Around 2,500 people were arrested in Bangladesh on June 4th after an allegedly blasphemous Facebook post defaming the Prophet Muhammad sparked street violence in the Muslim-majority, South Asian nation.
Most of those arrested for participating in the violence in the country’s capital Dhaka were unidentified. Bangladeshi authorities also arrested a man named Mohammad Sohel for making the reportedly blasphemous social media post.
Filipino pastor and self-proclaimed “Appointed Son of God” Pastor Apollo C. Quiboloy couldn’t stop YouTube from terminating his channel for alleged violations of the platform’s community guidelines on June 21st.
Quiboloy’s YouTube channel was taken down after Canadian YouTuber Mutahar Anas, also known on the platform as SomeOrdinaryGamers, flagged YouTube’s support team on Twitter on June 20th and informed them about the pastor’s prior cases of human trafficking and his FBI warrant.
Students at a Pakistani university received a disciplinary notice for participating in Holi celebrations at their campus, sparking debate on celebrating religious activities from other faiths in the Muslim-majority nation.
Pakistan's Higher Education Commission bans Holi celebrations across all educational institutes saying that such activities portray a complete disconnect from the country’s sociocultural values and are an erosion of the country’s Islamic identity, reports Aaj News.
The Pakistani government entered into an agreement with a radical Islamist party to try blasphemy suspects under the country’s anti-terrorism laws along with existing anti-blasphemy laws in the Muslim-majority nation.
The Kurdistan region of Iraq was shocked upon learning about the murder of a Kurdish artist in a town in one of its provinces over allegations that he criticized Islam and was an atheist.
Wirya’s killing went viral on social media, where they accused the Islamic parties and Salafists in the Kurdistan Region for inciting the killer to commit the crime. https://t.co/3Ap7sxzXie
Two Filipino stand-up comedians are facing blowback from religious believers after making jokes about their beliefs and faith.
Gold Dagal and Jeleen Cubillas of the Comedy Manila group are constantly being chastised online by members of the famed Iglesia ni Cristo (or Church of Christ) and the Catholic Church, respectively, after their stand-up comedy performance videos went viral on Philippine social media.
A gay TikToker from the United States revealed that his parents once hired a preacher to supposedly exorcise demons from his bedroom and replace them with angels in an attempt to change his sexuality.
When the city of Hamtramck in Michigan elected the first Muslim-majority city council in the United States in 2015, many liberals celebrated not just because of the international attention it gathered but because it demonstrated the strength in diversity and showed a strong response to the Islamophobic rhetoric that was then central to the presidential campaign of Republican candidate Donald Trump.
Amidst ongoing protests against the Islamic Republic, students across several universities and colleges in Iran have demonstrated against persisting attempts by the Iranian government to strictly enforce its mandatory hijab laws.
It’s Highway to Hel no more in Poland, as the operator of the bus that’s in charge of the route going to a popular tourist site in the Eastern European country changed its number from 666 to 669.
Poland’s bus route 666 to Hel has been changed after facing backlash for ‘promoting satanism’ pic.twitter.com/Yy6NDnJ5MQ
