Recent Reports
23/11/07 | Cyclone in Bangladesh
Cyclone Sidr hits Bangladesh Full Story...
Last week the southern coastal part of Bangladesh was hit Cyclone Sidr, the country’s the worst cyclone for 10 years. An estimated 5,000 people are thought to have been killed or are missing. Reports say 30 of the 64 districts there were hit and more than 6.7 million people have been affected.The speed of the wind went up to 220 km per hour, damaging more than 95% of houses and belongings in the affected areas.
Aside from the loss of loved ones and properties, survivors have to battle it out with waterborne diseases. The shrimp boats lying in the coastal areas were swept away resulting to a loss of millions of dollars, while shrimp export is now in halt. The districts hit by the cyclone are still without power, telecommunication system and road communication.
Let us pray for the people of Bangladesh, including our Christian brothers and sisters, who were ravaged by the recent disaster. Some of those affected are Muslim Background Believers [MBBs] who participated in the Annual Converts’ Gathering sponsored by Open Doors while some come from outreaches of our major church partners. Relief items have been slow to reach most survivors. Victims of Sidr are badly in need of food, fresh water and temporary shelter. Aid workers can take hours to reach areas that are badly hit. The government has also dispatched soldiers to help in the relief work. They have to clear fallen trees and debris in order to reach the survivors. Poor communities also hamper the work as well as the shortage of boats. Current priority needs also include diarrhoea treatment and shelter assistance. In the longer term, rehabilitation of livelihoods, infrastructure, health and educational services and increased shelter capacity are required.
Open Doors is working closely with local partners to identify priority areas in Bangladesh, so that immediate help may be sent to believers in the form of relief goods, medicines, and later, rehabilitation efforts (repair/rebuilding of churches, education for children). However, with communication lines and power supply still down in wide areas, coordination has been difficult.
Please pray for wisdom to be with Open Doors’ team and local partners as they evaluate the situation, and for a systematic and timely delivery of much needed help through local churches.
Open Doors will continue to issue updates as the situation develops
BBC article28/09/07 | PAKISTAN – Taliban force burqa on Christians
Islamists violently enforce shari'a in northern district. Full Story...
In recent months, Islamists have targeted Christians in the Afghan-border region
The Pakistani Executive District Officer (EDO) issued a notice requiring female students in Swat district to wear burqas, an outer garment cloaking nearly the entire body, according to an article on 25 September in a regional newspaper, the Daily Mashriq.
Christians in the Afghan-border region 120 miles north of Peshawar say Islamists from the Taliban movement, which ruled most of Afghanistan from 1995 to 2001, have targeted them in recent months.
Islamists in Swat have conducted a campaign of Islamisation in the district against all things deemed un-Islamic since early July, when a government crackdown on militants at the Lal Masjid mosque in Islamabad triggered violent reactions nationwide.
"Due to continuous threatening letters from the Taliban directing female staff and students to wear burqas … the Executive District Officer has instructed [them] to comply with the orders," the Daily Mashriq article stated.
The order to cover up under the full-body robe that leaves only the hands and eyes visible may affect Christians at an all-girls secondary school in Sangota.
The school had already closed down for a week this month after being threatened with suicide attacks for supposedly converting students to Christianity.
Swat EDO Ghulam Akhbar was not available for comment when contacted by telephone, and a colleague could not confirm the existence of the circular ordering burqa attire. But a Swat representative in the provincial assembly said on 26 September that Akhbar had denied issuing the notice, though the officer had told female students to cover up.
"He has said verbally to the schools that you must use burqas," Mutahida Majlis-i-Amal politician Hussain Ahmad told reporters, minutes after speaking with Akhbar.
Authorities of the Sangota Public High School refused to comment on the issue. Diocesan Bishop Anthony Lobo was unavailable when contacted by reporters.
Suicide bomb threats
The school re-opened its doors on 17 September after a threat letter from Islamists forced it to shut down for a week.
Entitled "Red Notice for Public School Sangota, (The Factory of Englishmen)," the 8 September letter accused the school's officials of involving students in adultery, according to a UCAN article.
The Urdu-language note said Christian teachers were converting Muslim students, who make up more than 99 per cent of the school's 950 students, to Christianity.
The Islamists also told parents to withdraw their girls and place them in Islamic schools.
The letter threatened suicide bombings if the school did not require its students to wear burqas and fire all Christian and male teachers by 17 September. Only half the students returned when the school reopened its doors on 17 September with assurances of increased security from local officials, UCAN reported.
One top clergyman who travelled to the area following the threats told reporters he suspected the letter came not from outside Islamists, but from a teacher at the school who wished to take it over.
Whether or not the letter was such an "inside job", it fits a pattern of increasing threats and violence in Swat targeting practices considered un-Islamic.
Since July, Islamists have stepped up attacks on stores and institutions viewed as Western, as well as on police and government officials.
In a single explosion, militants blew up 63 CD rental shops and shoe shops in the Swat town of Mingora on 7 September, the Daily Times reported. The article said owners of the stores had received letters a few days before the attacks telling them to "close their 'un-Islamic' businesses or face bomb attacks".
On 11 September, militants blasted rocks carved with Buddha's image in Swat's Buthgarh Jehanabad historical site, imitating the Afghan Taliban's destruction of the Bamiya Buddha statues in 2001.
"It's something like anarchy and chaos in that area," provincial representative Ahmad told reporters. He said the army had been called in after police and Frontier provincial officials failed to retain control.
Christians under pressure
Christians living in Swat, numbering about 1,000, say they have come under increasing pressure for their faith in recent months.
On the night of 25 September, militants approached hired Muslim guards at Swat Christian Camp, a Christian-run retreat centre in Mingora, and demanded they quit their jobs.
"They are Christian, why are you working with them?" the militants demanded of the guards, according to a local source who requested anonymity.
The camp has been closed since 5 July after a crackdown on Islamic militants at the Lal Masjid mosque in Islamabad set off violent repercussions throughout the country.
A Christian running a small medical clinic has been forced to close down the centre and conduct only home visits in order to avoid attack.
"My 17-year old daughter cannot go outside without wearing a burqa," one local Christian reported.
Christians in the North-West Frontier Province have since May received a number of anonymous threats telling them to convert to Islam.
"Embrace Islam and become Muslims … otherwise, after next Friday 10 August, your colony will be ruined," read one of more than a dozen identical letters thrown into the courtyards of Christian and Hindu homes in Peshawar last month.
Police increased security around churches and Christian neighbourhoods, but the threats were never carried out.
More than 50 Christians fled the town of Charsadda in May after a local Christian politician received a letter telling the Christian community to convert to Islam within 10 days.
The threat was repeated 10 days later, chalked on the wall of a building opposite the church.
Two young men from a local Islamic school eventually confessed to having written the threats as a 'joke'.
In an unrelated incident, a Christian primary school in Bannu, west of Peshawar, was bombed on 15 September. The blast destroyed the chapel windows and furniture, leaving a hole in the side of a classroom wall.
The identity of the bombers and their motive remain uncertain.
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Hide this story.27/09/07 | NIGERIA – Threats force Church underground
Converts from Islam travel to meet together in secret. Full Story...
Rev Titus Dama Pona – no stranger to persecution
Of the 25 converts who formed a church in Maiduguri, Nigeria, in the north-east state of Borno two years ago, only three remain.
Still, although they worship separately in the towns where they now reside, once a month the converts brave the threats of Islamic supremacists and family members to return to Maiduguri to secretly pray and praise together.
"The venue and time is agreed among themselves, and the venue is changed every meeting so they are not attacked," said the Rev Titus Dama Pona, founder of Good Way Mission, who planted the church, Kanuri Christian Fellowship, in September 2005.
Rev Pona is the pastor of the only known underground fellowship in Nigeria, a group said to be the first church amongst the Kanuri and Shuwa Arab ethnic groups in the Islamic enclave of Borno.
The state served as the gateway of Islam into Nigeria in the 12th century.
Three out of the 25 converts, Rev Pona said, are training in theological institutions with the hope of reaching their own people with the Gospel.
The Rev Joshua Adamu, 67-year old chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria, Borno chapter, gave thanks for Rev Pona's ability to preach to, train and support the Kanuri people.
"For the first time, we have a fellowship that is bringing Kanuri converts from Islam together," Adamu said.
"And this has been possible because of the ministry of Rev Pona. He has a gift for reaching Muslims with the gospel."
Upheaval
For church members Mohammed Modu, Ma'aji Kalli and Ali Gana, going underground has been a matter of life or death; their families have been searching for them, intending to kill them.
Kalli and Gana have spent the last two years in hiding from their parents.
"I saw salvation in Christianity, which is not available in Islam," said Gana, whom Rev Pona baptised at an Evangelical Church of West Africa (ECWA) service in Maiduguri in November 2006.
Another member of the church, Allahbeh Chibok, lost his wife and children after he converted.
She divorced him based on his conversion, Rev Pona said, abandoning him and their three daughters and marrying a Muslim man.
Then she died, Rev Pona said, and her parents in collaboration with some Muslim fanatics abducted the daughters.
Parental rejection upon conversion, however, is not inevitable. The Muslim father of church member Baba Aji, for example, helped him escape from Islamic attackers because, Rev Pona said, his father loved him in spite of his conversion.
