More than 150 have been detained in the last month. “The current situation has been described by some as unprecedented, there are a huge number of arrests and detentions”.

The World Evangelical Alliance denounced at the UN Human Rights Council that people in these Asian countries “are experiencing more and more restrictions on freedom of religion or belief”.

During a plenary session, the President of the European Parliament Antonio Tajani called for her immediate release.

Religious identity, nationalism, and violence.

In a rash of recent actions against Christians in Nepal, an alcoholic who became violent during an intervention had Christian leaders arrested on forcible conversion charges, and a foreign couple was deported.

Police and customs officers interrogating the convert pressured him to renounce Christ.

There has been 410 reported incidents, while there were 441 in total in 2016. “Attackers know they will not be punished”, Open Doors says.

One minor was held for 25 days, another is  still in custody, along with five adult volunteers.

Conversion from Islam is impossible in many places and in the few locations where it is possible legally, there are social and cultural impediments to change.

Nepal, Bhutan, and Myanmar have also enacted similar laws, with Nepal going so far as to include them in the recently adopted constitution.

“No one shall attempt to change or convert someone from one religion to another”, the new Constitution draft says. Christians and Muslims have raised serious objections.