Social media users slam Rihanna’s visit to Shaikh Zayed Mosque

October 23, 2013

Shaikh_Zayed_Mosque

Abu Dhabi, Oct 23: The recent visit of American singer Rihanna to Shaikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi drew a lot of flak especially from social media websites with people denouncing her visit when she took improper photos at the sacred place. Rihanna was in the UAE as part of her “Diamonds” world tour.

A hashtag page was consequently created under the headline ‘Rihanna profanes the Shaikh Zayed mosque’ where many Twitter and Instagram account holders have slammed the singer’s visit to the sacred site.

However, not all opinions and posts on the singer’s visit were similar. To the singer’s credit, some people commented that the singer was seen wearing a headwear (scarf) which covered her head and a narrow trouser. They said she took photos posing in ways that are improper in the context of a sacred place, in the peripheral yard of the mosque. Yet the photos showed that she was standing in the inner compound of the mosque.

Meanwhile, many people posted messages on Twitter affirming that it is easy to take photos from outside the mosque territory since the mosque is very spacious and can be accessed from any corner, but the Shaikh Zayed Mosque’s centre had earlier marked some specified entrance for visitors.

However, Twitter holders tweeted that the gown the woman was dressed in was covering her body than many Muslim women who turn up at Shaikh Zayed grand mosque, while others believed that the hashtag page had unnecessarily triggered a controversy and asked to hold responsible the person behind the page, saying Emirati people do not accept mischief.

Prominent Emirati singer Ahlam harshly slammed the singer on her own Instagram page.

Some people commented on the dress Rihanna was wearing and that it might have been designed to comply with the Islamic dress, and pointed out that Rihanna released a new fashion design which a lot of Muslim women may copy.

Rihanna published the photos she took at the Shaikh Zayed Grand Mosque on her Instagram page as part of photos she took during her world tour including her visit to Abu Dhabi where she performed at Yas Island a couple of days ago.

For its part, the Shaikh Zayed Grand mosque’s centre clarified that the centre opens its door to visitors of various nationalities as part of its cultural activities whether they come in official groups or as individuals to recognise and get familiar with the Islamic art treasures.

Commenting on the US singer’s visit, the centre management said the singer’s visit to the mosque was a private one and was without any prior coordination or contact with the centre management. She even did not introduce herself to the centre staff and entered the mosque through a gate that is not reserved for visitors, without prior coordination with the centre’s management and without identifying herself.”

She was asked by the mosque attendants, who offer help to visitors, to move to the entrance dedicated to visiting the mosque and make her tour as per the mosque’s rules.

The singer after she was advised to adhere to the rules by the centre’s staff then left the mosque before entering it as she took some photos which were against the rules and regulations set down by the centre’s management regarding the mosque’s sanctity and stature.

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News Network
November 14,2024

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The UN special rapporteur for Palestine has slammed Israel’s parliament for passing a law authorizing the detention of Palestinian children, who are “tormented often beyond the breaking point” in Israeli custody.

Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on the rights situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, in a Thursday post on X, characterized the experiences of Palestinian minors in Israeli detention as extreme and often inhumane.

The UN expert highlighted the grave impact of this policy, noting that up to 700 Palestinian minors are taken into custody each year, a practice she described as part of an unlawful occupation that views these children as potential threats.

Albanese said Palestinian minors in Israeli custody are “tormented often beyond the breaking point” and that “generations of Palestinians will carry the scars and trauma from the Israeli mass incarceration system.”

She further criticized the international community for its inaction, suggesting that ongoing diplomatic efforts, which often rely on the idea of resuming negotiations for peace, have contributed to normalizing such human rights violations against Palestinian children and the broader population.

The comments by Albanese came in response to Israel’s parliament (Knesset) passing a law on November 7 that authorizes the detention of Palestinian children under the age of 14 for “terrorism or terrorist activities.”

Under the legislation, a temporary five-year measure, once the individuals turn 14, they will be transferred to adult prison to continue serving their sentences.

