SANTA ANA, Calif. (WordNews.org) Jan. 4, 2012 — Open Doors released its World Watch List for 2012 and it may look similar to past lists.

North Korea takes the top of the list again, the spot it’s occupied for the past decade. Open Doors said in North Korea, Christians face the most severe persecution. Open Doors said Islamic-majority countries represent nine of the top 10 on the list and 38 of the 50 countries on the annual ranking.

Afghanistan (2), Saudi Arabia (3), Somalia (4), Iran (5) and the Maldives (6) form a bloc where indigenous Christians have almost no freedom to openly worship, Open Doors said. Rounding out the top 10 were Uzbekistan (7), Yemen (8) Iraq (9) and Pakistan (10), replacing Laos, which fell to No. 12.

Pakistan cracks the top 10 following what Open Doors described as a tumultuous year following the assassination of the nation’s highest ranking Christian politician, Cabinet Minister Shahbaz Bhatti, who was working to change the blasphemy law.

The list is based on a questionnaire devised by Open Doors to measure the degree of persecution in over 60 countries. The questionnaires are filled out by Open Doors field personnel working in the countries, and cross-checked with independent experts, to arrive at a quantitative score per country. Countries are then ranked according to points received.

“While persecution has worsened due to persecution by Muslim extremists, without question North Korea once again deserves its No. 1 ranking,” Open Doors said. “Defiantly Communist, North Korea has built a bizarre quasi-religion around the founder of the country, Kim Il-Sung. Anyone with “another god” is automatically persecuted. The estimated 200,000 to 400,000 Christians in this country must remain deeply underground. An estimated 50,000 to 70,000 Christians are held in ghastly prison camps.”

“How the death of Kim Jong-Il last month and the coming to power of his son Kim Jong-Un will affect the status of Christians in North Korea is hard to determine at this early stage,” Open Doors USA President and CEO Carl Moeller said. “Certainly the situation for believers remains perilous. Please pray with me that the Lord will open up North Korea and there will be religious freedom to worship the One, true God, not the gods of Kim Jong-Il and Kim Il-Sung.”

Sudan made the biggest leap on the list moving up 19 spots to No. 16. Nigeria climbed 10 spots to No. 13.

“Being a Muslim Background Believer or ‘Secret Believer’ Christian in a Muslim-majority country is a huge challenge. Christians often face persecution from extremists, the government, their community and even their own families,” said Moeller. “As the 2012 World Watch List reflects, the persecution of Christians in these Muslim countries continues to increase. While many thought the Arab Spring would bring increased freedom, including religious freedom for minorities, that certainly has not been the case so far.”

Open Doors said at least 300 Christians were martyred last year in Nigeria although the number could be three times that number. Nigeria remains the country with the worst atrocities.

“Egyptian Christians experienced a disastrous start to 2011 when a bombing at the Coptic Orthodox Church of Saint Mark and Pope Peter in Alexandria killed 21 Christians on New Year’s Day,” Open Doors said. “After the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak in February, hopes soared for new freedoms for all Egyptians. But on Oct. 9 the military turned on its own citizens in the Maspero massacre in Cairo, killing 27 Coptic Christian demonstrators. At the close of 2011, Islamist parties flourished in the November elections, prompting some to speak of an Arab Winter instead of an Arab Spring for Christians.”
China still has the world’s largest persecuted church of 80 million, but it dropped out of the top 20 this year to No. 21. Last year China ranked No. 16. This is due in large part to the house church pastors learning how to play “cat and mouse” with the government, Open Doors said.