General

UK calls for action to secure freedom of religion for 80% of world’s population

October 25, 2017 Global News -- No Particular Country Ahmed Shaheed, Human rights, Islamic State, Nepal, Religious freedom, Rohingya, UK, UN

A new report urges the UK and other governments to take practical measures to turn the rhetoric of ‘freedom of religion or belief’ into reality, to protect the millions who are vulnerable to violence, discrimination and disadvantage as a result of its abuse. The report, presented in the UK Parliament today . . . Read More

Central African Republic: where government rule only runs in the capital

October 24, 2017 Central African Republic Anti-balaka, Bangui, Bocaranga, Bozoum, Central African Republic, Dieudonné Nzapalainga, Faustin-Archange Touadéra, Gambo, Kaga Bandoro, Nicolas Guérékoyamé-Gbangou, PK5, Seleka, UN, Zemio

I’m just back from a visit to the Central African Republic (CAR) – where there is a sense of emergency again. Security has dramatically deteriorated across the country: President Faustin-Archange Touadéra has failed to establish his authority beyond the capital, Bangui, 18 months after his election. To my surprise, I . . . Read More

UN chief visits CAR, where lack of aid is leading to starving children

October 24, 2017 Central African Republic Anti-balaka, Bambari, Bangassou, Central African Republic, Dieudonné Nzapalainga, Faustin-Archange Touadéra, Seleka

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is in the Central African Republic (CAR) to draw attention to the world’s “forgotten crisis” and its heavy toll on aid workers and UN peacekeepers. The visit is happening a week after the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for the country told media that the deteriorating security situation . . . Read More

Egyptian police foil latest terrorist attack on Coptic church in Sinai

October 24, 2017 Egypt Copts, Egypt, El-Arish, Ismailia, Sinai, Suez

An attack on a Coptic church in north-eastern Egypt, which was also targeted during the wave of anti-Christian violence in August 2013, has been repelled by state security forces stationed outside the building. The heavy security presence outside the Mar Girgis (St. George) church in El-Arish, which had the use . . . Read More

Government again pressures Sudanese Church of Christ leaders

October 23, 2017 Sudan Khartoum, Kuwa Shamal, NISS, Omdurman, Pentecostals, Sudan, Sudanese Church of Christ

Leaders of the Sudanese Church of Christ (SCOC) have been detained for some hours in the capital, Khartoum, during which they were ordered to hand over ownership of their church to government officials, by transferring authority from an elected committee to a state-sanctioned rival committee. The five men, who, according to . . . Read More

Philippines: Marawi liberated but root cause of extremism remains

October 20, 2017 Philippines Abu Sayyaf, Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, Islamic State, Marawi, Maute, Mindanao, Moro Islamic Liberation Front, Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte, Southeast Asia

Soldiers on a military vehicle are seen on liberated but battle damaged street in Marawi City on 17 October. (Photo: Getty Images)

Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte declared “Marawi City liberated from the terrorist influence” on Tuesday (17 October) after the military killed two of the ring leaders behind the five-month assault on the city, but a religious freedom expert has warned the “killing of militant leaders does not destroy the fighters behind . . . Read More

Algeria: ‘unjust law’ still denying churches their ‘right to worship’

October 19, 2017 Algeria Algeria, Algiers, Mâatkas, Protestant Church of Algeria, Religion Law, Tizi Ouzou

Churches in northern Algeria continue to clash with the authorities over permission to hold services in non-religious buildings. Authorities in Tizi Ouzou province – 100km east of the capital, Algiers – have said a 2006 law that regulates non-Muslim worship is breached by churches meeting in houses meant only for . . . Read More

Azerbaijan: ‘no fair trial’ for house-church leader appealing against fine

October 19, 2017 Azerbaijan Aliabad, Azerbaijan, Baku, Hamid Shabanov, House churches, Religious freedom

Hamid Shabanov in 2007. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

An Azerbaijani man fined for leading a “house church” without state permission has not been treated fairly during his appeal against the fine, a local source has told World Watch Monitor. The source, who wishes to remain anonymous, said there have been “multiple violations of law and process” against Hamid . . . Read More

Christians on alert as Iraqi forces take over Nineveh Plains

October 18, 2017 Iraq Bartella, Bashiqa, Iraq, Islamic State, Nineveh Plains, Peshmerga, Saddam Hussein

Christian returnees have lunch together in Bashiqa, August 2017. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

Christians who have returned to the Nineveh Plains in northern Iraq, three years after fleeing Islamic State militants, are on high alert now Iraqi forces have retaken some of the disputed region from Kurdish forces. Father Poulos, one of the priests in the town of Bashiqa, near Mosul, told World . . . Read More

Nigeria’s Christians condemn killings in Plateau, urge government to intervene

October 18, 2017 Nigeria Fulani herdsmen, Jos, Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria, Plateau

Worried by the recent incessant killings in Plateau state, north-central Nigeria, the Christians in the north under the aegis of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) have urged the government to intervene. The Chairman of the Northern CAN, Rev. Yakubu Pam, expressed concern that people who had lived together peacefully . . . Read More

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