Indonesia: Government Reins in Laskar Jihad
In a shocking turn of events, the radical Laskar Jihad has been banned from the Moluccas and its combative leader placed under arrest.
Christian Persecution
Hmong Christians File Persecution Complaint with Vietnam Government
A group of Hmong Christians living in the highlands of Vietnam have filed a complaint about violent incidents that they say took place amongst this tribal group last year.
Turkish Pastor Put On Trial In Diyarbakir
Protestant pastor Ahmet Guvener goes on trial in Turkey’s southeastern city of Diyarbakir in late May, accused by the state prosecutor of making illegal changes in the architectural plan of his nearly completed church building.
Indonesia: Terrorism Explodes; Ambon Christians Appeal to U.N.
Christians in the Maluku provincial capital of Ambon are appealing to U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan to send peacekeeping forces in the wake of recent terrorist attacks.
Yemeni Gets Death Sentence for Killing U.S. Missionaries
A Yemeni court sentenced a man to death on Saturday for the murder of three U.S. missionaries last year because he wanted to get closer to God. Abed Abdel Razzak Kamel testified in court that he killed the Americans to defend Islam because he believed they were sterilizing Muslim women and trying to convert Muslims to Christianity.
Cuba: Imprisoned Human Rights Activist Demands Medical Attention
Juan Carlos Gonzalez Leiva, a blind human rights activist who was arrested and imprisoned on March 4th, is demanding proper medical attention.
$300,000 payment in Philippines fails for kidnapped missionaries
A $300,000 ransom payment has failed to free American missionaries Martin and Gracia Burnham from a militant Muslim group in the Philippines linked to Osama bin Laden’s terrorist network.
30 Chinese Christian Leaders Abducted
An uncertain number of leaders of a major house church movement in China have disappeared in what at first was thought to be a massive government raid. Now cult activity is suspected.
Christians Secretly Forced to Re-Convert to Hinduism in India
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Organization, VHP) is secretly conducting large-scale conversion drives in India’s Marxist-ruled state of West Bengal. More than 16 tribal Christians were forced to re-convert to Hinduism on April 22 at a purification ceremony in Chopra village in the Malda district about 300 kilometers from Calcutta, NGO sources said. Ten other animist tribals were also converted to Hinduism in the village.
Blind Christian Human Rights Activist has been Beaten and Imprisoned in Cuba
A blind Christian human rights activist has been beaten and imprisoned in Cuba following a crackdown on pro-democracy and human rights workers.
Call For Tighter Security For Christians in Pakistan After Attack On Pakistan Church By Youths With
A Presbyterian church close to the Kashmir border was attacked by a group of Islamic extremists on Sunday April 7.
Burmese Baptist Convention Banned on Orders of Junta
A three-day Baptist convention for 100,000 people, which was due to be held in Burma, has been cancelled on the orders of the junta.
Two More Arrests in Saudi Arabia
Two Filipino Christians were quietly whisked away from their homes near Jeddah early Wednesday morning, April 10, according to the Washington, DC based human rights organization, International Christian Concern (ICC).
Azerbaijan: “Overzealous” Police Try To Ban Baptist Service
Just two days after a court in the capital Baku liquidated a Baptist congregation, a local policeman in the small town of Chukhuryurd near Shemakha in central Azerbaijan tried to ban a small Baptist church from meeting, Baptist sources told Keston News Service. “He had heard the news of the Baku church’s liquidation on ANS television and came to the local elder last Friday [5 April] and told him the church could not meet on Sunday for worship,”
Call For Tighter Security For Christians in Pakistan After Attack On Pakistan Church By Youths With
A Presbyterian church close to the Kashmir border was attacked by a group of Islamic extremists on Sunday April 7.
Burma: Two Baptist Ministers Detained in Insein Prison
Two well-known Baptist ministers from Dagon North Township were arrested by the military junta on 5th April. They are currently detained in Burma’s notorious Insein prison.
Jewish-Arab turmoil squeezes Israeli, Palestinian Christians
When fleeing Palestinian fighters forced their way into Bethlehem’s Church of the Nativity April 2, Israeli soldiers found themselves laying siege to one of Christianity’s holiest sites.
Palestinian Christians: The Other Side of the Story
Some time ago I was invited to present a two-day seminar in a church about the Middle East conflict. During the course of those sessions, we used an abundance of scriptures, carefully presented in their context, to clearly explain why the land is God’s, that He entrusted it to Israel as a permanent possession, and what are the challenges of Islam. At the end of the two days, the senior Pastor told a couple in his church: “Well, I’d like to hear the Palestinian side…”
Last Two Christians Prisoners Deported from Saudi Arabia
An Ethiopian and Filipino Christian jailed since last summer in the Saudi Arabian port city of Jeddah were released and deported to their home countries over Easter weekend.
Azerbaijan: Police Order Protestant’s Deportation
On the day Baku’s Protestant Greater Grace church was celebrating Easter, police in the city’s central Sabail district tried to forcibly deport a church member, alleging that she had been conducting religious “propaganda”. One of the church’s pastors, Musfig Bayram, told Keston News Service from Baku that police took Nina Koptseva, a Russian citizen who has a residence permit to live in Baku, to the city’s railway station on Sunday morning (31 March), bought her a ticket to the Russian border and tried to place her on the train without any court decision.