In 2002, the Eritrean government shut down and banned all religious groups except the Orthodox, Catholic, and Lutheran churches, as well as Sunni Islam. As a result of the government’s action, banned churches were forced to go underground. Eritrean officials then responded by undertaking a campaign to locate the underground churches and arrested their leaders.

Haile Naigzhe, chair of the Full Gospel Church of Eritrea, was one of many arrested in the hopes of destroying the Suffering Church. Tragically, Haile disappeared into the Eritrean prison system. He has never been charged with a crime, never been granted access to a lawyer, and never been given a trial date.

It is believed that Pastor Haile is being held in a maximum-security prison, the Wengel Mermera Central Criminal Investigation Center, along with 21 other Christian leaders. Persecuted believers who have been released from custody state that prison conditions are severe and that some persecuted believers are being held in windowless underground cells or metal shipping containers.

Due to safety concerns, Pastor Haile’s wife and four children live outside of Eritrea. They have never been allowed contact with their husband/father. In 2019 it was reported that Pastor Haile was in good health. Latest update (November 2023): According to friends, Pastor Haile is presently out of the hospital and his needs are being provided for by the local church and through the generous donations of Christians outside of Eritrea. His family asks that we pray for Pastor Haile’s health and safety as prison conditions are very bad.

Sanctioned religious groups, in spite of being recipients of the government’s “favor,” have also suffered persecution. One example was the detention of Abune Antonios, Patriarch of the Eritrean Orthodox Church, who died in confinement in 2022 at the age of 94. Patriarch Antonios was one of the longest-serving prisoners of conscience in the Horn of Africa, spending sixteen years in solitary confinement for his resistance to government interference in the church.

Timeline

May 23, 2004: Arrested by police in Asmara and taken to Police Station #1. Eventually transferred to the Wengel Mermera Central Criminal Investigation Center with other Christian leaders. Disappeared.

October 2023: Currently detained indefinitely without charges. No known trial date is pending.

Prayer Needs

After 19 years in detainment, pray that Pastor Haile be released from prison. Pray that the Lord finds a way to not only set him free, but also finds a way to reunite him with his wife and children who have grown up without the support of their beloved husband and father.

Ask the Lord to encourage Haile’s heart with the verse from Romans 8:28 that states, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.”

Pray that Pastor Haile’s faith grow ever stronger so that in every cell block he enters, he will leave behind him men who now know Christ because of his courageous testimony.

And finally, pray that Pastor Haile can honestly count these last 19 years “worthy of every torture, beating, starvation, suffering and the separation from loved ones in order to be a pastor to the thousands of prisoners his path has crossed.” (quote from Pastor Haralan Popov in Tortured for His Faith)

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.

Zafar was charged under Section 295C of Pakistan’s blasphemy laws which carries the death penalty. Typically, a case involving blasphemy against the prophet’s mother would be tried under Section 295A which does not carry the death penalty.

Prior to this incident, Pastor Zafar worked as a door-to-door salesman of medicines, often taking the time to pray and read the Bible with his clients. He is the founder of the charity ‘Jesus World Mission.’

UPDATE: April 2025 – Significant and multiple delays in the final court ruling in Zafar’s case have us worried. Please join us in praying that the Lord set Zafar free from prison soon and reunite him with his wife.

Zafar is suffering from serious health issues, including diabetes and heart problems.  We have been told that his heart is functioning at a mere 10%, causing severe complications as blood is not being pumped effectively throughout his body. Please keep him in your prayers!

