Tag: Europe

Fresh move to prosecute IS for genocide

March 21, 2018 Global News -- No Particular Country David Cameron, Europe, France, Genocide, International Criminal Court, Iraq, Islamic State, Kuwait, Lord Alton, Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Sweden, Syria, UK, UN, USA

Destroyed market in the town of Bartella, 15km east of Mosul, which was liberated from IS by Iraqi forces in October 2016. (Photo World Watch Monitor)

Campaigners have welcomed a bill designed to facilitate the prosecution of Islamic State jihadists for genocide against Christians, Yazidis and other minorities in Iraq and Syria. Complaining that efforts to encourage the British government to accuse IS of genocide had received “nothing but rebuttals and refusals”, Lord Alton, a Catholic, . . . Read More

Rights group tells Russia to ‘properly respect’ religious freedom

March 7, 2018 Russia Don Ossewaarde, Europe, Jehovah's Witnesses, Minorities, Oryol, Religious freedom, Russia, Yarovaya Law

Religious freedom advocate ADF International is today (7 March) filing a third-party brief with the European Court of Human Rights, arguing “for the right to religious freedom to be properly respected in Russia”. (Such a brief is a statement by a third party, usually an NGO or academic, which has . . . Read More

Asia Bibi central to trade deals, EU tells Pakistan

February 16, 2018 Pakistan Asia Bibi, Balochistan, Blasphemy, Education, Europe, Islamic extremism, Pakistan, Punjab, Rawalpindi, Sweepers

The EU’s Special Envoy for Freedom of Religion or Belief, Jan Figeľ, told Pakistani officials during a recent visit that the renewal of their export privileges to Europe depends on the release of Asia Bibi, a Christian woman on death row for blasphemy since 2010. “The EU countries have started . . . Read More

Europe shows ‘almost sinister’ indifference to persecuted Christianity – bishop

February 8, 2018 Global News -- No Particular Country Asylum seekers, Austria, Converts, Eastern Europe, Europe, Germany, Hungary, Islamic extremism

A new, aggressive form of atheism has led to a devaluing of religious freedom, a Catholic bishop in Austria has claimed. The Bishop of Linz, Manfred Scheuer, said that this new atheism associates religion with oppression and a lack of liberty, which has led to a selective interpretation of human . . . Read More

Iranian Christians safe if ‘practise faith discreetly’ – European Court of Human Rights

January 8, 2018 Global News -- No Particular Country Afghanistan, Aideen Strandsson, Asylum seekers, Europe, Germany, Human rights, Iran, Religious freedom, Sweden, Switzerland

Activists in the Swiss capital of Bern raise awareness of religious persecution of Christians around the world (2014). (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

The European Court of Human Rights ruled last month that an Iranian who sought asylum in Switzerland based on religious grounds could be deported to his home country because his life was not in danger, despite various reports detailing how Iran persecutes religious minorities and converts to Christianity. Human Rights . . . Read More

Asia Bibi nominated for award as human rights defender

October 5, 2017 Pakistan Asia Bibi, Blasphemy, Europe, Human rights, Islamic extremism, Pakistan, UN

Aasiya Noreen, a Pakistani Christian woman who has been on death row for over seven years for alleged blasphemy, has been nominated for this year’s Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought. The 52-year-old, who has become widely known as Asia Bibi (‘Bibi’ is an affectionate title given to women in . . . Read More

EU urged to make religious freedom envoy permanent

September 18, 2017 Global News -- No Particular Country Europe, Jan Figel, Middle East, Religious freedom

Ján Figeľ, the European Union’s Special Envoy for freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) outside the EU, has had his 12-month mandate extended by another year, but it should be longer, reports EU news specialist Euractiv. According to Belgium-based Sophia Kuby, Director of European Union Advocacy for religious freedom campaigners . . . Read More

Muslim asylum seekers find shelter in Germany’s churches

September 7, 2017 Afghanistan, Aideen Strandsson, Asylum seekers, Berlin, Churches, Converts, Europe, Germany, Iran, Islamic extremism, Migrants, Refugees, Sweden

A church in Germany. (Photo: Paul Frankenstein via Flickr; CC 2.0).

Refugees at risk of deportation from Germany are finding shelter in Germany’s churches, and many are becoming Christians in the process, reports The Washington Post. More than a million refugees travelled to Germany in 2015, in the midst of Europe’s so-called “migrant crisis”, because it was known for its open . . . Read More

Sweden to Iranian convert it plans to deport: ‘It’s not our problem you chose to become a Christian’

August 16, 2017 Aideen Strandsson, Amin Afshar Naderi, Apostasy, Asylum seekers, Converts, Europe, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Iran, Migrants, Netherlands, Refugees, Sharia, Sweden, UK

Iranian convert, Aideen Strandsson, is still waiting for an appeal hearing after her asylum request in Sweden was rejected. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

An Iranian convert to Christianity has been refused asylum in Sweden, placing her at risk of deportation and “torture and rape” in jail in her home country. Aideen Strandsson, 37, who was baptised in Sweden in 2014, said officials at the country’s Migration Board did not believe her life would . . . Read More

‘Thousands’ of Iranians claiming asylum in Europe as converts to Christianity

July 19, 2017 Iran Asylum seekers, Baptism, Converts, Europe, Iran, Migrants, Refugees

Thousands of Iranian asylum-seekers across Europe are turning to Christianity, though observers are not convinced that all claims of conversion are genuine. A BBC documentary, Praying for Asylum, tells the story of a number of Iranian asylum-seekers in the Netherlands who say they have become Christians and would be exposed . . . Read More

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