World in Brief

The Finnish Supreme Court has given the Prosecutor General permission to appeal the unanimous acquittal of MP Paivi Raasanen by the Helsinki Court of Appeal.

The Court of Appeal dismissed all the charges against Paivi last November and stated that she did not intend to defame or slander anyone, nor did she do anything illegal. Paivi said: ‘This case is historic for freedom of expression and religion. At its core is the whether someone is allowed to share the teaching of the Bible and publicly agree with them’.

Fulani herdsmen have raided predominantly Christian Ambe village in southern Kaduna state, Nigeria, killing six Christians. A large number of herdsmen raided as residents were sleeping.

They were armed with deadly weapons like guns, machetes, and cudgels. On arrival they shot into houses and at anyone they caught sight of, said one eyewitness.

Two mainly Christian villages have been attacked in Minya Governate, Upper Egypt. The assaults came after days of rising tensions, which the state’s security services did nothing to quell despite being notified of the impending danger.

Hundreds of enraged Muslims took to the streets and attacked the Christian inhabitants. They acted ostensibly to prevent construction of church buildings at each site. Clergy from the Coptic Orthodox Church had notified security service officials four days earlier that hostilities toward the Christians had reached a breaking point.

Over 100 Protestants have been forced to flee the villages of Coamila and Rancho Nuevo in Hidalgo state, Mexico. This took place after village leaders cut off their electricity, vandalised and blocked access to their church and some of their homes, and posted guards at the entry points to the villages.

139 people, including five infants and 70 children under the age of 17, all of whom attend the Great Commission Baptist Church, sought sanctuary in the municipal seat of Huejutla de los Reyes, where they are requesting government intervention to protect their rights.

Another of the young women kidnapped by Boko Haram from a girls’ school in Chibok, Nigeria has been rescued. Her three children born in captivity were also freed. It follows nationwide remembrance services across Nigeria to mark ten years since the abduction of 276 girls.

The Nigerian army rescued mother-of-three Lydia Samuel, who is also five months pregnant. It did not share details of the rescue other than to say she was found in the community of Ngoshe.

Over 6,000 people took part in the Celebração da Esperança (Celebration of Hope) festival, organised by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA), in Porto, northern Portugal. Another 6,000 watched it online and hundreds stood outside in the cold rain to follow the event on big screens.

One day after the country celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Carnation Revolution, the peaceful demonstrations that ended fascist rule, and six years after Franklin Graham preached in the capital of Lisbon, Will Graham returned to the country for a one-night event, which also involved over 140 local churches.

Turkey has re-opened the fourth-century Chora church, one of Istanbul’s most celebrated Byzantine buildings, to Muslim worshippers after it was used as a museum for more than 70 years.

The outer halls were preserved as a museum, with visitors able to view the prized ceiling mosaics. Curtains concealed the mosaics in the building’s prayer section, in line with Muslim tradition. But people were seen lifting the coverings to look at the mosaics of Jesus and Mary with the infant Jesus.

A seven-foot bronze statue of Billy Graham has been erected at the US Capitol building, Washington DC. It stands on a pedestal engraved with Bible verses. House Speaker Mike Johnson attended the event accompanied by Franklin Graham, who is also head of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and international relief organisation Samaritan’s Purse.

Graham said: ‘This is a great honour, and my father would be humbled and grateful. But he would not want the attention on himself but on God’s Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.’ International evangelist Billy Graham died in 2018 aged 99.

An Algerian court has upheld a one-year prison sentence for Pastor Youssef Ourahamane, who has been wrongfully convicted of ‘illegal worship,’ according to Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) International.

Pastor Ourahamane, a significant leader within the Protestant Church of Algeria, has seen the forced closure of 43 churches since 2019. Despite appealing his conviction, which initially carried a two-year sentence and a fine, the court not only upheld his sentence but also added a six-month suspended term.

The destruction of a Greek Orthodox Church in Gaza constitutes a war crime, according to Chicago-based US human-rights organisation Justice For All (JFA).

JFA has told the International Criminal Court (ICC) that the destruction of Saint Porphyrius Church in Gaza City in 2023 constituted a war crime because the church is a historical and cultural landmark. Saint Porphyrius is one of the oldest functioning churches in the world and has been a cornerstone of Christian worship in Gaza since 425 AD. During the attack, the church was sheltering hundreds of civilians, including many from Gaza’s Christian minority.

Local churches across southern Brazil have opened their doors to provide shelter and aid to residents in areas devastated by the catastrophic floods that have killed over 130 people and displace 537,000 more.

Working with their partners on the ground, US-based evangelical humanitarian groups Samaritan’s Purse and Operation Blessing’s International Disaster Relief Team have also initiated relief operations. Operation Blessing has set up three kitchens to feed as many as 6,000 people a day.

An independent watchdog on religious liberty has recommended Azerbaijan be listed among the State Department’s ‘countries of particular concern’ that have committed the worst violations of Freedom of Religious and Belief (FoRB).

The US Commission on International Religious Freedom’s annual report also urged the addition of Kyrgyzstan to the department’s second-tier ‘special watch list’. The report comes after the 25th anniversary of the enactment of the International Religious Freedom Act. The law created the role of ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom and the Office of International Religious Freedom within the department.

Iain Taylor