(Barnabas Aid) — Pakistan’s government approved a new law to monitor online platforms on Jan. 28, which would require social media companies to remove any “unwanted and slanderous” online content within 24 hours, or six hours in “emergency cases,” prompting concerns over “blasphemy” accusations. Any company failing to share any data or remove any content […]
NEW DELHI (Morning Star News) – Three Christians in northern India spent more than two months in jail suffering abuse from other prisoners, even though police found no evidence of wrongdoing and the complainant retracted his accusation, sources said. In Uttar Pradesh state’s Mau District, 23-year-old pastor Ajay Kumar, fellow pastor Om Prakash, 20, and another […]
(Christian Solidarity Worldwide) — Rebecca Sharibu, the mother of 16 year-old schoolgirl Leah Sharibu, joined a protest outside the Nigerian High Commission in London, organized by CSW to mark the second anniversary of her daughter’s abduction and call on the Nigerian government to do everything in its power to secure her release. Leah Sharibu […]
(International Christian Concern) – On Tuesday, February 18, a court in India’s Madhya Pradesh state acquitted eight Christians falsely accused of attempting to forcefully convert 60 children to Christianity. The court’s decision brings to a close a two-and-a-half-year legal battle that saw these eight Christians falsely accused of heinous crimes and imprisoned for months. In […]
KUALA LUMPUR (FMT News) — The siblings of Indonesian Ruth Sitepu, who has been missing together with her husband pastor Joshua Hilmy since November 2016, are pleading with the Malaysian authorities to help locate her. Ruth’s sister, Ram Ram Elisabeth, said Ruth is a responsible and caring person, and she would always respond to their […]
(Church in Chains) — Christian rights activist Fatemeh (Mary) Mohammadi has been badly beaten and strip searched and is being detained in the notorious Qarchak women’s prison. A former Muslim, she has chosen to be known as Mary since her conversion. Mary, 21, was arrested on Jan. 12 near Azadi Square in Tehran during protests […]
(Barnabas Fund) — The bodies of two kidnapped Christians, seminary student Nnadi Michael and Bola Ataga, wife of a local doctor, were found dumped at the same location in Kaduna State, Nigeria, on Jan. 31. Nnadi Michael (18), was abducted from a seminary residence in Kakua on Jan. 8, along with Piusm Kanwai (19), Stephen […]
(Evangelical Focus) — At least 24 people were killed, including a church pastor, by unidentified gunmen who attacked a church in northern Burkina Faso, local officials said on Monday. The attack took place on Sunday during a worship service at a Protestant church in the village of Pansi in Yagha, a province near the border […]
Hong Kong/Macau (International Christian Concern) – In the midst of fighting the Coronavirus epidemic, China has announced that it will put Xia Baolong, previously known for removing thousands of crosses from churches in Zhejiang province, in charge of the cabinet-level office that oversees Hong Kong and Macau affairs. Xia, 67, the vice chairman of the […]
(Bitter Winter) — The persecution of house churches that belong to the so-called “gray market” — the largest segment of Chinese religion — has intensified dramatically since the new Regulations on Religious Affairs came into force in February 2018. Crackdowns on them have been implemented throughout the country, and Ninghai county in Zhejiang Province’s prefecture-level […]