News
EGYPT: Sharia Means No Equality before the Law
The Assyrian International News Association (AINA) reports that on 13 August Sheikh Tobah, Imam of the village of Shimi 170km south of Giza, used Friday prayers to incite local Muslims to wage jihad against the local Coptic Christian community. Within hours an Islamic hard-liner named Mohamed Ali Almstaui had attacked a local Copt, Maher Amin, who was washing his taxi. That evening Almstaui led a mob of some 20 Muslims against the Amin family home. When the security forces arrived they arrested the Christians, ignoring their injuries, so they could pressure them to accept 'reconciliation'. (To uphold the Sharia provision that Christians may not testify against Muslims in court, the Egyptian government enforces 'reconciliation' whereby Christians are forced to drop charges in exchange for Muslim assurances that the conflict has ended.) [more...]
AFGHANISTAN: Aid Workers Killed
Just a week ago the world news agencies reported about the killing of a team of eye medics, including eight Christian aid workers, in a remote area of Afghanistan on 6 August 2010. The team of two Afghan helpers and eight Christian foreigners worked for the International Assistance Mission (IAM) - non-profit Christian organisation, registered as such in Afghanistan since 1966. Investigation by Afghan authorities on who is responsible for the deaths and what have been the motives still continues. [more...]
BANGLADESH: Christian Convert Falsely Accused of Theft
A Christian convert from Islam was falsely arrested for cattle theft last weekend in a bid by influential Muslims to stop his Christian activities, area villagers said. Day laborer Abul Hossen, 41, was arrested on Saturday 21 August for alleged cattle theft in Dubachari village in Nilphamari district, some 300 kilometres northwest of the capital, Dhaka. Christian villagers told Compass that Hossen was the victim of “dirty tricks” by influential Muslims. “There is another Abul Hossen in the village who might be the thief, but his father-in-law is very powerful,” said Gonesh Roy. “To save his son-in-law, he imputed all the blame to a different Abul Hossen who is a completely good man.” Hossen, who converted to Christianity from Islam in 2007, is very active in the community, and Muslims are harassing him with the charge so his ministry will be discredited and villagers will denounce his faith, Roy said. [more...]
TURKMENISTAN: Five Years' Imprisonment for Arrested Protestant Pastor?
Pentecostal pastor Ilmurad Nurliev, arrested at his home in Mary in south-eastern Turkmenistan on 27 August, faces criminal charges of large-scale swindling which carry a maximum penalty of five years' imprisonment and confiscation of property, his wife Maya and his lawyer have told Forum 18 News Service. Three women who had attended church meetings wrote statements that he took money from them, charges his wife and other church members deny vigorously. They say police pressured the three to write the statements and they now regret doing so. Another church member has been threatened that if she does not testify against Pastor Nurliev her husband - who is not a church member - will be sacked from his job. Forum 18 was unable to discuss the case with officials, including police investigator Durdimurad Gazakov. [more...]
"I will forgive you in the name of Jesus'
Life has become harder and more dangerous for Christians in Pakistan in recent years. Islamic militants see the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as wars on Muslims – and they regard Pakistan’s Christians as agents of the United States and her allies. In 2009 a large mob of radical Muslims attacked Christians in Gojra and Korian. The rioting started with a cry of blasphemy at a Christian wedding in the village of Korian, a few hours’ drive from Lahore. A boy cut up an Arabic textbook to use for confetti and some said the words printed on it were from the Koran. [more...]
INDIA: Twelve Christians Arrested
On 15 August, police arrested 12 believers in Mandya district, Karnataka state, India. Pastor Satish and Ravi, an evangelist with India Campus Crusade for Christ, were conducting a service in a believer’s home when approximately 30 people entered the building and started to accuse them of forcibly converting locals. The men, along with 10 other believers, were arrested and remained in detention at last report.
Source: VOM-USA [more...]
ETHIOPIA: Muslims Attack Somali Church Leader
Mohamed Ali Garas, a prominent Somali church leader and convert from Islam, was beaten recently by Muslims in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Mohamed, who fled to Ethiopia from Somalia in 2005 after Somali authorities attempted to arrest him, recently moved to a new neighbourhood in Addis Ababa because Somali Muslims had threatened to attack him. On the evening of 21 August, he heard two men calling his name while he was walking to his new home. When he approached them, they struck him on the head with a wooden club and knocked him to the ground. The two Somali Muslims then continued to assault him, hitting and kicking him in the chest and stomach. They fled when a neighbour arrived on scene. At last report, Mohamed was being treated at a local hospital for his injuries, which included a damaged kneecap. [more...]
TANZANIA: Evangelist Arrested in Zanzibar
Security agents have reportedly arrested Peter Masanja, an evangelist in Zanzibar’s south-eastern town of Paje. Earlier this year, Peter invited fellow members of the Pentecostal Church in Zanzibar to hold religious activities in his home. Local Muslims grew angry, believing that he was planning to establish a church on his land. [more...]
PAKISTAN: Family in Hiding Following Accusations of Blasphemy
A Christian man, Tanvir Masih, and his family are in hiding after Muslim militants accused him of blasphemy. On 28 July, Muslims in Bahawalnagar district, Punjab province discovered Tanvir, who is a cleaning worker, using a broom covered with a pharmaceutical firm�s advertisement cards bearing a verse from the Koran in Arabic that read, �God is the best healer!� They then accused Tanvir of �defiling Muhammad.� Tanvir tried to explain that others had given him the cards, which were written mostly in English, and that he did not understand English. [more...]
PAKISTAN: Christian Exonerated of Blasphemy Charges
Rubina Bibi (25), a Pakistani Christian woman who has been imprisoned since March for blasphemy, was recently acquitted. Rubina was accused of blasphemy by a local Muslim shopkeeper following a dispute they had over a food product she had purchased and tried to return. Rubina was arrested and imprisoned in the Gujranwala jail along with her 18-month-old son, Joshua. On August 11, a judge dropped the charges against her and she was released. Had she been convicted, she would have faced the mandatory death penalty. Her accuser had reportedly offered to settle the matter out of court if she agreed to convert to Islam. Rubina, her husband, and their three children have since relocated to an unknown location for their safety.
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TANZANIA: Christian Evangelists Acquitted
On 12 August, a court in Tanzania acquitted two evangelists of "illegal preaching." Eleutery Kobelo and Cecil Simbaulanga were arrested in October 2009 after Muslims invited them to participate in a religious debate. The Christians reported that no Muslims showed up to the site of the supposed inter-faith debate until Islamists arrived with government security agents who charged them with "using religious sermons to incite Muslims and Christians into viewing each other with suspicion." The accusers had claimed that the Christians' message that Jesus is God had annoyed Muslims and therefore disrupted a peaceful coexistence between the two faiths. [more...]
PAKITAN: Two Christian Girls Raped in Punjab
Two Christian girls in Pakistan's Punjab province were brutally raped in recent weeks. On 22 July, a group of madrassa (Islamic school) students gang-raped a 12-year-old Christian girl in Gujar Khan, Rawalpindi district. A teacher who reportedly witnessed the rape stated: "Three or four Christian girls were washing dishes near a pond…. These guys ran towards them, and the girls started running. One of them fell on the ground, and these madrassa students got hold of her and took her in the fields. I tried to stop them, but they were 15-16 in number." Seven or eight of the boys reportedly then raped the girl, while the others looked on. [more...]
INDONESIA: Hundreds Injure Church Members in Bekasi
Leaders of a church in West Java, Indonesia demanded justice from police after a fifth attack from Muslim protestors left at least a dozen people injured. As some 20 members of the Batak Christian Protestant Filadelfia Church (HKBP Filadelfia) in Bekasi gathered for Sunday worship on a church-owned plot of land in Ciketing, at least 300 members of the Islamic People’s Forum (FUI) and the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) broke through a police barricade and ordered them to leave, Theophilus Bela, president of the Jakarta Christian Communication Forum, told Compass. When the church members refused, the protestors assaulted the group with sticks, stones or their bare hands. [more...]
MALDIVES: Prospects of Religious Freedom Appear Grim
After Saudi Arabia, the Maldives is the only nation that claims a 100-percent Muslim population. But the Indian Ocean archipelago featuring 1,192 islets 435 miles southwest of Sri Lanka has more than 70,000 expatriate workers representing several non-Islamic religions, including Christianity; those who intermingle must exercise caution. “Even if you engage any Maldivian in a discussion on Christianity and the person reports it to authorities, you can be in trouble,” said a source who requested anonymity. “A Maldivian youth studying in Sri Lanka became a Christian recently, but when his parents came to know about it, they took him away. We have not heard from him since then.” [more...]
UZBEKISTAN: "We Are Bandits"
Ten Protestant short-term prisoners of conscience have been jailed for between three and five days, and three were fined 80 times the minimum monthly wage. The raid which preceded the punishments - in which 23 people including small children were detained - was carried out with great brutality. Police under Major Ilyos Mustafayev broke into the house, confiscating two personal Bibles, four songbooks and one textbook of violin lessons. They then began "pushing the believers forcefully" into cars outside, Baptists complained. [more...]
NORTH KOREA: Underground Church Leaders Executed
Three leaders of an underground house church in North Korea have been executed and 20 of their Christian associates jailed, according to sources inside the reclusive nation. North Korean police raided a house in Kuwal-dong in Pyungsung county, Pyongan province, and arrested all 23 believers who had gathered for a 'religious function', according to the news agency, AsiaNews. [more...]
IRAN: The Mass Arrest of New Christian Converts in Mashhad
On Thursday, 18 July, a group of 15 newly converted Christians, who were travelling to the provincial town of Bojnoord to meet and to fellowship with the believers of that town, were arrested in the city of Mashhad, the capital of the North Eastern province of Khorasan. [more...]
Two Christians Play Dead to Survive Attack in India
Two evangelists said they survived an attack in Balaghat district, Madhya Pradesh by playing dead when suspected Hindu extremists on July 20 surrounded them and severely beat them. The six assailants accused Mahindra Kharoley, 20, and 30-year-old Munshi Prasaad Bahey of “forced conversion.” The two evangelists were bicycling to their home village of Susua following a prayer meeting at Dunda Sivni, 25 kilometers from Balaghat district, when the attackers on two motorbikes, with their faces covered, attacked them in Bhalwa village at around 10 pm. [more...]
RUSSIA: Pastor in Dagestan Killed
A pastor in the Russian republic of Dagestan known for founding the biggest Protestant church in the region and for successfully reaching out to Muslims has been killed by unidentified gunmen, local authorities have confirmed. Artur Suleimanov, 49, pastor of Hosanna Christian Church in Makhachkala, the capital of Dagestan, was shot on the evening of 15 July while leaving his church building.
The identity of the shooters remains unclear, but in the weeks leading up to the killing Dagestan media broadcast calls for people to take measures against Suleimanov because he was too “active” and converted ethnic Muslims. [more...]
PAKISTAN: Suspected Islamists Shoot Five Christians to Death
A dozen masked men shot five Christians to death as they came out of their church building here on July 15, two months after a banned Islamic extremist group sent church leaders a threatening letter, relatives said. Pastor Aaron John and church members Rohail Bhatti, Salman John, Abid Gill and Shamin Mall of Full Gospel Church were leaving the church building after meeting to discuss security in light of threats they had received, said the pastor’s son, Shahid John. “As we came out of the church, a group of a dozen armed gunmen came and opened fire at us,” said Shahid John, who survived a bullet in his arm. Besides Shahid John, five others were wounded in the attack. [more...]
BANGLADESH: Two Christian Families Suffer Extortion, Beatings
Two Christian women in Bangladesh’s northern district of Jamalpur said village officials extorted relatively large sums of money from them – and severely beat the husband of one – for proclaiming Christ to Muslims. Johura Begum, 42, of Pingna village said a member of the local union council, an area government representative and the father of a police officer threatened to harm her grown daughters if her family did not pay them 20,000 taka ($A 315). The police officer whose father was allegedly involved in the extortion was investigating fabricated charges that Christians had paid Muslims to participate in a river baptism on 26 May. Only six men among 55 converts were baptised by leaders of the Pentecostal Holiness Church of Bangladesh, Christian leaders said, as the rest were intimidated by protesting Muslims. [more...]
INDIA: Four Students Taken to Custody in Lucknow
A team of students from a Bible college in Lucknow of Uttar Pradesh have been attacked and detained by the police allegedly for their conversion activities. The police first beat up the four students belonging to Compassion for India Ministry late in the evening on 24 July. The students had been engaged in serving the poor and underprivileged in and around Lucknow. The police team, led by one Tripathi, forced their Pastor to visit them at the police station. The police accused them of indulging in conversion activities. The pastor and his team were questioned about their work in detail. The police also extracted money from the Pastor before releasing the students from their custody. Source: All Indian Christian Council [more...]
God Will Use You Mightily
At age five, Abdulmasi was forced into almajiri, an antiquated Islamic practice popular in West Africa. His story is like that of millions of young Islamic boys who are currently being educated in Koranic schools around the world, especially in Nigeria and other West African countries. Many of those schools are training grounds for Islamic militants fuelling hatred for Christianity.
