News

Coptic Christians harassed for drinking water during Ramadan fasting hours

  June 13, 2018 Egypt Asyut, Cairo, Copts, Egypt, Giza, Helwan, Islamic extremism, Ramadan, Sharia

In one of three incidents reported to World Watch Monitor, an Egyptian photographer was detained by police for carrying a bottle of water during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, when Muslims are required not to eat or drink anything from the first light of dawn until sunset. He claims . . . Read More

North Koreans ‘betrayed’ by human rights omission in Trump-Kim agreement

  June 12, 2018 North Korea Donald Trump, Human rights, International Criminal Court, Kim Hak Song, Kim Jong-Un, North Korea, Prisons, Pyongyang, Religious freedom, USA

North Koreans were “betrayed” by the failure of US President Donald Trump to include human rights provisions in his agreement with the country’s leader, Kim Jong-un, following their historic meeting in Singapore, according to Human Rights Watch’s Asia Director, Phil Robertson. “The North Korean people have suffered for so long,” . . . Read More

‘Christianity in Syria is under threat from forces the West is supporting’

  June 11, 2018 Syria Bashar al-Assad, Civil War, Damascus, Free Syrian Army, Hezbollah, Human rights, Iran, Iraq, Islamic extremism, Maaloula, Middle East, Minorities, Russia, Salafism, Shia, Sunni, Syria, UK, USA

Two thousand years of Christianity in Syria could be wiped out by the very forces Western governments are supporting, an Anglican vicar has claimed. Rev. Andrew Ashdown, who has made ten trips to Syria since 2014 and is studying for a PhD in relations between Christians and Muslims there, also . . . Read More

Burkina Faso: Kidnappers release pastor and his family after four days

  June 8, 2018 Burkina Faso Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, Assemblies of God, Burkina Faso, Children, Djibo, Education, Fulani herdsmen, Islamic extremism, Ken Elliott, Kidnapping, Ouagadougou, Sahel, Soum, Tuareg

The pastor abducted on Sunday with his family in Burkina Faso’s north-eastern province of Soum has been released. Local sources told Omega Radio that Pastor Pierre Boena, his son David and his daughter-in-law, Ami Sawadogo, were released yesterday (7 June). The report did not specifically mention the two granddaughters, Fasne-wendé . . . Read More

Convert in Sweden tells of ‘nightmares every night’ amid fears of deportation and Iranian jail

  June 8, 2018 Aideen Strandsson, Asylum seekers, Converts, Iran, Sweden

An asylum-seeker stuck in legal limbo in Sweden has said she has “nightmares every night” that police are following her in order to arrest her and deport her to Iran, where her conversion to Christianity could land her in prison. Aideen Strandsson, 37, who took a Swedish surname when she . . . Read More

Assessment of religious conversions as genuine or asylum-motivated dismissed as naïve

  June 8, 2018 Aideen Strandsson, Asylum seekers, Baptism, Converts, Denmark, Europe, Finland, Germany, Iran, Kurds, Middle East, Migrants, Netherlands, Refugees, Sweden

Attempts by Western politicians and media to judge whether Iranian migrants and asylum-seekers who ask to be baptised are either genuine or are doing so to boost their chances of being granted asylum are “naïve”, according to an academic who has carried out extensive research among Iranians who profess to . . . Read More

Indonesia: How women and children became agents of terror

  June 7, 2018 Indonesia Ahok, Children, Indonesia, Islamic extremism, Islamic State, JAD, Jakarta, Muhammadiyah, Surabaya, Women

Terrorism in Indonesia is now carried out by “entire families, including mothers and children”, one local police chief noted, three weeks on from the suicide blasts on three churches and a police station that claimed 27 lives, including 13 attackers. In raids following the series of bomb attacks, Jakarta security . . . Read More

US missionary, captive for 20 months, is alive, reports Niger’s president

  June 7, 2018 Niger Abalak, Jeff Woodke, Mahamadou Issoufou, MUJAO, Niger, Sahel, West Africa

A US missionary kidnapped in Niger in October 2016 is alive, according to the West African nation’s president. Jeff Woodke, who worked for Jeunesse en Mission Entraide et Developpement (JEMED) was abducted by unknown assailants late in the evening of Friday 14 October, 2016, from the town of Abalak in . . . Read More

Nigerian pastor says security services threatened to kill him after Muslim woman’s conversion to Christianity

  June 6, 2018 Nigeria Christian Association of Nigeria, Islamic extremism, Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria, Plateau

The Nigerian pastor who played a central role in the conversion of a young Muslim woman to Christianity has denounced the response of the country’s security services, from which he alleges he has received death threats. The first response of the Nigerian Department of State Security Services (DSS), in January, . . . Read More

Four Iranian Christians set to begin ten-year prison sentences

  June 6, 2018 Iran Amin Afshar Naderi, Blasphemy, Constitution, Converts, Exile, Hadi Asgari, House churches, Iran, Kaviyan Fallah-Mohammadi, Mohammad Reza Omidi, Rasht, Religious freedom, Saheb Fadaie, Shamiram Isavi Khabizeh, Victor Bet-Tamraz, Yasser Mossayebzadeh, Youcef Nadarkhani

The four Iranian Christians who saw their ten-year prison sentences upheld by an appeal court earlier this month are expecting to have to report to prison any day now. Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani, and fellow Church of Iran members Yasser Mossayebzadeh, Saheb Fadaie and Mohammad Reza Omidi could receive a call . . . Read More