Eighth suspect in Moscow attack appears in court, rights commissioner warns on torture
Reuters Russia remanded in custody on Tuesday a Kyrgyzstan-born man suspected of involvement in Friday’s mass shooting at a Moscow concert hall, and sent investigators to Tajikistan to question the families of four men charged with carrying out the attack. Eight suspects have now been remanded in pre-trial detention since gunmen sprayed concertgoers with bullets […]
Essay: Repression of women points to worsening religious freedom trends abroad
NURY TURKEL, co-founder of the Uyghur Human Rights Project and chair of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, and Rabbi ABRAHAM COOPER, director of global social action for the Simon Wiesenthal Center, and vice chair of USCIRF, say that denying religious freedom and women’s rights go hand-in-hand…
Iran, 27 other countries critiqued by US watchdog for religious freedom violations
United StatesRNS A watchdog for global religious freedom has used its new annual report to call out the Iranian Government for targeting women’s rights protesters during demonstrations last year. The report also points out the country’s “decades-long campaign” against religious minorities. The US Commission on International Religious Freedom criticised Iran for repressing the religious rights […]
Essay: State Department blacklists are only one tool to foster international religious freedom
KNOX THAMES, US State Department special adviser on religious minorities in the Obama and Trump administrations, looks, in an article first published on Religion News Service, at whether such designations help…
Kyrgyz-Tajik border conflict death toll nearly 100
Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan Reuters Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan said on Sunday nearly 100 people had died in their border conflict, as a fragile ceasefire between the Central Asian nations extended into a second day and their mutual ally Russia urged a de-escalation. The former Soviet republics clashed over a border dispute on 14th to 16th September, accusing each […]
Kyrgyzstan reports heavy fighting with Tajikistan, 24 people killed
Bishkek, KyrgyzstanReuters Kyrgyzstan reported “intense battles” with Central Asian neighbour Tajikistan on Friday and said 24 people had been killed in the latest outbreak of violence to hit the former Soviet Union. Both of the small impoverished landlocked nations have accused each other of restarting fighting in a disputed area, despite a ceasefire deal. A […]
Russia’s Putin to make first foreign trips since launching Ukraine war
London, UKReuters Vladimir Putin will visit two small former Soviet states in central Asia this week, Russian state television reported on Sunday, in what would be the Russian leader’s first known trip abroad since ordering the invasion of Ukraine. Russia’s 24th February invasion has killed thousands of people, displaced millions more and led to severe […]
List Afghanistan as religious liberty violator, report urges US State Department
United StatesRNS The US Commission on International Religious Freedom recommended that Afghanistan be added to the State Department’s list of worst religious freedom violators, citing the changes that resulted when the Taliban took control of the country last year. The federal panel said in its annual report released on Monday that the regime change has […]
Russia added to State Department list of worst religious liberty violators
RNS The US State Department has added Russia to its list of nations it considers among the world’s most egregious violators of religious freedom. Russia joins Myanmar (referred to as Burma on the list), China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan on the list of “countries of particular concern.” Nigeria, which was […]
President and diplomats flee as Taliban enter capital; Pope urges dialogue
Kabul, AfghanistanReuters Taliban insurgents entered Kabul on Sunday and President Ashraf Ghani left Afghanistan saying he wanted to avoid bloodshed, bringing the Islamist militants close to taking over the country two decades after they were overthrown by a US-led invasion. As night fell, local television 1TV reported that multiple explosions were heard in the city, […]