Barnabas Fund, 25 February 2020

Eleven Christians were killed in an attack by the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) in north-east Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), on 18 February.  A local Christian leader confirmed that the ADF deliberately targeted Christians in the attack.

Attacks by the ADF are common in the region – every time the military in the DRC mount an operation against the ADF, the civilians are attacked as retribution.  Many people, including Christians, have fled to neighbouring Uganda.

The ADF Islamist militant group has wracked majority-Christian DRC with violence for  more than 20 years.

Over 200 Christians, including women and children were abducted and a church mission hospital was looted by the militants, during a raid in Ituri province, on 23 August 2019.

Christian Solidarity Worldwide, 1 March 2020

“They want to stop me being a pastor,” says Alain Toledano Valiente, discussing the intimidation and harassment he’s experienced over the years at the hands of the Cuban authorities – including his home and church being demolished twice.  The pressure has increased in recent months, but he’s courageously refusing to give in.

Across Chile, Cuba, Columbia and Mexico, members of religious minorities like Toledano Valiente, experience discrimination, abuse and worse because of their faith.

In August, Pastor Aarón Méndez Ruis, the director of a Christian migrant shelter in Mexico, and his colleague Alfredo Castillo de Luna were kidnapped and forcibly disappeared.

Local partners on the ground document religious freedom violations, often at great personal risk.  Due to the government’s control of communication lines, getting information into and out of Cuba can be difficult, and can compromise the security of local partners.

Opportunities are needed to train local authorities, in Mexico and Columbia – teaching them what freedom of religion or belief means and how to properly document human rights violations.

Forum 18, 11 February 2020

For more than a decade, the authorities in Kaluga, south-west of Moscow, have tried to confiscate the church building and land from Word of Life Pentecostal Church.

When the Pentecostals bought the unfinished sports complex in 2002, the local authorities had no complaints.

The Regional Arbitration Court ruled against Word of Life on 29 March 2019, arguing that the Church had not obtained proper permissions for the reconstruction and that the building had serious defects.  Word of Life insists that these problems have been resolved and presented five expert reports to show that the building is safe.

State inspections, including site visits and examination of technical and legal documents, concluded that the building conformed to all construction norms, and did not pose a threat to the life and health of citizens.

Word of Life lodged an appeal at Kaluga Regional Court on 14 January 2020, and the first hearing has been scheduled for 2 March. At present the Church continues to be able to use its building.

“The question remains – who benefits from destroying the temple, and depriving believers of a place where they can practise their faith on the basis of the Constitution of the Russian Federation?” Word of Life commented.

Morning Star News February 12, 2020 

A high court in Pakistan has validated the marriage and forced conversion to Islam of a 14-year-old Christian girl.

Huma Younus was taken from her home in Karachi on Oct. 10 and forced to marry the man who abducted her.

The family’s attorney said that the family was prohibited from seeing Huma because police said her life would be at risk if she was brought to the courtroom.

The Sindh Act 2013 declares marrying a person under 18 years old an offense punishable by up to three years in prison but the law is still poorly implemented.

The family has appealed to the Court of Justice in Sindh Province – a hearing is scheduled for March 4.

Since forced conversions are not illegal in Pakistan, her attorney said he believed the case hinged on Huma’s age.

Supreme Court Advocate Saiful Malook told Morning Star News “In no way can any court of law endorse an underage marriage unless it is supported by the girl’s guardian”.

Malook, who represented Asia Bibi and won her freedom, said that abducting for forced conversion and underage marriage is a major problem in Pakistan.

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.