Pastor's price
Rev Pona's success in taking the Gospel to these Islamic-dominated ethnic groups has come with its own price. Last year he escaped death when Muslims broke into his home. Rev Pona said two armed Muslims stormed his residence in the Hulolori area of Maiduguri on 18 February 2006, bent on killing him.
At the time, Rev Pona was conducting Bible studies at Maiduguri's ECWA church. Meeting only Rev Pona's daughter at home, the gunmen quizzed her about his whereabouts and left, promising to come back for him.
A few hours later, Maiduguri was in flames.
Muslims upset by Danish newspaper cartoons depicting Muhammad had gathered in the palace of the Islamic leader in Maiduguri, the Shehu of Borno, and gone on a rampage, setting churches ablaze and maiming and killing Christians.
After four hours of carnage, 57 Christians were dead and 55 churches burned down.
It was not Rev Pona's first brush with opposition. Born into a Muslim family in Chibok town of Borno state – his father is still Muslim – persecution has followed the missionary to the Kanuri and Shuwa Arab ethnic groups for 27 years.
Opposition remains fierce to his small church plant among Kanuri Muslims; some converts have changed their Islamic names to Christian ones to avoid being identified by Muslim fanatics.
But Rev Pona is optimistic, believing that "like a mustard seed, it will blossom into a church that will become a gateway to heaven for Muslims not only in Nigeria, but in the African continent."
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Hide this story.26/09/07 | INDIA – False accusations plague Christian workers
Pastor acquitted but false charges all too common. Full Story...
In a case typical of false accusations that Hindu ultranationalists file against Christian workers, a pastor and his sister have been cleared of charges of rape and forced abortion in Chhattisgarh state.
The Evangelical Fellowship of India announced that pastor Simon Tandi, aka Rohit Ranjan, a convert from Hinduism, and his sister Sanjeela Begum were acquitted by a court in Chhattisgarh's Kanker district on 12 September.
Pastor Tandi was facing charges of raping and forcing a girl to terminate the resultant pregnancy after she filed a complaint – prompted by a Hindu nationalist group – against him in June 2005.
His sister, Begum, was accused of abetting the crime.
Pastor Tandi had spent six months in jail, and his sister four months, before they were released on bail prior to the acquittal.
The court reportedly found discrepancies in the statement of the complainant and a lack of evidence against the accused.
Hurt feelings
Christian rights activists say facing false police complaints is common for Christian workers in several parts of the country.
Akhilesh Edgar, chairman of the Chhattisgarh Christian Forum, told reporters that in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh states, both ruled by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), filing false complaints against Christian workers is common.
Extremists normally file complaints related to 'hurting religious sentiments' and 'forcible conversions', under Sections 295(a) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Sections 3 and 4 of the Freedom of Religion Acts (anti-conversion laws) of the two states, he said.
Section 295(a) of the IPC concerns deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting religion or religious beliefs.
A non-bailable offence, it is punishable with up to three years of prison and may also include a fine.
Sections 3 and 4 of the anti-conversion laws are related to the use of 'force', 'fraudulent means' or 'allurement' to convert someone from one religion to another, with punishment of up to one year of prison and/or a fine up to 5,000 rupees (ca £60).
In case the person converted is a minor, woman, Dalit or tribal, the jail term can extend up to two years and the fine up to 10,000 rupees.
"Christians at times are also accused of other crimes, such as rape and murder," Edgar added, referring to the acquittal of 16 Christians last year in Madhya Pradesh state's Jhabua district.
The accused, associated with the Church of North India, were accused of killing a Hindu nationalist in the violence that erupted after the body of an elementary school girl who was raped and killed was found inside a Catholic school in Jhabua in 2004.
The Alirajpur sessions court acquitted the Christians on 31 May 2006, citing lack of evidence and asserting that prosecutors had fabricated and manipulated testimonies to prove their allegation.
Fourteen of the 16 accused had been languishing in the Jhabua jail for more than two years.
Hindu ultranationalist groups had also accused a priest from the school of killing and raping the girl whose body was found on the school premises.
Police later arrested a non-Christian who confessed to committing the crime.
Police connivance
A representative of the Christian Legal Association (CLA) told reporters that most reported incidents of violence against Christians also involve false police complaints.
"Nationalists find it very easy to lodge false complaints," the CLA representative said, "given the vagueness of the provisions under the anti-conversion laws as well as sections of the IPC, which are framed in such a way that the onus to prove one's innocence is on the accused."
The various anti-conversion laws define 'allurement' as an "offer of any temptation in the form of any gift or gratification either in cash or kind; and/or grant of any material benefit either monetary or otherwise".
Christians say this ambiguous definition can be misused to interpret even an act of helping the poor – commanded by Jesus Christ – as a 'temptation' to convert him/her.
The definition of 'force' includes "divine displeasure" – for which any preaching on the consequences of sin or the reality of heaven and hell can result in prosecution, say Christians.
They also complain that the term 'fraudulent means' is defined as a "misrepresentation of any other fraudulent contrivance", by which prayers for healing can easily be termed as a 'misrepresentation' to convert.
The CLA representative also said it was easier for Hindu nationalists to resort to false complaints in states ruled by the BJP, as police report only to the ruling state government, which is solely responsible for law enforcement.
Numerous investigation reports on incidents of religion-related violence have indicated connivance of the police.
Ulterior motives
Dr Sajan K George, national president of the Global Council of Indian Christians, said that besides the goal of harassing and threatening Christian workers, Hindu nationalists file false complaints to protect themselves against police action for anti-Christian attacks.
"It is an unfortunate trend that Christians are first beaten up, and then taken forcibly to the police station, where a false complaint is lodged against them," he said.
The BJP repeatedly questions the activities of Christian workers, creating an environment of suspicion against Christians, he said.
The various governments ruled by the party are "recycling old slogans and narratives that were stale and worn-out the first time they were used," he said.
The American State Department's 2007 Report on International Religious Freedom notes that, in the past year, Hindu nationalist organisations frequently charged Christian missionaries with 'luring' low-caste Hindus by offering free education and health care and equating such actions with forced conversions.
Christians responded that low-caste Hindus convert of their own free will, the report says, and that efforts by Hindu groups to "re-convert" these new Christians to Hinduism were themselves accompanied by offers of remuneration – thus making them fraudulent.
In the BJP-ruled state of Madhya Pradesh, according to the report, 11 Christians were arrested for 'forcible conversion'. None were convicted.
The report, released on 14 September, cites numerous incidents of such arrests, including an attack on eight Christians belonging to the Indian Missionary Society on 21 September 2006 in Gujarat state.
Later, the attackers filed a complaint charging the Christians with forcible conversions and carrying weapons.
The American report also notes that allegations of forced conversion and defamation of Hinduism led to harassment of the Emmanuel Ministries International (EMI), based in Kota district of Rajasthan state.
In February 2006, the BJP government in Rajasthan revoked the licenses of EMI-owned charities such as a Bible institute, orphanage, school, hospital and church.
In March of that year, the Department of Social Welfare of the state froze the organisation's bank accounts.
In June 2006 however the state's high court instructed the state government to show cause regarding the closing of the EMI property and instructed the accounts to be unfrozen.
Authorities also held EMI President Samuel Thomas in judicial custody from 17 March to 2 May 2006 for "hurting the religious sentiments" of Hindus.
Mr Thomas was later charged with sedition in May 2006 for the use of a map on an EMI-affiliated website that did not include Jammu and Kashmir as part of the country.
The Supreme Court however granted him bail.
The GCIC's Dr George said he has been deeply saddened to see police entertain accusations of forced conversion against the minority Christian community without any initial evidence.
"What a letdown for a country that just celebrated the 60th anniversary of its independence," he said.
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Hide this story.20/09/07 | INDIA – Persecution "worse than report indicates"
American gov't report criticises officials at all levels. Full Story...
The American State Department's 2007 Report on International Religious Freedom gives India's federal government high marks for respecting religious freedom, but Christian leaders said this does not mean that persecution in the country is less than alarming.
The incidence of anti-Christian violence is much higher than available statistics indicate, the leaders said, as most cases are not reported to the police and are ignored by the media.
"I record and prove between 200 and 400 cases of anti-Christian violence a year in my unofficial white paper released annually since 1997 – but the actual figure may be from 1,000 to 2,000 such cases a year, perhaps even more," said Dr John Dayal, secretary general of the All India Christian Council (AICC).
Released on 14 September, the report covers the period from 1 July 2006 to 30 June and says the government of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA), led by the Indian National Congress or Congress Party, "generally respected" religious freedom in practice.
"Generally respected" is the highest level for religious freedom assigned by the report, according to the preface.
It asserts however that there were "organised societal attacks against minority religious groups, particularly in states ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party" or BJP, India's most influential Hindu ultranationalist party.
The report also notes that human rights activists criticised the UPA for alleged "indifference and inaction" in the face of persecution by state and local officials and private citizens.
Quoting faith-based groups in India, including the AICC and the Christian Legal Association (CLA), the report says there were at least 128 attacks against Christians in all of 2006.
From 1 July 2006 to 30 June 2007, the AICC reported more than 150 incidents of anti-Christian attacks.
