Year: 2018

Beheaded Copts’ remains to be returned to families after three-year wait

March 8, 2018 Egypt Copts, Egypt, Libya, Minya, Samalut

Copts visit new church in Al-Our to remember 21 Christians killed by Islamic State on a beach in Libya in February 2015.

The bodies of the 20 Egyptian Copts and one Ghanaian Christian, beheaded by the Islamic State group on the Libyan coast in February 2015, are due to be returned to their families within the next two weeks, a local source told World Watch Monitor. The families of the victims have . . . Read More

Bloody clashes in Kaduna as Christian youths resist dating and conversion of Christian girls

March 8, 2018 Nigeria Christian Association of Nigeria, Kaduna, Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria

Clashes over the forceful conversion of Christian girls to Islam has left 12 people dead in Nigeria’s north-western state of Kaduna. Several others sustained injuries from gunshots and machetes, while dozens of shops, houses and vehicles were set ablaze in the Kasuwan Magani Community of Kajuru Local Government Area. . . . Read More

Christian women at double risk of persecution – because of gender as well as religion

March 7, 2018 Global News -- No Particular Country Divorce, Iran, Jordan, Libya, Mali, Nigeria, Religious freedom, Trauma, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Women

Chibok girls. Two of them were abducted by Boko Haram in 2014. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

For the first time ever, the persecution of women as it differs to that of men has been examined by the analysts of the 2018 World Watch List. The list, compiled by Open Doors International, researches over 50 countries where it is most difficult for Christians to live. The resulting Gender . . . Read More

Colombia: the #OfCourseMeToo of Christian women and girls

March 7, 2018 Colombia Children, Colombia, FARC, Religious freedom, Women

In the Arhuaca culture girls as young as 14 are forced to marry men who maintain their indigenous beliefs, to make the girls forget about their Christian religion. (Photo: World Watch Monitor

If Christian women in Colombia could decide on a hashtag, it could be ‘OfCourseMeToo’: many of them also experience sexual violence, facing extra vulnerability because of their religion as well as their gender. Soraya*,15, and her family belong to one of the four tribes that form the indigenous community of . . . Read More

Kyrgyzstan Baptists repair church after arson attack

March 7, 2018 Kyrgyzstan Baptists, Burial, Central Asia, Kyrgyzstan

An arson attack on a small Baptist church in Kyrgyzstan has not deterred the congregation from meeting. The 40 Kyrgyz and Russian members of the church feared for their safety when attackers set fire to their church on 2 January. They were told by police that the attack was “organised . . . Read More

Pakistan: Christian family attacked for helping build church wall

March 6, 2018 Pakistan Blasphemy, Churches, Faisalabad, Islamic extremism, Pakistan, Sahiwal, Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan, Women

Five members of a Christian family in northeast Pakistan were attacked and injured as they helped to build a boundary wall around their church on Sunday, 4 March. The pastor of the Pakistan Gospel Assemblies church in Yousufwala village, on the outskirts of the Punjabi city of Sahiwal, told World . . . Read More

In Uzbekistan, religious freedoms ‘not recognised in law and practice’ – UN Special Rapporteur

March 5, 2018 Uzbekistan Ahmed Shaheed, Shavkat Mirziyoev, Tohar Haydarov, UN, Uzbekistan

Law changes and a strong political will are needed if Uzbeks are to freely practise their faith, according to the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom or Religion or Belief. Ahmed Shaheed presented his findings on 2 March to the Human Rights Council as it meets for its 37th session in . . . Read More

India: Six Christians injured following Hindu attack over baby’s burial

March 5, 2018 India Children, Elections, Hindu nationalism, India, Minorities, Odisha, Women

One of the victims of the attack on Christian families in Odisha that left some critically injured. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

Six Christians were badly injured and a house torched in an attack by Hindu extremists in the eastern Indian state of Odisha, following the death and burial of a Christian baby. The incident occurred on 27 February in Tangaguda, a town in Malkangiri District, where three Christian families live alongside . . . Read More

Algerian pastor decries church closure

March 5, 2018 Algeria Aïn Turk, Algeria, Oran, Protestant Church of Algeria

The leader of a Protestant church in Algeria’s north-western town of Aïn Turk (15km from Oran city) has denounced the closure of his church four months ago. Youssef Ourahmane founded the House of Hope church more than 20 years ago – in 1997 – but on 9 November, 2017, the . . . Read More

India: Tamil Nadu continues to lead the way in violent attacks on Christians

March 2, 2018 India Hindu Munnani, Hindu nationalism, House churches, India, Tamil Nadu

After a year in which hate crimes against Indian Christians happened at a rate of almost one verified incident per day, the state which registered the most incidents in 2017 (over 50) – Tamil Nadu – continues to see outbreaks of violence. In the first two months of 2018, the . . . Read More

Catching Our Eye