Iran's president Hassan Rouhani has called for the release of unarmed and innocent people arrested during the two weeks of protests in over 100 cities and towns after a 300% fuel price increase. The protests have now turned political as young and working-class protesters demand that religious leaders step down. Iran's leaders, blaming 'thugs' linked to the USA, Israel, and Saudi Arabia, have urged the country's judiciary to mete out harsh sentences to those involved in the demonstrations. Amnesty International reported at least 208 deaths on 2 December. Demonstrations and deaths have continued since then. Amnesty says that families of victims were threatened and warned not to speak to the media or hold funeral services. It added that the death toll is evidence that Iran's security forces went on a horrific killing spree, and urged the international community to help ensure accountability. See

When the ruling party, Georgian Dream, backtracked on a promise to transition to a fully proportional parliamentary system before the 2020 elections, thousands of citizens protested, demanding a progressive electoral reform. But such protesters face smear campaigns and accusations of bias - typical of the intimidation tactics used in such situations. This also happened recently in Brazil. Those who denounce corruption and human rights abuses are often the target of disinformation campaigns, with their reports and findings dismissed as ‘fake news’. Anti-corruption activism relies strongly on trust in independent media. The use of social media and the impact of fake news is a real threat for the work of organisations like Transparency International (TI). But fake news is not always easy to detect and spreads rapidly. What can be done? In Georgia, for example, coordinated accusations against TI through anonymous Facebook posts were recently detected, labelled and debunked by another civil society group.

In July Filmon, an Eritrean victim of anti-Christian persecution, applied for political asylum via Port Elizabeth (PE). The Department of Home Affairs told him to return after a month. Despite a court order for the department to reopen its Cape Town office, people like Filmon have to make repeated trips to PE. When he finally had a hearing on 9 October, the official concluded he was a genuine victim of religious persecution - but in November his application was refused, and despite being assisted by an experienced lawyer he got a permit for only one month. His wife Sharon, a medical doctor, who fled from their Marxist-governed country ahead of her husband, was also refused asylum. Filmon has been advised to pay a bribe, as the only way to be successful, but as a matter of principle he does not wish to do this. He now has to go to PE for the fifth time, unless God intervenes.

Thousands of children aged between three and seventeen live in slavery on Lake Volta, working up to 18 hours a day in the fishing industry. They are paid in daily abuse and threats, and the only way out is to drown or be rescued. Praise God for two convictions when the accused men pleaded guilty to human trafficking. One of them, who used the children for labour on his fishing boat, must also pay a fine or spend an additional year to the five-year sentence if unable to pay. While IJM has previously seen convictions for child labour in Ghana, these are their first for human trafficking, and a significant step toward ending slavery in the fishing industry.

SAT-7 constantly receive testimonies of people whose lives are being transformed by Jesus. Some grew up in Christian homes, others first met with Jesus through their television screens. Some had a chance encounter with a Christian and wanted to find out more, others first discovered His joy through picking up a Bible in their own language. SAT-7 have just produced a prayer guide to give us a glimpse into some of their stories. Over the course of Advent they will take people on a journey across the Middle East and North Africa, through the 25 countries where they work, visiting a different country each day, and discovering plenty of reasons to rejoice – as well as ideas for prayer requests.

Time to ‘leave our echo chambers’ and listen to others, said the Archbishops of Canterbury and York. ‘Stand up for the truth and challenge falsehoods when we hear them’. They are urging voters to ‘honour the gift of truth’ as they engage in political debate in the run-up to the general election. Their letter calls people to engage responsibly on social media and uphold the Christian values of truth, humility and love. ‘People who hold different political views are not our enemies,’ they say. The message also calls on Christians to reject the ‘language of prejudice’, particularly at a time when several groups - especially in Jewish and Muslim communities - feel threatened. Pray that debates will unite rather than divide, and bring us together to trust our institutions, politicians and our politics. See also the next article, on Anti-Semitism, politics and prayer.

Anti-Israel protesters in London have been screaming death threats at Jews in Arabic, and anti-Semitic activity is said to be active in the Labour Party. Jeremy Corbyn is being challenged in his own Islington North constituency by Yosef David, an Orthodox Jew, standing for the Brexit Party. Yosef works for a large Jewish charity and acknowledges that toppling Corbyn would be a miracle, but he is ‘highlighting the impact of the Labour anti-Semitism epidemic on the community. On 26 November Ephraim Mirvis, Britain’s most senior Jewish leader, accused Corbyn of allowing anti-Semitism to take root in the party, while Justin Welby agreed that British Jews felt much insecurity and fear, and added regretfully that the Church of England has had its own history of antisemitism. On the same day, hundreds of Christians aligned to Operation Breakthrough, Worldwide Mission Fellowship, and Prayer Warriors International spent time in prayer and repentance, focussing on the UK’s attitude towards Israel.

The Christmas Challenge is the UK's biggest online match funding campaign. Since 2008 it has helped raise over £98 million for thousands of charities. In 2018 it raised £13.3m for 589 participating charities. This year the challenge will be between 3 and 10 December. Every person who pledges a donation to one of the participating charities will have their gift matched by Christmas Challenge, so that every donation will make twice the impact on charities working to improve human rights, rescue animals, support the disabled, elderly and homeless, ending child slavery (International Justice Mission), caring for those in poverty (Salvation Army), and many more both at home and abroad.

Christian doctor David Mackereth, with over 26 years of experience, found that for upholding Biblical truth you can lose your job. A judge has ruled that his belief in Genesis 1:27 is ‘incompatible with human dignity’. The judge is saying that there is no protection in law for the Biblical belief that God made humans unchangeably male and female, putting Christian truth in the same category as racist and Neo-Nazi views. David held to what God says about men and women and his Christian views were not protected in a UK court of law. He lost his job for telling the truth, and now an Employment Tribunal has ruled against him. Christian Concern’s expert legal team has already started work to take this case to an appeal tribunal.

Recent incidents, being investigated by police, have caused concern among local residents that a Satanic-style cult could be to blame. A sheep was fatally stabbed and marked with pentagrams, while a heifer and two calves were found with stab wounds and were later treated by vets. Symbols, which included an inverted cross and the number 666, have also been sprayed onto the door of St Peter’s church. Rev David Bacon, the vicar at St Peter’s, has not seen anything like it in fifteen years. He said, ‘There’s been witchcraft round here for hundreds of years. The New Forest is well known for witchcraft and black magic happening, and this has obviously gone up a level.’