Roy was an American citizen of Bangladeshi provenance and a critic of religious extremism. He was publicly assaulted by machete-wielding assassins who butchered him to death as he and his wife were leaving a Dhaka book fair in February 2015. His wife, Rafida Ahmed, suffered head injuries and lost a finger.
On Sunday, February 14th, a Hamas-run Islamic court ruled that unmarried women in the Gaza Strip now require permission from a male ‘guardian’ to travel, which is usually an older male relative. A married woman would require approval from her husband. Permission to travel without guardianship would have to be authorized by a court.
On Wednesday, February 10th, the United Nations released a report describing the heinous human rights violations in Iran. The report reveals appalling details of electric shock and other means of torture that the Islamic Republic of Iran uses against LGBT children while claiming their intent is to “cure” them.
The frontman of Behemoth, an extreme metal band in Poland, was found guilty of “offending religious feelings" after he shared an image of himself in September 2019 standing on a photo of the Virgin Mary. The Warsaw court convicted Musician Adam “Nergal” Darski within only a few days of the charges being brought against him.
Same-sex relations are finally legal in Angola as of February 10th. The changes were passed in January 2019 when Angola’s Parliament approved the amendments.
A Catholic priest in Rhode Island callously disregarded the severity of raping children. He claimed that voting pro-choice is significantly worse than sexually abusing children because “pedophilia doesn’t kill anyone.”
Among white evangelicals, over 25 percent still believe in “QAnon” conspiracy theories. This may suggest some people experience difficulty abandoning one conspiracy theory when they believe whole-heartedly in another.
According to ‘Muslim Personal Law,’ a Muslim girl is free to marry anyone of her choice once she reaches puberty. The Indian High Court recently upheld this law.
The court’s ruling came after a Muslim couple filed with the court, pleading for protection from threatening relatives. Family members were opposed to their marriage due to the significant age difference between them. They sought protection from the Mohali Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP).
Police recently arrested five people for making death threats against the French teenager who said Islam is a ‘shit’ religion in a viral video.
Mila, the teenage girl (her last name is kept private), previously defended her intense atheist beliefs on French television after she offended Islam. During one outburst, she said the Quran is ‘full of hate.’
Nothing says "my religion isn't shit" like threatening teenage girls for saying otherwise.
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.
