About six weeks ago, a 32 year old doctor in the Sindh province in Pakistan was shot by police. Shah Nawaz was killed by police who suggested that he was resisting arrest after being accused of insulting the Prophet Muhammad. The blasphemy charge was that he had shared ‘blasphemous’ content on social media.

Nawaz’s family reject this charge and say that he was giving himself up and that he was killed by a member of the local police force on the basis that he had allegedly promoted ‘blasphemous’ content.

This killing came on the heels of another murder on September the 12th 2024, where a 52 year old man  was killed in custody in Balochistan and who was being held on the basis of spurious ‘blasphemy’ charges.

Judiciary Involvement in Blasphemy

We must not forget that these killings and the charges of ‘blasphemy’ come on the back of a range of cases that have mainly involved the beleaguered Christian community in Pakistan, with the most high profile case being that of Asia Bibi.

Following on from Asia Bibi’s case, in May 2020, Aneeqa Ateeq a 26 year old Muslim woman was arrested in May 2020 and charged with circulating ‘blasphemous material’ on her Whatsapp messages. A court in Rawalpindi subsequently found Ateeq guilty and gave her a 20 year jail sentence and ordered her to be ‘hanged by her neck till she is dead”.

In 2021, a Pakistani Christian, Shagufta Kiran, was arrested for posting ‘blasphemous’ content on her Whatsapp messaging app in September 2020. The 40 year old mother of four was recently found guilty and has been sentenced to death.

The list of Christians and Muslims who have been accused of blasphemy continues to rise in Pakistan on the back of the introduction of ‘blasphemy’ as a political tool by the Islamist extremist group, Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan (TLP). Such has been the spread of their narrative that the lives of minorities and those who even question faith, are at risk. The impacts of ‘blasphemy’ are therefore felt by Christian and Ahmadi communities who have borne the brunt of the actions of the state in denying them the most basic of rights.

Faith Matters will continue to highlight these human rights abuses and to highlight the lives of those affected by the ‘blasphemy police’ and extremists in Pakistan who seek to target minorities. Furthermore, the U.K. Government has not done enough in highlighting and challenging the human rights abuses around ‘blasphemy’ that are becoming pervasive in the country. The meekness of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) on this matter, is unacceptable.

READ MORE: Two Christians Sought by Police in Pakistan on Blasphemy Charges

Political activist Tommy Robinson will miss his own planned march for thousands of people after being remanded into custody by police.

The 41-year-old, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, is accused of being in contempt of court following the airing of a film at a protest in central London.

He attended Folkestone Police station on Friday where he was separately charged with failing to provide his mobile phone pin to police under Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act 2000, Kent Police said.

Robinson is due to appear at Woolwich Crown Court on Monday for a two-day hearing concerning allegations he breached a 2021 High Court order barring him from repeating libellous allegations against a Syrian refugee who successfully sued him.

Supporters of Robinson are due to hold a demonstration on Saturday, which is expected to be met with a counter-protest organised by Stand Up to Racism.

The Metropolitan Police and British Transport Police are due to be supported by officers from other forces across the country as the Met said there will be a “significant police presence” to ensure the two groups are kept apart.

READ MORE: Why did Tommy Robinson move from the EDL to Pegida?

Two Islamic State extremists who planned the murder of an imam referred to him as “Voldemort” who was engaging in “black magic”, a public inquiry heard.

Father-of-seven Jalal Uddin, 71, died in a “brutal and ferocious” attack with a hammer in a children’s play area in Rochdale, Greater Manchester, on February 18 2016, because his religious practices were deemed sacrilegious by his killers.

An inquiry examining whether intelligence failures contributed to Mr Uddin’s death by failing to spot and stop his extremist killers, sat in public for the first time today.

The hearing, at Liverpool Crown Court, first sat at the start of the month to hear evidence in “closed” sessions, not open to press or public.

Inquiry chairman Judge Thomas Teague KC ruled some evidence must not be made public and heard only in private sessions to prevent harm to the detection and prevention of terrorism and public safety.

Mohammed Kadir, then 24, is believed to have struck the fatal blows with a hammer and had planned the killing with former Manchester United steward Mohammed Syeedy, then 21, who drove Kadir to the scene and helped carry out surveillance on their target.

Kadir fled the UK three days after the killing and is thought to have headed to Syria, while Syeedy was in September 2016 convicted of murdering Mr Uddin and sentenced to life with a minimum term of 24 years.

