Friday Links — October 10, 2008

• A female fan jumps onstage and kisses Tamer Hosni during a concert in Kuwait, shutting down the concert early and outraging Kuwaiti parliament members.

• Eid celebrations in a Cairo suburb were marred after several women were sexually assaulted.

• A woman and her husband are harassed by three members of the Saudi Commission for the Promotion of Vice and Virtue.

• Iran plans to begin manufacturing and selling cars designed specifically for women. They’ll have “soft, feminine colours.” (rolling eyes) More from the BBC.

• Iraqi women are reluctant to run for local elections for fear of violence directed at them or their families. Via DeenPort. More from Yahoo! News. Via Progressive Muslima News.

• MidEast Youth’s Esra’a gives her take on the Saudi cleric’s ruling that women should only show one eye, and Myrtus weighs in, too.

• The Tehran City Council passed a bill that would pay the debts of 2,000 female prisoners.

• Female imams have a large role in China’s Muslim population.

• A Saudi journalists’ treatment on a blog answers her questions as to why Muslim women are treated badly.

• After a pregnant woman died in an Egyptian police raid, crowds of Egyptians attack police. May Allah give her peace. Via Arabisto. More from Al Arabiya and Middle East Online.

• The United Nation’s Children Fund is undertaking research to figure out the causes of India’s high maternal mortality rate.

• More than 20 women in Sudan were arrested and allegedly beaten because their pants were “tight”. The president shut down the police crackdown, releasing all women arrested. More from Reuters. Via Jezebel. More from the BBC and Middle East Online.

• An Iranian girls’ volleyball team participated in Asian Youth Girl’s Volleyball Championship in Manilla, Philippines.

• Dr. Qanta Ahmed speaks with Voice of America on her book and life in Saudi Arabia. PopMatters reviews her book.

• The Modesto Bee profiles an American Muslim woman who’s proud to be both.

• Another story on “Islamic sportswear.”

• Achelois writes her opinion on Islamic feminism (and why it’s not going to get us anywhere): part 1 and part 2

• Pakistan’s ambassador to the U.S. demands that they hand over Dr. Aafia Siddiqui.

• The first ever Women’s Islamic Football Tournament will be held in Tehran from Oct. 5 – 15. Photos of Iran’s Malavan Women’s Soccer team.

• Women in the Gaza Strip are warned to cover their hair.

• In Afghanistan’s Bamian provence, women are quietly gaining rights. There’s a nifty movie, too.

• Time looks at Iranian women’s taxis and their economic impact on Iranian women.

• A sexual harassment law is being drafted in Saudi Arabia by the Ministry of Labor and the Shoura council.

• Another conservative non-Muslim woman wears a headscarf for a day and thinks Muslim women get treated a little too nicely.

• Iran imprisons Kurdish feminist Negin Sheikholeslami without charges.

• Asharq Alawsat gives the Muslim Brotherhood’s stance on women’s rights.

• Aaminah Hernández has started the Winter Scarf Project, which will donate winter scarves to the homeless.

Al Jazeera interviews the Nigerian man with 86 wives, speaking also with his wives and gaging the community’s reaction:

• A woman who converted to Islam is injured after her brother opened fire on her and her family, killing her husband and injuring her daughter.

• The Feminist School reports on the one-year anniversary of Dr. Zahra Bani Yaghoub’s death in custody.

• CNN profiles female Kurdish fighters who “won’t stand for male dominance.”

• Three Iranian feminist protesters have been sent to solitary confinement, reports the Committee to Support Widespread Hunger Strike by Kurdish Political Prisoners and Civil Rights Activists. Via WLUML.

• Themina Kader gave a lecture on contemporary female Muslim artists at the University of Arkansas.

• Health care and medicine for Afghan mothers is still lacking. Via Progressive Muslima News.

• Arab News looks at temporary marriages in Saudi Arabia. Stilettos in the Sand… gives her opinion. Via Global Voices Online.

• Nushin Arbabzadah and Massoumeh Torfeh give their opinions on why talks with the Taliban won’t work.

• A woman and her daughters look for financial support but don’t find it from the government.

• Mohammed Al-Ubaydli writes about the lessons he’ll teach his daughters to improve their chances at success. Via Global Voices Online.

• France bans immigrant Muslims who cover their faces from state-sponsored French language classes. Via Islam in Europe.

• IRQO seeks donations for a young Iranian woman seeking asylum in Sweden.

• Ijtema profiles Rafia Hussain Kamel’s calligraphy work.

• Yassir Harib wonders why some Gulf men walk separately from their wives and children.

• On Muslim women and the headscarf in Finland. Via Hijab Style.

• MidEast Youth exposes forced child prostitution in Lebanon.

• HijabMan looks at Lena Khan’s work for Obama.

• Menassat profiles Gaza’s first female sportscaster, Nelly al-Masri.

• The Feminist School looks at news in women’s activism over the last week.

• A woman and three children were among those killed in a U.S. strike in Pakistan. May Allah give them peace. Via TalkIslam.

• Payvand News interviews Iranian women’s activist Azadeh Faramarziha.

• An Indonesian Islamic women’s school allows transvestites to attend.

• epiphanies gives her take on the Jewel of Madina controversy and has an interesting discussion on African women and western feminism.

• A CEDAW follow-up report on Kyrgyzstan.

• Unconfirmed reports say that a female suicide bomber killed nine and wounded 29 people outside a courthouse in Diyala, Iraq. May Allah give the victims peace.

• Kamangir translates an open letter to Mahmoud Ahmedinejad by Iranian journalist Masih Alinejad.

• Speaking of open letters, Crypto-Muslim writes a great one to Mohja Kahf for her “Sermon” piece in The Washington Post.
  

• Two-year-old Tangena Hussain is missing, and police have arrested her mother’s boyfriend in connection with another crime and dug up a backyard in search of her. May Allah keep her safe.

• HijabStyle gives us a rundown on Dubai Fashion Week.

• Malalai Joya, one kick-ass, outspoken Afghan lady, speaks to The Nation.

• A female qazi has presided over another marriage in India.

• The Norwegian Police Joint Union says no to headscarves.