Persecution of Christians in Egypt: Time to Boycott Tourism
Egyptian Coptic Christian in Intensive Care after Muslim assault, 2006
The story of the atrocity below tells of a young Coptic Christian man who was beaten to death by a Muslim gang in April this year – and the discrimination and denial of justice that is now following. A glimpse into a world rarely reported by the mainstream media – life as a Dhimmi (non-Muslim second-class citizen) in a Muslim state:
Malak Adel Fawzy, a 19 year old Egyptian Coptic man, was murdered on 9 April in a savage attack. The tragedy took place in Tanta, 94 km north of Cairo, when Amir Aziz, a friend of Malak Fawzy, had a quarrel with Motaz-Bellah El-Hefny; the quarrel was stopped by bystanders.
Motaz later phoned a few friends, two of whom are registered with the police for violent behaviour, to join him near a coffee house where Amir Malak, were. The defendants lurked in an alley and saw Malak leaving the coffee house, who upon seeing them tried to run away.
The prosecution report said that “The victim was assaulted by the defendants wilfully, deliberately, with premeditation and malice aforethought. They went to the place where he would be present. Defendant Ashraf Shubaki prepared for this purpose a tool (brass knuckles); when they caught him, defendant Motaz intercepted him and Shubaki hit him on his head with the brass knuckle. He fell to the ground, after which, incited by Motaz, they all kicked him with their feet as pre-arranged between them, causing injuries which claimed his life.”
Adel Fawzy, the father of the deceased is demanding justice for his murdered son and an appropriate punishment for the culprits according to the law. “I do not want my only son’s case to end up like the recent murders of the young Coptic man Jeshua Gamal from Dafash or Milad Ibrahim from El-Tayeba, in Samalut, Minya, where in both murders, the Muslim defendants were not charged according to the law, but got acquitted,” he told Nader Shoukry of Copts United advocacy in a video interview. “I appeal to the conscience of the court: my son was innocent and was treacherously killed — the judge is my last resort”.
Fawzy wrote to President Mubarak, the Prime Minister, Justice and Interior ministers, with no response. He even created a group on Facebook in support of his case. “I am sending a plea to all human rights organisations to support me until my murdered son gets justice,” he told Shoukry.
But the father is doubtful that justice will be served. The Chief Prosecutor in Tanta changed his original classification of the crime from “deliberate and premeditated killing” to “assault leading to death.” The report of the prosecution concluded “the defendants did not intend to kill him, but death was caused by a fatal blow, and four of the five defendants are under the age of 18 years.”
Malak Abdel Fawzy - brutally slaughtered by Muslim gang
“Will my son be deprived of justice because of the Chief Prosecutor? How can he charge them with ‘unintentional killing’ due to a blow on the head? Is this God’s Justice? He was with me when I went to identify my son in the morgue. What about the more than twenty kicks he received in the face? My son had no recognisable face features — they were all wiped out.”
When Fawzy learned that the charge was amended from murder to manslaughter, he went to the Chief Prosecutor, but was told “he cannot do anything about it, and this will be sorted out in Court.” he told Shoukry. “I am just a poor man with no money to hire the best lawyers like the defendants. I believe that the father of defendant Motaz, who is a professor at Tanta University, influenced the Prosecution’s decision.”
According to legal experts, in order for the prosecution to arrive at ‘unintentional killing’ they falsified the record to show that the incident was just a brawl between juveniles with assault leading to death. According to eyewitnesses’ statements and defendants’ confessions, the crime had all the elements of premeditated murder with malice aforethought. Prosecution ignored circumstances such as lurking for the victim, multiple accomplices, preparation and use of deadly instrument in the attack (brass knuckles), persistent aggression without resistance, and mutilation of a dead body.
“This case is premeditated murder. These are five people who allied to murder Malak” commented Dr. Naguib Gabraeel, renowned attorney and head of the Egyptian Union Human Rights Organisation. “I will go myself to the criminal court in Tanta to ask the judge to amend the registry of the charge from ‘Assault leading to death’ to ‘premeditated murder’ which carries the death penalty.” The court hearing is scheduled for September 14th, 2009.
The two main eyewitnesses, Hassan Mohammed Hassan and Mark Karam, stated to the police that when they tried to save the victim from their hands, the assailants threatened that if they did not go away they will be killed like Malak.
Malak’s mother told Sherif Ramzy of Freecopts advocacy that the Tanta University Hospital phoned them before midnight on that night to tell them that their son Malak was mildly injured. “When we went there we were told he was having an operation, and charged us 700 Egyptian pounds. Later they told us they needed blood for him, which we donated. 15 minutes later they told us he died.” she said. “If he was dead before arriving there, so what were they playing at?”
“Prosecution tried to intimidate me to stop demanding a just punishment for the perpetrators, they tried to buy me off with money on condition I would reconcile with the killers, but I refused.” Fawzy said. “Even the main witness in the case, Hassan Mohammed Hassan was exposed to material temptations, to change his testimony against the defendants.”
According to Magdy Khalil, Coptic political analyst and researcher, “All violations against the Copts are deliberately falsely described in a misleading manner.” Christian advocacy groups believe that the Egyptian police routinely tamper with evidence and use faulty classification of violations against Copts, in order to help Muslims avoid murder convictions, since according to Shariah law “the blood of the Muslim should not be shed for the blood of an unbeliever.”
In spite of the many Copts having been killed over the years, not one Muslim has ever been convicted. A recent example was the 5-year sentence handed down to two policemen for throwing a Coptic man to his death out of a window.
Dr. Naguib Gabraeel, who is a Copt himself, said that the prevailing Coptic conditions have become dangerous, “How long will the Copts put up with murder and violations against humanity and their natural rights? We simply cannot take it any longer. It is happening everyday. We plead to President Mubarak to protect the Copts.”
For a glimpse of how the Copts are forced to live in Egypt, please take a little time out to view the 3-part documentary from Channel 4’s ‘Unreported World’ series below:
(note – this is a ‘playlist’ embed and each of the three parts will play sequentially)
Non-Muslims face universal discrimination and harsh treatment in the Muslim world. From Pakistan to Turkey, legal systems are stacked against them. Educational advantages and employment into prominent positions are denied them – almost invariably, they live on the fringes of society and struggle to keep their heads above water.
There is no worse example of this Muslim bigotry than Egypt. In addition to the treatment described above, Egyptians, particularly the minority Coptic Christians who form approx. 10% of the population, can expect their women and girls to be sexually assaulted and raped with impunity, kidnapped and forcibly converted to Islam and generally rated as fair game by Muslim males.
Churches are burned to the ground or vandalised. Priests are assaulted. The police turn a bind eye and the politicians suffer from selective deafness.
In a supposedly democratising country, these people are the Untouchables of Egypt. This has to stop.
Egypt has a Tourism Industry worth US$12 billion annually. It also receives massive foreign aid payments. Any significant impact on this revenue would hurt badly.
What should you do if you want to do something to help?
a) Vacation in Egypt? Just don’t go. And write to your local Egyptian Embassy* to tell them why. Copy in your local MP or Congressman, too.
b) Spread this article and message to everyone you know.
