Accused Terrorists Given Bail in Pakistan
After nine months in jail, two suspects accused of last year’s deadly Christmas night attack against a Pakistani village church have been released on bail for the duration of their trial.
Islam
Egypt Releases Tortured Christian Woman
A 30-year old woman who became a symbol of suffering endured by Muslim converts to Christianity was freed after nearly two months of torture and interrogation, a human rights groups announced Thursday, Dec. 4.
Egyptian Christian Captured at Libyan Border
A Coptic Christian secretly married to a woman convert from Islam was arrested for the second time last week while trying to leave Egypt for Canada.
Saudi Authorities Release Egyptian Christians
Two Egyptian Coptic Christians jailed by Saudi authorities have been released 17 days after their arrest for establishing an expatriate house church in the capital of Riyadh.
Nigeria Hit by Anti Christian Violence
Nigerian Christians were considering their options Tuesday, Nov 25, after local authorities in Kano reportedly banned Sunday services following Islamic attacks in which churches and dozens of Christian shops were destroyed.
17 OF 22 Egypt Christians Released, But One Dies
17 of 22 Christian converts who were arrested in Alexandria late October, have been granted bail but one of them died and others still in prison suffer “degradation and abuse,” a human rights group said Thursday, Nov. 13.
Attackers Critically Injure Turkish Christian
A Turkish convert to Christianity who was severely beaten for distributing New Testaments last week in his hometown of Orhangazi in northwestern Turkey has slipped into a coma in critical condition.
Egypt Arrests 22 Muslim Converts to Christianity
U.S. Copts Association received several phone calls from the families and friends of over 20 Egyptian Muslim converts to Christianity who have been detained by the Egyptian police since October 20th.
Kabul Court To Resume Christians’ Trial Saturday
ISTANBUL, September 27 (Compass) — The Taliban Supreme Court announced it will resume trial proceedings on Saturday against eight Western aid workers who have been jailed in the Afghan capital for the past two months on charges of preaching Christianity.
Afghan Trial Resumes Against Christian Workers; Family Urges Bush to Postpone Military Action
KABUL/ISLAMABAD (ANS) — The trial of eight Western aid workers accused of spreading Christianity in mainly Moslim Afghanistan resumed in the Afghan Capital Kabul Sunday, September 30, as family members pleaded to United States President George W. Bush to postpone retaliatory action against the country.
Christians Pray for Detained Aid Workers as US Launches New Air Strikes Against Afghanistan
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN (ANS) — As the United States began a second day of air and missile attacks against Afghanistan Monday October 8, round the clock prayers intensified for twenty-four Christian aid workers held in a prison of the country’s ruling Taliban regime.
Lawyer for Christian Aid Workers Returns to Kabul; British Reporter Shared Women’s Cell Last Week
ISTANBUL (Compass) — As aerial military strikes by U.S. forces continued to pound Afghanistan for the fourth consecutive day, the defense lawyer for eight Western relief workers imprisoned in Kabul left Pakistan this morning via the Khyber Pass to return to the Afghan capital.
Workers Christian Aid Agency Face Execution in Afghanistan As Islamic rulers launch crack-down again
KABUL/BUDAPEST (ANS)– There were new fears Thursday that 16 Afghan and eight foreign workers of the German based Christian relief agency Shelter Now International (SNI) may be executed, as the country’s Islamic rulers prepared to arrest more Christians, including children.
Parents See Detained Aid Workers In Afghanistan; Foreigners Could be Released, but Afghans may be Ex
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN (ANS)– Parents of two American women have seen their daughters for the first time since they and 22 other aid workers were arrested August 5th on charges of spreading Christianity in Islamic Afghanistan. The Bakhtar News Agency (BNA) described the visit as an “emotional reunion” between the mother of Dana Curry, and the father of the other woman, Heather Mercy.
Workers With Christian Organizations Leave Afghanistan as Crack Down Against Christians Intensifies
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN (ANS) — More than 50 foreign staff members of the US based Christian aid organizations International Assistance Mission (IAM) and Serve began leaving Afghanistan Saturday, September 1, after the Islamic Taliban regime closed their offices Friday.
Foreign Aid Workers May Still Face Executions; Afghan Christians Pressured to Give Up Christ
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN (ANS) — Afghanistan’s Islamic Taliban regime threatened Wednesday, September 5, to execute eight foreign Christian relief workers, as Western diplomats and relatives desperately tried to meet them.
Afghanistan’s Regime Denies Prisoners Exchange
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN (ANS) — The Foreign Minister of Afghanistan’s Islamic Taliban regime denied Thursday, September 6, that his hard-line movement was considering a prisoner swap with the United States to free eight detained Western Christian relief workers. Reports from the region said that relatives of blind Egyptian militant Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman, currently serving a life term in the United States for terrorism, proposed the prison exchange.
Taliban Arrest 35 More Afghans In Alleged Missionary Probe
ISTANBUL, September 10 (Compass) — Taliban authorities arrested 35 more Afghan aid workers over the weekend, bringing the total to more than 50 Afghans jailed by the strict Islamist regime since early August on suspicion of aiding covert Christian missionary work.
The Taliban’s 2001 Calendar of Religious Intolerance
JANUARY
Taliban leader Mohammed Omar declares on Radio Shariat that any Afghan caught professing Christianity or Judaism would be executed, and that any non-Muslim found “trying to win converts” would also be killed.
Eight Aid Workers Free at Last
ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN (ANS) — In what was seen as an answer to the prayers of thousands of Christians around the world, eight Christian aid workers detained in Afghanistan arrived safely in neighboring Pakistan, Thursday November 15, after more 100 days in captivity.