AFP
Apr 19, 2009
NOUAKCHOTT (AFP) — Mauritanian police on Sunday violently broke up a sit-in protest of some 60 women against last year's coup and planned June presidential elections in the West African country.
"Several women including members of parliament, former ministers and some political activists were wounded by blows with truncheons and clubs," the anti-coup National Front for the Defence of Democracy (FNDD), one of the protest's organisers, said in a statement.
Women at the demonstration, held in front of the headquarters of the United Nations mission in Mauritania, shouted "No the coup!" and "The road to the June 6 (elections) is the road to chaos!"
They also called for the release of political prisoners before being roughly dispersed by police.
The international community has widely condemned the August coup, which ousted Mauritania's first democratically elected president.
The ruling military junta has since promised a return to what it calls "constitutional order" and to hold elections on June 6.
Coup leader, General Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, stepped down as head of state on Thursday so he could run for president.
Showing posts with label protest. Show all posts
Showing posts with label protest. Show all posts
Monday, April 20, 2009
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Bahrain: Mothers fighting for justice
By BASMA MOHAMMED, Posted on » Wednesday, April 08, 2009
THREE Bahraini mothers took their fight for justice to the gates of parliament yesterday, as MPs gathered inside the building for their weekly meeting.
They were hoping to persuade MPs to pass a much-awaited Family Law, saying they were fed up with women suffering at the hands of the Sharia courts.
Mother-of-four Amal Juma Abdulla led the hour-and-a-half protest and claimed women were crying out for a Family Law, which would put down in writing how courts should handle domestic disputes.
Sharia judges issue verdicts in divorce cases, child custody battles and inheritance disputes, based on their interpretation of Islamic law.
However, women's rights campaigners have claimed for years that judges often discriminate against women.
"We are demonstrating to call on MPs to find a Family Law for the Jaffari court (which handles domestic cases of the Shi'ite community)," said Ms Abdulla.
"They are discussing the Family Law for the Sunni court, but we are reminding them that we are suffering as well."
The demonstration was organised to vent frustration at MPs for failing to come up with a Family Law to protect women.
However, some clerics are said to oppose the move due to fears it could loosen their grip on the community.
"Some MPs are against this law," claimed Ms Abdulla.
"They should discuss women's problems - not only men's."
Disputes
It was her second protest in a week, having demonstrated outside the Justice Ministry with three of her children on March 31.
The GDN reported at the time that her divorce proceedings had apparently been cancelled after three years by the Sharia court, because she refused to accept child support of BD100 a month from her estranged husband.
She is still legally married to him because she rejected the final settlement, which would have also seen her pay him a one-off BD500.
She is also embroiled in a court dispute with her husband over ownership of their house, which is in her name and was given to them after they were forced to sleep rough because their old home became dangerously dilapidated.
The 33-year-old housewife was joined at yesterday's protest by Zahra Sabah Nasser Hassan and Fadheela Salman.
They held up signs that said: "Sorry MPs, but we are women suffering from injustice. Is our suffering forever?" and "We are abandoned women asking for a law that can protect us."
Ms Salman was there to extend support, but Ms Hassan appeared in the GDN in February after the Crown Prince's Court answered her call for a new home.
It offered her a new house after the Sharia court evicted her from the home she shared with her ex-husband.
The mother-of-two fought for child support and a housing allowance from her ex-husband between 2004 and 2008, but the Sharia court evicted her after ordering her ex-husband to pay her BD70 a month for housing.
THREE Bahraini mothers took their fight for justice to the gates of parliament yesterday, as MPs gathered inside the building for their weekly meeting.
They were hoping to persuade MPs to pass a much-awaited Family Law, saying they were fed up with women suffering at the hands of the Sharia courts.
Mother-of-four Amal Juma Abdulla led the hour-and-a-half protest and claimed women were crying out for a Family Law, which would put down in writing how courts should handle domestic disputes.
Sharia judges issue verdicts in divorce cases, child custody battles and inheritance disputes, based on their interpretation of Islamic law.
However, women's rights campaigners have claimed for years that judges often discriminate against women.
"We are demonstrating to call on MPs to find a Family Law for the Jaffari court (which handles domestic cases of the Shi'ite community)," said Ms Abdulla.
