General

After 12 years, Turkey closes the door on American church volunteer

July 29, 2013 Turkey Diyarbakir, Jerry Mattix, Protestants, Recep Tayyip Erdogan

Jerry Mattix makes a presentation on Luke in an undated photoSpecial to World Watch Monitor After 12 years serving a church in Turkey voluntarily and peacefully, Jerry Mattix suddenly is on the country’s blacklist. Officially, the government has deemed Mattix a threat to national security. Yet the police have . . . Read More

Christian jailed for text messages in Gojra, Pakistan

July 26, 2013 Pakistan Blasphemy, Gojra, Islamic extremism, Jamaat-ud-Dawa, Lashkar-e-Taiba

Tensions are high in the Punjabi city of Gojra after a court sentenced a Christian man, Sajjad Masih, to life imprisonment for blasphemy, only weeks before the fourth anniversary of an outbreak of extreme violence against Christians in the same city. In August 2009, seven Christians from the same family . . . Read More

Iranian Christians continue to face arrest, imprisonment

July 25, 2013 Iran Apostasy, Converts, Ebrahim Firouzi, Exile, Mostafa Bordbar, Shiraz, Tehran

Ebrahim Firouzi, 28, jailed for “promoting Christian Zionism, attempting to launch a Christian website, contact with suspicious foreigners and running online church service”.Mohabat News The steady flow of Iranian Christians facing arrest and imprisonment on spurious charges continues. In Shiraz, famous for its cultural significance to Iranians as the . . . Read More

Pakistani Christians angered by ‘sweeper’ comment

July 24, 2013 Pakistan Asia Bibi, Balochistan, Caste, Gilgit, Imran Khan, Joseph Colony, Kasur, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Lahore, Pakistan Muslim League, Pakistan Peoples Party, Pashtun, Paul Bhatti, Peshawar, PTI, Punjab, Quetta, Rawalpindi, Sialkot, Sweepers, UN

Pakistani Christians have been angered by a statement by the Chief Minister of the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa that only “non-Muslims will be recruited as sweepers”. The province, known for short as KPK, borders Afghanistan. Its Chief Minister, Pervez Khattak, who is in former international cricketer Imran Khan’s party, Pakistan . . . Read More

Former Nigerian Governor allows ‘under-age’ marriage loophole into Constitution

July 23, 2013 Nigeria Christian Association of Nigeria, Constitution, Gombe, Lagos, Sharia, Zamfara

The first Governor to introduce sharia law into a Nigerian State (Zamfara, in 2000), now a Senator, has succeeded in stopping the removal of a clause from Nigeria’s Constitution, which critics say remains a loophole through which marriage of under-age girls remains possible under sharia law. It happened during the . . . Read More

World abandons C. African Republic in hour of need, MSF says

July 19, 2013 Central African Republic Seleka

International health NGO Medecins sans Frontieres (Doctors without Borders) says the population of the Central African Republic has been “abandoned” to a humanitarian emergency “just when they most need help”, and that the country’s healthcare system has collapsed. With most NGOs and aid agencies withdrawing to the capital, Bangui, citing . . . Read More

Pro-Morsi backlash turns deadly for some Christian communities

July 18, 2013 Egypt Arab Spring, Copts, Luxor, Mohamed Morsi, Muslim Brotherhood, Pope Tawadros II, Port Said

Violence in the town of al-Dabayia on July 5 claimed the lives of Rasim Taodharos Ocaldius, 56; Mharib Noshi Habib,38; Romany Noshi Habib, 33; and Emile Naseem Sarofim, 41.Special to World Watch Monitor Violence across Egypt following the July 3 ouster of Mohamed Morsi has claimed the lives of . . . Read More

Mali’s state of emergency lifted ahead of election

July 12, 2013 Mali Bamako, Dioncounda Traoré, Gao, Kidal, Mali, Timbuktu, Tuareg, UN

The political situation of Mali has been changed by Sunday’s launch of the campaign for its Presidential election (due on July 28th) in which 28 candidates are competing to succeed the current interim President Dioncounda Traoré, who is not taking part. Mr Traoré, who was the head of Parliament, became . . . Read More

Archbishop of Canterbury and UK Foreign Office Minister alerted to need of Syrian Christians

July 10, 2013 Aleppo, Armenians, Bashar al-Assad, Damascus, Homs, Islamic extremism, Justin Welby, London, Middle East, Minorities, North Africa, Refugees, Religious freedom, Shia, Sunni, Syria, Syriacs, UK

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, and the UK Foreign Office Minister responsible for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), have both acknowledged the findings of a report which says that Christians in Syria are increasingly targeted and vulnerable to persecution, amidst the on-going conflict there. Syria: Church on . . . Read More

All change again in the Middle East

July 7, 2013 Andrew Bennett, Baghdad, Bishop Angaelos, Cairo, Canada, Copts, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, London, Middle East, Muslim Brotherhood, Religious freedom, Saddam Hussein, Syria

Middle Eastern Christians are experiencing one of the most significant periods in their history, according to religious and political leaders meeting in London last week. Regime changes in Egypt and Iran, and sectarian violence in Syria, Lebanon and Iraq, have presented an opportunity for the Christian minority to speak out, . . . Read More

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