Tag Archives: Islam

The Associated Press reports: Indonesia’s Parliament unanimously passed a long-awaited revision of the country’s penal code on Tuesday that criminalizes sex outside of marriage for citizens as well as foreigners, prohibits promotion of contraception and bans defamation of the president and state institutions. Rights groups criticized some of the revisions as overly broad or vague and warned that adding them …

The New York Times reports: Iran has abolished the morality police, according to an announcement by the attorney general carried on state media, following months of protests set off by the death of a young woman who was being held by the force for supposedly violating the country’s strict Islamic dress laws. The decision, reported by state news outlets late …

Reuters reports: Indonesia’s parliament is expected to pass a new criminal code this month that will penalise sex outside marriage with a punishment of up to one year in jail, officials have confirmed. The legislative overhaul will also ban insulting the president or state institutions and expressing any views counter to Indonesia’s state ideology. Cohabitation before marriage is also banned. …

Reuters reports: Protests in Iran entered a more violent phase on Sunday as students, who defied an ultimatum by the Revolutionary Guards and a warning from the president, were met with tear gas and gunfire from security forces, social media videos showed. The confrontations at dozens of universities prompted the threat of a tougher crackdown in a seventh week of …

The Associated Press reports: An Iranian government official denied on Monday that Tehran was involved in the assault on author Salman Rushdie, though he justified the stabbing in remarks that represented the Islamic Republic’s first public comments on the attack. “Regarding the attack against Salman Rushdie in America, we don’t consider anyone deserving reproach, blame or even condemnation, except for …

ABC News reports: A suspect has been charged with attempted murder in the attack on author Salman Rushdie at a speaking event in New York state. The alleged attacker is Hadi Matar, 24, of Fairview, New Jersey, a law enforcement official told ABC News. He was arrested at the scene and is currently in New York State Police custody. Matar …

The Guardian reports: The actor Chris Evans, who voices the main character in the new Pixar animated movie Lightyear, has applauded its depiction of a gay couple, saying those who react negatively should be disregarded. “The real truth is those people are idiots,” Evans said. “Every time there’s been social advancement as we wake up, the American story, the human …

Agence France-Presse reports: Saudi officials are seizing rainbow-colored toys and articles of clothing from shops in the capital as part of a crackdown on homosexuality, state media reported. Targeted items include rainbow-colored bows, skirts, hats and pencil cases, most of them apparently manufactured for young children, according to a report broadcast Tuesday evening by the state-run Al-Ekhbariya news channel. “We …

ABC News reports: The United Arab Emirates has banned the upcoming Pixar animated film Lightyear from showing in cinemas amid reports that the film includes a kiss between two female characters. The Emirates, home to Abu Dhabi and Dubai, announced through its Media Regulatory Office of the country’s Ministry of Youth and Culture that the film would not be opening …

The Bangkok Post reports: Forced exorcism is a common story for gay and transgender people in the world’s biggest Muslim majority nation, where a conservative shift has seen the community increasingly targeted in recent years. Homosexuality is legal everywhere in Indonesia except conservative Aceh province which adheres to strict Islamic laws. But it is still widely believed that being gay …

NBC News reports: President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday threw his weight behind Turkey’s top Muslim cleric, who caused a storm by claiming homosexuality “brings disease and causes this generation to decay.” In his first sermon during the holy month of Ramadan on Friday, Ali Erbas also maintained that hundreds of thousands of people every year are exposed to HIV …

NBC News reports: Saudi Arabia’s highest religious body, the Council of Senior Scholars, urged Muslims worldwide to pray at home during Ramadan if their countries require social distancing, to curb the spread of the coronavirus, state news agency SPA reported on Sunday. “Muslims shall avoid gatherings, because they are the main cause of the spread of infection and shall remember …

ABC News reports: Authorities in Mauritania have arrested 10 men after a video appeared on social media of a gay couple appearing to take part in a traditional wedding ceremony, human rights groups said. Police later determined the gathering was a birthday party but the men remain in custody with no trial date set yet. Mauritania practices strict Islamic law …

The New Straits Times reports: Saudi Arabia has arrested more than 200 people for violating “public decency” – including by wearing immodest clothing – and “harassment“, police said, in the first such crackdown since the ultra-conservative kingdom began easing social norms. Some 120 men and women have been arrested over the past week for offending public morals, including wearing “inappropriate …

The Guardian reports: Dutch anti-Islam politician Geert Wilders has revived his plan to hold a contest for cartoons caricaturing the Prophet Muhammad, more than a year after cancelling such an event out of fear for attacks in the Netherlands. In a tweet late on Saturday, Wilders called on people to send in their Muhammad cartoons. “Freedom of speech must prevail …

The Washington Post reports: Lawmakers in India enacted a fundamental change to its citizenship law to include religion as a criterion for nationality for the first time, deepening concerns that a country founded on secular ideals is becoming a Hindu state that treats Muslims as second-class citizens. The new law creates a path to citizenship for migrants who belong to …

Agence France-Presse reports: Several Indonesian ministries are banning pregnant, disabled, or LGBT job hunters in favour of what one called “normal” applicants, the Ombudsman said Friday, slammed as “arbitrary and hateful restrictions” by a rights group. The report comes as the world’s biggest Muslim majority country takes applications from millions of candidates who are applying for some 200,000 civil-service jobs …

The South China Morning Post reports: Five men in Malaysia were sentenced to jail and canings on Thursday by an Islamic court for attempting to have gay sex, local media and a rights group said. Sodomy and same-sex acts are illegal under Islamic law in Muslim-majority Malaysia, although convictions are rare. The Selangor Shariah High Court sentenced four men to …

Reuters reports: Indonesia is poised to pass a new penal code that criminalizes consensual sex outside marriage and introduces stiff penalties for insulting the president’s dignity – a move rights groups criticized as an intrusive assault on basic freedoms. Indonesia is the world’s most populous Muslim majority country and has substantial Christian, Hindu and Buddhist minorities, but has seen a …

Reuters reports: Brunei’s Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah on Sunday extended a moratorium on the death penalty to incoming legislation prohibiting gay sex, seeking to temper a global backlash led by celebrities such as George Clooney and Elton John. The small Southeast Asian country sparked an outcry when it rolled out its interpretation of Islamic laws, or sharia, on April 3, punishing …