India top court lifts ban on death fast
Egypt row over Facebook muezzin call
India’s Supreme Court has suspended an order of the Rajasthan high court banning santhara - the controversial Jain ritual of fasting unto death.
Earlier this month, the high court had ruled that the voluntary religious practice of santhara was a form of suicide and, therefore, illegal.
Jains had protested against the order, saying suicide was sin, whereas santhara was religion.
On Monday, the top court said it would take up the issue for consideration.
Legal experts say they expect the case to take several years to come to a conclusion.
Jainism is one of the world’s most ancient religions, and Jain monks lead a life of extreme austerity and renunciation.
Santhara - also known as sallekhana - is a controversial practice in which a Jain gives up food and water with the intention of preparing for death.
Some human rights activists say the ritual is “a social evil” and should be considered as suicide.
In its order, the Rajasthan high court agreed that it amounted to suicide and made it a criminal offence. An Egyptian muezzin is facing disciplinary action for altering the words of the call to dawn prayer.
The country’s ministry of religious affairs is taking legal action against Mahmoud al-Moghazi, the cleric of the Nile Delta town of Kafr al-Dawar.
Instead of chanting “praying is better than sleeping”, the traditional call, he has been saying “praying is better than spending time on Facebook”.
Worshippers at the Sayed Ghazi mosque have lodged complaints against him.
He has been suspended pending an investigation.
“Because of his inventiveness we have stopped praying at his mosque,” a caller said on Sunday night during a TV chat show.
But in response, the cleric accused the caller of not frequenting the Sayed Ghazi mosque and of being a sympathiser of the banned Muslim Brotherhood.
On the programme, Mr Moghazi also threatened to go on a hunger strike in protest at his suspension and appealed for President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi to exonerate him. The cleric said he had never used Facebook.