April 1, 2009
Right Side News publishes the following article from just one month of Islamic and Hindu terrorism of Christians worldwide reported by Compass Direct News. The UN, just last week passed another resolution On 'Defamation Of Religions' pushed by member Islamic states to criminalize the criticism of Islam and violates free speech. All the while, Christians are being murdered, raped, and tortured by extremists Hindus and Muslims across the globe.
Direct News and Summaries for March 2009
News from the Frontlines of Persecution
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CHINA
ACTION URGED FOR MISSING RIGHTS ACTIVIST
March 25 (Compass Direct News) - Certain that Chinese authorities are torturing Christian human rights activist Gao Zhisheng following the escape of his family to the United States, advocacy group China Aid Association (CAA) today urged the international community to take action by signing a petition on his behalf. Earlier this year Gao had authorized CAA to release his account of 50 days of torture by state-sponsored thugs in September and October of 2007. Gao had written the account in November 2007 while under house arrest in Beijing after prolonged beatings and electric shocks on his mouth and genitals. "Every time when I was tortured," Gao wrote, "I was always repeatedly threatened that if I spelled out later what had happened to me, I would be tortured again, but I was told, This time it will happen in front of your wife and children.'"
On Jan. 9, before state security agents in his home village in Shaanxi province abducted him on Feb. 4, Gao's family members began their escape from China. Gao's wife, Geng He, along with 16-year-old daughter Geng Ge and 5-year-old son Gao Tianyu, fear for his safety, according to CAA. In his 2007 account, Gao had written that those who captured and tortured him warned that if he revealed his treatment, he would be killed. He described a tall, strong man who pulled his hair and said repeatedly, "Your death is sure if you share this with the outside world."
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COLOMBIA
LEFTIST GUERILLAS THREATEN, KILL CHRISTIANS
March 18 (Compass Direct News) - Having been sentenced to die by leftist rebels for holding Christian worship services in 2006, a pastor in Colombia's northern department of Arauca took seriously the death threats that guerrillas issued on Friday (March 13), according to Christian support organization Open Doors. The rebels from the National Liberation Army (ELN) phoned a pastor of Ebenezer Church in Saravena at 5:30 a.m., telling him to meet them at a site on the Arauca River at 7 a.m. When the pastor, who requested anonymity, arrived at the landing, the guerrillas took him by canoe to the other side of the river - into Venezuela - then drove him to a guerrilla camp some 40 minutes away. For the next three hours, the rebels warned him that area pastors had three options: cooperate with the revolutionary cause of the guerrillas, leave or die. Although the ELN has been at odds with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), in Arauca they co-exist without conflict. FARC guerrillas control the southwestern department of Huila, where last November four Christians were killed.
Farley Cortés was killed on Nov. 5 in Plumeros village, Hermes Coronado Granado was killed on Nov. 8 in Santana Ramos, and 10 days later a married couple, Dora Lilia Saavedra and Ferney Ledezma were also killed there. Guerrillas seized Saavedra, 40, and the 35-year-old Ledezma from the school where Saavedra taught on Nov. 18, bound them on the floor of an old house and shot them several times. Their pastor, Hernan Camacho, has moved with his family out of the area after receiving death threats. "[The FARC guerrillas] say that we, the evangelical ones, are their worst enemy because we teach the people not to take up weapons," Pastor Camacho said.
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COLOMBIA
SIX MONTHS LATER, PASTOR STILL MISSING
March 23 (Compass Direct News) - Six months after the disappearance in Colombia of the Rev. William Reyes of Maicao, La Guajira, no one knows what happened to him. This week marks six months of agonizing uncertainty for the family of Rev. Reyes. On Sept. 25, 2008, the pastor of Light and Truth Inter-American Church disappeared en route home from a ministers' meeting in Valledupar, a city in the neighboring department (state) of Cesar.
Family members and friends fear that guerrilla fighters kidnapped the veteran minister; they have not seen or heard from him since his disappearance. Rev. Reyes and colleagues in the Fraternity of Evangelical Pastors of Maicao had received repeated threats from illegal armed groups operating in the La Guajira peninsula since March 2008. Guerrillas or their paramilitary rivals may have assassinated Rev. Reyes and disposed of his body, and some observers even speculate that he may have fallen victim to rogue units of the Colombian army that murder innocent civilians to inflate the body counts of "terrorists" killed in battle. But nobody knows for sure what happened to the 41-year-old father of three, ages 9 to 19. "Some days I feel so desperate, I don't know what to do," his wife, Idia Miranda de Reyes, told Compass by telephone from her home in Maicao. Through tears, she added, "My daughter Estefania helps me stay strong. She tells me, Mama don't cry,' remember that God is with us.'"
