Tag: Kidnapping

The Mexican bishop who negotiates with the cartels

July 6, 2018 Mexico Catholics, Chihuahua, Guerrero, Juarez, Kidnapping, Latin America, Mexico, Organised crime

A bishop in the Mexican state of Guerrero, notorious for its narcotics production and drug traffickers, has developed his own way of dealing with cartels – by negotiating, La Croix reports. Local communities frequently suffer because of the conflicts between rival gangs. In 2017, there were seven murders per day . . . Read More

Jeff Woodke’s wife releases third video plea for news of her husband

June 29, 2018 Niger Abalak, Jeff Woodke, Kidnapping, Mahamadou Issoufou, Niger, Sahel

Jeff Woodke (Photo: Woodke's Facebook page)

The wife of an American missionary abducted 20 months ago in Africa’s Sahel region has put out a new video pleading for his safe return. In the 4’10’’ footage released on Tuesday (26 June), in French, Els Woodke reiterated her despair and desire to be in touch with her husband’s . . . Read More

Church council calls for release of Syrian bishops abducted five years ago

June 29, 2018 Syria Aleppo, Boulos Yazigi, Greek Orthodox, Kidnapping, Middle East, Pope Francis, Syria, Yohanna Ibrahim

The World Council of Churches (WCC) has called for the release of two Syrian archbishops kidnapped five years ago. “The Central Committee recalls with heavy hearts the abduction five years ago of the archbishops of Aleppo, Yohanna Ibrahim and Paul Yazigi,” the WCC said in a statement following a six-day . . . Read More

Mexican pastor killed, nine years on from son’s murder

June 28, 2018 Mexico Chihuahua, Corruption, Juarez, Kidnapping, Latin America, Mexico, Organised crime, Youth

A Mexican pastor interviewed last year by World Watch Monitor was shot dead earlier this month in another exhibition of lawlessness in the troubled city of Juarez, which is just across the border from El Paso, Texas. Eduardo ‘Lalo’ Garcia was shot at least six times on 8 June, as . . . Read More

Syria: Report highlights ‘brutality against Christian clerics’, with five still missing

June 26, 2018 Syria Aleppo, Boulos Yazigi, Greek Orthodox, Homs, Kidnapping, Paolo Dall’Oglio, Qatana, Syria, Yohanna Ibrahim

Fr. Paolo Dall’Oglio, a Jesuit priest who was abducted in Syria in July 2013, is one of the clerics who disappeared and whose fate remains unknown. (Photo: veDro via Flickr / Creative Commons)

A report about violence against Syrian church leaders during the ongoing civil war shows that clerics have been beaten, abducted – five are still missing – and killed, and that 2013 was the worst year. In ‘The Good Shepherd: A Report on Brutality against Christian Clerics in Syria March 25, . . . Read More

Malaysia: Nearly 500 days since his abduction, Raymond Koh’s wife renews call for action

June 26, 2018 Malaysia Borneo, Human rights, Joshua Hilmy, Kidnapping, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Raymond Koh

Susanna Liew (r), wife of Pastor Koh, supports Che Mat's wife, Norhayati Mohd Afriffin (l), as she calls for her husband's release at the meeting on Sunday (24 June). (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

Dozens of people came together in Malaysia’s capital Kuala Lumpur on Sunday (24 June) to call for the release of pastor Raymond Koh, social activist Amri Che Mat and Christian couple Joshua and Ruth Hilmy, and for further investigation into their disappearances. At least 60 people met with the families . . . Read More

Wife of missing Malaysian pastor Raymond Koh writes to PM

June 14, 2018 Malaysia Joshua Hilmy, Kidnapping, Malaysia, Perlis, Police, Raymond Koh

Pastor Raymond Koh who was last seen in February 2017. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

The wives of the abducted Malaysian pastor Raymond Koh and social activist Amri Che Mat have written an open letter to the country’s prime minister, asking for an immediate and independent investigation into the disappearance of their husbands. In their letter to Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, published in the MalayMail . . . Read More

Burkina Faso: Kidnappers release pastor and his family after four days

June 8, 2018 Burkina Faso Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, Assemblies of God, Burkina Faso, Children, Djibo, Education, Fulani herdsmen, Islamic extremism, Ken Elliott, Kidnapping, Ouagadougou, Sahel, Soum, Tuareg

The pastor abducted on Sunday with his family in Burkina Faso’s north-eastern province of Soum has been released. Local sources told Omega Radio that Pastor Pierre Boena, his son David and his daughter-in-law, Ami Sawadogo, were released yesterday (7 June). The report did not specifically mention the two granddaughters, Fasne-wendé . . . Read More

Ad in Vanity Fair tells #MeToo celebrities of women who suffer for their faith

June 8, 2018 Global News -- No Particular Country Boko Haram, India, Islamic extremism, Islamic State, Italy, Kidnapping, Nigeria, Religious freedom, Women, Yazidis

Rebecca Bitrus was abducted by Boko Haram in 2014 and suffered because of her faith. (Photo credit: Claire Giangravé/Crux news agency)

An ad in the Italian edition of Vanity Fair has called for the global #MeToo campaign to include women who suffer violence because of their religion. The Vanity Fair ad includes an open letter to some of the actresses who spoke out as part of the #MeToo initiative, like Asia . . . Read More

Second Christian leader in two weeks kidnapped in Burkina Faso

June 5, 2018 Burkina Faso Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, Assemblies of God, Burkina Faso, Children, Djibo, Education, Islamic extremism, Ken Elliott, Kidnapping, Ouagadougou, Sahel, Soum, West Africa

A Christian pastor and three members of his family have been kidnapped in Burkina Faso’s north-eastern province of Soum, two weeks after the kidnapping of another Christian leader and his wife. Pierre Boena, a pastor with an Assembly of God church, was kidnapped during the evening of Sunday 3 June . . . Read More

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