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‘Change your image of India from a nice backpacking trip to Taj Mahal!’

June 26, 2017 Bhopal, BJP, Donald Trump, Europe, Hindu nationalism, India, Madhya Pradesh, Narendra Modi, Pakistan, Ram Nath Kovind, Saudi Arabia

India, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan top the list of countries where religious freedom is under pressure, according to the Annual Interim Report 2017 of the European Parliament Intergroup on Freedom of Religion or Belief and Religious Tolerance’s, presented in Brussels last week. “Forget the image of a nice backpacking trip . . . Read More

Sudanese woman who escaped 100 lashes for adultery and death for apostasy, three years on

June 23, 2017 Sudan Apostasy, Europe, Exile, Islamic extremism, Mariam Ibrahim, Sharia, Sudanese Church of Christ

(Full transcript of video at bottom.) Three years ago today, a young Sudanese mother was freed from prison after narrowly escaping being hanged, first having been lashed 100 times for adultery. The delay on carrying out Mariam Ibrahim’s double sentence was due only to the fact that she was heavily . . . Read More

Sudan churches risk letter to government on ‘systematic violations’, including church demolition

June 23, 2017 Sudan Algadisia, Bahri, Khartoum, NISS, Omar al-Bashir, Omdurman, Pentecostals, Sudanese Church of Christ

The Sudanese Church of Christ (SCOC) has written an open letter to the Khartoum government protesting “the systematic violation of Christian religious freedoms”, including the recent demolition of one of their churches in the Suba area of the capital, Khartoum. The SCOC represents about 220,000 of about two million Christians . . . Read More

Four years after revolution Egypt’s Copts ask: ‘Where is our government?’

June 22, 2017 Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Beni Suef, Cairo, Copts, Islamic State, Minya

A child hovers over the coffins of his parents during their funeral service at St Samuel Monastery. They were among the 29 Coptic Christians killed in the attack on Ascension Day. (Photo: Getty Images)

Two days before the bus attack in Minya that killed 29 Copts travelling to a monastery on Ascension Day (26 May), the US embassy in Cairo warned of a possible terrorist attack. Now Egypt’s Copts are querying the absence of increased security measures and wondering why the emergency response was . . . Read More

Pakistani Christian accused of blasphemy for saying he believes Jesus was final prophet

June 22, 2017 Pakistan Blasphemy, Gojra, Islamic extremism, Lahore, Quran

A Pakistani bike shop owner has been accused of blasphemy after telling one of his customers that Christians believe Jesus to have been the final prophet. Ashfaq Masih, 28, was arrested following accusations that he had “disrespected” Islam’s prophet, Muhammad. The incident took place in Lahore last Thursday (15 June) . . . Read More

Pakistan expels South Korean for ‘illegal preaching’ after murder of Chinese ‘missionaries’

June 21, 2017 Pakistan Balochistan, China, Islamic State, Lee Zingyang, Meng Lisi, Quetta, South Korea

Pakistan has ordered a South Korean man to leave the country, accusing him of involvement in “illegal preaching activities”, after two of his students at an Urdu-language school were abducted and killed by the Islamic State group, which claimed they had been secretly preaching Christianity. “Investigations have revealed that [Juan . . . Read More

For Egypt’s Copts, if it isn’t extremism, it’s sectarianism

June 21, 2017 Egypt Islamic State, Minya, Religious freedom

Last Friday (16 June), the Coptic community in Saft el-Khirsa, 180km south of Cairo, woke up to find their three-storey community centre had been broken into and sealed off by police, and their furniture, rugs and religious icons were lying on the street outside. The building had been allocated to . . . Read More

Anger and tears as Otto ‘completes his journey home’

June 20, 2017 North Korea Donald Trump, Hyeon Soo Lim, Kim Dong Chul, Kim Hak Song, Kim Seung-mo, Otto Warmbier, Pyongyang, Pyongyang University of Science and Technology, Tony Kim

The family of 22-year-old Otto Warmbier confirmed his death yesterday (19 June), just a week after he was released, in a coma, from 15 months’ detention in North Korea. In a statement, the family said it was their “sad duty to report that our son, Otto Warmbier, has completed his . . . Read More

Iraq: Karamles residents face fears as they begin rebuilding

June 19, 2017 Iraq Islamic State, Karamles, Mosul

Father Thabet looks at remains of what was once the home he grew up in. (Photo: Open Doors International)

As Iraqi government forces drive Islamic State militants from their last stronghold in the city of Mosul, the residents of Karamles, a town 30km to the east which was liberated six months ago, are returning to rebuild their homes. The government has ordered the local school to be reopened after . . . Read More

India’s Christian leaders distance themselves from ruling Hindu nationalists

June 19, 2017 India Beef, BJP, Digital India Day, Good Governance Day, Hindu nationalism, Kerala, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Narendra Modi

The leaders of India’s Christian minority – 2.3 per cent of India’s 1.3 billion population – have distanced themselves from rumours of increasingly close ties with the ruling Hindu nationalist BJP. The latest rumours began following a meeting between senior Catholic Church leaders and the BJP’s national president, Amit Shah, . . . Read More

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