News

More Iraqi towns ‘freed’ but Nineveh Christians not confident about safe return

  October 25, 2016 Iraq Bartella, Bashiqa, Chaldeans, Islamic State, Karamles, Middle East, Mosul, Nineveh Plains, Peshmerga, Qaraqosh, Tel Kaif

The heavily damaged and burnt Tahira (Immaculate) Syriac Catholic Church in Baghdeda.World Watch Monitor   As prayers were offered in Syriac in front of the altar of the trashed church of Mart Shmoni in the recently freed town of Bartella, more homes where Christians used to live in Iraq’s north-eastern . . . Read More

12 killed in attack ‘by Al-Shabaab gunmen targeting Kenyan Christians’

  October 25, 2016 Kenya Al-Shabaab, Islamic extremism, Mandera, Somalia

Six people were killed during this Al-Shabaab attack on the Somali capital, Mogadishu, in July.   Twelve people have been killed in an attack in north-east Kenya believed to have been carried out by the Somali Islamist group Al-Shabaab. Media outlets sympathetic to the group reported that the latest incident . . . Read More

Germany refugee centre an ‘example for others’ dealing with interfaith conflict

  October 24, 2016 Eritrea, Ethiopia, Europe, Iran, Iraq, Islamic extremism, Migrants, Refugees

A week after a new report claimed that life for some Christian refugees in Germany is “still unbearable“, a case study has been released as an example for other refugee centres to follow. The study, which profiles a refugee centre in the central German town of Rotenburg an der Fulda, . . . Read More

Iraqi Christians look homeward toward Mosul, uncertainly

  October 21, 2016 Iraq Bashiqa, Islamic State, Jordan, Kurds, Lebanon, Mosul, Peshmerga, Refugees, Saddam Hussein

  Displaced Iraqi Christians take part in celebrations on 18 October in Erbil, the capital of the autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq, to mark the liberation of Qaraqosh, which was Iraq’s largest Christian town before it was overun by Islamic State militants in August 2014. Tens of thousands of . . . Read More

US academic and refugee aid worker ‘banned for life’ from Turkey

  October 21, 2016 Turkey Ankara, Coup, Ryan Keating

Ryan Keating was a doctoral student at Ankara University.World Watch Monitor   Turkey deported an American Christian pursuing doctoral studies at Ankara University this week, revoking his residence visa 10 years after the scholar and his family first arrived in the country. Ryan D. Keating, a Yale University graduate, was refused entry . . . Read More

40 killed as suspected Fulani herdsmen raid Christian community in Nigeria

  October 20, 2016 Fulani herdsmen, Kaduna, Nigeria

The aftermath of the attack in Godogodo, a Christian settlement in Nigeria’s northern State of Kaduna, Oct. 2016.CSW Nigeria   Gunmen believed to be Fulani herdsmen have killed more than 40 people in Godogodo village, a Christian settlement in the Jama’a Local Government Area in Nigeria’s northern state of Kaduna. . . . Read More

Kidnap in Niger of US missionary a ‘terrible tragedy’

  October 20, 2016 Niger Abalak, Ansar Dine, Jeff Woodke, MUJAO, Niamey, Tuareg

Jeff Woodke is known in Abalak for his devotion to Niger and its nomadic populations.Jeff Woodke / Facebook   The kidnap of a pioneering American missionary in Niger is a “terrible tragedy” for the communities he served for 24 years, according to the local mayor. It has also raised security . . . Read More

As retake of Mosul looms, Muslim extremism has already emptied Iraq of Christians

  October 19, 2016 Iraq Dohuk, Islamic extremism, Islamic State, Mosul

A young girl lights a candle in an artificial cave at Mar Elia church, Ankawa (Irbil), where many displaced Christians have taken refuge.World Watch Monitor   On Monday (17 October) Iraq’s Army finally announced the beginning of its offensive to retake the northern city of Mosul from the “Islamic State” . . . Read More

‘Accelerated targeting’ of ‘disproportionately suffering’ Middle East Christians

  October 18, 2016 Iraq Iraq, Middle East, Syria

The Middle East, the historic cradle of Christianity, is today witnessing an accelerated “targeting” of its remaining Christians, according to a report aiming to rally world attention to threats facing ancient communities in Syria and Iraq. “Civil war in Syria and Iraq has unleashed a tidal wave of violent persecution. . . . Read More

Iran: 2 Christians released on bail but 3 detained

  October 18, 2016 Iran Amin Afshar Naderi, Amir Saman Dashti, Hadi Asgari, Maryam Naghash Zargaran, Mohammad Dehnavi, Ramil Bet-Tamraz, Victor Bet-Tamraz

UPDATE (18 Oct.): Two of the five Iranian Christians arrested during a trip to the Alborz Mountains north-east of Tehran in August have been released on bail, though three are still being detained. Ramil Bet-Tamraz and Mohammad Dehnavi were released after posting bail of around US$33,000 each, according to Middle East . . . Read More