Jordan: protest movement on social networks following the murder of a student
In Jordan, a protest movement agitates social networks after the murder of a student last week in one of the universities of the capital (illustration image).
Getty Images/Valery Sharifulin/Contributor
Text by: RFI Follow
3 mins
In Jordan, a protest movement agitates social networks after the murder of a student last week in one of the universities of the capital.
Since his death, thousands of Internet users have shown their support and opened the debate.
They denounce in particular the sexual and gender-based violence that persists in Jordan and in the Middle East.
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The slogans and hashtags created in honor of the victim, Iman Rashid, have been repeated tens of thousands of times since last week.
This is not the first time that there has been a mobilization against feminicides in Jordan.
But what is new here is that this movement was born on social networks and is part of several weeks of denunciation of sexual and gender-based violence in the Hashemite kingdom, in particular in the university sphere.
►Also read: Jordan: the murder of a student revives the specter of violence against women
Because already at the beginning of June, students from one of the most prestigious universities in the country denounced on social networks the sexual harassment of one of their professors.
The hashtag created on this occasion was massively used by women to tell their story.
For one of the first times in Jordan, the accused teacher has been suspended.
Since then, the mobilization was weaker, but the death of Iman Rashid changed the situation.
The case resonates beyond Jordan
And this case now resonates beyond Jordanian borders.
The photo of the young woman is shared by Internet users from all over the region.
Many compare this crime to that of Nayera Ashraf, this other student stabbed to death last week in front of her university in Egypt.
The murderer justified his act by the victim's refusal of his marriage proposal.
On Sunday, another Jordanian woman was stabbed by her husband, this time in the United Arab Emirates.
After the horrific murders of Nayera Ashraf in Egypt & Iman Rashid in Jordan, calls for a general women's strike to demand an end to violence against women circulating online.
Transnational strike scheduled for 7/6 & asks those able to refrain from going to work/working at home.
pic.twitter.com/EGfCuCgSyF
— Mai El-Sadany (@maitelsadany) June 25, 2022
These murders carried out in different countries, but with similar characteristics and temporality, have therefore become symbols.
They are used to denounce sexual and gender-based violence throughout the region and not only in Jordan.
New rules regarding sexual violence
The first requests from Internet users concerned the arrest of the murderer of Iman Rashid.
The victim's father had even publicly called for the reinstatement of the death penalty.
Since the tragedy, however, the shooter committed suicide after being found by the Jordanian police.
In reality, the basic message is the demand for new regulations on sexual and gender-based violence at a minimum in the Hashemite kingdom.
For the moment, the authorities remain silent on the issue.
They even censored the case on Thursday evening.
The local media no longer had the authorization to publish on the subject, except official communication.
It is a way of confining this crime to a news item and preventing it from becoming a tool for feminist advocacy.
Despite everything, the mobilization should last.
On social networks, several feminist collectives are calling for a transnational women's strike in the Middle East.
The date is set for July 7.
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