Reporter who broke news of Chechnya’s gay purge in hiding: 'They declared a Jihad on all journalists at Novaya Gazeta.'

Reporter who broke news of Chechnya’s gay purge in hiding: 'They declared a Jihad on all journalists at Novaya Gazeta.' (PinkNews).

The Russian journalist who broke the news of Chechnya’s homophobic purge has been forced into hiding after the region’s largest mosque declared jihad.

Speaking to the BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire, Novaya Gazeta journalist Elena Milashina, who authored the reports, revealed that she has been forced into hiding in the wake of the story.

Ms Milashina, who is usually based in Moscow, is currently in an undisclosed location.

She said: “They reacted [to the story] in a terrifying manner… on April 3, in the biggest mosque in Grozny, 15,000 people came together and declared a Jihad on us… not just me personally, but all journalists at Novaya Gazeta.

“They said the people at the newspaper who raised this question have damaged the honour of Chechen nation and should be prosecuted.”

She explained: “We know about four secret prisons. Two of them in the capital of Chechnya, Grozny, one of them in Argun – this is the first secret prison we discovered where LGBT people were detained, beaten, tortured and killed.

“We got this information [a few] weeks ago and began to prove it. It’s pretty hard in Checnya, especially to rescue LGBT people, because they’re a very closed network. The region is very hard on those people and they have to hide.

“The Chechen government denied [the allegations], although they don’t deny that if they found this kind of people in Chechnya they would be killed.

“They don’t deny this, but they deny the secret camps and they have denied that they detained more than 100 people and killed some of them.”Read the full story here.

Related:

"Radio Liberty" reports about secret gay prison in Chechen village of Tsotsi-Yurt https://t.co/SLHerZctUE pic.twitter.com/y71WkGcERK

— Caucasian Knot (@CaucasianKnotEn) April 11, 2017

Fifteen LGBTs ask evacuation from Chechnya https://t.co/DxhmU8cGxm pic.twitter.com/TMXbsSzqY4

— Caucasian Knot (@CaucasianKnotEn) April 7, 2017

Maryland Mosque Honors Assassin of Pakistani Governor Who Spoke Against Blasphemy Laws.

Maryland Mosque Honors Assassin of Pakistani Governor Who Spoke Against Blasphemy Laws. (PN)

ICC Note: Over the weekend, a mosque in Pikesville, Maryland hosted an event in honor of a Muslim man, Mumtaz Qadri, who faced the death penalty last week for assassinating a Pakistani governor. After the governor openly spoke out against the country's blasphemy laws and their misuse in the case of Christian prisoner Asia Bibi, Qadri shot the governor more than 25 times. Although the assassination was directed more toward the governor himself than the Christian community, Pakistan’s blasphemy laws are widely misused to discriminate against Christians and other religious minorities.

02/21/2017 United States (Christian News Network) - By Heather Clark

A Maryland mosque held an event on Sunday to honor a Muslim terrorist who shot and killed the former Pakistani governor of Punjab in 2011 over his statements in opposition to the nation’s laws prohibiting blasphemy against Islam.

Gulzar E Madina Mosque in Pikesville hosted an “Urs” observance on Feb. 12, which is an event marking the anniversary of the death of a Muslim entity considered a saint. Mumtaz Qadri was executed last February for murdering the governor.

“Whoever disrespects the holy prophet Muhammad is worthy of death, and even if disrespects indirectly he is still worthy of death. Even if someone asks for forgiveness it is not acceptable,” one of the speakers at the Urs declared, according to the Rabwah Times.

Qadri had served as a bodyguard for Gov. Salman Taseer, but after Tasser expressed objection to Pakistan’s blasphemy laws and how they had been applied to prisoner Asia Bibi, who had been sentenced to death in 2010 over allegations that she blasphemed Muhammad, he sought to kill him.
In January 2011, Qadri shot Taseer over 25 times with an assault rifle while he was entering his vehicle in Islamabad’s Kohsar Market. Qadri then surrendered to police.

