SUDAN: Female journalist faces 40 lashes for choice of clothes

A prominent Sudanese female journalist faces 40 lashes for the crime of dressing in a way that contradicts the country's social and religious values.

Lobna Ahmed al Hussein, whose daily column Men Talk often criticizes the Sudanese regime and Islamic fundamentalists for their oppression of women, was charged with violating a 1991 law that forbids women to dress in a manner that causes "public discomfort." She was wearing a loose hijab, top and pants and allegedly wasn't covered in the traditional way of Sudanese women.

The journalist reacted to the charge by sending the media, as well as her supporters, thousands of printed invitations to attend her upcoming trial. Al Hussein said that if convicted she will send similar invitations to her public whipping.

GAZA: Short film takes on rape, a taboo subject in Palestinian enclave

Basma Abualila, a journalist and filmmaker living in Gaza, recently caused a stir in the strip with her short film on rape in Gaza. In her 10-minute film, “ A Call at Night," based on a real-life incident, a young woman shares her story of how she was raped by her boyfriend and then forced to marry her rapist out of fear when she got pregnant. 

 
 

 

“He said he needed to talk to me but said we couldn’t talk while standing in the street because everyone was watching us. So he asked me to get into his car to talk. I get into the car and he puts something over my face,” the woman tells Abualila in a telephone conversation in the film. 

What then happens is unclear. The woman remembers nothing after getting into the car with the man. She wakes up hours later in an apartment with her clothes torn off and a terrible headache. Her boyfriend is in the room, looking at her from a distance. She believes she has been drugged. 

EGYPT: Women to form 11% of the next parliament

It looks like there may be more women in the stuffy chambers of the Egyptian parliament. A new election law is set to include an additional 56 seats, all of which will be allocated to female candidates, according to Gamal Mubarak, the son of President Hosni Mubarak and a key figure in the ruling National Democratic Party.

In its convention this week, the NDP's policies committee agreed on a proposal to increase the number of seats in the People's Assembly to 510 from 454 during the next elections. Mubarak confirmed that the new elections law amendments should guarantee that at least 11% of the new parliament members will be women.

The president's son added that the new proposal, which he described as a "positive discrimination" for  women's rights in Egypt, would be adopted for a limited period, which might be up to two terms. The proposal will be forwarded to the parliament for a full vote.

KUWAIT: In a first, four women elected to parliament

Some great news for women in the conservative Persian Gulf: Kuwaitis elected their first-ever women lawmakers [second item] to parliament. 

Voters in four districts elevated women into parliamentary jobs. It's believed to be the first time women have been elected to serve as lawmakers in any of the oil-rich Gulf monarchies.

Kuwaiti women were only granted the right to vote in 2005.

"It's a victory for Kuwaiti women and a victory for Kuwaiti democracy," lawmaker Aseel Awadhi, a philosophy professor, said after winning a seat. 

KUWAIT: Heading to the polls, yet again

Kuwaiti voters headed to the polls today for the third time in three years to elect a new parliament amid an economic downturn that has spurred some to reconsider the Persian Gulf kingdom's experiment in democracy.

Kuwait's ruling emir dissolved parliament earlier this year, accusing it of unnecessarily blocking a series of reforms that he said would  make the economy more efficient, and for going after members of the royal family for alleged corruption.

DUBAI: Police announce arrests of thousands of pimps, prostitutes

In a city-state that imports most of its human capital, from upper management to unskilled labor, it's no surprise that sex trafficking and forced prostitution have also flourished alongside (and sometimes inside) Dubai's luxury hotels and glittering skyscrapers.

In December 2007, however, the Dubai police responded by raiding two dozen brothels and detaining hundreds of suspects in the biggest prostitution sting to date.

At the time, Police Chief Dahi Khalfan Tamim told the Associated Press that the Dubai government had "declared war on human trafficking."

Since then, police in Dubai have arrested 2,713 sex workers and 107 female pimps as part of an ongoing campaign against vice, according to a recent report in the Saudi-based Arab News.

SAUDI ARABIA: An inner-beauty pageant

Forget about backless evening gowns. Don't even think of a swimsuit competition. Two hundred Saudi girls are instead polishing their virtue in preparation for Saturday’s launch of the only beauty contest in the staunchly conservative kingdom.

