Tag: Pakistan

Pakistani top court rejects review, setting Christian woman Asia Bibi free

January 29, 2019 Pakistan Asia Bibi, Blasphemy, Pakistan, Shahzad Masih, Shama Bibi

Asia Bibi with Punjab Governor, Salmaan Taseer, who was assassinated for supporting her case. (Photo: Office of the Governor of Punjab)

After nine years in prison for blasphemy, the Pakistani Christian woman Asia Bibi is free to go after the Supreme Court today, 29 January, upheld her acquittal from the death penalty conviction for blasphemy. The panel considering a review of last year’s verdict by the Supreme Court – which had acquitted her based . . . Read More

Wife beaten so badly she can’t walk, he’s deep in debt: Pakistani Christian freed after 3 year ‘blasphemy’ trial

January 29, 2019 Pakistan Blasphemy, Kasur, Pakistan, Punjab

Pervaiz Masih, freed after 3yr trial for 'blasphemy' for lack of evidence, with Aneeqa Maria of The Voice Society

In what might be a first-ever, a Pakistani lower court in mid-January acquitted a Christian of blasphemy after a three year trial – for lack of evidence against him. However, before his arrest on the false charge, Pervaiz Masih’s wife was brutally tortured by the police as they sought to . . . Read More

Gender-based violence used in persecution of global Christian community

January 16, 2019 Global News -- No Particular Country Afghanistan, Libya, North Korea, Pakistan, Somalia, Women

GETTY: Pakistani women protest against twin suicide bombings in Lahore, March 2015

In the five worst of the 2019 World Watch List’s 50 most difficult places to be a Christian (North Korea, Afghanistan, Somalia, Libya and Pakistan), vulnerabilities which are linked to men and women’s social status create space for harsh religious persecution, report the List’s analysts at Open Doors International. . . . Read More

Two Pakistani Christian brothers sentenced to death for blasphemy

December 17, 2018 Pakistan Blasphemy, Lahore, Minorities, Pakistan, Punjab

Islamist activists carry placards against Asia Bibi, a Pakistani Christian woman who was recently released after spending eight years on death row for blasphemy, during a rally in Karachi on 21 November. (Photo: Getty Images)

A Pakistani court last week sentenced two Christian brothers to death for blasphemy. Since their arrest in 2014, Qaisar and Amoon Ayub had been held in District Jail Jhelum, in Punjab province, 200 km north of Lahore, for allegedly posting “disrespectful material” on their website, according to AsiaNews. For security . . . Read More

Pakistan joins US list of worst religious freedom violators

December 13, 2018 Global News -- No Particular Country Asia Bibi, Blasphemy, China, Comoros, Eritrea, Iran, Minorities, Myanmar, North Korea, Pakistan, Religious freedom, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, USA, Uzbekistan

Burial of victims of a suicide attack on the Methodist Bethel Church in Quetta, Pakistan, on Sunday 17 December 2017 in which at least 9 people were killed. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

Pakistan is among the ten countries that appear on the US State Department’s latest list of Countries of Particular Concern (CPC) for religious-freedom violations, Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, announced in a press statement on Tuesday, 11 December. China, Eritrea, Iran, Myanmar, North Korea, Pakistan, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, and . . . Read More

UK parliamentary group calls out 27 countries for ‘significant’ religious freedom violations

December 10, 2018 Global News -- No Particular Country Afghanistan, Ahmed Shaheed, Bangladesh, Central African Republic, China, Colombia, Egypt, Eritrea, Human rights, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Maldives, Myanmar, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Religious freedom, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tariq Ahmad, Turkey, Turkmenistan, UK, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Yemen

A church in Bartella, a town near the Iraqi city of Mosul, after Islamic State militants left the area in October 2016. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

A “Commentary on the Current State of Freedom of Religion or Belief” presented by a group of British parliamentarians today, 10 December, highlights 27 countries where people’s religious freedom has been denied and abused in the past year. The report, presented by the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for International . . . Read More

70 years since universal declaration, human rights ‘ignored and abused all over the world’

December 7, 2018 Global News -- No Particular Country Afghanistan, Andrew Brunson, China, Colombia, Dalits, Don Ossewaarde, Egypt, Ethiopia, Human rights, India, Iran, Iraq, Mexico, Myanmar, New York, Pakistan, Religious freedom, Syria, Turkey, UN

Ahead of the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on Monday, 10 December, rights group ADF International has called for “recommitment” to the founding principles, which it says are being “consistently ignored and abused … all over the world”. Chief among those rights, ADF notes, is the . . . Read More

Pakistani Christian asylum seekers in Thailand ask for help

December 4, 2018 Asylum seekers, Bangkok, Human rights, Imran Khan, Migrants, Minorities, Pakistan, PTI, Refugees, Thailand, UN

Death, disease, starvation, and continuous living in hiding from immigration authorities to escape permanent imprisonment in stinking dungeons – this is what life has become for many stateless Pakistani Christians stranded in Thailand for years now. Several heroic Thai locals have come forward to help sustain these starving asylum seekers, . . . Read More

Pakistan Christians wary as asylum offers flood in for Asia Bibi

November 14, 2018 Pakistan Asia Bibi, Blasphemy, Caste, Imran Khan, Pakistan

Several countries have offered asylum to the Pakistani Christian woman Asia Bibi, after she was acquitted by the country’s highest court last month of a blasphemy charge carrying the capital punishment. However, local Christians are fearful of repercussions, as the West is perceived as Christian to most Pakistanis. There were . . . Read More

UK government commits £12 million to championing religious freedom

November 9, 2018 Global News -- No Particular Country Alexandria, Bishop Angaelos, Copts, Easter, Egypt, Nigeria, Pakistan, Palm Sunday, Plateau, Religious freedom, UK

More than 20 people lost their lives in the Palm Sunday attack on the St George Cathedral in Tanta, Egypt.

The UK government has committed £12 million ($15.5 million) to championing freedom of religion of belief worldwide. The UK’s Special Envoy for Freedom of Religion or Belief, Lord Tariq Ahmad, said the money “will go a long way in bolstering the work of civil society and NGOs to promote respect, . . . Read More

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