2025

HRWF (23.09.2025) – “CAP Liberté de conscience and Human Rights Without Frontiers are deeply concerned about the fact that chaplaincy activities of Jehovah’s Witnesses in a number of Belgian prisons are in practice not allowed any more. Since 2019, Jehovah’s Witnesses have written six times to the Minister of Justice and have initiated legal proceedings due to this discrimination experienced in four Belgian prisons: Nivelles, Leuze, Dinant, and Leuven Central.

The much-vaunted freedom of the web is not so free after all, as evidenced by the European Chat Control bill to “monitor” its citizens' chats. In Nigeria, where Sharia law is rigidly enforced, sharing a song on WhatsApp that contains opinions about the prophet Mohammed, opinions not shared by Muslims who follow Sharia law, results in a death sentence by public hanging, as a warning to blasphemers.

Washington, DC – The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) released the following report: China’s Persecution of Religious Leaders – Religious leaders in China, both independent and state-sanctioned, endure egregious religious freedom conditions. Religious leaders must conform to the Chinese Communist Party’s political ideology and submit to the state’s intrusive system of control in order to legally engage in religious activities.

South Korea’s justice system has once again revealed its fragility with the arrest of Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon, widow of Rev. Sun Myung Moon, in Seoul. Known to her followers as “Mother Han,” the 82-year-old leader of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification is currently recovering from heart failure, a fact the prosecutor disregarded when ordering her detention. In “The Arrest of Mother Han: Korea’s Unholy War on Religion and Reason”, sociologist Massimo Introvigne dissects the legal case, arguing: “The legal grounds for arresting Mother Han were absent. The charges are implausible and politically motivated. This is not a corruption case—it’s a purge.”

by Willy Fautre — On 26 August, the European Court of Human Rights ruled in the case Erikas Rutkauskas v. Lithuania that the religious freedom of a religious minister of Jehovah’s Witnesses had been violated for failing to give him access to a civilian service replacing military service. This is the second time in recent years that Lithuania has lost a similar case in Strasbourg. In June 2022, the court ruled in favour of another Jehovah’s Witness minister, Lithuanian citizen Stanislav Teliatnikov, who was living in Turkey at the time. He also refused military service in 2015 on religious grounds and sought an alternative.

In the following article, “Religiocide in Korea: The Attempted Assassination of a Faith”, sociologist Massimo Introvigne unveils and exposes a disturbing campaign of religious hatred and persecution happening in Korea.

Introvigne explores the legal and political siege against the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, generally known by its previous name of Unification Church.

This Korean crackdown stems from similar efforts started in Japan, where the movement faces legal dissolution.

The World Uyghur Congress (WUC), in close collaboration with the international initiative Don’t Fund Russian Army (DFRA) and the French law firm Bourdon & Associés, has filed a second criminal complaint with a civil claim (plainte avec constitution de partie civile) with the Paris Judicial Court against the French subsidiaries of Chinese technology giants: Dahua Technology France, Hikvision France and Huawei Technologies France.

by Steno Sari — We live in a world where visibility counts more than truth, where those who remain silent and adapt are rewarded, while those who expose themselves are labeled as naïve or inconvenient. In this "liquid" society, relationships are often based on the fear of commitment, consensus is worth more than conscience and courage has become a rare commodity. I am not talking about the reckless courage of the unaware, but of the clear-headed courage of those who remain true to themselves, even at the cost of paying a high price.

Washington, DC — The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) released the following report on the link between atrocity prevention and international religious freedom: Preventing Mass Atrocities Targeting Religious Communities – Religious freedom violations and the targeting of religious identities can play a significant role in elevating the risk of mass killings and atrocities.

by Willy Fautré, director of Human Rights Without Frontiers (Brussels) — In the last few months, a number of mainline British media, including the BBC, published sensational reports gravely stigmatizing the Ahmadi Religion of Peace and Light whose members were arrested and imprisoned as “heretics” in over a dozen Muslim majority countries and were defended by the United Nations, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Human Rights Without Frontiers and other NGOs.

