At least four prominent Protestant pastors in Eritrea faced another day of uncertainty Saturday, May 31, after government officials said the church leaders may receive the death penalty for "treason", while dozens of other believers were detained in recent days, a well-informed advocacy group reported.
A state prosecutor in western Algeria demanded two-year jail sentences and large fines for six Muslim converts to Christianity yesterday in one of two trials against Christians that have caught the north African nation’s attention in the past week.
The debate was urgent and often heated at the annual meeting of the Protestant Church of Algeria (EPA) earlier this month. The looming question: whether to obey or disobey government orders that have closed over half of the North African country’s 50 Protestant churches in the past six months.
Unconfirmed reports emerged this month in the Eritrean capital of Asmara, indicating that the repressive regime plans to press formal charges of treason against several Protestant pastors jailed for the past four years.
Algerian Christians have appealed for international "prayers and support" amid a government crackdown on churches and suspected evangelists, a rights group said Monday, May 19.
Pakistani police have jailed a Christian doctor after "blasphemy" charges incited a mob attack on his home last week in Punjab province.
Christians in several areas of Zimbabwe faced more food shortages Wednesday, May 14, amid ongoing turmoil and reported persecution of churches in the country, once called ‘the breadbasket of Africa.’
An Algerian Christian detained five days for carrying a Bible and personal Bible study books was handed a 300-euro (US$460) fine and a one-year suspended prison sentence last week, an Algerian church leader said.
An Algerian Christian was handed a two-year suspended sentence for “proselytism” yesterday amid an ongoing government crackdown on 26 of Algeria’s 50 Protestant congregations, a church leader said.
Groups of devoted Christians in Algeria were without places to worship Saturday, March 29, after authorities closed down more than a dozen Protestant churches amid anger over alleged attempts by evangelical believers to convert Muslims.
Eight Muslims wielding razor-sharp machetes and knives broke into two village churches in southern Ethiopia earlier this month and began wounding worshipers, instantly killing one Christian.
Last week, Christians gathering at local churches in a southern region in Ethiopia were enjoying singing and worship when, without warning, hundreds of men armed with machetes and clubs leapt through the open windows and indiscriminately began attacking everyone present. The attackers barricaded the doors to try to prevent people from escaping.
Christians in several areas of Nigeria’s Kano State remained anxious Tuesday, March 4, after a government-backed mob armed with machetes reportedly set fire to a church building, before looting and dismantling the property, while a bishop narrowly escaped death, rights watchers said.
An elderly American pastor and former chairman of the Protestant Church of Algeria was preparing Thursday, February 28, to launch an appeal against plans by authorities to deport him from the country.
An influential independent Christian rights group confirmed late Wednesday, February 27, that Eritrea has released dozens of evangelical Christians, but warned that some 2,000 other believers remain imprisoned in the African nation "due to their faith in Christ."
Dozens of evangelical Christians spend another day in freedom in Eritrea after they were unexpectedly released from prison by security authorities, Christians said.
A Muslim man’s failed attempt to marry a young Christian woman resulted in him accusing her of "blasphemy", triggering violence in the Nigerian town of Yana that left at least one person dead, seven Christians hospitalized and five churches destroyed, a Christian news agency reported Tuesday, February 11.
A little over a year after becoming a Christian in Ngudungudu, Chad in December 1995, Jeje Nehamiah Baki left the town to meet up with his nomadic family in the wilderness.
In a blow to religious freedom in Egypt, a Cairo court has ruled against a Muslim convert to Christianity who requested that his religious affiliation be changed.
Members of a house church in the breakaway Somali republic of Somaliland have fled to neighboring Ethiopia after hearing that the government wants to arrest them as part of a crackdown on evangelical Christians, an influential human rights group said Thursday, January 24.