* Site a little clunky, but works
Fonte: http://undhimmi.com/2009/08/05/persecution-of-christians-in-egypt-time-to-boycott-tourism/ 
|
| News on the Persecuted Church With a rise of anti-Semitism and the systematic elimination of Christianity in many countries, I'm devoting a new portion of our site to these issues. I believe it is very important we know what is taking place elsewhere and pray for our brethren who are persecuted because of their worship of God. they are risking and giving their lives because of their faith. We know of over 160,000 (more like 250,000) of our brethren who die each year because of their Christian faith, there are probably just as many that we do not know of. This is taking place worldwide and increasing dramatically bringing us closer to what will take place during the tribulation (Rev.7). “Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution” (2 Tim 3:12).“The same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world” (1 Peter 5). “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death” (Rev. 12:11). Here are websites to read more on the religious atrocities taking place. http://www.frontlinemissions.info/ http://www.frontlinemissions.info/ http://www.compassdirect.org -news of Christians being persecuted for their faith http://allafrica.com Some posts from the Be Alert News by Scott Brisk It is time to raise our voice and let the world know what is happening. Let us not become- Jer. 5:28 “They have grown fat, they are sleek; yes, they surpass the deeds of the wicked; they do not plead the cause, the cause of the fatherless; yet they prosper, and the right of the needy they do not defend.”
G2 BULLETIN - June 2, 2007
COMPASS DIRECT - March 04, 2005 - Muslim militants attacked the Christian community in Demsa village, Adamawa state, northern Nigeria, on Friday, February 4, killing 36 people, destroying property and displacing about 3,000 others. The surviving Christians have taken refuge in Mayolope village in the neighboring state of Taraba. http://www.compassdirect.org WORLDNETDAILY - Feb 16, 2005 - reported – Relatives of a brutally slain New Jersey Christian family spoke out yesterday for the first time at a National Press Club news conference. The bodies of the Coptic-American family, including father Hossam Armanious, 47, his wife Amal Garas, 37, and daughters Sylvia, 15, and Monica, 8, were found bound and gagged with their throats slashed in their New Jersey home on Jan. 14. Hudson County prosecutors are said to be exploring several possible motives for the slayings, including retaliation by terrorists against Hossam Armanious, described as an outspoken advocate for Coptic Christian religious freedom in Egypt and a well-known leader of an online ministry to the Muslim-American community. Yesterday's news conference included a statement by U.S. Copts Association President Michael Meunier. "We feel it is extremely important that the public hear the Armanious family members' side of the story and we are pleased to help them express their point of view on this disturbing crime," Meunier said. Family members were cautious in their speech and unwilling to ascribe any outright motive for the slaying. When questioned by the press, Meunier did say the manner of the slayings was consistent with passages in the Quran that describe how to kill an infidel. The family stressed it is waiting for the investigation to play out. Regarding the possibility the slaying was a jihadist act, family uncle Emile Garas told WND afterward, "We're not ruling anything out." The Rev. Dr. Keith Roderick, Washington representative of Christian Solidarity International and secretary general of the Coalition for the Defense of Human Rights, offered a statement relating to concerns over the manner in which the crime is being investigated. "The investigation is not complete; no suspects have been identified," said Roderick, "and the district attorney's office of Hudson County is pursuing a number of theories related to the motive and nature of the crime. Public statements by that office indicate that theories related to robbery have been given precedence over a possible hate crime as a motive. By stressing that there are no facts substantiating a religious motivation to this crime, the confidence of the family has been eroded that the local investigation will lead to a resolution."... http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=42876
anti-Semitism ( Mt.25:35-46) Annan Sees 'Alarming Resurgence' of Anti-Semitism Jun 21, 5:31 PM By Evelyn Leopold http://news.myway.com/top/article/id/410394%7Ctop%7C06-21-2004::17:32%7Creuters.html UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Secretary-General Kofi Annan declared on Monday there was an “alarming resurgence” of anti-Semitism in the world and called for U.N. bodies to adopt resolutions and investigate the ancient scourge. Greeted with a standing ovation, Annan opened the first U.N.-organized seminar dedicated to anti-Semitism in response to charges that the world body dwelled on Palestinian rights and deliberately ignored injustices to Israelis and Jews. “When we seek justice for the Palestinians -- as we must-- let us firmly disavow anyone who tries to use that cause to incite hatred against Jews, in Israel or elsewhere,” Annan told the gathering, which included a wide spectrum of American Jewish groups and representatives of other religions. … “But it is clear that we are witnessing an alarming resurgence of this phenomenon in new forms and manifestations,” he said. “This time the world must not, cannot be silent.” How bad is anti-Semitism in France? A French Nazi hunter says it's so bad, the best way to keep up the fight is to leave the country. Six decades after the end of the Holocaust, the prominent French Nazi-hunter Serge Klarsfeld told the Jerusalem Post that French Jews should pack their bags and get out. “One of the lessons of the Holocaust is that even if you want to fight against a wave of anti-Semitism, the best [thing] is to leave if you can," Klarsfeld said during a visit to Israel. At the same time, Klarsfeld, who lives in Paris, said that he does not expect there be a great wave of Jewish emigration from France to either Israel or the U.S. because most French Jews are well off. Klarsfeld said history has proven it would have been best "had the Jews of Poland and the Jews of Austria left Europe when they could have.” Klarsfeld's remarks came on the heels of reports that the Jewish Agency was planning to launch a campaign to persuade French Jews to immigrate to Israel to escape a wave of anti-Semitism...” http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=39049 Israel *(VOM-Canada) On September 4th, the homes of at least 14 Christian families in the village of Taybeh, northeast of Ramallah, Palestine, were torched by Muslims from the neighboring village of Dir Jarir. The Muslims destroyed a store, a farm and a gas station. They also vandalized cars and beat the villagers as they fled their homes
Vietnam *WORLDNETDAILY September 14, 2005 - Vietnamese authorities burned more than 10 homes of tribal Christians who refused to deny their faith, a U.S. persecution monitor reported. Christians in Suoi Rut hamlet, Doi Sau village, Quang Ngai province, were forced to flee their village July 21 and now are searching for a new place to live, according to Washington, D.C.-based International Christian Concern. The victims belonged to the Evangelical Church of Vietnam, which has formal recognition by the Vietnamese government. But the local communist authorities publicly have stated “the Christian religion is America's religion, and is not allowed here.” http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=46306
*Human Rights Watch (HRW) has urged the Vietnamese government to "immediately release the Rev. Nguyen Hong Quang, activist leader of the banned Mennonite church in Vietnam" and end the apparently widespread persecution of Protestant Christians, Assist News Service reported. HRW said Quang's arrest was part of "a massive crackdown against Montagnard Protestants in the Central Highland." http://www.charismanow.com/a.php?ArticleID=9404 An estimated 400 Christians have been killed during peaceful and prayerful demonstrations by Christians in the Central Highlands of Vietnam. On Saturday 10 April up to 400,000 Vietnamese Christians, from the Degar people, gathered in several Vietnamese cities to demonstrate against the government’s refusal to allow them to follow the Christian faith freely. The demonstrators in the cities, which included the Central Highland city of Buonmathuot, were attacked by soldiers, police and other Vietnamese civilians. The Christians were shot at, beaten with electric batons and bombarded with rocks and stones. Hundreds were killed (400 according to one report) and many others have suffered broken bones reports the Barnabas Fund which works to support Christian communities in the Islamic world....In a statement issued after the demonstrations had begun, the President of the Montagnard Foundation said that no attempt was made by the Christians to use violence. He also stated that the Christians are not seeking independence, merely the right to worship freely.... http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/content/news_syndication/article_040413barn.shtml
The global threat from radical Islamic terror in Southeast Asia has overshadowed many of the region's other problems. Religious persecution is one growing crisis that should not be overlooked by Washington and the West. Laos and Vietnam, for example, are still run by ruthless Communist regimes that do not allow freedom of religion. While these Communist nations are working to increase ties to the civilized world, they — like China — continue to step up their oppression of Christians.
