Thread by @monaeltahawy

#Iraqi cleric & politician Moqtada Sadr has always been a misogynist shit. In 2005, a TV producer told me that when he asked Sadr “what’s the worst thing the US has done?”, rather than say “Invade and destroy my country,” he said “Let a woman lead prayer.” 1/

He meant historic Friday prayer March 2005 when amina wadud was imam to 100 of us in #NYC.

So fuck yes Iraqi women who today protested his call for gender segregation of protests,chanting “Revolution is my name, male silence is the real shame!" & "Freedom, revolution, feminism!"

Hundreds of #Iraqi women of all ages flooded central #Baghdad on Thursday (Feb 13) alongside male anti-government protesters, defying an order by powerful cleric Moqtada Sadr to separate the genders in the rallies.

straitstimes.com/world/middle-e…

Good to see video of #Iraqi women-led protests against Sadr’s call for gender segregation of protests

https://twitter.com/rashaalaqeedi/status/1227960796124151808?s=21

https://twitter.com/RashaAlAqeedi/status/1227960796124151808

On Saturday, Sadr “had alleged drug and alcohol use among the protesters and said it was immoral for men and women to mix there.”

Opponents of #Jan25 revolution in #Egypt said the same about Tahrir Square protesters who spent many of 18 days until Mubarak stepped down in tents

That kind of smearing against revolutionaries in #Egypt was used by the military to justify “virginity tests” - sexual assaults of Egyptian women after the military cleared Tahrir Square. A general told a female journalist for CNN “Those women aren’t like your daughters or mine.”

And for a last laugh at Sadr: In a strange turn, he said #Iraq must not "turn into Chicago," which he said was full of "moral looseness" including homosexuality, a claim that was immediately mocked online.”

As a New Yorker, I must protest! We’re just as “morally loose!”