(World Watch Monitor) — While violent attacks on Christians at the hands of Islamist militants Boko Haram and the Fulani herdsmen in the northeast and Middle Belt of Nigeria have captured media attention, the persistent social pressures Christians face elsewhere go mostly unnoticed. Despite common misperceptions that they are a minority across the north of […]
WASHINGTON — Congress passed a bill this week that aims to give the White House and State Department improved tools to address religious persecution worldwide. The Frank R. Wolf International Religious Freedom Act had been introduced in the House last year by Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., and then in the Senate this year by Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla. […]
(Morning Star News) – The blasphemy trial of Jakarta Gov. Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama began on Tuesday, with the ethnic Chinese Christian breaking into tears inside the courtroom while hundreds of people protested outside. Some 2,000 police officers kept anti-Ahok and pro-Ahok protestors apart outside the heavily guarded court. Those opposing Ahok chanted, “Jail Ahok, […]
(Morning Star News) – Relatives of a former Islamic teacher attacked his 60-year-old mother on Thursday (Dec. 8) for becoming a Christian, wounding her head and breaking her hand, sources said. Aimuna Namutongi sustained a deep cut on her forehead. She and her son, 30-year-old Malik Higenyi, were trying to gather cassava at 10 a.m. […]
(World Watch Monitor) — A Turkish judge has sent Andrew Brunson to prison in Izmir, 64 days after the U.S. pastor and his wife, Norine, were detained on Oct. 7 under Interior Ministry deportation orders. Although his wife was released on 19 Oct. and given an extended permit to remain in the country, Andrew Brunson […]
(World Watch Monitor) — Mexico has a “policy of denial” about the thousands of evangelical Christians forced out of their homes because of their beliefs, according to a Mexican human rights activist. Pedro Faro Navarro, director of the Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas Human Rights Centre, accused the government of “making up the figures” of […]
BUFUJA, Uganda (Morning Star News) – Muslim villagers in eastern Uganda on Nov. 23 destroyed the maize crops of a former Islamic sheikh (teacher) in eastern Uganda who was beaten unconscious after revealing his faith in Christ, sources said. The day before his fields were destroyed, 30-year-old Malik Higenyi of Bufuja village, Butaleja District, received threatening […]
LAHORE, Pakistan — Five Muslim men have been sentenced to death in their part in murdering a couple who they mistakenly thought had committed blasphemy against Islam. On Wednesday, Judge Chaudhry Azam sentenced Irfan Shakoor, Muhammad Hanif, Mehdi Khan, Riaz Kamboh and Hafiz Ishtiaq to die by hanging for allegedly throwing Shama Bibi, 28, and […]
Sudan (Mission Network News) — Czech Christian aid worker Petr Jasek has been in a Sudan prison for 352 days — nearly a full year. He’s one of the people featured on Voice of the Martyrs’ Prisoner Alert system, and an example of the abuse of religious freedom in Sudan today. According to Open Doors […]
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — More than 10,000 Indonesians took to the streets of their capital to call for tolerance and unity in the world’s most populous Muslim nation, after police opened a blasphemy investigation into the city’s Christian governor. Earlier this month, Jakarta was rocked by a massive protest by conservative Muslims against the popular […]