Indonesia court strikes down law allowing government to ban books
The Indonesian Constitutional Court on Wednesday overturned a law that has allowed the Indonesian government to ban books it deemed controversial for nearly 50 years. The court found ...
Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Tuesday urged the Indonesian government to release secession activists and adhere to international standards of free speech . The report, "Prosecuting Political Aspiration: Indonesia's Political Prisoners," criticized the Indonesian...
Indonesia constitutional court upholds controversial anti-blasphemy law
The Indonesian Constitutional Court voted 8-1 Monday to uphold a controversial anti-blasphemy law enacted in 1965 by the first Indonesian president. The court rejected the legal challenge...
Irish referendum on blasphemy law seeks to remove morality from constitution
Johanna Higgins : "Minister Ahern has stated in the past, regarding the constitutional provision on blasphemy: "As a republican, my personal position is that Church and State should be separate. But I do not...
The Irish Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Dermot Ahern , on Sunday proposed holding a referendum later this year to remove the criminal offense of blasphemy from the Irish Constitution ....
Pakistan will begin to revise its blasphemy laws later this year, a government official told the Agence France-Presse Sunday. Pakistan's Federal Minister for Minority Affairs Shahbaz Bhatti said he has been speaking to various political...
Proposed UN defamation of religion resolution limits freedom of speech
Roy Speckhardt : "The American Humanist Association (AHA), along with more than 100 other organizations, has joined in a statement opposing the "defamation of religion" resolution before the United Nations that is being promoted by the...
State Department's religious freedom report shows global need for inter-faith tolerance
John Esposito : "Despite our increasingly globalized world and the need to strengthen religious pluralism as well as to transform an outmoded notion of tolerance based simply on co-existence to one...
Afghanistan top court affirms blasphemy sentence in secret hearing
The Supreme Court of Afghanistan upheld a 20-year prison sentence for blasphemy against Afghani journalism student Sayad Parwaz Kambaksh in a secret February hearing, according to statements by his lawyer quoted in Thursday media...
Afghan journalism student death sentence reduced to 20-year prison term
The death sentence of Afghan journalism student Sayad Parwaz Kambaksh was reduced Tuesday to 20 years' imprisonment by an Afghan appeals court. Kambaksh was sentenced to death in January for distributing papers questioning gender...
