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        <title>Christian Daily International | Religious Freedom</title>
        <link>https://www.christiandaily.com/religious-freedom</link>
        <description><![CDATA[Follow global news on religious freedom, from Christian persecution to legal battles over faith and worship. Explore reports on human rights, church-state relations, and efforts to defend freedom of belief worldwide.]]></description>
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                <title><![CDATA[UN rapporteur links Tehran church seizure to wider pressure on Iran’s Christians]]></title>
                <link>https://www.christiandaily.com/news/un-rapporteur-links-tehran-church-seizure-to-wider-pressure-on-irans-christians</link>
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                                                            <dc:creator><![CDATA[CDI Staff]]></dc:creator>
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                            <media:title><![CDATA[Mai Sato, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran, addresses a special session of the U.N. Human Rights Council on the deteriorating human rights situation in Iran, in Geneva, Jan. 23, 2026.]]></media:title>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Screenshot: YouTube/United Nations Office at Geneva ]]>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Mai Sato, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran, addresses a special session of the U.N. Human Rights Council on the deteriorating human rights situation in Iran, in Geneva, Jan. 23, 2026. ]]>
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                                                                            <pubDate>Wed, 04 Nov 2026 08:22:00 -0500</pubDate>
                <description><![CDATA[Iran has replied to only one of the eight communications U.N. human rights experts have sent it about Christians since 2011, and that single reply described Christian converts as a threat to national security, according to the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran.]]></description>
                <content:encoded><![CDATA[
Iran has replied to only one of the eight communications U.N. human rights experts have sent it about Christians since 2011, and that single reply described Christian converts as a threat to national security, according to the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran.
Dr. Mai Sato, who has held the mandate since August 2024, made the remarks in an interview with Article18, a group that monitors religious freedom in Iran.
In the conversation, Sato set out the limits of her role, the U.N. record on Iran's Christians, the seizure of St. Peter's Evangelical Church in Tehran and the use of national security charges against house-church members. She also acknowledged that amid war and mass protests in Iran, the situation of Christians "hasn't always received the attention that it deserves."
A mandate without access to the country
Sato said the post is independent of the U.N. staff structure.
"This is an unpaid role, so I'm not an employee of the United Nations," she said.
Her full-time work is as an academic at Birkbeck, University of London.
The role is defined by a resolution of the Human Rights Council, the body of U.N. member states that created it. Under that resolution, Sato is tasked with monitoring civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights in Iran and measuring progress in the implementation of recommendations.
The mandate gives her four main tools. She submits two reports a year, to the Human Rights Council in March and to the General Assembly in late October. She can send communications, which are allegation letters to the Iranian authorities on specific cases, sent alone or jointly with other U.N. experts and published on a public U.N. database together with any government reply. She engages publicly through press statements and media.
She can conduct country visits, but they do not include Iran.
"The Iranian authorities don't recognize the legitimacy of my mandate, so I can't go to Iran, and that's been the case since the reestablishment of this mandate in 2011," Sato said.
Instead, she visits third countries with large Iranian diaspora communities. Other U.N. rapporteurs, including experts on unilateral coercive measures and on housing, have been admitted to Iran, she noted, but not the rapporteur on Iran.
Eight letters, only one reply
According to Sato, the U.N. communications database lists eight communications concerning Christians in Iran since 2011. All but one concerned the arrest and detention of Christians, most of them converts.
The exception is the most recent, a joint communication on the confiscation of the St. Peter's Evangelical Church compound in Tehran and on the Armenian and Assyrian Christians who lived there. Sato described it as "qualitatively different" from earlier cases because it concerned property and members of Iran's recognized Christian minorities rather than converts.
St. Peter's is the oldest Protestant church in Iran. In July, authorities moved to transfer it to the Execution of Imam Khomeini's Order, a state-controlled organization that confiscates religious and private property, enforcing a Revolutionary Court ruling from the late 1990s, International Christian Concern reported. Authorities seized the compound on July 12, a month ahead of the deadline they had set and days after the U.N. communication was sent, and posted guards outside. The remaining residents, 27 Armenian and Assyrian Christians, were evicted.
Sato and Nazila Ghanea, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, called for the seizure to be reversed in a joint statement, describing it as part of a long pattern of measures against Iran's Christian community, and in particular against Persian-speaking Christian worship. Iran once had around 50 Protestant churches, most of them offering services in Persian. Today there are effectively none, the experts said, as they have either been closed or have had to stop holding services in Persian.
Iran has not responded to the communication.
'National security' and the house church
The only Iranian reply on record answered the 2020 communication. Sato said it followed a familiar pattern: "the whole narrative around labeling Christians, Christian converts as sort of a threat to national security."
The reply used charges such as propaganda against the state and stated that those named had been convicted of national security offenses, not for converting to Christianity. Iran's reply, like the communication it answered, is published on the U.N. database.
She said the reply also drew a distinction that runs through Iran's treatment of Christians. Persian-speaking Christians, most of them converts from Islam, were presented as a threat to national security, while the authorities emphasized that they recognize the country's Armenian and Assyrian Christian communities.
That recognition did not prevent the evictions at St. Peter's. The 27 residents removed from the compound belonged to those recognized communities, the feature Sato said set that communication apart from all earlier U.N. letters on Iran's Christians.
The conduct behind such charges, she said, is often ordinary religious practice.
"You have all these national security offenses, but when you actually look at the acts, it's sometimes like gathering of house churches or dissemination of information," she said, adding that the information in question was probably the distribution of Bibles.
She recalled one case in which a man was labeled a spy after traveling abroad to take part in church activities.
'Authorities know that we're watching'
Asked how she responds to those who question the value of the mandate when Iran rarely answers, Sato said she understood the frustration, but that expectations should match the role.
"The main objective and the power that I have is to monitor and to report," she said. "I don't have any enforcement powers to make Iranian authorities do X, Y, and Z. I also don't have the power to make states do X, Y, and Z."
Demands that she do more, she said, are "almost like asking a journalist to stop an execution by writing a piece about it."
She said impact is difficult to measure, and prevention harder still.
"Authorities know that we're watching. Does that mean the next church confiscation may not happen, or would it be delayed? We'll never be able to measure that."
Sato views the mandate's value in the record it creates. Without it, she said, there would be no official U.N. record of cases and of what victims and their families endured that differs from the state narrative. She considered it as a truth-telling function and a means of preserving evidence that could serve future accountability mechanisms "if there is a fundamental change in governance."
The immediate and near-term impact, she acknowledged, is harder to see. For that, she said, governments carry greater responsibility, because the mandate exists at their initiative.
"It's the states that basically create the mandate to monitor and document," Sato said. "There's a lot of evidence, then what would the states like to do after creating the mandate?"
She suggested governments could do more, whether through longer-term accountability or through political and diplomatic channels.
'Your every day matters'
Sato said that since she took up the mandate, Iran has been through the 12-day war, a severe crackdown on nationwide protests and the current war, and much of her attention has gone to the right to life and to political prisoners facing execution. Because contacting her directly is risky under Iran's espionage law, she relies on civil society organizations to document cases and serve as a secure channel for victims and their families.
That focus, she acknowledged, has meant the situation of Christians and converts has not always received the attention it deserves, although her mandate covers all human rights. The right to life underpins every other right, she said, but "living isn't just about having oxygen to breathe and having enough food to eat." It also means being able to practice one's faith and find meaning in work and family without fear.
"Your every day matters to my mandate, not only when you're arrested or detained or imprisoned," Sato said in a message to Christian prisoners of conscience and their families.
She urged them to keep sharing their experiences with her mandate, directly or through trusted organizations, "whenever it's safe to do so."]]></content:encoded>
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                <title><![CDATA[Church building in Omdurman, Sudan threatened with demolition]]></title>
                <link>https://www.christiandaily.com/news/church-building-in-omdurman-sudan-threatened-with-demolition</link>
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                                                            <dc:creator><![CDATA[Morning Star News]]></dc:creator>
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                            <media:title><![CDATA[Bridge over the White Nile that connects Omdurman with Khartoum, Sudan.]]></media:title>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Bertramz, Creative Commons ]]>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Bridge over the White Nile that connects Omdurman with Khartoum, Sudan. ]]>
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                                                                            <pubDate>Tue, 03 Nov 2026 10:26:00 -0500</pubDate>
                <description><![CDATA[A congregation in Omdurman, Sudan fears their church building could be destroyed at any moment due to government targeting and bureaucratic delay, sources said.]]></description>
                <content:encoded><![CDATA[
A congregation in Omdurman, Sudan fears their church building could be destroyed at any moment due to government targeting and bureaucratic delay, sources said.
Local land authorities arrived unannounced at the Sudanese Church of Christ (SCOC) in the Al-Murzouq area of Block 59 on July 21 and warned of a planned demolition, claiming the structure was built on open public land and therefore illegal, the church pastor said. Omdurman is the twin city of Khartoum across the Nile River.
When church leaders presented legal property title deeds and ownership documentation dating back decades – the building was constructed in the early 1980s – and raised objections, officials instructed them to present the documents to land authorities in Kereri, Omdurman, said the church’s pastor, Tia Alasara Malasa  Kuku. 
Upon presenting their papers in Kereri, officials redirected church leaders to the Ministry of Religious Affairs.
“You know things to do with the churches are hard here,” Pastor Malasa Kuku said. “The Ministry of Religious Affairs referred our papers to the Department of Engineering Affairs and Urban Planning, where our papers remain stuck.”
Land authorities initially gave the congregation a two-week period to resolve the matter. When that deadline passed, officials granted an additional one-week extension the first week of August, he said.
With official paperwork stuck in government bureaucracy, the church faces immediate demolition of their building, he said.
“The church, which serves about 300 members, risks possible demolition at any time,” Pastor Malasa Kuku said. “The authorities plan to destroy the building in the name of it being built on an open public space as the government claims, but we church leaders say we are being targeted.”
