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...

On May 31, the Afghanistan government suspended the operations of two Christian relief organizations over suspicions that they converted Afghans to Christianity, according to media reports. Converting from Islam to Christianity and proselytizing are crimes in Afghanistan. According to a New York Times report, an Afghan television station broadcast photographs that supposedly showed Westerners baptizing Afghans and Afghans praying at private...

On May 21, members of the Indonesia Christian Church (GKI) visited the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to report that local officials had stopped construction of the GKI’s building in Bogor City, Indonesia, and sealed the building, according to the Indonesian news site kompas.com and The Voice of the Martyrs contacts. Church members told the NHRC that local government officials had banned their Christian activities, sealed their...

On May 19, Muslim youths destroyed two church buildings and a pastor’s house in Northern Nigeria, according to The Voice of the Martyrs contacts. “Dr Saleh received a phone call from one of the Evangelical Church of West Africa (ECWA) missionaries, Gambo Mato, serving in a village called Kwasam, … Kano state, saying, ‘Muslim youths are now destroying my house and our church buildings; they have set my house and the...

Praise God! On May 22, Maryam Rustampoor and Marzieh Amirizadeh were acquitted of all charges by the Iranian judicial authorities, according to Elam Ministries. Iranian authorities warned Maryam and Marzieh that any future Christian activity would be dealt with seriously. “We are most grateful to everyone who prayed for us,” Marzieh told Elam Ministries. “I have no doubt that God heard the prayers of his people.”...

On May 4, members of the Islamic extremist group al-Shabaab killed an underground church leader in Xarardheere, Mudug region, Somalia, according to Compass Direct News. The extremists, who were battling a rival rebel group for control of the area, were searching house to house for enemy fighters when they arrived at the home of 57-year-old Yusuf Ali Nur, a school teacher and underground church leader. They suspected that Yusuf was a Christian,...