Is playing football a women’s right?

The Iranian Female Football Star can’t take part in the next international tournament due to the travel ban imposed by her husband. Niloufar Ardalan (alias Lady Goal) is one of Iran's best female players and the captain of the national team. She was meant to kick the ball at the Asian Football Confederation's championship in futsal, held at the end of September in Malaysia.

(Source: www.dailymail.co.uk)

As Ms Ardalan said, her husband has refused to grant her permission to travel abroad. Allegedly, the reason: her husband wants her to be at home on the first day of school for their 7-year-old son.

In Iran, married women need the consent of their spouses to leave the country. They can be banned from travelling abroad if their husbands refuse to sign the papers needed to get or renew a passport.

This is not the first discriminatory measure that favours men, related to sports. We have learnt from the story of Ghoncheh Ghavami that women aren’t allowed to enter stadiums and watch men playing sports. But due to the international outcry, we also learnt that this might change: a limited number of women could attend male sporting events. This was reported by the several media outlets back in June. However, watching football, wrestling or swimming will still be an entertainment preserved for men only. This is in spite the fact that football is the most popular sport in the Islamic Republic.

Since the 1979 revolution, women were also virtually banned of doing sports. This had changed in the early 2000’s, when futsal clubs had become popular and the government allowed women to play indoors, with their heads covered. In 2005, the Iranian national women’s team was re-founded and since then, it has obtained good results.

(Source: www.bbc.co.uk)

Last year, several newspapers wrote about Iran's soccer federation rules randomly to check the gender of the players at training sessions, following revelations of men secretly playing in the league. According to the authorities this is needed, due to the sex change operations having been legal in Iran since 1979.

These happenings show that considerable changes are needed to end discrimination against women.

As Niloufar Ardalan said: "I wish [the] authorities would create [measures] that would allow female athletes to defend their rights in such situations".

>>TAKE ACTION! for a women's rights defender, Narges Mohammadi by signing this petition.

How should Cameroon fight Boko Haram?

The Cameroonian security forces don't take into account how many lives they sacrifice when it comes to eradicating the Islamist group, Boko Haram. Amnesty International revealed in its new report that t he military offensive against Boko Haram has resulted in widespread human rights violations against civilians in the Far North region of the country. During search-and-cordon operations, security forces often arrest people on the basis of very little information or assumptions and sometimes they detain whole groups. In February 2015 for example, in Kossa, 32 men were arrested based on accusations that the village was providing food to Boko Haram. Most were later released, but one man died in custody. After being arrested, people are far too often held incommunicado at illegal detention sites in military bases, before being transferred to the official prisons. And, as Amnesty International learnt, in secret detention, torture is not a rare method to encoura...

Hidden from critical view: the disappeared of Cameroon

As the number of military personnel deployed to fight Boko Haram in the Far North Region of Cameroon has increased, the number of people detained without trial on suspicion of supporting the armed group has gone up, as well. Families and communities torn apart Since 2014, Cameroon’s security forces have arrested hundreds of people without charge during security operations. One man from the village of Double told us how security forces raided the village in search of suspected Boko Haram fighters: “Early in the morning, we heard gunshots and thought it was Boko Haram. We were scared and fled to the bush; then people called us to say it wasn’t Boko Haram, but the security forces, so we came back thinking we were safe. However, to our great surprise, those forces made us suffer even more than Boko Haram.” During this operation carried out in Double and in the neighbouring community, Magdeme, nine people were killed and more than 200 boys and men arbitrar...

Educating the Western youth

In a rare occasion to reach out to the West without pure condemnation, Iran’s Supreme Leader sent an important message to the American and European youth . The aim of the letter was to stress that the Islam they know is based on a forged concept and doesn’t reflect the reality. Therefore, Ayatollah Khamenei encouraged the younger generation in the West to do research and get firsthand information on the religion. www.wsj.com In his letter, Mr Khamenei asks youngsters whether they “ have directly read the Qur’an of the Muslims .” He goes on by questioning: “Have you ever received the message of Islam from any sources other than the media?” Moreover, the Iranian leader calls on the youth to ask themselves “why the old policy of spreading ‘phobia’ and hatred has targeted Islam and Muslims with an unprecedented intensity. [..] What concepts and values in Islam disturb the programs of the super powers and what interests are safeguarded in the shadow of distorting the image of Islam...

Crumbs of human rights

Search This Blog