
-
China probes for key target weak spots with 'paralysing' Taiwan drills
-
'Top Gun' and Batman star Val Kilmer dies aged 65: New York Times
-
US lawmakers seek to rename street for Hong Kong's jailed Jimmy Lai
-
Greece to spend big on 'historic' military shake up
-
Trump faces first electoral setback after Wisconsin Supreme Court vote
-
Hay shines as New Zealand beat Pakistan for ODI series win
-
Israel says expands Gaza offensive to seize 'large areas'
-
Curry drops 52 as Warriors win, Jokic bags career-high 61 in Denver loss
-
South Korea mobilising 'all resources' for violence-free Yoon verdict
-
Myanmar quake victim rescued after 5 days as aid calls grow
-
Real Madrid coach Ancelotti tax fraud trial set to begin
-
Warner showcases 'Superman' reboot, new DiCaprio film
-
'Incredible' Curry scores 52 as Warriors down Grizzlies, Bucks edge Suns
-
Asian markets edge up but uncertainty rules ahead of Trump tariffs
-
Nintendo's megahit Switch console: what to know
-
Nintendo to unveil upgrade to best-selling Switch console
-
China practises hitting key ports, energy sites in Taiwan drills
-
Oil, sand and speed: Saudi gearheads take on towering dunes
-
All eyes on Tsunoda at Japan GP after ruthless Red Bull move
-
'Image whisperers' bring vision to the blind at Red Cross museum
-
Hay shines as New Zealand make 292-8 in Pakistan ODI
-
Other governments 'weaponising' Trump language to attack NGOs: rights groups
-
UK imposes online entry permit on European visitors
-
How a Brazilian chief is staving off Amazon destruction
-
Meme politics: White House embraces aggressive alt-right online culture
-
China launches military drills in Taiwan Strait
-
US senator smashes record with 25-hour anti-Trump speech
-
Brazil binman finds newborn baby on garbage route
-
US senator smashes record with marathon anti-Trump speech
-
Trump advisor Waltz faces new pressure over Gmail usage
-
Niger junta frees ministers of overthrown government
-
Trump set to unleash 'Liberation Day' tariffs
-
Boeing chief to acknowledge 'serious missteps' at US Senate hearing
-
Real Madrid hold Real Sociedad in eight-goal thriller to reach Copa del Rey final
-
Nuno salutes 'special' Elanga after stunning strike fires Forest
-
PSG survive scare against Dunkerque to reach French Cup final
-
Sundowns edge Esperance as crowd violence mars quarter-final
-
Nottingham Forest beat Man Utd, Saka scores on Arsenal return
-
Elanga wonder-goal sinks Man Utd as Forest eye Champions League berth
-
Stock markets mostly advance ahead of Trump tariffs deadline
-
US movie theaters urge 45-day 'baseline' before films hit streaming
-
Saka scores on return as Arsenal beat Fulham
-
Third-division Bielefeld shock holders Leverkusen in German Cup
-
Ball-blasting 'Torpedo bats' making waves across MLB opening weekend
-
Newsmax shares surge more than 2,000% in days after IPO
-
Thousands of Hungarians protest against Pride ban law
-
GM leads first quarter US auto sales as tariffs loom
-
Tesla sales tumble in Europe in the first quarter
-
No 'eye for an eye' approach to US tariffs: Mexico
-
NFL club owners back dynamic kickoffs, delay tush push vote

Muslim refugees in Athens seek own cemetery
Standing by the tiny grave of his five-year-old son in the Orthodox Christian cemetery of Schisto on the outskirts of Athens, Esfandiyar Fagkiri says he feels a "dual pain".
Not only has he lost one of his five children, but the Afghan family cannot mourn him according to Muslim religious ritual because the cemetery is Christian.
Hasibollah Fagkiri was hit and fatally injured by a truck in January 2021 while playing with other children near the entrance to the Malakassa migrant camp, north of Athens, where he had been living with his family since September 2020.
NGOs and local authorities blamed the accident on the camp's poor safety conditions and said it should be shut down.
After burying their son, the Fagkiris were shocked to be told that his body must be exhumed after three years -- in 2024.
This is standard procedure in Greek cemeteries due to a chronic lack of space -- especially in the greater Athens area where more than a third of the country's population of over 10 million live.
But for Hasibollah's grieving family, it is unthinkable.
Islam does not allow exhumation or cremation and in the Muslim religion, the body remains buried forever, Fagkiri pointed out.
But for people without a paid family grave, "exhumation after three years is mandatory," insisted Dimosthenis Stamatatos, head of an association of municipalities near the cemetery of Schisto.
- Growing numbers -
The remains of the dead are often kept in a special annex of the cemetery church.
Greece is a predominantly Orthodox Christian country, and Muslim cemeteries can only be found in Thrace, a region in the northeast of the country near the Greek-Turkish border, 750 kilometres (466 miles) from Athens.
The area is home to a centuries-old Muslim minority, a legacy of the Ottoman Empire's presence in the area.
In Athens, the number of Muslims used to be negligible, but this has changed in the wake of the 2015 refugee crisis.
There are now about half-a-million Muslims in the Greek capital after successive migration waves and the arrival of thousands of families from the Middle East, North Africa and the Indian subcontinent fleeing war and poverty.
Thrace is too far away for most families to bury their dead there, and the cost of transferring the bodies is prohibitive.
"Given the high cost of transferring the dead to Thrace, the number of burials of Muslims in Orthodox cemeteries in Athens has increased in recent years," Rezai Mohtar, president of the Afghan community, told a press conference last week.
The Covid-19 pandemic has made things even harder for grieving families, he said.
According to Javed Aslam, a leading member of the Pakistani community in Greece, Muslim migrant communities have long been calling for a cemetery in Athens.
- Section for Muslims -
Municipal official Stamatatos pointed out that in 2016 the Orthodox Church of Greece donated 20,000 square metres (five acres) of land at Schisto cemetery for a section reserved for Muslims.
But a legal dispute with the contractor has delayed the completion of the project.
A senior official at the Greek ministry of education, which also oversees religious matters, said the project has been given the go-ahead and "will be carried out given the large number of Muslims in Athens."
But rights groups and the main opposition leftist party Syriza are not so optimistic, pointing to the current conservative government's strong anti-migration rhetoric amid recurring allegations of illegal migrant pushbacks at the country's borders.
"When it comes to respect for the rights of migrants and refugees, the context in Greece is negative," said Syriza MP, Giorgos Psychogios.
The first official mosque in Athens opened in November 2020, taking more than a decade to complete after running into strong opposition from the Orthodox Church, as well as from nationalist groups.
F.Bennett--AMWN