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28 Oct 2014 - NPWJ News Digest on FGM & women's rights
Articles
Morocco Presents Its Experience In Protection Of Women’s Rights In Paris
By Morocco World News, 27 Oct 2014
Paris-The significant progress made by Morocco in the protection of women’s rights has been presented at a conference, held Sunday at the Arab World Institute, as part of the Moroccan season in Paris. Organized in partnership with the National Council for Human Rights, the conference entitled “Women leaders, Women on the Move”, was moderated by Himmich Hakima, president of the Association for the Fight against AIDS (ALCS), Layla Chaouni, Director of “Fennec” editions and Nezha Hayat, a member of the Moroccan General Confederation of Enterprises (CGEM). These ladies with exceptional careers underlined the commitment of HM King Mohammed VI, since his accession to the throne, to promote the situation of women, highlighting the initiatives of the Sovereign to guarantee women greater social, economic and political integration and combat all forms of discrimination.
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Saudi women's driving campaign gathers pace
By Al Jazeera, 26 Oct 2014
Activists pushing for women's right-to-drive in Saudi Arabia have declared their online campaign a success, in the world's only country where women are not allowed to operate cars. The campaign that began last year and revved up again since the beginning of the month encouraged women to post online images of themselves driving. Dozens of women have driven and posted during the latest campaign, one activist said, although she knew of only two who hit the streets on Saturday and Sunday as the campaign peaked. "A day hasn't gone by without receiving one or two videos" of women driving, said the activist. Men and women have also posted messages of support. More than 2,800 people have signed an online petition at www.oct26driving.com asking authorities to lift the ban on women driving. The activist said she did not want to be named because the interior ministry has threatened her with arrest if she speaks publicly about the campaign.
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Iran executes Reyhaneh Jabbari despite global appeals for retrial
By The Guardian, 25 Oct 2014
Iran has ignored an international campaign to spare the life of a 26-year-old woman convicted of murder by hanging her at dawn on Saturday.Reyhaneh Jabbari had spent five years on death row for stabbing a 47-year-old surgeon who had previously worked for the intelligence ministry, the official IRNA news agency reported. The UN and bodies including the European Union and Amnesty International had said that the interior designer’s confession for killing Morteza Abdolali Sarbandi in 2007 was obtained under intense pressure and threats from Iranian prosecutors, and she should have had a retrial. Ahmed Shaheed, the UN’s human rights rapporteur on Iran, said in April that the killing was an act of self defence. Sarbandi had offered to hire Jabbari to redesign his office and took her to an apartment where he tried to sexually abuse her. Iranian actors and other prominent figures had also appealed for a stay of execution. Efforts for clemency had intensified in recent weeks. Jabbari’s mother was allowed to visit her for one hour on Friday, Amnesty said - a custom that tends to precede executions in Iran.
Egypt waits on landmark decision concerning FGM
By FIGO, 24 Oct 2014
A date has been set for the verdict of what is being described as a landmark trial in Egypt concerning female genital mutilation (FGM). The case concerns the death of a 13-year-old girl in June 2013 - Suhair al Bataa was taken to a clinic in the country by her father to undergo the risky ritual and did not survive. Now, her father and the doctor carrying out the practice, which is still widely practised in the country, are waiting to see what the courts decide. Both have been accused of subjecting her to FGM, the BBC reported. Although it was outlawed by the authorities in 2008, the culture surrounding it continues, with many parents considering it a rite of passage. According to statistics provided by the Egyptian government, over 90 per cent of women under the age of 50 have been subject to FGM.
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Oscar Pistorius: Women's rights groups call for action to combat 'worryingly short' prison sentences for domestic violence
By The Independent, 22 Oct 2014
Oscar Pistorius could be set to serve as little as 10 months of his five year prison term for shooting dead his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine’s Day 2013 was met with shock by women’s rights groups today, who called for “robust and urgent action” to end violence against women. By South African legal guidelines, this means the athlete, who was found guilty of the culpable homicide (the equivalent to manslaughter in the UK) in September, might carry out a shorter sentence for his violent crime than if he had been found guilty of two counts of breaking and entering, or of supplying illegal drugs. "This case will set a precedent all around the world," Reeva Steenkamp’s British sister, Simone Cowburn, told the Daily Mail ahead of sentencing on Monday. "We do not want other men to get off just because Oscar Pistorius has. It is still homicide.