1 - Islamic Extremists in Somalia Hunt Down Christians
Islamic militants in Somalia sought out at least 15 Christians, including women and children, and killed them for their faith in a ruthless bid to rid the country of all non-Muslim faiths in 2009. Two of the victims were children taken from their mother and beheaded when the Islamic rebels could not find their father, an underground church leader. On Nov. 14, Islamic extremists controlling part of the Somali capital of Mogadishu executed a 23-year-old Christian they accused of trying to convert a 15-year-old Muslim to Christianity.
Members of the Islamic extremist group al Shabaab had taken Mumin Abdikarim Yusuf into custody on Oct. 28 after the 15-year-old boy reported him to the militants. Before Yusuf was executed by two shots to the head, reports filtered in that he had been badly beaten and his fingers broken as the Islamists tried to extract incriminating evidence against him and information about other Christians. The source later learned that Yusuf's body showed signs of torture; all of his front teeth were gone, and some of his fingers were broken, he said.
On Oct. 19 in Galkayo, in Somalia's autonomous Puntland region, three masked members of another militant Islamist group in Somalia killed a Somali woman who declined to wear a veil as prescribed by Muslim custom. Members of the comparatively "moderate" Suna Waljameca group killed Amina Muse Ali, 45, in her home; she had said members of the group had long monitored her movements because they suspected she was a Christian. Suna Waljameca is considered "moderate" in comparison with al Shabaab, which it has fought against for control over areas of Somalia; it is one of several Islamic groups in the country championing adoption of a strict interpretation of sharia (Islamic law). Along with al Shabaab, said to have links with al Qaeda, another group vying for power is the Hisbul Islam political party. Compass discovered an underground network of 224 believers not previously known in 2009, in addition to 74 known Christians. Somali Christians are in danger from both extremist groups and Somali law. While proclaiming himself a moderate, President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed has embraced a version of sharia that mandates the death penalty for those who leave Islam.
On Sept. 28, a leader of Islamic extremist al Shabaab militia in Lower Juba identified only as Sheikh Arbow shot to death 46-year-old Mariam Muhina Hussein in Marerey village after discovering she had six Bibles. On Sept. 15, al Shabaab militants shot 69-year-old Omar Khalafe at a checkpoint they controlled 10 kilometers (six miles) from Merca after discovering that he was transporting Bibles. On Aug. 18 al Shabaab extremists shot and killed 41-year-old Ahmed Matan in Bulahawa, near the Somali border with Kenya. In Mahadday Weyne, 100 kilometers (62 miles) north of Mogadishu, al Shabaab Islamists on July 20 shot to death another convert from Islam, Mohammed Sheikh Abdiraman. On Feb. 21 al Shabaab militants beheaded two young boys in Somalia because their Christian father refused to divulge information about a church leader. The extremists also reportedly beheaded seven Christians on July 10; Reuters reported that they were killed in Baidoa for being Christians and "spies."
*** A photo of Omar Khalafe is available electronically. Contact Compass Direct News for pricing and transmittal.
2 - Islamists Assault Christian Colony in Pakistan with Impunity
Islamic assailants in Pakistan acting on a false rumor of "blasphemy" of the Quran and whipped into frenzy by local imams attacked a Christian colony in Gojra, Punjab Province, burning at least seven Christians to death, injuring 19 others, looting more than 100 houses and setting fire to 50 of them. The dead included women and children. The attack came amid a protest by thousands of Muslim Islamists - including members of banned militant groups - that resulted in another six people dying when participants shot at police and officers responded with tear gas and gunfire. The same rumor of desecration of the Quran that led to the massive protest and attack in Gojra, 50 kilometers (31 miles) from Faisalabad, also prompted an arson assault by Islamists on July 30 on the village of Korian, seven miles from Gojra, that gutted 60 houses.
Two Christians in Gojra who allegedly fired warning shots as the Islamist mob approached on Aug. 1 told Compass they were tortured after police arrested them. Naveed Masih, 32, and his 25-year-old brother Nauman Masih were arrested on Sept. 2 and Sept. 7 respectively for "rioting with deadly weapons and spreading terror with firing," while only one Muslim was arrested following the massive assault. Naveed Masih, accused of killing one of the assailants in the Gojra attacks, has been released on bail, as has his brother Nauman Masih. The brothers gave shelter to 300 people during the attacks and were said to have been arrested at the behest of Islamists seeking retaliation for their statements as key witnesses against the assailants.
The attacks came amid deteriorating security as Taliban Islamists wreaked havoc on the country, and as spurious accusations against Christians under Pakistan's notorious "blasphemy" laws spread at feverish rate. A 22-year-old Christian was allegedly tortured to death while in custody in Sialkot on a charge of blaspheming the Quran. Area Christians suspect police killed Robert Danish, nicknamed "Fanish" or "Falish" by friends, by torturing him to death on Sept. 15 after the mother of his Muslim girlfriend contrived a charge against him of desecrating Islam's scripture. The allegation led to calls from mosque loudspeakers to punish Christians, prompting an Islamic mob to attack a church building in Jathikai village on Sept. 11 and the beating of several of the 30 families forced to flee their homes. Jathikai was Danish's native village. Eyewitnesses at the funeral in Christian Town, Sialkot, said police fired shots directly at the Christians, injuring three, when mourners began to move the coffin toward nearby Jathikai. Three prison officials were reportedly suspended after Danish died in custody.
*** Photos of Robert Danish, Naveed Masih and Nauman Masih are available electronically. Contact Compass Direct News for pricing and transmittal.
3 - Four Eritrean Christians Die in Prison for their Faith
Four Christians were known to have died in prison in Eritrea in 2009 after refusing to recant their faith. At the Mitire Military Confinement Center in the country's northeast, 37-year-old Mogos Hagos Kiflom was said to have died from torture in early January. On Jan. 16, Mehari Gebreneguse Asgedom, 42, died in solitary confinement at the Mitire camp from torture and complications from diabetes, according to Christian support group Open Doors.
Sources told Netherlands-based Open Doors that Yemane Kahasay Andom, 43, died on July 23 at the same prison. A member of the Kale-Hiwot church in Mendefera, Andom was said to be secretly buried in the camp. Weakened by continuous torture, Andom was suffering from a severe case of malaria. "He was allegedly further weakened by continuous physical torture and solitary confinement in an underground cell the two weeks prior to his death for his refusal to sign a recantation form," the organization said in a statement. "It is not clear what the contents of the recantation form were, but most Christians interpret the signing of such a form as the denouncement of their faith in Christ." Andom had spent the past 18 months at the Mitire camp.
