By JPOST.COM STAFF, JOSEPH MAYTON / MEDIA LINE
11/20/2011 12:05
======================================================
11/20/2011 12:05
======================================================
Women show support for Elmahdy, who drew sharp criticism for posting naked photos in protest of Muslim country's restricted freedoms.
About 50 Israeli women posed for a nude photo on Saturday, in a show of solidarity with 20-year-old Egyptian blogger Aliaa Magda Elmahdy. The women posed with a banner reading "Love without borders" in English, Hebrew and Arabic, at Beit Ha'am on Rothschild Boulevard.
Elmahdy was the target of sharp criticism from liberals and conservatives alike in Egypt for posting nude photos of herself on her blog in protest of the conservative Muslim country's restricted freedom of expression.
"Put on trial the artists' models who posed nude for art schools until the early 70s," Elmahdy captioned her pictures. "Hide the art books and destroy the nude statues of antiquity, then undress and stand before a mirror and burn your bodies that you despise to forever rid yourselves of your sexual hangups before you direct your humiliation and chauvinism and dare to try to deny me my freedom of expression."
With parliamentary elections scheduled to begin on November 28, Egyptian women were concerned about the future of their rights. Their role in Egypt's transitional government has been very limited, and no women were included on the committee that drafted Egypt's transitional constitutional declaration. The new elections law does away with the Mubarak-era quota, which allocated 64 seats in parliament for women. The new law requires that at least some candidates be women, but some have complained that their parties are assigning them spots on election lists that will make it hard for them to win a seat in parliament.
The controversy over the status of women in post-Mubarak Egypt came to a head at the start of November after Hazem Saleh Abu Ismail, a leading presidential candidate and Muslim cleric, gave two television interviews in which he outlined an Islamic future for the country that would impose Saudi Arabian-style dress and behavior on the public.
In an interview on the 90 Minutes television program, Abu Ismail said he supported what he called “Islamic dress” for women, meaning the hijab, or veil. Asked about what would happen to a woman wearing a bikini on the beach, he responded, “she would be arrested.”
Days later, he went on the Biladna Bil Masr program and lashed out at the show’s popular TV host, Reem Maged, and all other unveiled women in the country. He declared al-tabarouj (the failure to cover one’s hair and of wearing makeup) a “mortal sin” and said he would make such actions “criminal,” citing his interpretation of Islamic law.
About 50 Israeli women posed for a nude photo on Saturday, in a show of solidarity with 20-year-old Egyptian blogger Aliaa Magda Elmahdy. The women posed with a banner reading "Love without borders" in English, Hebrew and Arabic, at Beit Ha'am on Rothschild Boulevard.
Elmahdy was the target of sharp criticism from liberals and conservatives alike in Egypt for posting nude photos of herself on her blog in protest of the conservative Muslim country's restricted freedom of expression.
"Put on trial the artists' models who posed nude for art schools until the early 70s," Elmahdy captioned her pictures. "Hide the art books and destroy the nude statues of antiquity, then undress and stand before a mirror and burn your bodies that you despise to forever rid yourselves of your sexual hangups before you direct your humiliation and chauvinism and dare to try to deny me my freedom of expression."
With parliamentary elections scheduled to begin on November 28, Egyptian women were concerned about the future of their rights. Their role in Egypt's transitional government has been very limited, and no women were included on the committee that drafted Egypt's transitional constitutional declaration. The new elections law does away with the Mubarak-era quota, which allocated 64 seats in parliament for women. The new law requires that at least some candidates be women, but some have complained that their parties are assigning them spots on election lists that will make it hard for them to win a seat in parliament.
The controversy over the status of women in post-Mubarak Egypt came to a head at the start of November after Hazem Saleh Abu Ismail, a leading presidential candidate and Muslim cleric, gave two television interviews in which he outlined an Islamic future for the country that would impose Saudi Arabian-style dress and behavior on the public.
In an interview on the 90 Minutes television program, Abu Ismail said he supported what he called “Islamic dress” for women, meaning the hijab, or veil. Asked about what would happen to a woman wearing a bikini on the beach, he responded, “she would be arrested.”
Days later, he went on the Biladna Bil Masr program and lashed out at the show’s popular TV host, Reem Maged, and all other unveiled women in the country. He declared al-tabarouj (the failure to cover one’s hair and of wearing makeup) a “mortal sin” and said he would make such actions “criminal,” citing his interpretation of Islamic law.
RELATED:
500 Egyptians hurt after mass rally against army's power
Egyptian women demand greater role in government
500 Egyptians hurt after mass rally against army's power
Egyptian women demand greater role in government
======================================================
jpost.com/NationalNews/Article.aspx?id=246238
No comments:
Post a Comment