Please join with us in praying for the following people from Trinity Church...

 

Pray for our national and local leaders as they grapple with difficult decisions.

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"Dear friends, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well." (3 John 1:2)

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From our Church family, remember...

Marion B, Lauretta R-N, Jan C and her husband Brian,  

Mike B, Odessa H, Audrey D,

Elizabeth K and Reg K 

for health concerns

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Those who are in hospital recovering and awaiting test results​

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Please remember...

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As we go out Street Cleaning, for connections to be made with our neighbours

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We pray for peace:

Haiti, Papua New Guinea
Palestine, Israel, Iran, Lebanon;

Turkey, Syria;

Ukraine, Russia

 For the families who have lost loved ones

For organisations / charities seeking to help.

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Countries in our world who are experiencing violence/political unrest and "natural" disasters; remember the Aid Workers, Missionaries

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Pray for the continued safety and well-being for all members of the church and their families 

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Please email me (link below) if you know of others who need our prayers at this time.

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ACAT (Harrow group) – prayer case of the month (December 2023)

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Please pray as you feel led for professional musician Mariya Kalesnikav,  a prominent opposition figure and symbol of the 2020 human rights movement in Belarus.  In 2020, she headed Viktor Babariko's campaign during presidential elections, before he was arrested. Maryia has appeared on the frontline of numerous peaceful protests and she has repeatedly confronted abusive police and supported those who faced arbitrary arrests and torture.

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Maryia Kalesnikava’s imprisonment stems from her role in the mass protests and resistance to authorities’ attempts to forcibly expel her from the country due to her political activism. Maryia has been in detention since September 2020, held in solitary confinement. On 6 September 2021 she received an 11-year prison sentence on bogus charges of ‘extremism’ and ‘inciting actions harmful to national security’. That same year, she was a recipient of the ‘International Women of Courage Award’.

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Currently, she is serving her sentence at Female Penal Colony N4 in Homiel. On 28 November 2022, she was admitted to the intensive care unit of Homiel’s emergency hospital, where she underwent surgery. Prior to being admitted, she endured more than ten days in a freezing punishment isolation cell, despite her serious health concerns. The cold was so severe that she couldn’t sleep and had to walk to stay warm. The penal colony’s administration failed to inform her family or lawyer about her hospitalisation and surgery. It was only on 5 December 2022 that her father was finally allowed to visit, and details about her condition and ill-treatment came to light.

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Maryia Kalesnikava has had no contact with her family or lawyer for months. Human Rights Watch has reported that her health has rapidly deteriorated, and she is not receiving adequate medical care despite serious health problems, including being denied essential food and medication. Isolation and ill-treatment of political prisoners is a widespread repressive and torture tactic in Belarus.

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Update: Claudia Gonzalez Orellana (GUATEMALA) who was one of the prisoners we focused on in our annual service in November has been ‘conditionally released’. However, the charges against her have not been dropped and she has to report to a court fortnightly. She will have to face a trial.

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Update: Narges Mohammadi (our prayer case for June 2023 who is also held in Evin Prison in Iran) was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize 2023 “for her fight against the oppression of women in Iran and her fight to promote human rights and freedom for all”.

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Three positive updates:

VIETNAM: Nguyen Bac Truyen (our prayer case for September 2021), imprisoned for his religious freedom and human rights advocacy, was released on 8 September. He and his wife are now in Germany.

IRAN: environmental researcher Morad Tahbaz (our prayer case for June 2022) was released in a prisoner swap with the USA on 18 September.

VENEZUELA: Emirlendris Benítez (our prayer case for August 2023) is still detained, but she has now received urgently needed medical treatment.

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Update: Some positive news. Reprieve, the nonprofit organization of international lawyers and investigators who fight for justice for the marginalised, have taken on the case of Abdullah al -Derazi (Saudi Arabia) who was the focus of our 2023 Lent Action and our March ‘prayer case of the month’.

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Updates: Some good news from Belarus: After receiving an 8-year sentence last month, Roman Protasevich (our prayer case for June 2021) has received a presidential pardon.

RUSSIA: Vladimir Kara-Murza, journalist, author and filmmaker, and former pupil of the John Lyon School in Harrow and who was our prayer case in November 2022, has just received a 25-year prison sentence for ‘high treason’ because of his outspoken criticism of the war in Ukraine.

Good news from IRAN!: House church leader Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani, our prayer case for December 2018, who was re-arrested in 2017 and sentenced to a further 10 years detention, was released at the end of February.

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Updates: 

IRAN: Give thanks that Christian convert and house church leader Naser Navard Gol-Tapeh (our prayer case for December 2021) has just been released halfway through a 10 year sentence. Please pray for him as he adjusts to life outside prison.