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INDIA
ANTI-CONVERSION' LAW CONSIDERED IN KARNATAKA
March 2 (Compass Direct News) - The Hindu nationalist government in the southern state of Karnataka, which recorded the second highest number of attacks on Christians last year, is planning to introduce the kind of "anti-conversion" law that has provided the pretext for anti-Christian violence in other states. Such laws are designed to thwart forcible or fraudulent conversion, but they are popularly misunderstood as criminalizing conversion in general. Comments from public officials sometimes heighten this misconception: India's constitution provides for freedom of religion, but Karnataka Minister for Law, Justice and Human Rights S. Suresh Kumar recently said in the Feb. 22 edition of a Hindu extremist publication that the state's Bharatiya Janata Party government "is set to frame an anti-conversion law, as innocent Hindus are getting converted to other religions."
Anti-conversion laws seek to curb religious conversions made by "force, fraud or allurement," but human rights groups say that they obstruct conversion generally, as Hindu nationalists invoke them to harass Christians with spurious arrests and incarcerations. Dr. Sajan K. George, national president of the Karnataka-based Global Council of Indian Christians, expressed anguish over reported plans to introduce a law that has a history of misuse by extreme Hindu nationalists. He also indicated his concern at the government's slackness in prosecuting those who have attacked Christians. "Unfortunately, 2008 saw the worst kind of regression in our society as the church in India experienced a wave of violence and persecution unprecedented since the origin of Christianity in India 2,000 years ago," George said.
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INDIA
PASTOR SHOT IN BOMB ATTACK ON CHURCH
March 10 (Compass Direct News) - In an effort to stop conversions to Christianity in the eastern state of Bihar, a 25-year-old ailing man on Sunday (March 8) exploded a crude bomb in a church and shot the pastor. Police Inspector Hari Krishna Mandal told Compass that the attacker, Rajesh Singh, had come fully prepared to kill the pastor, Vinod Kumar, in Baraw village in the Nasriganj area of Rohtas district, and then take his own life. Church members caught Singh before he could kill himself or others. At press time the 35-year-old pastor was out of danger of losing his life, according to a leader of Gospel Echoing Missionary Society (GEMS) who requested anonymity.
The church, Prarthana Bhawan (House of Prayer), belongs to GEMS. "In his statement, Singh said he was personally against Christian conversions and wanted to kill the pastor to stop conversions," Mandal said. Asked if Singh had any links with extremist Hindu nationalist groups, the inspector said no such organization was active in the area, though local Christians say Hindu extremist presence in the area has increased recently. The GEMS source said the incident could have been fallout from conversions in nearby Mithnipur village, where a Hindu family had received Christ after being healed from a mental illness around six months ago. Singh also lives in Mithnipur. Additionally, the source said, people allegedly linked with a Hindu nationalist group had sent a threatening letter to the pastor, asking him to stop preaching in the area.
