At least a dozen devoted Christians from Iran’s third largest city remained in jail Saturday, March 17, as part of an attempt by authorities to discourage Muslims and Christian converts to attend church services, Iranian Christians said.
Sheikh Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah, the Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia, recently declared that it is “necessary to destroy all the churches of the region.”
Only a week after Prime Minister Salam Fayyad told a conference of evangelical Protestants that his government respected the rights of Christian minorities, his fellow Palestinian officials told Pastor Naim Khoury that his church could no longer operate as a religious institution under the Palestinian Authority.
Barnabas Aid is sending emergency relief to Christians trapped in Homs after the withdrawal of anti-government forces from the Baba Amr district.
Yet another convert and member of a house church was arrested along with many other Christians in Esfahan, according to the Iranian Christian news agency, Mohabat News.
Dozens demonstrated at the Saudi Arabia Embassy in Washington demanding that Ethiopian Christians imprisoned for their beliefs be released.
A Kuwaiti parliamentarian will soon draft legislation banning the construction of churches and other non-Islamic places of worship in the tiny emirate.
Iran again ordered the death penalty for jailed Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani for refusing to recant his faith in Christ and return to Islam raising fears his execution is imminent, a well-informed church official told Worthy News and its news partner BosNewsLife Tuesday, February 21.
The health of a jailed pastor of one of Iran’s largest evangelical house church movements is deteriorating and there were fears Monday he may die, a well-informed representative told Worthy News.
Embattled Iranian Christians urged prayers Tuesday, February 14, as Iranian security forces reportedly launched a crackdown on devoted ‘official’ churches and house congregations operating outside government control.
Iranian security forces have raided a house church and detained 10 members who gathered for a prayer service as part of a winder crackdown, Iranian Christians told Worthy News.
Approximately 35 Christians in Saudi Arabia face deportation on the charge of “illicit mingling,” according to a report by the global rights body Human Rights Watch (HRW).
A Christian convert has been sentenced to two years in prison by a Revolutionary Court in Tehran.
Syrian and Iranian Christians are being targeted for further persecution, according to Christian news reports.
A leader of Israel’s Christian minority has been stabbed to death by a man dressed as Santa Claus, prompting the arrest of six locals in connection with the murder, church and police officials said Saturday, January 7.
A Christian woman who was detained as part of Iran’s crackdown on devoted Christian converts has been released after more than nine months imprisonment, but concerns remain over other jailed believers, Worthy News learned January 1.
A senior evangelical pastor and his wife are spending Christmas behind bars in southern Iran after security forces raided their Assemblies of God-affiliated church, detaining everyone in the building, including children attending Sunday School, a friend of the couple told Worthy News.
Saudi police arrested 42 Ethiopian Christians attending a prayer meeting in Jeddah Thursday.
Iranian pastor Youcef Nadarkhani has to serve at least one more year in prison before he may be executed for refusing to abandon his faith in Christ and return to Islam, an official assisting him told Worthy News Thursday, December 14.
The “Jewish terrorist” who tried to murder members of an Israeli Messianic family on account of their faith has been declared fit to stand trial.