Egypt
Couple Shot By Muslim Extremists Undaunted In Ministry
June 8 (Compass Direct News) - On the afternoon of Feb. 27, lay pastor Ephraim Shehata and his wife Rasha Samir were ambushed on a desolate street by a group of Islamic gunmen outside the village of Teleda in Upper Egypt. The attack was meant to "break the hearts of the Christians" in the area, Samir said. The attackers shot Shehata twice, once in the stomach through the back, and once in the neck. They shot Samir in the arm.
Both survived the attack, but Shehata is still in the midst of a difficult recovery. The shooters have since been arrested and are in jail awaiting trial. A trial cannot begin until Shehata has recovered enough to attend court proceedings. Despite this trauma, being left with debilitating injuries, more than 85,000 Egyptian pounds (US$14,855) in medical bills and possible long-term unemployment, Shehata is willing to drop all criminal charges against his attackers - and avoid what could be a very embarrassing trial for the nation - if the government will stop blocking Shehata from constructing a church building.
He has approached the State Security Investigations agency through church leaders, saying that if he is allowed to construct a church building, then he will take no part in the criminal prosecution of the shooters. "I have told the security forces though the priests that I will drop the case if they can let us build the church on the piece of land," he said.
Copyright 2010 Compass Direct News
**********
INDIA
BRIEFS: RECENT INCIDENTS OF PERSECUTION
Karnataka, June 1 (Compass Direct News) - Hindu nationalists on May 27 falsely accused a pastor of forcible conversion in Rajanpura village, Hassan district, after disrupting a worship service. The Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC) reported that the intolerant Hindus also warned the Christians not to worship in the area. Manjunath Shastri led a mob of 20 area Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh extremists that barged into the rented home of Pastor Siddanagowda Barmanagowda as he led a house church service affiliated with the Karnataka Evangelical Association. The extremists forced the pastor to the Hiriseve police station, where they filed a complaint about the alleged forcible conversions and warned him against conducting worship services in the village, according to the GCIC. A GCIC coordinator told Compass that police told Pastor Barmanagowda to vacate his home and leave the area. - BW
Andhra Pradesh - Hindu extremists from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh damaged a church building and installed an idol of the Hindu god Hanuman inside it on May 23 in Tadipatri, Anatapur. The All India Christian Council (AICC) reported that at about 9 a.m. the extremists from the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Council) attacked India Pentecostal Church's Holy Spirit Prayer House, which was under construction. Pastor Venugopal Reddy approached Tadipatri police, but officers refused to help him. After local Christian leaders' intervention, police questioned the attackers. AICC reported that Pastor Reddy had acquired government permission to build the church building. - MS
Karnataka - Police on May 19 arrested Christians on a false complaint of forcible conversion in Mandya district. The Global Council of Indian Christians reported that Pastor Shanth Kumar and Pastor Nagesh Kumar had jointly organized a three-day Vacation Bible School for 35 to 40 children near Netkal village when nearly 30 Hindu extremists from the Bajrang Dal stormed the premises and forced the pastors along with two teenage students to the Belakawadi police station. Police charged the pastors with "deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting religion or religious beliefs," while the students were sent home without charges. The pastors are locked up Mandya Jail at press time. - BW
Karnataka - A mob of Hindu extremists from the Bajrang Dal attacked an evangelist and three women on May 18 in Hubli. The Evangelical Fellowship of India (EFI) reported that at about 6:30 p.m. Edward Bellary and three women from Mayer Memorial Church were visiting a family at their invitation to pray for a woman who was ill when the extremists barged in, accused them of forceful conversion and of deceiving the family with false hopes, and beat Bellary. Later, Elish Mulur of the same church came to aid Bellary, but the Hindu extremists badly beat him, according to EFI. Mulur sustained injuries, and his left eardrum was damaged. The extremists dragged Bellary to a police station and pressured officers to arrest him. Police held him for about eight hours, and he was later released without charges. - MS
