General

Egypt: Families of beheaded Copts finally reunited with remains of loved ones

May 16, 2018 Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Cairo, Copts, Egypt, Islamic State, Libya, Minya, Pope Tawadros II, Ramadan, Samalut, Upper Egypt

After a three-year wait and a number of broken promises, the Egyptian Coptic families of 20 men beheaded by IS in Libya in 2015 have finally received their loved ones’ remains. The leader of the Coptic Church, Pope Tawadros II, accompanied by several bishops, priests and deacons, welcomed the 20 . . . Read More

Sudan: ‘Put brakes on’ normalising relations, rights groups tell US

May 16, 2018 Sudan Churches, Human rights, Religious freedom, Sahel, Sanctions, Sudan, Terrorism, UK, USA

A Sudan People's Liberation Movement rebel soldier in South Kordofan state where thousands of people fled the Nuba Mountains in 2012 to escape fighting between the rebel group and the government's armed forces. (Photo: ADRIANE OHANESIAN/AFP/GettyImages)

Rights groups have urged the United States to refrain from removing Sudan from its list of State Sponsors of Terrorism. “New circumstances have emerged in Sudan that make US efforts at full normalisation dramatically ill-timed,” said the Washington DC-based Enough Project in a recent report. The NGO, which focuses on . . . Read More

CAR cardinal calls for end to retaliatory violence after shoot-out at Mass

May 16, 2018 Central African Republic Bangui, Central African Republic, Dieudonné Nzapalainga, Faustin-Archange Touadéra, Nicolas Guérékoyamé-Gbangou, Oumar Kobine Layama, PK5, Seleka

Emotions were high at Notre Dame de Fatima church in Bangui, capital of the Central African Republic on Sunday (13 May), as bereaved and traumatised worshippers prepared for a pastoral visit from their cardinal. Two weeks ago the parish became the scene of a massacre, when armed men from the . . . Read More

Myanmar: 7,000 Kachin displaced as violence escalates

May 15, 2018 Myanmar Aung San Suu Kyi, China, Churches, Human rights, IDPs, Kachin, Myanmar, Myitkyina, Pope Francis, Rakhine, Rohingya, Tatmadaw, UN, Youth

Displaced Kachin residents cross the Malikha river on 26 April to escape the fighting between the Kachin Independence Army and the Myanmar government troops. (Photo: ZAU RING HPARA/AFP/Getty Images)

Almost 7,000 people belonging to the largely Christian minority group in Kachin, northern Myanmar, have fled their houses since fighting between the army and a rebel group flared up in early April, according to recent figures from the Red Cross. “It’s a war where civilians are being systematically targeted by . . . Read More

Indonesia bombings ‘did not come as a surprise’

May 14, 2018 Indonesia Indonesia, Islamic extremism, JAD, Java, Joko Widodo, Nahdlatul Ulama, Sulawesi, Sumatra, Surabaya

As details emerge of the shocking tactics used in the two sets of bomb attacks in Indonesia over the last 48 hours, a regional analyst has said he was not surprised by the apparent Islamist motive. “Just a few weeks before the attacks, the government published a study, according to . . . Read More

Landmark judgment on Pakistani religious minorities yet to be honoured by the state

May 14, 2018 Pakistan All Saints Church, Blasphemy, Education, Human rights, Islamabad, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Minorities, Pakistan, Peshawar, Religious freedom

When a bomber killed 127 people at a Pakistan church, the country’s Supreme Court issued a list of instructions to the government to protect religious minorities. Four years later, the government has yet to follow most of them. As with the religious freedom guaranteed in Pakistan’s constitution, the government’s lacklustre . . . Read More

India: Catholics say BJP doctored letter to garner votes ahead of Karnataka elections

May 11, 2018 India BJP, Catholics, Delhi, Elections, Hindu nationalism, India, Karnataka, Narendra Modi

The Catholic Church in India has deplored a “fake” letter widely circulated in social and mainstream media alleging a Catholic conspiracy ahead of tomorrow’s elections in southern Karnataka state. “This is totally unacceptable. This is a blatant attempt to spread lies,” Bishop Theodore Mascarenhas, secretary general of the Catholic Bishops’ . . . Read More

Brunson’s lawyer: secret witness practice ‘absolutely outlandish’

May 10, 2018 Turkey Andrew Brunson, Coup, Fethullah Gülen, Gaziantep, Izmir, Kurds, PKK, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Religious freedom, Şanliurfa, Suruç, Terrorism, Turkey, UN, USA

Lawyer Ismail Cem Halavurt speaking with journalists at the entrance to the Sakran Prison complex on 7 May, 2018.

At the close of Turkey’s second trial hearing against US pastor Andrew Brunson, his lawyer has sharply protested the Izmir court’s reliance on secret prosecution witnesses against his client. Jailed for the past 19 months, the 50-year-old Evangelical Presbyterian minister was sent back to his cell in a maximum-security prison . . . Read More

Pakistan: bereaved parents accept compensation but suspect walks free

May 10, 2018 Pakistan Asia Bibi, Burewala, Caste, Diyat, Pakistan, Punjab, Sharoon Masih, Vehari

Family of Sharoon Masih (World Watch Monitor)

The family of a Christian boy beaten to death on his second day in secondary school have accepted the offer of compensation from the family of the accused. The Islamic concept of paying diyat (blood money) to the victim’s family allowed the suspect to walk free. Sharoon Masih, 17, was . . . Read More

Algerian Christian’s fine for importing crucifix keyrings ‘ridiculous’, says lawyer

May 10, 2018 Algeria Algeria, Algiers, Idir Hamdad, Oran, Protestant Church of Algeria, Tizi Ouzou

A court in Algeria has overturned a prison sentence, but upheld a fine, against a Christian man convicted for carrying a Bible and other Christian items. Idir Hamdad, 29, had been convicted in absentia on 28 September 2017 (though he only learned about this five months later) and given the . . . Read More

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