State control

Western Sahara: Police beating of human rights defender Ms Aminatou Haidar.

On 1 November 2012, human rights defender Ms Aminatou Haidar was physically and verbally attacked and threatened with a knife by Moroccan police in El Ayoun in a four hour long assault that left her car damaged. Aminatou Haidar is a renowned human rights defender and the Chairperson of the Collectif des Défenseurs Sahraouis des Droits de l'Homme – CODESA(Collective of Sahrawi Human Rights Defenders). Her human rights work focuses on advocating for the rights of the Sahrawi people and the independence of the Western Sahara.

فلسطين:شرطة غزة تفرّق اعتصاماً نسائياً بـ"القوة"

غزة: اعتدت عناصر من الشرطة التابعة للحكومة الفلسطينية في قطاع غزة بالضرب "بالعصي والهراوات" على مجموعة من النساء الفلسطينيات أثناء مشاركتهن في اعتصام للمطالبة بإنهاء الانقسام الفلسطيني اليوم الثلاثاء.

Iran: Authorities Responsible for Sexual Abuse of Women Political Prisoners Must Be Held Accountable.

Women political prisoners in quarantined section of Evin prison, protesting against violent and invasive body cavity searches and sexual abuse have gone on hunger strike since Tuesday 30^th October 2012. According to the relatives of these prisoners, they were brutally searched by the hands of three female guards after the ward being raided by Evin security forces.

Iran: Health fears for imprisoned Sakharov prize winner in Iran

News that Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh has won the Sakharov Prize – an award from the European Parliament for human rights and freedom of thought - came as her health deteriorated due to a hunger strike in protest at the Iranian authorities’ refusal to allow her face-to-face visits with her 13-year-old daughter and five-year-old son.

Sudan: Sudanese WHRDs At Risk After Released From Detention

During the protests against the Sudanese government austerity measures which started in June and while 12 women had been detained During the protests against the Sudanese government austerity measures which started in June and incommunicado for 6-8 weeks for most of them. The Sudanese government released most of the detainees arrested during the 2 months protests on August 17-20, at least 200 detainees had been released among them the 12 women.

Sudan: The call of Sudanese women human rights defenders

Women activists challenging the fundamental structures of their communities and calling for new terms of peaceful coexistence between the Sudanese people, are facing prosecution, sexual violence, and harsh punishment by Sudan's security service, says Nazik Kabalo

Saudi Arabia: Plans For Women-only Work Zone

Saudi Arabia is planning to establish a work-zone to be staffed exclusively by women. With women facing many barriers to joining the country's workforce, experts wonder if the zones will only reinforce segregation.

Women make up more than 60 percent of high school graduates in Saudi Arabia, but represent just 15 percent of the country's workforce. Many of them go abroad to earn an advanced degree, only to return home unable to find a job.

Interview with Marieme Helie Lucas: No Spring for Arab Women

Marieme Helie Lucas is an Algerian feminist, sociologist, political theorist and author known for her work against religious fundamentalism. Marieme was born in Algeria to a ‘family of feminists’ and had been active in the liberation struggle of Algeria. She founded the Women Living Under Muslim Laws (WLUML) in 1984. The former international coordinator of WLUML, Marieme founded Secularismis a Women’s Issue (SIAWI) in 2005.

Iran: Le héjab sur les terrains de foot : l’aboutissement d’un scandale annoncé

-Pourquoi cette approbation ? Pourquoi ce silence?

Lorsqu’en 1979 Khomeiny obligea les iraniennes à se voiler, elles sont descendues dans la rue pour manifester leur opposition à cette mesure discriminatoire et profondément misogyne.Dès cette époque Khomeiny proclama sa volonté d’exporter dans le monde entier ce modèle islamiste de stigmatisation du corps des femmes.

Iran: Amnesty International’s submission to the Commission on the Status of Women regarding concerns about the harassment and imprisonment of women, including rights defenders and members of minorities in Iran.

This submission to the Commission on the Status of Women (the Commission) is intended to draw the Commission’s attention to the continuing pattern of human rights violations experienced by women in Iran in reprisal for their peaceful human rights or political activities on account of their ethnic origin, their faith, the peaceful exercise of their rights to freedom of expression and association, or their relationship to men who have expressed views dissenting from those considered acceptable by the Iranian authorities.