Tag: Sharia

Tunisian constitution finds no place for Sharia

January 20, 2014 Tunisia Apostasy, Arab Spring, Constitution, Ennahda, Islamic extremism, Sharia, Tunisia, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali

Al-Zaytuna Mosque, Tunis.Christopher Rose / Flickr / Creative Commons Three years after the so-called ‘Arab Spring’ started in Tunisia, the country’s National Constituent Assembly is close to passing a new constitution which rejects Islam as the “main source of law”, but states it is the State’s duty to “protect the . . . Read More

Bomb scare reignites Christian fear in northern Mali

January 16, 2014 Mali Gao, Islamic extremism, Sharia, Tuareg

Christians in a city in northern Mali, already forced to hold services in a school classroom because their church was looted and not ready to host meetings, had a bomb scare on Sunday (Jan. 12). Military personnel patrolling the area in Gao on Sunday morning discovered explosives near the school. . . . Read More

Pressure on Christians grew in 2013

January 8, 2014 Global News -- No Particular Country Afghanistan, African Union, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, BJP, Buddhist nationalism, Central African Republic, Colombia, Eritrea, FARC, Hindu nationalism, India, Iraq, Islamic extremism, Kyrgyzstan, Middle East, Nigeria, North Africa, North Korea, Pakistan, Peshawar, Religious freedom, Sadad, Sharia, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Sub-Saharan Africa, Sudan, Syria, Uganda, UN, Yemen

More than ever, some of the hardest places for Christians to live are fragile or failed states where militant Islamist movements flourish, according to an annual report on Christian religious freedom. Pressure on Christians intensified worldwide in 2013, according to Open Doors International, a charity that provides support to Christians . . . Read More

Media ‘wrong’ to ignore Christians’ plight in Central African Republic

January 3, 2014 Central African Republic Anti-balaka, Chad, Islamic extremism, Michel Djotodia, Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, Seleka, Sharia, Sudan

Unicef says that violence has ‘sunk to a vicious new low’ after reported beheadings of children.World Watch Monitor The vulnerability of Christians in the Central African Republic (CAR) is being overlooked, even as international media wrongly focus on the ‘interfaith’ element of the conflict, says Open Doors International. The charity . . . Read More

Sharia enforced in Libya

December 5, 2013 Libya Arab Spring, Egypt, Islamic extremism, Libya, Muammar Gaddafi, Sharia, Tunisia

Libya has voted to make sharia law the basis of all legislation. Two years after the NATO-backed uprising that ousted Muammar Gaddafi, Libya is still in messy transition with no new constitution and its temporary assembly caught in deadlock between an Islamist party and political rivals. As in Tunisia and . . . Read More

Sudan ‘tramples’ on its people’s rights

November 27, 2013 Sudan Human rights, Islamic extremism, Religious freedom, Sharia, Sudan

The chairman of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, Robert George, says Sudan is continuing to fail to adhere to international religious freedom standards. Through the imposition of sharia (Islamic law), George writes in the Washington Times that Sudan is a particularly difficult place for non-Muslims and for women. . . . Read More

Leaving home

October 7, 2013 Syria Assyrians, Free Syrian Army, Islamic extremism, Lebanon, Middle East, Raqqa, Sharia, Syria, Tabqa, Turkey

A couple of days after she fled Syria for Turkey, a colleague sent me a message. “Dear Nuri, this is a court that the extremists established in my city, Lattakia, in the [Syrian] village of Kansabba. This Islamic court issues the law according to the extremists’ religion. It started today. . . . Read More

Missing Italian priest ‘still alive’

October 2, 2013 Syria Boulos Yazigi, Europe, Islamic State, Kidnapping, Paolo Dall’Oglio, Sharia, Yohanna Ibrahim

An Italian Jesuit priest who went missing in Syria several months ago is still alive, according to an Assyrian priest speaking at the European Parliament on Tuesday (October 1). Archdeacon Emanuel Youkhana of the Assyrian Church in the East said the latest reports from inside Syria were that Father Paolo . . . Read More

Boko Haram killing spree claims 110 Nigerians

October 1, 2013 Nigeria Boko Haram, Borno, Catholics, Jos, Kaduna, Nigeria, Sharia, Yobe

The militant Islamist sect Boko Haram is suspected of killing at least 110 people of various faiths across Nigeria during the past week, prompting the country’s top Catholic bishop to declare the rebel movement “has no limits.” On Thursday, Sept. 26, gunmen killed Rev. Augustine Yohana, a Catholic priest, and . . . Read More

Islamist rebels bolt Syrian coalition

September 26, 2013 Syria Al-Nusra Front, Al-Qaeda, Bashar al-Assad, Free Syrian Army, Sharia, Syria

Eleven Islamist rebel groups in Syria have announced they no longer recognise the authority of the main opposition alliance, the National Coalition. Their announcement also calls for the Syrian opposition to unite under an ‘Islamic framework’. Its signatories include members of the Free Syrian Army as well as more radical . . . Read More

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