General

UPDATE: Malatya murderers re-arrested over fears they may flee Turkey

October 3, 2016 Turkey Malatya, Protestants, Torture

UPDATE (3 Oct.): Five Turkish men convicted last week of the 2007 murder of three Christians in southeast Turkey – but allowed to remain free – have been re-arrested. They were picked up on Thursday evening (29 Sep.) after the prosecutor, Burhanettin Olgun, expressed fears they may flee Turkey. . . . Read More

Survivors’ stories: life after Islamic State violence

September 28, 2016 Erbil, Iraq, Lebanon, Mosul, New York, Refugees, Syria, UN

The New York Declaration for more humane treatment of refugees, made on 19 September at the 70th UN General Assembly, will be welcomed by the hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and Syrians, including many Christians, living in displacement camps or with relatives, after fleeing the conflict with so-called Islamic State . . . Read More

Run over by US tank, run out of his home by IS: Iraqi monk’s own experience helps others

September 27, 2016 Iraq Baghdad, Erbil, Iraq, Islamic State, Qaraqosh

First he was run over by a US tank, then an invading Islamic State militia forced him to abandon his monastery in northern Iraq. Raeed, a monk from Qaraqosh – Iraq’s largest Christian town – had to flee and set up a temporary monastery in a displacement camp in Erbil. . . . Read More

When Mosul is freed, Christians may face a new crisis

September 23, 2016 Iraq Islamic State, Kurds, Nineveh Plains, Refugees

The eventual liberation of Mosul, Iraq, from the so-called Islamic State will end one crisis for dislocated Christians only to create a new one, a religious-freedom expert says. Planning documents drawn up by the Iraqi Kurdistan regional government anticipate that driving IS out of Iraq’s second city will create a . . . Read More

‘We are in a catastrophe’

September 23, 2016 Ban Ki-moon, Boko Haram, Cameroon, Chad, Diffa, Lake Chad, London, Mahamadou Issoufou, New York, Niger, Nigeria, Samuel Dali, Sub-Saharan Africa, UN

Leaders of Africa’s Lake Chad Basin countries affected by Boko Haram’s intensifying insurgency over the past two weeks are calling on the international community to act urgently against the region’s ongoing humanitarian “catastrophe”. Presidents Muhammadu Buhari (Nigeria), Mahamadou Issoufou (Niger), Idriss Deby Itno (Chad) and Paul Biya (Cameroon) are scheduled . . . Read More

China tightens grip on religion

September 23, 2016 China Education, Sinicisation, Three-Self Patriotic Movement, Xi Jinping, Zhejiang

The Chinese government has released a set of proposed amendments to its rules regulating religious affairs, as President Xi Jinping attempts to exert even greater control over how religion is practised. The new set of amendments, released to the public on 7 Sep. for a one-month consultation period, includes guidelines . . . Read More

Pakistan: Christian boy, 16, arrested for Kaaba ‘blasphemy’

September 20, 2016 Pakistan Blasphemy, Faisalabad, Gojra, Islamic extremism, Kasur, Lahore, Nabeel Masih, Pakistan Muslim League, Pentecostals

The boy is alleged to have "defamed" the Kaaba in Mecca

Nabeel Masih, 16, is alleged to have “defamed” the Kaaba in Mecca, the building at the centre of Islam’s most sacred mosque.Amalia Sari / Flickr / CC A 16-year-old Christian boy has been accused of committing blasphemy by “liking” and sharing a post on Facebook which “defamed and disrespected” . . . Read More

What does the inside of a refugee camp in Lebanon look like?

September 20, 2016 Lebanon IDPs, Islamic State, Lebanon, Migrants, Refugees, UN

A Syrian family outside their makeshift tent in a Lebanese refugee camp, August 2016

WWM

One in every 113 people on earth is a refugee, according to UN figures; yesterday at its General Assembly in the US, it adopted the New York Declaration aimed at reaching a more humane and coordinated approach to large movements of refugees and migrants. At the meeting, UN Secretary-General Ban . . . Read More

Freedom of religion or belief ‘the defining issue of our time’

September 16, 2016 Global News -- No Particular Country Angela Merkel, Boko Haram, Canada, Copts, Egypt, India, Iraq, Islamic State, Jan Figel, Kandhamal, Myanmar, New York, North Korea, Norway, Pakistan, Religious freedom, Saudi Arabia, Shahzad Masih, Shama Bibi, Syria

Over 100 parliamentarians from 60 countries met this week in Berlin for a series of workshops and seminars under the title, “An Embattled Right: Protecting and Promoting Freedom of Religion of Belief”. The second conference of this size after last year’s meeting in New York, it was organised by the . . . Read More

Hungary opens first ever office to tackle Christian persecution

September 16, 2016 Austria, Croatia, Europe, Hungary, Middle East, Poland, Viktor Orbán

As Europe’s leaders (minus the UK) meet in the Slovakian capital, Bratislava, the voice of the Eastern bloc* leaders is being heard more, even if it’s not always comfortable listening for Brussels’ Eurocrats. This week, Hungary, which has during the past year come under pressure for its handling of Europe’s . . . Read More

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