Tag: Quran

Indonesia: Christian politician accused of blasphemy for opposing Sharia-based bylaws

November 22, 2018 Indonesia Ahok, Blasphemy, Indonesia, Jakarta, Quran, Sharia, Tangerang

A young Christian politician has been accused of blasphemy in Indonesia after criticising Sharia-based bylaws, Catholic news agency UCAN reports. Grace Natalie, 36, the chairwoman of the Indonesian Solidarity Party (PSI), was reported to police by a conservative Muslim organisation after delivering her speech at her party’s gathering in Tangerang, near . . . Read More

Lawyer: Asia Bibi is on a plane, destination unknown

November 7, 2018 Pakistan Asia Bibi, Blasphemy, Islamabad, Lahore, Multan, Pakistan, Prophet Muhammad, Quran, Salmaan Taseer, Sheikhupura

Asia Bibi is finally free, almost one decade after she was first imprisoned. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

The lawyer for Aasiya Noreen said 7 Nov. that the Pakistani Christian, whose blasphemy conviction was overturned 31 Oct., was on a plane, destination undisclosed. “No one knows where she will land,” the lawyer, Saiful Malook, told Agence France-Presse in a message via Twitter posted at 7:40 p.m. GMT: In his . . . Read More

Pakistan PM appeals for calm after Christian woman acquitted of blasphemy

October 31, 2018 Pakistan Asia Bibi, Blasphemy, Constitution, Imran Khan, Islamic extremism, Lahore, Pakistan, Pakistan Peoples Party, Prophet Muhammad, Punjab, Quran, Sharia, Sindh, Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan

Pakistan’s prime minister, Imran Khan, this evening urged the nation not to let a fraction of people incite them to take the law into their own hands over the decision of the Supreme Court to release a Christian woman who had been facing the death penalty for blasphemy. The security . . . 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

Asia Bibi appeal complainant not even present at time of her alleged ‘blasphemy’

October 19, 2018 Pakistan Asia Bibi, Blasphemy, Minorities, Pakistan, Prophet Muhammad, Quran

Asia Bibi with Punjab Governor, Salmaan Taseer, who was assassinated for supporting her case. (Photo: Office of the Governor of Punjab)

Asia Bibi’s final appeal against her execution in the Supreme Court of Pakistan went on for more than two hours. Below, World Watch Monitor provides details of what was said. Asia Bibi’s appeal hearing on 8 October took place before a three-member bench – Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, Justice Asif . . . Read More

Iraqi Christian Rita was sold four times on the IS sex slave market

June 19, 2018 Iraq Iraq, Islamic State, Mosul, Peshmerga, Qaraqosh, Quran, Rape, Syria, Trauma, Turkey, Women, Yazidis

Iraqi Christian Rita Habib was sold four times on the ISIS sex slave market. (Photo: Still from video)

Rita, a Christian woman from the Iraqi town of Qaraqosh, was 26 when Islamic State invaded her town and took her captive. She was sold and bought four times as a sex slave before she was freed in 2017 and reunited with her father in April this year, almost four . . . Read More

Four-year sentence for Indonesian pastor who evangelised a taxi driver

May 10, 2018 Indonesia Banten, Blasphemy, Indonesia, Muhammadiyah, Proselytism, Protestants, Quran, Religious freedom, Tangerang

A Protestant pastor has been sentenced to four years in prison for religious defamation after discussing Christianity with a Muslim taxi driver in Indonesia, the Jakarta Post reports. The Tangerang District Court in Banten also ordered that Rev. Abraham Ben Moses, 52, pay a fine of 50 million Rupiah (US$3,565) . . . Read More

Ahok to stay in jail, Indonesian Supreme Court rules

March 28, 2018 Indonesia Ahok, Blasphemy, Indonesia, Islamic extremism, Jakarta, Quran

Jakarta’s former governor 'Ahok' is scheduled to be released from prison on 24 January. (Photo: Open Doors International)

Indonesia’s Supreme Court has rejected an appeal by the Christian former governor of Jakarta to review his conviction for insulting Islam, reports Reuters. The ruling means Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, better known as “Ahok”, will serve out his two-year prison sentence for suggesting a passage from the Quran had been misinterpreted . . . Read More

Pakistan court acquits 20 in case of Christian couple burnt alive

March 26, 2018 Pakistan Blasphemy, Bonded labourers, Lahore, Minorities, Pakistan, Punjab, Quran, Shahzad Masih, Shama Bibi

Relatives of Shahzad Masih and his five-months-pregnant wife Shama Bibi are oraying at the site where the couple was killed for their “blasphemous” act on 4 November 2014. (Photo: Getty Images/AFP/Arif Ali)

An Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) in Lahore, Pakistan, on Saturday (24 March) acquitted 20 men suspected of involvement in the murder of a Christian couple burnt alive at the kiln where they worked in November 2014 – after it was alleged that they had set fire to some pages from a Quran. . . . Read More

Brunei takes another step towards full implementation of Sharia

March 21, 2018 Brunei Borneo, Brunei, Islamic extremism, Proselytism, Quran, Ramadan, Religious freedom, Sharia, Southeast Asia, Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, Torture

Parliament building in Brunei's capital, Bandar Seri Begawan. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

Brunei’s Sultan and his Islamic Religious Council have approved a draft Criminal Code that brings the country another step closer to the full implementation of Sharia (Islamic law), the Borneo Bulletin reports. The draft outlines procedures for investigation, prosecution and the judiciary, and would facilitate the introduction of harsher punishments . . . Read More

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