Event: The Congressional Human Rights Caucus Task Force on Religious Freedom celebrates the 10th Anniversary of the International Religious Freedom Act tomorrow, Thursday, 17 July, the conference will be 9-5 at the Members Room, Library of Congress, Jefferson Building. For more information about this briefing or to RSVP, please contact Tina Ramirez (Representative Trent Franks) at: (202) 225-4576. Participants include Angela Wu, Bob Seiple, Tom Farr and Zuhdi Jasser.
Feature: CSW has published a 116-page report on the experiences of converts away from Islam.
No Place to Call Home reviews relevant international law, Islamic theology, modern apostasy laws, state responses to apostasy, social reactions to apostasy, and the stories of apostates. The report can be downloaded
here.
BEIJING – China has executed two Uighurs and sentenced fifteen others to jail for suspected religiously motivated terrorist activities,
Reuters reported on July 12. Mr. Kadeer, representing the Uighur American Association (UAA), says that Uighurs in China, “live in a state of constant fear that they will become victims of state violence." On July 9, China had killed five Uighurs in a house raid they claimed were conducting a “holy war” against the Han people.
PARIS – The French Council has denied citizenship to Faiza M., a Moroccan woman, for the second time, due to her failure to assimilate to French Culture, the
Jurist reported on July 14. This is the first case in France where an individual’s religiosity has affected their application for citizenship. Faiza M. is married to a French national, however, court reports claim that she is kept in complete seclusion by her male relatives from French society and abides by Islamic practices incompatible with French values.
ISTANBUL – A Rapporteur to Turkey’s top court filed a recommendation on Wednesday that the governing AKP be closed down on charges of attempting to introduce Islamic rule of law,
Reuters reported on July 16. The AKP rejects the charges. The court is expected to reach a verdict in early August. Political analysts believe that since the AKP overturned a constitutional amendment to allow students to wear the Islamic headscarf at university, it is much more likely that the courts will close the party.
SHANGHAI – Two Catholic Priests, Rev. Zhang Jianlin and Rev. Zhang Li, are missing after police arrested them on their way to make a pilgrimage to a shrine in Sheshan, the
New York Times reported on July 15. The Cardinal Kung Foundation, a rights group based in Connecticut, reports that the priests are part of an underground church in China and that after their arrest in Hebei Province, local authorities claimed to know nothing of their whereabouts.