Category: Women’s Rights Matter

Turkey: Lawyers: Abused Turkish woman in hiding — Nahide Opuz

(Turkey) Lawyers: Abused Turkish woman in hiding — Nahide Opuz
— “In 2002, Nahide Opuz’s ex-husband, Huseyin Opuz, shot and killed her mother in the southeastern Turkish city of Diyarbakir. Prior to that, he ran over the two women once with a car, and in a separate assault, stabbed Nahide Opuz seven times with a knife.”
— “Police detained the assailant after both incidents and then released him after fining him. Huseyin Opuz remains free after serving six years for the killing of his mother-in-law.”
— European Court of Human Rights: “A court spokesman said this was the first time the court ruled a government had violated Article 14 of the European Convention of Human Rights,  which prohibits discrimination in connection with a domestic abuse case.”

European court rules against Turkey in domestic violence case
— “In a landmark decision on domestic violence, the European Court of Human Rights has said Turkey failed to protect a woman from being murdered by her son-in-law and ordered Ankara to pay damages”

— April 11: Turkey – Extremists Criticize “Feminist” Reporting on So-Called “Honor Killings”
— March 24: Turkey: Poll – Over a Quarter Support Extremist “Honor Killings”


Iran woman Aida Shirazi forced to live “double life” because of Islamist extremism

(Iran) Tehran student forced to live double life
— “Music student Aida Shirazi is thoroughly Westernised – but in public she must play the part of
an obedient Islamic woman”
— “she knows that if she wears anything too short, or too tight, she will fall foul of the Ershad, the
morality police who have cracked down on un-Islamic conduct since President Ahmadinejad came to power”
— “Ms Shirazi’s personal freedoms have been curtailed in other ways in the past four years”

Egypt: “Family of Abducted Christian Coptic Teenager Assaulted By Muslim Mob”

Egypt: “Family of Abducted Christian Coptic Teenager Assaulted By Muslim Mob”

Egypt – AINA reports:

— “In another incident of abduction and forced Islamization of Coptic minor girls, 16-year old Nermeen Mitry was abducted by a Muslim man to coerce her into converting to Islam. She was successfully recovered on the same day by her family, who did their own investigation and search to locate her.”
— “Nermeen was abducted from El-Mahalla by Muslim Hossam Hamouda in conspiracy with his aunt Leila Attia; she was hidden away by a third person called Nasser Abu Deif from Assuit in Upper Egypt, at the home of one of his female relatives called Rasha Soliman in Zagazig.”
— “The success of recovering the Coptic girl led to anger, revenge and assaults from the disappointed village Muslims against her family. Nearly 150 Muslims, armed with swords and clubs, physically assaulted five family members of the abducted Coptic teenager, as they drove back to their village after being forced into reconciliation with the abductor’s family by State Security, compromising their right to pursue the case any further. ‘With every blow on us, they chanted ‘There is only one Allah’ while the Police stood there watching the assault, until we could take no more and three of us were hospitalized,’ said Nermeen’s uncle Sameh Mitry in an aired interview with Coptic News on 6/7/2009. ‘They dragged us out of the car saying ‘Get out you followers of the Dog’s religion!’ They were consumed with anger ever since we got our girl back.’ “

Saudi “Human Rights Commission” Defends Extremist Oppression of Women

(Saudi Arabia) Saudi “Human Rights Commission (HRC)” criticizes report on women and Hai’a work
— Saudi HRC defends “work of “Commission for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (Hai’a)”
— “Zaid Aal Hussein, Deputy Chairman of the HRC, said the report by Yakin Erturk, the Human Rights Council’s Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, following a recent visit to the Kingdom was incorrect in its description of the Hai’a as being a ‘source of fear to women.'”
— referencing report described by Arab News as “US rapporteur sees rights situation improving”