Brother and sister's future separated after Taliban university ban

Issued on: 25/12/2022 -

Marwa (C) had hoped she would be able to follow her brother Hamid (L) into higher education but now the Taliban have banned women from attending university

 © Ahmad SAHEL ARMAN / AFP


Kabul (AFP) – Marwa was just a few months away from becoming the first woman in her Afghan family to go to university -- instead, she will watch achingly as her brother goes without her.

Women are now banned from attending university in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, where they have been steadily stripped of their freedoms over the past year.

"Had they ordered women to be beheaded, even that would have been better than this ban," Marwa told AFP at her family home in Kabul.

"If we are to be so unlucky, I wish that we hadn't been born at all. I'm sorry for my existence in the world.

"We are being treated worse than animals. Animals can go anywhere on their own, but we girls don't have the right even to step out of our homes."


With dreams of becoming a midwife, Marwa had planned to visit remote areas of Afghanistan where women remain deprived of health services 

© Ahmad SAHEL ARMAN / AFP

The 19-year-old had recently passed an entrance exam to start a nursing degree at a medical university in the Afghan capital from March.

She was thrilled to be joining her brother, Hamid, in attending the campus each day.

But now their futures have been pulled apart.

"I wanted my sister to achieve her goals along with me -- to succeed and move ahead," said Hamid, 20, a student of business administration at a higher education institute in Kabul.

"Despite several problems, she had studied until the 12th grade, but what can we say now?"

Dreams crushed

The ban by the hardline Islamist government, which seized power in August last year, has sparked global outrage, including from Muslim nations who deemed it against Islam.

Neda Mohammad Nadeem, the Taliban's minister for higher education, claimed women students had ignored a strict dress code and a requirement they be accompanied by a male relative to campus.

But the reality, according to some Taliban officials, is that the hardline clerics that advise the movement's supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada remain deeply sceptical of modern education for females.

With the new restrictions, women in Afghanistan 'are being treated worse than animals,' who are free to move on their own, says Marwa 

© Ahmad SAHEL ARMAN / AFP

Girls have also been banned from secondary schools in most of the country.

Women have been slowly squeezed out of public life in recent months, pushed from government jobs or paid a fraction of their former salary to stay at home.

They are also barred from travelling without a male relative and must cover up in public. Women are prohibited from going to parks, fairs, gyms and public baths.

Marwa and Hamid come from an impoverished family but their parents had supported their pursuit of higher education.

With dreams of becoming a midwife, Marwa had planned to visit remote areas of Afghanistan where women remain deprived of health services.

"I wanted to serve women in faraway places so that we never witness the loss of a mother's life during childbirth," she said.

Instead she will now stay home to teach her six younger siblings, while her father, the family's sole breadwinner, earns money as a vegetable vendor.

History repeating

Minister Nadeem insists women students behaved in a way that insulted Islamic principles and Afghan culture.

"They were dressing like they were going to a wedding. Those girls who were coming to universities from home were also not following instructions on the hijab," he said in an interview on state television.

But Hamid strongly rejected the justification for the ban.

With her dream of university ended, Marwa (2nd R) will now stay home to teach her six younger siblings © Ahmad SAHEL ARMAN / AFP

"When universities opened under the Taliban, different days were specified for boys and girls," he said.

"They (girls) were not allowed to enter unless they wore a mask and hijab. How then can they (the Taliban) say they were without hijabs?"

After the Taliban seized power, universities were forced to implement new rules, including gender-segregated classrooms and entrances, while women were only permitted to be taught by professors of the same sex, or old men.

Marwa's mother, holding her newborn baby in her arms, said she felt history repeating itself.

Two decades ago she was forced to quit her studies during the Taliban's first regime between 1996 and 2001.

"I'm happy that my son is able to pursue his goals, but I'm also heartbroken that my daughter is unable to do the same," said Zainab, 40.

"If my daughter does not achieve her goals, she'll have a miserable future like mine."

© 2022 AFP

Afghan women in tears after Taliban ban on higher education

Anmol Nath Bali

Published  December 24, 2022,


Taliban has banned women from colleges and universities, and faculty are not allowed to make online classes for girl students.

It came as a shock for Zuhal Hashmi, a student of Bakhtar University, Kabul, when she got to know that the Taliban has banned women from universities. Zuhal is a student in the BBA programme and on the day of the announcement, she went to the university to appear for last semester’s examination. “All girls were present, but the Talibs only allowed boys to enter the campus,” Zuhal told The Sunday Guardian over phone.

“All girls pleaded for hours, but the Talibs didn’t allow us and at last, they threatened to shoot us,” Zuhal added. She was weeping while narrating her ordeal. First, the Taliban regime expelled women faculty from higher educational institutes and then they separated classes for boys and girls and the current diktat has come as a blow to thousands of female students studying in Afghan colleges and universities.

Zuhal’s father was in the Afghan army but after the Taliban took over, he is jobless. Zuhal has a total of 11 family members, six sisters, one brother, her wife and two kids and two parents.

She used to work in a bank part-time to support her family. “But the Taliban has also banned girls from working in the bank. They snatched my job for bread earning,” Zuhal narrated. Her brother works in the Hadaf organization and now he is the only one to earn for the whole family.

Like many other female students, Zuhal is also worried about her future. “Women here are in mental trauma. We don’t know what will happen to us,” Zuhal said. Her professors have given female students assignments and on the basis of assignments, girls’ last examination will be taken.

They have asked their professor about their future education, “but even they are also not aware of our future”. Now girls in Afghanistan are requesting online classes, but the faculty is saying that they are not permitted to take online classes for girl students.

The video of women protesting in the Afghan capital, Kabul, has surfaced on social media. The women in the videos could be seen asking for their right to education. In one video, it is also seen that the Taliban is using water cannons to stop protesters.

Various Islamic nations have condemned the Taliban’s new rule. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu called on the Taliban to reverse the ban, which he said was “neither Islamic nor humane.”

Saudi Arabia also urged the Taliban to change course. A Saudi Foreign Ministry statement said the decision was “astonishing in all Islamic countries”. UN Human Rights High Commissioner Volker Türk also condemned this step and described the ban as “another appalling and cruel blow to the rights of Afghan women and girls and a deeply regrettable setback for the entire country”.

Jamila, a student of Curative Medicine at the Afghan Swiss Medical Higher Educational Institute, was going to appear for her 11th semester examination. But like others, she was also not allowed to enter the campus. “I got information about this ban via the class WhatsApp group. From that moment, my life has turned upside down,” Jamila narrated her ordeal over the phone. “The only thing left for me is tears,” she added.

Jamila’s professors have told students to wait until further notice. Jamila has ten members in the family, five brothers, three sisters and two parents. Her three brothers are abroad and two are in Afghanistan. Her father is a retired employee of the Agriculture Department and currently, she is working as a nurse part-time to support her family.

“Even one of my classmates tried to take her life,” Jamila said. “We girls are blank. I always wanted to contribute to society as a medical professional, but this has ruined my life,” Jamila said while crying. Her parents are comforting her by saying that “Allah will take care of everything”.

