Tag: USA

Brunson’s trial highlights Turkey’s ‘hostage diplomacy’ tactic

May 4, 2018 Turkey Andrew Brunson, Binali Yildirim, Coup, Donald Trump, Fethullah Gülen, Human rights, Iran, Izmir, Protestants, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Religious freedom, Turkey, USA

On the eve of jailed US pastor Andrew Brunson’s second court hearing in Turkey, growing international comment has focused on Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s transparent “hostage diplomacy” tactic, one of several issues seriously souring his nation’s relations with the United States. The upcoming 7 May hearing near Turkey’s third-largest . . . Read More

Vietnam’s ‘country of concern’ recommendation welcomed

May 3, 2018 Vietnam Human rights, Nguyen Cong Chinh, Religious freedom, USA, Vietnam

The Vietnam Committee on Human Rights (VCHR) has welcomed the recommendation that Vietnam be designated as a “Country of Particular Concern” (CPC). The US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) said on 25 April that it wanted six more countries, including Vietnam, to be added to the US State Department’s . . . Read More

North Korea: US citizens set for release ahead of Trump-Kim talks

May 3, 2018 North Korea Donald Trump, Hyeon Soo Lim, Kim Dong Chul, Kim Hak Song, Kim Jong Wook, Kim Jong-Un, Missionaries, North Korea, Otto Warmbier, Pyongyang, Pyongyang University of Science and Technology, Tony Kim, USA

The three Americans have been detained on charges ranging from committing "hostile acts" against the regime to spying for a foreign country. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

Three American citizens detained in North Korea seem set to be released ahead of a meeting between the two countries’ leaders next month. The BBC reported that the three men had been “relocated to a Pyongyang hotel and are receiving good food and medical care”. US President Donald Trump tweeted . . . Read More

Trump tells Buhari: ‘We cannot allow Christians to be murdered’

May 1, 2018 Nigeria Benue, Dapchi, Donald Trump, Fulani herdsmen, Leah Sharibu, Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria, Sahel, Sub-Saharan Africa, USA

US President Donald Trump decried the killings of Christians in Nigeria as he met with the country’s president, Muhammadu Buhari, in Washington yesterday (30 April). Nigeria has been plagued by violence attributed to Fulani herdsmen in the Middle Belt and northeast. Benue state has been particularly affected, with attacks happening . . . Read More

USCIRF wants 6 more countries on US Govt’s religious-freedom watch list

April 26, 2018 Global News -- No Particular Country Sam Brownback, Taliban, Ukraine, USA

The US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) wants six more countries to be added to the US State Department’s religious-freedom watch list. The Central African Republic, Nigeria, Pakistan, Russia, Syria, and Vietnam should become ‘Countries of Particular Concern’ (CPCs) – a designation the US government uses to describe countries . . . Read More

On trial for terrorism and espionage in a Turkish court

April 25, 2018 Turkey Andrew Brunson, Coup, Fethullah Gülen, Islamic State, Izmir, Kurds, Middle East, Missionaries, PKK, Protestants, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Refugees, Suruç, Turkey, USA

Just one prisoner, slightly built, came through a side door, escorted on either side by armed gendarmerie soldiers, walking him past rows and rows of empty seats. Dressed in a dark suit and white shirt, he glanced up at the impressive state-of-the-art courtroom, built to accommodate 650 people. Its walls . . . Read More

‘State-sponsored repression’ behind Eritrea’s refugee epidemic

April 24, 2018 Eritrea Abune Antonios, African Union, East Africa, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Human rights, Pentecostals, Refugees, Religious freedom, USA

Eritrea remains “one of the worst examples of state-sponsored repression of freedom of religion or belief in the world”, says USCIRF Commissioner. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

“State-sponsored repression” is the reason Eritrea is one of the world’s main sources of refugees, a US human rights commission has heard. The East African country is not at war, nor does it suffer from terrorism, but some estimate that as many as 10 per cent of Eritreans have fled . . . Read More

North Korea, China, Russia and Iran ‘forces of instability’

April 24, 2018 Global News -- No Particular Country Andrew Brunson, Chechnya, China, Human rights, Iran, Liberia, Mexico, Myanmar, North Korea, Rohingya, Russia, Turkey, Ukraine, USA, Uyghurs, Uzbekistan, Venezuela

Tibetan Buddhists as well as Uyghur Muslims are among the minority groups that Chinese authorities are clamping down on. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

The US State Department has called North Korea, China, Russia, and Iran “forces of instability” in its latest set of country reports on human rights, saying they “violate the human rights of those within their borders on a daily basis”. The 2017 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, published on . . . Read More

Erdogan demands Gulen extradition for US pastor’s release

April 23, 2018 Turkey Andrew Brunson, Coup, Donald Trump, Fethullah Gülen, Izmir, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Religious freedom, Turkey, USA

Responding over the weekend to public pressure from both US President Donald Trump and 66 members of the US Senate, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan repeated his demand that US-based Turkish cleric Fethullah Gülen must be extradited back to Turkey if Washington expects Ankara to release jailed US pastor Andrew . . . Read More

Escapee’s ‘living hell’ in North Korean prisons

April 17, 2018 North Korea China, North Korea, Prisons, South Korea, Torture, USA

A North Korean Christian woman has revealed the horrors she experienced in ten different prisons before successfully fleeing the country. Hea Woo*, once one of an estimated 200,000 prisoners held captive in North Korea, described to Christian Today the conditions in the prisons she stayed in as a “living hell”. . . . Read More

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