Tag: United Arab Emirates

Amnesty International recently reported that two foreign women working as servants in the United Arab Emirates were ordered flogged after they became pregnant out of wedlock in that country.

Rad Zemah Sinyaj Mohammed, of India, was sentenced to 150 lashes to be administered over two flogging sessions. She will then be deported back to India.

Wasini bint Sarjan, of Indonesia, was sentenced to 100 lashes and a year in jail, after which she too will be deported back to her home country of Indonesia.

Both women are currently pregnant, and Muslim Shari’a law forbids the flogging of pregnant or nursing women. Instead the court will appoint a medical officer to determine when the women have given birth and/or weaned their respective children, at which point the sentence will be carried out.

Amnesty International notes that the UAE is a party to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women which prohibits gender-based violence, including torture, but since the UAE also uses flogging to punish men, its unclear how that convention would apply to this case.

Amnesty International also claims that criminalizing private sexual conduct penalize women more than men, but does not elaborate on how or why this is the case.

It is really quite simple, though — criminal punishment of adult men or women for consensual, non-marital sex is barbaric. The use of flogging further ratchets up (or down) the level of barbarity involved here.

Source:

United Arab Emirates. Amnesty International, December 23, 2004.

The crown prince of one of the seven United Arab Emirates was deposed in June because of concerns that his views on women were too liberal.

Sheikh Khalid bin Saqr al-Qassimi, 63, had been the de facto ruler of the poorest of the seven emirates, Ras al-Khaimah, since 1999. Sheikh Khalid had taken over much of the head of state duties after his father, Sheikh Saqr bin Mohammed al-Qassimi fell ill.

The Daily Telegraph (London) quoted an unidentified employee as blaming Sheikh Khalid’s liberal views of women’s rights as the main cause of his removal. According to the Telegraph, his wife, Shaikah Fawqai al-Qassami is a playwright and women’s rights activist. The Telegraph quoted the unidentified employee as saying,

Sheikh Khalid was told, at a meeting with his father and six of his brothers, that he had to banish his wife from the emirate and demolish the ladies’ club that helps women here if they have problems.

She has done a lot to bring the country forward, but Sheikh Saud does not feel there is a place for women in today’s Arab society. Sheikh Khalid said he would think about it, but they did not give him time to come back with his answer – they just issued the decree.

Albawaba.com reported that tanks had been called in to guard the palaces of the new crown prince, Sheikh Saud bin Saqr al-Qassimi, 48, who is Sheikh Khalid’s younger brother.

Sources:

Tanks sent to secure Ras al-Khaimah emirate succession change. Albawaba.Com, June 15, 2003.

Emirate prince ousted in women’s rights row. Susan Bisset, The Daily Telegraph, June 15, 2003.

Saud replaces Khalid – New ‘successor’ in Ras Al-Khaima. Associated Press, June 15, 2003.