News

Police raid Sat-7 channel’s Egypt offices

  October 14, 2015 Egypt Censorship, Copts, Egypt, Middle East, North Africa

Egyptian police raided Sat-7 channel’s Cairo offices on Oct. 10, confiscating equipment and briefly detaining the pioneer Arabic Christian broadcaster’s country office director. Detained for hours before being released, director Farid Samir faces possible charges related to operating a satellite TV channel “without the necessary licenses,” a press release by . . . Read More

Pakistan’s Supreme Court makes landmark judgment

  October 14, 2015 Pakistan Asia Bibi, Blasphemy, Diyat, Islamabad, Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, Mumtaz Qadri, Nawaz Sharif, Rawalpindi, Salmaan Taseer, Shahzad Masih, Shama Bibi, Sunni Tehreek

n Mumtaz Qadri was showered with rose petals by supporters for killing Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer over his criticism of the blasphemy laws.Getty Images In a landmark judgment on 7 October the Supreme Court of Pakistan (SCP) upheld the death sentence of Malik Mumtaz Qadri, 30, who murdered the former . . . Read More

Qadri verdict a ‘victory over terrorism’

  October 14, 2015 Pakistan Asia Bibi, Blasphemy, Mumtaz Qadri, Salmaan Taseer, Taliban

The apex court in Pakistan has kept intact the death sentence of a man who murdered the former governor of the Punjab for seeking reforms in the blasphemy law and supporting Asia Bibi, a Christian woman condemned to death for allegedly committing blasphemy. The governor, Salmaan Taseer, was shot and . . . Read More

Ethiopian village church attacked

  October 13, 2015 Ethiopia Addis Ababa, Oromia, Proselytism

A boy stands outside the church in Guder.Courtesy Open Doors International   A church in a village 130km west of the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, has been attacked three times recently by suspected animists angered over their evangelism efforts. On 30 August, a mob killed one Christian and injured around . . . Read More

DR Congo – Islamist militias threaten central Africa too

  October 12, 2015 Democratic Republic of the Congo ADF, Africa, Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, Beni, Bukavu, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eringeti, Islamic extremism, Oicha, Sharia

In Africa, it isn’t only in the west that Islamist insurgencies are posing a security threat. While attention has been focused on Nigeria’s radical Islamist group Boko Haram (whose attacks have spread to neighbouring Cameroon, Chad and Niger), a relatively unknown militant group has intensified attacks in the Democratic Republic . . . Read More

IS releases first execution video of Syrian Christians

  October 9, 2015 Syria Assyrians, Hasakah, Hezbollah, Islamic State, Jacques Mourad, Khabur, Syria

A video released by the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS) on 7 Oct. has showed the jihadists killing three Assyrian Christian hostages with shots to the back of their heads. According to the Assyrian Monitor for Human Rights, it is the first IS video showing Christians in Syria being executed. Shown . . . Read More

Indian Parliamentarians propose ban on conversions

  October 6, 2015 India Anti-conversion law, Beef, BJP, Himachal Pradesh, Hindu nationalism, Hindu Yuva Vahini, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand

Two cows, a sacred animal for Hindus, stand outside a church in Anjuna Flea Market in Goa.Eustaquio Santimano / Flickr / CC   Two members of India’s ruling BJP party, one in the Lower and one in the Upper House of the national Parliament, plan to introduce a Private Members’ . . . Read More

Egyptian land dispute threatens inter-religious flashpoint

  October 5, 2015 Egypt Alexandria, Churches, Copts

What in a normal setting is an everyday land dispute can quickly turn into a full-blown sectarian flashpoint with adverse effects on the wider community, when one side of the feud happens to belong to the wrong religion. This is what Hamdi Makanoti, his family, and local Coptic Christians are . . . Read More

Top pastor escapes death amidst renewed violence in CAR

  October 1, 2015 Central African Republic Anti-balaka, Bangui, Catherine Samba-Panza, Dieudonné Nzapalainga, Nicolas Guérékoyamé-Gbangou, Oumar Kobine Layama, Seleka

The President of CAR’s Evangelical Alliance, Rev. Nicolas Guerekoyame-Gbangou, was targeted in an attack apparently triggered by the death of a young Muslim motorbike taxi driver.World Watch Monitor   One of the top three religious leaders in the Central African Republic, who has won global recognition for his efforts to . . . Read More

Six churches torched in Tanzania

  September 30, 2015 Tanzania Bukoba, Kagera, Katoro, Pentecostals

The Buyekera Pentecostal Assemblies of God church in Bukoba, after it was set on fire on 23 September.Courtesy Open Doors International   Six churches have been burnt down in northwest Tanzania within the past week. First, on 23 September, three churches were torched – the Living Waters International Church, Buyekera . . . Read More