The church’s worship was previously disrupted in May, when at least 40 Muslims stopped the midday service at the café.

A university professor in Nigeria analyses the socio-political context before the 25 February presidential election.

A large majority refuses the initiative of the AfD party saying it would criminalise Muslims and is based on “wrong” data.

There is “extreme persecution” in 10 countries in Africa and the Middle East, says Open Doors. Elsewhere, worrying trends are observed in key geopolitical actors such as India, Saudi Arabia and China.

Not everyone is able to worship with the same freedom in the country hosting the 2022 football World Cup. Open Doors UK and Ireland asked believers in Doha.

For evangelicals in Western Europe, the most tangible problem is not one of freedom, but rather of public participation.

The church had been searched by military personnel of the Russian-backed authorities. Relatives and church members have not received answers.

The WEA organised an event to prepare the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church (IDOP) 2022, which will take place on November 6 and 13.

As everything gets ready for the largest football event, Christians pray to see a change in the absolutist emirate.

A video obituary about how the founder of Open Doors known as "God's Smuggler" saw his own life.

“Xi Jinping’s plan of compelling all Protestant Christians to join the government-controlled Three-Self Church or face arrest and ‘liquidation’ of their churches as 'illegal' religious groups is being ruthlessly implemented”.

“If Christians cannot meet in their homes, where should they meet to worship?”, asks the Spanish the Spanish Evangelical Alliance.

Church leaders and rights activists cite forced conversion as the biggest challenge for vulnerable minority communities of Pakistan.

Islamic militants threaten to forcibly marry kidnapped women.

Some 500 people joined to “remind the public that the persecution of Christians is an often forgotten tragedy and to urge politicians to act”.

May our prayers and our advocacy for our suffering brothers and sisters in Algeria be as persistent as those of the Luke 18 widow.

They were accused of “unauthorized worship”. The court has upheld the sentence of six months in prison but reduced the fine by half.

An exhibition in the Spanish city of Ourense shows the difficulties evangelicals had in the 19th and 20th centuries to share their ideas in freedom.

Pastor Rosales Fajardo is still in prison. In a letter to the UN, the Cuban government notes the eight-year sentence, that has yet to be communicated to his family.

The entity representing 600 million evangelicals calls on Algeria “to end their persecution of evangelicals, rescind the unjust court sentences, and allow the churches forcibly closed to reopen”.

Muslims accused church members of hostility toward Islam by holding gatherings on Fridays, the Muslim day of mosque prayer.

Silence is the biggest noise in Cuba, but Adelys broke it when her husband, a pastor, was arrested during the ‘11-J’ protests in the city of Matanzas.

In Qatar, host of the football World Cup, converts from Islam face physical, psychological and (for women) sexual violence. Globally, over 5,000 attacks on Christian churches have been recorded.

Afghanistan is new at the top of the Open Doors WWL 2022. Discover the full list.

The Islamic country replaces North Korea at the top of the World Watch List after 20 years. One in seven Christians worldwide suffers persecution, says Open Doors.