Myanmar military is bombing earthquake victims

 

Multiple reports from around Myanmar indicate that the military junta ruling the country bombed civilians as they scrambled to recover from a devastating 7.7 magnitude earthquake that struck the country Friday.

Military planes bombed northern Shan state less than three hours after the earthquake, according to reports, with more strikes following soon after in Karen State, the quake’s epicenter Sagaing, and in areas close to the Thai border.

In contrast, the National Unity Government—which opposes the junta—announced that its militia forces would immediately begin a two-week pause in areas impacted by the earthquake to facilitate humanitarian activities.

The fact that the military, known locally as the Tatmadaw, would bomb civilians while they were working to rescue each other from the rubble of an earthquake, is “nothing short of incredible,” Tom Andrews, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights, told the BBC.

“Anyone who has influence on the [Tatmadaw],” he said, “needs to step up the pressure and make it very clear that this is not acceptable."

China and Russia, longtime allies of the Tatmadaw, have helped to provide emergency relief services in the wake of the earthquake but have not commented on the bombings. Despite sweeping international sanctions, both countries have supplied consistent military and economic support for the Tatmadaw.

The United States recently cut back on assistance and development aid to Myanmar as part of broader cuts to international aid. Reports indicate that it has not matched China and Russia’s emergency relief assistance since the earthquake. Last week, though, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) released a report criticizing the country for its systematic repression of religious minorities and urged the international community to increase attention to the plight of the persecuted in Myanmar.

Ongoing Displacement and the Plight of Religious Minorities

“The country has seen the displacement of over 3.5 million people in recent years,” the USCIRF report noted, “including more than 90,000 in Christian-majority Chin State, 237,200 in Kachin State, and one million Muslim-majority Rohingya refugees” Last week’s earthquake, and the airstrikes that followed, have only increased these high levels of displacement.

Though a strong majority of the population is ethnic Burman and an even greater percentage is Buddhist, the communities that make up the remainder are well-established, well-organized, and, for the most part, predate the formation of the modern state by centuries.

In many cases, Myanmar’s ethnic minorities have also taken on a distinct religious identity. About 20-30% of ethnic Karen are Christians, while other groups, such as the Chin, are over 90% Christian. This overlap of ethnic and religious identity has created a volatile situation for believers.

Historical Violence Against Ethnic and Religious Minorities

Representing an extremist interpretation of Buddhism, the Burmese military has a long history of violence against the people of Myanmar, including against ethnic and religious minorities like the Muslim-majority Rohingya and Christian-majority Chin.

The junta is known to abduct children, forcing them to walk ahead of their troops through minefields. In many cases, their victims are members of ethnic and religious minority communities fighting back against the atrocities of a military that has waged a decades-long war of ethnic and religious cleansing.

Despite this support, experts believe that the Burmese military is atrophying rapidly, with as few as 150,000 personnel remaining after the loss of about 21,000 through casualties or desertions since the 2021 coup. This number is significantly smaller than previous estimates of 300,000-400,000 and calls into question the junta’s ability to sustain its nationwide military campaign, especially after a series of high-profile losses in recent years.” 

How ICC Is Responding to the Crisis

Less than two weeks before the devastating earthquake, an International Christian Concern (ICC) staffer visited the country to address conditions for local Christians and foreign workers amid the ongoing instability. While the findings painted a grim picture of widespread displacement, corruption, and strained infrastructure, what stood out was the resilience of the church and its believers, who remain steadfast in their faith despite the mounting challenges. 

"I've contacted friends and local contacts to check on them since the earthquakes. They've talked about the huge devastation in Mandalay, with recovery efforts slowly working through the rubble and damage," said an ICC staffer in Southeast Asia. "The impact is huge across the country, too. Those I've contacted asked for continual prayers for local teams helping with recovery and for their country. Given their plight, one local pastor even selflessly asked if I had prayer requests myself. This shows the strong faith of the believers despite the obstacles. I've also contacted different Christian friends and contacts in Thailand to see how we can pray and help by God's grace." 