Syeedy’s trial was told both men were sympathisers of the terrorist group calling itself Islamic State and consumed by hatred of Mr Uddin for his practise of Ruqyah, a form of exorcism, which the terror organisation considered “black magic”.

A third man, Mohammed Syadul Hussain, was convicted in April 2017 of helping Kadir leave the country and jailed for five years.

Opening the hearing, chairman Judge Teague said it was “deeply unfortunate” more than eight years had passed since Mr Uddin’s death and for “compelling legal reasons” it is impossible to hear all the evidence in public.

Jason Beer KC, counsel to the inquiry, said Mr Uddin, who first came to the UK from Bangladesh in 2002, was a scholar of the Koran and a very well-regarded member of the community in Rochdale and formerly an imam at the local Jalalia Mosque.

But his practice of Ruqyah, involving using amulets, made him a target for IS supporters, who believed Islam should be practised as in the seventh century.

Mr Beer said: “IS is said to have regarded this practise as black magic. The men who murdered Mr Uddin were supporters and followers of IS.

“The murder was motivated by their hatred of Mr Uddin as a practitioner of Ruquya.”

Mr Beer said in some mobile phone exchanges between the two that Mr Uddin was referred to as Voldemort, a reference to Lord Voldemort, a fictional character in the Harry Potter books.

A previous hearing heard from October 2015, Kadir was assessed and continued to be assessed as a person of high risk and significant concern, and latterly as someone who posed a risk of acting on his Islamist extremist aspirations.

And after police raided Syeedy’s home following the murder, phones and laptops revealed IS propaganda and material.

These included photos of both men doing the one finger IS salute, photos of IS flags draped over road signs in Rochdale and a photo of Syeedy with an IS flag on a street with a mosque.

In August 2015, Mr Uddin’s property including a book he used during Ruqyah was stolen from Jalalia Mosque and destroyed.

Kadir and Syeedy also planned to report him to the Border Force, as Mr Uddin was in the UK illegally.

But the inquiry heard in December 23, 2015, Mr Uddin was photographed with Simon Danczuk, the then-MP for Rochdale, at the door of Jalalia Mosque.

A phone exchange between the two plotters and others, stated: “Oh dear. Voldemort is never going to be busted by the immigration service now.”

Two months later, the two men launched the attack, leaving Mr Uddin dead.

Around 2,000 mourners attended his funeral, paid for by the local community.

The inquiry was adjourned until Tuesday morning.

Read More: Killing of Imam Jalal Uddin shows how extremism is morphing

Denmark is taking threats from the Islamist terrorist network al-Qaeda very seriously, Justice Minister Peter Hummelgaard said on Tuesday, according to broadcaster DR.

On Monday, reports had emerged that al-Qaeda was calling on Muslims to launch retaliation attacks for recent desecrations of the Koran in Sweden and Denmark.

The Danish domestic intelligence service PET had earlier confirmed a new threat against Sweden and Denmark, in response to Koran burnings in the two countries.

Several anti-Islamic protests involving the damaging and burning of the Koran in Sweden and Denmark have triggered protests in Muslim-majority countries in recent months.

The reactions in Iraq were particularly strong. In July, the Iraqi government expelled the Swedish ambassador, while demonstrators stormed the Swedish embassy in Baghdad and set fire to it.

The Koran burnings have been carried out by small groups seeking to provoke Muslims. The protests fall under freedom of speech in both countries and are legal.

Al-Qaeda is said to have posted an online statement calling for severe punishment against everyone involved in such acts, including blowing up Swedish and Danish embassies around the world.

But Hummelgaard reassured Danes that they should not be nervous. Police and secret services were keeping a very close eye on the situation, he said.

He reiterated that the government intended to ban the provocative Koran burnings, however it was initially unclear what steps would be taken.

The terror alert level in Denmark has not been raised, despite the multiple threats. It is currently on the fourth of five levels.

Read more: Denmark ponders law to ban burning of the Koran in front of embassies

Muslim pilgrims in Mecca have circled the Kaaba, Islam’s holiest site, and then converged on a vast tent camp in the nearby desert, officially opening the annual Hajj pilgrimage.

The event is returning to its full capacity for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic.

So far, more than 1.8 million pilgrims from all over the world have amassed in and around Mecca for the Hajj, and the number was growing as more pilgrims from inside Saudi Arabia joined, said a spokesman for the Saudi Hajj Ministry, Ayedh al-Ghweinim.

Authorities have said they expect this year to approach pre-Covid levels of more than two million.

