Asia | Taiwan | Crimes

Cops raid ‘killer exorcism cult’ hideout led by ‘female Buddha’ in mountains

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Cops have raided dangerous "exorcism" cult led by a "female Buddha" in a secret mountain hideout in Taiwan. Taiwan’s Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said 19 followers were rescued from the cult’s headquarters based in a monastery, in the island’s central landlocked county of Nantou in August. Reports say followers of "Zhonghua Rixing Yishang" – or "China Daily Virtue", were prohibited from leaving or speaking without permission and one was reportedly killed in a sick ritual. The death of Taiwanese national Ms Fang, 20, in mainland China sparked police investigations acro
Europe | U.K. | Courts

U.K. Court of Appeal Overturns Ruling Ordering Mentally Disabled Woman to Have Abortion

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A British appeals court on Monday overturned a lower court’s order that a mentally disabled woman undergo an abortion. The earlier ruling had prompted an outcry from the Roman Catholic Church and abortion opponents. The three judges on the Court of Appeal didn’t explain why they ruled against proceeding with the abortion and said they would give their reasons at a later date. The lower court ruled Friday that the woman, who is in her 20s and 22 weeks pregnant, didn’t understand the challenges of caring for a child and wouldn’t be able to meet them. That court, known as the Cour
South Asia | Nepal | Culture

Why It’s So Hard To Stop Women From Sleeping In A Menstrual Shed

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Every year in Nepal, women die while sleeping in a shed outside their home because they are on their period. The cause of death is often smoke inhalation from lighting a fire to stay warm. The practice, called chaupadi, is linked to Hindu beliefs around religious purity and the idea that menstruation is spiritually polluting. In much of the country, this means that a woman who is menstruating will avoid temples, prayer rooms and kitchens — places important to keep pure in the Hindu religion. In parts of the remote west, an extreme version means nights sleeping outside in a hut or she
North America | United States | Law

Women’s Rights Advocates Condemn DOJ Decision to Not Defend Female Genital Mutilation Law

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On Thursday, April 25th, Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney (NY-12) (pictured center) joined elected officials and Equal Rights Amendment advocates to condemn a recent US Department of Justice decision to not  defend a federal law banning FGM/C, to call for Speaker Pelosi to step in to defend the law, and call for the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). Congresswoman Maloney is the sponsor of H.J. Res. 35, a bill to restart the ratification process of the ERA. While the Trump Administration has decided not to defend the 1996 law banning FGM/C, the House or the Senate could do s
Middle East | Iran | Culture

An Iranian Boxer Won Her First Official Match. Now She Says She Can’t Go Back Home.

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Sadaf Khadem, the first Iranian woman to compete in an official boxing match, won't return home to Iran after learning about an arrest warrant issued against her coach, she announced Wednesday. Khadem was in the western French town of Royan for the fight against boxer Anne Chauvin on Saturday. She won the fight while decked out in a green tank top and red shorts with a white waistband, matching the Iranian flag. Her head was also uncovered while she traded blows, all of which are against Iran's mandatory dress code for women.
Middle East | Iran | Activism

Iran arrests 29 women as headscarf protests intensify

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Tehran police have arrested 29 women for appearing in public without a headscarf as protests against the dress code in force since the Islamic revolution of 1979 intensify, Iranian media reported Friday. Those arrested were accused of public order offences and referred to the state prosecutor's office, the Fars, ILNA and Tasnim news agencies reported without elaborating. Chief prosecutor Mohammad Jafar Montazeri had played down the escalating protests on Wednesday, saying they were "trivial" and "childish" moves possibly incited by foreigners.
Middle East | Israel | Religion

Orthodox Jews try to disrupt women’s service at Israel’s Western Wall

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Thousands of Orthodox Jewish men and women attempted to disrupt a group of progressive women from conducting a prayer service Monday at the Western Wall in the Old City of Jerusalem. Police estimated between 1,000 and 2,000 female seminary students, primarily from religious Zionist high schools, tried to block the women from praying at Israeli's holiest site. Male students standing in the men's section attempted to drown out the women's prayers with shouting, cursing and blowing whistles. The ultra-Orthodox Jewish men and women were protesting the women wearing tefillin, yarmulkes, and p
Middle East | Iran | Culture

