05/19/2013 Washington D.C. (International Christian Concern) – After being falsely imprisoned for four and a half years in the murder case of a Hindu nationalist leader in eastern Orissa state, the hearing of seven Christian men has been delayed again, raising doubts over the authorities’ apathetic and indifferent attitude towards the minority in the region.

In 2008, the murder of Swami Laxmanananda triggered off violent pogroms against Christians in Orissa, during which more than 600 villages were ransacked, 5,600 houses in 415 villages were looted and set on fire, 54,000 people were left homeless and at least 38 people were murdered.

Underground militant Maoists openly took responsibility for the crime, but not before seven Indian Christians were falsely accused and thrown in jail as lambs to appease the angry Hindu majority.

Cancellation of Hearings

On April 1 this year, the prisoners and their families were due to be heard in a fast-track court that was established to speed up the judicial process following the countless crimes committed during the pogroms. Convinced that the day had come to embrace their husbands, six of the seven wives, along with their children, went to the pastoral center Konjamendi, which provides assistance and support to Christian prisoners and their families. But they were only to be disappointed.

Following the constant and frustrating pattern of four years of delays and cancelations, once again the judge announced that his court was closed and that the case had been passed into the hands of a regular Session Court.

Since the discovery of their innocence, court dates have been delayed and judges have repeatedly failed to show up for hearings. In 2012, seven hearings were canceled in the space of 60 days, at a time when 267 cases in ‘fast-track courts’ were still waiting to go to trial. Now that the case has been sent to a regular Session Court, the possibility for delayed justice has only multiplied, confirming the suspicions of many that the accused are in prison simply for being Christians.

The new session is scheduled for May 22, but after endless delays and cancelations, it seems to be nothing more than a date with disappointment. The fast-track court “is moving at snail’s speed in the case against the seven accused, despite an observation by the High Court two years ago that there was not enough material evidence against the Christians. The High Court, therefore, ordered that the trial be concluded in a speedy manner,” Pratap Chhinchani, the attorney of the accused, told ICC earlier this year.

Families Suffer

When it was revealed that the Maoists had murdered the leader, it was too late. The men were in prison and the government was obligated to release the falsely accused, or at least reopen the case and investigate their innocence. However, it has been four and a half years and the men are still in prison, while their wives and children are languishing in poverty without any reprieve.

Women are not equipped to take on the leadership role in a region that is rooted in patriarchy, leaving them to be dependent on generous benefactors or sacrificing the education of their children to be exploited in child labor, which barely meets their needs.

Without the seven men in prison, their families have been left ignored and neglected by a judicial system whose indifference ought to be put on trial. It is believed that the chief reason for keeping the men in prison, purposely delaying their day in court, is that the prosecutors are helping the state to “save face” because the real culprits are simply too hard to capture.

That the prisoners are Christians only satisfies a craving for vengeance among hardened Hindu fundamentalists, turning a straightforward crime into a communal and religious conflict to gain political mileage.

Religious persecution in India is rooted in political motivations, ambition and identity. The religious sentiment of the poor is exploited by political opportunists to demonize Christians as followers of a foreign religion, corruptible by the West and antithetical to a national identity that is equated with Hinduism.

As the new court date approaches, the disillusioned wives are seeking the support of local churches and pastors to pray for God’s intervention and the quick release of their husbands. On Mar. 19, church leaders accompanied six of the seven women to Phulbani prison, to visit their husbands.

Though Christians in Orissa are on the road to recovery, the darker spectre of politically motivated communal conflict looms large over all of India.

Some analysts say that it will take another year before the men can return home to their families. The church is called upon to pray for the next hearing, as seven families hope against the odds that it will not take as long as a year for justice to be served.

You are free to disseminate this news story. We request that you reference ICC (International Christian Concern) and include our web address, www.persecution.org. ICC is a Washington-DC based human rights organization that exists to help persecuted Christians worldwide. ICC provides Awareness, Advocacy, and Assistance to the worldwide persecuted Church.  For additional information or for an interview, contact ICC at 800-422-5441.

