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NEWS ABOUT: Islamic Sharia law

Saudi Man Jailed After Bragging About Sex on TV

He earns 5 years and 1,000 lashes

(Newser) - A Saudi man has been sentenced to 5 years in jail and 1,000 lashes after boasting about his sexual promiscuity on a TV show. Broadcast in July, it features the man displaying sex toys and talking up his exploits. Three friends who appeared on camera got 2-year sentences, notes... More »

Death Penalty for Virginity- Faking Kit: Egypt Scholar

Said to spread vice, violate Islamic law

(Newser) - An Egyptian scholar wants the death penalty for anyone importing a device that helps women fake virginity—claiming it violates Islamic law by spreading perversion in society. The gadget releases a liquid that looks like blood, allowing a new bride to make it appear her hymen has been ruptured. The... More »

Yemen Right-Wingers Blocked Push to End Child Marriages

Conservatives claimed introducing minimum marriage age was un-Islamic

(Newser) - Conservative lawmakers in Yemen, where a 12-year-old girl died giving birth to her husband's child last week, shot down an attempt to set the minimum marriage age at 17 earlier this year, CNN reports. The lawmakers kept the bill from reaching the country's president by arguing that it violated Islamic... More »

Beer-Drinking Model Demands Public Caning

(Newser) - A Malaysian model sentenced to caning for drinking beer wants her punishment carried out in public, CNN reports. Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno, 32, will be the first woman to be flogged for alcohol consumption in the Muslim-majority nation. "Let's be transparent" about the punishment, Kartika has insisted. Her father... More »

Burka Is 'Not Welcome' in France: Sarkozy

Prez says religious covering a sign of female 'subservience'

(Newser) - Nicolas Sarkozy today spoke out strongly against Islamic coverings for women, like the burka, the BBC reports. In a rare speech to parliament, which is considering a ban, the French president said, “we cannot accept to have in our country women who are prisoners behind netting. … The burka... More »

Pakistanis Finally Turning Against the Taliban

Swat Valley battles push citizens away from Islamic extremism

(Newser) - Only a year ago the Taliban had growing support in Pakistan, and many citizens regarded them as fellow Muslims opposed to the American government and military. But as the New York Times reports, public sentiment has shifted in recent months. Following violence in the Swat Valley and months of televised... More »

Pakistanis Decry Taliban Sharia Law

(Newser) - Public opinion is swinging against Sharia law in Pakistan's Swat Valley as tens of thousands flee fighting between Pakistani forces and the Taliban, the Washington Post reports. A public fed up with inefficient and corrupt secular courts once welcomed the Taliban's version of religious law, but lawmakers and pundits now... More »

Pakistanis Flee Swat Ahead of Taliban Clash

Militants take control of main city in strategic valley

(Newser) - Pakistani authorities have warned residents of the country's troubled Swat Valley to leave their homes ahead of an expected military operation in the Taliban-controlled area. The February peace deal between Pakistan and the Taliban, which included the introduction of Sharia law, has effectively collapsed, reports Reuters. Militants have infiltrated several... More »

Taliban Are Filmed Killing Pakistani Lovers

Film captured on cell phone in mountain village

(Newser) - Taliban enforcers in Pakistan have been filmed in a chilling video shooting down two lovers charged with committing adultery, reports the BBC. The man and woman are seen talking to members of the Taliban, and then move away as they appear to sense the danger they're in. Both are shot... More »

Taliban Leaves Key Pakistan District

Move comes amid peace deal in some areas

(Newser) - A Taliban commander withdrew his troops today from a Pakistani district where their activity was fueling US concern, Reuters reports. “Our leader has ordered that Taliban should immediately be called back from Buner,” a spokesman said of the area, which lies just 60 miles from the capital, Islamabad.... More »

Emboldened Taliban Gear Up for Pakistan Takeover

Taliban move closer to capital after peace deal allows Islamic law in northwest

(Newser) - Pakistan's deal to allow the Taliban to impose Sharia law in the Swat valley in return for peace has inspired the extremists to seek further gains, the Washington Post reports. Taliban fighters are spreading deeper into the region—a mere 100 miles east of the capital—and leaders say they... More »

Taliban Wield Mighty New Weapon: Class Warfare

Militants exploit tensions in areas where feudalism still holds sway

(Newser) - Taliban militants are exploiting the deep class divisions in Pakistani society in a push to expand their power, the New York Times reports. The militants gained control of the Swat Valley in part by organizing landless peasants into gangs to force out wealthy landlords. It's a strategy that many fear... More »

Thousands of Fighters Train in New Taliban Haven

(Newser) - Militants have been pouring into Pakistan’s Swat Valley, thanks to a controversial peace deal between the Taliban and Pakistan’s government, the Wall Street Journal reports. President Asif Ali Zardari signed a bill yesterday to impose Islamic law in Swat, effectively sealing his agreement with the militants. Training camps... More »

Taliban Execute Young Couple for Eloping

Afghan clerics accuse them of 'immoral acts,' order firing squad

(AP) - The Taliban executed a young couple in front of a firing squad for trying to elope in a lawless, militant-controlled region of southern Afghanistan, officials said today. The woman, 19, and the man, 21, were accused by the militants of immoral acts, and a council of conservative clerics decided that... More »

Saudi Man Divorces Wife—by Phone Text

(Newser) - This was probably inevitable: The world's first known divorce via phone text is on the books. A Saudi man informed his wife of the split by text, then called two relatives to let them know, the Telegraph reports. This apparently jibes with the practice under Sharia law that allows a... More »

Pakistan Squirms Over Public Flogging

Video shows woman being beaten in militant-controlled area

(Newser) - Authorities in Pakistan today ordered an investigation into a video showing a 17-year-old woman, accused of having sex, being publicly flogged in the country’s Swat Valley. The two-minute video, widely aired on local television today, shows a man whipping a woman lying face down on the ground, pinned by... More »

Iran Says It Will Release US Journalist in 'Next Few Days'

31-year-old imprisoned for buying bottle of wine

(Newser) - Iran will soon free Roxana Saberi, a journalist imprisoned more than a month ago, Reuters reports. Saberi was jailed after buying a bottle of wine, but held on concerns over her working papers. Tehran said its investigation is finished and that the 31-year old Iranian-American’s release is imminent, but... More »

US Journalist Vanishes After Wine-Buying Bust in Iran

Father hasn't heard from her since call from jail in January

(Newser) - A North Dakota woman working as a freelance journalist has disappeared in Iran following her arrest for buying wine, her distraught dad told the New York Daily News. Roxana Saberi, 31, called her father from an Iranian jail in January and he hasn't heard from her since. A store owner... More »

Somalia Will Impose Sharia Law

Prez submits to rebel demands, but vows loose enforcement

(Newser) - In a move to broker peace between his troops and insurgents, Somalia’s president has agreed to militants’ call to impose Islamic law, CNN reports. The law bars girls from school, requires beards for men and veils for women, and bans TV and music. But President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed,... More »

Pakistan, Taliban Call Indefinite Truce

Militants agree to extend ceasefire in Swat valley

(Newser) - Taliban militants and Pakistani officials have agreed to an indefinite ceasefire in the country's troubled Swat valley, Reuters reports. The agreement extends an earlier 10-day truce in which the Taliban agreed to lay down their arms in return for Islamic sharia law being enforced in the area. Militants in the... More »

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