Year: 2018

Church construction slows under Egypt’s new church-building law

December 21, 2018 Egypt Building

A 2016 law designed to make it easier to establish and build churches in Egypt has not eased the bottleneck, according to a new report. The 12 December report, issued by the Project on Middle East Democracy, said approval of church building projects actually has slowed under the new law. . . . Read More

New religion-control law changes little in Vietnam after 1 year

December 18, 2018 Vietnam

Four families of Hmong Christian believers were attacked by their village chief and other villagers at midnight of March 1, 2018, in a northwest province in Vietnam. A law establishing government regulation of religion is ignored in remote areas of the country, where ethnic minorities continue under heavy persecution. Photo: World Watch Monitor

Christian leaders in Vietnam largely agree that little has changed since the new Law on Belief and Religion came into effect January 1, 2018. Its potentially positive provisions are unevenly applied, and completely ignored in remote areas where ethnic minorities continue under heavy persecution and yet convert to Christianity. On . . . Read More

Two Pakistani Christian brothers sentenced to death for blasphemy

December 17, 2018 Pakistan Blasphemy, Lahore, Minorities, Pakistan, Punjab

Islamist activists carry placards against Asia Bibi, a Pakistani Christian woman who was recently released after spending eight years on death row for blasphemy, during a rally in Karachi on 21 November. (Photo: Getty Images)

A Pakistani court last week sentenced two Christian brothers to death for blasphemy. Since their arrest in 2014, Qaisar and Amoon Ayub had been held in District Jail Jhelum, in Punjab province, 200 km north of Lahore, for allegedly posting “disrespectful material” on their website, according to AsiaNews. For security . . . Read More

Calls for inquiry into UN peacekeepers’ role in massacres in Central African Republic

December 17, 2018 Central African Republic Alindao, Anti-balaka, Central African Republic, Dieudonné Nzapalainga, Seleka, UN, UPC

As many as 100 civilians lost their lives in an attack on a refugee camp and cathedral in Alindao last month, said Amnesty International. (Photo: Catholic Church in CAR)

United Nations peacekeepers failed in protecting civilians in the Central African Republic during an attack in November that killed as many as 100 people, among them two priests, according to a report by Amnesty International that was published 14 December. Multiple eyewitnesses told Amnesty that UN peacekeepers did not stop . . . Read More

‘I must denounce this wickedness openly’ – detained Chinese pastor

December 14, 2018 China Chengdu, China, Churches, Sam Brownback, Sichuan, Xi Jinping, Xinjiang

Pastor Wang Yi is held in criminal detention on charges of subversion. (Photo: Still from video, Early Rain Covenant Church Facebook page)

A Chinese pastor and his wife who were arrested alongside 100 church members and detained in southwest China on Sunday are accused of subverting state power, which can carry a prison sentence of up to five years. Pastor Wang Yi and his wife, Jiang Rong, and other members of their . . . Read More

Pakistan joins US list of worst religious freedom violators

December 13, 2018 Global News -- No Particular Country Asia Bibi, Blasphemy, China, Comoros, Eritrea, Iran, Minorities, Myanmar, North Korea, Pakistan, Religious freedom, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, USA, Uzbekistan

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)

Pakistan is among the ten countries that appear on the US State Department’s latest list of Countries of Particular Concern (CPC) for religious-freedom violations, Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, announced in a press statement on Tuesday, 11 December. China, Eritrea, Iran, Myanmar, North Korea, Pakistan, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, and . . . Read More

Indian Christians heave sighs of relief as Hindu nationalists lose elections in key states

December 12, 2018 India Anti-conversion law, BJP, Chhattisgarh, Christmas, Delhi, Elections, Hindu nationalism, India, Madhya Pradesh, Minorities, Police, Rajasthan

Christians can heave sighs of relief as the ruling Hindu nationalist BJP has been thrown out of power in three key states in central India that have reported dozens of incidents of anti-Christian violence and harassment. The BJP, which had enjoyed unstinted power in two of the states – Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh – for 15 . . . Read More

Egypt: Copt sentenced to three years in prison for ‘blasphemous’ Facebook post

December 12, 2018 Egypt Blasphemy, Copts, Egypt, Islamic extremism, Minya, Prophet Muhammad

Following Adel's facebook post in July an attempt by a mob to attack the Coptic Saint Tadros Church in Menbal village was prevented by security guards. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

An Egyptian court has sentenced a Coptic Christian to three years in prison after he was found guilty of “insulting Islam in the first degree”. Abdo Adel, 43, from Menbal, a village in Egypt’s Minya governorate, 200km south of Cairo, was accused in July of publishing a post on his . . . Read More

Indonesian Christian governor Ahok set for early release from prison

December 11, 2018 Indonesia Ahok, Blasphemy, Indonesia, Islamic extremism, Jakarta, Minorities

Jakarta’s former governor, known as “Ahok”, who was sentenced last year to two years in jail for blasphemy against Islam, is to be released from prison next month, four months ahead of schedule. The ethnic Chinese Christian, whose real name is Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, was due to be released in . . . Read More

Raymond Koh’s wife ‘expects justice’ as inquiry into Malaysian pastor’s abduction ends

December 10, 2018 Malaysia Human rights, Joshua Hilmy, Kidnapping, Malaysia, Raymond Koh

The Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (SUHAKAM) has concluded its inquiry into the disappearance of church leader Raymond Koh, who was kidnapped in broad daylight by masked men on 13 February 2017. The final three witnesses appeared before the inquiry panel on Friday, 7 December, which is expected to present . . . Read More

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