Christians living in Nigeria's northern states have suffered at the hands of the Islamic extremist group Boko Haram since the group started its armed insurgency in 2009. Since then, the group is thought to have murdered over 4,000 people, many of them Christians. As the government of Nigeria considers granting Boko Haram amnesty for its crimes in exchange for a peace deal, many Christians are requesting that the government not forget the 4,000 people who lost their lives. So far, the government has ignored these victims and their families.      

5/19/2013 Nigeria (Premium Times) - The Church of Christ in Nations, COCIN, has advocated for compensation to victims of the Boko Haram insurgents.

The church also pledged its total support for the steps taken by the federal government in restoring peace at the northeastern part of the country through emergency rule.

It stated its position in a communique made available to journalists on Saturday after COCIN’s 82nd annual general council meeting which held at its headquarters in Jos on Friday evening.

“COCIN applauds the bold step taken by the Federal Government in declaring a state of emergency in Adamawa, Borno, and Yobe States and prays that it will bring lasting peace. The general church council calls on the federal and various state governments to take proactive and definite measures to curb insecurity and the growing menace of the Boko Haram Islamic sect terrorist group.

“We reiterate our position against the proposed amnesty to Boko Haram as it will only mean rewarding and glorifying crime,” the church stressed.

The three page communique also frowned at the brutal killing of innocent people across the country by the Boko Haram.

“COCIN condemns in strong terms the brutal killings at Baga and Bama both in Borno State, Wukari in Taraba State, Alakyo, in Nasarawa State, Agatu in Benue State and that of Gombe and Kano States and of recent Katsina State. We condole the family and Christians in Borno State over the killing of the State CAN Secretary, Rev. Faye Pama, by the Boko Haram second,” it stated.

…

[Full Story]

With a new “anti-extremism” program pending in Kazakhstan, many are concerned that persecution of Christians, and other religious minorities, will increase. For example, “If adopted in its current form, all places of worship would require security systems and require the teaching of what the government calls ‘traditional religions.’”

5/13/2013 Kazakhstan (Charisma)- Kazakhstan is again raising eyebrows. According to a report from Forum 18 News, the government would like to implement what they're calling a new state program to counter religious extremism and terrorism for 2013-2017.

If adopted in its current form, all places of worship would require security systems and require the teaching of what the government calls "traditional religions."

President of Russian Ministries Sergey Rakhuba met with the Kazakh ambassador to the United States last week.

"I was very much optimistic having a chance to openly discuss these issues," Rakhuba says, "but when it comes from the reports from the ground like this, it shows there is a lot more that is to come."

Rakhuba is referring to additional restrictions to religious freedom for evangelical Christians. He believes the new program will put more pressure on evangelical churches and will create more difficulties for their work but won't stop it.

…

[Full Story]

5/16/2013 Syria (Barnabas Fund) – A tragedy of unbelievable proportions is unfolding in Syria. The Christians believe they are the meat in the sandwich, squeezed between the rebel forces with their extremist Islamist allies and the government forces. They are caught in the middle of a conflict not of their making. Increasingly the rebel forces are deliberately targeting them. When the al-Nusra Front takes an area, they systematically destroy all Christian symbols. The Christians are faced now with a disaster that is leading many of them to question whether the Church will survive in Syria. Many see this as Iraq Mark 2. Just as the Christians of Iraq were ethnically cleansed, with Western acquiescence, so today Western countries are supporting the Gulf States and Turkey who are facilitating the rebel fighters who want to introduce sharia and destroy Christianity.

I have just returned from Lebanon, where Barnabas Fund had brought together a range of Christians from different parts of Syria, each with their own heart-breaking story to tell about how the conflict there is affecting them and those for whom they care. Among the accounts I heard were: a woman who is too afraid to leave her home to go to work for fear of being raped; courageous and creative church leaders who are working tirelessly to help meet the needs of their splintered congregations; analyses from a journalist and a senior politician, in particular of the potential consequences for Christians.