Last month in Laos, Nambak District officials ordered 35 Christian families in the village of Nam Thuam to publicly renounce their faith. When they refused, the government assigned agents to live in the households to prevent them from practicing their religion. The families are forced by the Communists to pay for the spies living in their own homes until they formally turn their backs on God. In the village of Thong Sa Vang, officials have confiscated Bibles and threatened believers with arrest if they do not reject Christianity. One villager who fled his home to avoid the Communist aggression told Christian Freedom International (CFI), “If I return to Thong Sa Vang I will be killed or arrested.” He already has spent several years in prison because of his religious beliefs. Across Laos, Christians are routinely forced into slave labor or forced at gunpoint to disparage God. The situation in neighboring Vietnam is equally grim. According to CFI President Jim Jacobson, “Vietnam is engaging in a systematic genocidal crackdown against minority Christians in the Central Highlands.” The Christian Montagnards of Vietnam's Central Highlands have long been persecuted by the Communist government because they were staunch allies of the United States during the long Vietnam War. On Easter Sunday, hundreds of Christians were killed or disappeared in Buon Ma Thuot village during a peaceful demonstration protesting the confiscation of their ancestral lands. Around Christmas, pastors were rounded up and jailed and churches bulldozed. Hundreds of churches have been closed over the past few years. A few thousand Christians have tried to flee across the border to Cambodia, but the government there sends the refugees back to imprisonment in Vietnam.
In Communist states, the persecution is getting worse. That should give pause to all of us in the free world. http://www.washtimes.com/op-ed/20040425-102732-6508r.htm
Laos
Cambodia Cambodian police have arrested and deported 160 Christians who crossed the border illegally to escape violence in their country last week. The Christians are members of a Vietnamese ethnic minority known as the Montagnards. An estimated 400 Christians were killed during peaceful and prayerful demonstrations in the Central Highlands of Vietnam over the Easter period. Thousands of Montagnards took part in the protests.... http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/content/news_syndication/article_040420camb.shtml Indonesia SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHERS SENTENCED TO THREE YEARS IN PRISON *Islamic extremists again threaten violence before court session. Indonesian judges today sentenced three women to three years in prison for allowing Muslim children to attend a Christian Sunday school program. “The ladies, witnesses and judges were constantly under the threats of violence from hundreds of Islamic radicals who threatened to kill the three ladies, witnesses, pastors, missionaries and even the judges if the women were acquitted,” Hammond told Compass. Before a court proceeding on August 25, the Islamic radicals warned the judges that they were willing to shed their own blood if the women were not found guilty. http://www.compassdirect.org/en/newslongen.php?idelement=3949
Along with the challenges facing Indonesians since the Dec. 26 quake-tsunami devastation, local Christians continue to face persecution in the predominantly Muslim nation, a persecution watchdog group reported Thursday. Most recently, VOM reported that a priest in Purworejo in Indonesia’s Central Java region was found dead in a church retreat compound on Friday, Jan. 14, with massive head wounds. “Despite the string of attacks against Christians in various areas of Indonesia, the provincial police chief said that the attack was ‘probably’ robbery,” VOM wrote. However, local sources say that police frequently downplay incidents of violence against Christians. christianpost *Seven people have been wounded in a shooting at an Easter church service on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi. Hundreds of people have died on the island in conflicts between Christians and Muslims. Police said two gunmen burst into the church on Saturday night and sprayed the congregation with automatic weapons fire before escaping.... http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/3617401.stm same story on another news A church congregation in Indonesia has been sprayed with bullets as they were singing hymns on Easter Saturday two Christian human rights groups have reported today. Christian Solidarity Worldwide and the Barnabas Fund said that masked gunmen attacked Christians at the Tabernacle Church in Kilo village, Poso district, injuring seven Christians including a four-year girl. The attack follows three recent incidents in which Christians have been shot. On March 30, Reverend Freddy Wuisan was killed by unknown attackers behind the Membuke Church in Poso Pesisir district on Sulawesi. Eyewitnesses reportedly saw two people driving away on a motorcycle.... http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/content/news_syndication/article_040419ind.shtml> Muslim militants in eastern Indonesia burned down several hundred homes in an overnight attack on a mainly Christian area where 26 people were killed in three days of fighting. The attacks on Christians in Maluku province, once known as the Spice Islands, continues with no end in sight, according to the Washington, D.C.-based human rights group International Christian Concern. On Monday, several hundred homes of Christians were burned down in the Tanah Lapang Kecil and Batugantung neighborhoods of Ambon, the provincial capital. The attack began at about 3 a.m. and continued into the afternoon hours until all of the homes were destroyed, ICC said. According to news reports, government buildings have been abandoned and taken over by unidentified snipers using the rooftops to scout victims, including several policemen who have been killed in the past few days. Maluku, which has been about half Christian and half Muslim, came under attack between 1999 and 2002 from a radical Islamic group called Laskar Jihad, or Army of Holy Warriors, which aimed to make Indonesia an Islamic state....http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=38239 Sri Lanka In Sri Lanka, Christians are on the defensive after a series of attacks on churches by radical Buddhists. Christianity is growing and gaining influence in the island nation that sits off the coast of India. The number of evangelicals has increased by more than 200,000 since 1980. They are dedicated to evangelism, church planting, and even mission] work. But Buddhism is the official religion of Sri Lanka. The growth of Christianity has angered Buddhist priests who see it as a threat. Some of those priests are encouraging normally peaceful Buddhists to go on the attack. They're pushing for laws to forbid religious conversions. Australian pastor Danny Nalliah is a native of Sri Lanka. He described the situation: "In the last 1 year, possibly 1 ½ years, there have been 74 incidents of attacks on churches. Churches burned down, pastors beaten, some girls were almost raped, but thank God they were not. The basic message is: we're going to shut you down. And now they're going to push forward legislation in order to ban evangelism."... http://www.cbn.com/CBNNews/CWN/052804srilanka.asp India Indian Christians have expressed deep concern over the increasing attacks on Christian Churches by violent mobs across India. The attacks on individuals or churches across many states of India have been worsening. The motives behind the crimes are often being reported as religious hatred, given the evidences that the hard-line Hindu political party Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Hindu nationalist organization Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) have been tying to restrict Christian minorities by implementing some laws. The Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC) has already sent an open letter to the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in September, urging the Indian government to launch urgent measures to curb the alarming trend... (Reported by The Christian Post - by Eunice Or - December 5, 2005) http://www.christianpost.com/article/asia/841/section/violent.mob.attacks.on.christian.churches.increasing.across.india/1.htm *Police in northern India thwarted a plot by Hindu extremists who threatened to burn to death more than 60 Christian converts if they refused to return to Hinduism by Sunday. ... Last week, the attackers forced Masih, 62, to sign a document stating his willingness to participate in a ceremony last Sunday in which all of the Christians would convert back to Hinduism. Refusal to participate would prompt the radicals to burn the converts to death... http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=47573 November 24, 2005 *August 30, 2005 - A mob of 50 "Hindu radicals" today ransacked an Assembly of God church building in India desecrating the Bible, sources on the ground report. We are shocked the way the Hindu radicals destroyed the worship center without any fear of the law of the land." The attack comes on the first day of a weeklong Christian festival scheduled for Bangalore that attracts thousands of believers from other communities, and the Global Council of Indian Christians fears the assault was meant to stir up tensions in the city during the event. "The Christian community continue to face violent attacks at regular intervals, and we believe that we are treated like second-class citizens," the statement from the Global Council of Indian Christians said.