Sudan has a history of routine confiscation or church properties as part of its systematic persecution of Christians, leading church leaders to accuse authorities of systematic religious persecution.
In the Mayo Angola area of southern Khartoum, a Sudan Presbyterian Evangelical Church site received a similar threat on June 7. The director of planning of Jebel Aulia District, accompanied by an engineer from the land department, informed leaders that their building could be demolished at any time, a source said.
The lands official gave a strong warning without setting a date for the demolition, saying only, “Be ready,” the source said.
Authorities claimed without evidence that the church building is constructed on a road – which the church leaders deny – and that it is located on land not zoned for a religious building. Christians in Sudan have long complained that authorities refuse to designate lands for church buildings and use it as a pretext to bulldoze them.
Sudan is 93 percent Muslim, with adherents of ethnic traditional religion 4.3 percent of the population, while Christians constitute 2.3 percent, according to Joshua Project.
Authorities in Sudan on July 8, 2025 demolished a church complex in Khartoum North. With no prior warning, bulldozers and trucked accompanied by police and armed forces personnel arrived at the compound of the Pentecostal Church in the El-Haj Yousif area of East Nile District at noon and began demolishing the church building, sources told local media.
Officials initially gave no reason for demolishing the building, which included a worship hall and administrative offices, sources said.
The church, which belonged to the Sudan Pentecostal Church denomination (SPC), constructed the building in the early 1990s, according to Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW). Christians called on the Sudan Council of Churches, an ecumenical body, to take notice of the religious freedom violation.
Officials reportedly did not ask for ownership papers of the church building before demolishing it. Authorities later told church officials the building was destroyed as part of a drive to remove “unregulated” buildings throughout Khartoum state, according to Christian support group Open Doors.
Sudan was ranked No. 4 among the 50 countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian in Open Doors’ 2026 World Watch List (WWL), down from No. 5 the prior year. Sudan had dropped out of the top 10 of the WWL list for the first time in six years when it first ranked No. 13 in 2021.
The U.S. State Department in 2019 removed Sudan from the list of Countries of Particular Concern (CPC) that engage in or tolerate “systematic, ongoing and egregious violations of religious freedom” and upgraded it to a watch list. Sudan had previously been designated as a CPC from 1999 to 2018.
In December 2020, the State Department removed Sudan from its Special Watch List.]]></content:encoded>
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                <title><![CDATA[Ethiopian Orthodox Church calls for stronger protection after more than 60 Christians killed in attacks]]></title>
                <link>https://www.christiandaily.com/news/more-than-60-ethiopian-orthodox-christians-killed-in-attacks-in-oromia</link>
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                                                            <dc:creator><![CDATA[Vincent Matinde]]></dc:creator>
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                            <media:title><![CDATA[Oromo Orhodox Church]]></media:title>
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                                    <![CDATA[ persecution.org ]]>
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                                    <![CDATA[ The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church's Holy Synod said attacks against Christians had been increasing and criticized the lack of an effective response to repeated concerns about insecurity. ]]>
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                                                                            <pubDate>Tue, 03 Nov 2026 08:35:00 -0500</pubDate>
                <description><![CDATA[More than 60 Ethiopian Orthodox Christians have been killed in two attacks in Ethiopia’s Oromia region, prompting the country’s Orthodox Church to call for stronger protection of civilians and action against those responsible.]]></description>
                <content:encoded><![CDATA[
More than 60 Ethiopian Orthodox Christians have been killed in two attacks in Ethiopia’s Oromia region, prompting the country’s Orthodox Church to call for stronger protection of civilians and action against those responsible.
The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church said 14 people were killed on Oct. 20 in Merti District and another 46 on Oct. 24 in Shirka District, both in the Arsi Zone of Oromia. More than 20 homes were burned, and more than 20 people were hospitalized with severe injuries, according to a statement issued by the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church's Holy Synod.
The attacks occurred in communities where armed violence has repeatedly killed civilians, displaced residents and damaged property. Responsibility for the latest killings remains disputed.
A resident whose 75-year-old father was killed described the attack as an ambush, telling BBC Amharic, “We were completely unprepared and had no prior knowledge. They surrounded us from all four directions.”
Eyewitnesses also told the BBC that five of those killed were children.
A church official described the attacks in three areas of Shirka District as a “massacre,” saying security forces arrived but were unable to stop the assault. Many residents have since fled the affected communities.
The church’s statement did not identify the perpetrators. It condemned the killings and urged government authorities to protect civilians and ensure those responsible were held accountable.
Church warns of repeated attacks
The Holy Synod said attacks against Christians had been increasing and criticized the lack of an effective response to repeated concerns about insecurity.
The church said it had raised security concerns with authorities at different levels of government but that “so far there has been no solution.” The church warned that the violence undermined Ethiopia’s values of mutual respect and peaceful coexistence.
The latest killings add to a longer pattern of violence reported in the Arsi Zone, where local communities have faced attacks, abductions, destruction of property and displacement.
In July, the Ethiopian Human Rights Council, a nongovernmental organization, reported that 458 people had been killed in attacks across the East Arsi Zone over the preceding four years. The organization also documented abductions and people whose whereabouts remained unknown.
Its findings covered multiple districts, including Merti and Shirka, and described repeated attacks against local communities, particularly followers of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church.
The report pointed to religious and ethnic identity as factors in the violence. The scale of the documented killings indicates that insecurity in the region predates the latest attacks.
Who is responsible for the attacks? 
Oromia’s regional government blamed a newly formed rebel coalition known as the Alliance for Survival, which includes the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA), for the latest attacks.
According to Reuters, the regional government alleged that the coalition intended to provoke religious conflict but provided no evidence to support the accusation.
A source linked to the rebel alliance, meanwhile, accused the regional government of carrying out the killings, citing conversations with two local residents, Reuters reported.
The OLA did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the latest attacks. The group has previously denied responsibility for similar violence.
The OLA says it is fighting for greater rights for the Oromo people, Ethiopia’s largest ethnic group. The Ethiopian government has repeatedly accused the group of attacking civilians and religious institutions.
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has previously described violence against civilians and religious institutions as part of an effort to destabilize the country. 
Ethiopia is religiously diverse, with Christians accounting for roughly two-thirds of its population and Muslims making up most of the remainder. The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church is one of the nation's largest Christian communities and has a longstanding presence in the country.]]></content:encoded>
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                <title><![CDATA[Rights attorneys in Pakistan sentenced to 10 years in prison]]></title>
                <link>https://www.christiandaily.com/news/rights-attorneys-in-pakistan-sentenced-to-10-years-in-prison</link>
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                                                            <dc:creator><![CDATA[CDI Staff]]></dc:creator>
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                            <media:title><![CDATA[Human rights lawyers Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir and husband Hadi Ali Chattha in Pakistan.]]></media:title>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Human rights lawyers Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir and husband Hadi Ali Chattha in Pakistan. ]]>
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                                                                            <pubDate>Mon, 02 Nov 2026 10:40:00 -0500</pubDate>
                <description><![CDATA[An anti-terrorism court last week sentenced prominent human rights lawyers Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir and her husband, Hadi Ali Chattha, to 10 years in prison each in a case of alleged disruption of security arrangements for England’s cricket team while in Pakistan.]]></description>
                <content:encoded><![CDATA[
An anti-terrorism court last week sentenced prominent human rights lawyers Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir and her husband, Hadi Ali Chattha, to 10 years in prison each in a case of alleged disruption of security arrangements for England’s cricket team while in Pakistan.
The verdict, announced on Thursday (Oct. 29) by Anti-Terrorism Court Judge Tahir Abbas Sipra at Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail, marks the latest development in a series of criminal proceedings against the couple, whose prosecution has drawn criticism from international human rights organizations and raised concerns about the treatment of lawyers and rights activists in Pakistan.
The court convicted the couple under the Anti-Terrorism Act of 1997, sentencing each to 10 years in prison and a fine of 100,000 Pakistani rupees ($360). They also received one-year sentences and fines of 50,000 Pakistani rupees each under Section 186 of the Pakistan Penal Code for obstructing public servants, and two-year sentences under Section 353 for using criminal force against public servants.
All sentences will run concurrently, meaning the couple will serve a maximum of 10 years under the latest conviction.
The court, however, acquitted them of charges relating to criminal intimidation, conspiracy and rioting under various provisions of the Pakistan Penal Code.
The case concerns an incident on Oct. 25, 2024, when England’s cricket team was visiting Pakistan. Prosecutors alleged that Mazari-Hazir and Chattha removed road barriers installed along a route designated for the visiting team’s security convoy and obstructed police officers at Zero Point, a major road junction in the federal capital, Islamabad.
The prosecution argued that their actions compromised security arrangements for the international team and sought to create public disorder.
In its judgment, the court maintained that the couple had acted with a common intention to undermine security arrangements by pressuring security personnel. It cited the 2009 terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore, arguing that any assault on police officers responsible for protecting an international sporting delegation could create an atmosphere of terror.
While acknowledging that freedom of movement is a constitutional right, the judge said it remained subject to the laws of the country and could not justify attacks on law enforcement personnel.
The couple denied the allegations throughout the proceedings, maintaining that the prosecution was part of a broader campaign to punish them for their human rights advocacy and legal assistance to marginalized communities, including Christians.
In separate but similar statements recorded under Section 342 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, both described themselves as prisoners of conscience and accused state institutions of violating their constitutional rights to a fair trial, due process and human dignity.
“The evidence produced during this trial is not against us, but in fact a charge sheet against (prosecution witnesses)/police officials and the state,” they said in their statements.
Mazari-Hazir also challenged the decision to conduct the proceedings inside the jail, saying the couple had been made to appear before the court behind a cage-like structure that prevented effective communication with their lawyers and the judge. She said their constitutional rights had been infringed from the beginning of the proceedings.
“We are being made an example to further cement the chilling effect against those who stand (or want to stand) against tyranny, oppression and injustice,” she stated.
