Iran: Appeal hearing postponed
On 26 August, MEC requested prayer for an appeal court hearing scheduled for 3 September in which three separate cases would be considered. The judge failed to attend the hearing and so the hearing has been postponed, with no new date yet scheduled. The first of the...
Iran: Christian convert starts one-year prison sentence
Iranian Christians request prayer for convert Fatemeh Bakhteri (also known as Ailar), who has started serving a one-year prison sentence in Evin Prison on account of her Christian activities and refusal to recant her faith. After an appeal court in May upheld her...
Algeria: Campaign to close churches continues
Algerian Christians request prayer as the campaign by authorities to close churches intensifies. Early in the morning of 2 September, gendarmes came to the Church of the Prince of Peace in Ighzer Amokrane and sealed the building. A closure order for this church had...
Algeria: Campaign against churches continues
Algerian Christians request continued prayer as the government campaign against churches continues. On 21 August, MEC reported that closure orders had been issued against two churches in the governorate of Bejaia, in the towns of Akbou and Ighzer Amokrane. Church...
Iran: Upcoming Appeal Hearing
On 26 August MEC issued an email requesting prayer for an appeal court hearing scheduled for 3 September in which three separate cases would be considered. Iranian Christians report that it now seems likely that only two of the defendants will have their sentences...
Algeria: Campaign against Algerian church continues
Algerian Christians request prayer for the continued campaign by the authorities to close churches. On Sunday, 18 August, the churches in Akbou and Ighzer Amokrane were visited by police who informed them their buildings will be sealed in 10 days. These closures will...
Iraq: intimidation of Nineveh Plain Christians
Iraqi Christians asked us to pray for the town of Bartella, a predominantly Christian town in the Nineveh Plains, east of Mosul, where Christian communities are facing growing intimidation and threats from ethnically Shabak militias. Bartella was among the towns from...
Algeria: another church closure in Tizi Ouzou Province
Algerian Christians request prayer following the closure of another church on 6 August. The church in Boudjima, 25km from Tizi Ouzou, was sealed closed by officers of the National Gendarmerie, upon the orders of the governor of Tizi Ouzou Province. This church is...
Iran: Update on recent court hearings for Iranian converts
On 27 July Mahrokh (Roksare) Kanbari (65) attended Karaj Islamic Revolutionary Court to answer charges of “acting against national security.” Commenting on the court hearing on Saturday, friends said that the judge was very rude and tried to humiliate Mahrokh after...
Iran: Court hearing for converts postponed after judge refuses lawyer
Iranian Christians request prayer for nine Christian converts associated with the “Church of Iran” who attended an aborted court hearing on 24 July. The men were arrested in raids on house churches earlier this year. Seven of them were released on bail, the two...
Iran: Sevada Aghasar, conditionally released from prison
Iranian Christians are delighted to report that Sevada Aghasar, an ethnic Armenian, has been conditionally released from prison. Following an unsuccessful appeal, Sevada Aghasar was summoned to serve a five-year prison sentence in 2017, more than two years after he...
Iran: Upcoming court hearing for Christian convert
Friends of Christian convert Mahrokh (Roksare) Kanbari request prayer as she has been summoned to Karaj Islamic Revolutionary Court on 27 July. In December 2018, shortly before Christmas, three agents from Iranian intelligence raided the home of Mahrokh (65) and...