India Supreme Court petitioned to stop ongoing farm protests after lynching of Dalit laborer
An urgent writ petition was filed Saturday calling for an end to the protests in the wake of the lynching and murder of a Dalit laborer at the Singhu border, a farmer protest site near Delhi. The body of Lakhbir Singh was found mutilated and hung on the police barricades in the early morning Friday. The [...]
Pakistan court grants bail to Christian man convicted of blasphemy
The Lahore High Court in Pakistan on Monday granted bail to a 20-year-old Christian man convicted of blasphemy. Nabeel Masih was 16 years old when a photo of the Kaaba, a holy site in Islam, with a pig on top of it appeared on his Facebook page. According to the US Commission on International Religious [...]
Nigeria court overturns two blasphemy convictions after international outcry
The High Court of the Kano State of Nigeria Thursday acquitted a teenager sentenced to 10 years in prison and ordered a fresh trial for a man sentenced to death after the convictions caused international outcry. A Sharia (Islamic law) court had convicted the two individuals in August last year. The high court that overturned [...]
The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) on Saturday issued notices to Google and Wikipedia for “disseminating sacrilegious content” through their platforms. According to the authority, these websites are hosting misleading content about the present khalifa (spiritual head) of Islam. The searches on these platforms show the current leader of the Ahmadiyya community as the “present khalifa [...]
UN rights experts urge Nigeria to overturn gospel singer's death sentence
Several UN Special Rapporteurs and members of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention collectively pressed Nigeria Monday to halt the execution and overturn the death sentence for blasphemy for 22-year-old gospel singer Yahaya Sharif-Aminu. The experts, Karima Bennoune, Ahmed Shaheed, Leigh Toomey, Elina Steinerte, José Guevara Bermúdez, Seong-Phil Hong, Sètondji Adjovi, Agnes Callamard, Irene Khan [...]
“I tell you that I still consider myself to be an Indian. For the moment I have accepted the Governor-Generalship of Pakistan. But I am looking forward to a time when I would return to India and take my place as a citizen of my country.” – Muhammad Ali Jinnah (Dec 1947 Karachi) Indians have [...]
Pakistan court sentences Christian man to death for blasphemy
The Lahore Sessions Court in Pakistan on Tuesday sentenced Christian factory worker Asif Pervaiz to death for blasphemy. Pervaiz has been in custody since 2013 when he was first charged with blasphemy for messages he sent to his former supervisor, Muhammad Saeed Khokher. Judge Mansoor Ahmad Qureshi sentenced Pervaiz to serve three years in prison [...]
On 9th January 2015, in front of the Jeddah Mosque, a Saudi activist and blogger named Raif Badawi was publicly given the first fifty out of the thousand lashes he was sentenced with, for ‘insulting Islam through electronic channels.’ The disturbing incident instantaneously became viral on social media and the #JeSuisRaif movement gained momentum. Saudi [...]
Scotland proposes new hate crimes law to abolish blasphemy and expand protections
The parliament of Scotland introduced a bill on Friday to modernize hate crimes laws, including a section that would abolish the crime of blasphemy. The purpose of the proposed legislation is “to modernise, consolidate and extend existing hate crime law,” updating the list of protected characteristics, including for the first time adding age to the [...]
UN rights expert urges states to protect freedom of religion
A UN human rights expert presented a report to the Human Rights Council Tuesday highlighting an increase in the use of anti-blasphemy and anti-apostasy laws to crack down on dissent. Ahmed Shaheed, the UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, noted the increased threat to freedom of expression, writing, “Freedom of religion or [...]