ICC will continue to monitor the situation and explore ways to support recovery efforts.

To read more news stories, visit the ICC Newsroom. For interviews, please email press@persecution.org. 

Nigerian government delays release of illegally detained children

 

As last Wednesday approached, Professor Solomon Tarfa eagerly anticipated the release of 16 children taken five years ago from Du Merci orphanage, which he and his wife run. Nigerian authorities have illegally detained the children since they were removed from the orphanage.

Despite a court settlement mandating the Kano State Ministry of Women, Children, and Disabled Affairs to release the children on March 19, Tarfa remains empty-handed following what seems to be another government stall tactic.

The Commissioner for Women, Children, and Disabled Affairs announced on March 20 that the children’s release will be postponed “until the Attorney General of Kano State returns from Mecca in two weeks.” Tarfa has been in a legal battle with government officials since the children were removed from the couple’s orphanage in December 2019.

This latest setback is one of many Tarfa has faced in his legal battle. It took a miracle for this agreement to have been made in court. A judge from the Kano State High Court 12 initially said he had “too many cases to deal with that are more important,” refusing to grant Tarfa and the children a trial. He urged the parties to settle outside of court, issuing a deadline of June 4, 2024, to “get back to him.”

Professor Tarfa and his wife, Mercy, founded Du Merci Orphanage in 1996. For more than two decades, the couple rescued abandoned children with the mission “to glorify God by ministering to orphans and vulnerable children by meeting their mental, physical, spiritual, and social needs.”

Nigerian officials raided the Christian orphanage on Christmas Day in 2019. Police officers and authorities from the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons and other Related Matters (NAPTIP) confiscated 29 children — 13 were later returned — and moved them to government-run facilities. Professor Tarfa was detained and imprisoned on alleged charges of kidnapping and abduction.

While in government custody, authorities split the children up, including siblings, and forced them to recite Arabic, study Islam, and attend prayers in a mosque. Since the children had Christian names, authorities gave them Muslim names.

In June 2021, Tarfa went before the Kano High Court and was acquitted of his kidnapping and abduction charges. However, a day before the trial was set to end, the prosecution presented forgery charges in connection with Du Merci’s official registration document.

Although Tarfa received the registration document from the government, the prosecution accused his document of being fake as it did not have a proper serial number. Professor Tarfa was found guilty and remained in prison.

In April 2022, Tarfa appealed the forged document ruling, and almost a year later, the Court of Appeals acquitted Tarfa of all charges.

Today, Tarfa wants the Nigerian government to be held accountable and return the remaining children. He has asked Kano state to pay reparations for his illegal imprisonment, false accusations, and the illegal confiscation of his children.

The reparations would also cover the costs of rebuilding Du Merci Orphanage, which was demolished by the government. They also would cover the cost of rent for Professor Tarfa, his wife, and the released children, who had to relocate to an apartment.  The government has refused to pay Tarfa for its wrongdoings, escalating the situation before the High Court 12 in Kano state.

International Christian Concern (ICC) calls for the remaining children wrongly detained by the Nigerian government to be released and continues to pray for them. We pray that Nigerian authorities will recognize their wrongdoings, release the children, and pay Tarfa and his wife the reparations they deserve.

To read more news stories, visit the ICC Newsroom. For interviews, please email press@persecution.org. 

Iran arrests three for converting from Islam to Christianity

 Why do so many turn away from Islam and to Christianity?  Well, Mohammed married a six-year-old, that's why.  Now, Iran continues to use sharia law to force and to scare people to remain Muslim.  

As extreme Christian persecution continues in Iran, three Christian converts in the nation received a combined total of 40 years in prison on March 8 for practicing their faith. 

Narges Nasri, who is currently pregnant, Mehran Shamloui, and Abbas Soori were arrested in early November 2024 when authorities raided their homes in Tehran. All three converts were members of house churches. 

