The Communist Party in China, which is leading a crackdown on Christians, detained two Christian summer camp leaders in the northwestern Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and accused them of trying to brainwash children.
CHR Comment: According to the report, Chinese officials viewed Christian beliefs as superstitions.
Source: China’s Communist Party Detained Christian Camp Leaders, Accused Them of Brainwashing Children
The activism of the Rev. Evan Mawarire, who organized the country’s largest protests in a decade, has galvanized public outrage over the president’s rule.
CHR Comment: Pres. Mugabe, a longstanding controversial figure, is 92 years old and near the end of his career. Rev. Mawarire was making an effort to hasten the end.
Source: Pastor in Zimbabwe Is Arrested as Anger Toward Robert Mugabe Builds – The New York Times
Seven Christians have been arrested in Nepal for spreading the Gospel by handing out Bible handbooks to as many as 885 students in the Dolakha district, International Christian Concern reports.
CHR Comment: A law passed in 2015 forbade Christians from converting others and from distributing biblical literature. The seven Christians violated with new law, resulting in their arrest. The majority of people in Nepal are Hindu. They do not favor freedom of religion.
Source: Christians Arrested in Nepal for Spreading the Gospel
Pastor Yousef Nadarkhani, a house church leader from the Church of Iran denomination who was acquitted of apostasy in 2012 after being sentenced to death by hanging, was arrested once again, this time along with his wife and a church member, by Iranian authorities on Friday, according to U.K.-based Christian Solidarity Worldwide.
CHR Comment: The article explains that officials repeatedly arrest Christians as a strategy for intimidating the community so that others will not support Christianity or become Christians. In this most recent case, the pastor’s wife and another Christian were also arrested.
Source: Iran Re-Arrests Pastor Yousef Nadarkhani Who Was Once Sentenced to Death
ROME (RNS) Berhane spoke recently at a Rome conference on Christian persecution in the hopes others might learn of the grievous human rights violations in her native land.
CHR Comment: Eritrea only recognizes four religious denominations. The article implies that that the Eritrean government was responsible for the torture (“custody” and “arrest”) though the article does not make this absolutely clear. Berhane is a Pentecostal.
British police on Tuesday said they had arrested a former soldier for the Bloody Sunday killings in Londonderry in 1972, one of the worst atrocities in Northern Ireland’s three decades of unrest.
CHR Comment: There is apparently no statute of limitations on this case since the events took place 43 years ago. Given the math, the former soldier arrested was 23 years old when the shooting took place. One wonders why it has take so long to provide a substantive investigation of the event, which resulted in the deaths of 13 Catholic protesters.
Source: Ex-soldier is first arrest in N.Ireland Bloody Sunday probe
Arrests part of criminal investigations by Vatican police underway for several months.
CHR Comment: The article briefly refers to other leaks and describes the incident with Benedict XVI’s butler. There are apparently some books on Vatican finances coming out.
church history review 