Chhattisgarh - On May 13 in Maroda, Bhilai, Hindu extremists from the Bajrang Dal and Dharam Sena (Religious Army) attacked a prayer meeting and accused Christians present of forceful conversion. A source told Compass that at 7:30 p.m., about 100 Hindu extremists shouting Hindu slogans gathered near the house of Dwarika Dewangaon, site of the prayer meeting. Accusing the Christians of forceful conversion, they locked the door from the outside and continued to shout anti-Christian slogans. Police came and took the homeowner, Dewangaon, to the police station for questioning. They detained him for about four hours and warned him not to conduct further Christian meetings in his home. With area Christian leaders' intervention, Dewangaon was released without charges, and the area superintendent of police informed the Christians that he would look into the matter. - MS
Andhra Pradesh - Hindu extremists on May 9 attacked a pastor who goes by the single name of Devasahayam, of Yehova Nissi Prardana Mandiram church, on May 9 in Nellore, sources said. A member of the Hindu extremist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) identified only as Babu barged into the worship service, verbally abused the pastor for his faith and manhandled him. The pastor stopped the meeting, and the assailant left the premises. Some 30 minutes later, the sources said, Babu died in his home of a heart attack. That afternoon, a furious crowd of RSS members gathered near the pastor's house and threatened to burn him and his home. The pastor took the matter to the police, but they refused to help, the sources said. The pastor has relocated as a safety measure. - MS
Uttar Pradesh - Hindu extremists from the Bajrang Dal attacked a church meeting, beat a pastor and threatened to kill his infant son on May 6 in Kanpur. The Evangelical Fellowship of India (EFI) reported that about 40 Hindu extremists accused the Christians of forceful conversion and verbally abused Pastor Dalayu Sonam before dragging him out to the street. They accused his wife of running a brothel inside the church building and threatened to kill his 1-year-old son. The attacks were carried out in the presence of media, reported EFI. - MS
Karnataka - Hindu nationalists on May 2 disrupted worship in K.R. Nagar, Mysore district, verbally abused the Christians present and filed a false complaint of forcible conversion against the pastor. The Global Council of Indian Christians reported that at around 10:30 a.m. nearly 20 Hindu extremists from the Bajrang Dal stormed the rented home where the Indian Christian Revival Mission church met and drove away worshipers. The intolerant Hindus forced Pastor Elisha Gangadhar to the K.R. Nagar police station. Pastor Gangadhar told Compass that police officials questioned him for nearly three hours, and then released him without charges on the condition that he vacate his home and conduct no future prayer meetings in the area. No services were held the next two weeks. - BW
Madhya Pradesh - On May 2 about 60 Hindu extremists from the Bajrang Dal disrupted a house church service in Mandla, and then threatened to kill a pastor after filing a complaint against him of forceful conversion. A source told Compass that the extremists were shouting Hindu slogans when they barged into the worship meeting of Bethel Prartna Church at 11:15 a.m., having already filed a complaint of forceful conversion against Pastor Bhagchand Rujhiya at Banhani Banger police station. The extremists dragged the pastor out to the street and threatened to kill him if he continued to lead worship meetings there. Church members came forward to defend the pastor against the Hindu extremists, but police arrived and took him in for three hours of questioning. The intolerant Hindus gathered at the police station shouting that they would wipe out Christians from the area. Police forced the pastor to write a statement that he would conduct no future worship meetings, refrain from praying and visit no church members at their homes. Area Christian leaders submitted a memorandum to government officials to take action against the attackers. - MS
Karnataka - As if religious conversion or manifesting one's faith were illegal in India, Hunsur town police on May 1 arrested four Christians including a woman on charges of "attempted conversion," reported the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC). The Christians were part of a group led by preacher Robin Paul, of Rolls Park Church, who were distributing pamphlets and brochures related to Christianity, reported the Deccan Herald. GCIC reported that at around 11:30 a.m. some 30 members of the Hindu extremist Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal stopped the Christians, accused them of "conversion activities" and called police, who arrived and took them into custody. After questioning, the Christians were charged with "hurting religious sentiments." Paul and two other Christians were sent to K.R. Nagar jail, while a female Christian, Soundary Sandaman, was sent to Mysore jail. With GCIC intervention, all four were released on bail on May 3. - BW
