General

Iraqi MP: Syria collapse would endanger all Mideast Christians

June 20, 2013 Syria Assyrians, Free Syrian Army, George Sabra, Iraq, UN

The collapse of the Syrian state would be a jihadist triumph and a threat to Christians throughout the Middle East, says Yonadam Kanna, a member of the Iraqi National Assembly and Secretary General for the Assyrian Democratic Movement. Assyrians are an ancient ethnic group indigenous to the Middle East, and . . . Read More

Iran convicts six Christian converts

June 19, 2013 Iran Elections, Hassan Rouhani, Shiraz

Six Iranian converts to Christianity were convicted of crimes related to their membership in a house church, a news service has reported. Mohabat News, which reports on news of Christians inside Iran, published a report on Sunday (June 16) claiming that four men, a woman and her teen-aged son were convicted . . . Read More

Upsurge in attacks signals growing Islamist threat in Niger

June 14, 2013 Niger Agadez, Mahamadou Issoufou, Maradi, MUJAO, Niamey, West Africa, Zinder

The remains of the car used in the May 23 suicide attack in Agadez.World Watch Monitor Four attacks within the last three weeks in Niger have raised the spectre of a growing Islamist threat in the country. In the latest attack on Tuesday (June 11), unidentified armed men attacked . . . Read More

Iranians vote for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s successor

June 14, 2013 Iran Ayatollah Khamenei, Elections, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s second term as President of Iran is coming to an end. The Iranian constitution doesn’t allow him to run again for President, so one thing is certain: on August 3, another man will be inaugurated as the new President. Four years on from the contentious elections of . . . Read More

Gender-based violence ‘wielded mercilessly’ in Muslim countries

June 13, 2013 Angela Merkel, Egypt, Iran, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sharia

Jeddah, Saudi ArabiaWorld Watch Monitor The conclusion of a new report by the US Hudson Institute researcher Lela Gilbert is clear and unequivocal: gender-based violence plays a key strategic role in the plans of those who wish to eradicate Christians and Christian belief from Muslim lands. Gender-Based Violence as . . . Read More

President Morsi for first time approves construction of new church in Egypt

June 11, 2013 Egypt Beheira, Copts, Hosni Mubarak, Mohamed Morsi

The architectural drawing of St. Peter and St. Paul’s Church in Nubaria received a stamp of approval.Watani Seventeen years have elapsed since the Coptic Church first requested permission to build a church in the town of Nubaria, Northern Egypt. On Friday (June 7) their wish was granted. But not . . . Read More

The rise of Islamic extremism in Central Asia and the Caucasus

June 6, 2013 Afghanistan, Arab Spring, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Caucasus, Central Asia, Chechnya, Dagestan, Georgia, Hizb ut-Tahrir, Islamic extremism, Kazakhstan, Muslim Brotherhood, Russia, Soviet Union, Uzbekistan

Islamic extremism in Central Asia and the Caucasus will further increase in the next few years, predicts a new report by Anna Münster, a Fellow of the Russia and Eurasia Programme at Chatham House. US withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2014, and expected regime changes in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan threaten to . . . Read More

Christians watchful as Sharif returns to power

June 6, 2013 Pakistan Blasphemy, Elections, Gojra, Jamaat-e-Islami, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Nawaz Sharif, Pakistan Muslim League, PTI, Taliban

Pakistan’s Christians appear to have thrown some of their political support to Nawaz Sharif in the May 11 national election, even as they have reason to be wary of his return to power. Sharif’s party, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, or PMLN, won 124 of the 272 directly elected seats in the . . . Read More

‘Persecuted: The Global Assault on Christians’

June 5, 2013 Global News -- No Particular Country Afghanistan, Algeria, Arab Spring, Armenia, Asia Bibi, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Belarus, Central Asia, China, Communism, Cuba, Cyprus, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Georgia, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Islamic extremism, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lebanon, Malaysia, Middle East, Morocco, Myanmar, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Palestinian Territories, Russia, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Yemen

This is a book designed to show that “Christians are the single most widely persecuted religious group in the world today” (p4). With that aim, three authors well known in the field of religious advocacy give the reader the ultimate global briefing on the causes, patterns and trends in the persecution . . . Read More

Tehran church faces closure after pastor’s arrest

May 30, 2013 Iran Ahwaz, Assemblies of God, Evin Prison, Robert Asseriyan

The sign on the church in Tehran: ‘This church is closed due to major repairs. Please do not return!Article 18 The future of the central Assemblies of God church in Tehran hangs in the balance, following the arrest of one of its pastors last week. Iranian authorities continue to . . . Read More

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