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Iran: do non-Muslims have the right to hold elected public office or not?

April 20, 2018 Iran Ayatollah Khamenei, Ayatollah Khomeini, Elections, Iran, Minorities, Sepanta Niknam, Sharia, Yazd, Zoroastrians

In Iran, which is 90-95 per cent Shia Muslim, the passing of a date set for a decision over whether a non-Muslim can hold an elected public office is significant for the country’s religious minorities and their rights. The date, April 5, passed without that decision being made for a . . . Read More

Egypt church application triggers attack

April 19, 2018 Egypt Beni Suef, Churches, Copts, Egypt, Islamic extremism, Luxor, Qena

Egypt’s Prime Minister Sherif Ismail has called for the process of legalising unlicensed churches to be “speeded up” after granting a second batch of church buildings official status this week. The government has legalised 219 churches and church-affiliated buildings this year, but 3,511 others remain on the waiting list. The . . . Read More

Sudan: Four Christians charged, 36 others to stand trial

April 19, 2018 Sudan Bahri, Omdurman, Sudan, Sudan Presbyterian Evangelical Church, Younan Abdulla

Girl reading her Bible in Sudan where Christians and other minorities are still under pressure despite a change of government in 2019 (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

New charges have been brought against four members of one of the country’s major Protestant denominations. Thirty-six others will appear in court next week on unspecified charges; five others have been acquitted. Azhari Tambra, Mina Mata, George Adem and Kodi Abdulraheem were charged on 11 April with “causing physical harm . . . Read More

Cuba’s new leader ‘not a reformer’

April 19, 2018 Cuba Catholics, Churches, Communism, Cuba, Fidel Castro, Human rights, Latin America, Miguel Díaz-Canel, Protestants, Raúl Castro, Religious freedom

Raúl Castro, who replaced his brother Fidel as Cuba’s president in 2006, stepped down from the post this week, ending a decades-long rule by his family. His successor, Miguel Díaz-Canel – who up until now was the country’s first vice-president – takes on an historic leadership role by becoming the . . . Read More

Indian police play down mob attack on Christian meeting

April 18, 2018 India BJP, Chhattisgarh, Hindu nationalism, India, Narendra Modi, Pentecostals, Police

Christian families have fled their homes in eastern India after telling police a Hindu nationalist mob had attacked a church fellowship meal, only to be met with attempts to silence them. Pastor Kasi Ram told World Watch Monitor that only three Christian families remained in the village of Bakel – . . . Read More

Turkish court puts trial of US pastor on hold for three weeks

April 16, 2018 Turkey Andrew Brunson, Ankara, Coup, Fethullah Gülen, Izmir, Protestants, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey

Andrew Brunson got his first day in a Turkish court today (16 April) to answer espionage charges. It will be three weeks until he gets his second. The American-born Brunson, pastor of a small Protestant church, told the court he denies any wrongdoing. He is accused of supporting the attempted . . . Read More

China: ‘For Christians, the “grey” area is shrinking’

April 16, 2018 China Beijing, Bibles, China, Churches, Communism, Nanjing, Three-Self Patriotic Movement, Xi Jinping

China's Communist Party is trying to suppress rapid growth among religions.(Photo: World Watch Monitor)

China’s Christians may not be surprised by recent tighter government control of religious affairs, including a ban on online Bible sales. But they are unsure what comes next. Following this month’s announcement that Bibles could no longer be made available online, large websites like Taobao, Jingdong, Weidian, Dangdang and Amazon . . . Read More

97 missing Chibok girls feared dead

April 16, 2018 Nigeria Borno, Chibok girls, Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria

Pictures of 82 girls freed in 2017; 112 are still un-accounted for

After relatives and activists commemorated on Saturday the 4th anniversary of the Chibok girls’ kidnapping, there are now fears that many of over 100 girls still missing will never return home. Of the 276 schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram on 14 April 2014, 57 escaped, 107 were rescued or . . . Read More

Iranian Christian arrested 45 days ago tells family: ‘I’m in Evin Prison’

April 16, 2018 Iran Evin Prison, Iran, Karaj, Maryam Rostampour, Marziyeh Amirizadeh, Tehran

The outside of the Evin prison in Tehran. Photo: Flickr/ SabzPhoto

An Iranian Christian convert, about whom nothing had been heard since his arrest 45 days ago, was able to contact his family over the weekend to let them know he is being held in the notorious Evin Prison, in the capital Tehran. A spokesman for advocacy organisation Article 18, Kiaa . . . Read More

The scars that don’t heal: Bangui pastor recalls church shelling

April 13, 2018 Central African Republic African Union, Central African Republic, Faustin-Archange Touadéra, PK5, Seleka, UPC

The rain that has fallen overnight has left a puddle in the church, and the pastor, Rev. Franco Mbaye-Bondoi, is worried that if the walls are not repaired before the heavy rains begin in two months, they may collapse. The dangerous cracks in the walls are the only signs left . . . Read More

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