World in Brief

An Algerian court has convicted and sentenced in absentia a pastor and another Christian to two years in prison and a heavy fine. Pastor Rachid Seighir and Nouh Hamimi were accused of ‘shaking the faith’ of Muslims by selling Christian literature at their now-closed bookstore, where Seighir was the manager and Hamimi a salesman.

The men only learned of their conviction from a note slipped under the door of their church building in Oran, which said they now face prison and a fine of 500,000 Algerian dinars (about £2,700).

A 30-strong force of bailiffs, police, Housing Repair and Utilities Association officials deployed an angle grinder and a crowbar to gain access and evict people from New Life Church in Minsk. Up to 70 church members were praying inside at the time.

Officials said they were enforcing a court order. Aleksey Petrukovich, who signed it, refused to explain why the action happened, and why force was necessary.

‘I am indignant. This is a hostile takeover of church property with the excuse of official papers,’ said Sergiy Melyanets, a member of another church, who witnessed the eviction.

Plain-clothes police have raided Chongqing Living Fountain Church, in Sichuan Province, halting the Sunday service and arresting two church members. Worshippers were forced to leave the building, being warned: ‘Do not come here again. This church is not registered and there’s the potential risk of spreading the Covid-19 virus.’

The police later repeatedly pressured the church’s landlord for a list of its members and financial information. The demand was rejected. This small house church has been open for over 20 years. It maintains pure Christian beliefs and refuses to register with the state religious affairs bureau.

Troops loyal to the Eritrean Government have massacred 100 Christians in Tigray region, Ethiopia. The attack, at Dengelat village, included firing artillery shells at the church building. Those inside who fled up the mountain paths were shot dead as they ran; soldiers also went from home to home, shooting people on their doorsteps, young and old, male and female.

After three days of slaughter, the Eritreans called on survivors to bury the bodies. Many of the corpses were scattered across the surrounding farmland and were already being eaten by vultures.

Two pastors and a friend, falsely accused of fraudulent conversion in central India, have been released on bail after spending a month in jail.

Hindu extremists in Madhya Pradesh state had pressured police to detain Chattarsingh Katre, Pastor Mahendra Nagdeve and Pastor U. Nathan at a private party. This was based on a complaint of conversion by allurement by Deepak Patle, who was not even present. Katre has been suspended from his job as a teacher at a government school because of his arrest and jailing.

Indonesia, the largest Islamic country in the world, has named a Protestant from the Reformed tradition as the new head of the national police service.

General Listyo Sigit Prabowo was previously chief of the Criminal Investigation Agency of Indonesia. He was President Joko Widodo’s only candidate as police head, unanimously approved by the lower house of the parliament, the People’s Representative Council. The nomination of Prabowo by Widodo, a secular Muslim, was strongly opposed by Islamic cleric Muhyiddin Junaidi, chairman of the Indonesian Ulema Council.

The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has published an opinion that the continued detention of Iranian church leader Yousef Nadarkhani is arbitrary.

It states the Iranian Government has contravened several articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and calls on it ‘to take the steps necessary to remedy the situation of Mr Nadarkhani without delay.’ In 2017, Pastor Nadarkhani was one of four Christians sentenced to ten years in prison for ‘acting against national security’ by ‘promoting Zionist Christianity’.

Susanna Koh, the wife of an abducted Evangelical Free Church pastor, Raymond Koh, has spoken of her determination to find her husband as she filed a lawsuit against the Malaysian Government and police, saying the family will not stop until they find answers.

In February 2017 Pastor Koh, a Malaysian convert to Christianity, was abducted from his car by at least 15 men in three black SUVs in what has been described as a ‘military-style operation’. His family has had no contact with him and no knowledge of his whereabouts since then.

Muslim Fulani herdsmen have shot and killed four Christians and wounded another in north-central Nigeria, following the killing of seven other Christians earlier in February. They also burned several houses and destroyed a considerable amount of food grain.

The herdsmen ambushed the four members of the Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA), who were aged between 26 and 39, in Kwall District, Bassa County of Plateau state, three near Ri-Bakwa village and one in Zirshe village.

A pastor of a church who had been abducted by Islamic terrorists on Christmas Eve and threatened with execution, has been released after Christians met the ransom demands that were made.

The president of the Church of Brethren in Nigeria, Joel S. Billi, revealed that he had spoken to Pastor Bulus Yakura, from Pemi village, Chibok, after he was freed. ‘Speaking to Yakura over the telephone today was heart-touching,’ Billi said, adding that he told him: ‘I am fine, thank you for your prayers and concern.’

The Pakistani Government has renewed a commitment to protect minorities and promote religious tolerance, with the appointment of a special advisor to Prime Minister Imran Khan on interreligious matters and religious harmony.

Hafiz Muhammad Tahir Mehmood Ashrafi acknowledged the need to restrain the abuse of ‘blasphemy’ laws and protect Christians and other religious minorities from forced marriage to Muslims and forced conversions. He also affirmed that those minorities are ‘not second-class citizens’ and guaranteed their protection under the rights and privileges of the Constitution of Pakistan.

Pakistani police arrested the pastor and congregation of the New Life Church in Mohallah Sialkoti, Lahore, during Lent worship. The action came after the town’s Muslim residents made a complaint.

The police arrested Pastor Amjad and Elder Yousaf Lal without any investigation or arrest warrant but, after their lawyer intervened, they were released with a harsh warning and told not to open their church building again. The church was started recently because there were no others locally and believers had to travel far to worship. But, ever since it opened, attendees were threatened and abused.

A Sudanese Christian leader has been detained and beaten for speaking out against the burning of a church building. Suspected national security personnel seized Osama Saeed Kodi, Chairman of the Christian Youth Union of Al Jazirah state, beat him and threatened to kill him if he continued to protest against the burning of a Sudanese Church of Christ (SCOC) worship hall in Tambul.

With church burnings continuing last year following the ousting of President Omar al-Bashir in 2019, Sudanese Christians fear persecution is continuing under a transitional government that had promoted religious liberty.

At least four Venezuelan Christian men suffered serious injuries when they were stabbed, forced to eat pages of the Bible, and had crosses etched into their skin by eight hooded men.

The attack, by suspected criminals from a drug gang, took place at Restoration House in the city of Libertador, in Mérida State. Restoration House is a church-led drug rehabilitation centre founded by Pastor Dugarte and his wife. Christians who deter people from criminal lifestyles are often seen as a threat to the illegal activities of drug gangs in Latin America.