News

Turkish president admits US pastor is political hostage

  September 29, 2017 Turkey Binali Yildirim, Coup, Donald Trump, Fethullah Gülen, Izmir, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey, USA

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has for the first time confirmed publicly that a US pastor jailed in Turkey for the past 12 months is being held by his government as a political hostage. In a speech at his presidential palace yesterday (28 September), Erdoğan openly called on the United . . . Read More

India: Fr. Tom Uzhunnalil welcomed home with flowers and tears

  September 29, 2017 India Alphons Kannanthanam, Bangalore, Delhi, India, Kerala, Kochi, Narendra Modi, Tom Uzhunnalil

Indian priest Father Tom Uzhunnalil, who has been the focus of world media attention after his 12 September release from 18 months’ captivity in Yemen, was given a rousing welcome as he landed in New Delhi yesterday morning (28 September). Dozens of journalists jostled for photos and videos as he . . . Read More

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard confiscates Christian literature as ‘publicity stunt’

  September 26, 2017 Iran Bibles, House churches, Iran, Pardis, Shia, Tehran

Photographs released by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard showing large quantities of confiscated Christian materials were a “publicity stunt” that reflected the Iranian regime’s fear of Christianity, says religious freedom advocate Mansour Borji. Borji, from advocacy group Article 18, told World Watch Monitor that the photographs, which were initially released in July, . . . Read More

Nepali Christians freed 9 months after conviction for ‘witchcraft’ of praying for mentally ill woman

  September 26, 2017 Nepal Charikot, Converts, Minorities, Nepal, Proselytism, Salyan

Four Nepali Christians sentenced last year to five years in prison for “violence and witchcraft”, after praying for a mentally ill woman, have been released after their sentences were overturned. In a statement, the Federation of National Christian, Nepal (FNCN) thanked the court for “setting free our innocent people”, and . . . Read More

Egypt: Copts face arrest after Facebook post leads Muslims to riot

  September 25, 2017 Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Anba Macarius, Copts, Egypt, Islamic extremism, Minya

Two Coptic Christians in a village in Minya, Upper Egypt are facing charges of inciting sectarian strife and insulting Islamic leaders, after comments from one of the men on social media, shared by the other, caused some Muslims in their village to riot. Bassem Abdel-Malak Fahim, 25, from the village . . . Read More

‘Milestone’ as UN votes to create team to collect evidence of IS’s crimes

  September 22, 2017 Global News -- No Particular Country Antonio Guterres, Genocide, Iraq, Islamic State, Jan Figel, Lord Alton, Middle East, Rex Tillerson, Syria, UN, Yazidis

Campaigners for Christian and Yazidi victims of the Islamic State group welcomed a vote at the United Nations yesterday (21 September), hailed as a “milestone” in their efforts to bring perpetrators of atrocities to justice. The UN Security Council voted unanimously to create an investigative team to collect evidence of . . . Read More

Nigerian government has failed to counteract violence of Fulani herdsmen – ICG report

  September 21, 2017 Nigeria Agatu, ECWA, Fulani herdsmen, Kaduna, Kafanchan, Middle Belt, Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria

In Nigeria, it isn’t only the northeast regions, stronghold of the radical Islamist sect Boko Haram, that have witnessed severe violence. The Middle Belt of the country, which straddles the divide between the largely Muslim north and the majority-Christian south, is also the scene of ever-continuing violence between settled farmers, . . . Read More

Bahraini king positions as promoter of interfaith tolerance

  September 21, 2017 Bahrain Bahrain, Converts, Islamic extremism, King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, Religious freedom

The King of Bahrain has sought to promote his country as a global champion of religious tolerance, with a declaration that advocates freedom of religion for all and rejects extremism. In the Bahrain Declaration, King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa “unequivocally reject[s] compelled observance”. The one-page pledge, which was co-sponsored . . . Read More

Pakistan Christian sentenced to death for WhatsApp ‘blasphemy’, despite gaps in police case

  September 20, 2017 Pakistan Blasphemy, Gujranwala, Gujrat, Islamic extremism, Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, Nadeem Masih, Nawaz Sharif, Pakistan, Prophet Muhammad, Punjab

Six days after a Pakistani Christian was sentenced to death for blasphemy, the young man’s lawyer says there was insufficient evidence against his client and that the police failed to investigate the matter properly. Nadeem Masih, 24, from the Yaqoobabad area of the religiously conservative city of Gujrat, in Punjab . . . Read More

Nigeria: calm returns to Jos after eruption of violence that threatened the nation

  September 19, 2017 Nigeria Christian Association of Nigeria, Church of Christ in Nigeria, Igbo, Jama'atu Nasril Islam, Jos, Katsina, Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria, Plateau, Zamfara

A sense of normality has returned to the city of Jos, in Nigeria’s central Plateau State, after an eruption of inter-religious violence claimed at least three lives on 14 September. One of them was Jerry Binkur, a final-year student at the University of Jos, who was a member of the . . . Read More