International News

[*Anya*]

Iran hangs woman despite campaign

Iran has gone ahead with an execution of a woman despite an international campaign urging a reprieve.

Reyhaneh Jabbari, 26, was hanged in a Tehran prison on Saturday morning. She had been convicted of killing a man she said was trying to sexually abuse her.

Jabbari was arrested in 2007 for the murder of Morteza Abdolali Sarbandi, a former intelligence ministry worker.

Human rights group Amnesty International said her execution was "deeply disappointing in the extreme".

A campaign calling for a halt to the execution was launched on Facebook and Twitter last month and appeared to have brought a temporary stay in execution.

However, government news agency Tasnim said on Saturday that Jabbari had been executed after her relatives failed to gain consent from the victim's family for a reprieve.

It said her claims of self-defence had not been proved in court.

A Facebook page set up to campaign for a stay now says simply: "Rest in peace".

Jabbari's mother, Shole Pakravan, confirmed the execution in an interview with BBC Persian, saying she was going to the cemetery to see her daughter's body.

Ms Pakravan had been allowed to see her daughter for an hour on Friday.

After her arrest, Jabbari had been placed in solitary confinement for two months, where she reportedly did not have access to a lawyer or her family.

She was sentenced to death by a criminal court in Tehran in 2009.

Amnesty International said she was convicted after a deeply flawed investigation.

Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Amnesty's Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa Programme said: "This is another bloody stain on Iran's human rights record."

"Tragically, this case is far from uncommon. Once again Iran has insisted on applying the death penalty despite serious concerns over the fairness of the trial."

Amnesty said that although Jabbari admitted to stabbing Abdolali Sarbandi once in the back, she alleged that there was someone else in the house who actually killed him.

Jalal Sarbandi, the victim's eldest son, said Jabbari had refused to identify the man.

He told Iranian media in April: "Only when her true intentions are exposed and she tells the truth about her accomplice and what really went down will we be prepared to grant mercy,"

The United Nations says Iran has executed about 250 people this year.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-29769468

Global executions for 2013

• China: 1,000+

• Iran: 369+

• Iraq: 169+

• Saudi Arabia: 79+

• United States: 39

• Somalia: 34+

• Sudan: 21+

• Yemen: 13+

• Japan: 8

• Others: 42+ (in 12 countries)

Source: Amnesty International


BBC © 2014

[*Anya*]

Kenyans rally for woman stripped naked in Nairobi

CNN iReport
By Faith Karimi, CNN
updated 11:00 PM EST, Tue November 18, 2014

Protesters crowded the streets of Nairobi, Kenya on Monday to send a message that women should not be attacked for the way they dress.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
The incident was captured on a video that went viral last week
It prompted outrage on social media under the hashtag #mydressmychoice

(CNN) -- Kenyans took to the streets of Nairobi on Monday to send a message to men: Stop attacking women because of the way they dress.

The protests followed the latest incident of a woman stripped naked in the capital by a group of men who accused her of "indecent" dressing. The attack captured on video last week prompted outrage on social media under the hashtag #mydressmychoice.

Protesters marched through downtown carrying placards that read "My dress, my choice" while others donned mini-skirts, the same attire the unidentified woman wore when she was attacked. Some men wore dresses to show their support.

Others joined the march to rally against the protests, chanting "don't be naked" and "wear clothes."

This is not the first time a woman has been undressed for purported indecent dressing in the East African nation, which is a majority Christian. Such incidents sporadically happen in other major cities, including Nakuru and Mombasa.

In the footage posted on YouTube and shown on local television, the woman is confronted by her attackers at a bus stop. She looks terrified as she is pushed and shoved by a group of men, who eventually strip her naked. In the background, attackers yell "Toa" -- Swahili for "take it off!" as they tug at her clothes.

"It's so sad that these men who strip women are the same same men who ... will go out in the night looking at women who are dressed to kill and they drool over them," said Brenda Otieno, who supported the protests in Nairobi.

While some applauded the protests, others said they are a distraction from the main issues.
"Kenyans are actually not concerned about clothes ... this is just a media created frenzy trying to redirect the nation's attention away from hard questions like poverty and poor education system," Edu Gezuka posted on social media.

After the videotaped incident, other instances of women getting undressed have been reported including in Mombasa, Kenya's second-largest city.

The issue in not limited to Kenya. Over the years, such incidents have occurred in other African nations, including Malawi and Zimbabwe.

Kenyan authorities have said they are investigating the latest incident.

CNN's Daisy Carrington and Rachel Rodriguez contributed to this report.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/11/17/world/...nya/index.html

[*Anya*]

The Vietnamese government repealed a ban on same-sex marriage on New Year’s Day.

While the government does not officially recognise or provide legal protections for same-sex marriages, weddings can now take place without the threat of fines.

It is seen by many as a move designed to promote Vietnam’s image as a tolerant and accepting country, and boost tourism especially from LGBT travelers. It is the first country in South East Asia to make such a move.

Singapore’s courts upheld its anti-gay laws in October, parts of Indonesia punish homosexuality with 100 lashes, and Brunei passed a law calling for gays to be stoned to death.

Jamie Gillen, a researcher at the National University of Singapore told the Bangkok Post: “This makes Vietnam a leader in Asia. Singapore just reaffirmed its ban on homosexual behaviours. Vietnam is trying to pitch itself as a tolerant and safe country.”

