Pakistani woman sentenced to death for allegedly blaspheming Muhammed

Beijing, China, Jul 24, 2019 / 12:15 pm (CNA).- An article published Wednesday in a state-run paper from mainland China repeated government talking points regarding the situations of the Uighurs, a Muslim ethnoreligious group in the country’s northwest.

Some 1 million Uighurs have been detained in re-education camps for Muslims in China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. Inside the camps they are reportedly subjected to forced labor, torture, and political indoctrination. Outside the camps, Uyghurs are monitored by pervasive police forces and facial recognition technology.

Uighurs can be arrested and detained under vague anti-terrorism laws. Violence in the region escalated in the 1990s and again in 2008.

In August 2014 officials in Karamay, a city of Xinjiang, banned “youths with long beards” and anyone wearing headscarves, veils, burqas, or clothes with the crescent moon and star symbol from using public transit. That May, universities across the region banned fasting during Ramadan.

The Chinese government has said reports on the camps by Western governments and media are unfounded, claiming they are vocational training centers and that it is combatting extremism.

Li Yang, an author at China Daily, an English language daily owned by the Communist Party of China, wrote July 24 that “Western critics of China’s policies on human rights and religious freedom in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region seem to be divorced from the realities of the situation.”

Li’s piece focused on “Uygur separatists” who try “to brainwash the other Uygurs with extremism and terrorism.”

He said that “all the measures that Beijing has taken to fight separatism, extremism and terrorism in Xinjiang are part of the global anti-terrorism campaign, as well as an integral part of China’s efforts to boost local development.”

Li noted that the Chinese government has set up “vocational educational centers” in Xinjiang, as well as “installing surveillance systems and deploying security forces.”

He also pointed out that 150 million tourists visited Xinjiang last year, and that the autonomous region’s economy has risen 40 percent over the past five years.

According to Li, “the religious freedom of all ethnic groups … is strictly protected by law.”

Li focused on the diversity of Xinjiang, saying that separatists ignore the interest of the region’s other ethnic groups. Uighurs make up about 46% of the region’s population; Han Chinese 39%, Kazakhs 7%, and Huis 5%. A large number of minorities make up the remaining 3%.

Attention was drawn to the human and religious rights situation in Xinjiang at the recent Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom held by the US State Department last week.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said July 18 at the gathering that survivors of the detention camps have described “a deliberate attempt by Beijing to strangle Uighur culture and stamp out” Islam.

In response, Chinese officials have been outspoken in defense of policies in the region.

A letter signed by Chinese scholars and religious officials posted July 19 by the Xinjiang government said Pompeo should “stop fabricating lies and slander about Xinjiang.”

An editorial published in the People’s Daily July 20 claims that China actually respects religious rights, and said that the United States has an “ulterior motive” to criticize China’s treatment of religious minorities.

“They even use so-called freedom of religious belief as an excuse to undermine China’s national harmony and interfere in China’s internal affairs,” the editorial said.

And the Chinese State Council Information Office released a white paper July 21 that claimed, among other things, that Xinjiang is a region where religious freedom is respected, and that the Uighur population did not choose to become Muslim.

In June, Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) told a congressional hearing that China’s campaign to “sinicize” religion is proceeding with brutal efficiency. “Under ‘sinicization,’ all religions and believers must comport with and aggressively promote communist ideology — or else,” Smith said.

“It’s never been worse than it is right now.”

“Religious believers of every persuasion are harassed, arrested, jailed, or tortured. Only the compliant are left relatively unscathed. Bibles are burned, churches are destroyed, crosses set ablaze atop church steeples,” Smith said.

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Marawi, Philippines, Aug 25, 2017 / 10:49 am (CNA/EWTN News).- A new video has been released showing ISIS militants in the Philippines threatening to come to Rome as they desecrate a Catholic church.

Filmed in the Philippine city of Marawi, the video shows militants shooting and setting fires within a church, as they destroy a crucifix and statues of Mary and St. Joseph.

One jihadist tears up photos of Pope Francis and Benedict XVI while saying, “Remember this, you kuffar [non-Muslims] – we will be in Rome, we will be in Rome, inshallah [god willing].”

Over the footage, another narrator can be heard saying “after all their efforts, it would be the religion of the cross that would be broken. The crusaders’ enmity toward the Muslims only served to embolden a generation of youth.”

The video, distributed by the pro-ISIS media organization Al Hayat, also contains graphic footage of fighting in the besieged Philippine city, including dead Philippine soldiers and militants shooting AK-47s as a narrator encourages Muslims in East Asia to come to the city “to perform jihad.”