Not only this dictate, but the deplorable condition of electricity and internet is also a big problem for Afghan students. According to Neda Mohammad Nadeem, the minister for higher education in the Taliban government, the reason behind this ban is that women students had ignored Islamic instructions including what to wear or being accompanied by a male relative when travelling.

“Unfortunately, after the passing of 14 months, the instructions of the Ministry of Higher Education of the Islamic Emirate regarding the education of women were not implemented,” Nadeem said in an interview on state television. “They were dressing like they were going to a wedding. Those girls who were coming to universities from home were also not following instructions on hijab,” he added.

Many students in Afghanistan were aware that this ban may come soon. “Last month, one of my classmates said that the Taliban may ban girls from higher educational institutes. But I thought it is fake news but today they did this,” Jamila said. She also informed about the current situation in Afghanistan. “It is winter and there are no clothes to wear. I work in the maternity ward, there is no food, and we are living in a crisis. All women and their new-born admitted to the maternity ward are malnourished,” Jamila said.

Afghan Taliban use barbed wire fence and armed guards to keep women out of universities

Rituparna Chatterjee
Fri, December 23, 2022 

The Taliban rulers of Afghanistan have fenced off at least one university in Kabul with barbed wire and posted armed guards to keep women out, according to several media reports.

As the taliban diktat on women’s higher education came into force, video obtained by The Associated Press showed women weeping and consoling each other outside a campus in Kabul.

“The Taliban have used barbed wire and armed guards to prevent Afghan women from entering universities. Yet, despite the intimidation, they protest alongside brave Afghan men, demanding women and girls be given their basic rights,” tweeted BBC anchor and correspondent Yalda Hakim. Hakim also posted a video of women holding up placards and raising slogans.

Several men have walked out of classrooms and many professors in Afghanistan’s universities have resigned in protest against the Taliban’s hardline measure to not allow women students in educational institutions.

Shabnam Nasimi, former policy advisor to minister for afghan resettlement & minister for refugee, tweeted an image of a burqa-clad woman standing outside a barbed wire gate, captioned: “If this image doesn’t break you, I don’t know what will. Despite Taliban banning female university education, this young woman stood outside Kabul University today, hoping that they may still let her in. The Taliban barbwired the main gate & only allowed male students to enter.”

The Taliban banned all female students from universities in Afghanistan on 20 December.

Following a meeting of the Taliban government, universities were instructed in a letter – confirmed by the regime’s higher education ministry – to suspend female students’ access immediately until further notice, in accordance with a cabinet decision.

The Taliban reassumed control of Kabul last August, as western forces brought a hasty end to their decades-long presence in the South Asian country.

Taliban armed guards were seen outside four Kabul universities on Wednesday. Rahimullah Nadeem, a spokesman for Kabul University, confirmed to AP that classes for female students had stopped. He said some women were allowed to enter the campus for paperwork and administrative reasons.

Afghanistan Protest Education (Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

Women weep outside Edrak University in Kabul (AP)

Despite initially promising a more moderate rule respecting rights for women and minorities, the Taliban have widely implemented their interpretation of Islamic law, or Sharia, since they seized power in August 2021.

They have banned girls from middle school and high school, barred women from most fields of employment and ordered them to wear head-to-toe clothing in public. Women are also banned from parks and gyms.

The move will hurt efforts by the Taliban to win international recognition for their government and aid from potential donors at a time when Afghanistan is mired in a worsening humanitarian crisis. The international community has urged Taliban leaders to reopen schools and give women their right to public space.

The Voice of America reported that dozens of Afghan women’s rights activists and female students staged protests in Kabul, Takhar, and Nangarhar provinces. According to Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper, political activists and students also held a protest on Friday in Quetta.

The workers and supporters of the National Democratic Party (NDP) gathered in front of the Quetta Press Club where NDP Balochistan president Ahmed Jan Khan addressed the crowd, the paper reported.

(With additional reporting from agencies)

Citizen refugees

Pakistan must stand by its obligations to protect vulnerable persons such as Afghan refugees

Sikander Ahmed Shah 

Published December 24, 2022

ON Dec 15, at least six civilians were killed in a clash between Pakistani and Afghan border forces near their international border crossing at Chaman-Spin Boldak, the latest in a series of deadly flare-ups between the two neighbouring countries.

Against such a tense diplomatic backdrop, however, one group of persons often gets marginalised in international discussions on extremism and regional security: the Afghan refugee population extant within Pakistan.

While it is imperative that Pakistan safeguard its national security and continue to pursue a robust foreign policy — including by maintaining a hard-line stance against Afghanistan’s harbouring of terrorist entities — care must be taken to ensure that Pakistan also stands by its obligations under domestic and international law to protect vulnerable persons such as Afghan refugees.

Pakistan plays host to approximately three million Afghan refugees — roughly 1.4m and another 840,000 hold Pakistan-issued ‘Proof of Registration’ (PoR) cards and ‘Afghan Citizen Cards’ respectively, while an estimated 775,000 are undocumented — comprising the fourth-largest refugee population in the world.

In collaboration with the United Nations High Commissioner on Refugees, Pakistan’s Chief Commissionerate for Afghan Refugees provides key social services to the Afghan refugee population holding PoR cards. This, however, does little to address the needs of those without PoR cards, nor does it inure such persons from certain sociocultural, institutional, and systemic barriers to accessing basic human rights and constitutional guarantees within Pakistan.

Pakistan is presently not a party to the 1951 Convention on the Status of Refugees (1951 Convention), nor to its 1967 Protocol — the two seminal international legal instruments relating to the plight and treatment of refugee populations.

However, robust protections for refugees nonetheless exist as part of customary international law, the corpus of legal norms that informs state actions; these safeguards include the principle of ‘non-refoulment’, which prevents a state from “transferring or removing individuals from their jurisdiction or effective control when there are substantial grounds for believing that the person would be at risk of irreparable harm upon return, including persecution, torture, ill-treatment or other serious human rights violations”.

Pakistan must stand by its obligations to protect vulnerable persons such as Afghan refugees.

This principle is explicitly reproduced in Article 3 of the 1984 Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, signed and ratified by Pakistan.

Further, Pakistan is also a party to other major human rights conventions, including the 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which guarantees all persons — regardless of nationality or immigration status — the inherent and inalienable right to life, and the 1965 International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, which explicitly prohibits “racial discrimination”, including “any distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference based on race, colour, descent, or national or ethnic origin which has the purpose or effect of nullifying or impairing the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on an equal footing, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural or any other field of public life”

Given that the state has ratified the vast majority of international human rights treaties, Pakistan is obligated to extend the rights and protections under these instruments to all persons residing within its territory or indeed under its ‘effective control’. This latter principle was best enunciated by the International Court of Justice in its 2004 advisory ‘Israeli Wall Opinion’.

Domestically, certain avenues exist for Afghan refugees within Pakistan to seek the legal protections granted by the national legal system: in his 2022 Fazal Haq order, Justice Athar Minallah recognised that, based on the principle of jus soli (the ‘law of the soil’), every person born in Pakistan becomes a citizen automatically ie by operation of the law and enjoys all rights guaranteed under the Constitution.

