General

Life sentences for ‘blasphemy’ in Pakistan overturned

May 18, 2012 Pakistan Blasphemy, Kasur, Lahore, Pakistan, Quran, Sahiwal

A court acquitted a Christian couple of “blasphemy” charges yesterday, overturning their life sentences, their lawyer said. Chaudhry Naeem Shakir told World Watch Monitor that Justice Mazhar Ali Akbar Naqvi of the Lahore High Court accepted the couple’s appeal because prosecutors failed to prove allegations that 32-year-old Munir Masih and . . . Read More

Wrongful conviction in Ethiopia robs Christian of children

May 17, 2012 Ethiopia Addis Ababa, Children, Ethiopia

His wife died shortly before he was falsely accused of desecrating the Quran, and by the time he was released from prison in southern Ethiopia, his two children, ages 6 and 15, were missing. Tamirat Woldegorgis walked out of prison in Jijiga on April 25, limping, after spending nearly two . . . Read More

Harsh era looms in Aceh, Indonesia

May 16, 2012 Indonesia Aceh, Bekasi, Churches, Indonesia

The election of a hard-line Islamic governor in Indonesia’s Aceh Province last month appears to have opened the way for a crack-down on the minority Christian community, which saw 17 churches sealed shut in early May. Emboldened by the April 9 election of Zaini Abdullah of the militant Aceh Party . . . Read More

Injured convert in Pakistan tries to rebuild life

May 15, 2012 Pakistan Barelvi, Converts, Divorce, Faisalabad, Karachi, Pakistan

Muhammad Kamran isn’t sure who sent the men to beat him after his Muslim wife told both her family and his that he had become a Christian. The 34-year-old native of Karachi said his wife’s brothers had begun coming to his office to threaten him before unidentified assailants attacked him . . . Read More

Sudanese authorities close Christian offices in South Darfur

May 14, 2012 Sudan Blue Nile, Darfur, NISS, Nuba Mountains, Nyala, Port Sudan, Salafism, South Kordofan, South Sudan, Sudan

Security agents in Sudan’s South Darfur state have closed down the Nyala offices of the Sudan Council of Churches (SCC) and relief group Sudan Aid, sources said. Agents from the Sudanese National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) arrived at the organisations’ compound in Nyala at 8 a.m. on April 22, . . . Read More

Iranian officials heighten control on Farsi-speaking church

May 11, 2012 Iran Armenians, Assemblies of God, Assyrians, Churches, Iran, Tehran

Leaders of the Assemblies of God’s (AOG) Central Church of Tehran told their congregation on Sunday (May 6) that authorities have demanded a list of names and identification numbers of church members, a major risk to converts from Islam. Church leaders then asked members in attendance to volunteer their information. . . . Read More

Egyptian judge frees attackers who knifed Christian

May 9, 2012 Egypt Egypt, Qena, Salafism

A judge in Upper Egypt has dismissed all charges against a group of Salafi Muslims who cut off the ear of a Christian in a knife attack and tried to force him to convert. The Salafists, who say they base their religion on the practices of the first three generations . . . Read More

Lawyer of Iranian pastor on death row faces prison

May 8, 2012 Iran Ayatollah Khamenei, Converts, Evin Prison, Farshid Fathi, Human rights, Iran, Isfahan, Karaj, Missionaries, Shiraz, Tehran, Youcef Nadarkhani

The main defense lawyer for Iranian pastor Yousef Nadarkhani, who is appealing a death sentence, may be facing imminent imprisonment for defending the rights of Iranians, according to Amnesty International. Mohammad Ali Dadkhah, a prominent human rights activist, had been sentenced in July to a nine-year prison sentence and a . . . Read More

Myanmar reforms offer no respite for ethnic Christians

May 4, 2012 Myanmar Aung San Suu Kyi, Baptists, Buddhist nationalism, Chin, Churches, IDPs, Kachin, Karen, Karenni, Minorities, Myanmar, Shan

Amid global euphoria over reforms in Burman-majority parts of Myanmar, life has changed little for more than 3 million Christians and other minorities left to suffer from one of the world’s longest running civil wars. Headlines around the world hailed the induction on Wednesday (May 2) of opposition leader Aung . . . Read More

India briefs: recent incidents of persecution

April 30, 2012 India Andhra Pradesh, BJP, Hyderabad, India, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Odisha, Pentecostals, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Vishva Hindu Parishad

About 100 Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers led by A. Raja and another identified only as Chidambaram on April 21 beat 15 Christians for proclaiming Christ in Paganeri, Shivagangai. The Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC) reported that the Hindu extremists beat them, burned their Bibles and tracts, seized their . . . Read More

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