Ghada Jamsheer
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Ghada Jamshir ( ar, غادة جمشير) is a
Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ...
i women's rights activist and an ardent campaigner for the reform of Sharia courts in Bahrain and the Arab States of the Persian Gulf. Jamshir heads the Women's Petition Committee lobbying for a law that would shift jurisdiction over family and women's affairs from Islamic Sharia court to civil courts. Jamshir has called the
Al Khalifa The House of Khalifa ( ar, آل خليفة, translit=Āl Khalīfah) is the ruling family of the Kingdom of Bahrain. The Al Khalifas profess Sunni Islam and belong to the Anizah tribe, some members of this tribe joined the Utub alliance which m ...
government's reforms "artificial and marginal". In a statement in December 2006 she said, Jamshir has been outspoken in criticizing the Bahraini government for its role in the Bandargate scandal. In 2007 she alleged that the Interior Ministry was attempting to spy on her.


Backlash by the government

In 2005, the Bahraini government brought three criminal charges against Jamshir for allegedly publicly defaming the Islamic family court judiciary, and faced a jail sentence of up to 15 years. These charges were eventually dropped on 19 June 2005.Bahrain: Woman human rights defender Ghada Jamsheer banned from national media
Front Line, 10 October 2007
Since 2006, Ghada Jamsheer has been under permanent surveillance, there is a 24-hour presence of plainclothes public security officials of the Ministry of the Interior outside her home. After her criticism of government policies, Bahrain authorities ordered the local media and press to prevent the publication of any news relating to Jamshir. The order came from the
Royal Court A royal court, often called simply a court when the royal context is clear, is an extended royal household in a monarchy, including all those who regularly attend on a monarch, or another central figure. Hence, the word "court" may also be appl ...
, through its minister Shaikh
Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa (born 24 April 1960) is a Bahraini diplomat who served as Bahrain's Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2005 until January 2020. Khalid became only the second foreign minister in Bahrain's history after replacing Moham ...
. Jamshir also claims that the Minister of the Royal Court gave her a direct threat demanding that she end her public work, after which the regime attempted to install a
spy camera A hidden camera or spy camera is a camera used to photograph or record subjects, often people, without their knowledge. The camera may be considered "hidden" because it is not visible to the subject being filmed, or is disguised as another obje ...
in her house, bugged her telephone, and sent individuals to
bribe Bribery is the offering, giving, receiving, or soliciting of any item of value to influence the actions of an official, or other person, in charge of a public or legal duty. With regard to governmental operations, essentially, bribery is "Corru ...
and blackmail her. In 2006, ''
Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...
'' magazine identified Jamshir as one of four heroes of freedom in the
Arab world The Arab world ( ar, اَلْعَالَمُ الْعَرَبِيُّ '), formally the Arab homeland ( '), also known as the Arab nation ( '), the Arabsphere, or the Arab states, refers to a vast group of countries, mainly located in Western A ...
, and ''
Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also r ...
'' magazine selected her as one of the ten most powerful and effective women in the Arab world."Activist on Forbes list"
''
Gulf Daily News The ''Gulf Daily News'' (''GDN'') is an English-language local newspaper published in the Kingdom of Bahrain by Al Hilal Group. The paper, which is one of six daily newspapers in Bahrain, calls itself "The Voice of Bahrain". Al Hilal Group publi ...
'', Rebecca Torr, 15 May 2006.


See also

*
Human rights in Bahrain Bahrains record on human rights has been described by Human Rights Watch as "dismal", and having "deteriorated sharply in the latter half of 2010". Their subsequent report in 2020 noted that the human rights situation in the country had not impro ...
* Women's political rights in Bahrain


References


External links


Ghada Jamsheer's blogWomen's Petition Committee: Appointment of Sharia Judges as political gifts for religious groups


,
Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human r ...
, 2 June 2005
Ghada Jamshir interviewArticle on Ghada Jamshirtranscript of interview with Ghada Jamshir
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jamshir, Ghada Muslim reformers Bahraini activists Bahraini women activists Bahraini dissidents Bahraini Muslims Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Bahraini people of Iranian descent