Amina Tyler

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Amina Tyler ( Arabic أمينة تيلر Amīna Tailar ), real name Amina Sbouï (born December 7, 1994 ) is a Tunisian feminist and former Femen activist.

Life

Tyler is the oldest of three siblings, her father is the doctor Mounir Sbouï, and her mother is a teacher. Her parents worked in Saudi Arabia for five years. During this time, Tyler lived with her grandmother for the first three years and then went to boarding school for two years. After the Arab Spring in Tunisia, her father initially campaigned for the socialists, but later distanced himself from them after they cooperated with the Islamists.

Mounir Sbouï says of his daughter: “Amina has always been rebellious. She has always defended the disadvantaged, the women, freedom. It made me suffer a lot, but it made me think a lot, dream a lot. "

Amina Tyler's first self-portraits and the consequences

On March 11, 2013, Amina Sbouï published a self-portrait with a naked torso on her Facebook page, which she called "Femen - Tunisian Fanpage". On her body she had written in Arabic: “My body is mine and is not the source of anyone's honor”. Another self-portrait with a naked torso shows the inscription "Fuck your Morals". She describes herself as the founder of the Tunisian Femen section, although a Tunisian Femen group already existed before Tyler's commitment to Femen, about whose whereabouts nothing is known.

This photo was a scandal and aroused great controversy within Tunisian society, which is governed by the Islamist Ennahda party elected in 2011. The publication of the photo looked similar to that of the nude self-portrait by Aliaa Magda Elmahdy two years earlier in Egypt. Tyler was then invited to a broadcast on the private broadcaster Ettounsiya on the talk show ("Labes") of the well-known presenter Naoufel Ouertani on March 16 and displayed pixelated. She said there that she does not show herself topless for sexual reasons, but to demand the liberation of the woman. For this Tyler received death threats.

A few days later, Salafist preacher Adel Almi called for 100 lashes and the death of Tyler by stoning to death on the same talk show in order to suppress such behavior. In doing so, he was effectively issuing a fatwa . Neither of these are in accordance with Tunisian law. According to Adel Almi, Amina Tyler wanted to attract attention by posing naked. That means that she has nothing more to lose and is no longer aware of the holiness of women. She should undergo drug tests and a psychiatric examination. Immediately thereafter, Tyler's Facebook account was hacked and her photos removed. The next day, Amina Tyler was gone. The Tunisian human rights activist Bochra Bel Haj Hmida was able to speak to her briefly on March 24th.

The feminist writer and political scientist Caroline Fourest is now campaigning for Amina Tyler . The Tunisian feminist filmmaker Nadia al-Fani published a solidarity self-portrait with an open blouse and raised arm that reads "For Amina". The support network was established through the internationally known Iranian human rights activist Maryam Namazie . And there is an online petition calling on the Tunisian government to "ensure the safety and freedom of Amina".

Femen Germany took Tyler's disappearance as an opportunity to protest against Islamism in front of an Ahmadiyya mosque on April 4th in Berlin . They used Tyler's slogan "Fuck your Morals" several times.

During this time, Tyler was found in a coffee shop by relatives and brought home. Her cousin broke her phone chip and hit her. She was then sealed off in her grandmother's house in Kairouan . There her virginity was checked, she was taken to the Imam every day , and the Koran was read to her. She fled from there and stayed with friends. Tyler reappeared a month later.

In April 2013, Tyler criticized Femen's action. In France, Femen activists protested in front of the Tunisian embassy with the slogan “Amina Akbar, Femen Akbar” (Eng. “Amina is big, Femen is big”) and burnt a black flag with their faces covered. It had the inscription "There is no god but God and Mohammed is his prophet". Such flags are used by Salafists. Tyler rates the action as unacceptable because it offended not only the fundamentalists but all Muslims. She also bothered the use of her name as an inscription on the activists' bodies. Tyler feared that it would see her as the author of the action. Nevertheless, she stated at this point that she wanted to stay with the Femen, "even when I turn 80 because they are real feminists".

Amina Tyler's graffiti campaign and arrest

On May 19, 2013, Tyler tried to take an action against the banned annual congress of the militant Salafist group Ansar al-Sharia in Kairouan. She put the graffito "Femen" on the cemetery wall of the mosque Oqba-Ibn-Nafaa near the meeting place of the Salafists. For this she was abused by passers-by and arrested by the police "for her protection". The governor of Kairouan, Abdelmajid Laghouan, however, claims that Tyler undressed in front of the Uqba mosque. The Tunisian Minister of the Interior followed suit, describing Tyler's “immoral acts” as “outsider behavior”, which is not acceptable in an Islamic society. On May 21, the Kairouan criminal court converted Tyler's arrest into pre-trial detention for "disturbing the peace of the dead" and "indecent behavior". She was threatened with 2 years imprisonment. Trials took place on May 30 and June 5, 2013, and Tyler was present. She was shown handcuffed and covered except for the face. On June 30, she was fined 300 dinars (equivalent to 140 euros) for carrying a gun, a spray can of pepper spray.