Andhra Pradesh - Hindu extremists from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh on April 29 attacked a gospel meeting, where they accused Christians of forceful conversion in Mahaboobnagar. The All India Christian Council reported that the extremists angrily barged into the meeting and manhandled the pastor who organized the event and a guest pastor. The Hindu extremists accused them of forceful conversion and damaged furniture and the sound system. Police arrived on the scene but only watched as the Hindu extremists ransacked the site. The following day, the extremists went to the home of the event organizer, identified only as Pastor Daniel, and beat him. They warned the badly bruised pastor not to conduct further Christian meetings. - MS
END
**********
INDIA
SUSPICIOUS ACTIONS FOLLOW MURDER OF PASTOR IN ASSAM
June 14 (Compass Direct News) - A pastor in Assam state was murdered and cremated without being identified last month before family members learned of his death when they saw a photo of his body in a newspaper. The body of Son Englang, 35, was recovered alongside National Highway 37 on May 20, with marks indicating his hands had been tightly bound before he was shot. The pastor from Mallasi village, Karbi Anglong, supported by Gospel for Asia (GFA), had been kidnapped early in the morning of the previous day as he rode his bicycle to the Bokakhat marketplace to buy paint materials for his nearly completed church building. The unknown kidnappers, suspected Hindu extremists, reportedly took the father of two to the jungle to kill him. Local police took his body to a hospital in Golaghat, where he was cremated without being identified after three days, the maximum period that the hospital will hold a body. News of his death reached his family four days after he was killed when they saw a photo of his body published on May 22 in local newspapers reporting him as unidentified. "With great difficulty, his photo could be recognized," said the Rev. Juby John, Karbi Anglong diocesan secretary of GFA. "It was a semi-decomposed body." Strangely, police reported Pastor Englang as killed while accompanying three rhinoceros poachers who were shot to death by guards inside Kaziranga National Park, a wildlife sanctuary. Investigations are underway regarding the suspicious claim, resulting in the arrest of a park guard and a local policeman.
*** A photo of Son Englang is available electronically. Contact Compass Direct News for pricing and transmittal.
**********
INDIA
BRIEFS: RECENT INCIDENTS OF PERSECUTION
Karnataka, June 30 (Compass Direct News) - Hindu extremists on June 23 beat two pastors, seriously injuring them in Chandapura, Anekal. The Evangelical Fellowship of India reported that after pastors Shidu Kurialose and Nithya Vachanam of Bethel Assembly of God Church conducted a Christian meeting in a home, armed extremists attacked them at a tea stall. The extremists accused the pastors of forceful conversion and started beating them with iron rods. Both pastors sustained serious injuries and were admitted in a local hospital. No police complaint was filed.
Tamil Nadu - After opposing a Christian convention on June 17-20, Hindu extremists from the Bajrang Dal on June 22 burned at least seven vehicles belonging to Jesus With Us Pentecostal Church in Mathikere, Hosur. The Global Council of Indian Christians reported that the incident started when the extremists on June 18 called on local authorities to revoke the organizers' permit and convinced local Hindu shop owners to close their stores. Police arrested five Hindu extremists in connection with anti-Christian violence. Subsequently, under police protection, Christians moved their meeting to another area eight kilometers (five miles) from the original site.
Uttar Pradesh - Hindu extremists from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh disrupted the prayer meeting of the Jesus Church (Isha Garh) on June 21 in Firozabad and accused the pastor of forceful conversion. A source said the extremists forced their way into the church building and manhandled Pastor Breymond Shastri. The next day the extremists went to newspaper Amar Ujala with the accusation, and the local periodical published a false report that Pastor Shatri was taking part in forceful conversion activities. Area Christian leaders said no forceful conversion was taking place. The extremists warned the pastor he would be harmed if he continued to conduct worship services.
Uttar Pradesh - About eight Hindu extremists on June 20 disrupted the Sunday worship service of Apostolic Christian Assembly Church in Gorakpur. After shouting anti-Christian slogans outside the church building, the extremists stormed in and ranted against Christianity, putting a halt to the meeting as they accused the pastor of forceful conversion. Police arrived and chased the extremists away. At press time the extremists were still issuing threats to the pastor, warning him of harm if he continued conducting worship meetings, the Evangelical Fellowship of India reported. Police have provided protection to the pastor.