PAKISTAN: Shagufta Kausar and Shafqat Emmanuel (prayer case November 2019) , still not safe in Pakistan despite their acquittal and release, have been granted asylum in an undisclosed European country.

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ACAT (Harrow Group) update on prayer cases

2020

January - Esraa Abdel Fattah,  journalist and political activist detained and held in Egypt. September 2021: released after 2 years in pre-trial detention. Travel ban lifted in December 2021 and is now in France.

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February - Niloufar Bayani, environmentalist and researcher in Iran.  10 year prison sentence in November 2019 for ‘sowing corruption on earth’ & ‘collaborating with the USA’. March 2020: sentence upheld. Tortured physically and psychologically and threatened with sexual assault. August 2021: tested positive for Covid and sent ‘on leave’.

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March - Ibrahim Ezz El-Din, architectural planning engineer and researcher for the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedom. Held in preventive detention and tortured while detained. 27th December 2020: Moved from prison to police station after Cairo Criminal Court ordered his release. 2nd January 2021: Charged with belonging to a terrorist group.

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April - Pastor John Cao, a US/ Chinese pastor sentenced in China to 7 years for illegal crossing of the border to Myanmar.

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May – Konstantin Kotov,  Russian human rights defender sentenced to 18 months in prison for peaceful protest. December 2020: released from prison. 17th January 2021: temporarily detained in an airport café awaiting the return of opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

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June - Aklilu Debele, imprisoned in Eritrea since 2008 for sharing his Christian faith. April 2021; conditionally released.

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July – Lujain al-Hathloul,  women human rights defender in Saudi Arabia, detained without trial since May 2018. December 2020:  sentenced to nearly 6 years in prison. January 2021: some of her sentence suspended & may be released in a few months. Feb 2021: Released on condition she does not leave the country or talk about her time in prison.

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August - Mohamad Ramadan and Husain Moosa, sentenced to death in Bahrain for killing a policeman.  Confessions made while tortured.

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September - Déogratias Mushayidi,  sentenced to life imprisonment in 2010 in Rwanda for working for peaceful political change.

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October - Marfa Rabkova, human rights defender arrested in Belarus. December 2021: still held in pre-trial detention & facing 20 years in jail if convicted.

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November – Qin Defu, China, Elder of Early Rain Covenant Church. Sentenced to 4 years in prison in 2017 for printing Christian material without permission.

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December – Asif Pervaiz, sentenced to death for blasphemy in Pakistan.

 

2021

January – Zhang Zhan,  Chinese journalist sentenced to 4 year in prison for reporting on Coronavirus in Wuhan. January 2022: reported to be close to death following a hunger strike.

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February – Joshua Wong,  pro-democracy activist in Hong Kong, sentenced to 1 year in prison for protesting. January 2022: Sentence reduced by 2 months on appeal.

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March – Fr Stan Swamy,  83-year old Jesuit priest arrested in October 2020 in India under antiterrorism laws. March 2021: appeal for bail on health grounds turned down. 5th July 2021: Died in hospital after transfer from prison.

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April – Samar Badawi, Saudi Arabia, activist for women’s rights held in prison under cybercrime law for using social media and communicating with foreign organisations. June 2021: released at the end of sentence.

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May – Thin Thin Aung & Myo Aye, Myanmar, female human rights activists detained & charges unknown. They are facing a high risk of torture. October 2021: Myo Myo Aye released. February 2022: Thin Thin Aung reported to be scheduled for release – awaiting confirmation.

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June – Roman Protasevich, Belarus.  Journalist and bogger, arrested after a Ryan Air flight from Athens to Vilnius was intercepted and forced to land in Minsk. July 2021: now under house arrest but charges have not been dropped.

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July -  Ramy Kamel, Egypt. Human rights and religious liberty defender.  Arrested November 2019 & still in detention. Released January 2022.

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August – Jagtar Singh Johal. India, tortured and held in prison for 3 years without conviction.

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September – Nguyen Bac Truyen, Vietnam, gives pro bono legal assistance to political prisoners. Sentenced to 11 years in 2018 & in poor health.

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October – Valentina Chupik, Russia,  human rights defender from Uzbekistan, detained at a Russian airport having had Russian refugee status revoked. October 2021: allowed to fly to Armenia.

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November- Fr Marcelo Perez Perez, Mexico, a parish priest using legal means to help indigenous people defend their land.

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December - Naser Navard Gol-Tapeh, Iran, serving a 10-year sentence in Evin prison for establishing a house church. January 2022: Iran’s Supreme Court have agreed to review the length of sentence.

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