General

Catholic priest stabbed as violence continues in Central African Republic

January 17, 2018 Central African Republic Bangassou, Bossangoa, Central African Republic, Paoua, Seleka, UN

Catholic bishops in the Central African Republic have condemned a recent upsurge of violence in the country and called on armed groups to lay down their weapons. Fighting between rival armed groups erupted in the north-western town of Paoua and its surroundings at the end of December, while in the . . . Read More

Pakistani Christian girl, 13, raped by fellow worker in field

January 17, 2018 Pakistan Bonded labourers, Gujranwala, Lahore, Pakistan, Rape

A 13-year-old Pakistani Christian girl was raped in a rural area near the city of Gujranwala, north of Lahore, on Sunday (14 January), as she worked in the fields. The girl was found by her younger cousin, and taken to hospital. The local police station has registered a case and . . . Read More

Burkina Faso: 2 years on, thousands call for release of ‘doctor of the poor’ by Al-Qaeda offshoot

January 17, 2018 Burkina Faso Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, Burkina Faso, Djibo, Ken Elliott, Kidnapping, Ouagadougou, Soum, West Africa

Thousands took to the streets of Djibo, a northern town in Burkina Faso, on Monday (15 January) to call for the government to secure the release of an Australian doctor, Ken Elliott, kidnapped two years ago. The abduction was claimed by the ‘Emirate of the Sahara’, a branch of Al-Qaeda . . . Read More

Nigerian student arrested after converting from Islam to Christianity

January 16, 2018 Nigeria Converts, ECWA, Islamic extremism, Jama'atu Nasril Islam, Jos, Nasarawa, Nigeria, Plateau

A Nigerian university student who converted from Islam to Christianity has been arrested by state security forces, as has the man who introduced her to Christianity. Nabila Umar Sanda, 19, is a student at Bingham University in Karu, in the central state of Nasarawa, which is owned by one of . . . Read More

Eritrea: mental health challenges for Christian man freed after 13 years in prison

January 16, 2018 Eritrea Asmara, Barentu, Eritrea, Eritrean Orthodox Church, Prisons, Religious freedom, Seventh-day Adventists

Eritrea remains “one of the worst examples of state-sponsored repression of freedom of religion or belief in the world”, says USCIRF Commissioner. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

Shiden* was young and full of optimism for the future when he was imprisoned for his Christian faith. For the next 13 years he was exposed to torture of different kinds, including months in a very small cell in solitary confinement, and even his eventual release failed to bring about . . . Read More

Egypt: Sinai militants pledge to ‘kill more Copts’ after murdering man over cross tattoo

January 15, 2018 Egypt Copts, Egypt, El-Arish, Islamic extremism, Ismailia, Sinai, Sohag, Suez

A Coptic cross tattooed on a wrist, like the one hat killed Bassem. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

Militants belonging to the ‘State of Sinai’ group in Egypt have promised to “kill more Copts” after murdering a 27-year-old Coptic man because of the tattoo of a cross on his wrist. Bassem Herz Attalhah, also known as Haythem Shehata, was on his way home from work in El-Arish, capital . . . Read More

Fulani herdsmen ‘terrorists’ ‘pampered’ in Nigeria’s Middle Belt

January 15, 2018 Nigeria Adamawa, Benue, ECWA, Fulani herdsmen, Muhammadu Buhari, Nasarawa, Nigeria, Taraba

A spate of violence attributed to ethnic Fulani herdsmen in central Nigeria has seen dozens killed since the turn of year. In Benue State, violence has claimed 80 lives and forced 80,000 to flee. The funerals on 11 January for 73 of the victims in Makurdi, Benue’s capital, were broadcast . . . Read More

Netherlands joins UN Security Council to shine light on IS genocide

January 11, 2018 Global News -- No Particular Country Genocide, Iraq, Islamic State, Lord Alton, Middle East, Netherlands, Syria, UK, UN, Yazidis

A church in Karamles, a town near Mosul, after IS was pushed out in October 2016. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

The Netherlands has just joined the UN Security Council as a temporary member for a year. Ten days before, its Foreign Minister, Halbe Zijlstra, published a letter explaining the Dutch government’s response on the use by politicians of the term “genocide”. The Dutch Parliament had had several debates on the . . . Read More

Could Pakistan’s place on US ‘Watch List’ create more problems for minorities?

January 11, 2018 Pakistan Afghanistan, Donald Trump, Human rights, Joseph Colony, Minorities, Multan, Pakistan, Religious freedom, Taliban, USA

The US State Department last week placed Pakistan on a ‘Special Watch List’ for “severe violations of religious freedom”. The US did not, however, go as far as adding it to its ten ‘Countries of Particular Concern’* – for countries where “governments have engaged in or tolerated systematic, ongoing, and . . . Read More

‘Unprecedented’ persecution of Egypt’s Christians heads 2018 World Watch List

January 10, 2018 Global News -- No Particular Country Africa, Anti-conversion law, Boko Haram, Cairo, Central Asia, Churches, Converts, Copts, Egypt, Eritrea, Fulani herdsmen, Hindu nationalism, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Islamic extremism, Islamic State, Jharkhand, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Maldives, Marawi, Middle Belt, Middle East, Mindanao, Minorities, Nepal, Nigeria, North Korea, Philippines, Somalia, Southeast Asia, Sudan, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkey, Upper Egypt

More Christians abused in India than in all other countries combined; Nepal enters list Islamic extremists driven out of Iraq and Syria are behind a new intensity of Christian persecution in surrounding countries, says global charity Open Doors in its latest annual survey of countries where it is most difficult . . . Read More

Catching Our Eye