A young Muslim student accused France’s foremost legal institution of Islamophobia after being threatened with expulsion from an oath ceremony for wearing a headscarf.  

Graduating lawyer Sara, who only revealed her first name, told Revolution Permanente, a far-left digital news site, that she was singled out for wearing a headscarf during a ceremony Thursday at the Palais des Congres in Paris.

Four staff members of the l'Ecole de Formation des Barreaux (EFB), a professional training school for lawyers, which falls under the jurisdiction of the Paris Court of Appeal, forced her to remove her head covering.

“You must take off your headscarf. If you don't remove it, you walk out of the room and you can't take the oath,” a school administrator demanded, she said. 

She said the incident made her feel threatened and humiliated after being yelled at in front of other students and left her with no other choice.

According to Sara, a magistrate accompanied her at the back of the auditorium to make sure she removed the headscarf.

She was told not to wear a headscarf if she aspired to be a professional lawyer.

The president of the Paris bar and distinguished lawyer Richard Malka was a guest speaker at the small oath-taking ceremony, a precursor to the main oath before becoming a lawyer.

Malka, who famously fought racism charges against satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo for publishing Prophet Mohammad’s caricatures, gave a speech on upholding the freedom of speech.

“Half an hour before the speech, I was asked to take off my headscarf. I found that completely hypocritical,” said Sara.

Another student named Romane, who witnessed the incident, denounced the racist legal system that discriminates against minorities.

“After a young woman was publicly humiliated and exposed, R. Malka made a speech saying the only place where we have absolute freedom of expression is in the courts,” Romane said on Twitter./aa

Six months ago, pilot Hana Khan saw her picture on an app that appeared to be auctioning scores of Muslim women in India. The app was quickly taken down, no one was charged, and the issue shelved - until a similar app popped up on New Year's Day.

Khan was not on the new app called Bulli Bai - a slur for Muslim women - that was hawking activists, journalists, an actor, politicians and Nobel Laureate Malala Yousafzai as maids.

Amid growing outrage, the app was taken down, and four suspects arrested this week.

The fake auctions that were shared widely on social media are just the latest examples of how technology is being used - often with ease, speed and little expense - to put women at risk through online abuse, theft of privacy or sexual exploitation.

For Muslim women in India who are often abused online, it is an everyday risk, even as they use social media to call out hatred and discrimination against their minority community.

"When I saw my picture on the app, my world shook. I was upset and angry that someone could do this to me, and I became angrier as I realized this nameless person was getting away with it," said Khan, who filed a police complaint against the first app, Sulli Deals, another pejorative term for Muslim women.

"This time, I felt so much dread and despair that it was happening again to my friends, to Muslim women like me. I don't know how to make it stop," Khan, a commercial pilot in her 30s, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Mumbai police said they were investigating whether the Bulli Bai app was "part of a larger conspiracy".

A spokesperson for GitHub, which hosted both apps, said it had "longstanding policies against content and conduct involving harassment, discrimination, and inciting violence.

"We suspended a user account following the investigation of reports of such activity, all of which violate our policies."

Misconception

Advances in technology have heightened risks for women across the world, be it trolling or doxxing with their personal details revealed, surveillance cameras, location tracking, or deepfake pornographic videos featuring doctored images.

Deepfakes - or artificial, intelligence-generated, synthetic media - are used to create porn, with apps that let users strip clothes off women or swap their faces into explicit videos.

Digital abuse of women is pervasive because "everybody has a device and a digital presence," said Adam Dodge, chief executive of EndTAB, a U.S.-based nonprofit tackling tech-enabled abuse.

"The violence has become easier to perpetrate, as you can get at somebody anywhere in the world. The order of magnitude of harm is also greater because you can upload something and show it to the world in a matter of seconds," he said.

"And there is a permanency to it because that photo or video exists forever online," he added.

The emotional and psychological impact of such abuse is "just as excruciating" as physical abuse, with the effects compounded by the virality, public nature, and permanence of the content online, said Noelle Martin, an Australian activist.

At 17, Martin discovered her image had been photoshopped into pornographic images and distributed. Her campaign against image-based abuse helped change the law in Australia.

But victims struggle to be heard, she said.

"There is a dangerous misconception that the harms of technology-facilitated abuse are not as real, serious, or potentially lethal as abuse with a physical element," she said.

"For victims, this misconception makes speaking out, seeking support, and accessing justice much more difficult."

