CHICAGO: To Eman Abdelhadi, getting an abortion was the most sensible thing to do. She was six weeks pregnant and a graduate student who wasn’t financially ready to have a child. She felt no shame or guilt going through with it.
“I had no qualms about it. I grew up in an environment and a religious tradition that sees my life as the most important thing,” said Abdelhadi, a professor at the University of Chicago who was raised in a Muslim household. “It felt very clear to me. There was never anything like, ‘You did something unethical.‘”
Abdelhadi, whose mother was a gynecologist in Egypt, grew up with the idea that abortion was a “nonsensical thing to legislate” and that legalizing it was necessary to prevent people from seeking other, potentially dangerous means of terminating pregnancies.
Islamic law is flexible, Abdelhadi said, and when it comes to making a decision about abortion, “people will consult with their families, their religious leaders, and then they’ll ultimately make a decision for themselves.”
As the US Supreme Court appears poised to overturn Roe vs. Wade, Muslim Americans are gearing up for what the landmark reversal could mean for their communities.
“There’s been a sort of confused silence as (Muslim) folks try to figure out what they believe about this, or what Islam tells them about this,” said Abdelhadi, now a sociologist who studies Muslims in America. “I think what happens in a Christian-dominated space is that sometimes, even among Muslims, we don’t know what we believe.”
The recent passage of anti-abortion legislation in Texas and other red states has led many to make comparisons to the Taliban’s iron-fisted control of women in Muslim-majority Afghanistan. Such comparisons are inaccurate and perpetuate Islamophobia, experts say, adding that this rationale minimizes the role of Christianity and other US systems that led to Texas’ six-week abortion ban.
The American Muslim Bar Association and HEART Women and Girls in April released an 11-page statement, dubbed “The Islamic Principle of Rahma: A Call for Reproductive Justice,” declaring that as a religious minority, Muslim Americans “are uniquely positioned to condemn abortion bans and their attack on every person’s constitutional right to religious liberty.”
“Muslims are not a monolith and we don’t have a systemized and global authority that mirrors the papal system in Catholicism. We also don’t hold a uniform view on when life begins,” the statement read.
Muslims have a rich understanding of conception, gestation, notions of life — and “abortion is part of that,” said Zahra Ayubi, a professor of religion at Dartmouth College and scholar of gender in pre-modern and modern Islamic ethics.
While Muslims have performed abortions since pre-modern times, Ayubi said contemporary concepts of when life begins are derived from Islamic legal tradition, pertaining to the inheritance rights of an unborn child or criminal laws addressing the fine a perpetrator would face for harming a pregnant person.
In fact, Ayubi said, restrictive abortion laws in states such as Texas “take away from Muslim rights to abortion in their tradition and their religion.”
Abed Awad, a Rutgers adjunct law professor and national expert in Shariah, agrees.
If states outlaw abortion, Muslim Americans have standing to sue against abortion bans that interfere with their religious exercise, said Awad, adding that the issue of when life begins is a theological question.
The Texas law, currently one of the most restrictive abortion bans in the country, constitutes a religious violation of the First Amendment, said Awad, in that it subjects this “moral position of the Christian right and the anti-abortion movement” to other communities who don’t subscribe to these beliefs.
Muslims finding their place in America’s abortion debate
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Muslims finding their place in America’s abortion debate
- The recent passage of anti-abortion legislation in Texas and other red states has led many to make comparisons to the Taliban’s iron-fisted control of women in Muslim-majority Afghanistan
Germany’s Merz says court ruling will not stop migration crackdown
People would continue to be turned away at the German border, he said.
A Berlin administrative court said on Monday the expulsion of the three unnamed Somalis, who were sent back to Poland after arriving at a train station in eastern Germany, was “unlawful.”
It said the asylum application should have been processed by Germany under the European Union’s so-called Dublin rules that determine which country is responsible for processing a claim.
The ruling was a setback for Merz’s government, which won a federal election in February after promising a crackdown on migration that has caused concern in neighboring countries.
The court ruling has “possibly further restricted the scope for maneuver here,” Merz told a local government congress. “But the scope is still there. We know that we can still reject people.”
“We will, of course, do this within the framework of European law, but we will also do it to protect public safety and order in our country and to relieve the burden on cities and municipalities,” he said.
Migration is among German voters’ biggest concerns and a backlash against an influx of new arrivals has contributed to a rise in the popularity of the far-right Alternative for Germany party, which came second in February’s election.
It is a big shift since Germany’s “Refugees Welcome” culture during Europe’s migrant crisis in 2015 under Merz’s conservative predecessor, Angela Merkel.
