Tag: Islamic extremism

Gunman shoots Pakistan minister over blasphemy law

May 9, 2018 Pakistan Asia Bibi, Blasphemy, Catholics, Islamabad, Islamic extremism, Minorities, Mumtaz Qadri, Narowal, Pakistan, Prophet Muhammad, Punjab, Salmaan Taseer, Shahbaz Bhatti, Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan

Pakistan’s interior minister, who has championed the country’s minority communities, has survived an assassination attempt by a gunman protesting against the country’s blasphemy laws. Ahsan Iqbal was shot in the arm before police overpowered his suspected attacker, 21-year-old Abid Hussain, the BBC reported. Iqbal was shot on Sunday (6 May) . . . Read More

Egyptian Copts face Muslim mobs protesting against legalisation of churches

May 4, 2018 Egypt Churches, Copts, Egypt, Islamic extremism, Luxor, Palm Sunday, Upper Egypt

The closure of a church in Upper Egypt that sought legalisation has been condemned as illegal by the congregation’s lawyer, and charges made against eight of its congregation, who have been detained for more than a month, as not valid. Coptic Christians of Al-Koumair village in Luxor Governorate had been . . . Read More

Bangladesh’s religious minorities warned they may face ‘brunt’ of election violence

May 4, 2018 Bangladesh Awami League, Bangladesh, Elections, Islamic extremism, Islamic State, Jamaat-ul-Mujahedin Bangladesh, Minorities

Christians protest following an attack by local thugs on a church last Saturday in which three men were injured and the building damaged. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

Christians and other minorities in Bangladesh face a “daunting election” at the end of the year, warns the Bangladeshi Bureau Chief of Catholic news agency UCAN. “Elections and violence go hand-in-hand in Bangladesh and minorities often face the brunt of this amid a tug-of-war between political parties jockeying for power,” . . . Read More

Philippines cathedral bomb attack followed warning of ‘very real’ terrorist threat

May 3, 2018 Philippines Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, Islamic extremism, Islamic State, Marawi, Mindanao, Philippines, South Cotabato, Southeast Asia

The situation in Mindanao has been tense for many years. Military personal stand guard in front of a church in Davao City, Mindanao, after a bomb attack killed 14 people here in 2016. (Photo: MANMAN DEJETO/AFP/Getty Images)

Two people were injured after a bomb went off outside a Catholic cathedral in the southern Philippines a day after regional leaders heard that the risk of terrorist attacks remains “very real”. The explosion at St. Anthony’s cathedral took place on Sunday (29 April) in the City of Koronadal, capital . . . Read More

‘Avoid persecution-of-Christians label,’ says Syria expert

May 2, 2018 Syria Bashar al-Assad, Civil War, Education, IDPs, Iraq, Islamic extremism, Middle East, Migrants, Refugees, Sunni, Syria

As the conflict in Syria continues, freelance journalist Jayson Casper sat down with Miles Windsor, head of advocacy at Christian charity Middle East Concern, to discuss where Syrian Christians’ allegiance lies, whether those who fled the country may return, and how Christians in other countries can help. Jayson Casper: There . . . Read More

‘Indonesia’s most important extremist ideologue’ faces death over church bombing

May 2, 2018 Indonesia Aceh, Indonesia, Islamic extremism, Islamic State, JAD, Jakarta, Kalimantan, Samarinda, Terrorism, Trauma

Radical Islamic cleric Aman Abdurrahman tells the court that what happened in Samarinda "violates what I believe about how to behave towards Christians”. (Photo: Hayati Nupus/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

A Muslim cleric alleged to have inspired an attack on a church playground in Indonesia, in which one child was killed and three injured, has denied inciting hatred. Aman Abdurrahman, 46, is facing a possible life sentence or even the death penalty for allegedly masterminding a series of bombings, including . . . Read More

Malaysian bishops: ‘We need leaders who truly care for the people’

April 30, 2018 Malaysia 'Allah', Catholics, Elections, Hudud, Islamic extremism, Johor, Kuala Lumpur, Malacca, Malaysia, Najib Razak, PAS, Proselytism, Religious freedom, Sharia, UMNO

For the first time in six decades, several high-profile Malaysian church leaders have publicly called for a change of government. On 24 April the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Malaysia issued a pastoral letter, saying: “We need to choose leaders who truly care for the rakyat [people], promote justice and equality, stand . . . Read More

Pakistan’s top judge says he’ll hear Asia Bibi’s appeal personally – and ‘soon’

April 26, 2018 Pakistan Asia Bibi, Blasphemy, Catholics, Islamabad, Islamic extremism, Lahore, Minorities, Multan, Pakistan, Prophet Muhammad, Religious freedom

Aasiya Noreen, a Pakistani Christian woman, has been on death row for over eight years for alleged blasphemy. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

Pakistan’s chief justice says he will decide, “soon,” the fate of Aasiya Noreen, a Christian woman whose 2009 conviction on blasphemy charges has fixated world attention on the country’s treatment of religious minorities. Chief Justice Saqib Nisar told Noreen’s lawyer, Saif-ul-Malook, on 21 April that he would hear the woman’s . . . Read More

Pakistan: family of Christian boy killed by police compensated in ‘rare victory’

April 26, 2018 Pakistan Diyat, Islamic extremism, Minorities, Pakistan, Police, Punjab, Sheikhupura

The family of a Christian boy who was killed while in police custody has been compensated for more than the standard amount paid out in similar cases. A lawyer working for the family called the outcome a “rare victory”. Arsalan Masih, a 16-year-old student from Sheikhupura in the north-eastern Punjab . . . Read More

Egypt: Court will try 3 men for assault on elderly Coptic woman

April 25, 2018 Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Copts, Egypt, Islamic extremism, Minya, Soad Thabet

Soad Thabet and Bishop Makarius of the Coptic Church.

Three men are scheduled to stand trial in an Egyptian court for publicly stripping a 70-year-old Christian woman following rumours that her son had an affair with a married Muslim woman. Following the rumour and threats made to him and his family, Ashraf Attiya, a then-31-year-old Coptic Christian trader, fled . . . Read More

Catching Our Eye