The United States added Nigeria to a blacklist of countries that violate religious liberties Monday, DW reports. Joining Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and China, Nigeria is now listed as a country “of concern” “under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998.”
Terrorists belonging to the Islamic State-linked Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) are believed to be responsible for the deaths of 20 Christians who were murdered in North Kivu Province in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) between November 20 and November 25, Morning Star News reports. The number of jihadist attacks on civilians has increased since the DRC army launched a large-scale offensive in October 2019.
Funeral services were underway in northeast Nigeria on Monday after more than 100 people were killed in suspected Islamic attacks over the weekend.
At least 110 farmworkers were slaughtered in a single attack in Nigeria’s Borno state Saturday by terrorists believed to be members of Boko Haram, the Christian Post reports. Armed men on some 60 motorbikes gunned down the rice field workers in what a UN official described as “the most violent direct attack against innocent civilians this year.”
The slaughter of Christians in Nigeria by Muslim Fulani terrorists is continuing: seven Christians were murdered in Kaduna state on Saturday night and Sunday morning (Nov. 28-29), Morning Star News reports. These are just the latest killings of Christians among the many already committed this month.
A hundred people were arrested for assault and rioting Wednesday evening after a large group of Islamists attacked Coptic Christian houses and a church in the village of Deir El-Bersha in the Minya governorate, Agenzia Fides reports. The rioting was triggered by Facebook comments made by a young Coptic man that were considered insulting to Islam and the prophet Muhammed.
The six-year-old son of a former sheik was murdered by his relatives in eastern Uganda Monday, after the father refused his family’s demand that he deny Christ, Morning Star News reports. The attack happened two days after Islamic terrorists murdered a pastor and his 12-year old son in western Uganda. These attacks are among many documented in Uganda by Morning Star News, although Muslims make up only 12% of the population and religious freedom is protected under the constitution.
A young Christian faces a lengthy prison term in Egypt for blasphemy after he was released on bail, Christians say.
A Christian teacher in Egypt reportedly faces charges of defaming Islam because of comments he made in response to a Facebook post earlier this month, Morning Star News reports. Youssef Hany from the city of Ismailia is understood to have been arrested on November 11 and charged under Article 98(f) of Egypt’s penal code, which prohibits insulting Islam, Christianity, or Judaism – religions described by the law as “heavenly.”
The governor of Nigeria’s northwestern state of Kaduna has condemned the killings of a prominent Christian leader and his teenage son by suspected Islamic Fulani militants.
Aid workers say thousands of desperate people, many of them Christians, have fled an area in northern Mozambique after Islamist fighters killed dozens of villagers.
A married Christian couple detained for evangelizing in Muslim-majority Somaliland have neem released, well-informed sources told Worthy News.
Suspected Islamist militants have killed scores of people in their latest attacks against Christians in the volatile Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), aid workers say.
A well-known preacher in northern Uganda was murdered by Islamic militants after he compared Christianity and Islam during a radio broadcast on October 31, Morning Star News reports. David Omara, the 64-year-old leader of Christian Church Center, was ambushed, beaten, and strangled in Aduku, Kwania District after his program.
Although exact figures are disputed locally, more than 100 predominately Christian villages in Nigeria’s Kaduna are reported to now be occupied by Fulani Islamic militants, persecution watchdog International Christian Concern (ICC) reported last week. Thousands of residents from the occupied villages have reportedly been displaced by the terrorists. Nevertheless, ICC said, “disagreements over attacks and incidents have led to the confusion and furthered the problems that have plagued the Middle Belt Crisis.”
The murder of Swiss evangelical missionary Beatrice Stöckli by Islamic militants in Mali has prompted an aid group to appeal for prayers.
A video released on October 29 shows that a pastor in Nigeria who was abducted by Islamic terrorists on October 19 is still alive, Morning Star News reports. Appealing to the governor of Plateau state and to the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and denominational Christian leaders for help, the Rev. Polycarp Zongo of the Church of Christ In Nations (COCIN) says that he is together with two Christian women who were also abducted by the “caliphate” militants of the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP).
Christians are among those singled out for deadly attacks as violence spreads throughout Nigeria, Christian rights investigators warned Thursday.
A Swiss missionary was executed by Islamic extremists in Timbuktu, Mali last month, Christianity Today reports. Beatrice Stöckli was kidnapped in January 2016 by an Islamist terrorist organization connected to Al-Qaeda.
Christians in the self-declared nation of Somaliland fear more executions and other persecution after a married couple was detained for evangelism, Worthy News learned.