In his statement, Chattha said he was being punished for supporting his wife’s activism and choosing to make resistance against injustice their shared life journey.
The couple also highlighted the personal cost of their prolonged incarceration, saying they had spent the third year of their marriage in prison and endured painful separation despite having undertaken their human rights work without seeking personal gain.
Concerns over Fair Trial
The proceedings have attracted criticism from international rights organizations, particularly over the decision to hold the trial inside Adiala Jail and the circumstances under which the couple appeared before the court.
Amnesty International condemned the convictions, saying the proceedings failed to meet international standards of an open and fair trial.
“These convictions are an indictment of Pakistan’s justice system,” said Yasmine Ahmed, Amnesty International's senior director for regional human rights impact.
“Imaan and Hadi are being targeted solely because of their refusal to stop their fearless human rights work and for exercising their right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.”
Amnesty also expressed concern over the arrangement under which the couple were kept behind a cage-like structure during court hearings, raising questions about their ability to communicate effectively with their legal representatives and participate meaningfully in their defense.
The court had appointed state counsel Atif Mehmood to represent the couple. The prosecution presented seven witnesses during the trial, with the defense conducting cross-examinations.
Both lawyers recorded their statements on Oct. 27, denying the charges and reiterating that their prosecution was politically motivated.
The latest conviction came despite ongoing legal challenges to the proceedings. The couple had approached the Supreme Court to challenge an Islamabad High Court order issued on Oct. 19 that refused to suspend the trial.
Earlier, the Islamabad High Court had issued notices on their appeals against an Oct. 10 anti-terrorism court order dismissing their petitions challenging the framing of charges and the inclusion of terrorism-related provisions.
Mazari-Hazir and Chattha have remained behind bars since Jan. 23, when they were arrested in a separate case involving an alleged altercation outside the Islamabad High Court. They were accused of protesting outside the court and manhandling the president of the Islamabad High Court Bar Association.
A day after their arrest, a sessions court sentenced them to up to 17 years in prison under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA) over social media posts critical of Pakistan's powerful military. The convictions triggered condemnation from lawyers, human rights organizations and United Nations experts, who raised concerns about the criminalization of freedom of expression.
On Sept. 17, Pakistan’s Supreme Court suspended the sentences and granted the couple bail pending the Islamabad High Court’s final decision on their appeals. Their release, however, was short-lived.
Islamabad police arrested them again hours later in connection with the security breach case, which had been registered at Kohsar police station on March 22, 2025, on the complaint of City Magistrate Ghulam Murtaza Chandio. The couple had previously faced another prosecution related to a protest in March 2025, during which they were accused of chanting anti-government slogans and blocking roads.
Mazari-Hazir, 32, and Chattha are prominent human rights lawyers known for representing activists, journalists and marginalized communities, including individuals subjected to enforced disappearances, custodial abuse and alleged extrajudicial killings. They have also taken up several high-profile blasphemy cases involving members of religious minorities, challenging accusations that they said were driven by personal enmity, property disputes or financial interests.
Chattha, in particular, has represented both Muslim and Christian defendants accused under Pakistan's controversial blasphemy laws.
Their legal work has brought them into confrontation with powerful state institutions and influential groups, while their repeated prosecution has become a source of concern for rights advocates monitoring the shrinking space for dissent and independent human rights work in Pakistan.
Mazari-Hazir is the daughter of Shireen Mazari, a former federal human rights minister who served in the government of former prime minister Imran Khan.]]></content:encoded>
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                <title><![CDATA[Christians in India lose ancestral home for faith in Christ]]></title>
                <link>https://www.christiandaily.com/news/christians-in-india-lose-ancestral-home-for-faith-in-christ</link>
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                                                            <dc:creator><![CDATA[Morning Star News]]></dc:creator>
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                            <media:title><![CDATA[Villagers meet in Bhandardigi, Kanker District, Chhattisgarh state, India to decide fate of families who refuse to renounce faith.]]></media:title>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Villagers meet in Bhandardigi, Kanker District, Chhattisgarh state, India to decide fate of families who refuse to renounce faith. ]]>
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                                                                            <pubDate>Fri, 30 Oct 2026 11:43:00 -0400</pubDate>
                <description><![CDATA[A family in India has decided to leave their ancestral home rather than renounce Christ after police allowed a mob of more than 150 Hindu extremists intent on killing them to severely beat them, sources said.]]></description>
                <content:encoded><![CDATA[
A family in India has decided to leave their ancestral home rather than renounce Christ after police allowed a mob of more than 150 Hindu extremists intent on killing them to severely beat them, sources said.
The injuries that Vikas Salam and three others received in Bhandardigi village, Durgukondal Block in Chhattisgarh state’s Kanker District on Sept. 21 required hospital treatment, as the assailants beat women, children and the elderly while police ignored their pleas for help.
The mob attacked and beat three Christian families with sticks, vandalized their homes and threatened to expel them from the village because they refused to renounce their faith in Christ. Local officials also later pressured the families to recant their faith.
“We have been following Jesus for the last 10 years,” Salam, 24, told Morning Star News. “The villagers told us to either return to the Hindu fold or leave the village.”
The three Christian families, 18 members in all, are related to each other and are the last remaining Christians in the village. They remained steadfast in their faith despite severe opposition over the past several years, but opposition has intensified in the last three years, incited by local Hindu extremists, Salam said.
Though tribal people are not Hindus, decades of campaigning by right-wing Hindu groups in Chhattisgarh have intentionally blurred the lines between tribal religion and Hinduism, creating a syncretic faith, leaders say. Hindu nationalists call the conversion of Christians who were originally followers of tribal religion “ghar wapsi” (homecoming), claiming the tribals are returning to Hinduism, but Christian leaders maintain that it is forced conversion to Hinduism.
“There were other Christian families in the village, but they [all tribal people] have all been forcibly converted to Hinduism,” Salam said. “But we have been holding on despite extreme pressure.”
The Christians previously gathered at Salam’s house for worship, but after facing much opposition they were forced to build a room outside the village in their own farmland and began to gather there.
“They were not letting us sit in our house and pray,” Salam said. “So, we constructed a room in the farmland and began to meet there and pray. But the villagers came there as well and began to trouble us.”
The pressure intensified when a mob of villagers disrupted the Christian gathering on three consecutive Sunday’s beginning Sept.6, he said. The Christian families were summoned six times before the village head and the council between Sept. 13 and Sept. 20, he said.
“All six times, I explicitly told them that wherever we live, we will live with Jesus Christ,” Salam said. “If we are not allowed to live in this village, we will spend our life somewhere else but will not renounce our faith in Christ.”
Each time the Christians were abused with foul language and threatened with being beaten, ostracized and expelled from the village unless they renounced Christ and accepted Hinduism, he said.
“We were prohibited to avail the subsidized government ration which is distributed every month,” added Salam, whose family is dependent on this ration allotment of rice, wheat, cooking oil and other staples.
On Sept. 20, the day before the attack, a mob disrupted their worship service and pressured them to renounce their faith.
“They warned us and threatened us to renounce, but I refused,” said Salam.
The following day, the mob of about 150 people attacked the three Christian families unprovoked and without warning. Carrying wooden sticks, the assailants entered the area where the three families lived and began to assault them.
“They spared nobody,” hitting hit women, children, men and the elderly, Salam said. “I was hit the most.”
He was strangled, slapped, and kicked. He sustained injury to his ear and received several blows to his back, “till the extent that the stick broke.” His entire back turned blue with the beatings, he added.
Salam’s uncle Somji Nureti, 40, was choked by the throat and neck. He sustained injuries to his ear, throat and back. Salam’s cousin, Pradeep Uike, 25, is very tall, so the attackers could not reach his neck, Salam said.
“The focus on the assault on him was his back,” Salam said. “He took multiple blows on his back and sustained severe back injuries.”
Somji Nureti’s 11-year-old son, Rohan Nureti, was also beaten.
“They brutally hit him on his legs with sticks, so much so that the poor boy was not even able to walk,” he said. “They did not spare my wife, Pradeep’s mother and Rohan’s mother. Several of them pounced on one member of the family, assaulted each one with sticks, hands, legs mercilessly.”
The villagers were intoxicated, he added.
Salam managed to escape from the crowd for a few minutes and call police before the mob dragged him back. Though the local police station is less than two miles away, officers did not come, he said.
Salam escaped again and called the superintendent of police for Kanker District, telling him that the Christians would be killed if officers did not come. Police then immediately arrived, he said.
The mob had not allowed the Christians to record the assault on their phones, and without such evidence police took no action against them, though their injuries were plainly visible, Salam said. When he tried to tell a police officer about the brutality of the assault, “the village elders quickly interrupted and said that they just slapped us two or three times and that’s all,” Salam said.
Police chose to ignore their complaint despite the extent of their injuries, he said. Salam, Somji Nureti, Pradeep Uike and Rohan Nureti had to be rushed to the hospital for immediate medical attention.
“My pain was unbearable – I was rolling on the grass with pain,” Salam said. “The police picked me and took me to the hospital along with the other three. They injected pain killers to reduce my pain and when the pain subsided, we were asked to go back home.”
Besides the four hospitalized, others went to local village doctors for medical treatment. Five weeks after they were attacked, the Christians still suffer body aches, hearing problems and throat pain, said Salam.
“When I sleep under a fan or ride a motorbike, the air enters my ear with pressure and causes excruciating pain,” he said.
On returning from the hospital, the Christians found that their belongings were lying on the road, and they were ordered to leave the village.
“We overheard from the villagers that they had planned to beat us till we die,” said Salam. “We were adamant that we will not renounce our faith. They assaulted us, threw our belongings out of our house and forced us to leave the village and we still maintained that we will not renounce.”
After the Christians returned from the hospital, the village head, head constable, secretary and the president of the village council, sub-district revenue magistrate, sub-divisional magistrate, land record officer, additional superintendent of police, and officer in-charge of three police stations, besides others, gathered in the village and began to pressure the three families.