…

[Full Story]

4/19/2013 Iran (Present Truth Ministries) – We have received news from our contacts in Iran that Pastor Behnam Irani’s health has improved. We give thanks to the Lord for that.  He still has some problems with his back and his intestinal ulcer, but both problems seem to have stabilized.  This is not a result of the Iranian regime providing medical care, rather, it is the work of our gracious Lord to improve the situation of his child.

We’ve also received reports that Alireza Seyyedian, who is serving a five-year sentence for his Christian faith, is in good health and his family is able to visit him quite frequently.

…

[Full Story]

After declaring a state of emergency in three northern states, Nigeria's federal government has begun a new offensive against the Islamic extremist group Boko Haram. Nigerian troops have reportedly engages several Boko Haram bases in northern Nigeria and some sources are reporting that the government has conducted air strikes against other Boko Haram targets. Boko Haram is responsible for killing over 4,000 people in its 4-year long insurgency. Many of the group's victims were selected because they were Christians. Will this new offensive bring an end to the Boko Haram insurgency?   

5/18/2013 Nigeria (IOL News) - Nigerian forces attacked Islamist strongholds in the north-east on Thursday, security sources said as an offensive got under way to wrest back territory from increasingly well-armed Boko Haram insurgents.

Soldiers raided areas in the Sambisa Game Reserve, a remote savannah of about 500 square kilometres in Borno state where Islamists have established bases, said two sources who spoke on condition of anonymity. They gave no further details.

Preparing for possible further action across three frontier states where President Goodluck Jonathan declared a state of emergency on Tuesday, the armed forces also deployed jet fighters and helicopter gunships to the region.

Rights groups said they feared for the safety of civilians from combatants on both sides, but Jonathan's move enjoys widespread public support after more than three years of trying to contain the insurgency without notable success.

It follows an upsurge in violence against government and Christian targets in the north-east by Islamists who want an Islamic state in Nigeria. Africa's most populous nation's 170 million people are split evenly between Christians, who dominate in the south, and Muslims, who are the majority in the north.

Little detail was available from Sambisa. Nigerian forces have attacked Islamist bases in the area of the game reserve before, as recently as February, to rout militants seen as the biggest security threat to Africa's top energy producer.

The emergency affects the semi-desert states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa, which variously border Niger, Chad and Cameroon and cover about 150 000 square kilometres - an area similar to England or Illinois, but with a population of only 10 million.

A Reuters reporter saw two Alpha light attack jets land at Yola in Adamawa state. Air Force spokesman Air Commodore Yusuf Anas confirmed that “air assets”, also including helicopter gunships, had been sent to support ground troops. A military source said there could be air strikes on Islamist bases.

...

[Full Story]

ICC Note:
Persecution in Turkmenistan continues with restriction on Religious literature. In this case, a woman reading Christian literature at work. After her boss complained to officials they showed up at her house, confiscated all religious material, and then proceeded to the house of the man who gave her the literature and confiscated his religious material as well.

“Religious literature is under tight state control. No religious literature may be published in Turkmenistan or imported into the country without permission from the Gengesh. Each title and the number of copies must be specifically approved. State postal authorities hold all religious literature received from abroad, releasing it only when the Gengesh has given written approval. The few books that are approved are stamped as approved by the Gengesh.”

By Felix Corley

5/17/2013 Turkmenistan (Forum18)- Members of two separate Protestant Christian communities in villages in Turkmenistan's eastern Lebap Region have faced pressure from local officials, including Muslim leaders who have a dual role as state religious affairs officials, Forum 18 News Service has learned. In one village, community members suffered raids, threats and confiscations of religious literature, including personal copies of the Bible. Two were fined more than two months' average local wages for those in work. In the other, community members were publicly vilified at meetings of local residents, with officials seeking help from President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov to halt their activity locally and punish their leader.

