Clipmarks | Deepti's 'law' clips

How To Spot a Persian Prostitute...

Fri, 26 Sep 2008 08:29:18 GMT

clipped by: Deepti

Given the Islamic dress code, how do Persian prostitutes signal their trade?

Location, location, location

in contemporary Iran, the holy city of Qom is known (unofficially) as a place of "both pilgrimage and pleasure

Sometimes a male go-between offers "introductions," at which point the prostitutes pull aside their headgear so the potential client can get a glimpse, but the whole process is fairly subtle. For an outsider, it's difficult to pick a street girl out of a crowd

Back in 2002, the Iranian newspaper Entekhab estimated that there were nearly 85,000 prostitutes in Tehran alone

The penalties for prostitution are severe—ranging from whipping to execution. But there's a loophole in Islamic law called sigheh, or temporary marriage

An Iranian who's wary of arrest can simply escort a prostitute to a registry, obtain a temporary contract from a Muslim cleric, and then legally satisfy his sexual needs

impermanent partnership with a preset expiration date

Tags: women, prostitute, iran, islam

Proposed Legislation in Iran Would End Death by Stoning

Sat, 09 Aug 2008 17:15:44 GMT

clipped by: Deepti

Clip Source: www.feminist.org

Iran's state media announced Wednesday that Iran has suspended the use of stoning as a way to carry out the death penalty. According to AFP, Iran's judiciary drafted legislation that would end stoning as a death penalty, the current Islamic punishment in Iran for adulterers

In 2002, Ayatollah Shahroudi, the head of Iran's judiciary banned the practice of stoning but did not remove the laws from the books. Execution by stoning continued, including the stoning of Jafar Kiani in 2007, which sparked international outrage

BBC News reports that eight women and one man are currently awaiting death by stoning in Iran

The majority of those sentenced to death by stoning are women. Women are not treated equally with men under the law and by courts, and they are also particularly vulnerable to unfair trials because their higher illiteracy rate makes them more likely to sign confessions to crimes they did not commit

Tags: iran, stoning, legislation, legal system, punishment

Messed up family tree

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 17:52:03 GMT

clipped by: willhelm
clipper's remarks: If my wife is my grandmother,
Then I am her grandchild.
And every time I think of it,
It simply drives me wild.

For now I have become
The strangest case you ever saw.
As the husband of my grandmother,
I am my own grandpa.

Clip Source: www.dysan.net

Many many years ago
when I was twenty three,
I got married to a widow

who was pretty as could be.

This widow had a grown-up daughter
who had hair of red.
My father fell in love with her,

and soon the two were wed.

This made my dad my son-in-law
And changed my very life.
My daughter was my mother,

For she was my father's wife.

To complicate the matters worse,
Although it brought me joy,
I soon became the father

Of a bouncing baby boy.

My little baby then became
A brother-in-law to dad.
And so became my uncle,

Though it made me very sad.

For if he was my uncle,
Then that also made him brother
To the widow's grown-up daughter

Who, of course, was my step-mother.

Father's wife then had a son,
Who kept them on the run.
And he became my grandson,

For he was my daughter's son.

My wife is now my mother's mother
And it makes me blue.
Because, although she is my wife,

She is my grandma too.

Los Angeles man wins right to use wife's last name

Tue, 06 May 2008 13:47:11 GMT

clipped by: Deepti
clipper's remarks: A subsequent lawsuit led to a new California state law guaranteeing the rights of both married couples and registered domestic partners to choose whichever last name they prefer on their marriage and driving licenses

Clip Source: www.reuters.com

All Michael Buday wanted to do was take the last name of his wife, Diana Bijon, when they married

But it took two years, a lawsuit alleging sex discrimination and a change in California law before he picked up his new drivers license in the name of Michael Bijon on Monday

He discovered it would take a $350 fee, court appearances, a public announcement and mounds of paperwork to make a change on his driving license that is routine for women who marry

After months of frustration, the Los Angeles computer programmer and his ER nurse wife Diana, 29, took their problem to the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California

A double barrel name would have been no problem, nor would Diana and Michael deciding to each keep their birth names. But California and some 40 other U.S. states provided no place on the marriage license application, and driving license, for the groom to choose the bride's surname

"I am really, really proud of him. Not many men would do this," she said

Tags: husband, wife, surname, california

Yemeni Girl Demands Divorce

Sun, 20 Apr 2008 05:03:01 GMT

clipped by: Deepti
clipper's remarks: According to Saba News, a 2006 study revealed that 52.1 percent of Yemeni girls are forced into child marriage

Clip Source: www.feminist.org

Eight-year-old Nojoud Muhammed Nasser filed a lawsuit in Yemen against her father who forced her to marry a 30-year-old man. Nasser arrived to court by herself because no one in her family defended her against her abusive husband and father

Nasser told the Yemen Times, "My father beat me and told me that I must marry this man, and if I did not, I would be raped and no law and no sheikh in this country would help me. I refused but I couldn’t stop the marriage. I asked and begged my mother, father, and aunt to help me to get divorced. They answered, 'We can do nothing. If you want you can go to court by yourself.' So this is what I have done."

