Search Results for: islamic state

The US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has announced economic sanctions against six “entities” (businesses and individuals) that it accuses of supporting Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The companies are based in China, Russia, India and Iran. The IRGC is Iran’s military and one of the most powerful forces [...]

UN human rights experts on Wednesday raised alarm over reports of torture, enforced disappearances and arbitrary detention of members of Iran’s Bahá’í religious minority amid the ongoing US-Iran war. The UN experts say that approximately 57 Bahá’ís are currently detained or imprisoned in Iran. They report claims of arbitrary and incommunicado detention, physical and psychological [...]

Amnesty International on Friday condemned the Portuguese Parliament’s recent announcement that it had passed a new law prohibiting the donning of face coverings in public areas, a decision that carries repercussions for fundamental civil liberties and individual autonomy in the country. João Godinho Martins, the executive director of Amnesty International in Portugal, stated: “Far from [...]

A hot afternoon, a stifling café, the hum of talk around us. A companion nodded toward a woman nearby and asked me: “Who comes to a café wearing skin-tight leggings and carrying an aggressively feminine fake Gucci bag? It doesn’t match, does it, Malek? There’s something aesthetically incoherent about the whole composition—something excessive, almost irritating: [...]

You are reading the words of a criminal. Yes—I am a criminal. Why? Because in order to connect to the free global internet, I violated the law of my own country. I purchased a VPN, crossed the digital borders imposed upon me, and entered a world my government had declared forbidden. In the eyes of [...]

A UN Syria inquiry on Wednesday called on the international community to address Syria’s detainee and human rights crisis, which has persisted even after the downfall of the dictatorship of Bashar al-Assad, pressing the new authorities to account for thousands still missing, ensure fair trials, and put an end to the violence that continues to [...]

Human Rights Watch on Monday criticized insurgent armed groups, the Malian armed forces and allied militias, and Russian mercenaries, which have all committed “serious abuses of human rights against civilians” amid an insurgency fueled by long-standing ethnic tensions in the country. Commenting on the large scale of atrocities committed against civilians in Mali, senior Sahel [...]

When the internet went dark and the world outside narrowed to the walls of a single room, AmirAli Maleki kept writing. With reliable connectivity gone, the notes application on his phone became his means of defiance. Whenever everyday life pressed in on him, whether through a conversation or an image evoking fear or solidarity, he [...]

The Terre Haute Division of the US District Court for the Southern District of Indiana on Thursday ordered the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to “immediately release” pro-Palestinian advocate Salah Sarsour, a lawful permanent resident of the US, from ICE detention facilities. In so ordering, Federal Judge James Hanlon confirmed that Sarsour has successfully established [...]

Indonesia is a vast archipelagic nation-state characterized by a rich diversity of religions and beliefs. At the busy Manggarai station, some women wear hijabs in different colors and styles while others opt not to. Veiled or not, they head to work or school—a sign of the progress Indonesia has made on gender equality. Following a [...]