Targeted community
From 130 to 150 attacks in a country of 1 billion may not sound like much, but Christian leaders said that not only are attacks under-reported but that targeting of a minority community is alarming.
Moreover, the attacks are concentrated in geographic pockets. The American State Department's report on India states that, according to the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Madhya Pradesh, more than 55 attacks on Christians by various Hindu ultranationalist groups were reported in the state between July 2006 and April 2007. Of these, 34 were in the city of Jabalpur alone.
"It is the targeting of this minority population that becomes a cause for concern," said CLA General Secretary Tehmina Arora, pointing out that Christians make up only 2.3 per cent, or 24 million, of India's population.
"India is huge in terms of both its area and population, and therefore some may underestimate its intensity," she said.
"But the fact is that Christians particularly in seven states – namely Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Orissa, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh – are facing the brunt of extreme Hindu nationalism."
The total population in these seven states is more than 354 million people, of which 4 million are Christian.
"Even within these states, certain pockets can be identified as the most sensitive ones," she said.
Hindus account for more than 80 per cent of India's population, but it is not the common Hindu who becomes violent.
"It is a small minority, namely Hindu nationalists, which manages to launch attacks with impunity tacitly extended by some state governments," she said.
"It is against this backdrop that Christian persecution in India should be seen."
Expanding persecution
Christians in India are also worried about persecution emerging in southern states, particularly Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, which had been relatively peaceful till recently.
The American report notes that 20 acts of anti-Christian violence were reported in Andhra Pradesh, compared with seven incidents in the previous year.
Christian persecution grew in Andhra Pradesh after the Congress Party government led by Chief Minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy, a Christian, came into power in May 2004.
Accusing the chief minister of allowing missionaries to lure Hindus to Christianity, Hindu nationalists increasingly began to attack Christians.
The report says there were at least 40 reported anti-Christian attacks in Karnataka, a considerable increase from the six incidents during the previous reporting period.
The incidence of anti-Christian attacks has increased in the state since the Janata Dal-Secular party, in coalition with the BJP, took power from the Congress Party in February 2006.
States' role in curbing freedom
The report on India criticises "anti-conversion" laws enacted or amended by some state governments, asserting that Congress Party officials in Himachal Pradesh state passed an anti-conversion law that, "similar to other laws of its kind, restricts and regulates religious proselytising."
Citing religious press outlets, the report notes, "there were four reports of acts of violence against Christians following the passage of an anti-conversion law in Himachal Pradesh in late December 2006. There were no reports during the previous reporting period."
Anti-conversion laws are in force in three states – Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Orissa – and such laws remain on paper in Arunachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh, awaiting implementation.
"Public hysteria aside," Dr Sajan K George, national president of the Global Council of Indian Christians, told reporters, "it has to be remembered that the real threat to democracy in India today comes from anti-democratic laws and regulations curbing the rights of Christians."
The report notes that police and other enforcement agencies were slow to "effectively counter societal attacks, including attacks against religious minorities."
"Despite government efforts to foster communal harmony, some nationalists continued to view ineffective investigation and prosecution of attacks on religious minorities, particularly at the state and local levels, as a signal that they could commit such violence with impunity, although numerous cases were in the courts at the end of the reporting period."
It further states say that despite the federal government's efforts to reject Hindutva, the nationalist ideology espousing Hindu religious and cultural norms above all others, "it continued to influence some government policies and actions at the state and local levels."
The report also said that although the UPA government was not accused of violating religious freedom, human rights activists criticised it for alleged "indifference and inaction in the face of abuses committed by state and local authorities and private citizens".
Lack of effort
There is a general feeling among Christians that the UPA government is not making efforts to check Christian persecution. Dr Dayal pointed out that the federal government's proposed law against religion-related violence may curb anti-Muslim violence, but it would be toothless against anti-Christian attacks as it seeks to check only "large-scale" incidents.
"We do not come under the scrutiny of its defining and screening measures," Dr Dayal said. "The Christians are dispersed and the violence against them is also dispersed. It may be just one case a year in one village across the country; but there are 400,000 villages, and the total violence may be as much."
He added that the incidents of persecution may be spread out, but they are not isolated.
"If 1,000 isolated cases occurred in one country, they fit a pattern."
Some Christians said they feel that any attack on religious minorities in a democratic country like India is an attack on freedom.
"Particularly attacks on Christians are not in retaliation against some committed crime, but purely because they practise a different religion from the majority," Father Dominic Emmanuel, spokesperson of the Archdiocese of Delhi, told reporters.
"These attacks cannot be tolerated at all. The government should do its utmost to stop them."
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Hide this story.19/09/07 | CHINA – House-church leader Cai Zhuohua released
Pastor, relatives tortured during interrogation. Full Story...
Cai Zhuohua was ordered to report to the PSB once a month and to stop practising his faith outside the government-sanctioned church
Rev Bob Fu of China Aid Association (CAA) told reporters that on 13 September, three days after Pastor Cai's release on 10 September, officials of China's Public Security Bureau (PSB) took the well-known Beijing house-church pastor to their offices and tried to intimidate him with threats.
"They warned him to be careful – not to be interviewed by the media, to obey the law and not to attend religious activities," Rev Fu said.
Officials from the National Security Bureau – China's equivalent of America's Central Intelligence Agency – on two occasions gave Pastor Cai similar warnings before he was released, Rev Fu said.
As an ex-convict whom the government is especially interested to control, Rev Fu said, Pastor Cai must report to the PSB once a month.
Pastor Cai is now at home in Beijing with his wife and mother, who leads a church that meets in their house.
Deprived of his Bible whilst in prison, Pastor Cai was forced to make soccer balls for the 2008 Beijing Olympics for 10 to 12 hours a day, according to the CAA. Pastor Cai's mother, Rev Fu said, reported that the pastor was well and in good spirits.
Pastor Cai was sentenced to three years in prison on 8 November 2005 for "illegal business practices" and fined 150,000 yuan (then about £9,275).
His wife, Xiao Yunfei, was sentenced to two years and fined 120,000 yuan, and her brother Xiao Gaowen was given an 18-month sentence and a fine of 100,000 yuan. Both were released after serving out their sentences.
Having been arrested by state security officers on 11 September 2004 at a bus stop, Pastor Cai had been incarcerated for three years by last 10 September even though he was not convicted until November 2005.
At the time of his arrest, authorities found more than 237,000 pieces of printed Christian literature, including Bibles, in a storage room he managed.
By law, only the government-sanctioned Three-Self Patriotic Movement (TSPM) church is allowed to print and distribute Bibles in China.
The US State Department's 2007 International Religious Freedom Report, released last week, noted that many unregistered evangelical Protestant groups in China refuse to register with the TSPM due to theological differences, fear of adverse consequences if they reveal names and addresses of church leaders or members, or fear that it will control sermon content.
"Many evangelical house-church groups also disagreed with the TSPM's admonitions against proselytising, which they consider a central teaching of Christianity," the report states.
Another house-church leader, Zhou Heng in Xinjiang region, was arrested in August on the same charge as Pastor Cai, as he was caught receiving three tons of Bibles from another city, according to the CAA.
Crackdown on Christian literature
Recently Chinese authorities have been trying house-church leaders under Article 225 of China's Criminal Law against "illegal acts in business operation," according to Rev Fu of the Texas-based CAA.
In 1998, the Supreme People's Court issued a ruling that allows courts to use Article 225 to imprison anyone who "publishes, prints, copies or distributes illegal publications".
Pastor Cai's legal representatives had argued that the books were printed for free distribution throughout house-church networks and should not be considered a profit-making venture as the government charged.
The judge rejected these arguments. Shortly after his conviction, a court clerk visited Pastor Cai at the Qinghe detention centre and warned him that his sentence would be increased if he "annoyed" the judges with an appeal.
Facing heavy pressure, Pastor Cai and his family agreed to drop the appeal.
After their arrest in September 2004, sources said, Pastor Cai and his relatives were tortured during interrogation.
CAA reported that the arrest of Zhou Heng on 3 August was not formally approved by Shayibake District People's Procuratorate of Urumqi city until 31 August when notice was sent to his wife, Chen Jihong, by the Urumqi Municipal Public Security Bureau.
CAA said Mr Zhou is being held at Xishan Detention Centre. He was arrested after he went to a bus station to pick up three tons of donated Bibles intended for local believers free of charge. If convicted of the charges, he faces a 15-year prison sentence.
CAA investigators who spoke with a released inmate who shared a cell with Mr Zhou reported that prison guards and other inmates severely beat Mr Zhou.
Also a well-known house-church leader, Mr Zhou is manager of a registered bookshop called Yayi Christian Book Room, which sells Christian literature published legally and officially inside China.
The bookshop has been forced to close following his arrest.
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Hide this story.18/09/07 | PAKISTAN – Young Christian acquitted of 'blasphemy'
Witnesses drop claim against teenager, fanatics angry. Full Story...
Shahid Masih's acquittal is "not less than a miracle "
Judge Muhammad Abdul Sattar acquitted Shahid Masih, aged 18, at a lower court hearing in Faisalabad after prosecution witnesses changed their original testimonies.
Often pressured by Islamist groups, lower courts in Pakistan rarely acquit 'blasphemy' suspects.
