ICC Note:

Nepal has continued to increase its crackdown on Christian evangelist with several being arrested and beaten for no reason. This comes at a time when the Nepalese government to implement laws that would greatly restrict religious freedom. According to one Christian evangelist in Nepal, pastors are afraid to take Bibles with them because there is a danger police will accuse them of trying forcibly to convert others simply by having a Bible in their possession. Will Nepal become another major persecutor of Christians in South Asia?

10/13/2016 Nepal (Christian Today) – Christians in Nepal are being arrested and beaten up for no reason, Christian Today has learned.

Christian leaders in Nepal, a landlocked country in South Asia with China on one side and India on the other, are urging their fellow believers in the West to pressure their MPs to intervene.

The growing harassment comes as the Nepal government prepares to implement new laws restricting freedom of religion and belief that are similar to the harsh and controversial Pakistani blasphemy law.

Eight Christians are currently awaiting trial later this month, accused of illicit evangelization. They were arrested and held in custody for nine days, charged with distributing a comic book explaining the story of Jesus as a gift at trauma relief sessions that were held in two schools in eastern Nepal this year as a response to the April 2015 earthquakes.

Christians make up less than two per cent of the 28 million mainly Hindu population of Nepal.

Tanka Subedi, senior pastor of Family of God Church, Kathmandu and advocate for Freedom of Religion and Belief in Nepal and South Asia, said: “For the last two years we have been unsure about how long the doors will be open for us to practice our faith freely. We were not expecting this level of harassment.”

Pastor Tanka told Christian Today that there are there are in total 15 court cases waiting to be heard.

“Christians were arrested and beaten without reasons,” he said. “Political leaders are accusing Christian for converting by paying money.”

Pastors are afraid to take Bibles and literature with them in their ministry because there is a danger police will accuse them of trying forcibly to convert others simply by having a Bible in their possession.

…