Fundamentalisms

Pakistan: Women’s Action Forum condemns murder of Governor Punjab Salman Taseer

Women’s Action Forum condemns in the strongest terms the brutal murder of the Governor of Punjab, Salman Taseer, whose principled stand for justice was deliberately and maliciously distorted by extremist elements in the country in the pursuit of their own political ends. Incitement to violence in the name of religion has become widely prevalent in the country and the state has failed in its duty to curb this mischief. The murder of Salman Taseer is part of a strategy adopted since the time of Zia ul Haq to misuse religion in order to undermine democratic dialogue and to establish religious autocracy. This is unacceptable in a Muslim majority country no particular group should be allowed monopoly over religious views.

Afghanistan: Les talibans en faveur de l'éducation des filles?

Les talibans ne sont plus opposés à l'idée que les filles fréquentent l'école, affirme le ministre de l'Éducation afghan, Farooq Wardak, dans une entrevue accordée au Times Educational Supplement de Londres. L'information n'a pas été confirmée par les talibans.

« Ce que j'entends au plus haut niveau politique chez les talibans, c'est qu'ils ne sont plus opposés à l'éducation ni à l'éducation des filles », affirme M. Wardak. « C'est un changement d'attitude, un changement comportemental, un changement culturel. »

أفغانستان: طالبان تتخلى عن معارضتها لتعليم البنات

قال وزير التربية الأفغاني، فاروق وردك، إن حركة طالبان قد تخلَّت عن معارضتها لتعليم الفتيات في البلاد.

ففي مقابلة نُشرت تفاصيلها في الملحق التربوي لصحيفة التايمز البريطانية، قال وردك: "إن "التبدل الثقافي يعني أن طالبان لم تعد تعارض تعليم الفتيات".

يُشار إلى أنه لم يكن يُسمح للنساء في ظل حكم حركة طالبان بالعمل أو الحصول على التعليم.

Afghanistan: Taliban ready to lift ban on girls' schools, says minister

The Taliban's leadership is prepared to drop its ban on girls' schools, one of Afghanistan's most influential cabinet ministers has claimed. According to Farooq Wardak, the country's education minister, the movement has decided to scrap the ban on female education that helped earn the movement worldwide infamy in the 1990s. Wardak said the Taliban's leadership had undergone a profound change since losing power after the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.

Pakistan: Asia Bibi facing suicide attack threat

Bibi, the Christian woman who triggered a blasphemy furore in Pakistan and in whose defence Punjab governor Salman Taseer lost his life, is facing a threat of a suicide attack inside a jail, where she is currently lodged. The "Moaviya group", a militant organisation plans to mount a suicide attack on Sheikhupura district jail, where 45-year-old Asia is being held, The Express Tribunequoted its sources as saying. An intelligence report issued last week has corroborated threat to her life.

مصر: ليلة العيد

بقلم نيفين مسعد. اليوم ليلة عيد الميلاد المجيد، أعود إلى بيتى فى المساء وأمر على الشرفة الزجاجية لمدام ليلى فى الطابق الأرضى من العمارة. ألاحظ نجمة فضية جديدة فى وسط شجرة الميلاد التى تتلألأ أنوارها من خلف الزجاج، هكذا اعتادت مدام ليلى أن تضيف إلى زينة الشجرة لمسة جديدة كل عام. أنقر على باب شقتها فتفتح لى متدثرة بشالها الصوف الكاروهات الذى لا يفارقها فى فصل الشتاء، أمازحها وأجذبه قليلا عن رأسها فتردنى برفق، أسألها إن كانت تطلب مساعدة فترد بالنفى، كنت أعرف أنها سترد بالنفى.

السعودية: لا لإشتراط موافقة ولي الأمر على شراء المرأة لسيارة

فوجئت جمعية حقوق الإنسان أولا بالسعودية بما ورد في جريدة الرياض شبه الرسمية من إصدار تعميم لوكالات السيارات بالمملكة بعدم الأخذ ببطاقة أحوال المرأة السعودية في حال كان وليها هو الزوجhttp://www.alriyadh.com/2010/12/21/article587442.html

Mauritania: Rape victims fear being jailed for 'zina'

Mahjouba was raped in March on the nighttime streets of Mauritania's capital, but she will not bring charges against the man she says did it since she may be the one who ends up in prison. The 25-year-old says the legal advice she received was to not go to court, leaving her to suffer in silence. There is no law in Mauritania that defines rape. According to a local U.N.-funded group working with the victims, the law criminalizes the women instead of their rapists -- and society ostracizes the women.

Palestine: Feminist from Gaza reflects on being secular in a religious land

Palestinian feminist Asma Al-Ghoul arrived to our meeting at a Gaza coffee shop sporting blue jeans and a T-shirt—in stark contrast to the Islamic headscarves and tent-like dresses worn by the vast majority of Gazan women. It's not just clothing that sets this 28-year-old secularist apart. She once publicly chastised a senior Hamas military leader—her uncle—who threatened to kill her, and she continues to publish gutsy articles, read banned books, and defy discriminatory policies. "Gaza needs all the liberal, secular people to stay here," she insisted, when I asked why she had declined opportunities to live abroad.

Sudan: Omar al-Bashir says northern Sudan will adopt sharia law if country splits

Omar al-Bashir, the Sudanese president, said the country would adopt an Islamic constitution if the south split away in next month's referendum, in a speech today in which he also defended police filming a woman being flogged. "If south Sudan secedes, we will change the constitution and at that time there will be no time to speak of diversity of culture and ethnicity," Bashir told supporters at a rally in the eastern city of Gedaref. "Sharia [Islamic law] and Islam will be the main source for the constitution, Islam the official religion and Arabic the official language," he said.