Published on: December 12, 2023
DOHI Staff The Zhenxiong County Court (Zhaotong City, Yunnan Province) has decided that arrested pastor Chang Hao will remain in jail until his trial date. By denying him bail and keeping him away from his family and church community, government officials are making a clear statement – Pastor Hao is a “threat” to their idea […]
Published on: November 28, 2023
Giving Tuesday is a day that encourages people to do good. It is always on the Tuesday following US Thanksgiving. Created in 2012 in New York City to inspire generosity with the concept that “the suffering of others should be as intolerable to us as our own suffering.” It is now a global movement. Around […]
Published on: November 16, 2023
BACKGROUND SUMMARY Pastor Lorenzo Rosales Fajardo entered into fulltime ministry in 2001, first with the Open Bible denomination, then in 2009 as leader of the Monte de Sion Independent Church in Palma Soriano. His congregation, numbering between 80 to 100 people, met in his home. On July 11, 2021, Fajardo, along with his son and […]
Published on: November 16, 2023
DOHI Staff Since the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, we have become deeply concerned about the numerous reports on the enforced disappearances of Ukrainian religious leaders by the Russian occupation forces. While the exact reasons for many of the abductions are not known, what is clear is that these men were all active in […]
Published on: November 14, 2023
BACKGROUND SUMMARY John (Sanqiang) Cao, a Chinese national, is a Protestant pastor and missionary. His wife and two children are U.S. citizens. Since 1990, Cao has been a U.S. permanent resident. Cao served as a pastor to churches in the USA and established Bibles schools in China. For the past ten years, his work has […]
Published on: November 14, 2023
DOHI Staff The Center for Religion, Culture, and Democracy at First Liberty Institute just released its second annual report on the status of Religious Liberty in the States (RLS). The center has approached this data project with the outlook that “people of any faith or no faith should be allowed to live in all areas […]
Published on: November 10, 2023
BACKGROUND SUMMARY After almost 14 years of praying for the freedom of Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani, we can share the good news that he was released from Evin Prison in Iran in February 2023 and is once again free. Pastor Nadarkhani, a church leader in the Church of Iran denomination, was among three Christian converts, including Hadi […]
Published on: November 10, 2023
BACKGROUND SUMMARY Saheb (Zaman) Fadaie was a member of the leadership team of the Church of Iran – a Unitarian denomination. Over the past years, Iranian authorities have detained and arrested a number of the church’s members, including Saheb, who was initially sentenced to 10 years in prison for his membership in and leadership of house churches and […]
Published on: November 10, 2023
BACKGROUND SUMMARY Pastor Zafar Bhatti has been imprisoned in Adiala Central Jail in Rawalpindi, Punjab Province, since 2012. He was arrested after Ahmed Khan, deputy secretary of the local branch of the Islamic organisation Jamat Ahle-Sunnat, filed a police report stating he had received text messages from an unknown number insulting the prophet Mohammed’s mother. […]
Published on: November 9, 2023
BACKGROUND SUMMARY After serving one year in Tehran’s Evin Prison, Pastor Avedian was acquitted and released in September 2024. On the same day that Pastor Joseph Shahbazian was released from prison, Pastor Anooshavan Avedian, 61 years old, was summoned to begin serving his 10-year sentence in Evin Prison, Tehran. Pastor Avedian was initially arrested a […]