Friday Links — October 24, 2008

• Last Friday, a girls’ school in northwest Pakistan was blown up. IRIN looks at the detrimental effect the Swat conflict has on girls’ education. Via WLUML.

• In response to the Amnesty International report on human rights in Saudi Arabia, the Riyadh-based Saudi National Human Rights Association will release its own report evaluating the country’s human rights situation. Judging from the fact that the vice president “praised the position of women in Saudi Arabia and cited education and work opportunities as the best examples of women’s rights,” I’m guessing it won’t be incredibly objective, though there are calls for this.

• Radio Netherlands covers the headscarf in Iran.

• Dr. Amina Wadud led prayers in Britain last Friday for the first time ever. Some people were not down with that, some where very down with it, some are ambivalent.

• In the Allahabad High Court denied a divorced Muslim woman maintenance, saying that a specific legal code prohibited her from claiming it.

• Rafia Zakaria writes about why Britain’s Islamic marriage contract should be lauded.

• Iraqi police arrested two different female suicide bombers last Friday.

• The Saudi Ministry of Interior has formed a committee to look into blackmail cases against women.

• The U.K.’s newest immigration minister thinks that headscarves shouldn’t be allowed in schools. I think he should stick to immigration.

• An 11-year-old girl was set on fire by her uncle for reasons that are disputed. Neither report confirms whether she died. May Allah give her peace and justice.

• A woman tells of the movement she and her family started for Muslim women’s education in India.

• Some Kuwaiti parliament members are pissed that two women who don’t wear headscarves were appointed to posts in Education and administrative development. More at AsiaNews and Al Arabiya.

• The Washington Post profiles Ghada Abdel Aal, a high-profile Egyptian blogger known for her posts about marriage suitors.

• Azadeh Moaveni writes a great takedown for Time magazine on The Jewel of Medina, and Shelina Zahra Janmohamed writes one for the BBC.

• The Spectrum profiles Mara Ahmed’s film The Muslims I Know.
  

• Religious leaders gather in Istanbul and discuss education.

• The Saudi Charitable Society for Welfare of Saudi Families Abroad (AWASSER) in Riyadh is launching an awareness campaign and scientific symposium on Saudi families.

• Golshifteh Farahani gives an interview about working on Body of Lies.
  

• The New Afghanistan profiles Fawiza Koofi, a Second Deputy of the Afghanistan Parliament. Via Global Online Voices.

• Egyptian Chronicles shares a joke that she didn’t find funny. Via Global Online Voices.

• Iraq’s unfair family laws anger women.

• Ilham Shaheen wins the Black Pearl award for Best Actress at the second annual Middle East International Film Festival.

• California-based Esha Momeni has been arrested while on a visit to Iran. Via Feministing. More from The Feminist School, Payvand News, WLUML, and the LA Times. May Allah protect her.

• Raquel Evita Saraswati highlights the fact that the deaths of Amina and Sarah Said are being treated by the FBI as honor killings, which makes this the first time that the FBI has used this term. Later news reports state that the FBI has removed the term “honor crime” from the wanted notice of their father, who is accused of murdering Amina and Sarah.

• A Seattle-area Afghan girl has gone through a horrible, disgusting ordeal. Via Progressive Muslima News. May Allah give her justice.

• SchoolSaha shares the reasons behind her decision to re-niqab.

• Last week, we reported that a Muslim student was attacked in an Illinois college bathroom. Police have arrested her for filing a false police report.

• Saudi Jeans highlights an impassioned plea for change for Saudi women, by a Saudi woman.

• The Feminist School posits that Iran’s “car for women” isn’t made for women, but for profit.

Al Jazeera looks at girls’ schools that are under threat from Pakistani Taleban.

• The woman who was forced to remove her headscarf while being held in jail has reached a tentative settlement for her federal lawsuit.

• The Connecticut Post features an article that attempts to demystify headscarves and their wearers. (sigh)

• A sister in the U.K. is doing her dissertation and would like some Muslim women’s opinions.

• In Egypt, Sharif Gomaa has been sentenced to three years in jail for sexual harassment. He was also ordered to pay the woman he groped a sum of money. More from the LA Times, Menassat, and The New York Times. MidEast Youth has an interview with the survivor, Noha. Via Jezebel.

• The U.N. expresses concern over the rights of women and religious/ethnic minorities in Iran.

• A father has prevents his four daughters from completing their educations and also prevents their mother, his ex-wife, from seeing them.

• The Afghan student who downloaded a pamphlet on women’s rights has been given 20 years in prison instead of the death penalty. More from Al Jazeera and the New York Times.

• Islam in Europe reports on Muslim teens getting abortions without parental consent in Denmark.

• A man convicted of beating his wife to death was executed in Saudi Arabia.

• Iranian women will participate in the Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, 2010.

• G. Willow Wilson and Muse talk about mahr.

• Arab News reports that a five-year-old girl was beaten to death by her father. May Allah grant her peace.

• Maryam Rajavi visits Italy.

• The United States Agency for International Development and Pakistan’s National Institute of Population Studies reports high child and maternal mortality rates in Pakistan.

• Turkey’s Constitutional Court on Wednesday defended its decision opposing Islamic headscarves at the country’s universities. More from Al Arabiya and Today’s Zaman.

• An Egyptian documentary on virginity draws criticism. Shocking, I know!

• The U.K.’s Association of Chief Police Officers have issued new guidelines to more effectively spot and handle potential honor crime situations.
  

• The LA Times reports that sex trafficking in Lebanon is still under the authorities’ radar.

• Malaysia has blocked Dr. Shirin Ebadi from speaking as planned at the University of Malaya. More from WLUML.

• Global Online Voices highlights a new direction in the “We are All Laila” campaign.

• Islam in Europe reports that a university professor in France has been warned over his discriminatory behavior to two students wearing headscarves and that an imam has been arrested for conducting illegal marriages in France.

• MuslimMatters looks at the Manji vs. Mogahed debate.

• The Feminist School gives us a rundown on Iranian Women’s news in the last week.

• A woman in Algeria has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for allegedly damaging a Qur’an.

• Johann Hari from The Independent asks, “Dare we stand up for Muslim women?”

• Room magazine is looking for submissions; Muslim ladies, speak up, if you please.

• SaudiAmber examines negative reactions to a Tunisian film about inheritance laws.

• U.S. News highlights gutsy Afghan journalist Farida Nekzad. Via Jezebel.

• Cafebabel profiles Turkish theologist Nuriye Duran-Özsoy about her experiences and opinions of the headscarf.

• IslamOnline introduces us to a Dutch hejab designer.

• Daisy Khan writes a piece on faith-based feminism. That’s what I’m talkin’ ’bout.

• Ali Bulaç writes about how the headscarf is traditions vs. modernity’s newest battleground.
  

• The BBC interviews the last of Albania’s “sworn virgins.”

• ProgressiveIslam.info higlights a fatwa against tomboys in Malaysia and the detrimental effect it may have on Malaysians.

• Don’t forget! Next Wednesday (October 29) is pink scarf day to create awareness of breast cancer. And next Thursday (October 30) is Wear Red to Document the Silence for violence against women of color.