Karnataka - Based on a complaint by Hindu extremists against Christians of forceful conversion, Karnataka officials closed down a Christian orphanage on June 16 in Karwar. The Global Council of Indian Christians reported that state officials visited a school at the orphanage and issued a closure order to Spring of Hope Orphanage and Vocational Arts Training Centre, which has 61 tribal students. The home has been functioning for four years in an area long occupied by Siddi tribal Christians. At press time area Christian leaders were taking steps to resolve the conflict.
New Delhi - Suspected Islamic extremists beat an Afghani Christian, seriously injuring him, on June 14 in Malviya Nagar. A Christian source said two Islamic extremists on a motorbike beat Hamid Ullah on his head as he was walking home. The Christian fell on his stomach and the extremists continued to beat him, denigrating his faith, calling him "pagan" and warning him to convert to Islam or face harm. Afghani Christians have been facing warnings, threats and attacks in different areas of New Delhi, the source said, and the advocacy department of the Evangelical Fellowship of India has taken steps to help them.
Karnataka - After Hindu extremists from the Sri Ram Sena (Lord Ram Army) on June 9 attacked Pastor Vasanthe Kathedar of New India Church (NIC), police arrested him for allegedly creating communal disharmony and disrupting the peace - that is, practicing his Christian faith among Hindus - in Okkere, Belgaum. The Global Council of Indian Christians reported that the incident took place at the house of a NIC member where the Christians were meeting. The assault on the pastor lasted for about an hour and, as is customary in India, when police arrived they arrested and charged the victim of the crime.
Orissa - Hindu extremists from the Bajrang Dal on June 9 accused three Christians of forceful conversion and attacked them in Deogarh, Sambalpur. The Evangelical Fellowship of India reported that the incident took place when Hindu Biranchi Kistotta invited Pastor Lamuel Panaik, Pastor N. Philemon and Sudhir Kumar to celebrate the healing of his son, for whom Pastor Panaik had prayed. People of various faiths attended the celebration, including Hindu members of Kistotta's family. At about 12:30 p.m., seven Hindu extremists accompanied by media personnel suddenly arrived and called Pastor Patnaik to come out of his house. When the pastor refused, the extremists rushed in and forcefully pulled out the three Christians. The extremists accused them of forceful conversion and beat Sudhir Kumar while manhandling the two pastors. Police arrived and questioned those present about whether forceful conversion was taking place, and people came forward to say that the Christians were innocent. Police took the three Christians to the police station as a safety measure, however, and arranged for their return home at 10:30 p.m. No police complaint was filed as the Christians chose to forgive the attackers.
Orissa - Hindu extremists on June 8 brutally attacked a Christian and threatened to kill him in Nuapada. The Global Council of Indian Christians reported that six Hindu extremists armed with daggers and sticks broke into the house of Bhakta Bivar, 19, while his parents were at a prayer meeting. The extremists verbally abused Bivar for his faith and started beating him. They dragged him to a Hindu temple, where they told him to deny Jesus as they continued to beat him, forced on him food offered to idols and threatened to kill him and his parents if they did not convert to Hinduism. The extremists burned four Bibles they had taken from his home and, forcing him to wear a saffron garment symbolic of the Hindu religion, dragged him out to the street, falsely announcing that he had returned to Hinduism. The extremists left after threatening to kill him if he continued to believe in Christ, as they have forbidden the existence of Christianity in the area. Following the filing of a complaint with police, five Hindu extremists were arrested the next day.
Karnataka - Police on June 7 arrested two Christian women after Hindu extremists from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh disrupted Sunday worship in Bovi Colony, Chickmagalur. According to the Evangelical Fellowship of India, the extremists barged into a church's worship service and accused Kadaur Devaki and a pastor identified only as Lalathamma of creating communal disharmony and disrupting the peace. Police soon arrived and arrested the two women for "deliberate and malicious acts to outrage religious feelings" and sent them to Hassan Jail.
