Gender: Male
Perpetrator: North Korea
Ethnic Group: Korean
Religion or Belief: Christian – Protestant
Reports of Torture: No
Reports of Medical Neglect: No
Date of Detainment: September//2001
Religious Leader: No
Most Recent Type of Abuse: Detainment
Reason for Persecution: Proselytizing Activities
Nature of Charges: Unknown
Joo Gwang Ho
Extra Bio Info:
Joo Gwang Ho is detained for his religious activity.
On an unspecified date, authorities in China arrested Joo Gwang Ho for his evangelism to ethnic-Chinese citizens and North Korean refugees in China.
In September 2001, Joo Gwang Ho was deported to North Korea despite the known risks of life in prison or execution. After being held at the North Pyongan Provincial MSS pre-trial detention center, Sinuiju-based Ministry of State Security personnel transferred him to another penal facility for continuing to evangelize fellow detainees.
Publicly Available Information:
- "E103" Korea Future Initiative
Apr 14
Apr 14th 10:30am
-
Apr 14th 11:30am
U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom
USCIRF Conversation: New Report on Antisemitism in the OSCE Region and U.S. Policy Responses
Wednesday, April 14, 2021
10:30 AM – 11:30 AM ET
Virtual Event
Following the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom’s (USCIRF) hearing on global efforts to combat antisemitism, the need grew for a comprehensive study of how Jewish and non-Jewish citizens understand and respond to antisemitism within member states of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). Please join us for a virtual event describing findings from USCIRF’s new report on antisemitism in the OSCE region and ideas for how the U.S. government can further encourage member states to fulfill their obligations to the Jewish community.
USCIRF Chair Gayle Manchin and Commissioner Gary Bauer will be joined by the authors of the report, Anti-Defamation League’s (ADL) Director of European Affairs Andrew Srulevitch and Washington Director for International Affairs David Weinberg for this discussion. This event will be moderated by USCIRF Director of Outreach and Policy Dwight Bashir and will include a Q&A for attendees.
Panelists
- Gayle Manchin, Chair, USCIRF
- Gary Bauer, Commissioner, USCIRF
- Andrew Srulevitch, Director of European Affairs, ADL
- David Weinberg, Washington Director for International Affairs, ADL
- Dwight Bashir, Director of Outreach and Policy, USCIRF
This virtual event is open to the public and media. The video recording will be posted on the Commission website. For any additional questions, please contact [email protected].
Mar 19, 2021
Egypt has historically faced many challenges to religious freedom. There has been recurring violence and discrimination against Coptic Christians, who represent 10-15% of the population, as well as other communities who face religious freedom challenges. Furthermore, Egypt is one of the world’s leading enforcers of blasphemy laws. The United States joined 30 other countries at the UN Human Rights Council just last week in condemning a range of human rights abuses in Egypt, which has not been done since 2014.
However, in spite of its shortcomings, there have been some improvements to religious freedom conditions in recent years that are noteworthy. USCIRF Supervisory Policy Analyst, Kurt Werthmuller, joins us this week to discuss the situation for religious freedom in Egypt.
Featuring:
Dwight Bashir, Director of Outreach and Policy, USCIRF
Kurt Werthmuller, Supervisory Policy Analyst, USCIRF
USCIRF’s 2021 Annual Report which will detail religious freedom in Egypt will be released in April.