Tag: Religious freedom

North Korean ex-detainee was told his ‘hostile act against regime’ was prayer

June 7, 2018 North Korea Donald Trump, Human rights, Kim Dong Chul, Kim Hak Song, Kim Jong-Un, North Korea, Pyongyang University of Science and Technology, Religious freedom, Tony Kim, USA

North Korean ex-detainee Kim Hak Song upon return to the United States, at the Joint Base Andrews. (Photo: Cheriss May/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

One of the American citizens who was released by North Korea and returned to the United States last month, was told by his captors he was detained because of the “hostile act” of prayer. Kim Hak Song was arrested on a train from North Korea’s capital Pyongyang to China in . . . Read More

Four Iranian Christians set to begin ten-year prison sentences

June 6, 2018 Iran Amin Afshar Naderi, Blasphemy, Constitution, Converts, Exile, Hadi Asgari, House churches, Iran, Kaviyan Fallah-Mohammadi, Mohammad Reza Omidi, Rasht, Religious freedom, Saheb Fadaie, Shamiram Isavi Khabizeh, Victor Bet-Tamraz, Yasser Mossayebzadeh, Youcef Nadarkhani

From left: Saheb Fadaie, Youcef Nadarkhani, Yasser Mossayebzadeh and Mohammad Reza Omidi.

The four Iranian Christians who saw their ten-year prison sentences upheld by an appeal court earlier this month are expecting to have to report to prison any day now. Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani, and fellow Church of Iran members Yasser Mossayebzadeh, Saheb Fadaie and Mohammad Reza Omidi could receive a call . . . Read More

Kazakhstan passes Religion Law that ‘undermines principles of human rights’

June 1, 2018 Kazakhstan Children, Human rights, Kazakhstan, Protestants, Religion Law, Religious freedom, Russian Orthodox Church

Kazakhstan's Parliament building in the capital Astana. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

Kazakhstan’s Parliament has approved a set of wide-ranging amendments to the country’s Religion Law, refusing calls from civil society groups for a legal review by an independent body. The new set of restrictions, which are expected to further infringe upon religious freedom and have been criticised for violating international human . . . Read More

Uzbek police accused of targeting Christian women with sexual violence

June 1, 2018 Uzbekistan Khorezm, Police, Protestants, Religious freedom, Urgench, Uzbekistan, Women

Christian women in Uzbekistan meet for a meal and to pray together. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

Women belonging to a Protestant church in the western Uzbek city of Urgench face threats, harassments and sexual violence from local authorities, according to regional news agency Forum 18. The news agency highlighted the case of Nargiza Khusainova, who was reportedly walking in the streets in January when she was . . . 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

Uzbek pastor might face criminal charges after police repeat raids on his home

May 29, 2018 Uzbekistan Baptists, Fergana Valley, Human rights, Jehovah's Witnesses, Karshi, Kashkadarya, Khorezm, Religious freedom, Samarkand, Tashkent, Urgench, Uzbekistan

Members of Pastor Kim's church were, like these Christians elsewhere in Uzbekistan, having a meal together to celebrate Easter when the first police raid took place. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

An Uzbek Baptist pastor, who is already serving at home a two-year sentence for having religious books, might now be facing criminal charges. Police raided Pastor Stanislav Kim’s flat in Urgench, north-western Khorezm Region, twice last month, on Easter Sunday (8 April) and a week later (15 April), while the . . . Read More

Eritrea: Rights groups call for renewal of UN Special Rapporteur’s mandate

May 25, 2018 Eritrea East Africa, Eritrea, Human rights, Pentecostals, Refugees, Religious freedom

A boy in Nguenyyiel refugee camp in Gambela region of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in June. (Photo: Getty Images)

Rights groups have called for the mandate of the UN Human Rights Special Rapporteur for Eritrea to be renewed in June. The human rights situation in the East African country has been monitored by the UN Human Rights Council since 2012, when it appointed Ms Sheila B. Keetharuth as the . . . Read More

China: Beijing house churches investigated and ordered to close

May 21, 2018 China Beijing, China, House churches, Religious freedom

Cross of a state-sanctioned Three-Self church in Beijing is visible just above the facades of the city while China's government is trying to get more control over house churches. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

Authorities in China’s capital Beijing investigated two house churches earlier this month and also pressured landlords to cancel the leases of their meeting places, China Aid reported. Officials from the Xicheng District Public Security Bureau attended a church meeting on Sunday 6 May. Without interrupting the service they investigated proceedings . . . Read More

China: Pastor and 200 church members detained for commemorating earthquake

May 17, 2018 China Chengdu, China, Churches, Communism, House churches, Mao Zedong, Religion Law, Religious freedom, Sichuan, Sinicisation, Xi Jinping

People are sifting through the rubble to look for personal items after their homes were destroyed in an earthquake. (World Watch Monitor, 2008)

A church in Chengdu, the capital of China’s southwestern Sichuan province, was raided by police on Saturday (12 May) as it prepared to commemorate the 10th anniversary of an earthquake that killed almost 90,000 people and left millions homeless. Pastor Wang Yi of Early Rain Covenant Church was arrested alongside . . . Read More

China: Protestant pastor found guilty of ‘intentionally divulging state secrets’

May 17, 2018 China China, Churches, Guizhou, Huoshi Church, Religious freedom, Su Tianfu, Yang Hua

The pastor of a high-profile church in China has been sentenced to one year in prison, suspended for two years, with a further six months’ residential surveillance, for “intentionally divulging state secrets”. Pastor Su Tianfu of Huoshi (Living Stone) Church in the south-western province of Guizhou had already been under . . . Read More

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