Tag: USA

Pence’s plans to help Middle East Christians overshadowed by political storm

January 19, 2018 Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Al-Azhar, Arabs, Benjamin Netanyahu, Bethlehem, Churches, Copts, Donald Trump, Egypt, Israel, Jerusalem, Jews, Jordan, King Abdullah II, Middle East, Mike Pence, Palestinian Territories, USA, West Bank

US Vice President Mike Pence’s postponed trip to the Middle East goes ahead this weekend amid myriad tensions and a fast-shifting diplomatic landscape. Pence’s trip is a shortened version of the one planned for last month, which was abruptly cancelled when protests erupted at President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem . . . Read More

US and UN strike $55 million deal for Iraq’s religious minorities

January 12, 2018 Iraq Iraq, Islamic State, Minorities, Nineveh Plains, UN, USA

Iraqi families like that of 12-year old Noeh will receive assistance in returning home after they fled IS. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

Ethnic and religious minorities in northern Iraq are set to receive assistance worth US $55 million from the UN’s international development agency (UNDP), funded by the US government. USAID, the development agency of the US government, said the money would be used to help minorities living in parts of Iraq . . . Read More

Could Pakistan’s place on US ‘Watch List’ create more problems for minorities?

January 11, 2018 Pakistan Afghanistan, Donald Trump, Human rights, Joseph Colony, Minorities, Multan, Pakistan, Religious freedom, Taliban, USA

The US State Department last week placed Pakistan on a ‘Special Watch List’ for “severe violations of religious freedom”. The US did not, however, go as far as adding it to its ten ‘Countries of Particular Concern’* – for countries where “governments have engaged in or tolerated systematic, ongoing, and . . . Read More

Iran: 2 Christians given 8-year prison sentences

January 10, 2018 Iran Ebrahim Firouzi, Eskander Rezaie, Iran, Refugees, Shiraz, Soroush Saraei, USA

The outside of the Evin prison in Tehran. Photo: Flickr/ SabzPhoto

Two Iranian Christians in the southern city of Shiraz have been sentenced to eight years in prison for “action against national security”, proselytising and holding “house-church” meetings. Eskander Rezaie and Soroush Saraei, who have both spent time in prison before, will appeal their sentences, according to Christian advocacy group Middle . . . Read More

US State Department adds Pakistan to religious-freedom watch list

January 5, 2018 Global News -- No Particular Country Central African Republic, China, Eritrea, Iran, Minorities, Myanmar, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Religious freedom, Russia, Sanctions, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, USA, Uzbekistan, Vietnam

Burial of victims of a suicide attack on the Methodist Bethel Church in Quetta, Pakistan, on Sunday 17 December 2017 in which at least 9 people were killed. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

The US State Department has placed Pakistan on a “Special Watch List” for severe violators of religious freedom, it announced yesterday (4 January) with the publication of its annual list of ‘Countries of Particular Concern’. The announcement comes as the US government cuts security aid to Pakistan, saying the country . . . Read More

‘Discreet and systematic persecution of Christians’ in Sudan

December 15, 2017 Sudan Religious freedom, Sudan, Sudanese Church of Christ, USA

Sudanese government started demolishing this Sudan Church of Christ (SCOC) building in the Suba region, 20 km south of the capital, Khartoum, early May 2017. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

A new report on Sudan, published earlier this week by the Enough Project, says the US must consider Sudan’s persecution of Christians and other minority groups before it lifts the remaining sanctions against the country. The report, ‘Radical Intolerance: Sudan’s Religious Oppression and Embrace of Extremist Groups’, says Sudan is . . . Read More

Over 800,000 call on UN to protect Christians in Middle East

December 12, 2017 Global News -- No Particular Country Bartella, Bashar Warda, Brazil, India, Iraq, Islamic State, Karamles, Middle East, Mike Pence, New York, Qaraqosh, Syria, UN, USA

Noeh (bottom) with his parents, Hathem and Almas, and siblings Sam (17), Jan Hannah (14), and Salina (7). (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

A petition signed by more than 800,000 people will be presented at the United Nations in New York today (12 December), calling for the protection of Christians and other minorities in Iraq and Syria, and recognition of the key role faith leaders can play in rebuilding efforts post-Islamic State. The . . . Read More

Russia pledges to safeguard future of Christians in Middle East

December 5, 2017 Russia Iraq, Middle East, Mike Pence, Moscow, Russia, Russian Orthodox Church, Syria, USA, Vladimir Putin

A mosaic of Jesus pictured as an icon in a church in Homs, was vandalised by Islamic fundamentalists, October 2017. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

Russia’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Sergey Lavrov, says the peaceful co-existence of different religious groups in the Middle East, and particularly safeguarding the future of Christians, is one of Russia’s policy goals for the region. He was speaking at the third Mediterranean Dialogues summit in Rome on 1 and 2 December, . . . Read More

Egypt: 21 churches receive long-delayed government approval to build

November 29, 2017 Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Al-Azhar, Anba Macarius, Cairo, Churches, Copts, Egypt, El-Arish, Islamic State, Minya, Pentecostals, Port Said, Protestants, Religious freedom, Samalut, Sinai, Sohag, Sunni, Upper Egypt, USA

Twenty-one churches in Egypt’s southern rural Minya governorate can restore, expand and rebuild their churches after receiving approval from the Minya Governor. Governor Essam al-Bedeiwi approved the 21 applications over the last six months. Some of the churches had been waiting for more than 20 years for a permit to come . . . Read More

South Sudan’s Christians return to Sudan, despite pressures

November 28, 2017 Sudan Apostasy, Blasphemy, Omar al-Bashir, Petr Jašek, Religious freedom, Russia, Sanctions, Sharia, South Sudan, Sudan, USA

Village church in Goli, South Sudan. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

Many of the Christians who fled Sudan after the South’s independence in 2011 have returned, even though the authorities continue to close churches and harass Christians there, a Catholic priest told The Economist. Prayer centres that were closed have been reopened, Father Juma Charles of St Matthew’s Catholic Cathedral in . . . Read More

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