For Ishaya Kpotun Shaba of Niger state in north-central Nigeria, the past four years have been a jumble of tears and pain. He has not set his eyes on his daughter, Saratu, since she was abducted in December 2001 at age 19 by extremists bent on converting and marrying her to a Muslim.
Shahjahan Mollah, 35, lives in the village of Butia about 120 miles north of Dhaka, Bangladesh. Shahjahan, a former Muslim, converted to Christianity in 1991. He currently pastors a church of some 27 Muslim converts to Christianity in Butia.
Christians in rural areas of Nigeria’s tense northern Kano state are afraid to send their children to public schools for fear that they will be forced to convert to Islam, a Christian news agency reported Thursday, October 20.
Lawyers acting on behalf of the Rev. Nguyen Hong Quang informed his wife last week that his appeal before the People’s Supreme Court of Vietnam has been rescheduled for April 12.
A leading evangelical pastor disappeared off the streets of Asmara four days ago, presumably detained by Eritrean security forces and jailed at some unknown location.
A brutal attack on a Christian book publisher in Ukraine has underscored the high stakes struggle over human rights and religious liberty in the former Soviet republic preparing for a re-run of a sharply contested presidential election.
The ‘Believers’ Church’ in the village of Kammalawa in Kuliyapitiya came under attack on December 2. At about 5pm more than 100 people arrived at the church in western Sri Lanka and told the pastor to stop holding worship services.
During the Easter weekend of April 10 and 11, and on some days afterward, Montagnards in Vietnam’s Central Highlands attempted to stage demonstrations to call attention to the harsh injustices they suffer at the hands of communist authorities and ethnic Vietnamese settlers.
Christians in Sri Lanka continue to face violent attacks and intimidation following the parliamentary elections in early April. Over 45 churches have been attacked since January, and during the past year more than 140 churches have been forced to close, due to attacks, intimidation and threats.
A 23 year-old Pakistani Christian has died of injuries as a result of five days of severe torture by Islamic militants for refusing to convert to Islam.
Juan Carlos Gonzalez Leiva, a blind Christian human rights lawyer, was given a four year sentence yesterday for his stand for human rights in Cuba.
Chinese Pastor Gong Shengliang of the South China Church has begged to be transferred from his current prison, telling his sisters “If you are able in any way, please transfer me to another prison – otherwise just come and pick up my corpse.”
In January 2004, top cadres of China’s Religious Affairs Bureau and the policy-making United Front Work Department met for the annual National Religious Working Conference.
It was back in 1999 that the Turkmenistan government declared its intention to “strangle minority faiths. All foreign Christians were expelled and the persecution of national believers, especially ethnic Turkmen, intensified intolerably.
(Cincinnati, OH) — The American Center for Law and Justice, an international public interest law firm, said today it is disappointed with a decision that’s likely to delay the trial date in a lawsuit against Kmart on behalf of a pharmacist who was fired for refusing to dispense abortion producing drugs. The trial date of November 5th is likely to be postponed due to a decision by the federal court to permit Planned Parenthood to intervene in the case in support of Kmart.
(Orlando, FL) – The American Center for Law and Justice, an international public interest law firm, announced today it has filed a lawsuit in Florida state court against Orange County on behalf of a Christian ministry that operates The Holy Land Experience in Orlando contending that county officials are discriminating against the ministry by denying a request for exemption of property taxes.
ABUJA, Nigeria (Compass) — Muslim leaders aim to eradicate Christianity in northern Nigeria, says Nigeria’s Defense Minister, Lt. General Theophilus Yakubu Danjuma. Danjuma told a gathering of the Northern (Nigeria) Christian Elders Forum (NOSCEF) on April 20 in Abuja, the federal capital, that Christians are now under severe pressure. He urged the Christian leaders assembled at the All Saints Anglican Church not to be intimidated.
WASHINGTON (BP)–The considerable influence of American Christians can make a difference in the lives of persecuted believers in North Korea and Sudan, participants at a May 1 summit on the issue were told.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)–The revelation by North Korea that it had engaged in a clandestine operation to develop nuclear weapons, contrary to promises made to the Clinton administration in 1994, thrust the Asian nation again into the news. However, many in the United States have had the communist nation on their minds and in their prayers for years for its shoddy record in human rights.
The leader of a group of churches in Laos notified Christian Aid today that Lao authorities confiscated the Saybangnoun Church Saturday after Christians refused to surrender the facility to them Saturday noon. The church was located in Songkorn district, Savannakhet Province. The Christians gathered and worshiped in tears outside their confiscated church building Sunday.