Further, Article 199 of the Constitution, which governs the high courts’ writ jurisdiction, uses the terms ‘aggrieved party’ and ‘person’ in relation to a petitioner under the article, and not, for example, ‘national’ or ‘citizen’.

Thus, this can potentially provide Afghan refugees who are not citizens of Pakistan with access to basic human rights and due process protections under the Pakistani legal system, in particular those securable under the high courts’ writ jurisdiction.

While these mechanisms provide some recourse for the Afghan refugee population in Pakistan, much of the existing corpus of domestic laws is unfortunately inadequate.

Presently, the primary legal instrument which relates to refugees is the 1946 Foreigners Act, which regrettably grants broad and unfettered penal and carceral powers to the state over refugees; and provides little by way of checks and balances against executive overreach or abuse of the powers so granted.

Pakistan must also develop a system to distinguish between the various kinds of migrants and assimilate them accordingly: refugees, ie those escaping to Pakistan from conflict or natural disasters in their home states; economic migrants moving to Pakistan seeking better economic prospects; and those crossing borders to maintain historical tribal or ancestral ties.

Further, protecting, and to a certain extent assimilating, the Afghan refugee population in mainstream Pakistani society would yield significant dividends, not least of which would be the international political capital such a move would accrue.

Presently, much of the Afghan refugee population within Pakistan are engaged in the country’s grey and black economies, essentially working ‘under the table’ in informal employment arrangements. Regularising such individuals would allow their economic activity to contribute to the national GDP while also broadening Pakistan’s tax base.

Doing so would also benefit such refugees in the way of meaningful opportunities for economic self-improvement, rendering them less vulnerable to entanglement in criminal activity or extremist recruitment, while simultaneously granting the Pakistani economy access to a larger labour pool from which to draw upon.

Clarifying the contours of refugee status and incorporating — to a degree — such persons within the Pakistani milieu would provide net benefits from a humanitarian, economic, and security perspective, ensuring not only that such vulnerable persons — often fleeing persecution in their home countries — are accorded the necessary protections, but also that such persons are able to tangibly and positively contribute to their host country Pakistan.

The writer is former legal adviser to Pakistan’s foreign ministry, and faculty, Lums Law School.

Published in Dawn, December 24th, 2022

Taliban & liberalism

Aasim Sajjad Akhtar 

Published December 23, 2022 

IT has been 14 months since Afghanistan was handed over to the Taliban by the most fearsome military force the world has ever known, the US army. For most of this time the narrative has been that the regime in Kabul is markedly different from the one that ruled in the 1990s, willing and able to conform to liberal norms of conduct.

The government of Pakistan, has, of course, propagated the virtues of the Taliban 2.0 more than anyone. Washington will never admit it publicly, but it has acceded to the gradual normalisation of the Taliban regime.

So any crocodile tears being shed by Pakistani and US officialdom in the wake of recent disclosures that Kabul is banning women from university education are cynical at best, and despicable at worst.

Here in Pakistan too, the glaring contradictions at the heart of official policy vis-à-vis the Taliban are being laid increasingly bare. The daring with which the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) created a hostage situation in Bannu feels like a case of déjà vu that played out repeatedly in the early 2000s.

There have been regular reports of resurgence of milita­ncy in Waziristan, Lakki Marwat, Zhob and increasingly diverse Pakhtun geograph­ies like Kurram, metropolitan Quetta and Swat.

The right wing thrives on the ruins of imperialist wars.

The Qaumi Pasoon popular uprisings in Swat and other regions against this resurgence were a breath of fresh air, like the ongoing street protests led predominantly by women in Kabul and other Afghan cities.

But for the most part the liberal intellectual explanations for, and political articulations of, a response to social forces like the Taliban are highly deficient. In fact, liberalism — and its historic twin, capitalism — are very much responsible for the repeated resurgence of illiberal movements like the (Afghan and Pakistani) Taliban, Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), Hindutva, etc.

The story can go back further, but for at least four decades, the liberal-capitalist order championed by the US and ruling classes in the rest of the world has failed both racialised and gendered working people in Western societies as well as the historic peripheries of the world system.

On the one hand, we are sold liberal rhetoric about human rights, women’s rights, zero tolerance for religious militancy, racism and sexism, etc. It is such rhetoric which has driven so-called ‘humanitarian interventions’ by the world’s self-proclaimed policemen in numerous Muslim-majority countries like Afghanistan, the Arab world and north/sub-Saharan Africa.

On the other hand are the undisclosed, real reasons for such interventions — preservation of military-strategic power of state establishments, and the rapacious profiteering of powerful class and corporate interests. Where direct ‘humanitarian interventions’ are either not required or not possible, state and class power is sustained by relatively more banal policy impositions made by bilateral and multilateral donors, like those that we are living through in the form of IMF conditionalities.

It is on the ruins of imperialist wars and innumerable forms of social and economic dispossession that the right wing thrives. It is a fact of history that jihadism represented a strategic intervention by the American Empire and complicit regimes in Muslim countries — like the Zia dictatorship — to undermine the Soviet bloc and Third World nationalism.

Today, these Frankensteins have morphed into social forces in their own right, sometimes needing to be eliminated via liberal playbooks that invoke terrorism, and at other times still deserving of patronage in the name of strategic interests.

It is folly for progressives to invoke the same liberal slogans as states that are committed to nothing other than cynical interests. Afghanistan under Taliban 2.0 contains precious mineral deposits that are craved by Western go­­vernments and emer­ging powers such as China.

The idea that any of these big players is interested in defending supposedly ‘universal’ liberal values is naïve and does nothing to serve the long-term interests of Afghan women and girls — or any indigenous populations that are sitting atop strategically important territory and/or resources to be extracted for profit.

Let us also not forget that Pakistani Pakhtun regions in which the TTP is making a comeback are well endowed with oil, gas, minerals, etc. As are other ethnic peripheries — just think of the shameless pillaging of Reko Diq and other parts of Balochistan.

The establishment here may well continue to patronise religiously motivated militants for decades, but this is not the only story in explaining the re-emergence of the TTP, or, the rise of newer social movements like the TLP. Neither is this story limited to Muslim-majority contexts, as the phenomenal rise of the Hindu right wing in neighbouring India confirms.

We need a different story to challenge both right-wing ideology and the material interests of empires, corporations and state establishments.

The writer teaches at Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad.

Published in Dawn, December 23rd, 2022

CUTTING NOSE TO SPITE FACE

Afghanistan: 3 foreign NGOs stop work over Taliban women ban

Save the Children, the Norwegian Refugee Council and CARE said they could not resume their work without women staff. The Taliban had ordered all nongovernmental organizations to suspend their female employees.

Three foreign aid groups announced on Sunday that they were suspending their work in Afghanistan after the Taliban ordered nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to ban women from working.

Save the Children, the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) and CARE said they could not operate without women in their workforce.

"Whilst we gain clarity on this announcement, we are suspending our programs, demanding that men and women can equally continue our lifesaving assistance in Afghanistan," the three aid groups said in a joint statement.

What is the Taliban's order?

On Saturday, the Taliban said female NGO employees were not allowed to work because some had not adhered to a strict interpretation of the Islamic dress code for women.

