Fundamentalisms

Palestine: Gunmen attack UNRWA summer camp for 'teaching girls swimming, fitness & dancing'

The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) strongly condemns the attack carried out by a large number of masked gunmen on a summer games camp organized by UNRWA at a beach in the west of Gaza City. The attackers set fire to parts of the camp and damaged its contents in the early morning. PCHR calls upon the government in the Gaza Strip to seriously investigate the attack and bring the perpetrators to justice.

Saudi Arabia: Woman opens fire on religious police officers

In an unprecedented outburst toward Saudi Arabia's religious police, a married woman shot at several officers in a patrol car after she was caught in an "illegal seclusion" with another man in the province of Ha'il on Tuesday. "She shot at the officers to distract them and allow the man to escape instant detention," said Sheik Mutlak al Nabet, a spokesman for the religious police in Ha'il. He added that the unnamed woman's husband has filed an official report, asking for his wife to be punished and stripped of her Saudi nationality.

Belgium/Iran: Laws on veiling: Everyone is Equal but Some are Just More Equal

For years, not only in Muslim countries but also in the West, the debate over a woman’s right to veil has been recognized as a complex issue. In the last week of April 2010, two simultaneous discussions about veiling took place in two different locations across the world. In Belgium, the parliament put to vote a law banning women from wearing burqas in public spaces. In Iran, government officials announced their plans for further expansion and enforcement of both veiling and chastity laws. Based on the law in Belgium, if a woman covers her entire body, including her face, she will be fined the amount of 15-25 Euros – or imprisoned for one to seven days. Based on Iran’s plan of action regarding the expansion of veiling and chastity, governmental entities are required to create further restrictions and limitations around issues of veiling and gender segregation within every public space.

FES publication on Religious Fundamentalisms in Asia

In the new Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung publication, Religious Fundamentalisms and Their Gendered Impacts in Asia, Claudia Derichs and Andrea Fleschenberg (eds.), there is a chapter by WLUML board member, Zarizana Abdul Aziz: 'Malaysia – Trajectory towards Secularism or Islamism?' Abdul Aziz writes, "As the Malaysian legal system moves closer towards accommodating syariah, there has been an increase in inter-ethnic and inter-religious tensions.

Maldives: NGO's concern over Ministry of Islamic Affairs' campaign of intolerance

In two days, the UN will elect four members to represent Asia in its Human Rights Commission. The Maldives, as one of the candidates, is widely expected to gain a seat since only four member states are running for the four seats. But is the Maldives ready for a human rights position at the international stage? Here in the Maldives, human rights activists and civil society groups have been raising concerns about the threat to freedom of expression, gender equality and child rights from a sustained campaign being waged largely by the government’s Ministry of Islamic Affairs.

Malaysia: Khalwat raids 'contravene several injunctions in the Quran'

Islamic religious authorities should follow procedures when they are carrying out khalwat raids. Non-governmental organisations said officers conducting the raids would not be accused of acting beyond their jurisdiction if they did so. They said this when asked to comment on the incident in which a 21-year-old college student fell to his death from an apartment in Gombak while trying to escape a khalwat raid. It was reported that the raid was carried out by several mosque committee members after residents complained of immoral activities at the apartment. Sisters in Islam (SIS) said khalwat raids shouldn’t be carried out in a way that degrades human dignity.

France: Lawmakers focus on husbands of Muslim women who wear veil

Any man who forces his wife to wear a full Muslim veil will be given a sentence of up to one year in jail and a maximum fine of €15,000 (£13,000), under French legislation expected to come into force in the summer. The Bill also envisages a €150 fine for women who choose to wear the face veil in public. “No one may wear in public places clothes that are aimed at hiding the face,” says the text leaked to Le Figaro, the French daily. The report added that legislators had included the possibility for women to avoid a fine by attending a citizenship course.

International: Resisting fundamentalist orders

In a televised sermon on April 16, 2010, a senior Iranian cleric, Hojjat ol-eslam Kazem Sediqi, declared a need for a “general repentance,” warning of the “prevalence of degeneracy” in the country. He pointed to the real consequences of immodesty and promiscuity among women, noting that “many women who do not dress modestly lead young men astray and spread adultery in society which increases earthquakes.”

Indonesia: Islam Defenders Front radicals remain free after assault on transgender individuals

Three days after the unruly Islam Defenders Front (FPI) stormed a human rights training workshop for transgender individuals in Depok, West Java, police seem reluctant to pursue the case further, with no arrests made to date. Despite massive media reports covering the Friday attack and the presence of several police officers at the crime scene, police investigations have made little progress, despite apparent evidence of the perpetrators. “We were planning to question several witnesses today, but no one showed up,” Depok Police detectives chief Comr. Ade Rahmat Idnal said Monday. The witnesses Ade was referring to were the workshop organizers and members of FPI.

Kyrgyzstan: The veil and fundamentalism are back in Bishkek

Islamic fundamentalism, already strong in southern Kyrgyzstan, might get a boost from the country’s current political uncertainties, following the ouster of President Kurmanbak Bakiyev who was replaced by a caretaker government.