In September, at least seven prisoners held at Wi'a Military camp died in an outbreak of meningitis, including one Christian, according to the organization. Mesfin Gebrekristos died on Sept. 3 after spending a year imprisoned for his evangelical faith. He left behind a wife and two children.
The Eritrean government in May 2002 outlawed all religious groups except Islam and the Orthodox, Catholic and Lutheran churches. The government of President Isaias Afwerki has stepped up its campaign against churches it has outlawed, once again earning it a spot on the U.S. Department of State's latest list of worst violators of religious freedom. Eritrean officials have routinely denied that religious oppression exists in the country, saying the government is only enforcing laws against unregistered churches. The government has denied all efforts by independent Protestant churches to register, and people caught worshipping outside the four recognized religious institutions, even in private homes, suffer arrest, torture and severe pressure to deny their faith. The Eritrean Orthodox Church and its flourishing renewal movement have also been subject to government raids.
4 - Iran Detains Two Christian Women amid Historical Crackdown
In a growing climate of fear as Iran cracked down on dissidents following disputed elections, authorities detained two Christian women for nine months and pressured them to recant their faith. Maryam Rostampour, 27, and Marzieh Amirizadeh Esmaeilabad, 30, were held in Iran's notorious Evin prison after their arrest on March 5 for "acting against state security" and "taking part in illegal gatherings." On Aug. 9, they appeared before a judge who asked them if they would deny their faith and return to Islam; both women refused, and the judge sent them back to their prison cells "to think about it," according to a source who spoke with family members. "This is something we say in Iran," said the source. "It means, 'Since you're not sorry, you'll stay in jail for a long time, and maybe you'll change your mind.'"
The two women were released on Nov. 18 without having to post bail amid an international campaign calling for their freedom. They still could face charges of proselytizing and "apostasy," or leaving Islam. An article mandating death for apostates in accordance with sharia (Islamic law) reportedly had been stricken from a draft penal code, but experts on Iran say The Council of Guardians and Iran's Supreme Leader still have the final say on who receives capital punishment for leaving Islam.
Their ordeal came amid waves of arrests of Christians throughout the year. Public allegations that detainees have been tortured, abused, killed and raped in custody fueled unusually public fury in Iran this year. Iranian sources said a long-standing government rift between liberal and conservative factions is widening and becoming more apparent. "We have never had such a thing," an Iranian source told Compass. "All these old problems that were inside the government between liberals and fundamentalists are coming out, and we can see them on TV, radio, newspaper, the public media in the country." A sense among government officials of having lost control contributed to the uptick in arrests of people of minority religions, including Christians, the source said.
*** A photo of Maryam Rostampour and Marzieh Amirizadeh Esmaeilabad is available electronically. Contact Compass Direct News for pricing and transmittal.
5 - China Again Tortures Key Christian Human Rights Attorney
In a year of such a marked clampdown on house churches that even mainstream media took note, Chinese authorities again arranged for state-sponsored thugs to abduct and torture Christian human rights attorney Gao Zhisheng. Early in 2009 Gao authorized advocacy group China Aid Association (CAA) to release his account of 50 days of torture by state-sponsored thugs in September and October of 2007. He 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, arrived on foot to Thailand and eventually were whisked to the United States. They arrived in Los Angeles on March 11 and were transferred to New York on March 14. In his 2007 account, Gao had written that those who captured and tortured him warned that if he revealed their ill treatment of him, he would be killed. On March 25 CAA launched a campaign urging the international community to take action on his behalf. By year's end his whereabouts were still unknown, although a family member reportedly had telephone contact in which Gao indicated he was suffering intensely.
Gao has defended house church Christians and coal miners as well as members of the banned Falun Gong, which fuses Buddhist-inspired teachings with forms of meditation. Gao's suffering in 2007 followed an open letter he wrote to the U.S. Congress describing China's torture of Falun Gong members. Persecution of Christian house churches in towns and villages is "no different from the disaster suffered by Falun Gong practitioners," he wrote. "In my hometown, a small county, the number of arrested, detained, and robbed family church members each year is far beyond persecuted Falun Gong practitioners, and this illegal persecution has been going on for a long time."
The abduction of Gao came amid one of the most severe crackdowns in recent years, advocacy groups said. Bypassing the court system, on Nov. 30 China arbitrarily sentenced five leaders of the Fushan Church in Linfen City, Shanxi Province to re-education labor camps for two years, according to CAA. The five leaders were accused of "gathering people to disturb the public order" after they organized a prayer rally of 1,000 people the day after military police and others attacked their church members and building on Sept. 13.
On Nov. 25 a Chinese court sentenced five house church leaders to three to seven years in prison after they were arrested en route to Beijing to file a complaint about an attack on their church. The Sept. 13 attack on the Fushan Church branch congregation in Linfen involved some 400 uniformed police and civilians bearing shovels, batons, bricks, iron hooks and other weapons beating members of the church who were sleeping at the nearly finished factory building used as a worship site. With several Fushan County officials involved in the attack, more than 30 Christians were seriously injured among the 100 Christians who were hurt, CAA reported. The five pastors sentenced on Nov. 25 were arrested on Sept. 25 without a warrant, according to CAA. Yang Rongli was sent to prison for seven years for "illegally occupying farming land" and "disturbing transportation order by gathering masses." She and four other pastors were sentenced at the People's Court of Raodu district, Linfen City, Shanxi Province. Yang's husband, Wang Xiaoguang, was handed a sentence of three years on the charge of "illegally occupying farming land." Cui Jiaxing was sentenced to four and half years, and Yang Xuan to three and half years, on the same charge; Zhang Huamei received four years of prison for "disturbing transportation order by gathering masses."
*** A photo of the demolished factory used as worship site is available electronically. Contact Compass Direct News for pricing and transmittal.
6 - Egyptian Muslims Mount Brazen, Large-Scale Attacks on Christians
Societal and official oppression of Christians came to a head in Egypt in 2009 with especially brazen attacks on Christians by Islamic extremists. In one gruesome attack on Sept. 16, Galal Nasr el-Dardiri, 35, mutilated 63-year-old Abdu Georgy in front of the victim's shop in Behnay village. Other Copts watched in horror as El-Dardiri stabbed Georgy five times in the back, according to newspaper Al-Youm al-Sabeh. As Georgy fell to the ground, El-Dardiri stabbed him four times in the stomach. He then disemboweled him, slit his throat and began sawing off his head. The Rev. Stephanos Aazer, a Coptic priest who knew Georgy and saw photographs of his mutilated body, said the victim's head was attached to the body only by a small piece of flesh. El-Dardiri then allegedly went to a nearby town and stabbed Coptic shopkeeper Boils Eid Messiha, 40, leaving him in critical condition; he then went to Mit Afif and attacked another Copt, Hany Barsom Soliman, who suffered lacerations to his arms.
