By DAVID CRARY

The leader of the small Baha’i community in Qatar was sentenced Wednesday to five years in prison for social media posts that allegedly “cast doubt on the foundations of the Islamic religion,” according to court documents obtained by an international Baha’i organization monitoring the case.

Related Articles

Mexico says 26 capos sent to US were requested by Trump administration, not part of tariff talks

Iran’s president mocks Netanyahu over pledge of help in water crisis

Trump-Putin summit on Ukraine is latest chapter in Alaska’s long history — and tension — with Russia

South Korean president will meet Japanese leader ahead of summit with Trump

US briefly deploys 2 warships to a disputed South China Sea shoal after Chinese collision

A three-judge panel of Qatar’s Supreme Judiciary Council issued the verdict against Remy Rowhani, 71, who has been detained since April, according to documents provided to The Associated Press by the Baha’i International Community office in Geneva, Switzerland.

The judges rejected a defense request for leniency on grounds that Rowhani suffered from a heart condition, according to the documentation.

Saba Haddad, the Geneva office’s representative to the United Nations, depicted the verdict as “a serious breach and grave violation of the right to freedom of religion or belief and an attack on Remy Rowhani and the Baha’i community in Qatar.”

Haddad’s office, in a post on X, called on the international community “to urge Qatar’s government to uphold international law and ensure Mr. Rowhani’s immediate release.”

There was no immediate response from Qatar’s International Media Office to AP’s queries about the case.

The verdict came just two weeks after a group of U.N. human rights experts expressed “serious concern” about Rowhani’s arrest and detention, which they depicted as “part of a broader and disturbing pattern of disparate treatment of the Baha’i minority in Qatar.”

“The mere existence of Baha’is in Qatar and their innocuous presence on X cannot be criminalized under international law,” they said.

Rowhani — former head of Qatar’s Chamber of Commerce — had been arrested once previously, accused of offenses such as routine fundraising related to his leadership of Qatar’s Baha’i National Assembly.

The latest charges, filed in April, involve the Baha’i community’s X and Instagram accounts, which contain posts about Qatari holidays and Baha’i writings.

According to the documentation provided by the Geneva office, Qatari prosecutors alleged that these accounts “promoted the ideas and beliefs of a religious sect that raises doubt about the foundations and teachings of the Islamic religion.”

Rowhani’s daughter, Noora Rowhani, who lives in Australia, said via email that the five-year verdict is “so unfortunate and so shocking.”

“My eye condition is deteriorating and in five years, even if I meet, him I will most probably not be able to see him anymore,” she added.

The Baha’i faith — a small but global religion with an interfaith credo — fits comfortably into the religious spectrum of most countries but in several Middle East nations, Baha’i followers face repression that is drawing criticism from rights groups.

The abuse is most evident in Iran, which bans the faith and has been widely accused of persecuting Baha’i followers, human rights advocates say. They also report systemic discrimination in Yemen, Qatar and Egypt.

Advocates say Iran’s government has pressed for repression of the Baha’i followers in countries where it holds influence, such as Yemen, where Iran-backed Houthi rebels control the northern half of the country, and Qatar, which shares with Iran the world’s largest natural gas field.

The Baha’i faith was founded in the 1860s by Baha’u’llah, a Persian nobleman considered a prophet by his followers. Muslims consider the Prophet Muhammad the highest and last prophet.

From the Baha’i faith’s earliest days, Shiite Muslim clerics have denounced its followers as apostates. That repression continued after Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution, when many Baha’i followers were executed or went missing.

There are less than 8 million Baha’i believers worldwide, with the largest number in India.

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

By DASHA LITVINOVA

Russian authorities announced Wednesday they were “partially” restricting calls in messaging apps Telegram and WhatsApp, the latest step in an effort to tighten control over the internet.

