世界各地

中国

On 12 January, four Christians were taken into custody by police in the Nujiang Grand Canyon, in China’s Yunnan Province. They were detained for participating in a Bible study in August 2022. They have since been released.

Five Christians who led the group have been detained since it took place, and they are awaiting trial for ‘organising and sponsoring an illegal gathering.’ In reality, all they did was organise prayer meetings and free Bible and music lessons for young people.

There are significant numbers of Protestant Christians in the Nujiang Grand Canyon, and the area is known as ‘the Gospel Valley’. However, a source told us that it seems the authorities want to ‘root out the Christian faith’ from the area.

巴基斯坦

In January, the National Assembly of Pakistan voted without debate to make the country’s controversial blasphemy laws even more stringent. The punishment for insulting the Prophet Mohammed’s companions, wives and family members has now increased from three years to ten years imprisonment, along with a fine approximately equivalent to £3,500.

For years, blasphemy laws have criminalised anyone who insults Islam, which carries either the death penalty or life imprisonment. These laws are often used as a weapon of revenge against both Muslims and non-Muslims to settle personal scores, and minority leaders fear that the amendments will only exacerbate this.

叙利亚

‘We have suffered a lot over centuries, and we just want to live in peace with our Muslim neighbours.’ – Mrs Mesgin Josef, Chair of the Council of the Syrian Yazidis

On 16 December, Islamist extremists vandalised a Yazidi cemetery in a village near Afrin, northwest Syria. The incident coincided with the Yazidi feast of Ezi, and is just one example of the human rights violations being perpetrated by jihadist groups loyal to Turkey.

The situation for Syria’s Yazidi community deteriorated rapidly after the Turkish invasion of Afrin in March 2018. Mrs Josef told us that many Yazidi families have stopped sending their children to school because of the imposed Islamic education.

Meanwhile ‘killing, kidnapping, forced marriages and conversions and looting have become part of daily life.’