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Globe and Mail
29-05-2025
- General
- Globe and Mail
I was almost burned alive for wearing a hijab. This is what I told my kids
Elshimaa Abdelhafiz is a registered dental hygienist based in Ajax, Ont. One quiet afternoon two months ago, I went to the library, as I often do, carrying my books and my dreams of simply trying to build a better future for my three daughters. Almost everything I do is for them. When I walked in, however, I noticed a woman muttering angrily. I assumed she was struggling. I chose to avoid confrontation and sat quietly with my back to her. But without warning, she launched an unprovoked attack, yanking my hijab, pouring liquid on my head, and screaming, 'I will set you on fire!' as she flicked a lighter again and again. I froze in horror, unable to move. In my mind, both then and since, I kept asking, Why? What did I do? My only 'offence' was being a Muslim woman wearing a hijab. I never even saw her approach, and that has haunted me the most. As a visibly Muslim woman, I've always known there was a risk that I could be targeted. But I never imagined someone would try to burn me alive in broad daylight, in a public space, in front of strangers. I felt humiliated, vulnerable and shaken to my core. What's more, I recently learned that my assailant had been charged last October for allegedly swinging a machete-style knife in a plaza in Ajax, Ont. Why was she allowed back on the streets? As a cancer survivor, a mother and a woman who wears her faith outwardly every day, I've faced many battles. But nothing breaks my heart more than thinking my daughters might grow up feeling unsafe or unwelcome because of who they are. And I think of how close I came to a different ending. If that lighter had worked, my daughters could have grown up looking at a scarred face, or worse, traumatized not only by what happened, but by the reminder of it every single day. That thought still haunts me. And yet, amid all that fear, it was the courage and kindness of strangers that pulled me back toward hope – a hope that we should all try to hold amid a broader wave of fear. This terrifying incident occurred during a time when tensions between Canada and the United States were rising. U.S. President Donald Trump had launched a trade war with Canada, intended to provoke division and instability. These days, it has become too easy to hate. But when I think back to that day at the library, I don't only remember the attack – I also remember the people. I remember the strangers who didn't look like me or share my faith, but who were ready to step in and help. I remember the compassion of the library staff, the bravery of the security guards, and the kindness of the police, all of which reminded me that this country is still my home, and that hate, no matter how violent, will never define us. I am emboldened by the fact that in my darkest hour, I saw light: Canadians standing taller, shoulder to shoulder, more committed than ever to our shared values. It is just one part of a beautiful wave of social cohesion that I've seen rippling across this country. So that's the message I wanted to impart to my children after the attack. When I got home that day, shaken but safe, I sat with my daughters to explain what had happened. They were frightened and confused. Why would someone want to hurt their mama just for wearing something on her head? I told them about the strangers who stood by me – the people who didn't hesitate to do the right thing. I told them that while cruelty exists, compassion is stronger. I reminded them that we don't wear hijab to hide; we wear it to honour who we are. I reminded them that our dignity is not something anyone can take from us. And I showed them that while hate may shout loudly, kindness and solidarity are always louder. I dream of a country where my daughters can walk freely, their heads held high, their faith unshaken. I want them to grow up believing that this is their home, and not just in name. I want my daughters to be able to navigate the world with confidence. I want them to feel a strong sense of belonging – not just as residents, but as an important part of our country, a land where our differences are celebrated and where each unique background helps make our community stronger. I dream of a future where kindness and unity guide us all. My hope for that future is rooted in the Canada I've come to know - and in my daughters.
Time of India
28-05-2025
- Time of India
Police officer fails to include triple talaq section in FIR, SP orders probe
Patna: A shocking case of triple talaq has come to light in Muzaffarpur district, where a woman alleged that her husband divorced her under the banned practice after physically abusing her. What's even more disturbing is that when victim Afsana Khatoon approached Turki police station of Muzaffarpur on May 20 to file a complaint, the officer in charge failed to include the relevant section pertaining to triple talaq in the FIR. However, after the woman reached out to the senior officers, the police acknowledged the lapse and ordered an investigation into the matter, police said on Wednesday. Khatoon has also written to the Bihar DGP and Tirhut range DIG, seeking justice. According to the police, the victim, a resident of Sakri Saraiya village, told them that she married one Mohd Reyaz on Nov 25, 2020, and that they have a child. She alleged that her in-laws used to harass her for dowry. In 2021, she was even thrown out of her in-laws' house. After a community meeting was held, and she went back to her in-laws' place, however, after about three months, the harassment resumed. Rural superintendent of police (SP) Vidya Sagar said according to the complaint, lodged on May 20, Khatoon's in-laws beat her up and her husband gave her triple talaq. "When she went to file a case at the Turki police station, the officer did not include the section on triple talaq in the FIR. The case was only registered under ordinary sections of assault and dowry practice," he said, adding this was a serious oversight. He said that the matter will be investigated by subdivisional police officer (west)-II, and a correction letter will be submitted in the court to add the relevant section. "The matter is being probed, and departmental action will be taken against the officers, if found responsible, for dereliction of duty," the Rural SP said. The central govt enacted the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Act in 2019, prohibiting divorce by pronouncing talaq. Section 4 of this law provides for a sentence of up to three years. Under this act, the accused cannot easily obtain bail.
