Iraqi Christians Suffering Injustice and Marginalization

 

6/25/2013 Iraq (Christian Post) - Dr. Yousef Francis Matta Eklimis, a member of the National Assembly of Unified Christians List, has spoke out against the discrimination and injustice that Christians in Iraq are suffering.
"Iraqi Christians have suffered much injustice and marginalization. Even their rights are being ignored in the new constitution," Eklimis told Mideast Christian News.
"We aim to get our rights by initiating article 125 of the constitution, which is based on self-management of Christian areas," Eklimis explained.
Eklimis stated that his list seeks unity, maintenance of privacy and providing of services.
"We will seek to unite Christians in Iraq," he noted, "By maintaining communication with concerned authorities to complete the establishment of the University of Hamdania, as well as educating people on peaceful coexistence, particularly in Christian areas, while maintaining the privacy of these areas and halting any attempts to change the demographics of them. In addition to this, various projects for the development of Christian areas in Iraq, generally, and in Nineveh in particular will be carried out."
He also note the need for reducing the migration of Christians out of the country(source).

Secret Believers Share Faith under Fire

By George Thomas
06/26/2013 Kyrgyzstan (CBN)- One-hundred-thousand Christians are murdered because of their faith each year. In many cases, governments are to blame because they pass laws that restrict religious freedom.
Recently, CBN News gained exclusive access to a gathering of secret believers inside a former Soviet Republic to get a close-up look at what life is like for Christians who face daily persecution.
Secret Strategy
The setting in the mountains of Kyrgyzstan could not have been more ideal.
"This is a beautiful location," Vitaly, a secret believer, said. "Seventy percent of the country is mountainous. Locals call it the second Switzerland of Asia. Our goal was to find a safe place away from the city to not draw attention of the authorities."
For a few days Vitaly and a handful of Christians gathered in a secluded villa tucked away in the mountains about a two-hour drive outside the capital city Bishkek.
"We worship, pray, and strategize how to effectively share the love of Christ in our countries," Vitaly said.
CBN News cannot show you their faces or reveal their real names for security reasons, but in a room inside a secret getaway are underground believers from Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan. All are former Soviet Republics in Central Asia experiencing a rising tide of hostilities against believers.
They are members of a Christian ministry that's reaching young people in the former Soviet Union.
"It's practically impossible to openly share about Jesus Christ. Doing so will get you beaten, arrested, or killed," Vitaly warned.
Youth Not Allowed
But that has not stopped Marat, a youth leader from Uzbekistan, who said last year was a difficult year for him.
"Fortunately I wasn't arrested," Marat said. "But I was repeatedly interrogated by secret police accused of gathering people in my house. They said what I am doing is illegal."
Marat runs an informal Christian school training Uzbek leaders. He told CBN News that "the pressure is unrelenting."
"You can't relax. You are constantly under stress," he said. "You cannot trust anyone because you don't know if they'll turn you in or accuse you of proselytizing(source)."

Pakistani Militants Threaten the Life of a Christian Lawyer

 

06/27/2013 Pakistan (Asia Human Rights Commission) - A Christian lawyer has been threatened with dire consequences if he continues to provide legal assistance to three Christian women who were stripped naked and paraded on the street by the henchmen of ruling party. Mr. Mushtaq Gill, the director of LEAD (Legal Evangelical Association Development) organization, is getting death threats from militants. He is raising his voice for the Christian minority as militants often violate their rights. According to the Pakistan Christian Post, three armed militants allegedly threatened Mr. Mushtaq Gill on Sunday 23, June 2013, at around 2:30 p.m., when he was on his way home.

He was on a motorbike with a friend when they were forcibly stopped at gunpoint on Multan road. These three people, who were unknown to him, started threatening to kill him and then shot into the air. On the day of the incident, he visited one of the victims' families from the aforementioned case. To summarize, three women from the Christian community were paraded nude in the street by militants, who are landlords of Sereser village, Chak 21. The militants are powerful and one political leader from Pakistan's ruling party, Mr. Rana Ishaq, is helping these landlords. The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has sent letters to Pakistan's higher authorities, urging them to take action against this inhuman act.

