A Chinese court sentenced officials of China’s rapidly growing independent house church movement to up to three years in prison Friday, August 6, on charges of leaking “state secrets” to overseas organizations, human rights watchers said.
Four Gospel for Asia (GFA) Bible college students have been released after spending two days in a jail in Bagalkote, Karnataka, on false charges brought by a radical Hindu group.
China Aid Association (CAA) reported that government raids of two house churches last week resulted in the arrest of about 80 Christians.
There was mounting concern Wednesday, July 26, over a new crackdown on Christians in Uzbekistan after authorities closed down US-based aid group Central Asia Free Exchange (CAFE) on charges of “illegal religious activities,” including preaching the Gospel.
The parliament of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh passed a controversial bill Tuesday, July 25, to prevent ‘religious conversions by force or allurement,’ a move critics claim is aimed at the Christian minority and preachers.
Police on Sunday (July 16) arrested Pastor Om Prakash Pandey while he was leading worship at his independent church in the village of Daksinwara, in the Sultanpur district of Uttar Pradesh state.
A prominent leader of a house church in China’s Jilin province was still in jail Saturday, July 15, after she was detained along with her husband and small child earlier this week, fellow believers said.
Church leaders here said Muslim extremists overwhelmed police officers providing refuge for an unidentified Christian woman in this town in Niger state on June 28 and stoned and clubbed her to death for doing street evangelism.
A Laotian listener to an evangelical radio station was believed to be in prison Tuesday, July 4, for spreading Christianity among fellow villagers after becoming a ‘born-again’ Christian in May this year, investigators said.
At least three Montagnard Degar Christians died and many more were injured in recent weeks because of torture carried out by Vietnamese police, friends and fellow prisoners confirmed Monday, July 3.
Hindu militants burned down one of the oldest churches in India’s central state of Madhya Pradesh on Friday, June 30, as part of a violent campaign against minority Christians, an official with close knowledge about the situation told BosNewsLife.
Chinese officials have expressed “strong dissatisfaction” with a resolution passed by the U.S. House of Representatives on June 12 condemning rising persecution of religious believers in China.
Christians in Iran and around the world prayed Tuesday, June 27, for Iran’s government, amid concerns over persecution of churches and political opponents in the Islamic nation.
Chinese Security forces arrested at least almost 2000 Chinese Christians, including house church pastors, within a period of one year, and many were tortured, a report released Monday, June 26, shows.
A group of Christian men remained “in great danger” Monday, June 26, after escaping from a military prison camp in Eritrea, where they were held in metal containers for refusing to abandon their faith in Christ, investigators said.
A young Pakistani Christian was reportedly in hiding with her husband and two young daughters Saturday, June 24, after being attacked and raped for changing her faith– amid signs that militants increasingly use rape as a weapon against Christian converts in Pakistan and neighboring India.
Lawyers for a major evangelical mission group said Tuesday, June 20, they plan to file an appeal to the Supreme Court of India against the government of Rajasthan state which threatens to take over its institutions, serving thousands of orphans.
For the Gangare area congregation of the Evangelical Church of West Africa (ECWA) in this central Nigerian city, the first Saturday in June brought yet another difficult day of fending off Muslim opposition.
Police in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh searched Monday, June 19, for suspects involved in the killing of a 67-year preacher from the Church of South India, while another church leader was still recovering from injuries following an attack against him, religious rights investigators said.
Four men remained in jail in the Comoros Saturday, June 17, for their “involvement in Christianity” amid a crackdown on Christians on these Indian Ocean islands, well informed Christian sources said.