November 19, 2010 Arsham Parsi escaped Iran five years ago and has since assisted 50 gay Iranians to safety in Canada (and consulting on 250 other cases) with the COSTI Immigration services in downtown Toronto. The arrival of lesbian and gay refugees to Canada is difficult. Temporary asylum can be even more damaging than the…
23 October 2010 In this article, Michael Prüller highlights the inherent problems associated with attempts to ban mosques: not only is reciprocity absurd (the lack of Christian churches in Iran should not have an impact on Indonesian Muslims in the Netherlands), but is goes against the very idea of human rights. However, he draws attention…
August 11 2010 A Dutch court has ruled that the city council of Rotterdam was within its legal rights in dismissing academic Tariq Ramadan in August 2009. The prominent Islamic philosopher lost his job as city integration officer due to participation in a television program for a broadcast company financed by Iran. Ramadan, who was…
The Advertising and Marketing Association of Canada is active in Tehran. At an Iranian news conference earlier this month the association’s head, Afshin Nemati, helped spread word that Iran’s government is cracking down on unacceptable haircuts on men. He took questions on news clips shown around the world, explaining what sorts of haircuts will be…
What is it like to live as a woman who covers her face with a veil in Germany? How do people on the street react? Chamselassil Ayari, a reporter for Deutsche Welle’s Arab language service, wore a Muslim full-body covering garment for one day. Her experiment began on a sunny spring Saturday afternoon on Cologne’s…
