“I could finally breathe easily”: a voice from Egypt’s Church
May 2022What is it like to practise your faith when your freedom of belief is under threat? Our Cairo-based Communications Officer Mary Joseph shares her experience of living through a time when Christians in Egypt have felt additionally vulnerable. A few weeks into Lent, as Christians were immersed in daily church prayers and charitable activities, they were hit with the news […]
Iranian woman learns to forgive through SAT-7 PARS
April 2022Through its programmes and dedicated viewer support teams, SAT-7’s Persian-language channel SAT-7 PARS has been serving viewers in Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan for over 15 years. Laleh*, an Iranian viewer of SAT-7 PARS, recently described how the channel has helped her grow in faith and find peace in Christ: “Greetings to all the beloved at SAT-7 PARS. I wanted to […]
The Middle East Briefing – April 2022
April 2022This Easter, three Abrahamic faiths overlapped in celebrations of Ramadan, Passover and Easter. Different religious calendars aligned, and shared roots, lands and heritages became clear. Yet, the same week saw a fresh cycle of violence on the Temple Mount and Al-Azhar compound in Jerusalem. Palestinian demonstrators and Israeli police clashed in scenes that saw rocks thrown at Jewish worshippers from […]
Beaming joy to the Middle East this Easter
April 2022A special series of Easter worship songs and Bible readings, filmed on location in Jordan, is part of a slate of Arabic content on SAT-7 across the Western and Eastern Easter festival period. A SAT-7 Egypt production team visited the Jordanian capital, Amman, and nearby Fuhais to film Hymns We Cherish in churches, on a hillside and in the pretty […]
Supporting MENA survivors of the Russia-Ukraine war
April 2022“Today we want to pray for Ukraine and ask for the Lord’s peace. We want to say to all those oppressed and hurt that you are not alone,” said Sirene Semerdjian, presenter of SAT-7 ARABIC current affairs programme You are Not Alone, as she opened an episode dedicated to survivors of the Ukraine war. Sister and brother Amira (19) and […]
THE BRIEFING – MARCH 2022
March 2022The images of Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine have shocked us all. Footage of indiscriminate bombings of apartment blocks, hospitals and critical infrastructure, such as water and electricity hubs, assail us like flashbacks of recent events in the Middle East. What we are witnessing in Ukraine is a continuation of the devastating attacks Russia made on civilian areas of Syria […]
Refugee stories open viewers’ hearts
March 2022Home for Sudan-born Ashwaq is a tiny, one-bedroom flat she shares with her baby son in Cairo. It’s a lonely and precarious existence. A long way from the one she dreamed of when she graduated in psychology and pre-school education, and came to Egypt in search of work. Tears flow as this young woman talks to the makers of SAT-7 […]
Standing with the suffering in Ukraine
March 2022“Our eyes are on the suffering Ukrainian church. We are suffering with them.” These words by SAT-7 TÜRK presenter Volkan Er opened discussion of the crisis enveloping Ukraine and its European neighbours in last Wednesday’s episode of Worldview (2 March). This weekly current affairs programme on SAT-7’s Turkish language channel, along with the daily SAT-7 TÜRK news programme, is a […]