Tag: Converts

Kyrgyzstan: ‘We will kill you’ sprayed on church wall

August 2, 2017 Kyrgyzstan Central Asia, Converts, Islamic extremism, Kyrgyzstan, Russian Orthodox Church, Soviet Union, Tokmok

A church in the northern Kyrgyzstan city of Tokmok had a death threat sprayed across one of its walls following a night-time robbery last week. Sources told World Watch Monitor that the graffiti was by local Islamic radicals who broke into the church building, damaged furniture and wrote: “We will kill . . . Read More

Iranian Christian Maryam Naghash Zargaran released after four years in prison

August 2, 2017 Iran Amin Afshar Naderi, Converts, Evin Prison, Iran, Islamic extremism, Maryam Naghash Zargaran, Saeed Abedini, Tehran

After four years’ imprisonment for “violating national security”, Iranian Christian Maryam Naghash Zargaran was released from Tehran’s Evin prison last night (1 August). She was due to be released four days earlier, on 28 July, but, as Mohabat News reported, this was delayed without explanation. Naghash Zargaran, 39, a convert . . . Read More

Ethiopian Christian attacked with machetes for evangelising

July 31, 2017 Ethiopia Converts, Ethiopia, Ethiopian Orthodox Church, Tigray

An Ethiopian Christian suffered deep wounds to the back of his head when he was attacked while alone in his home by a group of local Muslims with machetes The attack on 16 July left the 27-year-old man needing life-saving surgery. The man – who, for security reasons, cannot be . . . Read More

Jailed Christian on hunger strike to protest against treatment of Iranian converts

July 21, 2017 Iran Amin Afshar Naderi, Bahram Nasibov, Converts, Ebrahim Firouzi, Eldar Gurbanov, Exile, Hadi Asgari, Iran, Karaj, Kaviyan Fallah-Mohammadi, Mohammad Reza Omidi, Naser Navard Gol-Tapeh, Rasht, Saheb Fadaie, Tehran, Victor Bet-Tamraz, Yasser Mossayebzadeh, Youcef Nadarkhani, Yusif Farhadov

Another imprisoned Iranian Christian has begun a hunger strike to protest against the recent rash of sentences against Christians in Iran. Ebrahim Firouzi, 30, who has five years left of his own sentence for “acting against national security”, followed fellow convert to Christianity Amin Afshar-Naderi in writing a statement criticising . . . Read More

‘Thousands’ of Iranians claiming asylum in Europe as converts to Christianity

July 19, 2017 Iran Asylum seekers, Baptism, Converts, Europe, Iran, Migrants, Refugees

Thousands of Iranian asylum-seekers across Europe are turning to Christianity, though observers are not convinced that all claims of conversion are genuine. A BBC documentary, Praying for Asylum, tells the story of a number of Iranian asylum-seekers in the Netherlands who say they have become Christians and would be exposed . . . Read More

‘Longest seven minutes of my life’: Uzbek beaten up for leading secret church

July 12, 2017 Uzbekistan Communism, Converts, House churches, Islamic extremism, Soviet Union, Uzbekistan

Azamat became a Christian in the early days of Uzbekistan’s independence, soon after the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, when, he says, the country “was a much freer place than it is now”. He embraced his new faith, setting up a network of house churches, and finding teachers for . . . Read More

Jailed Iranian Christian asks authorities: ‘Why do you hate me?’

July 11, 2017 Iran Amin Afshar Naderi, Blasphemy, Converts, Evin Prison, Hadi Asgari, Iran, Kaviyan Fallah-Mohammadi, Tehran, Victor Bet-Tamraz

An Iranian convert to Christianity, sentenced last week to 15 years in jail, has written an open letter to the authorities, asking what he has done to “make you hate me this much” and declaring that he has decided to “terminate my life slowly” through a hunger strike. Amin Afshar-Naderi . . . Read More

Iran sentences four more Christians to 10 years in jail for ‘missionary activities’

July 6, 2017 Iran Amin Afshar Naderi, Azerbaijan, Bahram Nasibov, Converts, Eldar Gurbanov, Hadi Asgari, Naser Navard Gol-Tapeh, Tehran, Victor Bet-Tamraz, Yusif Farhadov

One Iranian and three Azerbaijani Christians have been found guilty of “missionary activities” and “actions against national security” in Iran and sentenced to 10 years in prison. World Watch Monitor understands that the three Azerbaijanis – Eldar Gurbanov, Yusif Farhadov and Bahram Nasibov – are unlikely to serve their sentences . . . Read More

‘Tremendous pressure’ on Christians in Somalia

June 28, 2017 Somalia Al-Shabaab, Converts, East Africa, Refugees

Sandstorm over Mandera, one of three provinces in NE Kenya (Photo: Open Doors International)

Christians in Somalia face “tremendous pressure, societal resistance and outright fear,” according to Elijah M Brown, Executive Vice President of the 21st Century Wilberforce Initiative. In a blog post, Brown quotes the US Commission on International Religious Freedom as saying: “Although conversion is currently legal in Somalia, it is not . . . Read More

Persecution ‘key driver of displacement’ says UNHCR, voicing concerns about returns

June 20, 2017 Global News -- No Particular Country Afghanistan, Boko Haram, Converts, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eritrea, Europe, Fulani herdsmen, Islamic extremism, Middle Belt, Migrants, Nigeria, Refugees, South Sudan, Syria, Uganda, UN

More people are currently displaced through conflict and persecution than at any time since the Second World War. According to the Global Trends report, published by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), 65.6 million people were forcibly displaced at the end of 2016. The report noted that the number of refugee returns . . . Read More

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