Middle East

By BosNewsLife News Center in Budapest BUDAPEST, HUNGARY (BosNewsLife)-- BosNewsLife's November 25-December 2 news week began with a massive explosion as at least five people were killed and dozens injured when a suicide bomber drove a car full of explosives into a church inside the Jaji military barracks in Nigeria's northern Kaduna state.

By BosNewsLife Middle East Service with reporting by BosNewsLife's Stefan J. Bos TEHRAN, IRAN (BosNewsLife)-- Iranian Christians and rights activists say a jailed Iranian pastor is facing serious health problems and may not survive the remaining five years of his prison term on "trumped-up charges" of “crimes against national security”.

TEHRAN/LONDON (BosNewsLife)-- Iranian Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani, who faced the death penalty for "apostasy" but was recently released, has thanked those who had prayed and petitioned on his behalf during his imprisonment for nearly three years, BosNewsLife monitored Wednesday, November 28.

(ADDS MORE DETAILS, FIXES PARAGRAPH) By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife CAIRO/BRUSSELS (BosNewsLife)-- The European Union was under pressure Wednesday, November 28, to freeze 500 million euro ($647 million) in annual financial aid to Egypt after a court in the capital Cairo sentenced seven Christians to death for their involvement in an anti-Islam film that prompted deadly riots throughout the world.

By BosNewsLife Africa Service CAIRO, EGYPT (BosNewsLife)-- Time was running out Thursday, November 22, for an abducted Christian Eritrean man in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula after his kidnappers told him to pay $25,000 or face “organ harvesting” and be killed, he and Christian rights activists said.

By George Whitten, BosNewsLife Senior Middle East Correspondent reporting from Israel and BosNewsLife's Stefan J. Bos JERUSALEM, ISRAEL (BosNewsLife)-- A tense ceasefire began late Wednesday between the ruling militant Hamas group in the Gaza Strip and Israel following weeklong fighting, but Christians in Israel urged prayers amid fears of an all-out war.

By BosNewsLife Middle East Service with reporting by BosNewsLife's Stefan J. Bos TEHRAN/LONDON (BosNewsLife)-- British Christian legislators expressed concern Monday, November 19, about the "serious and growing persecution and discrimination" of Iranian Christians and said at least dozens of believers remain detained amid a crackdown on Christian converts in Iran.

By BosNewsLife Middle East Service BEIRUT, LEBANON (BosNewsLife)-- Christians in Syria remained in the crossfire Sunday, November 18, as rebels captured up to 30 percent of the heavily Islamic nation, a leading Dutch legislator and investigator told BosNewsLife.

By BosNewsLife News Center BUDAPEST, HUNGARY (BosNewsLife)-- The November 11-17 newsweek was marked by reports of Islamic militants attacking churches and, in at least one case, beheading a young Christian man "for leaving Islam", though believers continued to gather in worship expressing their faith in Christ and in their future.

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife TEHRAN, IRAN (BosNewsLife)-- Iran has released a detained devoted Christian of the 'Church of Iran' on a massive bail but five other recently arrested members of the evangelical house church movement remain behind bars, a church official told BosNewsLife Saturday, November 17.