Year: 2018

Could Pakistan’s place on US ‘Watch List’ create more problems for minorities?

January 11, 2018 Pakistan Afghanistan, Donald Trump, Human rights, Joseph Colony, Minorities, Multan, Pakistan, Religious freedom, Taliban, USA

The US State Department last week placed Pakistan on a ‘Special Watch List’ for “severe violations of religious freedom”. The US did not, however, go as far as adding it to its ten ‘Countries of Particular Concern’* – for countries where “governments have engaged in or tolerated systematic, ongoing, and . . . Read More

‘Unprecedented’ persecution of Egypt’s Christians heads 2018 World Watch List

January 10, 2018 Global News -- No Particular Country Africa, Anti-conversion law, Boko Haram, Cairo, Central Asia, Churches, Converts, Copts, Egypt, Eritrea, Fulani herdsmen, Hindu nationalism, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Islamic extremism, Islamic State, Jharkhand, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Maldives, Marawi, Middle Belt, Middle East, Mindanao, Minorities, Nepal, Nigeria, North Korea, Philippines, Somalia, Southeast Asia, Sudan, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkey, Upper Egypt

More Christians abused in India than in all other countries combined; Nepal enters list Islamic extremists driven out of Iraq and Syria are behind a new intensity of Christian persecution in surrounding countries, says global charity Open Doors in its latest annual survey of countries where it is most difficult . . . Read More

Egypt’s human rights move dismissed as ploy to win back US aid

January 10, 2018 Egypt Copts, Egypt, Human rights, Kidnapping, Minya, Muslim Brotherhood, Sohag

Efforts by the Egyptian government to improve its record on human rights are aimed primarily at persuading the US government to reinstate its generous aid package, Coptic activists have said. Last month Egypt announced it would set up 60 human-rights departments across the country to record complaints from citizens of . . . Read More

Ethiopian Christians arrested for ‘praying against government’

January 10, 2018 Ethiopia Addis Ababa, Chagni, Churches, Ethiopia, Ethiopian Orthodox Church, House churches, Pentecostals, Tigray

Christians worship during a church service in a town in central Ethiopia. (Photo: World Watch Monitor, 2016)

Seven Ethiopian Christians have been arrested and detained in the north-western town of Chagni on suspicion of praying against the government. A local source told World Watch Monitor the seven men, members of the Meserete Kiristos church, were followed and overheard by a local militia group when they went up a . . . Read More

Egypt: 7 years after church closed, Copts start to rebuild

January 9, 2018 Egypt Churches, Copts, Egypt, Kom El-Loufy

Seven years after their previous church was closed by local authorities because of “security reasons”, the Coptic community in the Egyptian village of Kom El-Loufy, 250km south of Cairo, is celebrating as a new church is built. Last month, with the agreement of local Muslims, the Copts started digging the foundations on a piece of land 700 . . . Read More

Kyrgyzstan church set on fire

January 8, 2018 Kyrgyzstan Baptists, Islamic extremism, Kyrgyzstan

The church in Kajisay, Kyrgyzstan, was set on fire (World Watch Monitor)

A Baptist community in eastern Kyrgyzstan fears for its safety after unknown attackers set its church building on fire. The damage to the church has forced its 40 Kyrgyz and Russian members to start searching for a new place of worship, while wondering if there will be a further attack. . . . Read More

India: Kandhamal Christians back in jail after temporary Christmas release

January 8, 2018 India India, Kandhamal

Two of seven Indian Christians who have spent nearly a decade in prison – convicted of murdering a Hindu leader whose death sparked the worst case of anti-Christian violence in India’s history – were granted temporary parole over the Christmas period to spend time with their families. Evidence seems to be . . . Read More

Mosul Christmas Mass hailed a ‘victory over IS’ as Sunni youth install giant Christmas tree

January 5, 2018 Iraq Chaldeans, Christmas, Iraq, Islamic State, Mosul, Orthodox, Saddam Hussein, Sunni, Youth

Christmas 2017 in Iraq
The celebration of a first mass in Mossul (Mosul) since 2014. His Beatitude Raphael Sako and Bishop Shlemon Warduni (from the Chaldean Church) are presiding the Mass. Archbishops Mouche (Syriac Catholic) and Abp Nicodemus Dauod Matti Sharaf (Syriac-Orthodox) were participating. Muslim representatives were present at the celebration.

The celebration of a Christmas Eve Mass in Mosul after the city’s devastating three-year occupation by Islamic State (IS) marked “a kind of victory” over the extremists, a church leader there said. And the installation of a number of large Christmas trees around the city was unprecedented, said the leader, . . . Read More

Nigeria’s New Year begins with attacks on Christians

January 4, 2018 Nigeria Adamawa, Benue, Christian Association of Nigeria, Fulani herdsmen, Kaduna, Kwara, Muhammadu Buhari, Omuku, Rivers State

In Nigeria, the New Year celebrations were marked by incidents which claimed dozen lives across the country. According to local sources and media, the attacks were carried out by suspected Fulani herdsmen or Muslim youths, who targeted Christian worshippers. The attacks affected the volatile Middle Belt states (Benue, Kaduna), epicenter . . . Read More

Egypt: brothers shot dead ahead of Coptic Christmas

January 2, 2018 Egypt Cairo, Christmas, Copts, Giza, Helwan, Islamic State

Two brothers helping a Coptic Christian shop owner were shot dead on New Year’s Day in Giza, Greater Cairo. The men, who owned a car-parts shop next door, had been helping to stock the shop with alcohol, reported Al Arabiya. The Christian brothers were killed when a gunman pulled up . . . Read More

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