Because the internet is so transient a medium, the entirety of the blog entry that led me to this is produced here behind the cut. In short, a judge possibly applying sharia law despite that the Maldives are signatory to the Convention Against Torture and the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture, authorized the torture and possible ( Read more... )

I was having a chat with a friend here which raised the issue of Iraqi women under the U.S. occupation. The 2005 Iraqi constitution was, at one point, going to create a toe-hold for women in terms of reserving a quarter of the parliamentary seats for them, but I can't find that in the version that was approved October 15, 2005. (Doesn't mean it's ( Read more... )

The fastest way to handle this is to point you to the blog of Ali Eteratz:

The editor of a leading Pakistani think-tank advocating equity, fairness and gender equality in Pakistan’s Islamic Laws [sharia] has been shot in the mouth.

Manzoor ul Hassan, perceived as a supporter of moderate politicians, has been in critical condition since the attempted ( Read more... )

Much is being written about the Danish cartoon controversy to the tune of "Muslims just can't take a joke." Right, and there's no humor aisle in a feminist bookstore... there's always someone, somewhere. The Muslim world will have its own Lenny Bruce soon, if not already. Though largely lost to history now, at the time in 1989, much was made of ( Read more... )