A leading human rights group urged believers around the world Wednesday Dec. 17 to pray for the safety of two rearrested former Muslims who recently became Christians and “are likely to be subjected to serious beatings.”
News of clashes between Christians and public security police over the distribution of Christian tracts has been pouring out of Vietnam since the opening of the 22nd Southeast Asia Games (Seagames 22) on December 5. The house churches, often zealous in their evangelism, have apparently organized the distribution of Christian tracts and other literature featuring the testimonies of prominent Christian athletes, severely pushing the limits of religious freedom in this communist nation.
Public Security police in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) allegedly attempted to assassinate the Rev. Nguyen Hong Quang at about 9 p.m. on December 9 by staging a motorcycle “accident,” according to the Vietnamese Mennonite Church in Saigon.
A 30-year old Egyptian Muslim convert to Christianity, who made world headlines, has been re-united with her family after nearly two months “of torture while under interrogation,” a human rights watchdog said Monday Dec. 8.
After nine months in jail, two suspects accused of last year’s deadly Christmas night attack against a Pakistani village church have been released on bail for the duration of their trial.
A 30-year old woman who became a symbol of suffering endured by Muslim converts to Christianity was freed after nearly two months of torture and interrogation, a human rights groups announced Thursday, Dec. 4.
A Coptic Christian secretly married to a woman convert from Islam was arrested for the second time last week while trying to leave Egypt for Canada.
On November 29, Vietnamese authorities extradited Ma Van Bay from Binh Phuoc province in the Central Highlands to his former home in Ha Giang province on the China border. Christians who know the brutality of government authorities in Ha Giang fear Bay, a key Hmong Christian leader, will face serious abuse.
The Indonesian Central government has sent an additional 1,000 police officers to Poso,in Central Sulawesi, Indonesia, after the latest incident of violence against Christians.
GFA native missionary Pastor Chandra was recently arrested by Orissa police on charges of baptizing five new believers. Fourteen other missionaries there also face persecution and imprisonment under the Orissa government’s anti-conversion legislation, which requires permission from a local government official for anyone wanting to change his religion.
Yesterday a church celebration in Assam, India, turned deadly as Kukki militants barged in and fired bullets. Five people were shot dead, including a Gospel for Asia native missionary, Samuel. Athough the incident follows on the heels of another tragedy caused by ethnic conflict, God is at work among the Kukki and Karbi tribes. GFA has planted 85 churches and 30 fellowships among the Karbi people and recently started a Gospel outreach to the Kukis, with five churches established so far.
Two Egyptian Coptic Christians jailed by Saudi authorities have been released 17 days after their arrest for establishing an expatriate house church in the capital of Riyadh.
The indigenous people of Papua (Irian Jaya) are Melanesian and predominantly Christian, estimated by Operation World at over 90%, and mostly Protestant. They have been living under Indonesian rule since 1963. The Indonesian military (which has invested heavily in Papua’s resources) has been involved in gross human rights abuses against the oppressed indigenous Papuans.
Nigerian Christians were considering their options Tuesday, Nov 25, after local authorities in Kano reportedly banned Sunday services following Islamic attacks in which churches and dozens of Christian shops were destroyed.
Ma Van Bay, a missionary to the Hmong tribe, was arrested recently and is being held in a jail in southern Vietnam, according to a report received by Christian Aid.
The lives of native missionary pastor John Nayak and six other Gospel workers are on the line as anti-Christian groups pursue them in an area of Orissa, India, long known for the persecution of Christians.
Deep in the forests of India, there lives an illiterate, isolated people group called the Gond. They consult witch doctors and worship the gods of nature. They have never heard of Jesus.
November 18, 2003 was to be a day of major celebration by Christians across the island of Haiti. However, the Haitian government, changed its tune at the last minute and barred evangelicals from joining hands across the nation.
Nearly a month after three suspects were jailed for severely injuring a Turkish Christian distributing so-called “missionary propaganda,” a court in northwest Turkey has ordered one of the alleged attackers released.
Colonel David de Vinatea, a decorated officer in the Peruvian army and an evangelical Christian, regained his freedom Wednesday after serving eight years and 10 days in prison for alleged drug trafficking.