Tyler was charged with "violation of morality." A college of defense lawyers headed by Radhia Nasraoui took over Amina's legal defense. Nasroui sees the indictment as defamatory and falsified. While Amina Tyler is in custody, those who called for her to be murdered will not be held accountable. The 20 Salafists who attacked the American embassy in Tunis in September 2012 are also on parole. This inequality of treatment worried Radhia Nasraoui and large parts of Tunisian society. The hearing was adjourned without a new date.

Tyler is not the only Tunisian atheist arrested in 2013 and facing draconian punishment. Bloggers Ghazi Beji and Jabbeur Mejri were sentenced to seven and a half years in prison for posting caricatures and comments about Muhammad. The rapper Alaa Yaacoubi aka Weld al 15 was sentenced to 2 years in prison . As a result, there were further arrests among the sympathizers of Weld al 15 , u. a. the French-Tunisian journalist Hind Meddeb, who had set up a support committee for him. The Tunisian state's accusation against this group of people, including Tyler, is that of “ secular extremism”.

Amina Tyler was incarcerated in a Messadine prison for two and a half months. She lived in a cell with 20 other prisoners. She received visits from a psychiatrist and followed his treatments. She regrets her actions, says a cousin who visited her there. Femen had "used her mental disorders to transform her into an activist of the organization".

Solidarity actions with the arrested Amina Tyler

On May 29, 2013, three Femen activists from France and Germany demonstrated against the imprisonment of Amina Tyler with bared and labeled upper bodies in front of the Palace of Justice in the Tunisian capital Tunis . The three women were arrested and two weeks later sentenced to four months in prison for "violating morality and causing public nuisance." On June 7th, Femen protested in front of the Berlin Chancellery with the slogan: "Merkel, free Femen - free Femen!" On the same day, Angela Merkel met the Tunisian Prime Minister Ali Larajedh for lunch.

On June 26, 2013, the sentences imposed were suspended on appeal. The three Femen activists were defended by a Tunisian lawyer and the Paris lawyer Patrick Klugman. The latter argued politically, called on the judge to listen to Femen's political arguments and called for the recently won freedom of Tunisian society. The judge released the three women on parole after a day of trial, despite public pressure from Islamists. The three women were able to leave Tunisia the next day. Tyler remained in custody and was not released from custody until August 1, 2013.

Criticism of the Femen solidarity campaign for Tyler, Tyler's positioning and argument

Femen's solidarity campaign for Tyler in front of the Palace of Justice in Tunis and the “International Topless Jihad Day” caused a wave of criticism, especially among Muslim women around the world. Under the motto “Muslimah Pride” or “Muslim Women against Femen”, women explicitly professed Islam and denied Femen the right to represent them. Femen's action was criticized as colonialist , paternalistic and racist by Muslim feminists such as Kübra Gümüşay and Sofia Ahmed . The lack of solidarity with Amina Tyler was criticized in their argumentation.

Tunisian feminists such as B. Maya Jribi , former general secretary of the Democratic Progressive Party of Tunisia, referred to the decades-long feminist tradition in Tunisia. Jribi works in the constituent assembly for the preservation of women's rights in Tunisia, which is currently ruled by the Islamist party Ennahda. She criticized the actions as well as the arguments of Femen, which, with its ability to connect with Islamist arguments (“permissive, rotten Western lifestyle”), stabbed local feminists in the back. Tunisian feminists would now have to laboriously shift the discourse from a question of identity to women's rights as social and political issues. Femen played into the hands of the Islamists by turning feminist emancipation into a culturally charged question of identity with their "topless jihad ".

Femen responded to the criticism, among other things, with a declaration that Muslim women wearing headscarves were "slaves" who had to be freed. Alexandra Shevchenko also claimed that the headscarf was comparable to a concentration camp and that her Muslim critics did not know the difference between freedom and bondage and suffered from Stockholm Syndrome .

After her release from prison on August 20, 2013, Amina Tyler announced that she was leaving Femen because she assessed the group's position and actions as an Islamophobic: "I do not want my name to be associated with an Islamophobic organization" . At this point, Tyler repeatedly criticized the chorus "Amina Akbar, Femen Akbar", which Femen activists sang in front of the Tunisian embassy in France, and the burning of a Tawhid flag in front of a Paris mosque. The action offended many Muslims and many of their friends. Tyler later added that with these activities Femen gave a gift to the Islamists. ( "C'était faire un cadeau aux islamistes." )

Tyler criticized Femen for failing to consult with Tyler's attorneys in preparation for their support actions, which made their legal case even more difficult. Because of the Femen protests in front of the Palace of Justice in Tunis during her detention, she was also charged with "criminal conspiracy". Nevertheless, Tyler thanked Femen for their support, especially the activists who had previously been arrested.

