Egypt Christians Detained For Their Involvement In Website
Two Egyptian Christians remained detained late Thursday, August 9, after police detained them for their work on the Web site of a Christian Arab group based in Canada.
Christian Persecution
Two-year prison term for Baptist pastor in Azerbaijan on trumped up charges
Baptist Pastor Zaur Balaev has been sentenced to two years in jail, after being convicted of using violence against a state representative.
Egypt: Convert in Hiding After Lawyer Backs Out
An Egyptian convert to Christianity who filed suit for his conversion to be officially recognized is in hiding after his attorney announced he would withdraw from the case yesterday.
Laos Security Forces Kill 13 Christians In Major Crackdown, report
Security forces and others have killed at least 13 Christians in Laos in recent weeks as part of a crackdown on Hmong villagers “falsely accused of stirring rebel dissent”, a Christian news agency reported Tuesday, August 7.
Egypt: Muslim Sues for Right to Convert to Christianity
A Muslim convert to Christianity filed suit against Egypt last week for refusing to legally recognize his change of religion, sparking a reactionary lawsuit by Muslim clerics and death threats against his lawyer.
Turkmenistan Deports Baptist Pastor
A Russian Baptist Pastor spent another Sunday, August 5, without his family after he was deported from Turkmenistan for his church activities, fellow Christians and human rights watchers said.
Pastor Killed In Philippines Bomb Blast
Christians in the Philippines on Saturday, August 4, mourned the death of a Protestant pastor who was killed in one of two explosions that ripped through a bus terminal in southern Koronadal City. The blast Friday, August 3, also wounded up to 10 passengers, police and media reports said.
Pakistan: Jail Officials Beat Christian, Halt Bible Classes
Pakistani officials have halted all Bible classes for Christian prisoners in a Punjab jail, isolating the inmate who taught the classes and barring a local pastor from his weekly visits, a non-governmental organization (NGO) working in prisons reported.
India: Christian Worker Beaten to Death in Assam
A Christian advocacy group has asked the chief minister of the northeastern state of Assam to provide protection to believers after unidentified assailants suspected to be Hindu extremists beat a Christian worker to death in Guwahati.
Kazakhstan Baptists Fear More Persecution
Baptist Christians in the former Soviet republic of Kazakhstan faced an uncertain weekend Saturday, August 4, amid reports that authorities barred a mother and her young child from entering their home because of their involvement in a Baptist church.
Egyptian Surgeon Held Hostage By Saudi Government Due To His Christian Faith
The Washington-DC based human rights group, International Christian Concern (ICC) www.persecution.org has learned that an Egyptian Christian working in Saudi Arabia as a surgeon has been repeatedly blocked from going home for over two years. The Saudi government has intentionally run him in circles, promising he can leave, then refusing to let him go.
India Christian Boy “Beheaded”, Christian “Stoned” By Hindu Militants, Missionaries Say
Tensions remained high Monday, July 30, among Christians in the Indian state of Kerala amid reports that the body of a 14-year-old Christian boy was found on the railway track near a Christian school while another Christian was allegedly killed by Hindu militants, missionaries said.
Mexico: ‘Traditionalist Catholics’ Demolish Another Church
Chiapas state officials arrested 14 “traditionalist Catholics” following the destruction on Sunday (July 22) of an evangelical church in a community of San Juan Chamula, near San Cristobal de las Casas, in Mexico’s Chiapas state.
Afghanistan: Some Korean Hostages in Poor Health
South Korean aid workers held hostage by Taliban forces in Afghanistan for more than a week are believed to be in poor health, according to a member of their Korean congregation.
China Releases House Church Activist
A key Chinese house church activist in Beijing was free Saturday, July 28, after six months of imprisonment, human rights investigators said.
Iraq: Court Upholds Christian Girl’s Murder Sentence
Iraq’s Kurdish regional high court has reduced jail time for a teenager who fatally stabbed her uncle as he beat her for converting to Christianity and “shaming” the family by working in public.
Afghanistan Taliban Starts Killing 23 South Korean Christians, Body Found
Afghan Police on Wednesday, July 25, found the bullet riddled body of one of 23 South Korean Christians held hostage by the Taliban, shortly after the militant movement said it would begin killing them.
India: Gujarat State Again Tires Secret Survey of Christians
The Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Gujarat state has resumed the secret survey of Christian institutions it began eight years ago. Extremists have used such surveys to target religious minorities for violence.
Taliban Threatens To Kill South Korean Christians In Afghanistan
The militant Taliban movement threatened on Sunday, July 22, to start killing 23 South Korean evangelical Christians if South Korea did not agree to withdraw its 200 military engineers and medics from Afghanistan, and the Afghan government did not free Taliban prisoners.
China Police Raid Vacation Bible School; Children “Traumatized”, Church Leaders Detained
Chinese Christian workers were recovering from injuries Saturday, July 21, after security forces raided a Vacation Bible School (VSB) for children in Jiangsu province, the latest in a series of police raids targeting China’s house church movement which detentions of at least 15 leaders, local Christians and investigators said.