PARIS (AA) – France’s interior minister has defended his greetings to French Muslims commemorating the beginning of the holy month of Ramadan. Gerald Darmanin took to social media to post a message condemning “ordinary racism” for his tweet April 1 that wished all Muslims in France a “happy Ramadan.” “...
ROTTERDAM – An Islamophobic Dutch group is planning to hold deliberately provocative barbecues near mosques over the next several weeks, coinciding with the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, in which most believers fast from pre-morning to sunset. According to PEGIDA, standing for “Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of West,” the barbecu...
Right-wing Israeli Knesset member Itamar Ben-Gvir Thursday stormed the courtyards of Al-Aqsa Mosque in East Jerusalem under tight police protection. A Palestinian agency said Ben-Gvir breached the site after Israeli police agreed to allow him to tour the complex ahead of the start of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. The Islamic Endowments D...
Indian media professionals have appealed to institutions to uphold their constitutional mandate amid open calls for attacks on religious minorities, especially Muslims. In an open letter, they wrote “The concerted amplification of hatred has been growing over the past years and months.” Some groups have advocated violence during elections, pol...
Authorities in Bahrain’s capital Manama shut down an Indian restaurant after it denied entry to a woman wearing the hijab. Video footage of restaurant staff barring a veiled woman from the restaurant in the Muslim-majority country went viral on social media causing outrage. On Friday, the friend of the woman in question explained what happened...
A member of the Karnataka legislative council in India called the banning of Muslims from conducting business on temple grounds “illogical.” Senior leader of India’s ruling BJP party H. Vishwanath said the government should break its silence and take action against temple authorities. He said the state of Karnataka is moving in the wrong direc...
A rise in anti-Islam rhetoric in the French presidential election campaign risks creating a “spiral of hatred,” the rector of a Paris mosque said. Chems-eddine Hafiz, the rector of Paris’s historic Grande Mosquée, said law-abiding Muslims are being scapegoated just like Jews were vilified in the 1930s. He also said French society is weakened ...
Amnesty International is describing India’s repeated denial of bail to jailed Muslim activist Umar Khalid as a “big blow” to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly. Thirty-four year old Khalid, along with more than a dozen other Muslims, is accused of being part of a “larger conspiracy” that led to religious riots in New Delhi […]...
WASHINGTON (AA) – The US has sanctioned five individuals and five entities in Myanmar over “genocide” of its Rohingya population. Those designated include Myanmar’s 66th Light Infantry Division, including its leaders Brigadier-General Ko Ko Oo, and and Major-General Zaw Hein. Three individuals identified as arms dealers...
HOUSTON, Texas (AA) – The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has filed a federal lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security on behalf of three Muslim American citizens who said they were unconstitutionally questioned about their religion at the border. “How often do you pray?” was one of the questions listed by the plaintiffs...
