Egyptian Sisters Win Christian Identity
Two young Coptic Christian women whose father had converted to Islam when they were infants have won a court battle in Egypt to retain their official religious identity as Christians.
Security
Eritrean Military Jails 75 Protestant Conscripts
Eritrean military authorities jailed 75 Protestant Christians yesterday at the Sawa Military Training Camp for ‘reading Bibles and praying during their free time,’ local sources in the small East Africa nation confirmed.
Major Rise in Attacks Against Christians in India State, Survey shows
A US-based religious rights group said Friday, January 27, that violence against the tiny Christian minority in India’s north-central state of Madhya Pradesh increased by 45 percent during the last two years.
China Top Lawyers Start Association To Defend Christians
Prosecuted Chinese house churches on Saturday, January 21, were expecting more legal support after a group of top Chinese lawyers and legal scholars announced the establishment of an association dedicated to defending Chinese Christians.
Egypt Rocked By Religious Violence, One Christian Killed, 12 Injured
Funeral preparations were underway Friday, January 20, where at least one Christian and a dozen others were injured when Muslim militants set fire to a Christian community center in Upper Egypt, church sources and news reports said.
Blind Christian Dissident in Cuba Surrounded By Violent Crowds, Trapped in House
Cuba’s influential blind Christian dissident, Juan Carlos Gonzalez Leiva, was facing another tense night Monday, January 16, after government backed crowds, armed with loudspeakers, reportedly threatened to storm his house and kill everyone inside.
Burma Army Attacks Christian Villages, 1,200 Displaced
Burmese government forces attacked villages of the Karen and Karenni people, displacing 1,200 villagers, as part of a “slow genocide” against these predominantly Christian ethnic groups, a religious rights group said late Thursday, January 5.
Eritrea Rounds Up Leaders from Five Churches
At least 40 pastors, elders and leading laymen from five of Eritrea’s banned Protestant churches have been arrested from their homes or offices in the past two weeks in the capital of Asmara.
China Detains House Church Leaders
As Christmas approaches, Chinese security forces have reportedly arrested dozens of leaders of the rapidly growing house churches, BosNewsLife learned Tuesday, December 13.
Widespread Torture Reported in Burma’s Prisons
A major report has been published this weekend documenting for the first time the extent of the government backed torture in Burma’s jails, human rights investigators said.
Protestant Pastor Killed In Egypt after Threats
Egypt’s Protestant Christian community remained on edge Sunday, December 4, amid reports that one of its pastors, Ezzat Habib, was killed after he was run down by a taxi in Cairo following threats from the country’s feared security police.
Convert from Islam in India Remains on Death List
The Rev. K.K. Alavi, called “one of the bravest Christians in India,” is the son of a staunch Islamic cleric.
China Releases Kidnapped House Church After Bush Visit
An influential house church leader who was reportedly kidnapped along with his son by Chinese security forces was released Monday, November 21, just hours after American President George W. Bush left China, a religious rights group said.
Churches Find Temporary Home after Closures in Indonesia
Denied permits and ordered not to worship in public or at home, churches in East Bekasi, West Java, have taken temporary refuge in a Social Affairs Agency office.
Three Christians Jailed for Printing Bibles in China
Beijing authorities on November 4 ordered a Chinese legal firm to suspend activities for a year, hours after top lawyer Gao Zhisheng filed court documents in defense of Pastor Cai Zhuohua.
House Church Leader Jailed for Three Year as Chinese President Visits UK
Pastor Cai was abducted from a bus stop and dragged into a van by three plain-clothed State Security officers on September 11 2004. According to a former fellow inmate, Pastor Cai was repeatedly tortured with electric shocks and forced to give false confessions to serious charges.
Christian Girls Shot in Indonesia’s Tense Poso Region
Two Indonesian Christian girls were fighting for their lives late Tuesday, November 8, after they were shot in the head in Indonesia’s tense Poso region where three other Christian girls were beheaded last week, an influential religious rights organization said.
China House Church Leader and Family Members “Tortured”
The leader of six house churches in China’s capital Beijing, who was detained by security officers last year, is held at a detention facility where he is forced to carry out hard labor, human rights investigators said Friday, October 28.
Uzbekistan Christian Villagers Beaten and Expelled From Homes
Former Muslim residents in a remote village of the ex-Soviet union republic of Uzbekistan are being beaten, publicly humiliated and forced from their homes and jobs for converting to Christianity, a news agency investigation religious persecution said Friday, October 21.
Cuba Closes Christian Printing Press amid Crackdown On House Churches and Dissidents
Cuban police forces closed down a Christian printing press and detained a pastor for distributing “subversive” materials amid a nationwide government crackdown on house churches and pro-democracy activists on the Communist island, dissident sources and human rights investigators said Tuesday, October 18.