At least 12 Christians are understood to have been arrested by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard (IRG) in what is believed to have been a coordinated round-up last week, the Christian Post reports. Announced by Article 18, a UK-based human rights non-profit organization, the arrests were said to have taken place in the cities of Tehran, Karaj and Malayer on June 30 and July 1.
...continue reading this storyIran has detained or intimidated dozens of devoted Christians in recent days as part of government efforts to halt the spread of Christianity in the Islamic nation, investigators say.
...continue reading this storySeven people who turned from Islam to Christianity have received prison terms, fines, or work restrictions in Iran for “propaganda against the state,” trial observers confirmed Wednesday.
...continue reading this storyAfter suffering many years of sustained harassment by anti-missionary group Yad l’Achim, the Beit Hallel Messianic congregation in Ashdod has just won a lawsuit against the organization, Kehila News Israel (KNI) reports. In a resounding victory for believers in Israel, a local court issued a restraining order against Yad l’Achim activists that prevents them, among other things, from coming within 100 meters of Beit Hallel property and congregants’ private homes.
...continue reading this storyThe US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) heard last week that President Donald Trump’s partial withdrawal of American troops from northeast Syria in 2019 created a vacuum in which Turkey and Turkish-backed militia have been able to threaten local vulnerable civilian populations including Christians and Yazidis. Condemning Turkey’s latest airstrikes and ground operations in the region, the USCIRF called for the US government to “utilize all diplomatic and economic leverage to protect vulnerable religious minorities in northern Iraq — as well as neighboring northeastern Syria — from Turkey’s indiscriminate military operations,” the Christian Post reported.
...continue reading this storyAn Iranian Christian rights activist who was jailed for protesting against Iran’s Islamic government says more than a dozen Christians remain behind bars in the country’s overcrowded prisons.
...continue reading this storyReligious freedom group Open Doors USA has been told that Christians in Iran are risking their lives to help fellow citizens with food and hygiene parcels during the coronavirus outbreak, Fox News reported Thursday. Known internationally for its radical Islamic terrorism, Iran is the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Middle East.
...continue reading this storySupporters of detained Iranian Christian Ismaeil Maghrebinejad say a court has increased his prison sentence for evangelical activities in Iran.
...continue reading this storyFour former Muslims who became Christians and part of Iran’s leading house church movements have been freed from an Iranian jail, Christian activists confirmed Thursday. Kathrin Sajadpour, Moslem Rahimi, and another Christian, of the ‘Church of Iran,’ were reportedly freed on a reduced bail of 200 million tomans ($11,500) this week, Wednesday.
...continue reading this storyAn Iranian Christian father and his young son were among hundreds of asylum seekers on their way to more freedom Thursday after Hungary’s government closed prison-like transit zones.
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