News updates

  BRUSSELS: A French businessman paid fines on Wednesday for two women in Belgium who wore full-face veils in public and said he would take Belgium and France to court over laws banning Muslim niqabs and burqas. Property dealer Rachid Nekkaz has set up $1.4 million fund to cover fines and paid the first $72.38500 penalties imposed in Belgium on two women …

Amendments will be introduced shortly to the marriage registration and divorce law of Muslims to meet today’s requirements, Justice Minister Rauf Hakeem said. During a discussion he had with the Council of Quasi Judges at his ministry, Minister Hakeem said the law pertaining to marriage and divorces among Muslims requires amendments and Quasi Judges who attended to those functions  need to …

Leader of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress and Minister of Justice Rauff Hakeem, Senior Minister A.H.M. Fowzie, Minister A. L. M Athaullah together with Senior Provincial Ministers and members of the councils held a meeting with residents of Pottuvil at the Grand Jumma Mosque in Pottuvil today. The meeting was held after the funeral of M. Maujoom a 32 year …

RIYADH: A Sri Lankan couple and their 8-year-old son died in a car accident following Friday prayers on the Madinah-Riyadh highway. Thambi Lebbe Mohammed Masood, 44, his wife Saleema Rehmet, 42, and their son Mohammed Nasser died on the spot when their car turned over and hit a trailer at Anaqiyah, some 185 kilometers from Madinah. The car was driven …

  URUMQI – Amid fresh arrests, restrictions on fasting and prayers at mosques, Uighur Muslims are suffering under the latest episode of Chinese government crackdown on their ethnic minority in the northwestern region of Xinjiang. “If any religious figure discusses Ramadan during the course of religious activities, or encourages people to take part, then they will lose their license to …

Rizana Nafeek the Sri Lankan worker who was sentenced to death in Saudi Arabia in connection with the death of an infant is likely to be pardoned. A Sri Lankan dentist employed at a medical centre in Riyadh, Dr. Kipaya Isthikar who had been constantly in touch with Rizana said the Saudi King would meet the child’s father at the …