As many of you know, we have been following very closely the situation with Gao for the last few weeks. And I have to tell you all that I am personally thankful to all of you who have signed the petition already, and who have forwarded the information on to other Twitterers and friends of yours on Facebook, and in your email accounts. This is a particularly sad story, and yet, sadly not that uncommon in some areas of the world.

On March 28, Hamoud Bin Saleh, a Saudi Christian arrested in January for writing about his conversion from Islam and criticizing the Saudi kingdom's crackdown on individual rights, was released from prison, according to Compass Direct News.

Japan, a country surrounded by beautiful mountains, was blessed by the faith of brave Christian brothers and sisters who decided to risk it all to be the first to bring Christ’s message of love and forgiveness to Japan.

We have a brand new prisoner that needs your encouragement and a letter written on their behalf. Please visit http://www.prisoneralert.com or you can also write them through our Facebook Prisoner Alert application.

Fourteen Khmu Christian families in Laos are standing strong in their faith, despite the Communist government forcing them to relocate to another village and their homes and church building being destroyed, according to The Voice of the Martyrs contacts.

The following is a press release put out by China Aid.

DHAKA, Bangladesh, April 4 (Compass Direct News) — Bangladeshi authorities called a five-month halt to construction of a church in northern Bangladesh, for fear of huge conversions. Authorities have said they will approve renewed construction soon. Forkan Al Mashi, 55, a pastor of Calvary Ishai Fellowship, started building a church in early November 2008 in Palashbari Mondol Para in Kurigram district, 350 kilometers (218 miles) north of the capital city, Dhaka. Mashi told Compass that, at the urging of local Jamaat-e-Islami leaders, more than 100 Muslims gathered in a mosque on Nov. 7 to protest the church construction. “I informed police and instantly two platoons of police, around 25 in number, were deployed near the under-construction church building,” Mashi said. “Some of the police also went to the mosque to persuade the Muslims not to demolish the pillars and the floor of the under-construction church building.”

Yesterday we took some time to remind you that The Voice of the Martyrs has a growing audience on Facebook and I wanted to share with you just a few of the prayer requests that have been posted on the Facebook page and ask you to join us in prayer for these needs. If you join the Facebook group, you will also see the prayers of the others and be encouraged by their faith for our persecuted brothers and sisters too.