Egypt’s women urge MPs not to pass early marriage, sex-after-death laws
The parliamentary attacks on women’s rights has drawn great criticism from women’s organizations in Egypt. (File photo)
Egypt’s National Council for Women (NCW) has appealed to the Islamist-dominated parliament not to approve two controversial laws on the minimum age of marriage and allowing a husband to have sex with his dead wife within six hours of her death according to a report in an Egyptian newspaper.
The appeal came in a message sent by Dr. Mervat al-Talawi, head of the NCW, to the Egyptian People’s Assembly Speaker, Dr. Saad al-Katatni, addressing the woes of Egyptian women, especially after the popular uprising that toppled president Hosni Mubarak in February 2011.
'Farewell Intercourse' law allowing sex with dead wives sparks fury in Egypt
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(AFP Photo / Khaled Desouki)
Egypt’s Islamist-dominated parliament is set to introduce a law allowing husbands to have sex with their dead wives up to six hours after death. Critics fear it highlights a trend of increasingly anti-female legislation since the Arab Spring.
The “farewell Intercourse” bill was inspired by a Fatwa issued by a Moroccan cleric last year. Zamzami Abdul Bar said that since the two would meet in Heaven again anyway, death shouldn’t get in the way of one last post-mortem marital romp.
Critics have slammed the law as “catastrophic.” Prominent journalist and TV host Jaber al-Qarmouty used his program on Tuesday to lash out at the proposed law.
“This is unbelievable. It is a catastrophe to give the husband such a right! Has the Islamic trend reached that far? Is there really a draft law in this regard? Are there people thinking in this manner,” he lamented on air.
Egypt Brotherhood’s restrictions on creativity begin with Adel Imam
Court upholds sentencing of Adel Imam, Arab world's most famous actor, to three months in jail for ‘defaming Islam’ in several roles.
Many people support me’
CAIRO - A Cairo court on Tuesday upheld the sentencing of Adel Imam, the Arab world's most famous actor, to three months in jail for "defaming Islam" in several roles on stage and screen, a judicial source said.
The Egyptian actor, who is also a UN goodwill ambassador was originally convicted in absentia in February, after being sued by Asran Mansur, a lawyer with Islamist ties.
CAIRO—An Egyptian court upheld a conviction against one of the Arab world's most famous comedians, sentencing him to jail for offending Islam in some of his most popular films.
The case against Adel Imam and others like it have raised concerns among some Egyptians that ultraconservative Muslims who made gains in recent elections after Hosni Mubarak's ouster last year are trying to foist their religious views on the entire country. Critics say the trend threatens to curb Egypt's vibrant film industry and freedom of speech.
Mr. Imam was sentenced to three months in jail and fined around $170 for insulting Islam in roles he played in movies such as "The Terrorist", in which he acted the role of a wanted terrorist who found refuge with a middle class, moderate family, and the film "Terrorism and Kabab. "
Interview with the former Muslims Maher al-Gohary (60) and his daughter Dina (17) who escaped from Egypt because of death penalty for conversion to Christianity.
The very well known case from European media is not looking like coming to an expected happy end. Those two people have been facing difficulties for years, not only in Egypt where death penalty is sentenced for conversion from Islam to Christianity, but also in Europe, where they were subjected to the acts of discrimination by the Muslim community.
Despite of the case being frequently commented in the international media, i.e.: BBC, Fox News, and many newspapers, not so much has happened so far to change the situation. Ignorance and lack of responsibility for lives of this two innocent people are scaring. Why haven't European governments and immigration offices done what it takes to protect and ensure security for them? Where they can go next after Egypt, Syria, Germany, France and Sweden? Will the Swedish authority be the one to help and listen to them? Who will take responsibility to save those two?
NEW YORK — The admitted bomb-maker in a foiled plot against the city's subways appeared in public Tuesday for the first time in more than two years, describing how an FBI most-wanted terrorist recruited him and two friends for an al-Qaida suicide mission in the U.S. after they abandoned plans to wage jihad against U.S. troops in Afghanistan.
Zarein Ahmedzay, right, with his attorney Michael Marinaccio during his arraignment at Brooklyn Federal court in New York. In his first public account, Ahmedzay testified Monday, April 16, 2012, that Adis Madunjanin, accused of becoming an al-Qaida operative, discussed bombing New York City movie theaters, Grand Central Terminal, Times Square and the New York Stock Exchange before settling on the city's subways, encouraged Ahmedzay to follow a more radical form of Islam. (AP Photo/Elizabeth Williams, File)
BERLIN — A drive by a fundamentalist Muslim group to give a copy of the Koran to every German, Swiss and Austrian household has tapped into the widespread anti-Islamic feeling in Germany and created an uproar among politicians and security officials concerned that the group handing out the holy books is using the campaign as a cover to recruit radicals.
The controversial peer was suspended from the Labour Party following reports that he offered cash for the capture of Mr Obama and his White House predecessor President George W Bush.
The Express Tribune newspaper in Pakistan reported that he spoke out at a reception last week in direct response to an American reward offered for the capture of a prominent Pakistani radical.
Christian teen jailed for insulting Islam with Facebook cartoon in Egypt
A Christian teenager has been jailed for three years in Egypt for posting cartoons deemed insulting to Islam on his Facebook page.
