Arrested for travelling to Malaysia

 International Christian Concern (ICC) has learned that on July 28, five Christians from a house church in Taiyuan, Shanxi Province were arrested and detained for attending a Christian conference in Malaysia last year.

According to Preacher An Yankui from Xuncheng Reformed Church, one of their church members in Fenyang city named Zhang Ligong was detained on July 13 for his faith. After serving his 15-day administrative detention, he was released yesterday from the detention center. Two other church co-workers went to pick him up and were arrested on the spot.

In the meantime, the police arrested three other co-workers from their homes. The five of them all flew to Malaysia last year to attend the “KL2020 Gospel and Culture” Christian conference hosted by the prominent Chinese Indonesian pastor Stephen Tong.

From January 28 to 31, they heard from influential speakers such as Pastor Tim Keller and Pastor D.A. Carson, along with thousands of other participants. Yet, although they legally departed and returned to China with their passports, they are now being hit with trumped-up charges.

Preacher An Yankui sent out an urgent prayer request through Facebook yesterday, asking brothers and sisters to pay attention and pray for these arrested individuals. “May God never forsake His children and continue to grant mercy to His church on the path carrying the cross,” he stated.

At the time of writing, none of the family members have received a detention notice from the police. It is unclear how long they will be detained for.

Xuncheng Church has been heavily targeted in recent months, including constant harassment and the detention of a preacher and several members last November. One of the members, Zhao Weikai, was arrested on May 17. While he was initially accused of “committing religious fraud” and later released after 15 days of administrative detention, he was again arrested on July 7 and criminally detained for “allegedly possessing items that promote terrorism and extremism.” He can face up to three years of imprisonment.

Gina Goh, ICC’s Regional Manager for Southeast Asia, said, “Since the Revised Regulations on Religious Affairs took effect in February 2018, the Chinese government has added more laws seeking to curb religious activities that are not state-sanctioned. Beijing is paranoid about Chinese Christians’ interaction with Christians overseas. As a result, they are penalizing Christians to deter them from ‘receiving foreign influence.’ It is a shame that the Chinese government constantly manipulates laws to violate the religious freedom of its citizens.”

For interviews, please contact Addison Parker: press@persecution.org.

Uttar Pradesh is utterly wack!

 International Christian Concern (ICC) has learned that at least 30 Christians in India’s Uttar Pradesh state have been falsely accused of engaging in forced religious conversions and arrested in the last month. This new wave of persecution was triggered in late June after two Muslim men were arrested and charged under the state’s new anti-conversion law.

Hindu nationalists, including members of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), claimed that the two Muslim men were involved in the forceful conversion of more than 1,000 people. Using the incident as an opportunity for political gain, BJP politicians publicly lauded the arrests and warned against fraudulent conversions of Hindus to non-Hindu faiths.

Since then, ICC has documented at least 30 Christians in Uttar Pradesh being attacked by radical Hindu nationalists. In each of these incidents, perpetrators justified their attacks by falsely accusing their Christian victims of engaging in fraudulent conversions.

“This is a grave situation for Christians in the state,” a church leader, who requested anonymity, told ICC. “There is zero response from the Yogi administration, which empowers the attackers to do more.”

“The number of incidents and arrests in recent weeks shows increased persecution in Uttar Pradesh,” the church leader continued. “The attacks are mainly perpetrated by the hardcore Hindutva activists who enjoy the support of the politicians.” 

On June 27, Ram Keval and three other Christians were arrested as they attended a Sunday worship service in the Ambedkarnagar district. The four Christians spent 11 days in jail.

“We gathered with nearly 20 other people for Sunday worship,” Keval told ICC. “We were forcibly taken to the police station and later sent to jail for no crime.”

In a similar incident, Pastor Shiva Kumar and three other Christians were arrested by police on June 28 while attending a house dedication ceremony in Dhawrara. According to local reports, an unknown person called the police and claimed religious conversions were taking place at the ceremony.