Under oath, Mohammad Younis and Khalid Mehmood dropped claims that Shahid's co-defendant told them he had seen Shahid tear pages from a tafseer, a book explaining Quranic verses. (Background story)
Muslim teenager Muhammad Ghaffar had allegedly witnessed the act while he and Shahid supposedly stole books from a medical clinic in Madina Town district of Faisalabad on 10 September 2006.
"There were about 100 fanatics inside and outside the courtroom who were astonished when their own witnesses claimed the accused were innocent," Shahid's legal representative Khalil Tahir said.
"They were very, very angry."
Mr Tahir said he declined to cross-examine the witnesses, immediately filing a written petition to drop the case based on the new testimonies.
After hearing the legal representative's arguments, Judge Sattar deliberated for two minutes before clearing Muhammad Ghaffar and Shahid of both theft and desecration of the Quran.
Shahid could have faced life-imprisonment if found guilty of 'blasphemy'.
Mr Tahir said that both Judge Sattar and the witnesses practically fled the court after the verdict was announced.
At least 23 people involved in 'blasphemy' cases have been murdered in Pakistan since the notorious laws were instituted in 1986.
"It's not less than a miracle that a lower court acquitted somebody of blasphemy," said Mr Tahir.
Muslim fanatics often pressure lower court judges to rule against 'blasphemy' suspects despite insufficient evidence.
Once sentenced, prisoners may spend years in jail before higher courts eventually overturn the original ruling.
Mr Tahir does not plan to open a case against the prosecution witnesses for falsely accusing Shahid and Muhammad Ghaffar.
"We could open a case against them, but I think it would create more harm, both for me and [Shahid's] family," Mr Tahir commented.
Attacks
The false accusations have already taken their toll on Shahid's family. A mob of Muslim fanatics attacked Shahid's home in September 2006 after rumours of his alleged desecration of the Quran spread throughout the neighbourhood.
Police quickly arrived on the scene and arrested Shahid, sparing his life, Mr Mr Tahir said. Upon visiting Shahid in jail however Mr Tahir found he had been beaten by sub-inspector Muhammad Saffdar.
Following the incident, Shahid's mother's health quickly deteriorated.
"She wasn't able to walk or sleep because she was in very great shock," Mr Tahir reports.
In her late 50s and suffering from arthritis, the Christian woman died in March, Mr Tahir said.
Shahid was able to post bail in January, but he was forced to live separately from his parents and 12 siblings for fear of attacks by Islamists.
The young man plans to stay in hiding for several months before once again looking for work.
Mr Tahir's own wife and three sons have periodically been forced into hiding due to threats from Muslim extremists. The Christian is one of only a few legal representatives in Pakistan's third largest city willing to represent people accused of 'blasphemy'.
Mr Tahir is also representing two elderly Christians whose health has deteriorated since November, when they were sentenced to 10 years for allegedly burning pages of the Quran.
He said James and Buta Masih, in their late 60s or early 70s, had been suffering from a high temperature when he visited them in Faisalabad Central Jail last week and that fellow prisoners mistreated the Christian men because of their alleged crime.
Their appeal hearing before the regional high court has yet to be set.
Threats and bombs
In recent months, Christians in various parts of Pakistan have received threatening letters telling them to convert to Islam or they will be bombed.
On 15 September, a bomb went off at a Christian primary school in the North-West Frontier Province, according to report from the National Commission for Justice and Peace.
No one was injured, but the building in the district of Bannu was badly damaged and the chapel destroyed, the report said.
Last week a Catholic-run high school in Sangota also closed down after it received a letter threatening a suicide attack if its students did not withdraw and enrol in Islamic schools.
Christians make up approximately 1.5 per cent of Pakistan's population, according to the American State Department's most recent report on International Religious Freedom.
Compass | Easy print
Hide this story.17/09/07 | TURKEY – Judge pressured to quit Christians' trial
State prosecutor is also replaced. Full Story...
Hakan Tastan and Turan Topal
Judge Neset Eren said at a hearing on 12 September that he was quitting to "distance the court's decision from any form of indecision or doubt".
Judge Eren's announcement came after the plaintiffs' ultranationalist solicitor submitted a written request on 4 September that the judge resign. Kemal Kerincsiz accused Judge Eren of failing to deal impartially with the case.
Exactly 11 months into the case, Judge Eren had been expected to deliver a ruling at the hearing on 12 September in Silivri's criminal court, 45 miles west of Istanbul.
In October 2006, Hakan Tastan and Turan Topal were charged with insulting Turkish identity, reviling Islam and secretly compiling files on private citizens for a local Bible correspondence course.
But at their most recent hearing in July, State Prosecutor Ahmet Demirhuyuk had told the court there was "not a single piece of credible evidence" to support the accusations against the two men, both of whom are converts from Islam to Christianity.
A new state prosecutor, Adnan Ozcan, replaced Mr Demirhuyuk at the September hearing.
Islamist pressure
The courthouse was surrounded by supporters of Mr Kerincsiz and his three young clients, two of them minors, who have accused Hakan and Turan of slandering Turkey and Islam.
Ultranationalist Kemal Kerincsiz
Mr Meric, who attended the hearing without Hakan and Turan, said the prosecution attempted to prolong the case by asking for additional testimonies.
A spokesperson for the nationalist Turkish Orthodox Church, a tiny group that split from the Greek Orthodox Church after World War I, submitted a request to the court to be a complainant in the case. Sevgi Erenol's request was rejected.
Mr Erenol, known for outspoken criticism of other Christian denominations, has accompanied Mr Kerincsiz to all previous hearings.
Mr Meric said Mr Kerincsiz delivered an impromptu press conference to a number of journalists following the hearing, but major newspapers declined to report on the case on 13 September.
The next hearing has been set for 26 September, giving a higher court in Istanbul time to deliberate on whether to accept Judge Eren's resignation.
Deep judiciary problems
Scores of Turkish academics and writers have been charged in the past two years under article 301 of Turkey's penal code for insulting the Turkish Republic, institutions of state or "Turkishness".
A recent European Commission report said that indictments related to non-violent expressions of opinion had doubled in Turkey in 2006, the Turkish Daily News (TDN) newspaper reported on 14 September.
The report noted that more than half the incidents were raised under article 301.
Under its newly elected centre-right Islamist government, Turkey has begun to discuss a new constitution that could reform or abolish the controversial article.
"The simple fact is that 301 has become a symbol of what ails Turkey," Semih Idiz of TDN wrote.
The columnist noted that deeper problems underlie the controversial law.
"The problem is not just a question of repealing or amending this or that article, but one that concerns the quality of the judiciary in this country and the lack of sophistication when it comes to a true understanding of modern freedoms," said Mr Idiz.
Compass | Easy print
Hide this story.13/09/07 | INDIA – Pastor Rohit Ranjan acquitted of all charges
Verdict follows years of tension, threats. Full Story...
Pastor Ranjan with some of the hundreds of letters and cards of encouragement he received
It was uncertain if the magistrate would be able to deliver a fair verdict as immense pressure had been exerted by extremists to swing the case against him.
The case was closed after the verdict was announced in Pastor Ranjan's favour in the afternoon.
Pastor Ranjan spent nine months and thirteen days in jail in Kanker, Chhattisgarh. He was released on bail on 27 November 2006.
Pastor Ranjan's innocence has been established before all people who stood to implicate him in rape and culpable homicide arising from a forced abortion. He is a free man after being brought to trial on false charges in June 2005.
This time period of two years and three months has been full of tension and threats, and the case has suffered innumerable setbacks seemingly for the worse many times.
Each visit to the session's court was difficult because of the presence of hostile Hindu nationalists who would intimidate not only the witnesses who were giving deposition before the magistrate, but also the judiciary officials involved in handling his case.
Pastor Ranjan was threatened and ridiculed by ultranationalists at every possible opportunity.
Full of gratitude
An Open Doors staff member was able to speak with Pastor Rohit Ranjan soon after the verdict was announced. Full of gratitude to the Lord for being free, he said, "All this would not have been possible without your support. You have been with me from the beginning until the very end.
"Even when others backed away and stopped loving me, you continued to believe in my innocence.
"It is the result of all the intercessory prayers for a fair trial offered before the Lord that today I am a free man. May God continue to bless you and use this ministry mightily."
Some Open Doors India staff looked back to when they coordinated with various solicitors to figure out the best way to fight this case.
To ensure the best possible results, Open Doors took care of legal fees for the solicitors from the main city of Raipur because solicitors in Kanker were too frightened to take up the case.
Open Doors contacts in different states in India volunteered to help in various ways. Some provided shelter when it was required. Another contact helped exert pressure on the judiciary for an honest probe into the case.
Pastor Ranjan was invited to a number of Open Doors' 'Standing Strong Through the Storm' seminars so that not only he but others would be strengthened by hearing him share.
Pastor Ranjan says the most memorable and beautiful gift – one he will cherish all his life – are the hundreds of letters and cards of encouragement sent to him by Open Doors' supporters worldwide.
You can write to persecuted Christians to encourage them.
Open Doors | Easy print
Hide this story.13/09/07 | INDONESIA – Church attacked in West Java
Six serious problems require immediate attention. Full Story...