Tamil Nadu - Hindu extremists from a religious and cultural organization formed to defend the Hindu religion, the Hindu Munnani, demolished a church building under construction on May 28 near Rameshwaram. Catholic sources said the demolition came after a local Hindu Munnani leader identified only as Ramamurthy filed a complaint against construction of the building. Government officials sided with the Hindu extremists, claiming that the one church building, St. Anthony church, already existed and that a new one would create tensions. The structure was demolished, leaving area Christians shocked and shaken.
Chhattisgarh - Hindu extremists from the Bajrang Dal attacked a Christian school program from May 20 to May 29 in Jagbalput, beating a pastor and two teachers on May 27. Beaten were Pastor Rahul Pant and two teachers from Mission India. A source told Compass the extremists accused the Christians of forceful conversion and of using a government school for the Christian program, called Children Development Program (CDP), without permission. They also accused the Christians of distributing books containing conversion activities (biblical narratives). The extremists took the Christians to a police station, where officers questioned them. The Christians said they had permission from the village head, but the assailants said they need permission from the local collector. The parties reached an agreement wherein the Christians were forced to stop the CDP in the government school until they obtain the collector's permission. The Christians were released without charges.
Karnataka - Opposing a church leader for conducting prayer meetings in his house, Karnataka police on May 26 verbally abused pastor Shiva Kumar and warned him not to conduct further Christian meetings in Mysore. The Global Council of Indian Christians reported that at about 7 p.m. police summoned Pastor Kumar and detained him until 10:30 p.m. Police forcefully obtained a written statement from the pastor, took his photograph and warned him not to conduct any Christian activities in the area.
Andhra Pradesh - Hindu extremists accused Pastor T. Paul of forceful conversion and beat him on May 24 in Narayanpet, Mahabubnagar, seriously injuring him. The All India Christian Council reported the Hindu extremists stopped Pastor Paul as he returned home in a Jeep after conducting a worship meeting. The extremists stopped his vehicle and dragged him out before beating him and accusing him of forceful conversion. The pastor received hospital treatment for internal injuries. Area Christian leaders have asked police to arrest the assailants.
INDONESIA
CHURCH CLOSURE CALLED UNCONSTITUTIONAL AT HEARING
June 18 (Compass Direct News) - In a hearing in its lawsuit against a local government, a representative for a church that Bekasi, West Java officials summarily closed earlier this year told an administrative court that the action was unconstitutional. The Huria Kristen Batak Protestan (HKBP) Filadelfia Church filed a lawsuit on March 30 against the local government for its Jan. 12 sealing of the building under construction. At a court hearing on June 2, the coordinator of the litigation team, Thomas Tampubolon, explained that the regent's decree of Dec. 31, 2009 to seal the building conflicted with Indonesia's 1945 constitution. He said the decree violated Article 28 of the constitution, which guarantees freedom of religion, and Article 29, which guarantees freedom of worship, as well as Law No. 39 (1999) concerning human rights. Deddy Rohendi, a member of the regency defense team, replied that Tampubolon's claims were false, and he requested that the court dismiss the suit. As the judges are considering the HKBP Filadelfia's case, they are expected to travel to the village to interview citizens about the church building. A member of the legal team who is also a member of the church, Parasian Hutasoit, said that the Filadelfia congregation was upset with the Department of Religion and the Interfaith Harmony Forum because neither had acted upon the request for permission to build which was submitted on April 2, 2008. "Our application has not been acted upon, and suddenly our church is sealed without clear reason," he said.
*** Photos of church members gathered in the open air are available electronically. Contact Compass Direct News for pricing and transmittal.