A boy doing almajiri may join 40 or 50 other boys in the Imam’s care. The boys live in poverty, without parental love or guidance. In the morning, the boys recite the Koran. It is in Arabic, a language they do not understand. They recite for hours, for years, until they memorise the Koran. Around 1 pm each day, the boys walk the streets and beg for food. Whatever food or money they get they must share first with the Imam. By 2 pm, they are back reciting and learning the Ahadith. [more...]
PAKISTAN: Christian Nursing Student Brutally Assaulted
Magdalene Ashraf, a 22-year-old a Christian nurse trainee, was brutally attacked on 13 July by several Muslim men who raped her and threw her from the fourth-floor window of the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre. A fellow nurse tricked Magdalene into visiting the office of a Muslim doctor by telling her that he wanted to talk to her about a class assignment. The doctor, Jabbar Jabbar Meammor, reportedly has a history of sexually abusing Christian nurses in the hospital. Once she was inside the room with the nurse, Dr Jabbar and at least two other men then attacked her. [more...]
ETHIOPIA: Somali Muslims Assault Christian
On 16 July, five Somali Muslim men assaulted and seriously injured a Christian man in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia for reading a book critical of the Prophet Muhammad. Mike Abdul Falahow, a Christian convert from Islam, was reading "The Great Deception: How Muhammad Tried to Win Christians for Islam" when two Somali Muslims demanded that he hand over the book, saying that it was offensive and attacked the honour of the Prophet Muhammad. Mike refused to surrender the book and argued that they were living in Ethiopia and not in Somalia, and therefore had religious freedom. One of the Muslim men then attempted to seize the book from Mike’s grasp. [more...]
VIETNAM: House Church Attacked
A house church building in Xi Thoai village, Phu Yen Province, Vietnam was attacked and damaged by a gang of youths on 18 July. The building, which was also intended to be the home of Christian evangelist Mang Vuong, was in the process of being constructed in order to serve the ethnic Hroi community as the nearby church had reached full capacity. Vuong belongs to the Evangelical Church of Vietnam (South), the country's largest government-registered denomination. [more...]
CHINA: Imprisoned Christian Refused Further Visits
Imprisoned Uyghur house church pastor Alimujiang Yimiti, who was finally allowed to visit with his family in recent months, has been prevented further visits. Alimujiang's mother, wife, and children were able to meet with him for the first time in two years in April. In May, they were permitted a second meeting for 20 minutes. However, authorities have since demanded that a letter stamped by the local police verifying Alimujiang's relationship with his wife and mother be brought to each meeting. The local police, meanwhile, claim the letter is unnecessary and refuse to cooperate. Alimujiang's lawyers have not been permitted to meet with him since he was moved into prison. [more...]
NIGERIA: More Deadly Attacks on Christians
Muslims attacked the predominately Christian village of Mazzah, near the city of Jos, on 17 July, killing eight people and burning seven houses and a church building. At approximately 1:30 am, Muslims entered the village and began shooting sporadically in the air to lure sleeping residents outside their homes. They then attacked people with machetes, including children. Seven were killed instantly, while another died while on the way to the hospital. Three others were seriously injured. [more...]
PAKISTAN: Two Christians Murdered After Accusations of Blasphemy
Rev Rashid Emmanuel (32) and his younger brother, Sajid Emmanuel (30), were shot and killed on 19 July after they were accused of blaspheming the prophet Muhammad. The two men, leaders of United Ministries Pakistan, were being returned to jail under police custody when they were attacked and shot by several masked men. Sajid was instantly killed, while Rashid later died from his injuries. The bodies of the two reportedly bore cuts and other signs of being tortured while in police custody. [more...]
UZBEKISTAN: Authorities Crackdown on Christians
Authorities in Karakalpakstan, an autonomous republic in Uzbekistan, have renewed a crackdown on Protestant activity in recent weeks. On 8 July, two Christians were handed 10-day prison terms to punish them for their religious activities. One of the imprisoned believers, Lepes Omarov, has previously endured opposition. In 2003, he was dismissed from his job as a teacher after he rejected pressure from a local ideology official to renounce his beliefs. In 2006, a criminal case was launched against him for violating the law on religion, but the case never came to trial. [more...]
EGYPT: Persecution Still Escalating
Egypt's Constitution elevates Sharia as 'the principal source of legislation', rendering constitutional guarantees of religious liberty illusory. In 2007 Mohammed Hegazi and in 2008 Maher el-Gowhary courageously pursued the Interior Ministry for their constitutional right to have their conversion from Islam to Christianity officially recorded. They did this for their children who would thus be free to be Christian. The courts, however, ruled that Sharia prohibits leaving Islam (apostasy). Their lives are seriously imperilled with fatwas issued against them. After Nagla al-Imam (36), an attorney and Sharia expert, had publicly announced her conversion to Christianity, police detained, bashed and threatened her in early July. She then posted an Internet video of herself (battered) and her two young children singing a Christian lament. The three have since 'disappeared'.
Source: Australian Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty Commission [more...]
INDIA: Woman Brutally Attacked for her Faith
Amodini, a Christian woman, was brutally attacked on Tuesday for sharing her faith in Karnataka, India. She was hospitalised and is in critical condition. Amodini, who is 40 years old, is a member of a church where a Gospel for Asia-supported missionary serves as pastor. She was at her home when a group of 15 men came to her house, called for her and began accusing her of forcing people to convert to Christianity. After making the accusation, they grabbed hold of the woman and began to beat her. Witnesses described a horrific scene. “Amodini’s clothes were removed in public and she was attacked with knives,” a witness reported. Police sprang into action when the attack was reported and they have arrested 14 of the accused attackers so far. [more...]
KYRGYZSTAN: Church robbed in Bishkek
An Evangelical church in Bishkek, the capital city of Kyrgyzstan, has been robbed and a church member badly beaten by the assailants.
In a message sent to the ASSIST News Service (ANS), by Jed Courley, the pastor, he said, “Some of you may have already heard -- our church was broken into last night. At about 1:00 in the morning four men climbed over the fence and broke into the back door of the church. A woman, Valya, who was there was badly beaten, tied up with tape, and then beaten more when very little money was found. Rooms trashed, safe demolished. Some music equipment, a computer, and other things were taken. “Valya managed to escape about 4:00 in the morning, hobbled to a neighbour, and called us. [more...]
IRAN: Family Visit Confirms Fears for Christian in Solitary Confinement
An Iranian Christian has won his fight to be allowed to visit his son in prison – but is now deeply concerned about the 29-year-old's health and well-being. Ali Golchin has been held in solitary confinement in Tehran's Evin prison since he was arrested in his home town of Varamin on 29 April. After weeks of appealing to the authorities, his father was finally allowed access to Ali on 17 June – though they were allowed only ten minutes together.
[more...]
LEBANON: Sidon's Christians Threatened
Christians in the predominantly Christian villages east of the southern port city of Sidon were shocked on Friday 18 June to find pamphlets being distributed that called on Christians to 'spare their lives by evacuating the area within one week' or 'bear the consequences'. [more...]
PAKISTAN: Muslim Mob Kills Wife and Children of Christian
A Muslim mob in Jhelum, Pakistan murdered the wife and four children of a Christian last month, but local authorities are too afraid of the local Muslim leader to file charges, according to area Muslim and Christian sources. Jamshed Masih, a police officer who was transferred 50 kilometres from Gujrat to Jhelum, Punjab Province, said a mob led by Muslim religious leader Maulana Mahfooz Khan killed his family on 21 June after Khan called him to the local mosque and told him to leave the predominantly Muslim colony. Masih’s Muslim neighbour, Ali Murtaza, said that after a shopkeeper refused to sell laundry detergent to Masih’s oldest son, 11, Khan led a Muslim mob to Masih’s home and confronted his wife. [more...]
PAKISTAN: Two Churches Come Under Attack from Islamists
Christian communities in two areas in Punjab Province came under attack earlier this month. In Sargodha, an unidentified motorcyclist on 1 July tossed a grenade in front of the gates of St Filian’s Church of Pakistan, next to a small Christian-owned amusement park where children were playing, Christian sources said. It did not explode. The Rev Pervez Iqbal of St Filian’s said the Bomb Disposal Squad and New Satellite Town police took the grenade away. High-ranking police officials cordoned off the area, declaring a “High Red Alert” in Sargodha, he added. [more...]
AFGHANISTAN: Christians Plead for Help after Execution Call
A group of Afghan Christians living in exile in India have issued an "urgent" plea to the international community to help Christians still living in Afghanistan following the recent call for their execution by a government minister. The letter was issued earlier in the month by a community of 150 Afghan converts now living as refugees in New Delhi because of the threat to their lives in Afghanistan. In the letter they urge Christians around the world to speak out against the "egregious injustices" and "blatant human rights violations" taking place against Christians in Afghanistan. [more...]
MOROCCO: Continues to Purge Nation of Foreign Christians
Moroccan authorities expelled eight more foreign Christians from the country last weekend, bringing the total of deported Christians since March to 128. Two foreign women married to Moroccan Christians were included in this third wave of deportations since March, raising concerns that local authorities intend to harass the country’s small but growing Protestant community. “They are all in fear,” a source told Compass, “because this happened to people who are married.” One of the women, a Lebanese national married to a Moroccan, was diagnosed with cancer last month and is the mother of a 6-year old girl whom she was forced to leave behind. A Spanish national, Sara Domene, 31, was also deported on Monday 28 June, according to news sources. Domene was working as a language teacher in the Western Sahara, a territory under Moroccan sovereignty. [more...]
NIGERIA: Eight Christians Killed in Nigerian Muslim Attacks
A human rights organisation has learned that last weekend Muslims attacked Christian villages and killed at least eight Christians in Kaduna and Plateau States of Northern Nigeria. International Christian Concern (ICC) reported in a news release that on the night of 3 July, several Muslims attacked Kizachi village in Kaduna State and killed five Christians, including a primary school teacher and mother of six children. The Muslims also burned down five Christian homes. Nigerian sources told ICC that the police had stopped protecting the village on 2 July after the government failed to pay their salaries.
In the second attack, on the night of 4 July, 2010 ICC reported that Muslims armed with guns and machetes invaded Ganawuri community, near Jos. Three Christians are feared dead. [more...]
TURKEY: Christian Children Singled Out
There is a saying in Turkey: "To be Turkish is to be Muslim, and to be Muslim is to be Turkish." In this nation, 99.8 percent of its inhabitants are Muslim, and the few Turks who do turn to Christ are misunderstood and ridiculed for their decision to leave Islam. [more...]
INDIA: Conviction of Legislator Falls Short of Expectations
– Christians in Orissa state had mixed feelings about the sentencing on Tuesday 29 June of state legislator Manoj Pradhan to seven years in prison for causing grievous hurt and rioting – but not for murder. “Pradhan is not convicted of murder, but offenses of voluntarily causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapons and rioting were upheld,” attorney Bibhu Dutta Das told Compass. Kanaka Rekha Nayak, widow of murdered Christian Parikhita Nayak, acknowledged that the judgment on Pradhan and fellow Hindu nationalist Prafulla Mallick did not meet her expectations. She said she was happy that Pradhan was finally behind bars, but that she “expected the court to at least pronounce life imprisonment on Pradhan and Mallick for the gruesome act that they committed." [more...]
ERITREA: Refugees Sent Back From Libya in Great Danger
As many as 250 highly vulnerable Eritrean refugees are in danger of being forcibly repatriated by Libyan authorities. CSW learnt that they were herded like cattle into trucks which took them from Misrata prison to a detention centre on the edge of the Sahara desert earlier this week. Before leaving, many of the group were severely tortured by their guards, some so badly that they had to be returned to the prison where they were being held for medical treatment. They are now being held in one single, dark, overcrowded cell, with no access to toilets, food or water and are being hosed with water, beaten and threatened by guards who say they have orders to “finish” them. [more...]
INDIA: “Blessed are the Persecuted”
The world knows the devastation wrought by anti-Christian violence that swept through India in 2008: 121 pastors and believers murdered, more than 5000 houses destroyed, 235 places of worship burned and more than 70,000 people displaced. The attacks have not thwarted the efforts of bold believers who continue to share Christ despite violent opposition. [more...]
PAKISTAN: ‘Blasphemy Laws’ Used to Jail Elderly Christian
A Muslim vying with a Christian for a parcel of land here has accused the elderly man of “blaspheming” Islam’s prophet Muhammad, which is punishable by death or life imprisonment, according to the Christian Lawyers’ Foundation (CLF). Jhumray police on 19 June arrested Rehmat Masih of village No. 165/RB Jandawali in Faisalabad district under Section 295-C of Pakistan’s controversial “blasphemy laws,” and he was sent to Faisalabad District Jail on judicial remand by Magistrate Muhammad Sajawal. Christian sources said Masih, who suffers from arthritis, is 85 years old, though the First Information Report against him lists his age as 73. [more...]
PAKISTAN: Christian Professor in Pakistan Beaten for Refusing to Convert
Muslim students attacked a Christian professor at the Peshawar University College, this month after he refused their demand to convert to Islam, the instructor told Compass. Psychology professor Samuel John, a father of four who has been teaching at the university for 12 years, said that as he came out of his house on the university campus at 8:30 am on 14 June, about 20 to 25 students rushed and assaulted him. When his wife learned what was happening she ran to help him, but the students beat her as well. Both John and his wife were rushed to Lady Reading hospital, where they were treated for their injuries, with John listed in critical condition. “I am still getting threats,” the professor told Compass. “They say, ‘Leave the university or accept Islam – if you don’t convert, we will kill your family.” Police have refused to register a First Information Report on the incident, he said. [more...]
