and all other people.

Author Freidoune Sahebjam has been a portrait in courage in getting the story of Soraya M. to the public.  “Condemned to death by the Khomeini regime following an article he published in the Western press in 1979, Iranian journalist Freidoune Sahebjam returned undercover to his native land in 1987.  There he met Soraya’s Aunt Zahra, who told him the full story and introduced him to Soraya’ s father and the mayor of the village, among others.”