Morning Star News, April 13, 2020

When a convert from Islam in Iran was sentenced to two years in exile in Sarbaz last year, the judge warned him that religious extremists in the remote desert town would treat him harshly.

When Ebrahim Firoozi arrived near the border with Pakistan in November, though, he found that the fear the judge tried to instil in him was unfounded – local Muslims were helpful, open and hospitable.

Upon his arrival in Sarbaz, one person invited him to stay at his home the first night; others quickly found him a place to live.  Local people’s kindness only increased when they learned he was exiled for his Christian faith rather than for a crime.

“I found these people to be very noble,” Firoozi, 34, said in an interview posted on YouTube in which he opened up about his conversion and his years in prison before exile.

He believes this kindness was an answer to the prayers of worried friends, family and others.  “The reason people were nice to me wasn’t because of my own character or my goodness.  It was all because of God.”

Morning Star News, April 10, 2020

Intelligence officials in Cuba have increased harassment of an independent journalist, summoning the Christian and his mother twice in the past two weeks for reporting on human rights issues.

Yoe Suárez has reported in Cuba since 2014 about human rights and freedom of religion issues, including the husband-and-wife team Ramón Rigal and Adya Expósito, imprisoned in 2019 for home-schooling their children.

An intelligence official identifying himself as “Captain Jorge,” summoned Suárez and his mother on April 3 to the Siboney Police Station in Havana and issued a series of implied threats to Suárez’s mother about consequences her 29-year-old son would suffer if he continued working as a reporter outside of Cuban intelligence controls.

“This time they were much less kind than the last,” Suárez said. “He mentioned that I qualified for the crime of mercenarism.”  This crime calls for prison of 10 to 20 years, or death, for a Cuban citizen found guilty of it.

Suárez said the official told him he does not care if a journalist works for a non-state media outlet “as long as he does so under the control of the State Intelligence.’”

Suárez, a member of the Cuban Evangelical League, said authorities are targeting him not for anything specific but due to “a cluster of anger about my work.”

Barnabas Fund, 26 March 2020

A Vietnamese Christian, imprisoned for advocating religious freedom for his Christian Montagnard community, was released in late February, in poor health, after 16 years in prison.

Y Ngun Khul endured beatings from prison guards, leaving him physically scarred, and was repeatedly kicked in the stomach. “Now I can eat only a bowl of rice per day because I have stomach problems that make it hard for me to breathe.” he explained.

During his absence, Y Ngun’s family lost their home and land. They were able to visit him only four times in 16 years, as their Dak Lok home was more than 600 miles away from Nghe An, where Y Ngun was imprisoned.

Ngun was sentenced to 18-years in prison on 20 April 2004 after highlighting the government’s discrimination against and targeting of his community.

Many Montagnard Christians have fled into neighbouring Cambodia and Thailand to escape government-sanctioned persecution. More than 350 Montagnard Christians have been imprisoned by the government since 2001.  Local authorities have attempted to coerce these Vietnamese Christians to recant their faith.  10,000 Montagnards remain stateless because authorities refuse to issue ID cards, household registration or birth certificates, often because they refuse to renounce Christ.

World Watch Monitor,  February 3, 2020

Three churches in Sudan’s southern Blue Nile state, rebuilt after arson attacks in December, were burned down again in January.  On the evening of 28 December, the Sudan Internal Church, Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church in Bout town, near the border with South Sudan, were set alight.

The three churches were restored with local materials, only to be set on fire again by unidentified arsonists on 16 January.

The Minister of Religious Affairs said that the police are investigating. “If it is proven that it occurred as a result of a criminal offence, the perpetrators will be identified, pursued and brought to justice,” he said, reaffirming “Sudan’s full commitment to protecting religious freedoms and “houses of worship from any threats”.

Sudan’s Blue Nile and South Kordofan states are at the centre of an ongoing armed conflict between government forces and militants belonging to the Sudan People Liberation Movement.  Years of fighting has sent hundreds of thousands of people fleeing their homes in the region where most of Sudan’s Christians live.

Morning Star News, March 30, 2020

Police in India’s Tamil Nadu state rushed to a slum where Christians were providing aid earlier this month and detained them on false charges of forcible conversion.

They humiliated the Christians, accusing them in coarse language of trying to fraudulently convert the poor in the guise of providing basic necessities.

Shortly after the pastor and about 30 young adults from the church arrived at the slum area on March 8, a Hindu extremist showed up and began uttering obscenities.

“He started beating the youth missionaries and abused them in extremely foul language,” the pastor said.

The Hindu nationalist told them he had already filed a police complaint against them and the Christians were shocked when police arrived and took them into custody.

“They spoke ill about Christianity and slapped us as we stood there in the police station helplessly,”

Inspector of Police Senthil Vinayagam spoke abusively to the Christians, trying to incite the youths to respond aggressively to his words, but by God’s grace they did not.

Police released them with a warning that they should not be seen again attempting to convert people in the area.