Globe Trot: Imprisoned Iranian Christian granted medical care

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Plus, India’s religious freedom, aid in Iraq, EU censorship, terror-tracking technology, and Kenyan protests

IRAN: Maryam Zargaran, the imprisoned Iranian Christian serving a four-year jail term, was granted temporary medical care this week after she went on hunger strike to protest her lack of treatment. Fellow prisoners refused family visits to show solidarity with Zargaran.

INDIA: A bipartisan group of 18 House members have urged Speaker Paul Ryan to prioritize religious freedom in India during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Capitol Hill today. Modi addressed a joint session of Congress earlier today, amid ongoing reports of harassment of Christians and other religious minorities in India. WORLD’s Evan Wilt will report on Modi’s speech at WNG.ORG later today.

IRAQ: Preemptive Love Coalition is the first—and seemingly only—aid group to reach Fallujah residents inside the militarized zone, delivering 150,000 pounds of food and water supplies to about 50,000 families trapped amid the ongoing Iraqi military offensive to retake the city from ISIS. I spoke this morning to the group’s CEO, Jeremy Courtney, in Iraq. He said Fallujah families are “absolutely traumatized, absolutely fearful” when they show up to accept 100-pound food parcels. I will have more on this in a separate report at WNG.ORG later today.

Meanwhile, ISIS has used Fallujah residents as human shields in its battle with Iraqi forces and Shia-led militias.

EU: Using a vague definition of “hate speech,” the European Union announced an agreement with major internet players such as Facebook, Twitter, and Microsoft, in which such postings will be removed within 24 hours.

A video about Sweden’s migrant rape crisis is one example of the kind of material being censored as a result of the agreement. Last week, Facebook deleted the account of Ingrid Carlqvist, the Gatestone Institute analyst who appears in the video.

FRANCE: Authorities have launched a smartphone app to track terror alerts during the Euro 2016 soccer tournament.

KENYA: Anti-government protesters aren’t going away, despite government efforts to clamp down.

Mindy Belz

Mindy, a former senior editor for WORLD Magazine, wrote the publication’s first cover story in 1986. She has covered wars in Syria, Afghanistan, Africa, and the Balkans and is author of They Say We Are Infidels: On the Run From ISIS With Persecuted Christians in the Middle East. Mindy resides in Asheville, N.C.

@MindyBelz