“The governor fell down, and the man who fired at him threw down his gun and raised both hands,” witness Ali Imran recalled to Reuters.

Qadri was soon sentenced to death, and after five years in prison, he was hanged for his crime. His funeral was attended by over 100,000 people, and some protested his execution as he was rather hailed as a hero. Full story here.

WESTERN HUMAN RIGHTS ON FREEDOM OF SPEECH VERSUS  ISLAMIC HUMAN RIGHTS 

Video - The Glazov Gang-Canada’s Surrender to Islamic Blasphemy Laws?

Islamic Human rights are NOT Equal to Western Human rights, their 'Human rights' are subjected to Sharia law, Criticism of Islam is NOT allowed.

Articles 24 and 25 of the Cairo Declaration explicitly state that:

"All the rights and freedoms stipulated in this Declaration are subject to the Islamic Shari’ah", and:

"The Islamic Shari’ah is the only source of reference for the explanation or clarification to any of the articles of this Declaration."

Pakistan: 'No review of blasphemy law': Pakistan’s Minister for Religious Affairs.

Pakistan: 'No review of blasphemy law': Pakistan’s Minister for Religious Affairs.(Mnnonline).

Earlier this week, various reports surfaced saying that a Senate committee in Pakistan wanted to examine the blasphemy law and perhaps add checks and balances so the law is less abused.

However, since word got out about re-examining the blasphemy law, Pakistan’s Minister for Religious Affairs, Sardar Muhammad Yousuf, released a statement refuting the rumor.

Brother Ray with Voice of the Martyrs, Canada explains, “He said they have turned down all the news regarding the change in the blasphemy law. Various news agencies had been circulating on social media and news reports that were released that the government is likely to change the existing blasphemy law. [Yousef] said, ‘We have no plan to diversify or modify the blasphemy law.’

He said, ‘The present democratic government is fully determined and affirms to implement the existing law in true spirit. It has no concoction to make any change in the blasphemy law.’”

The blasphemy law has led to the imprisonment of many Pakistani Christians and religious minorities. Anyone who is accused of insulting Islam faces a potential death sentence.

“Over the years, we’ve worked with several blasphemy cases in the country and, without a doubt, Christians have really been abused by this law. We have seen many fine believers who have been thrown in jail. Asia Bibi, probably one of the most highlighted cases, in the last seven years she’s been in prison,” says Brother Ray.

“Also, there are countless others we have worked with over the years that, because Muslims are jealous because they’re being blessed in their businesses or things like this, they would take a page of the Koran or verses of the Koran, they would burn it and throw it in front of their shop, and then accuse these people of blasphemy. Then while these business owners were going through months and months (if not years) of court cases, the Muslims would take over their businesses and shut them down, take their properties, all kinds of devious things they have done because of the situation with the blasphemy law.”


Although there have been several abuses of the blasphemy law, Brother Ray says there are Pakistani Muslims who recognize the abuses and oppose it. Read the full story here.

You can also click here to check out persecution and prayer alerts with Voice of the Martyrs, Canada to stay up to date on the persecuted Church around the world.

Video - Final Statement Geert Wilders at his Trial, 23 Nov. 2016

Pakistan - 150 Sunni Muslim Clerics issue death Fatwa for Christian Asia Bibi.

Pakistan - 150 Sunni Muslim Clerics issue death Fatwa for Christian Asia Bibi. (PCP).

As hearing date of appeal of Asia Bibi against death sentence on blasphemy charges in Supreme Court of Pakistan Lahore Bench is approaching the radical Muslim groups have also lined up for showdown to put pressure on Judges of SCP to uphold death sentence for her issued by District and Session Judge Sheikhupura, a lower court carrying jurisdiction of police station in which FIR was lodged under section 295 C PPP.

Today about 150 top Muslim Clerics (Muftis) issued a religious decree and demanded from Government to hang Asia bibi and all other prisoners of blasphemy laws and also demanded speedy trial of pending cases of blasphemy in Pakistani courts.

