Boko Haram terrorists in Nigeria freed a Christian pastor on Wednesday evening who had been held captive since Christmas Eve, just hours before the ransom deadline expired and he was to be executed.
Algerian Christians have urged prayers for a pastor and his assistant who were jailed and fined for evangelizing in Algeria, an Islamic nation, Worthy News learned.
Islamic militants have released a Nigerian pastor who they threatened to kill unless their demands were met, security sources said. Bulus Yikura of the Church of the Brethren in Nigeria (EYN) was held captive since December 24, 2020.
Eritrea has released a further 21 Christian prisoners, but Eritrean forces are accused of attacking churches in neighboring Ethiopia, Christian Today reported Tuesday. Despite these accusations, rights advocates believe the Eritrean release of Christian prisoners may constitute an effort to seek favor with Ethiopia’s Protestant prime minister: Eritrea has freed a total of 171 Christian prisoners since August last year.
A kidnapped pastor in Nigeria faced imminent death Wednesday amid fears that authorities had ignored an ultimatum by Islamist militants to save his life.
Pleading for his life, a pastor abducted by Islamic terrorists in northeastern Nigeria on December 24 last year has said on video that his captors will execute him on Wednesday, March 3 if their ransom demands are not met, Morning Star News reports. Pastor Bulus Yikura of the Church of the Brethren in Nigeria was (EYN) was abducted during an attack by Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) on Pemi village in Borno state; 11 other people were slaughtered during that attack.
The governor of Nigeria’s Zamfara state says 279 girls taken from a school are “now safe,” but concerns remain about 38 others.
Armed terrorists abducted 317 girls from a boarding school in Nigeria’s Kagara state Friday, the Christian Post reports. The mass kidnapping was the second such attack in the state in two weeks, and the latest case in a wave of Nigerian terrorist kidnappings for ransom.
Earlier this month a Christian youth leader in Sudan was reportedly detained and beaten by suspected national security forces because he spoke out against the January 3 burning of a church building, Morning Star News reports. The case highlights the continued vulnerability of Christians at a time of national transition from the brutal regime of Islamic dictator Omar al-Bashir (who was ousted in 2019) toward a government that seeks to root out long-term corruption and end religious intolerance in the country.
Sudanese authorities detained, mistreated, and threatened to kill a Christian leader who wants to rebuild a church destroyed in an arson attack, Worthy News learned late Monday.
Hundreds of thousands of people, including Christians, have fled ongoing deadly Islamist attacks shaking parts of Mozambique, and many face starvation, Christian aid workers, told Worthy News.
At least 150 Christians remained jailed in Eritrea on Thursday after scores of more believers were unexpectedly released since late January, Worthy News learned.
Kenyan authorities have detained 10 people after five churches were set on fire in Kenya’s southwestern region, rights activists confirmed Thursday.
An Islamist terrorist organization operating in DR Congo is believed responsible for murdering 16 people and burning down a Catholic church in the northeastern Congolese province of Ituri, International Christian Concern reports.
Egyptian laws brought in since the 2011 revolution have resulted in significant restrictions on religious and other freedoms for Christians in the country, International Christian Concern reported Saturday.
Continuing their reign of terror in Nigeria, Fulani militants murdered six villagers and severely injured many more in an attack in Ogun State Thursday, International Christian Concern reports. As the gratuitous killing of civilians by Fulani terrorists has continued unabated for years, Nigeria’s President Muhammad Buhari, who is also Fulani, has been heavily criticized for failing to keep Nigerians safe from the militants.
A court in Somaliland on Wednesday extended the detention of four Christians for evangelism in the self-declared republic, which is mainly Muslim, trial observers told Worthy News.
The government of Eritrea has released 70 Christians who had been in prison for between two to twelve years without trial, International Christian Concern reports. However, rights advocates do not believe this action by the military dictatorship signals a change in its abusive stance toward Evangelical Christians.
The Nigerian government executed six Christian soldiers on trumped-up charges in Abuja last month, a civil rights lawyer has told the Christian Post. According to Emeka Umeagbalasi, Chair of the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law, the soldiers were framed for a crime committed by one of their superiors.
Islamic terrorists are believed responsible for the murders of over 100 people in DR Congo last month, and a large number of those murdered were from Christian communities, International Christian Concern reports. Known for deadly violence, the rebel Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) group is believed to have intensified its targeted attacks on Christians.