Islam

Churches and government buildings have been torched by groups of militants who have been dubbed Nigeria's Taliban.

The unrest is the deadliest sectarian violence in Nigeria since November last year when human rights groups say up to 700 were killed in Muslim-Christian clashes in and around the central city of Jos.

The current death toll, according to reports, has exceeded 150. more >>

Muslim extremists early Monday morning killed a Christian convert in Mahadday Weyne, Somalia, 100 kilometers (62 miles) north of Mogadishu.

Al Shabaab Islamist rebels shot Mohammed Sheikh Abdiraman to death at 7 a.m., eyewitnesses told Compass. They said the Islamic extremists appeared to have been hunting the convert from Islam, and when they found him they did not hesitate to shoot him.

The sources told Compass that Abdiraman was the leader of an underground “cell group” of Christians in Somalia. more >>

JAKARTA (Compass Direct News) – Members of several Muslim organizations joined a demonstration on June 27 to protest construction of a Huria Kristen Batak Protestant (HKBP) church building in Plaju, outside of Palembang, capital of South Sumatra Province.

The South Sumatra Muslim Forum (FUI Sumsel) organized the demonstration. Carrying a copy of a mayoral decree dated May 2009 ordering a halt to construction, the protestors gathered outside the building site, listened to speeches and then destroyed a bridge leading to it before demanding that the government ban the building project.

A spokesman from FUI Sumsel who goes by the single name of Umar, said the group objected on grounds that the church had not secured permission from the local Interfaith Harmony Forum nor a building permit; both are required by a Joint Ministerial Decree regulating the establishment of places of worship. more >>

LAHORE, Pakistan (Compass Direct News) – Well-known Pakistani minority rights activist Joseph Francis and two others were jailed on Sunday (July 12) for forged documents in connection with false charges of assaulting a woman who visited his office in 2006, their lawyers said.

Francis, national director of the Centre for Legal Aid Assistance and Settlement (CLAAS), which for more than two decades has defended Christians and others against spurious charges by Islamists, was arrested on Thursday (July 9) along with CLAAS official Ashar Sarfaraz and Sarfaraz’s brother-in-law, Zulfiqar Wilson.

Judge Malik Muhammad Mushataq remanded all three to two days of police custody under pressure from Islamists who have harassed Francis and the other two men with false accusations, CLAAS lawyers said, and on Sunday a magistrate sent them to jail to await trial. more >>

A Coptic church in northeastern Egypt was set on fire by Muslim extremists on Saturday while government security guards reportedly watched idly.

The Church of St. Abaskharion Kellini in the village of Ezbet Bassilious, Beni Mazar – a city located about 118 miles south of Cairo - was burned down by three local Muslims, according to Copts United advocacy.

Security authorities reportedly watched the arson suspects go inside the church from the back door and come out of the front of the burning building in full view without intervening. By the time firefighters arrived two hours later, the church roof had already completely collapsed. more >>