Philippines enacts law requiring immediate, proper burial for Muslims

Above, maintenance workers clean Manila Islamic Cemetery’s tombs on Nov. 3, 2022. (Manila Islamic Cemetery)
Short Url
Updated 25 April 2025
Follow

Philippines enacts law requiring immediate, proper burial for Muslims

  • Law outlines steps to be followed when a Muslim person dies
  • Penalty for anyone refusing to release the body due to unpaid hospital or funeral fees

MANILA: The Philippine president has signed into law the Philippine Islamic Burial Act, recognizing the right of Filipino Muslims to bury their dead in accordance with their faith.

The new law, signed by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. this week, ensures that deceased Muslims are buried with respect and dignity, regardless of the availability of their death certificate. It requires that deaths be reported within 14 days after burial by the person who performed the rites or the deceased’s next of kin.

“For burial purposes, in accordance with Islamic rites, Muslim cadavers shall be released within 24 hours by the hospital, medical clinic, funeral parlor, morgue, custodial and prison facilities, or other similar facilities, or persons who are in actual care or custody of the cadaver,” the law says.

It also penalizes any person or organization that refuses to release the body of a deceased Muslim because of unpaid hospital or funeral fees or other reasons, with one to six months in prison, a fine of $880 to $1,800, or both.

In the predominantly Catholic Philippines, Muslims make up about 10 percent of the population of more than 120 million. Most of them live on the island of Mindanao and the Sulu archipelago in the country’s south.

Ebra Moxsir, president of the Imam Council of the Philippines and one of the experts consulted in drafting the law, told Arab News that its signing was a “very welcome development” because it addresses issues that Muslims have faced in the Philippines, where the majority is unaware of Islamic burial requirements.

“One challenge is the delay in the release of the body from the hospital due to financial reasons or lack of payment,” he said.

“Another challenge is the need for a death certificate, which often delays the burial because we have to wait for it to be processed. Under the new law, this is no longer required, and the process can proceed without delay. The death certificate can follow.”

The law specifies the steps to be followed when a Muslim person dies — that they should be washed, shrouded, have funeral prayers performed, and be buried within 24 hours.

If a forensic test is required, the family must be informed before any examination is conducted.

It also makes it clear that the body should not be embalmed and obliges local authorities to help with transportation if the family is not able to take the deceased home.

“The law outlines these requirements,” Moxsir said. “It helps raise awareness about what should and shouldn’t be done when handling the deceased, in accordance with Islamic law.”

House of Representatives Speaker Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez, who announced the signing of the law on Tuesday, welcomed the move as addressing a “longstanding issue” faced by Filipino Muslims, where institutional support for Islamic burial rites was lacking.

“This measure uplifts our Muslim brothers and sisters who, for years, have struggled to uphold a basic tenet of their faith in the face of red tape and costly logistics,” he said.

“Now, we correct that with compassion and resolve.”


Musk says ‘America Party’ is formed in US

Updated 3 sec ago
Follow

Musk says ‘America Party’ is formed in US

“By a factor of 2 to 1, you want a new political party and you shall have it!” he said
“Today, the America Party is formed to give you back your freedom“

WASHINGTON: A day after asking his followers on X whether a new US political party should be created, Elon Musk said on Saturday that the “America Party is formed.”

“By a factor of 2 to 1, you want a new political party and you shall have it!” he said in a post on X.

“Today, the America Party is formed to give you back your freedom.”

The announcement from Musk comes after President Donald Trump signed a tax-cut and spending bill into law on Friday, which the billionaire chief executive officer of Tesla fiercely opposed.

Musk spent hundreds of millions on Trump’s re-election and led the Department of Government Efficiency under the Trump administration aimed at slashing government spending, but the two have since fallen out over disagreements about the bill.

Trump earlier this week threatened to cut off the billions of dollars in subsidies that Musk’s companies receive from the federal government.

Musk said previously that he would start a new political party and spend money to unseat lawmakers who supported the bill.

Republicans have expressed concern that Musk’s on-again, off-again feud with Trump could hurt their chances to protect their majority in the 2026 midterm congressional elections.

‘Can’t describe the pain’: Bosnia marks 30 years since Srebrenica massacre

Updated 05 July 2025
Follow

‘Can’t describe the pain’: Bosnia marks 30 years since Srebrenica massacre

  • After decades of painstaking work, about 7,000 victims have been identified and properly buried, but about 1,000 remain missing

SARAJEVO: Three decades after the Srebrenica genocide, relatives are still looking for and burying the remains of more than 8,000 men and boys killed by Bosnian Serb forces, revealing the painful scars cut deep into the country.
On July 11, 1995, Bosnian Serb forces stormed the Muslim enclave of more than 40,000 people in eastern Bosnia.
At the time, it was a “UN protected zone” — an ultimately hollow phrase meant to shield the many displaced people who had fled the 1992-1995 war.
General Ratko Mladic’s forces executed thousands of men and boys before burying them in mass graves.

