Inside French Prisons, A Struggle to Combat Radicalization

With 2,500 inmates, the penitentiary institution of Fresnes, about 20 miles south of Paris, is one of the largest prisons in Europe. Like most French prisons, Fresnes is overcrowded. Built in the late 19th century, its tiny cells, each meant for one prisoner, most often house three. Inmates scream curses and catcalls from their barred…

Share Button
Read More

Judge rejects inmate’s suit seeking cleric from Muslim sect

SCRANTON, Pa. — A federal judge had dismissed a former inmate’s religious freedom lawsuit against a Pennsylvania jail, saying he had no right to a cleric from the specific Muslim sect he preferred–the Nation of Islam. Courts have ruled inmates have a right to practice their religious, but that right isn’t unlimited and must be…

Share Button
Read More

Egyptian-American woman freed in Egypt goes home on U.S. military plane

Aya Hijazi, an Egyptian who holds U.S. citizenship, was acquitted by a Cairo court on Sunday along with seven others who had worked with street children. Hijazi was released from jail on Tuesday, having been held for nearly three years. She was flown to Joint Base Andrews, the U.S. military airfield on the outskirts of…

Share Button
Read More

French jihadist sentenced to ten years in prison following return from Syria

Nicolas Moreau, a convicted French jihadist who returned from Syria, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for criminal association with a terrorist organization. The 32-year-old Frenchman was not present at the Paris correctional court since he refused to leave the prison where he is being held for the hearing. Prosecutors had argued that Moreau…

Share Button
Read More

FBI: Hate crimes against Muslims in US surge 67 percent

Number of anti-Muslim hate crimes rose in 2015 to the highest level since the aftermath of 9/11. Hate crimes against Muslims in the United States shot up 67 percent in 2015 to their highest levels since the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks, according to new FBI statistics. Overall, 57 percent of the 5,850…

Share Button
Read More