AFP has traced three former victims of “bacha bazi”, or the sexual exploitation of boys, whose testimonies lay bare one of Afghanistan’s most egregious human rights violations. Here are some key answers about the abusive practice. What is it? “Bachas” are boy sex slaves, often kept by powerful warlords, commanders, politicians and other members of … Read more
Clad in camouflage and armed only with their convictions, the paramilitary wing of Indonesia’s biggest Muslim organisation is on a campaign — to crush intolerance and defend the nation’s inclusive brand of Islam. The “militant moderates” from the Nahdlatul Ulama, which boasts 45 million members, are on the march as worries grow over the rise … Read more
Britain has been a prime target for jihadist groups for nearly 15 years, beginning with Al-Qaeda and now the Islamic State group (IS) which claimed the Manchester bombing. Using explosives in a confined space is a direct throwback to Al-Qaeda’s July 2005 attacks on London public transport that killed 52 people, said Mathieu Guidere, a … Read more
Two Indonesian men were caned Tuesday in front of a jeering crowd as a punishment for gay sex, in a first for the Muslim-majority country where there is mounting hostility towards the small LGBT community. The pair, aged 20 and 23, received 83 strokes of the cane each after being found guilty of breaking sharia … Read more
Two Indonesian men will Tuesday be publicly caned for having sex, in a first for the Muslim-majority country where there are concerns over mounting hostility towards the small gay community. The pair, aged 20 and 23, were last week found guilty of having broken sharia rules in conservative Aceh province — the only part of … Read more
Prosecutors in Indonesia’s Aceh Wednesday recommended 80 strokes of the cane for two men accused of having sex in contravention of sharia law, the first such punishment of a gay couple in the conservative province. The pair, both in their early 20s, were caught together in bed by a group of vigilantes who raided a … Read more
A group of men arrested in Indonesia for holding a ‘gay party’ could face up to 15 years in prison, it has emerged. Officers took 14 people into custody after bursting into two hotel rooms in Surabaya, the second biggest city in the country. Since Sunday’s arrest, police have named eight suspects, two of whom … Read more
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s deadly drug war is part of a worrying assault on human rights and democracy across Southeast Asia, activists said as regional leaders gathered in Manila on Friday. Duterte has been condemned in the West for the crackdown, which has claimed thousands of lives since he took power last year, but he … Read more
A military vehicle hit a roadside bomb in Somalia’s semi-autonomous Puntland region on Sunday, killing at least six soldiers and wounding another eight. The al-Qaeda linked group al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the attack, which happened on the outskirts of the region’s port city of Bosasso. Al-Shabab is fighting to topple the Horn of Africa country’s … Read more
Nigeria handed down an astonishing 527 death sentences in 2016, three times more than the previous year, in what Amnesty International described Tuesday as a “massive and worrying spike”. In its annual global report on the death penalty, the human rights group said that death sentences in Nigeria rose from 171 in 2015, placing it … Read more
Indonesia’s Aceh looks set to cane two men who admitted having sex in contravention of Islamic laws, an official said Monday, the first such punishment of a gay couple in the conservative province. They face up to 100 strokes if found guilty of breaking Aceh’s sharia regulations after they were caught in late March by … Read more
A teenage boy pleaded guilty Friday to planning a terrorist attack at an Anzac Day service honouring Australian soldiers in Sydney, the latest in a series of cases involving radicalised youth. The 16-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was arrested and charged by police last year on the eve of the April 25 … Read more
An Indonesian man collapsed while being publicly caned Monday for spending time with a woman who is not his wife in contravention of strict Islamic laws in a staunchly Muslim part of the country. Herizal bin Yunus, 27, fainted after being caned eight times in front of a crowd in Aceh, the only province of … Read more
Afghanistan is finally set to outlaw the sick ‘bacha bazi’ practice that sees young boys dressed up as women and sexually abused. Heavy penalties are set to be laid out for the first time in a landmark move against the depraved act, officials in Kabul said. It comes after it was revealed last year how the … Read more
Afghanistan is set to criminalise the practice of “bacha bazi” — the sexual exploitation of boys — with a slew of stringent punishments laid out for the first time in a revised penal code. The move comes after an AFP report last year found the Taliban are exploiting the centuries-old practice, one of the most … Read more
South Sudan, where the government on Monday declared famine in some parts of the country, is mired in an economic crisis due to a devastating civil war. Independent since 2011, the world’s newest country was engulfed by civil war in 2013 after President Salva Kiir accused his rival and former deputy Riek Machar of plotting … Read more
Jakarta goes to the polls on Wednesday to elect a leader, but a blasphemy case against the Indonesian capital’s Christian governor has transformed the election into a test of religious tolerance. Accusations that Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, the first non-Muslim to lead Jakarta in 50 years, insulted the Koran has led to hardline Islamic protests and … Read more
A Somali man and teenager were publicly executed by Somali Islamist group al Shabaab on Tuesday for committing a homosexual act. 20-year-old Isak Abshirow and 15-year-old Abdirizak Sheikh Ali were allegedly caught by al Shabaab fighters having gay sex. The two were shot dead with another man in a field in Buale in the presence … Read more
The United Nations warned Friday that the threat from Boko Haram jihadists was complicating efforts to help tens of thousands of Nigerian refugees living in dire conditions in northern Cameroon. The UN refugee agency said one of its teams had earlier this month managed to visit previously inaccessible border areas of Cameroon’s Far North Region … Read more
More than two-thirds of the foreigners seeking to join the Islamic State (IS) group have attended high school or university, according to a new study by the World Bank. Many of the young recruits who travel to Syria or Iraq to join the ranks of the Islamic State (IS) group – also known as ISIS, … Read more