{"id":1679,"date":"2018-04-30T13:14:57","date_gmt":"2018-04-30T13:14:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/subsaharanafricablog\/?p=1679"},"modified":"2018-04-30T13:14:57","modified_gmt":"2018-04-30T13:14:57","slug":"us-owned-christian-radio-station-in-rwanda-shut-down-for-saying-women-are-evil","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/subsaharanafricablog\/2018\/04\/30\/us-owned-christian-radio-station-in-rwanda-shut-down-for-saying-women-are-evil\/","title":{"rendered":"US-owned Christian radio station in Rwanda shut down for saying women are evil"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A US-owned local radio station has been shut down for insulting women in Rwanda, authorities say.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The Amazing Grace Christian Radio<\/a>, a radio station that airs religious sermons, had its broadcasting license revoked after one of its presenters, Nicolas Niyibikora, repeatedly referred to women as evil, Rwanda officials said.<\/div>\n
The Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Authority (RURA) announced<\/a> it had taken away the station’s license on Tuesday.<\/div>\n
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“The revocation follows failure by Amazing Grace Christian Radio to comply with RURA’s sanctions taken after a sermon aired by the Radio on 29 January 2018 in which a radio presenter Nicolas Niyibikora repeatedly insulted women referring to them as evil,” the statement read.<\/div>\n
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‘The bible protects women’<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n
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The radio station’s founder, an American evangelist Gregg Schoof<\/a>, has filed a lawsuit to get the radio back on air.<\/div>\n
The court case will be heard Thursday in Rwanda’s capital, Kigali.<\/div>\n
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Schoof responded to news of the license removal with a statement<\/a> saying he had done nothing wrong.<\/div>\n
He added that he was ordered to plead guilty against his conscience and that Pastor Niyibikora has not been found guilty yet.<\/div>\n
“I am not Pastor Nicholas. Pastor Nicholas must apologize for himself,” Schoof said.<\/div>\n
“Pastor Nicholas was not found guilty yet. There has been no testimony, no hearing, and no court case for his message. So RURA wants me to apologize for someone who is still presumed to be innocent?”<\/div>\n
Schoof has distanced himself from the “evil” comments and stated that he does not support the use of such language on women.<\/div>\n
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French officials accused of ‘complicity’ in Rwanda genocide<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
“I am against any kind of language that is against women,” he said<\/a> to the Rwandan Media Commission (RMC) ethics committee, The East African reported. “The bible protects and promotes women’s rights. But I have not got the entire translation of the sermon since it was in Kinyarwanda.”<\/div>\n
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Controversy<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n
Immediately after the show’s original airing in January, complaints followed on social media.<\/div>\n
Women’s rights groups, the National Women’s Association and Rwanda Women Journalists’ Association, filed complaints to Rwanda Media Commission the media regulatory body in Rwanda, The East African reported<\/a>.<\/div>\n
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Fake nude photos were used to ‘silence me’, disqualified Rwandan candidate says <\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
In February, RURA imposed sanctions on the station, including a one month suspension, a $2,300 fine and an apology to the public.<\/div>\n
When the station failed to comply with the sanctions, RURA said it had no choice but to withdraw the station’s license.<\/div>\n
Rwanda is seen as making positive strides towards gender equality. It has the highest percentage of women<\/a> in its parliament in the world.<\/div>\n
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Free speech<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n
The move also comes amid the closure of over 700 churches in Rwanda by local authorities, Rwandan newspaper The New Times reported. <\/a><\/div>\n
The country is seen as making significant progress since the genocide in 1994, but there are media restrictions and self-censorship, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).<\/a><\/div>\n
Political opponents and journalists remain largely vulnerable, with reports of disappearances, according to Amnesty International.<\/a><\/div>\n
Rwanda currently ranks 156 out of 180 in the World Press Freedom Index.<\/a><\/div>\n
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Photos:<\/span> This photographer wants to show Rwanda is about ‘more than the genocide’ <\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
“I always tell people, if you want to see the life of people in the country, just go out on the streets,” he said. “I always want to hear something from people. And get their experience. And tell their stories and people can learn from them.”<\/span><\/div>\n
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Photos:<\/span> This photographer wants to show Rwanda is about ‘more than the genocide’ <\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
To help accomplish his mission of putting Rwanda on the photography map, Nkinzingabo co-founded The Kwanda Art Foundation in 2015. Kwanda promotes Rwanda’s art community through exhibitions, festivals and workshops. <\/span><\/div>\n
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Photos:<\/span> This photographer wants to show Rwanda is about ‘more than the genocide’ <\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Teaching is a big part of his life and Nkinzingabo (pictured) has been teaching photography to street kids for the last two years.<\/p>\n

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Photos:<\/span> This photographer wants to show Rwanda is about ‘more than the genocide’ <\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
For Nkinzingabo, pictures are more than images, they are visual stories giving a voice to voiceless and he is determined to make the Rwanda of today heard. <\/span><\/div>\n
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Photos:<\/span> This photographer wants to show Rwanda is about ‘more than the genocide’ <\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
“When I started to document my country I was very tired of people just talking about the genocide,” he said. “Or having the only thing people know about my country be the genocide, I want to show the beauty of people, I want to show the happiness of people.” <\/span><\/div>\n
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A US-owned local radio station has been shut down for insulting women in Rwanda, authorities say. The Amazing Grace Christian Radio, a radio station that airs religious sermons, had its broadcasting license revoked after one of its presenters, Nicolas Niyibikora, repeatedly referred to women as evil, Rwanda officials said. The Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Authority (RURA) announced it had taken away… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":72,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1679","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/subsaharanafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1679","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/subsaharanafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/subsaharanafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/subsaharanafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/72"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/subsaharanafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1679"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/subsaharanafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1679\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1680,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/subsaharanafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1679\/revisions\/1680"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/subsaharanafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1679"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/subsaharanafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1679"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/subsaharanafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1679"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}