Luong The Huy, a legal advisor for Institute for Studies of Society, Economy and Environment, a minority rights organisation in Hanoi said: “They say the society in Vietnam needs some time to accept gay and lesbians in general. The revision in the law signals to the country that “same-sex marriage is not harmful to society.”

He also spoke about the positive influence of the new US Ambassador to Vietnam, Ted Osius, who arrived in December with his husband and is the first gay US ambassador to an Asian county. Mr Huy said: “He promotes a very good image of a very successful person who is gay. We could get more support from civil society in Vietnam because the American ambassador is gay.”

http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2015/01/08...-sex-marriage/

[cricket26]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/wom...ted-mayor.html

India has elected a transgender mayor.
Madhu Bai Kinnar – an independent candidate – defeated her opponent from prime minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) by more than 4,500 votes to be elected mayor of Raigarh, in the central state of Chhattisgarh, on Sunday.
Kinnar, 35, is a member of the lowly Dalit caste, once known as ‘untouchables’. Before running for mayor, she earned a living by singing and dancing on Howrah to Mumbai trains, collecting money for her performances. She only stopped when asked to represent her community.
“People have shown faith in me. I consider this win as love and blessings of people for me. I’ll put in my best efforts to accomplish their dreams,” said Kinnar after her win.

[*Anya*]

ISIS executing 'educated women' in new wave of horror says U.N.

By AFP | Geneva
Tuesday, 20 January 2015

The UN on Tuesday decried numerous executions of civilians in Iraq by the Islamic State group, warning that educated women appeared to be especially at risk.

The jihadist group is showing a “monstrous disregard for human life” in the areas it controls in Iraq, the UN human rights office said.

The group, which controls large swathes of territory in Iraq and in neighbouring war-ravaged Syria, last week published pictures of the “crucifixions” of two men accused of being bandits, and of a woman being stoned to death, allegedly for adultery.

Numerous other women have also reportedly been executed recently in ISIS-controlled areas, including Mosul, spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani told reporters.

She said “educated, professional women, particularly women who have run as candidates in elections for public office, seem to be particularly at risk.”

“In just the first two weeks of this year, reports indicate that three female lawyers were executed,” Shamdasani said.

A number of other groups are also targeted by the jihadists, Shamdasani said, pointing to “the ruthless murder of two men, who were thrown off the top of a building after having been accused of homosexual acts by a so-called court in Mosul.”

Minorities are not the only ones suffering, with IS meting out “cruel and inhuman punishments” to anyone accused of violating its “extremist interpretations of Islamic Sharia law, or for suspected disloyalty,” she said.

Four doctors were recently killed in central Mosul, allegedly after refusing to treat IS fighters.

The group also reportedly executed 15 civilians in front of a large crowd in Fallujah on January 1, on suspicion they had cooperated with Iraqi security forces, and 14 more in a public square in Dour, north of Tikrit, for refusing to pledge allegiance to IS, Shamdasani said.

Last Update: Tuesday, 20 January 2015 KSA 21:31 - GMT 18:31

http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News...says-U-N-.html

[*Anya*]

Saudi Historian Says U.S. Women Drive Because They Don't Care If They're Raped

The Huffington Post | By Ed Mazza

A Saudi Arabian historian trying to justify the nation's ban on female drivers says women who drive in other countries such as the United States don't care if they're raped and that sexual violence "is no big deal to them."

Saleh al-Saadoon claimed in a recent TV interview that women can be raped when a car breaks down, but unlike other countries, Saudi Arabia protects its women from that risk by not allowing them to drive in the first place, according to a translation posted online by the Middle East Media Research Institute.

"They don't care if they are raped on the roadside, but we do," al-Saadoon said on Saudi Rotana Khalijiyya TV.

“Hold on. Who told you they don’t care about getting raped on the roadside?” asked the host, a woman who is not named in the transcript.

“It’s no big deal for them beyond the damage to their morale,” al-Saadoon replied. “In our case, however, the problem is of a social and religious nature.”

Two other guests on the show -- a man and a woman -- appeared to be in shock over his comments. Al-Saadoon said they were out of touch.

"They should listen to me and get used to what society thinks," al-Saadoon said.

Since the rape argument didn't seem to be convincing anyone, al-Saadoon tried another approach, claiming that women are treated "like queens" in Saudi Arabia because they are driven around by the men of the family and male chauffeurs. That led the host to ask if he wasn't afraid that women might be raped by their chauffeurs.

Al-Saadoon agreed.

"There is a solution, but the government officials and the clerics refuse to hear of it," he said. "The solution is to bring in female foreign chauffeurs to drive our wives."

That caused the female host to laugh and cover her face with her palm.

"Female foreign chauffeurs?" she said. "Seriously?"

Saudi women face serious penalties if they are caught driving, including lashing. Two women who defied the ban on driving last year, Loujain al-Hathloul and Maysa al-Amoudi, are being tried in a court that handles terror cases.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/0...n_6649896.html

[Cin]

I came across a rather fascinating, albeit disturbing, article in the magazine The Atlantic. It's rather long but who knows maybe somebody, besides me, will find it interesting.

http://www.theatlantic.com/features/...europe/386279/