More Nigerian believers killed by herdsmen.

More Nigerian believers killed by herdsmen

At least six Christians in central Nigeria were killed by militant Fulani herdsmen on March 10, just a day after another believer was reportedly stabbed to death for objecting to their grazing cattle on his farmland.

The herdsmen, who invaded predominantly Christian Farin Dutse village in Nasarawa state’s Nasarawa county, set homes ablaze, said local resident Esau Ezekiel.

‘Many Christian villagers have been killed, six corpses have so far been recovered and many houses set ablaze,’ Ezekiel told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News (CDI-MSN).

Please pray for the bereaved and injured and all those who have lost their homes.

Ezekiel said that the Fulani attacked in the early hours of the morning as villagers were sleeping. He said that the previous day a herdsman had led his cattle on to a farm belonging to a Christian while villagers were attending a church worship service.

‘The herdsman was spotted cutting down branches from one of the mango trees on the farm and feeding his cattle with the leaves,’ he said. ‘The farmer asked him to lead his cattle out of the farm, but instead of complying with the instructions of the farmer to stop his cattle from destroying crops on the farm, the herdsman stabbed the Christian farmer to death.’

He added that this man then led the other Fulanis in the attack the next day.

Legal victory for Pakistani Christian woman

In a significant legal victory against forced conversions and marriages in Pakistan, a civil court has annulled the marriage of a Christian woman who was given to a Muslim man as a child and coerced to convert to Islam and marry him, sources said.

Last month Bahawalpur civil judge Afzal Baig ruled in favour of 25-year-old Shahida Bibi, declaring her marriage to the Muslim man invalid and reversing her coerced conversion to Islam, said her attorney, Lazar Allah Rakha.

‘The judge directed the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) to make a fresh identity card for Bibi, restoring her religious status as Christian and deleting her marital status,’ Rakha told CDI-MSN. ‘It’s a rare case where justice has been served in a religious conversion matter.’

Shahida’s ordeal began at the age of 11, when her mother eloped with a Muslim in 2012. This man then handed the girl over to his brother, who sexually exploited her and, after she turned 18, forced her to enter into an Islamic marriage or Nikah.

During this time, Shahida gave birth to two children while trapped in the forced marriage; one was born with physical disabilities and died after four years, Rakha said.

Long prison term for pregnant Iranian convert

Three Christian converts, including a woman who is pregnant with her first child, have been given lengthy prison sentences on charges relating to their religious beliefs and worship meetings. The Iranian believers were sentenced at a Revolutionary Court on March 8.

Narges Nasri, who is 37 years old and halfway through her first pregnancy, received the stiffest sentence of the three: ten years for ‘propaganda activities contrary to Islamic law’, five years for membership of an ‘opposition group’ and an additional year for ‘propaganda against the state’. The charges allegedly stemmed from a social media post Narges had made.

Abbas Soori also received a sentence of ten years for ‘propaganda activities contrary to Islamic law’ and an additional five years for membership of an ‘opposition group’. Abbas had been previously accused of distributing propaganda in 2022. As a result of these former charges, rather than being sentenced to prison, he received ten years’ ‘deprivation of social rights’, which carries numerous restrictions relating to areas such as employment, health care and education.

The third accused, Mehran Shamloui, received a term of eight years for spreading propaganda and 30 months for membership of an ‘opposition group’.

(Sources: Article 18; Christian Daily International-Morning Star News)

PRAYER

· Pray for God’s comfort and strength for all those affected by the attack in Nasarawa last week. Continue to pray for an end to the killing of Christians in Nigeria

· Thank God for the legal victory in Pakistan and pray that other judges would have the courage to uphold justice in these types of cases. Pray that other Christian girls would similarly be freed from forced marriages and conversions

· Pray that the prison sentences given to Narges, Abbas and Mehran would be rescinded immediately. Ask God to protect them and keep them in His perfect peace.