By Willy Fautré (The European Times) — On 20 and 26 December 2024, Tbilisi City Court held hearings to decide whether Georgia should extradite Adina Stoian and her husband Mihai arrested in August 2024 on the Turkish-Georgian border on the basis of an Interpol arrest warrant issued on France’s request.
On December 2, 2024, UNADFI was condemned by the Marseille Magistrates’ Court, and forced to publish CAPLC’s right of reply on its website within 48 hours, subject to a penalty of 50 euros per day of delay. Convinced it could escape the law, UNADFI appealed in summary proceedings to obtain suspension of the decision. This action was curtly dismissed by the Aix-en-Provence Court of Appeal.
by Massimo Introvigne — When Petr Pavel was inaugurated as the new President of the Czech Republic in March 2023, he vowed to align the country with European Union human rights standards. He also emerged as a staunch critic of the human rights violations in Russia. Some developments with respect to small minority religions were in fact regarded by local human rights activists as hopeful.
France's state grants funded with taxpayers’ money said to be misused by anti-cult groups stigmatizing and inciting hostility against some religious or belief groups and their members. In the framework of its 2023 Call for Projects, MIVILUDES (Interministerial Mission of Vigilance and Combat against Cultic Deviances) generously allocated a state subsidy of 150,000 EUR to CAFFES (Family Support Center Facing Cultic Control). This represents a considerable, if not completely disproportionate, grant for a small association with 90% of its annual budget funded with public money.
Washington, DC — The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) applauds the December 19 decision of a court in Bauchi State, Nigeria, to acquit Christian nurse Rhoda Jatau. On May 20, 2022, officials arrested her on allegations of blasphemy after she reportedly shared a message on social media condemning the murder of Christian student Deborah Emmanuel Yakubu.
In the lead-up to the 2024 International Human Rights Day, Waldensian Church of Piazza Cavour in Rome hosted a human rights art exhibition sponsored by Amnesty International and European Bar Human Rights Institute (IDHAE, Institut des droits de l’Homme des Avocats européens).The event aimed to peacefully honor those whose rights have been violated. Artists gathered in the Dionigi Hall to use their paintings to highlight their concerns for human rights.
By a Minghui correspondent in Jilin Province, China (Minghui.org - Dec. 14, 2024) — Ms. Zhang Xiufang, 63, from Dongfeng County, Jilin Province, was recently sentenced to seven years for practicing Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
CAP Liberté de conscience (09.12.2024) — On December 2, 2024, the Marseille Magistrates’ Court ordered UNADFI (Union Nationale des Associations de Défense des Familles et de l’Individu) to publish a right of reply from CAP Liberté de Conscience on its website within 48 hours, subject to a penalty of 50 euros per day of delay. UNADFI had argued that its status as an organization of public utility meant that the law did not apply to it but the judge ruled that UNADFI was not above the law.
On the occasion of Human Rights Day 2024 we publish the press release of the Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination Against Christians in Europe (OIDAC) and the press release of COMECE (The Catholic Church in the European Union). These are two reports of the round table, entitled ‘Safeguarding Religious Freedom in Europe: Current Challenges and Future Prospects’, organised by the European Parliament.
By Willy Fautré, director of Human Rights Without Frontiers (The European Times, 04.12.2024) — On 22 November, the Hindu community of Belgium celebrated the first legal step to the recognition of Hinduism by the Belgian Government and Parliament with their decision last year to grant a subsidy to the Hindu Forum Belgium, the official interlocutor of the Belgian State. This platform for all Vedic spiritual traditions will coordinate cooperation among various Hindu/Vedic communities and organisations in Belgium towards full recognition.
One year ago, on November 28, 2023, a French SWAT team raided several houses and appartments where yoga practitioners, members of MISA yoga school in Romania, had gathered for their spiritual retreats. A few days earlier, on November 15 2023, Sabrina Agresti-Roubache, Minister Delegate for Citizenship and City Development of the French government and overseer of MIVILUDES, lodged a bill aimes to ‘reinforce the fight against sectarian drifts' prompted by a specious increase in “saisines” (dubious and controversial reports) received by the MIVILUDES.
Washington, DC – The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) today released the following report: Religious Freedom Challenges for Jehovah’s Witnesses – Four years after USCIRF’s 2020 publication on the global persecution of Jehovah’s Witnesses, countries continue to prosecute and impose harsh penalties on the community for their religious beliefs and peaceful religious activities.
by Alessandro Amicarelli and Massimo Introvigne — Shincheonji Church of Jesus, the Temple of the Tabernacle of the Testimony (in short, Shincheonji) is a South Korean Christian new religious movement that has frequently suffered slander and discrimination at home and abroad. Its members have even been submitted to the criminal practice of deprogramming, and two of them died during violent deprogramming attempts.
Washington, DC – The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) condemns the persistent egregious violations of religious freedom in Iran. This month, Iranian authorities executed a 20-year-old Jewish man, Arvin Ghahremani. He was sentenced to death after reportedly killing a Muslim man in self-defense. His irregular judicial proceedings and denial of alternate recompense were both rooted in his identity as a Jew.
Despite being a blatant violation of Directive 2014/24/EU of 16 February 2014, almost 30 years later, the ‘Sects Filter’ is still active in Germany. Professor Massimo Introvigne had already highlighted this serious violation in 2021. The sect filter was invented by an anti-cultist and former MP employed by the City-State of Hamburg as a professional anti-Scientology “expert,” Ursula Caberta, in 1995.
The measure is part of China‘s attempts to enforce ’patriotic education’ among Tibetan students.
By RFA Tibetan — Hundreds of young Tibetan Buddhist monks from Kirti Monastery who were forcibly transferred in September to government-run boarding schools in Sichuan province’s Ngaba county, are being held in “prison-like conditions” in the schools, two sources from the region said.
by Jiang Tao — Since the CCP initiated a three-year “general battle” in 2019 targeting The Church of Almighty God (CAG), its members have endured escalating persecution, marked by a substantial increase in arrests and convictions. The situation in Guangdong Province has been particularly severe, according to church members and court records “Bitter Winter” has had access to through an insider source.
Dmytro Zelinsky, a 45-year-old Seventh-day Adventist, is serving 3 years in prison for refusing to engage in military mobilization as it conflicts with the tenets of his faith. On June 5, 2023, Judge Tetyana Klim of the Kremenets District Court in the Ternopil region had acquitted him on the basis of Article 35 of the Ukrainian Constitution, which provides, “If the performance of military duty contradicts a citizen's religious beliefs, the performance of this duty shall be replaced by alternative (non-military) service.”
We are glad to announce the release of a new book Socio-Anthropological Approaches to Religion: Environmental Hope, co-edited by David W. Kim, a Professor at the Australian National University and Kookmin University, Seoul, and also a member of our Scientific Committee, with Duncan Wright, an Associate Professor at the Australian National University’s School of Archaeology and Anthropology.
by Juan Sanchez Gil (The European Times) — In a passionate and reflective speech delivered today (10 October 2024) at the European Parliament during the “how to stop the rise of religious intolerance in Europe” debate, Mr. Margaritis Schinas, Vice President of the European Commission, addressed the importance of religious freedom, tolerance, and the European way of life. His speech, rich in both historical context and forward-looking vision, called for a united European response to religious intolerance while affirming the values that define Europe today.
