A Christian woman accused of blasphemy against Islam has been released on bail but concerns remain over her safety amid death threats, a human rights official involved in the trial confirmed to BosNewsLife Friday, May 4.
A tense calm returned to a small town in the southern Indian state of Karnataka after at least six people were injured Sunday, May 6, when suspected Hindu militants demanding the closure of a new church attacked evangelical Christians following a worship service, investigators told BosNewsLife.
Chinese authorities have released four American Christian workers and their interpreter from detention amid international pressure, but at least six other Chinese pastors arrested with them remained behind bars Thursday, May 3, BosNewsLife monitored.
Authorities in Uzbekistan have forced evangelical Pastor Dmitri (David) Shestakov to withdraw an appeal against his sentence to four years labor camp, Protestant and other sources following the case said Thursday, May 3.
There was increased concern Wednesday, May 2, about the plight of Christian Dalits after India’s Supreme Court again postponed action in a landmark equal rights case, Christian rights workers said.
A court in Uzbekistan on Tuesday, May 1, began hearing evangelical Pastor Dmitri (David) Shestakov’s appeal against his sentence to four-years in one of Uzbekistan’s open labor camps on controversial “religious extremism charges,” Christians close to the case said.
Dozens of Hindu militants on Sunday, April 29, nearly killed an independent pastor in Jaipur, the capital of India’s western Rajasthan state, while his small ill daughter watched the attack, a senior human rights investigator told BosNewsLife.
An evangelical pastor remained detained in Uzbekistan Friday, April 27, after he was reportedly arrested in Muynak a city in Uzbekistan’s troubled region of Karakalpakstan, while an activist was sentenced to six years in jail.
Turkish police reportedly released an American Christian from prison late Friday, April 27, after he and three other evangelists were detained in Istanbul this week for charges that included “missionary activity” and “insulting Islam.”
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.
An influential Christian politician was in hiding in Vietnam Tuesday, April 24, after being harassed by Vietnamese security forces who also attacked other dissidents planning to meet US officials, a leading human rights activist confirmed to BosNewsLife.
A 12 years old Christian girl, Shaheena Masih was kidnapped and gang raped by four Muslim men on Easter day at Lahore in the Province of Punjab.
In a gruesome assault against Turkey’s tiny Christian community, five young Muslim Turks entered a Christian publishing office in the southeastern province of Malatya yesterday (April 18) and slit the throats of the three Protestant Christians present.
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.
Although elections in Madhya Pradesh are more than 18 months away, two Christian leaders there link the state’s ruling Hindu nationalist party to rising persecution ahead of the upcoming vote.
Pakistani Muslim and Christian leaders are working to defuse tensions in a Punjab city after rumors of “blasphemy†sparked mob action against the Christian community this week.
The murder of two Christian women in their Kirkuk home this week highlights growing insecurity facing Christians, often targeted for money in war-torn Iraq.
Protestant pastor Dmitry Shestakov has appealed against the four-year sentence to one of Uzbekistan’s open labor camps which was imposed by authorities in retaliation for his Christian work, investigators and local Christians close to the case said Friday, March 23.
A 34-year-old pastor was shot dead while he was praying with others in his church on Wednesday, March 21 at the St. Mary’s Village of Gomaz Trace in Moruga, the southern sea town in Trinidad.
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.