"They are discussing the Family Law for the Sunni court, but we are reminding them that we are suffering as well."
The demonstration was organised to vent frustration at MPs for failing to come up with a Family Law to protect women.
However, some clerics are said to oppose the move due to fears it could loosen their grip on the community.
"Some MPs are against this law," claimed Ms Abdulla.
"They should discuss women's problems - not only men's."
Disputes
It was her second protest in a week, having demonstrated outside the Justice Ministry with three of her children on March 31.
The GDN reported at the time that her divorce proceedings had apparently been cancelled after three years by the Sharia court, because she refused to accept child support of BD100 a month from her estranged husband.
She is still legally married to him because she rejected the final settlement, which would have also seen her pay him a one-off BD500.
She is also embroiled in a court dispute with her husband over ownership of their house, which is in her name and was given to them after they were forced to sleep rough because their old home became dangerously dilapidated.
The 33-year-old housewife was joined at yesterday's protest by Zahra Sabah Nasser Hassan and Fadheela Salman.
They held up signs that said: "Sorry MPs, but we are women suffering from injustice. Is our suffering forever?" and "We are abandoned women asking for a law that can protect us."
Ms Salman was there to extend support, but Ms Hassan appeared in the GDN in February after the Crown Prince's Court answered her call for a new home.
It offered her a new house after the Sharia court evicted her from the home she shared with her ex-husband.
The mother-of-two fought for child support and a housing allowance from her ex-husband between 2004 and 2008, but the Sharia court evicted her after ordering her ex-husband to pay her BD70 a month for housing.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Bahrain: Women seek better deal
TEN Bahraini women caught up in divorce wrangles and other domestic disputes demonstrated outside parliament yesterday, asking MPs to intervene and protect women's rights in Sharia courts.
Campaigner Amal Juma Abdulla led them in the demonstration coinciding with parliament's weekly session.
"We want to be the voice of all Bahraini women facing problems in courts.
"We respect our Islamic laws and our judges, we are only asking for our rights and nothing else."
MPs Hassan Sultan and Hussain Jassim met the women during their hour-and-a-half demonstration and were given a letter from Ms Abdulla.
"Mr Sultan told us he will present the letter at the session. He was very sympathetic about our cases and said these issue were well-known," said Ms Abdulla.
"I think if it is well-known, why don't they fix the law or implement some serious changes that can help us."
The letter highlighted various issues, including delayed hearings and alleged bias in favour of men.
In the letter, the women called for the intervention of the country's leadership.
Ms Abdulla has already met Supreme Judicial Council deputy head and Cassation Court head Shaikh Khalifa bin Rashid Al Khalifa and Justice and Islamic Affairs Ministry assistant under-secretary for court and notary affairs Judge Khaled Agagi to explain the issues they were trying to raise.
By BASMA MOHAMMED, Gulf Daily News
Campaigner Amal Juma Abdulla led them in the demonstration coinciding with parliament's weekly session.
"We want to be the voice of all Bahraini women facing problems in courts.
"We respect our Islamic laws and our judges, we are only asking for our rights and nothing else."
MPs Hassan Sultan and Hussain Jassim met the women during their hour-and-a-half demonstration and were given a letter from Ms Abdulla.
"Mr Sultan told us he will present the letter at the session. He was very sympathetic about our cases and said these issue were well-known," said Ms Abdulla.
"I think if it is well-known, why don't they fix the law or implement some serious changes that can help us."
The letter highlighted various issues, including delayed hearings and alleged bias in favour of men.
In the letter, the women called for the intervention of the country's leadership.
Ms Abdulla has already met Supreme Judicial Council deputy head and Cassation Court head Shaikh Khalifa bin Rashid Al Khalifa and Justice and Islamic Affairs Ministry assistant under-secretary for court and notary affairs Judge Khaled Agagi to explain the issues they were trying to raise.
By BASMA MOHAMMED, Gulf Daily News
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Saudi Arabia: Female Detainees On Hunger Strike Inside Tehran's Evin Prison
At least 10 women detainees have started a hunger strike inside Tehran’s notorious Evin prison.
One of the prisoners, Mahbubeh Karami, told her family in a telephone conversation on July 6 that the women are staging the hunger strike to protest their continued detention without charge.
