News

30/9/2011

Update: Saudi Arabia: Woman driver pardoned by Saudi King

A Saudi woman sentenced to be lashed 10 times for defying the country's ban on female drivers has had her punishment overturned by the king.

The woman, named as Shaima Jastaina and believed to be in her 30s, was found guilty of driving without permission in Jeddah in July. Her case was the first in which a legal punishment was handed down for a violation of the ban in the ultraconservative Muslim nation.

28/9/2011

Pakistan: 'Suffering in Silence'

MULTAN, 28 September 2011 (IRIN) - Being beaten almost daily by her husband is a routine part of Saadia Bibi’s life. “Ever since I was married nearly seven years ago, I have been slapped, punched or kicked virtually every day. Once or twice my husband has burnt me with cigarettes,” she told IRIN in Multan, in conservative southern Punjab, displaying the distinct, circular scars on her shoulders and legs.

The “misdemeanours” Saadia has been beaten for include cooking food which is “tasteless”, speaking “too loudly” on the telephone or “arguing back”.

28/9/2011

Iran: 'Iranian activist Narges Mohammadi jailed for 11 years'

A prominent Iranian human rights activist who was taken seriously ill after being detained by the authorities has been sentenced to 11 years in jail.

28/9/2011

Saudi Arabia: 'Saudi woman to be lashed for defying driving ban'

A Saudi woman has been sentenced to be lashed 10 times with a whip for defying the kingdom's prohibition on female drivers. It is the first time a legal punishment has been handed down for a violation of the longtime ban in the ultraconservative Muslim nation. Police usually stop female drivers, question them and let them go after they sign a pledge not to drive again. But dozens of women have continued to take to the roads since June in a campaign to break the taboo.

27/9/2011

Myanmar: 'Military Guilty of Rape, Activists Say'

CHIANG MAI, 26 September 2011 (IRIN) - Human rights activists are reporting an increased incidence of rape against Kachin women in areas of recent military attacks by government forces in northern Myanmar.

In Kachin State alone, at least 18 cases of rape - sometimes aggravated with murder - were documented over an eight-day period in June by the Kachin Women's Association of Thailand (KWAT), following renewed fighting between government and Kachin forces.

27/9/2011

Senegal: '"Small Revolution" in family planning'

DAKAR, 26 September 2011 (IRIN) - Talibouya Ka, Muslim leader (imam) of the Omar Kane mosque in the Medina neighbourhood of the Senegalese capital Dakar, encourages his followers to procreate as much as they can. “There are imams who are for family planning, but I am not. I tell worshippers they need to increase the size of the global Muslim family.”

Such attitudes, which used to be prevalent in Senegal, are increasingly rare, particularly in Dakar, midwives and doctors at the Hospital Centre for Health and Hygiene in Medina, told IRIN.

27/9/2011

Kenya: 'FGM Outlawed but Persists'

In a bid to retain culture and due to the greed of men who profit by marrying off their daughters, some communities in Kenya still practice Female Genital Mutilation (FGM).

Section 14 of The Children’s Act of 2001 in Kenya protects children against harmful cultural practices under which FGM falls. Though this law has been in place for a decade, the practice is still rampant, especially among pastoral communities where even a girl may demand FGM since she has been brought up believing it to be part of her initiation to maturity.

27/9/2011

Thailand: 'Fighting Cervical Cancer with Vinegar and Ingenuity'

POYAI, Thailand — Maikaew Panomyai did a little dance coming out of the examination room, switching her hips, waving her fists in the air and crowing, in her limited English: “Everything’s O.K.! Everything’s O.K.!”

Translation: The nurse just told me I do not have cervical cancer, and even the little white spot I had treated three years ago is still gone.

27/9/2011

Uganda: 'Northern Uganda's Girl Soldiers Find a Harsh Homecoming'

GULU, Uganda (WOMENSENEWS)--Rebels with the Lord's Resistance Army abducted Florence Ayot, 31, in 1989, when she was 9 years old. She served as a wife to Dominic Ongwen, a rebel commander who is now wanted by the International Criminal Court in The Hague for crimes against humanity and war crimes. Ayot had two children with Ongwen, a daughter, 8, and son, 6.

She says she used to want to escape, but now she'd rather still be in captivity because she hasn't been able to rebuild her life here. Villagers constantly give her unwanted attention because of her former husband.

26/9/2011

Kenya: 'Wangari Maathai, Nobel peace prize winner, dies at 71'

Wangari Maathai, the first African woman to win the Nobel peace prize, died on Sunday night of cancer. She was 71.