Pencil cases, skirts and hats among items targeted for ‘contradicting Islamic faith and public morals’
Saudi officials have been seizing rainbow-coloured toys and clothing from shops in the capital as part of a crackdown on homosexuality, state media has reported.
The kingdom opened to tourism in 2019 but, like other Gulf countries, it is frequently criticised for its human rights record, including its outlawing of homosexuality, a potential capital offence.
Continue reading...Michelle Bachelet, strongly criticised over Xinjiang visit, cites personal reasons for decision
The United Nations’ human rights chief has announced her decision to step down, citing “personal reasons”, amid weeks of speculation following her recent China trip that drew fierce criticism from activists and western politicians.
Writing on Twitter, Michelle Bachelet, who assumed the office of the UN high commissioner for human rights in 2018, said: “It is time to go back to Chile and be with family.”
Continue reading...Disciplinary action against members of BJP fails to quell growing anger in Muslim world over comments insulting the prophet
Six more countries have joined diplomatic protests across the Muslim world over derogatory remarks insulting the prophet Muhammad made by spokespeople for the party of Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi.
Indonesia, the UAE, the Maldives, Jordan, Bahrain and Libya have joined Qatar, Kuwait, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Oman, and Afghanistan in lodging official complaints over comments from representatives of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata party. Meanwhile hardline party members have reacted angrily to disciplinary action against the pair after their comments went viral in the Middle East.
Continue reading...‘Insulting’ comments by spokespeople for ruling Bharatiya Janata party met with anger in Middle East
The Indian government has become embroiled in a diplomatic row with Gulf states after two ruling party spokespeople were accused of making Islamophobic and derogatory comments insulting the prophet Muhammad.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) suspended its national spokesperson, Nupur Sharma, and expelled its Delhi media head, Naveen Kumar Jindal, after their comments went viral in the Middle East, where they were met with a chorus of diplomatic anger.
Continue reading...BJP’s Tejasvi Surya’s comments come as Muslim student associations, religious groups and academics protest his visit
An Indian politician visiting Australia called the Muslim conquest of India “the bloodiest chapter in the history of the world” and appeared to equate it with the Holocaust amid a controversial speaking tour.
Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) MP Tejasvi Surya, in Australia to take part in a series of events, including the Australia India Youth Dialogue (AIYD), told an audience in Parramatta on Monday that the history of Islam is “writ large with bloodshed and violence.”
Continue reading...One in 25 people sentenced to prison on terrorism-related charges in Konasheher, Xinjiang province, where Communist party represses Muslim minority
Nearly one in 25 people in a county of the Uyghur heartland of China has been sentenced to prison on terrorism-related charges, in what is the highest known imprisonment rate in the world, an Associated Press review of leaked data shows.
A list obtained and partially verified by the Associated Press cites the names of more than 10,000 Uyghurs sent to prison in just Konasheher county, one of dozens in southern Xinjiang. In recent years, China has waged a brutal crackdown on the Uyghurs, a largely Muslim minority, which it has described as a “war on terror”.
Continue reading...Grenoble mayor wants swimmers to dress ‘how they like’, including topless or in full-body suits
The burkini, or full-body swimsuit, is once again at the centre of a political row in France as Grenoble’s town council prepares to debate loosening rules on swimwear at open-air pools.
Rules on swimwear are strict at most French public pools, with men, for example, having to wear tight-fitting racing trunks and not longer board-shorts. Currently, in Grenoble municipal pools, UV-protective tops are banned, except short-sleeved tops for children under 10, or for adults who present a medical note from their doctor.
Continue reading...Witnesses say police failed to disperse mob of fellow students in Sokoto who set victim on fire following WhatsApp comments
A female student in Nigeria was beaten to death and set on fire by fellow students who accused her of posting “blasphemous” statements in a WhatsApp group, two witnesses have said.
The school, located in Nigeria’s north-western state of Sokoto, was immediately closed down following the attack.
Continue reading...Explosion in Afghan capital is latest in string of attacks on civilians during Ramadan
A powerful explosion has killed more than 50 worshippers after Friday prayers at a Kabul mosque, the latest of a series of attacks on civilian targets in Afghanistan during Ramadan.
The blast hit the Khalifa Sahib mosque in the west of the capital in the early afternoon, according to Besmullah Habib, the deputy spokesperson for the interior ministry.
Continue reading...Muhammad Razzaq says two armed men tied up and beat his staff and made off with 240 shalwar kameez
Gunmen have stolen more than 200 outfits made for the customers of a Pakistani tailor for the Eid al-Fitr holiday that marks the end of Ramadan.
Muhammad Razzaq said two armed men barged into his store in the capital, Islamabad, tied up and beat his staff, before making off with 240 completed or near-finished traditional shalwar kameez outfits.
Continue reading...Red Crescent says at least 42 injured at site revered by Muslims and Jews as police fire rubber bullets at youths throwing rocks
Israeli police have fired rubber bullets and stun grenades towards Palestinian youths throwing rocks in the latest outbreak of violence at Jerusalem’s al-Aqsa mosque, a site revered by Muslims and Jews.
