Christian leaders are reported to be among people being detained in Cuba amid rare nationwide protests about the country’s lack of freedoms and worsening economic situation, Christian Solidarity Worldwide reports. Responding to the demonstrations, Cuban President Miguel Díaz Canel has called for “revolutionaries” to fight against the protestors in order to defend the ‘Revolution.’
Nigerian authorities were trying to establish contact with kidnappers Friday amid mounting concerns about the plight of more than 100 abducted Christian students.
The wife and children of a Christian in Saudi Arabia have left the country after he was fined on charges such as “attempting to convert” Muslims to Christianity, Worthy News learned.
Masked gunmen have attacked a Christian government official in Sudan for arranging the return of church properties to Christian communities, several sources confirmed.
A former Muslim who turned to faith in Christ says he has been sentenced to six months imprisonment for alleged unauthorized donations to spread Christianity.
Police are investigating a suspected arson attack against the House of Prayer Alliance Church in south-east Calgary, Canada on Sunday evening, CBC News reports. A refugee from Vietnam, the church’s pastor Thai Nguyen said no one was in the building at the time of the attack, but that his congregation would still have to be “more careful” in the future.
Christians in Islamic Afghanistan are calling for “fervent” prayer as US, NATO, and Australian forces prepare to withdraw all troops by September, Vision Christian Radio radio reports. The US Open Doors watchdog group has rated the level of persecution against Christians in Afghanistan as ‘Extreme,’ even with the presence of US and allied troops in the country.
A Christian family from China has obtained political asylum in the US after the Chinese Communist Party raided their local church and subjected them to months of harassment and interrogation, International Christian Concern reports. The Ruiting family of six were helped to the US by the nonprofit ChinaAid and the Taiwan Association for China Human Rights.
Three former Muslims in Iran are the first Christians to be given prison sentences under Article 500, a new amendment to Iran’s penal code that aims to block the spread of the Gospel in the country, Morning Star News reports. Iran ranks 8 on the US Open Doors Watch List of countries that persecute Christians.
In the latest act of violent persecution against Christians in Uganda, Islamic extremists burned a pastor to death on June 30, leaving a note by his remains saying: ‘Your enmity to Islam is what you have reaped,’ Morning Star News reports.
Three Baptist pastors from Kachin, Myanmar are facing three years imprisonment after the Burmese regime arrested them on June 28 for organizing prayers for peace, International Christian Concern reports.
Islamic extremists kidnapped 140 students from the Bethel Baptist High School in Nigeria’s Kaduna state on Monday, International Christian Concern reports. Islamic terrorists are estimated to have abducted 1000 students from schools across Nigeria since the end of last year.
A pastor in India’s Haryana state was beaten to death on June 30 after sharing the “love and forgiveness of Christ” with a man who then murdered him, Morning Star News reports. India ranks 10 on the US Open Doors Watch List of countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian.
A rights group that focuses on China has reported that, in the run-up to the 100th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) on July 1, the CCP intensified its nation-wide censorship of religious books and materials, Assist News reports. ChinaAid said in its report that a number of schools received notifications forbidding students to read religious books or use other faith-based materials.
Protestant Church leaders in Indonesia have accused Jakarta of perpetuating unrest and division instead of addressing human rights violations in the country, International Christian Concern reports. The Protestant Church Council, which comprises the Indonesian Christian Church in Papua, the Kemah Injili Church, and the Evangelical Church in Indonesia, published its accusations in a June 2 statement.
Christians in impoverished parts of Indonesia appeal for food and essential hospital equipment as the second wave of COVID-19 engulfs the world’s largest Muslim nation, aid workers say.
An Iranian court has sentenced three Christians from the evangelical Church of Iran denomination to five years imprisonment each for “engaging in propaganda against the Islamic regime,” trial observers say.
A church in Mamasa in the West Sulawesi province of Indonesia was burned down during the pre-dawn hours of Sunday, June 27, International Christian Concern reports. No one was in the Toraja Mamasa church building at the time of the arson, and the destruction was discovered as people arrived later in the morning to worship at the Sunday service.
Rafat Obid, a leader of the Sudan Presbyterian Evangelical Church (SPEC) in Khartoum, was detained and freed on bail on controversial charges, a human rights official told Worthy News Wednesday.
As Iran continues a relentless campaign of persecution against Iranian believers, on June 26 the Revolutionary Court in Karaj, northern Iran sentenced three Christians to five years in jail for “engaging in propaganda against the Islamic regime,” Christians Worldwide Solidarity reports.