Human Rights Watch
Belarus cracks down on clergy who supported protests of its authoritarian leader
By Yuras Karmanau — February 23, 2024
TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — In the last three years, at least 74 clergy have been arrested, fined or deported, according to the Viasna human rights center, even before the new law took effect.
Two Malaysian filmmakers are charged with offending the religious feelings of others in banned film
By Associated Press — January 18, 2024
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — The film, which debuted at a regional film festival in 2021, revolves around a young Muslim girl who explores other religions to figure out where her ailing mother would go when she dies.
China is expanding its crackdown on mosques to regions outside Xinjiang, Human Rights Watch says
By Simina Mistreanu — November 22, 2023
(AP) — President Xi Jinping in 2016 called for the “Sinicization” of religions, initiating a crackdown that has largely concentrated on the western region of Xinjiang, home to more than 11 million Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities.
As oil activities encroach on sacred natural sites, a small Ugandan community feels besieged
By Rodney Muhumuza — August 23, 2023
BULIISA, Uganda (AP) — As TotalEnergies invests billions into oilfield development and acquires more and more land, Wakitinti and other Bagungu people who practice traditional beliefs worry the spiritual power of at least 32 sacred natural sites in Buliisa keeps deteriorating.
Thai police say Chinese church members to be deported soon
By Jintamas Saksornchai — April 5, 2023
BANGKOK (AP) — More than 60 self-exiled members of a Chinese Christian church who were detained in Thailand after receiving U.N. refugee status will be deported by next week, probably to a third country, officials said Wednesday.
American Jewish groups denounce Presbyterian Church for calling Israel ‘apartheid’
By Yonat Shimron — July 11, 2022
(RNS) — The vote was just the latest in a long line of deteriorating relations between mainline Protestant denominations and the US Jewish establishment.
Palestinian families are reunited as ‘discriminatory’ residency rule is set aside
By Daoud Kuttab — February 1, 2022
(RNS) — The court decreed that rules based on a long-lapsed law barring Israeli citizens and their spouses from the Palestinian territories from living together constitute unlawful discrimination.
Russia jails more Jehovah’s Witnesses, prompting calls for ‘strong measures’
By Adelle M. Banks — January 20, 2022
(RNS) — More than 80 Jehovah’s Witnesses are imprisoned in Russia, including some awaiting trial and some detained after being convicted.
Dubai’s Expo opens, bringing first world’s fair to Mideast
By Isabel Debre and Aya Batrawy — October 1, 2021
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — After eight years of planning and billions of dollars in spending, the Middle East’s first world’s fair opened Friday in Dubai, with hopes that the months-long extravaganza will draw both visitors and global attention to this desert-turned-dreamscape. The coronavirus pandemic pushed Expo 2020 back a year and may affect […]
China challenges UN event focused on its Uyghur population
By Joseph Hammond — May 13, 2021
(RNS) — China attempted to arrange a boycott of the United Nations event before ultimately deciding to make a last-minute appearance denying the various charges against its treatment of the country’s Uyghur minority.
First Jehovah’s Witness woman sentenced in Russia after faith declared ‘extremist’
By Adelle M. Banks — February 24, 2021
(RNS) — The faith group’s spokesman called the ruling ‘a mockery of the rule of law — both international human rights law as well as Russia’s constitution.’
Fifth Jehovah’s Witness receives six-year sentence in Russia for practicing his faith
By Adelle M. Banks — December 17, 2020
(RNS) — Yuriy Savelyev was ‘charged with organizing the activity of Jehovah’s Witnesses’ when his home was raided in 2018.
Study finds Saudi government still tolerates hate speech
By Yonat Shimron — September 26, 2017
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) —The report said Shiites and Sufis who practice Islam differently from conservative Sunnis in Saudi Arabia are a 'prime target of Saudi-sponsored hate speech and intolerant rhetoric.'
Negotiations with Boko Haram a farce, says Catholic priest
By Fredrick Nzwili — October 29, 2014
NAIROBI, Kenya (RNS) “This is a farce and a grand deceit,” said the Rev. John Bakeni, a Roman Catholic priest in Nigeria, speaking of his country's peace negotiations with the Islamist group Boko Haram to release abducted schoolgirls.
Religious leaders denounce child marriage in joint video
By Richard S. Ehrlich — September 19, 2013
(RNS) In Nepal, 11 percent of girls under the age of 14 and 29 percent of girls aged 15-19 are married. A new video denounces the practice.
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