Tag: Censorship

Azerbaijanis fined and detained for selling religious books

May 24, 2017 Azerbaijan Baku, Caucasus, Censorship, Central Asia, House churches

New cases have emerged of Azerbaijanis facing heavy fines and imprisonment for trying to sell or distribute religious literature. The South Caucasus state, which supposedly allows religious freedoms under its secular constitution, has made it difficult in the past for Christians to practise their faith. In December 2016 two church . . . Read More

Cuba continues to restrict freedom of education

March 29, 2017 Cuba Censorship, Cuba, Education, Ramon Rigal, Raúl Castro

Cuba’s Center for Coexistence Studies (CEC) has once again been the target of harassment by state police, according to regional news agency Diario Las Americas. CEC was founded by Cuban Catholic intellectual Dagoberto Valdes, as a platform for citizen participation, freedom of expression, social justice and democracy for the good . . . Read More

Christianity once considered a ‘disease’, but now ‘tolerated’ in Cuba

October 26, 2016 Cuba Censorship, Churches, Communism, Fidel Castro, Havana, Raúl Castro

The ruins of a church in the town of Trinidad, in the central Cuban province of Sancti Spíritus.Cristian Viarisio / Flickr / CC Christians in Cuba used to face constant pressure from the authorities for being thought “anti-revolutionaries”. It was said that being Christian was a “disease”. They were . . . Read More

U.S. pins N Korea atrocities on Kim

July 6, 2016 North Korea Censorship, Kim Jong-Un, North Korea, USA

The U.S. government has, for the first time, officially pinned North Korea’s “serious human-rights abuses” upon Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un personally, as well as upon 14 high-ranking officials in the country’s military, security and party agencies. In a in Washington, D.C., the State Department laid at Kim’s feet the responsibility . . . Read More

Egypt returns confiscated SAT-7 equipment

February 5, 2016 Egypt Cairo, Censorship, Egypt

Egyptian authorities have returned all the equipment they had earlier confiscated from SAT-7 local offices, (Feb.2). This comes more than three months after the country’s censorship police , seizing computers and production equipment. On October 10, 2015, the authorities came to the SAT-7 Cairo offices with a search warrant. Country . . . Read More

Police raid Sat-7 channel’s Egypt offices

October 14, 2015 Egypt Censorship, Copts, Egypt, Middle East, North Africa

Egyptian police raided Sat-7 channel’s Cairo offices on Oct. 10, confiscating equipment and briefly detaining the pioneer Arabic Christian broadcaster’s country office director. Detained for hours before being released, director Farid Samir faces possible charges related to operating a satellite TV channel “without the necessary licenses,” a press release by . . . Read More

Dubai: free to worship, but not convert

July 14, 2015 United Arab Emirates Catholics, Censorship, Converts, Dubai, Islamic extremism, United Arab Emirates

In Dubai Christians are free to worship but must not try to convert anyone, reports the BBC. Churches cannot display crosses, and those who preach publicly or try to persuade Muslims to convert can expect jail and deportation. The UAE, of which Dubai is a part, has crippling restrictions on . . . Read More

Tanzanian teacher murdered in church, pastor and wife on Zanzibar attacked by extremists

October 21, 2014 Tanzania Acid attacks, Arusha, Bukoba, Censorship, East Africa, Islamic extremism, Kagera, Mwanza, Pentecostals, Tanzania, Zanzibar

Pastor Crodward Edwar (centre) at a press conference about the Bukoba murderHarakati News blog Unknown attackers killed a Christian man by machete and injured another in Bukoba in northwest Tanzania on Thursday, Oct. 9, according to sources. This followed another recent incident on Zanzibar island in which a pastor . . . Read More

A test of freedoms in Brazil

June 4, 2014 Africa, Brazil, Censorship, Religious freedom

Brazil, a county that by some measures has the most religious freedom in the world, is grappling with a court case pitting religious intolerance against freedom of speech. The controversy began with 16 videos on You Tube that public prosecutors claim encourage discrimination toward Africa-based religions. It grew in May . . . Read More

Church website blocked as ‘porn’ by Turkish parliament

May 30, 2014 Turkey Bursa, Censorship, Diyarbakir, Malatya

The home page of the Diyarbakir Church website. It was blocked by the Turkish government inside parliament offices because it was deemed “pornography.www.diyarbakirkilisesi.com/ Aykan Erdemir, a member of Turkey’s parliament, plans to travel to Diyarbakir Church in mid-June. This week, to prepare for his visit, he looked up the . . . Read More

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