*Indian Christians continue to be attacked in India on an almost daily basis. On October 5 two Indian missionary pastors serving with Gospel for Asia (GFA) were beaten and kidnapped by a group of militant Hindus in Chattisgarh state, central India. Pastor Kumar had received threats from anti-Christian groups over the past few weeks in the village where he and his family arrived two years ago to preach the gospel and to establish a church. The militants had also threatened that anyone who went to the church - including the 40 new believers over the last two years - would be killed. On October 1 they threatened Pastor Kumar that if he went to church to lead the service that Sunday (October 3) they would kill him in front of his family. In the end the pastor and the other believers, following police advice, stayed away from the church and met elsewhere in secret... http://www.csw.org.uk/Latestnews.asp?item=506
Bangladesh *Two evangelists in Bowalmari District Faridpur, Bangladesh, were stabbed to death around midnight on 29th July. Liplal Mardy (35) and Tapan Roy (30) had been showing the Jesus film, as well as health education films, in villages around the area. They had received at least two verbal threats from the head of the local madrassa (Islamic religious school), telling them to stop showing the film. After the second threat they stopped their work and were planning to leave the area, but were murdered before they could do so BARNABAS FUND E-MAIL NEWS SERVICE - Aug 5, 2005 -. http://www.barnabasfund.org/ * ASSIST News Service - By Dan Wooding - May 22, 2005 - A U.S. based interdenominational human rights organization for religious liberty that helps persecuted Christians, has urged Bangladesh to stop the persecution of Muslim converts to Christianity. In a story released by U.S. Newswire, Jim Jacobson, the International President of Christian Freedom International, is quoted as saying, “Serious attacks on converts to Christianity by Islamic extremists are increasing. The Bangladesh government is doing nothing to stop the persecution of these Christians.” http://www.assistnews.net/Stories/s05050096.htm
Thailand Muslim militants in eastern Indonesia burned down several hundred homes in an overnight attack on a mainly Christian area where 26 people were killed in three days of fighting. The attacks on Christians in Maluku province, once known as the Spice Islands, continues with no end in sight, according to the Washington, D.C.-based human rights group International Christian Concern. On Monday, several hundred homes of Christians were burned down in the Tanah Lapang Kecil and Batugantung neighborhoods of Ambon, the provincial capital. The attack began at about 3 a.m. and continued into the afternoon hours until all of the homes were destroyed, ICC said. According to news reports, government buildings have been abandoned and taken over by unidentified snipers using the rooftops to scout victims, including several policemen who have been killed in the past few days. Maluku, which has been about half Christian and half Muslim, came under attack between 1999 and 2002 from a radical Islamic group called Laskar Jihad, or Army of Holy Warriors, which aimed to make Indonesia an Islamic state.... http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=38239 Shri Lanka On Easter Sunday, a Christian Fellowship Church in Kalutara district was attacked, and ten people were injured. The church had been closed for three months following an initial attack in late December, when a mob of 300 villagers prompted a riot at the church. The pastor resumed services on Good Friday, and on Easter Sunday, a mob demanded that church members leave the building. They threw stones, damaging the windows, and beat the pastor and other church members as they emerged. According to news agency Compass Direct, 'parents tried to shield their terrified children, but despite this, a few children were among the ten or so people injured in the attack.'... Pakistan A Pakistani Christian who had been sentenced to prison on charges of blasphemy under Pakistan’s strict legislation died Friday, May 28 in the Lahore hospital where he was beaten into a coma by one of the policemen assigned to guard him, human rights group The Voice of the Martyrs (VOM) said. Several human rights groups have quoted the guard, a Muslim, as telling investigators that it was “his religious duty, as a Muslim, to kill the Christian man” Samuel Masih.” He reportedly said he was “spiritually satisfied and ready to face the consequences,” VOM added. VOM Spokesman Todd Nettleton suggested that Masih's killing underscored concern about rapidly spreading anti Christian violence in the area. “This is another example of the danger our brothers and sisters in Pakistan face every day,” he said in a statement to ASSIST News Service (ANS). The death of 32-year old Masih came only weeks after another young Christian man, Javed Anjum, reportedly died as a result of torture by Islamic militants while Christian leaders in Quetta, Baluchistan province, apparently received threatening letters. One pastor, Wilson Fazal, was kidnapped and tortured, although he subsequently escaped, Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) claimed. Other Christians have reportedly gone into hiding, as Islamic violence spreads throughout the country, several human rights groups say. http://www.assistnews.net/Stories/s04050139.htm Sudan Sudan's militant Muslim regime is slaughtering Christians who refuse to convert to Islam, according to the head of an aid group who recently returned from the African nation. Backed by Muslim clerics, the National Islamic Front regime in the Arab and Muslim north declared a jihad, or holy war, on the south in 1989. Since 1983, an estimated 2 million people have died from war and related famine. About 4.5 million have become refugees...In his letter urging action by the U.S., he points out that Sudan's military continues to decorate and promote known war criminals such as Commander Taib Musba, who in the mid-1980s killed an estimated 15,000 unarmed, civilian, ethnic Uduk Christians. In 1986, Musba entered the Uduk tribal capital of Chali and declared to its Christians: "You are all going to convert from Christianity to Islam today, because here is what's going to happen to you if you don't." Musba then killed five church leaders in front of the gathered villagers. When they refused to convert, he began killing unarmed men, women and children. Some were herded at gunpoint into a hut then run over by a 50-ton, Soviet-made tank. He also herded groups of about a dozen people into a hut, where he asked the first person "Do you renounce Jesus Christ?" Anyone who refused was killed by a three-inch nail driven into the top of the head... Islam also is forced on Sudanese in the Muslim north. Security police in Khartoum are pursuing a local convert to Christianity who went into hiding three weeks ago to escape arrest and possible death, the Compass Direct news service reports. http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=26672 Reports had leaked out of Renk County in the nation's oil region that, from March 26, 2004, through until the second week of April 2004, 22 Shilluk villages had been burned and hundreds of people murdered while Government of Sudan (GoS) troops looked on. "They did more than look on," said Phillips. "Survivors told us that GoS soldiers in motorboats had fired on them from the Nile while government-sponsored militia attacked from the bush. We received testimonies that between 300 and 1,000 people were killed during these attacks. More died afterward from wounds and disease. Hundreds were abducted. Twenty thousand people were driven out of their homes, their villages burned. At the beginning of June, 700 Shilluks who had fled these attacks reached our distribution site in Payuer, where more than 85,000 internally displaced Christians have taken refuge this year. We knew the situation was desperate when we arrived, because we found the people eating 'apam' [leaves from the Acacia trees]," Phillips said... "The soldiers came in the middle of the night," said a man named Odatti. "They came from Malakal. Everybody ran. Some into the bush. Others into the river. Many drowned. They shot everyone. They killed blind old ladies who could not run away." "My husband was killed right away," Elizabeth told us. "I ran with the kids. Two of them drowned in the river and the other two I don't even know where they are. You tried to grab one child here and there, but you could only do so much." http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=39416
“Sudan is suffering from a massive ethnic war in the western Darfur region, led by Arab Muslim military group, killing thousands of people and driving out millions of African tribes to a refugee camp in other regions. While people in Sudan are calling out for peace, Christian humanitarian groups and churches are working together to provide emergency relief to the refugees who are starving. The U.S. based Human Rights Watch has called for a U.N. mission to investigate on the unspeakable attack, accusing the Sudan government for committing crimes against humanity. Humanity Under Attack in Sudan Friday, May. 7, 2004 http://www.christianpost.com/dbase.php?cat=society&id=637
The Sudanese government is responsible for 'ethnic cleansing' and crimes against humanity in the western region of Darfur, Human Rights Watch said in a new report released on Friday, May 7, 2000.. Human Rights Watch called on the Security Council to strongly condemn the actions of the Sudanese government and demand that it disarm, disband and withdraw the Arab militias that engage in ethnic cleansing, frequently in conjunction with government forces. http://allafrica.com/stories/200405070809.html Nigeria More than a dozen Christians were killed and seven kidnapped when members of a militant Islamic sect raided towns in Borno State in the north of Nigeria. Members of Al Sunna Wal Jamma, a group also known as the Taliban, are reported to have carried out the raids on the towns of Bama and Gwoza on September 20. The group had launched similar raids on towns and villages in neighbouring Yobe State during January, but had been defeated by the Federal armed forces. Those who survived and avoided capture, had fled across the border. During the recent violence, 60 members of the sect are reported to have attacked police stations in Bama and Gwoza killing four policemen, including a police Area Commander. According to news agency Compass Direct, the group went on to attack Christian communities, killing, raping and burning down homes. A police spokesman confirmed that 14 bodies had been recovered from areas targeted by the raids, but that there may be many more victims. Enquiries into the whereabouts of the kidnapped Christians are ongoing. According to the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) thousands of non-Muslims were killed in violence that broke out in response to the killing of Muslims in Plateau State, central Nigeria... http://www.csw.org.uk/Latestnews.asp?item=499