The decision is the latest in a string of restrictions that Afghanistan's hardline Islamist rulers have imposed since they seized power in August 2021.

It came less than a week after the Taliban banned women from attending universities.

The Taliban's crackdown on women's rights has contributed to hampering their administration's efforts to gain international recognition, which could help lift sanctions and bring in much-needed aid amid the deteriorating state of the Afghan economy.

Ban sparks international backlash

The UN condemned the ban. It said excluding women "systematically from all aspects of public and political life takes the country backward, jeopardizing efforts for any meaningful peace or stability in the country."

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock urged the international community to take a stand against the Taliban's latest restrictions on women's freedoms.

"Those who exclude women and young girls from work, from education and from public life not only ruin their country," Baerbock wrote on Twitter on Sunday.

She added, "We will try to get a clear reaction from the international community," and noted, "Sexist persecution can constitute a crime against humanity."



US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the decision would be "devastating" to Afghans as it would "disrupt vital and lifesaving assistance to millions."

fb/ar (AFP, AP)

Save the Children among NGOs halting Afghan operations after ban on female staff

Issued on: 25/12/2022 - 

04:26 A burqa-clad woman walks through a street in Kandahar on December 25, 2022. © Naveed Tanveer, AFP

Text by: NEWS WIRES|
Video by: FRANCE 24

Three foreign aid groups, including Save the Children, announced on Sunday they were suspending their operations in Afghanistan after the Taliban ordered all NGOs to stop their women staff from working.

The announcement came as top officials from the United Nations and dozens of NGOs operating in Afghanistan met in Kabul to discuss a way ahead after the Taliban's latest restriction delivered a blow to humanitarian work across the country.

"We cannot effectively reach children, women and men in desperate need in Afghanistan without our female staff," Save the Children, the Norwegian Refugee Council and CARE said in a joint statement.

"Whilst we gain clarity on this announcement, we are suspending our programmes, demanding that men and women can equally continue our lifesaving assistance in Afghanistan."

Saturday's order issued by the Taliban authorities drew swift international condemnation, with governments and organisations warning of the impact on humanitarian services in a country where millions rely on aid.

The latest restriction comes less than a week after the hardline Islamists banned women from attending universities, prompting global outrage and protests in some Afghan cities.

The Ministry of Economy on Saturday threatened to suspend the operating licences of NGOs if they failed to implement the order.

The ministry, which issues these licences, said it had received "serious complaints" that women working in NGOs were not observing a proper Islamic dress code.

A meeting of the Humanitarian Country Team, which comprises top UN officials and representatives of dozens of Afghan and foreign NGOs was being held in Kabul to discuss whether to suspend all aid work following the latest Taliban directive, aid officials told AFP.

The United Nations condemned the ministry's directive and said it would seek an explanation from the Taliban about the order, which by excluding women "systematically from all aspects of public and political life takes the country backward, jeopardising efforts for any meaningful peace or stability in the country".

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the ban would be "devastating" to Afghans as it would "disrupt vital and life-saving assistance to millions".
'Hell for women'

"I'm the only breadwinner of my family. If I lose my job my family of 15 members will die of hunger," said Shabana, 24, a woman employee with an international NGO working in Afghanistan for decades.

"While the world is celebrating the arrival of the new year, Afghanistan has become a hell for women."

The ministry said women working in NGOs were not observing "the Islamic hijab and other rules and regulations pertaining to the work of females in national and international organisations".

But women employees AFP spoke to dismissed the charge.

"Our offices are gender segregated, and every woman is properly dressed," said Arezo, who works for another foreign NGO.

It remained unclear whether the directive impacted foreign women staff at NGOs.

The international community has made respecting women's rights a sticking point in negotiations with the Taliban government for its recognition and the restoration of aid.

The ban comes at a time when millions across the country depend on humanitarian aid provided by international donors through a vast network of NGOs.

Afghanistan's economic crisis has only worsened since the Taliban seized power in August last year, which led to Washington freezing billions of dollars of its assets and foreign donors cutting aid.

Dozens of organisations work across remote areas of Afghanistan and many of their employees are women, with several warning the ban would stymie their work.

"The ban is going to impact all aspects of humanitarian work as women employees have been key executors of various projects focussing on the country's vulnerable women population," said another top official of a foreign NGO in Kabul.

On Tuesday, the minister of higher education banned women from universities, charging that they too were not properly dressed.

That ban triggered widespread international outrage and some protests, which were forcefully dispersed by the authorities.

Since returning to power in August last year, the Taliban have already barred teenage girls from secondary school.

Women have also been pushed out of many government jobs, prevented from travelling without a male relative and ordered to cover up outside of the home, ideally with a burqa.

They are also not allowed to enter parks or gardens.

(AFP)

Taliban bans female NGO staff, jeopardizing aid efforts

Taliban flag-raising ceremony in Kabul

Sat, December 24, 2022 

KABUL (Reuters) -Afghanistan's Taliban-run administration on Saturday ordered all local and foreign NGOs to stop female employees from working, in a move the United Nations said would hit humanitarian operations just as winter grips a country already in economic crisis.

A letter from the economy ministry, confirmed by spokesperson Abdulrahman Habib, said female employees of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) were not allowed to work until further notice because some had not adhered to the administration's interpretation of Islamic dresscode for women.

It comes days after the administration ordered universities to close to women, prompting global condemnation and sparking some protests and heavy criticism inside Afghanistan.

Both decisions are the latest restrictions on women that are likely to undermine the Taliban-run administration's efforts to gain international recognition and clear sanctions that are severely hampering the economy.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Twitter he was "deeply concerned" the move "will disrupt vital and life-saving assistance to millions," adding: "Women are central to humanitarian operations around the world. This decision could be devastating for the Afghan people."

Ramiz Alakbarov, the U.N. deputy special representative for Afghanistan and humanitarian coordinator, told Reuters that although the U.N. had not received the order, contracted NGOs carried out most of its activities and would be heavily impacted.

"Many of our programmes will be affected," he said, because they need female staff to assess humanitarian need and identify beneficiaries, otherwise they will not be able to implement aid programs.

International aid agency AfghanAid said it was immediately suspending operations while it consulted with other organisations, and that other NGOs were taking similar actions.

The potential endangerment of aid programmes that millions of Afghans access comes when more than half the population relies on humanitarian aid, according to aid agencies, and during the mountainous nation's coldest season.

"There's never a right time for anything like this ... but this particular time is very unfortunate because during winter time people are most in need and Afghan winters are very harsh," said Alakbarov.

He said his office would consult with NGOs and U.N. agencies on Sunday and seek to meet with Taliban authorities for an explanation.

Aid workers say female workers are essential in a country where rules and cultural customs largely prevent male workers from delivering aid to female beneficiaries.

"An important principle of delivery of humanitarian aid is the ability of women to participate independently and in an unimpeded way in its distribution so if we can't do it in a principled way then no donors will be funding any programs like that," Alakbarov said.

When asked whether the rules directly included U.N. agencies, Habib said the letter applied to organisations under Afghanistan's coordinating body for humanitarian organisations, known as ACBAR. That body does not include the U.N., but includes over 180 local and international NGOs.

