
Poor Christian brothers charged with blasphemy in Pakistan
Two Christian brothers in Pakistan were arrested and charged with blasphemy on Tuesday (Aug. 27) after they were accused of desecrating pages of the Quran, sources said.
Two Christian brothers in Pakistan were arrested and charged with blasphemy on Tuesday (Aug. 27) after they were accused of desecrating pages of the Quran, sources said.
Islamist death threats compelled the Supreme Court of Pakistan on Thursday (Aug. 22) to remove part of a ruling recognizing an Ahmadi’s religious freedom, a move that will lead to more persecution of religious minorities, sources said.
Three girls illegally detained by their employers were forced to testify that they had converted to Islam and wished to return to their captors, but a judge in Pakistan returned them to their Christian parents, sources said.
The whereabouts of a pastor and his daughter kidnapped in northwestern Nigeria were unknown after their captors threatened to kill them even after receiving a ransom payment.
One year after one the worst attacks on Christians in Pakistan, Christians on Friday (Aug. 16) called for justice regarding the rioting in Jaranwala as most of those arrested have been discharged or released on bail, sources said.
Muslims burned down a church building in the early hours of Saturday (Aug. 10) in central Nigeria’s Niger state, sources said.
A Muslim in Pakistan who kidnapped and raped a mentally handicapped Christian woman who died from her injuries two days after her release is pressuring her family to drop charges, sources said.
Nigeria’s government at federal and state levels continues to tolerate attacks by non-state assailants who justify violence on religious grounds, according to a report by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF).
Despite attempts by the Pakistani government and Islamist groups to thwart protest rallies and marches, Christians in several cities came out in large numbers to mark National Minorities Day on Aug. 11, demanding an end to religious intolerance and abuse of blasphemy laws.
Fulani herdsmen teamed up with a criminal gang to attack a village in central Nigeria on Thursday (Aug. 8), killing about 50 Christians, sources said.
A Muslim mob in Pakistan on Wednesday (Aug. 7) attacked and tried to kill a Christian mother accused of blasphemy, sources said.
Predominantly Muslim Fulani herdsmen on Tuesday (Aug. 6) attacked Christian farmers in Plateau state, wounding four of them, sources said.