Sudan Detains, Interrogates Elder in Campaign to Take Over Church
JUBA, South Sudan, September 26, 2017 (Morning Star News) – A month after seven church leaders were arrested, interrogated and released on bail, police in Sudan detained and questioned another church leader in Omdurman on Friday (Sept. 22), sources said. Elder Mahjoub...
Fulani Fugitive from Islam in Nigeria Endures Persecution as a ‘Lifestyle’
ABUJA, Nigeria, September 22, 2017(Morning Star News) – Before Boko Haram began growing into a prominent terrorist force in northeast Nigeria in 2009, its members were trying to kill a highly effective evangelist to ethnic Fulani Muslims. One Boko Haram member...
Christians in Nepal Sentenced to Prison for Praying for Ill Woman Are Released
September 22, 2017 (Morning Star News) – Four Christians in Nepal sentenced to five years in prison on false charges of “witchcraft” and “violence” were released today after a high court annulled their convictions, church leaders said. Lali Pun, Bimkali Budha, Suk Lal...
Christian Father of Two in Pakistan Sentenced to Death for ‘Blaspheming’ Prophet of Islam
LAHORE, Pakistan, September 18, 2017 (Morning Star News) – A Christian father of two in Pakistan has been sentenced to death for blaspheming Islam’s prophet in a phone text even though he is illiterate, sources said. Nadeem James, 27, was charged in July 2016 in...
China Tightens Control on Churches, Enforces Law Against Teaching Children
September 15, 2017 (Morning Star News) – China has tightened its “choke-hold” on churches across the country in recent weeks, according to advocacy group China Aid. Recent bans on unregistered church worship and on teaching Christianity to children, “as if intending...
Muslim Fulani Herdsmen Massacre 20 Christians in Plateau State, Nigeria
ANCHA, Nigeria, September 11, 2017 (Morning Star News) – Muslim Fulani herdsmen in central Nigeria’s Plateau state massacred 20 Christians, including children, as they slept in the hours after midnight on Friday (Sept. 8) in an apparent reprisal attack that mystified...
Christian High School Student Killed in Pakistan
LAHORE, Pakistan, September 8, 2017 (Morning Star News) – The father of a 17-year-old Christian who was killed in a school in Pakistan by at least one Muslim classmate said the attack was religiously motivated, a charge that police dispute. Ilyasab Masih told Morning...
Al Shabaab Militants in Kenya Kill Four Christians
NAIROBI, Kenya, September 7, 2017 (Morning Star News) – Somali militants from the Islamic extremist Al Shabaab killed four Christians in coastal Kenya on Wednesday (Sept. 6), a local source said. Shaken residents of Bobo village in Lamu County left their homes and...
Catholic Priest in Nigeria Kidnapped, Killed
JOS, Nigeria, September 5, 2017 (Morning Star News) – A Catholic priest who was kidnapped in southeastern Nigeria on Friday (Sept. 1), was found dead on Saturday, sources said. Gunmen dragged the Rev. Cyriacus Onunkwo, of the diocese of Orlu, Imo state, from his car...
Pastor in India Perseveres amid Persecution by Hindu Extremists
HYDERABAD, India, August 31, 2017 (Morning Star News) – A band of Hindu extremists who had snuck into a house-church service beat a pastor with steel rods and sticks, one of them yelling that they would stop if he shouted, “Hail, Lord Ram [Jai Sri Ram]!” “I remained...
Mother in Uganda Beaten, Driven from Home for Embracing Christ
NAIROBI, Kenya, August 30, 2017 (Morning Star News) – A woman in eastern Uganda who put her faith in Christ is in hiding after her husband beat her for leaving Islam, sources said. Sophia Nakisaala, 35, turned to Christ on Aug. 7 after her daughter was healed when a...
Pastors Arrested in Sudan as Government Moves to Take Over Church
on Jan. 2 this year of charges ranging from spying to inciting hatred against the government. Sudan’s Ministry of Guidance and Religious Endowments had written a letter dated Aug. 14 ordering them to hand over church leadership to the committee appointed by the...
Christian Mother Who Died in Detention in Eritrea Showed Signs of Torture, Mourners Note
NAIROBI, Kenya, August 25, 2017 (Morning Star News) – A relative at the burial of a Christian mother of three who died in detention in Eritrea told Morning Star News her body showed signs of torture that could have contributed to her death. Eritrean authorities...
Egypt Closes One Church, Blocks Worship at Another
CAIRO, August 24, 2017 (Morning Star News) – Authorities have closed a church that serves three villages in Upper Egypt on the pretext that area Muslims object to it – one of at least 15 Christian worship sites shuttered in the bishopric of Minya, sources said. Coptic...
Another Teenage Boy in Pakistan Beaten, Accused of Blasphemy
LAHORE, Pakistan, August 22, 2017 (Morning Star News) – A Muslim mob in rural Punjab Province, Pakistan stormed a police station to continue beating a 16-year-old boy accused of blaspheming the Koran, sources said. Asif Masih, illiterate and mildly mentally challenged...
Police in Sudan Evict Two Pastors from Their Homes
JUBA, Sudan, August 21, 2017 (Morning Star News) – In further efforts to help a Muslim businessman take over church property, police in Omdurman, Sudan evicted two church leaders and their families from their houses, sources said. Police on Tuesday (Aug. 15) raided...
Judge in Pakistan Urges Parliament to Prosecute Blasphemy Cases under Terrorism Laws
LAHORE, Pakistan, August 18, 2017 (Morning Star News) – In an expanded order to remove “blasphemous” content from social media in Pakistan, a high court judge included a recommendation that Parliament include terrorism charges against those accused of blasphemy. Last...
Pastors in India Put Trust in God amid Persecution
HYDERABAD, India, August 16, 2017 (Morning Star News) – As two Hindu extremists gripped his hands while others beat him last week in northern India, Pastor Amar Stephen was asking God to forgive them. “Some attackers were holding both my hands so I couldn’t move,...
Herdsmen in Plateau State, Nigeria Quietly Seizing Christians’ Property, Pastors Say
JOS, Nigeria, August 14, 2017 (Morning Star News) – Muslim Fulani herdsmen attacks on predominantly Christian Berom farmers in Plateau state, Nigeria amount to “economic terrorism,” Christian leaders told Morning Star News. While Plateau state officials say “relative...
Christian Rights Activists in Vietnam Charged with Serious ‘Crimes’
August 11, 2017 (Morning Star News) – After 19 long months of investigative detention following his Dec. 16, 2015 arrest, renowned human rights attorney Nguyen Van Dai was finally charged with a crime on July 30. Vietnamese authorities charged Dai, 35-year-old legal...