Christians Can’t Bury Dead in Uzbek State Cemeteries
Christians in Uzbekistan are being blocked from burying their dead in state-owned cemeteries as secular officials bend to pressures from Islamic religious leaders, according to Barnabas Aid.
Protestant
Iran: 80 Lashes for Communion Wine
This month an Iranian court in Rasht sentenced four members from the Church of Iran to 80 lashes each.
Eritrea Punishes Christians for their Faith
Eritrean authorities are punishing 39 Christian high school students by subjecting them to beatings and hard labor, according to Open Doors.
Uzbekistan: Religious lit under state control
Sharofat Allamova, a Protestant from the Khorezm Region of Uzbekistan, has been sentenced to one and a half years of corrective labor for the “illegal production, storage, import or distribution of religious literature,” according to Forum 18 News Service.
Iran Launching “Systematic Prosecution” Of Protestants, Former Muslims
Iran has launched the “systematic persecution and prosecution” of “Protestants and Christian converts” with a Muslim background, closing churches, detaining believers and threatening some with execution, a new report claims.
UZBEKISTAN: Holiday Singing, Bible Reading officially prohibited
This month in Uzbekistan, a dozen Bostanlyk policemen raided a gathering of 80 Protestants on holiday together at the Phoenix resort near the capital.
Kazakhstan: Unregistered Churches, Mosques Forced to Close
Churches and mosques in Kazakhstan are being forced to close as that nation’s deadline for mandatory re-registration expires, but many religious communities have complained that the procedures for their closures were both arbitrary and flawed.
Detained Uzbek Pastor Freed, Flown To Safety
A Protestant pastor who faced deportation from Kazakhstan to his native Uzbekistan and up to 15 years imprisonment for leading an unregistered house church has been flown to safety, his supporters confirmed.
62-year-old Missionary Shot in Pakistan
A Protestant missionary remains in critical condition in Jinnah Hospital, Lahore, after she was shot by gunmen multiple times Tuesday.
Uzbekistan: Refugee Pastor Facing Up to 15 Years
Uzbekistan is seeking to extradite refugee Makset Djabbarbergenov from Kazakhstan on charges that carry a maximum 15-year jail term.
Crackdown On Evangelicals In Central Asian States
Authorities in three Central Asian nations have launched a crackdown on evangelical Protestant churches and several believers are reportedly mistreated, fined and detained.
Iran Church Fears Detained Members Are Tortured
An official of one of Iran’s largest house church movement says recently detained church members are tortured and otherwise pressured to confess to crimes they did not commit.
Iran Launching Massive Arrests Of Evangelicals
Massive arrests of evangelical Protestant Christians, including many former Muslims, are reported in Iran, with men and women being dragged to prisons across the Islamic nation.
Kazakhstan Acquits Pastor; Azerbaijan Church Threatened With Closure
Kazakhstan’s Supreme Court has acquitted an evangelical pastor on charges of “severe damage to health due to negligence” after praying for an ill man, but devoted Christians in another former Soviet republic, Azerbaijan, were awaiting whether a high court would ban their church.
Iran Closing Down Tehran Evangelical Church
Evangelical Christians in Iran’s capital Tehran were without a church building Sunday, June 10, after Iranian security forces closed it down as part of a wider crackdown, Iranian Christians and activists told Worthy News.
Azerbaijan Judge to “liquidate” church?
A court in Baku will decide next week whether Greater Grace Protestant Church – which has been registered with the state for 19 years – should be liquidated, according to Forum 18 News Service.
Iran Threatens Church with Bombing
Another church in Tehran was ordered to cease holding services in Farsi, the Iranian national language, otherwise it could be “bombed”.
Baptist Church in Bethlehem Declared Illegitimate By Palestinian Authority
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.
Iran Christians Urging Prayers As Security Forces Raid Churches; Pastors Detained
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.
Russian Mission Group Warns Of Crackdown On Evangelicals; Anti-Putin Protesters Gather
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.