Tag: Islamic State

Iraq: today’s vote on Kurdish independence is troubling the Middle East

September 25, 2017 Iraq Elections, Iraq, Islamic State, Kirkuk, Kurds, Middle East, Nineveh Plains, Yazidis

Iraq’s Kurds went to the polls today (25 September) to vote on whether to become a new state, independent of Iraq. According to Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty (RFERL) the vast majority will have voted “yes” to the question on the ballot paper: “Do you want the Kurdistan region and . . . Read More

‘Milestone’ as UN votes to create team to collect evidence of IS’s crimes

September 22, 2017 Global News -- No Particular Country Antonio Guterres, Genocide, Iraq, Islamic State, Jan Figel, Lord Alton, Middle East, Rex Tillerson, Syria, UN, Yazidis

Desecrated church I in Qaraqosh, Iraq. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

Campaigners for Christian and Yazidi victims of the Islamic State group welcomed a vote at the United Nations yesterday (21 September), hailed as a “milestone” in their efforts to bring perpetrators of atrocities to justice. The UN Security Council voted unanimously to create an investigative team to collect evidence of . . . Read More

Egypt: death penalty for terrorists linked to beheading of 20 Copts

September 19, 2017 Egypt Copts, Egypt, Islamic State, Libya, Mohamed Morsi, Sinai

An Egyptian court has sentenced seven people to death for their links with the Islamic State (IS) group in Libya. An unspecified number of the condemned were accused of taking part in the beheading of 20 Egyptian Coptic Christians and a Ghanaian on a beach in Libya in 2015 – an . . . Read More

Malaysia: ‘IS member planned attack on non-Muslims and their worship places’

September 15, 2017 Malaysia Islamic State, Malacca, Malaysia, Perak, Selangor

A 21-year-old Malaysian man has been arrested on suspicion of planning to attack non-Muslims and their places of worship, having reportedly been ordered to do so from Islamic State militants in Syria. The man, who was not named, “received instructions from a Malaysian Da’esh [IS] member in Syria to buy . . . Read More

Fr Tom: my faith got me through 18 months’ captivity

September 14, 2017 Yemen Aden, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, Ansar al-Sharia, Hodeidah, Islamic State, Pope Francis, Sana'a, Taiz, Tom Uzhunnalil, Yemen

The Indian missionary priest released this week after 18 months as a hostage in Yemen has said his Christian faith helped him to survive the ordeal. Fr Tom Uzhunnalil, a priest in the Salesian order, met Pope Francis at the Vatican on Wednesday, the day after his release. The priest . . . Read More

Indian priest released after 18 months’ captivity in Yemen

September 12, 2017 Yemen Aden, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, Ansar al-Sharia, Hodeidah, Islamic State, Middle East, Sana'a, Taiz, Tom Uzhunnalil, Yemen

India’s Church, government and politicians from across the political landscape have all expressed relief and joy over the release of Salesian Father Tom Uzhunnalil, kidnapped in Yemen in March 2016. Statements hailing the release of the Indian priest have poured in – from India’s foreign minister, Sushma Swaraj, to the . . . Read More

Nineveh Christians rebuild their homes, but threats remain in Iraq

September 7, 2017 Iraq Bashiqa, Dohuk, Iraq, Islamic State, Nineveh Plains, Qaraqosh

With towns and cities such as Qaraqosh and Bashiqa in Iraq’s Nineveh Plains now liberated from Islamic State (IS) forces and their original inhabitants beginning to return, there is confidence among some local Christian leaders that life is slowly beginning to get back to normal. “I am optimistic, yes, very . . . Read More

As China goes global, its Christian missionaries go too

September 4, 2017 Balochistan, China, Islamic State, Lee Zingyang, Meng Lisi, Missionaries, Pakistan, Quetta, Zhejiang

A Chinese Christian holds a Bible standing outside the largest Chinese church in the world: the Three Self church which seats 5,000 people, in Hangzhou city. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

China’s drive to develop new trading routes to the West and beyond comes with an unintended and often overlooked by-product: Chinese Christian missionaries, who are putting the self-proclaimed atheistic country in a difficult spot, according to the BBC. The latest example is the story of two young Chinese who travelled . . . Read More

Iraqi Archbishop of Mosul: ‘My cousin, my friend, my teacher – all killed by terrorists’

August 31, 2017 Iraq Al-Qaeda, Iraq, Islamic State, Mosul, Nineveh Plains, Saddam Hussein, Salafism

The last Christian leader to leave Mosul after it was invaded by the Islamic State group in 2014 has spoken about his personal loss to terrorism, as Nuri Kino reports in the Huffington Post. Archbishop Nicodemus Daoud Sharaf, who risked his life to stay as long as possible in Mosul, . . . Read More

Christian woman freed from Islamic State after 3 years in captivity

August 31, 2017 Iraq Iraq, Islamic State, Nineveh Plains, Qaraqosh

A Christian woman held in captivity for three years at an Islamic State stronghold in Iraq is finally home. Rana Esso had been held in Tal Afar, in north-west Iraq, since IS invaded the Nineveh Plains in August 2014. She was released on Sunday (27 August) after Iraqi security forces . . . Read More

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