Tag Archives: Women’s rights

10 Embarrassing Questions for Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman, by Middle East Monitor

Posted on October 30, 2018 | Leave a comment

These questions would certainly put good old MbS on the spot. From Middle East Monitor at theantimedia.org:

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has asked ten questions to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman, all of them related to the human rights situation in the Kingdom and Riyadh’s violations against neighbouring countries.

This came in a statement issued by the organisation demanding Bin Salman provide answers to questions related to the war in Yemen, the detention of activists and academics, the arrest of princes and businessmen, forced disappearances, the oppression of women and non-Muslims in the Kingdom. It also demanded Riyadh explain its campaign against oppositionists abroad, the most recent victim of which was journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

HRW’s statement pointed out that the Kingdom’s admission that government representatives killed Khashoggi in its consulate in Istanbul has provoked an extensive, albeit belated, review of the country’s record of human rights violations. Human Rights Watch also called on foreign government officials to hold Saudi Arabia accountable for this record.

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Posted in Civil Liberties, Crime, Foreign Policy, Geopolitics, Governments, History, Investigations, Law, Politics

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The Message from Saudi’s ‘Reformist’ Crown Prince to Saudi Women: Shut Up and Drive, by Medea Benjamin

Posted on June 2, 2018 | Leave a comment

Women are and will be second-class citizens in Saudi Arabia for a long time. From Medea Benjamin at antiwar.com:

The June issue of Vogue Arabia is dedicated to the “trailblazing women of Saudi Arabia” and the much-awaited June 24 date that will give Saudi women the right to drive. The cover shot is a glamorous photo of Princess Hayfa bint Abdullah Al Saud in the Jeddah desert, perched in the driver’s seat of a vintage red 1980s Mercedes-Benz convertible.

“It is easy to comment on other people’s societies and think that your own society is superior, but the Western world must remember that each country is specific and unique,” the princess told Vogue. “We have strengths and weaknesses but, invariably, it’s our culture, and it’s better to try to understand it than to judge it.”

But unlike the wealthy, pampered princess, for decades Saudi women themselves have been judging, and desperately trying to change, their society. They have been fighting to lift the travel ban since 1990, when 47 women piled into cars and drove around the capital. They were arrested and thrown in jail. Their passports were confiscated, those with government jobs were fired, and they were denounced in mosques across the country. Similar protests took place in 2011, 2013 and 2015.

Many Saudis believe the faces of these activists should be gracing the cover of Vogue Arabia and social media is ablaze with “corrected versions” of the magazine. But instead of celebrating the true Saudi heroes, since May 15 at least 11 activists, both women and male allies, have been arrested. One of the activists is in her 60s and another is 70 years old. Four have since been released.

They are accused of “suspicious contact with foreign parties” and undermining the “security and stability” of Saudi Arabia. In a vicious smear campaign, the state-run media released their photos with the word “traitor” stamped in red across their faces. These peaceful activists may now face up to 20 years in prison for their work against the decades-old driving ban.

To continue reading: The Message from Saudi’s ‘Reformist’ Crown Prince to Saudi Women: Shut Up and Drive

 

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Posted in Civil Liberties, Government

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How Women are Treated by Islam, by Denis MacEoin

Posted on September 16, 2017 | Leave a comment

This is a difficult article to read. Which means, as SLL always says about difficult articles, that this is one you should make sure you read. From Denis MacEoin at gatestoneinstitute.org:

  • “No one wants to demonise a particular community but the fact that this is happening again and again in the same circumstances and communities is a fact we cannot ignore. I think there needs to be a national approach…” — Greg Stone, Liberal Democrat party.
  • If we look at a list of 265 convictions for grooming gangs and individuals in the UK between November 1997 and January 2017 (and if we add on another 18 for the recent Newcastle gang), we will note that more than 99% are for Muslim men, mainly young men in their 20s and 30s.
  • It is, however, not just white (that is, non-Muslim) women whom Muslim men hold in such contempt. This abuse starts at home in Islamic countries in the treatment of Muslim women. Its roots lie in aspects of Islamic law and doctrine that are retained in the 21st century, despite having been formulated in the 7thcentury and later.
  • The idea that a man is not responsible for rape or other sexual assault and that women bear the blame for such a crime goes far to help explain why Muslim men in Britain and elsewhere may feel themselves justified in grooming and sexually abusing young women and girls far less well covered.

Newcastle upon Tyne is a small city in the North-East of England which, in 2017, was acclaimed the best city in the UK in which to raise children (London was the worst). Imagine, then, the shock when the city again became national news on August 9 when a trial at the Crown Court ended in the conviction of 18 people for the sexual grooming of children. Juries “found the men guilty of a catalogue of nearly 100 offences – including rape, human trafficking, conspiracy to incite prostitution and drug supply – between 2011 and 2014.”

Of the 18, one was a white British woman. The rest were males of Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Indian, Iraqi, Turkish and Iranian backgrounds, all with Muslim names.

 

 

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Posted in Governments, History, Philosophy, Politics, Religion

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Outrage After At Least 5 EU Nations Elect Saudi Arabia On UN Women’s Rights Council, by Tyler Durden

Posted on April 24, 2017 | Leave a comment

It doesn’t get much more blatantly hypocritical than this. From Tyler Durden at zerohedge.com:

In what may have been the biggest trolling of the United Nations in recent history, Saudi Arabia was elected via secret ballot in the UN Economic and Social Council to the 45-member UN Commission on the Status of Women last week. According to Reuters, twelve other countries were also elected by the council in Geneva to serve for a four-year term, ending in 2022: Algeria, Comoros, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Kenya, Iraq, Japan, South Korea, Turkmenistan, Ecuador, Haiti and Nicaragua.

The news promptly sparked mocking and ridicule. UN Watch, a human rights organization monitoring the performance of the United Nations, strongly condemned the appointment of Saudi Arabia to post,citing Riyadh’s poor women’s rights record and widespread gender inequality.

“Electing Saudi Arabia to protect women’s rights is like making an arsonist into the town fire chief. It’s absurd,” Hillel Neuer, the UN Watch chief, said.

Every Saudi woman “must have a male guardian who makes all critical decisions on her behalf, controlling a woman’s life from her birth until death. Saudi Arabia also bans women from driving cars,” Neuer added.

Who voted for Saudi Arabia? At least 5 EU nations based on UN Watch math: “Neuer said that seven of the 54 council states did not vote for Saudi Arabia, and that, based on his count, five of the 12 EU states on the council voted in favor of Saudi Arabia. It received the least amount of votes out of all of the 13 newly approved members, he added.”

To continue reading: Outrage After At Least 5 EU Nations Elect Saudi Arabia On UN Women’s Rights Council

 

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Posted in Governments, Horseshit, Uncategorized

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