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Pakistan court orders citizens to declare religion

March 13, 2018 Pakistan Asia Bibi, Blasphemy, Islamic extremism, Minorities, Pakistan, Religious freedom, Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan

Religious minorities in Pakistan have to declare their religion when applying for identification papers or for government jobs making them "even more vulnerable" activists say. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

Pakistan’s citizens must now declare their religion when applying for identity documents, or if they want to work in government or register to vote, Islamabad’s High Court ruled on Friday (9 March). Applicants who disguise their true religion defy the constitution and betray the state, the judge said. Their true . . . Read More

Nigeria Christians want International Criminal Court to investigate Air Force ‘complicity’ in ‘genocide’

March 13, 2018 Nigeria Adamawa, Christian Association of Nigeria, Fulani herdsmen, Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria

Six Christian communities in north-eastern Nigeria have announced their intention to take the national Air Force to the International Criminal Court (ICC) over its alleged bombing of their communities in December. Lawaru, Dong, Nzoruwe, Pulum, Kodomti and Shaforon – in the Demsa and Numan Local Government Areas of the Adamawa . . . Read More

Egypt: Copts’ cross tattoos lead to harassment, insults

March 13, 2018 Egypt Churches, Copts, Crosses, Egypt

For Egypt’s Coptic Christians, cross tattoos emblazoned on the inside of a wrist are another form of ID. In an overwhelmingly Muslim society, these tattoos create a sense of belonging for Copts at a very young age – some children are taken to the tattoo artist at just a few . . . Read More

Protest organiser arrested as Nigerian Christians call for end to herdsmen killings

March 12, 2018 Nigeria Adamawa, Fulani herdsmen, Nigeria

Police in Nigeria’s north-eastern Adamawa State last week arrested the organiser of a protest march against the continued killings of predominantly Christian famers by mainly Muslim Fulani herdsmen. Mijah Stanley had called on “all pro-democracy and civil rights organisations, faith-based and community-based organisations, as well as other Nigerians” to rally . . . Read More

Iraq: Christian family stabbed to death in Baghdad

March 12, 2018 Iraq Assyrians, Baghdad, Iraq

An Assyrian Christian family of three were murdered in their home in a predominantly Shia neighbourhood in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, last Thursday (8 March). Dr. Hisham Shafiq al-Maskuni, 61, a radiologist at a nuns’ hospital, his wife Dr. Shaza Malik Dinno, gynaecologist at the same hospital, and her elderly mother, . . . Read More

Indian policeman joins 50-strong Hindu mob’s attack on churches

March 12, 2018 India Hindu Munnani, Hindu nationalism, India, Tamil Nadu

A Hindu mob raided five churches in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu yesterday (11 March), attacking and abusing Christians as they worshipped. Several women were stripped and beaten. The attackers, who according to witnesses were accompanied by a state-provided police officer, were part of Hindu Munnani, a Tamil . . . Read More

Iran: Christian retreat centre ordered to close by tomorrow

March 9, 2018 Iran Assemblies of God, Ayatollah Khamenei, Churches, Converts, Iran, Karaj, Protestants, Robert Asseriyan

A Christian retreat centre in Iran will finally close tomorrow, 10 March, nearly three years after it was ordered to do so and then later accused of being funded by the USA’s “CIA spy agency”. The caretakers of the Sharon Retreat Centre in Karaj, west of Tehran, have been ordered . . . Read More

Algeria government denies church closures are discrimination

March 9, 2018 Algeria Aïn Turk, Algeria, Bejaia, Churches, Oran, Protestant Church of Algeria, Religious freedom, Tizi Ouzou

"Notre Dame d'Afrique", the Roman Catholic Basilica in Algiers, Algeria. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

The Algerian Minister of Religious Affairs has denied discriminating against the country’s Christian minority by ordering the closure of several churches in recent months. The latest church closures took place last week, as two churches were sealed by police in the north-western city of Oran. A week beforehand, two more churches . . . Read More

Central African Republic: church elder among six aid workers hacked to death

March 8, 2018 Central African Republic Bangui, Central African Republic, PK5, Seleka, UN

A church elder who worked for UNICEF was one of six people killed during a recent ambush by armed men in northern Central African Republic. Gabriel Ole, 66, was an elder at a Baptist church (Eglise Baptiste Doumbia) in Bangui, the capital. He was among of a group of six . . . Read More

Beheaded Copts’ remains to be returned to families after three-year wait

March 8, 2018 Egypt Copts, Egypt, Libya, Minya, Samalut

Copts visit new church in Al-Our to remember 21 Christians killed by Islamic State on a beach in Libya in February 2015.

The bodies of the 20 Egyptian Copts and one Ghanaian Christian, beheaded by the Islamic State group on the Libyan coast in February 2015, are due to be returned to their families within the next two weeks, a local source told World Watch Monitor. The families of the victims have . . . Read More

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