Another nine Christians were arrested in two separate incidents on July 18. Sadhu Srinivas Gautham, one of the Christians arrested, reported that a mob of 25 radical Hindu nationalists stormed a prayer meeting he attended in Gangapur. The mob accused the Christians of illegally luring Hindus into converting to Christianity.

“They raged against me,” Gautham told ICC. “It was as if they wanted to kill me on the spot. However, police arrived and escorted us to the police station.”

“The police officer and officials from the district administration demonized us, saying we have deserted India’s traditional religion of Hinduism and have accepted a foreign religion,” Gautham continued. “They told us we should deny our Christian faith and go back to Hinduism.”

In states where similar anti-conversion laws are enacted, including Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand, they are widely abused. Radical nationalists falsely accuse Christians of forcefully converting individuals to Christianity to justify harassment and assault. Local police often overlook violence perpetrated against Christians due to false accusations of forced conversion.

To date, no individual has been convicted of forced conversions in India. This is despite the fact that some of the anti-conversion laws have been in force since 1967.

William Stark, ICC’s Regional Manager for South Asia, said, “We here at International Christian Concern are deeply concerned by the surge in persecution being reported in Uttar Pradesh. In the last month alone, at least 30 Christians have been arrested after being falsely accused of violating the state’s anti-conversion law. Like we have seen in other states, Uttar Pradesh’s anti-conversion laws provides a legal cover for radical Hindu nationalists seeking to persecute Christians. If the government of Uttar Pradesh allows this to continue, radical Hindu nationalists will know they have absolute impunity to harass Christians and close down their places of worship.”

For interviews, please contact Addison Parker: press@persecution.org.

Kidnapping continues in Nigeria

 International Christian Concern (ICC) has learned that in the early hours of July 5, 2021, gunmen invaded Bethel Baptist High School, Damishi, in Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna State, Nigeria, and kidnapped 153 students. A statement released by the president of the Baptist Conference, Kaduna, Reverend Ishaya A. Jangado, stated, “We received a distress call in the early hours of Monday 5th July 2021, that bandits have attacked Bethel Baptist High School, Damishi Kaduna. The situation we have found ourself is indeed pathetic, particularly for the parents of the kidnapped students and the school community.”

As of July 6, 2021, 28 of the students were recovered, while 125 are still missing. In a brief comment, the chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria, Kaduna State Chapter, Reverend Joseph Hayab disclosed that his son attends the same school and was among those who narrowly escaped. “When I heard the news, I kind of gave up, though still kept making some contacts. Surprisingly, I got a call later that my son had surfaced.” Rev. Hayab’s son told his father that when the gunmen entered, they ordered all of the children to lie down prostrate, while they started shooting. They then commanded all of the students to move out of the hostel. When some of the students ran out, the gunmen chased after them. Rev. Hayab’s son carefully escaped through another exit while the gunmen weren’t looking. When he noticed an adult running and recognized him as one of his teachers, he ran behind him and escaped. It was this teacher who called Hayab to inform him that his son escaped and was with him.

The Baptist Conference president stated that when he heard about the attack, he immediately contacted security operatives and mobilized other stakeholders for a rescue mission. Search and rescue operations are still ongoing. Commenting further, he said, “In Kaduna, there is no Islamic school that has been attacked in this manner. A mission school was targeted and they took away our students.” He offered words of comfort to parents of the students. “Our trust is in God, and I urge all our parents to remain calm and keep faith with God for there is nothing He cannot do. God Almighty will arise and intervene in this unfortunate incident.”

ICC’s Regional Manager for Africa, Nathan Johnson, said, “We pray for those who have been taken. We pray that they are able to return home safely and swiftly to their families. We call on President Buhari and the government of Nigeria to step in and secure the release of these children, just as they did in the case of Dapchi and Kankara. They must act swiftly to ensure that none of these children are injured or killed. Governor El-Rufai must work with the community to ensure that these kinds of attacks do not continue.”

For interviews, please contact Addison Parker: press@persecution.org.