International Christian Concern (ICC) reported on the "murder" of Rehmat Masih, a Christian man, at the hands of the police. Rehmat was falsely accused of, and arrested for, the theft of 300 law books from the Civil Secretariat in Lahore where he worked as a janitor. Although there were 10 other Muslim co-workers with access to the stolen books, only the Rehmat and a Christian colleague were arrested for the theft of the books. After being detained on March 2, Rehmat and his co-accused Christian colleague, were detained and severely tortured continuously for 17 days. After 17 days Rehmat's health began to fail and he was transferred to hospital where he passed away to be with our Lord on April 1, 2003. He leaves a widow and 5 children. ICC is urging American Christians to raise their voices in concern about the treatment of Christians in Pakistan and asking them to "write or call immediately to Pakistani ambassador Mr. Ashraf Jehangir Qazi and ask for help in securing justice for Christians in Pakistan."

Compass Direct reports that 170 protestant Christians were arrested during February and March. During their arrests and detention these prisoners have been threatened, by the police, with torture and death. Apparently, since the government closed 12 Pentecostal churches last May, the have not permitted any others to be formed. Over the past two months in five separate incidents and in four different cities "barged into worship services and even a wedding ceremony to jail men, women and children for practicing what government officials called 'a new religion'." All the prisoners were initially held incommunicado but have since been individually released on bail to relatives or friends.

In the same article, Compass Direct also highlights the plight of 74 Pentecostal soldiers who served in the military but have been imprisoned for their faith for the last 13 months. All the men have refused to recant their faith and are forced to do hard labor in prison.

Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) and the BBC have reported on a crackdown on human rights activists in Cuba. CSW reported that it was recommended that Christian human rights activist, Dr Oscar Elias Biscet, received a 25 year prison sentence for 'disorderly conduct.' His arrest was part of an 80 people round up, by police, in the last two weeks of March. Dr. Biscet and the others were arrested when the police forcibly tried to prevent them from entering a home where a human rights meeting was taking place. Human Rights groups around the world have condemned these arrests and they are calling for the immediate release of the imprisoned activists.

The Pakistan Christian Post reported that a Christian woman, who was assaulted by an influential landlord, tried to file a first-information report against the alleged rapist immediately after the incident. But even a week after her rape, the police refused to lodge the case. The woman and her husband were then advised to show their human-rights membership cards to the police and submit a medical examination report to them. An FIR was lodged against the alleged rapist. About a month and a half later the court issued it's ruling and convicted the landlord on two counts of rape. Fr. Saroya, who represented the woman in court, is the first Franciscan and Catholic priest in Karachi to provide legal services to his community. He does not take money from any of his Christian clients.

The BBC reported that three mosques in the southern Philippines city of Davao have been hit by a series of attacks; just hours after a deadly bombing killed 16 people. There were no reports of casualties but the mosque attacks prompted fears of a spiral of religious violence in the mainly Christian city. Davao is on the island of Mindanao, the heartland of the Philippines' small Muslim minority, where rebels have been waging a bitter war for a separate homeland. Davao had largely escaped the three decades of violence in the southern Philippines, until a huge bomb blast at the city's airport last month, in which 23 people died and more than 150 others were injured. According to a Barnabas Fund report, the leader of the rebel group has denied any involvement in the bombing of the mosques, but some commentators believe that they may be trying to ignite a religious conflict between Christians and Muslims.

George Guilherme reported in Christianity Today, that in a remote part of Brazil's Northeast, despite the many small farms, there is little food. Most people eat once a day, and one person in three is illiterate.

The region has the fewest number of evangelicals among Brazil's 173 million people. Yet evangelicals are growing most quickly in the Northeast, at 8.67 percent per year in the last few decades. The Brazilian evangelical movement, largely charismatic, has grown sevenfold during the past 30 years.

Because of the Northeast's poverty, help must come from wealthier churches elsewhere in Brazil. "The churches in the major centers have a big responsibility for those in the interior," Serguem Silva says, director of an Educational organization called the Leadership Training Center that has helped new evangelical churches open and grow.

"Our goal is to prepare local leaders to preach the gospel in their own context," says Silva, "We have students who travel 145 miles in the back of a truck in order to study."

The BBC reports that the Liberian Government has imposed an immediate ban on street preaching by evangelists and church leaders in the capital, Monrovia.
A justice ministry press release cited security reasons for the ban but gave no more details. It only warned of stiff punitive measures against would-be violators of the new order.

Until the ban, nearly every street corner and public square in Monrovia, the capital, were scenes of daytime prayer services, with young evangelists and self-proclaimed spiritual counselors drawing in crowds. Street vendors and students would abandon their daily duties and gather in the burning sun to repeat recitals of prayers for themselves and the nation.

Some people see the action as helping to make things difficult for suspected rebel agents who might take advantage of such gatherings to cause a stir in Monrovia. But a renowned clergyman, the Reverend Plessant Harris, described the measure as "a little bit vague".

Bill Broadway, a Staff Writer for The Washington Post reports that whatever the outcome of the war in Iraq, Christians in that country are fearful about their future.

They worry that if Saddam Hussein's government is ousted quickly and new leadership put into place, the new government will follow the model of many Muslim countries and outlaw all forms of non-Islamic worship. The country's half-million or more Christians have been allowed to worship freely under Hussein and for generations have worked and lived comfortably with Muslims.

Such a relatively open religious environment is nearly unheard of in many Muslim countries, where practicing any religion but Islam can bring imprisonment or, in some cases, death. Some of those countries, such as Saudi Arabia, are allies of the United States. Last month, the Saudi defense minister restated his government's prohibition against Christian worship and denounced critics who argued that churches should be allowed.

The Times of India reported that Sudan's government and rebels begin fresh talks this week on whether to merge or retain their separate armies and other security issues - major sticking points as they try to seal a final peace deal by June. The government and the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) started peace talks last year designed to end a conflict that has killed around two million people in Africa's largest country. War broke out in Sudan in 1983 pitting the Islamic government in the Arab-speaking north against rebels seeking more autonomy for the largely animist or Christian south. SPLA spokesman Samson Kwaje said even though the talks could be tricky, there was a realistic chance of meeting the June target set for a final peace deal.

The BBC reported that the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, was speaking at a Christian-Muslim summit in Doha, Qatar on Monday, hosted by the Amir of Qatar, His Highness Shaikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani. Dr. Williams said that the Iraq conflict has added urgency to the need of greater understanding between Christians and Muslims. ¡¡!SA meeting such as this is a clear demonstration that we do not have to be imprisoned in mutual hostility and misunderstanding." Paul Handley, editor of the Church Times, said: "It does make a difference when there are political problems and a religious leader can cut across the political lines of communication and talk directly to somebody else."