General

Mariam’s permission to leave Sudan still unclear

July 21, 2014 Sudan Apostasy, Khartoum, Mariam Ibrahim, Sudan

Conflicting reports have emerged regarding the current status of Sudan’s ‘death-row mother’ Mariam Ibrahim’s lack of freedom to leave Khartoum for a new life with her husband and children at his American home. On July 17, Reuters reported that the lawsuit brought by Ibrahim’s Sudanese Muslim father was dropped. The . . . Read More

Pakistan court grants bail to suspect in murder of government minister

July 19, 2014 Pakistan Blasphemy, Faisalabad, Paul Bhatti, Rawalpindi, Shahbaz Bhatti, Taliban

A man charged with killing Pakistan’s former Minorities Minister Shahbaz Bhatti, a Christian, in March 2011 has been released on bail of about $10,000 by a Pakistani court. Umar Abdullah was released July 11 after being arrested in September 2013. He has been accused of having ties with Al-Qaeda and . . . Read More

ISIS orders last Christians out of Mosul

July 18, 2014 Iraq Erbil, Iraq, Islamic State, Kurds, Middle East, Mosul

The Islamist militants controlling the Iraqi city of Mosul have ordered all remaining Christians to leave town immediately or face execution, according to news sources. Middle East Concern, a London-based association of Christian-rights agencies with operations in the Middle East, reported Friday that the militants controlling Mosul had summoned Christian . . . Read More

Indian villages outlaw Christian practices

July 17, 2014 India BJP, Chhattisgarh, Converts, Hindutva, Vishva Hindu Parishad

Several villages in central India have outlawed the open practice of Christianity – a move of questionable legality yet one that worries church leaders who say it already has encouraged anti-Christian violence. “The situation is becoming worse. The anti-Christian propaganda is becoming stronger,” Arun Pannalal, president of Chhattisgarh Christian Forum, . . . Read More

Kenyan coast Christians fear for lives as local politicians appear to be linked to Al-Shabaab

July 17, 2014 Kenya Al-Shabaab, Catholics, Islamic extremism, Kenya, Lamu, Mandera, Mombasa, Mpeketoni, Nairobi, Somalia, Tana River, Uhuru Kenyatta, Wajir, Westgate

After at least 65 people were killed a month ago on June 15 in the predominantly Christian town of Mpeketoni, 40km inland from Kenya’s mainly Muslim coastal strip, attacks in the area have continued. Now residents are sleeping in a nearby prison because they are scared to stay at home. . . . Read More

Mariam’s case highlights plight of Sudan’s Christians

July 16, 2014 Sudan Blue Nile, Darfur, Khartoum, Mariam Ibrahim, South Kordofan, South Sudan

The globally known apostasy case of the death-row mother Mariam Ibrahim, forced to give birth with her legs shackled, is only one of many examples of the religious discrimination that Sudanese Christians battle on a regular basis. The poverty-stricken Muslim country lost the majority of its Christian population to South . . . Read More

Mosul’s two kidnapped Chaldean nuns released

July 15, 2014 Iraq Catholics, Chaldeans, Churches, Dohuk, Europe, Islamic State, Kidnapping, Louis Raphael I Sako, Mosul, NATO, Nineveh Plains

Update (15 July) Two kidnapped nuns who managed an orphanage for girls in Mosul, and two women and a boy, who were kidnapped on 28 June have been released. According to ankawa.com no ransom was paid for the release of the five Assyrian victims who are in good health and . . . Read More

Chibok, 3 months later

July 14, 2014 Nigeria Boko Haram, Borno, Chibok girls, EYN, Islamic extremism, Jama'atu Nasril Islam, Kidnapping, Nigeria, Samuel Dali, Stephen Davis, Sultan of Sokoto

Three months to the day after more than 200 teenage girls were kidnapped from their school in northeast Nigeria, headlines have been dominated by the visit of another teenager, 17 year old Pakistani Malala Yusufzai, to some of the missing girls’ families and the Nigerian President. But there is no . . . Read More

Q&A with EYN President Samuel Dali

July 14, 2014 Nigeria Boko Haram, Chibok girls, Kidnapping, Samuel Dali

The Church of the Brethren in Nigeria, known locally as Ekklesiyar Yan’uwa a Nigeria — or EYN Church — has been a direct target of Boko Haram attacks. Many of the families of the more than 200 girls kidnapped in April from their school in Chibok are members of EYN . . . Read More

The rise of political Islam in Europe

July 9, 2014 Egypt, Europe, Hizb ut-Tahrir, Iraq, Islamic extremism, Syria, Tony Blair

After the allegations of Islamists infiltrating British education in schools earlier this year. An emergency report was commissioned, “Operation Trojan Horse,” to investigate practices at 21 schools in Birmingham, including Park View (pictured). SWNS There are increasing fears that European-born young men who go to Syria will get caught . . . Read More

Catching Our Eye