Global Quickies: Victim-Blaming, Black Magic, Child Marriage

TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO
“A mayor who linked a woman’s death at a carnival to her “vulgarity” has said he will resign from his role, following an online petition calling for him to do so.”

EGYPT
An Egyptian court has sentenced a four-year-old boy to life in prison, convicted of four counts of murder, eight of attempted murder, one vandalisation of property and another count of threatening soldiers and police officers – all before his second birthday. Ahmed was one of 115 defendants who were all handed life sentences at the same time, and the judge probably didn’t even read the case.

NIGERIA
“Harrowing pictures show how a starving two-year-old Nigerian boy was rescued after being discovered naked and wandering the streets because his family thought he was a witch.”

PAKISTAN
“Sindh became the first province in the country to pass Hindu marriage law to regulate the registration and documentation of Hindu marriages. It also provides protection against forced conversions and early marriages.”

EGYPT
“One of Egypt’s oldest academic institutions has passed a rule banning lecturers and teaching assistants from covering their faces for religious reasons. Proponents of Cairo University’s new rule, announced Tuesday, said it was meant to improve communication between lecturers and students, although the ban is likely to prompt a public outcry in the Muslim-majority country, Middle East Monitor reported.”

SAUDI ARABIA
“Saudi Arabia’s influential religious police have started training its new members on how to fight magic and arrest those involved in black art in the Gulf Kingdom. […] Magic is strictly banned in conservative Muslim Saudi Arabia, where those convicted for involvement in sorcery have been executed.”

NIGER
“Balkissa Chaibou dreamed of becoming a doctor, but when she was 12 she was shocked to learn she had been promised as a bride to her cousin. She decided to fight for her rights – even if that meant taking her own family to court.”

LATIN AMERICA
“Pope Francis has hinted that the use of contraception by women at risk of contracting the Zika virus may be permissible. The pontiff insisted that abortion remained a crime but said avoiding pregnancy was “not an absolute evil”.”

Featured image: Balkisa Chaibou and her sister. Source