Friday Links — March 7, 2008

A teenage Egyptian girl is shot in the head outside her home. May Allah give her peace.

Wazhma Frogh is one bad-ass Afghan woman: she uses Islam to fight conservative Afghan cultural viewpoints on women’s rights. Barikallah!

The body of Guinean former supermodel and activist against female genital cutting, Katoucha Niane, was found in the Seine River in France.

A woman was told she could take off her headscarf or leave a New Orleans mall. WTF?

A Muslim woman finds that attending a Catholic school doesn’t hurt her faith or principles.

Hyderabad’s all-female Shari’a court provides women with a place to turn to when they’re not sure that male court will give them justice.

Imad Mughniyeh’s widow denies that Syria played a role in her husband’s death, despite what we reported last Friday. (shrug)

Al-Ahram finds some incredibly disconcerting views about rape and sexual assault in Egypt.

The Human Rights Commission will appoint Saudi women as board members.

An Iranian woman sues to get her dowry of 124,000 roses.

The New York Times puts a human—often female—face on the war in Sudan.

Yemeni women demonstrate to demand Islamic and Arab governments to cut dies with Denmark in the wake of their reprinting of the cartoons insulting the Prophet.

Monia Mazigh speaks out on the Status of Women in Canada’s budget cuts and rights for new immigrants.

Lebanon’s The Daily Star discusses the lack of a unified women’s movement in Egypt.

Umm Kulthoum’s favorite pearl necklace is about to be auctioned off for a king’s ransom.

Malaysia jails a Muslim woman for teapot worship.

Over a year since Hamda Abu Ghanem’s death, there is justice: her brother is sentenced to 16 years for aiding in her honor killing.

A Nigerian man is sentenced to jail after admitting that he dressed up as a woman.

The British army investigates the death of an Iraqi woman in Basra.

Shelina Zahra Janmohamed calls for a “womelution.” A very good read.

The Coup Magazine speaks with Waris Dirie, the UN special ambassador for the Elimination of Female Genital Mutilation and head of the Waris Dirie Foundation.

Turkmenistan plans to reward mothers who give birth to more than eight children.

The Canadian Islamic Congress hosted a women-only day to celebrate International Women’s Day.

Parvaneh Osanloo condemns the Iranian authorities for her husband’s harsh detention.

Women in Nigeria lobby for women’s rights to be formalized in Nigeria’s constitution.

Shabana Mir talks about how not to “rescue Muslim women.”

On the benefits of marketing cosmetics to a female Muslim demographic.

Muslim women are detained for violent protests against the police in Hyderabad, India.

Hind Ata of The Arab Women Organisation of Jordan believes that Jordanian women still face a lot of barriers.

Malaysia’s oldest candidate, an 89-year-old woman, goes online to campaign.