Religious Extremism

British Government Report on Muslim Brotherhood Could Raise Tensions with Arab Gulf Monarchies

March 18, 2015

Political experts opine that, to avoid harming relations with British allies Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, both of whom have declared the Muslim Brotherhood ("MB") a terrorist organization, the British Government has postponed the release of a comprehensive report on the MB in the United Kingdom, which recommends against designating the group as terrorists.
Tunisia's Islamists Reject Extremism of Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood Model

March 18, 2015

Tunisia's Islamist Party, Ennahada, has been able to maintain its political relevance in Tunisia's democratization by foregoing the ideological maximalism and religious extremism that were the hallmarks of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood and by choosing coalition-building with leftist and secularist political parties committed to pluralism.
Radical Islamist Websites Flourish in Turkey

March 16, 2015

Turkey's Islamist government is contradicting its growing censorship of free speech on the Internet and social media sites in the country with an alternative, laissez faire policy for radical Islamist sites, which promote, recruit, and celebrate the ideology and operations of the Islamic State ("IS").
Sweden and Saudi Arabia in Diplomatic Row over Critique of Sharia Incompatibility with Human Rights

March 16, 2015

The diplomatic row between Saudi Arabia and Sweden, after the Swedish Foreign Minister's public critique of Saudi Arabia's sharia-based assault on international human rights, has escalated into bilateral commercial and trade tensions and condemnation of Sweden by Arab League Foreign Ministers.
UN Security Council to Consider Jihadist Actions Against Mideast Religious Minorities

March 11, 2015

The Islamic State's ("IS") continued targeting of minority religious communities will be taken up in a UN Security Council meeting later this month, in a session that is expected to focus on "the growing persecution of Christians in the Middle East."
Saudi Arabia Says Sharia Law Conforms to International Human Rights Standards

March 11, 2015

Saudi Arabia's representative to the UN Human Rights Council defended the country's "sovereign right to implement sharia law," and described the application of Islamic law in the country's judicial system as "foolproof" and consistent with international human rights law.
Pakistan's Blasphemy Laws Use Islam to Stifle Religious and Civic Freedoms

March 11, 2015

Pakistan's blasphemy laws, notorious for their draconian limits on religious liberty and related civic freedoms such as speech and assembly, continue to target non-Muslim minorities and to foment a climate of societal impunity, reflected in biased judicial proceedings and due-process failures by policy, which has led to ongoing violence against the country's Christians, Ahmadiyya, and other "non-conforming Muslims.
Saudi King Criticizes Islamist Extremism as Deviation from True Islam

March 04, 2015

Saudi Arabia's King Salman hosted last week's "World Conference 'Islam and Counter-Terrorism" in Mecca, calling on participants to work toward rejecting “intolerance and extremism that offends Islam,” and characterizing Islamist extremists as responsible for "abusing Islam, the religion of moderation."
Bangladesh Islamists Use Blasphemy Bogey to Incite Murder of American Blogger

March 04, 2015

An American blogger was hacked to death as a blasphemer in Bangladesh's capital city, incited by the intensifying climate of impunity fostered by calls from the country's Islamist groups for public execution as punishment for free speech deemed critical of Islam.
Saudi Religious Dialogue Center Viewed as Potential Platform for Spreading Wahhabi Islamism in Europe

February 25, 2015

The high-profile, Saudi-funded King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz International Centre for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue ("KAIICID") located in Vienna has become the focus of an intense debate at the highest echelons of Austrian politics about the centre as a potential platform for promoting Wahhabi Islamism in Europe.