Timeline

• July 22, 2012: Arrested by police.
• April 24, 2017: Trial began. Due to threats to his life, the court’s proceedings are conducted in prison.
• May 3, 2017: Sentenced to life imprisonment for blasphemy even though the mobile phone in question was not registered underhis name and the prosecutor’s office had no other evidence against him.
• December 2018: First appeal hearing postponed.
• April 25, 2019: After multiple delays, judge stated that due to a ‘lack of evidence,’ Zafar will be released. However, the judge allowed the police and the prosecutor’s office until June 19 to collect new evidence.
• June 19, 2019: Appeal hearing postponed for the seventh time. More postponements followed.
• October 19, 2019: Appeal hearing transferred to another court.
• December 16, 2019: The judge refused to hear Zafar’s appeal due to a lawyers’ strike in Punjab Province. Zafar’s doctor stated that he is in danger of suffering another more dangerous heart attack.
• January 21, 2020: Appeal hearing delayed, now due to the prosecution’s inquiry into the blasphemous messages.
• March 25, 2020: Appeal hearing postponed due to COVID-19.
• September 3, 2020: Zafar suffered a heart attack. His lawyer requested that bail be granted based on medical grounds.
• September 10, 2020: Lahore High Court requested the police superintendent begin a medical inquiry.
• November 2, 2020: Bail is denied based on medical grounds.
• June 21, 2021: As hearing delays continued, Zafar’s life sentence was upheld. His lawyer appealed to the High Court.
• October 18, 2021: After further delays, a judge at the Rawalpindi bench of the Lahore High Court referred Zafar’s appeal to a lower court.
• December 16, 2021: At the hearing at the Rawalpindi District Court, Zafar’s lawyer presented the judge with evidence of Zafar’s innocence. The judge called the evidence “weighty.”
• January 3, 2022: Judge Shehzad of Rawalpindi District Court ruled that a death sentence be imposed on Zafar.
• March 4, 2022: Zafar’s lawyer applied for bail on medical grounds. The court denied the application for bail.
• November 2022: Zafar has a new lawyer, Saiful Malook (the same lawyer who secured the acquittal of Asia Bibi in October 2018 and Shagufta Kausar and Shafqat Emmanuel in June 2021.)
• March 8, 2023: Appeal hearing at the High Court Bench Rawalpindi canceled.
• April 8, 2024: Zafar is struggling with severe health complications while in prison. Today we were informed that his heart is working at a mere 10%.
• May 2024: Zafar’s lawyer appeared for a hearing, however the plaintiff’s lawyer failed to appear on three separate occasions.
• August 2024: A final verdict on Zafar’s appeal of his death sentence is expected soon.
• August 2024: A final verdict on Zafar’s appeal for bail is expected soon.
• October 2024: The judge has delayed issuing the final verdict on Zafar’s bail appeal.

Prayer needs

1. Health: Pastor Zafar suffers from many health-related issues, including diabetes, cataract, heart disease, and bad circulation in his lower limbs. It is believed that he has survived many attempts to end his life while in prison. Pray that the Lord will encourage him, raise him out of depression and restore to him the joy of his salvation. Pray that the Lord will heal his broken body which has suffered much torture from police and prison guards these last 11 years.
2. Family: Pastor Zafar’s wife, Nawab, also suffers from health-related issues. She had to move to Lahore in order to receive care. The absence of her husband and the inability to visit him often weighs heavy on her heart. Pray that the Lord will comfort her and provide for all of her needs.
3. Justice: Pray that the death sentence be overturned, and that Pastor Zafar will be able to go home to his wife.

NOTE: We have recently learned that blasphemy inmates in Pakistan are not allowed to receive personal correspondence. If you would like to send Pastor Zafar a note of encouragement, please send them to us at [email protected] and we will find an alternative way of delivering your note to them. Thank you!

In the summer of 2023, Hakop Gochumyan, an Armenian citizen, and his wife Elisa, a dual Iranian Armenian citizen, were on vacation in Iran visiting Elisa’s extended family. Their two children, ages 7 and 10, were with the couple.

On the evening of August 15, as Hakop and Elisa visited friends in a suburb of Tehran, police raided the property, confiscating personal items and Christian literature. Agents then took the couple to Elisa’s grandmother’s house where the family was staying while in Iran and conducted a search of that property as well.

After the search was completed, Hakop and Elisa were arrested and taken to Evin prison where they were placed in solitary confinement and intensely interrogated. Elisa was eventually released on bail in October. Hapok has remained in prison. Reports state that his trial is to begin in January 2024.

Over 100 Christians were reportedly arrested throughout the summer of 2023 in what is being called an organized campaign against Believers.

Elisa is the daughter of Pastor Rafi Shahverdian (born in Iran on May 28, 1961, died in Armenia on January 19, 2023). Pastor Rafi was the founder and head pastor of People of God Church in Yerevan since 1993. He was also an author and founder of the first Christian kindergarten in Armenia, as well as an international speaker.

Timeline

• August 15, 2023: Hakop Gochumyan and his wife Elisa arrested in Pardis, a suburb of Tehran.
• September 2023: The couple’s two children are returned to Armenia with the help of a relative.
• October 19, 2023: Elisa released on bail. Returned to Armenia to join her children.
• January 7, 2023: Hapok’s trial to be held on charges of “propaganda against the state through the promotion of Christianity.”
• February 2024: Sentenced to 10 years for illegal Christian activity. Hakop’s lawyer appealed the ruling.
• July 2024: In June Hakop’s appeal was denied and the 10-year sentence for “engaging in deviant proselytizing activity that contradicts the sacred law of Islam” will stand.

Prayer needs

It is a well-known fact that prisoners undergo extreme suffering and torment at the hands of guards while imprisoned at Evin Prison.

Therefore, pray that the Lord protects Hakop’s life and grants him the faith and courage to be a light in a very dark place.

Keep Hakop’s wife and children in prayer. Though Elisa comes from a strong Christian family in Armenia, being a single mother to young children, separated from her husband and worried over his physical and spiritual condition is a very heavy burden to carry. Our prayers will help to lighten her load.

