Muslims with tattoo regrets flock to free removal service during Ramadan

Muslims with tattoo regrets flock to free removal service during Ramadan
A Muslim takes the service of a free tattoo removal service offered by an Islamic charity organization during Ramadan to give practicing Muslims an opportunity to ‘repent’ in Jakarta, Indonesia on March 19, 2025. (AP)
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Updated 20 March 2025
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Muslims with tattoo regrets flock to free removal service during Ramadan

Muslims with tattoo regrets flock to free removal service during Ramadan
  • A growing number of people in Indonesia’s capital have signed up for free tattoo removal services offered by Amil Zakat National Agency
  • Launched in 2019, the tattoo removal program is now held every Ramadan, a month of fasting, increased worship, religious reflection and good deeds

JAKARTA, Indonesia: Teguh Islean Septura groans in pain as each staccato rat-a-tat-tat of the laser fires an intense beam at the elaborate tattoos on his arm. But the former musician’s determination to “repent” in the holy month of Ramadan is enough to keep him going.
The 30-year-old guitarist got his back, arms and legs tattooed to “look cool” when he was performing in a band. But these days Septura has a newfound zeal for Islam, including the conviction that Muslims should not alter the body that God gave them.
“As humans, sometimes we make mistakes. Now I want to improve myself by moving closer to God,” Seputra said, as a health worker aimed the white laser wand at Septura’s skin, blasting the red, green and black pigments with its penetrating light. “God gave me clean skin and I ruined it, that’s what I regret now.”
Septura is among a growing number of people in Indonesia’s capital who have signed up for free tattoo removal services offered by Amil Zakat National Agency, an Islamic charity organization, during Ramadan to give practicing Muslims an opportunity to “repent.”
Launched in 2019, the tattoo removal program is now held every Ramadan, a month of fasting, increased worship, religious reflection and good deeds. Some 700 people have signed up for the services this year, and in total nearly 3,000 people have taken part.
“We want to pave the way for people who want to hijrah (to move closer to God), including those who want to remove their tattoos” said Mohammad Asep Wahyudi, a coordinator of the event. He added that many people cannot afford to remove their tattoos or know where and how they can do so safely.
Laser removal, which takes repeated treatment and may not be completely successful, could cost thousands of dollars for tattoos as extensive as Septura’s.
Tattooing remains strongly associated with gangs and criminality in some Asian cultures. In addition to the religious prohibitions in Muslim-majority Indonesia, ideas about tattoos also reveal oppressive attitudes toward women, who if tattooed can be labeled as promiscuous or disreputable and not worth marrying.
Sri Indrayati, 52, said she tattooed the name of her first daughter on her hand shortly after she gave birth to her at the age of 22. She said she regretted it when her two grandchildren kept asking her to erase it because it looked like dirty, thick marker writing.
“When I take my grandson to school, (the children) whisper to each other: ‘look at that grandma, she has a tattoo!” she said.
Another woman, Evalia Zadora, got a tattoo of a large star on her back and the words “Hope, Love and Rock & Roll” on her upper chest as a teen to gain acceptance into a gang. She wants to remove them now to move closer to God and out of consideration for her family.
“Bad image (against people with tattoos) is not a big deal for me, but it affected my husband and son,” said Zadora, 36. “They are not comfortable with my tattoos and I respect their feelings, so I want to remove it.


China foreign minister says US tariffs show “extreme egoism“

China foreign minister says US tariffs show “extreme egoism“
Updated 15 sec ago
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China foreign minister says US tariffs show “extreme egoism“

China foreign minister says US tariffs show “extreme egoism“
  • FM Wang Yi said China would seek solidarity with other countries and would uphold multilateralism to “inject stability into the world”

HONG KONG,: China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Beijing stands on the side of international rules on US-imposed tariffs and opposes protectionism, the Foreign Ministry on Saturday.
Speaking on the sidelines of a China-Central Asia foreign ministers meeting in Kazakhstan, Wang said Beijing would seek solidarity with other countries on the tariff situation and exposes “extreme egoism” and the bullying of certain countries, the ministry said in a statement.
US President Donald Trump asserted in an interview published on Friday that tariff negotiations were under way with China, but Beijing denied any talks were taking place, the latest in a series of conflicting signals over what progress was being made to de-escalate a trade war threatening to sap global growth.
Wang, meeting with Uzbekistan Foreign Minister Bakhtiyor Saidov, said China would seek solidarity with other countries and would uphold multilateralism to “inject stability into the world.”


