FRANCE – French Christian charity workers kidnapped in Iraq are freed
BBC | March 27, 2020 Four workers from a French Christian charity who were kidnapped in Iraq in January have been freed, President Emmanuel Macron's office said. The three French…
IRAN – Iran’s Imprisoned Christians Face Yet Another Danger: COVID-19
Religion Unplugged | Lela Gilbert | March 26, 2020 “The new coronavirus kills one person every 10 minutes in Iran,” according to Kianush Jahanpur, Iran’s health ministry spokesman tweeted. “Based on…
SYRIA – Turkey Cuts Water Supply for NE Syria
International Christian Concern | March 24, 2020 Turkish sponsored armed groups have cut the water supply this weekend which provides water to 460,000 people living in Syria’s Hasakah province. The…
IRAN – Iran Releases a Third of Christian Prisoners Due to Coronavirus Concerns
Christianity Today | Jayson Casper | March 23, 2020 Forced by the new coronavirus, Iran took the tiniest of steps to placate global advocacy for religious freedom. A temporary release of about…
UK – UK accepts ‘real risk’ of persecution for ‘ordinary’ Iranian Christians
Article Eighteen | March 18, 2020 The UK’s new guidelines for asylum cases involving Iranian Christian converts acknowledge there is a “real risk” of persecution for “ordinary” Christians in Iran,…
IRAN – Iran extends Christian convert’s sentence 2 years for ‘evangelical Zionist Christianity’
Post | Samuel Smith | March 10, 2020 A 65-year-old Iranian Christian convert who was sentenced to three years in prison for “insulting Islamic sacred beliefs” in January has been…
IRAN – ‘Every time the bell rang, we thought it was him’ – daughter of pastor executed 30 years ago
Article18 | Mary Mohammadi | March 9, 2020 The following is an English translation of an interview conducted by Christian convert Fatemeh (Mary) Mohammadi with Arian Soodmand, youngest daughter of Pastor Hossein Soodmand,…
SYRIA – ‘Let Nothing Disturb You’ — Syrian Priest and Former ISIS Hostage Finds Hope
NCR | Solne Tadi | March 6, 2020 Father Jacques Mourad spent five months in the jails of Islamic State militants, in constant danger of death. One day after the Palmyra offensive,…
RELEASE – Save the Persecuted Christians: Mary Fatemeh Mohammadi is a Courageous Woman of Faith
Save the Persecuted Christians | Mar. 6, 2020 Iranian Dissident Imprisoned Again for Protesting the Regime Should be Remembered on International Women’s Day WASHINGTON—Mary Fatemeh Mohammadi, a courageous human rights…
TURKEY – Some concerned Turkish president is weaponizing Syrian refugees
Crux | Dale Gavlak | March 5, 2020 Turkey and Greece are trading blame following the deaths of Syrian refugees trying to flee to Europe, but some observers believe Turkish…
IRAN – Six Christians among 54,000 released from prison
Voice of the Persecuted | March 5, 2020 Six Christians were among the more than 54,000 prisoners released from custody in Iran over the past week, as part of efforts…
IRAN – Christ Subverts Iran’s Islamic Republic
Jihad Watch | Andrew Harrod | March 3, 2020 “Christianity is considered an existential threat to the Islamic Republic of Iran,” wrote February 7 the Christian religious freedom advocates Arielle Del Turco and Lela Gilbert.…
LEBANON – Lebanon’s economic collapse spells doom for Mideast Christians
New York Post | David J. Malloy, Gregory Mansour and Abdallah Elias Zaidan | March 2, 2020 Last month, the US Senate confirmed America’s new ambassador to Lebanon, Dorothy Shea. She will need…
RELEASE – Save the Persecuted Christians: Egypt’s Coptic Christians Must Never Be Forgotten
Save the Persecuted Christians | Mar. 2, 2020 Five Years After 21 Christian Men Were Beheaded in Libya, Plight Remains Desperate for Believers in Egypt WASHINGTON—Upon the death of 91-year-old…
IRAN – Iranian Christians request prayer for Christian convert Mary (Fatemeh) Mohammadi who is now known to be in Qarchak women’s prison, suffering from physical abuse she has received while in detention.
