Hundreds of Palestinian and Israeli Arabs rallied yesterday at the ruins of a Muslim graveyard in Jerusalem where the city's new Museum of Tolerance is slated to be built.

The protesters were demonstrating against a Supreme Court ruling which gave permission to resume immediate constructi on following a hiatus of more than two years.   FULL ARTICLE LINK

Car bombings and killings have cast a shadow on Ramadan here since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003. But now, with a decline in the bloodshed, Iraqis hope Islam's holiest month will be reminiscent of calmer times.

This year, people are looking forward to more relaxed nights with families and friends. A total of 430 Iraqi civilians, soldiers and police officers were killed nationwide last month compared with 1,860 during the same period last year.   FULL ARTICLE LINK

Activists in Yemen say the establishment of a religious police force, under the banner of promoting virtue and curbing vice, is a war on women and their rights.

Some two thousand clerics led by Sheikh Abdulmajeed al Zindani, the hardline rector of the Islamic Al Eman University, and a number of tribal dignitaries met in Sana’a last week and announced the establishment of The Authority for Protecting Virtue and Fighting Vice.

Women’s rights activists immediately condemned the move.   FULL ARTICLE LINK

King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia exhorted followers of the world's leading faiths to turn away from extremism and embrace a spirit of reconciliation, saying at the start of an interfaith conference Wednesday that history's great conflicts were not caused by religion itself but by its misinterpretation.

"My brothers, we must tell the world that differences don't need to lead to disputes," Abdullah said, speaking through a Spanish interpreter. "The tragedies we have experienced throughout history were not the fault of religion but because of the extremism that has been adopted by some followers of all the religions, and of all political systems."   FULL ARTICLE LINK

Illyas, 20, precariously straddles two worlds.

At home, he's a devout Christian who wears a silver cross around his neck, reads the Bible and sings hymns praising Jesus Christ. In public, he is a pious Muslim who attends regular mosque prayers.

Illyas and his parents - they asked a reporter not to mention the family name to ensure their safety - had been practicing Muslims until they watched a religious television program beamed by satellite from Reseda (Los Angeles County). At that time last year, Illyas's mother called a hot line number of Iran for Christ Ministries, prayed with a counselor and soon accepted Jesus Christ as her savior. Illyas and his stepfather quickly followed.   FULL ARTICLE LINK

Sunni preachers on Friday denounced the shooting of a Quran, Islam's holy book, by a U.S. sniper in Iraq following a series of apologies by American commanders and President Bush.

The use of Islam's holy book for target practice has triggered an angry response in Iraq and protests in Afghanistan as U.S.-led forces work to maintain their alliance with Sunni Arabs who have turned against al-Qaida in Iraq.   FULL ARTICLE LINK

Courts in Jeddah should dismiss cases against a Saudi web critic and a Turkish barber charged with “insulting” Islam, an unequivocal violation of freedom of expression protected under international law, Human Rights Watch said today. 

The Saudi man used his website to criticize the religious police while the Turkish barber is accused of cursing the name of God.  
 
“Criminalizing speech on grounds that it is insulting might appease some people, but it violates the fundamental human right of free speech,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “The Saudi government uses these laws primarily to silence its critics.”  
 
On May 5, the prosecution service in Jeddah charged Ra’if Badawi with “setting up an electronic site that insults Islam,” and referred the case to court, asking for a five-year prison sentence and a 3 million riyal (US$800,000) fine. Unknown persons have hacked Badawi’s website multiple times, and have published his phone numbers, work address, and a threat on the hacked site: “Oh you retard, you are in the land of Muhammad, peace be upon him. Underline ‘Muhammad’ with a thousand lines before a thousand swords are put above your neck!” Prosecutors have not investigated the hackers or the death threats against Badawi.  
 
The prosecution service had detained Badawi in March 2008 for one day to interrogate him about his website, which he uses to detail abuses by the Saudi religious police and to question the predominant interpretation of Islam. After being threatened with arrest for his online activities and receiving personal threats of physical harm, Badawi fled Saudi Arabia two weeks ago.  
 
“Saudi assertions of increased freedom of expression ring hollow in light of the systematic silencing of critics who dare to speak their minds publicly,” Whitson said.  
 
In a second case, the Mekka appeals court on May 1 upheld Sabri Bogday’s death sentence issued on March 31, 2008 for “cursing the name of God.” Bogday, a Turkish national who had worked in Jeddah for 11 years as a barber, allegedly insulted God during an argument with a Saudi client and an Egyptian neighbor. Bogday, who did not have a lawyer in court, denied cursing God, but the three judges of the lower court regarded the testimony by the Saudi and the Egyptian witnesses as sufficient proof that Bogday had committed the crime of apostasy, or defection from Islam.  
 
“The charges, conviction, and sentence against Bogday show the dangers of criminalizing speech on the grounds that it’s offensive,” Whitson said. “There’s no good reason to believe that criminal penalties for insulting God or religion either prevent such insults or restore the alleged damage done to the reputation of religion or God.”  
 
Although the existence of blasphemy laws make some forms of insult to religion an offence, human rights bodies have called for their abolition, and as a minimum that they be narrowly defined so they are compatible with international human rights law on free speech. “Cursing God” does not meet this test and should not be a criminal offence, Human Rights Watch said.  
 
Saudi Arabia does not have a penal code, and the crimes of “insulting Islam” or “cursing God” are not precisely defined. Prosecutors and judges in Saudi Arabia frequently attach a criminal charge to an act they consider criminal without citing the legal basis for such a charge. International human rights law requires that the law, in particular one establishing criminal offences, be sufficiently precise to enable an individual to regulate his conduct appropriately.  
 
International human rights law also protects freedom of expression. The government may only ban limited types of speech such as that which immediately and directly incites violence, but the government may not impose criminal sanctions for the expression of thoughts or opinions, merely because they are deemed offensive.  
 
Saudi Arabia frequently convicts persons for alleged insults to religion. Hadi al-Mutif, who belongs to the minority Isma’ili creed in Shia Islam, remains on death row for allegedly insulting the Prophet Muhammad with two words in 1993; a court convicted teacher Muhammad al-Suhaimi in 2004 of insulting religion for his unorthodox views expressed in a classroom; teacher Muhammad al-Harbi was found guilty of blasphemy in 2005; and a different court charged Rabah al-Quwai’i with apostasy for internet writings in 2005.

PRESS RELEASE From Human Rights Watch  

The Islamist Hamas movement insisted on Tuesday that it will not agree to Israeli demands that it free a soldier held captive for almost two years as part of a proposed Gaza truce.

"Whoever thinks that the Shalit issue will be settled for free as part of the period of calm is completely wrong," senior Hamas leader Mahmud al-Zahar said in a speech in Gaza City, referring to Corporal Gilad Shalit, seized in a deadly cross-border raid from Gaza in June 2006.   FULL ARTICLE LINK