Tag: Kidnapping

Fears of a security breakdown as Mali’s Catholic churches attacked

October 4, 2017 Mali Catholics, Islamic extremism, Kidnapping, Mali

Catholics in Mali have suffered a fresh wave of attacks at the hands of gunmen believed to be jihadists, amid a “dramatic” deterioration in security in the centre of the country. Several churches were attacked last month, according to the news agency AFP. In Dobara, 500 miles (800km) north of . . . Read More

Egypt: ex-kidnapper admits ‘they get paid for every Coptic Christian girl they bring in’

September 14, 2017 Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Cairo, Copts, Egypt, Islamic extremism, Kidnapping, Minya, Salafism, Women

“I remember a Coptic Christian girl from a rich, well-known family in Minya. She was kidnapped by five Muslim men. They held her in a house, stripped her and filmed her naked. In the video, one of them also undressed. They threatened to make the video public if the girl . . . Read More

Afghanistan: kidnapped Finnish woman freed after four months

September 14, 2017 Afghanistan Afghanistan, Kabul, Kidnapping, Taliban

A German woman and her Afghan guard were killed, and a Finnish woman apparently kidnapped, at an international guesthouse run by a Swedish-based charity in Afghanistan’s capital Kabul late on Saturday evening, 20 May. Photo: Getty Images

A Finnish aid worker held hostage for nearly four months in Afghanistan has been freed today (14 September). She had been kidnapped from an international guesthouse in Kabul, run by her employer, Operation Mercy, when it was attacked in May; her German female colleague and Afghan guard were killed. The unnamed . . . Read More

Archbishop of Canterbury: ‘Conservative attitudes can be passport for misogyny’

June 8, 2017 Global News -- No Particular Country Belgium, Boko Haram, Copts, Egypt, Islamic extremism, Justin Welby, Kidnapping, Nigeria, Pakistan, Punjab, Religious freedom, Trauma, Women

Women are often subject to discrimination and rejection due to social, legal and cultural norms, especially in patriarchal societies. (Photo: Open Doors International)

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, has said that sometimes “[religiously] conservative attitudes are a passport for misogyny, while at other times they are simply inherited attitudes”. His comment came two days after a consultation about Christian women under pressure for their faith, where speakers noted that women living in highly . . . Read More

German aid worker killed, Finnish woman ‘kidnapped’ in Kabul

May 22, 2017 Afghanistan Kabul, Kidnapping, Taliban

A German woman and her Afghan guard were killed, and a Finnish woman apparently kidnapped, at an international guesthouse run by a Swedish-based charity in Afghanistan’s capital Kabul late on Saturday evening, 20 May. The two women were aid workers employed by Operation Mercy, a relief and development NGO which . . . Read More

Four years on still no news of kidnapped Syrian bishops

April 28, 2017 Syria Boulos Yazigi, Greek Orthodox, Kidnapping, Syria, Yohanna Ibrahim

Four years on and no-one knows where kidnapped Greek Orthodox Bishop Boulos Yazigi is, as well as his colleague. Photo: Getty Images

At the fourth anniversary of their disappearance the whereabouts of two Syrian bishops is still unknown. Syriac Orthodox Mar Gregorios Yohanna Ibrahim and Greek Orthodox Boulos Yazigi were abducted on 22 April 2013. Several attempts to locate them have been so far unsuccessful. According to Asia News, Mgr Daniel Kourie, Syriac . . . Read More

500 children taken by Boko Haram from one northern Nigeria city

April 28, 2017 Nigeria Boko Haram, Borno, Chibok girls, Damasak, Kidnapping, Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria, Refugees, Women

As thousands of refugees return home to northern Nigeria, they are discovering with dismay the scale of devastation left by Boko Haram. In Damasak (Borno State), a city once occupied by the Islamist extremists, hundreds of children are missing. Most of them were seized by Boko Haram in autumn 2014. . . . Read More

Mali: 2 months on, still no news of kidnapped nun

April 12, 2017 Mali Bamako, Beatrice Stockly, Gao, Gloria Argoti, Kidnapping, Mali, Timbuktu

It’s been more than two months since a Colombian nun was kidnapped in southern Mali, a relatively safe part of the country, which has been mainly unaffected by Islamist attacks. Gloria Argoti, in her sixties, was kidnapped on 7 Feb, when assailants broke into her convent in Karangasso, 300km from . . . Read More

UPDATE: Missing Egyptian woman, 18, given new Muslim identity by security services

March 8, 2017 Egypt Copts, Egypt, Kidnapping, Luxor, Upper Egypt, Women

UPDATE (8 March) The brother of 18-year-old Hanan Girgis, an Egyptian Christian woman missing since 26 January, says he has been told she has a new Muslim identity and is being held by the security services. Rezeiky Girgis heard from the Civil Status Authority at Esna Police Station that Hanan . . . 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

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