"There are hundreds of [cases like] Nujoud who have been subjected to sexual abuse by mature men. The problem is that there is no law to punish the father who marries off the child, the sheikh who allows the marriage, or the husband who takes the child home to serve him as wife."

Tags: culture, religion, girl, child, marriage, abuse, divorce, yemen

Bastards, no Divorce for females, Gets. Which century?

Mon, 24 Mar 2008 23:42:02 GMT

clipped by: righthand
clipper's remarks: And it's worse for non-Jewish Israeli citizens having to conform to Jewish Orthodox rules that dominate this so called democracy that is a blatantly apartheid state protected by the United States, as was South Africa too until it tumbled.

Clip Source: www.haaretz.com

Saving women from the 'chain'

Jews all over the world commemorated Ta'anit Esther (the Fast of Esther), the day on which the heroine of the Purim story took her fate and that of her people into her own hands

Esther has also been marked as International Agunah Day - an occasion to remember the plight of those who are "chained" to spouses who refuse to grant them a divorce

According to halakha (traditional Jewish law) and contemporary Israeli law, a Jewish woman must receive a religious bill of divorce (a get) in order to remarry

In the absence of a get, any child of a future relationship will be a mamzer - loosely translated as "bastard" - and will be stigmatized under Jewish law.

sraeli citizens do not have the luxury of considering the issue of agunot a "religious" or "arcane" problem

All Israelis are required to marry and divorce within a religious framework, so that even the most secular Jew is affected

there has not been a marked improvement in the status of agunot

Tags: israel, sex, religion, democracy, apartheid

New marriage law proposed for Muslim women in India

Tue, 18 Mar 2008 05:09:03 GMT

clipped by: Deepti
clipper's remarks: Controversial points of new nikahnama

--Triple talaq said in one go will not be acceptable
--Talaq to be spaced out over a period of 3 months
--Talaq not be allowed via phone or SMS
--New Nikahnama insists on free will for the girl in case of nikah
--Talaq cannot be given under the influence of alcohol
--Talaq given to pregnant woman should be considered illegal

Clip Source: www.gulfnews.com

The All India Muslim Women Personal Law Board (AIMWPLB) has released the Shariat Nikahnama that they claim would give equal rights to both Muslim men and women

Women belonging to both the Shiite and Sunni sects, are demanding a revolutionary nikahnama that does away with contentious issue of triple talaq (divorce)

If the board has its way, a Muslim woman would be entitled to seek divorce if her husband was found having illicit relationship with another woman

The board has also rejected any divorce done through SMS, email, phone as well as video conferencing, besides rejecting divorce done on provocation

A Muslim woman can seek divorce if she is forced by her husband to indulge in unnatural sex. She can also seek divorce if her husband contracts Aids

The new nikahnama has 17-point guidelines for marriage under the sharia for bride and groom, while eight points on the divorce process

Tags: india, women, muslim, islam, sharia, rights, marriage, divorce, equality, law

Bangladesh Government Abandons Women's Rights Policy

Sun, 16 Mar 2008 05:20:18 GMT

clipped by: Deepti

Clip Source: www.feminist.org

The government of Bangladesh retreated from a policy that would have given women equal property rights. Last week, the military backed government introduced a policy that would give women equal rights to inherit property. However, Agence France Presse (AFP) reports that Muslim clerics protested the policy, claiming it violates sharia law

Bangladesh's population is 90 percent Muslim, but its legal system is largely secular. Women's rights groups drew attention to the disparities in the law’s treatment of men and women over the weekend in honor of International Women's Day, according to the Independent Bangladesh. As well as fighting for equal rights to property, women called for setting aside a third of parliamentary seats for women in the National Women Development Policy 2008. The policy has frequently been under attack by extremist religious groups

