News

Northern Iraq no longer safe for Christians

  October 22, 2013 Iraq Al-Qaeda, Baghdad, Erbil, Kirkuk, Kurds

The Kurdish capital of Erbil is one of a number of cities where bombings have left Christians feeling unsafe.Tom Blackwell / Flickr / Creative Commons   An increase in violence against Christians in northern Iraq has increased the flow of Christians leaving the country. The north, generally considered a relatively . . . Read More

Bajrang Dal pressure villagers to leave Christianity

  October 16, 2013 India Bajrang Dal, Converts, Hindu nationalism, Vishva Hindu Parishad

For much of the year, Christians in the central India village of Taragaon have been enduring pressure to abandon their religion. In April, elements of Bajrang Dal demolished the church in Taragaon, a small town in the farming- and forestry-dominated region of southern Chhattisgarh state. View Larger Map Bajrang Dal . . . Read More

Indian Christians sentenced to life terms will appeal

  October 15, 2013 India Naxalites, Odisha

India’s churches are urging an appeal of the lifetime sentences handed down on Oct. 3 to seven men convicted for the 2008 murder of a prominent Hindu leader. “The seven Christians are innocent,” said Rev. Charles Irudayam, executive secretary of the Office for Justice, Peace and Development within the Catholic Bishops’ . . . Read More

Iran ‘abuses’ Christians’ national and international rights

  October 14, 2013 Iran Hassan Rouhani, Robert Asseriyan

Iran’s continued mistreatment of its Christian minority was raised at a recent meeting of the United Nations Human Rights Council. Attieh Fard, a lawyer specialising in human rights, urged President Hassan Rouhani to make good on his promises to the United Nations in New York by releasing the 42 Christians . . . Read More

Tension high as Mombasa Muslims protest cleric’s murder

  October 9, 2013 Kenya East Africa, Mombasa, Nairobi, Pentecostals, Westgate

Tension remains high in Kenya’s port city of Mombasa after riots in protest at the murder of a prominent Muslim cleric on Thursday (October 3) left four dead, about eight injured and the Majengo Salvation Army Church razed on Friday. It is just over a year since the church suffered a . . . Read More

African migrants risk lives to flee war and persecution

  October 8, 2013 Africa, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Europe, Italy, Lampedusa, Libya, Migrants, Mussie Zerai, Netherlands, Refugees, Somalia

The latest tragic incident of hundreds of African migrants drowning in European waters tells a wider story. Scratch beneath the surface and for many of the migrants, their stories are not only of wanting a better life. Often they will be of fleeing persecution or conflict at home, and paying . . . Read More

Leaving home

  October 7, 2013 Syria Assyrians, Free Syrian Army, Islamic extremism, Lebanon, Middle East, Raqqa, Sharia, Syria, Tabqa, Turkey

A couple of days after she fled Syria for Turkey, a colleague sent me a message. “Dear Nuri, this is a court that the extremists established in my city, Lattakia, in the [Syrian] village of Kansabba. This Islamic court issues the law according to the extremists’ religion. It started today. . . . Read More

Promised legal reforms disappoint Turkey’s religious minorities

  October 3, 2013 Turkey Greek Orthodox, Halki Seminary, Kurds, Mor Gabriel Monastery, Patriarch Bartholomew I, Recep Tayyip Erdogan

An empty classroom in the Greek Orthodox Halki Seminary near Istanbul, closed by the Turkish government since 1971.World Watch Monitor   The Turkish government’s long-awaited “democratisation package” of reform laws announced this week has met with considerable disappointment among Turkey’s minority religious communities. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan revealed on . . . Read More

‘Surprise’ release of Moroccan jailed for 30 months for evangelism

  October 3, 2013 Morocco Aïn Aïcha, King Mohammed VI, Mohamed el Baldi, Morocco, Proselytism

New Life Church in Fes, Morocco.World Watch Monitor   A Moroccan Christian man jailed for evangelism has been temporarily released after serving one month. Mohamed el Baldi, 34, from the town of Aïn Aïcha, near Fes, was given two-and-a-half years in prison, and ordered to pay 5000 dirhams ($600) for . . . Read More

Catholic clerics mugged at gunpoint in Central African Republic

  October 3, 2013 Central African Republic Bangui, Bossangoa, Bozoum, Michel Djotodia, Seleka

Fr. Beniamino Gusmeroli was attacked by armed men on Friday.ACN   Two Catholic clerics in the Central African Republic were bound and robbed by armed men on Friday, Sept. 27. Italian missionary Fr. Beniamino Gusmeroli, and Fr. Martial Mengue, a Central African deacon, were attacked by men believed to be . . . Read More