Over 100 people marched in with clubs, machetes and brick-sized stones to attack the Batak Protestant Church (HKBP) Rajeg congregation in Tangerang, western part of Java, at noon on Sunday 2 September.
Around 200 members of the congregation were holding a thanksgiving worship service in a courtyard across from where they held church services.
The aggressors forced the congregation to stop the service without giving any explanation.
“Our church was established in 2000 without necessary permits as they were hard to obtain. So we had been holding services from one house to another.
"For this service, however, we secured a permit from local officials,” said congregation leader Pastor Anggiat Hutabarat.
Refusing to talk with church leaders, the crowd threw stones at the congregation and destroyed the meeting tent.
Three police officers tried to protect the Christians, but failed because they were outnumbered.
Pastor Jau Doloksaribu and three other church members were injured in the head.
The crowd consisted of neighbours and outsiders. Their connection to any Islamist organisation remains unknown.
Because of pressure from the families of the three instigators, one of the community leaders of Rajeg admitted his involvement in planning the attack and pressured the church to drop all charges so the attackers would be released.
“Whether legal action should follow or not I leave entirely to the police officers,” said HKBP head of Jakarta and Tangerang district, Pastor Doloksaribu, who was one of the wounded.
“I have already forgiven them even if they did not ask for it.
"The only thing we want is to show the world that religious freedom here is indeed an issue."
Six serious problems
Responding to the rampant church attacks, the largest Christian political party held a public discussion on 7 September. During the gathering, diaconal Executive Secretary of the Indonesian Church Fellowship (PGI) Pastor Gomor Gultom said Indonesia is facing six serious problems that require immediate attention.
“First, we see the government and security officials developing a habit of ignoring church attacks.
"In the worst cases, officials supported the move, stating that a residence was improperly being used as a place of worship,” he explained.
“Second, although our constitution guarantees religious rights, implementers of the law have failed to protect it."
Third, he said, the Indonesian community is very sectarian and radical in religious matters.
Fourth, he continued, people take the law into their own hands by violently punishing those who allegedly break the law – civil or religious.
Fifth, church attacks happened under the pretext of democracy, with the will of the majority prevailing over the minority, as seen in communities where both Muslims and Christians live together.
Lastly, according to Pastor Gultom, those who advocate for church closures believe such attacks are consistent with the law, whether Islamic or civil law.
“It is cause for concern when they think they are within the law in attacking churches,” he said.
A series of church closures had preceded the incident in Tangerang.
Since the beginning of 2007, at least 20 churches and worship centres have been forcibly shut down across West and Central Java.
Open Doors | Easy print
Hide this story.13/0/07 | INDIA – Muslim converts threatened with death
Pressured by thousands to renounce their faith. Full Story...
Six Muslim-background Believers (MBBs) and their families in Nutangram village of Murshidabad district in West Bengal have been pressured to recant their Christian faith.
The mosque committee called for thousands of villagers from nearby areas to come against the Christian families on 4 September, as they wanted the families to recommit themselves to Islam.
The believers, who came to faith little more than one year ago, are terrified.
A few days prior to 4 September, the mosque issued a ban against anyone communicating with the MBBs. As a result, vegetables were not sold to them, no workers came to do jobs in their fields, and no customers came to their shops.
They were further threatened that they would be killed and their homes burned if they did not give up their Christian faith.
Islamists stirred up the women to attack one of the Christian women. They physically tortured her, examining her body as they searched for 'Christian signs' on her.
Faithful shepherd
Open Doors came to know about this incident through Pastor Bashir, who works with the Khoda-e-Jamat ministry and is based in Behrampur (the district headquarters of Murshidabad district), about 2.5 miles from where this incident occurred in Nutangram.
Pastor Bashir requested intercessory prayer for these Christian families. He has been a mentor and pillar of support for the believers, leading worship every Friday from a healthcare centre located in Behrampur.
He told Open Doors about how a Muslim couple came to know the Lord two years ago through the heathcare centre run by his wife and himself.
Tasleema (29) first believed and then her husband, Johad (aged 35).
Pastor Bashir said he encouraged them to share the gospel of Christ with their relatives. As they did so, he said God’s Spirit inspired the relatives at Nutangram to accept Jesus as their saviour after a few months, and they were baptised with water.
Six families came to accept Christ and grew strong in faith.
Opposition
Johad and his wife have been facing opposition from his family for quite some time. They have been boycotted from any further social interaction with any of the family members and have been asked to leave the house.
The other MBB relatives and neighbours who live in Nutangram are suffering hardship from the social boycott raised by the mosque. They own homes and land within the village and have no where else to go.
Recently Pastor Bashir and the Khoda-e-Jamat ministry have also been threatened by the Muslims. When Open Doors personnel spoke with him on 6 September, he said the situation was tense.
He believes the Lord’s grace will sustain every MBB in Nutangram in these difficult days, but requested prayer from the Open Doors family at this time so that not a single family will give in to the pressure to recant their faith.
Open Doors | Easy print
Hide this story.13/09/08 | VIETNAM – Widow stoned after spreading the gospel
Police interrogations, attacks fail to weaken her faith. Full Story...
Lien (a pseudonym) is a 44-year old widow with four children – two are teenagers and two are already in their twenties.
They live in Vietnam's Central Highlands, in a province where Communism still has a tight grip on the people.
When her husband passed away in 1997, Lien was left on her own to feed her family with only her strength and will to survive.
Every day she built up her strength by carrying large quantities of household items on foot to a village six miles from her house.
She took soap, loo paper and sugar to sell, and through this business Lien learned the language of the people who lived there.
Adding God to her business
Lien was fully occupied with her business until God added a new focus to her life in 2004 when a pastor shared the gospel with her and her children.
With glad hearts, they received the Lord.
Constant nurturing from the pastor grounded Lien and her children in the faith. They gave up their idols and lost their belief in superstitions. Their hearts were stirred to freely give, just as they freely received the salvation of Jesus Christ.
To every person they met, they talked about their Saviour. Lien also saw the opportunity to tell others about the love of God through her small shop.
As she had become fluent in the local language, she was effective in sharing the gospel, bringing more than 100 tribal people to the Lord in three years’ time.
Lien took care of God's business of saving souls, and God took ood care of her business too. Lien's income grew as more people bought her soap, loo rolls and sugar.
Threatened and stoned
Upon hearing that she spread the gospel whilst conducting her business however, the district police summoned her for interrogation on many occasions; but nothing shook Lien's faith.
Lien continued her ministry, sharing her faith with others even though relatives began pressuring her to give up her faith in Jesus Christ.
Lien opened her home to new believers early in 2007, for a Bible study. Many came, including the pastor who had shared the gospel with her.
After everyone left the meeting and those at home were asleep, the electricity was cut and darkness shrouded her house.
Suddenly around 10 teenage boys began throwing large stones at her house, and some climbed up to destroy the tin roof.
When Lien tried to stop them, the boys began to stone her. A rock hit Lien's head and she was knocked unconscious.
Some of the believers came to her aid and she was rushed to the nearest hospital.
Open Doors extended help to Lien by assisting with her medical expenses at the hospital and by praying with her, providing much needed encouragement.
Many believed the assault was connected with Lien's faith.
Though one of her eyes was swollen and she needed a few stitches, to the relief of her children, Lien suffered no serious injuries.
Open Doors | Easy print
Hide this story.13/09/07 | INDIA – Recent incidents of persecution
Compass Direct publish new compilation. Full Story...
Karnataka – A group of about 35 people from the Hindu ultranationalist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) beat the principal of a Bible college on 10 September in Geddalhalli village on Hennur Road in Bangalore.
Dr Sajan K George of the Global Council of Indian Christians told reporters that Angam Haokip, head of the Bible college in the Kothanur area of Bangalore, was attacked at 8am by men wearing vermillion on their foreheads and red thread on their wrists, a mark of followers of the RSS.
The attackers stopped Rev Haokip's vehicle and asked if he was a pastor. When he said, "Yes," they beat him, tried to crush his legs with boulders and kicked him on the nape of the neck before onlookers.
Rev Haokip's back and chest were injured. The attackers also vandalised his vehicle.
"When the Christian went to the police station, the police refused to accept his complaint, and instead informed him that a complaint had been lodged against him for 'rash driving,'" Dr George said.
Bihar – Hindu nationalists stormed a Christian meeting, forcibly took a pastor to a temple and made him recite slogans about the Hindu god Rama on 8 September in Bankipore Gorakh area of Fatuha in Patna, Bihar state.
National daily The Times of India identified the victim as Rudal Paswan of the Pentecostal Church and the perpetrators as supporters of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Council or VHP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The ultranationalist groups accused the Christians of luring 100 Dalits, including women and children, with 5,000 rupees (ca £60) cash and promises of jobs paying 8,000 rupees (ca £100) monthly.
Pastor Paswan denied the allegation.
The daily quoted Gopal Prasad, local president of the BJP, as saying, "We had informed the local administration about our pre-emptive action. We explained to the people the benefits of remaining a Hindu. I told them they were like our brothers and sisters."
The daily noted that the VHP and BJP supporters made the allegations even though they did not know the names of the organisers of the Christian meeting.
The Patna administration is investigating the case.
