Mali: Islamists in Mali 'targeting women'
11.10.2012
A senior UN official who just returned from Mali says radical Islamists who now control about two-thirds of the country are targeting women - demanding that they cover their heads, restricting their ability to work, and compiling a list of women who are pregnant or have children but are not married which has raised fears of punishment. Ivan Simonovic, the assistant secretary-general for human rights, said the Islamists have imposed an extremist form of Islamic law known as Shariah in northern Mali.