(World Watch Monitor) — Thailand’s government and the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in Bangkok have been accused of “negligence” after a Pakistani Christian asylum seeker died in a detention centre last month. Ijaz Masih, 35, was reportedly refused medical treatment on May 26 after complaining of chest pains, and died of a heart attack a […]

(World Watch Monitor) — Attacks attributed to radical Islamic groups are happening on a weekly, or even daily, basis in Africa, posing security concerns across a vast swathe of the continent. The phenomenon has dramatically affected Church activities in various regions. But Reuben E. Ezemadu, Coordinator of the Movement for African National Initiatives (MANI), a […]

(World Watch Monitor) — As Ramadan begins, the daughter of an Algerian Christian serving three years in jail for “insulting Islam and the prophet Muhammad” on Facebook says she’s worried about the abuse her father could suffer after he was transferred to a third different prison. Slimane Bouhafs, who is eight months into his sentence, […]

(World Watch Monitor) — A church leader was among those killed in the recent outbreak of violence in the Central African Republic, it has emerged. Baptist pastor Ange-Apoléon Ngakolada, 36, leaves behind a wife and eight children. The president of the Association of Evangelical Baptist Churches in CAR, Singa Gbadia, told World Watch Monitor that […]

(World Watch Monitor) — New cases have emerged of Azerbaijanis facing heavy fines and imprisonment for trying to sell or distribute religious literature. The South Caucasus state, which supposedly allows religious freedoms under its secular constitution, has made it difficult in the past for Christians to practice their faith. In December 2016 two church leaders […]

(World Watch Monitor) — The medical superintendent of a hospital in Pakistan has been accused of forcing its Christian staff to memorize Quranic verses. Article 20 of the Pakistan Constitution guarantees that no-one can be forced into any religious practice or belief against his/her own faith. Dr. Muhammad Sarfaraz was appointed Medical Superintendent of Government […]

DUNKIRK, France (World Watch Monitor) — Local churches in Dunkirk helped to evacuate terrified migrants on Monday as a devastating fire spread through their camp in northern France. La Linière camp in Grande-Synthe, just outside Dunkirk, housed an estimated 1,500 migrants, including a handful of Christian converts, but has now been reduced to “a heap of ashes”, […]

(World Watch Monitor) — A giant statue of a deer stands high above the Mexican town of Bolaños, a symbol of its significance for the locals, who believe a deer-god protects them. The belief dates back to when the Wixárika tribe first arrived in the area, in the western state of Jalisco, and encountered a […]

(World Watch Monitor) — After facing beatings, imprisonment and eventually exile from his home village, Lauro Pérez Núñez and his family are starting a brand new life. He and his wife Amalia, converts to evangelical Christianity, were first ordered to leave La Chachalaca, in Oaxaca, southern Mexico, in 2015, together with their four children. They […]

(World Watch Monitor) — The man charged with killing 39 people on New Year’s Eve at Istanbul’s exclusive Reina nightclub attack, Abdulkadir Masharipov, has testified before a Turkish court, saying, “My purpose was to kill Christians.” The Uzbek national was arraigned in court 11 Feb., nearly a month after he was captured by Istanbul police […]