El-Dardiri was arrested on Sept. 17 in Cairo and charged with murder. Ibrahim Habib, chairman of United Copts Great Britain, said Egypt has encouraged the type of "radicalization" that has led to such attacks. "It is the Egyptian government's responsibility now to stop the persecution and victimization of its Coptic minority by Islamic fundamentalists," he said. "The persecution and victimization of the Christians in Egypt has been persistent for three decades and recently escalated to a worrying tempo."
Official oppression of Christians in 2009 included the rejection of a second convert's attempt to change his identification card's religious status from Muslim to Christian and the slaughter of the nation's pigs, crippling the livelihood of thousands of swine breeders, nearly all Coptic Christians. The World Health Organization criticized the measure as unnecessary for fighting the H1-N1 flu strain, as no cases of "swine flu" had been reported in Egypt, when the government ordered the slaughter at the end of April. An estimated 250,000 mainly poor Christians in Cairo made their living from collecting garbage and raising pigs in slum areas. The government's decision to destroy as many as 400,000 pigs was also lambasted by the United Nations as having little or no warrant, fueling speculation that the directive was motivated by the Islamic prohibition of pig consumption and the fact that Egypt's pork industry is run almost entirely by Copts. A U.S.-based Coptic rights group condemned the slaughter as a deliberate targeting of defenseless Christians and a continuation of a long campaign of discrimination against the Coptic community.
On June 13, a court rejected an Egyptian convert's attempt to change his identification card's religious status from Muslim to Christian, the second failed attempt to exercise constitutionally guaranteed religious freedom by a Muslim-born convert to Christianity. Maher El-Gohary was attacked on the street, subjected to death threats and driven into hiding as a result of opening his case. "I am disappointed with what happened and shocked with the decision, because I went to great lengths and through a great deal of hardship," he said. El-Gohary followed Mohammed Ahmed Hegazy as only the second Muslim-born convert in Egypt to request such a change.
7 - Islamic Sect in Nigeria Mounts Sharia Offensive
An Islamic sect opposed to Western education in northern Nigeria's Borno state killed at least 12 Christians, including three pastors, among hundreds of others slain in an offensive to impose a strict version of Islamic law on the country. The Boko Haram sect initially attacked police and government bases. Rampaging members burned 20 churches before police captured and killed Boko Haram's leader, Mohammed Yusuf. Police say Yusuf was killed "while trying to escape," but he was widely thought to have been executed after being arrested alive in his hideout.
Violence started on July 26, when armed sect members attacked a police station in Bauchi state that set off a firestorm of violence spreading to Borno, Kano and Yobe states. Those killed in Borno include Pastor Sabo Yakubu of Church of Christ in Nigeria (COCIN), the Rev. Sylvester Akpan of National Evangelical Mission and the Rev. George Orji of Good News of Christ Church International, Inc. Church buildings burned in Borno included five branches of the COCIN denomination, two Catholic churches, two Deeper Life Church buildings, two EYN (Church of the Brethren in Nigeria) buildings, and buildings of the National Evangelical Mission, Celestial Church of Christ, Elijah Apostolic Church, The Lord's Chosen Charismatic Revival Ministries, Assemblies of God Church, Redeemed Christian Church of God, Christ for All Nations, Baptist Church and Anglican Church, all in different parts of the state.
Samuel Salifu, national secretary of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), said the association had lost confidence in the government's ability to safeguard the lives and property of Christians. Accusing Borno Gov. Ali Modu Sheriff of complicity in the emergence of Boku Haram, Salifu voiced concern that the sect would perceive Christianity as a Western religion and therefore as something to be eliminated. The governor's press director, Usman Ciroma, dismissed CAN's claim of complicity by Gov. Sheriff, and the governor denied any relationship with the Islamic sect.
8 - U.S. Christian Assassinated in Mauritania
The presence of an al-Qaeda-linked terrorist group in the North African country of Mauritania emerged in greater force in 2009. Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, North African unit of the al-Qaeda terrorist network, claimed responsibility for the murder of Christopher Leggett, 39, killed on June 23 in front of the language and computer school he operated in the capital city of Nouakchott. A North African al-Qaeda spokesman aired a statement on an Arab TV station saying the group killed Leggett because he was speaking to Muslims of Christianity.
Advocacy organization Middle East Concern reported that Leggett "resisted what appeared to be an attempt to kidnap him and was then shot in the head several times by his two assailants." Leggett, his wife and four children lived for seven years in Mauritania, where he directed an aid agency that provided training in computer skills, sewing and literacy, and he also ran a micro-finance program. His efforts to better the lives of people in Mauritania were widely appreciated, with Mauritania's minister of justice saying that his death "was a great loss to Mauritania." Mauritania's National Foundation for the Defense of Democracy called for the killers to be brought to justice.
Leggett, who grew up in Cleveland, Tenn., taught at a center specializing in computer science and languages in El Kasr, a lower-class neighborhood in Nouakchott. He was a member of First Baptist Church of Cleveland for many years and most recently was a member of Michigan Avenue Baptist Church of Cleveland. The last previously known activity of al-Qaeda in Mauritania occurred in December 2007, when gunmen believed to be linked to al-Qaeda's North Africa branch killed four French tourists picnicking near Aleg, east of Nouakchott.
9 - Intimidation Tactics Eclipse Justice following Violence in India
Christians in India were disappointed in the prosecution of those accused of three months of violence in Orissa state the previous year. Christian leaders in India called for a special investigations team to counter what they called shoddy or corrupt police investigations into violence that killed more than 100 people - mostly hacked to death or burned alive - and which incinerated more than 4,500 houses, over 250 churches and 13 educational institutions. Of the 100 cases handled by two-fast track courts, 32 had been heard as of Nov. 30, resulting in 48 convictions and more than 164 acquittals.
Among those exonerated "for lack of evidence" was Manoj Pradhan, a legislator from the Hindu extremist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), who was acquitted of murder on Nov. 24. He was accused of killing Trinath Digal of Tiangia village on Aug. 25, 2008. Pradhan was cleared in six of 14 cases against him. He was arrested and jailed in October 2008 and was elected as BJP Member of the Legislative Assembly from the G. Udayagiri constituency while in jail.
