After many years of trying to obtain a “no religion, no caste” certificate, Sneha Parthibaraja was finally certified on February 5th.Sneha, a 35-year-old lawyer from Vellore, became India’s first citizen to have a ‘no caste, no religion’ certificate.
Two gay men fled to Russia after escaping alleged torture in Chechnya. On February 3rd, they were seized by Russian police and taken back to Chechen police.
Loujain al-Hathloul, the Saudi activist who gained international attention as she publicly opposed the ban on women drivers in the country, was placed in custody by the Saudi government in May 2018 due to her activism.
Four students, who attend Istanbul's Bogazici University in Turkey, were arrested due to artwork depicting LGBT rainbow symbols alongside an image of Islam’s most sacred site, the Kaaba.
Some news outlets report the indistinct description of “LGBT rainbow symbols” alongside the Kaaba. To be more precise, four different flags were portrayed in each corner, featuring the iconic rainbow flag, and three others individually representing the lesbian, transexual, and asexual community.
A group of Israeli anti-fascists recently hacked a KKK webiste, and exposed the identities of several of its members. The hackers gave an exclusive statement to The Jerusalem Post identifying themselves as Hayalim Almonim, Hebrew for Anonymous Soldiers. This group is a cumulative movement of anonymous anti-fascists, also known as Antifa. This multi-celled group of activists operates together with no leaders as they oppose neo-Nazis, fascism, white supremacy, and racism wherever they can reach.
Rihanna, one of the top-selling music artists of all time, poured out her support to farmers protesting on the borders of India’s capital, New Delhi. Aside from music, Rihanna is also known for her involvement in humanitarian causes, as well as entrepreneurship.
She supports the farmers protesting three new agricultural laws enacted by India’s central government late last year. In her tweet, she asked why more people aren’t talking about the new laws. She advocated for other countries to highlight the farmers’ grievances.
The Satanic Temple (TST) filed suit against the city of Boston, Massachusetts. The city provides council members the choice of who gives the invocation before each meeting when they should be accepting requests from any community member to cite the prayer without regard for which deity they worship.
Authorities in Indonesia’s Aceh province publicly caned two gay men — a total of 77 times each — with rattan sticks.
In Aceh's Tamansari city park, dozens of citizens witnessed the cruel enforcement of sharia law. Human rights activists chided Indonesia's authorities for the sadistic showcase.
Three female Polish activists are on trial, facing two years in prison for offending religious feelings. They created an image of the Virgin Mary, Poland's sacred icon, wearing a rainbow halo.
The indictment follows an incident in April 2019, when posters and stickers bearing a rainbow-haloed version of the Black Madonna appeared near a church in Płock, a city in central Poland.The doctored image traded the golden halos around the Virgin Mary and the Infant Jesus with representations of a rainbow flag, a common symbol of the LGBT community.