Persecution

Tracking lone creators and rogue coders is hard, and technology platforms tend to shield anonymous users who can easily create a fake email or social media profile.

Even lawmakers are not spared: in November, the U.S. House of Representatives censured Republican Paul Gosar over a photoshopped anime video that showed him killing Democrat Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez. He then retweeted the video.

"With any new technology we should immediately be thinking about how and when it will be misused and weaponized to harm girls and women online," said Dodge.

"Technology platforms have created a very imbalanced atmosphere for victims of online abuse, and the traditional ways of seeking help when we are harmed in the physical world are not as available when the abuse occurs online," he said .

Some technology firms are taking action.

Following reports that its AirTags - locator devices that can be attached to keys and wallets - were being used to track women, Apple launched an app to help users shield their privacy.

In India, the women on the auction apps are still shaken.

Ismat Ara, a journalist showcased on Bulli Bai, called it "nothing short of online harassment."

It was "violent, threatening and intending to create a feeling of fear and shame in my mind, as well as in the minds of women in general and the Muslim community," Ara said in a police complaint that she posted on social media.

Arfa Khanum Sherwani, also featured for sale, wrote on Twitter: "The auction may be fake but the persecution is real."/ voanews

A case was registered against a Muslim bridegroom and family members of the bride for allegedly hurting religious sentiments of Hindus during a wedding ceremony.

The case was registered based on a complaint from Chethan from Vitla Padnuru village of Bantwal taluk, that the bridegroom had dressed up as Koragajja, a revered Hindu demigod in the Tulunadu area, police sources here said Saturday.

Bashit, hailing from Uppala near Manjeshwar, who was attending the wedding ceremony at the residence of Aziz at Salethur in Kolnadu village of Bantwal taluk on Thursday night, was wearing the attire of Koragajja and danced along with his friends in a way that defamed the demigod, the complaint said.

The youth also circulated video clippings of the dance on social media platforms which later went viral.

The police registered the case for offences punishable under IPC Sections 153 (A) (promoting enmity between different groups) and 295 (defiling a place of worship with intent to insult a religion)./ ndtv

Rising wave of hate crimes against Muslims is being witnessed in Modi’s India as Muslims suffer from hate speeches, physical attacks and Islamophobia in the country.

A report released by Kashmir Media Service said, today, said that recently Hindu leaders called for genocide of Muslims at hate speech conclave in Haridwar, adding attacks by Hindu extremists against Muslims and other minorities have intensified under Modi-led fascist Indian government.

It said, hate speeches, crimes against Muslims and other minorities are motivated by Hindutva ideology. The RSS-BJP leaders are using hate speeches to demonize Muslims and other minorities in India, it deplored.

The report said, discriminatory measures against Muslims are clear manifestations of Islamophobia in India as Hindu religious leaders are asking Hindus to take up arms against Muslims.

It added that seventy-six lawyers of the Indian Supreme Court have written to Chief Justice of India, NV Ramana and sought suo motu cognisance to be taken of the hate speech and calls for ethnic cleansing at two religious events held recently in Delhi and Haridwar.

The report maintained that five former chiefs of staff of the Indian armed forces and over a hundred other people, including bureaucrats, journalists and prominent citizens, had written to the President of India, Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister, Narendra Modi seeking immediate action against Hindu right-wing members for inciting violence.

The recent calls were made in Uttarakhand’s Haridwar and Delhi, where the group gave open genocide calls against Muslim citizens of India. The letter also mentions targeting other minorities like Christians, Dalits, and Sikhs of the country, it added.

The report said, hate speeches by Hindutva leaders are posing a grave threat to lives of Muslim in India and Modi must be held accountable for his crimes against Muslims and other minorities in the country./ pakobserver

In fall 1987, Muhammad Ali made a goodwill visit to Pakistan, where he visited mosques, shrines, schools, hospitals, orphanages, and government offices. Ali believed that such visits were an important part of his Muslim faith, that acts of charity were a means of purifying one’s soul and drawing nearer to Allah.

The former boxing champion distributed thousands of autographed religious pamphlets when he traveled. He lugged them around for hours in oversize briefcases. It kept him strong, he said. But the exercise was only a bonus. Ali said he felt a duty to explain Islam to Americans and to explain America to Muslims.

Everywhere he went, people chanted his name — “Muhammad Ali Clay,” they called him in the Muslim world, using his former last name to differentiate him from the many Muhammad Alis who lived in Muslim countries. People tossed flowers at his passing car and placed garlands around his neck. Dignitaries presented him with expensive gifts, which Ali would often leave for the hotel cleaning crews.