An editorial in The Pakistan Christian Post points out that this type of incident is not new in Pakistan. Militants gun down people who raise their voices for the poor, especially for minorities, like in the cases of the two well-known political personalities Salman Taser and Shahbaz Bhatti. Salman Taseer (the former Governor of Punjab) was killed by his own bodyguard on 4 January 2011. He was gunned down because he was in opposition to the Blasphemy Law and called it a black law. Another brave politician, MNA Mr. Shahbaz Bhatti, was getting death threats but he sacrificed his life for the sake of Christian people. He highly opposed the blasphemy laws and supported the Christian girl Ms. Asia Bibi, who has been sentenced to death by hanging in a blasphemy case. He was killed near his home on 4th March 2011 by militants who attacked his car. Militants called him a blasphemer because he was in opposition to this law.

In Pakistan, lives and properties of common citizens are not secure and citizens live in fear. Minorities are the most victimized by these violations. Christian people are facing many difficulties in Pakistan. Militants launch arson attacks against their communities. In the case of Badmi bagh, a Lahore case, a mob attacked, looted and burned the houses, shops and churches of Christian people. More than 100 shops, houses and churches were burned by the mob. Religious fanaticism is rampant in Pakistan and has reached at its peak point. These fanatics are spoiling peace, creating hatred among believers of different faiths(Source).

Girl in Tajikistan Publicly Beaten for Converting to Christianity

Keep on enduring for your Lord Nadia.

06/26/2013 Tajikistan (CIC)- Nadia, a recent Christian convert in Tajikistan, is experiencing severe persecution at the hands of her Muslim family members. Nadia converted from Islam to Christianity in 2011 and was then baptized.

After her mother found out, she beat Nadia, burned her Bible, and tore her clothing. Nadia tried to run away, but her brothers found her. They shaved her head, gave her a public beating, and then locked her in the house. When she ran away a second time, they unfortunately caught her again.

Nadia called a Voice of the Martyrs contact on June 9th, sobbing, saying that her family had beaten her again, this time for hours, and forced her to say the Muslim statement of faith. The VOM contact has since been unable to reach Nadia by phone as her family most likely had it disconnected(source).

Thirty-Three Christians in Mexico Captured and Tortured

06/28/2013 Mexico (CBN)- Thirty-three Mexican evangelicals are grateful to be alive after being captured and tortured by Catholic villagers in Chiapas, Mexico. Voice of the Martyrs Mexico reported the evangelicals were attempting to return to their homes near San Cristobal after three and a half years of forced exile.

Pastor Armando said he and others were hung by a rope and doused with gasoline. They barely escaped with their lives, with five having to be hospitalized. Village leaders also seized Pastor Esdras Alonso of the Eagles Wings Church. He's a long-time defender of freedom to worship in Chiapas.

The captives were released Wednesday after a state government commission paid a "fine" of 600,000 pesos ($49,000). Leftists and traditionalists have forced more than 35,000 evangelicals from their homes in Chiapas during the past 35 years(Source).

American Christian Remains Imprisoned in North Korea

Let's pray that he is released soon.

6/20/2013 North Korea (CIC) - North Korea has found U.S. citizen Kenneth Bae guilty for "hostile acts" against the state, sentencing him to 15 years of hard labour. The verdict was handed down on April 30th. A press release from North Korea's "Korean Central News Agency" reported on May 15th that he has now begun serving his sentence within a "special prison."

Kenneth, described as a devout Christian, is the owner of a North Korea tour company. He was in the country with official permission when detained by North Korean authorities on November 3rd. Human rights activist Rev. Robert Park says one thing is certain. "Bae, a humanitarian who had compassion for North Korea's starving and abandoned orphans, is not indictable for any crime. Rather, he is a hostage being held to accommodate yet undetermined North Korean agenda."

The concerned activist further explains that this case is reminiscent of the still unresolved case of a Christian minister and humanitarian, Rev. Kim Dong-shik, who died in a North Korean prison. In 2000, North Korean agents crossed the border and hunted Kim down in China where he was operating several underground shelters for North Korean refugees. He was abducted and returned to North Korea where he was reportedly tortured and starved to death.

A 2011 report from the U.S. Committee for Human Rights in North Korea discovered that the country has abducted more than 180,000 people from 12 countries. Apart from North Korea's own citizens, Rev. Park said no nation and people have suffered more as a result of the savagery...than the Republic of Korea (South Korea). Apart from the abductions, murders and terrorist attacks, he believes North Korea continues to be the world's worst proliferator of nuclear weapons technology, also committing crimes against humanity and genocide against its own people(Source).

China Still Persecuting Christians, Just Better at Hiding It

So let's not be fool by any outward facades that this country  may be giving to the rest of the world.

