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CHRISTIAN IN SOMALIA POISONED TO DEATH

(Morning Star News) – Muslim relatives of a father of five in Somaliland who recently became a Christian, poisoned him to death for converting. Sharif Ali came to faith in Christ in April in an undisclosed town in Somaliland, after a period of spiritual searching and encounter with underground Christians. As is customary for all Christians in Somaliland, where leaving Islam is punishable by death, he kept his faith secret.
Members of his underground Christian fellowship said he often spoke against hostility toward Christians and urged others to treat them with dignity. They said Ali would frequently remind people, “Christians are not bad people. Some Christians from overseas have been assisting our people. If some of our people become friends with them, let us not mistreat or hate them.”
They remembered him as a compassionate community leader whose quiet support for Christians left a lasting impression on many. He quietly demonstrated his belief through kindness, hospitality and practical support for underground Christians.
Fellow Christians said Ali’s family became suspicious of his secret faith after noticing he regularly hosted visitors in his home and missed Friday mosque prayers. Relatives invited him to a family gathering on July 5 where they questioned him about these observations and told him that neighbours had heard Christian songs in his home.  Reports indicate that Ali chose not to respond to the accusations, remaining silent throughout the questioning.
After the family shared a meal, he returned home, and later that night, he became seriously ill, experiencing severe vomiting and diarrhea. His wife took him to a hospital. At the hospital, Ali told a visiting underground church leader, “Please come closer to me – I do not want to speak loudly. I regret not openly confessing my faith in Issa [Jesus] as my personal Saviour. If I die, I rejoice because I have believed in Issa.” He died  on July 7.  
A report by the doctor who treated him, stated that he died from food poisoning – from injesting ouabain, traditionally used by East African tribes as lethal arrow poison. He is survived by his wife and five children aged between 17 and 4. He was 42.
Members of his underground fellowship said they continue to pray for his family and for Christians across Somalia who quietly practise their faith despite significant social pressures and persecution. Somaliland’s constitution designates Islam as the state religion and establishes sharia (Islamic law) as a foundational source of legislation, and under the traditional jurisprudence in the area, apostasy is punishable by death. Somalia is ranked No. 2 on Christian support group Open Doors’ 2026 World Watch List of the 50 countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian.

IN MUSLIM COUNTRIES, THE STATE DECIDES YOUR RELIGION
In Iraq, your faith or religion isn’t decided by you. It’s dictated by the state. Maryam was raised in a Christian household. But when her mother separated from her father and remarried a Muslim man, Iraqi law automatically converted Maryam and her sisters to Islam in the state’s official records. As a minor, she had no say in this decision. The government simply reassigned her faith.
Once Maryam reached the age of legal majority (18), she decided to take action. In January 2025, she filed a legal claim asking the government to correct her official religious status to reflect her actual faith: Christianity. In May 2026, a lower court ruled in her favour. Now, Iraq’s Court of Cassation – the country’s highest court for civil, criminal, and family matters – has affirmed that ruling, ordering the correction of Maryam’s religious classification in the state’s database. Maryam’s two younger sisters are still officially registered as Muslim. Similar legal battles will need to be fought for each of them once they reach 18.
State-assigned religion isn’t just happening in Iraq. Across the Middle East and Asia, governments record citizens’ religion in official databases or on ID documents, often without consent, and make it extremely difficult to change. The consequences can be severe: mandatory enrolment of children in religious education programs not of their faith, barriers to marriage, including being unable to marry someone of their own faith in a church if they are officially registered as Muslim, automatic assignment of children’s religion based on parental records, inheritance complications, family law conflicts, and exposure of non-Muslims to Sharia court jurisdiction. A person’s faith becomes a fixed, state-certified label, regardless of what they believe.
Kelsey Zorzi, ADF’s Senior Counsel and Director of Advocacy for Global Religious Freedom, who supported Maryam’s case, has said: “We commend Iraq’s Court of Cassation for affirming this ruling and granting Maryam the freedom to have her Christian faith accurately reflected in her state-issued documents. Christians and other religious minorities across Iraq and the broader Middle East suffer real harm when governments assign them a religion that is not their own. In a region where marriage, inheritance, burial, and education are governed differently according to one’s religion, it is essential that individuals—not states—retain the right to choose their own faith.”
This ruling sets a persuasive precedent for the many other Christians in Iraq facing the same legal and personal consequences of state-assigned religion. We praise God for this victory and ask that His hand continues to work across the Middle East and Asia. [Source: ADF International (UK)]

