Middle East

By BosNewsLife Middle East Service TEHRAN, Iran (BosNewsLife)-- An Iranian Christian has been temporarily freed from prison after posting a $15,000 bail, BosNewsLife learned Wednesday, January 19.

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife TEHRAN, IRAN (BosNewsLife)-- Iranian pastor Youcef Nadarkhani who faces execution for refusing to abandon his faith in Christ and embrace Islam was still alive Thursday, March 29, "through the power of Jesus Christ and prayers", an official assisting him told BosNewsLife.

By BosNewsLife Middle East Service TEHRAN, IRAN (BosNewsLife)-- Six out of eight detained Iranian Christians have lost their appeal against long prison terms on what friends view as trumped-up charges, trial observers said late Thursday, April 3.

By BosNewsLife Middle East Service CAIRO, EGYPT (BosNewsLife)-- Egypt’s government and religious leaders have condemned an attack outside a Coptic church in Egypt's capital Cairo that killed four people, including an 8-year-old girl.

By BosNewsLife Middle East Service with reporting by BosNewsLife's Stefan J. Bos TEHRAN, IRAN (BosNewsLife)-- Evangelical Christians in Iran's capital Tehran were without a church building Sunday, June 10, after Iranian security forces closed it down as part of a wider crackdown, Iranian Christians and activists told BosNewsLife.

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife TEHRAN, IRAN (BosNewsLife)-- An Iranian pastor who was nearly executed for abandoning Islam and three other believers have received 10 years imprisonment each for “acting against national security” as part of a government crackdown on Christian converts in Iran, their supporters told BosNewsLife.

By BosNewsLife Middle East Service GAZA/JERUSALEM (BosNewsLife)-- Palestinian Christians in Israel and across the border in Gaza were facing more difficulties Sunday, August 31, after being forced out of a church in Jerusalem, while in Gaza they were among those rebuilding their lives after weeks of death and destruction.

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife DAMASCUS/VIENNA (BosNewsLife)-- Hundreds of Syrian Christians have been killed and several Christians kidnapped as fighting rages between government forces and rebels, an aid group working in the region told BosNewsLife Thursday, February 16.

By Martin Roth, BosNewsLife Senior Columnist TOKYO, JAPAN (BosNewsLife Columns)-- A forthcoming film from famed director Martin Scorsese is set  to confront the movie-going public with the persecution of Christians. It's “Silence,” based on the celebrated 1966 historical novel by Japanese Christian writer Shusaku Endo, who was nominated for the Nobel Prize.

By BosNewsLife Middle East Service with reporting by BosNewsLife's Stefan J. Bos TEHRAN, IRAN (BosNewsLife)-- Iranian security forces have destroyed a 200-year-old Christian cemetery in southeastern Iran after they earlier used bulldozers to remove an historical church in the area, Iranian Christians said in comments monitored by BosNewsLife Thursday, April 26.