Tags: women, bangladesh, policy, equality, human rights, muslim

First Women to Conduct Marriages in Egypt

Sun, 02 Mar 2008 04:14:37 GMT

clipped by: Deepti

Clip Source: www.feminist.org

This week Amal Soliman became Egypt's first woman able to perform Muslim marriages. Soliman's appointment has generated controversy within Egypt's Muslim community, especially among Muslim men who insist that a woman should not hold the position of maazun, or marriage registrar. The BBC News reports that the court chose Solima over 10 male candidates due to her legal qualifications. Solima has a master's degree in law

Sheikh Fawsi Zafzaf, director of Al-Azhar University in Cairo, responded to Soliman's appointment stating, "There are no religious texts banning a Muslim woman from being a maazun. But when a woman is menstruating she must not enter a mosque or read Koranic verses and that will affect her job, so for that reason we say it is not advisable to have a woman maazun."

Solima focuses on the positive affects her gender can have on her job

Tags: egypt, woman, muslim, arab, islam, marriage, registrar, culture, religion

Religious courts already in use in England

Sun, 17 Feb 2008 06:21:10 GMT

clipped by: Deepti
clipper's remarks: Jewish litigation is more varied, but a typical dispute might relate to a partnership, a Jewish school, a Jewish charity or a transaction between two businessmen.

The court can hear cases concerning quite large companies, but they must always be privately owned, in that both parties must be Jewish in order to accept the authority of the Beth Din.

The service provided by the Beth Din is best described as binding civil arbitration, and they do not seek to replace the state's civil courts.

"If one side does not accept the authority of the Beth Din, concerning divorce or any dispute, we cannot act", David Frei clarifies.

"And in the case of divorce, the parties must still obtain a civil divorce alongside the religious one."

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

British Jews, particularly the orthodox, will frequently turn to their own religious courts, the Beth Din, to resolve civil disputes, covering issues as diverse as business and divorce

Both sides in a dispute must be Jewish, obviously, and must have agreed to have their case heard by the Beth Din. Once that has happened, its eventual decision is binding. English law states that any third party can be agreed by two sides to arbitrate in a dispute, and in this case the institutional third party is the Beth Din

The Beth Din also takes care of a multitude of Jewish community affairs, many of which never give rise to any dispute: the dates of the Sabbath, kosher certification of caterers and bakers, medical ethics for Jewish patients and religious conversions. But it is in the areas of divorce and litigation that the Beth Din acts as a court in the western sense

All criminal matters are reserved for the UK's state courts, and there is no appetite for change

Tags: religion, law, england, jews, religious, civil, courts, culture

Isolated Turk Cypriots try to clean up image

Tue, 12 Feb 2008 08:59:36 GMT

clipped by: Deepti
clipper's remarks: Over the decades various people sought by the police have fled to the TRNC, including Turkish Cypriot Asil Nadir, the tycoon behind the collapsed Polly Peck business empire whom Britain wants to try on fraud charges.

The new money laundering law and a planned casinos law will help bolster the battle against organized crime.

The TRNC, home to fewer than 200,000 people and subject to international trade restrictions, boasts more than 40 casinos, an important part of its allure for visitors from Turkey and southern Cyprus where gambling is prohibited.

Iraqis, Palestinians and others enter the TRNC on a regular ferry service from Syria and then try to cross into the south to claim asylum in the EU. Many are deported as economic migrants

Clip Source: www.reuters.com

Turkish Cypriot authorities are trying to shed their tiny enclave's image as a haven for crooks with new laws on money laundering and casinos, but their efforts are being undermined by Cyprus's decades-old ethnic partition

The self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) is recognized only by Turkey and has no extradition treaty with other countries, hence its reputation as a safe refuge for criminals, especially from Britain, Cyprus's ex-colonial ruler

Most of the world, including the European Union, recognizes the Greek Cypriot government in the south as the sole legal representative of the whole of Cyprus but its writ does not run north of the U.N.-policed Green Line that bisects the island

Greek Cypriots fear that dealing with the TRNC could lead to de facto recognition of an entity they regard as illegal and foisted on their Mediterranean island by arch-foe Turkey

The TRNC is barred from Interpol and other international crime-fighting organizations

Tags: turkey, cyprus, haven, enclave, eu, europe

Celebrity tryst may change Korean adultery law

Thu, 31 Jan 2008 13:55:14 GMT

clipped by: Deepti
clipper's remarks: "The adultery law ... has degenerated into a means of revenge by the spouse, rather than a means of saving a marriage," the petition said

South Korea passed the adultery law in 1953 to protect women.

