Women’s rights

Protesters take part in a demonstration in support of We Will Stop Femicide outside the courthouse in Istanbul on Sept. 13, 2023.

Outrage sweeps Turkey over double femicide as Erdogan pledges stricter measures

Activists are highlighting the government's failure to enforce existing laws to protect women.

Two young Iranian girls, not wearing the mandatory hijab, visit Bame Tehran on Sept. 9, 2023.

Iran hijab laws back in spotlight as police shooting leaves woman paralyzed

In a case reminiscent of Mahsa Amini's, the mother of two struggles against permanent paralysis amid a state-imposed media blackout and pressure on her family to remain silent.

A woman walks holding a placard as activists demonstrate against female child marriages, in Tahrir Square in central Baghdad on July 28, 2024, amid parliamentary discussion over a proposed amendment to the Iraqi Personal Status Law. (Photo by AHMAD AL-RUBAYE / AFP) (Photo by AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AFP via Getty Images)

Iraqis protest proposed 'anti-women' amendment to personal status law

Temporarily prevented from being read in parliament, an amendment to the country’s personal status law is seen as the “latest salvo” in a lengthy battle.

Two Iranian women are walking in the street of Tehran with optional covering.

Women activists face 'severe sentences' in Iran, as new president vows easing of restrictions

A woman labor activist was sentenced to death in Iran for allegedly belonging to an outlawed Kurdish group, as authorities continue their crackdown against any type of dissent.

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What's behind Taliban's decision to attend UN conference in Qatar?

Taliban Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani (C) kisses the Taliban flag as he reviews the newly recruited Afghan security personnel during their graduation ceremony at the police academy in Kabul on October 5, 2023. (Photo by Wakil KOHSAR / AFP) (Photo by WAKIL KOHSAR/AFP via Getty Images)

How EU-West Bank police mission hopes to advance two-state solution

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Saudi Arabia to make debut at Miss Universe pageant

Rumy al-Qahtani, a 27-year-old Saudi model and social media influencer, will take part in the global beauty pageant, which takes place in Mexico in September.

Israel's Labor Party chief: Netanyahu’s policies 'charade,' Gaza solution requires PA

Merav Michaeli (C), leader of Israel's Labour party and member of Knesset (parliament), speaks on the phone during a Knesset session in a red costume as a form of protest alluding to "The Handmaid's Tale" book and television series, in Jerusalem on March 15, 2023. (Photo by GIL COHEN-MAGEN / AFP) (Photo by GIL COHEN-MAGEN/AFP via Getty Images)

Turkish actress Merve Dizdar poses during a photocall after she won the Best Actress Prize for her part in the film "Kuru Otlar Ustune" (About Dry Grasses) during the closing ceremony of the 76th edition of the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, southern France, on May 27, 2023.

Turkey's conservatives lash out at actress Merve Dizdar after Cannes win

Angry reactions to actress Merve Dizdar’s acceptance speech at the Cannes film festival may foreshadow more crackdowns on the liberal arts sector as Erdogan and a new conservative parliament takes the reins.

Raqqa’s first ever girls’ soccer team poses outside a pitch funded by Norwegian donors, April 25, 2023.

Syrian girls play soccer among ghosts of Islamic State

Raqqa's first-ever girls' soccer team is blooming where Islamic State once terrorized the society.

Jordan Christians

Christians in Jordan welcome progress on inheritance law

Experts say the Jordanian Civil Code must differentiate between Christians and Muslims, so that the recent draft law on equal inheritance between female and male Christians can be implemented without controversies.

Rana Husseini

By Rana Husseini

Turkey election

Turkey’s new parliament: 50 shades of nationalism, conservatism

Turkey has ended up with the most nationalist and conservative parliament in its modern history, and where women, LGBT groups will face an uphill battle.

A woman walks past a poster showing the portrait of Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the presidential candidate of the Main Opposition alliance on May 05, 2023 in Istanbul, Turkey. On May 14th, Turkey’s President Erdogan will face his biggest electoral test as voters head to the polls in the country’s general election. Erdogan has been in power for more than two decades, as prime minister and then as president, but his popularity has taken a hit recently due to Turkey’s ongoing economic crisis and his government’s handl

Women candidates in Turkey face growing hurdles across political spectrum

Even as patriarchal attitudes fade, efforts to recruit candidates or put them at the top of party lists have fallen short due to the old boy network.

A woman walks past a mural in the Iranian capital Tehran, on October 11, 2022. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP) (Photo by ATTA KENARE/AFP via Getty Images)

Iran steps up hijab crackdown on women, shuttering businesses

In Iran's capital Tehran, some 150 such shops have been forced to close by authorities in the past two weeks alone.

Israeli Justice Minister Yariv Levin (R) listens to MP May Golan during a session at the Knesset, Jerusalem, March 20, 2023.

Who is May Golan, Israel's self-styled 'racist' considered for NY consul general?

The Likud party confirmed Minister without portfolio May Golan, known for her strong support of the judicial overhaul, was proposed the much-coveted position of consul general in New York.

Iranian Armenian schoolgirls walk home after class in the Julfa neighbourhood in the historic city of Isfahan, some 400 kms south of the capital, Tehran on April 21, 2015. Julfa neighborhood in Isfahan is where the biggest Armenian community in Iran resides and was established as an Armenian quarter by Persian Safavid King Shah Abbas I in 1606. Some 180.000 Armenians were living in Iran before the Islamic revolution in 1979, compared to some 60000 today, according to official figures. Most of the community

Fury in Iran as officials fail to address schoolgirls' poisonings

Iranian authorities either looked the other way or blamed the students, failing to soothe the public rage at the fresh suspected gas attacks on schoolgirls.

Alinejad

Breaking | Last Updated: April 10, 2023, 4:59 pm

Iranian-born US woman sentenced in plot to kidnap Masih Alinejad

Niloufar Bahadorifar, sentenced to prison, had pleaded guilty in December for unknowingly supporting an alleged Iranian plot to kidnap activist Masih Alinejad.

Women chant slogans in front of the Istanbul courthouse in Istanbul on April 5, 2023, as We Will Stop Femicides Platform, leading women rights group in Turkey appear on court for the second hearing of the trial that seeks to ban the platform.

Will Turkey’s conservative young women abandon Erdogan and AKP?

The conservative women vote played an important role in bringing Erdogan’s AKP to power two decades ago. But according to polls, that segment of Turkish society is looking for alternatives as AKP became too conservative for their taste.

Lebanese women hold placards during a protest organized by civil society groups and activists.

Lebanon fumes as another woman murdered by husband

The man killed his wife in front of their three children, renewing calls to enforce laws on domestic violence.

Chairman of Turkey's main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) Kemal Kilicdaroglu (C).

Turkey’s opposing camps seek to broaden base ahead of May elections

The rapprochement between Erdogan’s People’s Alliance and the Kurdish Islamist Huda-Par, seen as the successor of Hezbollah, annoys nationalists, while the move toward arch-conservative New Welfare alarms women.