Muslims have slaughtered an estimated 600 Christians this week in Nigeria, according to the Christian Association of Nigeria. The carnage in Kano, in the country's mostly Muslim north, began with a protest in retaliation for Muslim deaths hundreds of miles away in Yelwe, said the British-based monitor of persecution against Christians, Barnabas Fund, the Assist News service reported. Andrew Ubah, general secretary of the association, told Reuters Thursday the tally was based on reports from church leaders throughout the city. Twelve churches have been burned, he said. David Emmanuel, a factory worker, told Reuters he saw two truckloads of corpses Wednesday night and counted at least 30 bodies in the street. Elsewhere, Assist said, correspondents have seen 35 mostly burned and mutilated bodies... "Hundreds of people were killed," said Christian leader Mark Amani. "Some corpses were burned in wells. Even little children were killed. "The bodies of pregnant women were ripped open and their bodies burned," he said... http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=38513 The latest crisis in Yelwa erupted in the early hours of Sunday, May 2. Victims who fled to the state capital of Jos said that more than 1,000 houses and religious buildings had been destroyed by fire... Local Christian sources said the crisis is linked to recent attacks on Christian villages in the area by Muslim extremists. They believe because only Muslims remained in Yelwa following the February 23 murders, aggrieved Christians carried out last Sunday’s attack in reprisal for the earlier assault. Muslim-Christian violence broke out in the northern state of Taraba in late April, causing the death of over 120 people and leaving thousands more displaced... http://www.worthynews.com/christian-persecution/fresh-vioence-nigeria.html in addition--Plateau State: Some 49 Christians were massacred by Islamic militants in a raid on the Christian town of Yelwa on Tuesday 24 February. Plateau Police Commissioner Innocent Ilozuoke told reporters how most of the Christian victims had been shot as they ran to a church desperately seeking refuge. The attackers are thought to have mainly been ethnic Fulani Muslims. Local security sources indicate that the merciless guerrilla tactics used in the assault suggest Islamist fighters from Chad and Niger may also have been involved. Muslim extremists have burned down 10 Christian churches in Nigeria in an attack thought to have been sparked by a mentally retarded Christian teenager desecrating the Quran. According to a report by the Compass news service, an undisclosed number of Christians were reported killed in the incident April 3, which occurred in the town of Makarfi. The attack resulted in the displacement of hundreds of other Christians from the town. The following day, bodies of the dead Christians were reportedly brought to police stations in nearby Kaduna City, where some Christians were taking refuge.A reporter with Compass witnessed trucks piled with corpses that were to be taken away for mass burial. At a press conference last Monday, the Christian Association of Nigeria confirmed the killings and destruction of the churches...."Islamic terrorists hiding under the cover of religion have invaded the state and are now unleashing terror on Christians over stupid reasons."Continued Kujiyat, "The situation we are witnessing today is the emergence of a dangerous trend in which religious sentiment is being used as a cover to victimize Christians."....It is our conclusion that Muslim leaders are deliberately using fanatics in the name of Islam to engage in periodic attacks on Christians with the sole aim to intimidate, terrorize and force Christians into submission and to denounce their faith," Kujiyat said... http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=38007 Plateau State: Some 49 Christians were massacred by Islamic militants in a raid on the Christian town of Yelwa on Tuesday 24 February. Plateau Police Commissioner Innocent Ilozuoke told reporters how most of the Christian victims had been shot as they ran to a church desperately seeking refuge. The attackers are thought to have mainly been ethnic Fulani Muslims. Local security sources indicate that the merciless guerrilla tactics used in the assault suggest Islamist fighters from Chad and Niger may also have been involved. Police and army units have been sent to the town and order has now been restored....Local Christians in Plateau State have suffered repeated attacks from ethnic Hausa/Fulani Muslim settlers since September 2001. Hundreds have been killed in the violence. Islamic militants from Chad, Niger and other countries outside of Nigeria have repeatedly been involved. Local Christians believe militant elements within the Muslim community are working to a strategy to drive out Christians and Islamise the whole state. http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=37116 Governor Ahmed Sani of Zamfara State, has ordered the demolition of all churches in the state, as he launched the second phase of his Sharia project yesterday. Speaking at the launch in Gusau, the state capital, Governor Sani disclosed that time was ripe for full implementation of the programme as enshrined in the Holy Quran. He added that his government would soon embark on demolition of all places of worship of unbelievers in the state, in line with Islamic injunction to fight them wherever they are found.... The governor's stance on the demolition of all non-Islamic worship centres, however, runs contrary to the provisions of the country's constitution, … http://allafrica.com/stories/200404290789.html http://www.zamfaraonline.com/ http://www.nigeria.com/ Thousands of people are reported to have fled recent ethnic and religious fighting in central Nigeria. Local media reported fighting on Tuesday between Muslims and Christians in six remote farming villages between Plateau and Taraba states. According to the Nigerian Red Cross many were wounded and killed but few confirmed details are available. Muslim Fulani cattle herders and Christian Tarok farmers have been clashing for more than two months. They are fighting mainly over land and cattle.... In 2001 more than 1,000 people died in clashes in the Plateau State capital, Jos. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/3674175.stm Philippines “Asia News is reporting a cold-blooded massacre in the Philippines. Suspected members of the Abu Sayyaf are accused of shooting six Christians to death in the Sulu Archipelago. According to published reports, the attackers went door-to-door Friday asking if the occupants of the house were Muslims or Christians. The Philippines is about 80 percent Christian. Muslims make up about seven percent of the population, with extremists an even smaller percentage. Some guerrilla groups have engaged in attacks against Christians, creating a tense environment for evangelistic work in some parts of the country” ( MISSION NETWORK NEWS - February 7, 2006, http://www.mnnonline.org/article/8280)
Egypt * “Young Christian males and females are being kidnapped and forcibly converted to Islam, their families are now protesting outside a local monastery in Egypt and have called on the world's media to help plead their cause. The website report says that Egyptian society is an honor vs. shame-based culture and victims worry about the effects of shaming their families. It is also believed that those who are abducted are silenced by threats to family members. Victims are brought to “religious guidance committee” meetings for the purposes of “reviewing” their cases. These meetings are often held in a National Security Police headquarters, which is against the law...” ASSIST News Service - By Michael Ireland - May 22, 2005 http://www.assistnews.net/Stories/s05050093.htm *A police officer in El Minia, Egypt, drove a truck into a canal killing three of his five bound prisoners, including an elderly church leader, according to a report from the U.K-based Barnabas Fund. The Barnabas Fund reported the police officer arrested five Christians in the early hours of Sunday May 2 in the village of Taha El Omadeen, El Minia. Sixty-four year old Father Ibrahim Mikhaeil and four others were charged with the unlawful construction of a church fence. Part of the fence had collapsed during a storm and the five men attempted to mend it as soon as possible, concerned that, given the opportunity, local officials would stall and possibly halt its rebuilding. Obstruction and the refusal to grant permits for church repairs is a recurring problem in Egypt. The officer, named Ahmed Kelani, went to the church at 1 a.m. after a Muslim villager informed the police station of the efforts of the five men to repair the fence. The arrested men were bound and placed in the back of a rented vehicle. Officer Kelani ordered the vehicle's driver to get out and took control of the truck himself. As the vehicle approached the brink of the Ibrahimiya Canal, Kelani jumped out. Father Mikhaeil and two other Christians (Mahrous and Nasef) were killed, while the other two remain in a critical condition in hospital. http://www.worthynews.com/christian-persecution/egypt-police-officer-murders-christians.html>
Eritrea *MISSION NETWORK NEWS - May 23, 2005 - Last week reported that 916 Christians are being held against their will in the African nation of Eritrea. 16 of them are pastors. Persecution against Christians isn't getting any better, according to Strategic World Impact's Kevin Turner. “The more Eritrea is confronted with this, the worse they get,” says Turner. “They're just hardening themselves. The church, it's quite interesting, the people continue to share the Gospel. In fact, a couple days ago there was a believer arrests in Samara (for) sharing Gospel to people on the bus.” The situation is getting eerily like North Korea and Saudi Arabia. Turner says, “They've actually consulted with some of these other governments for those very issues of how to contain or control the church. At another level, this isn't just a physical, this is a spiritual battle and so, it boils down to our enemy Satan who is trying to crush or oppress the church.”
