Law

Editorial: A preventable execution?

Could Ruyati Binti Sapubi have been spared from the gallows in Saudi Arabia? The government must now explain to the public yet another failure to protect its citizens abroad. The 54-year-old Ruyati was hanged on Saturday for the 2010 murder of a Saudi woman who employed her as a servant. […]

Muslim hearings recall my life in internment camp

Editor’s note: Rep. Michael Honda, D-California, is senior Democratic whip and a member of House Budget and Appropriations Committees. (CNN) — Who would have thought that my early childhood experience in a Japanese-American internment camp during World War II would offer such useful insight, 65 years later, in determining the […]

Cleric of Hate sent to die behind bars

It is likely the only common ground they will ever have, but terrorism analysts and supporters of militant cleric Abu Bakar Bashir do agree on one thing  — the 15-year jail term that he received on Thursday means he will likely spend the rest of his life behind bars. The conclusion […]

Crimes against women

IT may be the 21st cen-tury but in Pakistan, that is merely a technicality. The archaic and often criminal notions of justice and honour, particularly the treatment meted out to women, speak of a society that remains mired in a medieval mindset. This is evident in the grotesque incident which […]

French burka ban challenged by Muslim Couple

They claim the ruling breaches their human rights and restricts their free movement across countries in the European Union. The pair, who wish to remain anonymous, now live in the West Midlands with their two children, claiming the new law forced them out of their home country. They are seeking […]

Fatwa body bans mingling of sexes

By MUHAMMAD AL-SULAMI | ARAB NEWS JEDDAH: The permanent committee for issuing religious edicts, chaired by Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al-Sheikh, has banned the mingling of men and women at offices and educational institutions. “Women are not allowed to work with men. For example, they cannot work as secretaries for […]

Love in a time of torture

A young man’s account of sadistic torture in a Syrian secret prison, and how a girl’s note helped him through his pain. Arrested during a protest in the first days of the Syrian uprising, a young man endured acts of sadism and torture at the hands of Bashar al-Assad’s secret […]

Sale of babies

IN the absence of functioning mechanisms, certain sorts of criminal behaviour become inevitable. This is the lesson to be read into the arrest on Friday of a Peshawar doctor on the charge of selling newborn babies. After receiving a tip-off, a policewoman posing as a potential customer contacted the doctor, […]

Islamic law: the Development of a Sphere of Law independent from the State

In the years after the passing away of Muhammad, the next stage of legal development began with the rise of “proto-qadis” (judges) who, though appointed by political authorities, quickly achieved a measure of independence from the “state.” These proto-qadis, according to Hallaq, began as arbitrators, administrators, even storytellers, but they quickly began […]

Saudi labor minister calms jobs panic

DAMMAM/JEDDAH: Labor Minister Adel Fakeih on Tuesday urged expatriates in the Kingdom not to press the panic button regarding reports about the six-year visa limitation issue. Talking to Arab News at Asharqia Chamber, the minister said companies in the Kingdom will have until Sept. 7 to achieve a prescribed quota […]