About 20 men arrived at the school with knives and other weapons and began to beat the women. Members of a nearby church tried to defend them. 

Police in Bihar state this month obeyed Hindu extremist orders not to interfere as they beat a pastor and a Bible college student.

“I still have fears since I am taking care of many converts from Islam. I know nothing will separate me from the love of Christ and in serving Him”, says Hassan Muwanguzi.

The couple’s two daughters, 13 and 7, and their 9-year-old son were able to escape out a backdoor and have found safe shelter in another town.

The government reportedly claimed the churches were built on land zoned for other uses, but Christian leaders said it is part of wider crack-down on Christianity.

The man was sent to jail for declining to sign a document denying his evangelical faith and agreeing to contribute to the Traditionalist Catholic festivals.

Two other Christians, a pastor an a student were also sentenced to 12 years, on charges related to “espionage.”

Three others (including Czech aid worker Petr Jasek) remain in jail. Attorneys are hopeful that they also will be released soon.  

Outside the heavily guarded court, those opposing Ahok chanted, “Jail Ahok, jail Ahok, jail Ahok now”. Muslim clerics refer to the Christian politician as a “son of Satan”.

The mob blocked firefighter access to the village and cut off the water supply, and firefighters were unable to reach the burning building until police showed up and suppressed the rioting crowd with tear gas.

Now the government can independently deport anyone it deems a threat to “public security” without a judicial order or review. The directive was issued over the weekend.

The theatre group was made up of university students who travelled to the mainly Muslim area of Mandera to perform plays in local schools. “The attackers knew exactly whom they were attacking, that is, the Christians”.

Besides the killings, hundreds of Christians have been displaced. Houses, worship centers and crops that were ready for harvest have all been destroyed.

After a nine-year legal saga, a Turkish criminal court today sentenced five men to life in prison for the torture and murder of three Christians in southeast Turkey in 2007.

Rebels attacked the village of Ndomete, about 220 miles north of the capital city of Bangui, and went door-to-door killing 26 Christians, according to Morning Star News.

Church leaders say attacks on Christian communities by Muslim herdsmen constitute a war “by Islam to eliminate Christianity” in Nigeria.

“I had to flee that night, leaving my entire family behind,” said Kuluseni Iguru Tenywa, the father of four children.

“If you want to get rid of your neighbor, you find a way to accuse them of blasphemy, using an ordinary insult as evidence”, a lawyer says. 

Christians in Katholi village, Kanker District who were beaten and twice chased out from their homes by Hindu extremists.

Although about 85 percent of the people in Uganda are Christian, many have died, kidnapped, or threatened just for confessing their faith in the last months.

A court in Sudan has freed pastors Yat Michael and Peter Yein Reith after acquitting them of charges that include spying and crimes against the state.