On his 1987 trip, he spoke one night in a rickety old auditorium in Peshawar. Many of the men in the audience were Afghan fighters who had battled Soviet troops. Ali’s voice was slurred but easily understood.

Former world heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali (L) gives a kiss to a Afghan students during his visit to Karte Sei High school for Girls November18, 2002 in Kabul, Afghanistan. Ali was in Kabul on a three-day mission as a special UN guest as the “U.N. Messenger of Peace.”

PAULA BRONSTEIN/UNICEF/GETTY IMAGES

“Many people in America know nothing about Muslims,” he said. “Many people in America know nothing about Prophet Muhammad. America is a big country. America is a beautiful country. All peoples, all races, religions are in America, but the power structure and the news media present a bad picture of Muslims. Whenever Muslims are mentioned, people think about Palestinian guerrillas — whenever Muslims are mentioned, they think about Khomeini, they think about Col. Gadhafi, and whatever he may do that they consider rebellious.

“My fight in the boxing ring was only to make me popular. I never enjoyed boxing. I never enjoyed hurting people, knocking people down. But this world only recognizes power, wealth, and fame … And after hearing the powerful message of Islam, and seeing the beautiful unity in Muslims, after seeing how the children are raised, after seeing the procedures of prayer, after seeing the way we eat, the way we dress, just the whole attitude of Islam, it was so beautiful — I said this is something more people have to know about, this is something more people would accept and join if they really understood. Whether they be black or white, red, yellow, or brown, Christian, Jew, Hindu, Buddhist or atheist, if he hears Islam, reads the Koran, hears the plain truth about Muhammad, he’ll have to be affected in one way or the other.”

Ali loved America even though his ancestors didn’t choose this country but were brought here on slave ships. He loved America even though he was forced to attend segregated schools. He loved America even after the government and many of its citizens turned on him for becoming a Muslim. He loved America even after he was convicted of draft dodging and banned from boxing for 3 1/2 years.

Ali loved America because he was a fighter, and America let him fight for his unpopular — and what some thought were unpatriotic — beliefs. He loved America because it’s a nation that gives fallen fighters repeated chances to get up off the mat.

We don’t have to guess at what Ali would say in response to this week’s news. In 2016, when then-presidential candidate Donald J. Trump proposed a ban on Muslim immigration to the United States, Ali issued a statement that read in part: “Speaking as someone who has never been accused of political correctness, I believe that our political leaders should use their position to bring understanding about the religion of Islam …”

Close-up of American boxer Muhammad Ali (born Cassius Clay) (left) and Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan (born Louis Walcott) as they listen to a speaker during the Saviour’s Day celebrations at the International Ampitheatre, Chicago, Illinois, February 27, 1966. Farrakhan wears a Fruit of Islam uniform, a subset of the Nation of Islam.

One can assume that Ali, who died last year, would have been horrified that President Trump followed through on his fear-mongering campaign tactic and used an executive order to shut America’s doors to certain people because of their religion.

Ali traveled widely throughout the Muslim world, and he was acquainted with many American refugees from Muslim countries, people who had fled nations where they had been persecuted, people who were made to feel welcome in America and people who went on to become valued American citizens.

Despite his confrontations with the government through the years, despite the racism and religious discrimination he personally encountered, Ali told audiences around the world that America was still the greatest country of all time.

Ali was a born rebel. He believed that power belonged to the people. He understood that the nation’s greatness came from the sum of its parts. We are a country built by slaves, by refugees, by immigrants, by radicals, by soldiers, by draft dodgers, by people of every political belief and religious faith.

Ali’s story — our story — should remind us that when fear compels us to close our borders and close our minds, we’re not just creating divisions, we’re giving up the fight for what truly makes America great./ the undefeated

Ramy Shaath, an Egyptian-Palestinian human rights activist, arrived in Paris and was reunited with his wife on Saturday after being released from prison and deported by Egyptian authorities.

An overjoyed Shaath, the son of a prominent Palestinian politician, walked out of the Charles de Gaulle airport smiling, holding hands with his wife, Céline Lebrun Shaath, a French national, and waving to a cheering crowd of supporters.

“I am very excited to be here," Shaath said. Speaking in English, he described the network of over-crowded Egyptian prisons in which he had spent the last two and a half years as "lacking respect for human dignity.” However, his resolve has not been broken, Shaath said.

