“May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had”
Romans 15:5
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Pakistan – Christian accused of “blasphemy” sentenced to death
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Russia – Christians charged with administrative offence as armed officers disrupt conference
Nigeria – Kidnappers free remaining 15 Christians abducted from church in Kaduna State; one Bethel Baptist student still in captivity after two are released
Fifteen Christians abducted during Sunday worship at a church in Kaduna State, Nigeria, on 31 October have been freed by their captors.
“Glory be to God,” said Dr Israel Adelani Akanji, President of the Nigerian Baptist Convention, in a post on his Facebook page.
“I rejoice to inform you that the remaining 15 members of Emmanuel Baptist Church, Kakau Daji, Kaduna, regained their freedom in the early evening yesterday, December 13, 2021.”
They were among 66 worshippers kidnapped by bandits during the church attack, in which one man died and another was injured.
Pastor Akanji urged Christians to continue to pray for three students from Bethel Baptist High School in Kaduna State who remained in the hands of kidnappers.
These prayers were answered at the turn of the year as the kidnappers released two more students, leaving one student still being held after almost six months in captivity.
Pastor John Joseph Hayab, chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria in Kaduna State, said one of the students was freed on 28 December 2021 and the other on 1 January 2022.
Pastor Hayab praised Kaduna police after two of the alleged kidnappers were arrested during a raid on one of the gang’s hideouts. It is hoped that “sustainable effort like this from the police” would help to bring home soon the “one and last” student, added the pastor.
Gunmen abducted 121 students from the Christian boarding school in the early hours of 5 July 2021. The kidnappers freed the students in batches, beginning with the release of 28 pupils on Sunday 25 July, with further releases in August, September and October. The school’s head boy, praised by Pastor Hayab for his leadership during the kidnapping ordeal, was freed on health grounds in November.
Give thanks that the remaining 15 members of Emmanuel Baptist Church have been set free. Thank God also for further releases of Bethel Baptist High School students. Call out to the Lord for the final student to be released swiftly. Ask that the ordeal that both groups experienced will draw them closer to Jesus and to one another. Pray that the Christian community as a whole in Kaduna State will stand firm in uncertain times and trust in the One whose steadfast love never ceases (Lamentations 3:22-23).
Pakistan – Christian accused of “blasphemy” sentenced to death
Zafar Bhatti, a Pakistani Christian who was convicted of “blasphemy” in May 2017, was sentenced to death by Rawalpindi District Court on 3 January.
Zafar, who has been fighting to clear his name since his arrest in 2012, appeared in court as part of an ongoing appeal against the life sentence he received when first convicted.
The court, however, upheld the 2017 conviction, and further ruled that the proper sentence for “blasphemy” against Muhammad, the Islamic prophet, was death rather than life imprisonment.
The ruling is based on a 1991 constitutional court decision that
the death penalty is the only appropriate punishment for “blasphemy” against Muhammad.
Zafar’s legal representatives plan to appeal against both the death penalty and the original conviction.
Zafar was convicted of “blasphemy” for allegedly sending texts insulting Muhammad on a phone that was not registered in his name. He has always denied the allegations. In September 2020 it was reported that he had suffered a heart attack in prison, and that there were serious concerns for his deteriorating physical and mental health.
Section 295-C of the Pakistan Penal Code states that any person who “defiles the sacred name of the Holy Prophet” is to be “punished with death or imprisonment for life”.
This, however, was followed by the 1991 court ruling that the only suitable punishment for “blasphemy” against Muhammad was death, a more lenient sentence of life imprisonment being “repugnant to the injunctions of Islam”.
Higher courts are, nevertheless, reluctant to uphold a death sentence, and no executions have ever been carried out.
Cry out for justice for our brother Zafar in his hour of trial (James 1:12). Pray that he will know the sustaining hand of the Judge of the whole earth in the midst of the darkness he encounters. Pray that his appeal will be successful and that both the death sentence and the original conviction will be overturned. Ask that the Holy Spirit will send conviction on the judge presiding over his appeal so that Zafar will be vindicated.
Russia – Christians charged with administrative offence as armed officers disrupt conference
Several dozen armed officers from Russia’s Federal Security Service disrupted a Christian conference in Ramenskoye, near Moscow, on 2 December, confining attendees in the conference building for around ten hours.
Officers from the Centre for Combating Extremism burst into the building wearing bulletproof vests and armed with machine guns.
