News

Iraqi Christian refugees protest against UNHCR resettlement delays

  February 15, 2017 Iraq IDPs, Islamic State, Lebanon, Refugees, UN

  Dozens of Iraqi Christians in Lebanon protested in central Beirut this week, demanding the UN to grant them quicker resettlement abroad. Between 150 and 200 demonstrators gathered outside a UN building, carrying placards that read: “the future of our children is wasted” and “our only demand is to [go] . . . Read More

‘UN failing religious minorities and Christian converts’

  February 15, 2017 Global News -- No Particular Country Blasphemy, China, Genocide, Indonesia, Islamic State, Myanmar, Pakistan, Religious freedom, Saudi Arabia, UN

The suffering of persecuted Christians around the world is exacerbated by the failure of UN bodies to fulfil their obligations to uphold religious freedom, a damning report has claimed. The 27-page report, starkly entitled The UN’s Failure to Promote and Protect Religious Freedom, argues that concerns about the protection of . . . Read More

Turkey nightclub-massacre accused says he targeted Christians

  February 14, 2017 Turkey Ankara, Coup, Islamic State, Terrorism

The man charged with killing 39 people on New Year’s Eve at Istanbul’s exclusive Reina nightclub attack, Abdulkadir Masharipov, has testified before a Turkish court, saying: “My purpose was to kill Christians”. The Uzbek national was arraigned in court 11 Feb., nearly a month after he was captured by Istanbul police 16 . . . Read More

Iraqi Christian couple despair at sight of house IS destroyed

  February 14, 2017 Iraq IDPs, Islamic State, Karamles, Mosul, Nineveh Plains, Tel Skuf

Almas and her husband, Hathem, stand inside the remains of their house, destroyed by IS, Jan 2017.World Watch Monitor   Hathem and Almas are hoping to be among the first people to return to Karamles, a now-deserted town in the Nineveh Plains of northern Iraq. “This is our town, where . . . Read More

Pakistani boy refused bail in Kaaba ‘blasphemy’ case

  February 13, 2017 Pakistan Blasphemy, Islamic extremism, Kasur, Lahore, Nabeel Masih, Nadeem Masih, Sweepers

UPDATE (13 Feb, 2017): A Pakistani Christian boy accused of blasphemy for “liking” and “sharing” a Facebook post which “defamed and disrespected” the Kaaba in Mecca – the building at the centre of Islam’s most sacred mosque – has been refused bail. Lawyers for Nabeel Masih, 16, argued that he . . . Read More

Pastor killed, 2 churches destroyed in renewed violence in Central African Republic

  February 13, 2017 Central African Republic Bambari, Bangui, Bocaranga, IDPs, PK5, Seleka

Hundreds of internally displaced people (IDPs), shaken by the renewed violence, have returned to the refugee camp at Bangui M’Poko Airport, where they sought refuge when the violence first erupted in 2013. A flare-up of violence in Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic (CAR), on 7 February left . . . Read More

Indonesian church closed for years told: you can reopen if mosque allowed on your land

  February 10, 2017 Indonesia Aceh, Bogor, GKI Yasmin, Indonesia, Jakarta, Java, Joko Widodo, Muhammadiyah, Nahdlatul Ulama, Sharia

UPDATE (10 Feb, 2017): An Indonesian church closed for years by order of the local mayor has been told it can reopen if a mosque is also allowed on its premises. The GKI Yasmin Church in Bogor, 60km south of Jakarta, had resorted to holding open-air services outside the Presidential . . . Read More

Pakistani Christians ‘attacked’ as land dispute escalates

  February 10, 2017 Pakistan Caste, Gojra, Joseph Colony, Lahore, Minorities, Narowal, Pakistan, Punjab, Rimsha Masih

More than 200 men, some armed with sticks, suddenly gathered on Wednesday morning (8 Feb) beside the Alba Presbyterian Church in Sankhatra, 115km north of Lahore, intent on building a boundary wall. “Children were going to school and men were leaving for work when this large number stormed into the . . . Read More

Young Syrian tells how he survived ‘worst-case scenario’ of kidnap and torture by Islamic State

  February 9, 2017 Syria Aleppo, Islamic State, Qamishli, Raqqa

Meghrik was kidnapped and tortured by Islamic State before his release. Photo: December 2016.World Watch Monitor   Meghrik* was on a bus when it happened. He was travelling from Aleppo to Al-Qamishli in the north east of Syria, a seven-hour journey even before the war started. Now war means there . . . Read More

Presidential change in Somalia unlikely to improve situation for Christian minority

  February 8, 2017 Somalia Al-Shabaab, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, Mogadishu, Somalia

Air traffic over Mogadishu, Somalia’s capital, was halted today (8 Feb) as MPs and senators gathered at the airport to elect former Prime Minister Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo as the country’s new president. Newly elected President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo is Somalia’s former Prime Minister (2012 photo). The outgoing president, Hassan Sheikh . . . Read More