“I am continuing on my way. I am insisting on freeing my friends from Egyptian jails,” Shaath said.

“I have hope for a better Egypt," Shaath said. "I have hope for an independent and secure Palestine and I have hope for a better Middle East and a better world we live in.”

French President Emmanuel Macron in a tweet welcomed the decision to release him, saying he was “relieved” and thanking those who contributed.

Egyptian authorities deported Shaath after he served 2 1/2 years of pre-trial detention over allegations of having ties with an outlawed group, his family said Saturday. He was forced to renounce his Egyptian citizenship to gain his freedom, they added in a statement.

His father is Nabil Shaath, an adviser to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

The family says Ramy was handed over to a representative of the Palestinian Authority at Cairo international airport, where he boarded a flight to the Jordanian capital of Amman. He then travelled on to Paris.

There was no immediate comment from the Egyptian government.

Ramy Shaath was arrested in July 2019 at his home in Cairo and accused of having links to the Muslim Brotherhood, which the Egyptian government designated as a terrorist organization in 2013.

A dual Palestinian-Egyptian national, he was added to a case that included a former lawmaker and key secular activists. They had been arrested about a month before Shaath and accused of collaborating with wanted Brotherhood members in Turkey to plot violence and riots.

Last year, he was added to the country’s terrorist list.

Ramy Shaath helped establish Egypt’s branch of the Palestinian-led boycott movement against Israel, known as BDS.

The family statement said Egyptian authorities forced him to renounce his citizenship as a “precondition for his release.”

“No one should have to choose between their freedom and their citizenship. Ramy was born Egyptian ... No coerced renunciation of citizenship under duress will ever change that,” the statement read.

Egyptian authorities have previously forced activists with duel nationality to relinquish their Egyptian citizenship as a condition for their release, a legal maneuver that allows authorities to deport foreigners accused of crimes.

In July 2020, Mohamed Amashah, a dual Egyptian-American citizen, was forced to renounce his Egyptian nationality to get released after he spending nearly 500 days in pre-trial dentition over charges of “misusing social media” and “aiding a terrorist group.”

Mohamed Soltan, also an American citizen and son of a Muslim Brotherhood leader, was released from an Egyptian prison in 2015 after he relinquished his Egyptian citizenship./ dailysabah

A brawl between two villages took communal turn in Chhattisgarh’s Ambikapur district, about 350 km north of Raipur, as some unidentified people held a meeting in which villagers were seen in a video taking pledge to boycott the Muslims.

Seven accused were arrested on Friday, additional SP (Ambikapur) Vivek Shukla told this newspaper, adding that the police are closely monitoring the situation and had reinforced its local intelligence network.

It all began after some Muslim villagers from Aara, out on a New Year picnic, had verbal altercation with the residents of Kundikala. Tempers became frayed resulting in youths from Aara allegedly barging into some houses, thrashing the locals in Kundikala and misbehaving with women.

Given the sensitivity of the episode, the police were alerted and an FIR was lodged at Lundra police station. Six were arrested but they got bail.

Later, villagers protested at the police station alleging that strong offences were not pressed against the accused. According to the police, the FIR was lodged after evaluating the complaint.

“If during the course of probe more details come out, accordingly the charges will be added,” said Akhilesh Kaushik, incharge of Lundra police station.

It was after this protest that the boycott event was held on January 5. The viral video showed villagers purportedly promising not to buy anything from Muslims or sell anything to them.

“We learnt some outsiders came to the village and publicly asked the inhabitants to take a pledge to boycott the Muslims. We are inquiring into it,” the additional SP said./ newindianexpress

The United States led governments around the world in calling for the restoration of Myanmar’s democracy on Monday after the military staged a coup, arresting civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other politicians.

President Joe Biden threatened new sanctions on Myanmar and assailed the country’s army for the coup, calling it a “direct assault on the country’s transition to democracy and rule of law.” 
“The United States removed sanctions on Burma over the past decade based on progress toward democracy,” Biden said in a statement, using Myanmar’s former name. “The reversal of that progress will necessitate an immediate review of our sanction laws and authorities, followed by appropriate action. The United States will stand up for democracy wherever it is under attack.”

Myanmar has been a Western democracy promotion project for decades and had been a symbol of some success. But over the past several years, there have been growing concerns about its backsliding into authoritarianism. Disappointment with Suu Kyi, the former opposition leader, has run high, especially over her resistance to reining in repression of Rohingya Muslims in the country’s west.
“The international community should come together in one voice to press the Burmese military to immediately relinquish the power they have seized,” Biden said.