According to the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), Nasri was sentenced to 16 years in prison for “‘propaganda activity contrary to Islamic law’ due to her alleged ‘influential connections abroad,’... membership in anti-regime groups ... [and] propaganda against the regime.” Nasri was also fined and given “15 years of social rights deprivation.” 

Shamloui was sentenced to 10 years and 8 months in jail for “propaganda activities contrary to Islamic law,” and “membership in groups opposing the state.” The man will also be subjected to “15 years of social deprivation, and a fine of 250 million tomans (about $4,120).” 

HRANA reports that Soori received a 15-year prison sentence for “propaganda activities contrary to Islamic law,” and “membership in groups opposing the state.” Additionally, Soori must endure “15 years of social deprivation, a fine of 330 million tomans (about $6,500), [and] additional penalties, including a travel ban, a ban on residing in Tehran and neighboring provinces, and a ban on membership in social groups for two years.” 

Christians, especially those who convert from Islam, are often targeted for persecution and mistreatment in Iran. Moreover, attempting to evangelize about Christianity is prohibited and publicly elevating Jesus Christ over Islamic beliefs about God could get an individual a prison or a death sentence. 

According to Christian Solidarity Worldwide, Iran passed legislation in 2021 that would allow authorities to target religious minorities with prison time in the nation. The law penalizes anyone “engaging in propaganda that educates in a deviant way contrary to the holy religion of Islam.” 

Iran continues to be one of the most egregious offenders of human rights in the world. The nation remains on the U.S. State Department’s Countries of Particular Concern list due to its harsh abuses of religious freedom. 

To read more news stories, visit the ICC Newsroom. For interviews, please email press@persecution.org. 

Since 1995, ICC has served the global persecuted church through a three-pronged approach of assistance, advocacy, and awareness. ICC exists to bandage the wounds of persecuted Christians and to build the church in the toughest parts of the world.

Deported persecuted Christians to return to countries that will probably kill them

 

Among those deported from the United States to Panama for eventual return to their home countries are several converts to Christianity facing severe persecution in their home countries, according to widespread media reports in a story published by The New York Times. 

“Only a miracle can save us,” one deportee said. A persecuted minority who converted to Christianity in a banned underground church, her life — and those of many around her — hang in the balance as they await their fate at the hands of Panamanian authorities. 

Ten Iranian Converts 

At least 10 of those being held in Panama en route to their home countries are Iranian converts from Islam. If returned to Iran, they will face the death penalty for apostasy — a severe crime under Sharia law. Iranian Christians have been heavily persecuted for decades, despite a long history in the country. 

While the government allows some degree of freedom for historically non-Muslim communities, converts from Islam to Christianity are viciously persecuted and are treated as a national security threat. 

One of the world’s few theocracies, the Iranian system is built on extreme devotion to a fundamentalist interpretation of Islam. After the overthrow of the secular but authoritarian monarchy in 1979, Iran swung hard toward Islamist extremism and has continued on that path ever since, with a growing security apparatus designed to suppress religious and political dissent in every corner of society. 

Iran’s constitution, finalized soon after the 1979 revolution, is a religious manifesto that quotes the Quran extensively and mandates the military to fulfill “the ideological mission of jihad in Allah’s way; that is, extending the sovereignty of Allah’s law throughout the world.”  

For religious minorities in Iran, there is no escape from the extremist policies of a government fueled by an extremist interpretation of Shia Islam that leaves no room even for Sunni Islam, much less religious minorities like Christianity. 

A Lone Chinese Christian 

The Iranian refugees are not the only persecuted minority being sent back to their home country. 

One man in his 50s who had recently fled China held up a Chinese-language Bible and explained to a reporter for The New York Times that he had come to the United States seeking freedom. International Christian Concern (ICC) has worked to support Chinese Christians in the past, including by providing them with secret Bibles. 

The Chinese man, identified only by his surname Wang, faces the threat of forced return to a country that has waged a decades-long war against Christianity and aggressively works to extradite and punish religious refugees who have fled the country seeking religious freedom. 