Their licences would be suspended if they did not comply, the letter said.

Afghanistan's struggling economy has tipped into crisis since the Taliban took over in 2021, with the country facing sanctions, cuts in development aid and a freeze in central bank assets.

A record 28 million Afghans are estimated to need humanitarian aid next year, according to AfghanAid.

(Reporting by Kabul newsroom; additional reporting by Susan Heavey in WashingtonEditing by Mark Potter and Josie Kao)

US slams Taliban for women's NGO jobs ban in Afghanistan


RIAZAT BUTT
Sun, December 25, 2022 

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The U.S. has condemned the Taliban for ordering non-governmental groups in Afghanistan to stop employing women, saying the ban will disrupt vital and life-saving assistance to millions.

The Taliban takeover last year sent Afghanistan’s economy into a tailspin and transformed the country, driving millions into poverty and hunger. Foreign aid stopped almost overnight. Sanctions on Taliban rulers, a halt on bank transfers and frozen billions in Afghanistan’s currency reserves have already restricted access to global institutions and the outside money that supported the country’s aid-dependent economy before the withdrawal of U.S. and NATO forces.

“Women are central to humanitarian operations around the world," U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Saturday. "This decision could be devastating for the Afghan people.”

The NGO order came in a letter from Economy Minister Qari Din Mohammed Hanif. It said any organization found not complying with the order will have their operating license revoked in Afghanistan. It is the latest blow to female rights and freedoms since the Taliban seized power last year and follows sweeping restrictions on education, employment, clothing and travel.

The U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was deeply disturbed by reports of the ban.

“The United Nations and its partners, including national and international non-governmental organizations, are helping more than 28 million Afghans who depend on humanitarian aid to survive,” he said in a statement.

Aid agencies and NGOs are expected to make a statement Sunday.

The Economy Ministry's edict comes days after the Taliban banned female students from attending universities across the country, triggering backlash overseas and demonstrations in major Afghan cities.

At around midnight Saturday in the western city of Herat, where earlier protesters were dispersed with water cannons, people opened their windows and chanted “Allahu Akbar (God is great)” in solidarity with female students.

In the southern city of Kandahar, also on Saturday, hundreds of male students boycotted their final semester exams at Mirwais Neeka University. One of them told The Associated Press that Taliban forces tried to break up the crowd as they left the exam hall.

“They tried to disperse us so we chanted slogans, then others joined in with the slogans,” said Akhbari, who only gave his last name. “We refused to move and the Taliban thought we were protesting. The Taliban started shooting their rifles into the air. I saw two guys being beaten, one of them to the head.”

A spokesman for the Kandahar provincial governor, Ataullah Zaid, denied there was a protest. There were some people who were pretending to be students and teachers, he said, but they were stopped by students and security forces.

Top UN, NGO officials to meet over Taliban ban on women staff in Afghanistan

AFP 

Published December 25, 2022

Top officials from the United Nations and dozens of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) operating in Afghanistan are meeting on Sunday to discuss the way ahead after the Taliban authorities ordered all NGOs to stop women employees from working, aid officials said.

The Taliban administration on Saturday threatened to suspend the operating licences of NGOs if they failed to implement the order.

The Ministry of Economy, which issues these licences, said it had received “serious complaints” that women working in NGOs were not observing a proper Islamic dress code.

“A meeting of Humanitarian Country Team (HCT) is scheduled later today to consult and discuss how to tackle this issue,” Tapiwa Gomo, public information officer for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, told AFP.


The HCT comprises top UN officials and representatives of dozens of Afghan and international NGOs who coordinate the distribution of aid across the country.

The meeting will discuss whether to suspend all aid work following the latest Taliban directive, some NGO officials said.

The United Nations, which said it would seek an explanation from the Taliban about the order, condemned the ministry’s directive.

It said the order excluding women “systematically from all aspects of public and political life takes the country backward, jeopardising efforts for any meaningful peace or stability in the country”.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the ban would be “devastating” to Afghans as it would “disrupt vital and life-saving assistance to millions”.

The ban comes at a time when millions across the country depend on humanitarian aid provided by international donors through a vast network of NGOs.

Afghanistan’s economic crisis has only worsened since the Taliban seized power in August last year, which led to Washington freezing billions of dollars of its assets and foreign donors stopping aid.

The ministry said women working in NGOs were not observing “the Islamic hijab and other rules and regulations pertaining to the work of females in national and international organisations”.

It remained unclear whether the directive impacted foreign women staff at NGOs.

Dozens of organisations work across remote areas of Afghanistan and many of their employees are women, with several warning a ban on women staff would stymie their work.

The latest restriction comes less than a week after the Taliban authorities banned women from attending universities, prompting global outrage and protests in some Afghan cities.

Since returning to power in August last year, the Taliban have already barred teenage girls from secondary school.

Women have also been pushed out of many government jobs, prevented from travelling without a male relative and ordered to cover up outside of the home, ideally with a burqa.

They are also not allowed to enter parks or gardens.

The problem is too many Americans no longer trust the Supreme Court. The solution is clear

Erwin Chemerinsky
Fri, December 23, 2022

The U.S. Supreme Court faces a serious legitimacy crisis.

A Gallup Poll last year reported that the high court had received its lowest approval ratings in history, with only 40% of respondents approving of its performance and 53% disapproving. According to a Marquette University poll conducted in July, 38% approved of the court and 61% disapproved.

This year has seen some of the justices, including Samuel Alito and Elena Kagan, publicly sniping at each other about whether the court’s legitimacy is in jeopardy.

The crisis of trust is due partly to recent decisions ending abortion rights and aggressively expanding gun rights. But the political manipulation of theSupreme Court appointment process has also taken a toll.

During his 2020 presidential campaign, Joe Biden was asked about national distrust of the Supreme Court. His answer was the one leaders often give when they want to duck an issue: He said he would create a committee to study the matter.

Opinion

Once elected, Biden did exactly this, creating a 34-person committee. Being so large and ideologically diverse, the committee was unlikely to agree on any major recommendations. The resulting report, released a year ago, received little media attention.

But the issue of the court’s legitimacy, as well as the need for action to address it, is more urgent than ever. There are many reforms to consider, but one seems particularly important: term limits for the justices.

I have been arguing against the justices’ current lifetime terms for many years. I believe they should serve 18-year, nonrenewable terms.

The United States is the only democracy that gives members of its highest court life tenure. In fact, few states provide such a guarantee to their justices and judges.

Life expectancy is much longer now than it was in 1787, when the Constitution was written. From 1787 through 1970, Supreme Court justices served an average of 15 years; justices appointed since 1970 have served an average of 27 years.

Clarence Thomas was 43 years old when he was confirmed, in 1991. If he remains on the court until he is 90, the age at which Justice John Paul Stevens retired, he will have been a justice for 47 years. This is too much power in one person’s hands for too long.

Also, too much now depends on accidents of history, namely when court vacancies happen to occur. President Richard Nixon appointed four justices in his first two years in office; President Jimmy Carter picked no justices in his four years. President Donald Trump picked three justices in four years, while the previous three Democratic presidents served a combined 20 years in the White House but selected only four.

