Religious Extremism

Turkey's Islamist Authoritarians Step up Media Repression in Approach to G20 to Summit

October 27, 2015

Taking a page from Vladimir Putin's authoritarian playbook in Russia, Turkey's Islamist authoritarian government continues its assault on media freedoms, combining vigilante violence, judicial impunity, and financial penalties to stifle media and speech freedoms in the approach to hosting next month's G20 Summit.
Hardline Islamists Increase Religious Intolerance in Indonesia

October 27, 2015

A recent spate of violent attacks against churches in Indonesia's Aceh Province reflects the influence of hardline Islamists in a more generalized pattern of religious intolerance - including vigilante violence and intimidation, as well as government indifference - against both non-Muslims and non-Sunni Muslims in the world's populous Muslim-majority country.
US Expert Report Warns of Rights Violations Due to Malaysia's Creeping Islamization

October 19, 2015

Human rights conditions in Malaysia are being adversely affected by the creeping Islamization of the country's judiciary, police system, and private and public religious practices, with the expansion of sharia law and culture identified as a red flag by a new expert report from the US Commission on International Religious Freedom.
Violence in Turkey Highlights Islamists' Aggravation of Democracy Deficit

October 14, 2015

Protests by massive crowds paying respects to activists killed in twin bombings during a peace rally in Turkey called for an end to "fascism" under the country's Islamist government.
Islamists in Turkey and Malaysia Rely on Anti-Semitism to Bolster Authoritarian Rule

October 09, 2015

The leaders of the ruling Islamist parties in Malaysia and Turkey are using similar discourses of blatant, aggressive anti-Semitism to rile popular anger against the "international Jewish lobby" as an external threat and to silence domestic opposition by accusing them of conspiracies by "clandestine Jews."
Turkey's Internal Islamist Battles Reveal Political Corruption and Abuse of Power

October 09, 2015

The social and political fissures destabilizing Turkey, NATO's only Muslim-majority member, were further aggravated this week as the President and leading figures in his governing Islamist party launched a massive lawsuit, with charges of coup conspiracies and judicial corruption, against the transnational-grassroots Turkish Islamist movement led by the Anatolian imam, Fetullah Gulen.
Saudi Capital Punishment for Crimes Under Sharia at Odds with Seat on UN Human Rights Council

October 09, 2015

International human rights defenders are intensifying their efforts to stop Saudi Arabia's planned beheading and crucifixion of two political prisoners arrested as juveniles, amplifying the growing international outrage that a country infamous for its gross human rights violations in the name of sharia law holds a seat on the UN Human Rights Council.
Britain Implicated in Scandal Over Saudi Ascent to UN Human Rights Council

October 05, 2015

The British Government has been implicated in a vote-trading deal which has added to the continuing international furor provoked by Saudi Arabia's election to the UN Human Rights Council for 2014-2016, a post which the Wahhabi regime has manipulated to ensure that UN human rights activities do not obstruct radical Islamist norms.
Succession Dynamics Reveal Survival Threats to Saudi Regime Wedded to Fundamentalist Islamism

October 05, 2015

The complex competitive dynamics for succession to the throne of Saudi Arabia reveals the brittle features and threats to regime endurance for the absolutist monarchy that remains rigidly wedded to extremist-fundamentalist Islamism.
Islamism Strengthened by Democratic Processes Absent Liberal Ideas

October 05, 2015

The strength of Islamist ideas and sharia law is oftentimes enhanced, paradoxically, by democratic processes - if those are implemented in the absence of a strong commitment to liberal ideas about individual rights of liberty and equality.