General

Pakistani prosecutor to Christians: ‘I’ll acquit you if you convert to Islam’

April 4, 2017 Pakistan Converts, Lahore, Youhanabad

The father of one of 42 Pakistanis – who are on trial for lynching two men they suspected of the double bombing of neighbouring churches in March 2015 – has confirmed that the public prosecutor offered to acquit all the suspects if they were to convert to Islam. Two churches . . . Read More

Escaped North Korean risks her life to visit Christian family she left behind

April 3, 2017 North Korea China, South Korea

It was a shock to Myoung-Hee* when she discovered that most of her family were Christians. Although it was four decades ago, she remembers it well. One night her father stumbled into the house, pale and weak, and she wondered if he was ill. Before he spoke, Myoung-Hee’s mother sent . . . Read More

Secretary of State Tillerson meets wife of US pastor jailed in Turkey

March 31, 2017 Turkey Andrew Brunson, Ankara, Binali Yildirim, Coup, Fethullah Gülen, Izmir, PKK, Suruç

Norine Brunson stands below_Izmir's Harmandanli Detention Center,_where her husband had first been held

America’s top diplomat met for 20 minutes yesterday with the wife of US pastor Andrew Brunson, jailed in Turkey for nearly six months on undisclosed charges of involvement in a terrorist organization. US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was on a one-day stopover (March 30) in the Turkish capital Ankara, . . . Read More

‘I wish I could forget’: student survivors of Kenya university attack, 2 years on

March 31, 2017 Al-Shabaab, Garissa, Kenya

Two years ago, on the eve of Good Friday, 2015, Al Shabaab militants besieged Garissa University campus in Kenya’s volatile northeast. 147 students died that day. Muslims were spared, but Christians targetted: the attackers killed all students present at an early morning Christian prayer meeting, and hunted down several more hiding in rooms. Survivors . . . Read More

New Erbil university offers fresh hope for young lives disrupted by IS

March 30, 2017 Iraq Bashar Warda, Catholics, Education, IDPs, Iraq, Kurds, Minorities

The new Catholic University of Erbil offers displaced young people an opportunity to continue their education.

Displaced young Iraqis whose education was halted by Islamic State’s violent seizure of territory are receiving a vital opportunity to catch up and train for professional life, thanks to the local Catholic archdiocese and charitable donations. The Catholic University of Erbil (CUE) opened in October 2016 and has around 250 . . . Read More

Opposition to Iraqi enclave for non-Muslims voiced by Erbil diocese

March 30, 2017 Iraq Erbil, IDPs, Iraq, Islamic State, Kurds, Mosul, Peshmerga, Saddam Hussein

The Catholic Church in northern Iraq has voiced its opposition to suggestions that an enclave should be created to safeguard non-Muslims fearful of returning to live among their Muslim neighbours. However Stephen Rasche, aid co-ordinator for the Catholic diocese of Erbil in northern Iraq, also said that the likelihood of . . . Read More

US missionary appeals to European Court of Human Rights over Russian law

March 29, 2017 Russia Don Ossewaarde, Oryol, Pentecostals, Russia, Seventh-day Adventists, Yarovaya Law

UPDATE (29 March 2017) Today, Donald Ossewaarde filed an application to the European Court of Human Rights. The US Baptist preacher argues his right to religious freedom has been violated. Mr. Ossewaarde had held weekly Bible meetings at his home in the Russian city of Oryol, 300 kilometres south of Moscow, . . . Read More

Iranian converts: one needs urgent care, another denied chance to see mum with cancer

March 27, 2017 Iran Converts, Ebrahim Firouzi, Evin Prison, Iran, Maryam Naghash Zargaran, Prisons

The health of Iranian Christian convert, Maryam Naghash Zargaran, continues to decline, sources told Mohabat News. It was reported that over the past week her condition worsened and she is again in need of urgent medical care. According to a prison mate, Zargaran is also suffering from severe weight loss. The stressful . . . Read More

Northeast Nigeria ‘greatest crisis on the African continent’, says UN

March 27, 2017 Nigeria Adamawa, Boko Haram, Borno, Gwoza, IDPs, Yobe, Yola

The UN has described the unfolding disaster in north-eastern Nigeria as the “greatest crisis on the continent” – the full extent of which has only been revealed as extremist militant group Boko Haram is pushed back. The UN estimated in December that 75,000 children are at risk of dying of . . . Read More

‘Six weeks’ medicine and two months’ food for displaced Iraqi Christians’

March 24, 2017 Iraq Bashar Warda, Erbil, Iraq, Saddam Hussein

The supplies sustaining displaced Christians in northern Iraq will run out “within weeks” but UN agencies, accused of ignoring them, have pledged to do better since the advent of US President Donald Trump, the aid co-ordinator for the Catholic archdiocese of Erbil said. Without significant financial aid and sufficient care, . . . Read More

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