West Bengal – Six families in Natungram village, Murshidabad district in West Bengal, are being ostracised for converting to Christianity from Islam, reported the Mumbai Mirror on 7 September.
Villagers in the predominantly Muslim village have accused the Christians of receiving money from a church to convert, the report stated.
"It is likely that 24 people converted in the last three months," Ajay Sannamat, the Lalbag sub-divisional officer, was quoted as stating.
Villagers became suspicious when some of the converts declined to attend certain functions.
The village head, Maulvi Nur Islam, called a meeting in which the heads of the Christian families were summoned and told that they would not be allowed to buy anything from any shop or draw water from village tube-wells.
At the same time, the Muslim villagers were told they would be fined if they spoke to the Christian 'offenders', the report stated.
Two converts, Rehman Sheikh and Aima Bibi, reportedly filed a complaint with the Murshidabad police stating that their lives were threatened.
Police have been posted in the village, and District Superintendent of Police Rahul Srivastav was quoted as stating, "They will remain as long as the tension is not diffused."
Karnataka – On 6 September a group of about 10 Hindu ultranationalists tied an independent evangelist to a tree for at least three hours before chasing him out of Madhikare village in Chinthamani near Bangalore, Karnataka state.
They beat 41-year old evangelist P Ananthappa whilst he was distributing Christian tracts to a villager in front of his house, said Dr Sajan K George of the Global Council of Indian Christians.
"The nationalists abused the evangelist and warned him not to come back to the village to preach Christianity before tying him to a tree for three hours," Dr George told reporters.
After being released, Mr Ananthappa, who received minor injuries, went to hospital for first-aid.
"The evangelist refused to file a police complaint, saying that if he did so he would not be able to go to that village again for ministry," Dr George added.
Karnataka – Six Hindu nationalists beat pastor Abey C Mathew, aged 30, of the Christian Ministry Church on 6 September in Bommasandra, Bangalore, Karnataka state.
Dr Sajan K George of the Global Council of Indian Christians said nationalists led by Narayana Swamy barged into the church compound shouting anti-Christian curses and slapped, punched and kicked Pastor Mathew and congregation member Joseph Abraham.
Both men were treated for injuries at Baptist Hospital.
"The mob told me to stop my preaching of a foreign faith and kept hitting me," Pastor Mathew told reporters.
"They are now threatening my believers, who are now afraid to worship at the church. On 9 September, very few attended Sunday worship."
Mathew, whose congregation consists of 22 people, filed a complaint at the Hebbagudi police station, but at press time no arrests had been made.
Karnataka – Police summoned three Christians on 3 September after Hindu nationalists in the Bangarapet area of Kolar district, Karnataka, filed a complaint of 'forcible conversion'.
The nationalists, whose names the police did not disclose, charged that the Christians – identified only as Raghu from Emmanuel Church, Prabhu from Zion Church and an independent pastor, Anand – were forcibly converting local Hindus, said Dr Sajan K George of the Global Council of Indian Christians.
Dr George said the charge was false.
He added that it was disturbing to see the southern states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala, which have substantial numbers of Christians, becoming gradually more tense in recent years.
West Bengal – Alleged supporters of the Communist Party of India-Marxists (CPI-M) beat the wife of an independent Christian worker on 1 September in Bhupathinagar area of East Midnapore district, West Bengal state.
The attackers came to the house of Biman Patro seemingly to attack him but, not finding him home, beat his wife Sushma Patro instead, according to a local Christian who requested anonymity.
"They caught the woman and threw her to the ground by pulling her hair," the source told reporters.
"Then they hit her on the head with a stick and kicked her in the stomach several times, knocking her down unconscious."
A relative of Mrs Patro's intervened, and the victim was admitted to Purba Medinipur District Hospital for two days.
When the incident was reported to the Bhupathinagar police station, the police took no prompt action.
"They arrested a few people, but released them within few hours," added the source.
The attackers had earlier visited Sushma Patro and harassed her on 22 August after learning that her husband was away.
"Mr Patro's wife had even lodged a complaint regarding the 22 August incident at the Bhupathinagar police station [General Diary Number 770] the same day, but the police did nothing to protect the woman, as the perpetrators are being protected by local politicians from the CPI-M," the source said.
Madhya Pradesh – A Hindu nationalist from the Bajrang Dal in Kharra village, Rewa district, Madhya Pradesh beat a 24-year old Christian, Kailash Saket, on 31 August.
Dr Sajan K George of the Global Council of Indian Christians said Kiran Upadhyay stopped Saket on a village road and cursed him and his Christian faith.
Upadhyaya then slapped and punched Kailash and warned him to stop going to prayer meetings.
Kailash has been worshipping at a house church, led by independent pastor Heeralal Kushwawa, for the past four years.
Mr Upadhyaya also had beaten Pastor Kushwawa on 25 August, making allegations of 'forcibly converting' people.
"Mr Upadhyaya has been keeping a close watch on our prayer meetings and mocked the believers as they came for worship," Pastor Kushwawa told reporters.
"Believers are now frightened, and on Sunday 2 September, very few believers attended worship."
Maharashtra – Unidentified Hindu ultranationalist youths on 25 August launched a second attack on 38-year old pastor Peter David Silway from the Vineyard Workers' Church in Dapodi area of Maharashtra state's Pune district.
"A car belonging to the pastor was pelted with stones by two motorcycle-borne youths on the bridge linking Dapodi and Bopodi," the local edition of national daily The Indian Express reported on 4 September.
The victim filed a complaint with the Bhosari police station.
On 8 June, about six youths had gone to the residence of Pastor Silway in Bopodi with a bouquet, and as the pastor stepped forward to receive it, they pounced on him and started beating him with hockey sticks, added the daily.
At that time he filed a complaint with the Khadki police station.
The daily quoted the president of the Dapodi unit of Hindu nationalist group Shiv Sena, Kailas Jadhav, as saying, "Some Hindu groups suspect that church members are carrying out conversion activity not in the church, but in villages outside Pune and other parts of the state. If such a thing is happening, it should be stopped forthwith."
Pastor Silway told the daily, "The church has never indulged in such activities ... There are some five to six people who are instigating the local people against the church. Otherwise nobody is complaining."
Pastor Silway conducts healing prayer meetings on Saturdays that draw nearly 20,000 people.
Maharashtra – Hindu nationalists from the Bajrang Dal filed a First Information Report (FIR) of forcible conversion against pastor Edward Pais on 26 August in Andheri, Mumbai, Maharashtra, reported national daily The Times of India.
Pastor Pais of New Life Fellowship told reporters, "One person identified as Mr
Kishore, who has been praying and worshipping at the New Life Church for more than six months, expressed a desire and personal free choice to accept Christ as saviour."
For his baptism, Mr Kishore invited colleague Anil Bhise to the service on 26 August.
"Mr Bhise came with a few other people, and they all sat respectfully during the preaching," Pastor Pais said.
"However, as Mr Kishore was being administered the water baptism at the nearby Juhu beach, Bhise strongly objected to the baptism ceremony."
Bhise shouted accusations of 'forcible conversion' and registered the FIR against Pastor Pais at the D N Nagar, Andheri police station.
Pastor Pais was also booked for 'deliberately injuring religious sentiments' under Sections 295(A), and for 'inducing a person to believe he will be rendered an object of the Divine displeasure' under Section 508.
Orissa – Unidentified people suspected of being Hindu ultranationalists demolished an 18-year old church belonging to tribal Christians late on 25 August in Banjalaput village of Padua block in Orissa state's Koraput district.
The attackers broke the rooftop and cross of the church, which belonged to the Jeypore Evangelical Lutheran Church (JELC).
Dr Sajan K George of the Global Council of Indian Christians said Hindu nationalists had earlier instigated Rabi Ram Singh, son of Jagabandhu Ram Singh, former owner of the land who had sold it to the JELC Mission, to illegally occupy a portion of the church property.
The younger Singh has been threatening JELC Pastor Sanjay Khora to halt meetings in the church.
He also has stopped the pastor from entering the church on several occasions.
The Padua police station filed a complaint against the culprits, but the accused remained at large at press time.
About 20 tribal Christian families worshipped in the church.
Compass | Easy print
Hide this story.10/09/07 | ERITREA – Christian woman tortured to death
Fourth believer in a year killed for refusing to recant. Full Story...
Eritrean authorities tortured a woman to death on Wednesday 5 September for refusing to recant her Christian faith, the fourth such killing in less than a year.
Citing Christian sources in the East African nation, Open Doors has confirmed that 33-year old Nigsti Haile was killed for refusing to sign a letter recanting her faith.
Held at the Wi'a Military Training Centre 20 miles south of the Red Sea port of Massawa, Nigsti was one of 10 single Christian women arrested at a church gathering in Keren who have spent 18 months under severe pressure.
Eritrea outlawed independent Protestant churches in May 2002, closing their buildings and banning them from meeting even in private homes.
Nigsti was a member of a Rhema church, an independent Protestant group.
Before her arrest, Nigsti worked for a relative while studying to complete secondary-level education.
On 15 February, Magos Solomon Semere died under torture at the Adi-Nefase Military Confinement facility outside Assab, four and a half years after the Eritrean regime jailed him for worshipping in a banned Protestant church.
