Year: 2018

70 years since universal declaration, human rights ‘ignored and abused all over the world’

December 7, 2018 Global News -- No Particular Country Afghanistan, Andrew Brunson, China, Colombia, Dalits, Don Ossewaarde, Egypt, Ethiopia, Human rights, India, Iran, Iraq, Mexico, Myanmar, New York, Pakistan, Religious freedom, Syria, Turkey, UN

Ahead of the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on Monday, 10 December, rights group ADF International has called for “recommitment” to the founding principles, which it says are being “consistently ignored and abused … all over the world”. Chief among those rights, ADF notes, is the . . . Read More

Iran: ‘staggering’ number of Christians arrested – 114 in a week

December 5, 2018 Iran Amin Afshar Naderi, Christmas, Ebrahim Firouzi, Evin Prison, Iran, Karaj, Maryam Naghash Zargaran, Prisons, Proselytism, Rajaei Shahr Prison, Tehran

Over 100 Christians have been arrested in Iran in the past week and nearly 150 in the past month, as part of the government’s attempt to “warn” Christians against proselytising over Christmas, according to the advocacy director of religious freedom charity Article 18. Mansour Borji called the number of arrests . . . Read More

Prince Charles praises ‘extraordinary grace and forgiveness’ of Christians in Middle East

December 5, 2018 Global News -- No Particular Country Islamic State, Justin Welby, Middle East, Prince Charles

Britain’s Prince Charles paid tribute to Christians in the Middle East and their “extraordinary capacity for grace and forgiveness” at an event in London yesterday, 4 December. At a special service at Westminster Abbey, attended by Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby and representatives of Churches in the Middle East, the . . . Read More

Pakistani Christian asylum seekers in Thailand ask for help

December 4, 2018 Asylum seekers, Bangkok, Human rights, Imran Khan, Migrants, Minorities, Pakistan, PTI, Refugees, Thailand, UN

Death, disease, starvation, and continuous living in hiding from immigration authorities to escape permanent imprisonment in stinking dungeons – this is what life has become for many stateless Pakistani Christians stranded in Thailand for years now. Several heroic Thai locals have come forward to help sustain these starving asylum seekers, . . . Read More

Persecution of minority Christian women ‘hidden, complex, and interwoven with “everyday” discrimination’

November 26, 2018 Global News -- No Particular Country Central African Republic, Colombia, Education, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iraq, Minorities, Religious freedom, Women

Women's suffering because of their faith is often in daily life. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

Five new reports – about Egypt, Ethiopia, Iraq, Colombia and the Central African Republic – unmask the multiple domestic, societal and state dynamics used in the persecution of Christian women and girls in each country. When viewed individually, the tactics used against women – from subtle discrimination surrounding access to . . . Read More

Turkey refuses entry to N. American Christian evangelist

November 26, 2018 Turkey Ankara, David Byle, Istanbul, Proselytism, Turkey

Turkish immigration authorities refused to permit Canadian-American Christian David Byle to enter Turkey when he returned to Istanbul’s Sabiha Gokcen airport last week. After living and ministering in Turkey for the past 19 years, the 49-year-old evangelist was told by police officials on his arrival on 20 November that a . . . Read More

CAR: Two priests among dozens massacred as Islamic militants raid church compound

November 23, 2018 Central African Republic Anti-balaka, Bangui, Central African Republic, Dieudonné Nzapalainga, Seleka, UN, UPC

In Central African Republic, violence reached another peak last Thursday as dozens were killed in the small town of Alindao, in the south-east of the country. On 15 November, armed men believed to be members of a Séléka off-shoot known by its French acronym UPC (Unité pour la Paix en . . . Read More

Egypt bus attack survivors ask ‘how could this happen again?’

November 23, 2018 Egypt Copts, Egypt, Islamic extremism, Islamic State, Minya

Survivors of the bus attack arrive back at their church on Saturday 3 November. (Photo: Open Doors International)

Egypt’s Copts are still reeling from a second bus attack in two years on the desert road to a monastery in Minya and asking why there was no protection for them. It should have been a joyful day. On Friday 2 November a Coptic family had celebrated the baptisms of two . . . Read More

Two pastors among seven killed by Islamist militants in eastern DRC

November 22, 2018 Democratic Republic of the Congo ADF, Beni, Churches, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Islamic extremism

The remainders of a car after it was hit by a mortar in an attack by ADF militias on two villages near Beni, eastern DRC. (Photo: Getty Images / AFP)

Two Congolese pastors were among the seven Christians killed in attacks by an Islamist militant group in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo earlier this month. Six Christians, including Rev. Kausa Kaule Yosua and his daughter, 27-year-old Masika, were killed in the 10 and 11 November attacks by members of the . . . Read More

Pakistan Christians wary as asylum offers flood in for Asia Bibi

November 14, 2018 Pakistan Asia Bibi, Blasphemy, Caste, Imran Khan, Pakistan

Several countries have offered asylum to the Pakistani Christian woman Asia Bibi, after she was acquitted by the country’s highest court last month of a blasphemy charge carrying the capital punishment. However, local Christians are fearful of repercussions, as the West is perceived as Christian to most Pakistanis. There were . . . Read More

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