Articles

Faisalabad, Pakistan (24 November 2025) — During the annual gathering of Minority Concern’s Faisalabad chapter, the organisation expressed deep concern over persistent reports of forced conversions and coerced marriages of underage Christian girls in Pakistan, calling for urgent and coordinated action by Pakistani authorities, international human rights bodies, and civil society organisations.

Christian Daily International — Rights activists urged the European Union to investigate widespread human rights violations in Pakistan, including persecution of religious minorities, ahead of a review starting Monday (Nov. 24) by a key EU mission monitoring the country’s eligibility for preferential trade terms.

Forum 18 (14.11.2025) - The criminal investigation into four police officers who tortured and threatened to murder Jehovah's Witness Daniyar Tursynbayev in the southern town of Kentau on 13 August appears to be at a standstill. An official of Kentau Prosecutor's Office – which a court had to order to begin an investigation – insists that it cannot proceed until Tursynbayev makes his statement about the torture in person in Kentau.

The World Uyghur Congress (WUC) and the Ukrainian civic initiative Don’t Fund the Russian Army (DFRA) have filed a criminal complaint to Spain’s National Court against Huawei Technologies, Hikvision Digital Technology, Zhejiang Dahua Technology and their Spanish subsidiaries. Prepared in collaboration with a Barcelona-based law firm, the complaint requests that Spanish authorities investigate potential corporate complicity in serious international crimes under Spain’s universal jurisdiction framework.

By Massimo Introvigne — The Czech Ministry of Culture has announced it will not proceed with administrative dissolution proceedings against the local Religious Association of Jehovah’s Witnesses. The announcement comes after months of scrutiny, public debate, and a flood of documentation submitted by the Witnesses, culminating in what can only be described as a resounding victory for freedom of belief.

By Anugrah Kumar, Christian Post Contributor — Two historic churches in Mosul, Iraq, have officially reopened after years of restoration, nearly a decade after their destruction during the Islamic State's occupation. The reconsecration ceremonies marked a rare moment of revival for the region's dwindling Christian population.

On Wednesday, local residents, clergy and international officials gathered to inaugurate the Church of Saint Thomas, a Syriac Orthodox site dating to the seventh century, and the Chaldean Catholic Church of Al-Tahira, also known as "The Immaculate."

The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) condemns in the strongest possible terms the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its detention of Christian pastors across China.

On Oct. 10, Chinese authorities detained Pastor Mingri Jin and 30 other congregation leaders of Zion Church, one of the largest underground churches in China. This is just one of many recent events that have prompted USCIRF to issue this statement.

In a world where spirituality should unite, history tells us that the opposite has often been the case. This article, written by Prof. Pietro Nocita in concomitance with parliamentary hearings on the possible reintroduction of the crime of plagio in Italy, offers a profound and articulate reflection on the concept of religion, its linguistic ambiguities and its historical drifts.

HRWF (23.09.2025) – “CAP Liberté de conscience and Human Rights Without Frontiers are deeply concerned about the fact that chaplaincy activities of Jehovah’s Witnesses in a number of Belgian prisons are in practice not allowed any more. Since 2019, Jehovah’s Witnesses have written six times to the Minister of Justice and have initiated legal proceedings due to this discrimination experienced in four Belgian prisons: Nivelles, Leuze, Dinant, and Leuven Central.

The much-vaunted freedom of the web is not so free after all, as evidenced by the European Chat Control bill to “monitor” its citizens' chats. In Nigeria, where Sharia law is rigidly enforced, sharing a song on WhatsApp that contains opinions about the prophet Mohammed, opinions not shared by Muslims who follow Sharia law, results in a death sentence by public hanging, as a warning to blasphemers.

Washington, DC – The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) released the following report: China’s Persecution of Religious Leaders – Religious leaders in China, both independent and state-sanctioned, endure egregious religious freedom conditions. Religious leaders must conform to the Chinese Communist Party’s political ideology and submit to the state’s intrusive system of control in order to legally engage in religious activities.