MEC | February 14, 2020 Mary (21) was arrested on 12 January near Azadi Square in Tehran while protests were underway following the downing Ukrainian International Airlines Flight 752 by…
USA – Museum of the Bible Exhibit Tells the Stories of Persecuted Middle East Christians
National Catholic Register | Lauretta Brown | February 11, 2020 The haunting faces of Christian refugees surround desecrated religious books and statuary at the new “Cross in Fire” exhibit at…
IRAN – Meet the two women who spread Christianity to hundreds in Iran’s Evin prison
Al Arabiya English | Emily Judd | February 11, 2020 When Iranian authorities sentenced two women to death in 2009 for spreading the message of Christianity, international observers feared the…
IRAN – Evin Prison, Iran’s “Torture Factory,” Sanctioned
Persecution | Claire Evans | February 10, 2020 Last February, International Christian Concern (ICC) requested that the United States Treasury Department issue Global Magnitsky sanctions against Iran’s Evin Prison, an entity with…
IRAN – Persecuted Middle East Christians Petition International Community: ‘Stand Up for Your Brothers and Sisters’
Decision | Becca Coon | February 10, 2020 “My fear is that we’re too quiet,” said Dabrina Bet-Tamraz, an Iranian Christian whose father, mother and brother are imprisoned in Iran…
WORLDWIDE – Middle East patriarchs discuss plight of Christian minorities with Pope Francis
Catholic News Agency | Hannah Brockhaus | February 7, 2020 Six Catholic patriarchs from Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, and Iraq met with Pope Francis at the Vatican Friday to discuss the…
SYRIA – Christians in northeast Syria living in fear as Turkish forces, IS group active in region
France 24 English | February 7, 2020 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79IxYKmAc3o&feature=youtu.be
IRAQ – Iraq’s Christians, Muslims, and Yezidis unite to remember Holocaust
New Europe | Tamar Svanidze | January 31, 2020 Various religious denominations from Iraq came together to mark the 75th anniversary of the Holocaust and the more than 6 million…
IRAQ – 4 aid workers with French charity Christians of the Middle East disappear in Baghdad
Christian Post | Leah MarieAnn Klett | January 29, 2020 Four members of the French nongovernmental organization Christians of the Middle East, a charity that seeks to "help Christian communities…
WORLDWIDE – The ‘double vulnerability’ of persecuted Christian women
Christian Today | January 22, 2020 Last year, the Bishop of Truro published a monumental review into the persecution of Christians. The findings were stark: anti-Christian persecution is spreading and increasing in severity…
LEBANON – Violent unrest grips Beirut as ‘week of rage’ escalates
CNN | Ben Wedeman, Ghazi Balkiz and Joshua Berlinger | January 20, 2020 Beirut, Lebanon (CNN)Violent clashes between police and anti-government protesters gripped sections of Beirut Sunday night, as part of a…
IRAN – Christian activist in Tehran arrested for tweets criticizing Iran
DISRN | Jordyn Pair | January 17, 2020 Iranian news reports that Christian human rights activist Mary Fatemeh Mohammadi, who was working in Tehran, was arrested on January 12. Her location and…
RELEASE – 2020 Open Doors World Watch List Heightens Urgency of Persecuted Christians Worldwide
For Immediate Release | January 17, 2020 Save the Persecuted Christians Points to Nigeria’s Unchanged Ranking, Even Amid Especially Violent Year in African Nation WASHINGTON—Open Doors USA, a community of…
IRAN – Christian activist in Tehran arrested for tweets criticizing Iran
Discrn | Jordyn Pair | Jan. 17, 2020 Mary Fatemeh Mohammadi | Twitter Iranian news reports that Christian human rights activist Mary Fatemeh Mohammadi, who was working in Tehran, was…
IRAN – Iran’s Intelligence Minister – MAHMOUD ALAVI – laments as christianity dominates Iran
Opera | January 15, 2020 Iran’s Intelligence Minister – Mahmoud Alavi - has admitted publicly for the first time that Christianity is spreading throughout Iran. According to “Iranwire.com” Mahmoud Alavi -…
IRAQ – What’s next for Christians in the Middle East?
Angesul | Stephen M. Rasche | January 14, 2020 The future of the Iraqi Christians stands now on a precipice. The coming months will likely determine whether they are pushed…
IRAN – ‘We don’t want Islamic Republic’: Thousands of protesters stand up to Iran’s brutality
Washington Examiner | Kaylee McGhee | January 12, 2020 The numbers were horrifying: Anywhere from 400 to more than 1,500 dead and thousands more imprisoned at the hands of the Iranian…
ROME – Cdl Burke: Vatican’s global pact for ‘new humanism’ promotes one-world gov’t, opposes Christ’s Kingship
LifeSite News | Jan. 3, 2020 LA CROSSE, Wisconsin, January 3, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) – Cardinal Raymond Burke is calling on faithful Catholics to “stand up and give witness to the…
IRAQ/IRAN/USA – U.S. military claims responsibility for deadly airstrike on Iran’s Quds leader
Washington Times | Dave Boyer and Guy Taylor | Jan. 2, 2020 The U.S. military claimed responsibility Thursday night for an airstrike that killed Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the head of…
IRAN – Iran arrests evangelical Christians before Christmas holiday
Alarabiya | Emily Judd, Al Arabiya | Dec. 15, 2019 The Iranian regime has begun cracking down on evangelical Christians in Iran in the run-up to Christmas, experts and Iranian…
USA/ISRAEL – Trump signs executive order to fight antisemitism on US campuses
Jerusalem Post | Omri Nahmias and Maayan Jaffe-Hoffman | Dec. 21, 2019 US President Donald Trump announced the signing of an executive order (EO) on Wednesday that calls on government…
USA/IRAQ/SYRIA – Career Officials Thwart Aid to Christian, Yazidi Genocide Victims
Real Clear Politics | Susan Crabtree | Dec. 11, 2019 In the summer of 2014, the vicious Islamic State campaign against Yazidis and Christians in Iraq convinced President Obama to…
SYRIA – The story of a priest held hostage by Isis
Vatican News | Dec. 5, 2019 Father Jacques Mourad is a Syrian-Catholic priest. In 2015, he spent five months as a hostage of jihadist terrorists in Syria. He describes it…
IRAQ – Kurdish Tribes Stealing Assyrian Christian Lands
Foreign Policy Journal | Taiyo "Siraj" Davis | Dec. 4, 2019 There has been an ongoing occupation in Northern Iraq of Assyrian Christian indigenous lands, largely ignored by the mainstream…
IRAN – Iran Finally Admits it Slaughtered Protesters, Leaders Say Civilians Should be ‘Crucified’ for Revolting
CBN News | Emily Jones |Dec. 3, 2019 JERUSALEM, Israel - The Iranian regime confirmed on state television Tuesday morning that security forces shot and killed what it described as…
LEBANON – Lebanon’s Christians threatened, need US help
FOX News | Nina Shea | Nov. 16, 2019 Lebanon’s 1 million to 2 million Christians face dire threats as their country hurtles toward economic collapse and political anarchy. Catholics, Orthodox…