Two Christians sought by police in Pakistan on ‘blasphemy’ charges

February 17, 2021 Article

Pakistan’s police said they were seeking arrest of two Christian men in the eastern city of Lahore on charges they allegedly used insulting remarks against Islam’s holy book and its Prophet Mohammed.

The case against the two men was registered last Saturday on the complaint of a Muslim local resident Haroon Ahmed, said Muratab Ali, a police investigator, who said the accused persons had yet to be arrested.

He provided no further details and only said they were still investigating to determine whether the two minority Christians made derogatory remarks about the Koran and Islam’s Prophet during a discussion on religion.

Under Pakistan’s blasphemy laws, anyone accused of insulting Islam or other religious figures can be sentenced to death if found guilty.

While authorities have yet to carry out a death sentence for blasphemy, just the accusation of blasphemy can cause riots in Pakistan.

According to domestic and international human rights groups, blasphemy allegations in Pakistan have often been used to intimidate religious minorities and to settle personal scores.

A Punjab governor was killed by his own guard in 2011 after he defended a Christian woman, Aasia Bibi, who was accused of blasphemy.

She was acquitted after spending eight years on death row and left Pakistan for Canada to join her family after receiving threats.

The post Two Christians sought by police in Pakistan on ‘blasphemy’ charges appeared first on Faith Matters.

Categories: Blasphemy, Christian men, News, Pakistan, Prophet Muhammad

Bill to tackle radical Islamic beliefs in France under debate

February 1, 2021 Article

French legislators are set to debate a bill to tackle radical Islamic ideology.

Some authorities maintain that such radical beliefs are creeping into public services, schools and online platforms, with the goal of undermining national values.

The bill is broad and controversial, with 1,700 proposed amendments, and guarantees heated debate for the next two weeks in the lower house of the French parliament.

It reflects a priority for France’s president Emmanuel Macron, who in an October speech painted a dark picture of a perverse version of Islam, France’s second most-popular religion, quietly making inroads and creating a “counter-society”.

Interior minister Gerald Darmanin, a right-leaning member of Mr Macron’s centrist party, wrote a short book on the subject, due to be released in a matter of days. His Manifesto For Secularism outlines fundamental values of France that the bill he sponsors is meant to protect.

“Islamism is a Trojan horse hiding the fragmentation bomb of our society,” Mr Darmanin wrote, according to excerpts from the daily Le Figaro.

“In the face of such a dangerous and insidious enemy, which we know is far from the religion of the prophet (of Islam), it is normal that public officials take unprecedented measures.”

Multiple terrorist attacks in France by Islamist extremists provide a backdrop for the bill.

The text applies to all religions, but some Muslims say the legislation once again points the finger at Islam.

Other critics say the bill covers ground already addressed in current laws.

Meanwhile, far-right leader Marine Le Pen says the bill does not go far enough or even name the enemy: radical Islam.

In ways small and large, the bill seeks oversee the functioning of associations and mosques, including foreign financing, aiming plug up entry points for Islamist ideology into the lives of Muslims.

Among the 51 articles, the bill aims to ensure that public service employees respect neutrality and secularism, while protecting them against threats or violence.

In a bid to protect children from indoctrination and to do away with underground schools, the text requires all children from the age of three to attend a regular school.

Some 50,000 children were home-schooled in 2020, according to French media. But the number of “clandestine schools” where children are reportedly indoctrinated in radical ideology is unknown.

Among other key points, the bill aims to keep a close watch on associations, including those that often run mosques, with measures including one aimed at ensuring that outsiders cannot take control of an association.

Another measure requires associations receiving state funds to sign a “contract of Republican commitment” ensuring they honour French values.

Funding must be reimbursed if the contract is broken. While foreign funding for mosques is not banned, amounts over 10,000 euros (£8,800) must be declared.

If some Muslims feel they have been stigmatised, France’s other religions say they are suffering collateral damage.

Le Monde newspaper reported religious leaders were unanimous in their criticism of the treatment of associations, telling a parliamentary commission that it adds unnecessary layers of work and oversight and arouses suspicion over all faiths.

