In July, a Christian worker from the Ududumbara area of Sri Lanka was invited to the home of a congregant to pray for the woman's sick child. Accompanied by her husband and own child, the ministry worker travelled to the neighbouring village of Kaluwala for the visit. As they were praying together, three police officers arrived at the home, along with a leader from the local Buddhist temple. The officers claimed to have received a complaint from a Buddhist monk who accused the Christians of engaging in religious propagation.

Pastor David Tang is the leader of the Purpose Driven Church (also known as Biaogan Church) in the city of Wenzhou. This vibrant church, which has been known to interest local young professionals and intellectuals, was forced to officially close down after refusing to join the state-sanctioned Three-Self Patriotic Movement. Since then, its congregants have continued to meet in a semi-underground manner.

In recent weeks, guards have been stationed outside St. Peter Evangelical Church, the oldest Protestant church in Iran, as governing authorities carry out a planned seizure of the building and surrounding property. First built in 1876, the church occupied a 10-acre plot of land in Tehran. Although an order was issued several years ago, authorities officially seized control of the site last month.

On August 5th, a court in Vietnam's Dak Lak province sentenced Pastor Y Nuen Ayun to seven years and six months in prison for "undermining the policy of national unity." Communist officials claim that he has been organizing and leading unregistered religious activities since 2003. Pastor Ayun, whose ethnicity originates with the Montagnards, ministered to others belonging to this indigenous group through his pastoral leadership at the Central Highlands Evangelical Church of Christ.

Nihad Hassan is a Kurdish pastor living in Beirut, Lebanon. On various occasions, he has expressed concerns over the difficulties encountered by the Kurdish people in Syria, particularly those who have converted from Islam. Syrian authorities claim that the Lebanese pastor's social media comments were offensive. Consequently, he was arrested on July 20th while visiting family in Afrin, a city located in northern Syria that primarily consists of Kurdish people.

Earlier this year, Dedi Saputra allegedly posted a video on TikTok that criticized the prophet Muhammad. Before the video was removed from the social media platform, it had been viewed almost two million times – sparking a backlash that culminated in his arrest on February 18th. For more information regarding this case, see VOMC's previously posted Persecution & Prayer Alert report.