The Daily Populous Sunday May 4th, 2025 evening edition
Authored by apnews.com and submitted by 42percentBicycle

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Thousands of supporters of an Islamist group rallied in Bangladesh’s capital on Saturday to denounce proposed recommendations for ensuring equal rights, including ones related to property, for mainly Muslim women.

Leaders of the Hefazat-e-Islam group said the proposed legal reforms are contradictory to the Sharia law. More than 20,000 followers of the group rallied near the Dhaka University, some carrying banners and placards reading “Say no to Western laws on our women, rise up Bangladesh.”

The group threatened to organize rallies on May 23 across the country if the government didn’t meet their demands.

Mamunul Haque, a leader of the group, demanded that the interim government’s reforms commission be abolished and its members punished for the proposed changes. He said they hurt “the sentiments of the majority of the people of this country” by labeling the religious laws of inheritance as the main cause of inequality between men and women.

The group’s leaders also demanded that the interim government led by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad punus ban the Awami League party led by former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who was ousted in August. Hasina’s opponents accuse her government of killing hundreds of students and others during the uprising that ended her 15-year rule. Hasina has been in exile in India since her ouster.

Islamist groups in Bangladesh have increased their visibility since Hasina’s ouster, and minority groups have complained of being intimidated.

prsnep on May 4th, 2025 at 13:51 UTC »

Humanity's inability to fight religious extremism will be its undoing.

HalfMoon_89 on May 4th, 2025 at 13:46 UTC »

A few examples of the things they are protesting:

Acknowledgement and criminalization of marital rape. According to Islam, there is no such thing; one of the top Islamist leaders defined rape as consensual sex between unmarried men and women.

Legalization of sex work. Yeah.

Equity in inheritance laws. According to Islam, a daughter is entitled to exactly half the inheritance a son is entitled to. Equality is unacceptable to Islamists.

Words can't express the fury and despair this evokes in sane Bangladeshis. Unlike us though, they are organized and motivated, and they currently have the upper hand.

These are very dark times, and it's only going to get worse, I'm afraid.

RepulsiveLoquat418 on May 4th, 2025 at 13:32 UTC »

fuck every single one of them