Nepal Arrests 10 Foreign Christians Medical Camp Morang Missionary Activities October 2026

Ten foreign nationals, most of them medical professionals, were running a free health camp in a village in eastern Nepal when police detained them on 28 October 2026. The group, five from the United States, three from Brazil, and two from Canada, was held on suspicion of involvement in Christian missionary activities, UCA News reports. Their travel documents were seized and sent to the Department of Immigration in Kathmandu for further investigation, UCA News reports.

The camp was a four-day health camp in Bargachhi, in Kanepokhari Rural Municipality in Morang district, UCA News reports. The foreigners, representing an organisation named Mercy Development, had entered Nepal in the third week of October and were running the camp in coordination with a local Protestant church, according to local media reports cited by UCA News. Police acted on a complaint from local residents, UCA News reports.

Dipesh Shrestha, deputy general secretary of the National Christian Federation Nepal, is the human centre of the dispute, because his account and the authorities' account agree on one fact and differ on what it means. Shrestha said local authorities had approved the camp, which operated from 25 to 28 October, UCA News reports. He also acknowledged that the organisers had not sought mandatory approval from the Nepal Medical Council, the national regulatory body for medical professionals, UCA News reports.

The Ministry of Home Affairs said the ten had entered Nepal on tourist visas to conduct a health camp for a Christian mission, and had been arrested for allegedly promoting Christian religious activities and holding the camp without the required permits, myRepublica reports. Documents belonging to the foreigners, including doctors, were seized and forwarded to the Department of Immigration for further action, myRepublica reports. The camp was organised by Pastor Pawel Dangal, was scheduled to run for four days from 25 October, and the ten entered Nepal on 22 and 23 October, on visas valid until dates between 6 and 21 November, myRepublica reports.

No charge sheet, court date, or release decision is reported in any of the three sources opened for this article, and the outcome for the ten remains unknown. According to local authorities, the foreign nationals entered Nepal on tourist visas and were conducting medical activities without obtaining the necessary authorisation, Muslim Network TV reports. Police detained the volunteers following complaints from local residents and transferred them to the Department of Immigration in Kathmandu, Muslim Network TV reports.

Nepal Foreign Christians Arrested Morang Tourist Visa Health Camp

This was the second mass detention of foreign Christians within a month in the same district, UCA News reports. On 9 October, 24 South Korean Christians were arrested over religious activities while on tourist visas in Morang district, UCA News reports. A week after their arrests, Nepal's immigration authorities cancelled the South Koreans' visas, fined them 50,000 rupees, about 328 United States dollars, each, and imposed a three-year ban on travelling to Nepal, UCA News reports.

Morang district borders India and lies some 360 kilometres south-east of Kathmandu, UCA News reports. The repeated detentions in one district, in one month, are what turned a local permit dispute into a national argument about religious freedom, UCA News reports. Whether the second group will face the same visa cancellation, fines, and ban as the first group is not reported in the sources opened for this article, and this article does not predict it.

Nepal Anti Conversion Law Five Years Prison Christian Minority

Nepal became a secular republic in 2008 after centuries of Hindu monarchy, formally recognising religious freedom while maintaining legal restrictions on religious conversion, Muslim Network TV reports. Under Nepal's criminal laws, proselytising and activities intended to convert people from one religion to another can carry prison sentences of up to five years and substantial fines, Muslim Network TV reports. UCA News reports the same legal picture: forced religious conversion is a criminal offence, and the penal code criminalises proselytism and conversion, punishable by up to five years in prison and heavy fines.

According to Nepal's 2021 census, the Himalayan nation of about 30 million people is home to 512,313 Christians, UCA News reports. Church leaders estimate the community numbers closer to 3 million, UCA News reports.

Bidur Adhikari, chairman of Media Action for Advocacy Nepal, an organisation advocating for Christian minority rights, warned that portraying humanitarian medical assistance as religious conversion activities could deepen mistrust and social divisions, Muslim Network TV reports. "Framing humanitarian medical aid as evangelism or proselytization activities fosters fear, alienation and social division," Adhikari said, Muslim Network TV reports. His organisation demanded the unconditional release of the detained foreigners and the return of their travel documents, and said criminalising immigration rules creates paranoia within the local Christian community, UCA News reports.

Readers can follow related coverage in Latest: 17 Kidnapped Worshippers Died in Captivity in Kaduna, CSW Says and in Latest: Coptic Engineer Sherif Wagih Fahmi Arrested in Alexandria Egypt October 2026. Related pressure on Christians in India is covered in India Christians Denied Graves for Their Dead on All Souls Day and in Today: International Day of Prayer for Persecuted Christians 2026 Focuses on Bassam.

Ten people who travelled to Nepal to run a free medical camp are now waiting for a goverment immigration decision that will decide whether a permit dispute ends in release, a fine, or a charge. The camp in Bargachhi lasted four days, from 25 to 28 October.

But the most surprising part of this story is yet to come — keep reading.