News

Boko Haram headlines hide persecution of Christians in mid-Nigeria, too

  March 20, 2015 Nigeria Adamawa, Benue, Boko Haram, Chibok girls, Fulani herdsmen, Islamic extremism, Jos, Kaduna, Middle Belt, Nasarawa, Nigeria, Plateau, Sharia, Taraba, Zamfara

The whole world has heard of the Chibok abduction: the 276 girls, predominantly Christians, kidnapped by Boko Haram in northern Nigeria in April 2014. There are 220 still missing. But the publicity surrounding this serves to hide a more widespread persecution of Christians in the Middle Belt region of Nigeria. Nigeria . . . Read More

Gunmen kill 100 Christian villagers in central Nigeria

  March 19, 2015 Nigeria Benue, Boko Haram, Fulani herdsmen, Kaduna, Kafanchan, Middle Belt, Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria

While all eyes are on Nigeria’s north-eastern regions where the radical group Boko Haram is at last being challenged by multi-national military forces, violence targeting Christian communities in the group of states across the centre of Nigeria, known as the Middle Belt, has increased dramatically. This comes ahead of Presidential . . . Read More

Bombers kill 17, injure at least 80 in Pakistan church attacks

  March 16, 2015 Pakistan Imran Khan, Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, Kasur, Nawaz Sharif, Pakistan Muslim League, Pashtun, PTI, Taliban

At St. John’s Catholic Church, the bomber was kept outside of the courtyard by a security volunteer who dragged the attacker off the wall.World Watch Monitor   At least 17 people were killed, and 80 others injured, as two churches in the main Christian district of Lahore, Pakistan, were attacked . . . Read More

Indian beef ban hits ‘untouchable’ Dalits hardest

  March 13, 2015 India Bangalore, Beef, BJP, Dalits, Hindutva, Maharashtra, Mumbai, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal

A national ban on beef, the cheapest meat in India, would hurt all of India’s tribal peoples.Meena Kadri / Flickr / CC   The west Indian state of Maharashtra, run by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), caused a commotion last week when it received Federal approval to enforce . . . Read More

Four years since teenage graffiti sparks Syrian civil war

  March 12, 2015 Syria Aleppo, Arab Spring, Bashar al-Assad, Civil War, Daraa, Islamic State, Khabur, Syria

Four years ago this week a group of young teenagers with a can full of paint sprayed messages on a wall in the Syrian city of Daraa. They couldn’t have known it but, over the next nine days, their graffiti would escalate into the Syrian civil war, which reaches its . . . Read More

Iranian President’s broken promises to minorities

  March 12, 2015 Iran Ayatollah Khamenei, Hassan Rouhani, UK

Christians in Iran are still regularly arrested, imprisoned and harassed despite President Hassan Rouhani’s promise of “justice” for religious minorities, according to a report launched March 10 at the UK Parliament. “All Iranian people should feel there is justice. Justice means equal opportunity. All ethnicities, all religions, even religious minorities, . . . Read More

Reports of ‘blanket’ release of Assyrians dashed

  March 12, 2015 Syria Assyrians, Islamic State, Kidnapping, Syria

Most Assyrian Christian families taken hostage in northeast Syria more than two weeks ago remain in Islamic State hands, despite initial reports indicating all, or nearly all, had been released. Initial news that IS forces had released all the Christian detainees after Friday prayers March 6 was reported to the . . . Read More

Mother accuses Pakistan police of killing son by torture

  March 10, 2015 Pakistan Police, Torture

A Pakistan mother claims Pakistan police tortured her son to death to extract from her a confession to a theft she says she did not commit. Zubair Masih was buried March 9 in a Christian graveyard in Lahore, under a heavy police presence. He was 20. His brutalized body was found . . . Read More

Missionary, kidnapped in Nigeria, released

  March 9, 2015 Nigeria Berom, Boko Haram, Enugu, Kidnapping, Kogi, Missionaries, Nigeria

UPDATE Rev. Phyllis Sortor was released March 6, after 12 days as a hostage, according to a statement released by the Free Methodist Church – USA. “It appears she was kidnapped by a criminal gang, and there is no evidence this event is associated with terrorism or religion,” according to the . . . Read More

23 Assyrian Christians released in Syria

  March 6, 2015 Syria Assyrians, Hasakah, Islamic State, Kidnapping, Kobani, Qamishli, Syria, Syriacs

Assyrians from Tel Goran village, abducted by Islamic State kidnappers in late February, were released and returned safely in Hassaka on March 2.Photo provided by CAPNI   Ten days after the self-proclaimed Islamic State’s harsh offensive emptied out a cluster of Assyrian Christian villages in northeast Syria, the extremists’ intentions . . . Read More