Forum 18 reached the phone of Gurbanberdy Nursakhatov, Deputy Chair of the government's Gengesh (Council) for Religious Affairs in the capital Ashgabad, several times on 16 May. As soon as Forum 18 introduced itself, the man who answered it immediately hung up.

Similarly, Forum 18 was unable to reach Yusup Durdyev, Imam of Lebap Region and simultaneously head of the regional Gengesh, or any other Gengesh official. Each time Forum 18 called the Gengesh on 16 May, the official who answered the phone hung up as soon as it introduced itself.

Government-appointed leaders of the Muftiate – which has a state-backed monopoly over Islamic life in Turkmenistan – also have a dual role as leaders of the Gengesh at national, regional and local level. Thus these leaders appointed to restrict the freedom of religion and belief of the Islamic community also have a state-appointed role to restrict the freedom of religion and belief of non-Muslim religious communities (see F18News 13 October 2009http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=1361).

The fines, raids, threats and public vilification of religious believers in Lebap Region come as religious communities continue to face difficulties inviting foreigners for religious visits. In early 2013, a foreigner was deported after visiting local fellow-believers. Despite all these violations of the right to freedom of religion or belief, Turkmen officials insisted to the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva in April that the country upholds the right (see forthcoming F18News article).

Raids, threats, confiscations

Life has long been difficult for a Baptist community in the village of Galkynysh (formerly Deinau) in the eastern Lebap Region, close to the Amu Darya river half way between the regional capital Turkmenabad and Seydi. The most recent trouble started after a church member was caught reading a Christian book at work. Her boss was brought in and reported the woman to the authorities.

A Gengesh official for Lebap Region and the local police officer then visited the church member at her home in the village of Galkynysh on 2 March, local Protestants told Forum 18. They demanded she hand over all her religious books, threatening that they would otherwise search her home and seize them anyway. "They also intimidated her," Protestants added.

During intense questioning, the church member named another church member. The home of the second church member was then visited by the Galkynysh district imam, Yusup Setdarkuliev, and the district archyn, Batyr Novruzov. They too demanded that she hand over her religious books. The imam and the archyn confiscated four books from her. They forced her to write a statement that she had received the books from local Baptist leader Narmurad Mominov.

Mominov was then summoned to the archynlyk (village administration) by an official of the Gengesh, the district imam, and three police officers, including the local police officer. They showed Mominov the statement identifying him as the alleged source of the books. They then showed him the 2003 Religion Law and said he had violated it. They demanded that he bring them all the religious literature he had.

Mominov told them he had a personal Bible and a personal Injil (New Testament). "They took these books and examined them, and immediately said they could not give them back as they don't have the required approval stamp from the Gengesh," Protestants complained to Forum 18. His computer was also seized.

Officials then took the personal Bible from another church leader, Rasul Jumayev. "They said the Bible was printed in Kiev in Ukraine, and therefore reading it was banned," Protestants added. "They refused to return it."

Religious literature is under tight state control. No religious literature may be published in Turkmenistan or imported into the country without permission from the Gengesh. Each title and the number of copies must be specifically approved. State postal authorities hold all religious literature received from abroad, releasing it only when the Gengesh has given written approval. The few books that are approved are stamped as approved by the Gengesh

…

[Full Story]

05/18/2013 Washington D.C. (International Christian Concern) – After the recent sentencing of an American Christian to 15 years’ hard labor, North Korea shows no signs of releasing the U.S. tour operator, solidifying its reputation as the world’s worst persecutor of Christians.

In November 2012, Kenneth Bae (Pae Jun-ho), a 44-year-old Korean American tour operator was arrested by authorities in North Korea while leading a trip with five Europeans into the Rason Special Economic Zone, a pilot region on the border of China and Russia which is open to foreign companies.