ICE is reversing the termination of legal status for international students around the US

ICE is reversing the termination of legal status for international students around the US
Updated 14 min 26 sec ago
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ICE is reversing the termination of legal status for international students around the US

ICE is reversing the termination of legal status for international students around the US
  • More than 1,200 students nationwide suddenly lost their legal status or had visas revoked, leaving them at risk for deportation
  • Judges across the US had issued orders temporarily restoring students’ records in dozens of lawsuits challenging the terminations

SAN FRANCISCO, California: The US government is reversing the termination of legal status for international students around the country after many filed court challenges against the Trump administration crackdown, federal officials said Friday.
The records in a federal student database maintained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement had been terminated in recent weeks. Judges across the US had already issued orders temporarily restoring students’ records in dozens of lawsuits challenging the terminations.
More than 1,200 students nationwide suddenly lost their legal status or had visas revoked, leaving them at risk for deportation. Many said they had only minor infractions on their record or did not know why they were targeted. Some left the country while others have gone into hiding or stopped going to class.
Government says it will restore student status
Word of the policy pivot came Friday from lawyers representing the government in several of the lawsuits.
A lawyer for the plaintiff in one of the lawsuits, Brian Green, provided The Associated Press with a copy of a statement a government lawyer emailed to him on the restoration of legal status for people whose records were recently terminated.
It says: “ICE is developing a policy that will provide a framework for SEVIS record terminations. Until such a policy is issued, the SEVIS records for plaintiff(s) in this case (and other similarly situated plaintiffs) will remain Active or shall be re-activated if not currently active and ICE will not modify the record solely based on the NCIC finding that resulted in the recent SEVIS record termination.”
SEVIS is the Student and Exchange Visitor Information Systems database that tracks international students’ compliance with their visa status. NCIC is the National Crime Information Center, a database of criminal justice information maintained by the FBI.
Tricia McLaughlin, an assistant Homeland Security secretary, said ICE had not reversed course on any visa revocations but did “restore SEVIS access for people who had not had their visa revoked.”
Several colleges said Friday they noticed legal status already had been restored for some of their students, but uncertainty remained.
“It is still unclear whether ICE will restore status to everyone it has targeted and whether the State Department will help students whose visas were wrongly revoked,” said Greg Chen of the American Immigration Lawyers Association.
Legal fights may not be over
Green, who is involved in lawsuits on behalf of several dozen students, said his cases only sought restoration of the student status and that he would be withdrawing them as a result of the statement Friday from ICE.
But lawyers in the Oakland case are seeking a nationwide order from the court prohibiting the government from arresting or incarcerating students, transferring them to places outside their district or preventing them from continuing work or studies.
Pam Johann, a government lawyer, said it was premature to consider anything like that given that ICE was in the process of reactivating records and developing a policy. “We should take a pause while ICE is implementing this change that plaintiffs are seeking right now, on its own,” she said.
But US District Judge Jeffrey S. White asked her to humor the court.
“It seems like with this administration there’s a new world order every single day,” he said. “It’s like whack-a-mole.”
He ordered the government to clarify the new policy.
Visa revocations and student status terminations caused confusion
Last month, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said his department was revoking visas held by people acting counter to national interests, including some who protested Israel’s war in Gaza and those who face criminal charges. But many students whose status was terminated said they did not fall under those categories.
A survey by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs research found that even the visa revocations for students who participated in pro-Palestinian protests are more unpopular than popular. About half of US adults oppose this policy, and only 3 in 10 are in support. Among college educated adults, 6 in 10 strongly oppose, compared with 4 in 10 who aren’t college graduates.
In lawsuits, students argued they were denied due process. Many were told that their status was terminated as a result of a criminal records check or that their visa had been revoked.
International students and their schools were caught off guard by the terminations of the students’ records. Many of the terminations were discovered when school officials were doing routine checks of the international student database.
Charles Kuck, who filed a case in Atlanta on behalf of 133 students across the country said ICE’s reversal can’t undo the distress and hardship they have faced in recent weeks.
“I’ve got kids who lost their jobs, who might not get them back,” he said. “I’ve got kids who lost school opportunities who might not get them back. We’ve got kids who missed finals, missed graduation. How do you get any of that stuff back?”
Jodie Ferise, a higher education attorney in Indiana, said some students at schools her law firm works with already left the country after receiving instructions to self-deport.
“This unprecedented treatment of student status had caused tremendous fear among international students,” Ferise said. “Some of them were too frightened to wait and hope for the administration to change course.”
Earlier this week, before the government’s reversal, Ferise said the situation could hurt international student enrollment.
“The world is watching, and we will lose students, not just by the technical revocation of their status, but by the message we’re sending that we don’t want them anyway and that it isn’t safe to even try to go to school here,” she said.
At least 1,220 students at 187 colleges, universities and university systems have had their visas revoked, their legal status terminated or both, since late March, according to an Associated Press review of university statements, correspondence with school officials and court records. The AP has been working to confirm reports of hundreds more students who are caught up in the crackdown.
 