The religious decree warned government of Pakistan that if Asia Bibi was sent abroad with any conspiracy then administration will face consequences.
The Markaz Ahl-e-Sunnat Lahore which have issued signed Fatwa of 150 of Muslim Mullahas have warned Supreme Court of Pakistan to hearing appeal of Asia Bibi because Islamic teaching have judgment of hanging or beheading of blasphemers and Asia Bibi deserves death.

They also issued  a Death Fatwa of killing all of those who rescued blasphemy accused and assisted or trying to rescue blasphemers.

This week, the Shuhuada Foundation, a group connected to Islamabad’s infamous Red Mosque where Islamists fought battles with security forces in 2007, warned that its supporters would take to the streets and become “a centre for the anti-government movement” if Bibi was released.

Breaking : Asia Bibi blasphemy appeal adjourned in Pakistan as judge pulls out

EGYPT - The four Coptic students sentenced for allegedly insulting Islam flee to Switzerland

EGYPT - The four Coptic students sentenced for allegedly insulting Islam flee to Switzerland. (Fides).

The four Coptic students sentenced to five years in prison in February for allegedly insulting Islam in a video flee to Switzerland, where they will seek asylum.

The Egyptian Ministry of Justice had promised to reconsider the court case (see Fides 08/03/2016), but then there had been no positive developments.

The boys left Egypt in April, moving to Turkey, where they lived in hiding for five months. In early September - according to what was reported by one of them to Morning Star News - the boys, with the help of organizations engaged in the defense of human rights, obtained a special humanitarian visa and reached Switzerland.

"We are grateful to the Swiss authorities and our partners who helped us to reach Switzerland", said Daniel Hoffman, executive director of Middle East Concern, one of the agencies involved in the expatriation of the four boys.

As reported by Hoffman, Switzerland was "the first and only country" to respond positively to the request - also presented to other nations - to accommodate the boys and prevent them from having to end up in Egyptian prisons.

The contents of Fides are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Video - JIHAD. 'The Koran is our constitution' Bafta-nominated film.

Should the UN play a leading role in regulating Freedom of expression in the media?

Should the UN play a leading role in regulating Freedom of expression  in the media? (Aawsat). By AmirTaheri

Geneva – “Should the United Nations play a leading role in countering hate speech and expressions of “violent extremism” in the media?”

This was the question debated by a special panel at the Palace of the Nations, the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva on Monday under the auspices of UNESCO’s liaison office.

Some fireworks were introduced into the debate by the panelist Amir Taheri who was the last to speak.

Recalling the 1970s and 1980s when “some powers” tried to use UNESCO as a vehicle for imposing control on the media across the globe, Taheri said he was “always deeply suspicious” of international organizations trying to legislate a one-size-fits-all scheme to regulate freedom of expression.

“In the bad old days, the move in that direction was called The New World Information and Communication Order (NWICO), a brainchild of the Soviet bloc in the context of the Cold War,” Taheri said.

“The architects of that scheme proposed to issue UNESCO media permits for journalists across the globe and impose rules binding on all member states. In other words they wanted to fence us in by pretending they were protecting us."

“Today, anyone trying to revive that monster would be laughed out of the room,” Taheri said. “Nevertheless, we have to remain vigilant against any attempt at media control via the UN or UNESCO.

A majority of the members of the UN are states that cannot be regarded as lobbyists of press freedom, to say the least. To ask them to regulate the media with the pretext of controlling hate speech is to give them a license to intensify their system of censorship.”

Taheri claimed that the UN has not succeeded to define “peace” or “terrorism” after decades of debate and would not be able to define the word “hate” either and thus cannot pretend to regulate the media in the name of “combating hate speech.”


“Any talk of regulating freedom of speech puts us on a slippery slope that could lead to censorship curtailing freedom of expression which is a basic human right,” Taheri said. “My message to you on behalf of journalists everywhere is simple: don’t fence us in!”  Read the full story here.

German court rejects appeal by Erdogan over insults.

German court rejects appeal by Erdogan over insults. (PressTv).

