Arab world’s Charlie Chaplin sentenced for defaming Islam
Egypt court upholds conviction of top Arab actor The 71-year-old celebrity, described as the Arab world’s Charlie Chaplin, has a long history of legal tangles with Islamists who regard the actor’s work as blasphemous.
Europe bishops slam Saudi fatwa against Gulf churches
Paris, France – Christian bishops in Germany, Austria and Russia have sharply criticised Saudi Arabia’s top religious official after reports that he issued a fatwa saying all churches on the Arabian Peninsula should be destroyed.
Kolkata unrest over Kali image
In its Monday edition, The Telegraph English language daily carried a morphed picture of a naked woman holding an image of the goddess Kali in front of a cricketer — believed to be a Pakistani — bowing before it. The newspaper had taken the picture from the Twitter account of a reader. However, its […]
India on USCIRF watch list again (2012)
India, March 21, 2012: The US government panel that monitors global religious freedom has once again listed India among countries that require close monitoring due to religious freedom violation. USCIRF Identifies World’s Worst Religious Freedom Violators
Latest report of the UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief
25 March 2012 The 19th session of the UN Human Rights Council has just ended. You can read here a statement made by Heiner Bielefeldt, UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, during the interactive dialogue, and also download his latest (2012) Report presented to the Council.
Russia regrets proposed ban of Hindu holy text in Siberia
State prosecutors in Tomsk seek to ban the Russian translation of the Bhagavad Gita, contending it is an extremist religious text that should be on a blacklist that includes Hitler’s Mein Kampf. http://wwrn.org/articles/36643/
US Conservatives’ Selective Religious Outrage
During the period in which Obama has been in office, we have indeed witnessed an assault on religious freedom unprecedented in recent history. http://wwrn.org/articles/36976/
Aussie Muslims Forced to Remove Face-veil
Muslim women in Australia’s most populous state will have to remove their face-veils to have their signatures officially witnessed under new stricter identity check laws. Those who refuse would not have their document authenticated and could also face a fine of $220. http://wwrn.org/articles/36980/
RIP Dr. Abdelfattah Amor
An article from IRLA on the passing of Professor Amor, who served from 1993 to 2004 as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief.
Tunisia, Egypt Islamists signal bigger religion role
(Reuters, February 22, 2012) Paris, France – After months of reassuring secularist critics, Islamist politicians in Tunisia and Egypt have begun to lay down markers about how Muslim their states should be — and first signs show they want more religion than previously admitted.