General

Iraq: last Christians to leave Bartella

September 5, 2014 Iraq Ankawa, Bartella, Dohuk, Erbil, Iraq, Islamic State, Nineveh Plains

Rev. Yacoub Saad ShamasCourtesy Open Doors International The last Christians have fled the northern Iraqi town of Bartella. Six babies were born during the difficult journey east to Erbil, a city under Kurdish control and still known to be safe for Christians. The church group was led to safety . . . Read More

Protestant union issues ‘urgent appeal’ to help Iraqi Christians

September 4, 2014 Iraq Islamic State, Protestants, Saddam Hussein

Refugees from Mosul or towns on the Nineveh plain seeking shelter under a highway near Dohuk in the Kurdish region. They fled the violence caused by IS. August 7, 2014 Courtesy of Capni Declaring the plight of Christians in the Middle East a “state of emergency,” evangelical and Protestant . . . Read More

IS leaflets spread in Pakistan; 1200 Christians displaced as army attacked militants

September 3, 2014 Pakistan Afghanistan, All Saints Church, Islamic State, Pashtun, Taliban

Qissa Khanni Bazaar in Peshawar, Pakistan. ‎November‎ ‎2008 EUPK/ Flickr / Creative Commons In what looks like a bid to extend its influence in the South Asian region, IS militants have allegedly distributed 12-page pamphlets in the north-west of Pakistan, in Peshawar and in Afghan refugee camps based near . . . Read More

Islamists want to ‘wipe out’ Christian presence in northern Mali

September 2, 2014 Mali Africa, Bamako, Gao, Islamic extremism, Mali, Sahel, Timbuktu, Tuareg

It’s not only in the Middle East that the advance of Islamist jihadists is exercising the international community. While attention has been focused on northern Iraq and Syria, the French government has been bombing Islamist militant positions in Africa to stop the emergence of jihadists in the Sahel. Now on . . . Read More

‘We want to stay in Iraq, but can’t live like this anymore’

September 1, 2014 Iraq Assyrians, Bashiqa, Christina Abada, Dohuk, Erbil, Islamic State, Kirkuk, Mosul, Qaraqosh

Tents in the yard of a church in Erbil. Pictured are some of the tents of the 216 displaced families who fled the violence of IS fighters. August 16, 2014 World Watch Monitor When IS captured Mosul on June 10th the most devastating part of its seizure was its . . . Read More

Nepali pastor leaves prison after 2 years for killing a cow

August 29, 2014 Nepal Beef, Hindu nationalism, Hindutva, Nepal, Rastriya Prajatantra Party Nepal, Sushil Koirala

We will no longer sit and watch as cows are slaughtered in our sacred land’: Shrinevasacharya. John Hill / Creative Commons A Nepali pastor sentenced to 12 years in prison for slaughtering a cow has been released early after a court declared him not guilty on 17 July. Reverand . . . Read More

‘Future of Church in NE Nigeria also threatened’ says Chibok leader

August 28, 2014 Nigeria Boko Haram, Borno, Chibok girls, Gwoza, Nigeria, Samuel Dali

Some Christian families displaced by violence in Yobe State, have moved to Jos. Nigeria, January 2014.World Watch Monitor Nigeria’s radical Islamist sect, responsible for the kidnapping of nearly 300 girls in Chibok in April, appears relentless in its fight for the establishment of an Islamic state in Africa’s most . . . Read More

‘One week’ deadlines for Iraqi Christians to convert or ‘face the sword’

August 22, 2014 Iraq Alqosh, Ankawa, Assyrians, Bartella, Dohuk, Erbil, Iraq, Islamic State, Qaraqosh, Trauma, UN

A Christian Iraqi refugee sweeping the concrete floor of the unfinished building where she now lives. Ankawa; August 20 2014World Watch Monitor An Iraqi Christian Mikha Qasha, fleeing from Qaraqosh, has given a personal account of members of the Islamic State, IS, coming to his house and threatening him . . . Read More

Pope’s Korean visit highlights plight of North’s Christians

August 15, 2014 North Korea Jeffrey Fowle, Kenneth Bae, Kim Jong Wook, Kim Jong-Un, North Korea, Pope Francis, South Korea

Pope Francis has arrived in South Korea and is calling for peace and dialogue between the two Koreas instead of ‘displays of force.’ His five-day visit is the first time a Pope has visited the Korean Peninsula in 25 years. It coincides with the appeals of two detained American Christians, . . . Read More

China’s Nobel nominee lawyer released after three years

August 15, 2014 China China, Gao Zhisheng, Heilongjiang, Human rights, Xinjiang, Zhang Kai

Geng He, wife of imprisoned Chinese dissident Gao Zhisheng, speaks at a press conference. ‎January‎ ‎18‎, ‎2011Nina Lincoff/Medill News Service / Flickr / Creative Commons Prominent defender of persecuted Christians, and Nobel Peace Prize nominee, Gao Zhisheng was released from prison last week after his most recent three-year sentence. . . . Read More

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