“The entire team of high officials began to persuade us to surrender to the demands of the village and forgo our faith,” said Salam.
Salam’s father, 50-year-old Ram Salam, who lives and sleeps in the field to watch over the agricultural land, was summoned before the officials along with the representatives of the other two Christian households.
“They told us that they will confiscate our farmland. ‘You want land or Jesus Christ? You have to choose one,’ they said,” Salam added.
Ram Salam and the representatives of the other two families gave in to the pressure, and on behalf of their respective families agreed to convert to Hinduism.
“We have to save ourselves, our land and property,” Ram Salam told his son.
The villagers also demanded a religious offering from the three families, and they had no choice but to give it, Ram Salam told him.
Distressed as he spoke, Vikas Salam said, “If we were willing to renounce Christ, there would have been no need for these high officials to come and pressure us. They came, because we were not ready to renounce.”
Since then, the villagers have been calling Salam and the others to join with them in the rituals towards their deities, but they have not complied, he said.
“We will not deny Christ, because since the day we started to believe, our lives have changed,” he said. “We lived a life where we drank alcohol, got into fights, and arguments. It was a pathetic life that we lived. Now we are out of it; we don’t live the same way we used to.”
Until they are able to leave, the family remains in the village under constant pressure and threat that they could be attacked anytime. Since the father and the other two representatives of the other families agreed to abandon their faith, the villagers are waiting for compliance from Vikas Salam and his family.
“Initially we started to follow Christ because we received physical healing, but when we read the Bible, we found out that the Lord gives us eternal life,” he said. “So, we do not want to forsake Christ. We have decided to leave our land, our property, our home and our ancestral village. We will live in a far-off city, where we have freedom to attend church and worship Jesus, even if we must work as a daily wages’ laborer.”
Though the Indian National Congress (INC) was in power in Chhattisgarh from 2018 to 2023, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate has held the Member of Parliament seat in the Kanker Lok Sabha constituency continuously since 1998. The BJP was again voted to power in December 2023.
India ranked 12th on Christian support organization Open Doors’ 2026 World Watch List of the 50 countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian.]]></content:encoded>
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                <title><![CDATA[Report warns persecution in Africa ‘worsened’ as conflict and abductions increased in Nigeria]]></title>
                <link>https://www.christiandaily.com/news/report-warns-persecution-in-africa-worsened-as-conflict-and-abductions-increased-in-nigeria</link>
                <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.christiandaily.com/news/report-warns-persecution-in-africa-worsened-as-conflict-and-abductions-increased-in-nigeria</guid>
                                                            <dc:creator><![CDATA[Vincent Matinde]]></dc:creator>
                                                                                                                            <media:content  url="https://www.christiandaily.com/media/original/img/0/54/5496.png">
                            <media:title><![CDATA[Displacement in Nigeria]]></media:title>
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                                    <![CDATA[ IOM ]]>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Attacks on predominantly Christian settlements in the Middle Belt have contributed to more than 3.5 million internally displaced people across Nigeria from 2024. ]]>
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                                                                            <pubDate>Fri, 30 Oct 2026 07:40:00 -0400</pubDate>
                <description><![CDATA[More than 1,000 Christians have been killed in northern Mozambique since 2017, while at least 1 million Christians are among those displaced by conflict in Nigeria, according to a new report warning of worsening persecution worldwide.]]></description>
                <content:encoded><![CDATA[
More than 1,000 Christians have been killed in northern Mozambique since 2017, while at least 1 million Christians are among those displaced by conflict in Nigeria, according to a new report warning of worsening persecution worldwide.
Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), a Catholic charity that supports persecuted Christians, said in its Persecuted and Forgotten? 2024-2026 report that conditions for Christians had deteriorated in 10 of the 18 countries examined. None recorded an overall improvement during the period reviewed, which ran from August 2024 to June.
The report identifies sub-Saharan Africa as a major center of extremist violence against Christians, documenting killings, abductions, attacks on churches and the displacement of entire communities. It also describes religious repression in countries including China and India, where Christians face government restrictions and hostility linked to religious nationalism.
According to ACN, approximately 220 million Christians worldwide are directly exposed to persecution, while 413 million live in countries where serious violations of religious freedom occur.
The charity also cited Pew Research Center data showing that anti-Christian harassment was recorded in 165 countries in 2023, up from 160 in 2021.
Nigeria bears a heavy toll
Nigeria features prominently in the report, which describes mass attacks and abductions in the northeast and Middle Belt, alongside discrimination and pressure on Christians to abandon their faith.
Attacks on predominantly Christian settlements in the Middle Belt have contributed to more than 3.5 million internally displaced people across Nigeria. Bishop Wilfred Anagbe of Makurdi described the violence as deliberate targeting of Christian communities.
“What is occurring…is an organized, systematic and brutal cleansing of Christians,” he said, according to ACN.
The report documents attacks on villages, kidnappings of worshippers and the abduction of schoolchildren. In November 2025, 253 children and 12 members of staff were seized from St. Mary’s Catholic School. In January 2026, 177 worshippers were kidnapped from three churches in northern Kaduna state.
It also highlights the continuing uncertainty surrounding the Chibok schoolgirls abducted in 2014. Of the 276 girls seized, 91 remained unaccounted for at the time covered by the report.
The human cost is reflected in the testimony of Solomon Ako, a 33-year-old Christian abducted when militants attacked his village in northern Nigeria. He told ACN that his captors beat and shackled him and other hostages after demanding that they convert.
“Every night when our kidnappers were asleep, we prayed. We prayed knowing that we were not alone,” Ako said.
His account illustrates the report’s concern that violence is not only killing Christians but also forcing survivors from their homes and disrupting the life of local churches.
Mozambique faces continuing attacks
In Mozambique, the report describes persistent violence in Cabo Delgado Province, where Islamic State-affiliated militants have attacked Christian communities while seeking to establish an Islamic caliphate and gain control of mineral resources.
ACN said more than 1,000 Christians had been killed in Cabo Delgado since the insurgency began in October 2017.
The attacks continued during the review period. In August 2025, almost 60,000 people were displaced within a fortnight following attacks in the northern province, according to the report. 
Four Christians were killed in a series of attacks in neighboring Nampula province in November 2025, and one victim was beheaded.
Father Kwiriwi Fonseca of Pemba Diocese described the consequences for children and families displaced by the violence.
“This aimless war only kills, kills, kills, and takes away the little hope that the people, especially the children, had,” he told ACN in August 2025.
He called for abducted children to be found and returned to their families, saying they deserved the opportunity to have a better future.
The report also records an April attack in which militants set fire to St. Louis de Montfort Church in Minhoene, destroying the worship building, offices and missionaries’ residence.
Militants impose religious restrictions in the Sahel
Burkina Faso and Mali offer further examples of how extremist groups are restricting Christian life in areas under their control.
In Burkina Faso, militant groups control at least 40 percent of the country, mostly in rural areas, according to ACN. Christians have faced church attacks, executions and pressure to comply with Islamist rules.
Around 100 Christians were reported killed in the Zekuy-Doumbala pastoral region between May and August 2024. In an attack on Sanaba village in August 2024, insurgents separated men older than 12 who were Christians, followers of traditional religions or others considered hostile to their ideology. They took the men to a Protestant church and killed 26 of them.
The attacks on nearby Catholic parishes prompted around 5,000 women and children to flee to Nouna.
Bishop Théophile Naré of Kaya also told ACN about women who formed a human shield to protect their priest after he was attacked during Mass in August 2025.
“This heroic act was not picked up by the media, but it remains an important symbol of faith and solidarity,” he said.
In Mali, where Christians make up approximately 2.2 percent of the population, the report documents church burnings, abductions and financial extortion. In August 2024, church leaders in Mopti were reportedly given a week to accept Islamist rules or leave. The demands included conversion to Islam and compliance with prescribed dress codes.
In October 2024, militants imposed a tax of 25,000 CFA francs on adult Christians in Douna-Pen village, threatening to close churches if the payments were not made.
Sudan’s churches damaged by war
Sudan presents a different but overlapping crisis, with religious persecution occurring amid a devastating civil war between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces.
ACN reported that more than 100 church buildings had been damaged or destroyed since the conflict began in 2023. The war has displaced millions and caused more than 150,000 deaths, according to estimates cited in the report, although some estimates are considerably higher.
In December 2025, at least 18 Christians were killed and 18 others seriously wounded in a drone strike by the Sudanese Armed Forces in South Kordofan. The victims were travelling to the Episcopal Church of Sudan in Julud on Christmas Day.
The report also documents the demolition of church buildings in Khartoum and the killing of the Rev. Youhanna Al-Amin in June. The priest had remained with parishioners in the Nuba Mountains despite escalating violence.
The evidence points to the vulnerability of Christian communities in a conflict that has devastated civilian life more broadly. Attacks on churches and religious restrictions have compounded the dangers facing people already struggling to survive.
A global crisis with different causes
Africa’s violence forms part of a wider pattern of persecution identified by ACN. In China, authorities intensified restrictions on unregistered churches and online religious activity. In India, the report recorded more than 700 incidents of anti-Christian violence in 2025, linking the increase to social hostility and the expansion of anti-conversion laws.
In Egypt, more than 30 cases of Christian women and girls being kidnapped were documented in 2024, while Christians continued to face obstacles in obtaining recognition for church buildings.
