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SearchToday in Islamophobia: The head of communications for Huawei in Denmark resigns over the company’s role in testing surveillance tools capable of tracking China’s Muslims. Austria drops ‘political Islam’ from controversial bill. On New York Times, Carol Rosenberg outlines how Guantánamo will pose a challenge for Biden. Our recommended read today is by Rowaida Abdelaziz on how decades of discriminatory profiling and government surveillance has eroded trust, vilified Muslim Americans, and traumatized the community. This, and more, below:
United States
Pervasive Surveillance Tactics Have Haunted Muslim Americans For Years | Recommended Read
And while advocates and lawyers applauded Thursday’s ruling as a small win against religious discrimination and an opportunity to hold government officials accountable, Muslim Americans are still reeling from the use of informants and other unconstitutional and targeted programs in their communities after September 2001. Decades of discriminatory profiling and government surveillance have resulted in eroded trust, the vilification of Muslim Americans and traumatized a community that does not feel any safer. read the complete article
Five years later, Larycia Hawkins’ canceling foreshadowed evangelicals under Trump
In her post, Hawkins announced her intent to wear a hijab as an act of “embodied solidarity” during Advent, the liturgical season we’re in again now, in which we lament the darkness of this world and await the light of Christ. Quoting Pope Francis, Hawkins added that Muslims and Christians worship the “same God,” the God of Abraham. Her post went live, and she expected perhaps a few hundred responses. Instead, an agonizing, two-month, public lynching ensued — in the name of theology. Same God? How dare she. Blogs, articles, talk radio, they all speculated on whether she understood the exclusionary salvific claims of Jesus. THIS WASN’T ABOUT RACE, they often screamed in all caps. The color of her skin was irrelevant, they insisted, even if she did look suspiciously Muslim with her brown skin in a headscarf. read the complete article
In Bad Shape and Getting Worse,’ Guantánamo Poses Headaches for Biden
The descriptions dovetailed with earlier accounts by the military of failing infrastructure at the prison complex’s most secretive and highest-security facility, called Camp 7, which houses the 14 former C.I.A. detainees who were brought to the base starting in 2006 from overseas black site prisons. The incoming Biden administration has yet to lay out plans for Guantánamo, where leftover fragments of the Bush administration’s most disputed responses to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks — indefinitely detaining terrorism suspects as wartime captives without trial, torturing them and prosecuting them in military commissions — remain unresolved three presidencies later. But the new administration will be forced to confront several difficult decisions, such as what to do about the building holding the 14 former C.I.A. prisoners, which is falling apart. read the complete article
China
Senior Huawei Executive Resigns Over Muslim-Tracking Technology
The head of communications for Huawei in Denmark has resigned over the Chinese company’s role in testing surveillance tools capable of tracking China’s Muslims. Tommy Zwicky, vice president of communications at Huawei Denmark, confirmed to VICE World News on Wednesday that he “left because of how the Uighur case was handled.” His resignation followed a report by U.S.-based surveillance research firm IPVM that the Chinese technology giant tested facial recognition software that could identify the faces of the Uighur minority from a crowd and send automated “Uighur alarms” to the authorities. The Washington Post, which partnered with IPVM, published these allegations on Wednesday last week. read the complete article
India
India court acquits foreigners over Tabligh event during pandemic
In March, the Tablighi Jamaat hit the headlines after Indian authorities blamed a congregation at its headquarters in New Delhi’s Nizamuddin area for causing a spike in COVID-19 infections. The movement’s headquarters were sealed off and thousands of attendees quarantined as Indian news channels and social media vilified the Jamaat members for weeks, calling them “corona bombs”. Dozens of cases were filed against the non-Indian Tablighi Jamaat members by various Indian states and hundreds of them were blacklisted from travelling to India for 10 years. The organisation’s head, Mullah Muhammad Saad, was charged with culpable homicide, which carries a maximum punishment of 10 years in prison, for violating a ban on large gatherings to check the spread of the coronavirus. read the complete article
Hindu Activists Denounce India's Jailing Of Muslim Who Prayed At Hindu Temple
Interfaith advocates in India and the United States are rallying around a Muslim peace activist who has been jailed by Indian authorities after praying at a Hindu temple. Supporters of Faisal Khan say he visited the temple in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh in late October to encourage communal harmony during a period of heightened inter-religious tension. They also contend that, after a cordial exchange, the temple’s priest invited Khan to pray at the back of the temple complex. read the complete article
Austria
Austria drops 'political Islam' from controversial bill
Austria's coalition government on Wednesday revised its controversial "anti-terror" law, using the phrase "religiously motivated extremism" instead of "political Islam." Following a cabinet meeting, Interior Minister Karl Nehammer, Justice Minister Alma Zadic and Integration Minister Susanne Raab announced a package of counter-terrorism measures a month after the country's capital was hit by a terror attack. Speaking during the press conference, Interior Minister Nehammer said a "terror record" would be created if lawmakers pass the new draft law. read the complete article
France
After two bloody attacks, France plans crackdown on radical Islam
In the wake of two bloody terrorist attacks, the French government is planning new legislation to crack down on radical Islam. Right-wingers are worried the new law isn't enough, but opponents are afraid it could alienate France’s large Muslim minority and turn more people against the state. Special correspondent Malcolm Brabant reports from Paris. Naouelle Garnoussi (through translator): I am French. My grandmother is French. My grandmother's name is Annick. My great-grandmother's name was Antoinette. It can't be more French than that. But sometimes, I feel like I am not French anymore, only a Muslim. And that's not easy to live with. read the complete article