The proposed law also seeks to halt doctors issuing virginity certificates, as well as the practice of polygamy and forced marriage.

Doctors would be fined and risk jail for providing virginity certificates.

The law includes an article that justice minister Eric Dupond-Moretti has called the “Paty law” after the beheading of school teacher Samuel Paty, who showed students in a civics class caricatures of the prophet.

It creates a new crime for hate speech online in which someone’s personal details are posted.

A Chechen refugee beheaded Mr Paty after information about the teacher was spread online.

The post Bill to tackle radical Islamic beliefs in France under debate appeared first on Faith Matters.

Categories: Emmanuel Macron, Manifesto for Secularism, Marine Le Pen, News, Radical Islamism

Pompeo says China’s policies on Muslims in Xinjiang amount to ‘genocide’

January 20, 2021 Article

US secretary of state Mike Pompeo has imposed new sanctions on China and said its policies on Muslims and ethnic minorities in Xinjiang constitute a “genocide”.

Mr Pompeo made the determination just 24 hours before President-elect Joe Biden takes office. There was no immediate response from the incoming Biden team, although several members have been sympathetic to such a designation in the past.

Many of those accused of having taken part in repression in Xinjiang are already under US sanctions, and Tuesday’s move is the latest in a series of steps the outgoing Trump administration has taken against China.

Since last year, the administration has steadily ramped up pressure on Beijing, imposing sanctions on numerous officials and companies for their activities in Taiwan, Tibet, Hong Kong and the South China Sea.

Those penalties have become harsher since the beginning of last year when President Donald Trump and Mr Pompeo began to accuse China of trying to cover up the coronavirus pandemic.

On Saturday, Mr Pompeo lifted restrictions on US diplomatic contacts with Taiwanese officials, prompting a stern rebuke from China, which regards the island as a renegade province.

Five days ago, the administration announced it would halt imports of cotton and tomatoes from Xinjiang with Customs and Border Protection officials saying they would block products from there suspected of being produced with forced labour.

Xinjiang is a major global supplier of cotton, so the order could have significant effects on international commerce. The Trump administration has already blocked imports from individual companies linked to forced labour in the region, and the US has imposed sanctions on Communist Party officials with prominent roles in the campaign.

China has imprisoned more than a million people, including Uighurs and other mostly Muslim ethnic groups, in a vast network of concentration camps, according to US officials and human rights groups.

People have been subjected to torture, sterilisation and political indoctrination in addition to forced labour as part of an assimilation campaign in a region whose inhabitants are ethnically and culturally distinct from the Han Chinese majority.

China has denied all the charges, but Uighur forced labour has been linked by reporting from The Associated Press to various products imported to the US, including clothing and electronic goods such as cameras and computer monitors.

China says its policies in Xinjiang aim only to promote economic and social development in the region and stamp out radicalism. It also rejects criticism of what it considers its internal affairs.

The post Pompeo says China’s policies on Muslims in Xinjiang amount to ‘genocide’ appeared first on Faith Matters.

Categories: Genocide, Mike Pompeo, News, Trump, Uighur Muslims, Xinjiang

Arrests made after mob demolishes Hindu temple in Pakistan

December 31, 2020 Article

A mob led by members of Pakistan’s radical Islamist party demolished a Hindu temple after setting it on fire in a deeply conservative northwestern town, a senior police official said.

The incident in the town of Karak drew condemnation from human rights activists and Pakistan’s minister for human rights, Shireen Mazari.

Ms Mazari went on Twitter to condemn the burning of the temple and urged police to ensure the arrest of those involved.

District police chief Irfan Ullah said police detained several people over their involvement in the attack on the temple.

Witnesses said the mob, led by activists and local leaders of the radical Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam party, attacked the temple after local Hindus received permission from authorities to renovate it.

The incident comes weeks after the government allowed minority Hindus to build a new temple in Islamabad on the recommendation of a council of clerics.

