Tag: Police

Indian Christians heave sighs of relief as Hindu nationalists lose elections in key states

December 12, 2018 India Anti-conversion law, BJP, Chhattisgarh, Christmas, Delhi, Elections, Hindu nationalism, India, Madhya Pradesh, Minorities, Police, Rajasthan

Christians can heave sighs of relief as the ruling Hindu nationalist BJP has been thrown out of power in three key states in central India that have reported dozens of incidents of anti-Christian violence and harassment. The BJP, which had enjoyed unstinted power in two of the states – Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh – for 15 . . . Read More

Police in China given quotas for how many Christians to arrest

December 6, 2018 China Catholics, China, Churches, Hebei, Henan, Liaoning, Peter Shao Zhumin, Police, Religion Law, Shanxi, Xi Jinping, Zhejiang, Zhengzhou

Police stations in a city in northeast China are having their performance evaluated according to the number of Christians they arrest, says religious-liberty magazine Bitter Winter. A police officer from Dalian, a port city in Liaoning Province, near the North Korean border, told the magazine that his station had received . . . Read More

China: Cultivate ‘patriotic’ clergy, Henan officials told

November 2, 2018 China Catholics, Chengdu, China, Churches, Fujian, Fuzhou, Henan, Human rights, Police, Proselytism, Religious freedom, Sichuan, Sinicisation, Three-Self Patriotic Movement

Local government officials in China’s central Henan province are being encouraged to cultivate “patriotic” clergy for leadership positions in the Catholic Church, according to a document outlining how to implement the new religion regulations. The guidelines, published in a confidential document titled ‘Supervision and Self-Inspection Framework for Implementing the Central . . . Read More

Sudanese church leader charged with apostasy

October 26, 2018 Sudan Apostasy, Darfur, Mariam Ibrahim, NISS, Nuba Mountains, Nyala, Police, Sudan

Yousef denied to recant his Christian faith and now faces apostasy charges for which he can receive the death penalty. (Photo: UNAMID via Flickr; CC 2.0)

A Sudanese church leader is scheduled to appear in a Darfuri court on Sunday, 28 October, on charges of apostasy, after he refused to recant his faith while in police custody, Middle East Concern (MEC) reports. Tajadin Idris Yousef was the leader of the group of 13 Sudanese Christians taken . . . Read More

Pakistani Christian gets life for blasphemy despite learning difficulties

October 26, 2018 Pakistan Asia Bibi, Blasphemy, Pakistan, Police, Quran

Mentally impaired Yaqoob Bashir Masih was only 20 years old when he was accused of committing blasphemy in June 2015. He has been in prison ever since, and now his hometown District and Sessions Court in Mirpur Khas, a small district in Pakistan’s Sindh province, has sentenced him to life-long . . . Read More

Turkey gives Western Christian evangelist 15 days to leave country

October 25, 2018 Turkey Ankara, David Byle, Istanbul, Police, Proselytism, Turkey, USA

After 20 months in bureaucratic limbo, Canadian-American Christian David Byle was arrested on 13 October and detained overnight by security police in Ankara, the Turkish capital. His detention took place the morning after US pastor Andrew Brunson was ordered released by an Izmir court and allowed to return to the . . . Read More

Suspected accomplice in Pakistan church bombings acquitted

October 1, 2018 Pakistan All Saints Church, Pakistan, Peshawar, Police, Terrorism

A Pakistani court has acquitted a suspected accomplice in two suicide bombings that targeted a church in Peshawar five years ago. Two suicide bombers blew themselves up as worshippers were leaving the Sunday service at All Saints’ Memorial Church on 22 September 2013. The bombings killed more than 80 people . . . Read More

Pakistani Christians fear more violence if they press charges over attack

September 26, 2018 Pakistan Catholics, Kasur, Minorities, Pakistan, Police

A land dispute between Christian and Muslim villagers in rural Pakistan ended with a mob attack on the Christian community, but no charges against the attackers. A 10-year-old boy’s arm was broken and two women were beaten and had their clothes torn when a mob of at least men and . . . Read More

Egypt: Copts’ homes attacked despite advance notice to police of threats

September 3, 2018 Egypt Copts, Egypt, Islamic extremism, Luxor, Minya, Police

Houses of Copts have again come under attack by a mob in a village in Minya Governorate on 31 August, as a protest against Copts praying in a home owned by one of them, since there is no village church, Coptic news site Watani reports. World Watch Monitor last week . . . Read More

Hindu extremist violence on the rise in southern Indian states

August 3, 2018 India Andhra Pradesh, Bajrang Dal, BJP, Caste, Churches, Converts, Dalits, Hindu nationalism, House churches, Hyderabad, India, Narendra Modi, Police, Religious freedom, RSS, Telangana

Good Fruit Ministries church in Sangameshwar village of Siddhipet District, Telangana state was demolished by a bull dozer on the directions of uppercaste Hindus who follow Vaastu shastra.

Religious freedom advocate ADF India has noted a rise in incidents of religiously motivated violence in India’s two Telugu language-speaking southern states, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, including the brutal murder of an elderly Christian woman. So far this year, ADF India says it has verified 17 incidents of anti-Christian persecution . . . Read More

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