Staggered, 18-year, non-renewable terms would mean that each president would make at least one nomination every two years.

My sense is that there is bipartisan support for this reform, which would require a constitutional amendment. Rick Perry, the Republican former Texas governor, argued for it when he ran for president in 2016. Liberals support it as well.

Term limits should be applied to current justices. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be implemented for decades. Amy Coney Barrett was 48 years old when she was confirmed, in 2020. If she remains on the court until she is 87, the age Ruth Bader Ginsburg was when she died, she will be a justice until 2059.

The question is whether any constituency cares enough about this issue to do the hard work of getting the Constitution amended. That would mean lobbying Congress to propose the amendment and then mounting a campaign for its adoption by state legislatures.

It’s an essential reform, however, and one that may have the national support to be adopted.

NO ABORTION, NO CONDOMS, NO SEX ED
In the ‘Baby June’ case, a pattern but no precedent. Why do mothers let their newborns die?


Shira Moolten/Sun Sentinel/TNS
1
Shira Moolten, South Florida Sun Sentinel
Sun, December 25, 2022 

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — She gave birth in secret, perhaps in a hotel bathroom, entirely alone.

She was poor or financially dependent, the baby’s father not in the picture.

In the months leading up to the birth, she denied she was pregnant, or struggled with a deep ambivalence over what would soon become her fate.

Somehow, she kept her entire pregnancy secret from nearly everyone around her, and few, if any, asked questions.

The baby died, perhaps by accident, perhaps not. She didn’t tell anyone. She tried to dispose of the body, but it was discovered.

Her arrest sparked outrage, as those around her wondered what kind of person could kill their own child or let it die.

Prosecutors declared that they would seek justice to the fullest extent of the law.

The details of the case may bring to mind that of Arya Singh, 29, arrested Dec. 15 on charges of killing her newborn baby girl in 2018 and disposing of the body in the Boynton Beach Inlet. But the same details could describe hundreds of women.

The women may be different, but the pattern is the same. The crime of killing a baby less than 24 hours after it is born is called “neonaticide,” and the “Baby June” case is only the most recent example of a story that, in various iterations, dates back to the beginning of human civilization.

Singh, a campus security guard based in Boynton Beach, was arrested nearly four years after the newborn was found in the Boynton Beach Inlet. Prosecutors with the Palm Beach County State Attorney’s Office have charged her with first-degree murder, which carries a minimum sentence of life in prison.

Some facts of the case, such as exactly how long “Baby June” was alive, are not confirmed. Singh told detectives that the baby died by drowning in a hotel bathroom soon after she was born.

Despite its beginnings in ancient history, in the U.S, neonaticide and infant abandonment more generally lack precedent when brought to the courtroom, the punishments for mothers varying from probation to psychiatric treatment to decades behind bars.

Over the past two decades, “Safe Haven” laws were created to reduce neonaticide cases by allowing women to leave newborns in designated locations, no questions asked. And up until June of this year, abortion rights gave some pregnant women a way out of carrying an unwanted baby to term.

But mothers still kill their babies. The question is why?
A history of unwanted children

The concept of abandoning — or killing — a newborn dates back to the Middle Ages, when unwanted pregnancies were so prevalent that churches kept turntables in their walls, like a library book return but for babies.

A mother would arrive at the church in the dead of night and drop her baby inside, then ring a bell. The church would take the baby, no questions asked, and raise it as an orphan, while the mother would continue with her life.

Most cultures have some version of concealed pregnancy infanticide dating back centuries, said Michelle Oberman, a professor at the Santa Clara University law school who studies the ethical issues surrounding motherhood. In China, for example, a preference for sons over daughters would show up in birth rates, as baby boys appeared disproportionately more than girls.

“As long as humans have been having babies, they’ve been stuck with what to do with mouths they can’t feed or babies they can’t rear,” she said.

The “Baby June” case will not be the first time a mother has stood trial for the abandonment or death of a newborn in South Florida. In multiple cases across the past 20 years, mothers have given birth, then killed or abandoned their newborns, often leaving them in the garbage.

Despite its long history, each new case of neonaticide comes as a sort of shock to the community, Oberman said.

Sometimes, the case becomes the subject of national fixation, and the mothers gain a sort of notoriety, like the “Prom Mom” killer, Melissa Drexler, who gave birth in the bathroom of her high school prom in New Jersey in 1997, then suffocated the baby, before returning to the dance. She pleaded guilty to aggravated manslaughter and was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

There is no exact number for how many neonaticide cases have been tried before in Palm Beach County, or in the United States overall. The U.S legal system doesn’t distinguish them from other homicides, making the course and outcomes difficult to predict.

Tracking these crimes is further complicated by the fact that, if a mother did in fact succeed in hiding her pregnancy and the baby’s body was never found, no one would know about it.

“We have no idea what the denominator is,” Oberman said. “We know the numerator. When we find it, we find it. But we don’t know how many we’re missing.”
‘Murder is murder’

The Palm Beach County State Attorney’s Office doesn’t categorize neonaticide cases any differently from other homicides.

“Nobody’s keeping track of how many 24-year-old victims are killed as opposed to babies who are killed,” said Marc Freeman, a spokesperson for the Palm Beach County State Attorney’s Office. “We’re not tracking the age. Murder is murder; that’s the charge.”

Some American legal experts argue that neonaticide and infanticide cases ought to be treated differently from murder, though. Several countries have laws that distinguish neonaticide and infanticide from other homicides. In Britain, for example, the Infanticide Act of 1938 established that infanticide be punished as a lesser charge than murder.

The U.S does not have any overarching laws regarding infanticide, which means that the outcomes of these cases tend to be highly inconsistent, though Oberman believes they follow a pattern of “overcharging and under-convicting.”

Typically, prosecutors and the community express moral outrage over the act itself, the killing of the newborn, but juries ultimately show leniency to the mother who commits the act.

In South Florida, known cases are few and far between, and the results are mixed.

Rafaelle Sousa, 28, pleaded guilty in Palm Beach County court to attempted murder and child abuse after she left her baby in a dumpster in West Boca Raton. In July, she was sentenced to 7½ years in prison and given 40 months’ credit for time served.

On the other hand, Meshia Morant, 30, faced attempted murder charges in Broward County in 2008 after she gave birth in the bathroom of a home in Lauderdale Lakes, cutting the umbilical cord with a pair of scissors. She had placed the baby in a garbage bag and was planning to dispose of it when the homeowners found her with the bag and called 911. Morant was sentenced in 2010 to five years of state probation.

“She never really wanted to admit she was pregnant,” Marivel Velez, the apartment complex’s manager, told the South Florida Sun Sentinel at the time.

And in 2012, Alexandria Sladon-Marler, 33, was accused of leaving her newborn baby in a trash bin outside of a hotel in Fort Lauderdale. She had given birth, then was taken from the hotel to the hospital for medical treatment. Hours later, police found her baby, dead, in a trash bin outside of the hotel. Sladon-Marler was charged with aggravated manslaughter.

Because Sladon-Marler was often homeless and suffered from drug addiction and mental health issues, she was judged incompetent to stand trial and was placed in the care of the Florida Department of Children and Families.