According to one source, the 30-year old Semere died due to physical torture and persistent pneumonia, for which he was forbidden proper medical treatment.
Last 17 October, two other Christians died under torture in Eritrea.
Two days after Immanuel Andegergesh, aged 23, and Kibrom Firemichel, 30, were arrested for holding a religious service in a private home south of Asmara, they died from torture wounds and severe dehydration in a military camp outside the town of Adi-Quala, according to eyewitnesses.
In August, Open Doors became aware that the 10 Christian women arrested earlier were separated from other prisoners and taken to the Wi'a military centre, where they underwent torture for refusing to recant.
On 19 August, ten members of the Full Gospel Church were arrested as they gathered in a house in Kahawata, a suburb of Asmara, sources said.
On 12 August, Leul Gebreab, aged 35, a pastor at the evangelical Apostolic Church, was arrested in Asmara.
No charges filed, no trials
Amnesty International said in a statement yesterday that the detainees from the Full Gospel Church are believed to be held without charge or trial in the Karchele security prison, together with dozens of other pastors and members of banned evangelical churches.
"Amnesty considers Pastor Gebreab and the 10 church members who were arrested in Asmara on 12 August to be prisoners of conscience," Amnesty reported, "as they have been detained solely for the peaceful exercise of their religious beliefs."
Since May 2002, Eritrea has officially recognised only Islam and the Orthodox, Catholic and Lutheran Christian churches.
At the same time, Amnesty noted, religious persecution has also affected the Orthodox and Catholic churches.
Authorities have deposed and detained the patriarch of the Eritrean Orthodox Church, Abune Antonios, due to his criticisms of government interference in church matters, Amnesty said.
The Roman Catholic Church in Eritrea is appealing against an order to hand over all its social welfare organisations – schools, medical clinics, orphanages and women's training centres – to the Ministry of Social Welfare and Labour.
More than 2,000 Eritrean Christians are imprisoned in Eritrea. All have been denied legal counsel or trial, with no written charges filed against them.
Amnesty reported that most of the more than 2,000 imprisoned Christians have been held for more than two years in harsh conditions, with little or no medical treatment.
"Members of evangelical churches have been subjected to arrest, torture and coercion by the security forces to try and force them to deny their faith," Amnesty reported.
Compass | Easy print
Hide this story.07/09/07 | EGYPT – Court delays ruling on 'reconversion'
17 Nov decision on right to return to Christianity. Full Story...
An Egyptian court has delayed ruling on the appeal of converts to Islam who wish to return Christianity.
At a hearing on Saturday 1 September, Egypt's Supreme Administrative Court set the date for a ruling at 17 November.
Much is at stake in conflicts over religious identity in Egypt, where religious status legally determines whom one can marry, custody of children, inheritance, the type of religious education required and where one can be buried.
The punishment for 'apostasy' from Islam is death, according to most mainstream Egyptian interpretations of Shari'a (Islamic jurisprudence), enshrined in Egypt's constitution.
No converts have been tried for 'apostasy', but conversion away from Islam remains difficult, whilst hundreds ofEgyptians become Muslim every year.
In April, a lower court overturned previous rulings allowing converts to Islam to revert to their original faith, claiming the group of at least 12 was "manipulating" religion.
Interior Minister Habib al-Adly spoke out in support of the lower court ruling the following week, insisting that any Muslim who abandons his faith must be killed, according to Egyptian weekly Sout al Oma.
But Hossam Baghat of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights said many conservative scholars have not labelled the group of 're-converts' as apostates, creating some hope that their appeal may succeed.
"They converted to Islam briefly to get out of a bad marriage, to get a second wife, or to get divorced, things the Coptic Church in Egypt does not allow," Mr Baghat said.
"Once they solved their urgent problems, they wanted to convert back to Christianity."
In July, Egypt's Supreme Administrative Court had agreed to accept the appeal, setting the first hearing for 1 September.
Effect on Hegazy
Mr Baghat said he hoped the case of the group of Muslim converts returning to Christianity might help the case of Mohammed Hegazy, a Muslim-born Egyptian who is suing the government to have his conversion to Christianity officially recognised.
"We think of course that a favourable decision in this case of re-conversion will serve the other category of people who are born Muslim and want to convert to Christianity or to any other religion," said Mr Baghat.
He added that the two still remained separate legal issues.
In recent years, Christian converts to Islam have won the right to convert back to Christianity, specifically because courts have not viewed the change as an issue of 'apostasy', according to Mr Baghat.
In July, Egypt's second highest religious authority told The Washington Post that 'apostates' should not receive any earthly punishment.
Dr Ali Gomaa's statement created outcry among conservative Muslims in Egypt but prompted Mr Hegazy to sue for the change to be officially recognised.
The unprecedented move drew harsh public condemnation, with Islamic scholars almost unanimously calling for the death of the Mr Hegazy.
He was forced into hiding with his pregnant wife after both he and his solicitor (who eventually withdrew from the case) received death threats.
Hundreds of converts to Christianity in Egypt are forced to live double lives in order to escape torture and harassment at the hands of family members and security police.
Though no convert has ever been tried for 'apostasy', they are often charged with the crime of "insulting a heavenly religion [Islam]" and held indefinitely under Egypt's emergency law.
As to whether he thought Mr Hegazy's case had heightened sensitivities towards the issue of conversion, endangering the chances of converts to Islam who wished to revert to Christianity, Mr Baghat said, "We were worried, but it didn't really come up at all – nothing was raised about apostasy per se."
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Hide this story.06/09/07 | EGYPT – Christian twins forced to 'become' Muslims
Hearing adjourned indefinitely. Full Story...
Mario and Andrew Medhat Ramsis
The solicitor for the two boys forced the adjournment by skipping the hearing, as the outcome of another case involving converts to Islam seeking 're-conversion' could affect the twins' case.
The twins' case highlights inequalities non-Muslims face in Egypt, where one's religion, printed on all official documents, regulates family law. Custody of children is automatically given to whichever parent is Muslim, according to many interpretations of shari'a (Islamic law), enshrined in the nation's constitution.
Christian twins Mario and Andrew Medhat Ramsis unwillingly "became" Muslim after their father converted to Islam and used his legal right to change the religion on their birth certificates.
In February, the boys' mother discovered they had been placed in Islamic education classes at school to reflect their father's choice, though the Muslim man has not been living with his Christian family since his conversion and remarriage in 2002.
The twins gained notoriety when they refused to take their Islamic religion exam in May, required in order to pass and move on to the next year.
"I am a Christian," each boy wrote on a make-up exam in July. They turned in the exam with all of the answers left blank.
Egyptian Education Minister Yusri al-Gamal announced on 25 August he would automatically pass the boys on to the next year, but the twins' Christian mother said an underlying problem remains.
Legislative bias
"I was made to understand that Egyptian law grants a mother custody of her children until they are 15 years of age, but I recently discovered that this applies only to Muslim mothers," Kamilia Lutfi said at a 27 August press conference, according to the Coptic-owned weekly Watani.
Andrew and Mario Ramsis' future hinges on whether the court applies civil law, which allows them to remain with their mother, or certain interpretations of Islamic law, which stipulate that children belong to whichever parent is Muslim, their solicitor Naguib Gabriel said.
Mr Gabriel skipped the hearing on 3 September when the court was expected to rule on the twins' future, causing the court to adjourn indefinitely.
Kamilia Lutfi and Naguib Gabriel
Mr Gabriel said the 17 November ruling on 're-conversion' would give him a clue about the government's position towards the Ramsis twins' case.
"The whole point is whether the court will rule according to Egypt's civil law – in which case the converts will be free to revert to Christianity – or according to shari'a, meaning that ridda [the penalty for apostasy] would be applied."
According to many mainstream interpretations of Islamic law in Egypt, the punishment for apostasy is death.
Mr Gabriel has come under increasing pressure from conservative Muslims for his role in defending Mario and Andrew Ramsis. Last week Lawyer Mohammed al-Shishtawi filed a complaint with Egypt's prosecutor general against Mr Gabriel accusing the Christian lawyer of spreading false rumours that harm Egypt's national unity, inciting sectarian strife, and tarnishing Egypt's image abroad, according to daily newspaper al-Akhbar.
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Hide this story.06/09/07 | MALAYSIA – PM calls country "Islamic state"
Minorities fear restrictions on religious freedom. Full Story...
Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi last week declared that Malaysia is an Islamic state, apparently contradicting his 5 August statement that Malaysia is neither a secular nor a theocratic state.
His 27 August declaration came in reply to a question in Parliament from opposition leader Lim Kit Siang, who asked if the cabinet would reaffirm Malaysia as a secular state with Islam as the official religion as per the social contract signed at the formation of the country.
There is a possibility that Abdullah could have meant "Islamic country", as his statement was written in Malay where the words Negara Islam can mean either 'Islamic state', implying the imposition of Islamic law on all citizens, or 'Islamic country', meaning one with a Muslim-majority population.
The prime minister's comment came in the wake of a call by Chief Justice Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim to abolish the use of English common law in the country after 50 years of independence from Britain.
The chief justice made the remark at a seminar on "Ahmad Ibrahim: Thoughts and Knowledge Contribution" on 21 August.