Related Articles

Mexico says 26 capos sent to US were requested by Trump administration, not part of tariff talks

Iran’s president mocks Netanyahu over pledge of help in water crisis

Trump-Putin summit on Ukraine is latest chapter in Alaska’s long history — and tension — with Russia

South Korean president will meet Japanese leader ahead of summit with Trump

US briefly deploys 2 warships to a disputed South China Sea shoal after Chinese collision

In a statement, government media and internet regulator Roskomnadzor justified the measure as necessary for fighting crime, saying that “according to law enforcement agencies and numerous appeals from citizens, foreign messengers Telegram and WhatsApp have become the main voice services used to deceive and extort money, and to involve Russian citizens in sabotage and terrorist activities.”

The regulator also alleged that “repeated requests to take countermeasures have been ignored by the owners of the messengers.” There was no immediate comment from either platform.

A Whatsapp spokesperson said in a statement that the encrypted messaging app “defies government attempts to violate people’s right to secure communication, which is why Russia is trying to block it from over 100 million Russian people.”

Russian authorities have long engaged in a deliberate and multipronged effort to rein in the internet. Over the years, they have adopted restrictive laws and banned websites and platforms that won’t comply. Technology has been perfected to monitor and manipulate online traffic.

While it’s still possible to circumvent restrictions by using virtual private network services, those are routinely blocked, too.

Authorities further restricted internet access this summer with widespread shutdowns of cellphone internet connections. Officials have insisted the measure was needed to thwart Ukrainian drone attacks, but experts argued it was another step to tighten internet control.

Russia’s Digital Development and Communications Ministry said this month that along with internet providers, it was working on a “white list” of essential websites and services users could access during shutdowns.

In Crimea, which Moscow illegally annexed from Ukraine in 2014, Russian-installed officials said Wednesday that shutdowns of cellphone internet may last indefinitely.

FILE – Police detain an activist protesting a bill that punishes online searches for information that is deemed “extremist” outside the State Duma, the lower house of parliament, in Moscow, Russia, July 22, 2025. (AP Photo, File)

The government adopted a law last month punishing users for searching for content they deem illicit and threatened to go after WhatsApp — one of the most popular platforms in the country — while rolling out a new “national” messaging app that’s widely expected to be heavily monitored.

Reports that calls were being disrupted in WhatsApp and Telegram appeared in Russian media earlier this week, with users complaining about calls not going through or not being able to hear each other speak.

According to Russian media monitoring service Mediascope, WhatsApp in July was the most popular platform in Russia, with over 96 million monthly users. Telegram, with more than 89 million users, came a close second.

Both platforms had their run-ins with the Russian authorities in the past. The Kremlin tried to block Telegram between 2018-20 but failed. After Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the government blocked major social media like Facebook and Instagram, and outlawed their parent company, Meta, that also owns WhatsApp, as extremist.

In July, lawmaker Anton Gorelkin said WhatsApp “should prepare to leave the Russian market,” and a new “national” messenger, MAX, developed by Russian social media company VK, would take its place.

MAX, promoted as a one-stop shop for messaging, online government services, making payments and more, was rolled out for beta tests but has yet to attract a wide following. Over 2 million people registered by July, the Tass news agency reported.

Its terms and conditions say it will share user data with authorities upon request, and a new law stipulates its preinstallation in all smartphones sold in Russia. State institutions, officials and businesses are actively encouraged to move communications and blogs to MAX.

The Digital Development and Communications Ministry said access to calls via WhatsApp and Telegram may be reinstated if the platforms “comply with Russian legislation.” It clarified that the partial restrictions, announced by Roskomnadzor, applied only to audio calls.

If Twins fans feel like they’re living in some sort of baseball time loop, they can be forgiven. Their team’s penchant for oscillating between contention and irrelevance has been remarkably consistent since the Twins emerged from their post-World Series funk.

Starting in 2002, the Twins have been in the playoffs — division winner or wild card slot — 10 times. That’s almost every other year. On the other hand, they have lost quickly in all but the first and last of those appearances, and advanced to the American League Championship Series only once, way back in 2002.

