Film at the Arts Centre

On Thursday 5 December the Arts Centre showed the award winning film 'Wadjda' to a full house.  The film is about a young girl in Saudi Arabia who's hearts desire is to own a bicycle.  It is taboo for a woman to ride a bike in that country - or indeed do many things - so the film touched on several aspects of life for a girl growing up in such a society. 



This is the third time we have teamed up with the Arts Centre to show a film with a human rights perspective.  The showing was introduced by group member Fiona who did a lot to make the evening a success.  She invited those attending to sign a petition in the foyer afterwards and we were successful in getting 67 paper signatures and 20 more electronic ones as well. 



The petition was from Australian Amnesty and concerned two women in Saudi Arabia who are in prison for the crime of tachbib.  This is the Shari'a offence of 'inciting a woman to defy her husband.'  It concerns two women, Wajeha al-Huwaider and Fawzia al-Oyouni who went to the aid of a woman, locked in her house by her husband without food for five days.  They were arrested by the security police and sentence to 10 months in prison followed by a 2 year travel ban. 



Thanks to all those who signed the petition.