Tag: USA

Andrew Brunson’s legal appeal sent to Turkey’s highest court

October 9, 2018 Turkey Andrew Brunson, Coup, Donald Trump, Izmir, PKK, Protestants, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey, USA

Jailed US pastor Andrew Brunson’s lawyer has filed a formal appeal before the Turkish Constitutional Court to overturn two lower court refusals to release his client from house arrest. The 10-page petition, studied by World Watch Monitor, called for “urgent” and “corrective” action by Turkey’s highest court to set free . . . Read More

Sudan releases shipment of Bibles held in port for six years

October 2, 2018 Sudan Bibles, Churches, Human rights, Omar al-Bashir, Sudan, UN, USA

Bibles in Sudan are hard to come by with a government stopping the distribution, and with conflict raging in several parts of the country. such as in South Kordofan's Nuba mountains. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

The Sudanese government has cleared a shipment of Bibles believed to have been held in Port Sudan for six years. The Arabic-language Bibles were released two weeks ago and transported to the capital, Khartoum, after years of appeals by church leaders, a local source told World Watch Monitor. “Since 2011, . . . Read More

China: Christian schoolchildren forced to tick ‘no religion’ box

October 2, 2018 China Children, China, Communism, Education, Religious freedom, USA, Zhejiang

More than 300 Christian children in two high schools in Zhejiang province, which has been referred to as the “Jerusalem of the East” for its strong Christian presence, have been asked to fill out a form stating that they did not follow a religion, World Watch Monitor has been told by a trusted local . . . Read More

‘Eliminate’ blasphemy laws, says US commission chief on International Blasphemy Day

October 1, 2018 Global News -- No Particular Country Ahmed Shaheed, Blasphemy, Minorities, Pakistan, Religious freedom, Southeast Asia, UN, USA

In some countries blasphemy is a very sensitive topic and often leads to riots and violence, like in Islamabad, Pakistan, in November 2017.(Photo: World Watch Monitor)

Blasphemy laws are “dangerous” and should be “eliminated”, the chair of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) told Newsweek yesterday on International Blasphemy Day. The freedom to criticise or mock religion should not be decided by governments and their interpretation of laws, said Dr. Tenzin Dorjee. And it . . . Read More

Myanmar: Ethnic army detains 92 pastors, orders others to leave

October 1, 2018 Myanmar China, Churches, Education, Missionaries, Myanmar, Shan, UN, USA

UWSA ethnic army has forced Bible students to join its ranks while closing and destroying churches in Wa region, northern Shan state. Photo: Getty Images

An ethnic armed group has recently detained almost 100 pastors and forced Bible students to join its ranks of fighters in northern Myanmar’s Shan state, reports Radio Free Asia. Witnesses who fled the state’s northern Wa region, which borders China, reported that 92 pastors were held by the armed group, . . . Read More

Kurdistan elections: Christian parties want ‘real needs’ of minority to be heard

September 28, 2018 Iraq Bashar Warda, Elections, Iraq, Kurds, Louis Raphael I Sako, Minorities, Nineveh Plains, USA

The site of Mar Elia Church in Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan region, where hundreds of Christians camped, displaced by Islamic State. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

The Christian minority in Iraqi Kurdistan is hoping for its “real” representatives to be voted into the Kurdish regional parliament this Sunday, 30 September, reports Kurdish news service Rudaw. The presidential and parliamentary elections in the semi-autonomous region in northern Iraq are the first after a referendum last year in . . . Read More

Key witness testimony against Brunson refuted by Bloomberg

September 28, 2018 Turkey Andrew Brunson, Izmir, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey, USA

A hard-hitting investigative report by Bloomberg has targeted an unsubstantiated conspiracy link forged by Turkish prosecutors between jailed US pastor Andrew Brunson and Mormon missionaries. The alleged complicity between Brunson and an American Mormon neighbour living near to each other in the Alsancak district of Izmir features prominently in the . . . Read More

Churches destroyed, priests questioned in Myanmar’s Shan state

September 20, 2018 Myanmar China, Churches, Communism, Kachin, Missionaries, Myanmar, Shan, Tatmadaw, UN, USA

The United Wa State Army has ordered that churches built in Wa territory in Shan state after 1989 have to be destroyed. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

An ethnic armed group in Myanmar’s Shan state is destroying churches and holding clergymen for questioning, reports Radio Free Asia. The United Wa State Army (UWSA), the military wing of the United Wa State Party (UWSP), reportedly issued a statement on Facebook on 6 September, declaring that all churches built . . . Read More

Fall in Christian refugee admissions ‘suggests Trump has no real interest in religious persecution’

September 13, 2018 Global News -- No Particular Country Donald Trump, Genocide, Iraq, Jan Figel, Mike Pence, Minorities, Myanmar, Refugees, Syria, UK, UN, USA

Iraqi Christians who fled Islamic State have found shelter in a church yard in Erbil, Iraq. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

The United States, under President Trump, has admitted 40 per cent fewer Christian refugees in the past year, US broadcaster NBC News has reported. As the Trump administration has implemented stricter policies on immigration and refugees, almost 11,000 Christians looking for a safe place to go were reportedly refused entry to . . . Read More

‘ISIS won despite defeat as West was unwilling to confront it’

August 23, 2018 Global News -- No Particular Country Andrew Brunson, Genocide, Iraq, Islamic extremism, Islamic State, Minorities, Rape, Syria, Turkey, USA

Iraqi Christians ask the international community for help as they are facing annihilation by Islamic State. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

The Islamic State group may have been defeated on the battlefield, but the West has allowed its ideology to “percolate” and in that case it won, writes Seth J. Frantzman for the Jerusalem Post. “[ISIS] won in Iraq and Syria by destroying minority communities. It won because today the international . . . Read More

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