Karami, who is a member of the women's movement Campaign for Equality, was on her way to work on June 24 when police officers detained her while she was riding a bus in Tehran.
Karami’s lawyer tells RFE/RL’s Radio Farda that he has had been unable to meet his client and does not have access to her case.
The reasons behind the detentions are unknown.
Prior to Karami’s arrest, Iranian police briefly detained nine other women’s rights activists who were about to take part in a peaceful seminar to mark the day of Solidarity of Iranian Women.
The seminar, organized by the Campaign for Equality, was due to take place in Rahe Abrisham Gallery in Tehran but security forces prevented the ceremony by arresting the women outside the building and forcing the gallery owner to shut the doors.
---Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty
One of the prisoners, Mahbubeh Karami, told her family in a telephone conversation on July 6 that the women are staging the hunger strike to protest their continued detention without charge.
Karami, who is a member of the women's movement Campaign for Equality, was on her way to work on June 24 when police officers detained her while she was riding a bus in Tehran.
Karami’s lawyer tells RFE/RL’s Radio Farda that he has had been unable to meet his client and does not have access to her case.
The reasons behind the detentions are unknown.
Prior to Karami’s arrest, Iranian police briefly detained nine other women’s rights activists who were about to take part in a peaceful seminar to mark the day of Solidarity of Iranian Women.
The seminar, organized by the Campaign for Equality, was due to take place in Rahe Abrisham Gallery in Tehran but security forces prevented the ceremony by arresting the women outside the building and forcing the gallery owner to shut the doors.
---Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty
Monday, June 9, 2008
North Africa: Unemployment to blame for North Africa protests
RABAT- Unemployment disproportionately affecting young people is to blame for violent protests over the weekend in Morocco and Tunisia that killed one person and injured dozens, observers said.
"Endemic unemployment among young people from the Maghreb (northwestern Africa) is the cause of the protests that broke out in the past few days in Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia," said Aziz, an activist from the Moroccan city of Sidi Ifni who asked not to be identified by his full name.
Clashes between security forces and young unemployed protesters erupted on Saturday in the Moroccan fishing port city 100 kilometers (60 miles) southwest of Rabat.
The national unemployment rate stood at 9.7 percent in 2007, according to government statistics, but four out of 10 of these jobseekers were younger than 25.
In Tunisia, the national unemployment rate reached 14 percent in 2007, according to a Tunisian government official.
"Youth unemployment, especially among thousands of graduates in Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia is the common denominator in the three countries where demonstrations periodically take place in cities," Khalid Cherkaoui, president of the Moroccan centre for human rights (CMDH), said.
Sidi Ifni saw its first such protests in 2006, young people in the area said.
The violence this weekend left 44 people injured, including 27 police officers, according to hospital sources in Sidi Ifni. CDMH estimates however that between one and five people died as a result of the clashes.
The Moroccan government denies this. "There was not one death," said spokesman Khalid Naciri.
In the southwest Tunisian city of Redeyef, one person was killed in protests on Friday and several were injured.
Here the demonstrations were ignited by allegations that the region's main employer had doctored a recruitment campaign. Protesters believed that officials from the Gafsa Phosphate Company had manipulated a selection process to their own advantage.
In Sidi Ifni, where fishing is the primary source of income, police used force to unblock the port where 89 trucks waited with loads of some 800 tonnes of fish.
The blockade had begun May 30 when the results of a recruitment campaign were unveiled and three successful candidates randomly picked. After the draw, around 120 angry youths moved towards the port and blocked operations, said socialist deputy Abdelwahab Belfkih.
Another elected official, Lahcen Achouad, said the "demands of the young people are socio-economic in nature. They are asking for an equitable distribution of the city's wealth."
-- Middle East Online
"Endemic unemployment among young people from the Maghreb (northwestern Africa) is the cause of the protests that broke out in the past few days in Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia," said Aziz, an activist from the Moroccan city of Sidi Ifni who asked not to be identified by his full name.
Clashes between security forces and young unemployed protesters erupted on Saturday in the Moroccan fishing port city 100 kilometers (60 miles) southwest of Rabat.
The national unemployment rate stood at 9.7 percent in 2007, according to government statistics, but four out of 10 of these jobseekers were younger than 25.
In Tunisia, the national unemployment rate reached 14 percent in 2007, according to a Tunisian government official.
