Religious Extremism

ICC Prosecutes Islamist Militant from Mali

April 13, 2018

The International Criminal Court (ICC) at the Hague has begun prosecution of an Islamist militant who was a member of the now-defeated jihadist coalition that had imposed strict sharia law in Mali during the early part of this decade, a potentially groundbreaking case that turns on linkages between sharia law and female enslavement.
Saudi Arabia Continues Support for Global Extremism

April 13, 2018

Human rights groups warn that Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's commitment to socioeconomic liberalization in the Islamic theocratic kingdom belies the Saudi regime's unshakable support for fundamentalist Wahhabism at home and financial support for Salafi jihadism abroad.
Sharia Law Expands in Brunei

April 13, 2018

Islamization via sharia law continues to expand across the geopolitics of Southeast Asia, as the oil-rich Sultanate of Brunei continues to expand the application of strict sharia law for all subjects in the country, with successive revisions to the penal code and comprehensive social restrictions based on sharia principles.
Iran Uses Media as Soft-Power Tool Abroad

April 13, 2018

Iranian Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi and UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights Asma Jahangir's posthumous report on Iran detail the use by the Islamic Republic of its media platform Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting as a soft-power, information-operations tool to promote Islamic revolution abroad and violate the human rights of domestic opponents.
Turkey's Islamist Civil War Goes Global with Kidnappings Abroad

April 11, 2018

The internecine conflict between Turkey's Islamist regime and the Turkish Islamist movement led by Islamic cleric Fetullah Gulen has gone global, as Ankara is kidnapping and engaging in forced rendition to Turkey of supporters of the Gulenist movement from Eurasia to Africa.
Turkish Official: EU Accession Will Combat "Islamophobia"

April 10, 2018

Burak Erdenir of Turkey's delegation to the EU has asserted that the EU's future acceptance of Turkey as a member state of the bloc will make Turkey a bridge between Europe and the Muslim world and will serve as "an antidote to Islamophobia."
Iran Uses Proxy Militias to Expand Shiite Sectarian Footprint

April 09, 2018

Ranj Alaaldin of the Brookings Doha Center warns of Iran's strategy of mobilizing militias in defeating the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, then engaging in state building designed to produce Shiite political and economic dominance that can push back against Sunni Islamist sectarianism.
Turkey Escalates Threats Against US over Northern Syria

April 09, 2018

The leaders of Turkey’s Islamist government continue to escalate tensions with other NATO members with threats of military action against Western forces supporting Syrian Kurdish militias currently controlling the town of Manbij, a key target in Turkey’s expanding military operation across Northern Syria.
Iranian Conservatives Push for Reforms of Islamic Republic

April 09, 2018

A group of 300 conservative figures from student and revolutionary organizations has published an open letter calling for major reforms in the judicial, military, and economic institutions of Iran and critiquing the institutions of governance for failing the principles of the Islamic Republic.
Russian Council of Muftis Debates Ban on Wahhabism

April 09, 2018

Russia’s Council of Muftis, the main leadership body for the country’s diverse Muslim communities, expressed deep divisions over a proposal by one of its members for a ban on Wahhabism in Russia as a mechanism for preventing radicalization and violence from a version of Islam considered an "alien ideology" to the country’s Muslim population.