Tyler also criticized Femen for its opaque funding: “What if Israel finances it? I want to know. " Hannah Wettig rates this question as" conspiracy-theoretical "," politically difficult to understand "and" confused ". However, she admits that Tyler uses “Israel” as a synonym for “obscure” in her criticism of Femen's Stalinist-authoritarian behavior. In an Arabic context, such a statement would be analogous to the common phrase in Europe that the CIA is behind opaque events . Later she differentiated her statement so that she did not know where the money for Femen was coming from, whether from the USA, Germany or Israel. ("J'ai seulement dit que je ne savais pas par qui elles étaient financées: les Etats-Unis, l'Allemagne ou Israël. Elles devraient publier leurs comptes pour faire cesser les doutes.")

For their part, Femen responded to Tyler's resignation with the statement that the group had separated from Tyler (and not Tyler from the group) and celebrated the "Free Amina" campaign as a success. Tyler's criticism is rated as "dishonest" and "Islamist". With her criticism, she betrayed thousands of women around the world who undressed to support her. For its part, Femen member Marguerite returned the charge of having fed the Islamists back to Tyler. ( "C'est dommage, avec ses déclarations, elle a donné de la" nourriture "aux islamistes, mais, pour nous, ça n'enlève rien au combat qui a été mené." )

Actions taken by Amina Tyler after breaking up with Femen

On August 10, 2013, Amina published a second self-portrait. She lights a bare-bosomed cigarette on a Molotov cocktail, her upper body is labeled with "We don't need your Dimocracy" and the symbol for anarchy in pink.

Since then, Tyler has been working with the feminist anarchist group "Feminist Attack", whose members she knew before joining Femen. On August 15, 2013, Amina Tyler had already taken part in an action by the Feminist Attack, in which colored eggs were thrown at the Ministry of Culture in Tunis. This action was a show of solidarity with the actor Nasreddine Shili, who had thrown an egg at the Minister of Culture Mehdi Mabrouk the week before.

Amina Tyler in France

Amina Tyler, who hoped to continue her school education abroad, has been in France since August 28, 2013 to take the baccalauréat .