"Youth unemployment, especially among thousands of graduates in Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia is the common denominator in the three countries where demonstrations periodically take place in cities," Khalid Cherkaoui, president of the Moroccan centre for human rights (CMDH), said.
Sidi Ifni saw its first such protests in 2006, young people in the area said.
The violence this weekend left 44 people injured, including 27 police officers, according to hospital sources in Sidi Ifni. CDMH estimates however that between one and five people died as a result of the clashes.
The Moroccan government denies this. "There was not one death," said spokesman Khalid Naciri.
In the southwest Tunisian city of Redeyef, one person was killed in protests on Friday and several were injured.
Here the demonstrations were ignited by allegations that the region's main employer had doctored a recruitment campaign. Protesters believed that officials from the Gafsa Phosphate Company had manipulated a selection process to their own advantage.
In Sidi Ifni, where fishing is the primary source of income, police used force to unblock the port where 89 trucks waited with loads of some 800 tonnes of fish.
The blockade had begun May 30 when the results of a recruitment campaign were unveiled and three successful candidates randomly picked. After the draw, around 120 angry youths moved towards the port and blocked operations, said socialist deputy Abdelwahab Belfkih.
Another elected official, Lahcen Achouad, said the "demands of the young people are socio-economic in nature. They are asking for an equitable distribution of the city's wealth."
-- Middle East Online
Monday, March 10, 2008
Saudi Arabia: Two reformists sent to jail
RIYADH • A leading Saudi reformist and his brother started to serve time behind bars yesterday after being convicted of inciting women's protests in the ultra-conservative Muslim kingdom.
Abdullah Al Hamed, a prominent Islamist reformist, and his brother Issa were sentenced last November to six and four months in jail respectively.
The sentences were upheld by an appeals court last month, but the two men were still free pending a decision on the rulings by the governor's office of Al Qassim region where their trial took place.
"The two brothers turned themselves in at 1.00 pm (1000 GMT) after they were summoned on Wednesday to serve the sentences," a family friend said.
"They handed themselves in at the Buraida prison," in Al Qassim, 320 kilometres north of the Saudi capital Riyadh, he added, requesting anonymity.
The charges against the Hamed brothers were linked to two sit-ins last summer by women in Al Qassim.
The women mounted the protests to demand their husbands or brothers, held on suspicion of involvement in a wave of violence unleashed by suspected Islamist militants in 2003, either receive a public trial or be released.
Public protests are banned in Saudi Arabia.
More than 40 Saudi human rights activists and reformists called earlier this month for the annulment of the "unfair ruling" against the Hamed brothers.
In November, New York-based Human Rights Watch slammed Saudi Arabia for jailing the two reformers, saying the judgement proved it was illegal to criticise the authorities in the kingdom.
Abdullah Al Hamed was one of three reformists who spent 17 months in jail for demanding a constitutional monarchy before being pardoned by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz immediately after he assumed the throne in August 2005.
-- AFP
Abdullah Al Hamed, a prominent Islamist reformist, and his brother Issa were sentenced last November to six and four months in jail respectively.
The sentences were upheld by an appeals court last month, but the two men were still free pending a decision on the rulings by the governor's office of Al Qassim region where their trial took place.
"The two brothers turned themselves in at 1.00 pm (1000 GMT) after they were summoned on Wednesday to serve the sentences," a family friend said.
"They handed themselves in at the Buraida prison," in Al Qassim, 320 kilometres north of the Saudi capital Riyadh, he added, requesting anonymity.
The charges against the Hamed brothers were linked to two sit-ins last summer by women in Al Qassim.
The women mounted the protests to demand their husbands or brothers, held on suspicion of involvement in a wave of violence unleashed by suspected Islamist militants in 2003, either receive a public trial or be released.
Public protests are banned in Saudi Arabia.
More than 40 Saudi human rights activists and reformists called earlier this month for the annulment of the "unfair ruling" against the Hamed brothers.
In November, New York-based Human Rights Watch slammed Saudi Arabia for jailing the two reformers, saying the judgement proved it was illegal to criticise the authorities in the kingdom.
Abdullah Al Hamed was one of three reformists who spent 17 months in jail for demanding a constitutional monarchy before being pardoned by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz immediately after he assumed the throne in August 2005.
-- AFP
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