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has lost an appeal in a German court, where he had demanded an injunction against a major German publisher over support its chief expressed for an insulting poem.

The appeals court in Cologne said Tuesday that it had upheld the ruling in May from the lower court, which rejected a preliminary injunction against Mathias Doepfner, the chief executive of newspaper publisher Axel Springer.

Erdogan sued Doepfner after the latter expressed his support for Jan Boehmermann, a German comedian who is being prosecuted for reading a poem against Erdogan on a German TV show in March.

The appeals court said Doepfner’s comments constituted acceptable expressions of opinion and were protected under Germany’s freedom of speech laws.

It said the verdict will be final and no further appeal could be made. Erdogan can, however, file a constitutional complaint although such complaints are seldom upheld.

Lawyers of Erdogan in Germany said they have yet to decide on the issue. They said a separate lawsuit could be filed against Doepfner.

Parts of the poem by Boehmermann was deemed insulting to Erdogan and a German court in May banned republication of 18 of 24 sections, saying they amounted to abuse and libel.

Doepfner wrote an open letter in German newspaper Welt am Sonntag in April, saying he “wholeheartedly” supported what Boehmermann had said.

Officials in the Axel Springer, Europe's largest newspaper publisher, said Doepfner “wanted to defend the freedom of art and satire in his open letter.”

Under pressure from Erdogan, German Chancellor Angela Merkel allowed prosecutors to pursue a case against Boehmermann, triggering a backlash in the German media. Many criticized Merkel, saying she bowed to Erdogan’s pressure.

Turkish 'Islamist' police disperse pro-secularism rally protesting suggested religious constitution.

Turkish 'Islamist' police disperse pro-secularism rally protesting suggested religious constitution. (RT).

Turkish police used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse a rally of people, who protested a call for the country to adopt a religious constitution.

The small crowd of some 100 people came to the parliament building in Ankara on Tuesday after its speaker Ismail Kahraman said the new Turkish constitution, which is currently being developed, should not have any references to secularism.

The group chanted the slogan "Turkey will remain secular" in support of one of the founding principles of modern Turkey.


The police broke up the gathering and prevented the protesters from speaking to the press, AFP reported. Some people were arrested.

A similar protest in the coastal city of Izmir, one of Turkey's most secular cities, ended with police intervention too.

The controversial suggestion was publicly rejected by some senior officials of the ruling AKP party. President Tayyip Erdogan defended secularism by saying that the Turkish state should “have an equal distance from all religious faiths” while the head of the constitutional committee said no plans were made to drop secularism out of the draft.

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu reassured the Turkish people on Wednesday that the constitution would remain secular. Hmmm........Sure just testing the waters ? Read the full story here.

Turkish consulate in the Netherlands urges Dutch Turks to report insults to Erdogan.

Turkish consulate in The Netherlands urges Dutch Turks to report insults to Erdogan. (DutchNews).

The Turkish consulate in Rotterdam has urged Turkish nationals to report examples of president Recep Tayyip Erdogan being insulted and denigrating comments made about Turks in general, Dutch media said on Thursday afternoon.

Various Turkish organisations in the Netherlands have been emailed by the consulate, urging them to make a note of the insults.

The call comes a day after the Dutch government said it would scrap legislation which makes insulting a friendly head of state a criminal offence.

The consulate is looking for social media posts which incite hatred or contain insulting comments as well as email and traditional letters, Dutch Turkish news site Zaman Vandaag says.

The consulate was not available for comment but a spokesman for the Turkish embassy in The Hague told RTL news that a hate campaign had been launched against Turkey since it emerged that a German comedian faces prosecution for insulting Erdogan. ‘We want to monitor the situation,’ the embassy said.

In some emails received by the embassy, Erdogan has been compared to Hitler, RTL says. In others, Turks are urged to leave the Netherlands as soon as possible. 

Parliament MPs have raised questions about what they are calling unwanted interference in Dutch affairs. Socialist MP Sadet Karabulut said the call was a sign of Erdogan’s ‘long arm of influence’ in the Netherlands.