KAZAKHSTAN: Parliaments to go against International Human Rights Commitments
Following a police raid on his ordination service, Baptist pastor Oleg Voropaev in Kazkhstan's northern Pavlodar Region has become the latest victim of the Administrative Code's punishments for leading unregistered worship. Voropaev told the court that he considered himself not guilty, as Kazakhstan's Constitution guarantees the right to worship individually or collectively. As a community without a bank account the church does not need legal status, and does not need or want registration to exist or meet. [more...]
IRAQ: Christian Shot
On 7 June a 34-year-old Christian businessman Hani Salim Wadi was shot and killed in front of his home in Kirkuk, Iraq. According to the available sources the witnesses of the shooting have described it as a "targeted killing," which has brought fear of renewed violence against Christians in Iraq. During the recent months there have been other serious attacks against Christians in Kirkuk and Mosul.
Source: WEA Religious Liberty Prayer [more...]
INDONESIA: Islamist Hardliners in Bekasi Declare 'War' on 'Christianisation'
Islamist hardliners are using fighting talk about the 'Christianisation' of Bekasi, amid rising interfaith tensions in the city. Nine Islamic groups meeting in the West Javan city have reportedly joined forces in a campaign to prepare local mosques to 'wage war on' the growing Christian influence in the city. The group is recommending that each local mosque should form its own laskar or 'paramilitary unit' to enforce Sharia or strict Islamic practices on local Muslims – and insisting that the Bekasi administration's policymaking should reflect this code. Hardliners say they are reacting to what they see as a concerted attempt by the church to extend its reach in Bekasi, a commuter city for Jakarta. Mass baptisms of Christians who were raised as Muslims are cited as a particular issue for concern. [more...]
USA: Three Christians Arrested in Outreach to Muslims in Dearborn, Michigan
Three Christians were arrested on 18 June at the Arab International Festival as they shared their faith with Muslims. The three were arrested by police as they engaged in intense, but respectful dialog in which they proclaimed their faith in Christ. "I never thought I would see this in America," says Steven Atkins, a resident of Toronto, Canada, who was visiting the festival and observed the incident. [more...]
PAKISTAN: Christian Child Abducted, Forced into Bonded Labour
An 11-year-old Christian boy is growing weak and ill from malnutrition from working in slave-like conditions for a Muslim landowner who kidnapped him and is forcing him to work off his family’s debts, his mother told Compass. Katherine Bibi said landowner Ashraf Cheema of Dhonikay village, Wazirabad, has offered her son better conditions and possibly cancellation of the debt if he will convert to Islam. [more...]
MOROCCO: Islamists Use Facebook to Target Christians
Moroccan Christians say Muslim extremists in the country are aiding and encouraging the government to pursue them by exposing and vilifying them on social networking site Facebook. Facebook user Gardes Maroc Maroc has posted 32 image collages featuring dozens of Christian converts, calling them “hyena evangelists” or “wolves in lamb’s skins” who are trying to “shake the faith of Muslims” on the Arabic-language site. The online images depict Christian converts and their families from across the country and include details about their roles and activities in churches, their personal addresses and anecdotal stories attempting to malign them. [more...]
PAKISTAN: Muslim Kidnap, Rape Christian Girl
Five Muslims kidnapped and raped a Christian girl after threatening to kill her unless her father allowed one of them to marry her. Lazarus Masih said one of his three daughters, 14, was kidnapped on 29 May by five men identified only as Guddu, Kamran, Waqas, Adil and Ali. Police recovered her on 6 June in a raid on the home where she was being held, though the suspects escaped. [more...]
KENYA: Islamic Courts Issue Stirs Strife
Kenyans will vote on a new constitution on 4 August. Several elements in the proposed constitution are, however, highly controversial and opposed by the Church which is advocating a 'NO' vote. One contentious issue is the promotion of Kadhi (Islamic) courts. The Church maintains that if Islamic courts are entrenched in the constitution and given national jurisdiction, then secularism, equity, tolerance and religious liberty will be diminished. [more...]
INDIA: Pastor Slapped, Threatened When Youth Disrupt Prayer Meeting
Nikhil Sarin was physically abused and threatened when local youths disrupted his prayer meeting on 4 June. The Gospel for Asia-supported pastor was leading a time of prayer with a family that recently chose to leave their traditional village faith and trust in Christ. The time of fellowship was abruptly cut short when a group of anti-Christian extremists started arguing with Nikhil and the family. [more...]
PAKISTAN: Christian Woman in Pakistan Abused, Forced to Resign
A Christian woman says she has been falsely accused of theft, beaten, threatened with rape and forced to resign her job in a bid to keep her from obtaining full benefits as a regular government employee. Razia Bibi, a 38-year-old sanitation worker known as Rajji of village No. 47-NB (Northern Branch), was due to obtain regular status as a government employee at Aysha Girls’ Hostel at the University of Sargodha at the end of May. On 7 May, however, Muslim office worker Safia Bibi accused her of stealing 10,000 rupees ($A135) from her cubicle – and when hostel warden Noshaba Bibi learned of it, she called female police officers and ordered them to beat her until she confessed, Rajji said. [more...]
SOMALIA: Family of 17-Year-Old Girl Abuses Her for Leaving Islam
The Muslim parents of a 17-year-old Somali girl who converted to Christianity severely beat her for leaving Islam and have regularly shackled her to a tree at their home for more than a month, Christian sources said. Nurta Mohamed Farah of Bardher, Gedo Region in southern Somalia, has been confined to her home since 10 May, when her family found out that she had embraced Christianity, said a Christian leader who visited the area. [more...]
IRAN: Christian Held in Solitary Confinement without Charge
On 29 April, agents from the Iranian National police entered Golchin's home in Varamin and confiscated several Bibles, his computer, identification cards, and other personal belongings. The police did not allow Golchin to call his father before taking him to an undisclosed location. On 30 April, the Intelligence Office in Varamin summoned Golchin's father, a Christian minister, to the local intelligence office. The intelligence agents interrogated him for several hours and threatened to further harm his son if he spoke publicly about Golchin's detention. The intelligence agents similarly threatened Golchin's wife. [more...]
UZBEKISTAN: Samarkand - City of Closed Protestant Churches
The seventh in a series of Protestant churches stripped of state registration in the central Uzbek city of Samarkand in the past four years is still battling to regain it. Without registration, all religious activity is illegal. "For more than a year our church has been trying to establish the illegality of the stripping of registration," a member of Samarkand's Central Protestant Church told Forum 18 News Service. "All the courts either say it is not within their competence or remain silent." [more...]
INDIA: Pastors Arrested
Police arrested three pastors on anti conversion charges in Amapalli Deogarh, Sambalpur district of Orissa on 10 June. According sources, some villagers of Amapalli village requested Pastor Lamuel Patnaik, Pastor Philemon Naag, and Pastor Sudhir Nag for a baptism service. While they were in the process of conducting the baptisms for those who had previously embraced Christianity, a group of villagers came to object. The matter was reported to local police and a team of police led by a female Superintendent arrived and stopped the baptism ceremony. Police arrested the three pastors and they were taken into police custody for further investigation. [more...]
AFGHANISTAN: Parliamentarian Calls for Execution of Christians
Abdul Sattar Khawasi, deputy secretary of the Afghan lower house in parliament, has called for the execution of Christian converts from Islam. Speaking earlier this month in regards to a video broadcast by the Afghan television network Noorin TV showing footage of Christian men being baptised and praying in Farsi, Khawasi said, 'Those Afghans that appeared in this video film should be executed in public. The house should order the attorney general and the NDS (intelligence agency) to arrest these Afghans and execute them.' [more...]
INDIA: Missionary Murdered
Ajit Bansi -- a Gospel for Asia-supported missionary in Assam, India -- was killed by an anti-Christian militant group on 20 May while on his way home from purchasing construction supplies for a new church building. Pastor Ajit and three others were ambushed by the militants and then shot, their bodies left on the roadside. He was murdered just days before the building for his growing congregation of approximately 60 believers was due for completion. "Pastor Ajit was one of hundreds of missionaries risking their lives to share Jesus' love in this area," K.P. Yohannan, Gospel for Asia's President, has stated. "He was doing a great work, and his life brought hope to many people." Source: Assist News Service [more...]
RUSSIA: Ghostlike Existence for Dagestan's Protestants
The Hosanna Church - the largest Pentecostal Church in the southern Russian republic of Dagestan - had a five-year agreement allowing prison visits abruptly cancelled in early 2010, Pastor Artur Suleimanov told Forum 18 News Service. The authorities have also changed their earlier positive assessment of the church's work with drug addicts. [more...]
EGYPT: Couple Shot by Muslim Extremists Undaunted in Ministry
On the afternoon of 27 February, lay pastor Ephraim Shehata and his wife Rasha Samir were ambushed on a desolate street by a group of Islamic gunmen outside the village of Teleda in Upper Egypt. The attack was meant to “break the hearts of the Christians” in the area, Samir said. The attackers shot Shehata twice, once in the stomach through the back, and once in the neck. They shot Samir in the arm. Both survived the attack, but Shehata is still in the midst of a difficult recovery. [more...]
PAKISTAN: Muslims Order Christians to Leave Village
The head of a Muslim village last week ordered 250 Christian families to leave their homes in Khanewal district, Punjab Province, local residents said. Abdul Sattar Khan, head of village No. 123/10R, Katcha Khoh, and other area Muslim residents ordered the expulsions after Christian residents objected too strenuously to sexual assaults by Muslims on Christian girls and women, said a locally elected Christian official, Emmanuel Masih. [more...]
UZBEKISTAN: Lawyers and Christian Former Prisoners of Conscience Threatened
Lawyers defending three former prisoners of conscience from Tashkent's Protestant Church of Christ have been threatened by the authorities that "they could be stripped of their licenses if they continue to defend these cases." Similarly, the Religious Affairs Committee has threatened to strip the registered church of legal status if church members continue to complain about the imprisonments and other human rights violations. [more...]
Pope Launches Middle East Bishops Group
Pope Benedict XVI launched a "special assembly" of bishops focused on the Middle East on Sunday, during a visit to the divided island of Cyprus. The group aims to "help to focus the attention of the international community on the plight of those Christians in the Middle East who suffer for their beliefs," he said in announcing the group, a part of the Catholic Church's Synod of Bishops. [more...]
PAKISTAN: Muslim Boys Accused of Raping Christian Girl
Forensic DNA results of semen samples in a sexual assault case show they match those of the Muslim boys a 14-year-old Christian girl accuses of raping her, according to advocacy organisations. The girl accuses Muhammad Noman and Muhammad Imran, both 17, of abducting her from her school in Kamboh colony, Lahore, in Punjab Province, on 6 May and drugging her prior to sexually assaulting her, according to Khalid Gill, president of the Christian Lawyers Foundation (CLF), and officials of the National Commission of Justice and Peace. [more...]
CHINA: Xinjiang Christian Petitioner Beaten and Detained
On 30 April, Feng Yongji, a Christian petitioner from Xinjiang was illegally intercepted by the Shanghai Domestic Protection Security Squad on her way to Shanghai during the opening ceremony of Expo 2010. The guards handed her over to the police of Shihezi (her hometown). As the Shihezi police "escorted" her home, four or five officers beat Feng so severely that she passed out. Feng Yongji is now being illegally detained at the Shihezi Police Detention Centre. Her current condition is growing worse, and she is in dire need of medical attention. [more...]
PAKISTAN: Islamists Keep Two Newlywed Couples from Home
Islamists armed with pistols and rifles waited for two Christian couples to return to their rented home this week, seeking to kill them after the newlyweds complained to police that the radical Muslims had falsely accused them of desecrating the Koran, according to a local Christian legislator. Atiq Joseph and Qaiser William and their wives, who requested anonymity went to an undisclosed location after Christians in Gulshan-e-Iqbal town, Karachi, warned them that the armed Muslims were stationed in front of their joint home on Friday 21 May, said Saleem Khurshid Khokhar, a representative of Sindh in the Punjab Provincial Assembly. [more...]
TURKEY: Trial over ‘Insulting Turkishness’ Again Yields No Evidence
The 11th hearing of a case of alleged slander against two Turkish Christians closed just minutes after it opened this week, due to lack of any progress. Prosecutors produced no new evidence or witnesses against Hakan Tastan and Turan Topal since the last court session four months ago. Despite lack of any tangible reason to continue the stalled case, their lawyer said, the Silivri Criminal Court set still another hearing to be held on 14 October. “They are uselessly dragging this out,” defence lawyer Haydar Polat said moments after Judge Hayrettin Sevim closed the Tuesday 25 May hearing. [more...]
PAKISTAN: Christian Woman Kidnapped, Escapes
A Christian woman who was kidnapped, forced to marry a Muslim farmer and told to convert to Islam amid a dispute over a loan said today she has returned home after weeks of “captivity and torture.” Sania James, 33, was kidnapped 5 April by armed men who stormed her parent’s house in the small town of Rawat, just outside Rawalpindi, neighbours confirmed to Compass. [more...]
