Christian Persecution – Asia

Family and friends of Pastor Goda Israel, whose body was found in a pond in Andhra Pradesh in February, say they are still convinced that he was murdered, despite police claims of “accidental drowning.”

A young Hroi ethnic minority man who refused to recant his Christian faith reportedly died from injuries received while under official interrogation, BosNewsLife monitored Tuesday, July 3.

Describing an attack launched by Muslim residents of a Pakistani village in the province of Punjab, the Christian residents have said that Muslim residents mounted the attack in a bid to force them to cancel an Salvation Army evangelistic convention that was scheduled for June 17th.

A young Hroi ethnic minority man who refused to recant his Christian faith died from injuries received while under official interrogation, Compass confirmed as Vietnamese President Nguyen Minh Triet met with U.S. officials. Triet met with President Bush in Washington, D.C. on Friday (June 22) amid some protests over Vietnam’s human rights violations.

Seventeen Christians charged under Indonesia’s controversial anti-terror laws still faced an uncertain future Tuesday, June 26, just days after prosecutors demanded 15-to 20-year prison sentences.

Christians across India on Sunday, June 24, attended church services Sunday, June 24, following what organizers described as the “largest gathering of victims of religious persecution” in recent years.

Muslim extremists demonstrating on June 14 in West Java threatened to close down churches operating in private homes, and a pastor on Sunday (June 17) received an anonymous letter promising to destroy his home if it is “still functioning as a church.”

Christian families fled a Pakistani village in Punjab province this week after an armed mob injured Protestants preparing for an evangelistic meeting, the victims’ lawyer said.

Christian rights workers warned Wednesday, June 20, that the military government in Burma is preparing a major assault on individual believers, missionary workers and church leaders by compiling a list of Christians in the country and threatening a publisher with years of imprisonment.

A pastor who was beaten by suspected Hindu militants and prevented from holding church services by local police was to face a court in the Indian state of Karnataka Tuesday, June 19, in a case that underscored growing concern about attacks against church leaders and missionaries.

A mob of Hindu extremists on Friday (June 8) beat a pastor and tried to set him on fire before parading him naked in the suburbs of Bangalore, capital of Karnataka state.

Active Christians in rural areas of India, including pastors and evangelists, faced another potentially dangerous day Monday, June 11, after reports that two Christian workers were killed by suspected militants in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh while elsewhere Hindu extremists threatened to burn alive church leaders.

Three Indonesian women who were serving a prison sentence for including Muslim children in a church program in West Java, Indonesia, were released early Friday, June 8, amid international pressure, BosNewsLife learned.

A tense calm returned Saturday, June 9, to the Galas district of the Philippines’ Quezon City after a seminarian was stabbed to death there by a lone assailant, police said.

Televised attacks on Christian workers and a spurt in persecution in various parts of the country point to a renewed attempt to win support for Hindu nationalistic goals, Christians say.

Police in Vietnam publicly torture and kill Degar Montagnard Christians in the country’s Central Highlands as a warning to house churches to stop their activities, a major advocacy group alleged Wednesday, June 6.

A pastor and two associates from Mt. Carmel Theological College in Kandy, Sri Lanka, were arrested on May 27 and charged with destroying Buddhist statues.