Joram van Klaveren, from the right-wing VNL, said the consul should be called to The Hague to explain. ‘Turkey needs to be reminded of the right to freedom of speech, considering some 2,000 Turks are being prosecuted for insulting the president,’ he said.

In Germany, Turkey has been given the green light to take legal action against Jan Böhmermann, a comedian who read out an offensive poem about Erdogan on television.

Some 400,000 people of Turkish origin live in the Netherlands and the Dutch branch of the Turkish opposition party CHP says it calls taken from a number of people concerned.

“they are afraid because they said something important in the past, for example in Facebook or Twitter,” a spokesman told Dutch Turkish Zaman Vandaag website .

Prime Minister Mark Rutte said he was surprised. "It's not obvious what the Turkish government is trying to achieve with this action," he said.

Integration Minister Lodewijk Asscher accused the Turkish embassy of interfering in freedom of speech in the Netherlands.

Initially the Turkish embassy declined to comment, saying merely that it had seen an increase in hate messages.

But after the story had prompted an outcry in the Netherlands, the embassy said there had been a misunderstanding.

It said a consulate employee had used an unfortunate choice of words in its message sent to Turkish groups in the Netherlands, Dutch broadcaster NOS reported. Apparently the consulate had only asked to hear about racist statements and hate campaigns.

The Turkish consulate's offending email:

"To the relevant person,
We ask urgently for the names and written comments of people who have given derogatory, disparaging, hateful and defamatory statements against the Turkish president, Turkey and Turkish society in general, which have reached the members and relatives of your non-governmental organisations or fellow citizens from your surroundings via their social media addresses (such as Twitter or Facebook) or via the official address and e-mail addresses of your non-governmental organisation, to be sent in before the close of business on 21 April 2016 by email to the consulate general in Rotterdam
Yours sincerely..."

#Turkey lawmaker Mahmut Tanal submits a motion in Parliament asking whether gov't ordered embassies for a sweep on #Erdogan insults

— Abdullah Bozkurt (@abdbozkurt) April 22, 2016

Press freedom rank 2016, 'Islamist' Turkey drops to 151 Th place among 180 countries.

Press freedom rank 2016, 'Islamist' Turkey drops to 151 Th place among 180 countries. (Rsf).

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has embarked on an offensive against Turkey’s media. Journalists are harassed, many have been accused of “insulting the president” and the Internet is systematically censored. The regional context – the war in Syria and Turkey’s offensive against the PKK Kurds – is exacerbating the pressure on the media, which are also accused of “terrorism.” The media and civil society are nonetheless resisting Erdogan’s growing authoritarianism.

Well, at #PACE session, Mr. #Davutoglu of #Turkey pictured a country that we're simply not aware of its existence pic.twitter.com/iCl4zXdDq9

— Abdullah Bozkurt (@abdbozkurt) April 20, 2016

Video - German-Egyptian Scholar Hamed Abdel-Samad Analyzes the Psychology of the Prophet Muhammad.

In one of a series of online lectures, German-Egyptian scholar Hamed Abdel-Samad analyzes the personality of the Prophet Muhammad, whose biography, he says, is "held captive in a prison of unwarranted over-sanctification and glorification." Abdel-Samad, who suggests that "there can be no reform or cleansing of the [Islamic] heritage until we rid Muhammad and the Quran of this sanctity," describes the Prophet Muhammad as a human being who was driven by human motivations and urges. "Did he have marital problems? Psychological problems? Some illness? We don't know," says Abdel-Samad, suggesting that Muhammad's revelations reflect "the psychology of a sick and rejected man, an outcast." The lecture was posted on the Internet on June 24, 2015.

Putin Doubts Turkey Can Ensure Russian Tourists’ Safety, result Sputnik news blocked in Turkey.

Putin Doubts Turkey Can Ensure Russian Tourists’ Safety, result Sputnik news blocked in Turkey? (Novinite).