Salai Ayla Lone Wai is an ethnic Chin pastor from Okpho Township, Bago region.

Wai was returning home from a Christmas prayer service when he was stopped at a check point by military police. After a search of Wai’s vehicle, authorities arrested him. He is accused of being linked to the People’s Defense Force (PDF), an armed resistance group against military rule. Friends and colleagues believe that Wai was targeted for his ethnoreligious background.

According to reports, several Christian leaders from the Magway Region and Chin State were killed by the military prior to Wai’s arrest.

Timeline

• December 28, 2021: Military authorities arrested Pastor Wai after he returned from a prayer service at his church in Pauk Khaung Township.
• October 21, 2022: Pastor Wai was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment under Penal Code Section 505 (a) and terrorism chanrges.

Prayer needs

Pastor Wai is only 24 years old! It has been reported that he was interrogated by military police prior to his arrest. Ask that the Lord help Wai to forgive his enemies, filling his heart with the same love Jesus showed to those who cursed and beat Him.

Pray that Pastor Wai’s family would be able to stay in touch with him and that the Lord provide for their needs, both physical and spiritual.

Finally, pray that Pastor Wai would keep the joy of the Lord alive in his heart and that he would share the Good News of the Lord Jesus with every lost soul he meets in prison.

Nay Blang, 48, from the eastern coastal province of Phu Yen, is a member of the Ede ethnic group in Vietnam’s Central Highlands. He is a member of the Central Highlands Evangelical Church of Christ (CHECC) which the Vietnamese government refuses to recognize as a legitimate religious organization, rather considering it a “reactionary” organization.

In May 2023, Blang was arrested and, according to local media sources, accused of using home fellowship meetings to “gather forces, divide the national unity bloc, incite secession, self-rule, and establish a separate state for ethnic minorities in the Central Highlands.” He was also accused of “providing false information about freedom of religious belief, slander, distorting religious policies, and violating the interests of the State of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.”

In January 2024, Blang was found guilty of “abusing democratic freedoms” and sentenced to 4 years and six months in prison.

Blang’s lawyer was not present during the trial. North Carolina-based Pastor Aga, who founded the CHECC, accused Phu Yen province police of forcing Blang’s family to sign a document that canceled Blang’s contract with his lawyer.

Christians from the CHECC have been systematically harassed by authorities for years. This is the third time that Blang is being persecuted for his religious convictions and activities.

Timeline

• 2005: Sentenced to five years and six months for “undermining the unity policy.”
• 2010: Released from prison and sent to an educational facility for 2 years for “abusing the rights to democratic freedom and freedom of belief to entice and incite others to violate the law, interests of the State, legitimate rights and interests of organizations and individuals.”
• 2012: Released from educational facility.
• August 2022: Met with a diplomat from the US Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City. Vietnamese authorities harassed Blang, wanting to know what had been discussed at the meeting.
• September 2022: Scheduled to meet with a religious delegation from the US State Department, however Vietnamese security agents prevented Blang from traveling to the meeting.
• May 18, 2023: Arrested on accusations including “abusing democratic freedoms” for his affiliation with the unrecognized and unregistered CHECC and holding in-home religious meetings for fellow members.
• January 26, 2024: Trial held. Sentenced to 4 years and six months in prison for the crime of “abusing democratic freedoms” while holding religious meetings in his home.

Prayer needs

Pray that the US State Department’s Commission on International Religious Freedom will aggressively advocate on behalf of Nay Blang and all others from the CHECC that have been harassed and imprisoned in recent years.

Pray that the Lord comforts and helps Blang’s family during his current imprisonment.

Pray that God encourages Blang in his faith, strengthening him to withstand the trials that lie ahead. Ask the Lord to use him to minister to all the men in his prison bloc.

Wan Changchun is a pastor from the Living Stone Reformed Church in Lijiang municipality, Yunnan province. He was arrested for his  advocacy efforts on behalf of persecuted Christians. It is believed that Changchun’s arrest is directly connected to his signing onto a letter, along with hundreds of other pastors, condemning China’s policy changes in 2017.  These policy changes resulted in an upsurge in religious persecution across China.

Timeline

• April 11, 2023: Authorities from Yuhui district, Bengbu municipality, Anhui province detained Pastor Changchun.
• Changchun is being indefinitely detained for criticizing religious freedom conditions and for his religious leadership role in society. No further information is available as to upcoming court hearings.

Prayer needs

Pray that the Lord assist Changchun to be steadfast in faith as he faces an indefinite detainment. May the Lord find a way to release Changchun from his chains!

Pray for Changchun’s family. May God strengthen their faith to endure this time of separation and may God provide for their needs.

DOHI’s ministry has expanded worldwide and is currently active in 15 countries.

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