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INDIA
BRIEFS: RECENT INCIDENTS OF PERSECUTION
Andhra Pradesh, March 19 (Compass Direct News) - Hindu extremists armed with sticks assaulted a pastor, seriously injuring him, on March 11 in Medak. About 30 extremists from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh stopped pastor Ezra Krupanamdam as he was returning from a prayer meeting at the home of a recently converted Christian, reported the All Indian Christian Council. The intolerant Hindus beat, punched and stomped on him. The pastor was found lying in a pool of blood and was rushed to a hospital. A medical examination showed that he sustained fractures to his spinal cord and ribs. At press time the pastor was in intensive care at Gandhi hospital. Area Superintendent of Police Bhaskar Reddy told Compass that four extremists were arrested in connection with the attack. - MS
New Delhi - About 12 Hindu extremists armed with rods and hockey sticks assaulted a pastor and his family and threatened to murder them on March 8 in India's capital. The extremists beat Apostolic Assembly Church pastor A.K. Wilson, his wife and son and took 15,000 rupees (US$290) from them, reported the Evangelical Fellowship of India. Warning the Christians not to continue their ministry, the Hindu hardliners threatened to burn their house and kill them if they did not vacate their home in one week. Pastor Wilson told Compass that he and his family sustained minor injuries; he added that he believes the attack was planned rather than spontaneous. The pastor filed a police complaint with Uttam Nagar police, and Station House Officer R. K. Tyagi told Compass that an investigation was underway. - MS
Uttar Pradesh - Hindu extremists in Unnao accused a pastor of forceful conversion on March 8 and threatened to destroy his church building. A source told Compass that the extremists tried to enter pastor K.K. Vimal's house at about 11 p.m. shouting denunciations of Christianity and falsely accusing him of hitting a neighbor's car and forcibly converting people. The pastor locked the doors and hid in the attic. The intolerant Hindus told the pastor to leave the area and to stop leading worship meetings. Unable to enter his home, they filed a police complaint and returned to the pastor's house with seven officers. After questioning, police found the accusations against the pastor were baseless. The Hindu hardliners, however, threatened to destroy his church building, shouting, "We'll see how big a pastor you really are." Pastor Vimal told Compass that he has relocated to another area. - MS
Karnataka - Hindu extremists from the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Council) disrupted a prayer meeting and threatened Christians on March 6 in Bangalore. The Global Council of Indian Christians reported that Siloam Brethren Assembly Church members had gathered in new church premises at about 7 p.m. for an inaugural prayer meeting when the Hindu extremists barged in. Led by a Hindu hardliner identified only as Ramamurthy, they disrupted the meeting, verbally abused the Christians and threatened to harm them if they met for Sunday worship on March 8. Church leaders filed a police complaint, and two police officers were posted on the church premises. A church representative told Compass that Sunday worship service was not conducted on March 8, as police advised church leaders against it. - MS
Andhra Pradesh - Upper-caste Hindu extremists on March 1 attacked the Sunday worship of a church in Khammam. The All India Christian Council reported that the extremists attacked pastor Isaac Ravi as he was leading the service, disconnected the power supply and beat the pastor and other Christians, including women and children. The attackers also damaged the church's furniture and sound system, shouting that there was no place for Christians in the area. A police complaint has been filed against the assailants, but no First Information Report has been registered. - MS
Uttarakhand - Police on March 1 beat a Christian after detaining him in Dehradun. The Global Council of Indian Christians reported than an unidentified group had repeatedly disturbed church meetings at a rented home by playing high-volume music during services the past few months. Pastor Kuldeep Singh filed a complaint against them at Patel Nagar police station on Feb. 24, and at about 10 a.m. on March 1, as Sunday worship was about to begin, officers arrived and took the Christian renting the house, Sanjay Verma, into custody. Some of those Pastor Singh had named in the complaint had summoned police to the site. Officers beat Verma and detained him for about two hours.
Christians gathered at the police station to support Verma, according to the Evangelical Fellowship of India, and police urged them to reach a compromise with those disturbing their worship services. The Christians refused, as members of the opposing group insisted that they would stop playing loud music only if the Christians stopped worshipping. The church moved worship services to another venue. - NC
Himachal Pradesh - Hindu extremists armed with sticks assaulted a Christian on Feb. 26 in Damtal. According to the Evangelical Fellowship of India (EFI), Joginder Masih had gone to a local shop when a group of extremists began following him and making derogatory comments about Christianity. Masih asked the Hindu hardliners to stop, and they beat him relentlessly. EFI reported that the intolerant Hindus opposed construction of a church building that Masih and other Christians had begun. Area Christians said they believed the attack was premeditated, with the extremists trying to provoke Masih into retaliating. Sustaining minor injuries, he filed a police complaint but no First Information Report has been registered. - MS
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INDIA
BRIEFS: RECENT INCIDENTS OF PERSECUTION
Rajasthan, March 31 (Compass Direct News) - Hindu extremists from the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP or World Hindu Council) on March 21 attacked Bible students and staff members of the Believers Church and demanded 10,000 rupees (US$193) from them in Udaipur. A church source said the Christians were distributing gospel tracts in a Jeep when the extremists stopped them and dragged the driver out. Commandeering the vehicle, the Hindu extremists drove toward a remote area and beat the Christians, tearing up their gospel tracts. The church representative told Compass some Christians sustained minor injuries. The Christians later reached an agreement with the extremists without bowing to their demands to cease evangelistic activity.
