Tag: Prisons

Iran: ‘staggering’ number of Christians arrested – 114 in a week

December 5, 2018 Iran Amin Afshar Naderi, Christmas, Ebrahim Firouzi, Evin Prison, Iran, Karaj, Maryam Naghash Zargaran, Prisons, Proselytism, Rajaei Shahr Prison, Tehran

Over 100 Christians have been arrested in Iran in the past week and nearly 150 in the past month, as part of the government’s attempt to “warn” Christians against proselytising over Christmas, according to the advocacy director of religious freedom charity Article 18. Mansour Borji called the number of arrests . . . Read More

China has transformed Xinjiang into a ‘mass detention camp’ – UN

September 3, 2018 China Children, China, Prisons, Religious freedom, Terrorism, Uyghurs, Xinjiang

China's government has had an "anti terror" campaign in majority-Muslim Xinjiang region - meaning increased surveillance, arrests and detention. (Photo: JOHANNES EISELE/AFP/Getty Images)

The United Nations has raised alarm over the tens of thousands of Uyghur Muslims being held in detention centres in Xinjiang, northwest China. In a report last Thursday, the UN Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination said the Chinese government had “transformed the autonomous region of the Uyghurs into . . . Read More

Eritrea releases at least 35 Christians from prison

July 20, 2018 Eritrea Asmara, Eritrea, Human rights, Prisons, Religious freedom

A residential neighbourhood in the capital Asmara. More than 35 Christians were released from jail this week. (Photo: David Stanley)

Eritrea released at least 35 Christians from prison earlier this week, reports the Eritrean news site Asmarino Independent. The prisoners, among them 11 women, were released on bail from Mai-Sirwa prison, just outside the capital Asmara. While five were able to leave on Tuesday (17 July), the remaining 30 were . . . Read More

Freed Czech charity worker recalls finding hell and heaven in Sudan’s jails

July 13, 2018 Sudan Abdulmonem Abdumawla, Hassan Taour, Islamic State, Khartoum, Kuwa Shamal, Nuba Mountains, Petr Jašek, Prisons, Sudan, Sudanese Church of Christ

The Czech aid worker who spent 14 ½ months behind bars in Sudan has said he counted his experience a “privilege” because it enabled him to share his Christian faith with Sudanese prisoners, and praised the country’s “very courageous” Christian minority. Petr Jašek also told World Watch Monitor that two . . . Read More

North Korea tells US to drop ‘anachronistic human rights racket’

July 9, 2018 North Korea Bibles, Donald Trump, Human rights, Kim Jong-Un, North Korea, Prisons, Religious freedom, Torture, USA

North Korea has called on the United States to stop its “anachronistic human rights racket” as talks continue between the two countries, AP reports. The US House of Representatives recently promised that “complete, verifiable, and irreversible human rights improvements” in North Korea were a necessary part of any deal, while . . . Read More

Reconciliation with Ethiopia could improve human rights in Eritrea – UN rapporteur

July 2, 2018 Eritrea Abiy Ahmed, Churches, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Human rights, Prisons, Religious freedom, UN

As relations between Ethiopia and its neighbour Eritrea show signs of improvement, the UN’s rapporteur on human rights in Eritrea has called for the momentum to be used to improve human rights conditions in the country. “While peace is being negotiated, while rapprochement is happening, one would make sure that . . . Read More

Chinese pastor released after two and a half years in prison

June 20, 2018 China China, Churches, Guizhou, Huoshi Church, Prisons, Religious freedom, Su Tianfu, Yang Hua

A Chinese pastor was released yesterday (19 June), after being detained for two and a half years for “illegally possessing state secrets”, reports Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW). Pastor Yang Hua of Huoshi Church (which means Living Stone), in the south-western province of Guizhou, was arrested in December 2015. He was . . . Read More

Eritrean pastor released after 11 years in prison

June 20, 2018 Eritrea Asmara, Barentu, Eritrea, Prisons, Protestants, Religious freedom

Oqbamichel Haiminot (Release International)

An Evangelical pastor in Eritrea has been released from the notorious Mitire Camp after 11 years of detention without charges, reports Voice of the Martyrs. No reasons have been given for the release of pastor Oqbamichel Haiminot, who was the leader of the Kale Hiwot, or “Word of Life”, church . . . Read More

North Koreans ‘betrayed’ by human rights omission in Trump-Kim agreement

June 12, 2018 North Korea Donald Trump, Human rights, International Criminal Court, Kim Hak Song, Kim Jong-Un, North Korea, Prisons, Pyongyang, Religious freedom, USA

After meeting Kim Jong-un in Singapore, US President Donald Trump said the many North Koreans currently being held in forced-labour camps were “one of the great winners today”. (Photo: ANTHONY WALLACE/AFP/Getty Images)

North Koreans were “betrayed” by the failure of US President Donald Trump to include human rights provisions in his agreement with the country’s leader, Kim Jong-un, following their historic meeting in Singapore, according to Human Rights Watch’s Asia Director, Phil Robertson. “The North Korean people have suffered for so long,” . . . Read More

US religious freedom report shows ‘no progress’ in Myanmar

May 30, 2018 Global News -- No Particular Country Aung San Suu Kyi, Iran, Islamic extremism, Kachin, Middle East, Mike Pompeo, Minorities, Mohammad bin Salman, Myanmar, Prisons, Refugees, Religious freedom, Rohingya, Sam Brownback, Saudi Arabia, USA

Displaced Kachin residents cross the Malikha river on 26 April to escape the fighting between the Kachin Independence Army and the Myanmar government troops. (Photo: ZAU RING HPARA/AFP/Getty Images)

Myanmar, Saudi Arabia and Iran are among the countries criticised for their religious-freedom records in the US State Department’s International Religious Freedom Report for 2017, launched yesterday (29 May) in Washington DC. The report references the violence against the predominantly Muslim Rohingya ethnic group in Myanmar, whose situation is still . . . Read More

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