Additionally, the law allows for a three-year clause that enables courts to incarcerate minors in adult prisons for up to 10 days if they are considered dangerous. Courts have the authority to extend this duration if necessary, according to the Knesset.

The legislation underscores a shift in the treatment of minors and raises alarms among human rights advocates regarding the legal and ethical ramifications of detaining children and the conditions under which they may be held.

Thousands of Palestinians, including hundreds of children and women, are currently in Israeli jails—around one-third without charge or trial. Also, an unknown number are arbitrarily held following a wave of arrests in the wake of the regime's genocidal war on Gaza.

Since the onset of the Gaza war, the Israeli regime, under the supervision of extremist minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, has turned prisons and detention centers into “death chambers,” the ministry of detainees and ex-detainees’ affairs in Gaza says.

Violence, extreme hunger, humiliation, and other forms of abuse of Palestinian prisoners have been normalized across Israel’s jail system, reports indicate.

Over 270 Palestinian minors are being detained by Israeli authorities, in violation of UN resolutions and international treaties that forbid the incarceration of children, as reported by Palestinian rights organizations.

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News Network
November 15,2024

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Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has killed or captured 69 terrorists linked to the Israeli spy agency Mossad during a major counterterrorism drill in the country's southeast, its spokesman says.  

General Ahmad Shafaei, the spokesman for the “Martyrs of Security” drill, said Friday that a total of 23 terrorists have been killed and another 46 arrested in various clean-up operations ever since the IRGC Ground Force launched it in the Sistan and Baluchestan province on November 1.

Seven terrorists have also turned themselves in during the period.

“The undeniable fact about terrorists is that they rely on arrogant powers, particularly the intelligence service of the wicked and vicious Zionist regime," Shafaei said.

“Unfortunately, weapons and munitions at terrorists’ disposal are among the most sophisticated ones in the world. This accounts for their heavy dependence.” 

The official stated that several members of the disbanded terror teams were non-Iranian nationals, who had been hired by foreign intelligence agencies to carry out acts of sabotage and terror inside Iran.

In a most recent operation, six terrorists were arrested and four others were eliminated, three of whom were non-Iranians, he added. 

On October 26, ten members of Iran's law enforcement forces were killed in a terrorist attack in the Gohar Kuh district of Taftan in the Sistan and Baluchestan province.

The so-called Jaish al-Adl terrorist group claimed responsibility for the assault, which was one of the deadliest in the province in recent months.

The group has carried out numerous terrorist attacks in Iran, primarily in Sistan and Baluchestan.

Its tactics include the abduction of border guards as well as targeting civilians and police stations within the province to incite chaos and disorder.

In January, Iran launched a military operation during which the headquarters of the Pakistan-based terrorist group was targeted in missile strikes, destroying its infrastructure.

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News Network
November 27,2024

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Gaza health authorities say Israel’s military has "erased” over 1,400 Palestinian families in the besieged territory over the past year.

The Health Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday that the Israeli regime "completely erased about 1,410 families, numbering 5,444 people, from the civil registry during the same period.”

It said that there were 3,463 families with only one survivor, while 2,287 families had more than one survivor.

In northern Gaza, Israel’s warplanes have continued dropping bombs over Palestinian families, Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.

It said one airstrike hit a family home in Jabalia, causing numerous casualties on Tuesday.

According to Gaza's civil defense agency, at least seven people were killed and several others wounded in the attack.

Another person was killed in a strike on a house in nearby Beit Lahia, a town in northern Gaza, which has been declared “a disaster area" by the municipality due to "the Israeli war of extermination and siege, and it has no food, water, hospitals, doctors, services, or communications."

The health ministry said, “Israeli forces killed 14 people and injured 108 others in three massacres of families in the last 24 hours.”

“Many people are still trapped under the rubble and on the roads as rescuers are unable to reach them.”

International organizations and leaders believe that Israel’s genocidal war, now in its second year, is a deliberate attempt to destroy the population of Gaza.

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