China is known to have forced abortions on its citizens, sterilized women without their consent, and murdered religious minorities to sell their organs on the black market. Christian home churches are an attempt to escape government scrutiny, but even they are often raided and their members arrested on charges of working against the interests of the state. 

China operates a concentrated campaign of persecution against its Muslim-majority Uyghur population. Donald Trump, at the end of his first term, declared the Chinese government’s actions against the Uyghurs a genocide after detailed research by government and civil society organizations around the world documenting a vast network of concentration camps throughout the Xinjiang region. 

China has even reached beyond its borders to suppress religion and silence opposition. Chinese spy rings have been discovered around the world, from Kabul to New York City. The Afghan spy ring worked with the Haqqani network, a Taliban-affiliated terrorist group, to hunt down Uyghurs and bring them back to China. China has also stepped up its efforts to capture escaping religious minorities through the more traditional route of formal extradition requests. 

Non-Refoulement 

In Wang’s case, though, it does not appear that China has filed an extradition request or engaged actively to seek his return. While the United States has long maintained programs providing paths for refugees fleeing religious persecution, these programs appear to have been disrupted in recent weeks, halting the admission of already-vetted persecuted minorities and making it difficult or impossible for new arrivals to make their case. 

According to reports, those recently deported to Panama include persons from Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, China, and Uzbekistan — a list that includes many of the countries that are most hostile to Christianity. 

Refoulement, or the forced return of refugees and asylum seekers to countries where they are likely to face persecution, is prohibited in numerous international treaty bodies, including the Convention against Torture and the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance (ICPPED). The United States is party to the Convention against Torture but has refused to sign the ICPPED. 

According to the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, adherence to non-refoulement is “an implicit guarantee flowing from the obligations to respect, protect and fulfill human rights.” 

Justifying its decision to deport these Christians and others, a Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman claimed that “Not a single one of these aliens asserted fear of returning to their home country at any point during processing or custody.” 

While the veracity of her claim is impossible to verify, the principle of non-refoulement applies to “all migrants at all times, irrespective of migration status,” according to the U.N. Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. 

To read more news stories, visit the ICC Newsroom. For interviews, please email press@persecution.org. 

17 Americans arrested in Nepal

 

Nepalese media reported last week that more than a dozen U.S. citizens and one citizen of India were detained and questioned over alleged evangelistic activities in southeastern Nepal. Civil society sources and religious leaders have confirmed the news to International Christian Concern (ICC), specifying the city of Dharan as the location of the incident and expressing alarm at the Nepalese government’s overt attempt to intimidate the Christian community. 

The American Christians, visiting Nepal on tourist visas, were reportedly found helping to construct a building in Dharan. Authorities accused them of sharing their faith with locals, though officials did not elaborate on the concern. 

Nepal’s Anti-Conversion Laws 

Under the National Penal Code of 2017, “No person shall convert any one from one religion to another or make attempt to or abet such conversion.” The Nepalese Constitution, ratified in 2015, contains a similar prohibition, stating in Article 26(3) that “No person shall ... convert another person from one religion to another or any act or conduct that may jeopardize other’s [sic] religion.” 

Together, these laws allow authorities to selectively target Christian religious practice, which prioritizes sharing one’s faith with others more than many other religions. Neighboring India, which has been accused of funding religious extremism in Nepal, has similar laws but only at the state level. 

Anti-conversion laws in India also target “forced” conversion. While the practical impact of this semantic difference is minimal, Nepal’s hardline stance against all conversions makes it an outlier in the region. 

Nepalese authorities released the group after questioning, warning them that they could face further consequences if found continuing to proselytize. Under Nepalese law, authorities could deport and ban the group from reentering Nepal. Local Christians, who are regularly harassed by authorities on charges of proselytization, face three to six years in prison for the offense. 

Legal and Social Harassment 

Though those facing prosecution are often released on bail and later acquitted, this is not always the case. Even when positively resolved, these cases have a dampening effect on religious minorities and their right to share their religion. Some accused report being detained for months while their cases progressed slowly. Many cases stretch on for years before being decided. 

