(Barnabas Aid) — The Lahore High Court has upheld the death sentence of two brothers, both Christians, for alleged “blasphemy.” Qasir and Amoon Ayub were convicted of “blasphemy” and sentenced to death by a lower court in Jhelum, northern Punjab, in December 2018. Their appeal was heard by the Lahore High Court Rawalpindi bench and […]

(Barnabas Aid) — A Muslim man has been charged with the murder of 30-year-old Egyptian Christian Kyrillos Megally (pictured), who died in the hospital on June 7, three days after being attacked with a cleaver. Abdullah Hosni, who has confessed to the killing in the village of Arab Mahdy, Sohag Governorate, Upper Egypt, is alleged […]

(Barnabas Aid) — A Christian couple was arrested in the Indian state of Karnataka on May 17 after allegations of illegally [“forcing”] conversions to Christianity. Pastor V. Kuriyachan, 62, and his wife Selenamma, 57, were accused of forcing more than 1,000 tribal people in Kadoga district to convert. The arrests took place the same day that […]

(Barnabas Aid) — A church in Odisha state, eastern India, has been sealed with a ban imposed on gathering for worship. The local administration placed the restraining order on Believers Church, Geltua village in Bhadrak district on May 17. District officials said they based their decision on complaints received that tribal people were converted to […]

(Barnabas Aid) — The head of the Methodist Church in Nigeria, Samuel Kanu Uche, has been released after being abducted on Sunday, May 29. He had officiated at a Sunday service and was traveling in the afternoon with his chaplain, Abidemi Jeremiah Shittu, and the bishop of Owerri, Dennis Mark, on a road in Abia State, Nigeria, […]

BAUCHI STATE, Nigeria (Barnabas Aid) — Several Christians were injured and homes destroyed by a mob of Muslims in Katanga village, Bauchi State, Nigeria, after a Christian woman was accused of committing blasphemy in a WhatsApp message. The woman, Rhoda Jatau, was said to have shared a video in which a Ghanaian convert from Islam […]

(Barnabas Aid) — The Myanmar military (Tatmadaw) burned down almost all residential buildings in the predominantly Christian village of Chaung Yoe in the Sagaing Region in a raid on May 20. Hundreds of villagers were forced to flee their homes as Tatmadaw troops began torching the village and two other neighboring communities. At least 320 of the […]

(Barnabas Aid) — The terrorist group Islamic State (IS – also known as ISIS, ISIL, Daesh) has released a video that claims to show the murders of about 20 Nigerian Christians. The video was published on an IS-linked news outlet and shows masked and armed militants standing behind three groups of kneeling captives. The arms […]

(Barnabas Aid) — China has announced that new regulations will come into force on June 1 governing the management of religious organizations’ finances. The new Measures for the Financial Management of Venues for Religious Activities were jointly drawn up by the State Administration for Religious Affairs (SARA) and the Ministry of Finance. They feature 55 articles in […]

(Barnabas Aid) — An Iranian pastor has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for running a “house church” in Tehran, the capital city. Anooshavan Avedian was also sentenced to ten years of “deprivation of social rights” – for example, restrictions on his employment – which will commence once he is released from prison. Two […]