An Iranian-Armenian pastor began a 10-year prison sentence in Iran yesterday, after being found guilty of engaging in “propaganda contrary to and disturbing to the holy religion of Islam” through his leading of a house church in Tehran, the Article 18 religious freedom NGO reports.
...continue reading this storyA court in Baghdad, Iraq, sentenced four Iraqi militia members and one Iranian national to life imprisonment last week for the killing of American Christian Stephen Troell last year, International Christian Concern (ICC) reports.
...continue reading this storyIran has detained scores of Christians ahead of the first anniversary of the death in custody of a young Kurdish woman, Christians said as more details on the crackdown emerged Friday.
...continue reading this storyMore than 50 Christian converts have been detained over the past week in five Iranian cities, and Christians said the number could rise.
...continue reading this storyIn a sudden spike of persecution against Christians in Iran, government authorities arrested and detained more than 50 Christians in five cities across Iran in the last 10 days, Article 18 reports.
...continue reading this storyThe much-persecuted, tiny Christian community in Iraq has taken the historic step of launching a new public television channel broadcasting only programs conducted in their native Syriac language, International Christian Concern (ICC) reports. Syriac is an ancient language derived from Aramaic, the language Jesus spoke while He walked the Earth.
...continue reading this storyChristians in Syria continue to face “genocidal” attacks not only from jihadists inside the country but also from Islamist-affiliated, NATO member Turkey, Algemeiner reports.
...continue reading this storyIn a rare display of justice from Iran’s notoriously corrupt judicial system, an appeals court judge in Tehran overturned the convictions of two Christian leaders who were sentenced to imprisonment for participating in a house church and ordered their release, Morning Star News (MSN) reports.
...continue reading this storyAmid a spike in the number of executions it has carried out since last year’s nationwide anti-government protests, Iran has just executed two Iranian men charged with blasphemy for insulting Islam and the Islamic prophet Muhammad, International Christian Concern (ICC) reports. According to the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, there are currently more than 150 people imprisoned in Iran for their religious beliefs.
...continue reading this storyA court in Iran has accepted an application for a retrial by an Iranian Christian couple sentenced to a combined 10 years in prison for being members of a house church, Article 18 reports.
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