A FRAGILE SAFETY NET The United States has a long and rich history of offering safe harbor to refugees fleeing persecution from around the world. According to international standards, and […]

What is it? Female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) is a term used to describe traditional practices that involve the complete or partial removal of the external female genitalia. The procedure has […]

Layli Miller-Muro, who founded Tahirih in 1997, will be honored as part of UNA-NCA’s annual Human Rights Awards Reception.

The two women met for the first time last week at a sleek Georgetown hotel, where they were speakers at a glittering charity dinner. They shook hands and hugged across a vast gulf of culture, geography and faith: one a devout Muslim from West Africa with her hair carefully hidden under a tight scarf, the other a gregarious South Asian in a stylish sari and costume earrings.

Open the wallet of the average American woman and you will find at least six forms of identification—a driver’s license, credit and insurance cards, various memberships—each of which has an extensive history behind it establishing her identity and eligibility for certain privileges. The average woman who seeks Tahirih’s help, however, comes to us with little more than her name and her story.

She wisecracks like a sassy college kid and teases her lawyer like an older sister. She delivers speeches without notes and tosses off legal phrases without hesitation.

A true story of persecution, friendship, and ultimate triumph, the book “Do They Hear You When You Cry” chronicles the struggles of two extraordinary women: Fauziya Kassindja, who fled her African homeland to escape female genital mutilation only to be locked up in American prisons for sixteen months; and Layli Miller Bashir, a driven young law student who fought for Fauziya’s freedom. Order online.