On Saturday, January 3, Israel launched a ground assault against Gaza on what was the eighth day of its aerial assaults against the seaside strip of desert. Israel’s stated objective for the ground confrontation is to end all rocket attacks. The immediate objective of the ground operations, according to Major Avital Leibovitch, a military spokeswoman, “is to destroy the Hamas terror infrastructure in the area of operations.”
Several churches in Eritrea were without their leaders or other believers Sunday, December 21, as a government-backed campaign of mass arrests reached the capital Asmara amid fears several detainees died of mistreatment, Christians said.
In recent months Chinese officials have attempted to build bridges with the Protestant house church movement even as police raided more unregistered congregations, arrested Christian leaders and forced at least 400 college students to swear they would stop attending such worship services.
As the number of evangelical Christians in southern Mexico has grown, hostilities from “traditionalist Catholics” have kept pace, according to published reports.
Thousands of Muslim protesters on Sunday (Nov. 23) attacked a Coptic church in a suburb of Cairo, Egypt, burning part of it, a nearby shop and two cars and leaving five people injured.
In violation of Vietnam’s new religion policy, authorities in Lao Cai Province in Vietnam’s far north are pressuring new Christians among the Hmong minority to recant their faith and to re-establish ancestral altars, according to area church leaders.
In prison at the age of 14 for having fatally stabbed her uncle in northern Iraq, Asya Ahmad Muhammad’s early release on Nov. 10 thanks to a juvenile court decision was overshadowed by fear of retaliation from her extended Muslim family.
It has been nearly eight months since 15 year old Ami Ortiz was almost killed by an explosion while opening an innocent looking Purim basket on March 20th, however no arrests have been made despite the fact that the Ariel police have months of surveillance tapes and a considerable amount of evidence in their possession.
Chinese officials have yet to declare a new court date for Alimjan Yimit, a Christian house church leader and ethnic Uyghur in China’s northwest province of Xinjiang detained since his arrest on Jan. 12.
Kyrgyzstan’s controversial new Religion Law was adopted unanimously by the country’s parliament Thursday, November 6, adding to concerns among small Christian groups and churches that they will be targeted by authorities.
Hundreds of villagers of Burma’s, predominantly Christian, Karen minority have been displaced and several killed in fresh fighting in the country’s disputed Karen State area, a Christian rights group said Tuesday, November 4.
Another evangelical Christian has died in one of Eritrea’s most feared military detention facilities after authorities apparently refused to provide him with medicines against malaria, Christians with close knowledge about the situation told BosNewsLife Monday, November 3.
The Washington-DC based human rights group, International Christian Concern (ICC) www.persecution.org has learned that a blasphemy case brought against three Christians was dismissed on October 29, 2008 by a court in Algeria. The court is located in Ain Turk, a town 267 miles away from Algiers, the capital.
The Washington-DC based human rights group, International Christian Concern (ICC) www.persecution.org has learned that Eritrean officials imprisoned about 20 Christians belonging to the underground Faith Missions Church on October 12, 2008 in Deki-Zeru, a town 30km away from Asmara, the capital.
Human rights lawyers of two underage sisters who already won a custody battle over a 10-year-old girl, prepared Saturday, October 25, to also regain custody of her elder sister, after reports the girls were raped and coerced into embracing Islam.
Family and activists continued efforts Wednesday, October 22, to obtain the release of two Uyghur devoted Christians in China’s northwestern region of Xinjiang, saying one of them may be executed while another believer is facing mistreatment in a labor camp.
An association of Christian agencies and individuals advocating human rights of Christians in the Middle East and North Africa, remained concerned Wednesday, October 22, over the situation of several Christian prisoners, some of whom may be executed under recently adopted legislation.
A paramilitary soldier assigned to protect Christians from Hindu violence in Kandhamal district, Orissa was mutilated and killed by a mob in Sisapanga village on Oct. 13.
The son of one of China’s most well-known evangelists regained consciousness in a Bejing hospital Friday, October 17, a day after he was “severely beaten with iron bars” by Chinese security forces, friends said.
Aid workers rushed Friday, October 17, to assist at least 10,000 Christians who so far fled Mosul amid fresh reports that Islamic extremists are trying to eradicate the Christian population in this northern Iraqi town.