Eleven pastors and ministry leaders are being held in prison in Nicaragua after holding mass evangelism campaigns last year to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ.
As CBN News reported, they were partnering with the U.S.-based ministry Mountain Gateway, and those outreaches were amazingly successful.
After the outreaches, the Christian leaders were imprisoned and convicted on money laundering charges. The government gave the ministers prison sentences ranging from 12 to 15 years and a stunning $80 million in fines.
The Mountain Gateway ministry vehemently denies the allegations, and religious freedom advocates call the trial a “sham” and “persecution.” They say the charges appear to have been fabricated because the authoritarian regime of Nicaragua felt threatened by the success of the outreaches.
Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) International is supporting the legal defense of the imprisoned pastors, and filed a precautionary measures request with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on their behalf, saying they were “fraudulently convicted.”
“No person should be imprisoned or punished for their faith, but that is exactly what has happened with these religious leaders. It is our prayer that Nicaraguan authorities will uphold the human rights and dignity of these pastors, and that they will release them from
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