BELARUS: Action against the New Life Full Gospel Church
The head of the Belarusian capital Minsk's City Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Committee has denied to Forum 18 News Service that his action against the New Life Full Gospel Church is politically motivated. "I'm depoliticised," Aleksandr Borovikov insisted of his attempt to prosecute the church for alleged oil pollution, "I'm not part of any campaign against the church." Church members think the massive, disputed fine imposed on the church for environmental damage is part of the long-running state campaign against them. While concerned that grass being grown for a children's playground at the church might also cause environmental damage, Borovikov seemed unfazed when Forum 18 raised concerns about accumulated rubbish - including rotting vehicles and old washing machines - dumped within 500 metres of the church. [more...]
CHINA: Imprisoned House Church Leaders Released!
On 5 May, sixteen major house church leaders from different provinces were detained while meeting for prayer and Bible study.They were held at a detention center in Luoyang city. ChinaAid urged the international community to call on the authorities to release the pastors, including Pastor Li Fuxing from Shandong and Pastor Zhang "Peter" Bide. Because of international pressure, on 21 May all the house church leaders were released! Source: ChinaAid [more...]
UZBEKISTAN: Church Raided
On 16 May, a Christian church in Tashkent, the capital city of Uzbekistan, was raided by police, the secret police, tax inspectorate, fire Inspectors and the sanitary-epidemiological service. The 500 church members who were in the midst of the Sunday service as well as the Sunday school children were videotaped by the police. After a 5 hour search, which was carried out without a warrant, the police detained eight church members including the Assistant Pastor Artur Avanesyan. They were kept in detention for 24 hours without any food or water and were not allowed to contact their families. Equipment including computers and printers as well as Christian literature was confiscated. Letters of permission given by parents of 392 children to attend Sunday school were among papers taken away by the police. [more...]
Crossing the Line in China
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Esther is the 28-year-old daughter of Pastor Yang Xuan and his wife, Yang Caizhen, leaders in a large Chinese church. Esther grew up in a Christian home in the city of Linfen, in Shanxi province, China. Her parents are members of Linfen Church, a network of house churches with as many as 50,000 members.
Linfen Church is considered to be 'illegal' because it is not registered with the communist, state-run Three Self Patriotic Movement (TSPM). Nevertheless, the church has operated with a great deal of freedom. This freedom was so remarkable that within the Chinese house church movement, Linfen became known as the 'Liberated Zone.' Linfen's renown as a Liberated Zone held until September 2009, when Chinese officials closed the church headquarters, destroyed church buildings and arrested Esther's parents and other church leaders.
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PAKISTAN: Muslim Teachers Allegedly Abuse Christian Students
Muslim teachers at a girls school here have derided Christian students for their faith, beat them, pressured them to convert to Islam and forced them to clean school bathrooms and classrooms after class hours, according to area Christians. Muslim teachers at Government Higher Secondary School in village No. 79-NB (Northern Branch), Sargodha, have so abused Christian students that two have dropped out, said a 16-year-old student identified only as Sana. “Christian students are teased and mocked by radical Muslim female teachers from the start of the school day to the end,” she said. “Due to the contemptuous behaviour on religious grounds of the fanatical Muslim principal and staff, Christian students feel dejected, depressed and frustrated. I am totally broken-hearted because of the intolerance and discrimination.” [more...]
INDIA: Hindu Nationalists Plan ‘Religious Cleansing’ in Madhya Pradesh District
Hindu nationalist organisations in Madhya Pradesh state have declared their intentions to rid Mandla district of all Christian influence by starting preparations for a large “reconversion” event next year. A similar event in Dangs district, Gujarat state in 2006 was filled with Christian hate speech. As a result of anti-Christian sentiment stirred at the 22 April ground-breaking ceremony for the Madhya Pradesh “reconversion” rally to be held next February, Hindu nationalists attacked a house church in the district’s Bamhni Banjar village on 2 May, Christian leaders said. Hindu leaders reportedly announced a list of objectives to be achieved before the festival, with one prominent agenda item being to drive away Christian pastors, evangelists and foreign aid workers from the district. The leaders pledged to “cleanse Mandla of Christians” by means of the February 10-12 event. [more...]
MOROCO: Second Wave of Deportations Hits Foreign Christians
In a second wave of deportations from Morocco, officials of the majority-Muslim country have expelled 26 foreign Christians in the last 10 days without due process. Following the expulsion of more than 40 foreign Christians in March, the deportations were apparently the result of Muslim hardliners pressuring the nation’s royalty to show Islamic solidarity. The latest deportations bring the number of Christians who have had to leave Morocco to about 105 since early March. [more...]
NIGERIA: Muslim Youths Burn Church Buildings, Pastor’s Home
Scores of Muslim youths on Wednesday 19 May besieged church property in Kano state in northern Nigeria, destroying two church buildings and a pastor’s residence. One of the buildings and the pastor’s house were set ablaze on the premises of the Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA) at Kwasam, in the Kiru Local Government area, while another building under construction was demolished. [more...]
PAKISTAN: Family Forced to Flee Town
A Christian who accused a Muslim of raping his 12-year-old daughter has fled his town in Punjab Province with his family following death threats and police pressure to drop the case. Citing “continuous threats” to take his life, Zafar Masih left Gujranwala’s predominantly Muslim town of Nai Abadi Tatlay Aali within 10 days of accusing Ali Ahmed, a 28-year-old businessman, of beating and raping his daughter on 12 May. His daughter, whose name was withheld, told Compass that her employer, Ahmed, beat and raped her when she went to his home, where she worked as a house servant. [more...]
EGYPT: Convert Endures Life at a Standstill – on the Run
The apartment where an Egyptian convert from Islam to Christianity was living in hiding with his teenage daughter is across the street from a mosque that regularly broadcast anti-Christian messages. “Do not shake their hands. Do not go into their homes,” an imam shouted through the minaret loudspeakers as 57-year-old Maher Ahmad El-Mo’otahssem Bellah El-Gohary looked through his window and grimaced. For nearly two years, he and his daughter have been forced to hide after he sought to change the religious designation on his national ID card to “Christian.” [more...]
IRAN: Conditional Release of Christian Couple after posting a $100,000 Bail
A Christian couple who were arrested and detained for 75 days on the charges of evangelising the Christian faith in the city of Isafahan was released conditionally after posting a $100,000 bail bond. According to new received by the Farsi Christian News Network (FCNN), Mr Hamid Shafiee and Mrs Reyhaneh Aghajary, who were arrested at their home on 28 February and detained for more than 75 days in a detention centre in Isfahan, were released separately after posting heaving bail and commitments to the government. [more...]
IRAN: Marzieh and Maryam Acquitted
Praise God! On 22 May, Maryam Rustampoor and Marzieh Amirizadeh were acquitted of all charges by the Iranian judicial authorities, according to Elam Ministries. Iranian authorities warned Maryam and Marzieh that any future Christian activity would be dealt with seriously. “We are most grateful to everyone who prayed for us,” Marzieh told Elam Ministries. “I have no doubt that God heard the prayers of his people.” Maryam added, “I believe our arrest, imprisonment and subsequent release were in the timing and plan of God, and it was all for his glory. But the prayers of people encouraged and sustained us throughout this ordeal.” Following their acquittal, Marzieh and Maryam left Iran for another country. [more...]
VIETNAM: Murdered Christian’s Widow Could Lose Her Children
The widow of a Vietnamese Christian who was brutally tortured and murdered may be in danger of losing her children to the state. According to International Christian Concern, the widow was taken to a police station and told she must sign documents giving her children to the state. [more...]
INDIA: Hindu radicals demolish Indian Church under construction, Installs Hindu Idol
A church under construction in Anantpur, Andhra Pradesh, was demolished at around 9:00am on Sunday 23 May by a group of Hindu radicals, who then placed in what was left of the building, an idol of Hindu god Hanuman. According to the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC), the church was destroyed by members of Rashtriya Swayam Sevaks (RSS), a Hindu radical group, despite the fact that the believers had secured all the necessary permits to build their house of worship in that place. [more...]
CHINA: Family Finally Allowed Visit Imprisoned Uyghur Chinese Church Leader
On 20 April, the family of Uyghur house church leader Alimujiang Yimiti was allowed to visit with him for the first time since his arrest in January 2008. Alimujiang was sentenced in October 2009 to 15 years' imprisonment for "providing state secrets to overseas organisations" [more...]
YEMEN: Christian Girls Kidnapped in Yemen Are Rescued
Saudi Arabian and Yemeni security forces rescued two German girls yesterday, 11 months after the two young sisters, their parents; brother and four other Christians were taken hostage in Yemen. Reported to be between 3 and 6 years old, the two girls, Lydia Hentschel and her younger sister Anna Hentschel, were part of a group of nine Christian foreigners who were kidnapped on 12 June last year. Three of the adult hostages, a Korean and two German women, were murdered shortly afterwards. The foreigners worked in a hospital near the city of Saada. [more...]
LAOS: Christians Expelled from Village Suffer Critical Illnesses
In spite of assurances of religious rights by officials in March, Lao Christians expelled from a village in Saravan Province in January are suffering from prolonged lack of adequate food and clean water. The lack of basic resources has led to dehydration, eye and skin infections, fainting and general weakness for the Christians expelled from Katin village, and one person has died, Human Rights Watch for Lao Religious Freedom (HRWLRF) reported. [more...]
PAKISTAN: Christian Forced to Sell Kidney to Pay Debt to Boss
A low-wage Pakistani Christian said his Muslim employer last week forced him to sell his kidney in an effort to pay off a loan his boss made at exorbitant interest rates charged only to non-Muslims. John Gill, a molding machine operator at Shah Plastic Manufacturers in the Youhanabad area of Lahore, said he took a loan of 150,000 rupees ($A 2095) – at 400 percent interest – from employer Ghulam Mustafa in 2007 in order to send his 17-year-old daughter to college. [more...]
EGYPT: Convert from Islam Devastated by ‘Delay Tactic’
An Egyptian convert to Christianity said he is devastated by a recent court decision to suspend a lawsuit he filed to change the religion on his identification card from Muslim to Christian. The First District of the Court of the State Council on 27 April suspended Mohammed Ahmed Hegazy’s case until the Constitutional Court rules on a challenge to Article 47, a section of the civil code that, in theory, allows Egyptians to change the religion listed on their ID card. Hegazy, 27, said the court’s suspension endangers his children’s welfare and will force them to lead a double life indefinitely. [more...]
UZBEKISTAN: 15-Day Jail Terms, Large Fines, Literature Destruction Follow Raid
Uzbekistan has continued short-term jailings of religious minorities, with three Protestant Christians from a registered church on 18 May being given 15 day jail terms. Three other Protestants - arrested after a raid on the Tashkent church - were each fined 80 times the minimum monthly wage, and two other Protestants were fined five times the minimum monthly wage. Six computers seized during the raid were ordered to be given to the state, and seized Christian literature ordered destroyed. [more...]
PAKISTAN: Christian Accused of Blasphemy Faces Court in Pakistan
Martha Bibi (45), a Pakistani Christian woman accused of blasphemy in January 2007 is scheduled to appear in court on 26 May. If deemed guilty, she may face the death penalty. Martha has been accused of making derogatory remarks against the Koran and of "defiling the sacred name of the prophet Muhammad." According to local Christians, the charges were brought against Martha by Muslim contractors who did not want to pay for materials she and her husband, a bricklayer, supplied to a construction site. Source: VOM Canada [more...]
IRAN: Christian Temporarily Released from Evin Prison
Vahik Abrahamian, an Armenian Christian, who was arrested unexpectedly and detained for 53 days in a solitary cell at the Evin Prison, without access to a lawyer or any of his family members, has been temporarily released. According to the Farsi New Network (FCNN), "Vahik Abrahamian", an Armenian Christian was released from his solitary conferment at the Evin Prison at 9pm on 24 April, 2010 after spending a total of 53 days in detention. He had to post a ten million tooman bond for his release and return to court for legal hearings surrounding the charges filed against him. [more...]
CHINA: Human Rights Lawyer Gao Zhisheng Missing Again
Gao Zhisheng, a Christian human rights lawyer released by Chinese officials on 6 April and missing again since 20 April, is “definitely in the hands of Chinese security forces,” Bob Fu of the China Aid Association (CAA) told Compass.“Right now nobody has been able to locate him,” Fu said. “The Chinese security forces need to come up with an explanation.” Gao, initially seized from his home in Shaanxi Province on 4 February 2009 and held incommunicado by security officials for 13 months, was permitted to phone family members and colleagues in late March before officials finally returned him to his Beijing apartment on 6 April. [more...]
PAKISTAN: Christians’ Employer Has Them Illegally Arrested
Police illegally detained three Christians on false charges of alcohol possession in Sialkot last week at the request of their Muslim employer. The men – garment factory workers Atif Masih, Kamran Masih and Naveed Gill – said they had objected to their boss demanding they work on Sundays. Factory owner Rana Ejaz promptly accused them of selling alcohol, which is forbidden to Muslims in Pakistan and illegal to sell without a permit. On 4 May the station house officer (SHO) of Paka Garah, Sialkot, arrested the three Christians even though Ejaz had filed neither a First Information Report nor registered a written complaint, the Christians said. [more...]
