Authorities in Zanzibar, Tanzania Close Down Church

Officials stop worship service as crackdown continues.

NAIROBI, Kenya (Morning Star News) – The pastor of a church on Tanzania’s semi-autonomous Zanzibar Island was preaching earlier this month when a plainclothes police officer and local officials strode into the church service. “One of the police officers in civilian clothes walked through the church’s door, stepped up to the podium and then grabbed the […]

Church Building Demolished in Zanzibar, Tanzania

Local government, university give no prior notice.

NAIROBI, Kenya (Morning Star News) – A congregation on Tanzania’s semi-autonomous island of Zanzibar has been without a place to worship this year after local authorities demolished their church building, the pastor said. Local government officials gave no prior warning to church leaders before a bulldozer arrived on Jan. 7 and razed the building in Zanzibar […]

Muslims Target Pastor with Criminal Accusation in Zanzibar, Tanzania

Child abuse charge drains church of twice-acquitted leader.

NAIROBI, Kenya (Morning Star News) – A judge failed to show up at a hearing for a pastor facing accusations of child abuse in a case in Zanzibar that Muslims have kept alive after charges were twice dismissed, sources said. Shortly after charges were filed on the semi-autonomous island off the coast of Tanzania in November […]

Church in Zanzibar, Tanzania Shaken as Court Supports Muslims’ Opposition to Building

Christian leaders see Islamist bias in ruling.

NAIROBI, Kenya (Morning Star News) – A court on the semi-autonomous island of Zanzibar, off the coast of Tanzania, ruled on Thursday (July 20) that a church cannot continue constructing a worship building it has tried to finish for eight years, sources said. Hard-line Muslims outside Zanzibar City have been fighting construction of the Pentecostal Assemblies […]

Muslims in Zanzibar, Tanzania Jail Pastor in Child Abuse Allegation Scheme, Group Says

Church leader could face 30 years in prison.

NAIROBI, Kenya (Morning Star News) – Muslims in Zanzibar have re-opened a child abuse case dismissed more than two years ago as a pretext for jailing a pastor on the semi-autonomous island off the coast of Tanzania, church leaders said. Police in November 2014 had closed the case against pastor Yohana Madai of the Free Pentecostal […]

Burning of Pastor’s House in Zanzibar, Tanzania Leaves Family of 11 Homeless

Muslim extremists suspected in attack on church leader’s home.

NAIROBI, Kenya (Morning Star News) – A pastor, his wife and their nine children have been sleeping on the floor of their small church building on the island of Zanzibar since Muslim extremists set their house on fire in August. Pastor Damson Maonesho has seen his 9-month-old baby contract pneumonia since his family had to […]

Three Church Buildings Torched in Tanzania

Frightened congregations without places to worship.

NAIROBI, Kenya (Morning Star News) – Three church buildings were set ablaze on Tuesday (Sept. 22) in an area of northwestern Tanzania where Muslim extremists have issued threats, pastors said. A pastor of one of the three churches whose buildings were gutted, Vedasto Athanas of Living Water International church, said area Christians are worried and frightened […]

Muslims in Zanzibar Take Worship Hall, Bleed Another Church with Court Costs

Pastor forced to change homes four times in two years.

ZANZIBAR, Tanzania (Morning Star News) – Hard-line Muslims on the semi-autonomous island of Zanzibar off the coast of Tanzania have driven a pastor and father of five into hiding and taken over his church’s rented worship hall, he said. “I have changed my place of residence four times since 2012” due to threats from area Muslims, […]

Churches Targeted in Bomb Attacks in Zanzibar, Tanzania

Separatist Islamic extremists suspected.

NAIROBI, Kenya (Morning Star News) – Suspected Islamic extremists bombed three church buildings on Tanzania’s semi-autonomous island of Zanzibar in February, with one of the blasts injuring several Christians, sources said. A bomb exploded near the door of the Evangelistic Assemblies of God Zanzibar (EAGZ) church building on Feb. 23 in Kijito Upele-Fuoni, outside Zanzibar City, […]

Suspected Muslim Extremists Throw Acid on Priest in Zanzibar, Tanzania

Assailants claim 'Zanzibar is only for Muslims,' café worker says.

NAIROBI, Kenya (Morning Star News) – Asserting that Tanzania’s Zanzibar Island is not a place for Christians, suspected Muslim extremists threw acid on a 60-year-old Catholic priest on Friday  (Sept. 13), sources said. The Rev. Joseph Anselmo Mwangamba stepped outside an Internet café on the outskirts of Zanzibar City, capital of the semi-autonomous island in the […]