Four Americans and nearly two dozen Chinese house church leaders were believed to be in detention Wednesday, April 25, after they were reportedly arrested last week following a Christian worship service in China’s Xinjiang province.
Following the March 29 sentencing of Father Nguyen Van Ly to eight years in prison for distributing “material harmful to the state,†two Protestant lawyers charged with the same “crime†are expected to face equally harsh sentences in what Human Rights Watch has called the harshest crackdown in 20 years.
China has sentenced a key house church leader “to one year re-education through labor” for explaining the Gospel of Jesus Christ to a Communist Party official, fellow believers confirmed Saturday, March 31.
The mistreated wife of a senior Chinese house church leader was sentenced to ten days administrative detention in Henan province on Monday, March 19, on charges of “disturbing public order,” observers close to the trial said.
A senior house church leader was free Saturday, March 17, after being released following ten days administrative detention, but the 77-year old mother of a Christian activist remained behind bars, representatives said.
Hindu extremists have extended to the northern state of Himachal Pradesh a movement to bring Christian converts back to the Hindu fold through dubious “reconversion†events.
After intensive international pressure, local police released 33 arrested house church leaders and three leaders from South Korea.
Dozens of Christian leaders, including three church officials from South Korea, were detained by Chinese security forces Tuesday, March 6, as part of an apparent government crackdown on independent Christian groups, representatives said.
There was mounting concern Monday, March 5, about the whereabouts of a key leader of an indigenous house church in Vietnam’s Central Highlands after Vietnamese security forces reportedly raided a village and detained several Christians.
The elderly mother of a well known Chinese church activists remained behind bars Thursday, March 1, after a Chinese court sentenced her to two years imprisonment, representatives confirmed.
The 76-year-old mother of a well-known Beijing house church activist was said to be behind bars Saturday, February 10, on charges of damaging public and private properties.
China Aid Association (CAA) has revealed that Chinese police raided a House Church Christian prayer meeting in Jiangsu province at 10:40am February 7, 2007.
Chinese authorities have released well-known Beijing house church activist Liu Fenggang after he served three years in prison in Zhejiang province, his supporters confirmed Wednesday, February 7.
An 18-year-old convert from Hinduism breathed his last on January 12, four days after he was found lying wounded near a railway track in the north-central state of Madhya Pradesh. Christians say he was pushed out of the train by Hindu extremists.
China detained at least over 600 Christians last year amid an ongoing crackdown on unregistered ‘house churches’, a report released Tuesday, January 30, showed.
Chinese security forces arrested church leaders while raiding a house church in Anhui Province during a worship service, and confiscated Christian literature and equipment, a Christian rights group said Saturday, January 27.
Christians in Somalia remained on edge Friday, January 26, after a church attack and fresh reports that five people were killed in clashes in the Somali capital, Mogadishu.
A Muslim gunman opened fire on a Somali house church where Christians were worshipping on January 2, seriously injuring the church leader.
At least nine Christians remained in police custody in China’s Henan province on Monday, January 15, more than a week after Chinese security forces raided a Christian gathering, fellow believers said.
Seven youths beat Pastor Robert Kennedy of Bangalore in Karnataka state on Sunday (January 7), after asking him to “pray for a sick friend.†The pastor required 16 stitches to his head and back after the assault.