News

‘Many years’ before Mosul stable enough for Christians to return

  January 30, 2017 Iraq Islamic State, Mosul, Nineveh Plains

Christians and other non-Sunni Muslims from Mosul, northern Iraq, waiting to return after their city’s liberation from Islamic State is completed, may have many years to wait, and their chances of doing so depend on the actions of the Iraqi Government, a leading researcher has warned. Iraqi forces man a . . . Read More

Four Ethiopian teenagers leave prison ‘in good health’ after sentence for giving out Christian book

  January 30, 2017 Ethiopia Babile, Harar, Proselytism, Women

Four Ethiopian teenagers given a one-month jail sentence for distributing Christian literature are reported to be in “good health” following their release from prison on 22 December. The girls were found guilty of “inciting religious violence” and started their sentence on 25 November, despite three of them being minors. Gifti, . . . Read More

Christians ‘excluded’ from Iraq’s reconstruction plans

  January 27, 2017 Iraq IDPs, Islamic State, Mosul, Nineveh Plains, Qaraqosh, Refugees

Christians are being excluded from the reconstruction plans for northern Iraq, further eroding the likelihood of their return once Islamic State has been militarily defeated there, an alliance of UK-based charities has warned. Iraqi Christians firmly believe that Iraq is their spiritual homeland; their presence dates back at least to . . . Read More

Fifth murder of an Egyptian Copt in two weeks

  January 25, 2017 Egypt Cairo, Police, Upper Egypt

The murder of another Coptic Christian in Egypt, this time in the centre of the capital, makes this the fifth death over a 13-day period. Ishak Ibrahim Fayez Younan, 37, was found dead by his brother on 16 January, at Ishak’s flat in the old part of Cairo. He leaves . . . Read More

Indian evangelist suffers brain haemorrhage after police grilling

  January 24, 2017 India Anti-conversion law, BJP, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Hindu Yuva Vahini, Hyderabad, Madhya Pradesh, Narendra Modi, Odisha, Telangana, Vishva Hindu Parishad

K.A. Swamy.World Watch Monitor   An Indian Christian has suffered a brain haemorrhage after he was interrogated by police about his role in distributing Bibles and other Christian literature in the city where he works as a professor of engineering. K.A. Swamy, 47, was marched to the police station at . . . Read More

US missionary receives award for ‘changing hearts’ among Colombia’s FARC

  January 24, 2017 Colombia Arauca, Communism, FARC, Juan Manuel Santos, Latin America, Missionaries, Russ Stendal

Russ Stendal.World Watch Monitor   An American missionary has received an award for his decades of work ministering to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or the FARC, whose 50-year fight against the government had been the world’s longest continuous war when it ended in a peace agreement last August. . . . Read More

Christians in Nigeria’s Jigawa State cry out as authorities begin church demolition

  January 23, 2017 Nigeria Christian Association of Nigeria, Dutse, ECWA, Jigawa, Katsina, Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria, Sharia

Anxiety is high among Christian communities in Nigeria’s northern state of Jigawa after authorities began demolishing church buildings in Dutse, the state capital. On 11 January, bulldozers, escorted by security forces, reduced to rubble the Redeem Christian Church of God and the Lord Chosen Church. They arrived at the Redeem . . . Read More

‘90,000 Christian martyrs annually’ claim disputed

  January 20, 2017 Global News -- No Particular Country Boko Haram, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Iraq, Islamic State, Nigeria, Syria

Global charity Open Doors has disputed the way in which statistics on Christian “martyrs” are collected, arguing that an annual figure of 90,000, recently reported widely, is significantly higher than the accurately verifiable number. The figure, reported by some media and cited by an Italian academic on Vatican Radio, was . . . Read More

Women ‘central’ to spread of Christianity in Iran

  January 20, 2017 Iran Maryam Naghash Zargaran, Maryam Rostampour, Marziyeh Amirizadeh, Women

Women are playing a central role in the underground churches of Iran despite the risk of rejection by their families and imprisonment by police, research by the global charity Open Doors has found. An Iranian woman lights a candle during the Christmas Eve mass at the St. Gregor Armenian Catholic . . . Read More

‘Like a jail without bars’: what it’s like working in China with women refugees from North Korea

  January 19, 2017 China, Kim Il-Sung, Kim Jong-il, Kim Jong-Un, North Korea, Refugees, Women

Hwa-Young* works in China with women who fled North Korea or were abducted by people traffickers and taken across the border. Many of the women are tempted to leave behind a miserable life when they are told there are jobs waiting for them in China. But often they are sold . . . Read More