The number of cases registered total 787. "Christians are extremely shocked by this travesty of justice in Orissa," attorney Bibhu Dutta Das told Compass. The government of Orissa set up two fast-track courts in Kandhamal district headquarters for cases related to the violence that began after the killing of Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati and four of his disciples in Jalespetta on Aug. 23, 2008. The chief minister of Orissa state has admitted that Hindu extremist umbrella group Sangh Parivar was involved in the anti-Christian violence. Attorneys said acquittals have resulted from police investigations that were intentionally defective to cover up for Hindu extremist attackers. In many cases, for example, police have fraudulently misrepresented the ages of suspects so they would not match with those denoted in the victims' First Information Reports, leaving the court no option but to let the alleged culprits go.
Additionally, an estimated half of the 50,000 Christians who fled to refugee camps have been unable to return home. "Many cannot, as they have been told they have to convert to Hinduism before they will be accepted in the villages," said Dr. John Dayal of the All India Christian Council. "The threats and coercion continue till today." He added that most of the more than 5,000 houses destroyed in December 2007 and August-October 2008 mayhem have yet to be rebuilt.
10 - Mexican Supreme Court Frees 29 Accused in Acteal Massacre
After years of legal wrangling, the Supreme Court of Mexico on Nov. 4 and Aug. 12 ordered the release of 29 prisoners and retrials for 22 others accused in the Acteal massacre of December 1997. The court ruled that federal authorities had used "invented proofs and witnesses" in convicting the men, many of them evangelical Christians supportive of the then-ruling party who had land disputes and other conflicts with their accusers - mainly Roman Catholics sympathetic to the rebel Zapatista National Liberation Army. The 22 men to be retried, plus at least six others, remained in prison.
The rulings brought to an end more than a decade of struggle by relatives and other supporters of the men. The court ruled that prosecutors violated legal process, fabricated evidence and false testimonies, formulated non-existent crimes and provided no concrete argument establishing culpability of the men. Supreme Court Justice José Ramón Cossío Diaz said the decision to free them was not a declaration of innocence but recognition of "a lack of impugning evidence" against them in the Dec. 22, 1997 massacre, in which 45 people were killed, including women and children.
Controversy over who killed the 45 people has revolved around whether there was a "massacre" by numerous "paramilitary" villagers or a "confrontation" between a handful of neighboring peasants and Zapatista rebels. Historian Héctor Aguilar Camín has argued that there was both a confrontation and a massacre, with some overlap between each, but that they were largely separate incidents. Five confessed killers have testified that they and four others engaged only Zapatista militia to avenge the death of a relative, while the federal attorney general's office charged that at least 50 pro-government "paramilitaries" descended on a relief camp hermitage full of displaced peasants bent on killing and robbing them.
The testimonies of the five confessed killers - the four others remain at large - agree that the nine avengers were the only ones involved in the firefights, and that the decision to attack the Zapatistas was a private family decision made with no involvement from government authorities. They also agree that the sole motive was to avenge the assassination of a relative - the latest of 18 unprosecuted murders by Zapatistas over the previous three months, according to Aguilar Camín. Government prosecutors unduly dismissed much of the testimony of the five confessed avengers, Aguilar Camín wrote in a 2007 article for Nexos, and over the years judges critical of the hasty convictions were mysteriously transferred to other courts and cases.
*** Photos of some of the Acteal prisoners are available electronically. Contact Compass Direct News for pricing and transmittal.
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ALGERIA
CHURCH CONTINUES IN SPITE OF BURNT BUILDING
January 21 (Compass Direct News) - Members of a church in Algeria's Kabylie region gathered to worship last Saturday (Jan. 16) in their new building despite a protest, vandalism and a fire that damaged the building the previous weekend. Local Muslims bent on running the congregation out of the neighborhood set fires inside and outside the building on Jan. 9. Before setting it on fire, the assailants ransacked the Tafat Church building in Tizi Ouzou, a city 100 kilometers (62 miles) east of Algiers. The perpetrators damaged everything within the new building, including electrical appliances. "This last Saturday the church held a service even though not everyone was present," said Mustapha Krim, president of the Protestant Church of Algeria. "But they continue."
*** Photos of damaged church articles are available electronically. Contact Compass Direct News for pricing and transmittal.
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BHUTAN
DESPITE DEMOCRACY, CHRISTIANS REMAIN UNDERGROUND
January 25 (Compass Direct News) - In this distant and isolated nation in the eastern Himalayas, known as the "Land of the Thunder Dragon," almost everything looks uniformly Buddhist. There are no visible signs of Christians' tiny presence, but they do exist. Christians, whose only official identity falls in the "others" category in the census, are estimated to range in number between 3,000 and 6,000. They live out their Christian lives underground - no church buildings, Christian cemeteries or Christian bookstores are yet allowed. An absolute monarchy for over 100 years, Bhutan became a democratic, constitutional monarchy in March 2008, as per the wish of former King Jigme Singye Wangchuck. Asked what would happen if authorities found out about his underground church, a pastor who requested anonymity said that before 2008 they would have been arrested because Christianity was banned. "Even now, there will be serious repercussions," he said. "What exactly will happen, I do not know. But no Christian worker will take the risk to find it out the hard way."
*** Photos of Buddhist prayer wheels and a street scene are available electronically. Contact Compass Direct News for pricing and transmittal.
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BURMA
SPIKE IN ANTI-CHRISTIAN VIOLENCE FEARED BEFORE ELECTIONS
January 20 (Compass Direct News) - As Burma's military junta gears up for its first parliamentary election in two decades this year, observers fear attacks on the Christian minority could intensify. Mungpi Suangtak, assistant editor of a New Delhi-based news agency run by exiled Burmese journalists, the Mizzima News, said the Burmese junta has "one of the world's worst human rights records" and will "definitely" attack religious and ethnic minorities more forcefully in the run-up to the election. The military regime, officially known as the State Peace and Development Council, pledged to hold the election this year, and analysts believe polls will be held after July in the country, also known as Myanmar. Suangtak told Compass that the Buddhist nationalist junta would target Christians particularly in Karen state, bordering Thailand, and in Chin state, bordering India and Bangladesh. Given that the junta merely uses religion for political power, it doesn't target Christians alone, Suangtak said. "The junta has no respect for any religion, be it Christians or Buddhists, and anyone who opposes its rule is dealt with harshly," Suangtak said.
*** Photos of Burma refugees and a Burma refugee church are available electronically. Contact Compass Direct News for pricing and transmittal.