The Saudi pageant focuses entirely on “inner beauty.” This is keeping in line with the strict Islamic beliefs and traditions of a country where women are forbidden to drive, and appear in public draped in a black robe with a headscarf and often with their faces completely covered.

The aim of the Saudi beauty contest, which will crown the winner “Miss Beautiful Morals,” is to highlight women’s commitment to the values of Islam and not her physical attributes, according to a report published Wednesday by the Associated Press.

For the next 10 weeks, contestants will be observed by female judges who will inquire about their devotion to their parents, their personalities and inner strengths. The winner will be announced in July. 

KUWAIT: Female candidates face pressure in upcoming elections

A crucial civil rights battle was won in Kuwait when women were allowed to run for office and vote in 2005. But apparently much still needs to be done for women seeking a political role in this oil-rich emirate to prevail over religious conservatives.

On Monday, the Salafi movement, which believes in a strict fundamental interpretation of Islam, called for the boycott of female candidates in parliamentary elections scheduled for later this month, reported the website of the Arab TV channel Al Arabiya.

The group’s statements were condemned by civil rights groups in the Persian Gulf nation, which boasts one of the most democratic systems among neighboring kingdoms. 

Fuhaid Hailam, a Salafi politician, told the channel that voting for women was a “sin” in Islam. He based his judgment on a saying by the prophet Muhammad, who reportedly asserted that a nation will not prosper if it is led by women.

Although women have been granted full rights to take part in Kuwait’s general elections, as long as they adhere to Islamic law, their participation in political life is still very modest. According to a report by Freedom House released last year, 27 women ran as candidates in the 2006 and 2008 parliamentary elections. But none of the female candidates have won a seat in the country’s National Assembly so far.

The international pro-democracy group also noted that only 35% of Kuwaiti women voted in the 2008 elections. In a response to the conservative stance of the Salafi movement, parliamentary candidate Fatima Abdeli, an advocate for women rights who ran in the two previous elections, told Al Arabiya:

"Kuwaiti laws that gave women the right to run for parliament are not against Islamic laws.… This fatwa will harm women candidates and the Kuwaiti people might be deceived by it. We are not going to stand still while this happens. Women should not be told what to do."

Some observers believe that women might have better chances in this year’s elections.

The Kuwaiti parliament was dissolved in March after political tension between the legislative and executive powers. 

-- Raed Rafei in Beirut

Photo: Masouma Mubarak, a parliamentary candidate and Kuwait's first female minister, enters the registrar department in Kuwait City in April to apply for official documents to run in upcoming elections. Credit: Stephanie McGehee / Reuters

SAUDI ARABIA: Underage marriages to be regulated

Modernists in Saudi Arabia are striking back in their ongoing fight for influence and power with hardliner Islamists in this ultraconservative nation. After a court refused for the second time to annul the marriage of an 8-year-old girl to a man 40 years older than her, the Saudi minister of justice said last week that his government was planning to regulate the marriage of underage girls.

The Saudi justice minister, Mohammed Issa, told local media that his ministry wanted to “put an end to arbitrariness by parents and guardians in marrying off minor girls." 

The minister, however, did not elaborate on how marriages to minors would be kept in check. Other media reports quoting high-ranking officials said that a new law pertaining to marriage in the kingdom was being drafted and would set the minimum age of marriage as 18. 

EGYPT: Cautiously celebrating Obama's new Muslim advisor

Egyptians cautiously rejoiced at the recent appointment of a veiled Egyptian American Muslim woman as an advisor to President  Obama. Dalia Mogahed, senior analyst and executive director of the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies, was appointed earlier this month to Obama’s Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.

“Dalia Mogahed is the best example of a successful Muslim woman. She proves that the Muslim should be successful in all fields at least in [her] area of specialization,” wrote a commenter on the website of Al Masry al Youm independent daily.

Another writer to the newspaper's site, Saled Abdel Hamdi, said: “Congratulations! I wish that you convey the truth in full to an understanding man and not to a one-track minded who wants to shape the world the way he wants or the way they want.”