*"Persecution is not sweet, but it's useful" is how one pastor described the suffering of Evangelical Christian believers in the East African nation of Eritrea. Though churches have been closed and Christians persecuted in Eritrea, most people in the Western World are not familiar with this East African nation. But, in the last two years, Christians worldwide have started to learn more about this small nation-because of the plight of Jesus' followers there and the persecution they face. The persecution comes from their own government. By the way, the Eritrean government flatly denies persecution is taking place. Yet, in the midst of the Evangelicals' suffering, there has been an unprecedented Christian unity in the church.... http://www.cbn.com/CBNNews/CWN/041604eritrea.asp Africa Arab gunmen on horses and camels, backed by bombers and helicopter gunships, have razed hundreds of black African villages, killed tens of thousands and driven more than 1 million from their homes. "They say they don't want to see black skin on this land again," said Issa Bushara, whose brother and cousin were gunned down in front of their horrified families during an attack by the Janjaweed militia. More victims of the raids are dying now from hunger, thirst and disease than in the killings, U.N. officials say. They have described the region as the world's worst humanitarian crisis.. http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/wire/sns-ap-sudan-slaughter,0,7907433.story? The Comboni Missionaries today called upon the governments of the United States and Canada to take action that will encourage an end to the warfare that has ravaged the lives of the Christian population of northern Uganda. In this war, an insurgent group calling itself the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) killed and disfigured innocent people by the tens of thousands, caused the displacement of 1.5 million refugees, and abducted more than 20,000 children for use as child soldiers and sex slaves. “For the past two decades,” the resolution stated, the LRA has employed “hellishly barbaric tactics against the civilian population of northern Uganda, principally the Acholi people.” Using statistics cited by the United Nations News Service, the resolution said, “This insurgency has driven approximately 1.5 million people into displacement camps where they live in extreme deprivation, entirely dependent upon relief for survival ... “In its oppression of this almost uniformly Christian population, the LRA has received support from the ruling National Islamic Front in Sudan; and the LRA has abducted as many as 20,000 children for use as child soldiers and sex slaves, with children making up at least 80 percent of its insurgent force.”.... http://allafrica.com/stories/200404260285.html a fresh eruption of violence in Duwi village, Wase council area Tuesday night claimed five lives. Another attack in Lyangit, a community in Langtang North local government was said to have led to the loss of one life even as Senate yesterday began accelerated hearing on the eight emergency powers bills presented to it for approval two days ago by President Olusegun Obasanjo. Several persons were reportedly wounded in the Duwi incident just as about 20 houses were destroyed in the process... Sources told Daily Champion that some Fulani herdsmen armed with guns, bows and poisoned arrows attacked Duwi, a christian Tarok-populated settlement in the muslim-dominated local government at about midnight while the residents were sleeping. Duwi is close to Kadarko village where a major Christian/Muslim clash recently claimed several lives spuring a chain of events leading to the clamping of the state of emergency... http://allafrica.com/stories/200405270708.html Afghanistan Five Afghan men who had converted to Christianity have been killed in separate incidents since late June near the borders of eastern Afghanistan. All five men were stabbed or beaten to death in summary executions by Taliban adherents who accused them of abandoning Islam and then “spreading Christianity” in their communities.news
China VOM-USA News & Prayer Update - September 6, 2005 - Two recent news releases from China Aid Association (CAA) document a shocking escalation of persecution in China. There seems to be a direct correlation between increasing Russian-Chinese-Central Asian solidarity and growing persecution of unsanctioned Protestant Christians in those states. China is systematically strengthening its assault on "cults" (which includes house churches.) On July 7th, Pastor Cai Zhuohua faced court in Beijing charged with "illegal business operations" for printing more than 200,000 Bibles and other Christian books. (As they were given away and not sold, there was no "business.") He is in prison awaiting sentence. On August 15th, five American church leaders were arrested in Jiangxi province along with 27 house-church pastors. The group had simply been enjoying Christian fellowship together. … Pray the supernatural grace of China's persecuted believers will convict their persecutors and the Holy Spirit will bring sweeping revival to all of China. http://www.persecution.com/ To ensure that the plight of Christians living in China continues to be told, the Committee for Investigation on Persecution of Religion in China (CIPRC) is periodically releasing stories documenting their brutal treatment. CIPRC's Chief Secretary John Lee said in a previous e-mail interview, “We have mobilized thousands of brave house church Christians in China to investigate and collect the persecution cases. They have interviewed 560,000 house church Christians from 22 provinces, and have obtained invaluable first-hand information of over-two-million-word testimonies full of blood and tears and many photos as well.” ASSIST News Service - By Jeremy Reynalds May 20, 2005 http://www.assistnews.net/Stories/s05050090.htm *A prominent leader of an unregistered house-church movement based in Shanghai was recently released from a labor camp. Philip Xu Guoxing, who served 18 months in the Jiangsu Province camp for setting up unregistered house churches in the country's eastern region, was freed on June 7, Compass Direct reported. Guoxing reportedly has returned to Shanghai to be with his wife and young daughter. First arrested in March 1980, he was again arrested and jailed in 1989 and 1997. He performed hard labor and suffered beatings during more than six years in "re-education through labor" camps, which served as punishment for his refusal to join the government-controlled Three Self Patriotic Movement. Meanwhile, the more than 100 house-church leaders arrested on June 11 have been released from police custody, according to Asia Harvest. The leaders were attending a religious retreat held by the China Gospel Fellowship (CGF) in the city of Wuhan, located in Hubei Province, when they were jailed... http://www.charismanews.com/a.php?ArticleID=9408
*China continues its repression of popular Christian house churches, according to a report this week from Freedom House, which is calling on U.S. trade representatives to protest violations of religious rights by Chinese authorities. U.S. diplomats currently in China for trade talks, and those in Chile attending the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation meetings, should call on the government of China to immediately cease its assaults against China's large Christian house church movement, Freedom House's Center for Religious Freedom says. Last week, the Center reported on the Chinese government's attacks on one large church and its members. The Center has since received new information from the Pennsylvania-based China Aid Organization regarding the ongoing repression, as well as a new assault against another house-church... http://www.religionjournal.com/showarticle.asp?id=1534 * Shocking video of the destruction of an unregistered Chinese church has been smuggled out of China to a persecution watchdog group....The Tu Du Sha Church in Zhejiang Province was bulldozed to the ground June 26, reports the Voice of the Martyrs....The church, in Hangzhou City, was founded around 1930 by the group launched in the 19th century by famed missionary Hudson Taylor, China Inland Mission....Weekly attendance had grown to 1,500....Police first arrived before 4 a.m. expecting the church to be empty, VOM said. Instead, they found 300 Christians gathered for prayer. The police left, but returned just before 8 a.m. with 200 military policemen and more than 40 vehicles....In spite of the protests of church members, the church was completely