**********
MOROCCO
ISLAMISTS USE FACEBOOK TO TARGET CHRISTIANS ***
June 17 (Compass Direct News) - Moroccan Christians say Muslim extremists in the country are aiding and encouraging the government to pursue them by exposing and vilifying them on social networking site Facebook. Facebook user Gardes Maroc Maroc has posted 32 image collages featuring dozens of Christian converts, calling them "hyena evangelists" or "wolves in lamb's skins" who are trying to "shake the faith of Muslims" on the Arabic-language site. The online images depict Christian converts and their families from across the country and include details about their roles and activities in churches, their personal addresses and anecdotal stories attempting to malign them. Since March, the Moroccan government has expelled more than 100 foreign Christians for alleged "proselytizing." Since the deportations started in early March, it seems that authorities, extremists and society as a whole have colluded against them, local Christians said. Dozens of Christians have been called to police stations for interrogation. Many of them have been threatened and verbally abused. "They mocked our faith," said one Moroccan Christian who requested anonymity. Authorities interrogated the convert for eight hours and followed him for three weeks in March and April, he said. During interrogation, he added, local police told him they were prepared to throw him in jail and kill him. Most Moroccan Christians that spoke to Compass said the attitudes of their Muslim relatives had shifted, and many have been kicked out of their homes or chosen to leave "to not create problems" for their families.
**********
PAKISTAN
MUSLIM BOYS ACCUSED OF RAPING CHRISTIAN GIRL
June 3 (Compass Direct News) - Forensic DNA results of semen samples in a sexual assault case show they match those of the Muslim boys a 14-year-old Christian girl accuses of raping her, according to advocacy organizations. The girl accuses Muhammad Noman and Muhammad Imran, both 17, of abducting her from her school in Kamboh colony, Lahore, in Punjab Province, on May 6 and drugging her prior to sexually assaulting her, according to Khalid Gill, president of the Christian Lawyers Foundation (CLF), and officials of the National Commission of Justice and Peace. The minor, who name was withheld, told the organizations that Noman and Imran gagged her, took her by motorbike to a place unknown to her and made her drink a beverage containing tranquilizers. The CLF's Gill said the boys later left her on a road near the school's main entrance. The girl's father, Rehmat Masih, is deceased. After investigating, on May 9 Millat Park Police registered a case against Noman and Imran for abducting "with intent to commit adultery." When Muslims commit crimes against Christians in Pakistan they commonly assume law enforcement officials will not prosecute, but the two boys were arrested on May 26.
**********
PAKISTAN
MUSLIMS ORDER CHRISTIANS TO LEAVE VILLAGE
June 7 (Compass Direct News) - The head of a Muslim village last week ordered 250 Christian families to leave their homes in Khanewal district, Punjab Province, local residents said. Abdul Sattar Khan, head of village No. 123/10R, Katcha Khoh, and other area Muslim residents ordered the expulsions after Christian residents objected too strenuously to sexual assaults by Muslims on Christian girls and women, said a locally elected Christian official, Emmanuel Masih. Most of the village's Christian men work in the fields of Muslim land owners, while most of the Christian women and girls work as servants in the homes of Muslim families, said Rasheed Masih. The Muslim employers have used their positions of power to routinely sexually assault the Christian women and girls, whose complaints grew so shrill that four Christian men - Emmanuel Masih, Rasheed Masih, his younger brother Shehzad Anjum and Yousaf Masih Khokhar - sternly confronted the Muslims, only to be told that all Christians were to leave the village at once. Asked why they didn't contact local Katcha Khoh police for help, Emmanuel Masih and Khokhar said that filing a complaint against Muslim village head Khan and other Muslims would only result in police registering false charges against them under Pakistan's notorious "blasphemy" statutes. That very fate befell two Christian couples in Gulshan-e-Iqbal town, Karachi, who had approached police with complaints against Muslims for falsely accusing them of blasphemy. On May 28, a judge directed Peer Ilahi Bakhsh police to file charges of desecrating the Quran against Atiq Joseph and Qaiser William after a mob of armed Islamists went through their home's garbage looking for pages of the Islamic scripture among clean-up debris.
