It is illegal to be anything other than a Muslim in Afghanistan, a tribal society where leaving Islam is seen as a betrayal of the tribe. Christians who are discovered may be sent to a psychiatric hospital, on the grounds that no sane person would leave Islam. Baptism is a crime punishable by death. Radical Islamic militants, such as the Islamic State group (new on the scene) or the Taliban, are expanding their control and rule over more than 40% of the country already.
Afghanistan overtakes N Korea as most dangerous place to live as a Christian
After the August 2021 takeover by the Taliban of Afghanistan, the country has overtaken North Korea as the most dangerous place in the world to be a Christian, according to the annual World Watch List of the NGO Open Doors International, out today. After 20 years at the top*, North […]
Afghanistan: Radical Islamist groups recruit at universities
While the Afghan government is engaged in peace talks with the hard-line Taliban movement, radical Islamist groups are spreading their ideology at universities. Basira Akhtar, a 22-year-old student, was beaten up twice earlier this year, at her university in the capital Kabul, when her headscarf slipped from her head. In […]
Afghan convert ‘could face death’ if deported from Switzerland
An Afghan convert could face persecution, imprisonment and even death if the Swiss government succeeds in deporting him, a religious liberty advocacy group has said. The Vienna-based organisation, ADF International, announced today (Thursday) that it filed an expert brief with the European Court of Human Rights in support of the […]
EU ‘wilfully blind’ to risks of deporting Christian converts back to Afghanistan
European countries and the EU are “wilfully blind” to the risks facing Afghans who fail in their asylum claims and are sent home, according to a new report by Amnesty International. “All returnees face a real risk of serious human rights violations,” says Amnesty, but some, such as religious minorities […]
Afghanistan: kidnapped Finnish woman freed after four months
A Finnish aid worker held hostage for nearly four months in Afghanistan has been freed today (14 September). She had been kidnapped from an international guesthouse in Kabul, run by her employer, Operation Mercy, when it was attacked in May; her German female colleague and Afghan guard were killed. The unnamed […]
German aid worker killed, Finnish woman ‘kidnapped’ in Kabul
A German woman and her Afghan guard were killed, and a Finnish woman apparently kidnapped, at an international guesthouse run by a Swedish-based charity in Afghanistan’s capital Kabul late on Saturday evening, 20 May. The two women were aid workers employed by Operation Mercy, a relief and development NGO which […]
Priest held by Taliban gives first interview
Indian priest Father Prem Kumar, who was kidnapped by the Taliban in Afghanistan last year and spent the next eight months in captivity, has given his first interview. Speaking from the Vatican having just met the Pope, he told BBC World Service that his captors were “innocent” people who were […]
Death sentence for killers of Afghan woman
Four Afghan men have been sentenced to death for the mob killing of a woman falsely accused of burning a copy of the Qu’ran. The 28-year-old woman, called Farkhunda, got into an argument with a man selling amulets outside Kabul’s Shah-Du-Shamshaira shrine when the accusation was made. The amulet seller […]
Indian priest kidnapped in Afghanistan released after eight months
Indian Jesuit priest Alexis Prem Kumar who was kidnapped in June 2014 in southern Afghanistan was released and reached New Delhi on February 22 with the intervention of the Indian government. “Delighted at securing the release of Indian Jesuit priest Father Alexis Prem Kumar from captivity in Afghanistan,” tweeted Indian […]
Taliban murder four humanitarian aid workers in Kabul
Werner and Hannelie Groenewald, October 2014INcontext Three armed Taliban insurgents swept into a Kabul guesthouse on Nov. 29, murdering three South Africans and two Afghans in the compound of an international aid agency in the Afghan capital. Werner Groenewald and his two teenage children were murdered in the guesthouse […]