ACN cautioned that religious hostility rarely operates in isolation. Ethnicity, political instability, poverty and competition for land and resources can also contribute to violence. Nevertheless, the charity argued that the religious dimension of attacks is frequently underestimated.]]></content:encoded>
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                <title><![CDATA[Muslims sentenced to death for killing two evangelists in Uganda]]></title>
                <link>https://www.christiandaily.com/news/muslims-sentenced-to-death-for-killing-two-evangelists-in-uganda</link>
                <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.christiandaily.com/news/muslims-sentenced-to-death-for-killing-two-evangelists-in-uganda</guid>
                                                            <dc:creator><![CDATA[Morning Star News]]></dc:creator>
                                                                                                                            <media:content  url="https://www.christiandaily.com/media/original/img/0/55/5507.png">
                            <media:title><![CDATA[Location of Namayingo District, Uganda, on Lake Victoria.]]></media:title>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Map data © 2026 Google ]]>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Location of Namayingo District, Uganda, on Lake Victoria. ]]>
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                                                                            <pubDate>Thu, 29 Oct 2026 12:13:00 -0400</pubDate>
                <description><![CDATA[A judge in Uganda this month sentenced five Muslims to death for killing two Christian evangelists in 2024, sources said.]]></description>
                <content:encoded><![CDATA[
A judge in Uganda this month sentenced five Muslims to death for killing two Christian evangelists in 2024, sources said.
Three other Muslims also received death sentences for being present at the assault and failing to call police, area residents said.
Robert Baguma and Moses Okech were beaten, cut and stoned to death in Namayingo District on Aug. 19, 2024 by five Muslims who were among the fishermen with whom they had shared the gospel in a three-month outreach on the shores of Lake Victoria, area residents said.
Iganga High Court Justice David Batema on Oct. 7 sentenced Musoke Yakuti, Kabwiso Mairadi, Talisuna Muzaham, Wandera Kalimu and Nyanga Latifu to death for the killings.
The two evangelists were killed near Bukewe Central village, Bukewe Sub-county, Namayingo District, near the shores of Lake Victoria. Baguma and Okech were ambushed while returning from the lakeshore to preach to fishermen, residents said.
One resident, whose name is withheld for security reasons, testified in the trial that the suspects had accused the evangelists of misleading people through their preaching and had made statements challenging their Christian faith. She also told the court that the assailants tore their Bibles to pieces.
“The attackers were shouting in a loud voice [the jihadist slogan] ‘Allah Akbar,’ as they were cutting them,” said the resident, who along with two others witnessed the killings.
She said she and the two other witnesses who testified in court were at a distance but close enough to “see everything and heard the attackers speaking in Lusoga dialect, ‘You infidels, why are you misleading our people? Today we’re out to kill you to prove the power of Allah. Why did you come to our village and mislead our people, don’t you know that this is a Muslim area?’”
The witness, who said she had put her faith in Christ when the evangelists told her the gospel, told Morning Star News that the five Muslims were residents of Bukewe Sub-County, Namayingo District who were also fishermen at the shores of Lake Victoria with whom the two evangelists had shared Christ.
She informed their church pastor of the killings, who reported it to the Iganga police station that same day of the attack. Two months later the assailants were arrested.
While at least one Ugandan news outlet in order to prevent religious tensions misreported that Baguma and Okech were killed over accusations of robbery, local Christians have closely followed the case for two years knowing the religious motives of the killers, area residents said.
The killings caused deep sorrow among area Christians seeking justice for the deceased evangelists. Their deaths were particularly painful to those who knew them through their outreach and preaching activities among fishermen, their pastor said.
The two evangelists had been commissioned to evangelize the lakeshore fishermen by their church in Iganga, unidentified for security reasons. The church pastor, whose name is withheld for security reasons, welcomed the court’s decision, describing it as a significant moment for Christians who had followed the case.
“We are very happy with the court of law for the penalty given to the offenders. For sure, they deserved it for causing our brothers in the Lord to lose their lives in such a brutal way,” the pastor told Morning Star News. “We have been following this case since it happened, and indeed we have received justice from this honorable court.”
Odongo Misaki, chairperson of Bukewa Centra village at the time, and his two brothers were present at the assault and were sentenced to death for failing to alert police, residents said.
The case has drawn attention to the importance of protecting freedom of religion and ensuring that acts of violence are investigated and addressed through the justice system in Uganda. Community members viewed the judgment as an important development in their long pursuit of accountability for the deaths of the two evangelists.
It was not clear whether the killers would appeal the verdict, though there were no signs of pursuing further legal action at this writing.
Their executions are dependent on authorization by the president of Uganda. The last execution of convicted civilians in Uganda took place on April 27, 1999, when 28 inmates at Luzira Prison were hanged.
The killings were among many instances of persecution of Christians in Uganda that Morning Star News has documented.
Uganda’s constitution and other laws provide for religious freedom, including the right to propagate one’s faith and convert from one faith to another. Muslims make up no more than 12 percent of Uganda’s population, with high concentrations in eastern areas of the country.]]></content:encoded>
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                <title><![CDATA[Sudanese Christian released after more than a year in prison amidst attempt to seize church property]]></title>
                <link>https://www.christiandaily.com/news/sudanese-christian-released-after-more-than-a-year-in-prison-amidst-attempt-to-seize-church-property</link>
                <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.christiandaily.com/news/sudanese-christian-released-after-more-than-a-year-in-prison-amidst-attempt-to-seize-church-property</guid>
                                                            <dc:creator><![CDATA[Vincent Matinde]]></dc:creator>
                                                                                                                            <media:content  url="https://www.christiandaily.com/media/original/img/0/55/5505.png">
                            <media:title><![CDATA[Sudan church]]></media:title>
                                                            <media:credit role="author" scheme="urn:ebu">
                                    <![CDATA[ ICC ]]>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Successive authorities in Khartoum have pressured church leaders to comply, encouraged internal conflict, and then moved to seize control of church properties when communities are divided. Those who resist face threats, legal harassment, imprisonment, or worse. ]]>
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                                                                            <pubDate>Thu, 29 Oct 2026 05:59:00 -0400</pubDate>
                <description><![CDATA[A Sudanese Christian who spent more than a year in prison has been released, but he remains in danger in the capital, according to International Christian Concern (ICC).]]></description>
                <content:encoded><![CDATA[
A Sudanese Christian who spent more than a year in prison has been released, but he remains in danger in the capital, according to International Christian Concern (ICC).
Amin Ismail was freed from Kobar Prison in Khartoum, ICC reported Oct. 23. He had been detained since July 2025, when he returned to the capital to visit his wife and was arrested the following day.
Ismail’s imprisonment followed years of pressure on his father, Pastor Ismail Azzaz, who fled Sudan after refusing to surrender church land amid government efforts to bring churches under state control, according to ICC. The organization said courts repeatedly found Amin innocent, yet he remained behind bars.
“I thank God for my release, and I am deeply grateful to ICC for their prayers and the help they gave,” Ismail said in a statement published by the organization.
“Their support played a big role in this miracle. I know it was the Lord who opened the door, and I continue to trust Him to take me safely out of the capital. Please keep praying for me and my family,” he said.
ICC said Ismail’s safety remains uncertain because he is still in Khartoum. The organization reported that people had attempted to arrange his release so that he could be killed outside prison, although it did not identify those allegedly involved.
The circumstances surrounding his detention also included an alleged interest in his wife by a powerful man in the capital, ICC reported. The organization linked the case to the wider pressure faced by Ismail’s father over church property.
Pastor Azzaz, who remains in exile, welcomed his son’s release but continued to fear for the family’s safety, according to ICC.
“We give thanks to the Lord for this answered prayer,” an ICC staff member said. The organization called for continued prayer for Ismail, his wife and the rest of the family as he seeks a safe way out of the capital.
Church property disputes persist
Ismail’s case comes amid continuing disputes over church property and leadership in Sudan, where Christian congregations have faced pressure from authorities and other interests seeking control of church assets.
In September, ICC reported that authorities were seeking to transfer control of property belonging to the Sudanese Church of Christ’s Marzouq branch in Khartoum. The dispute followed years of government intervention in church governance, including the recognition of alternative leadership committees and legal action against church leaders who opposed those changes.
A local pastor quoted in that report described how pressure over church property could begin with administrative decisions and threats before escalating into divisions within congregations.
The dispute is part of a wider pattern of challenges facing Sudanese Christians, who have endured attacks on churches, displacement and threats against church leaders during years of political upheaval and armed conflict.
In October 2025, police arrested Presbyterian evangelical pastor Daud Fudul Kachu in Atbara, River Nile state, amid a dispute over church property. According to an earlier report, a businessman sought to have the church vacate its premises. 
Police reportedly pressured the pastor to sign a document agreeing not to oppose attempts to seize the property. He was released the following day after intervention by a church lawyer.
Sudan’s war, which began in April 2023 between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, has further devastated communities and disrupted church life. Christian congregations have faced the destruction of buildings, displacement of members and difficulties maintaining their ministries amid the fighting.
Imail’s release from prison has not ended his ordeal. He remains in the capital while seeking a safe way to leave, according to ICC.
His family’s experience highlights the vulnerability of Christians caught in disputes over church leadership and property, even as the country’s wider conflict continues to threaten civilian life.
ICC has urged Christians to pray for Ismail’s protection and for the safety of his wife and family as he seeks to reach a place beyond the reach of those he fears.]]></content:encoded>
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                <title><![CDATA[Government help sought to recover pastor’s wife, daughter in Nigeria]]></title>
                <link>https://www.christiandaily.com/news/government-help-sought-to-recover-pastors-wife-daughter-in-nigeria</link>
                <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.christiandaily.com/news/government-help-sought-to-recover-pastors-wife-daughter-in-nigeria</guid>
                                                            <dc:creator><![CDATA[Christian Daily International / Morning Star News]]></dc:creator>
                                                                                                                            <media:content  url="https://www.christiandaily.com/media/original/img/0/55/5501.jpg">
                            <media:title><![CDATA[Mercy Simon and daughter after Nov. 9, 2025 abduction in Borno state, Nigeria.]]></media:title>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Facebook ]]>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Mercy Simon and daughter after Nov. 9, 2025 abduction in Borno state, Nigeria. ]]>
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                                                                            <pubDate>Wed, 28 Oct 2026 13:34:00 -0400</pubDate>
                <description><![CDATA[Receiving a large ransom demand last month, a pastor in northeastern Nigeria learned that his wife and daughter, missing since November 2025, were kidnapped by Islamic terrorists, sources said.]]></description>
                <content:encoded><![CDATA[
Receiving a large ransom demand last month, a pastor in northeastern Nigeria learned that his wife and daughter, missing since November 2025, were kidnapped by Islamic terrorists, sources said.
