This ongoing series highlights women’s news and information about foreign policy. This week’s post covers June 12 to June 16.

Iran

Last week, Iranian journalists, Niloufar Hamedi and Elaheh Mohammadi were charged with “conspiring with foreign intelligence agencies to undermine national security” for their reporting on the death of Mahsa Amini last year.

Both women had been held for eight months before facing trial last month.

Read more here.

India

The New York Times published a report showing how husbands abandon their spouses after marriage in the Indian state of Punjab.

The report notes that women are being deceived, with their families defrauded of dowries, honeymoon expenses, and visa payments. It adds that petitions have been filed with India’s Supreme Court in hopes of having their passports revoked.

Read more here.

Nigeria

In Kwara, a boat carrying more than 250 people on the River Niger on their way home from a late-night wedding, struck a tree trunk and broke apart.

According to survivors, most of the 108 people who drowned were women and their children.

One of the survivors, Ibrahim Mohammed, said they had carried children to shore, “but some of the women didn’t want to leave their children behind, and they drowned”.

“Most of the women in the boat had children, and the majority of those who died were women and young children”, said Mr Mohammed. He said he had saved three children but had lost nine children from his family.

Read more here.

Australia

An Australian lawmaker has alleged that she was sexually “assaulted” by a fellow senator in Parliament House, stating the building was “not a safe place” for women to work.

In a tearful Senate address, Lidia Thorpe said she had been subjected to “sexual comments”, cornered in a stairwell, “inappropriately touched” and “propositioned” by “powerful men”.

Read more here.

United States of America

The Southern Baptist Convention confirmed the expulsion of two churches over the presence of female pastors.

At the group’s annual meeting in New Orleans on Wednesday, an overwhelming majority of delegates upheld the expulsion of Saddleback Church in southern California and Fern Creek Baptist Church in Louisville, Kentucky.

The convention is made up of about 47,000 churches and 13.7 million members, but an estimated 12,700 delegates were in attendance at the New Orleans gathering.

Read more here.