Published on: November 10, 2023
BACKGROUND SUMMARY Pastor Zafar Bhatti has been imprisoned in Adiala Central Jail in Rawalpindi, Punjab Province, since 2012. He was arrested after Ahmed Khan, deputy secretary of the local branch of the Islamic organisation Jamat Ahle-Sunnat, filed a police report stating he had received text messages from an unknown number insulting the prophet Mohammed’s mother. […]
Published on: November 9, 2023
BACKGROUND SUMMARY On the same day that Pastor Joseph Shahbazian was released from prison, Pastor Anooshavan Avedian, 61 years old, was summoned to begin serving his 10-year sentence in Evin Prison, Tehran. Pastor Avedian was initially arrested a little over three years ago at his home where a group of 18 Christians had gathered together […]
Published on: November 9, 2023
BACKGROUND SUMMARY In 2002, the Eritrean government shut down and banned all religious groups except the Orthodox, Catholic, and Lutheran churches, as well as Sunni Islam. As a result of the government’s action, banned churches were forced to go underground. Eritrean officials then responded by undertaking a campaign to locate the underground churches and […]
Published on: November 9, 2023
BACKGROUND SUMMARY Dr. Kiflu Gebremeskel was the founder and senior pastor of Southwest Full Gospel Church and a member of the executive committee of the Full Gospel Church of Eritrea. The Full Gospel Church of Eritrea is one of the country’s largest Pentecostal networks which comprises about 150 house church groups. Kiflu has a Ph.D. […]
Published on: November 9, 2023
BACKGROUND SUMMARY Chang Hao is a rural house church leader from Zhaotong, Yunnan province. He has been very active in social justice issues in his local community, organizing prayer meetings and supporting persecuted churches. Local authorities have summoned Pastor Chang on multiple occasions to question him about his activities. This year he was arrested on […]
Published on: November 9, 2023
BACKGROUND SUMMARY Shagufta, a nurse by profession, was part of a WhatsApp group called ‘Pure Discussion’ for Christian teachers and preachers. In 2020, members of an extremist Muslim group joined ‘Pure Discussion’ and collected what they deemed to be “blasphemous material.” They then submitted the messages to the authorities by filing an information report with […]
Published on: October 29, 2023
DOHI NEWS Twelve Catholic priests have been released from prison following negotiations between the Vatican and Nicaraguan officials. The priests, arrested in 2022 and 2023 on various charges, were given two choices: indefinite detainment in a Nicaraguan prison, or the revoking of their citizenship and permanent exile. All twelve have gone into exile and will […]
Published on: September 19, 2023
DOHI NEWS On September 9, an accusation of blasphemy by a Muslim neighbor led police to arrest a Christian couple in the Dogaij Chowki area of Harbanspura, Lahore. Authorities, fearful of a repetition of the violent events in Jaranwala from three weeks ago, took Shaukat Masih, 33, and his 28-year-old wife, Kiran, into custody. The couple […]
Published on: September 12, 2023
DOHI News At a closed hearing on August 23, a Minsk court ruled that two internet posts published on New Life Church’s social media accounts from 2020 were “extremist” in their content and contained “direct calls to extremist actions.” Surprisingly, only Judge Tatyana Skopets and her secretary, Aleksandra Levkevich, were present at the hearing. The […]
Published on: August 22, 2023
DOHI News Today, I received emails from several of our field workers and ministry partners in Pakistan asking for URGENT prayer for Christians living in Pakistan. Families from the Christian community in Jaranwala, Faisalabad are living in terror after hundreds of Muslims, armed with sticks, rocks and gasoline stormed the Christian community. On August 16, […]