360 million Christians
live in areas of
severe persecution.

Muslims in eastern Uganda beat an evangelist on Friday (Sept. 20), leaving him hospitalized with head injuries and a broken hand, sources said. Robertson Eriot, 41, and fellow evangelist Kefa Mukisa were visiting homes outside of Busia town, seat of the district of the same name, and stopped at the home of an Islamic leader identified as Sheikh Kalimu on the Busia-Kampala road at about 4:30 p.m., Mukisa said. After they requested permission to enter the homestead, the watchman opened the gate and let them in, and they began sharing the gospel with him, Mukisa said.

A 16-year-old Christian girl in Pakistan was forced to convert to Islam and marry a Muslim after he and two accomplices kidnapped her this month, her parents said. Shahida Iftikhar and her husband Iftikhar Joseph were attending a wedding when their daughter, Diya Iftikhar, was abducted from their home in village Chak No. 126-GB Sheroana in Jaranwala, Faisalabad District, Punjab Province by Ghazaal Jutt, Afzal Jutt and Ramzan Jutt on Sept. 12, Shahida Iftikhar said. Neighbors saw the gun-wielding suspects bundling Diya into a white Suzuki van and fleeing the scene, she said.

Fulani herdsmen in central Nigeria killed two Christians on Thursday and three others at church services the prior Sunday, when they also kidnapped a pastor and 30 congregation members, sources said. A band of armed herdsmen on Thursday (Sept. 19) attacked Kurmin-Kare village, a predominantly Christian community in Kachia County in southern Kaduna state, killing two Christians identified as Audu Bala and Jonathan Moses, said area resident Solomon Sanga.

A Christian mother of four children on Wednesday (Sept. 18) received the death sentence after a judge convicted her under Pakistan’s blasphemy laws, her attorney said. Shagufta Kiran, 40, was convicted under Section 295-C of Pakistan’s widely condemned blasphemy laws for insulting Muhammad, the prophet of Islam, which carries a mandatory death sentence. Attorney Rana Abdul Hameed said Additional Session Judge Islamabad Muhammad Afzal Majoka also sentenced Kiran to a fine of 300,000 rupees ($1,077 USD) after her three-year trial.