Jew World Order

• Wodjan Shaherkani
  will compete in judo after an agreement is reached on with International Judo Federation on the kind of headscarf she can wear
• The 16-year-old +78kg judoka had been told last week by the IFJ that she would not be allowed to compete in Islamic-compliant dress
• Decision comes as debate heats up in Saudi Arabia over whether female athletes should have been included in the country’s Olympic team
• Shaherkani and teammate Sarah Attar – the first women to represent the kingdom at any Olympics – were included after pressure from the IOC

By
Matt Blake and Damien Gayle

PUBLISHED:

06:01 EST, 31 July 2012

|

UPDATED:

06:11 EST, 31 July 2012

A female Saudi Arabian judoka will be allowed to compete in the Olympics while wearing her hijab, it has emerged.

Wodjan Shaherkani’s participation in
the London 2012 Games had been in doubt after the International Judo
Federation said she needed to remove the head scarf for her match.

But Saudi Olympic Committee (SOC)
spokesman Razan Baker announced yesterday that the IJF had relented its
stance after negotiations between officials, clearing the way for
Shaherkani to fight on Friday.

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Cleared to fight: Saudi Arabia’s Wojdan Shaherkani will be allowed to compete in the women’s Olympic judo after an agreement was reached for her to wear a specially designed hijab

She and teammate Sarah Attar, the
kingdom’s first ever female Olympic competitors, have both signed
agreements agreeing to compete only in kit that ‘sticks to Islamic
principles,’ Ms Baker told CNN.

The decision comes as the inclusion of
female athletes for the first time ever in the Saudi Olympic team has
prompted a heated reaction among hardliners in the oil-rich Middle
Eastern state.

Some conservative Islamists have
denounced Attar and Shaherkani as shameless ‘whores’, but many other
Saudis have praised them as trailblazers for the progress of women’s
rights.

The decision to allow Shaherkani, 16,
to compete dressed in Islamic-compliant clothing threatens now to
intensify that quarrel. She had said she would refuse to compete in the
+78-kilogram judo category if she was banned from wearing a hijab.

Saudi newspapers reported that she had
telephoned her father to say she would withdraw from the Olympics if
she was forced to compete uncovered.

The president of the IJF Marius Vizer,
said last week that Shaherkani would have to fight without a hijab to
comply with ‘the principle and spirit of judo’.

The IJF’s regulations for the Olympic
Games state that no headgear can be worn, and the federation had said there
could be a danger to fighters if a hijab is inadvertently used for an
otherwise legal strangulation grip.

But Ms Razan said yesterday that,
after negotiation between the SOC, the International Olympic Committee
and the IFJ, an agreement had now been reached on an acceptable form of
headscarf.

‘They agreed on a design and she will
compete wearing this design,’ Ms Baker said, adding that she did not
know how this design looked.

Game on: Wodjan Ali Seraj Abdulrahim Shahrkhani will compete in the +78kg judo competition while runner Sarah Attar will be at the start line for the 800m at the Olympic Stadium

Victory Park in the Olympic Village: Competing in the Olympics is such a huge step for women in Saudi Arabia, they are happy to abide by the strict caveats laid out by their country’s leaders

Conservative Muslim clerics in Saudi Arabia oppose women’s sport, arguing that it is immodest and against their nature.

That view was reflected in Twitter postings, including one under a hashtag that would translate as ‘Olympic_Whores’.

‘One should not hesitate to describe
their participation as shameful and a great sin,’ Khaled Al Jabri, whose
Twitter profile listed him as a Saudi from Jeddah, wrote in one of
thousands of postings on the subject.

‘Whores of the Olympics … They want
to run so that they intentionally fall down and reveal [their figures],’
said a tweeter using the name mloven2100, another Saudi.

LIFE AS A FEMALE IN SAUDI ARABIA

In Saudi Arabia when in public women are required to wear a black abaya and head scarf by law.

They are banned from driving their own cars and they are not permitted to run their own businesses.

Women are also not allowed inside main government buildings.

Travel is very difficult for women in Saudra Arabia.

Regardless of their age, they are not allowed to travel abroad without official permission from their guardians, which has to be authorised by the government.

Two years ago lingerie shops were staffed by men which could prove awkward when women had to discuss underwear sizing with the men.

But it’s a year of change and women are now allowed to work in malls as sales clerks in lingerie shops thanks to several campaigns both by officials such as the past labour minister Ghazi Algosaibi and activists such as Reem Asaad. 