INDIA: Evangelist Killed in Bihar
An evangelist has been killed in Jamalpur of Bihar allegedly for his conversion activities in the area. A media team consisting of Pastor Yunus Mandal and some young people went to screen a film on Jesus Christ at Laksmanpur village in Jamalpur on 2 May 2010. [more...]
INDONESIA: Muslims Burn Christian Centre under Construction
Hundreds of people calling themselves the Muslim Community of the Puncak Route last week burned buildings under construction belonging to a Christian organisation in West Java Province. Believing that a church or school building was being built, the mob set fire to the Penabur Christian Education Foundation’s unfinished guest house buildings in Cibeureum village of Cisarua sub-district, Bogor Regency, on 27 April. They also burned a watchman’s hut and at least two cars belonging to foundation directors. [more...]
PAKISTAN: Five Christian Boys Accused of Blasphemy Forced to Leave their Homes
Pakistan’s controversial blasphemy law continues to be allegedly abused by extremists in Pakistan, at least five Christian boys have been forced to leave their homes in the Green Town area of the eastern city of Lahore, after they were accused of committing blasphemy. [more...]
IRAQ: CHRISTIANS UNDER SIEGE
After seven years of insecurity and ethnic-religious cleansing, few Christians remain in the south and the centre. Iraq's remnant Assyrian-Chaldean Christians live mostly in the historic Assyrian homeland: the Nineveh Plains of Northern Iraq. Even there Christians are under siege and so endangered that Christian students must travel to university in convoys under Iraqi military escort. [more...]
PAKISTAN: Muslims Abduct Young Christian Woman, Family Says
Muslims who kidnapped and forcibly converted an 18-year-old Christian woman to Islam severely beat her mother on two occasions to discourage her from trying to recover her daughter, lawyers said. Muhammad Akhter and Muhammad Munir on 25 April broke into the home of 50-year-old widow Fazeelat Bibi while her sons were at work and beat her because they were upset at her continuous demands that they return her daughter Saira, Christian Lawyers Foundation (CLF) leaders told Compass. CLF President Khalid Gill said that neighbours’ calls to the police emergency number went unheeded as the men beat her in Lahore’s predominantly Muslim Bostaan Colony. [more...]
PAKISTAN: Muslims Abduct Young Christian Woman, Family Says
Muslims who kidnapped and forcibly converted an 18-year-old Christian woman to Islam severely beat her mother on two occasions to discourage her from trying to recover her daughter, lawyers said. Muhammad Akhter and Muhammad Munir on 25 April broke into the home of 50-year-old widow Fazeelat Bibi while her sons were at work and beat her because they were upset at her continuous demands that they return her daughter Saira, Christian Lawyers Foundation (CLF) leaders told Compass. CLF President Khalid Gill said that neighbours’ calls to the police emergency number went unheeded as the men beat her in Lahore’s predominantly Muslim Bostaan Colony. [more...]
SOMALIA: Militants Execute Christian Leader
Islamic militants killed another leader of the underground church movement in Somalia. Before he was fatally shot on Tuesday 4 May in Xarardheere, about 60 kilometres from Jowhar, 57-year-old Yusuf Ali Nur had been on a list of people the Islamic extremist al Shabaab suspected of being Christian, sources who spoke on condition of anonymity told Compass. Al Shabaab, said to have links with al Qaeda, has vowed to rid Somalia of Christianity.
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BANGLADESH: Buddhist Extremists Drive Christians from Village
Four Christian families in south-eastern Bangladesh left their village under mounting pressure by Buddhist extremists to give up their faith in Christ. Sources told Compass that 20 to 25 Buddhists, brandishing sticks and bamboo clubs in Jamindhonpara village, 340 kilometres southeast of Dhaka, began patrolling streets on Friday 30 April to keep the 11 members of the Lotiban Baptist Church from gathering for their weekly prayer meetings. [more...]
North Korean Outlaws
A Special Report from Voice of the Martyrs Australia
Please click on file to download. [more...]
"I'm Not Ready to Die.......Yet"
Mr Chin* travelled all night. Before dawn, he crossed the Tumen River and stepped back into his homeland of North Korea. The guards patrolling the river’s banks remained deaf to his footsteps. Mr Chin knew the dangerous item that was buried under clothes in his backpack could lead to his execution, but he chose to carry it anyway. [more...]
INDIA: Theology Student Dies in Attack in Madhya Pradesh
Hindu extremists raided Christian events in India’s Madhya Pradesh state this month, leaving a visiting theology student dead and several other Christians injured. The body of 23-year-old Amit Gilbert was recovered from a water well 25 feet from the site of a Christian revival meeting that 15 to 20 Hindu extremists attacked on 17 April in Gram Fallaiya, Post Pathakheda, Betul district. With covered heads and carrying iron rods and bamboo clubs, members of the Hindu extremist Dharam Sena and Bajrang Dal cut electricity at the night-time event and began striking, sending the more than 400 in attendance running, Christian leaders said. Eyewitnesses said the assailants chased Gilbert, of Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh state, and beat him mainly on his legs. [more...]
CUBA: Family of Imprisoned Pastor Given Eviction Order
The family of a pastor who was given a six year and seven month prison sentence in July 2009 has been ordered to vacate their home in Cuba. Authorities delivered documents to Pastor Omar Gude Perez's wife, Kenia, notifying her that their home is to be confiscated and that the family will be relocated to a significantly smaller apartment in poor condition outside the city of Camaguey. Kenia has told officials that she and her children will not leave their home voluntarily. Although the official reason for the confiscation and relocation is "illicit gain," Kenia has been informed by authorities that she is being punished for informing international human rights groups and foreign governments about the human rights violations her family has suffered.
Source: VOM Canada [more...]
NIGERIA: Journalists Become the Latest VictimsPlateau State Violence
Two journalists working for a Church of Christ in Nigeria (COCIN) publication have become the latest casualties of the violence that has afflicted Plateau State since January. Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) says the bodies of Nathan Sheleph Dabak, Deputy Editor of The Light Bearer, and reporter Sunday Gyang Bwede were found in the mortuary of the Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH) on the afternoon of 25 April, a day after they left their office to interview a local politician. [more...]
BANGLADESH: Buddhist Extremists Beat, Take Christians Captive
Buddhist members of an armed rebel group and their sympathisers are holding three tribal Christians captive in a pagoda in south-eastern Bangladesh after severely beating them in an attempt to force them to return to Buddhism, Christian sources said. Held captive since 16 April are Pastor Shushil Jibon Talukder, 55; Bimol Kanti Chakma, 50; and Laksmi Bilas Chakma, 40, of Maddha Lemuchari Baptist Church in Lemuchari village, in Mohalchari sub-district of the mountainous Khagrachari district, some 300 kilometres southeast of Dhaka. They are to be kept in the pagoda for 15 to 20 days as punishment for having left the Buddhist religion, the sources said. [more...]
NORTH KOREA: ‘Pinpricks’ of Truth Making Way
As refugees from North Korea and activists from Non-Governmental Organisations gather in Seoul, South Korea this week to highlight human rights violations in the hermit kingdom, there are signs that North Korean citizens are accessing more truth than was previously thought. A recent survey by the Peterson Institute found that a startling 60 percent of North Koreans now have access to information outside of government propaganda. “North Koreans are increasingly finding out that their misery is a direct result of the Kim Jong-Il regime, not South Korea and America as we were brainwashed from birth to believe,” Kim Seung Min of Free North Korea Radio said in a press statement. [more...]
NIGERIA: Pastor, Wife Killed in Northern Nigeria
Suspected Islamic extremists last week abducted and killed a Church of Christ pastor and his wife in Boto village, Bauchi state in northern Nigeria. The Rev Ishaku Kadah, 48, and his 45-year-old wife Selina were buried on Saturday 17 April after unidentified assailants reportedly whisked them from their church headquarters home on Tuesday 13 April and killed them. Their burnt bodies were found hours later. [more...]
ETHIOPIA: Christians Hit by Unexpected Attack
Evangelical Christians in an area of Ethiopia unaccustomed to anti-Christian hostility have come under attack from Ethiopian Orthodox Church (EOC) members threatened by their existence, Christian leaders said. In Olenkomi, about 65 kilometres west of the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa, two church buildings were attacked by an EOC mob in Olenkomi town, Oromia Region, on 27 January – leaving one evangelist unconscious and other Christians fearful of Orthodox hostility. [more...]
CHINA: Authorities Reject Uyghur Christian's appeal
On 16 March, The People's High Court of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region rejected an appeal from Alimujiang Yimiti (37), a Uyghur house church leader. Alimujiang was sentenced in October 2009 to 15 years' imprisonment for "providing state secrets to overseas organisations. [more...]
UZBEKISTAN: Feeding Homeless People is "Not According to Charter"
Protestants in Uzbekistan continue to be targeted. Police raided a Protestant youth conference, claiming to check identity documents. Many of the about 70 young people were playing football and basketball and 43 were taken to a police station where they were fingerprinted and photographed. Two leaders are under investigation for "violation of the procedure for holding mass events" and "violation of the law on religious organisations". [more...]
INDIA: Pastor Attacked in Kerala
Activists of the Sangh Parivar have attacked a Pastor in Kozhikode of Kerala for allegedly screening a film on a social cause. Church Pastor Ponnachen and his team went to Perambra for a Gospel meeting on 12 April. They screened a documentary film about cancer caused on account of tobacco use. [more...]
INDIA: Pastor Told to Get Out
A Gospel for Asia-supported missionary has been given notice that he must leave his mission field in Sikkim, India. Santua Barman, who serves as pastor of a small church, received the threat from a local anti-Christian group. They gave him 10 days to move away with his family members. In spite of the threats, Santua plans to stay in the village and continue ministering to the people. He filed a police complaint against the group that is making the threats against him. The courts are trying to resolve the matter, but the group’s leaders have so far refused to show up for their court dates. [more...]
VIETNAM: Released Christian Lawyer Vows to Fight on for Democracy
Christian lawyer Le Thi Cong Nhan has said she will continue to push for a free and fair Vietnam – after serving three years in jail as a pro-democracy activist. Nhan, jailed in 2007 for ‘propagandising to destroy the Socialist Republic of Vietnam’, was released from prison on 6 March. She is not yet free, however – she will spend the next three years under house arrest in Hanoi. In a radio interview with Voice of America soon after her release, the 31-year-old lawyer said she had no intention of giving up her struggle for greater democracy in Vietnam – even, she said, if there was a further price to pay. [more...]
PAKISTAN: Young Christian Woman Allegedly Abducted
A Muslim tricked a 19-year-old Christian woman into leaving her house on 1 April, and he and a car full of friends took her away, according to her family. Sonia Mohan’s family said they fear the Muslim, Ali Raza, will force her to convert to Islam and marry him. [more...]
ERITREA: Seventeen Christian Soldiers at Prayer Arrested En Masse
Military officials arrested 17 young soldiers as they met for prayer and fellowship in the town of Segenaite in the south of Eritrea. The young men, believed to come from several different churches, were rounded up on 27 March and taken to Segenaite police station. The 17 are believed to be in the middle of their compulsory national service. Assist News Service reports that this brings to 28 the number of Christians arrested in Eritrea since the beginning of March. [more...]
KAZAKHSTAN: "Struggle against Religious Extremism Must Be Carried Out On All Fronts"
Kazakhstan has left threats to deport Viktor Leven "hanging in the air". The now-stateless Baptist, who is Kazakh-born, was convicted of missionary activity without state permission, and because he and his wife do not have passports they cannot either obtain paid work or travel by train. He and his family live on what they can grow themselves. [more...]
PAKISTAN: False Charges Filed against 47 Christians
Police have filed false charges of alcohol possession against 47 Christians, including women and children, on 28 March in an attempt to intimidate and bribe them, Christian leaders said. Police broke into and ransacked the home of Shaukat Masih at 10:15 pm on Palm Sunday, manhandled his wife Parveen Bibi, and threatened to charge them and 45 other area Christians with alcohol possession if they did not pay a bribe, said attorney Albert Patras. The Christians refused. Those charged include two children and eight women. None of the Christians has been arrested, as police are interested only in extorting money from them, Patras said. [more...]
Lambs Among Wolves
Albert Francisco tugged on the small hand of Mial Rose. The 9-year-old struggled to keep up with her older cousin as they made their way down the jungle paths in the Philippine mountains. It was early Sunday morning on 3 May 2009 and the two were on their way to the banana plantation where Albert worked so he could collect his pay. [more...]
PAKISTAN: Christian Woman Jailed under ‘Blasphemy’ Laws
Police in Alipur have arrested a Christian woman on a baseless accusation of “blaspheming” the prophet of Islam. Rubina Bibi of Alipur, wife of Amjad Masih, is accused of making a derogatory remark about the Islamic prophet Muhammad. The charge comes under Section 295-C of Pakistan’s blasphemy laws, which have gained international notoriety for their misuse by Muslims to settle personal grudges. [more...]
CHINA: Gao Zhisheng Confirmed 'Alive!' Thanks to International Support
Sunday, 28 March missing human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng spoke to his wife and children for the first time in over a year - confirming he is still alive! False rumours of his death, torture, and escape from the custody of the Chinese Government have shrouded Gao's absence with mystery for over a year. Gao's brief phone conversations with western media mark the first official contact the public has had with him since his abduction by police on 4 February, 2009. [more...]