The Guardian
28-05-2025
- General
- The Guardian
‘Let's see you dance on the table': Fatima Payman reports senior male parliamentary colleague over comments
Senator Fatima Payman has reported a male parliamentary colleague to the parliament's workplace complaints service, after claiming she was subjected to inappropriate comments at a function. The ABC's Triple J Hack program reported on Wednesday that Payman, the former Labor senator who now sits as an independent, had made a complaint about a senior colleague who 'had had too many drinks' and made comments such as 'let's get some wine into you and see you dance on the table'. Hack reported that the complaint stems from a social function Payman attended as part of official parliamentary business, and characterised the alleged subject of the complaint as an 'older male parliamentary colleague'. Payman said she had made a formal complaint about the incident through the Parliamentary Workplace Support Service. Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email The full interview is set to be broadcast on Wednesday evening. Guardian Australia has contacted Payman's office for comment, as well as the PWSS. Hack reported that Payman viewed the comments as sexually suggestive, as well as being insensitive due to her being a Muslim woman who did not consume alcohol. 'I don't drink and I don't need to be made … to feel left out because you do,' she said, according to Hack. 'I told this colleague, 'Hey, I'm drawing a line, mate', and moved on to making a formal complaint.' Payman, according to Hack, praised how the PWSS had dealt with her complaint in a 'swift' way. Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion 'Being looked after and taken care of by the Parliamentary Workplace [Support] Service was really, really good,' she said. Payman, elected as a Labor senator for Western Australia in 2022, quit the party in 2024 after crossing the floor in the Senate to support a Greens motion – not backed by the Labor caucus – calling for recognition of Palestinian statehood. More details to follow
Associated Press
26-05-2025
- Politics
- Associated Press
AP PHOTOS: A new bill banning headscarves could keep athletes off the court
PARIS (AP) — Thousands of young Muslim women in France are sidelined from competitive sport because of rules in several disciplines including basketball that ban uniforms and other clothing carrying a religious or political significance. Critics of the rules say they disproportionately target hijab-wearing Muslim athletes. Now, a contentious bill backed by right-wing politicians that would ban headscarves in all sporting competitions has cleared its first legislative hurdle in the Senate. ___ This is a photo gallery curated by AP photo editors.
Yahoo
26-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
A headscarf ban is keeping basketball players off the court. A new bill could make it law in France
PARIS (AP) — Salimata Sylla was about to lead her team onto the basketball court, as she had done many times before. On that Sunday morning, she and her teammates had completed a three-hour bus trip from the Paris suburb of Aubervilliers to a rival club in northern France. They had changed and warmed up, and Sylla, the team captain, was ready to go. But moments before tipoff, she was told she could not play. The reason? Her headscarf. More than two years later, Sylla is still barred from competing under the French basketball federation's jurisdiction. The 27-year-old former point guard is among thousands of young Muslim women in France who are sidelined from competitive sport because of bans on uniforms and other clothing that have religious or political significance. These rules, critics say, disproportionately target hijab-wearing Muslim athletes. Now, a contentious bill backed by right-wing politicians that would ban headscarves in all sporting competitions has cleared its first legislative hurdle in the Senate. If passed by the lower house, it would enshrine into law what has until now been decided by individual sporting federations. Supporters say the proposed law is a necessary step to protect secularism — a pillar of the French Republic. Opponents denounce it as discriminatory, Islamophobic, and a violation of both the rule of law and the very concept of secularism. Athlete who wears hijab says it's a personal decision 'We know that sport is a vehicle for emancipation, especially for girls,' Sylla told The Associated Press. 'So what are they really trying to tell us? They think we're oppressed because we wear our headscarf? But in the end, they're also oppressing us because they've excluded us from basketball courts. We chose to be Muslims. Under no circumstances should you tell me what we should or shouldn't wear.' In January 2023, she was told to remove her headscarf if she wanted to play against rival club Escaudain in the National 3 league. Sylla refused, citing personal conviction and the fact that her sports hijab was officially approved and deemed suitable for competitive use. Only then did she learn that the basketball federation's rules banned all head coverings as inappropriate for play, contrary to the rules of the international basketball federation. 'I was really shocked,' Sylla said. 'I went to see the referee to tell him that I'd played eight games with it since the start of the season and that no one had banned me from playing with it. And he said: 'I'm sorry, here are the rules.'' The French federation did not provide The Associated Press with an explanation for the ban on hijabs in competitions. Sylla, who this year made a pilgrimage to the Muslim holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia, has stopped playing with her former club. She continues hosting games outside of the federation's jurisdiction, organizing monthly tournaments in Paris and its suburbs that are open to women playing basketball with or without a hijab. 