Kerala - About 10 Hindu hardliners from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on March 15 attacked an evangelist in Malapuram. The Global Council of Indian Christians reported that the extremists pulled away Tribal Mission evangelist O.J. Andrews as he was leading a worship service, dragged him about 30 kilometers (19 miles) in the street and beat him. The extremists had earlier accused the pastor of forceful conversion in a poster they had pasted on a wall, a charge he denied. Andrews filed a police complaint in Nilampur police station, but Sub-Inspector Ommer, who goes by one name, told Compass that the evangelist agreed to withdraw the charge after the extremists agreed to live peaceably with Christians. Police gave the hard-line BJP members a stern warning not to disturb the Christians again.
Punjab - Hindu extremists from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh on March 15 accused a pastor of trying to convert people to Christianity by offering them money and seriously injured another Christian in Ludhiana. A source told Compass that at about 4 p.m. on the previous day, a pastor identified only as Tiwari and other Christians were distributing gospel tracts when a group of Hindu extremists attacked them. They beat six Christians in all, including women, all of whom sustained minor injuries. The next day, about 200 area extremists massed and removed a cross, pictures and gospel literature and burned them in a fire as they danced around it. They beat Christians present, seriously injuring Ayub Masih. Police arrived, and each party filed complaints against the other. Superintendent of Police Harbinder Singh told Compass that about 20 police officers are posted in the area and that officials were trying to arrange a peace agreement between the two parties.
Himachal Pradesh - Gospel for Asia (GFA) reported that Hindu extremists beat two Christian missionaries on March 14 in an undisclosed village in Himachal Pradesh. A mob of about 30 Hindu hardliners beat and kicked GFA missionaries Murari Jay and Atul Rajesh, leaving Jay with severe injuries to his back and Rajesh with acute head trauma. GFA representative Sushant Sona told Compass that, besides beating the Christians, the intolerant Hindus stormed into their home and burned their belongings. At about 6:30 p.m. the extremists took the Christians to the police station, and officers took them into custody allegedly as a security measure. They were released at about 11:30 p.m. The assailants reached an agreement by which they agreed not to attack the Christians again if the Christians agreed to drop charges.
Madhya Pradesh - Hindu extremists on March 12 splashed gas on the house of a pastor in Nainpur, Mandala and set it aflame. A source said the extremists burned the house of pastor James Masih of St. Mark Church at midnight, damaging doors, windows, curtains, files and furniture. Pastor Masih told Compass that local people opposed his congregation because of their Christian activities. The pastor filed a police complaint at Nainpur police station, but no arrests had been made at press time.
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IRAN
THREE CONVERTS ORDERED TO STOP CHRISTIAN ACTIVITIES'
March 31 (Compass Direct News) - Declaring three Iranian Christians guilty of cooperating with "anti-government movements," a court in Shiraz on March 10 ordered the converts to discontinue Christian activities and stop propagating their faith. An Islamic Revolutionary Court judge handed an eight-month suspended prison sentence with a five-year probation to Seyed Allaedin Hussein, Homayoon Shokouhi, and Seyed Amir Hussein Bob-Annari. The judge said he would enforce their prison sentence and try them as "apostates," or those who leave Islam, if they violate terms of their probation - including a ban on contacting one another. A new penal code under consideration by the Iranian Parliament includes a bill that would require the death penalty for apostasy. "The warning that they will be arrested and tried as apostates' if they continue their Christian activities is quite chilling," said a regional analyst who requested anonymity.
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KENYA
CHURCH STILL STRUGGLING AFTER ISLAMISTS DESTROY BUILDING
March 5 (Compass Direct News) - Six months after a gang of Muslim youths ruined a church building in the town of Garissa in northern Kenya, Christians still worshipping in the sweltering heat of the open air say they feel disillusioned that officials have done nothing to punish the culprits or restore their structure. On a sunny afternoon last Sept. 14, when angry Muslim youths threw more than 400 members of the Redeemed Gospel Church out of their church building, the Christians hoped they would be able to return to the ruins of their former structure. That hope is quickly giving way to anger, hopelessness and despair. "After six months in the open, the church feels tired and cheated," said pastor David Matolo. "We are fed up with the empty promises from the government administration." He said the church, which began worshipping in Garissa in early 2001 with only a dozen members, is fast shrinking. "Our church membership has decreased, which is of great concern to me," he told Compass. "The church thinks that the government has decided to buy time - almost every month I do book appointments with the relevant authorities, who on several occasions have given us a deaf ear."
