(Article18) — Three house-church members who have been held for over a month in solitary confinement have now been informed that their appeals against five-year prison sentences have been rejected. Ahmad Sarparast, Morteza Mashoodkari, and Ayoob Poor-Rezazadeh, all members of the “Church of Iran” in Rasht, were re-arrested early last month, despite already facing imprisonment […]
(Article 18) — A Protestant Church-owned retreat center appropriated four years ago by an institution headed by Iran’s Supreme Leader is now in the process of being repurposed, Article18 understands. The Garden of Sharon in Karaj, which has belonged to the Iranian Assemblies of God (AoG) denomination since the early 1970s, has been out of […]
(International Christian Concern) – A month after Beijing’s crackdown of online religious activities, many wonder how the Christians in China are doing in terms of virtual worship and gathering. Are they being targeted, banned, or arrested for conducting “illegal” religious activities? International Christian Concern recently interviewed a Christian leader, Gianni, from a heavily persecuted Chengdu-based […]
(Church in Chains) — Geng Zejun, a house church pastor from Ningxia Autonomous Region in northern China, is due to go on trial on July 13. He has been detained since January 25 on a charge of “organizing illegal gatherings.” Geng Zejun was first arrested on Sunday, December 5, 2021 when police raided The Church […]
Egypt (International Christian Concern) – On Thursday last week, the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) warned that a Yemeni Christian is in immediate and severe danger due to his impending deportation by the Egyptian government. Abdul-Baqi Saeed Abdo recently announced his conversion to Christianity on social media, recounting how it took place in 2013 […]
Laos (Mission Network News/Christian Aid Mission) — A 45-year-old widow in Laos was sharing Jesus with her village — and paid for it with her freedom. Christian Aid Mission says Rina* began following Christ after police came to her Prai tribal village and announced on loudspeakers that they were banned from worshiping the Christian God. […]
(Barnabas Fund) — A Christian family in Vietnam’s Nghe An province have been forced from their home village for refusing to re-convert to a local animist religion. The family of 13 people have suffered persecution at the hands of local authorities, who on June 4 voted to expel them from their home village in Ky […]
LAHORE, Pakistan (Morning Star News) – Hopes for freedom of two Christian brothers on death row under Pakistan’s blasphemy laws were dashed this month when a court upheld their death sentence despite lack of evidence against them, their lawyers said. Qaiser Ayub, 45, and Amoon Ayub, 42, have been incarcerated since 2014, and their appeal of […]
Ukraine (Mission Network News) — Soldiers and officials have harassed four Protestant churches in Russian-occupied Eastern Ukraine. They conducted searches, demanded to see documents, and stole equipment. In one case, they even forced church members out of their building. All these incidents took place between June 12 and 16. Pastor Eric Foley with The Voice […]
OSLO, NORWAY – 27 May 2019: Oslo Freedom Forum – Portraits. (Photo by Dan Taylor – ©Dan Taylor). 06/22/2022 Washington, D.C. (International Christian Concern) – Nury Turkel will serve as the next Chair of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF). Fellow USCIRF Commissioners unanimously elected Turkel to lead the Commission for the […]