"I’m sure that the Turkish leaders will aim to ensure safety of tourists, including those from Russia, because this is a significant source of income for the Turkish budget,” Putin said in his annual televised phone-in on Thursday.

“They will try but the question remains whether they can do it," Putin said during his Q&A live broadcast.

He also warned Russians that there is effectively a civil war going on in southern Turkey

"Practically, a civil war is taking place in the south, we try to not notice it, the international community also somehow does not notice it, but it is a fact, and with use of heavy weapons, tanks, artillery. With terrorist attacks happening almost every week in Turkey, where is the guarantee that nothing will happen to our tourists?", Putin asked.

The Russian president also said that the Turkish leadership was cooperating with extremists in the country more than fighting them.

“In our point of view, the current Turkish leadership does not fight radicals as much as it cooperates with them," Putin said.

Video - Germany: Merkel allows trial to go ahead over satirical Erdogan poem

A recent poll of more than 61,000 German readers of Focus Online magazine showed 82 percent of those polled viewed the poem as defensible and some 78 percent thought the German government should defend Böhmermann. More on the legal case can be read here.

#Merkel and #EU representatives to go to #Turkey next week https://t.co/ixVx7Io2uO pic.twitter.com/8uhYlmUoSn

— MFS - The Other News (@MFS001) April 15, 2016

Sputnik news website blocked in Turkey soon after Putin Direct Q&A.

Sputnik news website blocked in Turkey soon after Putin Direct Q&A. (SP).

Russian state news agency website Sputnik has been shut down by Turkey without prior notification under “administrative measures” imposed by the country’s authorities. Turkey was recently slammed in the European Parliament for violating press freedoms.

“After technical analysis and legal consideration based on the law Nr. 5651, administration measure has been taken for this website (sputniknews.com) according to decision Nr. 490.05.01.2016.-56092 dated 14/04/2016 of the Presidency of Telecommunication and Communication,” says an error message that appears on the sputniknews.com homepage for any user trying to access the site from Turkey.

The problems with sputniknews.com were first reported at about 7:50pm local time.

Turkey’s Department of Telecommunications and Communication (TIB) has confirmed the Sputnik website has been blocked in the country.
“This morning the blocking of the site was confirmed. According to a representative from Turkey’s Telecommunications Department, they are not obliged to warn anyone when closing a site,” Sputnik’s Turkish bureau chief Tural Kerimov said.

Once the Turkish prime minister and other members of the cabinet were empowered in January 2015 to block any web resource without a court order, the Telecommunications Department could be asked to block or delete contents from a we site in a matter of four hours after receiving a notice of “national security, protection of social order, or for the prevention of crime.”

The final decision on blocking the Russian web resource, barred in accordance with Law 5651, will be made by a Turkish court, a TIB representative told RIA Novosti.

Law 5651 has been criticized repeatedly in Turkey as limiting citizens’ access to information. In March 2014, the same law was used to temporarily block Twitter and YouTube in Turkey.

The Turkish authorities’ decision to block Sputnik is “yet another act of rude censorship in the country where freedom of speech is no longer on the agenda. It simply exists no more,” RT Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan said, adding that the decision to block the website looks “absurd” coming just several days after it received an award from Turkey’s Journalist Union.

The move comes on the heels of an EU resolution on Thursday, which denounced what they called a “serious backsliding on fundamental freedoms,” including the growth of clashes in the southeast of Turkey and government’s “violent and illegal take-over of several newspapers including Zaman.”

Given a hypothetical scenario in which both President Erdogan and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko were drowning, Putin was asked yesterday during Q&A to whom he would offer a hand. The Russian president responded that it's impossible to save someone who doesn't want saving, but that Russia is ready to assist any partner willing to accept help. Read the full story here.

Pakistan - 'Religious' Cyber crime bill sails through National Assembly.

Pakistan - 'Religious' Cyber crime bill sails through National Assembly. (ET).

The National Assembly adopted on Wednesday a cybercrime bill that proposes rigorous penalties for creating fear or panic and stoking sectarian discord in the country, while exempting children less than 14-year of age from the offence.

