A Pakistani court has sentenced two Christians in Punjab to death for the crime of blasphemy, following their arrest in 2015.

Chinese authorities announced on Thursday that they are holding Pastor Wang Yi of the Early Rain Covenant Church on suspicion of “subversion” despite an international outcry from religious freedom advocates and human rights organizations.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the 2018 list of Countries of Particular Concern under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 on Tuesday, listing China, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia at the top of the list of the world’s worst abusers of religious rights.

The United States Bishops have praised new legislation that will direct humanitarian relief to genocide victims in Iraq and Syria and hold Islamic State militants accountable for their crimes.

Despite ongoing arrests and torture of Chinese Christians after a raid on an independent church Sunday, the faithful are vowing not to bow to the Communist party “even if it means death.”

China conducted a series of tightly coordinated raids on Sunday against the Early Rain Covenant Church in the city of Chengdu, arresting dozens of members including Pastor Wang Yi and his wife.

Harper’s magazine has devoted its December cover story to shining a spotlight on the persecution of Christians, especially the plight of Christians in the Middle East.

More than 60 percent of the world’s population of more than 7.5 billion reside in countries where the right to religious freedom is obstructed or denied. An estimated 505 million Christians face persecution for following their faith, a Catholic NGO Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) report indicated this week.

The lawyer of the Christian woman Asia Bibi, recently acquitted in Pakistan of a 2010 death penalty verdict for alleged blasphemy, reportedly revealed this week that he is appealing to Germany to grant her whole family citizenship to flee death threats by Islamists.

Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday declared that Islamabad, which the U.S. placed on a special watch list for “severe violations of religious freedom” this year, would spearhead an international campaign against the defamation of religion and make using freedom of speech as a pretext to commit blasphemy a crime.

Pakistan’s Christians are living in a state of fear in the wake of Asia Bibi’s acquittal for allegedly committing blasphemy against Islam, the Telegraph reported over the weekend, echoing other assessments.

Asia Bibi — the Christian mother of five sentenced to death nearly a decade ago under Pakistan’s arcane blasphemy laws — is, in effect, still facing a sentence, despite the Supreme Court of Pakistan overturning her actual death sentence on October 31, acquitting her of all charges, and authorizing her immediate release.

The head of the Mutahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA), a radical Islamist group in Pakistan, delivered remarks Friday accusing Islamist Prime Minister Imran Khan of being a “Jew representative” seeking praise from the West by releasing Christian mother Asia Bibi.

A senior Pakistani official told reporters Monday that the government will not allow Asia Bibi, a Christian woman recently acquitted on false charges of blasphemy, to flee the country despite incessant calls from radical Islamist rioters for her death and that of her family.

Islamists reportedly attacked travelers in Pakistan who identified themselves as Christians in the wake of the decision by the Supreme Court to rescind the 2010 death sentence against Asia Bibi for alleged blasphemy, CNN reported on Sunday.

The persecution of Christians is generally ignored because, unlike Muslims and Jews, Christians have no good word to describe it, said a UK archbishop this weekend.

The Dutch embassy in Pakistan temporarily halted visa services on Monday “due to circumstances beyond [their] control” shortly after the attorney representing Christian blasphemy law victim Asia Bibi suggested Bibi and her family were seeking asylum in the European country.

The government of Pakistan confirmed on Thursday that Asia Bibi, a Christian woman whose acquittal on blasphemy charges have triggered violent Islamist riots, remains in Pakistan despite rumors she has left prison and flown to the capital, Islamabad.

Various reports Wednesday afternoon suggest that Asia Bibi, a Pakistani Christian woman acquitted of blasphemy charges last week, has left prison and is onboard a flight at press time.

Pakistan’s Minister of State for Interior Shehryar Afridi assured those concerned that the government would protect Asia Bibi, a Christian woman acquitted of blasphemy last week, from Islamist mobs who want to kill her and that the government would not ban her from leaving the country if she was not re-convicted.

Christian leaders, politicians, and activists in the West are urging their home countries and the international community to find a way to grant asylum to Asia Bibi, a follower of Christ under threat in Pakistan after the country’s supreme court overturned a death penalty verdict over blasphemy allegations.

Pakistan’s federal government confirmed on Tuesday it had begun the bureaucratic process to place Asia Bibi, a Christian mother recently acquitted of blasphemy, on a travel ban list, leaving her vulnerable to murder by violent Islamist mobs.

Our Christian brothers and sisters are under attack.

The family of Asia Bibi, a Christian mother acquitted of blasphemy in Pakistan Wednesday after nearly a decade on death row, is “living in straight terror” and seeking a Western country to grant expedited asylum in the face of violent protests calling for her death, the chairman of a charity aiding Christians in the country told Breitbart News on Thursday.

Contents: Pakistan Supreme Court acquits Asia Bibi of blasphemy, triggering widespread riots; Pakistan Supreme Court defends Mohammed’s covenant with Christianity

Pakistan’s Supreme Court on Wednesday overturned the death sentence handed to Christian mother Asia Bibi in 2010, calling the accusations of blasphemy against her “nothing short of concoction incarnate” and accusing the complainants of “insulting” Islam by fabricating charges.

The thousands of Christians who have returned to Iraq in recent months after suffering genocide during the Islamic State (ISIS) occupation are breathing life back into their devastated villages, opening up schools and shops, Breitbart News has learned.

The South China Morning Post has attacked Cardinal Joseph Zen for his recent criticism of the Vatican-China deal on the appointment of bishops, saying the prelate preaches a “message of hate.”

Chinese authorities demolished two Catholic pilgrimage sites dedicated to the Virgin Mary just weeks after the Vatican signed a deal with the Communist Party over the appointment of bishops.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has intensified its crackdown on Christian symbols, removing several more crosses from churches this month.