Mercy Simon and toddler daughter Talita Simon were kidnapped by suspected Boko Haram rebels while traveling to Maiduguri, Borno state on the Buratai-Biu-Bunu Yadi road for her brother’s wedding on Nov. 9, said her husband, identifying himself only as Pastor Simon.
“She was the only person picked out from a vehicle they were traveling in because she is a Christian,” he told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News. “And since the time she was kidnapped, I didn’t know what happened to her until September 2026, about a month ago, when her captors contacted me through WhatsApp to demand for a ransom of 50 million naira [$37,200] before they can release her.”
When he pleaded with them that he didn’t have such a large amount, they reduced the demand to 15 million naira ($11,160), he said, adding, “But after days of silence and waiting, they finally requested for 12 million naira [$8,927].”
Pastor Simon, from Chinene village in Gwoza County, had served in churches in the Chibok and Bama areas of Borno state, but Boko Haram attacks in the region forced him out of ministry, he said, adding that he has taken refuge in Mubi, Adamawa state.
He said the terrorists are holding 70 other Christians, and that five other Christians were released from captivity on Oct. 19 after their families paid ransoms.
Pastor Simon said he was traumatized, adding, “Things have not been easy for me since my wife and daughter were kidnapped. I am left to care for three children in her absence.”
“I’m pleading with the Nigerian president and those in authority to help secure the release of my wife and daughter. She is not the only person being held captive, as there are about 70 other Christians who are being held captive by their captors.”
Pastor Simon said he and other families of kidnapped Christians contacted Sen. Ali Ndume of the National Assembly, “but we have not heard from the authorities. We’ll not relent in our prayers and pleas for help for our family members in captivity.”
A council official from the area, Barka Iliyasu, confirmed the kidnapping to Christian Daily International-Morning Star News.
“Mrs. Mercy Simon and her daughter Talita, were kidnapped along the Buratai-Biu-Bunu Yadi-Damaturu road on 9th November 2025, and are still in captivity,” Iliyasu said. “The terrorists have reduced their demand from N50 million to N12 million, a sum the poor family still cannot afford.”
It is the primary responsibility of the government as enshrined in the Constitution to ensure the security and welfare of the people, he said.
“The silence of the government on these issues is deafening and painful,” Iliyasu said. “We cannot abandon them to their fate.”
Pastor Simon said he believes his wife and daughter are still alive.
“From the pictures you can see that the only dress she wore about a year ago is what she’s still wearing,” he said.
Area residents have also called on the government to take action.
“Her husband and family have not been able to raise the ransom,” Chawai Friday told other area residents. “The husband confirmed that Mercy and her daughter are still alive. And the daughter is reportedly not in good health. Let us pray that God will protect Mercy and her daughter, strengthen them in captivity, and open a way for their safe and immediate release.”
More Christians were killed in Nigeria than in any other country from Oct. 1, 2024 to Sept. 30, 2025, according to Open Doors’ 2026 World Watch List. Of the 4,849 Christians killed worldwide for their faith during that period, 3,490 – 72 percent – were Nigerians, an increase from 3,100 the prior year.
Nigeria ranked No. 7 on the WWL list of the 50 countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian.
Jihadist groups such as Boko Haram, which seeks to impose sharia (Islamic law) throughout Nigeria, and the splinter group Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP), among others, are active in the country’s northern states, where federal government control is scant and Christians and their communities continue to be the targets of raids, sexual violence, and roadblock killings. Abductions for ransom have increased considerably in recent years.
The violence has spread to southern states, and a new jihadist terror group, Lakurawa, has emerged in the northwest, armed with advanced weaponry and a radical Islamist agenda. Lakurawa is affiliated with the expansionist Al-Qaeda insurgency Jama’a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin, or JNIM, originating in Mali.]]></content:encoded>
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                <title><![CDATA[Authorities in Egypt hold Christian incommunicado]]></title>
                <link>https://www.christiandaily.com/news/authorities-in-egypt-hold-christian-without-charges</link>
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                                                            <dc:creator><![CDATA[Morning Star News]]></dc:creator>
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                            <media:title><![CDATA[Coptic Christian Sherif Wagih Fahmi was arrested in Egypt on Oct. 5, 2026 for his Facebook posts.]]></media:title>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Coptic Christian Sherif Wagih Fahmi was arrested in Egypt on Oct. 5, 2026 for his Facebook posts. ]]>
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                                                                            <pubDate>Tue, 27 Oct 2026 10:43:00 -0400</pubDate>
                <description><![CDATA[Authorities in Egypt arrested a Coptic Christian this month for Facebook posts criticizing forced Islamic education of non-Muslims, while six young Copts detained over a TikTok video have been ordered released.]]></description>
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Authorities in Egypt arrested a Coptic Christian this month for Facebook posts criticizing forced Islamic education of non-Muslims, while six young Copts detained over a TikTok video have been ordered released.
Egyptian Security officers arrested Sherif Wagih Fahmi, a 41-year-old Coptic engineer, from his home in Alexandria on Oct. 5 and have been holding him incommunicado over his Facebook posts, according to Coptic Solidarity. Officers from the National Security Agency arrived at Fahmi’s home in military vehicles early in the afternoon, raided his house and took him into custody, the rights group stated. 
Fahmi was detained for his Facebook posts in recent weeks condemning educational policies that numerous human rights advocates say marginalize or even vilify the Christian minority, according to Coptic Solidarity and other organizations.
It was not clear exactly where Fahmi was being held. He has been charged with “contempt of Islam” but has not yet been given a case number to appear in court, according to Coptic Solidarity.
Religious instruction is compulsory for school-age children in Egypt. In theory, Christian children are allowed to opt out of Islamic classes, but this rule is often ignored, and Christian children are commonly forced to undergo Islamic education. In Arabic language and even social studies classes, Christians receive instruction with the Quran as the primary text, and students are made to memorize and even interpret quranic verses.
Some Egyptian textbooks have passages that insult Christians or conflict with the religious beliefs of non-Muslim students, according to a report issued by the Tahrir Institute.
“The education program is devoid of any lesson, text, or mention of other faiths or religions, with a total omission of Egyptian Christian or Jewish historical figures, or major non-Muslim religious holidays,” Ishak Ibrahim, a noted human rights researcher, states in the report. “The same goes for Coptic history, despite the fact that the Coptic Church played a prominent role locally or abroad in facing the Roman and Byzantine empires at the time.”
Fahmi’s disappearance comes as part of a long-standing and concerted effort by the Egyptian government to intimidate active Christians and those who challenge state denials of anti-Christian persecution on social media. On Wednesday (Oct. 21), the trial of another Christian detainee, Said Mansour Rezk Abdelrazek, was adjourned until Nov. 3 to allow the prosecution and defense to prepare their arguments. Defense attorneys will present their arguments on Nov. 3, according to Coptic Solidarity.
Abdelrazek, 30, a convert from Islam, is charged with contempt for Islam, inciting public disorder, disseminating false information and joining a banned terrorist organization, which carries the possibility of the death penalty. Multiple human rights groups, including Amnesty International, say Abdelrazek has been falsely charged as punishment for his conversion and attempts to change the religion designation on his national identification card.
Like Fahmi, Abdelrazek had an active presence on social media. In his most recent arrest, he has been held in custody since July 15, 2025.
In another incident this month involving internet speech, six Coptic males, one of them 17, were detained after they posted a video on TikTok of them reenacting a famous scene from a movie of a group of Muslim men attempting to pray.
The six Copts, all from Taha Al-Aamida village in Samalout, Minya Governate, began receiving online threats and were arrested Oct. 6 after villagers reported the video to police. Following an initial interrogation, a judge extended the detention of the six Copts. The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights confirmed Monday (Oct. 26) that the Supreme State Security Prosecution ordered they be released without bail while they await any future court proceedings, which have now essentially been placed on hold.
Several human rights groups have condemned the arrest as an unnecessary double standard being enforced to harass the Coptic minority. The movie scene has been acted out over the internet by Egyptian fans, most of them Muslim, thousands of times with no known prior incident.
The scene comes from “Khalawis” (“Ready Or Not”), a 2018 family comedy about the mistaken arrest of a 5-year-old boy. In the scene, a group of Muslim prisoners attempt to pray, only to realize they don’t know how to do so properly. The film was approved by state censors and appears on regular rotation in Egypt on satellite television.
The government accused the youths of mocking Islamic prayer and charged them with blasphemy, contempt of religion, and utilizing religion to spread extremist ideas. Prior to being charged, the youths deleted the video and apologized. The local Coptic diocese hosted a traditional reconciliation meeting to reduce village tensions without success.
At the same time, another Christian is appealing a five-year prison sentence with hard labor after being found guilty on Jan. 3 of “Contempt of Religion” and “misuse of social media.” Augustinos Samaan, a 37-year-old Coptic Christian researcher with a doctorate in Comparative Religion, hosted a YouTube channel as part of an online ministry explaining Christian theology. In his videos, he discussed the differences between Christianity and Islam and tried to rebut anti-Christian sentiment while seeking to minimize sectarian conflict.
What exactly brought Samaan to the attention of Egyptian authorities is unknown, but his site had more than 100,000 subscribers. He was arrested Oct. 1, 2025 in an early morning raid on his home by security forces. Legal observers say the charges against Samaan were frivolous, and that his trial, conducted in secret without counsel, was improper if not illegal.
A formal appeal, Samaan’s last, is scheduled for Nov. 15 before the Egyptian Court of Cassation.
Egypt has a long history of holding converts from Islam indefinitely in hopes they will eventually collapse under the pressure of endless imprisonment and then publicly recant their profession of faith in Christ. The case of Mohammed Hegazy was a notable example. The Egyptian government held Hegazy, a convert who gained national notoriety for trying to change the religion listed on his ID, for more than two and a half years without charge until he finally broke and on July 30, 2016 recanted his conversion on Youtube.