**********
PAKISTAN
CHRISTIAN WOMAN ABUSED, FORCED TO RESIGN
June 10 (Compass Direct News) - A Christian woman here said she has been falsely accused of theft, beaten, threatened with rape and forced to resign her job in a bid to keep her from obtaining full benefits as a regular government employee. Razia Bibi, a 38-year-old sanitation worker known as Rajji of village No. 47-NB (Northern Branch), was due to obtain regular status as a government employee at Aysha Girls' Hostel at the University of Sargodha at the end of May. On May 7, however, Muslim office worker Safia Bibi accused her of stealing 10,000 rupees (US$120) from her cubicle - and when hostel warden Noshaba Bibi learned of it, she called female police officers and ordered them to beat her until she confessed, Rajji said. When she refused, she ordered male security guards to rape her. Her husband, Nayyer Aftab, arrived in time to spare her from rape by paying the amount of the allegedly stolen money, but the hostel warden forced Rajji to resign. "As I am a Christian, the Muslim hostel officers Safia and Noshaba wanted a Muslim regular employee after their hearts instead of me," Rajji told Compass. Noshaba Bibi initially refused to comment on the allegation that she falsely accused the Christian woman of theft in order to provide a job to someone of her choice, but after repeated questioning by Compass she yelled, "Yes, I have done it, do whatever you want!" In a village in southern Punjab Province, meantime, Muslim extremists on Saturday (June 5) attacked Christians trying to construct a church building, and then got police to file charges against them for defending themselves, according to the All Pakistan Minorities Alliance (APMA). A club-wielding Muslim mob led by Muhammad Nazir Ahmed beat the Christians in village No. 184/9-L, in Cheechawatni of Sahiwal district, seriously injuring several of them, said Javed Akber Gill, APMA district coordinator in Sahiwal.
**********
PAKISTAN
MUSLIMS KIDNAP, RAPE CHRISTIAN GIRL
June 16 (Compass Direct News) - Five Muslims here kidnapped and raped a Christian girl after threatening to kill her unless her father allowed one of them to marry her. Lazarus Masih said one of his three daughters, 14, was kidnapped on May 29 by five men identified only as Guddu, Kamran, Waqas, Adil and Ali. Police recovered her on June 6 in a raid on the home where she was being held, though the suspects escaped. Family members said the suspects took her to a house near Islamabad, where they gave her a drug that rendered her unconscious, and raped her. A medical report confirmed that she was given drugs and raped. "They threatened that if I don't get her married to Guddu, they would kill her," Masih said. "One of them said, 'We attended an Islamic religious convention, and the speaker said if you marry a non-Muslim or rape a non-Muslim girl, you will get 70 virgins in heaven." Devastated family members said the girl remained frightened and was not speaking to anyone. "It is such a shame that the religious leaders teach inhuman acts," said the Rev. John Gill of Shamsabad Catholic Church. "This incident has ruined the life of an innocent child."
**********
PAKISTAN
CHRISTIAN CHILD ABDUCTED, FORCED INTO BONDED LABOR
June 21 (Compass Direct News) - An 11-year-old Christian boy here is growing weak and ill from malnutrition from working in slave-like conditions for a Muslim landowner who kidnapped him and is forcing him to work off his family's debts, his mother told Compass. Katherine Bibi said landowner Ashraf Cheema of Dhonikay village, Wazirabad, has offered her son better conditions and possibly cancellation of the debt if he will convert to Islam. Young Danish Masih works without break from 4 a.m. to 11 p.m., often in iron chains, on half a loaf of bread per day, according to Dawood Masih of the National Commission of Justice and Peace. The boy's father and older brother had been working for Cheema to pay off a debt of 142,000 rupees (US$1,640), but their employer was neither paying their monthly wages nor deducting the amounts from their debt, said Emmanuel Berkat Gill of the All Pakistan Minorities Alliance.
Cheema also extorted land worth 35,000 rupees (US$404) from the boy's older brother, again without deducting the amount from their debt, and ransacked the family's house in Ali Naggar village, stealing Katherine Bibi's dowry worth 200,000 rupees (US$2,308), she and Gill said. The family decided to flee to Islamabad, 165 miles (102 miles) away, Katherine Bibi said, but 18 months ago Cheema found them and abducted Danish Masih. Contacted by Compass, Cheema said that no such boy works at his farm or fields, and that "someone must have misled you." Besides the court recognition of the abduction, however, Gill and other credible sources assert that Danish Masih works from dawn to dusk under a sizzling summer sun without any break or meal.
