Pakistan: Mob of 200 Muslims attack Christian community in Punjab province

On May 15, a mob of over 200 Muslims attacked a Christian community in the Chak 5 village of Pakistan’s Punjab province, ransacking homes and seriously injuring eight people, International Christian Concern reports. Pakistan ranks 5 on the US Open Doors watch list of countries that persecute Christians; the persecution level in the country has been rated as “extreme.”

Pakistan persecution: Another Christian nurse accused of blasphemy

In the third such incident this year, a Christian nurse has been hounded and threatened into hiding by Muslim colleagues who accused her of blaspheming against Islam last week, Morning Star News reports. Pakistan ranks 5th on the US Open Doors Watch List of countries where Christians are persecuted.

Christian man tortured by police in Pakistan, held in custody

A Christian man in Pakistan was tortured by police into confessing to a false allegation of blasphemy, and then illegally held in custody for two months before being presented to a judge, Morning Star News reports. Salamat Mansha Masih was arrested, tortured, and detained in Lahore after Muslims heard him reading the Bible in a park on February 13.

Religious Freedom Report: 14 nations are “Countries of Particular Concern”

The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) published its 2021 Annual Report earlier this month, redesignating 10 nations as Countries of Particular Concern (CPC) and recommending to the State Department that India, Russia, Syria, and Vietnam now be given that designation as well.

Turkey’s genocide blackmail: Threats to work closer with Iran and Russia

The US decision to finally recognize the Armenian genocide comes after decades in which Turkey and its lobbyists in Washington threatened the US. Their narrative was that if Washington would just use the term “genocide” – for a crime committed 106 years ago by a former government in what is now Turkey – then Ankara would rapidly move to sanction the US, close its bases, threaten its citizens and ally with Iran, China and Russia, or other US enemies.

Pakistan persecution: Christian nurses jailed for violating blasphemy law

Two Christian nurses in Pakistan have been jailed for violating blasphemy laws by following a hospital supervisor’s instructions to clean up an area covered with old hangings and stickers, including a half-torn old sticker with a verse from the Koran on it, International Christian Concern reports. Rights groups have said Pakistan’s harsh blasphemy laws are frequently abused; Pakistan ranks 5th on the Open Doors Watch List of countries where Christians are persecuted.

Pakistan: High Court changes life sentence to death penalty for Seventh Day Adventist accused of blasphemy

The High Court in Lahore, Pakistan has changed a life sentence to the death penalty in the case of a member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church charged with sending a blasphemous text message in 2011, Morning Star News (MSN) reports. Giving its decision on March 10, the High Court ruled in favor of Islamist group Khatam-e-Nabuwwat Forum, which argued that 36-year-old Sajjad Masih should be sentenced to death rather than life imprisonment for his transgression.

Worthy Christian News