Last May, evangelical pastor Juan Carlos Villegas was kidnapped and held for 12 days by the National Liberation Army in war-torn Colombia. They forced him to walk for many hours each day so that neither the Colombian Army nor the paramilitaries could find them. Several times they threatened him with death.
...continue reading this storyISTANBUL, August 7 (Compass) -- Canadian authorities issued written verification yesterday that its embassy in the Turkish capital of Ankara has begun the immigration application process for an Iranian Christian family stranded in eastern Turkey for more than two years.
...continue reading this storyISTANBUL, January 21 (Compass) -- Six of 14 foreign Christians slated for deportation from Saudi Arabia have been released for return to their home countries during the past 10 days. But another eight prisoners and their families remain entangled in a process that could take weeks to resolve.
...continue reading this storyGARFIELD, NJ (ANS) -- The indiscriminate slaughter of more than two million people, mostly black Christians, but also Muslims and animists, in southern Sudan, has been brought about by the National Islamic Front (NIF) who long ago declared a jihad (holy war) on the south. Human rights observers say that NIF violates almost every provision of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
...continue reading this storyAfghanistan's ruling Taleban authorities have ruled out pardons for eight foreign aid workers detained for allegedly spreading the Christian faith, declaring that they and their 16 Afghan colleagues must stand trial on charges of promoting Christianity. Western diplomats have been unable to meet with the prisoners. Fifty-nine Afghan school children who were also taken into custody on the belief that they had been influenced by Christian teaching have been released, but their fathers were jailed for several days for failing to supervise their children.
...continue reading this storyISTANBUL, February 11 (Compass) -- Five more jailed Christians caught in deportation wrangles in Jeddah since December have been released to their home countries during the past two weeks, leaving one Filipino and two Ethiopians still under detention by Saudi authorities.
...continue reading this storyTwo founding members of the South China Church have been sentenced to death following a secret trial.
Gong Sheng Liang, 46, and his niece Li Ying, 36, were sentenced after a secret trial held on December 18 2001 at the Jing Men Court in Hubei Province.
...continue reading this storyNew legislation awaiting agreement by the Kazakhstan authorities looks set to undermine religious freedom.
The Keston Institute reports that if adopted, the law will require all missionaries to be registered and allow unregistered religious groups to be banned.
...continue reading this storyISTANBUL, December 3 (Compass) -- Five weeks after Islamic extremists gunned down 15 Pakistani Christians in a Sunday morning worship service, church leaders across Pakistan admitted that their congregations remain "tense and fearful" as Christmas approaches.
...continue reading this storyZAMBOANGA CITY, PHILIPPINES - The once calm, peaceful and loving people of the City of Zamboanga will never be the same again after 200 heavily armed Muslim rebels held 81 Christian hostages last week and exchanged gunfire with the military forces that left two soldiers, four Muslim rebels and four civilians dead.
...continue reading this story