Iran impounds thousands of women’s cars for “improper” hijabs

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Since March, Iranian traffic police have seized more than 40,000 cars from women driving while “improperly” wearing their hijab, or headscarf, reports Agence France Presse. A spokesperson for the traffic police told the AFP that most of the cases have been referred to the judiciary, and in some cases, women drivers have faced fines or received warnings for their “bad hijab.” This comes after Iranian police warned last month that women could risk having their cars impounded for a week if caught driving without a hijab, or wearing a hijab that shows too much hair. The Guardian reported
| Chad | Politics

Chad arrests 62 women for wearing veils after bombings

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Chad police have arrested 62 women for wearing full veils in public as the country steps up security against following a multiple suicide bombing attack, a police spokesman said. Authorities also arrested eight suspected attackers, police spokesman Paul Manka said on Thursday. The first major arrests of women for the veil ban have been carried out in the capital, N'djamena, since Wednesday in line with "anti-terrorism" measures, he said. Chadian authorities banned wearing full veils in public places in June to prevent suicide attacks, especially by the Nigerian armed group Boko Haram.
South Asia | India | Law

Study: 89% Muslim women want government hand in codification of law

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Around 89% Muslim women feel that the government should intervene and help in codification of law and 86% want religious leaders to take responsibility of justice for them. This and many other findings have come out in a study conducted by Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan (BMMA), an organisation that looks to take up rights of Muslim women in particular and women in general. Among the other major findings is that an overwhelming percentage of women (95.5%) from the sample study have not heard about the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB). Formed in 1985, AIMPLB is often considered t
Middle East | Iraq | Activism

Iraqi City Bans Festival As It Draws Criticism For Mixing Men and Women

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An Iraqi city banned a color festival and erected concrete barriers around a park as the festival would have allowed for the mixing of men and women. According to Agence France‑Presse, Murtada al-Shahmani, a member of the city’s provincial council, said the decision to cancel the festival in Basra, Iraq was out of respect for families who were mourning the deaths of loved ones at the hands of the Islamic State. Those “without conscience or hearts or morals come to hold mixed-sex festivals that bring them out to be joyful, and the families of the martyrs see them and weep for thei
Europe | U.K. | Culture

UK’s First Female Sharia Judge: ‘We Can’t Ask Muslims Not to Have More than One Wife’

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Britain's first female Sharia law judge has issued a brazen warning that flies in the face of UK law, stating that the "government cannot ask Muslims not to have more than one wife." The news comes on the back of a report by the Times newspaper which claims that Britain is experiencing a "surge" in Sharia marriages, as young British Muslims adopt a more hardline religious stance than their parents.
South Asia | Burma | Culture

Myanmar bill limits women’s right to wed non-Buddhists

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Myanmar's parliament has approved a law that would regulate marriages between Buddhist women and men from outside their religion. The move by legislators on Tuesday was condemned by activists and human rights groups, who said the law was passed under pressure from hardline Buddhist monks. "They [MPs] are not thinking about the people, they are just thinking about themselves to maintain their seats in parliament, " activist May Sabai Phyu told Al Jazeera on Wednesday. "If they do not approve, Ma Ba Tha [Committee to Protect Race and Religion] will challenge them, and tell people not to
International | Religion

Delegates Vote ‘No’ on Issue of Women’s Ordination

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Delegates turned down a motion that would have allowed each division of the Seventh-day Adventist Church to decide for itself whether to ordain women to the gospel ministry in its territory. By a margin of 1,381-977, with five abstentions, delegates by secret ballot ended a five-year process characterized by vigorous and sometimes acrimonious debate. General Conference president Ted N.C. Wilson appealed to church members to unite in the mission of the church after the vote at the 2015 General Conference Session in San Antonio, Texas.