Fundamentalisms

Nigeria: Sharia's Rise in Nigeria Incited Stoning Sentences

"The baobab connotes spiritual strength . . . and fortitude . . . in distressing times." Ayesha Imam and the women she worked with for years in the Nigerian organization BAOBAB for Women's Human Rightspossess those very traits. The group, founded in 1996, fights to protect women's rights in the maze of the Nigerian legal system, with its overlapping religious, secular and customary laws and courts.

Book Release: Your Fatwa Does Not Apply Here by Karima Bennoune

We are very pleased to announce that WLUML Board Member Karima Bennoune's book, "Your Fatwa Does Not Apply Here: Untold Stories from the Fight Against Muslim Fundamentalism," has just been published in the U.S. by Norton.

Urgent Action: Zahra and Ali in Imminent Danger of Stoning!

WLUML has been shocked to learn that there are two individuals at imminent risk of execution by stoning in Iran. In 2012, Zahra Pour Sai and Ali Sai Bashsiz were tried in Tabriz (Iranian Azerbaijan) court, convicted of Zina (adultery), and sentenced to death by stoning. They appealed their convictions, but the appeal was refused and the verdict was confirmed by Branch 7 of the Supreme Court. It is now feared that they are at imminent risk of death by stoning.

“Accountability & Arab Spring” @ 7th International Humanitarian Law Dialogs

الجزائر بعد عشرين سنة: الكلمات باقية أبداً

تميز العالم الحالي الذكرى العشرين لبداية الحرب التي أطلقها الجهاديون الجزائريون ضد الثقافة. و لم يلق من تولوا الكفاح الفكري ضد الأصولية في الجزائر، في تسعينيات القرن الماضي، سوى قليلاً من الدعم على المستوى الدولي. و في هذا المقال، توجه " كريمة بنُّون" التحية لأرواح من سقطوا في حرب إبادة الثقافة هذه و تدعو إلى الضرورة المستعجَلة للعمل على تفادي نسيانهم.

Algeria: the real lessons for Egypt

For all its problems, Algeria never became an Islamic state. Like Algerian progressives in the 1990s, Egyptian progressives now have to carve out the space to construct a credible alternative under the shield of the new transitional process, and simultaneously challenge the military’s human rights abuses.

US-Taliban Talks: Accountability to human rights and justice is central to enduring peace

The following is the official statement of the Women Living Under Muslim Laws (WLUML) international solidarity network and its partners in Afghanistan, which is addressed to all parties, particularly Afghanistan’s donor countries, who are supporting the direct talks between the Taliban and United States government.

Politics of Nakedness and Freedom of Expression: The Case of FEMEN

WLUML calls for the immediate release of FEMEN activists, including Amina Tyler, and demands that the Tunisian government drop all charges. WLUML does not endorse FEMEN’s tactics or specific platforms, but we find the imminent imprisonment of FEMEN activists for exercising their right to freedom of expression to be a violation of fundamental human rights. However we may feel about nude protest as a method, it is critical to defend the right of free expression, particularly in the post-dictatorship countries of the Middle East.

40 Days After Boston Bombing: We Must Stop Radical Jihad

WLUML board member Karima Bennoune offers her valuable insight on the issue of radical jihad in the aftermath of Boston bombings.

Saudi Arabia: "There is not one law in Saudi Arabia that regards violence toward women as an illegal activity": what's really behind Saudi's domestic abuse problem?

Saudi Arabia has introduced a campaign aimed at tackling domestic violence against women in the kingdom. The King Khalid Foundation funds the campaign, which is a royal, family-run organization with clear ties to the Saudi government.