destroyed, the Oklahoma-based group said. A Chinese Christian covertly videotaped the entire scene, and the video was smuggled out of the country...."In our 36 years of ministry, we've never had a videotape like this," said Tom White, VOM's U.S. director...."This tape shows how the Chinese government treats Christian groups that refuse to register," he said....The Chinese government considers all Protestant churches outside the official government-controlled Three-Self Patriotic Movement to be subversive. The official churches are restricted, to varying degrees around the country, in their doctrine and practice. The vast majority of Protestants are in "underground" churches. Catholics also are restricted to a government-controlled church, which does not recognize the authority of the pope. See VOM story and video here: http://www.persecution.com/china/ * For the first time in history, Chinese Christians gave evidence of persecution in April at a special meeting called by the United Nations Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR) in Geneva. Several speakers testified to beatings, imprisonment, torture and damage to church buildings in recent years. This is the 11th year in a row that politics within the UNCHR have defeated similar resolutions against China. Speakers at the special meeting on “Repression of Religious Freedom in China” included Bob Fu, president of the China Aid Association which documents persecution of Chinese Protestants; Xu Yongze of the Born Again house church movement, who was imprisoned five times for his faith; and Brother Yun, hero of the best-selling autobiography The Heavenly Man...http://www.worthynews.com/christian-persecution/chinese-testify-un.html * The China Aid Association has learnt that more than 100 leaders of the China Gospel Fellowship (CGF) were arrested on June 11, 2004. The arrests took place at Wuhan city, Hubei province (mid east China) while these church leaders were meeting together. The China Aid Association also learned from an internal source in the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) that its Politburo had recently convened a special secret meeting discussing ‘How to deal with religious affairs in China’. According to the source, a secret directive was issued after the meeting, calling on every level of the Chinese government and the Party to crack down on ‘illegal religious activities’. The directive also urged the CCP’s Department of Propaganda to carry out a special media campaign to promote atheism... http://www.csw.org.uk/Latestnews.asp?item=469
Asia “You Christians should all be shot!” City Public Prosecutor M. Arzymbetov is said to have declared to eleven members of the Church of Christ who were summoned for questioning on April 21st. The Christians were pressured to renounce their faith and to convert to Islam. The declaration was made after the believers refused to sign documents admitting that they had participated in ‘illegal’ religious meetings and training. They now face steep fines in court. Authorities have denied the statement, stating the reason for the interrogations was because, “All of them are members of an unregistered religious organization,” Atzymbetov told Forum 18 News. “The activity of unregistered organizations is forbidden by law.” In other parts of the country, however, reports of harassment, threats, interrogation and badgering of Protestant believers have also increased in recent days. In Tashkent on March 10th, six Christians were charged in criminal court and fined for holding religious meetings in a private apartment. Also in the capital the day before, police raided a religious meeting of ten Uzbek and South Korean Christians. The Uzbek citizens were fined five times the monthly minimum wage, and the Koreans were “recommended” to leave the country for engaging in “unlawful religious activity”.... http://www.asianews.it/view.php?l=en&art=681 * ....A week of sectarian fighting in Ambon has left 37 people dead, reviving fears the Maluku islands could plunge back into the Muslim-Christian bloodletting that killed up to 9,000 people three years ago. Ambon is the capital of the province comprising the islands, known as the Spice islands during Dutch colonial rule. Indonesian security forces have done little to stop the clashes and in some cases have even joined in, witnesses say. While Indonesia is the world's most populous Muslim nation, the 2 million inhabitants of the Malukus are evenly divided between Christians and Muslims. Christians here, as elsewhere in Indonesia, have accused authorities of discrimination and failing to protect them from Muslim attacks.... "This is a holy war," said one Muslim fighter, gesturing to the Christian part of the divided seaside city with a spear. "We are obliged to defend our faith." The fighting erupted Sunday after the province's small, mostly Christian separatist movement paraded through the city center. The display of secessionist sentiment angered Muslims, who have cast themselves as defenders of the country's unity to avoid military crackdowns and attract legitimacy in Jakarta.... "How is burning churches and homes fighting separatism?" asks one woman who declined to be identified. "We work in Indonesia, we love Indonesia. We are only defending our homes.".... Indonesia Extremist Muslims from the Middle East are threatening violence toward Western interests, foreign aid workers, and Christians, or 'Crusaders'. While the threat originated from the Middle East, it had the effect of unifying the Islamic front toward an all-out 'holy war'. The threat of terror has spread to Indonesia, the Philippines and parts of Africa. Because risk now includes mission workers, contingency plans are being made ready, should they be needed. However, AMG International's Paul Jenks says, "The Christians there live under a constant reality that they are in the minority and that there are those that would like to see them driven out or converted to the majority religion there in Indonesia. These threats are taken very seriously." That means very little will stop the teams from sharing the hope of Christ. However, the violence has flared in Ambon, the Maluku provincial capital. This was the worst fighting since an agreement in February 2002 ended three years of sectarian fighting in which some 5,000 persons died...http://mnn.gospelcom.net/light/article/6086 Twelve Laotian Christian believers have been imprisoned simply for refusing to give up their faith in Jesus Christ. According to World Help , three believers were forced to appear before police authorities in the Phin district of Laos and were arrested. Nine others have been imprisoned in just the past four or five weeks. In each case, the police gave these Christian leaders and church members the opportunity to deny their faith in order to avoid prison. Can you imagine the pressure these men faced at the hands of their Laotian police accusers? But, not one of them recanted. The authorities at Phin District Prison were so upset at the believers for refusing to give up their faith in Jesus that the police forced many of them into around-the-clock hard labor with only a single meal per day. Others have had their hands and feet bound in wooden stocks. This is the way the worst criminals are treated in Laotian prisons. Family members who were allowed to visit their relatives in prison reported these abuses to our ministry partner. For security reasons, I cannot share the name of our partner who sent me this report...http://mnn.gospelcom.net/light/article/6089 Indonesia's president, Megawati Sukarnoputri, was met by hundreds of Muslim protesters as she made her first visit to the city of Ambon since 38 people died in sectarian violence last month. About 500 students urged Ms Megawati to take action against a mainly Christian separatist movement, as she held talks with religious and Maluku provincial officials during the visit. Ms Megawati told religious leaders that her government would do what it could to maintain the country's unity. Thirty-eight people died and over 100 were injured during more than a week of communal violence in Ambon, which was sparked by a parade by the separatists on April 25.http://www.abc.net.au/ra/newstories/RANewsStories_1113921.htm
