Religious Freedom
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Religious Freedom
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Hand in hand as many as 200-300 people formed a human chain outside the St Anthony’s Church adjacent to the District Police Lines at the Empress Road, in a show of solidarity with the victims of the Peshawar church attack two weeks back, which resulted in over a 100 deaths. The twin suicide attack on All Saints church occurred after Sunday mass ended and is believed to be the country’s deadliest attack on Christians.
“The UN Human Rights Committee has said that by requiring Shingara Singh to remove his turban for his passport photograph, France has violated his right to religious freedom that is guaranteed under Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and that France must now re-examine his passport application and review of the relevant laws to ensure that no further violations of the same occur in the future,” said Mejindarpal Kaur, UNITED SIKHS International Legal Director, who is in the fore-front of a legal campaign for French Sikhs' right to wear their turban.

The UNHRC’s views were adopted at the 108th Session of the Committee’s sitting, and may be read in French here .
You may read previous press releases on UNITED SIKHS’ advocacy for the right to wear a turban in France here and here .
law@unitedsikhs.org
Tel: +44 8701993328
www.unitedsikhs.org
From INTERFAX

Moscow, October 2, Interfax - Deputy Chairman of the Russian Muftis Council Rushan Abbyasov has spoken with representatives of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom about the problems of Muslims in Russia.
He expressed concern over the fact that the mass media often associated extremists with Islam, the press service of the Council reported on Tuesday.
"It is precisely for this reason that in this country, like they are in the West, people are scared by the construction of new mosques. The local authorities also sometimes demonstrate a lack of understanding. As a result of this media policy, people are also afraid of the hijab, the prohibition of which in schools has even developed into a political issue," Abbyasov said.
There are numerous cases when "certain destructive forces in the guise of so-called 'experts on Islam' (who in reality have neither an education or knowledge of Islam) on the staff of the Russian Orthodox Church resist a positive dialogue on the pretext of Christian Orthodoxy and try to hurt Muslims in different parts of this country, set them against society and the state and arouse a negative attitudes towards this worldwide religion among non-Muslims," Abbyasov said.
"Unfortunately, regional and local authorities sometimes follow their lead without realizing the danger of the situation," the press service quotes Abbyasov as saying.
Among such actions, he named the recognition the translation of the Quran into Russian made by philosopher Elmir Kuliyev as extremist.
"This and the way it is done is an indication of the complete absence of respect not only toward the Muslims of Russia but toward any religion, including the teaching of monotheism," he said.
The meeting was attended by a leading analyst of the U.S. commission, Catherine Cosman, and first secretary of the political section of the U.S. Embassy in Russia, Patrick Horne. The report does not specify where or when the meeting took place