News

Fears for imprisoned Algerian Christian as Ramadan begins

  May 26, 2017 Algeria Abdelaziz Bouteflika, Bejaia, Berbers, Constantine, Jijel, Kabylie, MAK, Ramadan, Setif, Slimane Bouhafs

As Ramadan begins, the daughter of an Algerian Christian serving three years in jail for “insulting Islam and the prophet Muhammad” on Facebook says she’s worried about the abuse her father could suffer after he was transferred to a third different prison. Slimane Bouhafs, who is eight months into his . . . Read More

Wife of abducted Malaysian pastor: why are police investigating my husband rather than looking for him?

  May 26, 2017 Malaysia Joshua Hilmy, Perlis, Petaling Jaya, Proselytism, Raymond Koh

The family of a Malaysian pastor abducted more than 100 days ago have expressed their disappointment that police are investigating his alleged preaching to Muslims rather than focusing on finding him and bringing his kidnappers to justice. Raymond Koh was abducted by masked men near his home in Petaling Jaya, . . . Read More

Church leader among dead in Central African Republic

  May 26, 2017 Central African Republic Alindao, Nicolas Guérékoyamé-Gbangou, UN

A church leader was among those killed in the recent outbreak of violence in the Central African Republic, it has emerged. Baptist pastor Ange-Apoléon Ngakolada, 36, leaves behind a wife and eight children. The President of the Association of Evangelical Baptist Churches in CAR, Singa Gbadia, told World Watch Monitor . . . Read More

Indonesia’s social and political fabric stretched as bombs hit Jakarta

  May 25, 2017 Indonesia Ahok, Bekasi, Blasphemy, Hizb ut-Tahrir, Indonesia, Indonesian Ulema Council, Jakarta, Java, Santa Clara

Churches in Jakarta are on high alert after Indonesia’s capital was the target yesterday (24 May) for two suicide bombers. The attacks killed three policemen based at a bus terminal ahead of policing for a pre-Ramadan parade. Yohanes Bao Keraf, head of security at St Joseph’s church, which is a . . . Read More

Islamists besieging Marawi, southern Philippines, kill 9 Christians at checkpoint

  May 25, 2017 Philippines Abu Sayyaf, Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, Islamic State, Marawi, Maute, Mindanao, Moro Islamic Liberation Front, Rodrigo Duterte

UPDATE (25 May): Nine Christian civilians were reportedly shot dead at a militant-run checkpoint in the besieged city of Marawi in the southern Philippines on Tuesday (23 May). Filipino news site GMA News Online – one of the biggest news and public affairs networks in the country – reported that . . . Read More

Azerbaijanis fined and detained for selling religious books

  May 24, 2017 Azerbaijan Baku, Caucasus, Censorship, Central Asia, House churches

New cases have emerged of Azerbaijanis facing heavy fines and imprisonment for trying to sell or distribute religious literature. The South Caucasus state, which supposedly allows religious freedoms under its secular constitution, has made it difficult in the past for Christians to practise their faith. In December 2016 two church . . . Read More

Jakarta’s Christian ex-governor drops blasphemy appeal ‘for sake of the people’

  May 23, 2017 Indonesia Ahok, Blasphemy, Indonesia, Islamic extremism

Jakarta’s Christian ex-governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama (also known as “Ahok”), has withdrawn his appeal against his two-year prison sentence for blasphemy in a controversial case that has challenged religious pluralism in Indonesia, with repeated clashes between Ahok’s supporters and radical Islamic groups. It was for this reason, said Ahok, that . . . Read More

Pakistani Christian schoolgirl told: ‘Do Islamic studies instead of Ethics, or leave this school’

  May 23, 2017 Pakistan Education, Mardan, Punjab, Taliban

A Christian girl studying at a state school in Pakistan has been told by her teacher that, if she refuses to take a class in Islamic Studies, then she should not be in that school. Muqadas Sukhraj chose instead to study Ethics, a subject created as an alternative for children . . . Read More

Second church in 10 days torn down in Sudan

  May 23, 2017 Sudan Algadisia, Islamic extremism, Khartoum, Sudan, Sudan Presbyterian Evangelical Church

A Sudan Church of Christ (SCOC) building has been demolished in Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, ten days after the destruction of another SCOC building in nearby Soba, 12 miles south of the city Christian charity Middle East Concern (MEC) reports that the second demolition took place on 17 May in Khartoum’s . . . Read More

Turkey unprepared for Trump’s counter-demand

  May 22, 2017 Turkey Andrew Brunson, Coup, Donald Trump, Fethullah Gülen, Gaziantep, Izmir, PKK, Recep Tayyip Erdogan

Turkey was unprepared in mid-May when a new bilateral issue emerged with the United States during Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s meeting with his US counterpart Donald Trump in Washington DC, Al-Monitor reports. There were already two obvious agenda items between the two presidents: Turkey’s outspoken objection to Washington’s decision . . . Read More