CLAAS (06.01.2022) – A Christian man, Zafar Bhatti, 58, has been sentenced to death by the Pakistan session court of Rawalpindi, after being charged with blasphemy in 2012.

He is accused of sending blasphemous text messages from his phone but has always denied the allegation against him.

Bhatti faced a difficult situation when in the same year the District Bar Association Rawalpindi passed a resolution that no lawyers of District Bar Association would appear in any case under Section 295 of the Pakistan Penal Code on behalf of any accused.

by Victoria Arnold — Russia has used increasingly strict legislation on "foreign agents" (a term which has connotations of spying) and "undesirable organisations" to curtail, complicate, or prohibit the activities of organisations which promote human rights and monitor their violation, including that of freedom of religion and belief. This "indirectly affects the people human rights defenders stand up for", says Aleksandr Verkhovsky of the SOVA Centre for Information and Analysis (branded a "foreign agent").

While the West is celebrating the holiday season with, New Year and Epiphany, and China prepares to celebrate the Chinese New Year, the Tibetan people mourn the destruction - yet another - of a symbol of their millennial religion and culture implemented by the despotic and dismal dictatorship of the Chinese Communist Party. A little less than a month to the start of the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing, China is once again showing the international community its true face in disregard for the human rights that animate the Games and the feelings of the other participating nations.

By Jean-Luc Maxence — It was after publishing the article "Rebelles et fake news" hat the association CAPLC (Coordination des Associations et des Particuliers pour la Liberté de Conscience) contacted us, and sent us a letter that had been sent to them by the current President of Miviludes (Mission Interministérielle de Vigilance et de Lutte contre les Dérives Sectaires), in response to questions that had been posed to the President concerning the sources of the figures announced by the services of the Ministry of the Interior in connection with the "reinforcement of Miviludes".

2021 ends with good news for the CAG (Church of Almighty God), the Christian congregation targeted by the Chinese Communist Party. Two important sentences, one by the Supreme Court of Cassation and one by the Court of Rome, established that the members of the CAG are persecuted by the Chinese regime, both at home and abroad, and therefore have the right to asylum in Italy.

Dhongye has been in detention since 2018 with little information about his condition until now. According to a Tibet Watch source, Tibetan environmentalist Dhongye is in a ‘near-death’ condition after beatings and torture while in Chinese police custody in Driru County in the area of Tibet governed as the Tibet Autonomous Region. There are currently no further details about his whereabouts.

After numerous stances against the crimes perpetrated by the CCP against the Uyghur populations, configurable in the hateful crime of genocide, the time has come for concrete facts. A bill called the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (HR 6256), was passed by the United States House on December 14, 2021, and by Senate on December 16. Ratification by President Biden is now awaited.

by STAND League — In a unanimous December 14, 2021 decision, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR)[1] again ruled that the Russian government has violated the right to freedom of religion and freedom of expression of Scientologists as guaranteed in the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.

The case concerned the decision by the Norwegian authorities to allow the adoption of a child by a foster family against his mother’s wishes. The mother, a Somali national who had moved to Norway, did not ask for her son’s return as he had spent a long time with his foster parents, but wished for him to maintain his cultural and religious roots.

TibetWatch — In September 2021, Trinley, a Tibetan monk from Kirti Monastery in Ngaba County (Ch: Aba), was given a five-year prison sentence after being found guilty of publishing the teachings and writings of the Tibetan spiritual leader, His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Ngaba County People’s Court held the trial in secret without the presence of his family members and lawyers.

Prof. Vasco Fronzoni, is an extraordinary Professor of Muslim Law and Islamic Countries at Pegaso Telematic University, L'Orientale University in Naples and Ca' Foscari University in Venice.

We interview the professor on a topic that is currently arousing interest: "Criminal law and religious factor in multicultural societies. What Criticalities?"

For more than seven years, the horrific crimes committed by the Houthi group have been escalating as war crimes against the Yemeni people, in front of the international community and human rights and humanitarian organizations.

How far can the hatred generated by intolerance towards religious minorities go? The article of which we repropose here below some excerpts provides an eloquent answer. In this case to pay the costs of the murderous hatred of ignorant Muslim crowds are faithful Hindus and Christians, i.e. the faithful of two of the major religions on Earth, in the Islamic world, however, they are often in the minority.

On November 30 we reported on the proceedings against the Kirhisi Jehovah's Witnesses, guilty of using publications that, according to the General Prosecutor's Office, are "extremist", in accordance with the intolerant and anti-cult line of neighboring Russia. Today we are pleased to announce that the District Court of Pervomayskiy has rejected the request of the Prosecutor's Office, also thanks to an expert opinion written by Massimo Introvigne and Rosita Šorytė, respectively director and deputy director of Bitter Winter.

by Alex Amicarelli — On November 23, 2021, CESNUR, the Center for Studies on New Religions, and Human Rights Without Frontiers organized yet another of the bi-monthly webinars on the Tai Ji Men case. In preparation for the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women (November 25), scholars and human rights activists discussed the theme “Women, Spirituality, and the Tai Ji Men Protests.”

Will Kyrgyzstan Abide by the Rule of Law or Merely Follow in the Footsteps of Russia by Restricting Religious Freedom? - The test case of the Publications of Jehovah’s Witnesses. In Kyrgyzstan, the Pervomayskiy District Court is expected to rule on Thursday 2 December on a claim from the General Prosecutor’s office to ban 13 publications of Jehovah’s Witnesses as “extremist,” with the apparent aim of following in Russia’s footsteps and banning the Witnesses simply for their peaceful Christian worship.

Press Release by the Registrar of the Court — The applicants are the Centre of Societies for Krishna Consciousness, a religious organisation under Russian law based in Moscow, and a Russian national Mikhail Aleksandrovich Frolov. The case concerns the applicants’ attempts to challenge hostile descriptions of the Krishna movement and the refusal of permission to hold public religious events promoting the teachings of Vaishnavism.

Once again the European Court stigmatize and condemns the intolerant behavior of Russia towards the new religious movements present on Russian territory disliked by the ruling Orthodox class and the Russian anti-cultists headed by Alexander Dvorkin, vice-president of FECRIS and director of the Saint Irenaeus of Lyons Centre for Religious Studies, a Russian association affiliated to FECRIS. We publish below an article by HRWF about the ruling of the European Court.

An OSCE report shows that graffiti, vandalism and arson attacks against churches are some of the more common crimes. There are 70% more cases reported than in 2019. The Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) has launched its Hate Crime Data 2020 on 16 November, the International Day for Tolerance. The ODIHR collects data from states, governments statistics, civil society, international organisations and UNHCR and OSCE missions.

October 28, 2021 will be remembered as another day when David defeated Goliath. The Supreme Court of Russia has ruled that Jehovah's Witnesses who pray in groups do not commit a crime and therefore cannot be prosecuted. The sentence opens a breach in art. 282.2 of the controversial Yarovaya law. The hope is that now all Jehovah's Witnesses detained in Russian prisons for praying or reading the Bible as a group will be released as soon as possible.