Men say their prayers during Eid al-Fitr at the Badshahi mosque in Lahore, Pakistan. | REUTERS/Mohsin Raza
A United States citizen whose brother is facing the possibility of being sentenced to death in Pakistan on trumped-up blasphemy charges is asking the Biden administration to put pressure on Pakistan to release his brother.
In three months, 47-year-old Pakistani Christian man Nadeem Samson will go before Pakistan’s Lahore High Court as he petitions against blasphemy charges that stem from and were cemented by a false accusation, corrupt police, and his own confession under torture, his brother, Shakeel Anjum, told The Christian Post.
Experts on the persecution of Egyptian Christians report that although life under President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi is better for Christians than past presidents, such as Mohamed Morsi or Hosni Mubarak, believers continue to face persecution and violence at the hands of radical Muslims who evade arrest and prosecution.
Houses destroyed in Chiapas by Traditionalist Catholics | El Universal
Two families from Mexico’s Tzotzil tribe destroyed the houses of five evangelical Christians on Sunday in the Mitzitón community of southern Mexico, near the city of San Cristóbal de las Casas.
Esdras Alonso González, the director of the Christian ministry Alas de Águila, alerted news sources to the attacks. He said to El Universal that before the attack started, the local community jailed two Christians, Alejandro Jiménez Jiménez and Miguel Jiménez Heredia.
One year ago, local Catholics prevented evangelical Christians from building a church in the area and forced them to leave. When they returned a year later, local people attacked them in another attempt to make them leave.
Houses destroyed in Chiapas by Traditionalist Catholics | El Universal
Two families from Mexico’s Tzotzil tribe destroyed the houses of five evangelical Christians on Sunday in the Mitzitón community of southern Mexico, near the city of San Cristóbal de las Casas.
Esdras Alonso González, the director of the Christian ministry Alas de Águila, alerted news sources to the attacks. He said to El Universal that before the attack started, the local community jailed two Christians, Alejandro Jiménez Jiménez and Miguel Jiménez Heredia.
One year ago, local Catholics prevented evangelical Christians from building a church in the area and forced them to leave. When they returned a year later, local people attacked them in another attempt to make them leave.
Nigerian Christian face an intense wave of persecution from radical Islamists | Open Doors USA
2020 continued a trend of rising persecution around the world, with governments often using COVID-19 restrictions as tools of repression, Christian persecution watchdog Open Doors USA announced in its annual report.
Open Doors 2021 report revealed two important persecution trends in 2020. The number of Christians killed has increased by 60% this year, mostly because of Islamic violence against Nigerian Christians. Secondly, anti-Christian governments around the world use COVID-19 restrictions to persecute Christians.
“This past year 2020 has been a year of uncertainty and fear. We’ve been all fighting a virus that we cannot see with the naked eye. Less known but equally as viral has been the discrimination, isolation and violence against Christians by using COVID-19 as a leverage and as justification,” Open Doors President and CEO David Curry told the conference.