Canada PM Carney condemns Israeli blockade on food, says WFP must be allowed to work in Gaza

Canada PM Carney condemns Israeli blockade on food, says WFP must be allowed to work in Gaza
Updated 43 min 55 sec ago
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Canada PM Carney condemns Israeli blockade on food, says WFP must be allowed to work in Gaza

Canada PM Carney condemns Israeli blockade on food, says WFP must be allowed to work in Gaza
  • Food must not be used as a ‘political tool’, Carney said as he urged Israel to let the WFP do its work in Gaza
  • The UN agency earlier said it ran out of stocks due to a sustained Israeli blockade on supplies

OTTAWA: Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney urged Israel to allow the World Food Programme to work in Gaza, saying food must not be used as a ‘political tool’, hours after the UN agency ran out of stocks due to a sustained Israeli blockade on supplies.
The WFP said on Friday it had delivered its last remaining supplies to kitchens providing hot meals in Gaza and that the facilities were expected to run out of food in the coming days.
“The UN World Food Programme just announced that its food stocks in Gaza have run out because of the Israeli Government’s blockade — food cannot be used as a political tool,” Carney said on X.

 

The UN agency said no humanitarian or commercial supplies had entered Gaza for more than seven weeks because all main border crossing points were closed, the longest closure the Gaza Strip had ever faced.
“Palestinian civilians must not bear the consequences of Hamas’ terrorist crimes,” Carney said. “The World Food Programme must be allowed to resume its lifesaving work.”
Israel has previously denied that Gaza is facing a hunger crisis. The military accuses the Hamas militants who run Gaza of exploiting aid, which Hamas denies, and says it must keep all supplies out to prevent the fighters from getting it.
The Gaza government media office on Friday said that famine was becoming a reality in the enclave of 2.3 million people.
Since a January ceasefire collapsed on March 18, Israeli attacks have killed more than 1,900 Palestinians, many of them civilians, according to health authorities in Gaza, and hundreds of thousands have been displaced as Israel seized what it calls a buffer zone.
An attack on Israel by Hamas in October 2023 killed 1,200 people, and 251 hostages were taken to Gaza. Since then, more than 51,300 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli offensive in Gaza, according to health officials.
“We will continue to work with our allies toward a permanent ceasefire and the immediate return of all hostages,” Carney added.
US President Donald Trump said on Friday that he pushed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to allow food and medicine into the Gaza Strip.
Canadians will vote to elect a new government on Monday, and polls show Carney’s Liberals have a slim lead over the Conservatives.


Benin’s tension with Niger, Burkina Faso opens door for terrorists

Police officers stand guard in Porto-novo on December 10, 2021. (AFP file photo)
Police officers stand guard in Porto-novo on December 10, 2021. (AFP file photo)
Updated 25 April 2025
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Benin’s tension with Niger, Burkina Faso opens door for terrorists

Police officers stand guard in Porto-novo on December 10, 2021. (AFP file photo)
  • Both Burkina Faso and Niger are located in the Sahel, a region of the world which saw half of 2024’s deaths from terrorist attacks, according to the latest Global Terrorism Index ublished in March

