Tag: USA

Why Syrian and Iraqi Christians eye different futures

August 3, 2017 Syria Asylum seekers, Iraq, Refugees, Syria, UN, USA

Despite the violence, around 30,000 of Aleppo's 250,000 Christians have remained in Syria's ancient second city

Iraqi Christians who decide to flee the Middle East feel they have no future there, whereas Syrian Christians wish to return home because they believe they have a future there under President Bashar Al-Assad. That is the view of human rights lawyer and genocide expert Ewelina Ochab, who has interviewed . . . Read More

Vietnam pastor freed early from prison in return for exile to US

July 31, 2017 Vietnam Central Highlands, Nguyen Cong Chinh, USA, Vietnam

Pastor Nguyen Cong Chinh was released early in a deal that saw him leave the country. (Photo: USCIRF)

Vietnam has released a Lutheran pastor and deported him to the United States, reports UCA News. Nguyen Cong Chinh, was serving an 11-year prison sentence for “undermining national solidarity” through religious activities with ethnic groups in the country’s Central Highlands. He was also a director of the Vietnam-U.S. Lutheran Alliance . . . Read More

US government warned of persistent ‘ideology of hatred’ in Saudi textbooks

July 28, 2017 Saudi Arabia Education, Middle East, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, USA

The Saudi government is failing to reform textbooks that direct violence and hatred to other religious groups including converts to Christianity and Jews. (Photo: Open Doors International)

An American expert has accused Saudi Arabia of “obfuscation” and of breaking its promises to reform textbooks that pump out an “ideology of hatred” that threatens Western security and Middle Eastern stability. Nina Shea, director of the Center for Religious Freedom at the Washington-based Hudson Institute, was addressing the US . . . Read More

US nominates new religious freedom ambassador

July 27, 2017 Global News -- No Particular Country Darfur, Human rights, Religious freedom, Sam Brownback, USA

US President Donald Trump intends to nominate Sam Brownback, a Republican Governor from Kansas, as Ambassador-at-large for International Religious Freedom, the White House has announced. He will become head of the State Department’s Office of International Religious Freedom which is dedicated to monitoring religious freedom abuses around the world. Religious . . . Read More

Maldives told to retract criticism of UN Special Rapporteur

July 25, 2017 Maldives Ahmed Shaheed, Maldives, Progressive Party of Maldives, Religious freedom, UN, USA

UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief, Dr Ahmed Shaheed, has been accused by the Maldives' government of spreading "evil deeds" and of "irreligious activities". (Photo: Getty Images)

The Maldives should retract its accusations against the UN’s Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB) – its former Foreign Minister, Ahmed Shaheed – and condemn the calls for his beheading, says the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF). USCIRF “strongly condemn[ed]” the accusations from the ruling . . . Read More

Russia outlaws Jehovah’s Witnesses as ‘extremist group’

July 18, 2017 Russia Don Ossewaarde, Jehovah's Witnesses, Kazakhstan, Russia, USA, Vladimir Putin, Yarovaya Law

The administrative centre of the Jehovah's Witnesses based in the town of Solnechnoye in the federal city of St Petersburg, Russia. The Supreme Court has ordered the disbanding of the group. It needs to hand over all its assets and property to the Russian government. (Photo: Getty Images)

Russia’s Supreme Court yesterday (17 July) rejected an appeal by the Jehovah’s Witnesses against a ruling in April which declared it to be “extremist” and has ordered the disbanding of the group on Russian territory. “The justice ministry had argued that the group distributed pamphlets which incited hatred against other . . . Read More

More Christian than Muslim refugees in US under Trump, but fewer overall

July 14, 2017 Chaldeans, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Donald Trump, Eritrea, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Migrants, Mike Pence, Refugees, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Ukraine, USA, Yemen

Christians account for a steadily growing share of refugee arrivals in the US, Pew Research has found, although the net number of Christian arrivals may in fact be shrinking. In its review of US State Department data, published on 12 July, Pew noticed a gradual increase in the numbers of . . . Read More

Sudan sanctions extended for three months

July 13, 2017 Sudan Human rights, North Korea, Religious freedom, Sanctions, Sudan, USA

A Sudanese woman carries a bag of food-aid on her head at the El-Riyadh camp for internally displaced persons (IDP) in Geneina, the capital of Sudan’s West Darfur state, on 8 February 2017. Rights groups are calling for “a new set of “smart and modernised” sanctions that would “spare” the Sudanese people. (Photo: Getty Images)

The US has extended its sanctions against Sudan for another three months, saying “more time is needed” to review whether Sudan has done enough to merit their removal. Sudan’s President, Omar Bashir, responded by suspending his negotiating committee until the end of the three months. The committee has been in . . . Read More

Sudan’s rights record in spotlight ahead of US talks on easing sanctions

July 3, 2017 Sudan Human rights, Mariam Ibrahim, Nuba Mountains, Sanctions, USA

Sudan's government continues with the gradual confiscation of properties belonging to, among others, the SCOC and SEPC in Bahri (Khartoum North) and Omdurman. In June, Sudanese church leaders risked going public with their concerns by sending an open letter to the government.

The US Embassy in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, says it is still “very concerned” about Sudan’s human rights record, including restrictions of religious freedom, ahead of talks next week about the potential lifting of economic sanctions. In a statement on its Facebook page on 30 June, the Embassy said it . . . Read More

Vietnamese pastor punished for ‘reports’ to US diplomats; Catholic blogger to be expelled to France

June 15, 2017 Vietnam Cambodia, Central Highlands, Communism, Ho Chi Minh City, Montagnards, Nguyen Cong Chinh, Thailand, USA

A pastor imprisoned in south-east Vietnam is being further punished for telling a visiting U.S. diplomatic delegation about abuses he has suffered. Nguyen Cong Chinh, serving an 11-year sentence for “undermining national solidarity” by religious activities with ethnic groups in the Central Highlands, met US consular officials in Ho Chi . . . Read More

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