BACKGROUND

An international criminal court has sentenced Gen. Ratko Mladic, and former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic to life jail terms for war crimes and genocide during the conflict

After decades of painstaking work, about 7,000 victims have been identified and properly buried, but about 1,000 remain missing.
Mass grave discoveries are now rare. The last was uncovered in 2021, when the remains of 10 victims were exhumed 180 kilometers (112 miles) southwest of Srebrenica.
This year, the remains of seven victims will be buried during the July 11 commemorations at the Srebrenica-Potocari Memorial Center, including two 19-year-old men and a 67-year-old woman.

“This year, I’m having my father buried. But only one bone, his lower jaw,” Mirzeta Karic told AFP.
The 50-year-old said her mother was very ill, and so she decided to go ahead with the burial without waiting for more remains to be found.
Her father, Sejdalija Alic, joined several thousand men and teenagers who tried to flee Mladic’s troops through the dense forests.
He failed.
His 22-year-old son, Sejdin, was also killed, as were Alic’s three brothers and their four sons.
He will be Karic’s 50th immediate family member laid to rest at Potocari cemetery.
The ceremony for her brother, Sejdin, was in 2003.
“I’ve been able to endure everything, but I think this funeral will be the worst. We’re having a bone buried. I can’t describe the pain.”
An international criminal court sentenced Mladic, now 83, and former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, now 80, to life jail terms for war crimes and genocide during the conflict that left nearly 100,000 dead. Both are still incarcerated, but a proper reckoning inside the splintered Bosnian states remains overdue.
Political leaders in the Bosnian Serb entity, Republika Srpska, reject the term genocide and regularly downplay the massacre.
“This denial is trivialized,” Neira Sabanovic, a researcher at the Universite Libre de Bruxelles, said.
“It is very rare to find someone in Republika Srpska who acknowledges that there was genocide,” she said.
Republika Srpska President Milorad Dodik remains one of the most heard voices of genocide-denial in the statelet and Serbia.
Of 305 instances of denial or downplaying in Serbian and the Bosnian Serb media during 2024, he leads the way, appearing 42 times, according to an annual study published by the Srebrenica Memorial Center.
Last year, an international day of remembrance was established by the United Nations to mark the Srebrenica genocide, despite protests from Belgrade and Republika Srpska.
On Saturday, political leaders from the Bosnian Serb entity and Serbia, along with dignitaries from the Serbian Orthodox Church, will gather in Bratunac, near Srebrenica, for a commemoration of more than 3,200 eastern Bosnian Serb soldiers and civilians killed during the war.
Portraits of some 600 of these dead were hung along the road this week near the Srebrenica Memorial Center.
“These people are not participating in the same debate. They are having a conversation with themselves, and they are still in 1995,” the director of the Srebrenica Memorial Center, Emir Suljagic, told local television on Thursday.
“We have won a very important battle, the battle for international recognition,” he added, referring to the UN resolution.

 

 


Ukraine’s Zelensky says latest phone call with Trump his most productive yet

Updated 05 July 2025
Follow

Ukraine’s Zelensky says latest phone call with Trump his most productive yet

  • “It was probably the best conversation we have had during this whole time, the most productive,” Zelensky said in his nightly video address.
  • “We discussed air defense issues and I’m grateful for the willingness to help”

KYIV: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday that his latest conversation with US President Donald Trump this week was the best and “most productive” he has had to date.

“Regarding the conversation with the president of the United States, which took place a day earlier, it was probably the best conversation we have had during this whole time, the most productive,” Zelensky said in his nightly video address.

“We discussed air defense issues and I’m grateful for the willingness to help. The Patriot system is precisely the key to protection against ballistic threats.”

Zelensky said the two leaders had discussed “several other important matters” that officials from the two sides would be considering in forthcoming meetings.

Trump told reporters on Friday that he had a good call with Zelensky and restated his disappointment at a conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin over what he said was Moscow’s lack of willingness to work toward a ceasefire.

Asked whether the United States would agree to supply more Patriot missiles to Ukraine, as requested by Zelensky, Trump said: “They’re going to need them for defense... They’re going to need something because they’re being hit pretty hard.”

Russia has intensified air attacks on Kyiv and other cities in recent weeks. Moscow’s forces launched the largest drone attack of the 40-month-old war on the Ukrainian capital hours after Trump’s conversation with Putin on Thursday.