'You don't want to include us? So we're going to include everyone,' Sylla said. Secularism still a hot-button issue Until now, sports federations have been free to decide whether to allow headscarves. One of the country's predominant sports, soccer, opted to ban them. A date has yet to be set for the bill to be debated in the lower house of the Parliament. To pass, it would need a coalition of forces that don't usually work together in the deeply divided National Assembly. But the senators' vote in favor of the bill has already reignited the ongoing debate on secularism and the separation of church and state. It's still a hot-button issue more than a century after a 1905 law established it as a principle of the French Republic. French secularism — 'la laïcité' — affirms the concept of religious freedom, while stipulating that the state does not favor any religion and remains neutral. At its most basic level, it holds that everyone in France is free to believe — or to not believe — and free to worship as they want but not to foist their religious beliefs on others in public spaces. Conceived to protect everyone's religious freedom after centuries of bloody religious wars, the laïcité is now seen by critics as a pretext to discriminate and restrict Muslims' access to public life. 'Les Hijabeuses' at the forefront A group of headscarf-wearing soccer players called 'Les Hijabeuses,' who campaign against the ban, say the new bill would unfairly force Muslim women to choose between wearing a headscarf or playing a sport. 'We reject this injustice,' they said. 'Because this law has no place in France. And it never will. We will continue to fight until this choice is no longer imposed.' After France's highest administrative court ruled in 2023 that the soccer federation can ban headscarves in matches, the Hijabeuses have lodged a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights against France, alleging a violation of their freedom of religion. Supporters of the bill cite growing attacks on secularism in sport, arguing that its core values are based on a principle of universality. To protect sports grounds from any nonsporting confrontation, they say, a principle of neutrality needs to be implemented to ensure that no political, religious or racial agenda can be promoted. 'For several years now, governing bodies and local elected officials have been warning of the rampant spread of the ideas of the architects of radicalization and proselytism in sport,' said Michel Savin, the senator who promoted the bill. 'Whenever they can, they try to test the limits of our republican principles.' Nicolas Cadène, the former secretary-general of the now defunct Observatory for Laïcité, a nonpartisan institution that previously advised the French government, says the principles of French secularism cannot be used to justify the headscarf ban. 'The state, because it is secular, has no business judging a religious symbol,' he said. 'That is not its concern. The state does not deal with religious symbols — it only prohibits them for those who represent the public administration. This law aims to exclude all these young women.' A heated debate sparking divisions The bill is dividing the government and pitting athletes against each other. Five-time Olympic judo champion Teddy Riner — a towering figure in French sports — has joined the fray, arguing that the bill was targeting one religion, and that French society should instead focus on promoting equality. Mahyar Monshipour, a former professional boxer born in Iran, hit back, asking Riner not to get involved in a debate he did not understand. 'The headscarf — which is not, as they would have you believe, a piece of cloth covering the hair but rather a 'shroud' meant to conceal the bodies of women from the onset of menstruation — is in itself a visible sign of an institutionalized and legitimized inequality between men and women,' Monshipour argued. The dispute has exposed cracks within the coalition government. While some ministers have expressed doubts about the bill, it has the strong backing of hard-right heavyweights such as Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau. The hijab 'radically questions the equality of men and women, and is a sign of the degradation of the status of women,' he said. 'Obviously not all women who wear the veil are Islamists. But you won't find a single Islamist who doesn't want women to wear the veil.' Lawmakers have previously approved a bill to strengthen oversight of mosques, schools and sports clubs. With France bloodied by terror attacks, there is widespread sentiment that Islamic radicalization was a danger. But critics also viewed that 2021 law as a political ploy to lure the right wing to President Emmanuel Macron's centrist party ahead of the presidential election that Macron won. With the next presidential election two years away, the debate over radical Islam has resurfaced, returning to the spotlight following the recent release of a government-commissioned report that raised concerns about the Muslim Brotherhood's efforts to expand its influence in France through grassroots organizations, including sports clubs. France stands alone with religious headwear ban Amnesty International said the new bill targets Muslim women and girls by excluding them from sporting competitions if they wear a headscarf or other religious clothing. Ahead of the 2024 Olympic Games, Amnesty published research looking at rules in 38 European countries and found that France was the only country to ban religious headwear in sport. 'If the law passes, France will be the only democracy in the world to ban all religious head coverings or accessories in sports,' Cadène said. ___ Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP's collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. ___ AP Sports:
