Open Doors, 17 February 2020

When a Christian is discovered in North Korea, it’s very likely that they’ll be sent to a horrendous labour camp for the rest of their lives. An estimated 50,000-70,000 Christians are imprisoned in these camps.

The outside world very rarely sees photographs of these prisoners.  But one was smuggled out to us.

We don’t know the man, why he was imprisoned, or which labour camp he is in. He might be a Christian imprisoned for his faith, or for any other reason that he’s ended up there. He might not know the reason himself.

Prisoners allowed to do agricultural work outside the camp are the ‘lucky ones’ because they might find edible plants, insects, snakes, rats or frogs. The food provision in a labour camp is only about 500-600 calories per day – about half the minimum recommended amount.

The photo it shows the human reality of this tyrannical regime. When we pray for believers in prison in North Korea, it helps us to picture this man.

Morning Star News, January 24, 2020

Before Pastor Jai Singh was jailed on false charges of luring people to convert.  Hindu extremists had dragged him from house worship in northern India on January 5 to a school where groups of six beat him in turns.

This had happened after an attempt to attack their mother church in nearby Siwanka over Christmas was thwarted.

Police registered a First Information Report (FIR) against him, falsely accusing him of offering money to Hindus to lure them to convert to Christianity.

A mob of 250 to 300 people initially surrounded the house,  accusing him of being responsible for the growing number of people converting to Christianity.  30 assailants then beat him the other radical Hindus looked on.

Denying that he would ever offer people money to convert, the father of four wept as he said, “I am just a daily labourer – my children and family are leading a very difficult life.

Hindu extremism has increased in the area as the number of people putting their faith in Christ has grown.

BBC, 2 February 2020

As many as 20 civilians have been killed in an overnight attack in north-western Burkina Faso.  Unidentified heavily armed men on motorbikes carried out the attack on a village north of the capital Ouagadougou, on Saturday night.

The attack comes a week after 39 people were killed when militants attacked a market in Silgadji town.  The Sahel region has seen a recent increase in jihadist violence.

Last year saw the highest death toll due to armed conflict in the region since 2012, with more than 4,000 people killed.

The security crisis in the Sahel began when an alliance of separatist and Islamist militants took over northern Mali in 2012.

Although a peace deal was signed in 2015, it was never fully implemented.  New armed groups have since emerged and expanded to central Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, including groups linked to al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group.

Barnabas Fund, 31 January 2020

Four Muslim men abducted, beat and robbed a Christian street preacher in Trondheim, Norway, finally demanding at knifepoint he convert to Islam or be killed.

Roar Fløttum, who regularly preaches on the streets of the city, was lured away on 28 November by the men to pray for a friend who had “injured his foot”.

After pushing Fløttum down a flight of stairs and beating him about the head, the gang took his bank cards, extracted his passcodes and stole money from his accounts.

They then tried to force him to recite Arabic words, probably the Islamic creed, and demanded he “convert to Islam or die,” while threatening him with a knife.

Fløttum plans to continue his evangelism work in Trondheim. “I only want to tell others about God’s love,” he said.

Police say the incident is the first of its kind in the city. It was estimated in 2016 that 5.7% of the Norwegian population are Muslim.

Steadfast Global, December 2019

Swiss nun Beatrice Stockly was abducted from her home in Timbuktu, Mali in January 2017.  Doctor Ken Elliot, in his eighties, remains unaccounted for after being abducted in Burkina Faso also in January 2017, having served in that country for over forty years.

Italian priest, Pier Luigi Maccalli, having served in Mali for eleven years, was taken from his home in September 2018.  Sister Gloria Argoti, originally from Colombia, was abducted in Mali by Al Qaeda affiliated fundamentalists on 8 February 2017.

Dr. Kiflu Gebremeskel disappeared into the Eritrean prison system back in May 2004—over 15 years ago!  He has never been charged with a crime and he is being held in isolation.  American citizen, Jeff Woodke was abducted in Niger in October 2017, having served the communities of Niger for the past 24 years. 

Leah Sharibu has now spent almost 2 years in captivity following her abduction by Boko Haram militants in February 2018, reportedly because she has refused to deny her Christian faith and embrace Islam.  Iranian Christian Ebrahim Firouzi commenced his 2-year period of internal exile in November. He is required to report daily to court officials.

Pastor Wang Yi of the Early Rain Covenant Church in China remains in detention awaiting trial since December 2018.  Pastor John Cao, a permanent resident of the United States, remains in prison in China after losing an appeal against a seven-year sentence after being arrested in March 2017.

Christian Solidarity Worldwide, 13 January 2020

The Cuban government continues to routinely and systematically violate freedom of religion or belief.  At the same time there were some positive developments within the religious sector itself. 

The creation of a new umbrella group for Protestant denominations is a show of unity unseen in Cuba since before 1959.

Reports of harassment of religious leaders increased in parallel with the religious groups’ increasing outspokenness and moves towards more unity.

A number of major religious leaders have been banned from leaving the country. CSW also received reports of threats and cases of arbitrary detention involving religious leaders and Freedom of Religion or Belief defenders.

Ricardo Fernandez Izaguirre, a Cuban religious freedom defender was arbitrarily detained at noon on Friday 12 July and has since been held incommunicado.

International Christian Concern, 18 January 2020

Following protests from local villagers, the administration in Yogyakarta and the Indonesia Pentecostal Church have agreed to move the church to Argosari village.

Last July, the regent of Bantul officially cancelled the building permit of the church. So its congregation was no longer allowed to perform worship services at the building.

Although the church took the matter to court, church leader Tigor Sitorus has now made the agreement with Bantul Regent Suharsono to seek a way out.

Tigor agreed to move the church to Argosari, which is about 4 kilometers away, for his congregation.

“What’s important now is to have a place of worship,” he said.  The new church will be built on land bought with his own money. He hoped the administration would help with the construction.

Suharsono promised to provide 100 bags of cement for the construction and to immediately issue the building permit for the new church.

Nevertheless, the solution has set a bad precedent for cases of intolerance seeming to justify residents’ protests.

Forum 18, 11 December 2019  

An Uzbek Religious Affairs Committee member has claimed that “there is no persecution for religious beliefs in Uzbekistan, but only cases of violation of the Religion Law.”

Officer Sergei of the SSS secret police has told religious leaders that they “must inform the authorities about all missionaries and their activity in writing, and help the authorities prevent violations of religious freedoms.”

One official claimed that the “reason you Protestants have difficulty gaining registration is the Jehovah’s Witnesses. It is because the local authorities cannot distinguish between Christians and Jehovah’s Witnesses.”

Protestants expressed their concerns about this.  “There are no legal grounds for the regime to demand that some religious communities collaborate with them against other communities.  We do not understand why officials demand Christian organisations launch a witch-hunt against Jehovah’s Witnesses.”

Barnabas Fund, 12 December 2019

Despite Putin’s recently proclaimed stance of protecting Christians, court actions by Russian authorities to close or place restrictions on evangelical churches suggest they are deliberately targeting evangelical Christians.

Another three evangelical churches have been closed where witness testimonies and the conclusions of independent commissions and examinations were ignored. 

A motion was filed against the Cathedral Church in Kaluga, on 3 December, prohibiting it from operating and seeking to demolish it.  Since its inception, the church has been subject to constant inspections as well as attempts to institute criminal proceedings against the pastor.

The Christian Evangelical Church has existed in Oryol on land it has owned since 1990. In early 2018, authorities inspected the church and identified 78 safety and other violations. In May 2018, the court issued a decision to close the building despite all violations being rectified.

Christian Olga Glamozdinova won a landmark legal case on 14 November when the Russian Constitutional Court ruled that worship services can take place in private houses.

Barnabas Fund, 6 December 2019

Authorities have forced a church in Jiangxi province to paint over its name and replace it with a communist slogan, “Follow the Party, Obey the Party, and Be Grateful to the Party,” as officials increasingly attempt to “sinicise” Christianity.

The church was also ordered to remove a painting of a Biblical figure and replace it with a portrait of China’s President Xi Jinping, surrounded by communist slogans.

Days later, officials locked the doors and windows and confiscated the keys to the church, registered under the state-sanctioned Patriotic Association, preventing the congregation from gaining access for worship.

Elsewhere, elderly members of an unofficial house church were told by the authorities that their retirement pensions would be stopped if they continued to gather for worship.

A secretive pact was thought to give both the Roman Catholic Church and the Chinese government a say in the appointment of new ministers.

Critics say that the government is now attempting to focus church teachings on Chinese patriotism and President Xi’s communist party, and church ministers are imprisoned or prevented from participating in religious festivals.