South Korea’s justice system has once again revealed its fragility with the arrest of Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon, widow of Rev. Sun Myung Moon, in Seoul. Known to her followers as “Mother Han,” the 82-year-old leader of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification is currently recovering from heart failure, a fact the prosecutor disregarded when ordering her detention. In “The Arrest of Mother Han: Korea’s Unholy War on Religion and Reason”, sociologist Massimo Introvigne dissects the legal case, arguing: “The legal grounds for arresting Mother Han were absent. The charges are implausible and politically motivated. This is not a corruption case—it’s a purge.”

by Willy Fautre — On 26 August, the European Court of Human Rights ruled in the case Erikas Rutkauskas v. Lithuania that the religious freedom of a religious minister of Jehovah’s Witnesses had been violated for failing to give him access to a civilian service replacing military service. This is the second time in recent years that Lithuania has lost a similar case in Strasbourg. In June 2022, the court ruled in favour of another Jehovah’s Witness minister, Lithuanian citizen Stanislav Teliatnikov, who was living in Turkey at the time. He also refused military service in 2015 on religious grounds and sought an alternative.

In the following article, “Religiocide in Korea: The Attempted Assassination of a Faith”, sociologist Massimo Introvigne unveils and exposes a disturbing campaign of religious hatred and persecution happening in Korea.

Introvigne explores the legal and political siege against the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, generally known by its previous name of Unification Church.

This Korean crackdown stems from similar efforts started in Japan, where the movement faces legal dissolution.

The World Uyghur Congress (WUC), in close collaboration with the international initiative Don’t Fund Russian Army (DFRA) and the French law firm Bourdon & Associés, has filed a second criminal complaint with a civil claim (plainte avec constitution de partie civile) with the Paris Judicial Court against the French subsidiaries of Chinese technology giants: Dahua Technology France, Hikvision France and Huawei Technologies France.

by Steno Sari — We live in a world where visibility counts more than truth, where those who remain silent and adapt are rewarded, while those who expose themselves are labeled as naïve or inconvenient. In this "liquid" society, relationships are often based on the fear of commitment, consensus is worth more than conscience and courage has become a rare commodity. I am not talking about the reckless courage of the unaware, but of the clear-headed courage of those who remain true to themselves, even at the cost of paying a high price.

Washington, DC — The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) released the following report on the link between atrocity prevention and international religious freedom: Preventing Mass Atrocities Targeting Religious Communities – Religious freedom violations and the targeting of religious identities can play a significant role in elevating the risk of mass killings and atrocities.

by Willy Fautré, director of Human Rights Without Frontiers (Brussels) — In the last few months, a number of mainline British media, including the BBC, published sensational reports gravely stigmatizing the Ahmadi Religion of Peace and Light whose members were arrested and imprisoned as “heretics” in over a dozen Muslim majority countries and were defended by the United Nations, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Human Rights Without Frontiers and other NGOs.

There are signs that “traditional” anti-cultists are ready to enroll even the most lunatic “New Age” figures in their crusade.

In this article, Rosita Šorytė explores the connection between the new anti-cult New Age movements and the conventional anti-cult movements that mostly orbit in the FECRIS galaxy, as demonstrated by Luigi Corvaglia's explicit appreciation of Wahid Azal's remarks, in perfect line with the motto “the enemies of my enemies are my friends”.

A “prophet,” whose revelations come from hallucinogenic plants, believes CESNUR funds AROPL as part of a Jewish “Sabbatian-Frankist” conspiracy.

In this article, Rosita Šorytė denounces the activities of one of the leaders of the New Age Anti-Cultism, Wahid Azal, whose “sources” derive from hallucinogenic plants. Wahid Azal has incorporated ayahuasca and Haoma – a MAO inhibitor from Syrian rue (Peganum harmala) and Australian acacia bark containing DMT – into his religious practice, which allows him to communicate with mythical figures from centuries past.