Tag: Islamic extremism

Egypt: Sinai militants pledge to ‘kill more Copts’ after murdering man over cross tattoo

January 15, 2018 Egypt Copts, Egypt, El-Arish, Islamic extremism, Ismailia, Sinai, Sohag, Suez

A Coptic cross tattooed on a wrist, like the one hat killed Bassem. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

Militants belonging to the ‘State of Sinai’ group in Egypt have promised to “kill more Copts” after murdering a 27-year-old Coptic man because of the tattoo of a cross on his wrist. Bassem Herz Attalhah, also known as Haythem Shehata, was on his way home from work in El-Arish, capital . . . Read More

Report: ‘Islamic war of expansion’ underpins ‘religious cleansing’ in southern Kaduna, Nigeria

January 15, 2018 Nigeria Fulani herdsmen, Islamic extremism, Kaduna, Middle Belt, Nigeria

A new report highlights Nigeria’s failed attempts, over decades, to deal with the violence perpetrated by Fulani Muslim herdsmen in one of the country’s Middle Belt states. It concludes that continued failings will force Christians to leave the area in a “religious cleansing” that is part of a drive for . . . Read More

Egypt church celebrates long-awaited official opening

January 15, 2018 Egypt Churches, Copts, Egypt, Islamic extremism, Islamic State, Minya, Pope Tawadros II

Members of the Holy Virgin and Mar Girgis church staged a sit-in to protest the closure of their church in October. (Photo: Watani)

A Coptic church in Minya, Upper Egypt, was officially allowed to open last week for the first time since it was built in 2015, and three months after clashes with local Muslims had forced it to close indefinitely. The Holy Virgin and Mar Girgis church in the village of Sheikh . . . Read More

‘Unprecedented’ persecution of Egypt’s Christians heads 2018 World Watch List

January 10, 2018 Global News -- No Particular Country Africa, Anti-conversion law, Boko Haram, Cairo, Central Asia, Churches, Converts, Copts, Egypt, Eritrea, Fulani herdsmen, Hindu nationalism, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Islamic extremism, Islamic State, Jharkhand, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Maldives, Marawi, Middle Belt, Middle East, Mindanao, Minorities, Nepal, Nigeria, North Korea, Philippines, Somalia, Southeast Asia, Sudan, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkey, Upper Egypt

More Christians abused in India than in all other countries combined; Nepal enters list Islamic extremists driven out of Iraq and Syria are behind a new intensity of Christian persecution in surrounding countries, says global charity Open Doors in its latest annual survey of countries where it is most difficult . . . Read More

Indonesian archbishop calls for ‘national unity’

January 10, 2018 Indonesia Ahok, Indonesia, Islamic extremism, Jakarta

Mass protests during Ahok's trial where Islamic hardliners called for his imprisonment. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

In his New Year’s message the Archbishop of Jakarta has called for “national unity” in Indonesia after a year that saw religious and political divisions deepen. In his letter, Bishop Ignatius Suharyo Hardjoatmodjo urged Catholics “to deepen [their] understanding of the state philosophy – national unity – as embodied in . . . Read More

Kyrgyzstan church set on fire

January 8, 2018 Kyrgyzstan Baptists, Islamic extremism, Kyrgyzstan

The church in Kajisay, Kyrgyzstan, was set on fire (World Watch Monitor)

A Baptist community in eastern Kyrgyzstan fears for its safety after unknown attackers set its church building on fire. The damage to the church has forced its 40 Kyrgyz and Russian members to start searching for a new place of worship, while wondering if there will be a further attack. . . . Read More

Maldives activist investigated for ‘blasphemy’ over ‘religions other than Islam’ tweet

January 8, 2018 Maldives Abdulla Yameen, Apostasy, Blasphemy, Human rights, Islamic extremism, Maldives, Religious freedom, Sharia

An activist in the Maldives has received death threats and is being investigated for “blasphemy” after posting a tweet in response to President Abdulla Yameen’s comment that his government would not allow any other religion in the country than Islam. Shahindha Ismail, executive director of the Maldives Democracy Network, tweeted: . . . Read More

Philippines: Marawi’s rebuilding goes beyond infrastructure

January 4, 2018 Philippines Islamic extremism, Marawi, Philippines, Teresito Suganob

The siege of the city of Marawi in Mindanao by Islamists one year ago, displaced many people. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

Two months after the southern Philippines’ city of Marawi was liberated from Islamic extremists, hundreds of thousands of its inhabitants are still living in temporary shelters outside the city, not knowing where to start with the rebuilding of their lives, nor how to heal the scars. Fighting in Marawi broke . . . Read More

Indonesia church leader charged with blasphemy

December 14, 2017 Indonesia Ahok, Blasphemy, Education, Human rights, Indonesia, Islamic extremism, Java, Joko Widodo, Muhammadiyah, Religious freedom, Southeast Asia, Tangerang, Youth

Inside a church in Indonesia. Villagers in Central Java requested the top of a burial cross to be cut before a Catholic was to be buried in what is a public cemetery but is regarded by Muslim groups as 'their' graveyard. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

An Indonesian church leader has been charged with blasphemy – the first case of its kind in the country – and could face five years in prison. Rev. Abraham Ben Moses, 52, was arrested and detained last week in his home town of Tangerang, Java, 25 km west of the capital, . . . Read More

Iraq bishop recalls his abduction from Baghdad in new book

December 13, 2017 Iraq Baghdad, Iraq, Islamic extremism, Kidnapping, Kurds, Middle East, Saddam Hussein, Sunni, Torture

It was 2001 and Saad Hanna watched in horror as his TV showed the Twin Towers of New York’s World Trade Center smouldering and collapsing. Then a trainee priest studying in Italy, he said to fellow seminarians, “The world is turning upside down. The Americans will not let this be.” . . . Read More

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