At least 42 Palestinians were injured in the early morning clashes on Friday at Islam’s third-holiest site, the Palestine Red Crescent said.
Continue reading...Mubarak Bala’s case seen as part of a clampdown on critics of religious orthodoxy in a deeply conservative region
A prominent Nigerian humanist has been sentenced to 24 years in prison after pleading guilty to blasphemy charges, in a landmark case that has put a new focus on the threats to freedom of expression in the west African country.
Mubarak Bala, the president of the Humanist Association of Nigeria, was sentenced on Tuesday afternoon, two years after his arrest at his home in the northern Kaduna state on 28 April 2020. He was then taken to neighbouring Kano, where calls for action against him had been made by members of the religious establishment in the majority Muslim and conservative state.
Continue reading...Fearing unrest over the ruling, the state government bans large gatherings after the restrictions on headscarves sparked violent protests
A court in India has ruled that wearing a hijab is not an essential principle of Islam, in a setback to Muslim students who were demanding the right to wear the headscarf in colleges in Karnataka, south India.
The Karnataka high court was hearing the petitions of Muslim students who had been stopped in January from entering the government college in Udupi, where they were enrolled, for wearing the hijab.
Continue reading...Minister says women’s march violates Islamic values, prompting counter-events organised by religious groups
More than 1,000 veiled women attended marches to promote Islamic values in cities across Pakistan on International Women’s Day in an attempt to counter pro-gender equality rallies.
In Islamabad and Karachi, well-attended “hijab marches”, organised by religious groups, competed with those participating in aurat – Urdu for women – rallies, which call for an end to systemic discrimination in the country.
Continue reading...Ahead of key Uttar Pradesh elections, state police accused of being ‘mercenaries’ of hardline Hindu nationalist government
According to police in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, it was suicide. The young Muslim man they had brought into their custody had, out of despair, killed himself in the police station toilets. But, as photos of the scene emerged, so too did suspicions.
The 22-year-old man, Altaf, was 165cm (5ft 5in) tall and weighed 60kg (9.5 stone), but the toilet tap he had supposedly hanged himself from was just 76cm off the ground and made of flimsy plastic. And why, as the police later claimed in court, was the CCTV in the police station mysteriously not working that day?
Family and friends tell a very different story: that Altaf, a Muslim man living in the town of Kasganj, was in love with and planned to marry a Hindu girl. That powerful local Hindu vigilante groups opposed to interfaith unions found out and reported him to the police. And that on 9 November 2021, Altaf was arrested and tortured to death in police custody and his family pressured to keep quiet.
Continue reading...Women required to attend separate classes and follow dress code at facilities in Kandahar and Helmand as they restart classes for first time since Taliban takeover
Public universities in Kandahar and Helmand provinces in Afghanistan have reopened after being closed for nearly nine months, with some female students joining classes.
Despite calls from education activists and students, universities and high schools across Afghanistan stayed shut after their usual summer break as the Taliban came to power. High schools have since reopened, but only for boys.
Continue reading...The former minister Nusrat Ghani has claimed whips told her she had been sacked for being a Muslim. Labour, Lib Dem and Tory colleagues share their own experiences, from being labelled a terrorist sympathiser to being told to change their name
In 2011, Sayeeda Warsi, then a co-chair of the Conservative party, implored her government to take action over the rising tide of anti-Muslim bigotry, which she said had become socially acceptable enough to pass “the dinner-table test”.
A decade later, it seems too little has changed. Last week, Nusrat Ghani, the Tory MP for Wealden, told the Sunday Times that when she was dismissed from her ministerial post in 2020, she was told by a whip that her “Muslimness” had been an issue. The chief whip, Mark Spencer, identified himself as the person who spoke to her, but strongly denied her allegations.
Continue reading...Man denied any wrongdoing after pair caught together in conservative Aceh province
An Indonesian woman has been flogged 100 times in Aceh province for adultery while the male involved, who denied the accusations, received just 15 lashes.
Ivan Najjar Alavi, the head of the general investigation division at the East Aceh prosecutors’ office, said the court handed down a harsher sentence for the woman after she confessed to investigators she had sex outside of her marriage.
Continue reading...People juggle work and Friday prayer as country switches to Saturday-Sunday weekend
Employees and schoolchildren juggled work and studies with weekly Muslim prayers on the first ever working Friday in the United Arab Emirates, as the Gulf country formally switched to a Saturday-Sunday weekend.
Some grumbled at the change and businesses were split, with many moving to the western-style weekend but other private firms sticking with Fridays and Saturdays, as in other Gulf states.
Continue reading...Decision to close public hammams – most people’s only chance for a warm wash – sparks anger in light of country’s mounting crises
The Taliban sparked outrage this week by announcing that women in northern Afghanistan would no longer be allowed to use communal bathhouses.
The use of bathhouses, or hammams, is an ancient tradition that remains for many people the only chance for a warm wash during the country’s bitterly cold winters.
Continue reading...