The court said, “When the law that voters wish to enact is likely unconstitutional, their interests do not outweigh Mr. Awad’s in having his constitutional rights protected;†the proposer of the law denounced the decision as “right along with … forced busing of school children,” i.e., integration:
- Appeals Court Upholds Federal Block of Oklahoma Ban on Islamic Law (Washington Post)
Denying any intention to interfere freedom of religion or speech, prosecutor Bobbie Cheema insists, “The vast majority of Muslim, and indeed other religious people, or people with no religion but who have strong views about homosexuality, are able to express their views if they wish in a critical but lawful, moderate and self-controlled way”:
In the wake of recently acquitted ANwar Ibrahim’s declaration that Malaysia’a “anti-sodomy law [is] archaic and easily abused to breed intolerance and invade people’s privacy”:
- Malaysian Gay Rights Activists Challenge Government in Court to Quash Ban on Arts Festival (Washington Post with Foreign Policy)
Freedom of expression and belief are elements in the bill that “was in the works for three months in collaboration with secular and Islamist thinkers”:
What Thomas Friedman doesn’t know about Muslim world politics: secular parties in Egypt have been around for decades, the Muslim Brotherfhood are free market capitalists, and the Islamists in Indonesia have never come close to winning an election in the post-Suharto era:
- Thomas Friedman in Cairo: A Fact-check (Christian Science Monitor)
What part of “voluntary prayer” doesn’t the religious right understand?
- Religious Right Supports School Prayer, Just Not Muslim Prayers (Opposing Views)
“What I saw was a humanitarian disaster. The regime is not just committing one war crime, but a series of crimes against its people” — Anwar Malek, fomrer member of the monitoring team who says “he resigned because of what he saw, and said that the mission was falling apart”:
- Ex-observer: Syria Mission ‘a Farce’ (AlJazeera)
Israel (which, unlike the Islamic Republic of Iran, never signed the NPT, allows no IAEA inspectors in to the country, has hundreds of nuclear weapons and a history of repeatedly invading its neighbors) has denied Iranian accusations of being behind such assassinations in the past:
The now confessed true purpose of the policy towards Iran, sanctions promoted under the guise of preventing nuclear proliferation, will have the opposite effect, provoking the populace to close ranks behind an unpopular regime in the face of a foreign challenge to Iran’s sovereignty and dignity:
- Goal of Iran Sanctions Is Regime Collapse, U.S. Official Says (Washington Post with Foreign Policy)
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