Middle East

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife DAMASCUS/BEIRUT (BosNewsLife)-- Christians in Syria and Lebanon were mourning Saturday, October 20, the growing number of believers killed in anti-Christian violence, including children. Among the latest victims in Syria was missionary and house church leader Sami, his wife and their three children, who were murdered by "a marauding militia earlier this month," said the Christian Aid Mission (CAM) group.

By BosNewsLife Middle East Service   BEIRUT, LEBANON (BosNewsLife)-- A car bomb rocked a Christian area of the Lebanese capital Beirut Friday, October 19, killing at least eight people, including a top Lebanese security official, and reviving memories of the long civil war that once ruined this city.

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife TEHRAN, IRAN (BosNewsLife)-- An official of one of Iran's largest house church movements says recently detained church members are tortured and otherwise pressured to confess to crimes they did not commit.

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife TEHRAN, IRAN (BosNewsLife)-- Awarding-winning Iranian Christian artist Vahid Zarday, a former Muslim, has been temporarily released from a notorious prison in eastern Iran where he was held because of expressing his faith in Christ, Iranian Christians said Sunday, October 14.

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife TEHRAN, IRAN (BosNewsLife)-- Massive arrests of evangelical Protestant Christians, including many former Muslims, are reported in Iran, with men and women being dragged to prisons across the Islamic nation.

By BosNewsLife Middle East Service TEHRAN, IRAN (BosNewsLife)-- Seven Christians from Iran's largest evangelical house church movement were detained while attending a prayer service in a home late Friday, October 12, religious rights activists told BosNewsLife.

By BosNewsLife Middle East Service TEHRAN, IRAN (BosNewsLife)-- Five Christian converts will be tried in southwestern Iran on charges linked to their Christian activities, after spending eight months in prison, an Iranian Christian news agency reported Wednesday, October 10.

By BosNewsLife Middle East Service CAIRO, EGYPT (BosNewsLife)-- Thousands of Egyptians marched through Egypt's capital Cairo Tuesday, October 9, marking the year anniversary of a military crackdown on Christian protesters that killed 26 people.

By BosNewsLife Middle East Service CAIRO, EGYPT (BosNewsLife)-- Egyptian authorities on Thursday, October 4, released two Coptic Christian children who were accused of "insulting Islam" by allegedly urinating on a paper with verses of the Koran, prosecutors and other officials said.

By BosNewsLife Middle East Service RAFAH/CAIRO (BosNewsLife)-- A tense calm returned to Egypt's northern city of Rafah Wednesday, October 3, one week after suspected Islamic militants riding a motorcycle opened fire on a Christian-owned shop, injuring nobody, but prompting Coptic Christian families to flee the area local Christians said.