Those are 23 long years of competitive baseball followed by losing baseball, a common, queasy about-face. That loop has played out again when the Twins made the postseason, the brief euphoria of making the playoffs quickly dashed by some internal inadequacy. Whether it was pitching, hitting or injuries didn’t matter. Twins fans knew the real culprit was the miserly ownership of local billionaires.

That’s why Wednesday’s news that the Pohlad family has decided not to sell the Twins surprised few. Never mind that the $1.7 billion price the family sought seemed ambitious. It just never felt like it was gonna happen.

It was too good to be true, but still has to sting for the Twins faithful.

Since Carl Pohlad bought the team from Calvin Griffith for $44 million in 1984, the Twins have won two World Series titles, made Kirby Puckett baseball’s first $3 million player and, in 2011, had the 10th-highest payroll in baseball. But there’s no getting around the fact that the Twins’ success has been limited by payroll

This is not uncommon for mid-market teams such as the Twins, but that doesn’t assuage the frustration. Eight of the past 10 World Series winners are among the 10 highest payrolls in baseball this season, and they make up 70 percent of runners-up. Cleveland and Kansas City are the smallest markets to send teams to the World Series since 2015.

The Twins may be stripped down to prospects and journeymen and left to stumble through the last 40-odd games of the regular season, but yesterday there was the prospect of a new owner that wouldn’t count the change, a group that wouldn’t blink at spending what it takes to not just make the postseason, but to win a World Series.

Instead, Twins fans got to work Wednesday morning and learned from a co-worker or social media that this breach in the loop has closed.

Nothing has changed, and now nothing to do with the team will.

The Pohlads found a couple of groups to join them as limited partners, which could in theory change the current direction of the club, which cut by $30 million after the team’s division title in 2023 and again when they used nine trades to deal away 10 players for prospects at the deadline.

Yet when asked Wednesday if that might allow ownership to spend more on the team, Joe Pohlad — grandson of Carl Pohlad and the team’s current chief executive chair — told the Pioneer Press, “What it allows us to do is pay down some debt and kind of reset our financial picture in order to move forward.”

That sounds like a no.

Since Derek Falvey took over as the head of player personnel in 2016 — he has since become the team’s president — the Twins have increased payroll, and even signed a couple of big-time free agents in Josh Donaldson and Carlos Correa. But those players came with caveats and ultimately were traded well before their contracts were set to expire.

Correa being moved with more than three years left of his deal — for less than nothing considering the Twins are still paying a hefty part of his contract — at this year’s deadline tells us all we need to know. The loop has not been breached.

Is it baseball or ownership? What worked before 1991 just won’t work anymore. It’s unconscionably harder.

And unfortunately for the Twins, it’s back to the future.

Former owner Calvin Griffith, left, holds back tears as new owner Carl Pohlad takes control of the Minnesota Twins in a ceremony at the Metrodome in Minneapolis on June 23, 1984. The Pohlad family, who have owned the team since 1984, announced Oct. 10, 2024 that it is exploring a sale of the franchise. (Pioneer Press file)

Related Articles

Shipley: It’s going to be a while before the Twins contend again

Acquired at deadline, trio of new Twins await their opportunity in St. Paul

Buyers or sellers? Don’t label Twins’ trade deadline plans, says Falvey

The owner of St. Paul Brewing is suing the city of St. Paul and its housing authority for pushing to rezone parts of the Hamm’s brewery site for new housing development, a move he says will eliminate parking vital to the continued success of his businesses.

Rob Clapp, a developer who owns St. Paul Brewing, a distillery and a fabrication shop at the Hamm’s site, is hoping to block a city plan to rezone parcels of land that are currently industrial into neighborhood zones to accommodate proposed affordable housing.