Bae, who lived in China, ran a travel agency called Nation Tours and had visited North Korea several times before without incident, according to Do Hee-youn, who heads the Citizens Coalition for the Human Rights of North Korean Refugees, based in Seoul. He is at least the sixth American detained in North Korea since 2009.

Since his sudden arrest on unclear charges, there was almost no news of him, until May 6, when the government-run Korean Central News Agency reported that he was charged with “committing crimes aimed at toppling the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea with hostility towards it,” according to The Independent.

Reasons for Arrest

On May 10, after mounting pressure on North Korea to provide justification for his arrest and sentencing, the government released a detailed report with a long list of allegations against him. According to the report, Bae gave anti-Pyongyang lectures in China and “infiltrated” about 250 students into the city of Rason.

North Korea said that Bae “set up plot-breeding bases in different places of China for the purpose of toppling the government from 2006 to October 2012 out of distrust and enmity. He committed such hostile acts as egging citizens of (North Korea) overseas and foreigners on to perpetrate hostile acts to bring down its government while conducting a malignant smear campaign against it. He was caught red handed,” The Guardian reported.

Speculation surrounds the reason for his arrest in the first place, with reasons including his compassion for orphans, possible links with a missionary organization and his potential for being used by North Korea as bait for political maneuvering.

Bae is known to have “feelings for orphans and has done some ministry work feeding orphans,” according to David Ross of Antioch World Ministries Inc. in Monroe, Washington. Ross and Bae reportedly met four years ago through church affiliations in Hawaii and have been “casual acquaintances” since, according to UCA News.

It’s possible that he was arrested while taking pictures of orphans in the markets of Rason, something in keeping with his known concern for children, which was taken to be anti-North Korean propaganda. However that remains speculative, at best.

“I don’t know the specifics about that. I think he could have because of who he is and he’s generous in giving, maybe he could have delivered bread to orphanages once or twice, but I really don’t know if that is the reason,” his sister, Terri Chung, told CNN’s Anderson Cooper.

According to the Telegraph, Bae’s Facebook page links to an organization in Ohio called the Joseph Connection, which describes itself as “a Christ centered, humanitarian outreach to the Least of the Least world-wide.” It organizes short-term trips into closed or restricted countries “to touch the average person.”

If discovered, the missionary link could have prompted his arrest. North Korea has a history of violent and extreme persecution of Christians. For 11 consecutive years, Open Doors has ranked the country as the leading persecutor of Christians, a view supported by the Pew Research Center.

Diplomatic Bait?

Since Bae was sentenced during weeks of high tension, following North Korea’s threats of nuclear and missile strikes on Washington and Seoul, outside analysts have said Pyongyang may be using Bae as bait to win diplomatic concessions in the standoff over its nuclear weapons programme. But North Korea repeated its denial of such speculation in the new statement.

Also, since Bae is Korean American, the country’s motives could be rooted in wielding some form of self-gratifying power over its twin enemies, the U.S. and South Korea. In 2009, Bill Clinton flew to Pyongyang to win the release of two American journalists who were arrested on the North Korean border, a moment that is enshrined in North Korean propaganda as the humbling of its historic enemy.

Whatever the reasons for his arrest, North Korea remains obstinate in keeping him in prison, despite efforts made by New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson and Google CEO Eric Shmidt during their recent visits to the country. Even former NBA Basketball star Dennis Rodman has reached out to the Supreme Leader, Kim Jong-un, who has the right to grant special pardons, asking him to “do me a solid” and release the U.S. citizen.

Even though his family says they have spoken to Bae and confirmed that he is alive and claims to be healthy, it’s not enough to calm their fears for his future. Bae languishes in prison with limited access to legal counsel, following arrest on ambiguous charges and a suspicious legal process. Much prayer and political astuteness is needed for a quick and speedy solution that secures his release and eases tensions between North Korea and its “enemies.”

