An Indian High Court has decided that the marriage of a 16-year old Muslim girl, who was married without parental consent at age 15, is valid and she can stay in her matrimonial home, even though the legal age of marriage in India is 18. Her mother is against the marriage, saying she was kidnapped, but the girl testified that she left her home out of free will to marry her husband.
Once again, conflicting views on the future of women and women’s rights in Egypt: on one hand the thought that democracy will bring, eventually, equality for Egyptian women and on the other hand the notion that currently the rights of women in Egypt are being eroded.
A case involving a 13-year-old girl, Lal Bibi, in Afghanistan raped by local police tests the Afghan justice system and has caused outrage throughout the country. May Allah give her justice!
Three Syrian women activists have been detained, and reportedly tortured, when attending a protest against the Houla massacre. Their whereabouts and fate are unknown.
Pakistani officials are investigating whether four women, who where shown (apparently) singing in front of two men in a viral video, have been murdered. A Pakistani activist has since met with two of the women, but the fate of the others is still unknown.
When a Belgian woman got arrested for wearing the face veil, the police officer was attacked by angry protesters. Now the right-wing leader Filip Dewinter is offering a “burqa bounty” for anyone who reports a fully veiled woman to the police.
Photographer Rania Matar features girls from Lebanon and the USA in her new book “A Girl and Her Room.”
Thousands of Turkish women have protested the plans of Turkish president Erdogan to make abortion illegal in Turkey, referring to it as “murder”. Abortion is Turkey is currently allowed until the 10th week after conception.
During a Muslin women’s conference in Uganda the public was urged to make taking an HIV test before entering into a marriage a compulsory practice to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS.
In order to “save culture,” Emirati women have launched, once again, a dress code campaign on how to dress “decently” in public spaces, mainly malls.
With new protests after the Mubarak verdict, sex assaults on Egyptian women participating in the protests are on the rise.
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation featured an article on Muslim women in the Australian Media.
Through projects by the Self Empowered Women’s Association (SEWA), marginalised Muslim women in India learn to use their traditional craft skills to make products for an international market.
Among the 15 people arrested for the Afghan school poisoning in Takhar province are Taliban members, according to information from the Afghan government.
A new law in Tasikmalaya, West Java, Indonesia will require all Muslim women, residents and visitors alike, to be veiled in public. Activists criticize the by-law.
Many single women in Sharjah, UAE, have difficulties renewing their tenancy contracts or finding apartments to rent, as landlords claim that they need marriage certificates in order to comply to the new “bachelor rule.”
And finally, two more female Muslim athletes that have been in the news last week: wrestler Aisuluu Tynybekova from Kyrgyzstan and Qatari sprinter Noor al-Malki.