TURKEY: Church repeatedly denied permission to build worship centre
![Diyarbakir Church](https://www.churchinchains.ie/wp/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Diyarbakir-Church.webp)
Diyarbakir Protestant Church has been denied permission to build a worship centre and a court has turned down its legal challenge
PAKISTAN: Christian on death row excels in exams
![Nouman Masih](https://www.churchinchains.ie/wp/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Nouman-Masih-was-arrested-on-July-1-2019.-Christian-Daily-International-Morning-Star-News.jpg)
A young Christian sentenced to death for blasphemy has worked hard to achieve high exam grades in prison
CHINA: Beijing Zion Church raided, young woman detained
![Beijing Zion Church logo](https://www.churchinchains.ie/wp/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Beijing-Zion-logo.jpg)
A young woman was detained following a police raid on the banned Beijing Zion Church
LAOS: Pastor and five church members arrested
![Lao map](https://www.churchinchains.ie/wp/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Laos-GG3-1200x818.jpg)
Six Christians from central Laos were arrested at a prayer meeting in the pastor’s home by order of the village chief
VIETNAM: Eleven Christian prisoners missing
![Vietnam map](https://www.churchinchains.ie/wp/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Vietnam-map-crop-1200x829.jpg)
Eleven Christians serving prison sentences for unregistered church activities have gone missing
PAKISTAN: Christian man sentenced to death under blasphemy law
![Pakistan map](https://www.churchinchains.ie/wp/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Pakistan-GG3-1200x825.jpg)
A young Christian has been sentenced to death for allegedly sharing a “blasphemous” video on TikTok
INDIA: Christian convert killed by Hindu relatives
![Bindu Sodhi's burial](https://www.churchinchains.ie/wp/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Bindu-Sodhis-burial-crop.jpg)
Bindu Sodhi’s relatives beat her to death because they were angry that she had converted to Christianity
CHINA: Police set up cameras to monitor released pastor John Cao
![John Can holding protest sign](https://www.churchinchains.ie/wp/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/John-Cao-ID-card-protest.jpg.webp)
Police have installed surveillance cameras to monitor John Cao, who was released from prison in March 2024
CHINA: Detained pastor’s condition improves
![Lian Changnian](https://www.churchinchains.ie/wp/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Lian-Changnian-v-2-Crop.jpg)
Pastor Lian Changnian’s lawyer reports that his condition has improved in detention
IRAN: Eight Christian converts sentenced to total of 45 years in prison
![Yasin Mousavi](https://www.churchinchains.ie/wp/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Yasin-Mousavi.png)
Eight Christian converts have been sentenced to a total of 45 years in prison with one, Yasin Mousavi, sentenced to 15 years
CHINA: Elder Zhang Chunlei suffering from liver cirrhosis
![Zhang Chunlei](https://www.churchinchains.ie/wp/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Zhang-Chunlei.jpg)
Elder Zhang Chunlei of Guiyang Ren’ai (Love) Church has been diagnosed with liver cirrhosis in prison
IRAN: Hakop Gochumyan loses appeal against ten year sentence
![Hakop Gochumyan](https://www.churchinchains.ie/wp/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/HakopGochumyan.jpg)
He has been in prison since his arrest in August 2023.
IRAN: Esmaeil Narimanpour sentenced to five years in prison
![Esmaeil Narimanipour](https://www.churchinchains.ie/wp/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Esmaeil-Narimanipour.png)
Christian convert Esmaeil Narimanpour, who was arrested at Christmas, has been given a five-year prison sentence
INDIA: Murdered convert’s widow still unable to return home
![Jime Kawasi](https://www.churchinchains.ie/wp/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Jime-Kawasi-crop.jpg)
The widow of a Christian killed in a mob attack in Chhattisgarh state is living in fear five weeks after she fled their home and village
ERITREA: Protest vigil marks twenty years of imprisonment
![Vigil participants](https://www.churchinchains.ie/wp/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/IMG_3891-1200x900.jpeg)
Four organisations call for release of prisoners
PAKISTAN: Christian dies following mob attack over blasphemy accusation
![Nazir Masih's funeral](https://www.churchinchains.ie/wp/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Nazir-Masihs-funeral-CLAAS-UK.jpg)
Nazir Masih has died from the injuries he received in a brutal mob attack following a false accusation of blasphemy
PAKISTAN: Christian man brutally beaten by mob in Sargodha
![Sargodha Riot](https://www.churchinchains.ie/wp/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Sargodha-Riot-Crop.png)
The mob attack followed false accusations against Nazir Masih of desecrating the Quran.
MEXICO: Baptists expelled, pressurised to accept illegal agreement
![Displaced Baptists](https://www.churchinchains.ie/wp/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Displaced-Baptists.jpg)
Government officials in Hidalgo state are pressurising a group of Baptists forced out of their villages to sign an illegal agreement
ERITREA: TWO DECADES IS TOO LONG!
![Eritrea 6 Pastors (2004) v 3](https://www.churchinchains.ie/wp/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Eritrea-6-Pastors-2004-v-3.jpg)
This year marks the 20th anniversary of the imprisonment without charge of six Eritrean pastors.
ERITREA: Rev Ghirmay Araya dies in prison
![Rev Ghirmay Araya](https://www.churchinchains.ie/wp/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Ghirmay-Araya.jpg)
Rev Ghirmay Araya has died after almost three years in a maximum-security prison