Tag: Blasphemy

Pakistani Christians on the run after blasphemy accusation

June 3, 2016 Pakistan Blasphemy, Gujrat, Islamic extremism, Mandi Bahauddin, Punjab, Sheikhupura

Jhonpari (hut), Sheikhupura.Sheikhu / Flickr / CC At least 10 Christian families have fled a village in eastern Pakistan after a man from a Christian community, who apparently converted to Islam ten years ago, was accused of sending a blasphemous message on Facebook Messenger. Tensions arose in Kot Amam . . . Read More

Pakistan: Christian woman refuses to leave home after blasphemy accusation

May 25, 2016 Pakistan Blasphemy, Gujrat, Mandi Bahauddin

A young Pakistani Christian woman accused of blasphemy chose not to flee from her home, so that her Christian neighbours wouldn’t be targeted in her absence. The accusations against Sonia Gill, 23, were eventually withdrawn, but not before she had refused to leave the “Christian Town” settlement near Gujrat. Dozens . . . Read More

Pakistan police deny Christian-Muslim tension after blasphemy allegation

May 19, 2016 Pakistan Barelvi, Blasphemy, Bonded labourers, Islamic extremism, Mandi Bahauddin, Pakistan Muslim League, Punjab, Sunni Tehreek, Sweepers

Imran Masih’s house in the remote village of Chak 44, Punjab, Pakistan.World Watch Monitor Conflicting reports have emerged over Christian-Muslim tensions in a remote Pakistani village, after an illiterate Christian cleaner was accused of blasphemy. However, international media reports of a Muslim mob attacking the local Christian minority are . . . Read More

Pakistan court grants bail to chief suspect in oven killings of Christian couple

April 19, 2016 Pakistan Blasphemy, Bonded labourers, Gojra, Joseph Colony, Kasur, Pakistan, Prophet Muhammad, Quran, Shahzad Masih, Shama Bibi

A Pakistani court has granted bail to the lead suspect in the brutal 2014 killings of a young Christian couple, burned alive in a brick kiln where they worked as bonded labourers, itself illegal in Pakistan. National outrage over their deaths meant the case had moved to Pakistan’s Anti-Terrorism Court . . . Read More

Egypt: Copt cleared of Facebook ‘blasphemy’

April 4, 2016 Egypt Blasphemy, Copts

A Coptic Christian, Bishoy Kameel Garas, has been declared “innocent” after he served more than half his six-year sentence for charges including defamation of Islam. Garas, now in his late twenties, was jailed in September 2012 for offending the country’s dominant religion, the then-Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, and a Muslim . . . Read More

Pakistan’s bombing ‘part of wider struggle’

March 29, 2016 Pakistan Blasphemy, Easter, Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, Lahore, Nawaz Sharif, Pakistan, Taliban, Terrorism

The Lahore bombing on Easter Sunday that killed at least 70 is part of a wider struggle against extremism in Pakistan, explains a British correspondent for . He was in the country during what he calls an Easter ‘weekend of madness’; it also saw 25,000 hard-line Islamic protestors march on . . . Read More

Pakistan hangs killer of Governor who challenged blasphemy law

February 29, 2016 Pakistan Asia Bibi, Blasphemy, Salmaan Taseer, Shaan Taseer, Shahbaz Bhatti

Mumtaz Qadri after his arrest following the assassination of Punjab Governor Salman Taseer in 2011. (Photo: courtesy of Dawn)

Pakistan has executed the murderer of Punjab Governor Salman Taseer, who had justified the 2011 assassination upon Taseer’s desire for reforms in the blasphemy law, and for his support of Asia Noreen, a Christian woman condemned to death for blasphemy. Mumtaz Qadri was hanged early today (Monday, 29 Feb.), after . . . Read More

Egypt sentences ‘anti-Islam’ teens to 5 years

February 25, 2016 Egypt Blasphemy, Copts, Egypt, Gad Younan, Islamic extremism, Islamic State, Minya

Three Egyptian Christian students accused of “offending Islam” were sentenced today (25 Feb.) to five years each, Coptic news site Watani said. Muller Atef, Albert Ashraf and Bassem Amgad were given jail terms, while a fourth, Clinton Maged, is due to be remanded in a juvenile facility for five years, according . . . Read More

Egypt: Coptic teens tried for video ‘mimicking jihadists’

February 12, 2016 Egypt Blasphemy, Copts, Gad Younan

A year since members of the so-called Islamic State killed 20 Egyptian Copts and one Ghanaian in Libya, Egypt is set to judge four young Copts for alleged blasphemy. The four teenagers, aged 15 to 17, appeared in a 30-second video clip, mocking the militants’ show of Islamic piety in . . . Read More

Three attacks on Pakistani Christians mark New Year

January 15, 2016 Pakistan Blasphemy, Kasur, Lahore, Sialkot

The Apostolic Church in Baath was attacked on 7 Jan.British Pakistani Christian Association For Christians in Pakistan, the New Year has begun with attacks on their worship places, with three separate incidents in less than a week, including a church being set on fire. On 7 January, items on . . . Read More

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