Christian Persecution – Asia

An anti-conversion bill passed by the Rajasthan state assembly last Friday (April 7) is unconstitutional and could lead to an “explosive situation” in the state, Christians say.

A local Christian leader in rural Laos who refuses to abandon his faith in Christ has been detained and shackled in hand and foot stocks as part of a fresh crackdown by Communist authorities on Christian villagers, missionaries said Thursday, April 13.

Extremists attacked two Christian schools and a private Christian gathering last week in Madhya Pradesh state and accused several Christians of carrying out “illegal conversions.”

Hindu leaders attending a centenary celebration of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) last weekend converted at least 344 tribal Christians to Hinduism. Although police were present, they took no action to enforce Orissa state anti-conversion laws that require official permission for such events.

Christian villagers in a remote area of Bangladesh tried to rebuild their lives Tuesday, April 11, after an angry mob reportedly burned down their church to protest against their decision to abandon Buddhism and convert to Christianity.

Voice of the Martyrs’ contacts in Pakistan reported on April 8th that Pakistani Christian, Parvez Masih, who was arrested and jailed under false blasphemy charges five years ago in April 2001, was released. After years of inhumane treatment, threats, beatings and trials, the headmaster of a private Christian middle school was found not guilty of violating Law 295C (blaspheming the prophet Mohammed).

Pastor Paul Ciniraj Mohammed, a Christian convert from Islam, is still recovering from what he believes was a murder attempt in Kottayam district, in the southern state of Kerala, on March 16.

Nepali evangelist Kumar was making plans to travel from his village to the capital city of Kathmandu for a worship conference in early March, when three Mao insurgents paid him a visit. They approached Kumar, and demanded a 5000 rupee “donation,” (about seventy US dollars) to support their cause. When Kumar couldn’t pay, they kidnapped him.

Documents and information released for first time today by Freedom House’s Center for Religious Freedom show that, despite its claims of liberalization, the Government of Vietnam is continuing its repression of Hmong Christians in the northwest provinces of Vietnam.

The Supreme Court last Tuesday (March 28) quietly ruled that conversion of tribal people to Christianity could disqualify them from running for some elective offices if the posts involve religious functions.

Less than a year after believers in Vietnam’s central Quang Ngai province saw some of their dwellings destroyed, a mob burned down five homes of other Hre minority Christians in the legally-recognized Evangelical Church of Vietnam (South).

Religious rights investigators warned Thursday, March 30, that thousands of people in Afghanistan could face execution for converting from Islam to Christianity, a day after Italy granted asylum to a Christian convert.

In a move expected to raise international concerns, the leader of one of India’s largest evangelical mission groups was Wednesday, March 29, in a Kota Central Jail of the state of Rajasthan, which has been shaken by religious strife, officials said.

Hindu extremists broke into a Youth With a Mission (YWAM) training center on March 17 in Madhya Pradesh state, beating students and significantly damaging furniture and equipment. YWAM director Mukesh Jacob and his wife have since been charged with illegal conversion under the Madhya Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act.

Led by angry Muslim clerics, hundreds of people on Monday, March 27, protested in a northern Afghan city against a decision to free an Afghan man who faced a possible death sentence for converting from Islam to Christianity.

Voice of the Martyrs contacts in Indonesia report that on March 26, hundreds of radical Muslims converged on the Church of Pentecost in Indonesia (PTDI) in Gunung Putri, Bogor County, West Java during a Sunday morning service. The mob’s angry protest over the property being “misused” as a church building lasted five hours. Some of the women among the 190 congregants began crying hysterically as a result of the mob’s hostile demonstration, with some falling unconscious and collapsing to the ground.

Lawyers for three Christian men facing possible execution in Indonesia are planning to seek a presidential pardon and a Supreme Court review of the case because they have new evidence, news reports said Tuesday, March 28.

Indian Church officials on Tuesday, March 28, condemned the adoption of anti-conversion legislation in a key state, after members of a US-backed mission group were attacked by Hindu militants for allegedly “illegally” converting people to Christianity.

Amid mounting international pressure, a court in Afghanistan on Sunday, March 26, dropped its case against a jailed Afghan man, Abdul Rahman, who has been threatened with execution because he converted from Islam to Christianity, and his release was expected shortly.

A mob of some 200 Muslim vigilantes forced Christians in Bogor, West Java, to abandon their church service on Sunday, The Jakarta Post reported today.