News

Iran: church retreat centre confiscated for ‘being funded by CIA’

  December 12, 2016 Iran Assemblies of God, Ayatollah Khamenei, Karaj, Tehran

The Iranian government has assumed control of a church-owned retreat centre, accusing the church of being funded by the US government and the CIA. The government said the retreat centre in Karaj, a city just west of Tehran, belonged to an organisation “funded by the US through the CIA spy . . . Read More

Egypt’s Copts mourn after ‘deadliest attack in recent memory’

  December 12, 2016 Egypt Cairo, Copts

Egypt’s Christian community is in mourning following what the BBC has referred to as the “deadliest attack on the Coptic community in recent memory”. At least 25 people were killed and more than 40 injured during the bomb attack on a chapel adjacent to the Coptic Orthodox Cathedral of St. . . . Read More

‘We have a right to build churches’ says Copt after latest attack

  December 12, 2016 Egypt Cairo, Churches, Copts, Islamic extremism, Sohag

A dozen Coptic-owned houses were vandalised and three others were looted, as were four Coptic-owned shops, during the 25 Nov. attack in Al-Naghameesh village. World Watch Monitor Two weeks after a Coptic community was attacked over rumours it planned to open a church in the village, one of the Copts . . . Read More

UPDATE: Turkey jails US pastor on ‘terrorism’ allegations

  December 9, 2016 Turkey Andrew Brunson, Coup, David Byle, Gaziantep, Izmir

UPDATE (9 Dec.): A Turkish judge sent Rev. Andrew Brunson to prison in Izmir today, 64 days after the US pastor and his wife, Norine, were detained on 7 Oct. under Interior Ministry deportation orders. Although his wife was released on 19 Oct. and given an extended permit to remain . . . Read More

India: Christian grandmother murdered for ‘disturbing the peace’

  December 9, 2016 India Anti-conversion law, BJP, Chhattisgarh, Hindu nationalism, Narendra Modi, Naxalites, Telangana

Samari Kasabi’s son, Sukura (left), and his family outside their village home in Dokawaya, Chhattisgarh.Courtesy Open Doors International   An Indian grandmother was stripped naked, beaten to death and her body burned, apparently because her Christian faith was “disturbing the peace” in her village. The incident, in the central Indian . . . Read More

Boko Haram causing ‘untold misery’ in northern Cameroon

  December 9, 2016 Cameroon Boko Haram, Far North, Georges Vandenbeusch, Lake Chad, Mayo-Tsanaga, Nguetchewe

Nearly 170,000 people have fled their homes in N. Cameroon, while the area has received at least 73,000 Nigerian refugees. World watch Monitor “Yesterday I had just one cup of millet [grain] left. There are 12 people in our house. We went to bed last night not knowing what we’ll . . . Read More

UPDATE First religious freedom case under new Nepal constitution: all charges dropped

  December 6, 2016 Nepal Charikot, Converts, Hindu Morcha Nepal, Hindu nationalism, Kathmandu

The eight arrested Christians after their release on bail, Dolakha, Nepal 2016Vishal Arora   UPDATE: A court in Nepal has dropped a case against eight Christians, the first case about freedom of religion since the country’s new constitution was implemented in 2015. The seven men and one woman, all counsellors, . . . Read More

Vietnam’s Law on Belief and Religion ‘deeply flawed’

  December 6, 2016 Vietnam Religion Law, Religious freedom, Southeast Asia

Pierre Nguyễn Văn Nhơn (centre), Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Hanoi, takes part in a procession in January 2015. Vietnam’s National Assembly finally ratified (on 18 Nov.) its Law on Belief and Religion amid extensive criticism from parliamentarians, human rights and religious groups, who deem it to be . . . Read More

Mexico ‘in denial’ over Christians forced out of homes for their beliefs

  December 4, 2016 Mexico Chiapas, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Guerrero, Jalisco, Michoacán, Tuxpan de Bolaños, Veracruz

Twelve of the 30 evangelical Christians evicted from the village of Tuxpan de Bolaños in Jalisco in January. Courtesy Open Doors International Mexico has a “policy of denial” about the thousands of evangelical Christians forced out of their homes because of their beliefs, according to a Mexican human rights activist. . . . Read More

‘Expendable’ Christians ‘victims of organ harvesting’ in China

  December 2, 2016 China Organ harvesting, Xi Jinping

Ethan Gutmann speaking at a hearing of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China in Washington, DC, in September 2015. Christians meeting in “house churches” in China are amongst thousands of Chinese people “considered expendable” by the Chinese government and being used in the “harvesting” of organs, according to China watcher Ethan . . . Read More