Tag: Iraq

Iraqi priest released

January 5, 2016 Syria Damascus, Idlib, Iraq, Kidnapping, Refugees, Syria, Turkey

An Iraqi priest has been released, two weeks after he was abducted on his way back to his parish in Yacoubieh in Syria’s Idlib province, reports the . Franciscan friar Dhiya Azziz, 41, apparently disappeared from Lattakia, Syria, on 23 December after visiting his family (refugees in Turkey). Released on . . . Read More

US Senate condemns IS sexual violence

December 18, 2015 Iraq, Islamic State, Minorities, USA, Women, Yazidis

The U.S. Senate has “ongoing sexual violence” by the self-proclaimed Islamic State against Christian and other minority women in Iraq. The resolution, , arose from a September hearing at which an Iraqi woman told members of Congress about her escape from sexual enslavement at the hands of an American fighting . . . Read More

5 years on: what has the Arab Spring meant for Christians?

December 17, 2015 Arab Spring, Copts, Egypt, Hosni Mubarak, Iraq, Islamic State, Libya, Middle East, Muammar Gaddafi, Muslim Brotherhood, North Africa, Ramadan, Syria, Tunisia

The Arab Spring, which began five years ago today (17th December) started with a wave of protests in Tunisia followed by other Arab countries. It was positively acclaimed as a social movement demanding an end to human rights violations, government corruption and poverty. Yet, so far, the outcome is largely contrary to . . . Read More

Push to include Christians in IS ‘genocide’ charge

December 8, 2015 Global News -- No Particular Country Asylum seekers, Genocide, Iraq, Islamic State, Jizya, Syria, USA, Yazidis

The US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has called on its government to include Christians in the definition of those at risk of genocide from Islamic State’s campaign in Syria and Iraq. A calls for a broader inclusion of Christians, Shi’a, Turkmen and Shabak communities as well as Yazidis, . . . Read More

Iraqi Patriarch challenges ‘identity law’

November 11, 2015 Iraq Baghdad, Children, Converts, Erbil, Iraq, Louis Raphael I Sako, Minorities, Yazidis

The Chaldean Catholic Patriarch of Iraq renewed his opposition this week to an article in the nation’s new national laws requiring minority-faith children to become Muslims if one parent converts to Islam. Describing the new law as both unconstitutional and “unacceptable,” Patriarch Louis Raphael I Sako has called on President . . . Read More

Visiting a monastery in ISIS territory

November 10, 2015 Iraq Iraq, Islamic State, Kurds, Mosul, Nineveh Plains

An international aid worker has shared his experiences of visiting a monastery in what is technically regarded as IS-held territory within Iraq. His blog, ISIS Territory – Smoke on the Horizon, Song in the Chapel, describes the fear he felt leaving behind the last Kurdish checkpoint and his meetings with . . . Read More

Global Church meets to seek unity in face of persecution

November 6, 2015 Global News -- No Particular Country Albania, Aleppo, Algeria, Catholics, Churches, Cuba, Democratic Republic of the Congo, El Salvador, India, Iraq, Islamic State, Kenya, Kidnapping, Lebanon, Myanmar, Nigeria, Nineveh Plains, Orthodox, Pakistan, Pentecostals, Protestants, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Venezuela, Yohanna Ibrahim

Twenty-five years ago, on 4 Nov. 1990, a priest risked his life to hold a mass in a cemetery in Albania. In 1967 his president, Enver Hoxha, had declared that he had “abolished” the Christian faith, and that his country was henceforth the world’s first atheist state. On 4 Nov. . . . Read More

Iraqi Christian MPs challenge their constitution

October 22, 2015 Iraq Children, Constitution, Converts, Iraq, Islamic extremism, Marriage, Minorities, Yazidis

Four Christian members of the Iraqi parliament have called for a change in the law to preserve the religion of dependent children whose fathers convert to Islam, reports Middle East Christian News. As the civil law now stands, children under the age of 18 become Muslim when their father converts. . . . Read More

Report: Christianity contracting in MidEast, Africa

October 16, 2015 Global News -- No Particular Country Africa, Belarus, Boko Haram, China, David Cameron, Egypt, Eritrea, Europe, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Islamic extremism, Islamic State, Israel, Jordan, Kenya, London, Middle East, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Palestinian Territories, Pope Francis, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Sub-Saharan Africa, Sudan, Syria, Tanzania, Turkey, Turkmenistan, UK, Ukraine, Vietnam

Christianity is fast disappearing from entire regions, most notably a huge chunk of the Middle East, and could vanish from Iraq within five years, according to a new report by Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need. Released in the UK’s House of Lords on Tuesday, the report, “Persecuted and . . . Read More

IS builds army of children

October 8, 2015 Boko Haram, Children, Christina Abada, Iraq, Islamic State, Minorities, Nigeria, Qaraqosh, Syria

The Islamic State is moulding Syrian and Iraqi children into a new generation of militants, reports the BBC. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that more than 50 children under the age of 16 had died fighting for IS so far in 2015, while 19 were used as suicide . . . Read More

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