Egyptian businessman Yehya Al-Ghanam said he was at a loss for words to describe his feelings on arriving at Mina, one of the biggest tent camps in the world, outside Mecca, where pilgrims will stay for much of the Hajj.

“Tears will fall from my eyes out of joy and happiness,” he said. “I do not sleep. I have not slept for 15 days, only an hour a day.”

The pilgrimage is one of the five pillars of Islam, and all Muslims are required to make the five-day Hajj at least once in their lives if they are physically and financially able to.

For pilgrims, it is a moving spiritual experience that absolves sins, brings them closer to God and unites the world’s more than 1.8 billion Muslims. Some spend years saving up money and waiting for a permit to embark on the journey.

The rituals during the Hajj largely commemorate the Koran’s accounts of Ibrahim, his son Ismail and Ismail’s mother Hajar.

Pilgrims have been doing the ritual circuit around the Kaaba since arriving in Mecca over recent days. As the last ones performed it on Monday, the pilgrims made their way by foot or bus to Mina.

In Mina, soldiers sprayed pilgrims with water to cool them down in the heat in the desert plain, where there is little respite from the blazing sun.

The faithful set up in their tents, resting in the rows of cubicles and praying together to prepare for the coming rituals.

On Tuesday, pilgrims will move to Mount Arafat, a desert hill where the Prophet Muhammad is said to have delivered his final sermon. Afterwards, they collect pebbles from a site known as Muzdalifa to be used in the symbolic stoning of pillars representing the devil back in Mina.

The final three days of the Hajj coincide with the Eid al-Adha holiday, when Muslims around the world slaughter livestock and distribute the meat to the poor.

In 2019, more than 2.4 million pilgrims participated in the Hajj. In 2020, amid worldwide coronavirus lockdowns, Saudi Arabia limited the pilgrimage to a few thousand citizens and local residents.

Last year, just under 900,000 attended as Saudi Arabia allowed limited numbers of pilgrims from abroad.

Read relevant links: Saudi Arabia bans foreign pilgrims amid Covid-19 fears.

A financial analyst who made homemade explosives while harbouring “deep-seated” hatred against people he saw as “enemies” of Islam has been jailed for eight years.

Asad Bhatti, 50, from Redhill, Surrey, was convicted at the Old Bailey of having a stash of bomb-making materials after police received a tip-off from a computer repair shop.

On Monday, Mrs Justice McGowan jailed Bhatti for eight years with a further four years on extended licence after finding he posed a danger to the public in the future.

She said Bhatti had developed a “deep-seated hatred” for a group of Muslims he identified as “The Hypocrites” as well as other people based on their race and sexuality.

The judge noted that Bhatti had been diagnosed with autistic spectrum disorder and was a “compulsive individual” but was also intelligent, well educated, with a responsible job.

She told him: “You were not targeted or taken advantage of by others. You became interested and that interest may well have been obsessive because of your autistic condition. But the interest was real and caused you to experiment in a way that was highly dangerous.”

The court had heard how Bhatti was reported to police by the owner of a computer repair shop who became suspicious of the content on his laptop.

An analysis of the computer and other electronic devices seized by police revealed a library of materials on how to manufacture explosive devices.

A search of the defendant’s home and a rented storage unit uncovered precursor chemicals and circuitry for the construction of explosive devices.

Experts also identified an improvised explosive device and three quantities of an improvised explosive known as black powder.

The prosecution alleged Bhatti had the explosives for “a purpose connected with the commission, preparation or instigation of an act of terrorism”.

An examination of Bhatti’s computer also revealed a 173-page document compiled by the defendant entitled The Mu’min’s Handbook.

Although unfinished, its contents page included sections on Islam, jihad and martyrdom followed by chapters on “a simple guide to explosives”, “hand-to-hand combat” and “handguns and sniper rifles”.

The 20th chapter entitled The Munaafiqun (The Hypocrites) identified a perceived worldwide “enemy” to Islam and its “true adherents”.

He wrote that the “evil human beings” included “corrupt heads of Governments, Black Magicians, Religious Scholars”.

When asked in police interview to explain the content, Bhatti said it was “just like educational documents, work documents, just like hobby documents, stuff that interests me”.

Bhatti explained that he had studied engineering and business management at the University of Greenwich, and that he was a part-qualified accountant working as a senior financial analyst.

Giving evidence at his trial, Bhatti claimed he had the materials for lawful experimentation and out of curiosity.

In March, a jury rejected his explanation and found him guilty of two counts of possessing explosives, making explosives and two counts of possessing articles for terrorist purposes on or before January 8 2021.

