On Saturday, March 12, the Saudi Arabia court confirmed the 10-year travel ban for the human rights activist and blogger Raif Badawi. The ban will effectively imprison Badawi in the country for another ten years.
Released on Friday, March 11, Badawi was arrested in 2012 and jailed for ten years for charges of "insulting Islam."
Raif Badawi, a prominent Saudi blogger and human rights advocate, arrested in 2012, is finally free after ten years in prison. Ensaf Haidar, Badawi's wife, told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that her husband called her about his release.
"Raif called me. He is free," she said. Haidar is living in Quebec, Canada, along with their three children.
Los Angeles County sees a new brand of pirates clearing out religious signage posted in public places. Atheist Street Pirates, a sub-group of Atheists United, a Los Angeles-based atheist group, has removed religious signs from streets and overpasses.
France has announced a plan to ban two Palestinian advocacy groups based in the country. Gerald Darmanin, France’s Minister of the Interior, on February 24 tweeted that he would disband Collectif Palestine Vaincra (Palestine Will Win) and Comité Palestine Action (Palestine Action Committee).
On Wednesday, February 16, the constitutional court of Kuwait overturned Article 198 of the country's penal code. Introduced in December 2007, Article 198 of the Kuwaiti Penal Code criminalizes "imitating the appearance of a member of the opposite sex."
The law effectively criminalizes transgender, creating a hostile environment for transgender individuals in Kuwait.
Kuwait's conservative right-wing politicians and clerics are crying foul over yoga. Lawmakers and Islamic scholars are bizarrely fixated on the lotus and downward dog, calling it a danger and depravity of women. Other conservatives label it as an attack on Islam. The uproar has prompted the Kuwaiti government to cancel a yoga instructor's desert wellness yoga retreat.
On Wednesday, February 9, more than a hundred students walked out during their homeroom period at West Virginia’s Huntington High School. The students were protesting a Christian revival assembly where some students were obliged to attend by their teachers.
The students chanted "separate the church and state" and "my faith, my choice” during the walkout.
Atheists in Kenya are becoming more public and visible while thriving in a predominantly Christian nation. Atheists in Kenya Society are leading the revolution as the group slowly enters political ideologies and human rights matters.
On Tuesday, February 1, Mubarak Bala appeared for the first time after his arrest at the High Court of the state of Kano in Nigeria, almost two years after his arrest. Kano is the president of the Humanist Association of Nigeria and was arrested on April 25, 2020.
On Saturday, January 29, 2022, advocates worldwide will be holding the 11th Annual International Day of Protest Against Hereditary Religion. One of the goals of the annual protests is to raise awareness about the handicap of forcing religion on children.