You are free to disseminate this news story. We request that you reference ICC (International Christian Concern) and include our web address, www.persecution.org. ICC is a Washington-DC based human rights organization that exists to help persecuted Christians worldwide. ICC provides Awareness, Advocacy, and Assistance to the worldwide persecuted Church.  For additional information or for an interview, contact ICC at 800-422-5441.

By Charlie Butts

5/16/2013 Iraq (OneNewsNow.com) – Christians in Iraq fear their plight may have been forgotten by the rest of the world.

Jerry Dykstra, a spokesman for Open Doors USA, says American troops have left Iraq, and Christians seem to be an open target for extremists.

"We know that there's more and more violence there, there's more and more Christians leaving, and, in fact, one of our field workers said that they wanted to be a Muslim-only country," Dykstra relays. "They want the Christians out completely."

At one point, many Iraqi Christians who did leave fled to Syria, but the conflict there is sending them back to Iraq, where conditions are much worse than when they left. That is even the case in Mosul, the biblical city of Ninevah which has been largely Christian.

"Many Christians are fleeing cities like Mosul and going to the northern part of Iraq, which is called Kurdistan," the Open Doors spokesman reports. "And even there there's a lack of security, and [there are] kidnappings, church attacks."

…

[Full Story]

5/14/2013 Egypt (PRWeb) – Eyes blazing, body tensing, mood darkening – he leans across the table and voices his worries: "No one cares. No one is listening. No one is helping the Coptic Orthodox Christians living in Egypt." He then slumps in his seat and surveys his surroundings.

The café is buzzing with movement. It is lunchtime in Sydney's central business district, and many office workers are darting around the place. Although a few have come for a quick meal, the majority are lined up for an espresso – a caffeine fix to help them through the sluggish afternoon. But Ramy Christopher Tadros, author of "The War of the Words: Oppression, Egypt's Copts, and the State", barely notices the sandwich sitting on the table in front of him. And his caffè latte is already lukewarm. He has bigger worries than the slow-afternoon office syndrome. He is here to discuss the worsening treatment of Egypt's Christian minority.

"The main problem," says Tadros, his gaze intensifying and the fire rekindling his spirit, "is that the world doesn't even know there are Christians living in Egypt. How many people, picked randomly from the streets of any Western city, have heard of Egypt's Copts?"

He pauses before answering his own question: "Close to none. Hardly anyone knows of the Copts or the daily discrimination and persecution they face in Egypt. And the Western media and governments generally don't care."

Despite the surrounding café chit-chat, his words are sobering. Life may be good here in Sydney, Australia, but on the other side of the planet a Christian minority is suffering at the hands of a Muslim majority. Coptic girls are being abducted every week. Churches are being routinely torched. And Christians are even being terrorized. The most recent terrorist bombing happened at the Saints Coptic Orthodox Church in Alexandria, during a New Year's service on 1 January 2011. Twenty-three Copts died and dozens were injured.

These crimes, at the hands of the Muslim majority, are just the beginning. But when a state commits the violence, then government has violated its primary duty. The libertarian political economist Frédéric Bastiat summed up this sentiment in one sentence: "Among the services that we demand of the state, the chief is security." And Thomas Jefferson, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States, said, "All, too, will bear in mind this sacred principle: that though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will to be rightful must be reasonable; that the minority possess their equal rights, which equal law must protect, and to violate would be oppression."

Yet the Egyptian State, whose charge is to protect the Christian minority (roughly 10 per cent of Egypt's population) from the Muslim majority, has been willfully failing to uphold its duty of care. Even more disturbing, the Egyptian State has been actively engaging in its own atrocities against Egypt's Christians. For instance, on 9 October 2011, at least 26 Copts were murdered and more than 300 were injured in downtown Cairo in what became known as the Maspero Massacre – a bloodbath coordinated by the Egyptian State and its armed forces. But this is just one example taken from an ever-lengthening list of offenses that the Egyptian State is continuing to inflict on its minorities.

…

[Full Story]