On Monday, December 6, Jen Psaki, White House Press Secretary, announced that the US government had imposed a diplomatic boycott on Beijing. Psaki said, "the Biden Administration will not send any diplomatic or official representation to the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics and paralympic games."
Christian groups in Belagavi City in Karnataka, India, were told by police to avoid meetings and gatherings for prayer until the end of the Winter Session. Belagavi will be hosting the Karnataka legislative session scheduled for December 13 to 24. A controversial anti-conversion bill will be discussed during the session, according to the police.
Editor’s Note: In the previous draft of this article, the actions were presented accurately except for the location. It was mentioned that Ryadh was the UAE's capital but it's actually Abu Dhabi. We apologize for this inaccurate information.
On Friday, November 26, Minnesota Democratic House Representative Ilhan Omar called for house leaders in both aisles to take action against Colorado Republican House Representative Lauren Boebert. Over the holidays, Rep. Boebert made incendiary statements where she likened Rep. Omar to a suicide bomber.
On November 16, 2021, Iranian president, Ibrahim Raisi, signed into law the rejuvenation of the population and support of the family bill, which sparked a backlash from human rights watchdogs, NGOs for women's rights, and HIV/AIDS prevention advocacy groups.
The Council of Europe (COE) pulled out ads for a campaign aimed at countering discrimination against European Muslim women who chose to wear head coverings. The Council of Europe is an inter-governmental human rights group with 47 member states. CoE also took down its Twitter post related to the campaign.
On Monday, November 8, Pakistan announced that it had lifted the ban on the radical Islamist party Tehreek-e-Labiak Pakistan (TLP) after causing violent protests that lasted days, leaving six police officers and four demonstrators dead.
On Friday, November 5, a gathering of right-wing Hindu groups barred entry to a public ground in the Sector 12 area of Gurugram, a place frequented by Muslims for prayers. Guragram, still popularly referred to as Gurgaon by locals, is a satellite city outside New Delhi, India.
Murad Hassan, the State Minister for Information of Bangladesh, said that he would speak to Parliament to begin plans to revert to the 1972 constitution. Hassan's remarks were made during the 57th birthday celebration of Sheikh Russell, the youngest son of Bangladesh's founder Sheikh Mujib.
Friday, November 5, 2021, marks the 13th day of Richard Ratcliffe's hunger strike. Speaking to the Guardian, he said that this time, it is more visceral. "It's smaller, darker, more pointed. I'm saying things I wouldn't have said two years ago," he added. Ratcliffe's hunger strike is aimed at pressuring the British government to take action in releasing his wife.
