General

Malaysia withdraws law clause that could have ‘resolved inter-faith child custody conflicts’

August 25, 2017 Malaysia Converts, Divorce, Islamic extremism, Malaysia, Marriage, Sharia

A Muslim family in Malaysia's capital, Kuala Lumpur. (Photo: Open Doors International)

Malaysia’s government has removed a clause from the new Marriage and Divorce Law that would have prohibited the conversion of children to Islam with consent of just one parent after conservative Muslims protested against it, reports the Malay Mail Online. The new Article 88 (A) had stated that should a non-Muslim . . . Read More

UN troops ‘complicit’ in killing of civilians, says MP for Gambo, eastern C. African Republic

August 24, 2017 Central African Republic Anti-balaka, Bangassou, Bangui, Central African Republic, Faustin-Archange Touadéra, Gambo, Oumar Kobine Layama, Seleka, UN, UPC

A local MP has accused UN peacekeepers in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) of “complicity” in an attack which claimed dozens of lives, including ten Red Cross workers, in the eastern town of Gambo recently, World Watch Monitor has learned. The MP for Gambo, Michel Kpingo, in a statement (7 August) . . . Read More

Egypt: Copts worship in streets after clashes over church permit

August 23, 2017 Egypt Anba Macarius, Copts, Egypt, Islamic extremism, Kom El-Loufy, Samalut

Tensions between Muslims and Coptic Christians in a village in Upper Egypt have reportedly softened following clashes at the weekend. Copts in the village of Ezbat Al-Forn, in the Minya governorate, were stopped from holding mass at a private home on Sunday (20 August) because they had no permit. Local . . . Read More

Kenyan Christians killed for refusing to recite Islamic Shahada

August 22, 2017 Kenya Al-Shabaab, Boni, Garissa, Islamic extremism, Kenya, Lamu, Mandera, Mpeketoni, Pandaguo, Somalia, Tana River, Uhuru Kenyatta, Westgate

Three Kenyan Christians were hacked to death by Al-Shabaab militants on Friday night (18 August) after they refused to recite the Islamic prayer of faith. A fourth Christian – the mentally challenged older brother of one of the three – was also killed. At around 9pm, Changawa Muthemba, who was . . . Read More

DRC: grandmother forced to live in classroom after husband and friends murdered

August 22, 2017 Democratic Republic of the Congo ADF, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eringeti, IDPs, North Kivu, Oicha

When violence struck her village in North Kivu again Marie lost her husband and her home, and now lives with other refugees in a small mud class room in a school. (Photo: Open Doors International)

Marie, a 73-year-old Congolese woman, had lived in a war zone for two decades when rebels attacked her village in North Kivu province again, killing her husband and causing her to flee with her family to find shelter in a school. She thinks it was probably a year ago when . . . Read More

Pakistan: illiterate Christian boy, 16, forced to confess ‘blasphemy’ to escape mob violence

August 21, 2017 Pakistan Blasphemy, Bonded labourers, Gujranwala, Islamic extremism, Lahore, Nabeel Masih, Pakistan, Quran, Rimsha Masih

An angry Pakistani mob almost killed a 16-year-old Christian boy – who is completely illiterate and also slightly mentally challenged – for allegedly burning the pages of a Quran. He was then apparently forced to confess to the alleged crime, and is now in custody – despite apparent inconsistencies in . . . Read More

‘I identify with Chibok parents, I too am a victim, I lost my son’ – UN award winner Rebecca Dali

August 21, 2017 Nigeria Boko Haram, Borno, Chibok girls, EYN, Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria, Rebecca Dali

Rebecca Dali’s son Timothy, 18, left the house one evening, telling her he was going to visit his friend. “Are you sure?” she asked. It was immediately after the 2011 Nigerian elections, when inter-religious tensions were high. His friend lived across town, in an area where Timothy might be at . . . Read More

‘Pakistan’s Mother Theresa’ honoured with state funeral

August 18, 2017 Pakistan Catholics, Karachi, Pakistan, Sindh

For the first time in the recent history of Pakistan, a Christian, who is actually a German but adopted Pakistan has her homeland, is being honoured with a state funeral. Dr Ruth Pfau, who was 87, died on 10 August. Pakistan’s new Prime Minister, Shahid Abbasi, announced the state funeral . . . Read More

Modi accused of hypocrisy after BJP bulldozes through India’s latest ‘anti-conversion law’

August 17, 2017 India Anti-conversion law, BJP, Chhattisgarh, Dalits, Gujarat, Hindu nationalism, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Narendra Modi, Rajasthan

Church leaders in India have joined the chorus of protest against the BJP-led government, known for espousing a Hindu nationalist agenda, hurrying through an “anti-conversion law” in the eastern state of Jharkhand. The Freedom of Religion Bill, which was introduced and passed on the same day (12 August) in the . . . Read More

North Korea: freed pastor Hyeon Soo Lim welcomed home with ‘joyful crying’

August 16, 2017 North Korea Hyeon Soo Lim, Kim Jong-Un, North Korea

Hyeon Soo Lim addressing his congregation at the on

The large congregation of Light Korean Presbyterian Church in Toronto, Canada was ecstatic on Sunday (13 August) in welcoming home their Senior Pastor, Hyeon Soo Lim, held for more than two years of a life sentence in a North Korean labour camp. The church was also crowded with media personnel . . . Read More

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