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Al-Shabaab singles out 11 to kill in bus attack in northern Kenya; raises fear for Christians

December 12, 2019 Kenya Al-Shabaab, Garissa, Islamic extremism, Kenya, Somalia, Wajir

Teachers working in north-eastern Kenya demonstrated in February 2015, asking to be reassigned following the killing of 20 of their colleagues in an attack by Islamist militants. (Photo: Getty Images)

Eleven people, almost all known to be Christians, were killed during an attack by the Islamist Al-Shabaab group on a bus in Kenya’s border region with Somalia on 6 December. The militants forced the bus, owned by Medina Bus Company (which transports people and goods between Kenya’s capital Nairobi and north-east . . . Read More

For Gambian Christians, there’s a lot to like — and one big worry — in the proposed constitution

December 7, 2019 The Gambia

The Gambia, a tiny nation on Africa’s North Atlantic coast, is considering a new constitution. Prominent Christian voices in the country say there is a lot to like in the draft, and one big thing to worry about: It does not explicitly define majority-Muslim Gambia as a secular state. . . . Read More

Korean murdered in southeast Turkey ‘for mobile phone’

November 29, 2019 Turkey Diyarbakir, Jin-Wook Kim, Korean, Malatya, Protestants, Religious freedom, Turkey

Criminal investigations into the stabbing to death of a Korean Christian last week in southeast Turkey’s largest city are continuing under a cloak of judicial secrecy, as authorities search for evidence to resolve the controversy over the killer’s motive. South Korean Jin-Wook Kim, 41, was murdered in a late-night Nov. . . . Read More

Refusing to move, an Ethiopian congregation is arrested

November 27, 2019 Ethiopia

The authorities in Ethiopia’s northern region of Amhara had told the Ethiopian Fellowship of Evangelical Students it no longer could operate in the town of Debark. They were ordered to move 80 km southwest, to Gonder city. The Evangelical fellowship didn’t budge. Instead, it lodged a complaint. Nothing happened. That . . . Read More

Egypt: Series of fires in their churches ‘not a coincidence’, say Copts

November 11, 2019 Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Cairo, Copts, Egypt, Mansoura, Mohamed Morsi, Muslim Brotherhood

Three Coptic churches in the Upper Egypt region were hit by fires in the last three weeks which, the Copts say, is “not a coincidence”. On Friday morning 1 November a fire started in an adjacent hall of the Mar-Girgis (St George) al-Gyoushi Church in the Shubra district of the . . . Read More

Turkey serves deportation order after German’s 20 years of tourism work

September 19, 2019 Turkey Austria, Germany, Minorities, Protestants, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, tourism, Turkey

Hans-Jurgen Louven has worked in Turkish tourism for 20+ years

Without any warning, the Turkish government last month notified a German who’s worked for two decades in its tourism sector that his routine application to renew his residency visa had been denied. Abruptly, 58-year-old Hans-Jurgen Louven was then ordered to leave Turkey – where he owns property, and . . . Read More

EU Envoy’s threat of trade sanctions played crucial role in Asia Bibi’s freedom

September 5, 2019 Pakistan Asia Bibi, Blasphemy, Canada, Europe, Human rights, Jan Figel, Pakistan, Religious freedom, Salmaan Taseer, Shahbaz Bhatti

EU Envoy on religious freedom, Jan Figel, meets with Asia Bibi's lawyer, Saif ul Malook in Lahore, December 2017. (Photo: Jan Figel)

Freed Pakistani Christian Aasiya Noreen, known to the world now as Asia Bibi, has pleaded for the many others like her accused of blasphemy who, she says, are still “lying in jail for years – their decisions should also be done on merit. The world should listen to them. “The . . . Read More

Lack of a lunch for all – life in an IDP camp on Myanmar border

August 30, 2019 Myanmar Education, Minorities, Myanmar, Refugees

Majority-Buddhist Myanmar is made up of eight major and eight minor ethnic groups, each of which hoped for autonomy after Burmese independence 70 years ago. On February 12th, 1947 Aung San Suu Kyi’s father, then national leader, signed the Panglong Agreement, promising all ethnic minorities a place in a new . . . Read More

At least 150 Christians arrested in Eritrea clampdown

August 23, 2019 Eritrea Eritrea

Eritrea remains “one of the worst examples of state-sponsored repression of freedom of religion or belief in the world”, says USCIRF Commissioner. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

At least 150 Eritrean Christians were arrested by government officials during the last two months, with some of them held in an underground prison made up of tunnels. The most recent arrests occurred 18 August when Eritrean security officials detained 80 Christians from Godayef, an area near the airport of . . . Read More

176 children lost one or both parents in Sri Lanka Easter bombings

August 12, 2019 Sri Lanka Bombing, Catholics, Children, Colombo, Minorities, Negombo, Sri Lanka

Woman kneels at altar at St Anthony's shrine, Colombo where 54 died on Easter Sunday, 2019

At least 176 children lost either one or both of their parents in the Sri Lanka Easter Sunday bombings, according to the Archbishop of Colombo, Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith. Just over three months ago, at St. Anthony’s Shrine in the country’s capital saw a powerful explosion rip apart the bodies of . . . Read More

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