Although Muslims and Hindus generally live peacefully together in Pakistan, there have been other attacks on Hindu temples in recent years.

Most of the Pakistan’s minority Hindus migrated to India in 1947 when India was divided by Britain’s government.

The post Arrests made after mob demolishes Hindu temple in Pakistan appeared first on Faith Matters.

Categories: Attack, Hindu Temple, Hindus, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, News, Pakistan

1,800 Rohingya relocated to isolated island

December 30, 2020 Article

Seven Bangladesh navy ships carrying 1,804 Rohingya refugees have arrived at an isolated island where they will be relocated despite concerns among human rights groups about their safety.

They reached Bhashan Char island, 21 miles from the mainland, after a four-hour naval journey from the port city of Chittagong, government official Mohammed Khurshed Alam Khan said.

He said authorities at the island received 433 men, 523 women and 848 children.

Authorities insist all were willing to be relocated and no pressure was placed on them.

But several human rights and activist groups say some were forced to go.

It was the second group of Rohingya refugees transferred from crowded, squalid camps in Cox’s Bazar district to the island.

Authorities sent a first group of 1,642 on December 4 despite calls for a halt by human rights groups.

Rear admiral Md Mozammel Haque, commander of the local navy, said the number of refugees willing to join the second phase of relocation “exceeded their expectations”.

He said the authorities were initially expecting to relocate around 1,200 refugees, but 1,804 chose to go.

The island surfaced only 20 years ago and was not previously inhabited.

It was regularly submerged by monsoon rains but now has flood protection embankments, houses, hospitals and mosques built at a cost of more than 112 million dollars (£83 million) by the Bangladesh navy.

The island’s facilities are designed to accommodate 100,000 people, just a fraction of the million Rohingya Muslims who fled waves of violent persecution in their native Myanmar and are currently living in the camps in Cox’s Bazar.

International aid agencies and the United Nations have opposed the relocation since it was first proposed in 2015, expressing fear that a big storm could wash over the island and endanger thousands of lives.

The UN also voiced concern that refugees be allowed to make a “free and informed decision” about whether to relocate.

Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have urged the government to cancel the plan.

An influential cabinet minister and general secretary of the governing party, Obaidul Quader, said that the Rohingya are being moved to the island because their repatriation to Myanmar has been delayed.

He said refugees who were earlier taken to Bhashan Char have expressed satisfaction.

About 700,000 Rohingya Muslims fled from Buddhist-majority Myanmar to Bangladesh after August 2017, when Myanmar’s military began a harsh crackdown on the minority group following an attack by insurgents.

Security forces have been accused of mass rapes, killings and burning thousands of homes.

Bangladesh has attempted to start sending refugees back to Myanmar under a bilateral agreement, but no-one was willing to go.

The Rohingya are not recognised as citizens in Myanmar, rendering them stateless, and face other state-sanctioned discrimination.

Rohingya Muslims drown whilst escaping fighting in Myanmar

The post 1,800 Rohingya relocated to isolated island appeared first on Faith Matters.

Categories: Bangladesh, Bhashan Char, Island, Myanmar, News, Rohingya

Man denies assaulting children during circumcision procedures

December 10, 2020 Article

A man has denied assaulting children while carrying out circumcisions in the community.

Mohammad Siddiqui, 54, of Birmingham, appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Thursday and denied 40 charges relating to 24 procedures between April 2015 and January 2019.

They include child neglect and ill-treatment, assault occasioning actual bodily harm and administering prescription-only anaesthetic when not an appropriate practitioner, the court heard.

The court was told Siddiqui faces allegations of poor hygiene practice and operating in a way which caused unnecessary pain and suffering to children aged between a few days old and 15 years old.

The alleged offences took place privately across the West Midlands in the Muslim community and in some Christian communities, the court heard.

Bearded Siddiqui, of Anchor Crescent, Winson Green, appeared in the dock wearing a dark suit and a religious skullcap, shaking his head and folding his arms throughout the proceedings.

He was bailed by district judge Sam Goozee, to appear at Southwark Crown Court on January 7.