Hardly a dozen or more lawmakers were present in the house when the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Bill, 2016 was tabled. It was cleared but not before an hour-long debate between opposition lawmakers and State Minister for IT Anusha Rehman. Now, the controversial bill will be laid in the Senate where the opposition is in majority.

But the IT minister said the bill was drafted after months of brainstorming and that it safeguarded civil liberties guaranteed in the 1973 Constitution. “We do not have any mechanism to stop the misuse of cyberspace,” she said, adding that the legislation was part of the National Action Plan against terrorism.

The bill says whoever coerces, intimidates, or creates a sense of fear, panic or insecurity in the government or public or a section of a community or sect, including advances religious, ethnic or sectarian discord shall be punished with 14-year jail-term, or up to Rs50 million fine, or both.

Similarly, glorification of an offence and hate speech, including its dissemination through information system, shall be punished with a five-year imprisonment or up to Rs10 million fine, or both. Glorification includes depiction of any form of praise or celebration in a desirable manner.

Similarly, glorification of an offence and hate speech, including its dissemination through information system, shall be punished with a five-year imprisonment or up to Rs10 million fine, or both. Glorification includes depiction of any form of praise or celebration in a desirable manner.

The proposed law also allows the federal government to establish an investigation agency for such offences and with powers to investigate them. The agency shall have the power to issue warrant for search and seizure of offensive or controversial content.

Related: Cyber crime legislation: Independent agency proposed in final draft

Pod cast: Political correctness may destroy Western civilization.

Political correctness may destroy Western civilization. (INN).

Islam is subtly invadeding the unsuspecting West with the intention to conquer its civilization and replace it by Islam and sharia law.

Jay Shapiro claims that the West refuses to recognize that it is in a war of survival against Islam.

Bangladesh Supreme Court to discuss abandoning Islam as State religion.

Bangladesh Supreme Court to discuss abandoning Islam as State religion. (AsiaNews).

Bangladesh’s Supreme Court has begun hearings to decide whether to eliminate Islam as the State religion. The initiative stems from a petition submitted by writers, educators and activists, with the goal of reducing violence by Islamic radicals against religious minorities.

The Christian community has welcomed the overall proposal. The Muslim community is instead divided between those who believe it legitimate in a country where Muslims account for 90% of the population, and who believes that the state should "represent all citizens equally".

In 1988 with the eighth amendment, the military authorities in Bangladesh inscribed Islam as the official religion in the Constitution. In the first basic charter of 1971, drafted upon independence from Pakistan, the confessional element was absent.

According to the petitioners in recent months, the Islamic religion has been used to "justify" a series of violent acts and discrimination against Christians, Hindus and Shiites.

Minorities are the target of ruthless fundamentalists attacking Christians private property, churches and Hindu priests, as well as bloggers, writers and activists guilty of being "atheists".

The minorities feel like "third class citizens, abandoned by the authorities." This is why they decided to challenge the legality of the eighth amendment.

Speaking to AsiaNews, Rosaline Costa, Catholic activist and coordinator of Hotline Human Rights Bangladesh, says: "In a State one religion should not prevail. I believe there should be equal rights for all faiths. If the High Court is considering whether to eliminate Islam in the Constitution, this means that we can all ask the Government for the same rights".

"Our people - she adds - can no longer be attacked by Islamic radicals and justice will be done more easily, because in that case we will be regarded as victims of crimes".

The Muslim world is divided on the issue. Mahammad Hasan, a university student, says: "I would not welcome the elimination of Islam as the state religion. 90% of the population is Muslim, and so it is right that Islam is the religion of our state".

Yousuf Rahman is of a different opinion. He tells AsiaNews: "I believe that there should not be no state religion, because people with different faiths live in the country. It is a country for all its citizens. I would be pleased if the Supreme Court delivers a verdict against Islam as the official religion".


Rosaline Costa concludes: "No progressive nation has an official religion. If a state belongs to one confession, this creates barriers to harmony between its communities".