Tags

Detainment / Arrest

• Blasphemy Charges for Alleged Facebook Post

  

  Fansan Shahid, a 54-year-old Christian from Gujranwala in Punjab Province, is in federal custody with charges predicated on a blasphemous comment he allegedly made in a Facebook post during 2019. Fansan was arrested just after midnight on March 16th when more than a dozen police officers stormed into his house and began beating him before taking him into custody.

• Christian Teachers Formally Charged; Others Released

  

  In August 2021, four house church leaders were arrested for allegedly carrying out "illegal business operations." The charges relate to their work at the Jordan River Learning Center, a house church school affiliated with the Mount Carmel Church in Wuhu, Anhui State. At the time, six other teachers at the school were arrested but then released on bail.

• Court Orders Partial Destruction

  

  A court in the Sudanese city of Khartoum Bahri has ordered the partial demolition of the Khartoum Bahri Evangelical Church, effectively blocking the only entry point to the building. The church has faced several court challenges in the past. In 2013, the government imposed a committee upon the church, which then sold part of its land to investors. That committee was later ruled illegal by the court. Since that time, however, various buildings were destroyed and church members have subsequently been arrested and fined for protesting the illegal sales of their properties (read more).

• Church Leaders Arrested

  

  The Early Rain Qingcaodi Church, a church plant previously established by the Early Rain Covenant Church (ERCC), is located in the city of Deyang, which is part of the Chinese province of Sichuan. Shortly after the police initially raided the ERCC in December 2018 (for more details on this incident, see this report), they also broke into the Qingcaodi church, expelling the Christians and posting a notice on the gate of the building in their efforts to ban the believers from meeting. In March 2021, the Sichuan Provincial Department of Civil Affairs published a list of illegal organizations, including both the ERCC and the Qingcaodi church.

• Pastor Arrested After Large Protest

  

  A protest led by Hindu militants against alleged religious conversions resulted in a standoff with police and charges against a Christian pastor. On Sunday, October 17th, activists belonging to two Hindu nationalist organizations, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the Bajrang Dal, forced their way into a small church in Hubballi, a city located in the southern Indian state of Karnataka. A video of the incident shows dozens of protesters sitting inside the Bairidevarkoppa Church singing Hindu devotional songs.

• Pastors Charged Due to Anti-Conversion Laws

  

  Seven pastors were arrested on October 10th in the Mau district of Uttar Pradesh, India. They were accused of violating the state's anti-conversion legislation, and subsequently charged with "illegal assembly."

• Two Arrests Relating to Case of Slain Pastor

  

  Two men in eastern Uganda have been charged after the September 12th murder of an evangelist, Pastor Barnabas Musana. According to another pastor from a nearby village, some of the militant Muslims in the area were upset because Pastor Barnabas had been holding evangelistic events and public debates about Christianity and Islam. In February 2020, he had been whisked away by church members after boldly stating that Jesus was the Son of God, and thus greater than Muhammad.

• Fifteen Christians Rearrested

  

  Eritrean authorities recently arrested 15 Christians during a series of raids on their houses in the capital city of Asmara. All 15 believers had been previously imprisoned for their faith – some for up to 16 years.

• Christian High School Raided

  

  On the morning of September 4th, the Maizi Christian Music High School in Harbin, Heilongjiang province, was raided by police, religious affairs officials and local school district administrators. All staff and students present were arrested.

• Raid on Home Church Gathering

  

  On the morning of Sunday, August 22nd, police raided a gathering of members from the Chengdu Early Rain Covenant Church as they met for worship. According to the police officers, someone reported that an illegal assembly was taking place at the location. When the officers tried to enter the room, the home church group leader, Preacher Dai, asked to see a search warrant. However, the officers refused and demanded identification from everyone present.