“We thought Covid-19 was going to minimize the effect of persecution, but it has been the opposite. Persecution has increased”, says the director of Open Doors Spain. The organisation releases its annual World Watch List.

Evangelical leaders lament the events and reproach the acting President for not condemning the attack.

Islamic extremist groups have kidnapped, killed and executed Christians throughout the country. Many villages have been attacked and churches destroyed.

The National Christian Evangelical Alliance of Sri Lanka publishes a report analysing messages in social media against religious minorities.

A large mob brutally attacked a home and a church, accusing Christians of converting people and celebrating with loud music.

Boko Haram has claimed responsibility for the abduction through an audio message. Gunmen on motorcycles attacked a state school in North West Nigeria.

The US Commission on International Religious Freedom has analysed the effects of blasphemy laws worldwide between 2014-18. 11% of the blasphemy-related incidents took place in Europe.

A report of the Korea Future Initiative (KFI) presents well-documented violations in North Korea. Investigators conducted 117 interviews with survivors, witnesses, and perpetrators.

Violence keeps escalating despite the pleas of evangelical leaders who denounce lack of effort by the Nigerian government to free church members.

The pastor had received threats from Muslims. He and his son were slain after visiting the Congo border for missionary work.

Evangelicals in the country call to pray for peace. “Attacks on innocent people based on religious and ethnic differences are not acceptable in the Word of God or Ethiopian culture”.

The church is one of the few that keeps a legal status, because it was registered before 1959. “As repression has spread, the bonds between pastors are stronger than ever", a pastor said.

This case has exposed the various ways minority girls are vulnerable based on class, caste, religion and gender.

One of the attackers was shot dead. There have been some arrests in an operation still open. Evangelicals call to “pray for the emergency services, the injured and relatives of the victims”.

Several dead, and seven worship halls damaged. “A peaceful prayer walk seeking God’s help for our country, was suddenly met with undue force as Christians were beaten and shot at with guns by Muslim mobs”.

Last July the EU announced the appointment but the position is still vacant. “Promoting freedom of religion is essential to address global challenges”, 49 MEPs say in a letter to the EU.

“She was apparently killed by the Islamist terrorist organization JNIM", Swiss authorities said in a statement. Beatrice Stöckli had already been abducted and released in 2012.

Hindu extremists falsely accuse a pastor and four other Christians of eating cow beef.

The candidacy of the Côte d'Ivoire's current president has polarised society  “Pray that the upcoming elections do not plunge our country further into violence”.

The disputed area of Nagorno-Karabakh is at the centre of the conflict. Armenian Christians: “Suspend all military activities which only serve to kill and harm innocent lives”.

The Evangelical Fellowship of India denounces that Christians “are warned to leave their faith or face consequences” and urges the state “to ensure that the perpetrators are brought to justice”.

Pastor Koh disappeared on February 2017. According to the CCTV footage, 15 men and seven vehicles surrounding him and abducted him in less than one minute.

Fulani herdsmen have increasingly adopted ideology and methods similar to Islamic extremist groups like Boko Haram. The kidnapped girls are forcefully converted to Islam and married off.

Many oppose Lukashenko’s regime, but there is still a heated debate about what should be the Biblical position regarding the protests, says Sergei Tsvor of IFES Belarus.

“They did not give us any option or alternative to negotiate. Rather, it was a resounding, arbitrary closure, and without any solution”, the pastors point out.