General

‘Kidnapping,’ forced conversion and collective punishment haunt Egypt’s Copts

November 24, 2014 Egypt Egypt, Hosni Mubarak, Kidnapping, Muslim Brotherhood, Samalut, Upper Egypt

It’s been two months since Coptic Christians in an Upper Egypt village endured a traumatic sequence of events ending in heavy police abuse. The victims still have not received any justice from the state security authorities who broke the law and violated its citizen’s human rights. On Sept. 16, in . . . Read More

Death sentence for Pakistan woman turned on technicality

November 19, 2014 Pakistan Asia Bibi, Blasphemy, Pakistan Ulema Council, Sawan Masih, Sheikhupura

The Pakistan court that a month ago said Aasiya Noreen, a Christian, must die for the crime of insulting Islam, based its ruling on a legal technicality that it now wants to eliminate. The Lahore High Court, an appeals court for Pakistan’s largest province, had decided Oct. 16 that it . . . Read More

Bail granted for pastors nearly mobbed for sharing their faith in Bangladesh

November 18, 2014 Bangladesh Bangladesh, Baptism, Converts, Islamic extremism, Jamaat-e-Islami, Lalmonirhat, Sharia

Two Bangladeshi pastors have been released on bail today after having been arrested and nearly mobbed by about 200 Muslims who gathered to attack a Christian meeting they were leading in northern Bangladesh. Around noon on Nov 9, in a village in the northern district of Lalmonirhat, locals were outraged . . . Read More

Jordan deports American pastor, assistant’s eviction pending

November 14, 2014 Jordan Amman, Jordan, King Abdullah II

The Jordanian government without explanation jailed and deported an American pastor who has lived there for 16 years. Jody Miller, pastor of Grace Church in Amman, was deported back to the United States on Nov. 6. His wife remains in Jordan. He is appealing the decision to the Jordanian Royal . . . Read More

Analysis: Distinction between ‘moderate Islamists’ and ‘militant extremists’ is misleading for Western governments

November 14, 2014 Iraq Islamic extremism, Islamic State, USA

The fight against Islamic State is now a top-priority of the international community. Islamic State was seriously underestimated, not only by the US. It took the international community so long to acknowledge the threat of Islamic State and to confront them, that they now seem already rather well settled . . . Read More

Jailed Egyptian convert awaits appeal hearing

November 12, 2014 Egypt Egypt, Mohammed Hegazy, Port Said

Hegazy’s lawyer Karam GhobrialWorld Watch Monitor A jailed Egyptian Muslim convert to Christianity is scheduled Sunday, Nov. 16 to appeal his conviction on a misdemeanor — if he can get to the courtroom. But according to his lawyer, prison and security police officials have not confirmed they will permit . . . Read More

Pakistani Christian couple brutally killed by mob for alleged ‘blasphemy’

November 5, 2014 Pakistan Blasphemy, Bonded labourers, Gojra, Islamic extremism, Pakistan Muslim League, Punjab, Shahzad Masih, Shama Bibi

A Pakistani mob beat to near-death a Christian and his pregnant wife for her alleged ‘blasphemy’, then threw them both into the large kiln where they both worked as bonded laborers. The incident happened on Tuesday 4th Nov, some 60 kilometers from Lahore, the capital of Punjab in central Pakistan – . . . Read More

Second Turkish trial implicates authorities in planned attack on church leaders

November 4, 2014 Turkey Istanbul, Izmit, Malatya, Turkey

Pastor Emre Karaali of the Izmit Protestant Church on the steps of the Courthouse in Izmit with his lawyer after the 3rd hearing on Oct. 21, 2014World Watch Monitor In a surprise October decision, a Turkish judge has filed a criminal complaint against a police chief and an army . . . Read More

Tension simmers following attack on Christians in troubled Bastar

November 3, 2014 India Ghar Wapsi, Hindu nationalism, India, Pentecostals

Man injured in the attackWorld Watch Monitor Scores of policemen are camping in a remote Indian village following an Oct. 25 attack on Christians by Hindu fundamentalists. Government officials characterize the violence in Madhota village, in the Bastar district of Chhattisgarh state in central India, as a “clash between . . . Read More

Turkish public education system to offer class in Christianity for first time

October 30, 2014 Turkey Armenians, Children, Education, Europe, Islamic extremism, Shia, Sunni, Turkey

The Turkish education system’s mandatory religion classes are not fair to students who do not follow the country’s majority Sunni Islam and must amend its policies, according to a recent verdict of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). As Turkey is a signatory of the European Convention on Human . . . Read More

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