Tag: Islamic State

Muslims hid Christian woman from IS for years

January 26, 2017 Iraq Iraq, Islamic State, Mosul, Tel Kaif

When Iraqi government troops liberated Tel Kaif from Islamic State militias last week, they found that a 60-year-old Christian woman had been hidden for almost three years by her Muslim neighbours, reports Al Araby. Georgette Hanna did not manage to join the thousands of Christians fleeing Mosul and other towns . . . Read More

ISIS used Iraqi church ‘as shooting range’

January 24, 2017 Iraq Churches, Iraq, Islamic State, Qaraqosh

Iraqi Christians returning to their homes in Qaraqosh have found their houses burnt and churches desecrated. One woman, Manal Matti, told the Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need that “jihadists [had] used the church as a shooting range”. She added that mannequins taken from her clothes shop, close to . . . Read More

‘90,000 Christian martyrs annually’ claim disputed

January 20, 2017 Global News -- No Particular Country Boko Haram, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Iraq, Islamic State, Nigeria, Syria

Global charity Open Doors has disputed the way in which statistics on Christian “martyrs” are collected, arguing that an annual figure of 90,000, recently reported widely, is significantly higher than the accurately verifiable number. The figure, reported by some media and cited by an Italian academic on Vatican Radio, was . . . Read More

Iraqi Christian: ‘IS made me spit on a Cross and convert to Islam’

January 18, 2017 Iraq Islamic extremism, Islamic State, Karamles, Mosul, Nineveh Plains, Qaraqosh

One of the major themes explored in Martin Scorsese’s film, Silence, is the question of how to respond when faced with a choice between denying one’s faith or facing death. Christians in 17th century Japan were given this choice, and it’s the same for Christians in many parts of the . . . Read More

Sisi under fire after Coptic church attack

December 15, 2016 Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Bishop Angaelos, Cairo, Copts, Islamic State, Muslim Brotherhood

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi (R) attends the funeral ceremony for the victims of the 11 December bomb attack on St. Peter and St. Paul Coptic Orthodox Church. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi faced sharp criticism following Sunday’s (11 Dec.) bomb attack on a Coptic church in Cairo, in which . . . Read More

Devastation of liberated Iraqi Christian towns makes return home seem further away than ever

December 15, 2016 Iraq Bartella, Erbil, IDPs, Islamic State, Karamles, Kurds, Nineveh Plains, Qaraqosh, Refugees

Now the smoke has gone from the Nineveh Plain, it is clear that Islamic State fighters dealt one final, vicious blow to the Christian population before surrendering its occupied towns: by systematically setting fire to their homes, thousands have become practically uninhabitable. Suddenly, for many Christians, the prospect of returning . . . Read More

Christian hostages reveal Syrian ransom saga

December 9, 2016 Syria Assyrians, Hasakah, Islamic State, Khabur, Kidnapping, Syria

Former Islamic State hostages have revealed that , launched by a Syrian bishop who rallied the Assyrian Christian diaspora around the world. , the Assyrian Christians were handled roughly and harassed repeatedly to convert to Islam. They expected to die, but within a week the IS militants sent 17 Assyrians . . . Read More

Iraqi ambassador criticises country’s conversion law

December 2, 2016 Iraq Converts, Islamic extremism, Islamic State

Iraqi Ambassador to the United States Lukman Faily speaking at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in July 2014 in Washington, DC. A “detrimental” law passed in the Iraqi parliament that forces children of parents who convert to Islam to automatically become Muslim will probably not be implemented, an Iraqi . . . Read More

Philippines churches could cancel services over terrorism threat

December 2, 2016 Philippines Cotabato, Islamic State, Manila, Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte

Philippine soldiers and police erected a checkpoint in Manila in September, after the government declared a ‘state of lawlessness’ following a bomb explosion at a night market in Davao City, which killed 14 people. A Filipino cardinal has condemned as “terrorism” a bomb explosion outside a Catholic church in the . . . Read More

‘We must distinguish between Islam and terrorism’

November 28, 2016 Global News -- No Particular Country Amman, Boko Haram, Europe, Fulani herdsmen, Hungary, IDPs, Iraq, Islamic extremism, Islamic State, Jacques Hamel, Jan Figel, Middle East, Nigeria, Nineveh Plains, Qaraqosh, Refugees, Religious freedom

Keeping the distinction between Islam and terrorism clear could prevent an ultimate ‘Clash of Civilisations’, an EU diplomat says. “All this hatred and bloodshed is a misuse of religion,” said Ján Figeľ, the European Commission’s first Special Envoy for the promotion of Freedom of Religion or Belief outside the EU. . . . Read More

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