Rob Standridge, a Republican Senator from Oklahoma, has introduced a stupefyingly callous, religiously inspired bill to the Oklahoma senate. Known as the Students' Religious Belief Protection Act, the bill seeks to penalize educators who oppose students' "closely held religious beliefs."
On February 1, 2022, the Egyptian parliament discussed increasing the penalty for wife-beating proposed by a female lawmaker, Amal Salama. Salama stated that she did not believe the current penal code provided “appropriate penalties” for domestic violence.
As it stands, women are unprotected as no law specifically criminalizes domestic abuse against women. Salama’s proposal details imprisonment of up to five years for men who beat their wives.
On January 29, a gathering of Sadhus, a holy person in Hinduism, passed a resolution that calls for Prime Minister Modi’s Indian government and the government of Uttar Pradesh to declare India a Hindu Rashtra (Hindu State). The group also laid out other demands, including capital punishment for religious conversions and the release of Yati Narasinghanand Saraswati and Waseem Rizvi.
On January 25th, 2022, a video of Samajwadi Party (SP) candidate for the Uttar Pradesh Assembly Election, Adil Chaudhary, went viral on Twitter where he stated “we,” as in Muslims, “will take revenge” for crimes being committed against us.
In a video posted on Twitter on January 16, Barry Rosen, a former U.S. Diplomat among the 52 Americans held hostage during the U.S. Embassy attack in Tehran in 1979, announced his plans to go on a hunger strike. The hunger strike coincides with the 41 year anniversary of Rosen’s release after 444 days in Iranian custody.
On January 19, 2022, the French Senate voted in favor of banning religious veils in sporting events held by an official sports federation. The bill passed in a 160 to 143 vote with overwhelming support of the French right-wing party, Les Republicains.
On January 18, 2022, a cybercrime court in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, sentenced 26-year-old Aneeqa Ateeq to 20 years imprisonment and a fine of Rs 200,000 ($1,132 USD), as well as death by hanging.
On January 15, 2022, Yati Narsinghanand, the controversial priest of the Dasna temple in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, and main organizer of the Hindu nationalist events held in Haridwar City, India, between December 17-19, is now under legal custody for two weeks for two different cases. No BJP leader has condemned the speeches nor the event.
On January 17, 2022, Chamath Palihapitiya, CEO of Social Capital, chairman of Virgin Galactic, and minority owner of the NBA’s Golden State Warriors, took to Twitter to apologize for his comments about the plight of the Uyghurs of China during an All-In podcast episode.
