(European Conservative) A Danish court on Friday for the first time meted out a verdict in the first criminal case using the country’s new law prohibiting “improper treatment of a religious text.” The court sentenced Islamism critic Rasmus Paludan and one of […]
(Daily Bulletin) Novelist Salman Rushdie has decided not to deliver the graduation speech for Claremont McKenna College, pulling out days before the Saturday, May 17, commencement. The decision follows criticism from Muslim advocacy groups and students. Rushdie, an Indian-born British and American […]
(European Conservative) Following pressure exerted on Professor Fabrice Balanche by students affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood at Lyon 2 University, Laurent Wauquiez, former president of the Rhône-Alpes region and a candidate for the leadership of Les Républicains, announced that the region will […]
(GB News) Prosecutors have removed references to “the institution of Islam” from charges against a man who burned a Koran in central London. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has amended a charge against Hamit Coskun, 50, who set fire to a copy […]
(Deutsche Welle) This Friday, many eyes will be on the Danish island of Bornholm in the Baltic Sea, for a historic trial: Two men are accused of “improper treatment of a religious scripture.” They are accused of having burned a copy of the […]
(Brussels Signal) Academics have called for the resignation of the president of France’s University of Lyon 2, Isabelle von Bueltzingsloewen, over her treatment of a professor targeted by “anti-racist and anti-colonial students.” “Fabrice Balanche, a senior lecturer and recognised specialist in Syria […]
(Washington Post) Days before masked Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detained Tufts University student Rumeysa Ozturk to deport her, the State Department determined that the Trump administration had not produced any evidence showing that she engaged in antisemitic activities or made public […]
(Hill) A Jewish civil rights group is asking the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) how it plans to evaluate migrants’ social media accounts after the agency said it would use antisemitic content as grounds for denying immigration benefits. The department said Wednesday it […]
(Politico) U.S. authorities will examine the social media of foreigners seeking to enter the country as the Trump administration seeks to bar people it believes have engaged in antisemitic activity, the Department of Homeland Security announced Wednesday. DHS will apply the scrutiny […]
(NL Times) Edwin Wagensveld, leader of the far-right anti-Islam movement, set fire to a Quran in central Amsterdam on Thursday evening, in front of the Stopera municipal building. Wagensveld, a prominent figure in the movement that opposes the influence of Islam in […]
(Deutsche Welle) The ongoing coalition negotiations between the conservatives of the Christian Democratic Union and Christian Social Union (CDU/CSU) and the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) are said to have been riddled with heated arguments — sometimes to the point of doors […]
(Breitbart) The vast majority of British Muslims identify with their religion over their nationality, a report has found. A study conducted by the Institute for the Impact of Faith in Life (IIFL), based on survey data and interviews with 815 British Muslims, has found […]
(Yabiladi) The very term “Islamophobia” sparked controversy within France’s National Assembly. Several right-wing and far-right politicians rejected its use, arguing that it is ambiguous and manipulated. They insisted on distinguishing between legitimate criticism of religion and discrimination against its followers. Some even […]
(Axios) The Trump administration is discussing plans to try to block certain colleges from having any foreign students if it decides too many are “pro-Hamas,” senior Justice and State Department officials tell Axios. Why it matters: The effort — which could include […]
(Middle East Eye) The UK government has published more details about a working group set up to advise it on a possible definition of Islamophobia which would also protect the right to “insult” religious beliefs and practices. The membership of the working […]
(CNN) A Cornell graduate student who has been a prominent voice at pro-Palestinian protests — and who faced intense criticism for declaring “glory to the resistance!” after the Hamas attack on Israel that left more than 1,200 dead — is being told […]
(AP) Two purported mobsters were convicted Thursday of plotting to assassinate Iranian American journalist Masih Alinejad at her home in New York City in a murder-for-hire scheme that prosecutors said was financed by Iran’s government. The verdict was returned at a federal […]
(Free Beacon) A foreign graduate student and protest leader at Cornell University is suing the Trump administration over its executive order calling to expel pro-Hamas visa holders, arguing that the order has forced him to withdraw from “public engagement” and thus “deprived” […]
(NL Times) Deputy Prime Minister Mona Keijzer will not be prosecuted for saying that “hatred of Jews is almost part of the culture” in Islamic countries, the Amsterdam Court of Appeal ruled in a procedure trying to force prosecution. The BBB minister […]
(Courthouse News) Federal prosecutors on Wednesday told a jury that Rafat Amirov and Polad Omarov, two supposed members of the Russian mob charged with the attempted murder for hire of Iranian journalist Masih Alinejad, took half a million dollars in “blood money” […]
(Courthouse News) Two summers ago, journalist and activist Masih Alinejad encountered a “gigantic” man in the driveway of her Brooklyn home. They had an awkward interaction. Alinejad said that the man was talking; she shouted, “What?” But the man kept speaking, and […]
(Fox) The Manhattan-based federal trial of two alleged contract killers hired by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to murder the Iranian-American journalist Masih Alinejad coincided with shocking revelations that Tehran ordered the assassinations of dissidents in Europe, news that could have profound […]
(NY Times) Khalid Mehdiyev returned a phone call in the summer of 2022 from a fellow member of the Russian mob, Polad Omarov. They had been collaborating on a project, Mr. Mehdiyev said, extorting a grocery store owner in Brooklyn. Now, Mr. […]
(Iran International) The mother of Khalid Mehdiyev, the gunman who tried to kill Iranian-American journalist Masih Alinejad, delivered emotional testimony in court Friday identifying her son’s alleged co-conspirator Polad Omarov as the man who ordered the hit job. Appearing visibly shaken in court, Ms. […]
