Around the world, Christians are forced to spend years of their lives, many times a decade or more, behind bars for the “crime” of believing in Jesus Christ. 

Believers in nations like China, Iran, North Korea, and Pakistan, to name a few, must endure torturous imprisonment, separation from the outside world, and inhumane treatment for practicing Christianity.  

Many of the countries jailing their own citizens for following Jesus are doing so due to a range of factors, though dictatorial paranoia and Islamic oppression are prominent causes. Those in power in these nations believe that faith in Jesus takes the focus off them, thereby weakening the vision they hold for what they feel their citizens should believe. 

The conscience of a person, one of the most intimate and precious touchstones of humanity, is treated like a commodity used for power by the authorities in these nations. Violations of individuals’ consciences amount to little more than coins of power in the satchels of those who act as sovereigns over their people. 

For Islamist-led countries, power holders wish to stop the spread of Christianity, with physical force if need be. Many Christians in these nations, especially those who convert to Christianity or those who don’t comply with unreasonable restrictions, receive long and severe jail terms for following their faith. 

Authorities often use hypothetical crowbars, in the form of imprisonment, to attempt the forceful wedging of Islam into the hearts of those who have converted to Christianity or rejected Islam in places like Iran and Pakistan. 

Iran 

• In March 2025, Mehran Shamloui, a Christian convert, was sentenced to 10 years and 8 months in prison for his participation in a Christian house church. 

• Narges Nasri, a Christian convert, was sentenced to 16 years in prison for activities related to her Christian faith and summoned to begin her sentence in May 2025. 

• Abbas Soori, also a Christian convert, was sentenced to 15 years in prison for house church membership and Christian-related activities. Soori was summoned to begin his sentence in May 2025. Soori, Nasri, and Shamloui all fled Iran due to their harsh sentences. However, Shamloui was apprehended in Turkey in July and sent back to Iran, where he was re-arrested.  

• In October 2025, five Christians were sentenced to nearly 10 years each for Christian-related activities. 

• Hakop Gochumyan was sentenced to 10 years in prison in February 2024 for “‘engaging in deviant proselytizing activity that contradicts the sacred law of Islam’ through alleged membership and leadership of ‘a network of evangelical Christianity, ’” according to the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF). 

Pakistan 

• Asif Pervaiz was handed a death sentence in 2020 for reportedly sending text messages in 2013 that were deemed blasphemous against Islam, according to the USCIRF. 

• Ashfaq Masih was sentenced to death in 2022 for “insulting the Prophet Muhammad,” according to Church in Chains. 

In the communist nations of China and North Korea, the state encourages atheism and targets Christians, who are often viewed as threats to their power. 

China 

• Wang Yi, pastor of Early Rain Covenant Church, was sentenced to nine years in prison in 2019 for his Christian activities. Per USCIRF, Yi was “targeted for failing to register [the] church with authorities and subject it to state regulation.” 

• Yang Jianxin, a house church pastor, was allegedly sentenced to five years and six months in prison for trying to get Bibles printed through a local printer. 

North Korea 

• A 2023 Business Insider report cited the Office of International Religious Freedom, stating that “tens of thousands of Christians are said to be languishing in prisons” in North Korea. 

• Kim Jung-wook was allegedly sentenced to life in prison for his Christian missionary work. 

• In June 2025, a report was made public stating 70 Christians had disappeared from North Korean prisons with little known as to their whereabouts. 

• According to Open Doors, “if your Christian faith is discovered in North Korea, you could be killed on the spot.” 

Story by Lynn Arias