Tyler claimed he was sexistically assaulted by 5 men in Paris on July 6, 2014. She was arrested at around 6 a.m., insulted her, cut her head off, shaved her eyebrows, threatened her with rape and forced her to read from the Koran. On September 24, 2014, Tyler admitted in a letter published a day later in the French newspaper Liberation that he invented the attack. As early as July 2014, doubts about her portrayal had arisen and criminal proceedings had been initiated against Tyler for false suspicion.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Quentin Girard: Amina. Un nouveau desein. In: Liberation, September 5, 2013 , accessed September 20, 2013
  2. ↑ a b c Amina's father is proud of his daughter. The Tunisian Femen in danger. Emma (online), June 7, 2013, accessed August 25, 2013 .
  3. ↑ a b c d Ed2Murrow: The Taming of the Shrew. Friday , June 16, 2013, accessed on August 25, 2013 .
  4. ↑ a b c d e f Ed2Murrow: Damn it, a bosom! Her name is hardly mentioned in the German media: Amina Tyler, who caused a stir with her photos. A reconstruction. In: Friday, April 12, 2013
  5. ↑ Tuniesie: Amina, his interdits. In: Jeune Afrique, March 26, 2013 , accessed August 24, 2013
  6. ↑ a b Femen protest against Islamism worldwide. Free Amina! In: EMMAonline of April 5, 2013 , accessed on August 25, 2013
  7. ↑ FEMEN ТУНИС, in: Femen website, March 19, 2012 ( memento of October 3, 2013 in the Internet Archive ), The photos show a number of people who carry out feminist actions. Amina Tyler is not there. Translation: »Femen Tunis - The ideas of the Ukrainian women's movement Femen has a large following all over the world. An offshoot of the movement has actively developed in Islamic Tunisia. A group of Tunisian girls is actively engaged in activity / activity in the capital of the state. Femen hold parades, create subversive art, paint the walls of their city with calls for equality and with symbols of the Femen movement. The Kiev Femen are delighted to see the spread of the Femen virus on the planet and emphasize that Ukraine will be the home of 21st century neofeminism. ”Retrieved August 24, 2013
  8. ↑ Facebook page EXit FEMEN, Photo Album "Amina what not the first tunisian Femen" with screenshots from a Facebook page "FEMEN Tunisia", published on March 24, 2013 , accessed on August 24, 2013
  9. ↑ Dialika Neufeld: Two good arguments. Young women from Ukraine demonstrate with bare breasts against prostitution and corrupt politicians. You can find imitators worldwide. Even Alice Schwarzer is on her side. In: Spiegel, May 7, 2012 , accessed August 25, 2013
  10. ^ A b Hannah Wettig: Dispute about the Tunisian Femen activist Amina Tyler. In: Jungle World No. 17, April 25, 2013 , accessed August 24, 2013
  11. ^ Petitioning Tunisian Government: Amina must be safe. Online petition on change.org
  12. ↑ Alexandra Hartmann: Femen Activist Rebels Against Tunisia's “Dimocracy” in New Nude Photo. In: Tuniasialive, August 15, 2013 ( Memento of the original from August 27, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed August 24, 2013 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.tunisia-live.net
  13. ↑ Video on Anna Hutsol's YouTube channel, published on April 15, 2013 , accessed on August 25, 2013
  14. ^ A b Rainer Wandler: Femen in Arabic goes too far. Amina arrested in Tunisia. In: taz, May 22, 2013
  15. ↑ Bernd Beier:: Off to jail! The Tunisian judiciary strikes against young people who literally take the revolution's promise of freedom. In: Jungle World, June 27, 2013
  16. ^ Accusation of a moral offense . In: taz, May 31, 2013, accessed June 11, 2013.
  17. ^ Femen activists sentenced to four months in prison , sueddeutsche.de of June 12, 2013
  18. ↑ Judged after "topless" action , tagesschau.de from June 12, 2013 ( Memento from June 15, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
  19. ^ Femen in Tunis in danger. Long prison term. In: EMMAonline of June 13, 2013
  20. ↑ Alice Schwarzer: Femen in Tunis free - except for one. Salafists lost power struggle. In: EMMAonline of June 27, 2013
  21. ^ Femen activist released from prison , NZZ of August 2, 2013
  22. ↑ See:
  23. ↑ Hilal Sezgin: Solidarity instead of behavior If you have bare breasts, then please for the right good cause. Website of the Gunda Werner Institute
  24. ↑ Raniah Salloum: Tunisian women's rights activist: "Femen, please leave us alone". In: Spiegel Online. June 13, 2013. Retrieved August 25, 2013
  25. ↑ Cigdem Akyol: You don't need to free me. In: taz, April 24, 2013
  26. ↑ Cigdem Akyol: We forgive her . Femen founder on Amina's exit. In: taz, August 21, 2013, accessed August 25, 2013
  27. ↑ a b c d Amina Sboui Quits FEMEN: 'I Do Not Want My Name To Be Associated With An Islamophobic Organization' . In: Huffingtonpost, August 20, 2013, accessed August 24, 2013
  28. ^ Naked betrayal , Sueddeutsche Zeitung of August 21, 2013
  29. ↑ Femen loses best-known Arab activist. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung, August 20, 2013, accessed on August 24, 2013
  30. ↑ Hannah Wettig: Being naked is not enough. The Tunisian feminist Amina Sboui has left the Femen group. She has remained a nude activist. She is to be congratulated on both. In: Jungle World, August 29, 2013 , accessed August 24, 2013
  31. ↑ FEMEN brakes up with Tunisian activist. Femen website, August 20, 2013 ( memento of September 21, 2013 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on September 20, 2013
  32. ↑ Well-known Tunisian activist leaves Femen. In: Zeit online, August 20, 2013 , accessed on September 20, 2013
  33. ↑ Islamist censorship. In: Femen website, August 16, 2013 ( memento of August 19, 2013 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on August 24, 2013
  34. ^ Tristan Dreisbach: Amina Leaves Femen, Says 'Anarchy' Only Solution in Tunisia. ( Memento of the original from August 24, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: Tuniasialive, August 19, 2013, accessed August 24, 2013 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.tunisia-live.net
  35. ^ "L'ex-Femen Amina porte plainte pour une agression à Paris" In: Le Huffington Post , accessed on October 2, 2014
  36. ↑ Quentin Girard: Amina Sboui: "Mon mensonge était un appel au secours". In: Liberation September 25, 2014 - A facsimile of the letter signed "Amina" can be found at the end of the article.
  37. ^ "L'ex-Femen tunisienne Amina Sboui reconnaît avoir menti sur son agression" In: Le Monde of September 25, 2014 , accessed on October 2, 2014
  38. ↑ La féministe Amina Sboui sera jugée pour "dénonciation mensongère". In: Liberation July 15, 2014 , accessed October 2, 2014
  39. ^ "L'ex-Femen Amina Sboui sera jugée pour 'dénonciation mensongère'" In: Le Huffington Post , accessed October 2, 2014
personal data
SURNAME Tyler, Amina
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Sbouï, Amina (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Tunisian feminist
DATE OF BIRTH 7th December 1994