Tag: USA

Saudi Arabia limits powers of its religious police

April 18, 2016 Saudi Arabia Riyadh, USA

Saudi Arabia’s official religious police were ordered to conduct their affairs with “gentleness and lenience” in a new directive issued in the capital, Riyadh, last week. While most “offenders” will be Muslims transgressing in dress or behaviour, some two million expatriate Christians thought to be living in Saudi Arabia – . . . Read More

UPDATE: A ‘shaming’ of Christians in Pakistan schoolbooks

April 12, 2016 Pakistan Balochistan, Education, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Madrassas, Punjab, Sindh, USA

Note: This report has been updated to include remarks made at the USCIRF announcement 12 April in Washington, D.C. The news Textbooks in Pakistan’s public schools have become more antagonistic toward Christians and other religious minorities in the past five years, a new report says. “The trend toward a more biased . . . Read More

US declares ISIS campaign ‘genocide’

March 17, 2016 Genocide, Iraq, Islamic State, Syria, USA

The US government has declared that Islamic State has committed genocide against Christians and other religious groups. Secretary of State John Kerry said on behalf of the government that Islamic State was “genocidal by self-proclamation, by ideology and by actions”. It follows the declaring atrocities committed by ISIS in Iraq . . . Read More

US lawmakers accuse IS of genocide

March 15, 2016 Barack Obama, Bashar al-Assad, Genocide, Iraq, Islamic State, Syria, USA, Yazidis

The U.S. House of Representatives has joined the growing number of voices in Western capitals accusing the so-called Islamic State of genocide. In a 393-0 vote 14 March, the House declared “the atrocities perpetrated by ISIL against Christians, Yazidis, and other religious and ethnic minorities in Iraq and Syria constitute . . . Read More

N Korea detains US man ‘stealing’ for his church

February 29, 2016 North Korea China, Hyeon Soo Lim, North Korea, Otto Warmbier, Pyongyang, USA

A US student held in North Korea since early January was detained for trying to steal an item bearing a propaganda slogan from his Pyongyang hotel and has confessed to “severe crimes” against the state, . Otto Warmbier, 21, a student at the University of Virginia, was detained before boarding . . . Read More

Canada’s religious freedom conundrum

February 24, 2016 Andrew Bennett, Canada, Human rights, Religious freedom, USA

Should Western democracies make the defence of religious freedom around the world a separate, fenced-off part of their foreign policy? Or is it better simply to include that concern under the general heading of human rights? These are the questions asked by , as it watches with interest the developments . . . Read More

US pastor released from Iran jail

January 18, 2016 Iran Iran, Maryam Naghash Zargaran, Saeed Abedini, USA

Christian pastor Saeed Abedini is on his way home to his family in the United States, after being released from prison in Iran, the American Centre for Law & Justice confirmed on 17 Jan. The Iranian-born US pastor was released on 16 Jan. as part of a prisoner-swap deal between . . . Read More

North Korea-held US-Korean ‘spy’ said to be pastor

January 14, 2016 North Korea Hyeon Soo Lim, Kim Dong Chul, North Korea, USA

A Korean-American in detention in North Korea is in fact a Christian pastor, not a spy, according to a North Korean defector who met him in 2007, . On 11 Jan., the American broadcaster, CNN, was allowed to interview Kim Dong Chul in the presence of North Korean officials. He . . . Read More

Islamic State’s ‘caliphate’ shrank 14% in 2015

January 6, 2016 Afghanistan, Iraq, Islamic State, Kurds, Mosul, Ramadi, Raqqa, Syria, Turkey, USA

Islamic State’s self-proclaimed ‘caliphate’ – the area within Syria and Iraq that the group controls – shrunk by more than 12,000 square kilometres in 2015, says . The loss of 14 per cent of its territory reduces the caliphate to 78,000 square kilometres. Main losses are large swathes of Syria . . . Read More

UK leaders say IS guilty of Christian ‘genocide’

December 21, 2015 Copts, Egypt, Genocide, Islamic State, Lord Alton, UK, UN, USA, Yazidis

Sixty UK parliamentarians, led by Lord Alton and the convenor of the Catholic Legislators’ Network, MP Rob Flello, have to ask that he use his influence to come to an agreement with the UN with reference to Daesh’s (ISIS) atrocities against minorities. Their letter calls on the 127 signatories of . . . Read More

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