Christian Advocacy Now

Act!

Six prisoners in six different countries with one important thing in common: they have been jailed for no other reason than their faith. This May, we are focusing especially on encouraging those who suffer for Christ—with the hope that the letters may also provide some improvement in their situation with those who are imprisoning them. Notes can be brief—just letting prisoners know that you are praying for them and that they are not forgotten. Remember, though, never to mention CAN, Voice of the Martyrs, your church or any other “foreign organization.” This is the one thing that could be detrimental to their situations. Write to one, or write to all. Pray for each of them!

WRITE TO:

VIETNAM
Father Nguyen Van Ly is a Catholic priest in Vietnam, who has been in prison there since 2007 for advocating for religious freedom. He is elderly and in very poor health.

Father Nguyen Van Ly
Nam Ha Prison
Team 27
Ba Sao Village
Kim Bang District
Ha Nam Province
Vietnam

IRAN
Behnam Irani became a Christian in 1992 and then a pastor in 2002. He was first arrested in 2006, and now he is serving a five-year sentence, being falsely accused of crimes against “national security.” He, too, is in very poor health.

Behnam Irani
Ghezel Hesar Prison
Karaj, Albourz State
Iran

CHINA
Pastor Wang Xiaoguang is one of the leaders of the well-known Linfen-Fushan Church, that has been repeatedly targeted by the Chinese government. At a rally in September 2009, security forces violently broke up a prayer rally organized by leaders of the church. Many were seriously injured, and Pastor Wang is now serving a prison term because of his involvement in this peaceful prayer rally.

Pastor Wang Xiaoguang
Room 106, Building 9, Shanxi Normal University
No. 1. Gongyuan Rd, Yaodu District
Linfen City, Shanxi province
041004
Peoples Republic of China

UZBEKISTAN
Twenty-seven-year-old Tohar Haydarov was given a 10-year prison sentence based false narcotics charges trumped up by the Uzbek government. Apparently a common practice to target and punish Christians, the members of Tohar's church insist the police planted drugs on the young Christian for his religious activity.

Tohar Haydarov
UYa 64/49
Otryad 13
Pos. Shaikh-Ali
G. Karshi, Kashkadarya Region
180020 Uzbekistan

PAKISTAN
During the cleaning of Imran Ghafur's brother's shop, some pages of an Islamic book accidentally flew into a trash fire. Because of that a neighbor alert the entire community, claiming Imran had burned the Quran. Both Imran and his father were severely beaten by neighbors before Imran was arrested and imprisoned because of the allegations. Imran's family reports he sings hymns at midnight and other Muslim prisoners often join him and ask him to pray for them.

Imran Ghafur
Central Jail of Faisalabad
Faisalabad
PAKISTAN

ERITREA
Dr. Kiflu Gebremeskel is among the approximately 2,000 Christians imprisoned in Eritrea—under some of the harshest circumstances. They are routinely tortured both physically and psychologically. Kiflu Gebremeskel was a math lecturer and the department and faculty head at the University of Asmara until 1999, when he became a full-time pastor. In 2004 he was imprisoned because of his Christian faith.

Dr. Kiflu Gebremeskel
Karsheli Prison
2nd Police Station Zone 7 Northern East
Zoba Maakel
Asmara, Eritrea