EGYPT: Muslim mob attacks Christians in Egypt
A mob of approximately 2,000 Muslims attacked Christians gathered for prayer in a Coptic church in the north-western city of Marsa Matrouh on 12 March. Muslims hurled stones at the building before entering and assaulting several of the over 400 believers trapped inside. Twenty-five people were reportedly seriously injured. The Muslims also burned and destroyed houses, shops and cars. At last report, approximately 28 Christians had lost their homes. The violence was allegedly sparked by local Christians building a wall around a plot of land belonging to the church. Source: VOM Canada [more...]
PAKISTAN: Muslims Accused of Rape Allegedly Attack Sisters
Five Muslims allegedly ransacked the house of an impoverished Christian in this capital city of Punjab Province last month and angrily beat his daughters in an effort to get the family to withdraw rape charges. Muhammad Sajjid wielding a pistol, Muhammad Sharif brandishing a dagger and Muhammad Wajjad and two unidentified accomplices carrying bamboo clubs arrived at the Lahore home of Piyara Masih the afternoon of 26 February, Christian leaders said. The Muslims allegedly ransacked the house and began thrashing his two daughters, a 15-year-old and her 21-year-old sister, Muniran Bibi, according to attorney Azra Shujaat, head of Global Evangelical Ministries, and Khalid Gill, president of the Christian Liberation Front. Muniran said Sharif stabbed her four times with the dagger. “They ripped apart my clothes, as well as my sister’s,” she said. “In the meantime, Muhammad Sajjid kept firing into the air to terrorise us.” [more...]
INDIA: Christians Face 1,000 Attacks in 500 Days in Karnataka
Minority Christians in southern Karnataka state are under an unprecedented wave of Christian persecution, having faced more than 1,000 attacks in 500 days, according to an independent investigation by a former judge of the Karnataka High Court. The spate began on 14 September 2008, when at least 12 churches were attacked in one day in Karnataka’s Mangalore city, in Dakshina Kannada district, said Justice Michael Saldanha, former judge of the Karnataka High Court. [more...]
RUSSIA: Lutheran Extremists?
After initially denying it, Officer Senichev (who refused to give his first name) of the 1st department of Kaluga Police in central Russia admitted to Forum 18 News Service that eleven armed officers with dogs had interrupted the 28 February Sunday morning service of St George's Lutheran congregation. "We had a call on the hotline that extremist literature was there. We're obliged by law to investigate all such calls." He was unable to specify which Russian law requires the police to respond to anonymous calls. Senichev was also unable to say why, if extremist literature was believed to be present, police officers conducting a search needed to be armed and accompanied by dogs. Nor was he able to explain why the search was conducted during the church's Sunday worship service. Source: Forum 18 News Service [more...]
LAOS: Officials Visit Expelled Christians, Give Assurances
Officials in Laos’ Saravan Province last week visited 48 Christians expelled from Katin village and assured them that they had the legal right to embrace the faith of their choice, according to advocacy group Human Rights Watch for Lao Religious Freedom. The delegation, led by provincial Gov Khamboon Duangpanya, read out June 2002’s Decree 92 on the Management and Protections of Religious Activity in Laos and explained its religious freedom provisions to the group, assuring them that they could freely believe in Christianity “if their faith was genuine.” They also said they had the right to live anywhere in the district. [more...]
PAKISTAN: Muslims Murder Christian with Axe Blows
Six Muslims in Khanewal district, southern Punjab Province, killed a Christian with multiple axe blows for refusing to convert to Islam this month, according to family and police sources. The six men had threatened to kill 36-year-old Rasheed Masih unless he converted to Islam when they grew resentful of his potato business succeeding beyond their own, according to Masih’s younger brother Munir Asi and a local clergyman. The rival merchants allegedly killed him after luring him to their farmhouse on 9 March, leaving him on a roadside near Kothi Nand Singh village in the wee hours of the next day. [more...]
SOMALIA: Islamic Extremists Kill Church Leader, Torch Home
Islamic militants in Somalia tracked down an underground church leader who had previously escaped a kidnapping attempt and killed him, Christian sources said. Islamic extremist al Shabaab rebels shot Madobe Abdi to death on 15 March at 9:30 am in Mahaday village, 50 kilometres north of Johwar. He had escaped an al Shabaab attempt to kidnap him on 2 March Abdi’s death adds to a growing number of Christians murdered by Islamic militants, but his was distinctive in that he was not a convert from Islam. An orphan, Abdi was raised as a Christian. [more...]
PAKISTAN: Muslims Allegedly Burn a Christian Man to Death
International Christian Concern (ICC) says it has learned that a Christian man, Arshed Masih, died after Muslims allegedly burned him alive for refusing to recant his faith. Additionally, a Muslim policeman is accused of raping Masih’s wife. [more...]
INDIA: Training Centre Attacked
A large mob of around 40 anti-Christian Hindu militants rampaged through a training centre for pastors, in the North Indian state of Chhattisgarh, on Sunday. Prebhu, a leader at the centre, was punched and kicked as he screamed for mercy. Many students were brutally beaten and seriously injured. While they were being tortured, the gang interrogated them about the leadership at the centre. Students refused to reveal any names or addresses, so the mob furiously burned down all of the valuable teaching tools, literature and Bibles in the centre - everything was destroyed. [more...]
NIGERIA: Second Wave of Attacks Near Jos Leaves 13 Christians Dead
Less than two weeks after a massive attack in Nigeria that killed 500 Christians, Muslim Fulani herdsmen unleashed more horrific violence on two Christian villages in Plateau state, killing 13 persons, including a pregnant woman and children. In attacks presumably over disputed property but with a level of violence characteristic of jihadist method and motive, men in military camouflage and others in customary clothing also burned 20 houses in Byei and Baten villages, in the Riyom Local Government Area of the state, about 45 kilometre from the state capital, Jos. [more...]
MOROCCO: Large-Scale Expulsion of Foreign Christians Begins
Moroccan authorities deported more than 40 foreign Christian aid workers this week in an ongoing, nationwide crackdown that included the expulsion of foster parents caring for 33 Moroccan orphans with Moroccan authorities expressing their intention to deport specifically US nationals. Sources in Morocco told Compass that the government gave the US Embassy in Rabat a list of 40 citizens to be deported. Citing Western diplomats and aid groups, Reuters reported that as many as 70 foreign aid workers had been deported since the beginning of the month, including US, Dutch, British and New Zealand citizens. [more...]
UZBEKISTAN: Ten Year Sentence for "Honest Christian"
Uzbekistan has sentenced a Baptist to 10 years jail on drugs charges, which his fellow Baptists insist are fabricated. Seven weeks after his arrest, Tohar Haydarov was sentenced in Guliston on 9 March for "illegal sale of narcotic or psychotropic substances in large quantities". Fellow Baptists insist that this is to punish him for his religious activity. It is unclear why Haydarov has been given such a harsh sentence. [more...]
LAOS: Officials Threaten to Burn Shelters of Expelled Christians
Officials in southern Laos plan to burn temporary shelters built by expelled Christians unless they recant their faith, according to advocacy group Human Rights Watch for Lao Religious Freedom (HRWLRF). Authorities including a religious affairs official, the district head, district police and the chief of Katin village in Ta-Oyl district, Saravan province, expelled the 48 Christians at gunpoint on 18 January. Left to survive in the open, the Christians began to build temporary shelters, and then more permanent homes, on the edge of the jungle, according to HRWLRF. [more...]
CHINA: Guangzhou Police Kidnap Pastor Wang Dao
For more than two years, the Guangzhou police have harassed the house church believers of Liangren Church for their faith. In the boldest strike since last September, a mixed band of plain-clothed and uniformed PSB officers barged into the local restaurant at 3:20 pm on 4 March, where Liangren Church Head Pastor Wang Dao was meeting with twelve brothers and sisters for a meal. According to eye-witnesses in the restaurant, the policemen threw Pastor Wang violently to the ground, without showing their ID badges or any official documentation. [more...]
PAKISTAN: Christian sentenced to life in prison under Pakistan’s Blasphemy Laws
Qamar David, a Pakistani Christian who was on trial for alleged blasphemy against the Prophet Mohammed, was sentenced last Thursday to life imprisonment. The verdict has been described as “biased and prejudiced” by a source close to Qamar.
Qamar and his lawyer, Parvez Choudhry received death threats leading up to the trial. They plan to appeal the decision. Source: Christian Solidarity Worldwide [more...]
NIGERIA: Hundreds killed in Explosive Situation in Jos
Around 2:30am on Sunday 7 March 2010, hoards of armed, mostly Fulani
Muslims slipped in and massacred some 500 mainly Christian ethnic Berom residents in three villages on the southern outskirts of Jos, the capital of Nigeria's volatile Plateau State. Whole families were ambushed, shot and hacked to death as they fled their burning homes. [more...]
PAKISTAN: Islamic Gunmen Kill Christian Aid Workers
Suspected Islamic militants armed with guns and grenades stormed the offices of a Christian relief and development organisation in northwest Pakistan yesterday, killing six aid workers and wounding seven others. The gunmen besieged the offices of international humanitarian organisation World Vision near Oghi, in Mansehra district, of the North West Frontier Province. [more...]
MEXICO: Christians under attack in Chiapas
There were several attacks on believers in Chiapas, Mexico in recent months. Evangelicals in the state face frequent threats and attacks by rebel groups and traditionalist religious groups. In one incident, a Christian community in the state was attacked by a group of 70 armed rebel sympathisers. Nearly 30 people were injured, including women and children. Seven Christians were kidnapped and one was shot in the back and left for dead. [more...]
INDIA: Pastor Brutally Beaten While Conducting a Prayer Meeting
An Indian pastor was brutally attacked by a group of Hindu radicals on Monday, 8 March at Mysore in Karnataka State. According to the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC), the incident took place at around 11:30 am as Pastor Ravi Chandran (30) was conducting a prayer meeting at a nearby believer’s house. The source said that a group of about 10-15 Hindu radicals forcefully entered the house and began to abuse the pastor and the believers gathered there. The report said that they hit the pastor with glass bottles, as well as kicking and punching him mercilessly, after which they disappeared from the venue. [more...]
IRAQ: Endless Terror in Nineveh
Iraq's indigenous Assyrian and Chaldean Christians are being killed or else driven from their homeland. Five Christians were assassinated in Mosul, the capital of Nineveh Province, Northern Iraq, in the week 14- 20 February. On Sunday 14 February Chaldean Rayan Salem Elias was killed by armed militants outside his own home. On Monday Fatukhi Munir was killed outside his shop by drive-by shooters. On Tuesday militants shot two Assyrian Christian university students, killing Zia Toma (21) and wounding Ramsin Shmael (22). On Wednesday militants kidnapped and then killed Assyrian Christian student Wissam George (20). On Saturday police found the body of Syrian Orthodox Adnan al-Dahan (57) who had been kidnapped for ransom a week earlier. Please pray for our traumatised, threatened fellow-believers in Iraq. Source: Australian Evangelical Alliance [more...]
UZBEKISTAN: Persecution Intensifies
The Uzbekistan government's primary goal is the status quo: peace and regime stability at any cost. Jihadist and revolutionary Islamic groups pose a serious threat to national security. To address this threat, the government represses all 'non-traditional' (new) and 'foreign' religious groups, a policy that ensures Protestant Christians get caught up in the same net as prospective Islamic terrorists. As both the Russian Orthodox and Muslim populations are hostile to Protestants, the government can maintain peace and score points by targeting Protestants. Repression, harassment, intimidation and persecution are escalating. In scenes reminiscent of the mid-late 1990s, foreign missionaries are being deported, fellowships are being raided and worshippers are being beaten. Several Baptist pastors and leaders have recently been charged with criminal offences such as drug possession and tax evasion. Please pray for the Church in Uzbekistan.
Source: Australian Evangelical Alliance [more...]
IRAN: Senior Church Leader Arrested
The well-respected leader of a church in Iran has been arrested and held at an undisclosed location. The Rev Wilson Issavi, the leader of a church in Karmanshah, was arrested on 2 February while visiting friends. Security forces entered the home of Issavi's friend and took him away, along with the host couple and another visitor. Friends and family have found it virtually impossible to discover the whereabouts of the church leader or his state of health.
[more...]
INDONESIA: Muslim Groups Demand Closure of Large, Legal Church
Hundreds of Muslims from outside the area where a 600-member church meets in West Java staged a protest there to call for its closure this month in an attempt to portray local opposition. Demonstrators from 16 Islamic organisations, including the hard-line Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), gathered on 15 February to demand a stop to all activities by the Galilea Protestant Church (GPIB) in the Galaxy area of Bekasi City. [more...]
PAKISTAN: Christians Arrested after Muslim Attack
In the wake of an attack this week by 150 armed Muslims on a Christian colony in this city in Sindh Province, police have filed a false First Information Report (FIR) against 40 unnamed Christians and arrested five, Christian leaders said. They said the 40 unnamed Christians in the FIR are accused without basis with beating Muslim men, abusing Muslim women and girls, ransacking Muslim homes and looting expensive items from Muslim homes. [more...]