“We will work with our partners throughout the region and the world to support the restoration of democracy and the rule of law, as well as to hold accountable those responsible for overturning Burma’s democratic transition.”
Newly appointed US Secretary of State Antony Blinken also called on Myanmar’s military “to release all government officials and civil society leaders and respect the will of the people of Burma as expressed in democratic elections on November 8.”
Before the coup, Washington, alongside several other Western nations, had urged the military to “adhere to democratic norms” in a Jan. 29 statement that came as the commander-in-chief threatened to revoke the country’s constitution.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson condemned the coup and the “unlawful imprisonment of civilians, including” Suu Kyi.

“The vote of the people must be respected and civilian leaders released,” he tweeted.
British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab also added his words of condemnation about the state of emergency the Myanmar military had imposed.
“The democratic wishes of the people of Myanmar must be respected, and the National Assembly peacefully re-convened,” he said on Twitter.

Britain’s foreign ministry said it would pursue diplomatic steps with its allies to ensure a return to democracy in Myanmar and summoned the southeast Asian country’s ambassador for a meeting with Minister for Asia Nigel Adams.
“The Minister for Asia made clear the democratic wishes of the people of Myanmar must be respected, and the National Assembly peacefully re-convened. He also said that the UK would work with like-minded partners and pursue all necessary diplomatic levers to ensure a peaceful return to democracy,” Britain’s foreign ministry said in a statement.
China, which regularly opposes UN intervention in Myanmar, called for all sides to “resolve differences.”
“China is a friendly neighbor of Myanmar and hopes the various parties in Myanmar will appropriately resolve their differences under the constitutional and legal framework to protect political and social stability,” foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said at a press briefing.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres “strongly” condemned the military’s detention of Suu Kyi, President Win Myint and other leaders.

“These developments represent a serious blow to democratic reforms in Myanmar,” spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said in a statement.
The UN also said it fears the coup will worsen the plight of some 600,000 Rohingya Muslims still in the country.
“There are about 600,000 Rohingya those that remain in Rakhine State, including 120,000 people who are effectively confined to camps, they cannot move freely and have extremely limited access to basic health and education services,” Dujarric told reporters.
“So our fear is that the events may make the situation worse for them,” he said.

The 15-member UN Security Council plans to discuss Myanmar in a closed meeting on Tuesday, diplomats said.
“We want to address the long-term threats to peace and security, of course working closely with Myanmar’s Asia and ASEAN neighbors,” Britain’s UN Ambassador Barbara Woodward, president of the council for February, told reporters.
China, backed by Russia, shielded Myanmar from any significant council action after the 2017 military crackdown. Beijing and Moscow are council veto powers along with France, Britain and the United States.

The Myanmar army said it had detained Suu Kyi and others in response to “election fraud,” handing power to military chief Min Aung Hlaing and imposing a state of emergency for one year.
The United Nations called for the release of all those detained, Dujarric said. He said Guterres’ special envoy on Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, “remains actively engaged” and is likely to brief the Security Council.
Japan urged Myanmar’s military to free Suu Kyi and to restore democracy.
“We request the release of stakeholders including state counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi who was detained today,” Japan’s foreign ministry said in a statement urging “the national army to quickly restore the democratic political system in Myanmar.”
European Council President Charles Michel strongly condemned the coup.

“The outcome of the elections has to be respected and democratic process needs to be restored,” the former Belgian prime minister tweeted.
“We call on the military to respect the rule of law, to resolve disputes through lawful mechanisms and to release immediately all civilian leaders and others who have been detained unlawfully,” Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne said.
“We have noted the developments in Myanmar with deep concern. India has always been steadfast in its support to the process of democratic transition in Myanmar. We believe that the rule of law and the democratic process must be upheld,” India’s Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee said it was appalled by the arrest of Suu Kyi, who won the peace prize in 1991, president Win Myint and other political leaders, and called for their “immediate release.”
Myanmar had been emerging from decades of strict military rule and international isolation that began in 1962, and Monday’s events were a shocking fall from power for Suu Kyi, who won the Nobel Peace Prize for her work promoting democracy and human rights.
She had lived under house arrest for years as she tried to push her country toward democracy and then became its de facto leader after her National League for Democracy won elections in 2015.

AFP, Reuters and AP