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JEDDAH, 23 March 2005 — A 25-year-old Indonesian woman who came to Saudi Arabia as a guest worker will have several of her fingers, toes and part of her right foot amputated because of gangrene after being tied up for a month in a bathroom by her Saudi sponsor, who also apparently beat her severely, injuring her eye and knocking several of her teeth out. The reason given was that the woman, who worked as a maid, had not finished cleaning the house. The Indonesian government is demanding justice as Riyadh police continue to investigate this disgusting crime. The story...

CAIRO, 9 March 2005 — A recent fatwa (edict) by former mufti of Egypt, Nasr Farid Wasel, stating that women cannot run for presidential elections has prompted angry responses from human rights activists and public figures in the country. “It is not allowed in Islam that a woman can become a president of a state,” said Farid Wasel. “All the great Islamic scholars had agreed on that ...women are not fit for this tough, magnificent task.” Ali Gomaa, mufti of Egypt and head of Dar Al-Iftaa — the body responsible for overseeing interpretations and fatwas at Al Azhar — said...

RIYADH, 25 January 2005 — Police arrested an Arab expatriate who burned his daughters and granddaughters with acid in Al-Suwaidi district in the southern part of Riyadh, Al-Watan Arabic daily reported yesterday. A police source said the scene of the crime was checked and an investigation was opened in preparation for reporting the case to the Investigations and Prosecution Commission. The source ruled out the possibility of releasing the expatriate on bail. The doctors treating the injured girls in Riyadh Medical Complex, including Dr. Mustafa Hamdan and Dr. Farouq Dassouqi, confirmed that the condition of the girls is stable. However,...

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) Iran's hard-line leadership ruled out allowing women to run for president in June elections, denying reports in the state-run media Saturday that it had decided to allow female candidates for the first time. It was not clear whether the denial meant the hard-line Guardian Council was reversing itself or whether the earlier announcement was a mistake. Throughout the day, state-run radio and television carried reports quoting council spokesman Gholamhossein Elham as saying the council had changed its long-standing policy and allowed women to run. But in the evening, the media reported Elham denied the new stance. "The...

How many females have been stoned in Allah’s name? How many women have had their bodies crushed to death because the Koran says that’s what is to be? How many mothers and daughters have been dragged into the public place while men lift rocks to pound into their flesh until their bodies quit moving? This is what goes on in Iran , for example. When I read of this I think that an Iranian representative sits in a chair at the esteemed United National building in New York City . There he is honored. There he gets his perks. There...

AMSTERDAM—Novelist Yasmine Allas doesn't believe in happy endings. That's so despite her own unlikely road to success. The daughter of a wealthy army officer, she fled as a teenager from her repressive childhood in Somalia, where she had dreamed of becoming an actress, dating men, drinking wine and living the life she saw in movies. Now in the Netherlands, having gained an audience for her bleak stories of oppressed women and failed immigrants, she finds she still can't escape fear. Since the slaying of filmmaker Theo van Gogh last month in Amsterdam, there have been death threats against two prominent...

Iranian woman journalist freed on bail, Hospitalised (AFP) 11 December 2004 TEHERAN - An Iranian woman arrested in a judicial crackdown on reformist journalists was freed on bail but needed hospital treatment due to her detention, her husband told AFP on Saturday. According to Ahmad Beigloo, journalist Fereshteh Ghazi “was kept in solitary confinement for 38 days and had to be checked into hospital as she was not in a good physical or mental shape”. The woman was arrested over her articles on women’s rights published on Internet sites. She was released on bail of 500 million rials (about 57,000...

Printer-friendly format Dec. 4, 2004, 10:20PM Van Gogh slaying puts her in hiding Lawmaker who wrote the film's story vows to push for changeBy TOBY STERLINGAssociated Press AP Member of Dutch parliament for the Liberal Party, Ayaan Hirsi Ali speaks during a session in parliament in The Hague, The Netherlands, in this April 6, 2004 file photo. Dutch politician Ayaan Hirsi Ali plans a new film criticizing Islamic culture, despite the murder of her collaborator, filmmaker Theo van Gogh, and despite receiving death threats herself, a Dutch newspaper said. AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS - She inspires both admiration and rage, and...

JEDDAH, 6 December 2004 — The words of Prince Sultan, second deputy premier and minister of defense and aviation, have raised hopes of new job opportunities among Saudi women. The prince welcomed Saudi women trainees to the Civil Aviation Academy but not everyone is excited about that. During the formal inauguration of the academy on Friday, Prince Sultan said the academy would welcome female trainees as long as they conform to the Shariah. Women could come with their husbands or brothers for training. “I think there are many job opportunities for Saudi women in Saudia. The jobs are suitable for...

In an interview with DER SPIEGEL, German feminist publisher Alice Schwarzer discusses the difficulties Germany has in dealing with its Muslim women and the growing influence of Islam in Europe. DPA Alice Schwarzer: "The multicultural ideology is untruthful." SPIEGEL: For decades, people have looked on without doing anything as some of Germany's Turkish women were stripped of their rights. Why has this stirred so little resistance in German society? Schwarzer: Because every denunciation of this abuse is immediately branded as racism. But common sense is never wrong: A women, who stumbles about beneath a mountain of cloth while her husband...

She inspires both admiration and rage, and has become one of the most familiar faces on the backbench of Holland’s parliament. Now, women’s rights advocate Ayaan Hirsi Ali has gone into hiding after a death threat against her was pinned to the body of murdered filmmaker Theo van Gogh. Hirsi Ali’s path from Somalia to parliament has been marked by a willingness to say and do things others never dared. But she has also incurred the wrath of many Muslims insulted by her message. She describes herself as a “lapsed” Muslim, and says Islamic culture needs to become more modern....