Aged Four and Scarred for Life: The Children Who Survived the Indonesian Church Attack

Aged Four and Scarred for Life: The Children Who Survived the Indonesian Church Attack

(World Watch Monitor) — Two-year-old Anita Sihotang cannot bear the sound of her father’s motorbike because it reminds her of the noise of the explosion last November, when a petrol bomb was thrown into a church park where children were playing, killing one child and seriously injuring Anita and two four-year-olds. Whenever her father turns […]

Christian Families in India Forced into Hindu Ritual, Denied Water

Christian Families in India Forced into Hindu Ritual, Denied Water

HYDERABAD, India (Morning Star News) – Villagers in Uttar Pradesh state, India beat Christians, forced them to participate in Hindu rituals and have refused to provide them water, sources said. Four families who were attacked in Jalalabad village, Ghazipur District rely on the water to irrigate their fields, they said. “How will we survive if we […]

Sri Lanka: Over 20 Attacks on Christians This Year

Sri Lanka: Over 20 Attacks on Christians This Year

(World Watch Monitor) — There have been over 20 violent incidents against Christians so far this year, according to the National Christian Evangelical Alliance of Sri Lanka. Following a parallel surge in violent attacks on Muslims in the country, the alliance calls on the government to ensure the protection of minorities and their places of […]

UNHCR Accused of ‘Negligence’ After Pakistani Christian Dies in Thai Detention Center

UNHCR Accused of ‘Negligence’ After Pakistani Christian Dies in Thai Detention Center

(World Watch Monitor) — Thailand’s government and the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in Bangkok have been accused of “negligence” after a Pakistani Christian asylum seeker died in a detention centre last month. Ijaz Masih, 35, was reportedly refused medical treatment on May 26 after complaining of chest pains, and died of a heart attack a […]

Water, Electricity Cut at House Churches in China for Refusing to Install Surveillance Equipment

Water, Electricity Cut at House Churches in China for Refusing to Install Surveillance Equipment

WENZHOU, Zhejiang (ChinaAid)— Disputes over government surveillance devices in house churches continue in China’s coastal Zhejiang as officials cut power and water supplies to several area churches and the homes of church leadership at the beginning of June. Members of Tuanqian Village Church in Rui’an, a county-level city in Wenzhou, Zhejiang, spoke with reporters on […]

Christian Sanitation Worker in Pakistan Dies After Hospital Refuses to Treat Him, Family Says

Christian Sanitation Worker in Pakistan Dies After Hospital Refuses to Treat Him, Family Says

LAHORE, Pakistan (Morning Star News) – A Christian sanitation worker in Pakistan died on Thursday (June 1) after Muslim doctors refused to treat him for poisonous gas he was exposed to in a sewer, sources said. Doctors at Civil Hospital Medical refused to treat 28-year-old Irfan Masih of Umerkot City, Sindh Province, saying they did not […]

Chinese Officials Arrest Pastor Detained on Falsified Damage Charges

Chinese Officials Arrest Pastor Detained on Falsified Damage Charges

HUAIBEI, Anhui (ChinaAid) — After deceiving a pastor into police custody, a recent report revealed that authorities in China’s eastern Anhui province formalized his arrest on May 18. Charging him with “intentionally sabotaging public and private property,” government personnel formalized the arrest of the pastor of Caili Church, Chen Shixin, after keeping him in criminal […]

Church Leader Among Dead in Central African Republic

Church Leader Among Dead in Central African Republic

(World Watch Monitor) — A church leader was among those killed in the recent outbreak of violence in the Central African Republic, it has emerged. Baptist pastor Ange-Apoléon Ngakolada, 36, leaves behind a wife and eight children. The president of the Association of Evangelical Baptist Churches in CAR, Singa Gbadia, told World Watch Monitor that […]

Azerbaijanis Fined, Detained for Selling Religious Books

Azerbaijanis Fined, Detained for Selling Religious Books

(World Watch Monitor) — New cases have emerged of Azerbaijanis facing heavy fines and imprisonment for trying to sell or distribute religious literature. The South Caucasus state, which supposedly allows religious freedoms under its secular constitution, has made it difficult in the past for Christians to practice their faith. In December 2016 two church leaders […]