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.
Secret police officers and other officials raided the Sunday worship service of an unregistered ethnic Korean Baptist Church in the town of Chirchik in Tashkent Region on Feb. 5.
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.
As protesters demanding more freedom and fair elections prepared to demonstrate in freezing temperatures in Moscow Saturday, February 4, a major Russian mission group warned of more difficulties for evangelical Christians and other, religious, minorities in Russia and other former Soviet Union nations.
A Christian convert has been sentenced to two years in prison by a Revolutionary Court in Tehran.
Evangelical Christians in southeastern India were due to worship Sunday, January 29, amid heightened tensions after Hindu hardliners attacked a pastor and church members, representatives said.
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.
Hindu militants twice attacked evangelical Christians in India’s southern state of Karnataka, injuring several believers, including women and children, Christians told Worthy News.
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.
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.
Authorities in eastern Uzbekistan have warned local churches not to allow youngsters and children to attend their worship services and not to carry out missionary activities or “proselytism”, the word for evangelism, local Christians and activists said.
Fulani Muslim herdsmen and soldiers killed at least 45 ethnic Berom Christians in Plateau state last week.
Iran has ordered three evangelical house church pastors to report to prison within a month and serve lengthy jail terms on charges linked to their Christian activities, a well-informed source told Worthy News late Tuesday, November 29.
Evangelical Christians in Belarus and Kazakhstan faced increased pressure Friday, October 21, to halt unauthorized worship services after pastors were fined and churches raided in the former Soviet republics.
Following complaints from radical Hindu groups, police recently closed Pentecostal churches in the districts of Hassan and Bangalore.
Iranian Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani learns early next week whether he will be executed for refusing to recant his faith in Jesus Christ and return to Islam, as the court needs more time to consult with the country’s leadership, trial observers told Worthy News Thursday, October 6.
Militants with suspected ties to Iranian security forces have threatened to kill nearly a dozen evangelical Christians who fled Iran unless they “repent” and return to Islam, well-informed sources told Worthy News early Sunday, October 2.