News

Yazidi women win EU Parliament’s Sakharov Prize
October 27, 2016 By Faith Matters

Yazidi women win EU Parliament’s Sakharov Prize

The European Parliament awarded its Sakharov Prize for freedom of thought on Thursday to two Iraqi Yazidi women who were held as sex slaves by Islamic State militants and now campaign for human rights. Nadia Murad and Lamiya Aji Bashar were among thousands of women and girls abducted, tortured and sexually abused by Islamic State […]

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Supporters of Tanveer Ahmed share photos of killer ‘from prison’
October 26, 2016 By Faith Matters

Supporters of Tanveer Ahmed share photos of killer ‘from prison’

A Faith Matters investigation has uncovered social media accounts sharing ‘new’ photos of Tanveer Ahmed allegedly taken inside Barlinnie Prison. Tanveer Ahmed is serving a life sentence for stabbing Ahmadi shopkeeper Asad Shah in Glasgow in March. He claimed that Shah had ‘disrespected’ Islam due to his claim of prophethood. The recent photos of Ahmed […]

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Twenty dead, more than 100 wounded, in Pakistan police academy attack
October 25, 2016 By Faith Matters

Twenty dead, more than 100 wounded, in Pakistan police academy attack

Gunmen stormed a Pakistani police training academy in the southwestern city of Quetta late on Monday night, killing at least 20 people and wounding more than 100, officials said. Some 200 trainees are stationed at the facility, officials said, and some had been taken hostage. Mir Sarfaraz Bugti, home minister of Baluchistan province, of which […]

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France starts clearing ‘jungle’ migrant camp in Calais
October 24, 2016 By Faith Matters

France starts clearing ‘jungle’ migrant camp in Calais

France began clearing the sprawling “Jungle” migrant camp in Calais on Monday, with hundreds carrying suitcases queuing outside a hangar to be resettled in reception centres across the country. The first buses departed less than an hour after immigration workers started the operation and officials predicted some 2,500 would leave on the first day. Armed […]

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California woman joins chorus of Trump accusers
October 23, 2016 By Faith Matters

California woman joins chorus of Trump accusers

Another woman came forward on Saturday (October 22) to accuse Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump of inappropriate conduct. Jessica Drake, an adult film industry actor and director, told reporters at a news conference in Los Angeles that Trump grabbed her and kissed without asking, and then offered her money and the use of his private […]

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Declining Fortunes of Islamic State
October 17, 2016 By Faith Matters

Declining Fortunes of Islamic State

This video posted on social media purports to show rebel fighters in the village of Dabiq, Syria. Rebels — as well as Turkey, which backs them — said they fully captured the village from Islamic State on Sunday. Their victory forced the jihadists from their symbolic stronghold where they had promised to fight a final, […]

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Iraq PM Abadi announces start of Mosul offensive
October 17, 2016 By Faith Matters

Iraq PM Abadi announces start of Mosul offensive

Iraq’s Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi on Monday announced the start of an offensive to retake Mosul, the capital of Islamic State’s so-called caliphate in Iraq. “I announce today the start of the heroic operations to free you from the terror and the oppression of Daesh,” he said in a speech on state TV, using an […]

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REPORT LAUNCH: Sectarianism, Extremism & Hate Crime: The Impacts on the Ahmadiyya Community
October 9, 2016 By Faith Matters

REPORT LAUNCH: Sectarianism, Extremism & Hate Crime: The Impacts on the Ahmadiyya Community

This report, entitled ‘Sectarianism, Extremism and Hate Crime, the Impacts on the Ahmadiyya Community’, contextualises the historical and modern drivers of sectarianism against Ahmadi communities, both domestically and internationally. It highlights a history of social activities by Ahmadi groups and the manner in which they initially bridged Muslim and non-Muslim communities through debate, discourse and […]

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How Tanveer Ahmed (and others) exploit religious sentiment to justify murder
October 3, 2016 By Faith Matters

How Tanveer Ahmed (and others) exploit religious sentiment to justify murder

A video from an influential Pakistani hate preacher glorifying the actions of Tanveer Ahmed will likely be subject to police investigation. In a five-minute video uploaded to YouTube, Khadim Hussain Rizvi, a Barelvi cleric, Pakistan’s largest grouping of Sunni Muslims, recounted Ahmed’s twisted account of the night he murdered Asad Shah. He confirmed that he […]

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Morocco arrests 10 suspected female Islamic State militants
October 3, 2016 By Faith Matters

Morocco arrests 10 suspected female Islamic State militants

Morocco has dismantled a suspected Islamic State militant cell and arrested 10 women believed to be planning attacks in the North African kingdom, the Interior Ministry said on Monday. It was the latest in a series of militant cells Morocco says it has broken up, but it is the first time authorities have arrested a […]

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