About Eeyore

Canadian artist and counter-jihad and freedom of speech activist as well as devout Schrödinger's catholic

9 Replies to “FEMEN does topless protest in front of Tunisian Court.”

  1. These girls have my deepest respect and sincere admiration! I bet they would not have stood idly by while Lee was being butchered Wednesday last week. So brave. Love you girls!

  2. Tunisians protest outside trial of Femen activist

    KAIROUAN, Tunisia (AP) — The trial for the Tunisian member of the Ukrainian feminist group Femen opened Thursday in the religious center of Kairouan amid protests accusing her of attacking Islam.

    Amina Tyler appeared in court smiling and enveloped in a white robe and was questioned by the judge over her possession of pepper spray, the basis of the charge of carrying an incendiary object.

    Outside some 200 protesters, many religious conservatives, chanted slogans against Tyler, accusing her of attacking the city and insulting Islam. They also shouted insults at the defense lawyers and accused them of ‘‘sullying’’ the image of the city, a center for religious pilgrimage and home of Tunisia’s holiest mosque.

    Tyler scandalized Tunisia in March by posting online photos of herself topless with the slogan ‘‘my body is my own’’ written on her torso.

    She went into hiding because of death threats but reemerged May 19 in Kairouan where she scrawled ‘‘Femen’’ on a wall near the city’s main mosque, the same day police stopped a group of ultraconservative Muslims from holding their annual conference, resulting in clashes and tear gas.

    Tyler was detained by police as an angry mob gathered.

    Her lawyers argue that the 1894 statute should not apply to her can of pepper spray.

    Tyler told the judge that she had been given the pepper spray by a foreign journalist for her own protection and had been carrying it for the last two months. The judge adjourned the session to deliberate on the charge.

    Lawyers saying they represented the city petitioned the judge that Tyler be given the more serious charge of threatening the security of the city, but their request was turned down.

    Tyler’s father was present in court and expressed his support for his daughter.

    ‘‘I am proud of my daughter who has honored the rights of women,’’ Mounir Sboui told The Associated Press. ‘‘Maybe her acts were rash, but this is her way of expressing these ideas.’’

    Tyler’s case is the latest flashpoint in the battle over Tunisia’s identity after the overthrow of the secular dictatorship in January 2011 saw the rise of ultraconservative Islamists known as salafis pushing for greater piety.

    The case attracted attention in Europe and three members of Femen, two French and a German, demonstrated topless in front of Tunis’ court building Wednesday, calling for Tyler’s release. They were arrested and remained in custody.

    http://www.boston.com/news/world/middle-east/2013/05/30/tunisians-protest-outside-trial-femen-activist/uPOjiD9eBkm5Pu84ozwN0K/story.html

  3. Amina Tyler, a member of the Ukrainian activist group FEMEN stood trial in Tunisia’s religious center Khairouan on Thursday on charges of possession of pepper spray, rendered an incendiary object by prosecutors. The activist, dubbed a ‘sextremist’ for her radical bare breasted protest, was arrested by Tunisian police on May 19 in Khairouan at a banned protest of hardline Salafist group Ansar al-Shariah. Witnesses claimed she graffitied FEMEN on a wall outside the city’s al Uqba Mosque, known as Tunisia’s Islamic Cultural Capital.

    At the trial, Monir Sabour, Amina’s father said, “She’s 18 years old. She’s a small bird, she will grow and learn and go to the university to study, we need to save her, we need to save her, my daughter is ill. I don’t know, I don’t know.”

    Tyler stirred controversy in the North African country in March when she posted pictures of herself topless on the internet with “my body is my own” written across her chest. She joins FEMEN to protest against what they perceive as the oppression of women in the Muslim world in general. The spokesperson for Tunisia’s Ministry of Interior rendered Tyler’s behavior is “against the morals and traditions of Tunisian society, which is a Muslim society.

    Three other young European members of FEMEN were arrested in Tunisia on Wednesday as they protested topless outside the main courthouse in the Tunisian capital against Tyler’s imminent trial. The feminist organisation FEMEN, famous for topless protests around the globe, responded to the arrest of Tyler with contempt and has demanded for her immediate release: “The reaction of the Tunisian authorities is a gross political repression in response to her anti-Islamist feminist actions against the ‘Shariatization’ of the Maghreb.”

    The topless women remained in custody until 12:00 local time, when they were due in court, their lawyer said. The two French nationals and a German national – Josephine Pauline and Marguerite – face deportation and a six-month prison sentence.

  4. The women are brave, however in a few years the Moslem police will arrest women doing this and then gang rape them at the police station.

  5. @ Richard … IN A FEW YEARS????? I think that camel has bolted already.

    PS: Martin: thanks for the update!

  6. They weren’t arrested so it is still to come, I don’t know why the gov over there didn’t order their arrest but they didn’t.