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EGYPT
COPTIC CHRISTIANS GUNNED DOWN AFTER CHRISTMAS EVE SERVICE
January 7 (Compass Direct News) - In spite of threats of violence from Muslims in an area of Egypt wracked by sectarian violence, police declined to increase security for a Coptic Christmas Eve service on Jan. 6, and six Christians were shot to death after leaving the church. Three men suspected to be Muslims, including one with a criminal record sought by police, were in a moving car from which automatic gunfire hit Coptic Christians who had attended services at St. John's Church in Nag Hammadi, 455 kilometers (282 miles) south of Cairo. A Muslim security guard was also killed, and nine other Coptic Christians were wounded, with three of them in critical condition, according to news reports. Copts, along with many Orthodox communities, celebrate Christmas on Jan. 7. The primary Muslim suspected of firing the automatic rifle at the Copts, witnesses reportedly told police, is local resident Mohammed Ahmed Hussein. Local clergy said Hussein had not been arrested for previous crimes because he receives protection from officials in the ruling National Democratic Party.
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INDIA
RECENT INCIDENTS OF PERSECUTION
Karnataka, January 7 (Compass Direct News) - Police led by Hindu extremists accused a pastor without basis of forceful conversion, reprimanded him for praying without government permission and stopped the Sunday worship of his India People Ministry church on Dec. 27 in Koppa. The Global Council of Indian Christians reported that police further warned Pastor D.M. Kumar that he would be arrested if he conducted future worship services.
Karnataka - Members of the Hindu extremist Bajrang Dal accused Christian nurses at Pandapura government hospital of forceful conversion for conducting a small Christmas program on Dec. 25 in Mandhya. The Global Council of Indian Christians reported that at about 2 p.m., Sophia Parinamala Rani and two others identified only as Philomina and Bajamma organized a small, customary Christmas meeting for staff members and patients, inviting a guest to speak about Christ. Some 20 Hindu extremists reached the hospital and, manhandling the speaker, accused the nurses of forceful conversion. Pandapura police forcefully obtained an apology letter from the nurses, who received a show-cause notice ordering them to explain the meeting to hospital authorities.
Andhra Pradesh - A Hindu extremist roughed up two Christians at a worship meeting on Dec. 23 in Mahabubnagar. The All India Christian Council reported that a pastor identified only as Prabudas and a doctor identified only as Nehemiah were on their way to a service when a Hindu hardliner and karate master, Satya Narayana, pushed and punched them, threatening to file a case of forceful conversion against them. He threatened them with more violence if they continued Christian activities in the area. Local Christian leaders were taking steps to protect the two men at press time.
New Delhi - Hindu extremists assaulted Christians attending a Christmas program of the Full Gospel Church of God on Dec. 22 at Nagafgarh. A source reported that the Hindu hardliners threatened pastors Benny Stephen, K. Cherian and Stephen Joseph, claiming that the program they were attending aimed to convert people by force, and then attacked them. Pastor Joseph suffered injuries to his left leg and back, Pastor Benny to his back and face and Pastor Cherian to his head. Pastor Joseph told Compass that no police complaint was filed as the Christians forgave the attackers.
Tamil Nadu - Hindu extremists attacked a group of Christians on Dec. 20 in Mangalam, Nagercoil. The Global Council of Indian Christians reported that Hindu extremists objected to a digital sign Christians put up stating details of an impending Christmas celebration and warned them to remove it. When the Christians refused, the extremists beat them, and some of them received hospital treatment for their injuries. A police complaint was filed, but no arrests had been made at press time.
Andhra Pradesh - Police arrested Pastor P. Benjamin after a Hindu extremist filed a complaint against him of forceful conversion on Dec. 20 in Hyderabad. The Global Council of Indian Christians reported that Pastor Benjamin, of Holy Spirit Church, spoke of Christ with about 200 children at a Christmas program organized by a nearby area's Christian youth leader. As Pastor Benjamin reached his home, local Christian leaders informed him that police had filed charges of forcible conversion against him under Section 295/A of the Indian Penal Code. Applications for bail were twice rejected. Area Christian leaders were taking an appeal to a higher court, and the pastor's family was relocated as a security precaution.
Maharashtra - Hindu extremists from the Bajrang Dal on Dec. 20 attacked members of Christian ministry Operation Mobilization in Manchar and took their film equipment. The All Indian Christian Council (AICC) reported that about 100 extremists attacked the organization's screening of a Christian film, organized by the area pastor with the permission of the village head. As the movie ended, the Hindu hardliners rushed in, verbally abused the Christians for their faith and took a film projector and DVD player. Moses Vatipalli of the AICC told Compass that area leaders of Hindu extremist groups were planning to meet with Christian leaders to settle the matter.
Andhra Pradesh - Hindu extremists in Karimnagar on Dec. 15 beat 65-year-old Pastor S. Devavaram and other Christians, accusing them of forceful conversion. The Global Council of Indian Christians reported that Pastor Devavaram and five youths were distributing Christmas literature after obtaining permission from the deputy superintendent of police. At about 9 a.m. a mob of 20 Hindu extremists stopped their vehicle, dragged the pastor out and accused him of forceful conversion. They beat the pastor, tied his hands and locked him and the other Christians in a room till 5 p.m. On learning that the pastor and the other five had been abducted, 10 Christians reported it to police. Officers arrived at the site of the assault and took the Christians to the police station, where the extremists filed a complaint of forcible conversion against the pastor and his team. Police took written statements from the Christians and released them without charges at 6 p.m.
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INDIA
OFFICIALS FINALLY ALLOW EU TO VISIT ORISSA - BUT NO FACT-FINDING
January 29 (Compass Direct News) - Weary of international scrutiny of troubled Kandhamal district in Orissa state, officials yesterday finally allowed delegates from the European Union (EU) to visit affected areas - as long as they do no fact-finding. A team of 13 diplomats from the EU was to begin its four-day tour of Kandhamal district yesterday, but the federal government had refused to give the required clearance to visit the area, which was wracked by anti-Christian violence in 2008. A facilitator of the delegation said that authorities then reversed themselves and yesterday gave approval to the team. The team plans to visit Kandhamal early next month to assess the state government's efforts in rehabilitating victims and prosecuting attackers in the district, where a spate of anti-Christian violence in August-September 2008 killed over 100 people and burned 4,640 houses, 252 churches and 13 educational institutions. When the federal government recommended that Orissa state officials allow the delegation to visit the area, the state government agreed under the condition that the diplomats undertake no fact-finding, according to the Press Trust of India. The government stipulated to the EU team, led by the deputy chief of mission of the Spanish embassy, Ramon Moreno, that they are only to interact with local residents. The delegation consented.