Most attendees were charged with an “administrative offence” – an act considered to violate “the rules and norms” of the Russian Federation – because the Christian ministry that had organised the event had been declared an “undesirable” foreign organisation. Such offences carry a potential fine of 5,000-15,000 roubles (£50-£150; $68-$204; €60-€180).
The officers forced the attendees – including women and children – to lie face down on the floor. Some pastors were kicked while on the floor, despite offering no resistance. Several women were taken ill owing to the stress of being held, while a Barnabas Fund contact said that many of the children “thought that the building was seized by terrorists”.
The contact described the armed men as “loudly speaking with
obscene language”.
“We are extremely concerned about this event, as we have not done anything illegal,” said our contact, explaining that the conference had been organised entirely lawfully. “We, as citizens of Russia, are interested in the legality of our actions,” he added. “We pray for and bless Russia – we want to serve for the good of our country.”
Lift up the faithful Christians who attended the conference in Ramenskoye before the Lord. Pray that they will know the Lord’s comfort, especially children traumatised by the violent disturbance. Ask that the authorities will see the right kind of extremism in these Christians and other believers across Russia in their love, perseverance and faithfulness (1 John 4:16). Pray that our brothers and sisters will not hesitate to display the radical nature of Christ’s teaching in their lives.
Mozambique – Pastor decapitated by Islamist extremists
A pastor in the Macomia district of Cabo Delgado, northern Mozambique, was abducted and decapitated by Islamist extremists on 15 December.
The Islamists then ordered the pastor’s widow to carry the head in a sack to a district police station and report the murder.
The incident is the latest act of brutality in a region that has suffered much from shocking violence in recent years.
In March 2021 dozens of people were killed and thousands forced to flee after hundreds of Islamist militants attacked a coastal town in Cabo Delgado, a province rich in oil and gas reserves.
The militant Islamic State-affiliated organisation Ahlu Sunnah Wa-Jama, known locally as Al Shabaab (not the Somali-based group of the same name), effectively gained control of an area of Cabo Delgado in 2017.
Beheading, skinning and cutting off the limbs of their victims are the group’s typical methods, with one expert commenting, “What they do to the people they capture and kill I have never seen anywhere in Africa.”
It is only in the last few weeks that Mozambican, Rwandan and South African forces have started to drive the Islamists back.
Thank God for the pastor’s devotion that led to him paying the ultimate sacrifice. Pray that his martyrdom will draw others to salvation and pray that his widow will be comforted after the horrific experience and bereavement. Ask that the congregation deprived cruelly of their pastor will turn fervently to the Good Shepherd and find new strength in abundant good pasture in their walk with Him (John 10:9).
Iran − Eight Christian converts acquitted of “propaganda” charges but Roksari Kanbari faces jail again
An Iranian court in the south-western city of Dezful has acquitted eight Christian converts accused of “propaganda activities in favour of anti-regime groups”.
On 30 November, the judge ruled that “religious conversion” is not criminalised in Iran’s Islamic Penal Code. Esmaeil Narimanpour, Mohammad Ali Torabi Shangari, Masood Nabi, Alireza Varak-Shah, Hojat Lotfi Khalaf Juy, Mohammad Kayidgap, Mohsen Saadati Zadeh and Alireza Roshanaei Zadeh were all found not guilty.
The judge’s verdict concluded that while conversion from Islam was against Islamic law (sharia) and would be met with punishment in the afterlife, it was not illegal according to Iranian law.
In a separate case, Roksari Kanbari, a 64-year-old Iranian Christian convert from Islam who has already served time in prison for “propaganda against the regime”, has been summoned to answer the same charge again. She was ordered to appear before a prosecutor in her home town of Karaj by 19 January for what Roksari previously described as “the crime of believing in Jesus Christ”.
Roksari served four months of a one-year sentence before being released in March 2020 as part of measures to halt the spread of Covid.
She is concerned for her 71-year-old husband Fathalli’s health, for whom she is the primary carer, in the event of further imprisonment.
Following her release from jail, Roksari was forced to attend “re-education” classes with an Islamic cleric for several weeks, and ordered to read Islamic books on which she was later tested. She was forbidden further contact with any Christians.
Praise God for such a significant decision in the acquittal of the eight believers. Give thanks for the judge’s recognition that Christian beliefs do not equate to opposition to government. Ask that Iranian Christians will be mightily encouraged to continue being good, dependable citizens (Romans 13:1; 1 Peter 2:17). Thank the Lord for Roksari’s steadfastness in owning His name in the face of intimidation. Pray that Roksari will know God’s presence and strength as she faces the prospect of further imprisonment, and that both her own and her husband’s physical and spiritual needs will be met in the months ahead.
