News

Islamists in Egypt use rumours to attack Christians

  March 5, 2012 Egypt Egypt, Salafism

Tensions remain high in an Egyptian village where as many as 5,000 mostly Salafi Muslims went on a rampage over a false rumor that a church was holding a girl against her will in order to convert her back to Christianity. Dismissing media reports of 20,000 rioting Muslims, sources told . . . Read More

Christian woman in Pakistan freed after ‘blasphemy’ accusation

  March 1, 2012 Pakistan Blasphemy, Lahore, Pakistan, Quran

In a rare triumph of rule of law over mob mentality in Pakistan, police last week resisted intense pressure from violent Muslim protestors and released without charges a Christian woman falsely accused of desecrating the Quran. Muslim teachers at City Foundation School in Roranwala village, in the suburbs of Lahore, . . . Read More

India briefs: recent incidents of persecution

  February 29, 2012 India Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, India, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Raipur, RSS

State police on Feb. 21 arrested a Christian after Hindu extremists from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) accused him of forceful conversion and beat him in Thuvakudi, Trichy district. The Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC) reported that the Hindu extremists made the accusation against Sahayam Chidambaran after arguing with . . . Read More

Doctors try to save remaining eye of Ugandan pastor

  February 28, 2012 Uganda Acid attacks, Jinja, Kampala, Mbale, Uganda

While a Ugandan pastor was fighting to retain sight in his remaining eye after an acid attack, Muslim extremists this month were shooting at his close friend, a leader of another church. Doctors at Sheba Hospital in Tel-Aviv, Israel, are still not sure what kind of chemicals Muslim extremists cast . . . Read More

Indictment of ‘masterminds’ of murders in Turkey expected

  February 28, 2012 Turkey Armenians, Malatya, Trabzon, Turkey

Judges in Turkey’s southeastern city of Malatya have announced the preparation of an indictment in the case of three murdered Christians that is expected to reveal a shadowy network that incited five young men to carry out the crime. The Third Criminal Court of Malatya is expected to announce the . . . Read More

Pakistani Muslims employ ‘blasphemy’ threat in land grab

  February 27, 2012 Pakistan Blasphemy, Pakistan, Punjab, Sialkot, Sunni Tehreek

Tensions are still high in a village near here following Muslims’ attempt to seize land from a Christian family by threatening to accuse them of “blasphemy.” What began on Feb. 19 as a quarrel over a pigeon between Christian and Muslim youths at Nawa Pind Sabu Mohal village, in Sialkot’s . . . Read More

Church head in unprecedented meeting with Turkish MPs

  February 27, 2012 Turkey Ankara, Greek Orthodox, Halki Seminary, Patriarch Bartholomew I, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey

In an unprecedented meeting, the head of the Greek Orthodox Church in Turkey last week expressed his concerns and hopes for the country’s Christian minority to members of the Turkish Parliament. The visit took place in Ankara after Speaker of the Parliament Cemil Cicek invited Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I to . . . Read More

Suicide bombers attack worship service in Jos, Nigeria

  February 26, 2012 Nigeria Bauchi, Boko Haram, Borno, Church of Christ in Nigeria, Islamic extremism, Jos, Maiduguri, Niger, Nigeria, Potiskum, Sharia, Yobe

Two suicide bombers from the Boko Haram Islamist sect drove a car laden with bombs into the worship service of a Church of Christ in Nigeria (COCIN) congregation here this morning, killing at least one Christian and injuring dozens of other church members, sources said. A man claiming to be . . . Read More

Rumors of imminent execution of Iranian pastor unconfirmed

  February 24, 2012 Iran Iran, Rasht, Youcef Nadarkhani

Lawyers for an Iranian pastor awaiting a final decision on his death sentence have not received communication from authorities that their client will be executed, despite reports that his death is imminent. Rumors of an imminent execution of Yousef Nadarkhani were leaked this week after a source close to one . . . Read More

President sidesteps church controversy

  February 23, 2012 Indonesia Bogor, Churches, GKI Yasmin, Indonesia, Java, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono

In a defeat for the rule of law in Indonesia, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has declined to enforce a Supreme Court ruling that a local government allow a West Java church to worship in its building. The Bogor city government revoked the building permit of the Christian Church of Indonesia . . . Read More