In one famous case, Christian pastor Keshav Raj Acharya was sentenced to two years in prison in November 2021 for proselytizing. Acharya’s trouble with the law stems back to 2020, when he was arrested three times for an online video in which he appeared to claim that God could heal COVID-19, then a relatively new global phenomenon. In addition to COVID-related charges, authorities charged him with attempted religious conversion and offending the religious sensibilities of others — both crimes under Nepalese law, as detailed above. 

Years of legal pressure have not succeeded in diminishing the Christian church in Nepal, which is growing rapidly by all accounts. Still, the country’s legal structure and everyday practices are discriminatory, from their constitution down to the local police. Nepal’s legal structure and governmental practices require significant reform to realign with international human rights standards. 

A widespread problem for the Christian community in Nepal is the matter of community-level ostracism that pushes Christians to the margins. Boycotts of Christians’ businesses by their neighbors can have a devastating impact, especially in remote areas where one’s identity is known to everyone, and the only potential customers are local to that town or village. In some cases, the only option is to relocate. 

In Hinduism, the body after death is considered a hindrance to the soul’s progress toward freedom and is therefore cremated to prevent the soul from lingering near the body. Nepalese Christians tend to bury their dead without first cremating, creating discomfort among their Hindu neighbors who believe that this practice creates haunted areas. Consequently, Christians in certain areas — especially in the Kathmandu Valley — face difficulties accessing land to bury their dead. 

In one well-known communal cemetery, located behind the Pashupati Hindu Temple in Kathmandu, the court ruled against Christians seeking to bury their dead in what had been their traditional local burial ground. When ICC visited the site in 2023, the area was still closed to Christian burials. However, the U.S. Department of State noted in a report published in May of that year that authorities were allowing burials of individuals from indigenous faiths. 

To read more news stories, visit the ICC Newsroom. For interviews, please email press@persecution.org. 

Infiltration of Islam into Europe has led to more hate crimes against Christians

 There are quite a few people — including some Christians themselves — who seem to think it’s unsuitable to talk about anti-Christian hate crimes in the West when believers are being slaughtered in Nigeria, disappearing in North Korea, or living under constant fear and contempt in Pakistan. 

Though Paris is indeed no Pyongyang, people should be able to discuss the existence of anti-Christian sentiment regardless of where it exists. And it so happens that Europe is seeing a rising number of hate crimes directed against Christianity, according to a recent report from the Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination Against Christians in Europe (OIDAC). 

“For all of my life living in the U.K., I grew up with open discussion and free speech,” said Paul James-Griffiths, director of Christian Heritage Edinburgh. “From about 2013, things began to change. Before then, people could generally express different opinions in a free society.” 

James-Griffiths added that, for the last decade-plus, “The currents against Christianity and traditional family values, as well as against our democratic culture, have gone from being a stream to being a river.” 

Behind the changing currents, he sees two main sources: radical Muslims and people with far-left politics. “Both groups seem to use each other to advance their cause,” he said, adding that the far-left “champions diversity, except for Christianity and traditional values based on this faith.” Meanwhile, radical Muslims “laugh behind the backs” of the far left, while they use “diversity” ideals “to gain power in Europe.”  

An example of this growing political power surfaced in December 2023 with the formation of The Muslim Vote (U.K.), which seeks to exert pressure on politicians. 

James-Griffiths fears that the U.K. might eventually see the prohibition of “open discussion and critique of Islam, Muhammad, and the Quran.” 

For European Christianity, it can be difficult to determine whether the larger threat comes from adherents to an anti-Christian belief system, or from the many Europeans with a godless hatred — homegrown in the West and now in full bloom. 

“Both forms of persecution are growing in the U.K.,” James-Griffiths said. “My wife is German, and she says that their culture is trying to hold on to the Christian way of doing things more strongly than we are doing [in the U.K.]. However, this is now rapidly changing.” 

One of the most striking statistics in the recent OIDAC report involves Germany, where hate crimes against Christians reportedly doubled from 2022 to 2023.  