The post Man denies assaulting children during circumcision procedures appeared first on Faith Matters.

Categories: Circumcisions, Mohammad Siddiqui, Muslim, News

Bomber’s brother appeared to be ‘sympathetic to ideals of Isis’, inquiry told

December 8, 2020 Article

Images recovered from the home of the older brother of Manchester Arena bomber Salman Abedi indicated he was “sympathetic to the ideals of Isis”, a police chief has told a public inquiry.

Ismail Abedi, 27, was arrested the morning after the explosion which killed 22 people and injured hundreds at the end of an Ariana Grande concert on May 22 2017.

A search of his home recovered a disk drive containing a number of images that could be “considered supportive of an extremist mindset”, said Detective Chief Superintendent Simon Barraclough, the senior investigating officer into the attack.

He said images of burnt bodies and one depicting an Isis flag with the words “I Pledge Allegiance” were on the device.

Other images showed Ismail and a young Salman Abedi holding weapons – assessed to have been taken outside of the UK – and a video lecture from the late preacher and senior al Qaida recruiter Anwar al-Awlaki, the inquiry heard.

Another drive seized contained images of an armed Salman Abedi in camouflage clothing and a video file of his younger brother and other males firing weapons.

Paul Greaney QC, counsel to the inquiry, asked Mr Barraclough: “Your view in your statement was ‘there are indications that Ismail Abedi may have been aware of the radicalisation or changing opinions of Salman Abedi’?”

“Yes,” said the detective.

Mr Greaney went on: “And you added ‘in some respects it also appears that Ismail was sympathetic to the ideals of Isis as evidenced by the material discovered on his devices which were seized from his home address when he was arrested’?”

Mr Barraclough confirmed: “Yes.”

Mr Greaney said Ismail Abedi would be called to give evidence and would have the chance to offer explanations, although when the inquiry was opened it was said he had declined to answer questions on the basis it may tend to incriminate him.

The inquiry into the bombing heard Ismail Abedi was held in custody until June 5 2017 on suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism and was interviewed on 25 occasions.

The inquiry heard he told police he had concerns about Salman Abedi and their younger brother, Hashem – jailed for life this year for his part in the bomb plot – over them dropping out of their studies, had suspicions they were involved in fraud and members of the community had told him Hashem was taking drugs.

He raised those issues with their parents, Ramadan and Samia, who live in Libya, which caused “friction” with his brothers who he said changed phone numbers frequently and when he did contact them they would hang up, the inquiry heard.

Ismail Abedi went on to provide a prepared statement in which he denied any knowledge or involvement in his brother’s actions or in the radicalisation or assistance of Salman Abedi in relation to the attack, Manchester Manchester Magistrates’ Court was told.

Mr Barraclough confirmed Ismail Abedi was released without charge but he added: “You must understand that the investigation continues in relation to this and there will be further attempts by the investigation team to speak to Ismail Abedi in due course.”

Salman Abedi travelled to Libya during the 2011 revolution and obtained a job “locating Gaddafi supporters”, the inquiry heard.

His cousin, Abdurrahman Forjani, told police that Abedi had been “involved in raids during that period” and explained he had shown him photographs of military vehicles, weapons and rocket launchers.

When Abedi returned to the UK about nine months later in 2012, his cousin said he was told by his parents to stay away from him.

The inquiry also heard about Abedi’s link to a counter-terror investigation into a woman who was stopped from flying out of the UK from Heathrow Airport in February 2017.

Her home was searched and among photographs found on a device was one of a male with a strong resemblance to Abedi carrying a rifle and an insignia of Libyan Islamist militia group the February 17th Martyrs Brigade behind him on a wall. The likeness, established after the Arena attack, was said to be “startling” and the image was uploaded in August 2011 when Abedi was aged 16.

Images of Salman Abedi and his younger brother, Hashem, in military uniform, also taken in 2011, were found at their home in Fallowfield following the bombing.

