Children & Teens

Ministry: Finland has done everything possible to repatriate Finnish children from Syria Finland takes the ruling by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child 'very seriously,' according to a senior Foreign Ministry official.

(Yle) The Ministry for Foreign Affairs has reacted to Wednesday’s ruling against Finland by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child. The committee declared that Finland had violated the rights of Finnish children in northern Syria by not repatriating them […]

Clothing

EU high court upholds workplace headscarf ban The ruling marks the second time in as many years that the European Union’s top court has sided against women who want to wear an Islamic head covering at work.

(Courthouse News) Bans on head coverings are allowed in European Union workplaces as long as they apply to all employees, the bloc’s top court ruled Thursday. The European Court of Justice sided with Belgian housing organization SCRL, which refused to move forward […]

Children & Teens

Finland violated rights of Finnish children in Syria, UN committee finds Three remaining children, aged 5-6, are still being detained 'in closed camps in a war-like zone,' the UN Child Rights Committee said.

(Yle) Finland’s failure to repatriate Finnish children living in Syrian camps was a violation of children’s rights, according to a decision by the UN Child Rights Committee (CRC) published on Wednesday. The committee said its decision was based on a case filed […]

Government & Politics

Manchester Arena bombing victim’s mother fears new terror law will leave ‘loopholes’ open Five years on from attack that killed 22 people, grieving parent still fighting for change of legislation

(National-UAE) A woman whose son was killed in the Manchester Arena bombing on Tuesday voiced an evocative “mother-to-mother” message for Prime Minister Liz Truss, as she continues to battle for a change of law five years on. Figen Murray said the killing […]

Crime

Islamophobic hate crime rising as UK government tries to ‘appease far-right’: head of Muslim group Anti-Muslim hate crimes rose 42% in England, Wales for year ending March 2022: British Home Office

(Anadolu) Hate crimes in the UK are on the rise because the government “tends to try to appease the far right by adopting some of their positions,” according to a prominent Muslim scholar. Anas Altikriti, CEO of Cordoba Foundation, told Anadolu Agency […]

Crime

Met Police drop investigation into Oxford Street Chanukah bus attack Exclusive: Police confirm they have closed probe into the November 2021 incident, in which men abused a bus carrying a group of young Jews, after they fail to identify the suspects

(Jewish News) The Metropolitan Police have dropped their investigation into [an] antisemitic attack directed at Jewish passengers as they celebrated Chanukah on a bus in central London. In a statement to Jewish News, the Met confirmed their probe into the incident, footage […]

Government & Politics

Court OKs Iran prisoner exchange

(VRT) The court of first instance in Brussels has thrown out a request to stop Belgium from handing over the convicted Iranian diplomat Assadollah Assadi to Tehran saying the request is unfounded in law. The decision means that in principle the Belgian […]

Government & Politics

Muslims in Germany’s Cologne welcome Friday call to prayer over loudspeaker First call to prayer over loudspeaker in Cologne expected to be held on Oct. 14, says Muslim leader

(Anadolu) Muslims in Germany’s city of Cologne welcomed the permission granted to them for two years to announce the call to prayer every Friday on loudspeaker. Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Abdurrahman Atasoy, the acting president of the Turkish-Islamic Union for Religious Affairs […]

Clothing

Court dismisses charges against police, guards over alleged forced removal of hijabs In its ruling, the Kanta-Häme District Court said it did not find the evidence given by the female asylum seekers to be reliable.

(Yle) The Kanta-Häme District Court has cleared a total of seven defendants — comprising police officers and security guards — of all charges in relation to an incident in which female asylum seekers claimed they were forced to remove their head coverings. […]