Tag: Islamic State

Iraqi Christians hesitate to return to Bartella

February 12, 2019 Iraq Bartella, Iraq, Islamic State, Mosul, Nineveh Plains

Two years after Islamic State was forced out of the northern Iraqi town of Bartella, Christians hesitate to return, reports the Associated Press. Fewer than a third of the 3,800 Christian families have come back to the town in the Nineveh Plains they once shared with the Shabak, a mostly . . . Read More

Philippines: Authorities say church bombing not connected to Mindanao referendum

January 28, 2019 Philippines Abu Sayyaf, Bangsamoro, Catholics, Islamic State, Jolo, Marawi, Mindanao, Moro Islamic Liberation Front, Philippines

Philippine soldiers and investigators are probing the centre of the Catholic cathedral in Jolo where the first bomb went off during mass on Sunday morning, killing at least 20 people. (Photo: Getty)

In one of the deadliest attacks in the southern Philippines in years, a bomb blast at a church killed at least 20 people and injured 112 on Sunday morning, 27 January. Among the dead are five soldiers who came to the rescue after the first bomb went off inside the . . . Read More

Iraq: UN team starts probe into IS war crimes

January 25, 2019 Iraq Genocide, Iraq, Islamic State, UN

Destroyed market in the town of Bartella, 15km east of Mosul, which was liberated from IS by Iraqi forces in October 2016. (Photo World Watch Monitor)

One of the world’s most influential Muslim clerics has told a UN team that an investigation into “heinous crimes” committed against Christian and other Iraqi minorities was welcome and urgent, reports Agenzia Fides The team, known as UNITAD, started its work formally this month following a UN resolution in September 2017. . . . Read More

From China to sub-Saharan Africa, Christians experience high levels of persecution in 73 countries

January 16, 2019 Global News -- No Particular Country Buddhist nationalism, China, Colombia, Copts, Egypt, Hindu nationalism, India, Indonesia, Islamic extremism, Islamic State, Libya, Mexico, Myanmar, Nigeria, Somalia, Vietnam, World Watch List

In its latest annual survey of 150 countries monitoring how difficult it is to live as a Christian, out today, the overall trend in the 2019 World Watch List is that almost half (73) showed extreme, very high or high levels of persecution. A year earlier, it was 58 countries. . . . Read More

Egypt: Eleven men sent for trial for attacking Copts

December 20, 2018 Egypt Cairo, Copts, Egypt, Helwan, Islamic State

A funeral is held for the eight victims of the attack on the Mar Mina Church in Helwan on 29 December last year. Photo: Getty Images)

Eleven men suspected of an attack Coptic Christians in Egypt’s capital Cairo a year ago will have to appear before a criminal court, reports Coptic news site Watani. The suspects were caught by police following a double attack on the Mar Mina and Pope Kyrillos VI Coptic Orthodox Church in the . . . Read More

IS ‘won’t escape justice’ after Trump signs genocide accountability act

December 13, 2018 Global News -- No Particular Country Donald Trump, Genocide, Iraq, Islamic State, Syria, UN, USA

US President Donald Trump signs the "Iraq and Syria Genocide Relief and Accountability Act of 2018" in the presence of, among others, Archbishop Bashar Warda of Erbil, Iraq (l). (Photo: Getty)

US President Donald Trump has signed into law a bill that will help to ensure aid is provided to Islamic State’s victims in Iraq and Syria and to hold the perpetrators accountable, reports Associated Press (AP). “In recent years, IS has committed horrifying atrocities against religious and ethnic minorities in Syria . . . 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

Iraqi Christian family ordered to leave IDP camp but have nowhere to go

November 30, 2018 Iraq Ankawa, Erbil, IDPs, Iraq, Islamic State, Kurds, Mosul, Tel Skuf

The last Christian family remaining in an IDP camp north of Erbil have turned to the local government and aid organisations as they have been asked to leave the camp but have nowhere to go, Kurdish news website Rudaw reports. Sena Behnam and her husband said they have to stay . . . 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

Egypt: Man accused of IS allegiance sentenced to death for killing Coptic doctor

November 20, 2018 Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Cairo, Copts, Egypt, Islamic State, Mohamed Morsi

The Supreme Court in Egypt's capital Cairo. (Photo: Rachid H via Flickr; CC 2.0)

An Egyptian court sentenced a man to death last Saturday, 17 November, for the killing of an 80-year-old Christian doctor in Cairo in September last year, reports The Associated Press. The 40-year-old assailant, whose identity remains undisclosed, entered the doctor’s office in the Egyptian capital pretending to be a patient, . . . Read More

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