In mitigation, Edward Henry KC told the court that Bhatti was “sad” rather than “bad” and had not sought to share his writings with others.

Mr Henry said: “He wanted to reduce the world to pure reason, a reason of his own understanding.”

The German city of Cologne will start permitting mosques to broadcast muezzin calls for prayer, the city said.

The calls can be broadcast for five minutes every week for the Friday prayer around noon and audible outside the Muslim houses of prayer, city spokeswoman Katja Reuter said.

Cologne mosques need to apply for a special permit in order to be able to broadcast the call.

The initiative will be limited to two years and then be re-evaluated.

The city’s mayor welcomed the decision, saying that “if in addition to the sounds of the church bells we also hear the call of the muezzin, it shows that in Cologne diversity is valued and lived”.

“Permitting the call of the muezzin is a sign of respect,” Mayor Henriette Reker tweeted last week.

Christian church bells ring out daily in many German cities and towns.

Cologne, a western city of one million, has one of Germany’s biggest Muslim communities and about 35 mosques.

Most Muslims initially came from Turkey as guest workers 60 years ago and then later brought their families.

Only few other Muslim houses of prayer across Germany, like in the western towns of Oer-Erkenschwick and Dueren, have been broadcasting the muezzin’s call for years, sometimes despite the protests of Christian neighbours.

A new charity launched to recognise the sacrifices made by Muslims who fought in the British military in the past century is aiming to erect war memorials to commemorate their contributions.

The National Muslim War Memorial Trust (NMWMT) said it also wants to educate both students and adults about the role of Muslims in the Armed Forces, to dispel misconceptions and help create good relations between different people and communities.

The organisation’s chair, the Conservative peer Lord Sheikh, said the “heroic contribution” of Muslims in the British Armed Forces during both World Wars has been “undervalued”.

He said: “One of the key reasons we have set up the charity is to combat Islamophobia, and people should realise the sacrifices Muslims made to keep the Union Jack flying.”

He said those associated with the trust “very much hope to draw attention to and get more public recognition for the sacrifices made by Muslim personnel in the British Armed Forces”.

He added: “The War Graves Commission report illustrates how long overdue this is.”

An investigation published this week found the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) did not properly commemorate potentially hundreds of thousands of black and Asian service personnel who died fighting for the British Empire.

The NMWMT said the first memorial it will be involved in erecting will be at a location in London which is yet to be agreed.

So far, £29,000 of a £2 million target has been raised to erect a permanent memorial, the trust’s website shows.

According to the trust there were at least 400,000 Muslims fighting in the British Indian Army during the First World War, and this had grown to around one million by the time of the Second World War.

Pope Francis has urged Iraqis to treat their Christian brothers as a precious resource to protect, not an “obstacle” to eliminate, as he opened the first papal visit to Iraq with a plea for tolerance and fraternity among Christians and Muslims.

Francis brushed aside the coronavirus pandemic and security concerns to resume his globe-trotting papacy after a year-long gap under Covid-19 lockdown in Vatican City.

His primary aim over the weekend is to encourage Iraq’s dwindling number of Christians, who were violently persecuted by the so-called Islamic State group and still face discrimination by the Shiite majority, to stay and help rebuild the country devastated by wars and strife.

“Only if we learn to look beyond our differences and see each other as members of the same human family will we be able to begin an effective process of rebuilding and leave to future generations a better, more just and more humane world,” Francis told Iraqi authorities in his welcoming address.

The 84-year-old donned a facemask during the flight from Rome and throughout all his protocol visits, as did his hosts, but the masks came off when the leaders sat down to talk, and social distancing and other health measures appeared lax at the airport and on the streets of Baghdad, despite the country’s worsening Covid-19 outbreak.

Francis was transported around Baghdad in what Iraqi security officials said was an armoured black BMW, flanked by rows of police on siren-blaring motorcycles. It was believed to be the first time Francis had used a bulletproof car.

Iraqis seemed keen to welcome Francis and the global attention his visit was bringing, with some lining the road to cheer his motorcade and banners and posters hanging high in central Baghdad depicting Francis with the slogan “We are all Brothers”.

In central Tahrir Square, a mock tree was erected emblazoned with the Vatican emblem, while Iraqi and Vatican flags lined empty streets.

The government is eager to show off the relative security it has achieved after years of wars and its defeat of the IS insurgency.

Francis’s first main event was a pomp-filled courtesy visit with President Barham Salih at the Baghdad palace inside the heavily fortified Green Zone.

