Clerics & Preachers

Founder of Berlin’s liberal mosque honored for inclusive vision Seyran Ates' long fight for women's rights in the Muslim world led her to open a tolerant mosque where non-veiled women could preach and pray alongside men. She has now been honored with the prestigious Urania Medal.

(Deutsche Welle) A lawyer, activist, author and now imam, Seyran Ates has long lent a critical voice to debates about migration, women’s rights and religious freedom in Germany and beyond. Ates co-founded the “liberal” Ibn Ruschd-Goethe Mosque on the third floor of St. John’s Church near […]

Government & Politics

Finland to reconsider 500 asylum decisions after European court ruling Authorities will re-evaluate some cases in light of harsh criticism from the Court of Human Rights.

(Yle) The Finnish Immigration Service (Migri) says it will revisit about 500 asylum decisions following a European court ruling critical of a previous deportation. Last week the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found Finnish authorities guilty of violating the European Convention […]

Academics & Education

Calls to shut Swedish school where ‘ISIS teachers’ taught in classrooms Politicians demand closure of leading state-funded school accused of hiring former militants as teachers

(National-UAE) Calls are mounting for the closure of a leading state-funded Islamic school in Sweden that was accused of hiring ISIS fighters as teachers after their return from Syria. The chancellor of Vetenskapsskolan school in Gothenburg, Abdel Nasser El Nadi, has been […]