UAE: helpful new law
Widely hailed as a positive move in a region where Islamic radicalism is spiralling, United Arab Emirates (UAE) President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahyan in July passed a new law that outlaws ‘all forms of discrimination based on religion, caste, creed, doctrine, race, colour or ethnic origin’.
Barnabas Fund
Announced on 20 July, the law makes takfir an offence. Takfir is the pronouncement and labelling of Muslim individuals or communities as apostates and infidels (kafirs), deserving the death sentence, thus making them legitimate targets for jihad. Under the new law, takfir is a crime which carries a death sentence if the discrimination leads to murder.
