Asia/Pacific

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife STRASBOURG, FRANCE (BosNewsLife)-- Pakistani Christian Asia Bibi who faces execution by hanging on controversial charges of 'blasphemy against Islam' has been nominated for the European Union's prestigious Sakharov Prize for freedom of thought by an influential group of European legislators.

By BosNewsLife Asia Service NEW DELHI, INDIA (BosNewsLife)-- Indian Church leaders have condemned the killing of one of India's leading journalists and activists who publicly criticized what she saw as the persecution of Christians and other minorities in the mainly Hindu nation.

By BosNewsLife Asia Service ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN (BosNewsLife)-- Pakistani Christians demand an investigation into the death of Indaryas Ghulam, a 38-year-old Christian man who they say was tortured and sentenced to death by hanging after refusing to abandon his faith in Jesus Christ.

HANOI, VIETNAM (BosNewsLife)-- The wife of jailed Vietnamese pastor Nguyen Cong Chinh fears for her husband's life after he spoke openly about mistreatment in prison, according to friends familiar with the situation. Tran Thi Hong reportedly said that her husband, a 45-year-old missionary pastor, "is being punished" for speaking "honestly" to a U.S. delegation about the "tortures, threats and mistreatment" he endured behind bars.

By BosNewsLife Asia Service BEIJING, CHINA (BosNewsLife)-- A prominent Chinese pastor is “barely alive” after suffering various forms of torture in prison, his family and activists say. Zhang Shaojie of Nanle Country Christian Church in Henan Province is currently serving a 12-year prison sentence which began in 2014

By BosNewsLife Asia Service NEW DELHI, INDIA (BosNewsLife)-- Tensions are rising in northern India where Indian authorities have stopped buses carrying more than 70 Christian children and prevented them from proceeding to a Bible summer camp in Madhya Pradesh state, rights activists and officials said.

By BosNewsLife Asia Service ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN (BosNewsLife)-- A Christian man has been burned to death in north-eastern Pakistan amid growing violence against minority Christians in the Islamic Asian nation, rights activists confirmed.

By BosNewsLife Asia Service NEW DELHI, INDIA (BosNewsLife)-- Evangelical Christians in India, who are reportedly facing persecution in several areas of India, were in mourning this Easter after the recent death of at least 16 Christians in a major traffic accident in Meghalaya state in North East India. Over 50 were also injured when a truck carrying them overturned in the West Khasi Hills district of Meghalaya on February 26.

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife NEW DELHI, INDIA (BosNewsLife)-- Christian groups in India have urged authorities to increase protection of churches during the Easter season after at least five churches in the country were reportedly targeted on by Hindu extremists and government officials. The Palm Sunday attacks included disrupting worship services and prayer gatherings, the detention of pastors, their wives and other church members, as well as the beating by a mob of a pastor for allegedly violating "anti-conversion laws".

NEW DELHI, INDIA (BosNewsLife)-- A Christian father in eastern India has died after he and his wife were forced by angry villagers to spent the night in frigid water because they refused to deny their faith in Jesus Christ, BosNewsLife learned Sunday March 12.