AP

HUMAN RIGHTS DEMANDED FOR 11 PASTORS HELD AFTER ‘SHAM TRIAL’
A human rights organisation has called upon the Nicaraguan government to protect the lives of eleven pastors jailed on “sham charges”, as senators press President Biden to sanction the country. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has demanded that the captives – including a woman who has given birth and reportedly not received adequate medical care or food – are shown basic human rights. The Christians were arrested four months ago on suspicion of money laundering, and have been barred from contacting family or lawyers. They deny the charges, but some have been given 15-year sentences and fined 80 million dollars. The trial contained no evidence of wrongdoing, according to legal advocacy group ADF.
The pastors’ lawyers said they have not been given charging documents in order to prepare a defence. The Nicaraguan police issued statements to the media accusing the eleven pastors, who worked with church planting and discipleship organisation Puerta de la Montaña (Mountain Gateway), of using their organisation as a front, while purchasing assets. The Nicaraguan government also revoked Puerta de la Montaña’s registration as a ministry and seized all of the ministry’s Nicaraguan property and assets.  [Source: Premier Christian News]

PRAY FOR THE ‘BIBLE TEAM’ SUPPORTING CHRISTIANS IN MOUNTAINOUS VIETNAM
 Please pray for a “Bible team” of six Christians who minister among the persecuted Hmong Christians in isolated mountain areas of Vietnam. They visit about 60 communities of poor farming families. In the rainy season (June to November), travel is hard and dangerous because of frequent mudslides. The team teach the Bible, pray with families, visit the sick, disciple local church leaders and encourage the believers to stand firm in the faith despite the pressures they face.
[Source: Barnabas Aid]

WAR AND FAMINE THREATEN SUDAN; SCRIPTURE OFFERS HOPE
Sudan (MNN) — Famine haunts millions in Sudan as rebel forces prepare to move on the last capital in Darfur that’s not under their control. There is so little food in parts of Sudan that people are taking extreme measures to survive. In one refugee camp, they eat dirt; in another, leaves. John*, an unfoldingWord partner, says militants routinely rob the aid trucks carrying life-saving supplies to millions in need. Furthermore, sexual predators take advantage of the war by seeking vulnerable victims among the displaced.
War erupted in Sudan a year ago between the Islamist Sudanese army and the rebel group RSF, creating the world’s largest displacement crisis. God’s Word holds out hope for Sudan’s minority Christians. “I was reading 2 Timothy 1 this morning; it says, ‘But God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind,’” John says. “Those three things threaten almost every other major religion in the world.” With help from unfoldingWord, Sudanese Christians are translating Scripture into minority languages. The goal is to make God’s Word accessible in Sudan’s minority languages and fuel church-planting efforts among unreached people groups or UPGs. In several refugee camps, believers introduce hurting people to the Prince of Peace. Pray this Gospel growth continues in Sudanese refugee camps. [*Pseudonym. Source: Mission Network news]

THE CHALLENGES OF BEING A CHRISTIAN IN MAURITANIA
African Christians were mobilised for urgent prayer after at least 15 believers in Mauritania were arrested in late November 2023, a country which has a death sentence for leaving Islam. A video of a baptism ceremony had become public. Praise God that by 18 December all the Mauritanian Christians (converts from Islam) had been released without charge. Praying Christians in other countries rejoiced at this answer to their intercessions and some asked for prayer to continue that the Mauritanian laws
and structures which “criminalize being a Christian” will be repealed. Join them in praying for the day to come when Mauritanians can openly worship the Lord Jesus and talk publicly about their faith without fear of punishment. [Source: Barnabas Aid]

INDIAN GOVERNMENT ACCUSED OF ‘INSUFFICIENT’ RESPONSE TO RELIGIOUS VIOLENCE
The Indian government’s response to religious violence is “insufficient and ineffective” according to a major new report. The publication, by members of the Council of Experts advising the International Religious Freedom or Belief Alliance (IRFBA) comes a year after violence began in the north-east Indian state of Manipur. More than 60,000 people have been forced from their homes and as many as 500 church buildings destroyed as religious violence continues unabated.
Systematic attacks against Christian communities have resulted in over 100 deaths.
[Source: Premier Christian News]

CONVERTS TO CHRISTIANITY ARE STILL BEING JAILED IN IRAN
Mina Khajavi (aged 60), an Iranian Christian convert from Islam, was summoned on 3 January to present herself within five days at Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison to begin her six year prison sentence. She was arrested in 2020 and sentenced in 2022 but deemed unfit to go to prison at the time because a car had run her over and broken her ankle. She now has metal plates in her ankle and walks with a limp. Two other Christians arrested with her have already been to prison and both were released early. Pray that Mina, too will be set free early.

– compiled by Guido Kettniss