On June the 3rd 2021, the bill to “prevent acts of terrorism and (reinforce) French Security services” was voted by the French National Assembly. The text acceptedin its first reading, must now be adopted by the Senate, the second chamber of French parliament. While the government has been working on the bill for some months,…
In several Austrian cities Kurds have demonstrated against the violence of the IS and for an international intervention to save their countrymen in Kobane. During some of the mentioned demonstrations people were seriously injured (for example in Bregenz, the capital of Vorarlberg). According to Austrian newspapers Muslims with Chechen or Turkish origin were attacking Kurds;…
On Tuesday October 14, the Supreme Court heard arguments in Holt v. Hobbs, a case about whether a prisoner in Arkansas has the right to grow a ½-inch beard for religious reasons. One of the more interesting threads of the oral argument was Justice Scalia’s assertion that religious directives are “categorical” and not open to…
August 5, 2014 The Foreign Office has warned expatriates living in the United Arab Emirates they could face Sharia courts in divorce or child custody cases. UAE personal status law provides expatriates, even if they are not Muslim, with the right to have their case heard under the Islamic law. It comes after a British…
I have long argued that American courts should deal with Islam-related religious issues by simply applying existing American law, without any special rules either favoring or disfavoring Islam or Muslims. Sometimes that means Muslim claimants might win, for instance when they claim reasonable religious exemptions under existing American religious exemption rules (which are available to…
