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30/10/2008
UPDATE: Algeria: Samia Smets acquitted
Samia S., accused of having damaged a Quran and sentenced last September to 10 years imprisonment, was acquitted on 28 October 2008 by the judge of the criminal division of the Court of Biskra.
22/10/2008
Algeria: Woman sentenced to 10 years for allegedly damaging a Quran
According to Algerian Newspaper El Watan, last September a young women aged 26 was sentenced to 10 years in prison in Biskra, southern Algeria, where she is already detained for previous offence. She is accused of having damaged a Quran.
12/10/2008
UPDATE: Algeria: Release of those sentenced for breaking the Ramadan fast
On 29 September, a court in Biskra sentenced 6 men to 4 years in prison and a 1000 euro fine, for eating in public during the fasting hours of Ramadan. The verdict has since been overturned and the prisoners have been freed.
8/10/2008
Algeria: 4 people sentenced to prison for breaking Ramadan fast
For the first time, 6 people in Southern Algeria have been sentenced to four years in jail and a $1300 fine for breaking the Ramadan fast.
10/8/2008
France: Ensure police protection for Mohamed Sifaoui
Mohamed Sifaoui - an Algerian journalist, writer and director living in exile in France - was violently attacked by Islamists in Paris on Friday, June 13th 2008. Why? For his tireless and courageous struggle against fundamentalisms and his defence of secularism. Since 2003 he has benefited from police protection, but since January 2008 it has been withdrawn.
7/8/2008
UPDATE: Nigeria: Local women's groups protest bill on 'indecent clothing'
The following is an update provided by BAOBAB - For Women's Human Rights, a women's rights organization based in Nigeria. This is a brief report on the Public Hearing held in July 2008 regarding a proposed bill which, if made into law, would regulate styles of clothing on the grounds this would curb sexual intimidation and other sexual offences. The women who conducted research, presented their findings and demands, spoke out at the public hearing and aired their concerns with the world are to be commended for their actions and commitment to fighting discriminatory laws.
16/7/2008
Canada: Polygamous communities persist on grounds of 'religious freedom'
The polygamous communities of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS) - a branch of Mormonism - have openly practiced forced and underage marriages, incest, and abuse for decades. Under the clause of 'religious freedoms', however, this practice has been permitted to continue in the Canadian province of British Columbia and lengthy court cases have been further delayed by repeated appointments of special investigators.
9/7/2008
Iran: Six leading members of the Bahá’í faith detained
Six leaders of a group managing the Baha'i community's religious and administrative affairs in Iran were arrested at their homes by officers from the Ministry of Intelligence on 14 May 2008, and are now detained in Evin Prison in Tehran. A seventh person, acting secretary for the group, Mahvash Sabet, has been in detention since 5 March. The Baha'i community has long been persecuted by the Iranian government, especilly since the Iranian Revolution.
7/7/2008
UPDATE: Nepal: Women human rights defender murdered
The following is an update on the situation in the Kanchanpur district of Nepal where women human rights defender Laxmi Bohara was murdered by her husband and mother-in-law. Further women activists are now being threatened and attacked.
3/7/2008
Nigeria: Protest the proposed law on 'indecent clothing'
BAOBAB for Women’s Human Rights has issued an alert regarding the “Bill for an Act to Prohibit and Punish Public Nudity, Sexual Intimidation and Other Related Offences in Nigeria”.