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Former Muslim Brotherhood leader sentenced to life in prison
over incitement of violence in 2013 protests
8 Apr, 2021 16:21
FILE PHOTO: Supporters of Muslim Brotherhood at a protest in Cairo, Egypt on August 23, 2013.
© REUTERS/Muhammad Hamed
Mahmoud Ezzat, who served as the acting leader of the Muslim Brotherhood for several years, has been sentenced to life in prison for inciting violence and supplying firearms during the 2013 Egyptian protests.
The court ruling comes months after Ezzat was detained during a raid on an apartment in Cairo. and marks the latest crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood since it was removed from power in a coup d’état.
The case focused on charges of inciting violence and providing supporters with firearms amid violence outside the Muslim Brotherhood’s headquarters in 2013, with Ezzat’s legal team dismissing the prosecution as being based on “false political charges.”
Previously, Ezzat was sentenced to both life in prison and the death penalty in a separate trial over his alleged role in the 2013 protests. However, as he was absent from the original court case, as per Egyptian law, he will now face a retrial.
Ezzat, under his official title of Acting General Guide of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, had been an influential figure in the group since former leader Mohamed Badie was detained.
Both of Ezzat’s predecessors, Badie and Mohammed Mahdi Akef, were arrested on similar charges. Badie is serving seven life sentences and awaiting execution, having been sentenced to death, while Akef died from cancer ahead of a retrial in Cairo, following a successful attempt to overturn his conviction.
The Muslim Brotherhood lost control of Egypt in 2013, just a year after winning the presidential election, when the military conducted a coup d’état and placed members of the party under house arrest, sparking widespread protests. Since then, the organization has been banned and declared a terrorist group in the country, allowing authorities to detain dozens of Muslim Brotherhood officials and supporters.
Protestors take to streets in Kyrgyzstan to demand ban against 'bride kidnapping'
after young woman murdered by her captor
12 Apr, 2021 15:15
People attend a rally for the protection of women's rights in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. © Sputnik / Svetlana Fedotova
Bishkek's police chief has been fired after hundreds of locals demonstrated outside the Interior Ministry in the Kyrgyz capital protesting about the killing of a 27-year-old woman, murdered during a so-called 'bride kidnapping.'
The practice, also known as 'bridenapping,' used to be a widespread phenomenon in the Caucasus and in several Asian nations. Nowadays, most abductions are purely ceremonial and a tribute to previous tradition. However, in Kyrgyzstan, there are still some cases where the bride has not consented.
Kyrgyzstan is 90% Muslim.
On April 5, a 27-year-old woman named Aizada Kanatbekova was kidnapped by a group of unknown assailants. Following an investigation, the police quickly identified the would-be groom as Zamirbek Tenizbayev. Later that evening, they reached Tenizbayev by phone, who replied that he intended to marry Kanatbekova. He then turned off the device, and the police failed to find him.
Two days later, the bodies of Kanatbekova and her captor were found in a field near Bishkek in the suspect's car. According to the local cops, Tenizbayev strangled her because of a verbal altercation, after which he committed suicide.
A video of the moment she was captured was later published online, showing three men wrestle her into a car while passers-by ignore the crime.
A day later, following the news that the kidnapped woman had been killed, about 300 people protested outside the Interior Ministry in the capital, demanding that the law be changed and that the tradition – known locally as 'ala kachuu' – be made illegal. According to the media, the demonstrators chanted slogans such as "resign," "shame," and "how many of us have to die to stop kidnapping us?"
In response, recently-elected president Sadyr Japarov said that he would take the Kanatbekova case under his personal control. The country's interior ministry revealed that 43 police officers have been disciplined due to the negligent investigation, with the capital's police chief and deputy head being fired.
Four accomplices of the apparent killer have been detained.
In recent years, there have been several high-profile cases of bride kidnapping, causing some to demand a complete end to the practice. According to political analyst Azhdar Kurtov, the capture of women on the street has become more common in the years since Kyrgyz independence.
"In Kyrgyzstan, in conditions of extreme poverty and rampant nationalism, many customs from the past have received a new life," he told the newspaper Izvestia.
During the Soviet Union, when local traditions were repressed in favor of a pan-soviet identity, bride abduction was far less common. When the USSR collapsed, the countries began to regain their national characteristics.
According to Mikhail Romanenko, a specialist in the culture of the Caucasus, the tradition has persisted until the modern-day because of 'kalym,' a ransom payment given by the groom to the bride's parents, similar to a dowry.
Russia’s first Muslim pole dancing school: Tatar woman starts teaching classes
across from mosque with full approval of local imam
12 Apr, 2021 13:21
(L) © Getty Images / BraunS; (R) © REUTERS / Darren Staples
A Tatar woman in the Russian city of Kazan has opened the country’s first pole-dancing school for Muslims. While it’s been backed by the imam of a nearby mosque, the initiative has caused controversy in the mainly Islamic region.
Kazan is the capital of Tatarstan, a Muslim-majority republic around 800km east of Moscow. The region is known for its rich cultural history, combining Russian traditions with Tatar heritage.
Speaking to local news station Tatarstan 24, Leysan Dauletova revealed that she discovered a gap in the market while feeling uncomfortable in dance studios that often had men in the building, such as fathers picking up their children.
Dauletova’s new studio has rules which make it quite unique – closed windows, a complete ban on filming, no profanity in songs, and absolutely no visits by men.
"I came to the conclusion that I wanted to create comfortable conditions for Muslim women, who can practice without prying eyes," she explained, noting that most of the students want to practice to impress their husbands.
The studio, located across from a mosque, has been approved entirely by its imam. Ansar Hazrat Miftakhov, head of the local Al-Marjani mosque, says there is absolutely no reason a Muslim woman can’t engage in pole dancing.
"They said we want to show this to our husbands so that our husbands don’t look at other women," the imam explained. "And we said, of course, it is possible. This does not contradict Islam."
The idea hasn’t been universally accepted, however. The school has been slammed by the Union of Muslim Women of Russia and Tatarstan, a local organization. According to its head, Nailya Ziganshina, there is no need for a woman to "wriggle around," and a husband should love her soul.
"There are no problems with childbirth in a Muslim family. All families have many children, all have five, eight, ten children," she told radio station Moscow Talks. "There is no need to teach Muslim women any other arts and call it sports."
That's hilarious! Apparently, Muslim women are good at something!
Islam has been prominent in Tatarstan for over 1,000 years, remaining the dominant religion in the region throughout Bulgar rule, the Mongol invasion, and the Khanate of Kazan. During the Soviet Union, when all religions were repressed, the number of adherents fell. However, nowadays, more than half of all residents profess to be Muslim.
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