.Islam, .Halal and .PersianGulf rejected as top level domains.
ICANN’s board of directors has formally rejected an application for the .Islam top level domain name, as well as .Halal and .PersianGulf. The board made the decision at a special meeting last week.
Asia Green IT System applied for the three domain names as part of the massive 2012 expansion of top level domain names that gave us everything from .bible to .sucks to .wtf.
Certain religious and government groups objected to the applications on various grounds. There was never consensus advice from the Governmental Advisory Committee about the strings, but ICANN was cautious anyway.
Having seen no progress, in 2015 Asia Green filed for independent reviews of the applications being put in purgatory. It prevailed and the panels ordered ICANN to pay Asia Green’s fees for the reviews.
But that didn’t mean ICANN had to give the domains a green light.
At the special meeting on October 3, ICANN resolved:
Whereas, the BAMC [Board Accountability Mechanisms Committee] recommended this action [denying the applications] based not only on the BAMC’s extensive review of all relevant materials, but also on its consideration of and commitment to ICANN’s Mission and core values set forth in the Bylaws, including ensuring that this decision is in the best interest of the Internet community and that it respects the concerns raised by the majority of the community most impacted by the proposed .HALAL and .ISLAM gTLDs; the Board agrees.
So if there will be a .Islam domain, it won’t be until another round of new top level domain expansion.
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