Islam has a reputation for mistreating minority communities in various ways. These articles help determine whether this reputation is deserved.
Sixty-nine Baha'is behind bars, homes raided from Shiraz to Yazd, a woman sentenced to more than five years for offending Islam's sacred law, and security agents walking off with wedding rings and children's toys. In the Islamic Republic, persecuting a religious minority has become both a pious duty and a revenue stream. A modest one, economists say. It's the principle that counts.
In Faridpur, thieves made off with a Kali idol and its gold while the temple's cameras were out of order. In Kolkata, Indian rights groups counted more than a hundred minority members killed in Bangladesh since early 2025 and four of their defenders jailed or hounded. Dhaka has changed governments. Its Hindus are still waiting for the change.
In September alone, one Ahmadi was shot dead and two others were wounded in Pakistan's Punjab province, with no arrests reported. Meanwhile, the country's Federal Constitutional Court found the time to uphold a ban on the community's sacred texts. Priorities.
In the name of the family, Turkish police have raided gay bars, LGBTQ+ associations and homes in 15 provinces, arresting activists, journalists, the founders of an HIV charity and a dancer, and blocking Amnesty International's account along the way. Protesters were arrested too. Homosexuality is legal in Turkey. Being visible, apparently, is not.
Christians dragged from their homes on Christmas Eve, Baha'is made to disappear, imams replaced and mosques turned into barracks: in the part of Yemen they control, the Houthis go after those who don't share their faith, and plenty who do. In a country gripped by hunger, the movement's most reliable public service remains the arrest.
Since March, Senegal has doubled prison terms for gay sex, made defending gay people a crime and written heterosexual marriage into its constitution, each time without a single vote against. More than 100 people have since been charged. One lawmaker summed up the program: gay people will no longer breathe in this country.
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