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INDONESIA
MASSIVE MOB PROTESTS CHRISTMAS EVE SERVICE
January 4 (Compass Direct News) - More than 1,000 people protested the Christmas Eve service of a church meeting in a makeshift facility in Bekasi, West Java. Christians of the Filadelfia Huria Kristen Batak Protestan Church (HKBP) fearfully held their service, including the Lord's Supper, in spite of the disturbance. With the Dec. 24 service scheduled to start at 9 p.m., the mob had already gathered at 6 p.m., shouting demands that it not take place and that the church be disbanded because it did not have permits. The church erected a tent and a semi-permanent structure for the service. The church does not yet have a permanent building, though the congregation has been trying to obtain permission for one for years, church leaders said. The protestors claimed that the Christmas service could not be held at the site because a church building permit had not been issued. Hundreds of police and soldiers were on hand to guard the 200 worshippers against the protestors. The service continued until the end, with police accompanying worshippers as they left. The Rev. Palti Panjaitan said that the crowd blocked the street in front of the site in an area of up to 200 meters. "They blocked vehicles and people trying to get to the church," the pastor said. "However, after negotiations, our congregation was able to pass, and the service was held on time."
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INDONESIA
CHRISTIANS MOST HIT BY RELIGIOUS FREEDOM VIOLATIONS
January 21 (Compass Direct News) - A moderate Muslim research institute focusing on interfaith issues in Indonesia reported 35 cases of government violations of religious freedom - including 28 against Christians - and 93 instances of community intolerance of churches in 2009. The Wahid Institute issued a year-end report of violations that included the revocation of the building permit for the HKBP Cinere Church - later overturned in court - opposition to a Catholic Church in Purwakarta and an order forbidding worship by the Filadelfia Huria Kristen Batak Protestan Church (HKBP) in Bekasi, West Java. The overall figure of 128 cases of violations of religious freedom by government or society in 2009 represents a drop from the 2008 figure of 234 cases, according to the Wahid Institute. In West Java, mob efforts to shut down the Filadelfia Huria Kristen Batak Protestan Church (HKBP) in Bekasi succeeded on Dec. 31 when the district officer issued a decree ordering a stop to all worship activities at the site of the church building under construction. Tigor Tambubolon, head of the church building committee, acknowledged that the building permit had not been formally granted even though the process had been under way since 2000. "We already have the permission of the Jejalen citizens," Tambubolon told Compass. "That's why we were brave enough to hold Christmas Eve services."
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INDONESIA
TWO PARTIALLY CONSTRUCTED CHURCH BUILDINGS BURNED
January 29 (Compass Direct News) - Suspected Islamic extremists brned two church buildings under construction in a village in North Sumatra on Jan. 22. The attackers came from outside the area to burn the partially constructed buildings of the Huria Kristen Batak Protestan Church (HKBP) and the Pentecostal Church in Sibuhuan village, Padang Lawas Residency, during daylight hours, said the Rev. S. Lubis of the HKBP church. "Hundreds of people arrived on motorcycles and burned the empty church," he said. "After that, the mob moved 200 meters down the road and burned the empty Pentecostal church." No people were hurt in the fires. Lubis said that those who burned the church buildings were not from the area. He said that last year - after local officials had held up an application for a permit to erect a permanent building for five years - the church began construction. The Muslim leaders demanded that the church dismantle the parts that had been built, which the church began to do on Jan. 13. The 272 members of the congregation have been traumatized and many have fled fearing for their safety, church leaders said. The Rev. Charles Hutabarat of the Pentecostal Church said his church's application for a permit has been held up for three years. "Because the local citizens had approved the presence of the church, we were surprised that our church was burned like this," Hutabarat told Compass.
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IRAN
GOVERNMENT ARRESTS, COERCES CHRISTIANS OVER CHRISTMAS SEASON
January 6 (Compass Direct News) - A wave of arrests hit Iranian house churches during the Christmas season, leaving at least five Christian converts in detention across northern Iran, including the mother of an ailing 10-year-old girl. Security officers with an arrest warrant from the Mashhad Revolutionary Court entered the home of Christian Hamideh Najafi in Mashhad on Dec. 16 and took her to an undisclosed location, according to Farsi Christian News Network (FCNN). FCNN reported that on Dec. 30 the court sentenced her to three months of house arrest and ordered that her daughter, who suffers from a kidney condition, be placed under foster care. Because of the girl's illness, however, she was left in the custody of her parents - on the condition that they cease believing in Christ and stop speaking publicly of their faith, FCNN reported. During interrogation, officers had told Najafi to return to Islam and to disclose names of Christian evangelists. FCNN reported that on some occasions the security officers summoned her husband, blindfolded him and threatened to beat him in front of his wife if she would not sign a confession that she was "mentally and psychologically unfit and disturbed." On the grounds of this forced confession, her child was initially ordered to be taken from her, according to the report. There were no formal charges against Najafi, but she stands accused of contacting a foreign Christian television network, which court officials labeled as a "political" crime, according to FCNN. Compass also has confirmed that authorities disrupted Christmas celebrations of two house groups in the Tehran area on Dec. 21 and Dec. 29, leaving four in prison.
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IRAN
GOVERNMENT DETAINS CHRISTIANS WITHOUT LEGAL COUNSEL
January 28 (Compass Direct News) - At least 14 Christians have been detained in Iranian prisons for weeks without legal counsel in the past few months as last year's crackdown has continued, sources said. Three Christians remained in detention at Evin prison after authorities arrested them along with 12 others who had gathered for Christmas celebrations on Dec. 24 in a home 20 kilometers (12 miles) southeast of Iran's capital, Tehran, according to a source who requested anonymity. While the others were released on Jan. 4, remaining at Evin prison were Maryam Jalili, Mitra Zahmati and Farzan Matin, according to the source. Authorities have promised the release of the three Christians arrested Dec. 24 but have yet to let them go. Within days after their arrest, Jalili's sister, Mobina Jalili, and another Christian were arrested in Isfahan. The source said these two have had no contact with their families. The location and conditions of their detainment are unknown. In the southwestern city of Shiraz, seven Christians were being detained as of Jan. 11, another source said, and most of them may face charges of apostasy, or leaving Islam. Detained in Shiraz are Parviz Khaladj, Mehdi Furutan, Roxana Furouyi, Behrouz Sadegh-Khanjani, Abdol Reza Ali Haghnejad, Iman Farzad and one identified only as Mahyar. Another Christian in the northern city of Rasht, Davoot Nejatsabet, also has been arrested. And Yousef Nadarkhani, who was arrested last year on Oct. 13 in Rasht, remains in prison.
