Around the world

Cuba

In May, a university student was threatened with expulsion for refusing to sign an oath which he believes conflicts with his Christian faith.

The student – who has asked to remain anonymous out of concern for his safety – explained that he could not sign the document promising to defend socialism and Marxist-Leninism. Yet a professor warned him that it was ‘not negotiable’ and that he would face severe consequences for failing to sign.

Signing the oath would allow the student to join the Territorial Militia Troops, which he is being pressured to join despite having already completed his obligatory military service. He represents thousands of young people across Cuba who are under pressure to comply with government orders that conflict with their deeply held religious beliefs.

China

Elder Hu Shigen, a human rights defender and house church leader, was released from prison in Tianjin on 26 March after completing a seven-and- a-half-year sentence. Elder Hu was arrested as part of the government’s infamous 709 crackdown in 2015 and later charged with using ‘illegal religious groups’ to ‘spread subversive thoughts and ideas’.

He is said to have been tortured whilst in prison, and was denied medical parole despite the fact that he suffered from coronary heart disease. Many other church leaders and human rights defenders, including Pastor Wang Yi, Elder Zhang Chunlei and lawyer Chang Weiping, remain in prison. Christian lawyer Gao Zhisheng is subject to enforced disappearance and may be at high risk of torture and death. No information about his whereabouts is known since he was taken from his home in Shaanxi, northwest China, on 13 August 2017.

Bangladesh

At least one person was killed and dozens more were severely injured when a mob attacked the Ahmadiyya Muslim community’s annual convention in Panchagarh district in March.

The Ahmadiyya community has faced significant harassment in recent years, as Islamist groups have demanded that the government declares the community to be non-Muslims. The full extent of the damage of this latest violence is unclear; however, it is deeply concerning that no action was taken to prevent it, considering that reports had emerged of youths vandalising Ahmadi properties.