Afterwards, Francis told Mr Salih and other Iraqi officials that Christians and other minorities should not be considered second-class citizens in Iraq but deserve to have the same rights and protections as the Shiite Muslim majority.

“The religious, cultural and ethnic diversity that has been a hallmark of Iraqi society for millennia is a precious resource on which to draw, not an obstacle to eliminate,” he said.

“Iraq today is called to show everyone, especially in the Middle East, that diversity, instead of giving rise to conflict, should lead to harmonious co-operation in the life of society.”

Mr Salih echoed his call and praised Francis for coming to make it in person in Iraq despite the pandemic and security concerns.

“The East cannot be imagined without Christians,” he said. “The continued migration of Christians from the countries of the east will have dire consequences for the ability of the people from the same region to live together.”

Christians once constituted a sizeable minority in Iraq, estimated at around 1.4 million, but their numbers began to fall after the 2003 US-led invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein opened a wave of instability in which militants repeatedly targeted Christians.

They received a further blow when IS militants in 2014 swept through northern Iraq, including traditionally Christian towns across the Nineveh plains, some of which date from the time of Christ.

Their extremist version of Islam forced residents to flee to the neighbouring Kurdish region or further afield.

Few have returned — estimates suggest there are fewer than 300,000 Christians still in Iraq and many of those remain displaced from their homes.

Read more: Fearful Christmas in Baghdad after attacks on Christians

French legislators are set to debate a bill to tackle radical Islamic ideology.

Some authorities maintain that such radical beliefs are creeping into public services, schools and online platforms, with the goal of undermining national values.

The bill is broad and controversial, with 1,700 proposed amendments, and guarantees heated debate for the next two weeks in the lower house of the French parliament.

It reflects a priority for France’s president Emmanuel Macron, who in an October speech painted a dark picture of a perverse version of Islam, France’s second most-popular religion, quietly making inroads and creating a “counter-society”.

Interior minister Gerald Darmanin, a right-leaning member of Mr Macron’s centrist party, wrote a short book on the subject, due to be released in a matter of days. His Manifesto For Secularism outlines fundamental values of France that the bill he sponsors is meant to protect.

“Islamism is a Trojan horse hiding the fragmentation bomb of our society,” Mr Darmanin wrote, according to excerpts from the daily Le Figaro.

“In the face of such a dangerous and insidious enemy, which we know is far from the religion of the prophet (of Islam), it is normal that public officials take unprecedented measures.”

Multiple terrorist attacks in France by Islamist extremists provide a backdrop for the bill.

The text applies to all religions, but some Muslims say the legislation once again points the finger at Islam.

Other critics say the bill covers ground already addressed in current laws.

Meanwhile, far-right leader Marine Le Pen says the bill does not go far enough or even name the enemy: radical Islam.

In ways small and large, the bill seeks oversee the functioning of associations and mosques, including foreign financing, aiming plug up entry points for Islamist ideology into the lives of Muslims.

Among the 51 articles, the bill aims to ensure that public service employees respect neutrality and secularism, while protecting them against threats or violence.

In a bid to protect children from indoctrination and to do away with underground schools, the text requires all children from the age of three to attend a regular school.

Some 50,000 children were home-schooled in 2020, according to French media. But the number of “clandestine schools” where children are reportedly indoctrinated in radical ideology is unknown.

Among other key points, the bill aims to keep a close watch on associations, including those that often run mosques, with measures including one aimed at ensuring that outsiders cannot take control of an association.

Another measure requires associations receiving state funds to sign a “contract of Republican commitment” ensuring they honour French values.

Funding must be reimbursed if the contract is broken. While foreign funding for mosques is not banned, amounts over 10,000 euros (£8,800) must be declared.

If some Muslims feel they have been stigmatised, France’s other religions say they are suffering collateral damage.

Le Monde newspaper reported religious leaders were unanimous in their criticism of the treatment of associations, telling a parliamentary commission that it adds unnecessary layers of work and oversight and arouses suspicion over all faiths.

The proposed law also seeks to halt doctors issuing virginity certificates, as well as the practice of polygamy and forced marriage.

Doctors would be fined and risk jail for providing virginity certificates.

The law includes an article that justice minister Eric Dupond-Moretti has called the “Paty law” after the beheading of school teacher Samuel Paty, who showed students in a civics class caricatures of the prophet.

It creates a new crime for hate speech online in which someone’s personal details are posted.

A Chechen refugee beheaded Mr Paty after information about the teacher was spread online.