*** A photo of Maryam Jalili is available electronically. Contact Compass Direct News for pricing and transmittal.
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MALAYSIA
CHURCH BUILDINGS ATTACKED FOLLOWING COURT DECISION
January 11 (Compass Direct News) - In unprecedented acts that stunned Christians in Malaysia, suspected Islamists have attacked eight church buildings since the country's High Court ruled that a Catholic weekly could use the word "Allah." Firebombs were thrown into the compounds of four churches in Kuala Lumpur and neighboring Petaling Jaya on Friday (Jan. 8); three more attacks occurred on Sunday (Jan. 10) in Taiping, Melaka and Miri; and another church was hit today in Seremban. There were no reports of injuries. Judge Lau Bee Lan delivered the controversial court ruling on Dec. 31, arguing that the Herald had a constitutional right to use the word "Allah" for God in the Malay section of its multilingual newspaper, causing an uproar among many Muslim groups. The attacked churches were Metro Tabernacle (Assembly of God) in Kuala Lumpur, and three churches in Petaling Jaya: Life Chapel (Brethren), Good Shepherd Lutheran Church (Lutheran) and Assumption Church (Catholic), although in the latter the Molotov cocktail failed to go off; also damaged was All Saints' Church (Anglican) in Taiping, Melaka Baptist Church in Melaka, Good Shepherd Church (Catholic) in Miri and Sidang Injil Borneo (Evangelical Church of Borneo) in Seremban. Metro Tabernacle suffered the worst damage, with the ground floor of its three-story building, which housed its administrative office, completely gutted. The Rev. Dr. Hermen Shastri, general secretary of the Council of Churches Malaysia, called on the government to "show zero tolerance for the use, threat or incitement, of violence as a means to pressure the decision of the court."
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NIGERIA
CHRISTIANS IN JOS FEAR FURTHER ATTACKS
January 19 (Compass Direct News) - Gunshots and smoke continued to alarm residents of Jos in central Nigeria today, with the Christian community fearing further violence from Muslim youths who on Sunday (Jan. 17) attacked a Catholic church and burned down several other church buildings. A 24-hour curfew imposed yesterday in Jos and the suburb of Bukuru by the Plateau state government was extended through Wednesday. Police said continuing violence was initially triggered by unprovoked attacks by Muslim youth on worshippers at the St. Michael's Catholic Church in Nasarawa Gwong, in the Jos North Local Government Area. Also attacked were buildings of the Christ Apostolic Church, Assemblies of God Church, three branches of the Church of Christ in Nigeria and two buildings of the Evangelical Church of West Africa, Christian leaders said. The number of casualties continued to grow, reportedly reaching more than 100 as security forces tried to rein in rioters, with both Christian and Muslim groups still counting their losses. Hundreds have reportedly been wounded. "We have been witnessing sporadic shootings in the last two days," said the Rev. Chuwang Avou, secretary of the state chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria. "We see some residents shooting sporadically into the air. We have also seen individuals with machine guns on parade in the state."
*** Photos of 2008 violence in Jos are available electronically. Contact Compass Direct News for pricing and transmittal.
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NIGERIA
ANGLICAN ARCHBISHOP KIDNAPPED IN SOUTH
January 26 (Compass Direct News) - Gunmen are still holding the Anglican archbishop of Benin diocese in southern Nigeria's Edo state after abducting him on Sunday (Jan. 24). Peter Imasuen, who is also the state chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria, was abducted in front of his official residence on his way back from a church service. The kidnappers are reportedly demanding $750,000 for his release. The armed kidnappers reportedly followed the archbishop from the St. Matthew Cathedral to his residence, where they dragged him out of his car and took him to an unknown location. Edo Gov. Adams Oshiomhole decried the kidnapping, which he blamed on the federal government's withdrawal of soldiers from a state joint security program code-named, "Operation Thunderstorm" designed to help thwart militant violence and kidnappers. The identity of the kidnappers was not clear, but in recent years abducting top public figures for ransom has become common in the South-South and South- Eastern zones of the country, where militant groups have been campaigning against the poor level of development of the area.
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NIGERIA
DEATH TOLL OF CHRISTIANS IN JOS CLASH HITS 48
January 27 (Compass Direct News) - Two pastors and 46 other Christians have been confirmed killed in the outbreak of violence 10 days ago in Jos, Plateau state in Nigeria, according to the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN). In the Muslim/Christian clash, triggered when Muslim youths on Jan. 17 attacked a Catholic church, 10 church buildings were burned and 27 Christians are still missing, CAN officials said at a press conference in Jos today. Police estimate over 300 lives were lost in the clash. The Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) accused the state General Officer Commanding, Major-Gen. Salleh Maina, and some soldiers of taking sides in the clash. "Soldiers were seen in some parts of Jos watching Muslim youths shooting Christians and burning places without any efforts to stop them," according to a PFN press statement.
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PAKISTAN
MUSLIM MOB WOUNDS CHRISTIAN FAMILY
January 4 (Compass Direct News) - Infuriated by an alleged anti-Islamic comment by a mentally ill man, more than a dozen Muslims attacked his Christian family here last week, beating his 20-year-old sister unconscious and breaking her leg. The woman's father, Aleem Mansoor, said his daughter Elishba Aleem went unconscious after being struck in the head with an iron rod in the Dec. 28 attack. Mansoor said Muslims beat him, his daughter and other family members with rods and cricket bats on the street in front of their apartment home after falsely accusing his 32-year old son, Shumail Aleem of blasphemy. Aleem, who suffers from schizophrenia, had remarked to a Christian that a shopkeeper was right as a Muslim not to show movies in his general store during a Muslim holy day - to which shopkeeper Muhammad Naveed responded by beating Aleem for profaning Hussein ibn Ali, grandson of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad. Mansoor's daughter received treatment at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) and eventually regained consciousness, though she remains in intense pain. When Mansoor told Naveed and others that he would take them to court over the attack, his Muslim adversaries said he would fail because they had paid off PIMS officials 50,000 rupees (US$600) to withhold the medical report on his daughter's injuries. He said they also told him that they had paid off officers at the Shehzad Town Police Station to pressure the family to drop the case with an out-of-court settlement. "The assistant sub-inspector, Ghulam Gilani, of Shehzad Town Police Station, called my wife and told her that if the family pursued the case of assault on us, then we would be implicated in the blasphemy case, which would have serious consequences for us," Mansoor said.