Mr Barraclough said it indicated the two brothers did receive some level of military training and he also it was “not unreasonable” to suggest that Salman Abedi may have either fought with the February 17th Martyrs Brigade during the Libyan uprising or attended a training camp, or both.

The post Bomber’s brother appeared to be ‘sympathetic to ideals of Isis’, inquiry told appeared first on Faith Matters.

Categories: Islamic State, Manchester Arena Bombings, News, Salman Abedi, Sympathetic

Report shows how New Zealand mosque shooter eluded detection

December 8, 2020 Article

A comprehensive report into the 2019 Christchurch mosque shootings in which 51 Muslim worshippers died sheds new light on how the gunman was able to elude detection by authorities as he planned his attack.

The nearly 800-page Royal Commission of Inquiry report released on Tuesday shows the attacker, Brenton Tarrant, kept a low profile and told nobody of his plans.

It concludes that despite the shortcomings of various agencies, there were no clear signs the attack was imminent — aside from the manifesto Tarrant sent out just eight minutes before he began shooting, which came too late for agencies to respond.

But the report does detail failings in the police system for vetting gun licenses, and says New Zealand’s intelligence agencies were focused on the threat posed by Islamic extremism rather than white supremacists.

Among 44 recommendations, the report says the government should establish a new national intelligence agency.

New Zealand currently has one intelligence agency that focuses on domestic threats and one that focuses on international threats. Often those agencies are focused on immediate events like keeping visiting dignitaries safe. The report recommends establishing a new, well-financed intelligence and security agency that is more strategic in nature and can focus on emerging threats and developing a counter-terrorism strategy.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the government had agreed to implement all of the recommendations and apologized for agency shortcomings.

Tarrant, who is Australian, was sentenced in August to life in prison without the possibility of parole after pleading guilty to 92 counts of terrorism, murder and attempted murder.

The report details the extensive world travels of Tarrant but also shows he had almost no meaningful interactions with people in New Zealand because he was introverted and did not work.

As a child, Tarrant had unsupervised access to the internet and became interested in video games from the age of six or seven, the report says. He began expressing racist ideas from a young age and told his mother he started using the 4chan internet forum from age 14.

He put on a lot of weight as a teenager before starting to exercise compulsively at gyms and going on a diet, losing about 110 pounds. His father Rodney was diagnosed with lung cancer caused by exposure to asbestos and in 2010 killed himself at home, leaving an inheritance of 457,000 Australian dollars (£253,000) to Tarrant.

The gunman worked for about three years as a personal trainer at a gym in the Australian town of Grafton, but stopped working after an injury and then used his inheritance to live and travel to dozens of countries.

He moved to New Zealand in 2017 and focused on planning for his attack. The report said he only had superficial interactions with people at a gym and the rifle club where he practiced rapid-fire shooting. Yet when needed, Tarrant could present himself to others in a way that did not arouse suspicion.

Tarrant told investigators that although he frequented extreme right-wing discussion boards on websites like 4chan and 8chan, he found YouTube a far more significant source of information and inspiration.

Ms Ardern said she planned to speak to leaders at YouTube “directly” about how the gunman had become inspired by videos on the site.

As part of the process for acquiring a gun licence, Tarrant was required to provide to police the names of two referees who could speak to his good character. He gave them the name of a friend he knew mostly online from gaming together, along with that friend’s father. Vetting officers interviewed Tarrant and the referees, and recommended he be given his license.

Police Commissioner Andrew Coster said the force “could have done more to consider whether the two referees knew the individual well enough to serve as referees”.

The report also found the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service, the domestic spying agency, had chosen to concentrate scarce counter-terrorism resources on the threat of Islamist extremist terrorism inspired by groups like Islamic State at the expense of other threats.

Despite the shortcomings of various agencies, the report concludes, there was no plausible way Tarrant’s plans could been detected “except by chance”.

The post Report shows how New Zealand mosque shooter eluded detection appeared first on Faith Matters.

