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Originally published in the GDN, June 16
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Book signing
BY TARIQ KHONJI |
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WOMEN'S rights activist Ghada Jamsheer will sign copies of her new book The Executioner and the Victim in Sharia “The aim is to have a chronicle of the suffering of women in the Sharia courts systems and also to promote our campaign, which is ongoing,” Ms Jamsheer told the GDN. She said that the book also includes sections detailing the views of those opposed to any reform of the Sharia courts and the committee's response to these criticisms. The book is priced at BD5 with all proceeds going towards women in need. The signing will be from 5pm to 9pm and all are welcome. The book will be available at the gallery's bookshop and shortly afterwards at various other bookshops around the country. Ms Jamsheer stands accused of allegedly defaming three sharia judge in the media, distributing publications which are claimed to be illegal and also calling a judge and swearing at him on the phone. She denies all charges. She is accused of calling the judges backward, corrupt and careless. Two of the three trials have already started, one on June 4 and the other on Wedndsday (June 15). The third begins today (June 19). Inn the first case, which is being tried at the High Criminal Court, she faces up to 15 years in prison. Ms Jamsheer heads the Women's Petition Committee, a network of activists demanding the codification of Bahrain's family laws and the reform of its family courts. In April 2003, the organization collected 1,700 signatures on a petition demanding legislative and judicial reform of these courts. For the past four years, Ms Jamsheer has organized protests, vigils and a hunger strike in an effort to draw attention to the suffering of women in the existing family court system. Two separate Sharia family courts exist for Sunni and Shia Muslims in Bahrain. These courts hear personal status cases, including marriage, divorce, custody and inheritance cases. There are no written personal status laws in Bahrain.
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Courts at Al Riwaq Gallery in Adliya on June 29. The 400-page book chronicles her struggle and that of the Women's Petition Committee, which she leads, in campaigning for a personal status law in Bahrain. It includes pictures of the committee's various demonstrations and meetings with officials and judges. It also highlights specific cases of women who Ms Jamsheer says has been victimised by the courts. The book is currently available only in Arabic, but will be translated into English and French soon. But non-Arabic speakers are still welcome to attend the signing to meet and offer their support to Ms Jamsheer and to register their contact details. They will be informed when the English and French versions become available.