6/24/2013 China (International Christian Concern) – Two weeks ago, the New York Times published details of a fascinating interview with Mr. Zhang, the claimed author of a note written in English and allegedly smuggled out of the Masanjia labor camp while he was imprisoned there. The letter was discovered by a woman in Oregon who found it stashed in a box of Halloween decorations that were packaged at the labor camp. The letter revealed that conditions in the camp were “a living hell” and that about half the camp’s occupants were either Falun Gong practitioners or members of underground house churches.

In late 2012, China Aid, a human rights organization dedicated to assisting Chinese Christians who face abuses of religious freedom, published a report citing an increase of 131.8 percent in the number of Christians imprisoned by the Chinese government over the course of 2012. The report was alarming and controversial, but recent research conducted on the ground by International Christian Concern (ICC) has confirmed that Christians still face arrest and imprisonment in large numbers despite the overall impression that China has curtailed repression of religious minorities in recent years.

One eyewitness sentenced to a re-education through labor camp in Shangqui, Henan Province, told ICC late last month that she estimates at least 50 to 60 Christians spent time in her camp over the course of her two-year sentence. She said many were arrested repeatedly for refusing to stop attending house churches which remain technically illegal in China. The only legal option for Protestants is to attend an officially registered “Three-Self church.” However, millions of Chinese Christians refuse to join these churches due to the high level of control exerted by the Communist

Party over everything – from what is preached to who is allowed to preach it.
Also alarming is the length to which Chinese officials are willing to go in order to keep the repression of religious groups confidential. Many Chinese religious leaders told ICC that the number of violent incidents, such as beatings or torture while under arrest, have decreased dramatically in recent years while at the same time the level of control exerted over these groups has increased exponentially. One pastor relayed how officials in his hometown “knew everything about him” and were constantly tracking meeting locations, times, and number of people in attendance. They would often invite him to “have tea” and apply subtle pressure for his congregation to join with the local Three-Self church.

This heightened level of observation should not be surprising. Starting in 2010, China began spending a greater share of its gross domestic product on internal security to police its own population than on its substantial military. One source cautioned an ICC representative that they should assume that all communications – cell phone, e-mail, and even web addresses visited – would be monitored and recorded while visiting China. If at any time the work of a foreigner becomes too prominent or threatened, they would be “deported without delay.” The requirement for users of hotel internet to input their passport number before being able to browse was the first indication to this author that China’s internal security apparatus remains alive and well(Keep Reading).

Vietnamese Police Attack Christian Couple for Refusal to Recant Faith

I thank my Lord and Savior for their bravery.

6/28/2013 Vietnam (International Christian Concern) has just learned that police officers attacked a Christian couple in Lào Cai province, Vietnam, on Monday after the couple refused to recant from their newly found Christian faith. Police repeatedly struck both the husband and wife until the wife began bleeding, at which point police halted the beating and released her.

The attack came after police from the Muong Khuong district of Lao Cai Province repeatedly summoned the heads of two recently converted Christian families, whose names are being withheld for their security, to the police station for questioning. The official police summons received by the families were vague, one of which stated only that they were to come in “for questioning.” However during the third interrogation sources in Vietnam report that the police began to “strongly pressure” the Christians to recant their faith, despite the fact that such pressure is illegal under Vietnamese law.
Two of the three police involved in the violent interrogation are reported to be Hàng Vềnh, the deputy chief of police of Ta Thang Commune and Vàng Tre, a ranking officer of Ta Thang Commune. It is unknown if the officers have yet faced any sort of disciplinary action for the incident on Monday.

The two families, who converted to Protestant Christianity in March, are members of the ethnic Hmong community and reside in the mountainous Lào Cai Province of Northern Vietnam. Christians among the Hmong communities both in Northwestern Vietnam and the Central Highlands regularly face pressure to recant their faith and return to more traditional animist belief systems.
The reported attack comes on the heels of an unusually positive development in Kontum Province, Vietnam, where federal authorities this month resettled four minority Christian families after their property was destroyed earlier in this year by local villagers.

The Vietnamese government maintains tight control of religious activities in the country. In its most recent annual report, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) concluded that “the government of Vietnam continues to expand control over all religious activities, severely restrict independent religious practice, and repress individuals and religious groups it views as challenging its authority(Source).”

China Still Persecuting Christians, Just Better at Hiding It

 

6/24/2013 China (International Christian Concern) – Two weeks ago, the New York Times published details of a fascinating interview with Mr. Zhang, the claimed author of a note written in English and allegedly smuggled out of the Masanjia labor camp while he was imprisoned there. The letter was discovered by a woman in Oregon who found it stashed in a box of Halloween decorations that were packaged at the labor camp. The letter revealed that conditions in the camp were “a living hell” and that about half the camp’s occupants were either Falun Gong practitioners or members of underground house churches.