He has since revealed that his statement was made under duress and that he never abandoned his faith in Christ.
The Egyptian government also held Abdul-Baqi Saeed Abdo, a Yemeni convert from Islam, for more than two years in pretrial detention in an attempt to shatter his belief in Christ. Abdo, who has suffered severely for his faith, had an active internet presence discussing persecution of Christians in the Muslim world.
Abdo was never charged but, under intense international pressure, he was eventually released and deported. Another convert from Islam with an active internet presence, Nour Girgis, was arrested at the same time as Abdo and was released as well.
Egypt ranked 42nd on Open Doors’ 2026 World Watch List of the countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian.]]></content:encoded>
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                <title><![CDATA[Angola’s church registration rules raise concerns over religious freedom in Africa]]></title>
                <link>https://www.christiandaily.com/news/angolas-church-registration-rules-raise-concerns-over-religious-freedom-in-africa</link>
                <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.christiandaily.com/news/angolas-church-registration-rules-raise-concerns-over-religious-freedom-in-africa</guid>
                                                            <dc:creator><![CDATA[Vincent Matinde]]></dc:creator>
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                            <media:title><![CDATA[Luanda Church]]></media:title>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Natalia Zawiejska ]]>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Angola’s Law on Religious Freedom and Worship, adopted in May 2019, requires religious groups seeking official recognition to provide 60,000 signatures from eligible residents. Pentecostal and other independent Christian groups in Angola have found the requirements difficult to meet. ]]>
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                                                                            <pubDate>Tue, 27 Oct 2026 06:04:00 -0400</pubDate>
                <description><![CDATA[Religious freedom advocates are questioning whether church registration requirements in Angola are making it difficult for smaller Christian communities to gain legal recognition, after African church leaders examined the issue at a continental theological symposium in Nairobi.]]></description>
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Religious freedom advocates are questioning whether church registration requirements in Angola are making it difficult for smaller Christian communities to gain legal recognition, after African church leaders examined the issue at a continental theological symposium in Nairobi.
The All Africa Conference of Churches (AACC) highlighted Angola's registration system during its seventh annual theological symposium, held Oct. 5-8 under the theme “Freedom of Belief and Persecution in Africa.” Participants examined how governments can regulate religious institutions without undermining the rights of religious minorities.
The Rev. Quelende Adriano, who presented on Angola, warned that high membership requirements for official church recognition can marginalize emerging and minority religious communities, according to the AACC’s report on the symposium’s conclusion.
The issue is particularly significant for Pentecostal and other independent Christian groups in Angola, where the legal requirements for recognition have been described as difficult for many congregations to meet.
A high threshold for recognition
Angola’s Law on Religious Freedom and Worship, adopted in May 2019, requires religious groups seeking official recognition to provide 60,000 signatures from eligible residents. At least 1,000 signatories must reside in each of the country's 18 provinces. Each signature and residency declaration must be notarized separately.
The requirements create financial and administrative hurdles for groups seeking recognition. Religious organizations must also submit documentation about their organizational structure, worship activities, financial resources and planned construction projects.
According to the U.S. State Department's 2023 International Religious Freedom Report on Angola, the government estimated that more than 1,200 religious groups remained unregistered, compared with 88 recognized groups at the time.
The report said unregistered religious groups had complained that the notarization and residency documentation requirements were expensive and burdensome. It also identified difficulties involving residency records and people without legal immigration status as additional obstacles.
The consequences extend beyond paperwork. Official recognition gives religious groups legal status and allows them to acquire property collectively and use it for religious activities. It also provides certain tax exemptions and legal standing as incorporated entities.
Open Doors, a Christian organization that monitors persecution, identified registration as a major challenge for church groups in its 2025 analysis of Angola.
“Registration remains one of the most challenging problems faced by thousands of Christian church groups in the country,” the organization reported.
Open Doors said the requirements had left numerous Pentecostal churches and other nontraditional Christian denominations unregistered, creating difficulties for groups seeking land and permission to construct places of worship.
The balance between regulation and rights
Angola’s case raises a broader question for African governments. Religious institutions may be subject to legitimate rules concerning public safety, financial accountability and the lawful use of property. The requirements, however, can become a barrier when communities cannot realistically meet them.
The AACC's symposium examined that tension, with participants arguing that state oversight should be proportional, transparent and nondiscriminatory.
The gathering also considered the gap between constitutional guarantees and the experiences of religious minorities.
At the symposium’s opening, AACC General Secretary the Rev. Fidon Mwombeki drew attention to forms of persecution that receive less public attention than physical attacks.
These include economic discrimination, legal marginalization and psychological trauma, according to the AACC's account of his remarks.
The conference’s second day featured Illia Djadi of the Arise Africa campaign, who highlighted the contrast between constitutional protections and continuing discrimination against religious communities.
“The liberty of belief is guaranteed in the constitutions of many African countries, excluding a few countries in North Africa and Somalia,” Djadi said, according to the AACC's report.
The symposium did not establish that every unregistered religious group in Angola has experienced persecution. Rather, its discussions highlighted how administrative requirements can affect religious communities' ability to obtain legal recognition and operate their institutions.
A wider African concern
The AACC's closing statement called for religious freedom to move beyond academic discussion and toward practical action.
The Rev. Lesmore Ezekiel, speaking on behalf of Mwombeki, urged participants to “seek justice for the oppressed,” drawing on Isaiah 1:16-17.
The conference brought together theologians, church leaders and other participants to examine religious persecution, state authority and the responsibilities of churches in defending human dignity.
The wider challenge for African churches and governments is ensuring that constitutional commitments to freedom of religion are reflected in the laws and administrative processes that determine whether religious communities can obtain official recognition and establish places of worship.]]></content:encoded>
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                <title><![CDATA[Three men sentenced to death for kidnapping of priests in Nigeria]]></title>
                <link>https://www.christiandaily.com/news/three-men-sentenced-to-death-for-kidnapping-of-priests-in-nigeria</link>
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                                                            <dc:creator><![CDATA[Christian Daily International / Morning Star News]]></dc:creator>
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                            <media:title><![CDATA[Adamawa State High Court of Justice in Yola, Nigeria.]]></media:title>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Adamawa State High Court of Justice in Yola, Nigeria. ]]>
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                                                                            <pubDate>Mon, 26 Oct 2026 13:10:00 -0400</pubDate>
                <description><![CDATA[Three men who kidnapped two Catholic priests were sentenced to death on Thursday (Oct. 22) in northeastern Nigeria for the 2025 abductions, including a member of the priests’ parish.]]></description>
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Three men who kidnapped two Catholic priests were sentenced to death on Thursday (Oct. 22) in northeastern Nigeria for the 2025 abductions, including a member of the priests’ parish.
The Adamawa State High Court of Justice in Yola delivered the sentence to Taledo Demiel, Namomai Medan and Mikaila Yusuf for abducting the Rev. Matthew Dutsemi and the Rev. Abraham Sauman from St. Anne Catholic Church, Gweda-Mallam, Numan County, on Feb. 22, 2025. The priests were held captive for 15 days in Demiel’s house before being rescued by security agents of the Department of State Services (DSS), Nigeria’s intelligence agency, with no ransom paid. 
The DSS had arrested the three men as they were about to receive ransom payments, and they were charged with criminal conspiracy to commit kidnapping, armed robbery, harboring kidnapped persons and negotiating ransom for the release of Dutsemi and Sauman. 
Demiel was an altar servant in the priests’ church, said the Rev. Moses Idris, a Catholic priest.
“I have always been wondering how the kidnappers got information about priests,” Idris told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News. “It is indeed vivid now that the connection is from within, which is very unfortunate.”
Judge Christopher Dominic Mapeo of the Adamawa State High Court of Justice sentenced the three men after they were convicted of criminal conspiracy to commit kidnapping, armed robbery, harboring kidnapped persons and negotiating ransom for the release of the two priests. They were also sentenced to 14 years for conspiracy to kidnap, 21 years each for armed robbery and 20 years for harboring a kidnapped person. 
The parish priest of St. Augustine’s Catholic Church in Sugu, in Adamawa state’s Ganye County, identified only as the Rev. Ebuka, recalled that the priests were rescued on March 8, 2025.
“This case brings us face to face with some difficult questions about crime, justice and human life,” Ebuka said. “A society must be able to protect the innocent, hold people accountable for their actions and reflect seriously on the principles by which it administers justice. Perhaps one of the greatest tragedies is that families can still be forced to negotiate for the safe return of their loved ones. And one of our greatest responsibilities is to work towards a society where such fear becomes increasingly rare.”
The judgment brought to seven the number of death sentences in Nigeria in 2026, security officials told the Premium Times. On May 20, the Ekiti State High Court sentenced Ibrahim Abubakar and Abdullahi Abubakar to death for kidnapping. On June 3, a Federal High Court in Abuja sentenced four men to death by hanging over their involvement in the June 2022 attack on St. Francis Catholic Church in Owo, Ondo state, which killed scores of worshippers.
The Katsina State High Court sentenced Hauwa’u Mukhtar to death on June 15, and Kogi State High Court sentenced Jibrin Halilu to death the following day for kidnapping and murdering his neighbor, Premium Times reported. On June 22, Sokoto State High Court sentenced three men – Muhammed Yusuf Sallau, Jabbi Ahlaji Yale and Kabiru Muhammed – to death for terrorism-related offenses and transporting arms.