In its male-dominated society, women had little recourse against a husband who had an affair. Back then if a wife walked out of a marriage, she would often end up alone and penniless

Today, it is rare for people to be jailed but that has not stopped several thousand angry spouses from filing criminal complaints each year

Referring to the current divorce law, the petition said: "There has been no evidence of its contribution to protecting women, and its validity is questionable with the elevation of women's social and economic status."

Clip Source: www.reuters.com

A sensational love affair involving a South Korean starlet, her TV personality husband and her opera singer lover could lead the country to change laws that can send adulterers to jail

The lawyer for actress Ok So-ri brought a petition to the Constitutional Court this week asking it to overturn the current law that can land a person in jail for up to two years for having an extramarital affair

Ok and her husband Park Chul have been staples of the local gossip sheets for months with both holding news conferences where they exposed embarrassing details of a troubled marriage. Ok has admitted to the affair

Park filed a criminal adultery complaint against his wife and she was indicted in January on suspicion of illegally having an affair with the opera singer

Critics say the law is anachronistic, with some saying a better compromise might be to allow spouses just to sue for compensation in civil court

Tags: korea, divorce, adultery, jail, imprisonment, women, marriage

Two slightly related news reports

Sun, 20 Jan 2008 04:12:10 GMT

clipped by: Deepti
clipper's remarks: Girl Power!

The amendment to the judiciary law will make the UAE the second Gulf Arab country to allow women to become judges, ending a male domination of the vocation, according to the Middle East Times

Clip Source: www.feminist.org

United Arab Emirate Women to Gain Place in Courtroom

The United Arab Emirates is amending a law which will allow women to become federal prosecutors and judges. Women are in the process of being trained across the UAE. Two women in the capital Abu Dhabi have already been selected as prosecutors, reports Reuters.

Clip Source: www.feminist.org

Norwegian Women Break into the Boardroom

Norwegian law now requires publicly listed corporations to have at least 40 percent women on their boards of directors. The legislation was actually introduced in 2003, but gave companies five years to bring more women onto their boards with a January 1, 2008 deadline, according to the BBC.

Norway was the second country in the world where political parties passed positive quotas to increase the number of women serving in the Parliament. As a result, Norway today ranks 6th among the world’s Parliaments with 37.9% women members

Norway now ranks the highest for women on corporate boards

Tags: uae, norway, women, judiciary, boardroom, corporate, legislation

Pope in a tight corner over 'morning-after pill' speech

Wed, 31 Oct 2007 14:17:57 GMT

clipped by: Deepti

Clip Source: www.gulfnews.com

The pope told an international conference on Monday that pharmacists were to be guaranteed the right to conscientious objection in cases where medicines they distributed could block pregnancy, provoke abortion or assist euthanasia

Health Minister Livia Turco said that while the pope had the right to urge young people to be sexually responsible, he could not tell professionals such as pharmacists what to do

While some politicians defended the pope's right to speak his mind and the right of pharmacists to be conscientious objectors, others criticised him

Franco Caprino, head of pharmacists' professional group Federfarma, said that by law pharmacists had to distribute medicine prescribed by a doctor

Benedict did not mention any specific drugs but appeared to refer to the morning-after pill

available only by doctor's prescription in Italy

He also referred to RU-486, the so-called abortion pill, which is available on an experimental basis in some Italian hospitals

Tags: pope, speech, morning after pill, abortion, pill, prescription, pharmacy, pharmacists, religion, controversy

Hamas legal body replaces courts

Sun, 22 Jul 2007 14:19:01 GMT

clipped by: Deepti
clipper's remarks: "Abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman, said the committee is a temporary alternative, until the courts start functioning again.

Issam Younis, head of the Gaza-based human rights group Mezan, said alternatives to the existing courts are unacceptable."

why are warning bells ringing in my head???

Clip Source: www.gulfnews.com

Hamas is replacing Gaza's defunct courts with a legal committee consisting of an Islamic law expert, a military court lawyer and the head of the main prison, a spokesman for the Hamas force policing Gaza announced yesterday.

Hamas said it wouldn't use the committee to impose Islamic law, a concern raised by human rights groups since it seized control of Gaza last month.

The legal system in Gaza stopped functioning after Abbas ordered judges, prosecutors and police to stop cooperating with Gaza's new rulers

Even before the takeover, the judicial system was overburdened and seen as largely ineffective. Many Palestinians instead resorted to tribal law, to decide punishments for various offences

Hamas warned Tony Blair yesterday his credibility as the new international Mideast peace envoy will be damaged if he ignores the organisation

Tags: hamas, gaza, palestine, islam, law, courts