A Christian woman is on trial for blasphemy after forwarding a WhatsApp message. Her actions sparked Muslim riots in northeast Nigeria.
Rhoda Ya'u Jatau, a 45 years old Christian health worker, was arrested on May 20 in Bauchi state. Her crime was receiving and forwarding a WhatsApp message from Ghana denouncing the horrible murder of a university student from the Sokoto state, Deborah Emmanuel Yakubu, who was also wrongly accused of blasphemy.
Twenty-five-year-old Ahmad Hacham Hamdi Abu Marakhia left for work on October 5 and never returned home. Instead, his beheaded and dismembered body was seen in horrific videos circulating in Palestinian territories and Jordan.
A Hindu woman was murdered in India by her Muslim husband for refusing to follow Islamic traditions and demanding a divorce.
The name of the accused is Iqbal Mohammad Sheikh, who is known as a 36-year-old taxi driver in Mumbai. He is charged with murdering Rupali Chandanshive, a 20-year-old Hindu woman, by slitting her throat with a sharp knife and stabbing her hands multiple times for not wearing a burqa per Islamic traditions and demanding a divorce. According to the reports, the incident happened on September 26 in the suburban Tilak Nagar area of west Chembur.
Violent protests erupted over the death of a 15-year-old Dalit boy who was severely beaten by an "upper caste" teacher for making a mistake on an exam in the Auraiya district of Uttar Pradesh.
On September 17, a pastor and dozens from his congregation were kidnapped from a Christian church in northwest Nigeria. Less than a week before, fifty-seven Christians were kidnapped at another church in a north-central state. In fact, the last few years have shown a marked increase in attacks and abductions in the country of both Christian church members and their clergy.
Reports say at least 35 young people were killed and more than eighty wounded when a suicide bomber targeted a school in Kabul, Afghanistan. Local journalist Bilal Sarwary says the number of dead is much higher. He reported that one hundred had been counted so far.
The Islamic Revolutionary Court of Tehran handed down a verdict of more than three years to an Iranian women's rights activist for protesting the hijab.
Twenty-two-year-old Melika Qaragozlu has been sentenced to three years and eight months in jail and fined 8 million tomans (US$ 246.59) for protesting against the mandatory hijab rules of the country.
Sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini at the hands of the “morality police” on September 16, and despite an internet shutdown, widespread protests continue throughout Iran.
Tehran legislator Mahmoud Nabavian calls the protests “riots” and says women that take off the mandatory headscarves are out to “prostitute themselves.” State media have made similar statements, calling the protesters “hypocrites, rioters, thugs, and seditionists.”
Communal tensions erupted in Leicester city, United Kingdom, in reaction to a cricket match. The match between India and Pakistan on August 28 in the Asia Cup is said to have sparked numerous protests, some of which turned very violent. While which side started the violence is highly debated, community leaders have called for calm as animosity between the Hindu and Muslim groups persists.
A 22-year-old Iranian woman has died after falling into a coma following her arrest and detention by Iran’s morality police.
The Morality Police, a branch of Iran’s Law Enforcement Command that patrols the streets enforcing the hijab mandate, arrested Mahsa Amini on September 13.
