Derechos Humanos / Human Rights

Progress for women is going into reverse under the new king   

March 12.─ When Hind Al-Otaibi went to the Riyadh Personal Status Court to have her father struck out as her wali, or guardian, the judges seemed sympathetic. Her father had raped and bruised her, Ms Otaibi, who was a teenager at the time, told the court.

He refused to let her travel abroad, even to her mother’s funeral, and when she escaped from home had persuaded social services to send her back. After consideration, the judges determined last year that her father, an imam from the Saudi interior of Nejd, remained her legal guardian; but that a guardian only had powers to approve his ward’s marriage. If upheld on appeal, the ruling could topple the legal edifice of male control, depriving walis of their power over whether their women can study, work, travel or open bank accounts. “Emancipation from slavery,” says Ms Otaibi.

Washington, DC, Feb.18.─ El Instituto Cubano por la Libertad de Expresión y Prensa (ICLEP) ha denunciado una oleada represiva contra los responsables de la red de medios comunitarios que ha desarrollado en la Isla. “Amenazas de muerte, arrestos, desaparición de uno de los directores de los boletines, registro domiciliario y decomiso de los elementos de trabajo como computadoras, impresoras y teléfonos son parte de la ira de las autoridades militares, desatada contra la directiva y los periodistas ciudadanos que laboran en los ocho boletines con que cuenta ICLEP”, indicó el instituto, con sede en Hialeah, Florida.

Consideró que la represalia de las autoridades se debe a un editorial que recuerda el aniversario 20 de la muerte de cuatro pilotos de la organización Hermanos al Rescate, cuyas avionetas fueron derribadas por aviones del Ejército cubano el 24 de febrero de 1996.