A Bible for the Imam’s Daughter
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Voice of the Martyrs breaks the law by smuggling Bibles because the Bible contains the words of eternal life and we have seen its life-changing impact firsthand.
[more...]
PAKISTAN: Christian Beaten for Refusing to Convert to Islam
The four older Muslim brothers of a 26-year-old Christian beat him unconscious earlier this month because he refused their enticements to convert to Islam, the victim told Compass. Riaz Masih, whose Christian parents died when he was a boy, said his continual refusal to convert infuriated his siblings and the Muslim cleric who raised them, Moulvi Peer Akram-Ullah. On 8 February, he said, his brothers ransacked his house in this Punjab Province town 233 kilometres southwest of Islamabad. “They threatened that it was the breaking point now, and that I must convert right now or face death,” Masih said. “They said killing an infidel is not a sin, instead it’s righteousness in the sight of Allah almighty.” [more...]
ETHIOPIA: Authorities Concoct New Charge against Christian
Prosecutors and police are trying to concoct a terrorism case against an Ethiopian convert from Islam who has been jailed since May without formal charges, Christian leaders said. Bashir Musa Ahmed, a 39-year-old Ethiopian national, was arrested on 23 May when police found him in possession of eight Bibles in Jijiga, capital of Ethiopia’s Somali Region Zone Five, a predominantly Muslim area in eastern Ethiopia. Zonal police arrested him after he was accused of providing Muslims with the Somali-language Bibles, sources said, though Ethiopia’s constitution protects such activity. [more...]
IRAQ: Four Christians murdered in Mosul
The Christian community in Mosul, Iraq was targeted in recent days in brutal attacks that some believe are motivated by the upcoming 7 March parliamentary elections. On 13 February, Sabah al Dahhan was kidnapped by a gang that has since demanded a large sum of money for his release. The next day, Rayan Bashir Salem was shot and killed in his home by armed assailants. Rayan's brother was also wounded in the attack. [more...]
PAKISTAN: Threats Heighten as Christian Faces Verdict on Thursday
Qamar David, a 50-year-old Christian, is on trial under Pakistan’s blasphemy laws, and the verdict is expected on Thursday. He has been held in the Central Jail in Karachi since 2006, where previously he has reportedly been threatened and beaten by the prison officials as well as other prisoners. [more...]
UZBEKISTAN: Baptists Forced to Pay Massive Fines, "Taxes" and Removed From Posts
Uzbekistan continues to attack the country's registered Baptist Union, local Baptists have reported. One Baptist, Valery Konovalov, has been forced to pay a fine imposed in his absence, after he was forced to appear as a witness in the trial of three leaders of the Baptist Union. The three have themselves been forced to pay what the same court claimed was unpaid tax and two were removed from their posts. [more...]
BHUTAN: Anti-Christian Sentiment Marks Journey for Exiles
Thrust from their homes in Bhutan after Buddhist rulers embarked on an ethnic and religious purge, Christian refugees in Nepal face hostilities from Hindus and others. In Sunsari district in south-eastern Nepal, a country that is more than 80 percent Hindu, residents from the uneducated segments of society are especially apt to attack Christians, said Purna Kumal, district coordinator for Awana Clubs International, which runs 41 clubs in refugee camps to educate girls about the Bible. [more...]
KENYA: Push for Islamic Courts Alarms Christians
A constitutional battle to expand the scope of Islamic courts in Kenya threatens to ignite religious tensions at a time when authorities are on high alert against Muslim extremists with ties to Somalia. Constitutional provisions for Islamic or Kadhis’ courts have existed in Kenya since 1963, with their jurisdiction limited to the coastal province, but in a hotly debated draft constitution they would expand across the nation and their scope would increase. The proposed constitution has gathered enough momentum that 23 leaders of churches and Christian organisations released a statement on 1 February asserting their opposition to any inclusion of such religious courts. [more...]
TURKEY: Baseless Case against Christians Further Prolonged
Barely five minutes into the latest hearing of a more than three-year-old case against two Christians accused of “insulting Turkishness and Islam,” the session was over. The prosecution had failed to produce their three final witnesses to testify against Hakan Tastan and Turan Topal for alleged crimes committed under Article 301 of the Turkish penal code. [more...]
EGYPT: Another Copt Killed as Alleged Shooters Plead Not Guilty
Three men accused of killing six Coptic worshipers and a security guard pleaded not guilty on Saturday 13 February as the Coptic community mourned the loss of yet another victim of apparent anti-Christian violence. The three men allegedly sprayed a crowd with gunfire after a Christmas service in Nag Hammadi on 6 January. On the evening of 9 February, Malak Saad, a 25-year-old Coptic carpenter living in Teta in Menoufia Province, was walking outside a meeting hall that police had seized from Christians when he was shot through his chest at close range. He died instantly. [more...]
KAZAKHSTAN: Government Proposes Retaining Punishments for Exercising Religious Freedom
Kazakhstan's proposed new Administrative Code continues current penalties for exercising freedom of religion or belief. The state-approved version being considered by Parliament continues existing fines and bans punishing individuals and religious communities operating without state-granted legal status or who conduct unregistered "missionary activity". [more...]
TURKEY: Assailant in Street Attack Ordered Released
An Istanbul court has ordered the release of a jailed Turk who publicly threatened and held a knife to the throat of a Christian he attacked six months ago. In a ruling on Wednesday 10 February, the Kadikoy Seventh Court of First Instance convicted Yasin Karasu, 24, of making death threats and mounting an armed attack against Ismail Aydin. Shouting to attract passers-by as he held a knife to Aydin's throat on 3 August, Karasu had denounced the Christian as a 'missionary dog' who had betrayed Turkey by leaving Islam and evangelising others. [more...]
MOROCCO: Authorities Raid Bible Study, Arrest Christians
A large, military-led team of Moroccan authorities raided a Bible study in a small city southeast of Marrakech last week, arresting 18 Moroccans and deporting a US citizen, area Christian leaders said. Approximately 60 officers from the Moroccan security services on Thursday afternoon, 4 February raided the home of a Christian in Amizmiz, a picturesque city of 10,000 mainly Berber people 56 kilometres southeast of Marrakech. [more...]
LAOS: Officials Force Christians from Worship at Gunpoint
About 100 local officials, police and villagers put guns to the heads of Christians during their Sunday morning service in a village in Laos last month, forcing them from their worship and homes, according to an advocacy organisation. Human Rights Watch for Lao Religious Freedom (HRWLRF) reported that in Katin village of Ta-Oyl district, Saravan Province, Lao authorities including the village chief, a religious affairs’ official, three district police and a 15-man volunteer unit joined 15 village police officers to force all 48 Christian adults and children of the church to an open field. [more...]
TURKEY: European Court Rules against Religion ID
A European court on Tuesday 2 February ordered Turkey to remove the religious affiliation section from citizens’ identification cards, calling the practise a violation of human rights. Religious minorities and in particular Christian converts in Turkey have faced discrimination because of the mandatory religion declaration on their identification cards, which was enforced until 2006. Since then, citizens are allowed to leave the “Religion” section of their IDs blank. [more...]
INDIA: Attacks on Christians Karnataka Frequent, Furious
Karnataka state recorded the highest number of anti-Christian attacks in India last year, and it is keeping pace this year. Christians in Karnataka are being attacked “at rapid regularity” and “with near impunity,” and it is “a serious matter of concern for the Christian community,” said Dr Babu Joseph, spokesperson of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India. Much of the violence occurs under the vigilante pretext of rounding up Christians supposedly involved in “forcible” or “fraudulent” conversion efforts. On Monday 1 February in Thagadur village, Kodagu district, Hindu extremists dragged 11 Christians – including four women – from their homes and colluded with police to arrest them on such false charges. [more...]
INDONESIA: Two Churches Forced to Close
Local governments have ordered the closure of two churches on Indonesia’s Java Island. Under pressure from Islamist groups, authorities ordered Christian Baptist Church in Sepatan, Tangerang district, Banten Province to cease services. In Pondok Timur, near Bekasi in West Java, officials abruptly closed the Huria Christian Protestant Batak Church (HKBP) after delaying a building permit for four years. Tangerang district authorities issued a decree on 21 January ordering all worship activities to cease at the Baptist church. [more...]
UZBEKISTAN: Drugs Planted and Worshippers Beaten Up?
Uzbekistan continues to punish people for unregistered religious worship. Tohar Haydarov, a Baptist, has been arrested and faces criminal charges of producing or storing drugs, which is punishable by up to five years in prison. Haydarov's fellow believers insist that the case has been fabricated, one stating that "police planted a matchbox with drugs." They also state that Haydarov "was beaten and forced by the police to sign different papers. His face looked exhausted and swollen, and he could hardly walk. He did not even remember what was written in those papers." The authorities claim these are "lies". [more...]
KAZAKHSTAN: Women's Prayers Lead to Massive Fine
Kazakhstan has fined Zhanna-Tereza Raudovich 100 times the minimum monthly wage for hosting a Sunday morning worship service in her home, attended by local Baptist women and their children. Police who raided Raudovich's home drew up an official record that "they had discovered an illegally functioning religious community", local Baptists complained to Forum 18. An appeal is due to be heard on 11 February. It remains unclear how Raudovich could pay the fine, as she has six children and does not have paid work. She has been warned that she will face criminal charges if she does not pay the fine. [more...]
CUBA: Pastors under Fire
Pastor Omar Gude Perez, a Cuban pastor who was sentenced to six years in prison on false accusations of illicit economic activity, falsification of documents and human trafficking in 2009, has been denied the right to appeal by the Supreme Tribunal in Havana. Pastor Omar's wife stated that the court's decision confirmed her belief that his arrest and imprisonment was orchestrated at the highest levels of government. [more...]
ERITREA: Christian Dies in Eritrean Detention Centre
On 24 January, Hana Hagos Asgedom (41), a member of Asabe Rhema Church, died of a heart attack at Eritrea's Alla Military Camp. Hana, who had been detained at Wi'a Military Camp for three years following her arrest in 2007, was moved to the Alla Military Camp when the Wi'a camp was dismantled seven months ago. On arrival at the new camp, Hana was offered a final opportunity to renounce her faith. When she refused, she was placed in solitary confinement. Shortly before her death, she reportedly endured beatings with an iron rod for refusing to "make the chief commander in the camp a cup of coffee" -- an order local Christians believe was in reality a sexual advance. She was then returned to her cell where she endured further punishment and eventually passed away. [more...]
PAKISTAN: Violent Death of Girl in Pakistan Spurs Push for Justice
A daring protest and a high-profile funeral here on Monday 25 January for a 12-year-old Christian girl who died from torture and malnourishment has cast a rare spotlight on abuse of the Christian poor in Pakistan. In an uncommon challenge in the predominantly Muslim nation, the Christian parents of Shazia Bashir Masih protested the unresponsiveness of police to the alleged violence against their daughter by Muslim attorney Chaudhary Muhammad Naeem and his family and his attempt to buy their silence after her death. [more...]
IRAN: Christians Detained without Legal Counsel
At least 14 Christians have been detained in Iranian prisons for weeks without legal counsel in the past few months as last year’s crackdown has continued, sources said. Three Christians remained in detention at Evin prison after authorities arrested them along with 12 others who had gathered for Christmas celebrations on 24 December in a home 20 kilometres southeast of Iran’s capital, Tehran, according to a source who requested anonymity. While the others were released on 4 January, remaining at Evin prison were Maryam Jalili, Mitra Zahmati and Farzan Matin, according to the source. [more...]
BHUTAN: Why Royalists Fear Christianity
Bars, pubs and discos have become legal in Bhutan – a cause of concern for the older generation – but construction of worship buildings other than Buddhist or Hindu temples is still prohibited. The prohibition remains in force even though Christians abide by Bhutan’s codes of conduct, speaking the Dzongkha language as well as the Nepali language at church gatherings, and wearing the national dress. The National Assembly of Bhutan banned the practise of non-Buddhist and non-Hindu religions through edicts in 1969 and in 1979. But Christians do meet for Sunday worship, with attendance of more than 100 Christians in an underground church not unusual. [more...]
TANZANIA: Arrested Evangelists Say Muslims Colluded with Police
Two Christian evangelists in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, have been arrested after Muslims invited them to debate religion but instead called in security agents who charged the evangelists with illegal preaching. Anglicans Eleutery Kobelo and Cecil Simbaulanga, released on bail and facing a hearing on 11 February, told Compass that Christian and Muslim groups organised the inter-faith debate that was planned for a neutral venue in October of last year in the Kariakoo area of Dar es Salaam. Kobelo said no Muslims showed up at the debate until Islamists arrived with government security agents who charged them with “using religious sermons to incite Muslims and Christians into viewing each other with suspicion.” [more...]
TURKMENISTAN: Worship without State Registration "Illegal"
Turkmenistan continues to raid Protestants meeting for worship in different parts of the country. One such raid was led by Turkmenistan's former Chief Mufti, Rovshen Allaberdiev, who is now imam of Dashoguz Region as well as being the senior regional Gengeshi (Council) for Religious Affairs official. Allaberdiev and accompanying officials confiscated Christian books during the raid, including personal Bibles. All 22 people present were taken to a local government building, questioned and pressured to sign statements not to attend the church in future. [more...]
