Tag: Islamic extremism

Coptic Christians harassed for drinking water during Ramadan fasting hours

June 13, 2018 Egypt Asyut, Cairo, Copts, Egypt, Giza, Helwan, Islamic extremism, Ramadan, Sharia

In one of three incidents reported to World Watch Monitor, an Egyptian photographer was detained by police for carrying a bottle of water during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, when Muslims are required not to eat or drink anything from the first light of dawn until sunset. He claims . . . Read More

‘Christianity in Syria is under threat from forces the West is supporting’

June 11, 2018 Syria Bashar al-Assad, Civil War, Damascus, Free Syrian Army, Hezbollah, Human rights, Iran, Iraq, Islamic extremism, Maaloula, Middle East, Minorities, Russia, Salafism, Shia, Sunni, Syria, UK, USA

Two thousand years of Christianity in Syria could be wiped out by the very forces Western governments are supporting, an Anglican vicar has claimed. Rev. Andrew Ashdown, who has made ten trips to Syria since 2014 and is studying for a PhD in relations between Christians and Muslims there, also . . . Read More

Burkina Faso: Kidnappers release pastor and his family after four days

June 8, 2018 Burkina Faso Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, Assemblies of God, Burkina Faso, Children, Djibo, Education, Fulani herdsmen, Islamic extremism, Ken Elliott, Kidnapping, Ouagadougou, Sahel, Soum, Tuareg

The pastor abducted on Sunday with his family in Burkina Faso’s north-eastern province of Soum has been released. Local sources told Omega Radio that Pastor Pierre Boena, his son David and his daughter-in-law, Ami Sawadogo, were released yesterday (7 June). The report did not specifically mention the two granddaughters, Fasne-wendé . . . Read More

Ad in Vanity Fair tells #MeToo celebrities of women who suffer for their faith

June 8, 2018 Global News -- No Particular Country Boko Haram, India, Islamic extremism, Islamic State, Italy, Kidnapping, Nigeria, Religious freedom, Women, Yazidis

Rebecca Bitrus was abducted by Boko Haram in 2014 and suffered because of her faith. (Photo credit: Claire Giangravé/Crux news agency)

An ad in the Italian edition of Vanity Fair has called for the global #MeToo campaign to include women who suffer violence because of their religion. The Vanity Fair ad includes an open letter to some of the actresses who spoke out as part of the #MeToo initiative, like Asia . . . Read More

Indonesia: How women and children became agents of terror

June 7, 2018 Indonesia Ahok, Children, Indonesia, Islamic extremism, Islamic State, JAD, Jakarta, Muhammadiyah, Surabaya, Women

Women pray in Blue Mosque in Indonesia's capital Jakarta. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

Terrorism in Indonesia is now carried out by “entire families, including mothers and children”, one local police chief noted, three weeks on from the suicide blasts on three churches and a police station that claimed 27 lives, including 13 attackers. In raids following the series of bomb attacks, Jakarta security . . . Read More

Nigerian pastor says security services threatened to kill him after Muslim woman’s conversion to Christianity

June 6, 2018 Nigeria Christian Association of Nigeria, Islamic extremism, Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria, Plateau

The Nigerian pastor who played a central role in the conversion of a young Muslim woman to Christianity has denounced the response of the country’s security services, from which he alleges he has received death threats. The first response of the Nigerian Department of State Security Services (DSS), in January, . . . Read More

Second Christian leader in two weeks kidnapped in Burkina Faso

June 5, 2018 Burkina Faso Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, Assemblies of God, Burkina Faso, Children, Djibo, Education, Islamic extremism, Ken Elliott, Kidnapping, Ouagadougou, Sahel, Soum, West Africa

A Christian pastor and three members of his family have been kidnapped in Burkina Faso’s north-eastern province of Soum, two weeks after the kidnapping of another Christian leader and his wife. Pierre Boena, a pastor with an Assembly of God church, was kidnapped during the evening of Sunday 3 June . . . Read More

Philippines parliament approves bill for autonomous Bangsamoro

May 31, 2018 Philippines Bangsamoro, Islamic extremism, Islamic State, Marawi, Maute, Mindanao, Moro Islamic Liberation Front, Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte

The Bangsamoro Basic Law is seen as key to ending decades of conflict and stopping the growth of Islamic extremism in the southern region of Mindanao where just last year the city of Marawi was attacked by a militant group. (Photo: Getty Images)

The Philippines parliament yesterday (30 May) approved a bill that will give greater autonomy to the southern region of Mindanao, as reported by Reuters. The approval of the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) is another step towards the creation a new autonomous territory called Bangsamoro, named after its ‘Moro’, or Muslim, . . . Read More

US religious freedom report shows ‘no progress’ in Myanmar

May 30, 2018 Global News -- No Particular Country Aung San Suu Kyi, Iran, Islamic extremism, Kachin, Middle East, Mike Pompeo, Minorities, Mohammad bin Salman, Myanmar, Prisons, Refugees, Religious freedom, Rohingya, Sam Brownback, Saudi Arabia, USA

Displaced Kachin residents cross the Malikha river on 26 April to escape the fighting between the Kachin Independence Army and the Myanmar government troops. (Photo: ZAU RING HPARA/AFP/Getty Images)

Myanmar, Saudi Arabia and Iran are among the countries criticised for their religious-freedom records in the US State Department’s International Religious Freedom Report for 2017, launched yesterday (29 May) in Washington DC. The report references the violence against the predominantly Muslim Rohingya ethnic group in Myanmar, whose situation is still . . . Read More

Copts persuaded to drop charges against mob who attacked their church

May 30, 2018 Egypt Alexandria, Beheira, Beni Suef, Churches, Copts, Egypt, Islamic extremism

Copts in a village near the Egyptian city of Alexandria have been persuaded to waive the charges against an extremist mob who pelted their church with Molotov cocktails, in order to retain the use of the building for worship, World Watch Monitor has learnt. Seven Copts were injured when a mob . . . Read More

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