Christian Solidarity Worldwide is calling for an inquiry and charges to be brought against those responsible for the death of Liaqat Masih, a 35 year-old Christian man who died following his illegal detention and torture in a Pakistani prison.
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Liaqat Masih, who worked as the driver for Raza Hameed, the son of Gujranwala politician S.A Hameed, was arrested on 15 November 2015 following accusations of theft. Although Raza Hameed had initially lodged the complaint against unknown perpetrators, he later registered a case against Liaqat Masih after becoming suspicious of him. The police arrested Masih’s son Khurram Sunil on 27 December 2015.

Masih was held in judicial remand at Gujuranwala police station without evidence or trial until 10 January 2016, when the police claimed that they had new evidence which allowed them to proceed with his case. His family was uncertain of his location for four days before they heard that he was being held in a private torture cell in Gujranwala Cantt police station.

On 8 January, Khurram Sunil was released on bail until 19 January, however he was rearrested on 10 January and named as an accomplice in the theft.

Liaquat Masih died in police custody on 14 January. Although the police postmortem states that he died of a heart attack, his son claims that his father was brutally beaten on the night that he died and sustained fatal injuries after being hung upside down by a rope.

The police released Liaquat Masih’s body to his family on 15 January but withheld a copy of the autopsy. His family claims that the 24-hour delay gave the police time to remove evidence of torture, prompting a public protest from Masih’s brother and a number of other Christians, who were later dispersed violently by the police.

Liaquat Masih’s death is part of a pattern of extrajudicial killings of Christians, who are routinely discriminated against in Pakistan.

In a statement, Michelle Chaudhry President of the Cecil & Iris Chaudhry Foundation (CICF) said: “We at CICF stand in unanimity with the bereaved family of Liaqat Masih, who died under mysterious circumstances while in police custody. We cannot accept the claims made by the police that Liaqat Masih died of a heart attack, unless an independent inquiry into the incident is carried out, along with a third-party post-mortem at a private hospital in order to bring the facts to light.”
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It was a shocking discovery and a victory for Biblical scholars – a fragment of the gospel of Mark found inside a mummy mask in Egypt. However, the discovery has atheists up in arms, and you won’t believe why.

The discovery was made in Egypt, where mummy masks were made out of recycled papyrus. When taken apart via a delamination process, the masks can yield up to 12 different fragments of antiquarian writing.

According to the Blaze, one of the masks yielded a fragment of the gospel of Mark from 80 A.D. – the earliest known fragment of that book of the Bible and putting it quite close to the life of Christ. This also goes a long way to disproving the claim that the gospels were literary inventions that took place centuries after the life of Jesus.

“To have a first-century witness to the text of the New Testament is unprecedented. That a fragment of Mark was found in Egypt is even more astonishing,” wrote Boyce College professor Denny Burk.

“That would seem to require that the original was probably penned decades before.”

Shendong Church in Zhejiang was forcibly demolished on April 28th in continuation of the province-wide "Three Rectifications and One Demolition" campaign. Authorities reportedly claimed that the land on which the church was built belonged to the government. The church had previously submitted requests to the local religious affairs bureau and other government agencies, requesting that their location be approved and finalized. However, the contacted governing officials never responded to these requests.

Following the destruction, the church's pastor then specifically contacted the government official who was in charge of the demolition and the church site's subsequent relocation. When informed that the government needed two months to find and approve a new gathering site, the church demanded that the government find a new site immediately. For the time being, the church has been meeting in a nearby clubhouse.

The demolition occurred on the one-year anniversary of the demolition of Sanjiang Church, a mega-church in Zhejiang that was one of the first major church demolitions in the persecution campaign. 

The Christian community in Egypt is in mourning after 21 Egyptian Christians who had moved to Libya for employment were brutally murdered by members loyal to the Islamic State (ISIS) militant group. Those involved with ISIS posted a video on February 15th showing the savage decapitation of the victimized men. The video, titled "A message signed with blood to the nation of the cross," makes it clear that the men were targeted because of their faith. Additionally, a caption in the video describes the victims as "people of the cross, followers of the hostile Egyptian church."The believers had been kidnapped around the Libyan city of Sirte in separate incidents during the months of December and January. On January 12th, the Libyan branch of ISIS released a statement that they were holding the Egyptian men in captivity. 
The murdered Christians came from villages in Egypt's central Samalut region in northern Minya. This region suffers from high poverty rates due to a lack of job opportunities, causing many inhabitants to move to other Arab countries in search of work. According to eyewitnesses, the friends and family members of the victims were visibly traumatized upon hearing the shocking news of their loved ones' deaths.

There has been a dramatic increase in the number of Christian girls and women facing brutal assaults in Pakistan during recent months.On November 28th, two Christian sisters (ages 14 and 16) were attacked in a village located within the Jaranwala district after they went out into the field to use the washroom. The girls' family alleges that three males assaulted the sisters repeatedly overnight, and that they have since been threatened by the perpetrators with warnings not to press charges. They also claim that the police have obstructed attempts to gather medical evidence. Ministry partners of VOMC's sister mission in the United Kingdom are ensuring the girls receive the medical care and legal assistance they need.

Elsewhere in Punjab, a 14-year-old girl was abducted on November 26th in Thatha Gondal. It is believed that she has been forcibly converted to Islam and married to her kidnapper. Local Christians and Muslims have been involved in negotiations to return the girl to her family.

Meanwhile, a pregnant mother of four from Rana Town was reportedly attacked after resisting a ruthless woman's attempts to make her convert to Islam. The Christian mother was then brutally attacked by the instigator's brothers. After stripping the pregnant mother of her clothing and disgracefully parading her in public, the men then robbed and finally beat the victimized believer to the point of unconsciousness. Local police initially refused to register a case, having only done so after our ministry partners intervened.

Please lift up in prayer all of these dear sisters in Christ, asking the Lord to surround each one with His sustaining love and grace. May He not only grant needed physical and emotional healing to the young girls who were assaulted, but also ensure they receive the support and encouragement of the members of their family and the wider community during this difficult time. Intercede on behalf of the young teen who still remains held captive by her kidnapper. May this girl soon be freed so she can return home to her loved ones. In addition, ask God to be especially near to the expectant mother who was so callously humiliated and beaten, praying that both she and her unborn child will be granted restored health and strength.


To read more about the struggles Christians face abroad, click on the link below.

The Colombian Constitutional Court upheld the right to conscientious objection, freedom of worship and religious freedom on 16 September in the case of Jhonatan David Vargas Becerra, who was forcibly inducted into the military in March 2014 and later arrested and imprisoned on charges of going absent without leave. 
 
The Court has given the National Army 48 hours to free him.
 
On 16 March 2013, Jhonatan David Vargas Becerra, a member of the Foursquare Gospel Church, voluntarily presented himself at the 34th Battalion of Barrancabermeja to establish his military status. He made a verbal declaration of his status as a conscientious objector. Vargas Becerra explained to the military officials present that his religious convictions do not allow him to engage in violence or belong to armed groups, and on that basis, as provided for under the law, he declined obligatory military service.