**********
PAKISTAN
CHRISTIAN PROFESSOR BEATEN FOR REFUSING TO CONVERT
June 25 (Compass Direct News) - Muslim students attacked a Christian professor at the Peshawar University College this month after he refused their demand to convert to Islam, the instructor told Compass. Psychology professor Samuel John, a father of four who has been teaching at the college for 12 years, said that as he came out of his house on the campus of the private college at 8:30 a.m. on June 14, about 20 to 25 students rushed and assaulted him. When his wife learned what was happening she ran to help him, but the students beat her as well. Both John and his wife were rushed to Lady Reading hospital, where they were treated for their injuries, with John listed in critical condition.
"I am still getting threats," the professor told Compass. "They say, 'Leave the university or accept Islam - if you don't convert, we will kill your family." Police have refused to register a First Information Report on the incident, he said. Separately, in Danna village in southern Punjab Province, Muslim administrators told three Christian students in the eighth grade to leave the school because they refused to convert to Islam. A new teacher of Islamic Studies at Government High School Danna urged students in his class, Sunil Masih, Shazia Masih and Nasir Naeem, to convert to Islam, the father of Sunil, Ejaz Masih, told Compass. The parents complained to the principal, who told them, under pressure from other teachers, to remove their children from the school, Masih said. The families have fled the area with their children.
**********
PAKISTAN
'BLASPHEMY LAWS' USED TO JAIL ELDERLY CHRISTIAN
June 29 (Compass Direct News) - A Muslim vying with a Christian for a parcel of land here has accused the elderly man of "blaspheming" Islam's prophet Muhammad, which is punishable by death or life imprisonment, according to the Christian Lawyers' Foundation (CLF). Jhumray police on June 19 arrested Rehmat Masih of village No. 165/RB Jandawali in Faisalabad district under Section 295-C of Pakistan's controversial "blasphemy laws," and he was sent to Faisalabad District Jail on judicial remand by Magistrate Muhammad Sajawal. Christian sources said Masih, who suffers from arthritis, is 85 years old, though the First Information Report against him lists his age as 73. The CLF's Rai Navid Zafar Bhatti told Compass that hard-line Muslim Muhammad Sajjid Hameed filed the charges after learning that he would not be able to secure the Punjab Province land.
CLF President Khalid Gill said local Christian residents led by Masih had applied to the Punjab government to secure the land for construction of a Christian residential area, and Hameed had applied for the same parcel for commercial projects. Masih had argued with Hameed and other Muslims about the Virgin Mary in April. Hameed has testified in court that Masih made derogatory remarks about Muhammad and Khadija, the first wife of the founder of the religion, Bhatti said. Gill said Masih has testified that he said nothing "humiliating" about Muhammad or Khadija. "I am not a blasphemer, nor I can think of such a sinister thing, which is against the teachings of Christ," Masih testified, according to Gill.
**********
SOMALIA
FAMILY OF 17-YEAR-OLD GIRL ABUSES HER FOR LEAVING ISLAM
June 15 (Compass Direct News) - The Muslim parents of a 17-year-old Somali girl who converted to Christianity severely beat her for leaving Islam and have regularly shackled her to a tree at their home for more than a month, Christian sources said. Nurta Mohamed Farah of Bardher, Gedo Region in southern Somalia, has been confined to her home since May 10, when her family found out that she had embraced Christianity, said a Christian leader who visited the area. Her parents also took her to a doctor who prescribed medication for a "mental illness," he said. Alarmed by her determination to keep her faith, her father, Hassan Kafi Ilmi, and mother, Hawo Godane Haf, decided she had gone crazy and forced her to take the prescribed medication, but it had no effect in swaying her from her faith, the source said. Traditionally, he added, many Somalis believe the Quran cures the sick, especially the mentally ill, so the Islamic scripture is continually recited to her twice a week. "The girl is very sick and undergoing intense suffering," he said.
**********
**********
Compass Direct News is distributed monthly to raise awareness of Christians worldwide who are persecuted for their faith.
For subscription information, contact:
Compass Direct News
PO Box 27250
Santa Ana CA 92799
USA
E-mail: info@compassdirect.org