None of these cases present a perfect match to Singh’s.

“You’re talking about a real handful of cases,” Freeman said. “It’s definitely unusual.”

Whether or not Singh will ultimately face first-degree murder charges remains to be seen. A grand jury will have to decide whether or not to indict Singh on those charges. Even then, she may avoid a first-degree murder conviction if she is offered a plea deal.
The profile of a mother who kills

While the outcomes of these cases vary, experts agree that mothers who kill their newborns share distinctive traits, both in terms of their immediate surroundings and the resources available to them.

Despite living in a developed country with access to healthcare, many of the women who kill or abandon newborns are unable to care for a child. They often work full time and barely make enough to support themselves, or live at home with parents who might not support their pregnancy. The father of the baby is typically not in the picture.

Oftentimes, they feel so ashamed, they tell no one about the pregnancy, or deny it to themselves. Many hope they will miscarry. Sometimes, they convince themselves that they have.

“They can’t bring themselves to reveal what they’re concealing,” said Martha Smithey, a sociology professor at Texas Tech University who studies neonaticides. “They get so good at it they can kind of fool themselves.”

They aren’t necessarily mentally ill prior to their pregnancy, Oberman said, but are under enough “psychic distress” to deny their pregnancies until they have no choice but to confront them.

What is perhaps most striking, she said, is that oftentimes, no one asks, which contributes to the mothers’ sense of isolation. The family members and friends can enter a kind of denial state, too, ignoring physical signs or explaining them away, even when those signs are obvious.

Many of these mothers are marked by a “really profound social isolation,” Oberman said. “Over the course of time, what has most distressed me about these stories is the extent to which these women had nobody they could tell.”

Nick Silverio founded A Safe Haven for Newborns, a Miami-based organization dedicated to preventing infant abandonment in Florida, 21 years ago.

The organization offers an anonymous hotline for women struggling with unwanted pregnancies. Most of the women who call the hotline are going through their pregnancies alone, Silverio said, the father absent.

“They’re desperate, they’re all alone, there’s no support, and nowhere to turn,” he said. Many recent callers are also struggling with housing instability, an uptick after the pandemic. He has helped move them into homeless shelters for pregnant women, but said the shelters are often full.
A safe haven for babies?

The churches of the Middle Ages have been replaced by fire stations and hospitals.

In 2000, Florida enacted its own version of a Safe Haven law, which allows women to leave children less than a week old at recognized facilities, including hospitals and fire stations, no questions asked. Similar laws were introduced across the United States in order to deter neonaticides, and studies suggest they have have proved effective.

Still, women continue to kill their newborns.

Oberman described Safe Haven laws as “quick fix.” More needs to be done to prevent neonaticide, she said, such as reducing the stigma that leads women, particularly young women, to hide their pregnancies in the first place, making healthcare more accessible, and changing the gender norms that place the burden on women alone to raise children.

Safe Haven laws can be confusing to mothers, and are not applied the same way in every state, Smithey said. Sometimes the mother does not actually remain anonymous because officials need to be able to investigate whether there was foul play.

The Florida statute dictates that “a criminal investigation shall not be initiated solely because a newborn infant is left at a hospital ... unless there is actual or suspected child abuse or neglect.”

So why not get an abortion? Before this year, women in Florida had that option up to 24 weeks into their pregnancies.

Many women lack the resources and information required to get an abortion, Smithey said. In states with more conservative abortion laws, like Florida, some women may have felt that abortions were inaccessible even if they were technically legal. Now that Roe v. Wade has been overturned, some experts fear that neonaticides may become more common, but it is too early to say.

Women with unwanted pregnancies often feel conflicted over what to do with the baby. They may not have the means to raise a child, but that doesn’t mean they want to give it up. Indecision leads to procrastination, and soon it is too late.

“We tell them they don’t have to make that decision about relinquishing the baby until their baby is born,” Silviero said of the women who call the hotline.

That debilitating ambivalence applies to many neonaticide cases.

A newborn baby presents evidence of what a mother was so ashamed of, but it is also a companion to someone who may otherwise feel alone.

“On one hand there’s, ‘Oh my God, how am I gonna do this?’” Oberman said. “On the other hand, there’s a baby. A baby might love me. It would be somebody to love.”

____

AT&T, BlackRock to form commercial fiber-optic platform


The AT&T logo on a building in Los Angeles

Fri, December 23, 2022 at 5:49 AM MST·1 min read

(Reuters) - Wireless carrier AT&T Inc and fund manager BlackRock Inc are forming a joint venture to operate a fiber-optic platform in the United States, the companies said on Friday. The venture, Gigapower LLC, plans to deploy its network to an initial 1.5 million customer locations outside of AT&T's traditional 21-state wireline service presence, they said.

The companies said they would jointly own and govern Gigapower, but did not disclose additional deal terms.

The news comes as AT&T plans to expand its high-speed home internet service to newer areas in the country, in a bid to attract new subscribers.

Bloomberg News reported in October that AT&T had hired Morgan Stanley to help bring in an infrastructure partner to the venture, which could be valued at $10 billion to $15 billion.

AT&T did not immediately respond to a Reuters request seeking more details on the deal, while BlackRock declined to comment.

AT&T plans to report consumer subscribers served through Gigapower in its operational results and said any impact on spending and free cash flow from the venture will be included in the forecast it plans to provide at its quarterly earnings next month.

BlackRock, which manages $313 billion in alternative investments that include private equity, real estate and credit, has signed the deal via a fund in its diversified infrastructure unit.

(Reporting by Tiyashi Datta in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)

FEMICIDE, MISOGYNY, TOXIC MASCULINITY

A man was arrested after his female colleague said he was suffocating her at a National Science Foundation base in Antarctica. 

Assault and harassment on the bases are considered a problem per a report.




Hannah Getahun
Sun, December 25, 2022 

A man at a National Science Foundation base in Antarctica was charged with assaulting a female colleague.

The female employee said Stephen Tyler Bieneman was suffocating her with his leg.

Bieneman was arrested in Antarctica and transported to Hawaii.

A man on a search and rescue team at the US National Science Foundation base in Antarctica was arrested and transported to Hawaii after being accused of assaulting a female colleague, according to court documents filed in the United States District Court for the District of Hawaii.

Officials charged Stephen Tyler Bieneman with assault within the maritime and territorial jurisdiction, according to a criminal complaint filed on December 12.

The incident occurred at the McMurdo Station, one of three research stations managed by the National Science Foundation under the US Antarctic Program, according to a federal affidavit filed by Deputy US Marshal Marc E. Tunstall, a federal agent stationed in Antarctica.

Tunstall writes in the affidavit that he was informed on November 25 of an assault that occurred at McMurdo. The victim, a woman, had initially disclosed that she did not want to name herself or the man she said had assaulted her, but she later agreed to meet with Tunstall, a doctor, and a sexual assault advocate present, per the affidavit.

The woman, a US national, told Tunstall that while she and Bieneman — who she described as a casual friend — were sitting on a couch, she tried to prank him by taking his name tag and jokingly stating that she would not give it back. She then said, according to court documents, that they both stood up and moved behind the couch when Bieneman "put her on her back, placed his left shin over her throat, and began going through her coverall pocket" to find his name tag.

