On Thursday 24 July, the House of Lords debated the issue of International Freedom of Religion or Belief, Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Lord Alton, a Vice Chair of this All Party Parliamentary Group, began his opening remarks by saying that not only was Article 18 a universal human right, it was…
A mother of two young children who escaped court verdicts of flogging and death by hanging for her Christian beliefs has flown from the US embassy in Khartoum to Italy. Meriam Yahia Ibrahim Ishag, her toddler son Martin, baby daughter Maya and wheelchair-bound husband Daniel were accompanied by Italian Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs Lapo Pistelli…
Violence against Jewish people in Paris has been condemned by the Prime Minister of France. A synagogue and shops were looted by a masked mob on the rampage protesting against Israel’s military action in Gaza. A funeral parlour and a pharmacy were amongst the premises damaged during the illegal protest which turned violent on Sunday…
Police in eastern China failed to remove a cross from a church after Christian protestors surrounded the building at 2am on Monday (21 July). Reuters reports that the police had been following a Government order and several people were injured during the altercation in Pingyang county near Wenzhou city. The site was subsequently locked down…
India’s parliament was adjourned to protest against some hungry right wing MPs so angry that a government canteen in Delhi did not serve the food they wanted that bread was forced into the mouth of a Muslim kitchen worker who was fasting for Ramadan. Parties in opposition followed the Congress by protesting in parliament against…
The city of Mosul is now empty of Christians for the first time in the history of Iraq, according to Patriarch Louis Sako after Islamist fighters told them to convert, pay a protection tax – or be killed reports The Telegraph. Families, the elderly and the disabled were seen walking in the fierce Summer heat…
Bengali-speaking Hindus from Bangladesh facing religious persecution should be refused official refugee status in India, according to the opposition Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) political party. Governor Janaki Ballabh Patnaik of Assam received a memo from the group on 19 July objecting to the state cabinet’s acceptance of the displaced people group found in the province…
Christians and Muslims live under a ‘reign of terror’ with almost-daily attacks in Northern Nigeria by the Boko Haram Islamic extremist group. That is the verdict given by a delegation from the Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust (HART) following a visit to communities in the region in June and July, 2014. The team included Baroness Cox, a…
Muslim minorities face continued persecution for their faith by religious fanatics backed by authorities in China, Sri Lanka and Myanmar, according to the chief of the World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY), on 16 July. Saleh Al-Wohaibi, who leads the Riyadh-based organisation, said extremist Buddhists and other faith hardliners were systematically targeting Islamic believers in those countries….
A spokesman for the Chhattisgarh Christian Forum said the village of Belar, in central India, convened a Gram Sabha, or village assembly, on 6 July and passed a resolution banning all non-Hindu religious activities. This echoed a Gram Sabha of representatives from about a dozen villages held 10 May in nearby Sirsiguda village. There, the delegates…