This past November, an Egyptian atheist blogger was arrested by authorities and was allegedly charged with insulting Islam.
Hesham Fouad Ahmed or Hesham El Masry joined a debate hosted by Bassem Sam against an Imam, Ahmed Karima. The discussion was broadcasted live on Youtube on October 30, 2022.
Iran's Islamic regime is now carrying out a series of protest-related executions after the first victim, Mohsen Shekari, was executed on December 8.
Shekari was hanged after Iran's Revolutionary court found him guilty of "moharebeh" (enmity against god). He was hanged after a staged court trial, less than three months after being accused of being a rioter.
Iranian parliament pushed judges to sentence protesters to the death penalty. According to the lawmakers, the judiciary should issue death sentences to individuals arrested during the riots.
227 members of the 290-seat Parliament of Iran have called on the Judiciary to issue death sentences for people arrested during the ongoing anti-government protests.https://t.co/iFQsRNZDUjpic.twitter.com/xau922a6ay
A very joyous day for many Cuban citizens as the country makes official changes to its "family code" laws. In a very progressive move by the Cuban government, gay marriage is now accepted by the law.
Religious organizations in the US defended a loophole allowing clergy not to report child abuse cases. In 2020, the Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake City heavily opposed House Bill 90 (HB90) in Utah.
The Catholic church argued that the “bill would violate the confidentiality of the confessional seal.” In February, the Catholic church gathered 9,000 signed letters from its parishioners and sent them to Rep. Angela Romero, the bill’s author.
In an ongoing battle between religious rights and anti-discrimination laws, a New York City Jewish University has announced it will “pause” all student groups following a US Supreme Court decision allowing an LGBTQ group on campus.
Bigotry personified: Yeshiva University abruptly announced that it had placed all undergraduate club activities on hold — the latest maneuver to keep from recognizing an LGBTQ student group. https://t.co/yGaEDrjDiQ
Protesters in Cologne, Germany, were met with aggressive heckling by a group of young Muslims. A video posted by Maryam Namazie, a London-based Iranian writer and activist, showed the counter-protesters shouting “Allahu Akbar.”
Two LGBTQ rights activists were sentenced to death in Iran for allegedly promoting homosexuality. Activists Zahra Sedighi-Hamadani and Elham Chobdar were charged with “Corruption on Earth,” a vague yet lethal charge.
The Urmia Revolutionary Court handed the ruling in Urmia City, western Iran, close to its borders with Turkey.
On August 31, the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights released its “Assessment of Human Rights Concerns in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, People’s Republic of China.”
In 2017, the UN started receiving allegations of abuse from non-governmental organizations, think tanks, and media outlets, prompting the investigation. Since then, numerous research reports have been published alleging arbitrary detention, torture, sexual violence and forced sterilizations, forced labor, and other ill-treatment of up to a million people.
Continuing the crackdown on women, Iran’s Headquarters for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice has released a 119-page document outlining new rules women must now observe.
IranWire called the new order, titled Hijab and Chastity Project, unhinged, calling out its most important goal: "cleansing society of the pollution caused by nonconformance with Islamic dress codes."
