Canada: Polygamous communities persist on grounds of 'religious freedom'
17/07/2008: The polygamous communities of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS) - a branch of Mormonism - have openly practiced forced and underage marriages, incest, and abuse for decades. Under the clause of 'religious freedoms', however, this practice has been permitted to continue in the Canadian province of British Columbia and lengthy court cases have been further delayed by repeated appointments of special investigators.

Iran: Six leading members of the Bahá’í faith detained
10/07/2008: Six leaders of a group managing the Baha'i community's religious and administrative affairs in Iran were arrested at their homes by officers from the Ministry of Intelligence on 14 May 2008, and are now detained in Evin Prison in Tehran. A seventh person, acting secretary for the group, Mahvash Sabet, has been in detention since 5 March. The Baha'i community has long been persecuted by the Iranian government, especilly since the Iranian Revolution.

UPDATE: Nepal: Women human rights defender murdered
8/07/2008: The following is an update on the situation in the Kanchanpur district of Nepal where women human rights defender Laxmi Bohara was murdered by her husband and mother-in-law. Further women activists are now being threatened and attacked.

WLUML Newsletter 6 WLUML (Published: June 2008)
We are delighted to present the sixth issue of the Women Living Under Muslim Laws (WLUML) Newsletter! In this edition, we welcome new staff members at the International Coordination Office, cover new developments in the Global Campaign Stop Killing and Stoning Women!, and catch up with some of our networkers from around the world. A special section highlights the political aspects of women and sport in Muslim contexts.

WLUML Newsletter 5 WLUML (Published: Dec. 2007 / Jan. 2008)
Women Living Under Muslim Laws is delighted to present the fifth issue of the WLUML Newsletter! The objective of WLUML's newsletters is to present a platform for women's rights activists around the world to project their voices, and for networkers to share their experiences of activism across boundaries.

This issue features articles on the launch of the Global Campaign to Stop Killing and Stoning Women! and our Feminism in the Muslim World Third Leadership Institute. This issue features networkers' submissions from Afghanistan, Algeria, Bangladesh, Burma, India and Pakistan, as well as book and film reviews, updates on solidarity cases and more.

WLUML Newsletter 4 WLUML (Published: August 2007)
We are delighted to present the Fourth Issue of the Women Living Under Muslim Laws (WLUML) Newsletter! The overarching objective of WLUML's bi-annual newsletters is to present a platform to women's rights activists around the world to project their voices, and for networkers to share their experiences of activism across boundaries.

This issue, with an improved format, features the addition of 'Activists Reflections', which present a selection of the articles we received in response to our online Call for Submissions. Reflecting the transnational nature and philosophy of the WLUML network, the articles and reports included in this newsletter range from Growing Talibanisation in Pakistan to Expanding International Legal Protections for Victims of Gender-Based Violence in Iraqi Kurdistan and the lobbying of the Gambian Committee Against Traditional Practices.

Dossier 28: A Collection of Articles various (Published: December 2006)
This Dossier explores issues around ‘secularism’.

For more than two decades, feminists have discussed the impact and mechanics of extreme right politico-religious forces and shared strategies of resistance against fundamentalisms. But, as feminists, we have yet to develop a coherent analysis of the concrete alternatives. Yet we need such an analysis in order to move beyond resistance and be more pro-active in our advocacy for an alternative vision of society. In the context of globally rising extreme right politics justified with reference to religion and rising neo-liberalism’s impact on democratic governance and social inclusion, it is time to discuss secularisms in depth.

The articles in this volume look at some of the questions feminists need to begin discussing in order to define more clearly the changes we want to see and the systems that will work best for women, and in order to develop a movement that is more inclusive and more effective.

Dossier 28 seeks to contribute to these discussions by presenting various analyses of secularism, from the perspective of theory as well as lived experience in contexts as diverse as Algeria, Argentina, China, Egypt, France, India, Italy, Senegal, South Africa, and Sudan.

Occasional Paper 15: Iraq Women's Rights Under Attack Occupation, Constitution and Fundamentalisms Nadje Al-Ali, Mubejel Baban, and Sundus Abass (Published: December 2006)
This Occasional Paper features recent activities of Act Together, one of WLUML's networking organisations based in the UK. In July 2006 Act Together, Women's Action for Iraq, hosted Sundus Abass, Director of Women in Leadership Institute (Baghdad) in London for 15 days. WLUML helped to make the visit possible, as part of various network activities in support of women in post-conflict situations, such as in Afghanistan, Iraq and Sri Lanka. This publication is a record of some of the activities that happened during those 15 hectic days. The aim of the visit was to highlight the work that Iraqi women are doing to try to amend the new Iraqi Constitution, in particular to ensure that the pre-existing Iraqi Personal Status Law, one of the more egalitarian family laws in the Middle East, is not replaced by Article 41.

The publication includes:

· Three talks that were given at a public meeting at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), in London
· The translated edited transcript of a film was by Maysoon Pachachi, of a two-hour discussion in Arabic between three highly experienced Iraqi women activists
· Briefing paper for Parliamentarians
· Act Together grassroots action leaflets

For Ourselves – Women Reading the Qur'an WLUML (Published: 2004/Originally published: 1998)
Due to popular demand, WLUML has reprinted the edited transcripts of a 6-day workshop 'Qur’anic Interpretations by Women Meeting' held in 1990. This publication presents the views and work of a dynamic group of activists, Islamic scholars, jurists and historians of Muslim jurisprudence. Their groundbreaking effort was to begin the process of a new approach to Qur’anic interpretation, reaffirming women’s right to read and interpret the Qur’an for themselves.

Recognizing the Un-Recognized: Inter-Country Cases and Muslim Marriages & Divorces in Britain Sohail Akbar Warraich & Cassandra Balchin (Published: January 2006)
Now available online! WLUML's brief policy research project with the aim of beginning a dialogue on how to address the human rights violations being suffered by women in Muslim communities in Britain and South Asia in connection with the recognition of Muslim marriages and divorces in Britain. We believe this to be the first in-depth report of the issue to combine sociological, legal and political analysis.