Search Results for: capital punishment

Warsaw’s main synagogue, Nożyk Synagogue, was attacked Wednesday with three firebombs, also known as Molotov cocktails, local media reported. A 16-year-old suspect was arrested Thursday morning in connection with the attack. The attack on Nożyk Synagogue happened early Wednesday morning, at around 1 A.M. Michael Schudrich, Poland’s American-born Chief Rabbi, reported minimal damage and no [...]

A global coalition of human rights organizations sounded the alarm on Monday over the fates of young men facing imminent execution in Saudi Arabia for crimes allegedly committed when they were minors. In an open letter, the advocacy groups argued that Saudi Arabia’s decision to move forward with the executions of several young men for [...]

Constructive dialogue over complex issues seems increasingly difficult to find in these extremely polarizing times. For the Jewish community of which I am a part, the highly valued idea of any such “makhloket l’sheim shamayim” — the Talmudic notion of an argument for the sake of heaven — seems all the more elusive when attempting [...]

Uganda made international headlines this week as its Constitutional Court upheld the bulk of a draconian law that would impose the death sentence for “aggravated homosexuality.” But for LGBTQ+ activists within the country, the death penalty isn’t the only specter that looms in the judgment’s aftermath. Over the past 15 years, Ugandan authorities have endeavored [...]

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, stated on Tuesday at the 55th Session of the Human Rights Council that the scale of human rights abuses in Haiti is unprecedented in its modern history. Türk expressed deep concerns over the serious rise in kidnappings and sexual violence, mainly against women and young girls, which [...]

What makes someone qualified to rule? One way to answer this question might be to approach it from the Islamic perspective, that is, by considering the criteria required for someone to become a mujāthid, a person accepted as an authority in Islamic law. The criteria include knowledge of the Shārīe‘ā essential objectives – ‘religion, life, [...]

Syria accused Israel on Monday of an attack on Iran’s diplomatic consulate in Damascus, the capital of Syria. The Syrian Ministry of Defense stated the alleged attack took place at 5:00 PM local time with numerous missiles fired from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. It claims that several missiles were “shot down,” with the remaining missiles [...]

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange “lives to fight another day” according to his brother Gabriel, as the UK High Court halted his potential transfer to the US on Tuesday due to inadequate assurances on his treatment if extradited to the US. The pause came following the court’s directive that the US government furnish assurances that Assange [...]

In the wake of the deadly Hamas terrorist attacks of Oct. 7, 2023, many of Israel’s supporters, myself included, have succumbed to the understandable impulse for violent retribution. Israel is a land that I love, both culturally as a Jew — and third-generation Holocaust survivor — and spiritually as an ordained cantor. It follows that [...]

The Georgia Parole Board denied clemency for inmate Willie James Pye on Tuesday, making him soon to be the first inmate executed in the state since 2020. Pye was convicted and sentenced to death in 1996 after the murder of Alicia Lynn Yarbough, with whom he was involved in a relationship. During the clemency meeting [...]