Muslim journalist Siddique Kappan arrested while covering gang-rape and killing of Dalit woman in Uttar Pradesh
A journalist who has been in jail for nearly two years for trying to meet the family of a young Dalit woman allegedly gang-raped in Hathras in the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh (UP) has been granted bail.
The supreme court of India issued the bail order to Siddique Kappan, 43, a Delhi-based Muslim freelance journalist, on Friday.
Continue reading...Report finds widespread instances of forced labour, with women denied access to passports and subjected to physical or sexual abuse
Oman is failing to protect migrant domestic workers who are victims of human trafficking, trapped in abusive households and subjected to physical and sexual violence with no access to justice or a safe route home, a report has found.
Do Bold, an organisation that works to assist and repatriate migrant workers trapped in the Gulf, interviewed 469 domestic workers from Sierra Leone working in Oman, for the report. It concluded that all but one of the women interviewed were victims of forced labour and human trafficking.
Continue reading...Incident in Tangshan sparked outrage over gender-based violence when video went viral
Chinese authorities said they had charged 28 people and were investigating 15 officials including police for corruption more than two months after a shocking incident in which a group of men assaulted four women at a barbecue restaurant in Tangshan, north-east China.
The men carried out the assault after the women rejected their apparent sexual advances on 10 June. CCTV footage circulated online showed a man placing his hand on a woman’s back as she shared a meal with two companions. After the woman pushed him away, the man struck her before others dragged her outside and dealt a barrage of blows as she lay on the ground. Another woman was knocked to the floor.
Continue reading...Demonstrators demand Gujarat government revoke decision on men convicted over rape of Muslim woman Bilkis Bano in 2002
Hundreds of people have held demonstrations in several parts of India to protest against a recent government decision to free 11 men who had been jailed for life for gang raping a Muslim woman during India’s 2002 religious riots.
The protesters in the country’s capital, New Delhi, chanted slogans on Saturday and demanded the government in the western state of Gujarat rescind the decision. They also sang songs in solidarity with the victim.
Continue reading...Gujarat frees men serving life sentences for rape, and for murder of three-year-old daughter and other relatives
A Muslim woman who was gang-raped by a Hindu mob, which also murdered her three-year-old daughter and 13 other members of her family, has spoken of her incredulity at the release of the 11 men jailed for the crimes.
The men were released on Monday by the Gujarat government after serving 14 years of their life sentences. Under Indian law, after 14 years some prisoners can be released on remission provided they fulfil certain criteria relating to their age and conduct.
Continue reading...College of Policing for England and Wales is planning policies to deal with harassment and racism in forces after string of scandals
Police leaders have admitted officers were kept on duty who should be sacked as they launched a promised crackdown on those who attack, abuse or harass women.
A series of scandals have rocked confidence in policing, with its leaders under pressure to do more to eliminate what one police chief called “toxic behaviour and [a] damaging culture”.
Continue reading...Official data shows 125 women murdered, with the vast majority killed within a family context
The number of femicides in Italy has risen by almost 16% over the past year, with the vast majority taking place in a family context.
Data published by the interior ministry on Monday showed 125 femicides between 1 August 2021 and 31 July 2022, compared with 108 during the same period in the previous year.
Continue reading...Jonathan Edwards’s membership of Welsh party sends out ‘wrong message’, says Adam Price
The leader of Plaid Cymru has called for an MP who received a police caution for assaulting his wife to stand down.
Jonathan Edwards, the MP for Carmarthen East and Dinefwr, had been suspended since July 2020 but on Thursday the party said he was being readmitted to its Westminster group.
In the UK, call the national domestic abuse helpline on 0808 2000 247, or visit Women’s Aid. In Australia, the national family violence counselling service is on 1800 737 732. In the US, the domestic violence hotline is 1-800-799-SAFE (7233). Other international helplines may be found via www.befrienders.org
Continue reading...Zhou Xiaoxuan, who alleges TV host groped her, hopes case proves ‘difficulty of being a woman’ in China
The woman at the centre of a landmark case in China’s #MeToo movement has vowed not to give up after a court rejected her appeal for an apology and damages.
In 2018 Zhou Xiaoxuan accused a high-profile state TV presenter, Zhu Jun, of forcibly kissing and groping her during a 2014 internship. The case inspired many others to share their experiences of sexual assault and caused a social media storm.
Continue reading...Dozens of zama-zamas – illegal miners from other countries – now being held in crime crackdown following music video shoot attack
Dozens of men detained after the alleged gang-rape of eight women on a music video shoot in South Africa are expected back in court on Wednesday as police made more arrests of artisanal miners blamed by local people for widespread violence.
The arrests on Tuesday near Krugersdorp, a city north-west of Johannesburg, bring the total number of people detained since the attack to more than 120.
