General

Khartoum keeps 5 Christian leaders under daily surveillance

April 11, 2016 Sudan Hassan Taour, NISS, Nuba Mountains, Peter Yen, Telal Rata, Yat Michael

Sudanese authorities have, apparently against their own law, continued to keep two church leaders incommunicado since mid-December, with no official charges yet filed against them; recently Sudan has also increased the number of church leaders who must report every day to its security services. Telahoon Nogosi Kassa Rata, a leader . . . Read More

Pakistani Christians in Thailand given temporary ID cards

April 6, 2016 Pakistan Asylum seekers, Gojra, Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, Refugees, Taliban, UN

Pakistani Christians in a Thai detention facility, in an image taken from a BBC documentary.BBC Last month, World Watch Monitor reported that there are about 11,500 Pakistanis seeking asylum in Thailand, a 51 per cent increase from the previous year; all are classified as Christians in a recent report . . . Read More

Turkey seizes six churches as state property in volatile southeast

April 6, 2016 Turkey Armenian Genocide, Armenians, Assyrians, Chaldeans, Diyarbakir, Kurds, PKK, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Surp Giragos, Syriacs

The 1,700-year-old Virgin Mary Syriac Orthodox Church in Diyarbakir was one of the churches seized.World Watch Monitor After 10 months of urban conflict in Turkey’s war-torn southeast, the government has expropriated huge sections of property, apparently to rebuild and restore the historical centre of the region’s largest city, Diyarbakir. . . . Read More

Priest’s crucifixion rumours false, says India’s Foreign Minister

April 4, 2016 Yemen Aden, Islamic State, Kidnapping, Tom Uzhunnalil, Yemen

Mathew Uzhunnalil, left, the older brother of kidnapped priest Thomas Uzhunnallil, talks with their cousin, V.A. Thomas, in the family home in Kerala state, India.World Watch Monitor UPDATE (4 April) India’s government has said rumours that a kidnapped Catholic priest was crucified on Good Friday are false, and promised . . . Read More

Kenyans mourn 147 victims on anniversary of Garissa attack

April 4, 2016 Kenya Al-Shabaab, Garissa, Somalia

UPDATE (4 April) Memorial events were held in Kenya on Saturday (2 April), as Kenyans marked the anniversary of the day Al-Shabaab militants stormed the University campus in Garissa – in Kenya’s volatile east, near the Somalia border – and slaughtered 147* mostly Christian students. A tree-planting ceremony and procession took . . . Read More

Egypt: Copt cleared of Facebook ‘blasphemy’

April 4, 2016 Egypt Blasphemy, Copts

A Coptic Christian, Bishoy Kameel Garas, has been declared “innocent” after he served more than half his six-year sentence for charges including defamation of Islam. Garas, now in his late twenties, was jailed in September 2012 for offending the country’s dominant religion, the then-Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, and a Muslim . . . Read More

Kandhamal Christian granted month’s bail after 7 years in jail

April 1, 2016 India Kandhamal, Odisha

Nearly 100 Christians were killed and 300 churches and 6,000 Christian homes damaged in the Kandhamal district of Odisha, after the killing death of a Hindu leader in 2008.Courtesy Open Doors International More than seven years since seven Indian Christians were arrested on suspicion of murdering a Hindu leader . . . Read More

Faith-based persecution on the rise in Asia-Pacific

March 31, 2016 Asia-Pacific, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Pakistan, Religious freedom, Taiwan

The first Asia-Pacific Religious Freedom Forum was held in Taiwan from 18-21 Feb, and hosted by former Vice-President of Taiwan, Annette Lu.World Watch Monitor Persecution due to people’s faith has increased over recent years in the Asia-Pacific region, said speakers addressing the first Asia-Pacific Religious Freedom Forum, held from . . . Read More

Pakistani Christians bury their dead after Easter massacre

March 31, 2016 Pakistan Easter, Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, Lahore, Nawaz Sharif, Taliban

The aftermath of a bomb blast in the middle of a popular Lahore amusement park packed with people on Easter Day.Abid Nawaz for World Watch Monitor Parvaiz Masih didn’t know his son was among the hundreds injured in the Easter bombing of a crowded park in Pakistan until the . . . Read More

CAR’s new President brings hope, but hunger threatens ‘new start’

March 30, 2016 Central African Republic Catherine Samba-Panza, Dieudonné Nzapalainga, Elections, Faustin-Archange Touadéra, Nicolas Guérékoyamé-Gbangou, Oumar Kobine Layama, PK5

The Central African Republic is suffering from a continuing humanitarian emergency, and a now-serious threat of famine.Courtesy Open Doors International Today’s inauguration (30 March) of a new President in the Central African Republic (CAR) brings hope for a new beginning, and a brighter future for the war-torn country. After three . . . Read More

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