Sisters' Stories

Women

• Christian Tutor Reported by Her Husband

  

  Liu Cui is a member of the Lishi Christian Church in China, which operates a co-op school group for children, despite ongoing harassment from government agencies that want to restrict the religious education of minors. On October 11th, Liu went to the school to help tutor six students from four different families.

• Couple Released on Bail Due to Lack of Evidence

  

  On September 8th, Kiran Bibi answered the door to a man who said he noticed pages of the Quran apparently falling from the rooftop of her family's home. When she invited him to investigate this further by going up to the rooftop, they found a bag with loose papers in it. Kiran stated that the bag had been given to her by a Muslim employer to sell to a scrap vendor, and that her children may have unintentionally thrown some of the pages down without realizing their significance.

• Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Nayab Gill's Case

  

  In May 2021, 13-year-old Nayab Gill was forcibly converted and married to a 30-year-old Muslim man named Saddam Hayat. Despite court challenges, custody was given to her "husband." (For more details, go to this report.)A year later, reports surfaced indicating that the young Christian girl may have been sold to someone else as a bride (details here). With support from various advocacy organizations, Nayab's parents have continued to fight for justice on behalf of their daughter.

• Pastor and Family Detained; Multiple Other Christians Arrested

  

  A pastor, his wife and their three-year-old son have been jailed in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh after holding a prayer service at their home in Haidargarh on July 30th. Pastor Harendra Singh and his wife Priya were arrested and remanded on allegations of "luring innocent people to Christianity." Because both of these parents were detained, they had to take their young son with them to prison.

• Woman Killed for Refusing to Convert to Islam

  

  A Christian widow and mother of three was abducted, raped, murdered, and doused with acid after she refused to convert to Islam and marry one of her abductors. Shazia Imran worked at LUMS University in Lahore, Pakistan. On June 6th, at the end of her work shift, she failed to return home. Worried family members searched throughout the night for her and, the next day, they filed a police report. The police contacted the family that same day to notify them that a body was found in the morning. The family was able to identify the body as their missing loved one.

• Christian Woman Slain by Husband

  

  After hearing the "Good News" of the Gospel about a month ago from missionaries visiting her local village, Nga, a 42-year-old Vietnamese woman, turned in faith to Christ. She was the first in her village to respond to God's message of salvation, which had been presented to her by the evangelizing Christians. However, unlike Nga, her husband Vu was not open to hearing the missionaries' message.

• Five Christians Released on Bail

  

  On August 17th, 2022, Public Security Bureau officers in China detained three Christian men – Wang Shunping, Nu Sangdeng and San Luobo – along with two Christian women – Hua Xiuxia and Dong Mengru – on accusations of "organizing and funding illegal gatherings." It was reported that these gatherings had taken place for the purpose of prayer, and to offer Bible studies and music lessons for young people. One of the believers, Wang Shunping, is the young pastor of a church in Nujiang, Yunnan State. The other four Christians who were arrested alongside Pastor Wang are members of his church.

• More Chibok Girls Rescued

  

  In 2014, a secondary school in the predominantly Christian town of Chibok, Borno State, was attacked by members of the militant Islamic group, Boko Haram. During the raid, 276 girls were kidnapped. (For details on the initial attack, go to this report.)In the nine years since that time, some of the girls have been released, while others either managed to escape or were rescued by governmental forces. Although the exact number of students who remain missing is unknown, it is estimated that approximately 100 of them are still in captivity.

• Teen Girl Kidnapped at Gunpoint

  

  A Christian teenager named Sehar was kidnapped from her home in Okaro, Punjab, on April 23rd. At last report, police were continuing to search for her, along with the three Muslim men responsible for the abduction.
  
  The 13-year-old girl worked at a local brick kiln, along with 11 of her siblings, to help support the family, since their elderly father is ill and unable to work. According to her brother Irfan, the three men on motorcycles kidnapped Sehar from her home at gunpoint and fled. One of the captors was recognized as Allah Rakha, who also worked at the kiln.

• Father of Kidnapped Child Murdered

  

  On March 30th, the Persecution & Prayer Alert reported on a 12-year-old girl who had been kidnapped and, after being recovered, was placed in a women's shelter rather than being returned to her father. Young Hoorab Masih had been abducted by two local shopkeepers in December and then forced to convert to Islam and marry one of her kidnappers. For more details on the incident, see this page.