St. Paul’s Housing and Redevelopment Authority sold property at the Hamm’s site to businesses starting in 2012. The aim was to encourage private development of the site of the former brewery, which closed in 1997. As part of the agreement, the HRA agreed to maintain a parking lot for use by businesses, according to the lawsuit.

Clapp’s lawsuit comes ahead of an Aug. 20 St. Paul City Council vote to approve a plan that would rezone five parcels of industrial land at the 19th-century Hamm’s Brewery campus off Payne and Minnehaha avenues on St. Paul’s East Side.

“We’re done trying to change minds and hearts,” Clapp said last week as he prepared to sue the city. “They’re just not interested in looking for solutions or compromise, and they’ve told us that they’re not interested in creative solutions.”

Expanding businesses

Clapp, who also owns Dark Horse Bar & Eatery in Lowertown and Can Can Wonderland in Hamline-Midway, acquired property on the Hamm’s site in 2021. Since acquiring Hamm’s property four years ago, Clapp’s businesses have expanded. St. Paul Brewing now has a sprawling patio, and there are plans to open a cocktail lounge tied to the 11Wells distillery in another building on the site. Clapp has also stated a fabrication shop where artists build new works for display at his businesses.

Without clarity on parking and zoning, plans to expand into the second floor of the St. Paul Brewing building at 688 Minnehaha Ave. and other growth plans remain on hold, said Clapp, who argues the city needs to continue honoring the parking agreement. Further, the rezoning plan would violate state law, he and others have argued.

Three of the five parcels up for rezoning haven’t drawn controversy, but two parcels on the Hamm’s site will be changed from industrial zones into a mixed-use traditional neighborhood zones.

Those parcels would be islands inside a larger industrial zone, which the city’s Planning Commission found constituted illegal “spot zoning” in a 9-2 May decision. Spot zoning is the reclassification of a small part of a land parcel to allow a project to go forward.

Despite that finding and Clapp’s objections, council members are still moving forward with the plan.

City response

In response to the lawsuit, city council member and HRA chair Cheniqua Johnson referred back to a July 23 statement when the city council voted 6-0 to set the rezoning plan at the Hamm’s site in motion.

“The future of this site is not manufacturing — it’s housing, mixed-use development, and walkable neighborhoods,” Johnson said. “We support bringing affordable housing to this historic site. We want housing, thriving local businesses, and a site where East Siders can live, work, and visit.”

Over the last four years, Clapp’s businesses have invested more than $1.7 million in the property, according to the lawsuit. That total includes the price of the property and improvements, as well as a new distillery. Clapp’s companies are spending about $1.2 million on renovations for the distillery, which will include a cocktail room and patio that could open later this year.

Clapp has told the city council he has no problem with installing housing in the existing brewery building. But a new building in a parking lot on the east side of the Hamm’s site would make it challenging for customers and workers to find parking.

Housing project

St. Paul’s HRA chose the developer JB Vang to build the housing project in 2023. The initial proposal called for 259 affordable housing units and a two-level indoor marketplace.

The brewhouse building would hold the marketplace and 84 artist lofts. The east parking lot would have been turned into 11 rowhomes and 164 rental apartments.

Rowhome plans are no longer moving forward, and JB Vang cut the number of proposed units from 164 to 110 to allow for a parking lot with 70 spots.

But Clapp says that still won’t allow for enough parking at the complex. His lawsuit claims that if fully developed, the area could require as many as 450 parking spaces under the parking minimum requirements the city repealed in 2021

Management for JB Vang couldn’t immediately be reached for comment on Wednesday.

Related Articles

IndiaFest returns to St. Paul with food, culture, entertainment Saturday

St. Paul: Lanterns, dancing, martial arts: Japanese Obon fest this weekend

Molly Coleman wins Ward 4 seat on St. Paul City Council with 52% of vote

Use of no-knock warrants down 79% after Minnesota limited them

St. Paul Ward 4 residents vote in special election for city council