News

Malaysian ‘Islamic Council’s right to intervene’ over Christian’s CDs dismissed

  March 5, 2015 Malaysia 'Allah', Jill Ireland, Lawrence Andrew, The Herald

The Malaysian Court of Appeal has dismissed an application by the Federal Territories Islamic Council to intervene in a Christian’s case over her fundamental right to use the word ‘Allah’. Jill Ireland, a 33 year old clerk in Sarawak, had eight ‘spiritual’ CDs seized from her at an airport in . . . Read More

Indian police beat Christian evangelists

  March 4, 2015 India Anti-conversion law, BJP, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Police, Rajasthan, RSS

Swollen, reddened wrists and hands displayed after release from police custody Feb. 25 in Jaipur, Rajasthan, India.Photo provided by People’s Union for Civil Liberties   Twenty Christian men on an evangelical mission in north-western India last week were illegally detained and tortured by police, according to a human rights group . . . Read More

Nigerians, fearing election violence, forfeit vote to move to other end of country

  March 4, 2015 Nigeria Anambra, APC, Bayelsa, Boko Haram, Elections, Enugu, Goodluck Jonathan, Igbo, Imo, Jama'atu Nasril Islam, Kaduna, Katsina, Middle Belt, Muhammadu Buhari, Niger Delta, Nigeria, Sharia, Zamfara

Ahead of Nigeria’s general elections on 28 March, hundreds of people, fearful of election violence, have fled back to their place of origin, World Watch Monitor has been told. The election was originally scheduled for 14 February, before being postponed to the March date for security reasons. Take for example . . . Read More

Iranian pastor released from prison but others arrested same day remain

  February 27, 2015 Iran Armenians, Assyrians, Ayatollah Khamenei, Chaldeans, Evin Prison, Farshid Fathi, Hassan Rouhani, Iran, Islamic extremism, Religious freedom, Sunni, Tehran, Victor Bet-Tamraz

After spending more than one year in prison, for ‘collusion against the [Iranian] government’ and ‘evangelism,’ Iranian pastor Rasoul Abdollahi has been released from prison. Abdollahi, a leader in Iran’s house church movement, was arrested Dec. 26 2010 and released last week, Feb. 16. His arrest was the same day . . . Read More

Sporadic violence builds tension in CAR, many Christians victims

  February 26, 2015 Central African Republic Anti-balaka, Bambari, Fulani herdsmen, Kaga Bandoro, Seleka

A vehicle carrying Seleka is attacked by bystanders in Bangui, Feb 2015World Watch Monitor An argument between a taxi driver and his customer has led to the death of at least 16 Christians in Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic (CAR). A man known as Aladji hailed a . . . Read More

Among the FARC, a growing Christian presence

  February 26, 2015 Colombia Arauca, Communism, FARC, Juan Manuel Santos, Latin America, Missionaries, Russ Stendal

FARC Commander Ivan Marquez gives a press conference, on Nov. 19, 2014 in Havana to commemorate the second anniversary of the beginning of the peace talks with the Colombian government.ADALBERTO ROQUE/AFP/Getty Images After a half-century of continuous civil war in Colombia, a new story is beginning to emerge: Guerrillas in . . . Read More

72 Assyrian Christian families captured, 50 besieged by IS after Syria attack

  February 25, 2015 Syria Assyrians, Hasakah, Islamic State, Khabur, Qamishli, Syria

2009 Easter service at St Mary’s Church, Hassaka. Now only 200 Christian families remain in nearby villages.Photo: World Watch Monitor   Sources from Syria’s embattled Hassaka province confirmed at midnight on Tuesday, Feb. 24, that at least 72 Assyrian Christian families – thought to be around 200 people – from three . . . Read More

IS invades 35 Assyrian towns in Syria

  February 24, 2015 Syria Assyrians, Hasakah, Islamic State, Qamishli, UN

  Militants of the self-proclaimed Islamic State launched a fierce offensive before dawn Feb. 23, targeting 35 Assyrian Christian villages in the northeast corner of Syria. The surprise attacks along a 40-kilometer stretch of the Khabour River in Hassaka province forced some 3,000 Christians to flee their homes.  A teenage . . . Read More

Indian priest kidnapped in Afghanistan released after eight months

  February 23, 2015 Afghanistan Afghanistan, Bamiyan, Herat, Kabul, Kidnapping, Taliban

Indian Jesuit priest Alexis Prem Kumar who was kidnapped in June 2014 in southern Afghanistan was released and reached New Delhi on February 22 with the intervention of the Indian government. “Delighted at securing the release of Indian Jesuit priest Father Alexis Prem Kumar from captivity in Afghanistan,” tweeted Indian . . . Read More

After ‘Charlie’: latest incident of Pakistani Christians targeted by Muslim anger

  February 21, 2015 Pakistan Charlie Hebdo, Jamaat-e-Islami, Karachi, Kasur, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Lahore, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, Madrassas, Mardan, Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, Multan, Pakistan, Pashtun, Peshawar, Prophet Muhammad, Punjab, Rawalpindi, Sialkot, Taliban

The publication of Charlie Hebdo’s ‘memorial edition’, with its depiction of the Prophet Muhammad crying, sparked – in one or two countries – a violent backlash against Westerners in general and Christians in particular. It was notable in Niger, where 70 churches were destroyed, Algeria where police and protestors clashed, . . . Read More