Religious Extremism

Essays Explore Tension Between Western, Islamic Rights Norms

January 04, 2019

The Economist reports on a set of essays produced by the Atlantic Council in which authors explore the lack of convergence between Western human rights norms and Islamic norms, with one author asserting that the concepts of freedom and autonomy are completely different for Muslim and Western liberal scholars.
Saudi Islamist Authoritarianism Reaches Netflix

January 03, 2019

Human rights and media groups have expressed outrage over Netflix’s compliance with demands from Saudi Arabia to remove an episode of the comedy series Patriot Act With Hasan Minhaj from its service in the country after the Muslim comedian ridiculed Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s “reformer” status.
Pandering to Radical Islamists Mars Bangladesh Elections

January 03, 2019

The ruling party’s pandering to Islamist groups in the recent Bangladesh elections and the opposition’s hardline Islamist membership underscore the growing Islamist radicalization pressures in the Muslim-majority Southeast Asian country.
Iran’s Parliament Rejects Outlawing of Child Marriage

January 03, 2019

Iran’s Parliament defeated a proposal to outlaw marriage of girls between 9 and 13 years of age, keeping the Islamist theocracy in line with trends in other Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) member-states, which, according to a recent World Economic Forum report, are among the world’s worst performers on social, educational, health, and political equality.
Iran-Saudi Sectarian Struggle Tilts Toward Iran

January 03, 2019

Given the economic, foreign policy, and human rights missteps of Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the ongoing sectarian struggle between two Islamist extremist regimes of Iran (Shiite) and Saudi Arabia (Sunni) that has shaped Mideast geopolitics for the past four decades is likely to tilt in Iran's favor as 2019 begins.
Turkey's Erdogan Uses Anti-Semitism to Bolster Islamist Policy

January 03, 2019

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan uses openly anti-Semitic language and tropes to bolster domestic support for his Islamist regime in the runup to the country's municipal elections.
ECtHR Ruling Points to Discriminatory Impacts of Islamic Family Law

January 03, 2019

A European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) ruling upholding the claims of a Muslim woman in Greece regarding the discriminatory effects of Islamic family law in an inheritance case may have wider implications across Europe in the face of growing pressures from Muslim communities to accord primacy to Islamic law over civil law.
Saudi-Funded Islamist Cleric in Australia Condemns Christmas

January 03, 2019

The Daily Mail Australia reports that a hardline Islamist cleric whose religious association is funded by Saudi Arabia is preaching to his mosque congregations that celebration of Christmas is an act worse more egregious than any sin condemned by Islam.
Coalition of Islamist Extremist Groups Implements Sharia in Syria

January 03, 2019

A coalition of Islamist extremist groups that retains control in northwestern Syria’s Idlib province has imposed extreme sharia punishments, including amputations and decapitations, using the sharia regime as a terror tool to ensure loyalty against local opposition and US-backed efforts to finalize the ouster of the Islamic State (IS) and its affiliates from Syrian territory.
Egypt’s Justice System Remains Partial to Radical Islamists

January 03, 2019

Diverse Islamist extremist groups active across Egypt continue to target Christian churches and communities with impunity, given that the constitution identifies Islam as the state religion of Egypt and the justice system relies on “reconciliation sessions,” rather than court proceedings, to try alleged perpetrators who commit violence in the name of Islam.