Continue reading...Dawoodi Bohra leader Mufaddal Saifuddin, who is in the UK to preach, is an advocate of the abusive practice whose visa should be revoked, say activists
Campaigners have criticised the UK government for granting a visa to a religious leader who has advocated for female genital mutilation (FGM).
Mufaddal Saifuddin who is the syedna, or leader, of the Dawoodi Bohra community, a sect of Shia Islam with 1.2 million followers worldwide, will give sermons in front of tens of thousands of people at Northolt mosque in London between 29 July and 7 August.
Continue reading...Tory leadership hopefuls set out plans to tackle violence against women and girls, as Labour’s Stella Creasy welcomes Truss U-turn
Liz Truss has vowed to make street harassment a crime months after a similar move was blocked by Boris Johnson, while Rishi Sunak pledged to outlaw “downblousing” – taking a photo down a woman’s top without consent.
Both Tory leadership candidates set out plans to tackle violence against women and girls, which has been the focus of a longstanding campaign by opposition MPs and feminist activists, especially after the killings of women including Sarah Everard, Sabina Nessa and Zara Aleena.
Continue reading...Boris Johnson’s ‘appalling’ attitude to women to blame for lack of progress on gender-based violence, suggests Keir Starmer
Rape and domestic violence cases will be fast-tracked through the courts under a Labour government so that no victim has to wait more than a year for justice, Keir Starmer has pledged.
In an interview with the Guardian, the Labour leader said Boris Johnson had made no progress tackling gender-based violence during his premiership because of his “appalling” attitude towards women.
Continue reading...Tang Lu was found guilty of killing social media star Lhamo by setting fire to her online in September 2020
A Chinese man has been executed after a court found him guilty of setting his former wife on fire while she was livestreaming on social media.
The Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang autonomous prefecture intermediate people’s court said in a short online statement on Saturday morning that it had carried out the execution of Tang Lu.
Continue reading...The 35-year-old law graduate was killed in the early hours of 26 June as she walked home from a night out
Hundreds of people dressed in white gathered for a silent vigil for Zara Aleena, the 35-year-old law graduate who was killed as she walked home from a night out.
A deep solidarity and loss was palpable among the tearful crowd in Ilford, east London, on Saturday – a community still gripped in shock and fear by Aleena’s death, and the growing insecurity women face in public spaces.
Continue reading...Joint inquiry hears evidence of officers in England and Wales using their status to deter victims from making reports
Police forces in England and Wales are responding to reports of their own officers committing domestic abuse in a way that is “significantly harming the public interest”, with just 9% of such allegations leading to criminal charges, a joint watchdog investigation has found.
The College of Policing, Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services and the Independent Office for Police Conduct heard evidence of police perpetrators of domestic abuse using their knowledge, status and powers to intimidate victims and deter them from making reports.
Continue reading...Campaigners say curtailing of women’s rights in Afghanistan means Trump-era waiver must be removed
Human rights groups are urging the UN to end a Trump-era waiver that allows Taliban members most responsible for the oppression of women in Afghanistan to travel abroad.
In a test for the international community’s willingness to isolate the Taliban, critics argue that those Taliban members curtailing women’s right to leave their homes within Afghanistan should at minimum be banned from leaving their country.
Continue reading...More than 100 MPs write to Boris Johnson saying guidance will lead survivors to avoid seeking therapy
More than 100 female Labour MPs have written to Boris Johnson calling on him to scrap new guidance on pre-trial therapy for rape victims, which they say will make it less likely they will get the vital therapy they need.
Led by the shadow attorney general, Emily Thornberry, MPs including Yvette Cooper, Angela Rayner and Jess Phillips argue that the new rules “will cause many survivors to avoid seeking therapy, and make it more likely that cases will collapse when the prolonged stress of waiting for trials becomes too much”.
Continue reading...Chinese cyberspace is filled with videos showing violence against women and activists say only real social change will stop the abuse
Tang Ping, 31, a mother-of-two in the southern Chinese city of Nanning, says in 2014 when her first child was six months old, her husband – an academic – began routinely beating her. She felt hurt but also ashamed, blaming herself for not being a good enough wife. She did not know what to do.
Five years ago, after another round of violence, she finally summoned the courage to report her husband to the police. “I was told my injuries were not serious, therefore they could not intervene,” she says, as she prepares to legally dissolve the marriage this week.
Continue reading...Footage shows man striking and dragging woman outside after she pushes him away
Eight people have been arrested over a vicious attack on a group of women at a restaurant in China, police said on Saturday, in a case that has prompted outrage over predatory sexual behaviour.
Footage of the incident widely circulated online shows a man placing his hand on a woman’s back as she shares a meal with two companions at a barbecue restaurant in northern China’s Hebei province.
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