Merz’s government issued an order in May to reject undocumented migrants, including asylum seekers, at Germany’s borders.
Monday’s ruling was seized on by critics as evidence that Merz’s migration policy was unworkable.
“The administrative court has determined that Dobrindt’s policy of rejecting asylum seekers is unlawful, contrary to European law, and now the Federal Ministry of the Interior should really start thinking about how to finally put an end to this nonsense,” Karl Kopp of the pro-immigration advocacy group Pro Asyl told Reuters.
Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt defended the expulsions, saying he would provide the court with justifications for banning entry.
Mongolia PM resigns after anti-corruption protests
- Luvsannamsrain Oyun-Erdene resigned on Tuesday saying: “It was an honor to serve my country and people in times of difficulties, including pandemics, wars, and tariffs"
ULAANBAATAR: Mongolian Prime Minister Luvsannamsrain Oyun-Erdene resigned on Tuesday following weeks of anti-corruption protests in the country’s capital.
The landlocked democracy in northern Asia has battled deep-seated corruption for decades, with many arguing that wealthy elites are hoarding the profits of a years-long coal mining boom at the expense of the general population.
Frustrations have flared since last month as public suspicions over the supposedly lavish lifestyles of the prime minister’s family have fueled persistent demonstrations in the capital Ulaanbaatar.
Oyun-Erdene announced his resignation on Tuesday after losing a confidence vote among lawmakers, according to a parliamentary statement.
“It was an honor to serve my country and people in times of difficulties, including pandemics, wars, and tariffs,” he said after the result of the secret ballot was announced to parliament.
He will remain as caretaker prime minister until his successor is appointed within 30 days.
Dozens of young people gathered on the square outside the parliament building on Tuesday, holding white placards reading “Resignation is easy” — a popular slogan at recent protests.
Several voiced pride that they had taken a stand against what they described as deeply embedded corruption and social injustice.
“The youth protest has achieved great results. I’m so proud of the future of Mongolia,” participant Unur Sukhbaatar, a 37-year-old political economy researcher, told AFP.
“The public wants more stable governance with ethical politicians... protesting and unifying our voice for systemic change (shows) that Mongolian democracy is alive,” he told AFP.
Some counter-protesters — overwhelmingly older than their pro-opposition counterparts — have also turned out to support Oyun-Erdene in recent weeks.
Julian Dierkes, a Mongolia expert at Germany’s University of Mannheim, said he “(didn’t) expect any successor to adopt substantially different policies” from Oyun-Erdene, including on corruption.
His ouster “may mean the resurgence of factional politics in his party” after years of comparative stability at the top of Mongolian politics, Dierkes told AFP.
Oyun-Erdene has denied the corruption allegations, and in an address to parliament before the vote, blamed “major, visible and hidden interests” for waging an “organized campaign” to bring down the government.
He had also warned of political instability and economic chaos if forced out of power.
But it was not enough as only 44 lawmakers voted to retain confidence in him, with 38 against.
That did not reach the 64-vote threshold required from the 126-seat parliament, prompting Oyun-Erdene to stand down.
The move pushed the country’s fractious political scene into further uncertainty.
Mongolia had been ruled by a three-way coalition government since elections last year resulted in a significantly reduced majority for Oyun-Erdene’s Mongolian People’s Party (MPP).
But the MPP evicted the second-largest member, the Democratic Party (DP), from the coalition last month after some younger DP lawmakers backed calls for Oyun-Erdene’s resignation.
DP lawmakers walked out of the parliamentary chamber during the confidence ballot.
Munkhnaran Bayarlkhagva, a political analyst and former adviser on Mongolia’s National Security Council, said protesters had effectively helped force a vote on “the legitimacy of the (country’s) political system.”
“The Mongolian Generation Z showed they are willing and able to be a politically engaged, mature and active electorate,” he told AFP.
“The Mongolian political establishment had no choice but to comply to retain popular support.”
Sandwiched between regional giants China and Russia, Mongolia was a communist state during the Cold War, but has transformed into a democracy since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Since Oyun-Erdene took power in 2021, Mongolia’s ranking in Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index has dropped.
Concerns over the economy and rising living costs have also stoked unrest.
The protests against Oyun-Erdene began in May following accusations of lavish spending by his son, whose fiancee was reportedly seen with expensive gifts on social media.
“Parliament showed they can put the public interest above party needs,” small business owner Erchissaran Ganbold, 28, told AFP at Tuesday’s protest.
“This demonstration is a strong reminder for politicians to be accountable and transparent in the future.”
