Iran Returns Pastor Nadarkhani To Prison
Iranian Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani, who was recently acquitted of apostasy, has been returned to prison on an earlier charge, rights activists told Worthy News.
Iranian Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani, who was recently acquitted of apostasy, has been returned to prison on an earlier charge, rights activists told Worthy News.
Iranian Church leaders have urged prayers for Christians in Iran amid concerns authorities will raid more house churches and detain believers over the Christmas and Western New Year period.
A Muslim cleric has issued a fatwa threatening Iraqi Christians unless they convert to Islam, but the country’s prime minister urged them to stay.
Churches and mosques in Kazakhstan are being forced to close as that nation’s deadline for mandatory re-registration expires, but many religious communities have complained that the procedures for their closures were both arbitrary and flawed.
Minority Christians in Syria’s largest city Aleppo said they face starvation after dozens of believers already died in targeted attacks rocking Christian areas of the war-torn country.
A Protestant pastor who faced deportation from Kazakhstan to his native Uzbekistan and up to 15 years imprisonment for leading an unregistered house church has been flown to safety, his supporters confirmed.
One of the largest evangelical congregations in Belarus confirmed that authorities at the last moment decided not to evict them from their building, following years of judicial wrangling.
Before many towns meetings begin, local lawmakers often lead a short prayer prior to the start of official business, but some citizens are taking issue with those prayers: at least five lawsuits nationwide, from Florida to California, are currently challenging pre-meeting prayers.
Some churches in Turkmenistan have literally come under fire after the Baptist House of Prayer in Turkmenbashi was recently razed, according to Slavic Gospel Association spokesman Joel Griffith.
Arrested just before last Christmas, four Christian converts recently received a total of four years in prison at the Revolutionary Court in Ahwaz according to Christian news agency, Mohabat News.
The militant Islamist group al Shabaab is targeting converts from Christianity to Islam to wage jihad in Kenya.
Authorities in three Central Asian nations have launched a crackdown on evangelical Protestant churches and several believers are reportedly mistreated, fined and detained.
An Iranian court has ordered the temporary release of a jailed devoted house church Christian and mother of two children, after her teenage son suffered a seizure, local Christians following the case.
In Uzbekistan, having more than one Bible can make you a missionary, and being a missionary in Uzbekistan can get you five years in jail.
An official of one of Iran’s largest house church movement says recently detained church members are tortured and otherwise pressured to confess to crimes they did not commit.
Massive arrests of evangelical Protestant Christians, including many former Muslims, are reported in Iran, with men and women being dragged to prisons across the Islamic nation.
Although Halloween isn’t celebrated in an Islamic Republic, state security agents have been scaring away potential parishioners from both St. Luke’s and St. Paul’s churches in Esfahan to prevent Iranians from following Christianity.
Five Christian converts will be tried in southwestern Iran on charges linked to their Christian activities, after spending eight months in prison, an Iranian Christian news agency reported.
An evangelical Pakistani pastor was recovering of his injuries after he was shot by suspected Islamic militants who oppose his Christian activities, an advocacy group said.
A mentally challenged Christian girl who was detained in Pakistan on charges of ‘blasphemy against Islam’ has fled to Norway with family members, a Christian official involved in the operation confirmed.