General

UN ‘failing’ Eritrea’s detained Christians

March 16, 2018 Eritrea Abune Antonios, Asmara, East Africa, Eritrea, Human rights, Pentecostals, Religious freedom

Eritrea’s human rights record was again in the spotlight at the UN Human Rights Council earlier this week. Kate Gilmore, Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, said in her opening remarks that over 100 people were arrested in Eritrea in 2017 for practising religions not officially recognised by the state. . . . Read More

Algeria government criticised over heavy fines for transporting Bibles

March 16, 2018 Algeria Algeria, Protestant Church of Algeria

The Algerian government has once again been criticised for alleged discrimination against the country’s Christian minority, this time by handing large fines to two brothers for carrying over 50 Bibles in their car. Prosecutors claimed the Bibles were to be used for proselytism, though the brothers said they were for . . . Read More

Hmong Christians hospitalised after mob attack in Vietnam’s northwest

March 15, 2018 Vietnam Catholics, Central Highlands, Hmong, Human rights, Vietnam

Four Vietnamese Christian families – 24 people in all – have been attacked by a mob led by the village chief, local sources have revealed to World Watch Monitor. Four people were hospitalised for eight days after the 1 March attack, with injuries to their heads and arms. All four families are . . . Read More

Philippines: Mindanao gets first deputy governor for Christians

March 15, 2018 Philippines Bangsamoro, Islamic State, Marawi, Mindanao, Moro Islamic Liberation Front, Philippines

(Photo: Getty Images/AFP/Ferdinandh Cabrera)

The autonomous Muslim region in the southern Philippines has named its first deputy governor for Christians. The governor, Mujiv Hataman, said the appointment of Edgardo Ramirez, a known human rights activist and radio broadcaster, would ensure the voices of Christians – a minority in the region – are heard. After . . . Read More

Pakistan Christian still on death row, five years after his ‘blasphemy’ sparked Joseph Colony attack

March 15, 2018 Pakistan Blasphemy, Faisalabad, Joseph Colony, Lahore, Pakistan, Sahiwal, Sawan Masih

At the fifth anniversary of the arson attack on a Christian neighbourhood in the Pakistani city of Lahore, the mother of the Christian man convicted of blaspheming against Islam – and so provoking the attack – says she still prays for his release. Sawan Masih*, a 30-year-old sanitation worker, was accused . . . Read More

India: Church leaders deplore bulldozing of hospital premises in BJP-ruled state

March 14, 2018 India BJP, Catholics, Hindu nationalism, India, Madhya Pradesh, Minorities, Ujjain

Church leaders in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh have deplored an attack on a Catholic hospital, the premises of which was vandalised and bulldozed by a mob led by the personal assistant of a Member of Parliament, representing the ruling BJP. “Police have filed a case today [14 . . . Read More

Dozens killed in spate of violence in Nigeria’s Middle Belt

March 14, 2018 Nigeria African Union, Christian Association of Nigeria, Church of Christ in Nigeria, Fulani herdsmen, Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria, Plateau

Three more villages in Bassa Local Government Area (LGA), in Nigeria’s central Plateau State, have come under attack today, 14 March, as Fulani herdsmen continue their killing spree in the country’s volatile Middle Belt. The violence has claimed some 57 lives over the last two weeks alone. The assailants, identified . . . Read More

Turkey calls for life imprisonment of US pastor Andrew Brunson

March 14, 2018 Turkey Andrew Brunson, Coup, Fethullah Gülen, Izmir, PKK, Turkey, USA

A photo of the Rev. Andrew Brunson during his time in prison. Photo courtesy of World Witness

Turkish prosecutors demanded life imprisonment for jailed US pastor Andrew Brunson in an official indictment presented to Izmir’s 2nd Criminal Court yesterday, 13 March. Arrested without bail since October 2016, Brunson is accused of being “a member and executive” of the Islamic movement led by self-exiled Turkish cleric Fethullah Gülen, . . . Read More

Egypt’s elections and the man dividing the country’s Copts

March 14, 2018 Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Arab Spring, Aswan, Asyut, Bahrain, Cairo, Catholics, Churches, Converts, Copts, Egypt, El-Ghad Party, Elections, Faiyum, Hosni Mubarak, Islamic extremism, Islamic State, Minya, Mohamed Morsi, Muslim Brotherhood, Pope Tawadros II, Protestants, Samalut, Sinai, Sohag, Sunni, Tanta, Terrorism, Upper Egypt

Walking around Cairo you would be forgiven for thinking that President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi was the only candidate running in the elections later this month. His is the only grandiose face bearing down on passers-by, while billboards of his rival, Mousa Mostafa Mousa, are nowhere to be seen. Egypt’s 26-28 March presidential elections have . . . Read More

Jailed US pastor’s daughter addresses UN Human Rights Council

March 13, 2018 Turkey Andrew Brunson, Ankara, Coup, Fethullah Gülen, Izmir, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey, UN, USA

The daughter of jailed US pastor Andrew Brunson appealed to the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva last week to help secure her father’s release from prison in Turkey, where he has been jailed for the past 17 months. Declaring that her father had been “falsely imprisoned for far . . . Read More

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