Mauritania issues first apostasy death sentence
Mauritania has delivered its first death sentence for apostasy since independence in 1960, ordering capital punishment for a Muslim man who wrote an article deemed blasphemous of Islam.
Mohamed Cheikh Ould Mohamed, aged in his late 20s, fainted when the ruling was read out late Wednesday in a court in Nouadhibou in the northwest of the country, a judicial source told AFP.
He was revived and taken to prison. Read more
Libya: Egyptian Coptic Christian teen found dead
A 13-year old-Christian girl abducted by armed men in Libya has been found dead in a suspected religiously motivated attack, local media reports said on Friday.
The girl, an Egyptian Coptic Christian, was taken from her home on Tuesday during an attack in which her parents were killed. Her two young sisters were left behind. A source at the Ibn Sina hospital in the city of Sirte, about 460km south east of Tripoli, confirmed that her body had been found yesterday.
Local council chairman, Yussef Tebeiga, said on Tuesday that the attack could well have been motivated by religion as nothing was stolen from the girl's home, despite over £3,000 in Libyan dinars and jewellery being clearly visible. Sirte - the hometown of Muammar Qaddafi - is controlled by Islamic militia groups. Read more
Myanmar: Surge in Buddhist nationalism sees New Zealander charged with insulting religion
A New Zealand bar manager on Friday pleaded not guilty in a Myanmar court to charges of insulting religion after publishing a psychedelic image of Buddha wearing headphones to promote his bar in Yangon.
The case comes amid a surge in Buddhist nationalism in Myanmar - which emerged in 2011 from half a century of military rule - with monks forming groups aimed at promoting the country's Buddhist character.
New Zealander Phil Blackwood was charged earlier this month, along two local men, over the publication of a poster promoting cheap drinks at his bar. If found guilty, they face up to four years in jail. Read more
Indonesian Islamists issue stern warning to Muslims not to participate in Christmas celebrations
While Indonesia's Christian community is preparing to celebrate the birth of Jesus, Islamic fundamentalists are forbidding Muslims not to wear Christmas symbols or even exchange Christmas greetings with friends or colleagues.
The controversy has been a point of conflict even among Muslims in the country. Nahdlatul Ulama, Indonesia's foremost moderate Muslim organisation, argues that there is nothing unlawful in greeting Christians 'Merry Christmas' or 'Happy Holidays.'
But Islamic hardliners in Indonesia, which is the world's most populous Muslim nation, beg to differ. According to AsiaNews.it, "[after] the province of Aceh, the only one in which Sharia law is implemented, a radical vision of faith is on the increase in other parts of Indonesia ... as is the intention to introduce legislation or regulations relating to customs derived from Islamic law."
Just this month, dozens of Islamic extremists in the Sukaharjo District attacked three shopping centres in Solo because the shops were selling and promoting Christmas-related items. Read more
See also
Central Java, Islamist threat: Scrap Christmas symbols and no celebrations
Pakistan: The blood price of Faustian bargains
A single and extraordinary image from last year: Hazaras, an ethnic and religious minority in Pakistan, maintaining a night vigil by the coffins of their slain kin in a street in Quetta. The previous evening, at least 80 Hazaras had been slaughtered in twin bomb blasts in the capital city of Baluchistan. It remains a dark, disturbing scene, as though the dead seemed scared of being interred or did not want to be buried in protest against the cruelty shown to them when they were alive - and when they died.
It is unusual for people to keep their dead waiting for that final journey, even more so in Islam where it is required to bury the dead as soon as possible. That a group of Muslims refuses to do so means something basic has been wrenched from their world: The fundamental right to a life of dignity. There were night vigils in many cities across Pakistan, protests and mournful pleas by a besieged and desperate people asking their rulers to at least appear to attempt to protect lives.
The families of the dead remained on the road with coffins for nearly 70 hours before the government of Pakistan acceded to some of their demands and sacked the province's chief minister and imposed direct rule. Read more
See also
Thousands protest Quetta sectarian attacks
No comments:
Post a Comment