Tag: Sana’a

Father Tom releases book about 18 months’ captivity in Yemen

February 7, 2018 Yemen Aden, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, Ansar al-Sharia, Catholics, Hodeidah, Islamic extremism, Islamic State, Kidnapping, Sana'a, Taiz, Tom Uzhunnalil, Yemen

The Indian priest who spent 18 months in captivity in Yemen has released an autobiography. Fr. Tom Uzhunnalil, who was freed in September 2017, has titled the book ‘By the Grace of God’. The priest, who is 58, presented his book during a meeting of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of . . . Read More

Fr Tom: my faith got me through 18 months’ captivity

September 14, 2017 Yemen Aden, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, Ansar al-Sharia, Hodeidah, Islamic State, Pope Francis, Sana'a, Taiz, Tom Uzhunnalil, Yemen

The Indian missionary priest released this week after 18 months as a hostage in Yemen has said his Christian faith helped him to survive the ordeal. Fr Tom Uzhunnalil, a priest in the Salesian order, met Pope Francis at the Vatican on Wednesday, the day after his release. The priest . . . Read More

Indian priest released after 18 months’ captivity in Yemen

September 12, 2017 Yemen Aden, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, Ansar al-Sharia, Hodeidah, Islamic State, Middle East, Sana'a, Taiz, Tom Uzhunnalil, Yemen

India’s Church, government and politicians from across the political landscape have all expressed relief and joy over the release of Salesian Father Tom Uzhunnalil, kidnapped in Yemen in March 2016. Statements hailing the release of the Indian priest have poured in – from India’s foreign minister, Sushma Swaraj, to the . . . Read More

Christians in Yemen ‘persevering, not surviving’

August 10, 2017 Yemen Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, Houthis, Islamic State, Sana'a, Yemen

Mosque in Yemen's capital Sana'a (2009). The country currently is estimated to be 99 percent Muslim and ruled by Sharia law and the targeted killing of Christians is a "surprisingly recent phenomenon". (Photo: Open Doors International)

The ongoing civil war in Yemen has claimed thousands of lives, but, away from the conflict, the country’s Christian minority has also faced targeted attacks by the insurgent Islamist group Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. Yemen, the Arab world’s poorest nation, with 26 million people, is “the last bastion on . . . Read More

As a Christian woman in Yemen, life is about survival

April 11, 2017 Yemen Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, Converts, Houthis, Sana'a, Women

Being a woman and Christian in Yemen is not easy. Photo: Open Doors International

Life in Yemen is not easy for a woman. Especially if you are a woman who has decided to become a Christian. Yemen is a tribal country, where leaving Islam is seen as a betrayal of that tribe, punishable by death. Nadeen (*), a born-and-raised Yemeni woman in her late . . . Read More

Gunmen kill 4 nuns and 12 others in Yemen

March 7, 2016 Yemen Aden, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, Ansar al-Sharia, Hodeidah, Houthis, Islamic State, Kidnapping, Sana'a, Taiz, Tom Uzhunnalil

Four Catholic nuns from the late Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity were among 16 victims killed by six unidentified gunmen at a home for the elderly in Yemen’s southern port city of Aden. The four missionary nurses were serving breakfast to the home’s 80 residents on 4 March when armed . . . Read More

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