News

Iraqi ambassador criticises country’s conversion law

  December 2, 2016 Iraq Converts, Islamic extremism, Islamic State

Iraqi Ambassador to the United States Lukman Faily speaking at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in July 2014 in Washington, DC. A “detrimental” law passed in the Iraqi parliament that forces children of parents who convert to Islam to automatically become Muslim will probably not be implemented, an Iraqi . . . Read More

Philippines churches could cancel services over terrorism threat

  December 2, 2016 Philippines Cotabato, Islamic State, Manila, Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte

Philippine soldiers and police erected a checkpoint in Manila in September, after the government declared a ‘state of lawlessness’ following a bomb explosion at a night market in Davao City, which killed 14 people. A Filipino cardinal has condemned as “terrorism” a bomb explosion outside a Catholic church in the . . . Read More

‘Castro’s death won’t end repression of Cuban Church’

  December 1, 2016 Cuba Fidel Castro, Havana, Latin America, Pope Francis, Raúl Castro

The death of Cuba’s revolutionary leader Fidel Castro will not reduce the harassment and surveillance to which the Church is already subjected, an analyst at the charity Open Doors has warned. Following Castro’s death at the age of 90 on Saturday (26 Nov.), Paul Groen told World Watch Monitor: “Fidel’s . . . Read More

Donors pledge $2.2bn to help Central African Republic recover

  November 30, 2016 Central African Republic African Union, Anti-balaka, Bangui, Bria, Catherine Samba-Panza, Dieudonné Nzapalainga, IDPs, Kaga Bandoro, Nicolas Guérékoyamé-Gbangou, Oumar Kobine Layama, Refugees, Seleka

Oxfam says half the 4.8 million population of the Central African Republic needs humanitarian assistance. Open Doors International The President of the Evangelical Alliance in the Central African Republic has praised the international community’s pledge of US$2.2 billion to help reconstruct a county ravaged by three years of civil war. Around . . . Read More

Iranian rights groups decry treatment of Christians

  November 30, 2016 Iran Apostasy, Converts, Human rights, Religious freedom, Youcef Nadarkhani

Iranian and European human rights and religious rights organisations have urged the international community to use new opportunities for trade with Iran to hold the government there to account over its treatment of Christian converts. Nineteen NGOs, including Middle East Concern, Article 18, Impact Iran and Justice for Iran, issued . . . Read More

Indonesia’s only Christian governor questioned by police amid ‘blasphemy’ furore

  November 29, 2016 Indonesia Ahok, Blasphemy, Islamic extremism, Jakarta, Kalimantan, Sumatra

Basuki Tjahaja Purnama (better known by his nickname, ‘Ahok’), during a re-election speech in Jakarta on 16 November. He was questioned by police on 22 November after being named a suspect in a blasphemy investigation seen by critics as a test of religious tolerance in Indonesia, the world’s most populous . . . Read More

‘We must distinguish between Islam and terrorism’

  November 28, 2016 Global News -- No Particular Country Amman, Boko Haram, Europe, Fulani herdsmen, Hungary, IDPs, Iraq, Islamic extremism, Islamic State, Jacques Hamel, Jan Figel, Middle East, Nigeria, Nineveh Plains, Qaraqosh, Refugees, Religious freedom

Keeping the distinction between Islam and terrorism clear could prevent an ultimate ‘Clash of Civilisations’, an EU diplomat says. “All this hatred and bloodshed is a misuse of religion,” said Ján Figeľ, the European Commission’s first Special Envoy for the promotion of Freedom of Religion or Belief outside the EU. . . . Read More

Failure to bring IS to justice shows UN genocide conventions ‘obsolete’

  November 28, 2016 Canada, Europe, Genocide, International Criminal Court, Iraq, Islamic State, Middle East, Qaraqosh, Rwanda, Syria, UK, UN

The UN has broken the pledges it made in the aftermath of World War II to prevent genocide from recurring, said Ewelina Ochab.World Watch Monitor   The UN must urgently put in place measures to hold to account jihadists who have committed atrocities against minorities in Iraq and Syria, because . . . Read More

Sheikh blames Saudi Arabia for global rise of Islamist terrorism

  November 25, 2016 Saudi Arabia Islamic extremism, Salafism, Wahhabism

Shaykh Umar Al-Qadri in front of the Houses of Parliament on Wednesday, lit up in red for Red Wednesday in support of Christians under pressure for their faith.Twitter / @DrUmarAlQadri A leading Islamic scholar has described attacks on Christians by violent Islamic extremists as “heart-breaking” and condemned Islamic extremism as . . . Read More

Victims of Boko Haram, Fulani violence to receive trauma counselling

  November 25, 2016 Nigeria Adamawa, Boko Haram, Chibok girls, Fulani herdsmen, IDPs, Plateau, Refugees, Trauma, Yola

A trauma care centre is being constructed in Nigeria to support Christians who have suffered religiously motivated violence or abuse at the hands of Boko Haram and Fulani herdsmen. The centre is being built by Open Doors International, a charity which supports Christians under pressure for their faith. In April, . . . Read More