by VOM NZ | Oct 15, 2019 | India, New, Updates
Kandhamal Christians | India On August 23, 2008, as Hindus celebrated Janmashtami in the Kandhamal district of Odisha state, eastern India, their prominent leader Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati was shot dead. Hindu fundamentalists quickly blamed Swami’s murder on...
by VOM NZ | Sep 19, 2018 | John Cao, New, Updates
On March 5, 2017, police arrested Cao San-Qiang (John Cao), a Chinese pastor known for his work among Myanmar’s poor. Authorities charged Pastor Cao with “organizing illegal crossings of national borders” and, one year later, sentenced him to seven years in prison....
by VOM NZ | Sep 3, 2018 | New, Updates
(Source: Christian Solidarity Worldwide, VOM Canada, Geneva Summit) Protestant pastor and freedom of religion activist Nguyen Trung Ton, was arrested on July 30, 2017 at his home in Thanh Hoa. On April 5, 2018 Pastor Ton, was sentenced to 12 years in prison for...
by VOM NZ | Jul 19, 2018 | New, Updates
Christian Naser Navard Gol-Tapeh was arrested on 24 June 2016 when 30 intelligence police agents raided an engagement party at a house in the Andisheh township of Karaj, near Tehran. Everyone present was detained, including three visiting Azeri Christians from Baku,...
by VOM NZ | May 3, 2018 | New, Updates
Ro Mah Pro Ro Mah Pro (64), was arrested in August 2010. He is a Hmong Christian from the Gia Lai province. He was charged under Article 87 for ‘undermining the unity policy’ of the 1999 Penal Code, and sentenced to nine years imprisonment, with three years’ house...
by VOM NZ | May 3, 2018 | Basuki Purnama, New, Updates
On May 9 2017, former Christian governor of Jakarta, Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, also known affectionately by his Chinese nickname as “Ahok”, was imprisoned for blasphemy in a politically-motivated campaign, and sentenced to two years in prison. Write to the...
by VOM NZ | Mar 28, 2018 | New, Updates
Mussie Eyob |...
by VOM NZ | Mar 1, 2018 | Abraham Ben Moses, New, Updates
Abraham Ben Moses, also known as Saifuddin Ibrahim, is a well-known former Muslim and Christian apologist in Indonesia. He was active in Internet evangelism and debates with Muslim groups. Abraham, 53, was arrested on Dec. 5, 2017, after a video showing him sharing...
by VOM NZ | Feb 12, 2018 | New
Jonh Jonh (66) is a Hmong Christian. He was arrested in May 2012, and sentenced to nine years’ imprisonment in May 2013. He was convicted under Article 87 of the 1999 Penal Code for ‘undermining the unity policy’. Jonh was last reported detained in...
by VOM NZ | Feb 12, 2018 | New, Oqbamichel Haiminot, Updates
Pastor Oqbamichel Haiminot, senior pastor of the Kale Hiwot (Word of Life) Church became the first senior Eritrean church leader to be imprisoned for his Christian activities in 2003. At that time, he spent a few weeks in prison. In January 2005 while participating in...
by VOM NZ | Feb 9, 2018 | Gao Zhisheng, New, Updates
Courtesy China Aid The Chinese government’s persecution of human rights defense lawyer and Christian Gao Zhisheng began in 2005, when the Beijing Judicial Bureau revoked his law license and ordered his practice to shut down. In December 2006, Gao was convicted of...
by VOM NZ | Feb 9, 2018 | New, Updates
Source: Freedom House, Amnesty International 78-year-old Hmong Christian, A Hyum (also known as Ba Kol) was arrested in April 2012, on charges of ‘undermining the unity policy’, under Article 87 of the 1999 Penal Code. He was sentenced in May 2013 to eight years...
by VOM NZ | Feb 9, 2018 | Gao Zhisheng, New, Updates
Gao Zhisheng is a Christian human rights lawyer who has spoken up in the defence of other Christians and minority groups in China. Because of his work, he has had his legal practice shut down, and has faced arrest, torture, and long stretches of time in prison. Gao is...
by VOM NZ | Nov 15, 2017 | New, Twen | Eritrea, Updates
Those who have read the story of Eritrean gospel singer Helen Berhane in her book, Song of the Nightingale, will be familiar with Helen’s fellow prisoner and close friend, “Esther”. Esther’s real name is Twen, and she was imprisoned in the same shipping container as...
by VOM NZ | Aug 28, 2017 | Bakhrom Kholmatov, New, Updates
Source: PrisonerAlert Pastor Bakhrom Kholmatov, who was detained by police in April 2017, was sentenced in July to three years in prison. The 42-year-old pastor also known as Bakhrom Holmatov, was arrested on April 10 after KNB officers raided the Sonmin Sonbogym...
by VOM NZ | Aug 11, 2017 | Kim Kuk-gi, New, Updates
Source: Release International One of two South Korean men detained late last year by the North Korean government on charges of espionage is Presbyterian pastor, Kim Kuk-gi, who has dedicated much of the past 13 years to helping North Korean defectors in China. On...
