WASHINGTON: An Iranian human rights group has relaunched a smartphone app designed to help Iranian citizens, especially women, avoid harassment, arrest and punishment by the strict “morality police” who enforce religious observance and public morality, including standards of dress, in the country.
United For Iran, an organization based in San Francisco that promotes civil liberties and individual human rights for Iranians, is promoting the Gershad app as a tool that can help citizens, journalists, activists and civil society groups to monitor the whereabouts of officials from the religious police so that they can steer clear of locations where officers are known to be active, avoiding the risk of confrontation.
It could help users avoid potential problems if they fail to follow rules or restrictions imposed by the religious police based on a strict interpretation of Shariah, in particular women who do not want to wear a hijab to cover their head in accordance with rigid government rules.
The Islamic Republic of Iran has been ruled by its religious establishment since the 1979 revolution that the toppled the pro-western Shah. Women in the country are required to conform to government restrictions on Western-style clothing and wear the hijab in public.
Last week, Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian woman reportedly suffered a serious head injury and was declared brain dead following her arrest by the morality police in Tehran, who accused her of failing to properly follow hijab rules. She died on Friday.
Amini was allegedly beaten inside a police van on the way to a detention center, according to eyewitnesses quoted in reports by Radio Farda, the Iranian branch of the US government-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty broadcast service.
A US government official condemned her death and demanded that the Iranian government holds accountable those responsible.
“Mahsa Amini’s death after injuries sustained while in police custody for wearing an ‘improper’ hijab is an appalling and egregious affront to human rights,” the official said.
“Women in Iran should have the right to wear what they want, free from violence or harassment. Iran must end its use of violence against women for exercising their fundamental freedoms.”
Muslim women are expected to cover their hair and dress modestly in accordance with Islamic teachings in many Islamic countries but, with the exception of Iran, their governments do not force them to wear a hijab and is not legally mandated.
The Gershad app was launched anonymously in February 2016, according to rights advocacy group United For Iran, which said that for reasons of safety and privacy it and partner organization Article 19 did not initially publicize their involvement in its development and release, but have chosen to do so now. It has been downloaded more than 100,000 times.
Firuzeh Mahmoudi, executive director of United For Iran, told Arab News that the group’s main objective is to enable and empower Iranians, especially women, to make their own choices about civil liberties and human rights free of government control.
“Our work is to support the people of Iran to have full self-agency of their own lives,” she said
The app is increasingly popular among young Iranian men and woman who want to live a normal life, just like their counterparts elsewhere in the world, according to Mahmoudi.
“Since Gershad’s launch, we have received powerful feedback about the role the app has played in helping to protect basic human rights and liberties, allowing Iranians to unite in an unprecedented way, preventing arrests and providing a platform for people to express how humiliating it is to deal with the morality police,” she said.
The Iranian people are modern-thinking and want to be free of government restrictions on the way they live or dress, she added.
Rights group relaunches app that helps Iranian women avoid ‘morality police’
https://arab.news/jzyby
Rights group relaunches app that helps Iranian women avoid ‘morality police’
- United For Iran and its partners released the Gershad app anonymously in 2016 but have now decided to reveal their role in its development and release
- Their public promotion of the app, downloaded more than 100,000 times, comes days after the death in police custody of 22-year-old Iranian Mahsa Amini
Israel lacks ‘credible plan’ to safeguard Rafah civilians, says Blinken
Speaking to ABC News’ This Week, Blinken said that President Joe Biden remains determined to help Israel defend itself and that the shipment of 3,500 2,000-pound and 500-pound bombs was the only US weapons package being withheld.
That could change, he said, if Israel launches a full-scale attack on Rafah, which Israel says it plans to invade to root out fighters of the ruling Hamas militant group.
Biden has made clear to Israel that if it “launches this major military operation to Rafah, then there are certain systems that we’re not going to be supporting and supplying for that operation,” said Blinken.
“We have real concerns about the way they’re used,” he continued. Israel needs to “have a clear, credible plan to protect civilians, which we haven’t seen.”
Rafah is hosting some 1.4 million Palestinians, most of them displaced from elsewhere in Gaza by fighting and Israeli bombardments, amid dire shortages of food and water.
The death toll in Israel’s military operation in Gaza has now passed at least 35,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry.
The war was triggered by the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7 in which some 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 people taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies.
Israel says 620 soldiers have been killed in the fighting.
Dubai laboratory develops AI technology to detect Legionella bacteria
- The AI system works by pinpointing live colonies of the bacteria
DUBAI: Dubai Central Laboratory has developed an artificial intelligence technology able to detect Legionella pulmonary bacteria, the first of its type in the Middle East region, the Emirates News Agency reported on Sunday.
The system works by pinpointing live colonies of the bacteria, which causes a variety of acute respiratory infections, and delivers examination results with an accuracy rate in quantifying bacterial counts of 99 percent, the report said.
The technology also streamlines work processes by reducing reliance on laboratory supplies, leading to faster completion times.
“This revolutionary method of detecting Legionella pulmonary bacteria is among the latest to be accredited globally by the European Water Testing Network. It also has a certificate of recognition from AOAC International,” Hind Mahmoud Ahmed, director of the Dubai Central Laboratory Department, said.
