Search Results for: freedom religion

Two filmmakers of a film banned in Malaysia were charged on Wednesday with “hurting religious feelings” due to the contents of their film. Nine human rights organizations have condemned the criminal charges as breaches of the right to freedom of opinion and expression. The film, Mentega Terbang, debuted at a film festival in 2021. It [...]

Amnesty International found that it is now riskier to flee persecution in the North Caucasus region of Russia due to the ongoing war in Ukraine and stigmatization in Europe. In a report published on Thursday, Amnesty International urged European governments should stop transferring at-risk individuals to Russia to protect their human rights. The Thursday report [...]

Following winning the Netherlands elections, Geert Wilders, a politician known for his far-right stances, retracted a controversial bill he initially proposed in 2018. The bill, which called for a ban on mosques and the Quran, has been completely withdrawn by Wilders as of Monday. The proposed legislation seeks to outlaw practices and symbols associated with [...]

Pope Francis on Monday showed concern when discussing the crackdown of the Catholic Church in Nicaragua. Official news outlet Vatican News quoted that as of Monday, Nicaraguan authorities have arrested at least 14 priests, one bishop and two seminarians over the past week. The Vatican News also reported the 26-year sentence of Bishop Rolando José Álvarez [...]

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said Tuesday that there had been an “extensive failure” by Russia to protect the safety and human rights of civilians in Ukraine. Türk’s remarks came during a speech at an ‘interactive dialogue’ hosted by the UN OHCHR. The high commissioner largely referenced an OHCHR report entitled “Situation [...]

This weekend marks the 75th anniversary of one of the world’s most groundbreaking global pledges: the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). On December 9 we see the anniversary of the Genocide Convention, signed on the December 9, 1948, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights signed 75 years ago. It represents an an important occasion that aims to raise [...]

Baroness Helena Kennedy of the Shaws, KC, is one of the UK’s most established lawyers, a bencher at Gray’s Inn and a member of the House of Lords. Kennedy is also a broadcaster,  journalist and lecturer. She has not only acted in many of the most prominent cases of the last decade but has promoted civil [...]

The Chinese government has increased mosque closures in the northern Ningxia region and Gansu province, according to a report released on Wednesday by Human Rights Watch. The government has previously faced international scrutiny for its treatment of Uyghurs in the Xinjiang region, a Chinese Muslim ethnic minority. The report describes the closure of mosques in [...]

For nearly the past decade, a surveillance site has been running broad net sweeps through the entirety of the American professoriate in a bid to name and shame those critical of Israeli policies in the occupied territories of Gaza, West Bank, and Golan Heights. Asserting its aim is to combat anti-Semitism by informing the public [...]

Russian prisoners’ rights group Pervy Otdel reported on Friday that a Moscow court sentenced Aleksandr Strukov, the erstwhile photographer affiliated with incarcerated opposition figure Aleksei Navalny, to an eight-year prison sentence. The charges brought against him encompassed allegations of public calls for terrorism, inciting hatred, and violating citizens’ rights to practice religion. Strukov faced charges [...]