Life. Leben. Vie.: Maryam Namazie

Showing posts with label Maryam Namazie. Show all posts

Monday, October 12, 2015

Maryam Namazie – Nude Protest: A Challenge to Islam, the Veil, and Islamism

Maryam Namazie speaking at the 2014 American Atheists National Convention in Salt Lake City, UT.

Maryam Namazie is an Iranian-born political activist, campaigner, journalist, and blogger. She is the spokesperson for Fitnah! Movement for Women’s Liberation, One Law for All (a campaign against Sharia Law in Britain), and the Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain. She is the winner of countless awards for international activism and journalism. In 2011, she was the keynote speaker at the World Atheist Convention in Dublin.

Thursday, July 08, 2010

What Isn't Wrong With Sharia Law?
THE GUARDIAN: To safeguard our rights there must be one law for all and no religious courts

Gita Sahgal says there is active support for sharia laws because it is limited to denying women rights in the family. Photograph: The Guardian
The recent global day against the imminent stoning of Sakine Mohammadi-Ashtiani in Iran for adultery is an example of the outrage sparked by the brutality associated with sharia law's penal code.

What of its civil code though – which the Muslim Council of Britain's Shaykh Ibrahim Mogra describes as "small aspects" that concern "marriage, divorce, inheritance, custody of children"? According to human rights campaigner Gita Sahgal, "there is active support for sharia laws precisely because it is limited to denying women rights in the family. No hands are being cut off, so there can't be a problem …"

Now a report, Sharia Law in Britain: A Threat to One Law for All and Equal Rights, reveals the adverse effect of sharia courts on family law. Under sharia's civil code, a woman's testimony is worth half of a man's. A man can divorce his wife by repudiation, whereas a woman must give justifications, some of which are difficult to prove. Child custody reverts to the father at a preset age; women who remarry lose custody of their children even before then; and sons inherit twice the share of daughters.

There has been much controversy about Muslim arbitration tribunals, which have attracted attention because they operate as tribunals under the Arbitration Act, making their rulings binding in UK law.

But sharia councils, which are charities, are equally harmful since their mediation differs little from arbitration. Sharia councils will frequently ask people to sign an agreement to abide by their decisions. Councils call themselves courts and the presiding imams are judges. There is neither control over the appointment of these judges nor an independent monitoring mechanism. People often do not have access to legal advice and representation. Proceedings are not recorded, nor are there any searchable legal judgements. Nor is there any real right to appeal.

There is also danger to those at risk of domestic violence. In one study, four out of 10 women attending sharia courts were party to civil injunctions against their husbands. Continue reading and comment >>> Maryam Namazie* | Monday, July 05, 2010

*Maryam Namazie is a rights activist, commentator and broadcaster and spokesperson of Iran Solidarity and One Law for All

Sunday, February 07, 2010

Uni Pays for Banned Cleric to Preach Hate
SUNDAY EXPRESS: BANNED Muslim hate preacher Anjem Choudary has sparked outrage after he was flown to Ireland to spout his bigoted views to 250 university students.

Choudary’s Islam4UK group and its parent organisation al-Muhajiroun were banned last month by Home Secretary Alan Johnson under legislation to outlaw the glorification of terrorism.

However, the student law society of University College Dublin paid for him to fly over to be a guest speaker at a debate with the motion that women’s rights should trump religious doctrine. The society also paid for his hotel.

Father-of-four Choudary opposed the motion, saying Muslim women were not suppressed or subjugated.

“There is nothing like Islam to emancipate women from slavery and servitude to men, from the cosmetics industry, fashion and pornography and all the other ways in which man tries to dehumanise women,” he claimed.

Maryam Namazie, who proposed the motion, hit back saying women’s rights were being denied under Sharia law, citing a woman’s inability to sign her own marriage contract and that women can be stoned for being unfaithful. >>> James Murray | Sunday, February 07, 2010