On Sept. 28, the Sokoto State High Court sentenced Ibrahim Usman, also known as Dan Iyali, to death over his involvement in the killing of three kidnapped persons.]]></content:encoded>
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                <title><![CDATA[Islamic extremists kill Christians in mass shooting at funeral in Jordan]]></title>
                <link>https://www.christiandaily.com/news/islamic-extremists-kill-christians-in-mass-shooting-at-funeral-in-jordan</link>
                <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.christiandaily.com/news/islamic-extremists-kill-christians-in-mass-shooting-at-funeral-in-jordan</guid>
                                                            <dc:creator><![CDATA[Edward Ross]]></dc:creator>
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                            <media:title><![CDATA[Gunmen attack Greek Orthodox church site in Hmood, Karak Province, Jordan on Oct. 23, 2026 in CCT recording on CNN.]]></media:title>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Gunmen attack Greek Orthodox church site in Hmood, Karak Province, Jordan on Oct. 23, 2026 in CCT recording on CNN. ]]>
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                                                                            <pubDate>Fri, 23 Oct 2026 13:26:00 -0400</pubDate>
                <description><![CDATA[In a rare attack in a country known for peaceful inter-faith coexistence, suspected armed Islamic extremists attacked a funeral at a Greek Orthodox church in Jordan on Friday (Oct. 23), killing at least nine people and wounding 28 others, according to reports.]]></description>
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In a rare attack in a country known for peaceful inter-faith coexistence, suspected Islamic extremists attacked a funeral at a Greek Orthodox church in Jordan on Friday (Oct. 23), shooting at least nine people to death and wounding 28 others, according to reports.
The gunmen opened fire on the gathering at St. George’s Greek Orthodox Church in Hmood, Karak Province, with a public security agency official saying later in a news conference that the mass shooting was a terrorist attack against Christians attending a funeral, CNN reported. Karak is about 180 kilometers (112 miles) south of Amman.
In a post on X, King Abdullah said Jordan will “harshly” respond against those responsible for the “terrorist act.”
“The blood of Jordanians is precious, and we will strike those who transgress against this country with an iron fist,” the king posted, according to CNN.
A religious rights source whose name is withheld messaged other activists that video indicated the assailants were Islamic extremists, and that local Christians asserted the gunmen were young Muslims.
One of the assailants was armed with an AK-47 Kalashnikov rifle, CNN reported, citing a witness who spoke with state-run Al-Mamlaka television. Another witness told CNN the assault “lasted a long time,” and gunmen shouted the jihadist slogan, “Allahu Akbar [God is greater]” as they targeted the church courtyard where most of the mourners were standing.
She told CNN it was a “massacre,” adding, “they struck people who were gathered to grieve and mourn. I never ever imagined anything like this would ever happen anywhere in Jordan.”
Security camera footage on social media showed three gunmen firing weapons on the street before heading toward the church site, according to CNN.
Christians make up 2-3 percent of Jordan’s population, but the town where shooting took place has long been predominantly Christian. A witness told Al-Mamlaka television that there were more than 150 people within and outside the church building at the time of the attack, according to CNN.
Interior Minister Mazen al-Farrayeh described the attack as a “terrorist operation carried out by a group of extremists” and that security personnel had been dispatchd to the area to search for the assailants, according to news outlet al-Monitor.
Though anti-Christian violence is rare in Jordan, a Lebanese Christian choir in Amman was attacked in 2008, and officials foiled an attempted attack on church buildings and a Christian cemetery that year, as well as a plot to bomb a Roman Catholic church in 2009, al-Monitor reported.
Other major attacks have occurred that did not target Christians exclusively, such as suicide bombings of three hotels in Amman that killed at least 57 people in November 2005, according to the news outlet. A police training facility near Amman was attacked in November 2015, with a Jordanian officer killing five people, including two Americans, and in June 2016 suspected Islamic State militants on a border post reportedly killed seven Jordanian security personnel. 
In Karak in December 2016, gunmen killed 14 people, including security personnel and civilians, and three U.S. special forces soldiers were killed by a Jordanian guard at King Faisal Air Base in November 2016, according to al-Monitor.
The Rev. Botrus Mansour, secretary general of the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA), expressed deep sorrow and strong condemnation over the attack in a press statement.
“The WEA condemns the attack by masked men that targeted a church funeral in the village of Hmoud in the Karak Governorate, south of Amman, leaving seven dead and 28 injured,” Mansouor said. “The World Evangelical Alliance rejects, without qualification, all forms of violence and any assault on the God-given right to life and personal security, regardless of any claimed motives or justifications.”
Extending sincere solidarity to the victims, the injured and their families and offering condolences on behalf of the WEA, Mansour called on the faithful to offer prayers for the families of the victims, for those who have been injured, and for Jordan.
“We pray that God may protect our nation, grant wisdom to the country’s leaders and its security services, and sustain the blessing of security and stability in Jordan,” he said. “In line with the values of faith, justice, and peace, the World Evangelical Alliance emphasizes that Jordan’s national unity and social cohesion are foundational to preserving stability and safeguarding social security. Any attempt to exploit this tragedy to sow division, incite sectarian tension, or spread hatred must be firmly rejected.”
Jordan remains and will continue to remain a safe place for all its people, regardless of religion or origin, he said.
“The World Evangelical Alliance further underscores the importance of protecting social cohesion, affirming that the right to life and security, freedom to worship and practice religious rites, and the protection of places of worship are essential responsibilities for both the state and society,” he said. “These commitments ensure that all citizens’ rights and dignity are upheld without discrimination.”
(Breaking story being updated throughout today)]]></content:encoded>
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                <title><![CDATA[Nigerian mother acquitted of blasphemy receives Shahbaz Bhatti Freedom Award]]></title>
                <link>https://www.christiandaily.com/news/nigerian-mother-acquitted-of-blasphemy-receives-shahbaz-bhatti-freedom-award</link>
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                                                            <dc:creator><![CDATA[CDI Staff]]></dc:creator>
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                            <media:title><![CDATA[Rhoda Jatau, center, a Nigerian Christian mother acquitted in 2024 of blasphemy-related charges after 19 months in prison, holds the 2026 Shahbaz Bhatti Freedom Award in Geneva, Switzerland.]]></media:title>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Courtesy of First Step Forum ]]>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Rhoda Jatau, center, a Nigerian Christian mother acquitted in 2024 of blasphemy-related charges after 19 months in prison, holds the 2026 Shahbaz Bhatti Freedom Award in Geneva, Switzerland. Marc Jost, far left, executive director of First Step Forum and a member of Switzerland’s National Council, presented the award. ]]>
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                                                                            <pubDate>Thu, 22 Oct 2026 17:39:00 -0400</pubDate>
                <description><![CDATA[A Nigerian Christian mother who spent 19 months in prison on blasphemy-related charges before being acquitted has received the 2026 Shahbaz Bhatti Freedom Award.]]></description>
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A Nigerian Christian mother who spent 19 months in prison on blasphemy-related charges before being acquitted has received the 2026 Shahbaz Bhatti Freedom Award.
Rhoda Jatau, a mother of five, accepted the honor presented by the First Step Forum at a ceremony at the Geneva Graduate Institute in Switzerland on Friday (Oct. 16). Her prosecution, which began after she allegedly shared a video condemning the mob killing of a Christian student, drew calls for her release from human rights groups and U.N. experts.
The award is presented each year to a person the forum regards as committed to defending freedom of religion or belief. It is named for Shahbaz Bhatti, Pakistan's first Christian federal minister, who was assassinated in March 2011 after opposing his country's blasphemy laws.
Arrest and acquittal
Jatau's case dates to May 2022, when Deborah Emmanuel Yakubu, a Christian student, was killed by a mob in Nigeria following accusations of blasphemy. Jatau was accused of circulating a WhatsApp video that condemned the killing.
Prosecutors charged her with blasphemy along with cybercrime and religious disturbance offenses. According to First Step Forum, she faced up to five years in prison and was frequently denied regular contact with her husband, children and lawyers while in custody.
She was granted bail in December 2023, shortly after a judge refused to dismiss the case against her. Her trial ran for another year before a judge in Bauchi State acquitted her of all charges on Dec. 10, 2024.
"My experience in prison was not an easy one," Jatau said at the ceremony. "For over a year I did not see my children. I could only hear about them."
Her lawyer, Joseph Bata Danboyi, also spoke. "What was at stake was her freedom, and also the precedent," he said. "At least there is now a precedent that there was once a blasphemy case in Bauchi that couldn't be proved."
'Blasphemy laws continue to fuel mob violence'
Marc Jost, executive director of First Step Forum, presented the award. Addressing Jatau, he said: "You simply wanted to be a faithful mother, a neighbor, and a person of conscience. But when darkness demanded silence, your courage spoke volumes."
Jost, who is also a member of Switzerland's National Council, the lower house of parliament, said her case reflected a wider problem in the country. "In Nigeria today, blasphemy laws continue to fuel mob violence, silence peaceful expression, and tear apart the social fabric of a nation," he said.
Blasphemy is an offense under the penal code that applies in Nigeria's northern states, and a number of those states also enforce Islamic criminal codes.
Bhatti's legacy
Eija-Riitta Korhola-Dunderfelt, the forum's chairwoman, said she worked with Bhatti for five years while he served as Pakistan's minister for minorities affairs. She recalled that he pressed for changes to the blasphemy laws despite fatwas and threats against his life.
"Even if I die, the law will remain," she quoted him as telling her, "and it will change the lives of millions."
Korhola-Dunderfelt said Bhatti had told her he asked God for a single grace: that he would die "for the sake of Jesus" rather than from old age or illness.
Peter Bhatti, the slain minister's brother, gave Jatau a copy of "Blood & Water," a new graphic novel about Shahbaz Bhatti's life.
"You are from Nigeria, but in Christ we are brother and sister," he told her. "We want to encourage you in this field to not feel alone, ask for help, and don't give up anytime."
Earlier recipients of the award, according to the forum, include Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi in 2013, Pope Francis in 2014, Chinese human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng in 2018, the Leah Foundation of Nigeria in 2019, and Syrian recipients Bishop Shimoun Daniel in 2023 and Valentine Hannan in 2025.
First Step Forum describes itself as a network of ambassadors, lawmakers, journalists, advocates and former prime ministers. Since 2002, it has worked on reconciliation and religious freedom in countries that invite its involvement.]]></content:encoded>
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