Bali drug trial of three Brits facing death penalty begins
- Indonesia hands out severe punishments for drug smuggling and has previously executed foreigners
DENPASAR: The trial of three British nationals accused of smuggling cocaine or taking part in a drug deal on Indonesia’s popular island of Bali began Tuesday, with all facing the death penalty in a nation with some of the world’s toughest narcotics laws.
Indonesia hands out severe punishments for drug smuggling and has previously executed foreigners, but has upheld a moratorium on the death sentence since 2017.
Jonathan Christopher Collyer, 38, and Lisa Ellen Stocker, 39, were arrested on February 1 after being stopped at Bali’s international airport with 17 packages of cocaine that weighed nearly a kilogramme, according to public court records.
They appeared in court alongside Phineas Ambrose Float, 31, who was allegedly due to receive the packages and arrested a few days later.
The heaviest punishment for taking part in a drug transaction is also the death penalty under Indonesian law.
An AFP journalist at the court said the hearing began Tuesday. A verdict was not expected until a later date.
The British embassy in Jakarta did not immediately respond to an AFP request for comment.
Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto’s administration has moved in recent months to repatriate several high-profile inmates, all sentenced for drug offenses, back to their home countries.
Frenchman Serge Atlaoui returned to France in February after Jakarta and Paris agreed a deal to repatriate him on “humanitarian grounds” because he was ill.
In December, Indonesia took Mary Jane Veloso off death row and returned her to the Philippines.
It also sent the five remaining members of the “Bali Nine” drug ring, who were serving heavy prison sentences, back to Australia.
According to Indonesia’s Ministry of Immigration and Corrections, 96 foreigners were on death row, all on drug charges, before Veloso’s release.
Ukraine’s drone attack on Russian warplanes was a serious blow to the Kremlin’s strategic arsenal
- Ukraine said over 40 bombers, or about a third of Russia’s strategic bomber fleet, were damaged or destroyed Sunday
A surprise Ukrainian drone attack that targeted several Russian air bases hosting nuclear-capable strategic bombers was unprecedented in its scope and sophistication for the first time reached as far as Siberia in a heavy blow to the Russian military.
Ukraine said over 40 bombers, or about a third of Russia’s strategic bomber fleet, were damaged or destroyed Sunday, although Moscow said only several planes were struck. The conflicting claims couldn’t be independently verified and video of the assault posted on social media showed only a couple of bombers hit.
But the bold attack demonstrated Ukraine’s capability to hit high-value targets anywhere in Russia, dealing a humiliating blow to the Kremlin and inflicting significant losses to Moscow’s war machine.
While some Russian military bloggers compared it to another infamous Sunday surprise attack — that of Japan’s strike on the US base at Pearl Harbor in 1941 — others rejected the analogy, arguing the actual damage was far less significant than Ukraine claimed.
A look at what warplanes were reported hit:
Russia’s bomber assets
For decades, long-range bombers have been part of the Soviet and Russian nuclear triad that also includes land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles and atomic-powered submarines carrying ICBMs. The strategic bombers have flown regular patrols around the globe showcasing Moscow’s nuclear might.
During the 3-year-old war in Ukraine, Russia has used the heavy planes to launch waves of cruise missile strikes across the country.
The Tupolev Tu-95, which was code named Bear by NATO, is a four-engine turboprop plane designed in the 1950s to rival the US B-52 bomber. The aircraft has an intercontinental range and carries eight long-range cruise missiles that can be equipped with conventional or nuclear warheads.
Before Sunday, Russia was estimated to have a fleet of about 60 such aircraft.
The Tupolev Tu-22M is a twin-engine supersonic bomber designed in the 1970s that was code named Backfire by NATO. It has a shorter range compared with the Tu-95, but during US-Soviet arms control talks in the 1970s, Washington insisted on counting them as part of the Soviet strategic nuclear arsenal because of their capability to reach the US if refueled in flight.
The latest version of the plane, the Tu-22M3, carries Kh-22 cruise missiles that fly at more than three times the speed of sound. It dates to the 1970s, when it was designed by the Soviet Union to strike US aircraft carriers. It packs a big punch, thanks to its supersonic speed and ability to carry 630 kilograms (nearly 1,400 pounds) of explosives, but its outdated guidance system could make it highly inaccurate against ground targets, raising the possibility of collateral damage.
Some Tu-22Ms were lost in previous Ukrainian attacks, and Russia was estimated to have between 50 and 60 Tu-22M3s in service before Sunday’s drone strike.
The production of the Tu-95 and the Tu-22M ended after the 1991 collapse of the USSR, meaning that any of them lost Sunday can’t be replaced.
