From breastfeeding pay to suicide… social issues shaking the Arab world in 2022

From the ocean to the Gulf, the year 2022 has witnessed many incidents and social problems in the Arab countries, and most of them have come to sound the alarm.

From polygamy in Algeria, to the controversy surrounding the role of the wife and a large number of suicides in Egypt, to confronting homosexuality in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, the social issues raised during the past year cannot be counted.

Algeria.. The polygamy controversy

The case started with the wedding of the Algerian young man Rachid Boudiaoua, who celebrated the end of his marriage with two women at one wedding and in one house, which caused a controversy between Algerians and Arabs in general about polygamy.

Boudiwa’s wedding to his two wives came against the trend that calls for the empowerment of women in all aspects of life in Arab societies. The young man received a lot of criticism, but he was armed with arguments and two women who were happy with the idea.

In a previous interview with Al-Ain News, the 37-year-old Algerian said Algerian society rejects the idea of ​​polygamy, and most families see it as a departure from women’s rights.

Boudiwa added that he managed to persuade his two wives to marry him in one wedding and under the same roof, pointing out that the marriage of two women does not require a lot of money, but a common language and a language of dialogue and understanding between the parties.

Egypt.. “Six is ​​optional”

Under this phrase, a debate about the rights of women, especially married women, flared up in Egypt, which very quickly became extreme on both sides, between those who support the imposition of burdens on the wife during pregnancy and those who deny the obvious and binding roles of women. every woman.

Activists in the field of women’s rights believed that a woman “does not have to prepare food for her children”, but others believed that she did not have to serve her husband or nurse her children without getting anything in return.

Lawyer Nihad Abu Al-Qumsan, a member of the National Council for Human Rights in Egypt, sparked controversy when she answered a follower’s question about a wife’s right to breastfeed her newborn, saying: “Yes, and this is the word of our Lord.”

An Egyptian doctor and marriage expert, Heba Qutb, stepped into the crisis line and said in televised statements: “There is no legal or legal basis that compels a woman to devote herself to cooking for her husband without sharing roles.”

Then Al-Azhar Al-Sharif intervened, and the Al-Azhar International Center for Electronic Fatwas said: “Marriage is a complementary residential relationship, based on affection and forgiveness, and the preservation of the rights of men, women and children, and not peer or utilitarian relationship.”

The center added: “A mother to breastfeed her children is her duty if the marriage remains if breastfeeding does not harm her and she can, and that this is a binding custom as a condition, and meeting the needs of the wife and children is the husband’s duty according to his resignation and incapacity.”

Naira Ashraf.. From Egypt to Jordan

“Killing for love” is the saying that applies to murders in the name of love in Egypt during the year 2022, and the beginning came from the hands of Egyptian student Muhammad Adel, who beheaded his beloved and university colleague Naira Ashraf. the gates of Mansoura University in the north of the country on June 20, a case that witnessed the fastest death sentence in the history of the Egyptian judiciary, and an appeal against the verdict is scheduled for a session on January 26.

The case of Naira Ashraf’s murder opened the door to similar murders in Egypt, the most famous of which is the murder of a girl named Salma Bahjat, a student at Al-Shorouk Academy, by her lover and classmate, who carried out his crime near her workplace in in the city of Zagazig in the north of the country on August 10, so the court ruled his death on November 7.

In the same way he killed Naira Ashraf in Egypt, on June 23, a Jordanian student took the life of fellow student Iman Irsheed, who was lurking in front of the university, committed the crime and fled, and 3 days later the perpetrator shot himself after being surrounded by Jordanian security forces in that area. Balama, Mafraq governorate.

Homophobia in the Gulf

Competent authorities in several Gulf countries have mobilized against products that promote homosexuality in commercial establishments and markets, following the spread of toys and products bearing the colors of the rainbow, which is the flag of people of heterosexual orientation.

In Saudi Arabia, the Ministry of Commerce launched a campaign against shops in Riyadh. Seize toys, t-shirts and children’s items, including hats and rainbow pencil cases, as part of a campaign against homosexuality.

A Ministry of Commerce official said: “We have a tour of signs that are contrary to the Islamic faith and public morality and promote homosexual colors and target the younger generation,” adding that these are products that “implant homosexuality in the child’s subconscious.”

In Kuwait, the Ministry of Trade and Industry published a leaflet entitled “Participate in Censorship”, urging citizens and expatriates to report “any flag or slogans that they consider to be against public morals, which are associated with the colors of the gay flag”.

Prior to this announcement, the Kuwaiti Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced the invitation of the acting chargé d’affaires of the US Embassy. Protest against the embassy’s posting of “pro-homosexuality” material on its social media accounts.

suicides

Arab countries witnessed numerous suicides during the past year. In Tunisia, a street vendor committed suicide in Mornag municipality, Benarous province, after the municipality confiscated his work tools. In Egypt, a young man jumped from the top of a tower in Cairo for mysterious reasons, leaving a message for his brother.

In August, Algerian streets were shocked when a policeman committed suicide with a personal weapon in front of the Khenchel state security center in the northeast of the country, and it was revealed in detail that he was 35 years old, married and the father of two children, and died at the scene of the accident.

At the beginning of the year, a girl from Egypt named Basant Khaled (17) committed suicide after being subjected to electronic blackmail by posting fake photos on social networks. The girl could not bear the social consequences of spreading these fake images. in her village, so she ended her life by consuming poisonous substances.

In Jordan, at the end of August, 3 suicides occurred within 24 hours, when a doctor threw herself from the ninth floor of the Jordanian University Hospital in the capital, Amman, while in the city of Irbid, in the north of the country, two suicides of two young men were witnessed, one of which hanged himself at home and another was found He died in his vehicle after running out of medical supplies.

Abortion issues.. from Tunisia to Egypt

Riots in Tunisia led to the discovery of 5 bodies of incomplete fetuses on the roof of a clinic in the northern city of Bizerte. The court announced that five bodies had been examined and taken to hospital for post-mortem, and the private doctor who found the bodies in containers on the roof of his clinic was detained.

After a preliminary investigation, police suggested that the bodies were the result of clandestine abortions that took place in a doctor’s office. The Tunisian law sets out measures to regulate abortion and allows abortion during the first three months of pregnancy, as well as abortion of the fetus in advanced pregnancy if it poses a threat to the life of the mother.

In Egypt, the security services arrested a gynecologist, obstetrician and infertility doctor in the Kumbrah district of Giza governorate, on charges of running a medical center for abortions, burning fetuses and throwing them to wild dogs and garbage from time to time. In order to get rid of it, the doctor admitted what was attributed to him and said: “Girls come to me who want to cover up and offer me huge amounts of money. After an abortion, I would take the fetus and burn it in a barrel on the roofs, and sometimes I would fed the dogs.”