There are signs that “traditional” anti-cultists are ready to enroll even the most lunatic “New Age” figures in their crusade.

In this article, Rosita Šorytė explores the connection between the new anti-cult New Age movements and the conventional anti-cult movements that mostly orbit in the FECRIS galaxy, as demonstrated by Luigi Corvaglia's explicit appreciation of Wahid Azal's remarks, in perfect line with the motto “the enemies of my enemies are my friends”.

A “prophet,” whose revelations come from hallucinogenic plants, believes CESNUR funds AROPL as part of a Jewish “Sabbatian-Frankist” conspiracy.

In this article, Rosita Šorytė denounces the activities of one of the leaders of the New Age Anti-Cultism, Wahid Azal, whose “sources” derive from hallucinogenic plants. Wahid Azal has incorporated ayahuasca and Haoma – a MAO inhibitor from Syrian rue (Peganum harmala) and Australian acacia bark containing DMT – into his religious practice, which allows him to communicate with mythical figures from centuries past.

The attack against the spiritual master Aaravindha Himadra was an egregious example of irresponsible reporting that may incite violence. 

In this article, Rosita Šorytė explains how the new type of anti-cult activism – the so called New Age Anti-Cultism – works. The pattern is very much the same of anti-cult media campaigns many times denounced by FOB.

The American “journalist” Be Scofield is a new kind of anti-cultist. Her primary sources are revelations from angels, extraterrestrials, Tarot cards, and the Akashic records. 

In this series of articles, Rosita Šorytė explores the emergence of a new type of anti-cult activism, which she refers to as “New Age anti-cultism.” Unlike traditional anti-cult movements that oppose “cults” in the name of secular humanism or mainstream religion, this movement criticizes “cultic” beliefs rooted in a confusing mix of astrology, energy theories, and popular esotericism.

by Steno Sari — There is something deeply altered in current times. Vulgarity, verbal aggression, scornful sarcasm: it all unfolds before everyone's eyes, without any shame. There was a time when shame played a crucial social role: it regulated behavior, nurtured an inner awareness of limits. Today, it is considered an obstacle to authenticity, a constraint to be eliminated. Yet without a sense of modesty, civil coexistence disintegrates and the social fracture becomes systemic.

In this series of articles, Rosita Šorytė will examine two examples of “New Age anti-cultism” pertinent to AROPL. She will also explore whether New Age anti-cultism will be recognized as a legitimate component of the global anti-cult movement and whether it will benefit from the efforts of its coordinating agencies. Rosita Šorytė, member of FOB’ Scientific Committee, joined in 1992 the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania, and worked for 25 years as a diplomat, inter alia at the UNESCO in Paris and the United Nations in New York.

by Alessandro Amicarelli — Luigi Corvaglia, the self-styled anti-cult crusader and FECRIS board member, has once again graced the digital pages of “AgoraVox”—that Italian bastion of citizen journalism where anyone with a keyboard and a grievance can play pundit. But this time, his article didn’t just linger in the depths of AgoraVox’s volunteer-driven archives. It was swiftly picked up and republished by the China Anti-Xie-Jiao Association ...

As the fratricidal war in Ukraine continues, so does the war between Russia and Jehovah's Witnesses. The two events are not comparable, on the one hand you die, on the other you go to jail. But in the long run, the latter proves more dangerous and harmful, because what is dying is freedom of belief, the freedom to be what one wants to be, and this would be the end of all individuality and all freedom.

In Italy, but unfortunately not only there, there is an ongoing emergency: a virus that was thought to have been permanently eradicated back in the early 1980s has made a comeback. It is again circulating and being transmitted by communicating, exchanging ideas, changing one's point of view and embracing new life experiences. It is the “virus of mental manipulation”. It seems that the only vaccine that can stop this alarming phenomenon is a law to control and limit the freedom to change one's opinion about someone or something.

• A High Court in Northern Nigeria has overturned the wrongful conviction of a Christian man who helped a persecuted convert escape violence in the country.
• ADF International and allied lawyers provided legal support to David’s case and secured justice after a year-and-a-half of legal struggle.