Pakistani Christian mother Aasia Bibi has finally been freed from prison after spending over eight years on death row for allegedly committing ‘blasphemy’ against Islam, but she is not yet free. Government officials confirmed on 8 November that she had been flown to Islamabad under tight security due to radical Muslim death threats against her and her family following the news of her acquittal. While some reports stated that she had left the country, a foreign ministry spokesman said that this was not true. It is unclear what might happen to her, given that Imran Khan’s government has seemingly given way to the huge protests caused by her acquittal on 31 October, and made a deal with the party responsible for organising them. According to that agreement, Aasia would be re-tried by a new supreme court, not including the original three judges.

On 28 September, the IDF neutralised 100+ explosives thrown at them by over 20,000 people rioting at five locations along the Gaza Strip frontier. At the border fence protesters, encouraged by Hamas, burned dozens of tyres, using the thick black smoke as a screen to throw rocks and explosives at Israeli troops. IDF soldiers responded with tear gas and gunfire ,and Israeli aircraft carried out two airstrikes on Hamas positions in the Strip. A statement said, ‘With armed terrorists only minutes away from Israeli families, it is the IDF’s duty to protect them’. A tweet said, ‘Imagine a mob of 20K people, throwing bombs & grenades, attempting to reach your home. The people of southern Israel don’t have to imagine; this is happening right now, regularly, on Israel’s border with Gaza.’

Virtually all media outlets are unaware of the protests in Gaza by opponents of Hamas. Palestinian media in the Strip do not dare to publicise the underground protests against the terrible injustice imposed on Palestinians by Hamas since it took control of Gaza by force in 2007. Al-Monitor has learned that recently dozens of Palestinians have demonstrated in different refugee camps, claiming Hamas had taken the Strip back to the Middle Ages and accusing leading Hamas officials and activists of corruption and of favouring their supporters over the general population. They called on Hamas to take care of its people or ‘disappear’. A few waved signs against what they termed Gaza’s ‘dictatorial regime’. Similar protests took place in 2017; they were violently suppressed by Hamas security forces.

Five Saudi activists face possible execution for ‘participating in protests’, ‘chanting slogans hostile to the regime’, and ‘filming protests and publishing on social media’. The five, including women’s rights campaigner Israa al-Ghomgham, have spent over two years in prison. Now their deaths are demanded. Their plight reveals the emptiness of claims that Saudi Arabia is ‘liberalising’ after the death of King Abdullah and that the heir apparent, Prince Muhammad bin Salman, is a driving force behind ‘modernisation’. Over the past year, dozens of activists, clerics, journalists and intellectuals have been detained in a pattern of widespread and systematic arbitrary arrests and detention. Under current ‘reforming’ 146 people were executed in 2017, many for political dissent, which the Saudi authorities rebrand as ‘terrorism’. The regime permits women to drive, but executes them for speaking out of turn. Christians are treated as second-class citizens and persecution is an ongoing and serious problem. Apostasy is punishable by death for Christian converts who refuse to recant. See also

Tens of thousands of demonstrators gathered in Bucharest the day after 450+ people were hurt and about 30 arrested in a huge anti-corruption protest on 10 August. Police had used water cannon and tear gas to disperse protesters calling for the left-wing government to resign. Many protesters needed treatment after inhaling pepper spray and tear gas; others suffered blows. Floarea Toader, 64, said, ‘My children work in Spain and they would like to come back. But for now that's not possible as the politicians are only interested in themselves and do nothing for anyone else.’ Four million people have left Romania in the last fifteen years, seeking a better life. Romania's average monthly wage is £465. Austrian chancellor Sebastian Kurz, whose country currently holds the EU rotating presidency, criticised the violence, in which an Austrian public broadcaster cameraman was hurt.

The opposition party has rejected President Emmerson Mnangagwa's historic presidential election win after a poll marred by deadly violence and allegations of vote-rigging. On 2 August, Mnangagwa was declared the winner of the first election since the toppling of veteran leader Robert Mugabe, with a 6-point lead over Nelson Chamisa, head of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). Mnangagwa won 50.8 percent of the vote, the election commission said, and Chamisa 44%. The president tweeted, ‘Though we may have been divided at the polls, we are united in our dreams. This is a new beginning. Let us join hands in peace, unity, and love, and together build a new Zimbabwe for all!’ The chances of this happening appear slim, as the MDC has rejected the result as ‘fake’ and says it will challenge it in the courts. Six people have already died in clashes between protesters and the security forces which are patrolling the streets of Harare.

Many Argentines blame the IMF for the country’s 2001 financial meltdown, punctuated by a sovereign bond default and steep currency devaluation, which tossed millions of middle-class Argentines into poverty. Now left-leaning activists have taken to the streets to protest the IMF negotiations taking place in Washington while President Macri is trying to convince average Argentines that his policies will attract the investment needed to establish sustainable economic growth. In Buenos Aires, teachers have been staging protests because life is unbearable as the value of the peso continues to decline by a further 30%, sparking even more inflation. They are demanding pay rises, and say they have been living below the poverty line. To watch a video of thousands of people taking to the streets almost every day go to:

71% of Venezuelans identify themselves as Catholic, and the Church runs numerous charities plus 170 schools for poor children. The country faces 50% hyperinflation, food shortages, black market influences on prices, and failing health systems, with medicine and equipment increasingly not available. Widespread crime is forcing churches to remain locked. There will be a snap election on 20 May, and in the streets there are ongoing protests against a coalition regime they do not trust. Tensions have grown between President Maduro and local bishops. The president has asked them to leave politics out of the pulpit, calling political comments ‘disrespectful’. Not a single thing can be done easily in Venezuela: paying bills, buying food, commuting, visiting loved ones, finding decent-quality women’s hygiene products. In times of crisis like these, religion plays a comforting role for many. See also

Migrants have clashed with Spanish police in Madrid after the death of a Senegalese street vendor who they say had been chased by officers. Protesters set fire to a motorbike and dustbins and threw stones. At least 19 people were lightly injured in the clashes, and ten police officers were hurt. Officials say Mame Mbaye Ndiaye, said to be in his mid-30s, was found unconscious and died of a heart attack. Protesters said he had arrived in Spain by boat twelve years ago. He reportedly worked as a vendor illegally and sent money back to his family. Last year it was reported that the number of asylum-seekers arriving in Spain had tripled in a year, because it was seen as a safer route into Europe.

The Iranian ministry of intelligence and security photographs demonstrations, so that the police can later arrest leaders who exhibit banners criticising the government. The regime will try to weather this latest round of protests while arresting the main agitators, and then torturing them. At least three demonstrators are believed to have been killed in custody at Evin prison, and human rights activists have raised concerns (one death was reported as a suicide, with no credible evidence to back this up). Many believe executions will come next. By 11 January over a thousand people, including nearly a hundred students, had been arrested. Windows International reports protests growing; but Iran has no press freedom, and is attempting to restrict social media which inform Iranians and the world of developments. Pray for basic human rights to be the outcome of this struggle, and for the exposure of corruption in every aspect of the Iranian government. See also: