News

Survey of schools for Pakistan’s Christian minority: 50% have no playground, 15% no notebooks

  November 25, 2016 Pakistan Education, Islamabad, Karachi, Punjab, Sweepers

Anser Javed’s father was a sanitary worker in Karachi; his mother was a sweeper. When his father then died in a work accident, the Pakistani Christian boy was sent to an orphanage as his mother was too poor to care for him. Nevertheless, with support and personal determination, he eventually . . . Read More

Anser’s story

  November 25, 2016 Pakistan Education, Gujranwala, Karachi, Sweepers

Anser Javed’s father was a sanitary worker in Karachi; his mother was a sweeper. When his father then died in a work accident, the Pakistani Christian boy was sent to an orphanage as his mother was too poor to care for him. Nevertheless, with support and personal determination, he eventually . . . Read More

Death sentence for killers of Christian couple burned alive in Pakistan

  November 24, 2016 Pakistan Blasphemy, Bonded labourers, Lahore, Punjab, Shahzad Masih, Shama Bibi

Pakistani Christians mourn the death of the couple burnt alive on 4 November 2014 for setting fire to some pages from the Qur’an. An Anti-Terrorism Court in Lahore, Pakistan yesterday (23 Nov.) sentenced five men to death for the murder of a Christian couple who were burned alive in November . . . Read More

Celebration for thousands of displaced Iraqis ahead of bittersweet homecoming

  November 24, 2016 Iraq Erbil, IDPs, Islamic State, Jordan, Mosul, Peshmerga, Refugees, Trauma

The event opened with around 100 young people forming the shape of a cross.Babylon Ministries   Thousands of displaced Iraqi Christians celebrated a “Return Festival” as the military advance against Islamic State (IS) in and around the city of Mosul raised their hopes of returning home after two years in . . . Read More

London landmarks go red for religious freedom

  November 23, 2016 Bishop Angaelos, London, Religious freedom, UK

Westminster Abbey is one of several London landmarks to have been lit up in red for Red Wednesday.World Watch Monitor   Iconic London landmarks have been floodlit in red this evening (23 Nov.) to raise awareness of people who suffer injustice because of their religion. The Palace of Westminster, Westminster . . . Read More

Uzbekistan releases jailed Christian convert after six years

  November 23, 2016 Uzbekistan Baptists, Central Asia, Converts, Gulistan, Islamic extremism, Protestants, Soviet Union, Tohar Haydarov, Uzbekistan

Tohar Haydarov.International Council of Churches of Evangelical Christians and Baptists Uzbek authorities have released a Christian convert six years into his 10-year jail sentence. Tohar Haydarov, 33, was released on parole on 8 November after serving six years and 10 months of his prison term. A judge had ruled he . . . Read More

Iraqi Christians ask: Where were our Kurdish protectors when IS came?

  November 22, 2016 Iraq Assyrians, Baghdad, Erbil, IDPs, Islamic State, Jordan, Mosul, Nineveh Plains, Peshmerga, Qaraqosh, Refugees, Tel Kaif

A young girl in a camp in Levo, northern Iraq, holds up a picture of the Virgin Mary and Jesus. One question that still angers many of the Christians who fled northern Iraq as jihadists from Islamic State (IS) advanced on their towns and villages is, “Where were the Kurdish . . . Read More

Under the shadow of IS: Iraqi Christians tell of crucifixions, torture, sex slavery

  November 21, 2016 Iraq Baghdad, Batnaya, Islamic State, Jordan, Kurds, Mosul, Qaraqosh, Refugees

Islamic State jihadists hung Karlus, 29, from the ceiling of the jail he was held in, by a rope attached to his left foot. As blood poured from his foot, they beat and kicked him, rubbing salt into his wounds.ADF International   Islamic State (IS) jihadists hung Karlus, a 29-year-old . . . Read More

Report: ‘Bangladesh failing minorities targeted by Islamic extremists’

  November 21, 2016 Bangladesh Al-Qaeda, Awami League, Dhaka, Islamic State

The wife, mother and children (L-R Nasima Akhter, Rahul Amin Azad, Esimon Begum, Ambia Begum, Hasina Begum) of murdered Christian convert Hossain Ali, hold his photograph. On 22 March, Ali was taking his usual morning walk when he was attacked and died. ISIS claimed responsibility for his murder. He converted . . . Read More

45 killed in yet another attack on Christian communities in Kaduna

  November 19, 2016 Nigeria ECWA, Fulani herdsmen, Kaduna

A spate of attacks on Christian communities in Nigeria last weekend left 45 dead and several more injured. The attacks took place in five villages in the Kauru Local Government Area, in the Middle Belt state of Kaduna – an area mostly populated by Christians, on Sunday 13 November. Most . . . Read More