*** Photos of the congregation meeting in the open air, the ruined church building and the Rev. Ibrahim Kamwaro are available electronically. Contact Compass Direct News for pricing and transmittal.
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LAOS
POLICE DESTROY CHURCH BUILDING IN VILLAGE
March 30 (Compass Direct News) - Police in Borikhamxay province, Laos, on March 19 destroyed a church building in Nonsomboon village while Christian residents attended a meeting called by district officials. A member of the provincial religious affairs department, identified only as Bounlerm, has since claimed that police destroyed the worship facility because it was built without official approval. Tension between the Christians and local authorities escalated last year when officials ordered at least 40 Christian families living in Ban Mai village to relocate some 20 kilometers (12 miles) to the newly-created Nonsomboon for "administrative reasons," according to advocacy group Human Rights Watch for Lao Religious Freedom (HRWLRF). Authorities had previously evicted Christians from several other villages in the district and relocated them to Ban Mai village, HRWLRF reported. Families were expected to cover their own relocation expenses, including the cost of rebuilding their homes and re-establishing their livelihoods. Residents initially refused to relocate a second time, largely because officials would not grant permission to move their existing church building or to erect a new structure in Nonsomboon. Eventually they were forced to move under duress.
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MOROCCO
OFFICIALS DEPORT FIVE FOREIGN CHRISTIANS
March 31 (Compass Direct News) - The Moroccan government announced on Sunday (March 29) it had expelled five female Christians for attempting to "proselytize" in the Islamic country, although sources said they were foreign visitors merely attending a Bible study with fellow Christians. The accused women were five of 23 tourists, expatriates and Moroccans arrested in Casablanca on Saturday during what the Interior Ministry called a "proselytizing" meeting involving Moroccan citizens. Police seized numerous pieces of evangelistic "propaganda," including Arabic books and videos. But a source told Compass that everyone in attendance was a Christian and that they had gathered merely for a Bible study, which he said falls within Morocco's constitutional right of freedom to express one's faith. While the decision to expel the women indicated lack of religious freedom in Morocco, it likely has more to do with a Moroccan bias against missionary activity in general, not against Christian evangelism per se, said Elliot Abrams, senior fellow for the Council on Foreign Relations. Earlier this month a Shiite school was closed after accusations that it was attempting to convert students, and rights groups claim that about a dozen people have been arrested on suspicion they had converted to Shiite Islam. "[Morocco] is generally more sensitive about missionary activity, and cannot be seen to allow Christian activity while stopping Muslim activity," Abrams said.
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PAKISTAN
ONE WOMAN DEAD IN ATTACK ON CHRISTIANS
March 9 (Compass Direct News) - Gun and club attacks on a Presbyterian church and neighboring homes in the predominantly Christian area of a village in Pakistan last week killed one woman and left 16 people wounded. Seeking revenge for a robbery complaint that a Christian filed against him, local Muslim Waseem Butt on March 2 led groups of his friends and family members in indiscriminate attacks aimed at the Christian community in Sangu-Wali, village, near Aroop town in Gujranwala district, reported advocacy group Sharing Life Ministries Pakistan (SLMP). Groups of between five and 15 Muslims arriving from different directions attacked the church and area homes, said Sohail Johnson, head of SLMP. During the violence, 45-year-old Shakeela Bibi sustained bamboo rod blows to the head and died before reaching the hospital. SLMP and the Centre for Legal Aid Assistance and Settlement reported that the attack followed an attempt by a Christian to file a First Instance Report with police against two Muslims for robbery and attempted rape. "The death of my wife is an irreparable loss to me and my children," Manzoor Masih, Bibi's husband, told SLMP. "I am concerned that Muslims are very strong here, we are poor, and we can not afford enmity with them. They will kill us too."