But supporters of the athletes hijacked the hashtag to post messages in their defence.

‘I’m proud of Saudi women’s
participation in the Olympics,’ wrote Fahad Al Enzi, a member of a
prominent Saudi tribe whose profile listed him as from Riyadh.

A woman who identified herself as
Safaa, a Saudi, tweeted: ‘Women walking behind the Saudi delegation is
historic. Next we’ll be carrying the flag and walking side by side,
equal.’

Competing
in the Olympics is such a huge step for women in Saudi Arabia, they are
happy to abide by the strict caveats laid out by their country’s
leaders.

These include
dressing modestly, being accompanied by a male guardian at all times and
never mixing with men during the Games, Prince Nawaf bin Faisal told
the Al-Jazirah newspaper.

Saudi sportswomen may only take part
if they do so ‘wearing suitable clothing that complies with sharia’
(Islamic law) and ‘the athlete’s guardian agrees and attends with her’,
he said.

‘There must also be no mixing with men during the Games,’ he added.

‘The athlete and her guardian must pledge not to break these conditions,’ he said.

It comes after months of talks – with Saudi Olympic chiefs at one point insisting no women would be allowed to take part.

IOC
president Jacques Rogge described their entry, confirmed by the Saudi
Arabian Olympic Committee ahead of the July 9 deadline, as ‘very
positive news’.

He said:
‘The IOC has been working very closely with the Saudi Arabian Olympic
Committee and I am pleased to see that our continued dialogue has come
to fruition.

‘The IOC has
been striving to ensure a greater gender balance at the Olympic Games,
and today’s news can be seen as an encouraging evolution.

‘With Saudi Arabian female athletes
now joining their fellow female competitors from Qatar and Brunei
Darussalam, it means that by London 2012 every National Olympic
Committee will have sent women to the Olympic Games.’

Adherence: In Saudi Arabia when in public women are required to wear a black abaya and head scarf by law

Qatar
and Brunei, two other countries that have never sent any female
athletes to the Olympics, are also including women on their teams for
the London Games. 

With the Saudis now following suit,
it means all national teams competing in the games will include female
athletes for the first time in Olympic history.

About 10,500 athletes are expected to compete in London, representing more than 200 national Olympic committees.

Good news: IOC president Jacques Rogge described their entry as ‘very positive news’

Saudi Arabia has been under pressure
from the International Olympic Committee and human-rights groups to
include women athletes.

The IOC has been in negotiations with the Saudis for months on securing the participation of women.

They said the two Saudi athletes were entered by the Saudi Arabian Olympic Committee by the official deadline of July 9.

Rights groups hailed the decision as a
step forward for Saudi women in their quest for basic rights in a
country that severely restricts them in public life.

‘It’s
an important precedent that will create space for women to get rights
and it will be hard for Saudi hardliners to roll back,’ said Minky
Worden of the New York-based Human Rights Watch.

In the Saudi city of Jeddah, Mariam Alawi, a housewife in her 20s, said: ‘This is fantastic news and it’s about time. Maybe now people in Saudi can see that females are capable of taking the reins. The world already knows that women can do great things – maybe now Saudi can know that too.’

Hashim Adnan, a 28-year-old Saudi man who works at an investment firm in Jeddah, said the athletes were likely to face ‘heavy criticism’ in the country, but that the government should support them.

Saudi King Abdullah has a reputation as a cautious reformer and supporter of women’s rights. Last year he announced plans to allow women to vote in municipal council elections and join the consultative Shoura council.

The country’s official sports body, the General Presidency of Youth Welfare, only caters to male athletes and women do not take part in sports at state schools. So women athletes have to fund themselves and arrange their own training, mostly abroad.

A Saudi official told Reuters earlier this month Saudi women participating in the Olympics would have to obey the dress code of Islamic law. He did not elaborate, but other conservative Muslim countries have interpreted this to mean a headscarf, long sleeves and long pants.

Saudi Arabia is one of three countries, alongside Brunei and Qatar, never to have sent female athletes to the Olympics but the latter two confirmed earlier this year that their delegations would include women.

Brunei has entered Maziah Mahusin (athletics), while Qatar has entered Nada Arkaji (swimming), Noor Al-Malki (athletics), Aya Magdy (table tennis) and Bahiya Al-Hamad (shooting), who will also be her country’s flagbearer at the opening ceremony.

VIDEO: Watch the women train and hear how excited they are to go to the Olympics… 

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