Russia also has another type of strategic nuclear capable bomber, the supersonic Tu-160. Fewer than 20 of them are in service, and Russia has just begun production of its modernized version equipped with new engines and avionics.
Russia lost a significant part of its heavy bomber fleet in the attack “with no immediate ability to replace it,” said Douglas Barrie of the International Institute of Strategic Studies, noting that Moscow’s announced plan to develop the next generation strategic bomber is still in its early phase.
“Ironically this might give impetus to that program, because if if you want to keep your bomber fleet up to size, then you’re going to have to do something at some point,” he said.
The A-50, which Ukrainian officials also said was hit in the strikes, is an early warning and control aircraft similar to the US AWACS planes used to coordinate aerial attacks. Only few such planes are in service with the Russian military, and any loss badly dents Russia’s military capability.
Relocating bombers and impromptu protection
Repeated Ukrainian strikes on the Engels air base, the main base for Russian nuclear capable strategic bombers near the Volga River city of Saratov, prompted Moscow to relocate the bombers to other bases farther from the conflict.
One of them was Olenya on the Arctic Kola Peninsula, from where Tu-95s have flown multiple missions to launch cruise missiles at Ukraine. Several bombers at Olenya apparently were hit by the Ukrainian drones Sunday, according to analysts studying satellite images before and after the strike.
Other drones targeted the Belaya air base in the Irkutsk region in eastern Siberia, destroying a few Tu-22M bombers, according to analysts.
Ukraine said 41 aircraft — Tu-95s, Tu-22Ms and A-50s — were damaged or destroyed Sunday in the attack that it said was in the works for 18 months in which swarms of drones popped out of containers carried on trucks that were parked near four air bases.
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was briefed on the attack, which represented a level of sophistication that Washington had not seen before, a senior defense official said on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.
The Russian Defense Ministry said the attack set several warplanes ablaze at air bases in the Irkutsk region in eastern Siberia and the Murmansk region in the north, but the fires were extinguished.
It said Ukraine also tried to strike two air bases in western Russia, as well as another one in the Amur region of Russia’s Far East, but those attacks were repelled.
The drone strikes produced an outcry from Russian military bloggers, who criticized the Defense Ministry for failing to learn from previous strikes and protect the bombers. Building shelters or hangars for such large planes is a daunting task, and the military has tried some impromptu solutions that were criticized as window dressing.
Satellite images have shown Tu-95s at various air bases covered by layers of old tires — a measure of dubious efficiency that has drawn mockery on social media.
‘Doesn’t look good’: Dutch coalition teeters over asylum
- Far right leader Geert Wilders Wilders has vowed to withdraw his Freedom Party (PVV) from the four-way coalition if the other parties do not sign up to a 10 point plan for tougher policies against immigrants and asylum seekers
THE HAGUE: Dutch political leaders were set for last-ditch talks Tuesday to save the government, as far-right leader Geert Wilders again threatened to pull out of a shaky coalition in a row over immigration.
Wilders has vowed to withdraw his Freedom Party (PVV) from the four-way coalition if the other parties do not sign up to a 10-point plan for tougher policies against immigrants and asylum-seekers.
The PVV is the largest party in the Dutch parliament and a withdrawal would lead to the collapse of the government and most likely fresh elections.
“It doesn’t look good,” Wilders said following crisis talks late Monday that he described as “unpleasant.”
The leaders of the four coalition parties were due to return to the table on Tuesday morning.
The latest government crisis comes just weeks before the Netherlands is due to host world leaders for a NATO summit.
In late May, Wilders called an impromptu press conference to announce his “patience was up” with the government of Prime Minister Dick Schoof.
He threatened to torpedo the coalition if a new 10-point plan to crimp immigration were not implemented within a few weeks.
His plan included border closures for asylum-seekers, tougher border controls, and deporting dual nationals convicted of a crime.
Summarising his demands, he said: “Close the borders for asylum seekers and family reunifications. No more asylum centers opened. Close them.”
Political and legal experts criticized the plans as unworkable or illegal, with some suggesting Wilders was creating a crisis to collapse the government.
Dilan Yesilgoz, head of the liberal VVD party, one of the coalition parties, said: “We don’t understand why this chaos, this circus, is needed.”
“If Wilders is aiming to bring everything down, he should just say so,” added Yesilgoz.
Eighteen months after Wilders’ surprise election win sent shockwaves through Europe and the world, polls suggest his PVV is still the strongest.
However, the gap to his nearest rivals has narrowed, with the left-wing Green/Left party of former European Commission vice president Frans Timmermans close behind.
