Newsfeed
Iran’s role in persecution of Mideast Christians is overlooked, expert says
Author: David Isaac
Publication Date: 1/3/2022
Source: Jewish News Syndicate
The West is missing a critical component of the story when it comes to the persecution of Middle East Christians, said Farhad Rezaei, a visiting lecturer at Toronto-based York University, during a Zoom presentation on Feb. 22. And that missing element is Iran.
Erbil becomes a transit for Syria’s Christians fleeing ISIS and opposition
Publication Date: 26/2/2022
Source: North Press
Syrian refugees, of the Christian community, have taken Erbil, the capital of Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRG), as a transit hoping to immigrate to Australia.
The families, fleeing the Islamic State (ISIS) and the Turkish-backed Syrian opposition factions, left their hometowns in Raqqa and Ras al-Ain (Sere Kaniye) among others in northeastern Syria.
Christianity Is the World’s Most Persecuted Religion, Confirms New Report
Author: Doug Bandow
Publication Date: 7/3/2022
Source: Cato Institute
The group Open Doors USA figures that 360 million Christians last year lived in countries where persecution was “significant.” Roughly 5,600 Christians were murdered, more than 6,000 were detained or imprisoned, and another 4,000-plus were kidnapped. In addition, more than 5,000 churches and other religious facilities were destroyed.
Arab Christian Scholars: Trade Minority Mindset for Abundant Life
Author: Jayson Casper
Publication Date: 23/2/2022
Source: Christianity Today
A group of academic Christians in the Middle East has thrown down the gauntlet: The local church, bound in fear to its minority mindset, needs to walk afresh in the Holy Spirit.
“We must tell the truth and call for freedom,” said Souraya Bechalany, coauthor of “We Choose Abundant Life,” a document released last September that makes 20 recommendations. “We are powerful in Jesus Christ, but too often we don’t believe it.”
Case closed: Christians’ house-church worship was not ‘action against national security’
Publication Date: 28/2/2022
Source: Article 18
Nine Christian converts who spent a combined nearly 20 years in prison for “acting against national security” and “promoting Zionist Christianity” have been acquitted by a Tehran appeal court.
The ruling by Branch 34 of the Tehran Court of Appeal, issued and communicated to the nine Christians today, comes after a Supreme Court judge ordered a review of their convictions in November.
Christian Convert Faces Deportation to Iran from Turkey After Six Years
Publication Date: 23/2/2022
Source: Persecution - International Christian Concern
Pastor Hekmat Salimi, an Iranian Christian convert and Anglican minister, fled Iran six years ago with his wife and daughter after years of harassment and resettled in Turkey, seeking asylum. Turkey issued the family a seven-day deportation warning in mid-February to either return to Iran or face forced deportation.
Wave of expulsions shakes Turkey’s tiny Protestant community
Author: Sibel Hurtas
Publication Date: 23/3/2022
Source: Al-Monitor
Nearly 200 foreign Protestant clergy and their families, including many Americans, have been forced to leave Turkey since a severe crisis between Ankara and Washington over the imprisonment of a US pastor in 2018. Members of Turkey’s tiny Protestant community describe a pattern of expulsions, based on secret reports by the National Intelligence Organization (MIT), with no explanation why the deported Protestants constitute a security risk for the country.
Poverty, fear drive exodus from Syria’s one-time IS capital
Author: Samya Kullab
Publication Date: 22/2/2022
Source: Associated Press News
In a square that a few years ago was a grim stage for the Islamic State group’s brutal rule in the Syrian city of Raqqa, Mahmoud Dander sat deep in thought.
He wants to leave Syria, but has a problem: The 75-year-old has no money. He recalled the old days before protests and wars led to his country’s collapse and national currency crash: Syria wasn’t thriving back then, but he had work, his children had university degrees and decent futures, and food was always on the table.
Syrian-Armenian Church Rebuilt After Islamic State Desecration
Publication Date: 25/02/2022
Source: Persecusion - International Christian Concern
A church previously utilized by the Islamic State in Raqqa, Syria has been restored to its glory after five years. Prior to the attacks of the Islamic State, the Armenian Catholic church of the Martyrs was home to more than 150 Christian families of the city.
UN Special Rapporteur: Tehran arrested dozens of Christians in 2021
Publication Date: 21/2/2022
Source: Asia News
The UN reports on "at least 53 arrests" made among members of the minority. And it expresses "concerns" about the "continued repression". A group of converts forced to undergo "re-education" sessions in the Islamic faith. The role of the Pasdaran in anti-Christian attacks.
