Religious Extremism

Brunei Sultan Doubles down on New Sharia Penal Code

April 03, 2019

Facing an international outcry against the implementation of a hardline sharia-based penal code in Brunei, the country’s Sultan called for “stronger Islamic teachings” in the small Southeast Asian state, a move that may be designed to attract sharia-based foreign investment and to increase tourism from Muslim-majority countries.
Turkish Ruling Party Loses Municipal Elections

April 03, 2019

The sweeping losses by Turkey’s ruling Islamist government in the country’s municipal elections presents President Recep Tayyip Erdogan with a conundrum over whether to repair ties with Western investors and NATO allies or to stand firm in his neo-Ottoman foreign policy and authoritarian Islamist domestic agenda.
New Zealand Official Criticizes Politicization of Attack on Mosques

March 20, 2019

New Zealand’s Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters has criticized Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for politicizing the recent high-casualty attack on two mosques in Christchurch by characterizing the attack in a local election campaign as a contemporary battle by the West against Islam.
End of Syrian War Renews Iran, Hamas Relationship

March 14, 2019

The winding down of the war in Syria is generating a renewal of close ties between the Islamist Hamas group ruling Gaza and the Islamic Republic of Iran, as Iran prepares to ratchet up its direct financial assistance, military advice, and equipment sales to Hamas.
Iran’s Judiciary Sentences Rights Lawyer to Whipping, Imprisonment

March 13, 2019

An Iranian judge has sentenced an internationally renowned human rights lawyer and Sakharov Prize winner to 148 lashes and 38 years in prison for her alleged crimes of spying and spreading propaganda against the country’s theocratic regime.
Indonesia’s Largest Islamic Group Critiques Islamist Extremism

March 13, 2019

The Indonesian Islamic organization Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) has critiqued the term kafir (infidel) to describe non-Muslims as an Islamist extremist expression, highlighting NU’s pushback against growing jihadist activities and political Islamism in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country.
Malaysian Receives 10-Year Sentence for “Blasphemy” on Facebook

March 12, 2019

Malaysian authorities have jailed an unidentified citizen for 10 years under the country's blasphemy laws for insulting Islam and its Prophet Muhammed in social-media postings considered a "misuse of communications networks" under the multi-cultural country's expanding laws to limit "anti-religious activity."
Indonesian Provincial Authorities Flog Couples for Sharia Violations

March 12, 2019

Local officials in Indonesia’s Aceh Province, the only province governed by sharia law in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country, subjected six young couples to public flogging for engaging in "intimate relations outside of marriage."
Saudi Guardianship Laws Trap US Woman, Daughter

March 07, 2019

Saudi Arabia’s rigid guardianship laws, which are based in Wahhabi fundamentalist interpretations of Islamic law, have trapped an American woman seeking to return to the US with her young daughter inside the Islamic theocracy.
Saudi Repression Includes Alleged Torture of US Citizen

March 07, 2019

Attorneys for a physician and American citizen detained without charges in Saudi Arabia are pushing the US government to take action on his behalf based on their allegations that Saudi authorities rounded him up and tortured him during a recent crackdown aiming to stifle criticism against the Islamist authoritarian monarchy.