General

Reports of ‘blanket’ release of Assyrians dashed

March 12, 2015 Syria Assyrians, Islamic State, Kidnapping, Syria

Most Assyrian Christian families taken hostage in northeast Syria more than two weeks ago remain in Islamic State hands, despite initial reports indicating all, or nearly all, had been released. Initial news that IS forces had released all the Christian detainees after Friday prayers March 6 was reported to the . . . Read More

Mother accuses Pakistan police of killing son by torture

March 10, 2015 Pakistan Police, Torture

A Pakistan mother claims Pakistan police tortured her son to death to extract from her a confession to a theft she says she did not commit. Zubair Masih was buried March 9 in a Christian graveyard in Lahore, under a heavy police presence. He was 20. His brutalized body was found . . . Read More

Missionary, kidnapped in Nigeria, released

March 9, 2015 Nigeria Berom, Boko Haram, Enugu, Kidnapping, Kogi, Missionaries, Nigeria

UPDATE Rev. Phyllis Sortor was released March 6, after 12 days as a hostage, according to a statement released by the Free Methodist Church – USA. “It appears she was kidnapped by a criminal gang, and there is no evidence this event is associated with terrorism or religion,” according to the . . . Read More

23 Assyrian Christians released in Syria

March 6, 2015 Syria Assyrians, Hasakah, Islamic State, Kidnapping, Kobani, Qamishli, Syria, Syriacs

Assyrians from Tel Goran village, abducted by Islamic State kidnappers in late February, were released and returned safely in Hassaka on March 2.Photo provided by CAPNI Ten days after the self-proclaimed Islamic State’s harsh offensive emptied out a cluster of Assyrian Christian villages in northeast Syria, the extremists’ intentions . . . Read More

Malaysian ‘Islamic Council’s right to intervene’ over Christian’s CDs dismissed

March 5, 2015 Malaysia 'Allah', Jill Ireland, Lawrence Andrew, The Herald

The Malaysian Court of Appeal has dismissed an application by the Federal Territories Islamic Council to intervene in a Christian’s case over her fundamental right to use the word ‘Allah’. Jill Ireland, a 33 year old clerk in Sarawak, had eight ‘spiritual’ CDs seized from her at an airport in . . . Read More

Indian police beat Christian evangelists

March 4, 2015 India Anti-conversion law, BJP, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Police, Rajasthan, RSS

Swollen, reddened wrists and hands displayed after release from police custody Feb. 25 in Jaipur, Rajasthan, India.Photo provided by People’s Union for Civil Liberties Twenty Christian men on an evangelical mission in north-western India last week were illegally detained and tortured by police, according to a human rights group . . . Read More

Nigerians, fearing election violence, forfeit vote to move to other end of country

March 4, 2015 Nigeria Anambra, APC, Bayelsa, Boko Haram, Elections, Enugu, Goodluck Jonathan, Igbo, Imo, Jama'atu Nasril Islam, Kaduna, Katsina, Middle Belt, Muhammadu Buhari, Niger Delta, Nigeria, Sharia, Zamfara

Ahead of Nigeria’s general elections on 28 March, hundreds of people, fearful of election violence, have fled back to their place of origin, World Watch Monitor has been told. The election was originally scheduled for 14 February, before being postponed to the March date for security reasons. Take for example . . . Read More

Iranian pastor released from prison but others arrested same day remain

February 27, 2015 Iran Armenians, Assyrians, Ayatollah Khamenei, Chaldeans, Evin Prison, Farshid Fathi, Hassan Rouhani, Iran, Islamic extremism, Religious freedom, Sunni, Tehran, Victor Bet-Tamraz

After spending more than one year in prison, for ‘collusion against the [Iranian] government’ and ‘evangelism,’ Iranian pastor Rasoul Abdollahi has been released from prison. Abdollahi, a leader in Iran’s house church movement, was arrested Dec. 26 2010 and released last week, Feb. 16. His arrest was the same day . . . Read More

Sporadic violence builds tension in CAR, many Christians victims

February 26, 2015 Central African Republic Anti-balaka, Bambari, Fulani herdsmen, Kaga Bandoro, Seleka

A vehicle carrying Seleka is attacked by bystanders in Bangui, Feb 2015World Watch Monitor An argument between a taxi driver and his customer has led to the death of at least 16 Christians in Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic (CAR). A man known as Aladji hailed a . . . Read More

Among the FARC, a growing Christian presence

February 26, 2015 Colombia Arauca, Communism, FARC, Juan Manuel Santos, Latin America, Missionaries, Russ Stendal

FARC Commander Ivan Marquez gives a press conference, on Nov. 19, 2014 in Havana to commemorate the second anniversary of the beginning of the peace talks with the Colombian government.ADALBERTO ROQUE/AFP/Getty Images After a half-century of continuous civil war in Colombia, a new story is beginning to emerge: Guerrillas in . . . Read More

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