News

Turkey: churches targeted during attempted coup

  July 19, 2016 Turkey Armenians, Balikesir, Bursa, Catholics, Chaldeans, Coup, Diyarbakir, Greek Orthodox, Malatya, Surp Giragos, Trabzon

Santa Maria Catholic Church in Trabzon, Turkey, in a 2007 photo.World Watch Monitor   Two churches in cities in eastern Turkey infamous as the sites of historic killings of Christians were vandalised during the attempted coup on 15 July, reports Middle East Concern. One of the attacks took place in . . . Read More

Pakistan: father expects no justice for raped 16-year-old daughter

  July 19, 2016 Pakistan Farooqabad, Imran Khan, Pakistan, Pakistan Muslim League, PTI, Sheikhupura, Women

The father of a 16-year-old girl allegedly raped by her neighbour believes she has little hope of justice because the accused is well-connected politically in the local area. Nasar Masih believes the police will ultimately favour the suspect, who he believes was able to rape his daughter in expectation of . . . Read More

UPDATE: Four police officers charged with killing Christian lawyer in Kenya

  July 18, 2016 Kenya Nairobi, Police, Uhuru Kenyatta

Willie Kimani (centre), his client, Josephat Mwenda (left), and their driver, Joseph Muiruri (right).IJM   UPDATE (18 July): A court in Nairobi has charged four police officers in connection with the murder of a lawyer and two of his companions. Willie Kimani, Josephat Mwenda and their driver, Joseph Muiruri, went . . . Read More

Russia: Church reacts as ‘anti-missionary bill’ becomes law

  July 15, 2016 Russia Exile, House churches, Jehovah's Witnesses, Missionaries, Moscow, Pentecostals, Russia, Seventh-day Adventists, Soviet Union, Vladimir Putin, Yarovaya Law

On 7 July, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed into law a bill referred to by one Christian organisation as an “anti-missionary bill”. The new law, known more commonly as the “Yarovaya” law (the name of one of its authors), which will come into effect on 20 July, was formally introduced . . . Read More

Coptic Bishop: Egypt ‘diseased’ with discrimination

  July 14, 2016 Egypt Anba Macarius, Copts, Minya

An Egyptian bishop has called for an end to discrimination against the country’s Christians, urging the government to do more to control the situation in villages across the country. “We have to recognise everyone in Egypt as citizens of equal rights and obligations,” said Bishop Makarius in an Arabic interview . . . Read More

UPDATE: Nigerian Christians told to ‘buckle up’ after preacher hacked to death

  July 14, 2016 Nigeria Abuja, Agatu, Bauchi, Boko Haram, Church of Christ in Nigeria, ECWA, Eunice Elisha, Fulani herdsmen, Gombe, Joseph Kurah, Nasarawa, Pentecostals

Mother of seven, Eunice Elisha, was murdered close to Nigeria’s capital, AbujaWorld Watch Monitor   A female preacher was hacked to death in the early hours of 9 July near Nigeria’s capital. Eunice Elisha, a mother of seven, had gone out to preach as was usual, her husband, Olawale Elisha, . . . Read More

Pakistan: Christian family flees after WhatsApp blasphemy accusation

  July 13, 2016 Pakistan Blasphemy, Gujranwala, Gujrat, Nadeem Masih, Sunni Tehreek

A Pakistani Christian and his family have fled their home in the religiously conservative city of Gujrat, after he was accused of committing blasphemy by sending an offensive message via mobile-phone text. Nadeem Masih, 23, from the Yaqoobabad area of the city, and his family are on the run after . . . Read More

Sudan’s Christians face ‘ethnic cleansing’

  July 11, 2016 Sudan Blue Nile, Kadugli, Nuba Mountains, South Kordofan, South Sudan, SPLM-N

Five years ago today (11 July, 2011), South Sudan became the world’s newest country after seceding from the North. Following a lengthy dispute over where a border should be drawn, it was decided that Sudan’s predominantly Christian South Kordofan and Blue Nile states would remain in the mainly Sunni Muslim . . . Read More

Central Asian Christians feel repercussions of governments’ focus on Islamist threat

  July 6, 2016 Central Asia, Hizb ut-Tahrir, Islam Karimov, Islamic extremism, Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Saparmurat Niyazov, Soviet Union, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan

When the three suicide bombers who killed 44 people at Istanbul’s main airport on 28 June were identified as Russian, Uzbek and Kyrgyz nationals, it provided another reminder that the threat from the so-called Islamic State reaches far beyond Syria and Iraq. And nowhere is that threat being taken more . . . Read More

Pastor hacked to death in Nasarawa, C. Nigeria

  July 5, 2016 Nigeria Boko Haram, ECWA, Fulani herdsmen, Joseph Kurah, Nasarawa

A pastor with the Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA) in Obi town, in Nigeria’s central State of Nasarawa, was killed by suspected armed Fulani herdsmen on 30 June. Rev. Joseph Kurah, accompanied by three other people, went to his farm at about 7pm to cut down trees for roofing wood. . . . Read More