Categories: 4chan, 8chan, Brenton Tarrant, Christchurch mosque, Jacinda Ardern, News, Tarrant

Indonesia expects halal certificate for experimental Covid-19 vaccine

December 7, 2020 Article

Indonesia’s highest Muslim clerical body is expected to issue a halal certification for the experimental Covid-19 vaccine developed by China-based firm Sinovac Biotech.

The certification would be a significant step in immunisation efforts in the world’s most populous Muslim country, should the vaccine be approved for use.

Indonesia’s human development and culture minister Muhadjir Effendy: “A study by the Indonesian Ulema Council Halal Product Guarantee Agency and Institute for the Assessment of Food, Drugs and Cosmetics has been completed and has been submitted to the council for the making of a fatwa and halal certification.”

Over one million doses of the experimental Covid-19 vaccine developed by Sinovac arrived in Indonesia on Sunday evening. The government has no exact schedule for distributing the doses.

Health minister Terawan Agus Putranto said the experimental vaccine needs to successfully complete phase three clinical trials before it can be distributed in Indonesia.

Mr Putranto said: “The government will provide a vaccine that is proven safe and passes clinical trials under World Health Organisation recommendations.”

Hermawan Saputra of the Indonesian Public Health Expert Association said the 1.2 million doses are only enough for an initial group of 600,000 people, since each person must receive two doses.

“It does not really have significant meaning. The government should guarantee that there will be enough to for distribution to the entire country,” Mr Saputra said.

He added that if the experimental vaccine passes the third phase clinical trials, immunisation programmes are expected to begin in the middle of next year.

The government has announced that it plans to use vaccines from several different producers in its effort to vaccinate the world’s fourth most populated country. So far, the Sinovac candidate vaccine is the only one to arrive in the country.

On Monday, the Health Ministry announced 5,754 new Covid-19 cases, bringing the confirmed total to 581,550, including 17,867 deaths, the highest in south-east Asia.

The post Indonesia expects halal certificate for experimental Covid-19 vaccine appeared first on Faith Matters.

Categories: Chinese Covid Vaccine, Covid-19 vaccine, Halal certificate, Indonesia, News, Sinovac

First Rohingya refugees arrive at isolated Bangladesh island

December 4, 2020 Article

More than 1,500 Rohingya refugees have been sent to an isolated island by authorities in Bangladesh, despite calls by human rights groups to stop the process.

The 1,642 refugees boarded seven Bangladeshi naval vessels in the port of Chittagong for the trip to Bhashan Char, according to an official.

After about a three-hour trip they arrived at the island which was once regularly submerged by monsoon rains but now has flood protection embankments, houses, hospitals and mosques built at a cost of more than 112 million dollars (£83 million) by the Bangladesh navy.

Located 21 miles from the mainland, the island surfaced only 20 years ago and was never inhabited.

The island’s facilities are built to accommodate 100,000 people.

The first arrivals are just a fraction of the million Rohingya Muslims who have fled waves of violent persecution in their native Myanmar and are currently living in crowded, squalid refugee camps in Bangladesh.

About 700,000 Rohingya fled their native home after August 2017, when the military in Buddhist-majority Myanmar began a harsh crackdown on the Muslim group following an attack by insurgents.

The crackdown included rapes, killings and the torching of thousands of homes, and was termed ethnic cleansing by global rights groups and the UN.

Foreign media have not been permitted to visit the island.

Contractors say its infrastructure is like a modern township, with multi-family concrete homes, schools, playgrounds and roads.

International aid agencies and the UN have opposed the relocation since it was first proposed in 2015, expressing fear that a big storm could overwhelm the island and endanger thousands of lives.

The UN said it has not been involved in preparations for the relocation or the selection of refugees and has limited information about the overall plan.

“The United Nations takes this opportunity to highlight its longstanding position that Rohingya refugees must be able to make a free and informed decision about relocating to Bhasan Char based upon relevant, accurate and updated information,” it said.

Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch urged the Bangladesh government to cancel the relocation plan.

The post First Rohingya refugees arrive at isolated Bangladesh island appeared first on Faith Matters.

Categories: Bangladesh, Human Rights Groups, Island, News, Rohinya