Religious persecution in Eritrea is at its highest ever and getting even worse, according to World Watch Monitor, the news outlet of Open Doors, a Christian charity that ranked Eritrea 10th on its World Watch List.
Iranian Pastor Behnam Irani, who may face the death penalty for “apostasy”, is facing serious health problems after two years imprisonment, a close friend has told Worthy News.
A pastor in Kazakhstan was arrested last month for allegedly serving hallucinogens to his congregation while wielding a powerful psychological influence over them.
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.
A pastor of the Central Assemblies of God (AoG) Church in Tehran was detained Tuesday, May 21, as part of Iran’s wider crackdown on evangelical believers, Christian rights activists confirmed. The arrest of Reverend Robert Asserian came as his church prepared for possible closure by the end of June due to pressure from the feared Iranian Intelligence Ministry, said advocacy group Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW).
Of the 15 worst violators of religious freedom in the world, 10 are Islamic states.
A new report by the International Campaign for Human Rights shows that many Christian customs in Iran are criminalized by the authorities, according to Barnabas Aid.
The Legal Evangelical Association (for) Development (LEAD) filed a bail petition Monday in the Session Court of Lahore on behalf of Sawan Masih, an imprisoned Pakistani Christian accused of blasphemy.
In Kazakhstan, anyone who shares their faith could be jailed under proposed new laws that would increase the penalties for those practicing their religion.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is suing the U.S. Treasury Department to remove “In God We Trust” from all its currency.
A court in Kazakhstan has ordered the destruction of Christian literature, including Bibles, seized from a street evangelist.
A Muslim mob attacked a Christian neighborhood in eastern Pakistan torching up to 100 homes and injuring dozens, after hearing reports that a Christian man committed blasphemy against Islam.
There was uncertainty Tuesday, March 5, about the situation of 125 Eritrean Christians who were “beaten and detained” in western Eritrea as part of a new government campaign against Christians worshiping outside the state-backed churches, rights investigators said.
An Algerian Christian was heavily fine by an appellate court in Tindouf Wednesday for proselytizing.
A Christian woman has won a court case concerning her right to visibly wear a cross in the workplace.
Belarus continues to keep its religious communities confined within an invisible ghetto of regulations, according to Forum 18.
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.
This month in Uzbekistan, a dozen Bostanlyk policemen raided a gathering of 80 Protestants on holiday together at the Phoenix resort near the capital.
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.
Because of its repressive policies, Eritrea has been dubbed the “North Korea of Africa”: currently more than 2,000 Christians are believed to be imprisoned there for their faith.