Iraq An all-out jihad has been declared against Iraq's minority Christian population, car bombs exploded outside at least five Christian churches today, killing more than a dozen people and wounding scores more in an apparently coordinated attack timed to coincide with evening prayers. No one knows with certainty how many Christians live in Iraq because they were not part of census statistics kept by Saddam Hussein. However, estimates run as high as 10 percent of the 25 million population... The series of violent attacks against Christians in southern Iraq have badly shaken the minority community, nearly succeeding in driving them out from the city of Basra....."Most of the Christians have had these thoughts about leaving, anyone with relatives elsewhere or money to leave the country will not hesitate to go," said Muwafaq Butris, Habeeb's brother, speaking at their home next to a mosque....Archbishop Gabriel Kassab, who presides over Basra's estimated 1,150 Syrian Orthodox, Catholic, Protestant and Chaldean Christian families, also warns of an exodus....."Before, under the previous regime, there was security, there were no big problems. Now at least six people have been killed from our community," he said...."There are some Muslim radicals who see the Christians as feeble. My people are now afraid, some of those with family outside are leaving."....Kassab, originally from the northern Iraqi city of Mogul, said he was optimistic the situation would improve, blaming the attacks on non-Iraqis and insisting that relations between Basra's religious communities were still strong...."The trouble that comes here is not coming from Basra's citizens. We have good cooperation here, at Christmas all the Muslims came here and now it is Enid I am visiting all the mosques," he said, referring to the Enid al-Adhere feast of the sacrifice. http://www.worthynews.com/zone.cgi? http://www.christiantoday.com/dbase.php?cat=missions&id=605 Assyrian Christians recently liberated from Saddam Hussein's regime are suffering a string of deadly attacks church leaders believe are religiously motivated. Christians and churches have received letters in Arabic threatening that if they don't follow Islamic practice and support "the resistance," they will face the consequences: "torture, and burning or exploding the house with the family in it," says Elizabeth Kendal, researcher for the World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty Commission, in a report published by the Assist News Service. Mandaean Christians, who follow the teachings of John the Baptist, have been receiving the same threats and suffering the same violence, Kendal says. The unchecked Islamic aggression is forcing the Christians to flee, she states, citing some examples. On June 7, four masked men drove into the Christian Assyrian Quarters of the Dora district of Baghdad and opened fire on Assyrians going to work. Four were killed and several others wounded. In the afternoon, the same day, three Assyrian women were killed in another drive-by shooting as they returned home from working at the Coalition Provisional Authority. On 22 March, an elderly Assyrian couple was murdered in the Assyrian district. The wife was beaten to death and the husband had his throat cut. As WorldNetDaily reported, Ken Joseph Jr., an Assyrian who directs Assyrianchristians.com, says several developments that "bode ill for Christians in Iraq are causing believers to flee the nation." Facing next Wednesday's deadline for transfer of power, a temporary constitution that reads Islam is the "Official worldnetdaily
Saudi Arabia An Indian national abducted and tortured by religious police for "spreading Christianity" remains jailed without trial weeks after his detention. Brian Savio O'Connor, 36, was accosted in the Mursalat district of Riyadh on March 25 by four policemen, Compass Direct reported. After discovering that O'Connor was a Christian, they beat him for seven hours. In response to questions, O'Connor admitted that he did preach the Bible, but denied converting Muslims to Christianity. Authorities then charged him with preaching Christianity, selling liquor and peddling drugs. http://www.charismanow.com/a.php?ArticleID=9307 The commander of the terrorist attack in Khobar, Saudi Arabia, has revealed his account of the operation in an al-Qaida-affiliated publication, boasting about purging Arab land of Christians and other "infidels."... Al-Nashami gleefully talked of dragging the body of one Western victim behind a car. "The infidel's clothing was torn to shreds, and he was naked in the street. The street was full of people, as this was during work hours, and everyone watched the infidel being dragged, praise and gratitude be to Allah."... "We entered one of the companies' [offices], and found there an American infidel who looked like a director of one of the companies. I went into his office and called him. When he turned to me, I shot him in the head, and his head exploded. We entered another office and found one infidel from South Africa, and our brother Hussein slit his throat. We asked Allah to accept [these acts of devotion] from us, and from him. This was the South African infidel... In one description, al-Nashami tells of killing Christians. "We began to comb the site looking for infidels. We found Filipino Christians. We cut their throats and dedicated them to our brothers the mujahedeen in the Philippines. [Likewise], we found Hindu engineers and we cut their throats, too, Allah be praised. That same day, we purged Muhammad's land of many Christians and polytheists." After slitting the throats of several Hindus, the terror leader says he and his colleagues held a Quran study. "We utilized the time for [teaching] the Quran to the Muslims who remained," he said. "We taught them how to read [Surat] Al-Fatiha properly. They were amazed by us, [and said], 'How are you able to do this in such an inflamed atmosphere?' Thanks be to Allah for enabling us to do so."... While Riyadh insists to the world Saudi clerics condemn terrorism, statements broadcast on national television convey the opposite message, calling for the killing of Jews and Christians and the ultimate takeover of the United States by Islam. Since the March 24 bombings in the Saudi capital, the kingdom's diplomats have been preaching tolerance, says the Middle East Media Research Institute, or MEMRI. For example, Saudi Ambassador to the United States, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, said in a June 15 statement that "senior religious scholars in Saudi Arabia have continually and unequivocally condemned terrorism. In our war against terrorism, these condemnations are a powerful weapon."... But that contention is flatly refuted by numerous examples from Saudi television provided by MEMRI, including some available on the Washington-based group's website. On May 24, Sheik Dr. Ahmad Abd Al-Latif, a professor at Um Al-Qura University, was asked the following question on Saudi channel TV1: "Some imams and preachers call for Allah to annihilate the Jews and those who help them, and the Christians and those who support them... Is it permitted according to Islamic law?" Professor Al-Latif responded: "What made them curse the Jews is that the Jews are oppressors. ... The same goes for the Christians, because of their cruel aggression against Islamic countries ... while the truth is that this is a crusading war whose goal is to harm Muslims. This is why a Muslim is allowed to curse the oppressors from among the Jews and Christians. ... Cursing the oppressing Jews and the oppressing and plundering Christians and the prayer that Allah will annihilate them is permitted." Al-Munajid stated on Iqraa TV on April 15: "...It requires the mobilization of the nation. How can the nation be mobilized? I believe that the stupid acts of these Jews and Crusaders mobilize the nation. The big explosion will come! In spite of everything, it will happen!"... http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=39136
|
© 2009 No portion of this site is to be copied or used unless kept in its original format- the way it appears. Articles can be reproduced in portions for ones personal use. Any other use is to have the permission of Let Us Reason Ministries first. Thank You.
We always appreciate hearing from those of you that have benefited by the articles on our website. We love hearing the testimonies and praise reports. We are here to help those who have questions on Bible doctrine, new teachings and movements. Unfortunately we cannot answer every email. Our time is valuable just as yours is, please keep in mind, we only have time to answer sincere inquiries from those who need help. For those who have another point of view, we will answer emails that want to engage in authentic dialogue, not in arguments. We will use discretion in answering any letters.
Let Us Reason Ministries
http://www.letusreason.org/Persecut.htm
