Activista dos direitos da Mulher, ataca os clérigos muçulmanos do Bahrain, por estes terem emitido fatwas que permitem o abuso sexual de meninas: (vídeo com legendas em inglês, aqui)
Ghada Jamshir: Does the Islamic Shari'a authorize mut'ah marriages? Does the Islamic Shari'a authorize mut'ah according to the following classification: "Pleasure from sexual contact with her thighs." They have: "Pleasure from sexual touching." "pleasure from sexual contact with her breasts." "Pleasure from a little girl." Do you know what "pleasure from a little girl" means? It means that they derive sexual pleasure from a girl aged two, three, or four.
Interviewer: Let's not go into details...
Ghada Jamshir: This is a violation of children's rights! This constitutes sexual assault of the girl. What does "pleasure from sexual contact with her thighs" mean? It means deriving sexual pleasure from an infant. How old is an infant? One year, a year and a half, a few months?
Is it conceivable for a grown man to have sex with an infant girl? And you people tell me that the Islamic Sharia authorizes this? Forget about the mut'ah. Let's talk about misyar. What do misyar marriages mean? You said that I'm a Sunni and that's why I'm attacking the Shiites. No!
Shobokshi said restrictions have eased since King Abdullah, seen as a supporter of cautious reform in Saudi Arabia, ascended the throne earlier this year.
He said: "There's definitely an improved atmosphere. The situation is far from being open and benign. But there is tolerance in the press and in the media across the board."
After a "national dialogue" forum in which Shobokshi took part, he said: "The comments I said on air I could not even dare to think about 10 years ago ... it was unbelievable - like tolerance ... school textbooks."
The government has taken steps to stop the demonisation of non-Muslims in schools, but a violent campaign against the US-allied authorities and Westerners by al-Qaida sympathisers has shown the extent of the challenge.
"Our scientific community is in deep hibernation. Not since the pre-Renaissance era has there been such a dearth of medical research. There is a malaise that seems to afflict Arab academic output and it has reached epidemic proportions. And the situation is only getting worse. There is now a pressing need for this issue to be addressed before we become the victims of our own neglect."
"For far too long we have rested on the laurels of past achievements. The Arab contribution to civilization is perpetually held hostage by thousand-year old achievements like the innovation of algebra by Al-Khwarizmi; the articulation of the Canon of Medicine by Ibn Sina; the extensive study in astronomy by Al-Farghani, or by the mathematical and astronomical genius of Omar Al-Khayyam. And since then our contribution to science has decayed and produced almost next to nothing."
"The problem is not all individualistic - the state is equally to blame. Collectively, Arab nations spend only 0.15 percent of their GDP on research and development, which is well below the world average of 1.4 percent. This bestows us with the lowest ranking amongst all the 10 regions of UNESCO, embarrassingly lower than the considerably poorer Sub-Saharan Africa.