Gamal Abdou Massoud (17) was also accused of distributing some of the images to his school friends. He was sentenced on 4 April by a child’s court in the southern city of Assiut, where he lives.
Human rights lawyer Negad al-Borai said that the jail term was the maximum penalty under Egyptian law for such an offence.
The cartoon, published in December, was regarded by Muslims as a depiction of Muhammad, though Gamal denied this. It nevertheless prompted violent protests by Muslims in three villages that lasted for two days. They torched Gamal's home and four others belonging to his friends and relatives. Several Christians were injured in the violence.
Suicide Bomber Targets Churches in Kaduna, Nigeria
Repelled by church security, suspected Islamic extremist detonates blast at nearby taxi stand.
By Obed Minchakpu
KADUNA, Nigeria, April 9 (Compass Direct News) – Churches celebrating Easter services were the targets of a suicide bomber who killed at least 38 people yesterday in Kaduna city in northern Nigeria, sources said.
Security personnel at one of the church buildings blocked the bomber, believed to belong to the Boko Haram Islamic sect, who then decided to detonate his explosives in the street at a nearby motorcycle taxi center, the sources said. Dozens of people were injured in addition to those killed.
Egypt Brotherhood candidate says sharia is main goal
CAIRO
CAIRO (Reuters) - The Muslim Brotherhood's candidate for the Egyptian presidency, Khairat al-Shater, declared that introducing sharia law would be his "first and final" objective if he wins elections in May and June.
Making his first reported statements since the Brotherhood's surprise decision to field him in the elections, Shater also promised to reform the Interior Ministry which long played a leading role in suppressing dissent.
However, he denied he had struck a deal with the military on his candidacy, announced last Saturday, even though it may help candidates close to the old order of ousted President Hosni Mubarak by splintering the Islamist vote.
"Sharia was and will always be my first and final project and objective," Shater was quoted on Wednesday as telling a meeting of the Religious Association for Rights and Reform - a group of which he is a member, along with figures who belong to the hard-line Salafi school of Islam.
French Minister of the Interior Claude Gueant announced the immediate expulsion of two Muslim radicals from France back to their native countries Tuesday in what is likely a continued reaction to the killings committed by Islamic militant Mohamed Merah last month.
France's Interior Minister Gueant arrives to speak to the media after the assault to capture gunman Mohamed Merah during a raid on a building in Toulouse.Related Articles
The two men to be deported are identified as Ali Belhadad and Almany Baradji, imams from Algeria and Mali, respectively.
They were arrested on Friday along with 17 other Islamic militants in dawn raids conducted by France's Central Directorate of Interior Intelligence (DCRI) in the southern city of Toulouse, where Merah killed seven people, and several other towns.
After raids targeting suspected Islamists last Friday, French police have swooped again, taking at least ten people into custody.
The DCRI domestic intelligence service, supported by elite commandos, has made arrests nationwide including in Marseille, according to a police source. Arrests were also carried out in the southern cities of Pau and Valence, and the northeastern town of Roubaix, the source said.
U.S. offers $10 million bounty for Hafiz Saeed, founder of Pakistani
militant group blamed for Mumbai attacks
Move could further complicate U.S.-Pakistan relations
K.M.Chaudary/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Hafiz Saeed, founder of a Pakistani militant group blamed for Mumbai attacks, operates openly in Pakistan.
ISLAMABAD - The United States has offered a $10 million bounty for the founder of the Pakistani militant group blamed for the 2008 attacks in the Indian city of Mumbai that killed 166 people, a move that could complicate U.S.-Pakistan relations at a tense time.
CAIRO (Reuters) – Egypt’s Coptic Orthodox Church has announced it is withdrawing from talks on a new constitution, saying Islamist domination of the drafting body made its participation “pointless”, Egypt’s state news agency said.
The decision late on Sunday came after Egyptian liberals called for a boycott of the drafting committee, which is seen as failing to represent the nation’s diversity.
“The Coptic Orthodox Church General Council agreed with the approval of all of the council’s 20 members to withdraw from the constitutional assembly… as it found it was pointless for the church to be represented following the comments made by the national forces about the way the assembly was formed,” the state news agency said, quoting a church statement.
A policeman stands guard as relatives of Islamist extremist Mohamed Merah attend the burial of his body March 29, 2012, in the Muslim unit of the cemetery in the Cornebarrieu neighborhood of Toulouse, France. (Getty)
(AP) PARIS - French police detained 19 people Friday as they launched a crackdown on suspected Islamist extremists in cities around the country, the French president said, promising more raids to come.
Tensions are high following a spate of killings in southern France by a radical Islamist that left seven people dead and two wounded and ended up with police killing the gunman last week after a 32-hour standoff.
President Nicolas Sarkozy gave no details about the reasons for Friday's arrests or what the detainees were suspected of.
In photo taken Sunday, March 11, 2012 A Pakistani Christian girl plays with a balloon next to a wall with biblical paintings at the Christian colony in the center of Islamabad, Pakistan. Roughly five percent of Pakistan's 180 million people belong to minority religions, which include Hindu, Christian, Shiite Muslims and Ahmedis, according to the CIA World Factbook. Photo:Anja
Anja
LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — It was barely 4 a.m. when 19-year-old Rinkal Kumari disappeared from her home in a small village in Pakistan's southern Sindh province. When her parents awoke they found only her slippers and a scarf outside the door.
