In the battle for Syria between forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad and rebel jihadist factions, violent contests for the control of small Christian villages are often under-reported by the mainstream media.
A convert from Islam has been sentenced to ten years in jail for distributing 12,000 pocket-sized Gospels in the Islamic Republic of Iran, according to BarnabasAid.
Last week’s disappearance of an Italian Jesuit priest in Syria suggested foul play following the kidnappings of two other clergy in April, according to Morning Star News.
According to the Assyrian International News Agency, Assyrian Christians who have fled from an area of Syria called al-Thawrah (also known as al-Tabqah), have been told by rebels, “If you want to come back, convert to Islam, or you will be killed.”
A Christian convert was tried in July by Branch 2 of the Revolutionary Court in Robat Karim.
Eight Iranian Christians received long sentences Tuesday after being convicted of “action against the national security,” a bogus charge often used against Muslim converts to Christianity, according to Morning Star News.
The pastor of Iran’s largest Persian speaking Pentecostal church has been “conditionally released” from prison but his congregation in the capital Tehran remains closed, Iranian Christians told Worthy News.
Another massacre reportedly carried out by Free Syrian Army militants has targeted the residents of al-Duwayr/Douar, a Christian village close to the city of Homs and near Syria’s border with Lebanon, according to Syria Report.
A Catholic priest has been publicly beheaded by suspected Islamic militants in northern Syria after accusations of collaborating with President Bashar Assad’s government, Worthy News established Tuesday, July 2.
Minority Christians in Iraq feared more violence Saturday, June 29, after several Assyrian Christian shops and one church were attacked, killing two people and injuring a dozen others, church representatives said.
While the world’s attention was focused on Iran’s presidential election, four converts to Christianity were found guilty by an Iranian court of no longer being Muslims.
Iranian Pastor Behnam Irani, who may face the death penalty for “apostasy”, is facing serious health problems after two years imprisonment, a close friend has told Worthy News.
Iranian agents closed Iran’s largest Persian-language Pentecostal church Monday, one week after arresting its pastor during worship services, according to Fox News.
A pastor of the Central Assemblies of God (AoG) Church in Tehran was detained Tuesday, May 21, as part of Iran’s wider crackdown on evangelical believers, Christian rights activists confirmed. The arrest of Reverend Robert Asserian came as his church prepared for possible closure by the end of June due to pressure from the feared Iranian Intelligence Ministry, said advocacy group Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW).
A Christian prisoner suffering internal bleeding has been denied proper medical attention in Iran, according to Barnabas Aid.
In April, two senior clerics caught in the Syrian civil war were kidnapped by unidentified gunmen and remain in captivity, their whereabouts unknown.
A new report by the International Campaign for Human Rights shows that many Christian customs in Iran are criminalized by the authorities, according to Barnabas Aid.
An American pastor sentenced to eight years in an Iranian prison for planting house churches in the Islamic Republic a decade ago recently wrote that prison officials have told him to either deny Christ, or remain incarcerated indefinitely, according to the Christian News Network.
Five Christian converts from Islam who were arrested in Iran last year for evangelistic activities had to post large bail amounts to be released from prison.
Two Christian converts are already over 50 days in Tehran’s feared Evin prison as part of a crackdown on spreading Christianity in heavily Islamic Iran and it remains unclear when they will be released, Worthy News learned.