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Iranian Christian released – two still detained

Iran , ,
Middle East Concern, an association of Christian agencies, reports that Iranian detainee Vahid Hakkani was released Jan. 26 from Adel-Abad Prison in Shiraz. Hakkani, one of eight Christians arrested in Feb. 2012, went on at least two hunger strikes during 2014 in efforts to protest against the Iranian judicial authorities . . . Read More

Egypt allocates land for new Cairo churches

Egypt , , ,
Agenzia Fides reports a plot of land, the size of 2.5 acres (30 hectares), has been made available to the Coptic Patriarchate to build offices connected to the Cathedral of San Marco in Cairo. Three additional smaller plots will be allocated in other areas across the capital for the construction of . . . Read More

Is Chad helping to combat Boko Haram?

Chad ,
An article by Institute for Security Studies questions whether Chad’s military intervention, dispatching 2,000 soldiers to the Nigeria borders region this month, is going to make the situation of combatting Boko Haram better or worse. Published on 27 January, it explains the region’s increasing need of help by external powers and . . . Read More

Obama addresses persecution during India visit

India , , , , ,
President Obama addressed India’s treatment of minority faiths during his final speech on January 27 after a three-day-long visit to the country. His comments were widely interpreted as a message to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), whose rise to power emboldened activists to declare India . . . Read More

China’s oldest priest dies at 105

China , ,
China’s oldest priest died Jan. 20 at the age of 105. “Father Ye Yaomin withstood persecution and banishment to help build up the Church in China,” UCA News said, adding that　his “epic life spanned the fall of emperors, wars and a Communist Party intolerant of his devout faith.” Yaomin of . . . Read More

‘Allah’ is forbidden

Malaysia , , ,
A panel of judges in Malaysia ruled on Wednesday that The Herald, a Catholic weekly newspaper, has no basis to challenge an earlier federal court order to stop using the word “Allah” in its pages to name God. The Herald’s legal odyssey began  in 2009 when the government said the . . . Read More

N Korean torture victim changes story

North Korea ,
A man who escaped from a North Korean prison camp and became the subject of a best-selling book that described how he was tortured has admitted minor parts are untrue. Shin Dong-hyuk has now said that accounts of his torture and the execution of his mother and brother are slightly . . . Read More