Christians killed in Laos; alarming religious freedom abuses continue

Pray for religious freedom in Laos!

Several Christians were recently attacked and killed in Xiengkhouang Province, Laos, underscoring the intense repression and abuse facing followers of Christ in the nation, reported the World Evangelical Association (WEA) Religious Liberty Commission (RLC).

On April 15, troops from the Lao People’s Army caught a group of Christians belonging to the Hmong community, an ethnic minority. All of the believers’ Bibles were confiscated. The troops shot and killed four of the women after repeatedly raping two of them. Their husbands and children were beaten, tied up and forced to witness the gruesome killings. At last report, the whereabouts of the surviving believers were unknown.

The absence of free press and lack of information infrastructure in Laos, a Communist state, often prevents news from reaching the outside world—including that of religious freedom. This incident and other recent reports, however, indicate a disturbing increase of repression facing Christians in the country.

Around last Christmas, authorities in Khammouan Province reportedly unlawfully detained 11 church leaders. Seven Christian families were also reportedly expelled by officials in Katin village, Salvan Province, earlier this year.

Protestant Christianity and the Hmong Christian community, in particular, are seen by sections of the Lao society and the authorities as an American or imperialist “import” into the country and a threat to the Communist rule.

As a result, believers are routinely expelled, forced to relocate, pressured to renounce their faith and arrested. Religious organizations and institutions have been allowed to function in Laos, but only as long as they remain under government surveillance and control.

You can read the full WEA-RLC Research and Analysis Report “Why Laos Restricts Religious Freedom” here.

Pray for comfort for all those mourning the loss of the four Christian women. Pray other believers will soon be returned home safely. Pray for the peace and strength of Christ to reign in the hearts and minds of Laotian Christians under pressure for their faith. Pray that the Laotian government will recognize the need for true freedom for all their citizens.

Laos, Vietnam troops kill four Hmong Christians

Agence France-Presse released a story of Laotian and Vietnamese troops killing four Hmong Christian women over the weekend after confiscating their Bible.

The Center for Public Policy Analysis (CPPA), a U.S. rights group, said the unarmed highland Hmong women were “summarily executed” on Thursday in northeastern Xieng Khouang province by soldiers from a special 150-member unit of the Lao People's Army (LPA) led by Vietnamese secret police and military advisers.

The government troops confiscated the group's only Bible and “brutally and repeatedly raped” at least two of the younger women before shooting them at point blank range with automatic weapons in the head and torso. Their husbands and 26 children were forced to witness the killings and have since disappeared after being beaten and tied up.

CPPA executive director Philip Smith said there has been a “very dramatic” increase in persecution, imprisonment, torture and killing of Lao and Hmong Christians for celebrating Christmas or worshipping independently, as well as independent Buddhist and animist believers in the provinces of Vientiane, Khammoune, Saravan, Xieng Khouang, Luang Prabang and other regions in Laos.

Please pray for Laotian and Vietnamese believers who are suffering for their faith in Jesus Christ. Pray for the families of the four women who were recently killed. Pray they would be surrounded and strengthened by the love of Christ. Pray, too, that senseless acts of murder such of these would not dampen the spirits of other believers in the area.