Since May 23, militants of the Maute group, which formed in 2012 and pledged allegiance to the Islamic State in 2015, have been fighting against government forces for control of the city of Marawi on the island of Mindanao.

Violence began after a failed army and police raid to capture Isnilon Hapilon, a local Islamist leader. The initial attack launched by Maute burned several buildings, including the Catholic cathedral and the bishop’s residence.

The majority of the city’s 200,000 people – mostly Muslim – have fled since its occupation. At least 400 people have been killed in the fighting as of mid-July, though numbers haven’t been updated since.

On Aug. 24, government forces recaptured the city’s Grand Mosque, where it had been believed that as many as 40 civilian hostages were being held by militants, though no militants or hostages were found.

Armed Forces of the Philippines spokesperson Brig. Gen. Restituto Padilla said in a briefing that the retaking of the Grand Mosque, located in the central area of Marawi, was “a significant development,” despite recovering no hostages.

The government has said some of the militants fighting in Marawi appear to be from abroad, including countries like Russia, Indonesia, and Malaysia. Officials say there are also indications that other slain militants have come from the Middle East.

The fighting has fueled fears that the Islamic State is attempting to set up a regional base in Southeast Asia.  

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Wellington, New Zealand, Aug 4, 2017 / 11:39 am (CNA/EWTN News).- A long-term inquiry submitted to New Zealand’s parliament Wednesday did not recommend that assisted suicide and euthanasia be legalized in the country.

“We’ve tried to distil all the arguments and our recommendation to both the Parliament and the people of New Zealand is to read this report and come to a deeper understanding of what’s been asked around assisted suicide and euthanasia,” Simon O’Connor, chair of the parliament’s health committee, which prepared the report, said Aug. 2.

The report was an investigation of euthanasia and assisted suicide and attitudes toward them, prompted by a request from former New Zealand Labour Party MP and assisted suicide advocate Maryan Street.

A bill to legalize voluntary euthanasia has been introduced in the New Zealand parliament, but it is unlikely to be passed before the end of the legislature’s term later this month, according to the New Zealand Herald.

Having faced moral opponents and concerns about safeguards in the past, euthanasia bills have previously failed in the country. The effort was renewed, however, in 2014 after a Wellington lawyer’s battle with brain cancer gained political and media attention.

Lecretia Seales had petitioned New Zealand’s High Court for the right to assisted suicide, and died from her cancer. Street introduced a petition in favor of legalizing assisted suicide shortly thereafter.

The health committee’s subsequent inquiry heard from some 22,000 submitters, 80 percent of whom were opposed to a change in legislation that would allow for assisted suicide and euthanasia.

“But I don’t think this is simply a numbers game. It is about actually understanding the arguments for and against and making a decision about which ones are correct,” O’Connor said.

The primary argument against legalization, the report concluded, was that “the public would be endangered.”

“They cited concern for vulnerable people, such as the elderly and the disabled, those with mental illnesses, and those susceptible to coercion. Others argued that life has an innate value and that introducing assisted dying and euthanasia would explicitly undermine that idea. To do so would suggest that some lives are worth more than others. There were also concerns that, once introduced, eligibility for assisted dying would rapidly expand well beyond what was first intended.”

The report noted that “some of remain unconvinced that the models seen overseas provide adequate protection for vulnerable people.”

O’Connor commented that “it probably comes down to the simple question of ‘How many errors would Parliament would be willing to accept in this space?’”

Other opponents, including the Care Alliance and Prime Minister Bill English, a practicing Catholic, have expressed concern that the bill would lead to the abuse of elderly, mentally ill, and disabled citizens, as well as undermine the dignity of the human person.

The health committee wrote in its report that “we were concerned to hear that there is a lack of awareness about the role of palliative care, that access to it is unequal, and that there are concerns about the sustainability of the workforce.”

They recommended that the government consider how “it can better communicate the excellent services that palliative carers provide, address the unequal access, consider how palliative care is funded, and address the workforce shortages.”

They also encouraged the government to improve access to grief counselling and similar services for those at risk of suicide.

The bill to legalize voluntary euthanasia was introduced by David Seymour, an MP of ACT New Zealand and the party’s only MP. The bill would allow euthanasia for mentally sound adults suffering from grievous and incurable medical conditions who request it.

Voluntary euthanasia is supported by the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand.

The New Zealand National Party, which is the center of New Zealand’s coalition government, has ruled out legalizing euthanasia.

The Labour party has said legalizing euthanasia is not among its priorities, and New Zealand First has said a change in the law should go through a referendum rather than parliament.

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