adopted in 1990. The latter expressly asserted
rights to edUcation, equality before the law, mar-
riage, ownership of property, work, freedom from
unlawful arrest, and freedom to express one’s
opinions freely to the extent that these all fall
within the sharia.
Muslims are currently confronting human
rights problems throughout the Muslim world,
in Europe, and in the United states. Many of
the measures enacted to strengthen security after
the attacks of September 11, 2001, in the United
States have disproportionately targeted Muslims
within the country as well visitors and students
coming from the Muslim world. In Europe, Mus-
lims face issues ranging from the wearing of the
hijab in French public schools to discrimination
in employment and housing aimed at growing
immigrant populations. In many countries in the
Middle East, notably algeria, egypt, and syria,
Islamic organizations opposing secular govern-
ments through both peaceful and violent means
have been brutally repressed. iran as a formal
Islamic state is often criticized for its dogmatic
approach to Islamic law. Critics of the govern-
ment are often jailed, and Women are required
to conform to “Islamically proper” dress codes.
At the same time, Iranian women enjoy broad
representation in the national parliament, and the
non–state-sponsored press in the country is lively.
Across the region, efforts to create civil society
organizations (Jordan and lebanon are nota-
ble exceptions) are often thwarted. This affects
human rights organizations in general but also
groups that advocate for specific issues such as
women’s rights. The latter has included in recent
years efforts to modify marriage and divorce laws,
promote women’s suffrage, and bring attention
to inadequate public services for poor women
and children. The prominent Iranian human
rights activist Shirin Ebadi (b. 1947), a Muslim
writer, lawyer, and judge, was awarded the Nobel
Peace Prize in 2004 for her work on many of
these issues. Other leading contemporary Muslim
human rights advocates include Abdullahi An-
Naim (United States and sUdan), Abd al-Karim
Soroush (Iran), Fatima mernissi (morocco);
khaled aboU el Fadl (United States), Taslima
Nasrin (bangladesh), and mUhammad arkoUn
(France and Algeria).
See also democracy; government, islamic;
secUlarism.
Michelle ZimneyFurther reading: Abdullahi Ahmad An-Naim, Toward
an Islamic Reformation: Civil Liberties, Human Rights and
International Law (Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University
Press, 1996); Kevin Dwyer, Arab Voices: The Human
Rights Debate in the Middle East (Berkeley: University of
California Press, 1991); Ann Mayer, Islam and Human
Rights (Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press, 1999).Husayn, Saddam (Saddam Hussein)
(1937–2006) dictatorial president of Iraq from
1979 until being deposed by American and allied
forces on April 9, 2003
Saddam Husayn was the most influential figure in
iraq’s modern history since King Faysal I (d. 1933).
He was a leading member of the Iraqi baath party
during the late 1960s, and, after becoming presi-
dent of the country in 1979, he maintained power
through the Iran–Iraq War (1980–88) and Gulf War
of 1991. He was deposed in 2003 by coalition forces
led by the United States and Great Britain.
Husayn was born to a poor peasant family
in the village of al-Awja near the ancient city of
Tikrit, an important center for nationalist and
anti-British policies. His father, Husayn Abd al-
Majid, died before he was born, and he was raised
by his strong-willed mother, Sabha Tulfah al-Mus-
sallat, and his paternal uncle, Ibrahim al-Hassan.
He experienced a harsh childhood, which had
a lasting impact on Husayn. At about the age of
10, Husayn fled his immediate family to live with
his maternal uncle, Khayrallah Talfah, in Tikrit
and later baghdad. Talfah was an Arab national-
ist army officer who might have had the greatestHusayn, Saddam 315 J