“The technology is very accurate and quick to produce results, typically needing 48 hours as opposed to the 14 days that traditional methods require.”
Laboratories conduct more than 100,000 tests every year to ensure the safety of various goods sold in Dubai.
UN chief calls for ‘immediate’ Gaza ceasefire, hostage release
- Israeli strikes on Gaza continued Sunday after it expanded evacuation order for Rafah operation
- Gaza war tearing families apart, rendering people homeless, hungry and traumatized, says UN chief
KUWAIT CITY: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Sunday urged an immediate halt to the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, the return of hostages and a “surge” in humanitarian aid to the besieged Palestinian territory.
“I repeat my call, the world’s call for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, the unconditional release of all hostages and an immediate surge in humanitarian aid,” Guterres said in a video address to an international donors’ conference in Kuwait.
“But a ceasefire will only be the start. It will be a long road back from the devastation and trauma of this war,” he added.
Israeli strikes on Gaza continued on Sunday after it expanded an evacuation order for Rafah despite international outcry over its military incursion into eastern areas of the city, effectively shutting a key aid crossing.
“The war in Gaza is causing horrific human suffering, devastating lives, tearing families apart and rendering huge numbers of people homeless, hungry and traumatized,” Guterres said.
His remarks were played at the opening of the conference in Kuwait organized by the International Islamic Charitable Organization (IICO) and the UN’s humanitarian coordination organization OCHA.
On Friday, in Nairobi, the UN head warned Gaza faced an “epic humanitarian disaster” if Israel launched a full-scale ground operation in Rafah.
Gaza’s bloodiest-ever war began following Hamas’s unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel that resulted in the deaths of more than 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
Vowing to destroy Hamas, Israel launched a retaliatory offensive that has killed more than 34,971 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.
UN chief calls for ‘immediate’ Gaza ceasefire, hostage release
- UN chief: ‘The war in Gaza is causing horrific human suffering, devastating lives, tearing families apart and rendering huge numbers of people homeless, hungry and traumatized’
KUWAIT CITY: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Sunday urged an immediate halt to the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, the return of hostages and a “surge” in humanitarian aid to the besieged Palestinian territory.
“I repeat my call, the world’s call for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, the unconditional release of all hostages and an immediate surge in humanitarian aid,” Guterres said in a video address to an international donors’ conference in Kuwait.
“But a ceasefire will only be the start. It will be a long road back from the devastation and trauma of this war,” he added.
Israeli strikes on Gaza continued on Sunday after it expanded an evacuation order for Rafah despite international outcry over its military incursion into eastern areas of the city, effectively shutting a key aid crossing.
“The war in Gaza is causing horrific human suffering, devastating lives, tearing families apart and rendering huge numbers of people homeless, hungry and traumatized,” Guterres said.
His remarks were played at the opening of the conference in Kuwait organized by the International Islamic Charitable Organization (IICO) and the UN’s humanitarian coordination organization OCHA.
On Friday, in Nairobi, the UN head warned Gaza faced an “epic humanitarian disaster” if Israel launched a full-scale ground operation in Rafah.
Gaza’s bloodiest-ever war began following Hamas’s unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel that resulted in the deaths of more than 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
Vowing to destroy Hamas, Israel launched a retaliatory offensive that has killed more than 34,971 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.
Iran conservatives tighten grip in parliament vote
- Elected members are to choose a speaker for the 290-seat parliament when they begin their work on May 27
- Conservatives won the majority of the 45 remaining seats up for grabs in the vote held in 15 of 31 provinces: local media
TEHRAN: Iran’s conservatives and ultra-conservatives clinched more seats in a partial rerun of the country’s parliamentary elections, official results showed Saturday, tightening their hold on the chamber.
Voters had been called to cast ballots again on Friday in regions where candidates failed to gain enough votes in the March 1 election, which saw the lowest turnout — 41 percent — since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Candidates categorized as conservative or ultra-conservative on pre-election lists won the majority of the 45 remaining seats up for grabs in the vote held in 15 of Iran’s 31 provinces, according to local media.
For the first time in the country, voting on Friday was a completely electronic process at eight of the 22 constituencies in Tehran and the cities of Tabriz in the northwest and Shiraz in the south, state TV said.
“Usually, the participation in the second round is less than the first round,” Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi told reporters in Tehran, without specifying what the turnout was in the latest round.
“Contrary to some predictions, all the candidates had a relatively acceptable and good number of votes,” he added.
Elected members are to choose a speaker for the 290-seat parliament when they begin their work on May 27.
In March, 25 million Iranians took part in the election out of 61 million eligible voters.
The main coalition of reform parties, the Reform Front, had said ahead of the first round that it would not participate in “meaningless, non-competitive and ineffective elections.”
The vote was the first since nationwide protests broke out following the September 2022 death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurd, arrested for allegedly breaching the Islamic republic’s strict dress code for women.
In the 2016 parliamentary elections, first-round turnout was above 61 percent, before falling to 42.57 percent in 2020 when elections took place during the Covid pandemic.