INDONESIA: Two Partially Constructed Church Buildings Burned
Suspected Islamic extremists burned two church buildings under construction in a village in North Sumatra on 22 January. The attackers came from outside the area to burn the partially constructed buildings of the Huria Kristen Batak Protestan Church (HKBP) and the Pentecostal Church in Sibuhuan village, Padang Lawas Residency, during daylight hours, said the Rev S Lubis of the HKBP church. “Hundreds of people arrived on motorcycles and burned the empty church,” he said. “After that, the mob moved 200 metres down the road and burned the empty Pentecostal church.” No people were hurt in the fires. [more...]
INDONESIA: Imprisoned Christian Teacher Released
After serving one year in gaol, Wilhelmina Holle, 49, regained her freedom on 10 December 2009. “When I was going out, all I did was cry and thank God for my release,” she said. Holle, a Christian elementary school teacher, was falsely accused of defaming Islam while giving private lessons to her students on 10 November 2008. [more...]
I WILL DIE FOR CHRIST
“Lord, if you truly exist, please heal me. I offer my life to you and will serve you,” Trung prayed one night as he knelt in his room. The message he had heard in church that day about Jesus healing miraculously turned over in his mind, giving him a glimmer of hope. In 1985 Trung was conscripted into the Vietnamese army and sent to Cambodia for two years. He caught malaria and became extremely ill, but medicine seemed to have no effect and he was eventually sent home. Trung’s health continued to deteriorate and he thought he would soon die. One day, childhood memories of hearing about Jesus resurfaced and Trung felt compelled to find a church.
After he prayed for healing, Trung lay down and went to sleep. At about midnight, Trung heard the Lord call his name. He was startled and as he sat up in bed, he felt God’s peace come over him. “It seemed to bring healing and in the morning I felt well,” Trung said. “The Lord had answered my prayer and I have remained malaria-free to this day.” [more...]
NIGERIA: Death Toll of Christians in Jos Clash Hits 48
Two pastors and 46 other Christians have been confirmed killed in the outbreak of violence 10 days ago in Jos, Plateau state in Nigeria, according to the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN). In the Muslim/Christian clash, triggered when Muslim youths on 17 January attacked a Catholic church, 10 church buildings were burned and 27 Christians are still missing, CAN officials said at a press conference in Jos today. [more...]
BHUTAN: Despite Democracy, Christians Remain Underground
In this distant and isolated nation in the eastern Himalayas, known as the “Land of the Thunder Dragon,” almost everything looks uniformly Buddhist. There are no visible signs of Christians’ tiny presence, but they do exist. Christians, whose only official identity falls in the “others” category in the census, are estimated to range in number between 3,000 and 6,000. They live out their Christian lives underground – no church buildings, Christian cemeteries or Christian bookstores are yet allowed. [more...]
BURNMA: Karen Refugees Hunted and Slain In Burma
The Karen people in Burma, half of whom are reported to be believers, are constantly harassed by Buddhist and Burmese armies. In Karen refugee camps, horrific stories of persecution are told coupled with reports of steadfast faith. The Burmese army captures Karen men and boys, forcing them to become slaves and porters. Karen women are raped and burned to death. Despite traumatic attacks and persecution, the Karen persevere in God. Orphans wake up at 4 am to have devotions for two hours. They also have nightly worship. [more...]
ALGERIA: Church Continues in Spite of Burnt Building
Members of a church in Algeria’s Kabylie region gathered to worship last Saturday 16 January in their new building despite a protest, vandalism and a fire that damaged the building the previous weekend. Local Muslims bent on running the congregation out of the neighbourhood set fires inside and outside the building on 9 January. Before setting it on fire, the assailants ransacked the Tafat Church building in Tizi Ouzou, a city 100 kilometres east of Algiers. [more...]
NIGERIA: Anglican Archbishop Kidnapped
Gunmen are still holding the Anglican archbishop of Benin diocese in southern Nigeria’s Edo state after abducting him on Sunday 24 January. Peter Imasuen, who is also the state chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria, was abducted in front of his official residence on his way back from a church service. The kidnappers are reportedly demanding $750,000 for his release. [more...]
SOMALIA: Islamic Militants Murder Christian Leader
Islamic extremists shot the leader of an underground church to death outside the capital city of Somalia this month and have threatened to kill his wife, his tearful widow told Compass. Having learned that he had left Islam to become a Christian, Somali militants from the Islamic extremist al Shabaab murdered 41-year-old Mohammed Ahmed Ali at about noon on 1 January, Amina Ibrahim Hassan said. He was killed sometime after leaving his home in Hodan, on the outskirts of Mogadishu, she said. [more...]
PAKISTAN: Christian Sentenced to Life in Prison For Blasphemy
A 26-year-old Christian who was beaten by Muslims for allegedly burning verses from the Koran and another Arabic book in July 2009 has been sentenced to life in prison. On 11 January, the judge handed down the sentence to Imran Masih under Article 295-B, commonly known as the blasphemy law, claiming he burned the materials to deliberately "stir up religious hatred and offend the feelings of Muslims." Imran has also been sentenced to an additional 10 years in detention and fined 100,000 rupees ($A1,300) under section 295-A of the Penal Code. Source: VOM Canada [more...]
VIETNAM: Update on Father Nguyen Van Ly
On 12 December, Father Nguyen Van Ly, who had suffered a severe stroke on 14 November, was sent back to prison after several weeks of treatment in a hospital. Father Van Ly's sister said, "His situation is a bit better now, but his life is not normal yet. We don't know why they decided to transfer him back to prison, as he still needs help." At last report, he is partially paralysed and is able to walk only a few steps with a walking stick. Please pray for Father Van Ly. Also pray for his persecutors. Source: VOM USA [more...]
CHINA: Update on Gao Zhisheng
Since mid-December, 2009, ominous rumours have circulated about Gao Zhisheng, hinting that he has died after brutal torture in prison. However, no reports have been confirmed.
Gege, Gao's daughter, had been reportedly "pale and tired-looking" with worry for months. After hearing a rumour of Gao's death just before Christmas, Gege became so emotionally distraught, she was forced to be hospitalised. She remains fragile and under medical watch in a New York hospital. Last week, after searching out the policeman who originally detained Gao Zhisheng back in February, 2009, Gao's brother Zhiyi was told that Attorney Gao allegedly "went missing while out on a walk" on 25 September, 2009. Gao's wife refused to comment, but was reported to be extremely upset after hearing the news. [more...]
PAKISTAN: Two Christians Critically Wounded at Wedding
Two Pakistani Christians who were shot at a wedding on 26 December for refusing to convert to Islam are still receiving treatment at a hospital intensive care unit, but doctors are hopeful that they will recover. In low, barely audible voices, Imran Masih, 21, and Khushi Masih, 24, told Compass that two Muslims armed with AK-47s in Punjab Province’s Chak (village) 297-JB, in Toba Tek Singh district, shot them in their chests after they refused orders to recite the Islamic creed signifying conversion. [more...]
VIETNAM: Forced Recantations of Faith Continue in Vietnam
A Vietnamese man violently forced to recant his fledgling Christian faith faces pressure from authorities and clansmen to prove his return to traditional Hmong belief by sacrificing to ancestors next month. Sung Cua Po, who embraced Christianity in November, received some 70 blows to his head and back after local officials in northwest Vietnam’s Dien Bien Province arrested him on 1 December 2009, according to documents obtained by Compass. His wife, Hang thi Va, was also beaten. [more...]
NIGERIA: Christians in Jos, Fear Further Attacks
Gunshots and smoke continued to alarm residents of Jos in central Nigeria, with the Christian community fearing further violence from Muslim youths who on Sunday 17 January attacked a Catholic church and burned down several other church buildings. [more...]
IRAQ: Elderly Christian man killed in Mosul
A 75-year-old Christian was shot and killed in Mosul, Iraq on 11 January. Hikmat Sleiman had just returned home from closing his grocery shop when a group of assailants opened fire, killing him instantly. Local Christians see his murder and the string of other attacks against believers in recent months.
Source: VOM Canada [more...]
YEMEN: Negotiations Begin for Release of Christian Hostages
Authorities in Yemen have reportedly started negotiations for the release of six Christian hostages -- a family of five from Germany and a British engineer -- who were kidnapped along with three other women in June. The bodies of the women, Rita Stumpp (26), Anita Gruenwald (24) and Eom Young-sun (33), were found shortly after the kidnapping. Until recently, however, the state of Johannes (37), his wife Sabine (37) and their children, Lydia (5), Anna (3) and Simon (1), as well as Anthony was unknown. The kidnappers have demanded a ransom of $2 million USD as well as immunity, free passage and a guarantee that they will not be handed over to neighbouring Saudi Arabia. Source: VOM Canada
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EGYPT: Coptic Christians Gunned Down after Christmas Service
In spite of threats of violence from Muslims in an area of Egypt wracked by sectarian violence, police declined to increase security for a Coptic Christmas Eve service on 6 January, and six Christians were shot to death after leaving the church. Three men suspected to be Muslims, including one with a criminal record sought by police, were in a moving car from which automatic gunfire hit Coptic Christians who had attended services at St. John’s Church in Nag Hammadi, 455 kilometres south of Cairo. [more...]
CHINA: Korla Police and Farm Leaders Burn Bibles and Persecute Elderly Christians
On 25 December, Puhui Farm leaders and policemen arrested several elderly and ailing Christians in Korla City, Xinjiang. Like many around the world, members of Corps house church were celebrating Christmas Day. In the middle of the celebration, a band of farmers and Security policemen disrupted the gathering of believers during their fellowship celebration. The Chief of Security, Yu Fagan, seized Wang Qiuyue, a 71-year-old widow, who had been a known Christian for over 45 years. Yu Fagan threw her roughly against a police car, like a rejected sack of garbage. The group wore hats of bearing the title "People's Police." They proceeded to dismantle and burn elderly Sister Wang's furniture before her eyes. [more...]
MALDIVES: Legislators Seek to Increase Pressure on Non-Muslims
The People’s Majlis (Parliament) of the Maldives have been debating a bill to ban non-Muslim places of worship. According to Maldivian sources the bill, proposed by Ibrahim Muttalib MP, would make it illegal to build non-Muslim places of worship or to practise non-Muslim faiths in public, although foreigners would be allowed to worship in the privacy of their homes. Punishment would be a gaol term of three to five years or a fine of between $A3000 and $A5000. [more...]
PAKISTAN: Child Beaten for Claiming to Be a Christian
Christians in Pakistan have reported the ordeal of an 11-year-old Christian school girl in the town of Dharema, Punjab province, in October 2009. Nadia Iftikhar was beaten unconscious by the Muslim teacher at her evening coaching school “Bright Future Academy” after she said she was both a Pakistani and a Christian. [more...]
CHINA: 30 Chinese House Church Alliance Leaders Detained, Facing Administrative Detention
Thirty leaders of the Chinese House Church Alliance (CHCA) were detained in Handan city, Hebei province on 8 January. According to one detained pastor, who was able to use his mobile phone briefly to notify an outside contact. A group of officers from the Handan City Public Security and Religious Affairs Bureaus broke into their leaders' meeting place where the 30 men and women were having a Bible study, and forcefully took them to an unknown interrogation centre within the city. [more...]
MALAYSIA: Church Buildings Attacked in Malaysia Following Court Decision
In unprecedented acts that stunned Christians in Malaysia, suspected Islamists have attacked eight church buildings since the country’s High Court ruled that a Catholic weekly could use the word “Allah.” Firebombs were thrown into the compounds of four churches in Kuala Lumpur and neighboring Petaling Jaya on Friday 8 January; three more attacks occurred on Sunday 10 January in Taiping, Melaka and Miri; and another church building was hit today in Seremban. There were no reports of injuries. [more...]
IRAN: Arrests, Coerces Christians over Christmas Season
A wave of arrests hit Iranian house churches during the Christmas season, leaving at least five Christian converts in detention across northern Iran, including the mother of an ailing 10-year-old girl. Security officers with an arrest warrant from the Mashhad Revolutionary Court entered the home of Christian Hamideh Najafi in Mashhad on 26 December and took her to an undisclosed location, according to Farsi Christian News Network (FCNN). [more...]
INDIA: Christians Faced Three Attacks per Week in 2009
After unprecedented large-scale attacks on Christians in the previous two years, 2009 brought hardly any respite as the minority faith faced an average of more than three violent attacks a week. There were at least 152 attacks on Christians in 2009, according to the “Partial List of Major Incidents of Anti-Christian Violence in India” released by the Evangelical Fellowship of India. The north-central states of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, Orissa in the east, Gujarat in the west and Himachal Pradesh in the north have anti-conversion laws, which Hindu hardliners routinely use to arrest Christians on spurious accusations of “forcible conversion.” [more...]
PAKISTAN: Delivered from Slavery
Shafia, now 20, grew up in a Christian family and was baptised in 2002. Her father died when she was a child and her older brother Rafi worked in a cotton factory to support the family. Rafi led his siblings and mother in prayer each evening. He stood up for the Christians in their community and publicly confronted Muslims who tormented young Christian women. On 3 July 2004, three Muslim men came to speak with Rafi. They gave him a drink spiked with sleeping pills, and he passed out. One of the men shot Rafi in the head, killing him. [more...]
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