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PAKISTAN
CHRISTIAN FACES BLASPHEMY' ABETTING CHARGE, DANGERS
March 13 (Compass Direct News) - A Pakistani investigator has ruled out a charge against a Christian for "blaspheming Islam" but retained another for abetting blasphemy, and advocates worry the stigma of the charges could make him a target for local Islamists. Hector Aleem, 51, remains in Adiyala Jail in Rawalpindi, near Pakistan's capital of Islamabad. His lawyer said he believes law enforcement officers and community members framed Aleem for his social activism on behalf of Christians so that the stigma of the charges would subject him to the danger of violence. The case began last November when a Muslim scholar received a text message insulting the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Investigating Officer Zafer Ikbal on March 4 ruled out the possibility of a blasphemy charge since evidence showed the message came from an unlisted phone number, not Aleem's. This move followed a Feb. 2 decision by Judge Sakhi Mohammad Kohut to exonerate Aleem of blasphemy by moving the case from an anti-terrorism court to a magistrate court; with the change of court, the investigating officer had considered anew the possibility of a blasphemy charge. Aleem's attorney, Malik Tafik, said the remaining charge's connection to blasphemy against Islam could put Aleem in danger of attacks by Muslim extremists even if he is found innocent. "He will continue to be in danger from religious extremists after the case finishes," Tafik said. "Even though he is only charged with abetment, he is still in danger."
*** A photo of Hector Aleem is available electronically. Contact Compass Direct News for pricing and transmittal.
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PAKISTAN
CHRISTIANS BRACE FOR SHARIA IN SWAT VALLEY
March 27 (Compass Direct News) - Just over a month since Pakistan's Swat Valley turned into a Taliban stronghold where sharia (Islamic law) rules, the fate of the remaining Christians in the area is uncertain. In an effort to end a bloody two-year battle, the Islamabad administration struck a deal with Taliban forces surrendering all governance of Swat Valley in the North West Frontier Province. Sources told Compass that in the violence that has killed and displaced hundreds, an estimated 500 Christians remain in the region. In the past year, more than 200 girls schools in Swat were reported to have been burned down or bombed by Islamic extremists. Remaining girls schools were closed down in January but have been re-opened since the peace agreement in mid-February. An associate pastor of the sole Church of Pakistan congregation in Swat told Yousaf Benjamin of the National Commission for Justice and Peace that with the bombing of girls schools at the end of last year, all Christian families migrated to nearby districts. After the peace deal and with guarded hope for normalcy and continued education for their children, most Christian families have returned but are reluctant to attend church. The associate pastor, who requested anonymity, said that "people don't come to the church as they used to come before." He said that Christians have yet to believe the Taliban will keep promises of peace.
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TURKEY
INSULTING TURKISHNESS' CASE PROCEEDS UNDER REVISED LAW
ISTANBUL, March 20 (Compass Direct News) - Turkey's decision last month to try two Christians under a revised version of a controversial law for "insulting Turkishness" because they spoke about their faith came as a blow to the country's record of freedom of speech and religion. A Silivri court on Feb. 24 received the go-ahead from the Ministry of Justice to try Christians Turan Topal and Hakan Tastan under the revised Article 301 - a law that has sparked outrage among proponents of free speech as journalists, writers, activists and lawyers have been tried under it. The court had sent the case to the Ministry of Justice after the government on May 8, 2008 put into effect a series of changes - which critics have called "cosmetic" - to the law. The justice ministry decision came as a surprise to Topal and Tastan and their lawyer, as missionary activities are not illegal in Turkey. Defense lawyer Haydar Polat said no concrete evidence of insulting Turkey or Islam has emerged since the case first opened two years ago. "The trial will continue from where it left off - to be honest, we thought they wouldn't give permission [for the case to continue]," said Polat, "because there was no persuasive evidence of degrading Turkishness and Islam' in the case file."
*** Photos of Turan Topal and Hakan Tastan are available electronically. Contact Compass Direct News for pricing and transmittal.
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TURKEY
CHRISTIANS IN TURKEY MAY APPEAL FINE FOR ILLEGAL' FUNDS
March 27 (Compass Direct News) - Fearing that a court-ordered fine of two Turkish Christians here for "illegal collection of funds" would set a precedent crippling to churches, their lawyer plans to take the case to a European court. Hakan Tastan and Turan Topal each paid the fine of 600 Turkish lira (US$360) to a civil court in the Beyoglu district of Istanbul yesterday. The verdict cannot be appealed within the Turkish legal system, but their lawyer said he is considering taking the case to the European Court of Human Rights. The ruling refers to the men receiving church offerings without official permission from local civil authorities. Nearly all Protestant fellowships in Turkey are registered as associations, with very few having status as a recognized religious body, and strict application of the law would limit the scope of churches collecting funds. Although the punishment is a relatively small fine, their lawyer told Compass there is now a precedent that authorities could use to harass any church for collecting tithes and offerings. "For now, this court decision is an individual decision, but we fear in the future this could be carried out against all churches," said defense attorney Haydar Polat.
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