Police question Hakeem on Kumari’s death

The Colombo Crimes Division yesterday recorded the statement of SLMC leader Rauff Hakeem on the death of Kumari Cooray who committed suicide by setting herself on fire outside Mr. Hakeem’s residence. Mr. Hakeem did not turn up at the UNP meeting in Kandy yesterday where a public announcement was made that he was indisposed and could not attend the rally, but a party spokesman last night said that he had left for Ampara.
Mr. Hakeem was questioned about his relationship with Ms Cooray.
The Sunday Times learns that Police Chief Chandra Fernando has directed the Kollupitiya police to hand over the investigation to the CCD for a full probe.
The 40-year-old Ms. Cooray, a divorcee and mother of two, hit the headlines last year when she in conflicting statements admitted and denied a relationship with Mr. Hakeem during a political drama surrounding the election of the Parliament Speaker.
The Sunday Times learns that CCD would also probe a complaint made by Ms. Cooray two months ago at the Kollupitiya police, saying Mr. Hakeem had visited her residence at the Royal Court Apartment Complex in Kollupitiya and assaulted her.
In the complaint, Ms. Cooray alleged that Mr. Hakeem had come drunk to her place and assaulted her after she refused to have sexual intercourse with him. She had also claimed that Mr. Hakeem had promised to marry her.
Police said they did not conduct any inquiry because Ms. Cooray later withdrew the complaint. A brother of Ms. Cooray told a magisterial inquiry into the death that his sister was not mentally deranged.
                        link:http://sundaytimes.lk/051009/news/2.html

News Islamic community angry at Muslim actress Sila Sahin posing naked in Playboy

But Sila Sahin, who has been branded a "whore" and a "western slut" after appearing on the cover of the German edition of the men's porn magazine Playboy, is unrepentant.
"What I want to say with these photos is, 'Girls, we don't have to live according to the rules imposed upon us'," said Berlin-based Sahin, who said the Playboy pictorial was a reaction to the "slavery" of her youth.
"For years I subordinated myself to various societal constraints. The Playboy photo shoot was a total act of liberation."

How Women Are Treated In Arab Countries

 

WAJIHA AL-HUWEIDAR:  “COVERT ANIMOSITY AND OPEN DISCRIMINATION AGAINST WOMEN PREVAIL IN ARAB COUNTRIES”

Writing in Elaph.com on March 7, 2005 Saudi author Wajiha Al-Huweidar explained:  “All of the Arab regimes are U.N. members and have ratified the 1948 Declaration of Human Rights, which clearly establishes justice and equality in the rights and obligations of all citizens.

Despite this, women in our chauvinist countries are still considered the property of their relatives. All Arab countries, without exception, harbor covert animosity and open discrimination against women.  To this day, all official bodies reject any scientific discussion of a solution to women’s problems – while on the other hand the men, who benefit from women’s oppression, continue to regurgitate [the mant r a] that ‘women are respected’ [in Arab and Muslim societies]…

Saudi women

In Saudi Arabia,women and girls can't currently vote,date,marry for love,use contraceptives,ride bicycles,talk to men on the phone,sing or dance in public.Unless chaperoned by a mahram(male guardian),girls-covered in black abayas-are carted around women-only gyms,boutiques,malls,schools and restaurants(where they eat in the "family section,"apart from single men).The mutawwa'in,the religious police,fine or even imprison dissenters.Victimes of domestic violence and rape are often punished with lashes.Isolation is so intense that some feel that society is split between"two different specie."

Suicide rates amoung Saudi women are some of the highest in the world

Child Brides in Afghanistan

A photo essay featuring Afghan men and their young brides will appear in this Sunday's New York

 Times Magazine. Photographer Stephanie Sinclair, who captured the stunning images of the 

men with brides as young as 11 years old, talks with Alex Chadwick talks about the global issue 

of child brides.

Numbers are hard to verify, but one estimate by the Population Council, an international research 

group, is that about 1 in every 7 girls in the developing world (excluding China) gets married before 

her 15th birthday.

In Afghanistan, it is not uncommon for parents to give their daughters over to marriage to settle 

debts or resolve family or clan disputes. In hard times, it can save the girl from a life of poverty and 

hunger. But as Sinclair found in her travels through the countryside, the practice is also deeply
entrenched in Afghan culture.

Original link & look more photos:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5541006