In late 2012, China Aid, a human rights organization dedicated to assisting Chinese Christians who face abuses of religious freedom, published a report citing an increase of 131.8 percent in the number of Christians imprisoned by the Chinese government over the course of 2012. The report was alarming and controversial, but recent research conducted on the ground by International Christian Concern (ICC) has confirmed that Christians still face arrest and imprisonment in large numbers despite the overall impression that China has curtailed repression of religious minorities in recent years.

One eyewitness sentenced to a re-education through labor camp in Shangqui, Henan Province, told ICC late last month that she estimates at least 50 to 60 Christians spent time in her camp over the course of her two-year sentence. She said many were arrested repeatedly for refusing to stop attending house churches which remain technically illegal in China. The only legal option for Protestants is to attend an officially registered “Three-Self church.” However, millions of Chinese Christians refuse to join these churches due to the high level of control exerted by the Communist Party over everything – from what is preached to who is allowed to preach it.

Also alarming is the length to which Chinese officials are willing to go in order to keep the repression of religious groups confidential. Many Chinese religious leaders told ICC that the number of violent incidents, such as beatings or torture while under arrest, have decreased dramatically in recent years while at the same time the level of control exerted over these groups has increased exponentially. One pastor relayed how officials in his hometown “knew everything about him” and were constantly tracking meeting locations, times, and number of people in attendance. They would often invite him to “have tea” and apply subtle pressure for his congregation to join with the local Three-Self church.
This heightened level of observation should not be surprising. Starting in 2010, China began spending a greater share of its gross domestic product on internal security to police its own population than on its substantial military. One source cautioned an ICC representative that they should assume that all communications – cell phone, e-mail, and even web addresses visited – would be monitored and recorded while visiting China. If at any time the work of a foreigner becomes too prominent or threatened, they would be “deported without delay.” The requirement for users of hotel internet to input their passport number before being able to browse was the first indication to this author that China’s internal security apparatus remains alive and well.

The bright side to all of this is that it appears that international pressure has in some ways had a great effect on China’s overall treatment of religious minorities. Incidents that would spark an international outcry, such as handing down a long prison sentence to a major house church leader, are frowned upon by Beijing, even if publicly the country’s leaders deny any wrongdoing to the rest of the world. For the millions of Christians living in Beijing, Shanghai, and other major cities, this is good news.
Unfortunately for the millions more living in more rural or suburban areas of China, there is little hope of assistance. Stifling restrictions placed on both the Chinese press and foreign journalists make it extremely difficult to collect first-hand reports of recent arrests on the basis of religious belief. The information we do have, though, suggests that it is far too soon to announce the dawn of anything like true religious freedom in the People’s Republic of China. For hundreds of millions of Chinese citizens, that day remains hidden in an uncertain and, if the Communist Party has its way, highly controlled future(source).

Chinese Government Shuts Down Multiple House Churches

 

6/18/2013 China (MNN) - A recent report from the Voice of the Martyrs Canada office shows the Chinese government has ordered the closure of more than a dozen house churches in the southern province of Hainan.

Last month, while the Sanya Hosanna Church was holding a morning worship service, several people from the Religious Affairs Bureau and the neighborhood committee disrupted the service and served this notice: "Announcement by the Hongqi Street Community of the Voluntary Dissolution of Irregular and Illegal Religious Meeting Sites."

The committee warned the Christians that officials would take stricter measures if they met again the following week. They also put pressure on the landlord to stop renting the meeting site to the church, which was given 15 days' notice to move out.
It didn't stop there. According to China Aid, a ministry partnered with the Voice of the Martyrs, the leader of the church was also restricted from going to Hong Kong to attend a special conference. He was told his attendance might jeopardize national security and national interests.
On the same day, three other Sanya house churches (Elim Church, Bethel Church and XinjuChurch) faced the same kind of harassment. Days earlier, Sanya's Mengai Church, Hexing Church, and three other house churches were shut down. A church in Haikou has experienced similar treatment, and several other churches have been forcibly closed. In addition, some churches in the Baoting county have been shut down.
"Closing a dozen churches in Hainan is an alarming sign that little has changed with Xi Jinping as president," said ChinaAid founder and president Bob Fu. "The government is carrying out its plans to 'eradicate' the independent house church movement, a crackdown that would affect up to 100 million people. China must end this repression if it wants global respect as a rising power(Source)."