(NY Post) This trial now has its own pizza connection. Bungling hitman Khalid Mehdiyev admitted in court today that instead of a cool, collected, globe-trotting assassin, he was actually just a guy who worked at a pizza joint — and that might […]
(NY Post) The bumbling, bargain-bin hitman hired to assassinate an exiled Iranian-American journalist botched the high-stakes Brooklyn hit in spectacular fashion — including by trying to open her door, ordering food to his car as he lurked outside her home and then […]
(Reuters) A self-professed member of a Russian organized crime group said on Tuesday he once tried to kill an Iranian-American female journalist and activist, making the admission in testimony at a U.S. trial of two associates. Khalid Mehdiyev, 27, told jurors he […]
(AP) Two members of an Eastern European criminal organization were “hired guns for the government of Iran” in a plot to assassinate an Iran-born journalist at her New York City residence three years ago, a prosecutor told a federal jury in an […]
(NY Times) First, the Iranian government was accused of trying to lure a journalist and dissident from New York City to Turkey to abduct and imprison her. Then, according to U.S. officials, intelligence agents schemed unsuccessfully to kidnap the woman, Masih Alinejad. […]
(E-Notícies) The National Police and the Mossos d’Esquadra dismantled a Pakistani terrorist cell installed in Barcelona last week. They arrested ten people who, according to the investigations, planned to behead activists and public figures critical of Islam. They also wanted to spread […]
(Axios) Secretary of State Marco Rubio is launching an AI-fueled “Catch and Revoke” effort to cancel the visas of foreign nationals who appear to support Hamas or other designated terror groups, senior State Department officials tell Axios. Why it matters: The effort […]
(BBC) The government has appointed former Conservative Attorney General Dominic Grieve to lead a review into creating a new definition of Islamophobia. Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner launched a new working group tasked with understanding and defining hate crime targeted against Muslims. […]
(AFP) Two Afghan men linked to the Islamic State group were jailed in Germany on Thursday for planning an attack on the Swedish parliament in retaliation for Koran burnings by protestors. The two suspects, identified as Ibrahim M. G. and Ramin N., […]
(AP) A New Jersey man was convicted Friday of attempted murder for stabbing author Salman Rushdie multiple times on a New York lecture stage in 2022. Jurors delivered the verdict after deliberating for less than two hours, also finding Hadi Matar, 27, […]
(AP) The New Jersey man on trial in the 2022 stabbing of author Salman Rushdie declined to testify in his defense Thursday as his lawyers rested their case without calling any witnesses. “No, I do not,” Hadi Matar, 27, said when asked […]
(LBC) Two people have been charged after a video emerged of a man burning a Koran and another man attacking him outside the Turkish consulate in London. Social media footage showed a man being kicked on the ground by his knife-wielding attacker. […]
(AP) Jurors watched videos Friday showing Salman Rushdie being repeatedly stabbed on a stage in western New York while audience members gasped in horror at the attack that left the [prize]-winning novelist seriously wounded and blinded in one eye. It was the […]
(AP) A man injured alongside author Salman Rushdie in a knife attack on a New York lecture stage said Thursday that he tried to stop the assault once he realized it wasn’t a prank and was left with a gash above his […]
(European Conservative) Patryk Jaki MEP (Law and Justice; PiS) is beginning his “special trial” in Poland, after “liking” a Twitter post back in 2018 that showcased real security footage of migrant criminals. Polish prosecutors requested a three-year prison sentence for this “hate […]
(AP) With a mix of humor and graphic detail, Salman Rushdie calmly told a jury Tuesday about the frenzied moments in August 2022 when a masked man rushed at him on a stage in western New York and repeatedly slashed him with […]
(AP) Salman Rushdie was so stunned when a masked man started to stab him on a stage in western New York that the author didn’t even try to fight back, a prosecutor said Monday during opening statements in the suspect’s attempted murder […]
(Jewish News) A Charity Commission disqualification order against National Jewish Assembly chair Gary Mond has been quashed after a tribunal ruled in favour of his right to free speech. Mond was disqualified from acting as a charity trustee or senior manager for […]
(GB News) Police have been accused of “enforcing Sharia law on the streets of Britain” after naming a man who burnt a Koran in Manchester on Saturday. A 47-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of a “racially aggravated public order offence” over […]
(Middle East Eye) The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) has urged the UK government to adopt the contentious definition of Islamophobia proposed in 2018 by the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for British Muslims in comments made to Middle East Eye. Earlier, it emerged that […]
(AP) In 2022, Salman Rushdie was about to deliver a lecture before a live audience in western New York when a man ran towards him and plunged a knife into the author’s hand as he raised it in self-defense. “After that there […]
(GB News) Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner is set to create a “council on Islamophobia” to draw up an official definition of the term. The 16-member council is said to provide advice to ministers on tackling Islamophobia, [and] ex-Tory Attorney General Dominic […]
(ITV) A man has admitted to setting fire to the Islamic holy book, the Koran, which was live-streamed on social media. Martin Frost, 47, was filmed holding a flag of Israel before tearing out pages of the text and setting fire to […]
(AFP) A Stockholm court on Monday convicted a man of inciting ethnic hatred during four Koran burnings in 2023 that sparked outrage in Muslim countries, a verdict that reignited debate about the limits of freedom of expression. The verdict came just days […]
(GB News) A man has been arrested after appearing to burn a Koran in central Manchester this afternoon. The man, 47, was arrested on suspicion of a “racially aggravated public order offence” following an incident near the city’s Glade of Light Memorial, […]
(European Conservative) The shooting this week of 38-year-old Iraqi Christian refugee Salwan Momika might be linked to a foreign power, Stockholm officials have claimed. Muslim demonstrations erupted across Europe and beyond in recent years as a result of the anti-Islam campaigner’s burning […]
Thank you for reading Eye on Islamism.