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PAKISTAN
TWO CHRISTIANS CRITICALLY WOUNDED AT WEDDING
January 14 (Compass Direct News) - Two Pakistani Christians who were shot at a wedding on Dec. 26 for refusing to convert to Islam are still receiving treatment at a hospital intensive care unit, but doctors are hopeful that they will recover. In low, barely audible voices, Imran Masih, 21, and Khushi Masih, 24, told Compass that two Muslims armed with AK-47s in Punjab Province's Chak (village) 297-JB, in Toba Tek Singh district, shot them in their chests after they refused orders to recite the Islamic creed signifying conversion. Soon after they arrived at the wedding, a group of armed Muslim youths surrounded them and began shooting into the air, as is customary at village weddings. They were not alarmed, they said, assuming the young Muslim men were simply celebrating joyfully. One of the Muslims ordered them to recite the Islamic profession of faith or be shot, and the two young men refused, reciting Psalm 91 instead. "Our decision infuriated them," Imran Masih said, "and instead of shooting into the air they shot us, leaving us only after being convinced that we were dead." Police have yet to arrest the suspects, who claim they shot the two Christians by accident.
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PAKISTAN
CHRISTIAN SENTENCED TO LIFE UNDER 'BLASPHEMY' LAW
January 22 (Compass Direct News) - A young Christian shopkeeper was sentenced to a life term in prison and fined more than $1,000 last week following a dubious conviction of desecrating the Quran, according to Pakistan's National Commission for Justice and Peace (NCJP). Peter Jacob, general secretary of the NCJP, said 22-year-old Imran Masih of the Faisalabad suburb of Hajvairy was convicted of desecrating the Quran (Section 295-B of Pakistan's legal code) and thereby outraging religious feelings (Section 295-A) by Additional District & Sessions Judge Raja Ghazanfar Ali Khan on Jan. 11. The conviction was based on the accusation of a rival shopkeeper who, as part of an Islamic extremist proselytizing group, allegedly used a mosque loudspeaker system to incite a mob that beat Masih and ransacked his shop. Neighboring shopkeeper Hajji Liaquat Abdul Ghafoor accused Masih of burning part of the Quran on July 1, 2009. Denying that he burned any pages of the Quran, Masih told investigators that the papers he burned were a heap of old merchandise records he had gathered while cleaning his store. Nearby shopkeepers told Compass that they had seen the two men arguing over business a few days before the incident. They said that when Masih burned the papers, Ghafoor started shouting that he had desecrated the Quran and blasphemed Islam and its prophet, Muhammad. "Ghafoor spread misconceptions about Imran Masih," said one of the shopkeepers, "and a mob of angry Muslim men unaware of the facts attacked Masih and viciously beat him, looted his shop and later handed him over to police." Sources said Masih plans to appeal to a higher court.
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PAKISTAN
VIOLENT DEATH OF GIRL SPURS PUSH FOR JUSTICE
January 28 (Compass Direct News) - A daring protest and a high-profile funeral here on Monday (Jan. 25) for a 12-year-old Christian girl who died from torture and malnourishment has cast a rare spotlight on abuse of the Christian poor in Pakistan. In an uncommon challenge in the predominantly Muslim nation, the Christian parents of Shazia Bashir Masih protested the unresponsiveness of police to the alleged violence against their daughter by Muslim attorney Chaudhary Muhammad Naeem and his family and his attempt to buy their silence after her death. The house servant died on Friday (Jan. 22) after working for eight months in Naeem's house. An initial medical report indicated she died gradually from blows from a blunt instrument, wounds from a sharp-edged weapon, misuse of medicines and malnourishment. Key media highlighted the case on Pakistan's airwaves, and minority rights groups along with high-ranking Christian politicians have swooped in to help. The power of Muslim attorney Naeem, a former president of the Lahore Bar Association, was such that officers at Litton Road police station refused to listen to Shazia's relatives when they tried to file a complaint to retrieve her three months ago, telling the girl's relatives, "a case against a lawyer cannot be registered," her uncle Rafiq Masih told Compass. Her mother, Nasreen Bibi, told Compass Naeem came to their home on the day Shazia died and offered 30,000 rupees (US$350) to keep the death secret and to pay for burial expenses. "I refused to accept their offer, and they went they went away hurling death threats," she said.
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SOMALIA
ISLAMIC MILITANTS MURDER CHRISTIAN LEADER
January 26 (Compass Direct News) - Islamic extremists shot the leader of an underground church to death outside the capital city of Somalia this month and have threatened to kill his wife, his tearful widow told Compass. Having learned that he had left Islam to become a Christian, Somali militants from the Islamic extremist al Shabaab murdered 41-year-old Mohammed Ahmed Ali at about noon on Jan. 1, Amina Ibrahim Hassan said. He was killed sometime after leaving his home in Hodan, on the outskirts of Mogadishu, she said. Ali had led an underground church. Christian sources said members of al Shabaab, said to have links with al Qaeda terrorists, had been monitoring Ali and his wife for indications that they had left Islam. Ali had organized New Year's Day festivities for Christians to take place outside of Mogadishu. Al Shabaab extremists killed him after word of the planned party leaked to them, said Hassan, who has since fled to Nairobi with their 2-year-old son. Hassan said she received threatening calls from members of al Shabaab on Jan. 3. "We know who you are working for," Hassan said one extremist told her. "We also know your home and that you are a follower of the Christians, and we are going to kill you the way we killed your husband."
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VIETNAM
FORCED RECANTATIONS OF FAITH CONTINUE
January 18 (Compass Direct News) - A Vietnamese man violently forced to recant his fledgling Christian faith faces pressure from authorities and clansmen to prove his return to traditional Hmong belief by sacrificing to ancestors next month. Sung Cua Po, who embraced Christianity in November, received some 70 blows to his head and back after local officials in northwest Vietnam's Dien Bien Province arrested him on Dec. 1, 2009, according to documents obtained by Compass. His wife, Hang thi Va, was also beaten. Dien Bien Dong District and Na Son Commune police and soldiers took the Christian couple to the Na Son Commune People's Committee office after police earlier incited local residents to abuse and stone them and other Christian families. After Po and his wife were beaten at 1 a.m. that night, he was fined 8 million dong (US$430) and a pig of at least 16 kilos. Christians Sung A Sinh and Hang A Xa of Trung Phu village were also beaten about the head and back and fined a pig each so that local authorities could eat, according to the reports. Christian sources reported that on Dec. 15 police took Po and his wife to members of their extended family, who applied severe clan pressure on him to deny their faith. When police added their own threats, Po finally signed recantation documents. "I folded - I signed when police threatened to beat me to death if I didn't recant," he said. "Then they would seize my property, leaving my wife a widow, and my children fatherless - without a home."
*** Photos of Sung Cua Po, Hang thi Va, Sung A Sinh and Hang A Xa are available electronically. Contact Compass Direct News for pricing and transmittal.
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