Along with this sharp rise is the reality that “Many anti-Christian hate crimes do not make it into official statistics,” said Anja Hoffmann, executive director of the OIDAC in Europe.  

Additionally, many European countries do not keep statistics regarding anti-Christian incidents.  

“We are increasingly concerned about the overall situation in Europe,” Hoffmann said. “In particular, restrictions on religious freedom and discrimination against Christians ... leading to growing self-censorship among Christians. 

“More and more young Christians have become very cautious about whether and when to talk about their faith in public.” 

On a similar note, James-Griffiths remarked that, “Increasingly, we are seeing people being persecuted and losing their jobs for their stand for traditional Christian values.”  

This type of discrimination, as Hoffmann pointed out, tends to come from “radical secularist views that lead to intolerance of religious beliefs or worldviews.” However, anti-Christian hate crimes can have a variety of motives. These include radical Muslim hostility, along with motives from persons with far-left or far-right politics.  

“Some perpetrators simply have a personal hatred of Christianity or religion in general, which is directed against church buildings,” Hoffmann said. 

Most cases recorded by OIDAC involve perpetrators and motives that remain unknown. And even among attacks with an established radical Islamist motive, the perpetrators are often European natives, not migrants.  

Though attacks in Europe by migrant perpetrators are indeed noteworthy, much of the continent’s underlying anti-Christian hostility comes from the Europeans themselves, a considerable number of whom occupy positions of influence. As a result, Christians can feel compelled to hide their beliefs and views in the workplace and at a university.  

“In order to counter this trend and safeguard religious freedom, including the freedom to express religious views in public, we need to raise awareness of legislation and social trends that have a negative impact on religious freedom,” Hoffmann said. 

Though Christians in Europe encounter far less physical danger than believers in many other parts of the world, the continent is still witnessing an increase in incidents of anti-Christian hostility, and this hostility can come from multiple sources.  

“I hope and pray for a Christian revival and reformation again in Europe as more and more people see what is going on,” James-Griffiths said. “However, the trend appears to be heading towards anti-Jewish and anti-Christian movements.” 

To read more news stories, visit the ICC Newsroom. For interviews, please email press@persecution.org. 

Cuba loosening restrictions by releasing political prisoners

 Pastor Lorenzo Rosales Fajardo gained his freedom from a Cuban prison on Friday after serving three and a half years in jail for protesting the communist nation’s human rights violations. His release is part of a mass pardon agreement and incremental release of 553 prisoners, a deal brokered by the Vatican. 

Cuban authorities detained Rosales Fajardo, pastor of Monte de Sion Independent Church in Palma Soriano, Cuba, on July 11, 2021, after he joined thousands of Cuban citizens in voicing concerns about the regime’s treatment of its people. Hundreds were reportedly detained as a result of the demonstrations.  

According to Christian Solidarity Worldwide, Rosales Fajardo was given a seven-year sentence, down from eight, in May 2022 after being convicted on charges of criminal incitement, assault, public disorder, and disrespect. 

The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) in September 2024 denounced the imprisonment of Rosales Fajardo and reported that he was tortured while detained. 

“Fajardo … experienced torture in detention,” the report states. “On one occasion, prison authorities beat Fajardo so severely that he lost a tooth. They then urinated on him. In February 2024, the U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary Detention found that the Cuban government had arbitrarily arrested and imprisoned Fajardo.” 

Amnesty International in 2022 explained that the protests resulted from the Cuban government’s poor handling of food and medicine distribution, electricity blackouts, and their restrictions on human rights. 

Communist governments, like that of Cuba, often restrict protests and levy spurious charges against demonstrators as a way of instilling fear in their citizens and deterring further opposition. Christians are frequent targets of communist governmental attacks due to their criticism and defense of human rights abuses. 

According to International Christian Concern’s Global Persecution Index of 2024, “dictators everywhere appear to be increasing their focus on controlling religion or eliminating Christianity altogether.”  

To read more news stories, visit the ICC Newsroom. For interviews, please email press@persecution.org.