Christian Persecution – Middle East

Iraq was named Wednesday, January 3, as the world’s “second-worst persecutor of Christians” after North Korea in an influential report expected to underscore concern about sectarian violence in the war-torn county.

One of eight Iranian house church leaders arrested last month for “evangelization” and threatening security remained detained Thursday, January 4, on new charges that he must pay “an outstanding debt,” Iranian Christians reportedly said.

Iranian secret police began to raid and arrest leaders of the Islamic republic’s indigenous “Jesus Only” movement last Sunday (December 10), arriving unannounced in the early morning hours to search their homes in Tehran, Karaj, Rasht and Bandar-i Anzali.

Tensions were rising Wednesday, December 13, in the Iraqi town of Mosul after an Islamic group reportedly threatened to attack Christian female students.

Grieving Christians in Iraq’s northern city of Mosul completed three days of mourning for a murdered Presbyterian Church elder yesterday, only hours before another Iraqi clergyman was grabbed off the streets of Baghdad this morning.

Unknown assailants bombed the entrance of a Catholic church in Mosul last week, destroying three sets of doors as well as windows in the church, monastery and guest house.

There was mounting international concern Tuesday, October 31, about the persecution of Christian teenagers in Iraq amid reports that a 14-year old boy was beheaded while a 13-year-old girl is being held in prison.

A former Muslim sheikh remained in an Egypt jail Saturday, October 21, after 18 months of “provisional detention” for allegedly “insulting Islam” by becoming a Christian.

Relatives of an Orthodox priest who was kidnapped and beheaded three days later said Thursday, October 12, that the captors demanded his church condemns the pope’s recent comments about Islam and pay a US$350,000 ransom.

After nine days in secret police custody, Reza Montazami and his wife, Fereshteh Dibaj, were released on bail this morning by order of a Revolutionary Court in Mashhad, Iran.

Iran’s feared secret police have detained a Christian couple in the northeastern city of Mashhad, forcing them to leave behind their 6-year-old daughter, a Christian news agency reported late Friday, September 29.

Islamic violence against Iraq’s Christian minority has increased in recent days killing at least two people, as the Muslim month of “Ramadan and statements [about Islam] from Pope Benedict XVI have ignited an explosive atmosphere,” well-informed religious rights investigators said Thursday, September 28.