(Bitter Winter) — On Nov. 10, 2019, authorities shut down seven house church meeting venues in Longyou county of Quzhou, a prefecture-level city in the eastern province of Zhejiang, as “unlicensed” venues that “meet illegally” because they refused to join the state-controlled Three-Self Church. According to a government insider, 11 of the 13 house church […]

(Christian Solidarity Worldwide) — The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has called on churches in Nigeria and abroad to join in three days of “Special Fasting and Prayer,” commencing on Jan. 31. The initiative is being launched in response to “the gruesome murder of the Chairman of CAN Michika Local Government Area of Adamawa State, […]

(Christian Solidarity Worldwide) — Sudanese Christian businessman Ashraf Samir Mousad Obid was detained at Khartoum Airport on Jan. 27 under the orders of the General Intelligence Service (GIS). Obid was returning to Sudan for the first time since fleeing the country in 2015, following a campaign of harassment by the National Intelligence and Security Service […]

(Barnabas Fund) — One Rohingya Christian is missing and twelve were seriously injured, including several children, in multiple attacks by Rohingya Muslim mobs on the isolated Rohingya Christian community in Cox’s Bazar refugee camp, Bangladesh. The attacks are thought to be a backlash in the wake of UN Special Rapporteur Yanghee Lee’s statement, on Jan. […]

(Article18) — The grave of the only Iranian Christian to have been executed on official charges of apostasy has been demolished. The body of Hussein Soodmand was buried on the edge of the Beheshte-Reza cemetery in Mashhad after his execution nearly 30 years ago, in December 1990. In all the years since, the only sign […]

 LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) — A newborn baby girl is healthy after she was surrendered to firefighters in Seymour, Indiana. The child, now named Mia, was dropped off at the Safe Haven Baby Box Thursday afternoon around 1:30 at Seymour Fire Station Number 3 off Meadowbrook Drive. Firefighters found the child within 60 seconds and […]

(Article18) — Ismaeil Maghrebinejad, a 65-year-old convert to Christianity, has been sentenced to three years in prison for “insulting Islamic sacred beliefs”. He was sentenced under Article 513 of the Islamic Penal Code, which provides for a punishment of between one and five years in prison. His sentencing, on Jan. 11, followed a court hearing […]

(Article 18) — Iranian Christians continued to suffer multiple violations of their right to freedom of religion in 2019, Article18’s latest annual report reveals. The report, a collaboration with Open Doors International, CSW and Middle East Concern, names 25 Christians arrested in 2019 and 13 Christians who received sentences of between four months and five years […]

(Christian Solidarity Worldwide) — The Abubakar Shekau faction of the terrorist group Boko Haram executed the chair of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in Adamawa state, Pastor Lawan Andimi, on Jan. 20. Andimi was abducted on Jan. 2 when terrorists wearing military fatigues ransacked Michika town and forced him into a vehicle. News of […]

(Christian Solidarity Worldwide) — One of five aid workers released by the Islamic State West African Province (ISWAP) faction of Boko Haram on Jan. 15 has said that Leah Sharibu, the 16 year-old schoolgirl abducted from her school in northeast Nigeria in February 2018, is alive and well. Jennifer Ukambong Samuel, who works for Action […]