Sharia law enforced in Syria, Nicaragua bans Easter parades, Italian church taxed for “not looking like a church”, more anti-Christian violence in Nigeria and more accounts of persecution from around the world.
SYRIA: New regime enforces Sharia law
Further to our reports in the April-May paper, when we warned that the new regime was not paying Christians, here is more evidence of rampant anti-Christian persecution.
A Catholic priest has told LifeSiteNews that the new Syrian government is forcing Christians to obey Islamic law. Father Peter Fuchs, who leads the German branch of Christian Solidarity International (CSI), confirmed that Alawites have been massacred by Islamists, and that Christians are now pressured to accept Islam and fear the same fate if they do not comply.
Girls wear the hijab in school and children have to recite the Qu’ran
Fuchs says that Christians live in poverty, their girls are told to wear the hijab at school and children have to recite the Qu’an – or risk expulsion. At checkpoints, jiahdists tell people they are “not allowed to pass until they recite the Islamic creed” and in Homs young men are threatened with violence if they don’t recite it.
CHINA: Betrayal bribe threatens house churches
Henan Province, which has a large Christian population, has launched a reward scheme encouraging people to betray Christians who attend house churches. According to China Aid, Song County in Henan Province issued a notice asking the public to inform on anyone “holding religious activities outside registered religious venues, such as setting up private gathering spots or organising house churches”, publishing unapproved Christian material or propagating Christianity on social media, and “proselytising on the streets”. (Photo – Notice on the reward for reporting illegal religious activities’. Credit: China Aid)
Citizens must also report anyone “posing as religious clergy” – which means pastors not licensed by the official Church.
The latest crackdown on Chinese Christians comes against a backdrop of civil unrest. Citizens in some parts of China have been demonstrating against the failure of property developers to actually build apartments which have been purchased with a mortgage. They have been blaming the governing Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for the financial crisis because it has failed to stop local authorities selling land to the developers, who use the money from previously purchased apartments. It has been called a ‘Ponzi scheme’, thanks to the developers buying up more land without building the apartments that have been paid for with citizens’ mortgages.
NIGERIA: Violence on the rise in 2025
International Christian Concern (ICC) has documented a surge in attacks on Christians in the first few months of this year. ICC reports that “Over 300 Christians have been killed, dozens abducted, and thousands displaced in a wave of violence that has swept across the nation. One of the most devastating attacks occurred on Palm Sunday in Plateau state, where at least 56 people were killed, and 103 homes were burned.”
A Muslim truck driver intentionally crashed into an Easter procession
Meanwhile, according to Morning Star News (MSN), on 21 April a Muslim truck driver intentionally crashed into an Easter procession in Billiri, Gombe state, killing six Christians and hospitalising over 30. MSN also reports that Islamic extremist group Boko Haram killed seven Christians in Borno state, injured many others and set homes and churches on fire. The murders were the latest in a wave of jihadist attacks by Boko Haram and its offshoot, Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP).
BANGLADESH: Christians attacked again
Christians in Bangladesh are again being targeted as they emerge from hiding after last year’s political unrest, which followed the removal of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
The former PM fled the country in August 2024, after student-led protests against her authoritarian rule erupted into general protests. However, according to Open Doors, religious minorities are frequently assumed to support Sheikh Hasina’s political party. Thus Christians and other minorities were forced to flee their homes after suffering a backlash against them. Their homes and businesses were attacked and mobs threatened them with violence if they didn’t reject their faith. (Photo – The home of a believer in Bangladesh after it was looted last year. Credit: Open Doors)
The same is happening again, as Christians emerge from hiding and try to resume normal life. Moreover, Christians may also be at risk because Muslim leaders often portray Christians as Islam’s enemies.
Caption: Italian pastor Leonardo De Chirico, whose church is being taxed because its building is not conventional enough
Credit: Evangelical Times
ITALY: Church taxed for not looking like a church
An evangelical fellowship in Rome is being forced to pay a heavy tax bill because its building doesn’t resemble a traditional church. The Evangelical Times reports that the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has ruled against the church, Breccia di Roma, which will have to pay thousands of Euros to the Italian Tax Agency or make “structural modifications”. Breccia di Roma had appealed to the ECHR after its building was classified as a shop, which meant losing its tax exemption for places of worship. It was a retail outlet before the church bought it, but they had gained permission to change the use. (Photo – Italian pastor Leonardo De Chirico, whose church is being taxed because its building is not conventional enough. Credit: Evangelical Times)
The church’s pastor, Leonardo De Chirico, says: “We continue to believe that the Government has no right to dictate the appearance of a place of worship.”
Caption: The Azadi Tower, literally the Tower of Freedom, in Tehran. Built in 1971, before the 1979 Islamic Revolution, its name is an ironic reminder of what does not exist in Iran
Credit: Blondinrikard Fröberg/Wikimedia
IRAN: Government intensifies persecution
A joint report by Open Doors, Christian Solidarity Worldwide and Middle East Concern finds that Iran sentenced Christians to over 250 years in prison in 2024 – a sharp increase on the 43.5 years of 2023.
According to Premier Christian News the report, entitled ‘The Tip of the Iceberg’, documents a “huge uptick in arrests in the second half of 2023” and states that the data may only be a small window on a much larger crackdown. It adds that the Bible is treated as illegal and “evidence of a crime” and that worship and evangelism are seen as security threats. (Photo – The Azadi Tower, literally the Tower of Freedom, in Tehran. Built in 1971, before the 1979 Islamic Revolution, its name is an ironic reminder of what does not exist in Iran. Credit: Blondinrikard Fröberg/Wikimedia)
NICARAGUA: Government bans Easter celebrations
Processions and other public religious activities were banned over Easter in the latest government crackdown on religion. Protestant and Roman Catholic churches were both targeted, with riot police stationed outside churches in order to enforce the restrictions. Christian Solidary Worldwide reports that the new move is “part of a concerning uptick in violations of freedom of religion or belief in Nicaragua in the first quarter of 2025. Between January and April CSW has documented 107 separate violations, just shy of half the 222 violations CSW recorded in 2024.”
Church leaders also complain about undercover intelligence officers monitoring sermons and Christian social media posts.
Persecution Watch is written for Heart by Andrew Halloway, a British freelance editor, writer and publishing consultant. He is also editor of Good News—a national monthly evangelistic newspaper (www.goodnews-paper.org.uk). Andrew has 18 years’ experience as an editor and publishing manager in the Christian publishing world, and holds a first class honours degree in Humanities. He has long had an interest in the creation/evolution debate, and is the contributing editor of ‘The Delusion of Evolution’, a magazine-style evangelistic booklet that has sold over 23,000 copies in the UK (available from www.newlife.co.uk).