Archive for September, 2017

A Concise History of Sunnis and Shi’is

The 1400-year-old schism between Sunnis and Shi’is has rarely been as toxic as it is today, feeding wars and communal strife in Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Pakistan, Afghanistan and many other countries, with tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran escalating. In this richly layered and engrossing account, John McHugo reveals how this great divide occurred.

Bahraini Rights Critic Imprisoned for Yemen Tweets

This week Saudi Arabia and its allies in Geneva are blustering and threatening other countries to try to defeat a UN Human Rights Council resolution that would set up an independent investigation into war crimes by all parties – including the Saudi-led military coalition – in Yemen.

Suicide ‘shepherd’ kills several in Kabul

A suicide bomber has killed at least five people near a Shia mosque in Kabul ahead of the major religious commemoration of Ashura. The attacker disguised himself as a shepherd in order to approach the mosque, Kabul police’s criminal investigative director told AFP.

See also alJazeera

Sokoto Warns Shiite Sect against Conducting Procession

By Mohammed Aminu in Sokoto The Sokoto State Government has warned members of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) also known as the Shiite sect to desist from conducting any procession in the state or face the wrath of the law.

The Hazaras and the Afghan State | Hurst Publishers

‘Niamatullah Ibrahimi’s richly-textured account of Hazaras’ relations with the Afghan state not only sheds light on the social and political complexities of a highly-vulnerable group; it also illuminates dimensions of the state building enterprise in Afghanistan in ways that highlight the challenges of internationally-supported state building more broadly. A pathbreaking book.’

From ‘Sort of Muslim’ to ‘Proud to be Alevi’: Young British Alevis and Identity

This presentation explains how the negative identity of second-generation Alevis in the UK has been transmitted intergenerationally, linked to their history of persecuted exclusion in Turkey and to the transnational settlement of Alevi migrants in the UK, and how this sense of marginalisation and invisibility in the receiving country can be addressed.

Saudi Arabia: Official Hate Speech Targets Minorities

Some Saudi state clerics and institutions incite hatred and discrimination against religious minorities, including the country’s Shia Muslim minority. This hate speech prolongs the systematic discrimination against the Shia minority and – at its worst – is employed by violent groups who attack them.

Read/download the HRW report here.
See the Youtube video here.

Opinion | N.Y.U. in Abu Dhabi: A Sectarian Bargain

The U.A.E.’s security clearance forms require applicants to list religion and sect, and N.Y.U.’s own written instructions specify that its employees cannot leave those fields blank. University officials recently told me that they’re still working to reverse my security clearance denial. But based on my past experience with the Abu Dhabi project, I have little hope.

Abdulkareem al-Hawaj at Imminent Risk of Execution after Recent Judgment

19 September 2017 – On 11 September, Saudi Arabia’s Supreme Court upheld the death sentence of Abdulkareem al-Hawaj, leaving him at imminent risk of being executed. With all of his appeals exhausted, al-Hawaj faces execution as soon as King Salman ratifies his sentence, which could happen at any time.

UN Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights Cites Bahrain as “Egregious” Perpetrator of Reprisals

22 September 2017 – On 20 September 2017, United Nations (UN) Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights Andrew Gilmour presented the office’s eighth report on reprisals at the 36 th Session of the Human Rights Council (HRC), raising serious concern over the increased attacks on human rights defenders in Bahrain.

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