General

UPDATE First religious freedom case under new Nepal constitution: all charges dropped

December 6, 2016 Nepal Charikot, Converts, Hindu Morcha Nepal, Hindu nationalism, Kathmandu

The eight arrested Christians after their release on bail, Dolakha, Nepal 2016Vishal Arora UPDATE: A court in Nepal has dropped a case against eight Christians, the first case about freedom of religion since the country’s new constitution was implemented in 2015. The seven men and one woman, all counsellors, . . . Read More

Vietnam’s Law on Belief and Religion ‘deeply flawed’

December 6, 2016 Vietnam Religion Law, Religious freedom, Southeast Asia

Pierre Nguyễn Văn Nhơn (centre), Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Hanoi, takes part in a procession in January 2015. Vietnam’s National Assembly finally ratified (on 18 Nov.) its Law on Belief and Religion amid extensive criticism from parliamentarians, human rights and religious groups, who deem it to be . . . Read More

Mexico ‘in denial’ over Christians forced out of homes for their beliefs

December 4, 2016 Mexico Chiapas, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Guerrero, Jalisco, Michoacán, Tuxpan de Bolaños, Veracruz

Twelve of the 30 evangelical Christians evicted from the village of Tuxpan de Bolaños in Jalisco in January. Courtesy Open Doors International Mexico has a “policy of denial” about the thousands of evangelical Christians forced out of their homes because of their beliefs, according to a Mexican human rights activist. . . . Read More

‘Expendable’ Christians ‘victims of organ harvesting’ in China

December 2, 2016 China Organ harvesting, Xi Jinping

Ethan Gutmann speaking at a hearing of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China in Washington, DC, in September 2015. Christians meeting in “house churches” in China are amongst thousands of Chinese people “considered expendable” by the Chinese government and being used in the “harvesting” of organs, according to China watcher Ethan . . . Read More

Iraqi ambassador criticises country’s conversion law

December 2, 2016 Iraq Converts, Islamic extremism, Islamic State

Iraqi Ambassador to the United States Lukman Faily speaking at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in July 2014 in Washington, DC. A “detrimental” law passed in the Iraqi parliament that forces children of parents who convert to Islam to automatically become Muslim will probably not be implemented, an Iraqi . . . Read More

Philippines churches could cancel services over terrorism threat

December 2, 2016 Philippines Cotabato, Islamic State, Manila, Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte

Philippine soldiers and police erected a checkpoint in Manila in September, after the government declared a ‘state of lawlessness’ following a bomb explosion at a night market in Davao City, which killed 14 people. A Filipino cardinal has condemned as “terrorism” a bomb explosion outside a Catholic church in the . . . Read More

‘Castro’s death won’t end repression of Cuban Church’

December 1, 2016 Cuba Fidel Castro, Havana, Latin America, Pope Francis, Raúl Castro

The death of Cuba’s revolutionary leader Fidel Castro will not reduce the harassment and surveillance to which the Church is already subjected, an analyst at the charity Open Doors has warned. Following Castro’s death at the age of 90 on Saturday (26 Nov.), Paul Groen told World Watch Monitor: “Fidel’s . . . Read More

Donors pledge $2.2bn to help Central African Republic recover

November 30, 2016 Central African Republic African Union, Anti-balaka, Bangui, Bria, Catherine Samba-Panza, Dieudonné Nzapalainga, IDPs, Kaga Bandoro, Nicolas Guérékoyamé-Gbangou, Oumar Kobine Layama, Refugees, Seleka

Oxfam says half the 4.8 million population of the Central African Republic needs humanitarian assistance. Open Doors International The President of the Evangelical Alliance in the Central African Republic has praised the international community’s pledge of US$2.2 billion to help reconstruct a county ravaged by three years of civil war. Around . . . Read More

Iranian rights groups decry treatment of Christians

November 30, 2016 Iran Apostasy, Converts, Human rights, Religious freedom, Youcef Nadarkhani

Iranian and European human rights and religious rights organisations have urged the international community to use new opportunities for trade with Iran to hold the government there to account over its treatment of Christian converts. Nineteen NGOs, including Middle East Concern, Article 18, Impact Iran and Justice for Iran, issued . . . Read More

Indonesia’s only Christian governor questioned by police amid ‘blasphemy’ furore

November 29, 2016 Indonesia Ahok, Blasphemy, Islamic extremism, Jakarta, Kalimantan, Sumatra

Basuki Tjahaja Purnama (better known by his nickname, ‘Ahok’), during a re-election speech in Jakarta on 16 November. He was questioned by police on 22 November after being named a suspect in a blasphemy investigation seen by critics as a test of religious tolerance in Indonesia, the world’s most populous . . . Read More

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