The 25th anniversary of Tiananmen Square last month has provoked a fresh look at human rights in China, especially religious freedom. Katrina Lantos Swett, chair of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, and M. Zuhdi Jasser, a USCIRF Commissioner, write in The Washington Post. “From repressing Muslims to bulldozing churches and tearing down crosses,…
Human rights abuse in Pakistan is still extremely serious with deadly attacks on different faith groups throughout the country, according to the United Nations. Christian Aid issued a parliamentary briefing on the country, the sixth most populous country in the world, following the publication of a US Commission report on international freedom. Blasphemy is punishable…
A UN Expert investigating religious freedom during a fact-finding trip to Vietnam found his quest blocked after individuals he wanted to meet were intimidated. Heiner Bielefeldt, U.N. Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, feared ‘serious violations’ of faith freedoms in the country, he said on 31 July, after people he was meeting faced…
Mother-of-two Meriam Ibrahim who was freed from jail after she faced Sudanese court sentences of flogging and death-by-hanging for her Christian beliefs has flown from Italy to the USA to start a new life with her family – arriving yesterday, 31 July. The Mayor of Philadelphia, Michael Nutter, greeted her in person and called her…