Three Christians imprisoned for the testimony of Christ have died during the past months in Eritrea, including a 42-year-old man in solitary confinement Friday, according to a Christian support organization.
An evangelical pastor who faces execution in Iran for refusing to abandon his Christian faith has urged fellow believers to remain faithful to Jesus Christ and the “Word of God” despite persecution, according to a letter obtained by Worthy News.
Two house churches in Riau were burned down Tuesday, the latest of a series of attacks on minority religious groups in Indonesia.
Although security forces found and disabled two cars packed with explosives in northern Iraq Tuesday, a third exploded outside a Christian church, wounding 23 people.
Authorities recently arrested 90 believers in Eritrea as part of a campaign against Christians that began back in December. Although six were eventually released, the whereabouts of the other 84 is unknown.
The Tajikistan Parliament recently adopted two new laws that could ban children from participating in religious activities.
Pastor Shi Enhao, deputy chairman of the Chinese House Church Alliance, has been sentenced to two years of “re-education through labor,” an extra-judicial punishment handed out by police that requires no trial or conviction of a crime, Worthy News has learned.
Anders Behring Breivik’s 1,500-page manifesto shows that the Norwegian terrorist’s depiction as a “right-wing, Christian fundamentalist” by many in the mass media may be as inaccurate as that of their so-called “Christian” bomber, Oklahoma City terrorist Tim McVeigh.
An Iranian house church Christian was spending another day in brief freedom Thursday, July 21, after he was temporarily released from jail following the payment of a bail amount of some $101,000 in local currency, Iranian Christians said.
An unofficial translation of the Iranian Supreme Court’s decision to execute Pastor Youcef Nadakhani was obtained by Worthy News on Monday, July 18.
Rights activists and religious groups in Armenia say new legislation will increase intolerance towards the country’s evangelical Christians and other minorities, some of whom already face prosecution for their church activities.
Two pastors arrested six months ago on charges of holding a “secret meeting” during a Christmas celebration without government approval languish in prison without a trial. Officials continue to offer them the option of renouncing their faith and walking free.
The United States has condemned reported plans by Iran to execute an Iranian pastor if he does not abandon his faith in Christ, Worthy News established Tuesday, July 12.
A leader in China’s growing underground church movement who disappeared last month was actually in police custody.
Held on “suspicion of using superstition to undermine national law enforcement,” Shi Enhaoi is one of 150 million Chinese Christians who refuse to join the Communist Party’s Three-Self Patriotic Movement: the only officially sanctioned Protestant church on the mainland.
Iraq’s first new church under the US occupation opened its doors in the northern city of Kirkuk, the region’s Chaldean archbishop told AFP.
Pastor Yerzhan Ushanov of New Life Protestant Church in Taraz is looking at two years’ imprisonment if criminal charges for injuring an individual’s health ever come to court, Christian rights investigators said.
Farshid Fathi was in solitary confinement for months before he was told that he could be free on $200,000 bail; with great difficulty, his family came up with the cash after selling his father-in-law’s home, but when Fathi was ready to to walk out the prison door, the chief interrogator from the Iranian public prosecutor’s office ordered him back for further questioning.
Christians in Iran have challenged news reports that the death penalty for Pastor Yousef Nadarkhani has been annulled pointing out that in reality the Supreme Court appears to have added a precondition requiring him to renounce his faith or face execution, according to an international Christian rights group.
Iran’s secretive supreme court has reportedly overturned a death sentence handed down to an evangelical pastor for leaving Islam, surprising trial observers who were earlier informed about an execution ruling.
Baptist Pastor Mario Felix Lleonart Barroso and his wife, Yoaxis, were part of the 23 Christians detained by Cuban police in Santa Clara, said Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), a major religious rights group.