According to the affidavit, the woman told Tunstall that she then tapped Bieneman's leg and made a "choking symbol" to indicate that she couldn't breathe, but he did not remove his leg until he found his name tag, which took one minute. The woman rated the pain as an 8 out of 10, according to the affidavit.

She was eventually helped by another man who helped her receive medical care, per court documents.

Bieneman made his first court appearance on Thursday and was released with an unsecured bond of $25,000.

His first hearing is set for January 12, 2023, before Magistrate Kenneth J. Mansfield.

A public defender representing Bieneman and the US attorney prosecuting the case did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

The NSF, through the US Antarctic Program, employs thousands of scientists, staff, and military personnel who oversee research operations in the southernmost continent.

Assault, especially sexual assault against women, has been long documented in the remote base of Antarctica. A report released in June by the NSF revealed that many employees viewed sexual harassment as a pervasive issue.

Over 70% of female respondents and nearly 50% of male respondents said sexual harassment is a problem within the US Antarctic Program, while 47% of female respondents and 33% of male respondents said sexual assault is a problem.

"Every woman I knew down there had an assault or harassment experience that had occurred on ice," one person said in the report.

Trial in shooting of Megan Thee Stallion exposes misogynoir




Megan Thee Stallion accepts the award for top rap female artist at the Billboard Music Awards on Sunday, May 15, 2022, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Megan Thee Stallion is a three-time Grammy winner, hip-hop superstar and entertainer, but none of those things are enough to shield the 27-year-old from widespread misinformation campaigns and social media vitriol since a 2020 shooting involving rapper Tory Lanez. 

(AP Photo/Chris Pizzello, File)

NARDOS HAILE and KARENA PHAN
Fri, December 23, 2022 at 11:20 AM MST·5 min read


In this article:

Megan Thee Stallion
Rapper

Tory Lanez
Canadian rapper and singer


LOS ANGELES (AP) — Megan Thee Stallion is a three-time Grammy winner and hip-hop superstar, but her success wasn't enough to shield the 27-year-old artist from the power of widespread misinformation and social media vitriol leveled against her after she was shot in 2020.

The Houston-born rapper, whose legal name is Megan Pete, was shot multiple times in both feet after leaving a Hollywood Hills party in 2020 with rapper Tory Lanez, whose legal name is Daystar Peterson, and former assistant Kelsey Harris. Megan needed surgery to remove the bullet fragments from her feet. On Friday, a jury found Lanez guilty of all three felonies with which he was charged, which could lead to up to 22 years in prison.

Three months after the shooting, Megan accused Lanez of wielding the gun. The ensuing onslaught of criticism reached a fever pitch this month during Lanez's assault trial. Experts say it stems from misogynoir, a specific type of misogyny experienced by Black women.

Tia Tyree, a professor at Howard University, described misogynoir as “contempt, dislike" or mistreatment of Black women.

Tyree, whose research focuses on representations of Black women in mass media, social media and hip-hop culture, emphasized that misogynoir has been part of the Black female experience in the U.S. for centuries, dating back to the beginnings of American slavery.

“Many people see the term, and they’re intrigued by it. They think, ‘Wow, what is this new thing happening to Black women?’" she said. "And that’s the most disappointing part of the narrative about misogynoir. There’s nothing new about the mistreatment and disrespect of Black women in the United States.”

Megan said she did not tell Los Angeles police responding to the scene until three months after the shooting because she was afraid for her safety.

The shooting happened on July 12, 2020, less than two months after George Floyd died at the hands of Minneapolis police.

Fear of police violence could have played a role in her reluctance to share specifics with officers, Tyree said, adding that Black women are expected to protect Black men in society.

A cycle of silence prevents many Black women from sharing their experiences, explained Melvin L. Williams, a professor at Pace University who studies hip-hop feminism, Black male rappers and hip-hop culture.

“They face industry blackballing and fewer professional opportunities when they speak out," Williams said.

Megan alleged that Lanez and his team spread misinformation about the shooting. Social media users have claimed that Lanez never shot her and have posted about her sexual history to discredit her.

Lanez, who has now been convicted of all three felonies and awaits sentencing, has maintained his innocence. In closing arguments this week, his lawyers argued that Harris was the shooter and that Megan tried to create a more sympathetic narrative by blaming Lanez.

Harris' attorney has declined to comment on her involvement.

“Tory came out and told so many different lies — about me not being shot, about him not being the shooter and making this all about a sex scandal," Megan testified last week.

When jury deliberations began Thursday, misinformation claiming that Lanez had already been acquitted abounded. Social media platforms have also played host to intense scrutiny of Megan’s story — specifically her credibility.

Rappers Drake and 21 Savage mentioned her in their joint album with specific lyrics that attempted to discredit her allegations. 50 Cent posted memes mocking her interview with Gayle King as well.

Megan is "infiltrating what is a very hypermasculine space,” Tyree said, referring to hip-hop culture. “And just as any other hypermasculine space, there are bro codes that exist, and she is at the point bumping up against them, and you see the response for it.”

She is a part of a chorus of Black women — including #MeToo founder Tarana Burke and U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters — who have spoken out about violence against women. Burke and Waters signed an open letter supporting Megan.

Social media attacks against Megan have drawn comparisons to television coverage in the 1990s of Anita Hill’s congressional testimony and, more recently, to online racist hate targeting Meghan Markle. Another recent example was Johnny Depp's defamation lawsuit against Amber Heard, which drew many social media posts that spread misinformation and cast doubts on Heard's credibility.

Northwestern University law professor Deborah Tuerkheimer, the author of “Credible: Why We Doubt Accusers and Protect Abusers,” noted that these trials came five years after the #MeToo movement sparked a global social reckoning, followed by a backlash.

“We can look at this outpouring of stories as being really significant and meaningful, and it is, but until we can have figured out how to fairly judge credibility, and how to hold perpetrators to account in a meaningful way, then I think there’s just a lot of work left to be done,” Tuerkheimer said.

Race is a key difference in the treatment of accusers, said Izzi Grasso, a doctoral candidate at the University of Washington who studied misinformation around the Depp-Heard trial.

Grasso's research concluded that people with marginalized identities are disproportionately targeted for harassment, online misinformation campaigns and discriminatory content moderation. The online world reflects the “systems of power and domination that we see in the real world,” Grasso said.

Moya Bailey, a Northwestern University professor who coined the term misogynoir, found that social media platforms such as TikTok and Twitter perpetuate harmful stereotypes about Black women because it’s profitable.

Algorithms normalize the dehumanization and objectification of Black women for other people’s pleasure or ambivalence, Washington University in St. Louis professor Raven Maragh-Lloyd said.

Lanez has claimed that Harris and Megan were fighting over him. People are more likely to see content about Megan’s sexual history as “some sort of justification" for not believing her — or for blaming her for getting shot, Maragh-Lloyd said.

She said it comes down to what sells — and misogynoir provides the fuel: “To perpetuate misinformation about Black women’s bodies or Black women’s desires, it’s going to garner clicks and eyeballs.”

___

Haile reported from New York.