Friday Links — April 17, 2009

• epiphanies critically looks at Swedish women’s groups’ messages to Muslim women.

• A nurse in Zaria, Nigeria has been fired from the Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital because of issues with her hejab. Muslim organizations have demanded her reinstatement. The nurse in question speaks out here, while the officials who fired her clarify their position.

• A two-year-old girl’s aunt beats her to death and then is forced to remove her hejab for her mugshot. May Allah give the girl peace and justice. Ray Hanania responds here and here.

• Arab News highlights two recent cases in Saudi Arabia that highlight the dangers of male guardians refusing to allow women to marry.

• A new initiative in Pakistan focuses on all the women of the country’s journalism and profiles them all in a new diary.

• A Jordanian man confesses to murdering his pregnant sister. May Allah give her peace and justice. Via TalkIslam.

• Malaysia’s The Star tries to figure out what Islamic fashion actually is and examines Burqini swimwear.

• Iran’s Guardian Council says there are no restrictions on women running for president. More here.

• Omayma Abdel-Latif writes about sisters in Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood.
  

• A Saudi judge has refused–for a second time–to annul the marriage of an eight-year-old girl to a 47-year-old man. Via ifeminists. More from Saudi Jeans. Following this decision, the Justice Ministry says it’s going to regulate girl marriages…Close, but not close enough. More at Arabisto.

• A family in France was denied housing because of the mother’s burqa. Via Islam in Europe.

• Time asks whether Iraq will cut down on sex trafficking.

• Improvisations: Arab Woman Progressive Voice highlights Samar Rabah’s fight against gender segregation in Saudi Arabia.

• Nuseiba writes about religious extremism through the lens of the Swat whipping.

• The Times of India polls some Muslim women about their thoughts on voting and elections and comes up with a disastrously misleading headline.

• IslamOnline reviews Pray the Devil Back to Hell, about the alliance of Christian and Muslim Liberian women against violence in their country.

• Sudanese women must be part of the peace process, say the Nobel Women’s Initiative.

• Mariam Sobh recounts her attempt at reality TV and the lessons she’s learned from it.

• Malika Hamidi speaks about the emergence of a feminist consciousnes among European Muslim women.

• The Peninsula reports that social taboos are stifling female Arab writers.

• The Muthabara Foundation says that private firms should encourage Emirati women to join the workforce and nurture their professional development.

• Tehran’s Al Zahra University will hold a seminar to celebrate the world’s Persian-speaking female poets.

• The Yemen Times interviews Fatima Jarallah about her life and career.

• On Egypt’s struggles with female genital cutting.

• The Morung Express traces the history of Pakistani women’s rights and their struggles.

• Sitara Achakzai, an Afghan women’s rights activist, was murdered last Sunday in Kandahar. May Allah give her peace and justice. More here and here.

• The Yemen Times examines troubling social and cultural traditions in Yemeni society that harm girls.

• Firoza Bibi, a politician in rural India, aids survivors of sexual violence.

• From one Bibi to another: IPS looks at Mukhtaran Mai’s recent marriage.

• An Emirati police officer attempted to rape a woman after offering her a ride home.

• A father in Russia is charged with hiring men to kill his daughter for wearing a mini-skirt. May Allah give her peace and justice.

• It’s been one year since Nujood busted herself out of a marriage she didn’t want. But what about all the other Yemeni girls who are still in her situation?

• Officials in Kanpur, India, have dispensed female police personnel during upcoming elections to ensure female voter participation.

• Princess Haya bint Al Hussein of Dubai opens a major gynecology hospital.

• The Huffington Post gives us a guide to women’s rights in Afghanistan.

• Roxana Saberi underwent trial in Iran; the verdict will come within a few weeks.

• The “Open Shutters Iraq” project gave Iraqi women cameras and had them document the war through their own realities.

• IslamOnline and AltMuslimah air the same story. What’s different is reader’s reactions…

• An anti-hijab bill in Okhahoma is dismissed on the grounds that it violates religious freedom.

• Feministe has a great post about women who come to the West on spousal/dependant visas.

• CNN and The Guardian cover the story of two lovers in Afghanistan who were murdered as they attempted to elope. May Allah give them peace and justice. Via Improvisations and ProgressiveIslam.

• Speaking of Afghanistan, women turned out in droves to protest the Shi’a law this week, where counter-protesters threw stones at them. You can see video here. Feministe has set up a donation fund,  and The Feminist School issues a statement of support. Meanwhile, a cleric says that the law doesn’t allow rape, but his reasoning isn’t quite right…

• Mona El Tahawy comes out with a video that illustrates her piece, “The Happy Muslim Men an Women who Confuse You.”

• Conservative Somali administrators have ordered Somali women to wear veils. More here.

• Umar Lee publishes a woman’s experience converting to Islam during the American Salafi movement in the 1980s.

• Delara Darabi is scheduled to be hung within the week. May Allah save her.

• Alicia takes a look at polygamy in Indonesian media.

• Yet another article about hijabs and sports.

• The Independent reports that air raids in Iraq kill mostly women and children.

• Turkey is remaking my favorite sitcom from the ’80s: Golden Girls! Via Jezebel.

• Nahid Abu T’eima writes an open letter to President Mahmoud Abbas about the killing of women.

• Maytha discusses her personal exeriences with the abaya at KABOBfest.

• NPR looks at opium and heroin addiction in Afghanistan, and how it affects children.

• Yvonne Ridley writes about being the victim of Islamophobia.

• Global Voices Online introduces us to some more awesome hijab bloggers.

• Egypt launches a campaign against the niqab. Really, Egypt?

• The Evening Telegraph takes a look at the Husseini Women’s Group in Peterborough.

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Tags: Muslim women, News

Friday Links