ABIDJAN: Diplomatic tensions between Benin and its junta-led Sahel neighbors Niger and Burkina Faso have led to a security vacuum which jihadists are exploiting with ever-deadlier attacks, analysts said.
North Benin, which borders both Niger and Burkina Faso, has seen a recent rise in strikes targeting army positions, with an attack last week claimed by Al-Qaeda-linked terrorists killing 54 soldiers, the deadliest toll given by officials so far.
Benin’s government has blamed those attacks on a spillover from Niger and Burkina Faso, both ruled by army officers who took power in coups on the promise of quashing the Sahel region’s long-running terror scourge.
But with Niger and Burkina Faso’s juntas accusing Benin of hosting army bases for Western powers hoping to destabilize them — accusations Benin denies — there is little collaboration between the two sides on tackling the issue.
“If Benin goes it alone and there is no response from the other side, it will remain in a state of crisis, with terrorist groups having found an El Dorado on its borders,” said Beninese political scientist Emmanuel Odilon Koukoubou at the Civic Academy for Africa’s Future, a think tank.
The Beninese government shares that view.
“Our situation would be much easier if we had decent cooperation with the countries which surround us,” government spokesman Wilfried Leandre Houngbedji said on Wednesday.
“If on the other side of the border there were (security) arrangements at the very least like ours, these attacks would not take place in this way or even happen at all,” he insisted.
Both Burkina Faso and Niger are located in the Sahel, a region of the world which saw half of 2024’s deaths from terrorist attacks, according to the latest Global Terrorism Index ublished in March.
For the second year running, Burkina Faso took the top spot in the GTI’s list of countries worst affected by terrorism.
Niger meanwhile ranked fifth, just behind fellow junta-led Sahel ally Mali.
“The growing presence of jihadists in the south of Burkina Faso and Niger along with the limited capacity of the armed forces of Sahel countries along their borders have allowed jihadist groups to create cells in territories like north Benin,” Control Risks analyst Beverly Ochieng said.
And the forested areas of Benin’s W and Pendjari national parks near the borders with Burkina Faso and Niger “offer an additional layer of cover for jihadist activities,” Ochieng said.
“With only limited aerial surveillance, Islamists can move about within these zones without being detected,” she added.
The W national park was the scene of the April 17 attack, which Benin said resulted in the death of 54 soldiers, though the Al-Qaeda affiliated Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims, or JNIM, claimed to have killed 70.
The JNIM is “the most influential group” in north Benin, said Lassina Diarra, Director of the Strategic Research Institute at the International Academy against Terrorism in Jacqueville, Ivory Coast.
This was “because there is a sociological, ethnic and territorial continuity with southern Burkina Faso, which is beyond the control of that state,” Diarra added.
According to Control Risks’ Ochieng, “it is likely that the JNIM wats to use this area (of north Benin) to encircle Burkina Faso, thus reinforcing its influence and presence.”
On Thursday, a key regional bloc, the Economic Community of West African States, known as ECOWAS, again underlined “the imperious necessity of an indispensable and reinforced cooperation” to tackle the problem.
But in a West Africa that is more fractured than ever, that is easier said than done.
Besides turning their backs on the West, the junta-led trio of Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali have all pulled out of ECOWAS, accusing the bloc of being a tool for what they see as former colonial ruler France’s neo-imperialist ambitions.
Banding together as the Alliance of Sahel States or AES, the three have created a unified army and conduct joint anti-jihadist operations.
Yet the trio has closed off cooperation on rooting out Islamist violence in countries they consider too pro-Western, Benin and Ivory Coast among them.
That said, the AES cooperates with Togo and, since December, Ghana, while Nigeria has mounted a diplomatic charm offensive to renew its security cooperation with Niger, suspended since the coup which brought the junta to power in July 2023.
For its part, Benin needs to back up military action with social support, by stepping up community-building to prevent the mass recruitment of Beninese people into jihadist groups, according to the analysts.
“However, this will remain difficult without cooperation from the Sahel, as this is where the root of the insurgency lies,” warned Ochieng.

 


Ex-Taliban commander pleads guilty in killings of US soldiers and kidnapping of journalists

Ex-Taliban commander pleads guilty in killings of US soldiers and kidnapping of journalists
Updated 25 April 2025
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Ex-Taliban commander pleads guilty in killings of US soldiers and kidnapping of journalists

Ex-Taliban commander pleads guilty in killings of US soldiers and kidnapping of journalists
  • Hajji Najibullah entered the plea in Manhattan federal court to providing material support for acts of terrorism
  • “As a result of material support I provided to the Taliban, US soldiers were killed,” Najibullah said

NEW YORK: A former Taliban commander pleaded guilty Friday to providing weapons and other support for attacks that killed American soldiers and for key roles in the 2008 gunpoint kidnapping of a reporter for The New York Times and another journalist.
Speaking through an interpreter, Hajji Najibullah entered the plea in Manhattan federal court to providing material support for acts of terrorism and conspiring to take hostages.
The bearded Najibullah, wearing a black skull cap over his shaved head, told Judge Katherine Polk Failla that he provided material support including weapons and himself to the Taliban from 2007 to 2009, knowing that his support “would be used to attack and kill United States soldiers occupying Afghanistan.”
“As a result of material support I provided to the Taliban, US soldiers were killed,” Najibullah said.
He said his material support also included his role as a Taliban commander in Afghanistan’s Wardak Province, “where the fighters under me were prepared to, and sometimes did, conduct attacks against US soldiers and their allies using suicide bombers, automatic weapons, improvised explosive devices and rocket propelled grenades.”
Najibullah, 49, said he also participated in the hostage taking of David Rohde “and his companions” so demands could be made for ransom and for the release of Taliban prisoners held by the US government.
“I created proof-of-life videos of David Rohde and his companions in which they were forced to convey the Taliban’s demands,” he said.
The former Times reporter and Afghan journalist Tahir Ludin were abducted when they were on their way to interview a Taliban leader.
Both men made a dramatic escape from a Taliban-controlled compound in Pakistan’s tribal areas more than seven months after their Nov. 10, 2008, kidnapping. Their driver, Asadullah Mangal, was a third kidnapping victim. He escaped a few weeks after Ludin and Rohde.
Rohde, a Pulitzer Prize winner who now works as senior executive editor for national security at NBC News, attended the plea proceeding.
An email sent to Rohde seeking comment said he was out of the office until Monday.
After the plea, Najibullah was led from the courtroom in shackles and handcuffs by US marshals to face an Oct. 23 sentencing. Federal sentencing guidelines, as acknowledged by a plea agreement signed by Najibullah and prosecutors, recommend a life prison sentence.