Berlin’s Liberal Mosque Vows to Defy Fatwa
The woman who opened a mosque in Berlin where men and women pray together and face-covering headscarves are banned has vowed to defy a fatwa from Egypt’s highest Islamic authority and criticism from the Turkish government. German-Turkish women’s rights activist Seyran Ates, 54, pioneered the opening of the Ibn Rushd-Goethe Mosque in the Moabit neighborhood […]
UN Official: Human Rights at Risk from “Political Profiteers”
U.N. Human Rights chief Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein has warned world peace and stability based on fundamental human rights are under threat by so-called reckless political profiteers. The high commissioner told delegates attending the opening session Monday of the month-long meeting of the U.N. Human Rights Council many of the achievements that have been made in […]
UN Rights Chief Urges Myanmar Leader to Ease Plight of Rohingya
The U.N.’s top human rights official, Zeid Ra’ad al Hussein, is urging Myanmar’s leader, Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, to use her moral authority to ease the plight of the country’s disenfranchised Rohingya community. Aung San Suu Kyi has come under mounting criticism from the international community for her failure to speak out on […]
Paris rally over alleged police rape descends into riot
A peaceful rally in a Paris suburb has descended into violence amid anger over the case of a black youth worker who was allegedly raped with a police baton. Police on Saturday fired tear gas at protesters who threw projectiles at officers and set cars and rubbish bins alight. More than 2,000 people gathered peacefully […]
On Muslims, swimming lessons, and European secularism
In a judgment handed down on Tuesday, the European Court of Human Rights rejected a claim brought by a Muslim couple in Basel, Switzerland, who had refused to allow their daughters to attend compulsory mixed swimming lessons at school. The ruling itself is unsurprising, and doesn’t come in a vacuum. The European court has been […]
UN: South Sudan on brink of ethnic civil war
South Sudan is “on the brink of an all-out ethnic civil war which could destabilise the entire region”, the head of a team of UN human rights investigators told the UN Human Rights Council, describing a shattered country where children as young as two have been raped.
Who’s conning whom in Donald Trump’s America
It was fitting that the most important struggle on the eve of the now-historic presidential election was the battle for Standing Rock. Even more than the Movement for Black Lives, the conflict between Native Americans and toxic corporations and their government allies (including President-elect Donald Trump) symbolises the ruined promises and outright lies that have […]
Rohingya face Myanmar ‘ethnic cleansing’: UN official
UNHCR chief accuses country’s troops of killing men and raping women, forcing stateless minority to flee to Bangladesh. Myanmar is carrying out “ethnic cleansing” of Rohingya Muslims, a UN official has said, as stories of gang rape, torture and murder emerge from among the thousands who have fled to Bangladesh. Up to 30,000 members of […]
Israel slammed over its ‘war on NGOs’
Jerusalem – Last August, Pam Bailey, an American citizen and secretary of the Gaza-based Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor, was denied entry to Israel upon arrival at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport. Israeli authorities detained her for 11 hours, while the airline retained her passport until she landed back on US soil.
Rights Group Wants More Government Protection for Afghan Shi’ites
Human Rights Watch wants the Afghan government to do more to protect minority Shiites after a suicide bomber blew himself up outside a mosque in Kabul Monday, killing dozens of people gathered for a religious ceremony.