Death toll from Texas flooding rises to 27, including nine children

Updated 05 July 2025
Follow

Death toll from Texas flooding rises to 27, including nine children

  • Vice President JD Vance describes the disaster as ‘an incomprehensible tragedy’
  • Rescuers continue search for victims

KERRVILLE, Texas: The death toll from catastrophic flooding in the US state of Texas has risen to at least 27, including nine children, local authorities said on Saturday.
"So far, we've evacuated over 850 uninjured people, eight injured people and have recovered 27 deceased fatalities at this time. Of these 27, 18 are adults, nine are children," said Kerr Country Sheriff Larry Leitha.
A frantic search continued for about two dozen people still missing from a century-old Christian girls' camp in central Texas.
In a break for rescue crews, authorities reported that floodwaters were receding in the area around the Guadalupe River, about 37 km northwest of San Antonio, where at least 237 people had been rescued, with more than 100 rescued by helicopter. 
Another 23 to 25 people from the Camp Mystic summer camp were missing, most of them reported to be young girls. 
The river waters rose rapidly by 29 feet near the camp.
The US National Weather Service stated that the flash flood emergency has largely ended for parts of Kerr County in the south-central Texas Hill Country, around 105 km northwest of San Antonio, following thunderstorms that dumped as much as a foot of rain early on Friday.
A flood watch, however, remained in effect until 7 p.m. on Saturday from the San Antonio-Austin, Texas, region, with scattered showers expected throughout the day, said Allison Santorelli, a meteorologist with the NWS Weather Prediction Center in College Park, Maryland.
"In terms of the Guadalupe River, the extreme flood waters have receded," she said. "It's no longer at extreme flood stages. And we're not expecting additional impacts."
At a news conference late on Friday, almost 18 hours after the July Fourth crisis began, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced that search-and-rescue operations would continue into Saturday.
Abbott said resources devoted to the effort would be "limitless."
President Donald Trump said that "we'll take care of them" when asked about federal aid for the disaster.
Vice President JD Vance on Saturday described the disaster as “an incomprehensible tragedy.”
Dalton Rice, city manager for Kerrville, the county seat, said that the extreme flooding struck before dawn with little or no warning, precluding authorities from issuing advance evacuation orders as the Guadalupe River swiftly rose above major flood stage.
"This happened very quickly, over a very short period of time that could not be predicted, even with radar," Rice said. 
"This happened within less than a two-hour span."
State emergency management officials had warned as early as Thursday that west and central Texas faced heavy rains and flash flood threats "over the next couple days," citing National Weather Service forecasts ahead of the holiday weekend.
The weather forecasts, however, "did not predict the amount of rain that we saw," said W. Nim Kidd, director of the Texas Division of Emergency Management.

 


UK police arrest over 20 supporters of now banned pro-Palestine group

Updated 05 July 2025
Follow

UK police arrest over 20 supporters of now banned pro-Palestine group

  • On Saturday, supporters gathered in Parliament Square in Westminster, some holding placards that said “I OPPOSE GENOCIDE. I SUPPORT PALESTINE ACTION.”
  • Sky News footage showed some being led away in handcuffs

LONDON: British police arrested over 20 people on suspicion of terrorism offenses after they showed support for the newly banned Palestine Action group in London on Saturday, hours after the proscription came into effect.

The government moved to ban Palestine Action under anti-terrorism laws last month after its activists broke into a Royal Air Force base and damaged two planes in protest against what the group said was Britain’s support for Israel.

Late on Friday, the campaign lost an urgent appeal against the parliamentary vote to proscribe it as a terrorist organization, with the ban coming into force from midnight.

Under UK laws, offenses include inviting support, expressing approval, or displaying symbols of a banned group and are punishable by up to 14 years in prison and/or a fine. Britain has proscribed 81 groups under anti-terrorism laws, including Hamas, Al-Qaeda and Daesh.

On Saturday, supporters gathered in Parliament Square in Westminster, some holding placards that said “I OPPOSE GENOCIDE. I SUPPORT PALESTINE ACTION.” Sky News footage showed some being led away in handcuffs from a statue of Indian independence hero Mahatma Gandhi in the square, as they shouted their support.

United Nations experts have accused Israel of carrying out “genocidal acts” against Palestinians in the conflict in Gaza, which began after Palestinian militant group Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023. Israel has repeatedly dismissed such accusations.

PRIDE PARADE PROTEST
Palestine Action has targeted Israel-linked companies in Britain in its protests, with interior minister Yvette Cooper saying that violence and criminal damage have no place in legitimate protest and that the group’s activities justify proscription.

Critics of the decision, including some United Nations experts and civil liberties groups, have argued that damaging property does not amount to terrorism.

At another protest on Saturday, five pro-Palestinian activists from the Youth Demand group were arrested after they threw red paint over US company Cisco’s truck, which was participating in London’s Pride parade, and glued themselves to the vehicle.

The parade, which celebrates lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer communities, has since resumed, a separate police statement said.

“Young people will not accept ... crimes against humanity,” Youth Demand’s statement — which did not mention Palestine Action — said. It added that its activists targeted Cisco’s float as the company supplies “technology that is helping Israel.”

Cisco did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment outside of business hours.