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SearchToday in Islamophobia: Muslim groups condemn detention of Iranian broadcaster while a new Islamophobic website makes the rounds. Reports emerge of at least ten Australians detained in China’s internment camps, while a Muslim trader comes under attack by ‘cow vigilantes’ in India. Our recommended read for today is by Akela Lacy, who writes on South Carolina foster care agencies, and their newfound right to discriminate against Jewish and Muslim families. This, and more, below:
United Kingdom
Prevent should be scrapped not reviewed
The controversial counter-extremism Prevent program might be up for an independent review, reports say. Studies by CAGE, the Open Society Justice Initiative (Eroding Trust), Rights Watch UK, and United Nations agencies including the Human Rights Council, have clearly documented the discrimination and human rights violations caused by Prevent. read the complete article
United States
Trump Administration grants South Carolina foster care agencies authority to discriminate against Jewish & Muslim families | Recommended Read
On the 33rd day of the government shutdown, Steven Wagner, principal deputy assistant secretary at the Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families signed a waiver giving special permission to a federally funded Protestant foster care agency in South Carolina to break federal and state law, using strict religious requirements to deny Jewish, Muslim and Catholic parents from fostering children in its network. After months of lobbying by Reid Lehman, president and CEO of Miracle Hill Ministries, South Carolina lawmakers, and Gov. Henry McMaster, Wagner signed a waiver that lets the agency keep its federal funding despite warnings by the state Department of Social Services that it’s violating federal and state nondiscrimination law, as well as internal agency policy, by denying parents of the Jewish faith from fostering children. The agency also rejects parents who are agnostic and atheist — anyone who is not a Protestant Christian. The signed waiver, stalled for months, could have larger ramifications for other states waging battles over religious freedom in the foster care system, legal experts say. The waiver argues that HHS nondiscrimination regulations are broader than those outlined in the specific Foster Care Program Statute, which specifies that agencies receiving federal funding can’t deny foster parents based on race, color, or national origin — but not religion. read the complete article
Muslim groups condemn detention of Iranian broadcaster
Muslim civil rights organizations have joined press freedom and other human rights groups in questioning the FBI’s detention of an American-born journalist based in Iran. Marzieh Hashemi, a U.S. citizen who works as an anchor for Iran’s state-run English-language Press TV, was detained on Jan. 13 at St. Louis Lambert International Airport, according to federal court documents made public on Friday (Jan. 18). Hashemi had been in the U.S. filming a documentary on Black Lives Matter and visiting some relatives. read the complete article
Four arrested for plotting to bomb New York Muslim community
Four Rochester-area residents are accused of plotting to attack the small Muslim enclave of Islamberg, a rural settlement about 150 miles (241km) northwest of New York City. At the time of their weekend arrests, the men, three of whom were in the Boy Scouts together, had access to 23 rifles and shotguns and three home-made explosives. "If they had carried out this plot, which every indication is that they were going to, people would have died," the police chief said. "I don't know how many and who, but people would have died." read the complete article
Opinion | Two years in, Trump’s travel ban is still ruining lives
"The order — with its misspellings and misstatements of facts and law — was an outrage to most of us who would have to enforce it overseas"- writes Christopher Richardson. "Immediately, State Department officials organized against it. Thousands of us signed a memorandum arguing that such a policy runs counter to core American values of nondiscrimination, fair play, and extending a warm welcome to foreign visitors and immigrants.” read the complete article
Opinion | I joined the GOP because it stood for religious freedom. It still does.
Shahid Shafi, vice chair of the Tarrant County Republican Party writes on being almost ousted from his position for being Muslim. "Last summer, the Republican Party of Tarrant County, Tex., appointed me as a party vice chair in a nearly unanimous vote. As a longtime party member who has served in other roles, I considered the appointment a true honor. Yet, soon after, a handful of members from the party launched a public effort to remove me from the position — simply because I am Muslim". read the complete article
India
'Cow vigilantes' beat 24-year-old cattle trader for 2 hours in Rohtak, police chain victim instead of taking him to hospital
A Muslim cow trader was violently assaulted by vigilantes in Rohtak, India, amidst reports of rising hate against Muslims. "Before I could understand what was going on, I was bleeding from the nose, ear, legs and back. One of the cow activists tortured me by burning a beedi on my skin and branding me a 'cow smuggler'". read the complete article
Bangladesh
Bangladesh's foreign minister: Rohingya crisis is a 'global problem'
In an exclusive interview with DW, Bangladesh's Foreign Minister A. K. Abdul Momen explained why he has chosen India for his first official trip and why the Rohingya crisis is no longer a regional problem. read the complete article