Religious Extremism

Report Shows Widespread Anti-Shia Saudi Propaganda

September 28, 2017

The nongovernmental organization Human Rights Watch has released a report documenting widespread anti-Shia propaganda in Saudi Arabia propagated by government-affiliated clerics, as well as discriminatory anti-Shia rulings by the country's judicial system.
Turkish President's Bodyguards Act Violently at US Meeting

September 28, 2017

Violence broke out at a public address by Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at an event sponsored by the Turkish American National Steering Committee (TASC) in New York, with members of Erdogan's security detail apparently involved in violence on American soil against US citizens protesting the country’s turn toward Islamist autocracy.
Saudi Women’s Driving Rights Depend on Sharia Compliance

September 27, 2017

Whilst Saudi Arabia’s decree giving women the right to drive is heralded by rights organizations as a crucial reform in favor of women's rights, the religious Council of Scholars has agreed to support the legal change under the condition that women's rights to drive are implemented "in accordance with sharia law."
Pakistani Officials to Vet Mosque Sermons

September 27, 2017

Pakistan's Ministry of the Interior has announced a 13-Point National Action Plan to regulate all sermons in the country's mosques as a mechanism for countering the spread of radical Islamist ideology that has contributed to expanding terrorism and sectarian violence in the geopolitically volatile region of Southwest Asia.
IS Uses Torture to Indoctrinate Women Recruits

September 21, 2017

According to ongoing research conducted by the International Center for the Study of Violent Extremism, the recruitment of women to Islamic State (IS) positions reveals a systematic indoctrination process of psychological terror and physical isolation that is replicated in the brutality of torture meted out by women against women.
Egyptian Salafist Networks Target Christian Girls

September 20, 2017

Egyptian Salafist groups working in coordination with regional and international Islamist extremist networks are targeting Coptic Christian girls for kidnapping to extract ransom monies from families and sell girls into global human trafficking and sexual exploitation networks.
Ruling Permits Pillage of Egypt's Antiquities

September 20, 2017

An Islamic religious ruling (fatwa) issued by one of Egypt's foundational Islamic religious institutions has sanctioned the rights of individuals to excavate and profit from the country’s antiquities, provoking push-back from some scholars and state officials who condemn the ruling as paving the way for pillage of the country's cultural patrimony.
Boko Haram Is Likely Perpetrator in Nigerian Attack

September 20, 2017

Nigerian security officials and international non-governmental organizations report that two female suicide bombers, most likely part of the Islamist militant group Boko Haram, perpetrated a terror attack in the ongoing jihadi effort to impose sharia law throughout Nigeria.
European Climate Ripe for Third-Generation Jihadism

September 20, 2017

The recent Islamic State-related terror attack in London has demonstrated the threat of third-generation jihadism in Europe, as the combination of Islamist doctrine, economic malaise, and Left-Right political polarization are creating fertile ground for the growth of jihadism throughout the continent.
Grand Jury Indicts Turkish Security for DC Violence

September 01, 2017

A US grand jury has indicted 19 people, including 15 members of the security detail during the Turkish President's visit to Washington, DC, for felony charges of conspiracy to commit violence, in the aftermath of attacks by the security team against peaceful demonstrators protesting human rights violations by the Islamist government in Turkey.