CHRISTIANS IMPRISONED UNDER INDIA’S ‘ANTI-CONVERSION’ LAW
(Morning Star News) – Six pastors and another Christian in India have begun serving their five-year prison sentences under an “anti-conversion” law, two years after they were falsely accused, following a raid on a child’s birthday party by anti-Christian extremists. The Christians were falsely convicted on June 12 of “promoting enmity, hatred, or disharmony between different religious groups, and deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage the religious feelings”, under the Madhya Pradesh state’s anti-conversion law against fraudulent or forced conversion.
“By entangling these six pastors in a false case, opponents have succeeded in shutting down churches at six locations, scattering the believers and instilling fear in them,” a source told Morning Star News. The six pastors all residents of Diwari village, along with another Christian from the Dindori District, were arrested on a complaint by an anti-Christian neighbour,  who is a follower of traditional indigenous religion.  He  disrupted the birthday party they were attending in 2024, and accused them of luring residents to convert them to Christianity.
In their trial, this neighbour alleged that the Christians were repeatedly visiting the village and “offering allurement” to residents to convert, and claimed that on the  evening of the birthday party, he overheard the accusers saying in Hindi, “Start praying in the name of Jesus and adopt Christianity. You will also get money.” Other witnesses also gave false testimonies, with the seven pastors being sentenced to five years rigorous imprisonment and a fine of 100,000 rupees ($1,040) and sent to District Jail, Dindori, to serve their terms, on June 12. People in the village have stated that this neighbour intentionally targeted these Christians, because of his anti-Christian sentiments.
A convicted person can be released on bail pending an appeal challenging the verdict, but the bail amounts are huge. “The total bail amount is 700,000 rupees [$7,300] which is a huge sum of money for these poor families to arrange. With this judgement, their families are shattered, and these men were the sole breadwinners.

DR. PHIL TELLS – ‘RELIGIOUS LIBERTY IN AMERICA IS UNDER SIEGE’
As the United States celebrated its 250th anniversary on July 4, President Trump spotlighted religious liberty as one of the country’s foundational principles. Trump met at the White House with members of the Religious Liberty Commission, a panel he established a year ago to examine threats to faith and conscience protections in America. The commission presented its findings after holding seven hearings over the past year and listening to testimony from more than 100 witnesses.
Many of those witnesses described what they saw as growing encroachments on religious freedom, including workplace punishment, job loss, and professional pressure tied to their religious beliefs. “The state of religious liberty in America is under siege,” Dr. Phil McGraw, the television personality, commission member and a Christian, told Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) News in an interview before the meeting.
McGraw said some Christian doctors are forced to choose between their careers and their convictions, as Chrisitan teachers are pushed to violate their consciences too. “Doctors are being forced to perform procedures that are contrary to their religious beliefs,” he said. “Teachers are being asked to teach things that go against their belief systems and their faith. And their jobs are being threatened. In some cases, they are losing their jobs.”
During the White House meeting, commissioners told Trump that many witnesses reported being punished, persecuted, or losing their jobs for standing up for their faith. They also argued that employers and public officials have too often invoked the phrase “separation of church and state” in ways that improperly limit religious expression.
Based on the commission’s recommendations, the Trump administration said it plans to establish a religious liberty hotline and create informational posters to help Americans better understand their rights. The administration also plans to create a Medal of Religious Liberty and First Freedom Hero awards to honour people who defend religious freedom and constitutional rights. [Source: CBN NEWS]

– compiled by Guido Kettniss