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.
Two Degar Montagnard Christians have been detained and tortured in Vietnam’s Central Highlands after security forces discovered they had been collecting names of the most impoverished people apparently to better target aid, fellow believers told BosNewsLife Thursday, May 3.
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.
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.
On Monday (April 23), small town political bosses near this city in Chiapas state are set to meet with representatives of 65 Christians they have threatened to expel in a showdown that could influence religious rights throughout the region.
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 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.
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.
Beginning in November of last year, 13-year-old Victor Udo Usen, a member of the Christ Apostolic Church in this northern Nigeria city, went missing.
There was mounting concern Tuesday, March 13, about the whereabouts of an evangelical Sri Lankan pastor, his two sons, and another Christian young man who disappeared this month amid intense fighting between Sri Lanka’s government forces and the independence seeking Tamil Tiger rebels, Christians said.
A prominent Mennonite pastor and his wife were recovering Sunday, March 11, from “brutal” beatings by Vietnamese security forces as part of a government crackdown on dissidents, a key activist told BosNewsLife.