On Aug. 21, Mohamed Ali Garas, a prominent Somali church leader and convert from Islam, was beaten by Muslims in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, according to International Christian Concern. Mohamed was walking to his new home when two Somali Muslim men struck him on the head with a wooden club and knocked him to the ground. The men continued hitting and kicking him in the chest and stomach. Mohamed had fled to Ethiopia from Somalia in 2005 after...

On Aug. 12, a court acquitted two Tanzanian evangelists of “illegal preaching,” according to Compass Direct News. The evangelists, Eleutery Kobelo and Cecil Simbaulanga, were arrested in October 2009 after Muslims invited them to participate in a religious debate. The evangelists said that on the day of the debate, the Muslims arrived with government security agents. The government agents then charged the evangelists with...

Update: Family Visits Imprisoned Church Leader On July 13, the family of Uyghur house–church leader, Alimujiang Yimiti, was permitted to visit him for 20 minutes, according to China Aid Association. Alimujiang’s family was relieved to see him alive, as guards had repeatedly refused to allow them visits in recent weeks. During their meeting, Alimujiang confirmed that he had received his wife’s letters. However, only one of his...

On Aug. 15, police in Mandya district, Karnataka, India, arrested a pastor and an evangelist with India Campus Crusade for Christ, along with 10 other believers, according to The Voice of the Martyrs contacts. Pastor Satish and evangelist Ravi were conducting a service in a believer’s home when about 30 people entered the home and started attacking them and accusing them of forcibly converting locals. Police arrested the 12 Christians...

Pakistan has been pummeled by its worst monsoon floods in 102 years. And the rains continue in Northwestern Pakistan, adding to the existing problems. More than 20 million Pakistanis have been affected by the flooding that began three weeks ago, and 7 million have lost their homes. Tens of thousands of villages are under water, roads and bridges have been washed away and diseases are spreading throughout the flood area. According to news...

Ten members of a Christian aid team were murdered in northern Afghanistan on Aug. 5 after spending three weeks providing medical care to villagers, according to The New York Times (NYT). Six Americans, a Briton, a German and two Afghans were ambushed when they stopped to eat lunch in Sharrun Valley, in the Hindu Kush mountains of northern Afghanistan. The Taliban, who have claimed responsibility for the killings, have accused the team of spying...

On July 18, government security forces arrested 15 Christian converts traveling to the city of Bojnoord to meet with other believers, according to Farsi Christian News Network (FCNN). In what appeared to be a coordinated effort, security forces stopped the Christians’ bus in Mashhad, the capital of Razavi Khorasan, Iran. Authorities boarded the bus, arrested 15 believers and took them to the Ministry of Information’s central...

On July 15, Pastor Artur Suleimanov was shot to death by a gunman as he was leaving the Hosanna House of Prayer in Makhachkala, Dagestan, according to VOM Canada and Barnabas Fund. Dagestan is a federal republic of Russia in the North Caucasus region. Pastor Suleimanov was known as a dynamic leader of one of the largest Protestant churches in Russia. “Pastor Suleimanov was a wonderful Christian brother, and his shocking death is a...

On July 25, Ali Golchin was released from Evin Prison after paying bail of 200 million Rials (about $21,700 U.S.), according to Farsi Christian News Network (FCNN). Golchin, 29, was arrested at his home in the city of Varamin on April 29. At the time of his arrest and while he was in prison, government agents searched his home and confiscated a Bible and other books, a computer, his identification documents and other personal belongings,...

Authorities in Karakalpakstan, an autonomous region of Uzbekistan, have renewed a crackdown on Protestant Christians in recent weeks, according to Forum 18 News. On July 8, two Christians were sentenced to 10 days in prison for religious activities. One of the imprisoned believers, Lepes Omarov, had previously faced opposition for his Christian activities.  According to Forum 18, only state-registered Muslim communities and one Russian...

Warning: Graphic images below. Two Christian men were shot to death as they left a courthouse on Monday, July 19, in Faisalabad, Pakistan, according to VOM sources. Rashid Emmanuel, 32, and his brother, Sajid, 30, were facing blasphemy charges after allegedly distributing papers that denigrated Mohammed. According to eyewitnesses and VOM sources, police were leading the two brothers from the courthouse when masked men opened fire on them....

Image courtesy of Farsi Christian News Network. www.fcnn.com Ali Golchin, an Iranian Christian, has been held in solitary confinement in Tehran’s Evin prison since he was arrested in his hometown of Varamin, according to Farsi Christian News Network (FCNN). After appealing to authorities for weeks, Ali’s father was finally allowed to visit him on June 17. “Ali’s father shared that he was distressed to find his son...

On July 13, violence erupted between Muslims and Christians in Eastern Nigeria. “Eight people have been killed and 40 others seriously injured in the violence, while six mosques and one church were burnt,” Taraba state police commissioner Aliyu Musa told Agence France-Presse (AFP). A local observer told AFP the violence was caused by the “construction of a mosque at a police headquarters.” A Christian mob opposed to the...

On July 5, Behnam Sabti, a Christian, died instantly when a bomb exploded under his car in Mosul, Iraq, according to VOM Canada and Asia News. According to local reports, Behnam was killed because of his "religious identity." In recent months, Christians and other religious minorities in Iraq have faced violence because of their beliefs. This incident is the latest in a series of attacks on Christians that have occurred in Iraq in recent...

On July 4, unknown assailants attacked a college professor, severing his right hand and part of his arm in Kerala, India. According to The Voice of the Martyrs contacts T.J. Joseph, a professor at Newman's College in Thodupuzha, was returning from a Sunday service at his church when a van pulled up beside him. The assailants forced him from his car and attacked him with knives and swords, amputating his lower arm and inflicting deep wounds to...

On June 13, Maoist rebels in Nepal attacked Christians at an evening prayer meeting, according to VOM contacts. The rebels ordered them to stop the meeting and then assaulted the pastor and believers when they refused. Before the attack, the pastor had asked the Maoists to leave and return the next day to talk with him, but the rebels instead began to beat him with sticks. When church members, including the pastor’s father and women in...

On June 23, two Assemblies of God pastors, Shiju Kuriakose and Jayan, were attacked by unknown assailants, according to VOM contacts. The pastors were beaten with iron rods while leaving a prayer meeting at a Christian’s home in Bangalore, India. Both pastors were badly injured and were admitted to the hospital. The Voice of the Martyrs supports and assists persecuted believers in India. VOM ministers to persecuted believers by...

A 17-year-old girl in the Gedo Region of Somalia was severely beaten by her family recently after they discovered she had converted to Christianity, according to Compass Direct News. Nurta Mohamed Farah, 17, was later taken to a doctor, who prescribed medication for a “mental illness.” When she refused to abandon her Christian faith, her family forced her to take the medication. Nurta’s family has read Islamic scripture to...

On June 13, Pastor Wang Dao was released on bail after being held for more than a month on charges of “gathering a mob to disrupt the public order,” according to China Aid Association. Pastor Wang was arrested in China’s Guangdong Province in early May. Pastor Wang, a leader of the Liangren Church, has reportedly been threatened with exile and denied the right to meet with his lawyers. He now faces new charges of...

On June 7, a Christian businessman was shot to death in front of his home in Kirkuk, Iraq, according to VOM Canada. Those who witnessed the murder of 34-year-old Hani Salim Wadi described it as a “targeted killing.” Several Christians in Kirkuk and Mosul have been attacked in recent months, and Christians in Iraq have expressed fear of renewed violence. Chaldean Archbishop Emil Nona said, “We are seeing another, the...