GENEVA (World Watch Monitor) — The daughter of jailed US pastor Andrew Brunson appealed to the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva last week to help secure her father’s release from prison in Turkey, where he has been jailed for the past 17 months. Declaring that her father had been “falsely imprisoned for far […]

(World Watch Monitor) — Six pastors have been arrested and accused of “masterminding” a ploy to disobey the Rwandan government’s order to shut down over 700 churches in one province. The pastors were alleged to have held “illegal meetings with bad intentions,” the BBC reported. The churches in the central province of Kigali were ordered […]

(World Watch Monitor) — An arson attack on a small Baptist church in Kyrgyzstan has not deterred the congregation from meeting. The 40 Kyrgyz and Russian members of the church feared for their safety when attackers set fire to their church on Jan. 2. They were told by police that the attack was “organized by […]

(World Watch Monitor) — Five members of a Christian family in northeast Pakistan were attacked and injured as they helped to build a boundary wall around their church on Sunday, March 4. The pastor of the Pakistan Gospel Assemblies church in Yousufwala village, on the outskirts of the Punjabi city of Sahiwal, told World Watch […]

(World Watch Monitor) — There was hope among Iranian Christians that the mass protests earlier this year could effect change for them, but they continue to be harassed and imprisoned on spurious charges. An Iranian convert to Christianity, Naser Navard Gol-Tapeh, who recently lost his appeal against a 10-year sentence for “missionary activities,” was reportedly […]

(World Watch Monitor) — Local authorities in Algeria’s north-western city of Oran have closed two more churches amidst growing pressure on Christians in the Maghreb country. The two churches—L’Oratoire (The Oratory) in Oran’s city centre, and a village church in Layayda (about 40km from Oran)—were sealed off by police on Tuesday, Feb. 27. The police […]

(World Watch Monitor) — Malaysia’s highest court dismissed an appeal today (Feb. 27) against four appellants who wanted to be formally recognized as Christians. The five judges of the Malaysian Federal Court ruled that in matters of conversion away from Islam, it was necessary for them to consult the Islamic Sharia courts. The president of […]

(World Watch Monitor) — Videos have emerged of Hindu extremists abusing Christians carrying religious literature. In one of the videos, the extremists are seen setting alight a pile of Bibles. The two incidents, which were verified by Christians in the area, were filmed in southern India. They both show a mob of Hindu extremists abusing […]

(World Watch Monitor) — A 12-year-old Pakistani Christian girl, who disappeared in November, was abducted, forced to convert to Islam and marry her abductor, according to her father. Elisha, daughter of Iqbal Masih, appeared in the High Court in Islamabad, Pakistan’s capital, on Thursday Feb. 8, where she introduced herself by a new Muslim name, […]

(World Watch Monitor) — The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has asked for clarification over how Russia applies its religion law to foreign citizens, reports news agency Interfax. The case that triggered their interest was that of an Evangelical Christian of Indian descent, who was one of the first people to be deported under […]