General

Indonesian church closed for years told: you can reopen if mosque allowed on your land

February 10, 2017 Indonesia Aceh, Bogor, GKI Yasmin, Indonesia, Jakarta, Java, Joko Widodo, Muhammadiyah, Nahdlatul Ulama, Sharia

UPDATE (10 Feb, 2017): An Indonesian church closed for years by order of the local mayor has been told it can reopen if a mosque is also allowed on its premises. The GKI Yasmin Church in Bogor, 60km south of Jakarta, had resorted to holding open-air services outside the Presidential . . . Read More

Pakistani Christians ‘attacked’ as land dispute escalates

February 10, 2017 Pakistan Caste, Gojra, Joseph Colony, Lahore, Minorities, Narowal, Pakistan, Punjab, Rimsha Masih

More than 200 men, some armed with sticks, suddenly gathered on Wednesday morning (8 Feb) beside the Alba Presbyterian Church in Sankhatra, 115km north of Lahore, intent on building a boundary wall. “Children were going to school and men were leaving for work when this large number stormed into the . . . Read More

Young Syrian tells how he survived ‘worst-case scenario’ of kidnap and torture by Islamic State

February 9, 2017 Syria Aleppo, Islamic State, Qamishli, Raqqa

Meghrik was kidnapped and tortured by Islamic State before his release. Photo: December 2016.World Watch Monitor Meghrik* was on a bus when it happened. He was travelling from Aleppo to Al-Qamishli in the north east of Syria, a seven-hour journey even before the war started. Now war means there . . . Read More

Presidential change in Somalia unlikely to improve situation for Christian minority

February 8, 2017 Somalia Al-Shabaab, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, Mogadishu, Somalia

Air traffic over Mogadishu, Somalia’s capital, was halted today (8 Feb) as MPs and senators gathered at the airport to elect former Prime Minister Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo as the country’s new president. Newly elected President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo is Somalia’s former Prime Minister (2012 photo). The outgoing president, Hassan Sheikh . . . Read More

Colombian nun kidnapped in southern Mali

February 8, 2017 Mali Bamako, Beatrice Stockly, Gao, Gloria Argoti, Kidal, Timbuktu, Tuareg

Children play by a bullet-riddled police station in Gao, Mali. August 28, 2013.UN Photo / Marco Dormino A Colombian nun was kidnapped by armed men last night (7 Feb) in southern Mali, a relatively safe part of the country, which has been mainly unaffected by Islamist attacks. Gloria Argoti . . . Read More

African Church must ‘promote peace, forgiveness and reconciliation’

February 7, 2017 Africa, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Nicolas Guérékoyamé-Gbangou, Oumar Kobine Layama, Rwanda

Christian Centre in Abuja, Nigeria.World Watch Monitor African church leaders concerned by the devastating consequences of conflicts across the continent have pledged to focus on preventative efforts. The continent has been among the worst-hit by violent conflicts in recent decades. Countries in West and Central Africa have been particularly affected. . . . Read More

Egypt: judge sentences Coptic boy to 15 years; lawyer says ruling motivated ‘by faith, not law’

February 7, 2017 Egypt Copts, Qalyubia, Shibin El Qanater

Fadi’s case was heard at the juvenile court in Banha.World Watch Monitor A 15-year-old Coptic Christian boy has been sentenced to 15 years in an Egyptian prison for sexual assault, even though forensic reports showed no evidence of a crime. His mother says her son, Fadi, is innocent and . . . Read More

Pakistani Christian accused of blasphemy out on bail after three years in prison

February 3, 2017 Pakistan Adnan Prince, Blasphemy, Jamaat-ud-Dawa, Lahore, Lashkar-e-Taiba

The Voice Society UPDATE (3 Feb 2017) After spending more than three years in jail, a Christian accused of blasphemy, and facing the death penalty, was granted bail by the Supreme Court in Lahore on 1 Feb. Adnan Prince has been imprisoned in Lahore’s district jail since November 2013 after . . . Read More

Devastated northern Iraq needs ‘new Marshall Plan’ for reconstruction

February 3, 2017 Iraq Bashar Warda, Erbil, IDPs, Islamic State, Kurds, Middle East, Refugees

The liberated town of Bartella in the Nineveh Plains, 21km east of Mosul, is today a picture of destruction.Open Doors The Archbishop of Erbil in northern Iraq, who is overseeing the care of thousands of displaced Christians who fled Islamic State jihadists, has announced ambitious plans for the Church . . . Read More

Cleaning up towns freed from IS ‘erases evidence of their crimes’

February 2, 2017 Iraq IDPs, Islamic State, Kurds, Nineveh Plains, Qaraqosh, Refugees

Dr. Sarah Ahmed at the cathedral in Qaraqosh, where IS appeared to have used mannequins looted from a local tailor’s to practise shooting.FRRME Efforts to clear villages liberated from Islamic State are undermining the possibility of recording the atrocities to people and heritage committed there, according to a leading . . . Read More

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