Two days later, Attorney General Abdul Gani Patail was reported in local Malay daily Utusan Malaysia as expressing support for the chief justice's view.
He went on to say shari'a (Islamic) laws are best as they emphasise justice and equal distribution of rights.
Nazri Aziz and Abdullah Zin, who are both ministers in the prime minister's department, agreed with the chief justice's proposal.
Fears of Islamisation
The comments have alarmed non-Muslims, who make up 40 pe rcent of the country's population. Various religious and civil society groups have voiced concerns over what they see as a gradual Islamisation and infringement of minority rights.
Datuk A Vaithilingam, president of the Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism, issued a statement on 23 August saying, "It is wholly unacceptable for any theological law to replace the system of law we have in Malaysia today."
He urged the government to act fairly in safeguarding the interest of all Malaysians in accordance with the Federal Constitution.
The president of the Malaysian Bar Council, Ambiga Sreenevasan, issued a statement saying the council was disturbed by the chief justice's suggestion and that any attempt to dismantle the common law system is a direct attack on the constitution and violates the social contract affirmed at the formation of the country.
"It is a backdoor attempt to rewrite [the Federal Constitution] and to move Malaysia towards becoming a theocratic state," she added.
In a week-long online poll ending on 31 August, 83 per cent of the 513 members of the bar who took part in the poll called on the council to convene an extraordinary general meeting to reaffirm the supremacy of the Federal Constitution and the application of English common law.
The state of religious liberty in the country has been in the limelight ever since 30 May when the outcome of the high-profile case of Lina Joy – a convert from Islam to Christianity who tried unsuccessfully to have the word 'Islam' removed from her identity card – was announced.
Even as the nation celebrated its 50th anniversary of independence from British rule, many local observers wondered if the nation that prides itself as a multi-cultural, multi-religious country whose majority practise a moderate brand of Islam, has room for those who do not profess the Islamic faith.
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Hide this story.05/09/07 | TURKEY – Christians face ongoing intimidation
Church building in Izmit vandalised. Full Story...
Police in Turkey's western city of Izmit have arrested a man who set a fire early on the morning of 3 September at the entrance of the local Protestant church and then fired his handgun several times.
The church's pastor is the brother-in-law of one of the converts to Christianity murdered in Malatya in April and has been targeted by fanatical Muslims.
Identified by police authorities as Semih Sahin, the man who set fire to the church entrance reportedly told interrogators he had been "bothered" by what he heard and read in the newspapers about the Izmit Protestant Church, so he wanted to "make a scene" to arouse public opposition to it.
According to local police, who described the apprehended suspect as a "psychopath", Sahin has a previous criminal and prison record. He was brought before a local prosecutor, formally charged and jailed yesterday afternoon.
Yesterday's incident, which occurred at 3:15am, was recorded on a security camera installed by the church several months ago, in the wake of the gruesome stabbing deaths of three Protestant Christians in Malatya on 18 April.
One of the murdered victims, Turkish Christian convert Necati Aydin, was a brother-in-law of Izmit Protestant Church's pastor.
Video
On the security camera video recorded on 3 September, Sahin walked up to the door of the church, laid down a box and some other flammable materials, poured liquid over the pile and lit it whilst smoking a cigarette.
He then walked off, returning shortly to find the pile burning brightly on the stone steps. Stepping away down the street, he proceeded to fire his handgun, loaded with blanks, into the air several times.
Police arrived within four minutes and were soon joined by 10 people from the neighbourhood, but the fire was not put out until the fire department came minutes later.
The suspect, whom police said was about 30 years old, was apprehended on a nearby street shortly after the incident still carrying the handgun.
The church pastor confirmed to reporters that police authorities called him at 8:00am to inform him of the incident.
Although the fire blackened the entrance and steps to the church, there was no structural damage to the building, the pastor said.
The Izmit pastor has been provided with an armed government security guard since the last week of April, when he returned home with his family after his brother-in-law's funeral.
Death threat
On 20 May, the testimony of one of the Malatya murder suspects was leaked to the Turkish press, stating that he had planned to murder the Izmit pastor next.
The pastor was again targeted in the Turkish media on 14 July, when police authorities in Izmit's Kocaeli province reported the round-up of a mafia-style gang of 23 suspects involved in assassinations of businessmen and a rash of other illegal activities in the region.
After his capture, gang leader Ismail Halil was interrogated about the group's alleged plans to murder the Izmit pastor in the near future, for which they were to receive US$1 million, according to Sabah newspaper.
Halil reportedly claimed his legal right to remain silent on this question.
In a previous incident this summer, a group of neighbourhood boys plastered the front of the church building with raw eggs on the morning of 30 July, just as the church began a week-long English club for its young people.
Police identified the culprits after viewing the security camera footage, bringing them from their homes to clean up the mess.
Intolerance
"The Protestant community is negatively affected by contemptuous, disinformative media coverage which also has the effect of showing Christians – and in particular persons who have converted to Christianity [from Islam] – as targets for acts of violence," noted a new report released 1 September by Turkish Protestants.
Issued by the Legal Committee of the Alliance of Protestant Churches of Turkey, the 'summary of concerns' called for the Turkish authorities to create a "culture of tolerance" toward its minorities.
"In the past year there have been scores of threats or attacks on congregations and church buildings," the report said.
"The perpetrators have not been found."
The report concluded: "The state should be guaranteeing freedom of religion and the security of individuals and property."
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Hide this story.03/09/07 | INDIA – Nationalists allegedly kill pastor's brother
Attacks on Christian family ignored, victims arresed. Full Story...
A series of attacks on a Dalit Christian pastor in Tamil Nadu state earlier this year ended in Hindu ultranationalists allegedly murdering his brother last month.
Pastor Paul Chinnaswamy of Krishnagiri district has also seen his house vandalised, and he and his son have been arrested on unfounded charges of 'forced conversion."
After two attacks by Hindu nationalists in April and May, the worst came on 29 July.
Two Hindu nationalists who had earlier attacked the 51-year old Pastor Chinnaswamy arrived by motor scooter to the house of his older brother, Amos, a Christian convert from Hinduism.
The pastor's brother had angrily shouted at the two nationalists when they and others had attacked the independent church leader earlier this year, said Dr Sajan K George, national president of the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC).
"The two men pulled down a small hut that was put up in front of Amos' house and hit him in the head and back with a log," Dr George told reporters.
"When he fell down, they crushed his head with large boulders and threatened to kill the shocked wife and mother-in-law if they too did not throw stones at his body."
Shouting in grief and fear and feeling they had no option, the women complied, Dr George said.
The nationalists had killed him, Dr George said, to avenge his angry words over the attacks on his brother.
The two women ran to Chinnigiripalli village, under Uddinapalli police station jurisdiction, and locals rushed to the scene.
Police then arrested the two women, accusing the victim's wife and mother-in-law of the murder. They were remanded to judicial custody, according to Circle Inspector R Vajram of the Rayakota Circle.
"Amos was 58 years old, and his wife is about 30 – there were tensions between the couple," Inspector Vajram told reporters.
"Besides, Amos used to drink and trouble his wife. This is why the wife and the mother-in-law killed him."
Charging that the local police had not investigated the attack properly, Dr George wrote to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on 18 August requesting that it ensure justice for Pastor Chinnaswamy and his family.
Lawlessness seems to be the norm for the area, Dr George said.
He added that on 3 August, in what may or may not have been a related incident, a Communist leader identified as Dhanaraj was found murdered in his banana farm in Thalli area in the same district.
He had helped Pastor Chinnaswamy get out of jail and was providing his son with legal help.
Pastor and son arrested
On 18 July, police had summoned the pastor, who lives in Uddinapalli, to the Uddinapalli police station and asked him to wait in a room – which happened to be a jail cell.
Police then arrested him on false charges of 'forced conversion', Dr George said.
When local Christians learned about the arrest, they contacted Communist Party leaders who were able to secure his release on 20 July.
In India, communists often find themselves in league with Christians in the fight against Hindu nationalism.
Also on 18 July, police picked up the pastor's son, Luka Perumal, an independent preacher, and put him in a separate cell.
Luka was sent to the Salem jail on 20 July.
"The police arrested him as a 'preventive measure', alleging he was involved in some gangs," Dr George said.
When Pastor Chinnaswamy asked why his son was being held, police replied that he would be released on 3 August.
He was not released, however, until 27 August.
Earlier attacks
Two days before police detained Luka Perumal, on 16 July, Hindu nationalists had damaged his thatched house in Kelamangalam village, Krishnagiri district.
The attacks and police harassment followed the assaults on Pastor Chinnaswamy in April and May.
On 5 May, eight Hindu nationalists broke into Chinnaswamy's house and assaulted him with a screwdriver, threatened to harm his 4-year old daughter and insulted his wife.
The attackers also took 2,750 rupees (ca £30), claiming foreigners had given him that amount to forcibly convert Hindus.
Pastor Chinnaswamy had set aside the money to pay his electric bill.
On 22 April, nationalists attacked Pastor Chinnaswamy and vandalised his kitchen.
"Chinnaswamy did not file a police complaint even once, as he feared he would be killed if he did so," Dr George said.
Pastor Chinnaswamy, who has been ministering in the area for 20 years, is also a local civic leader; twice he has been elected as the village head.
In his letter to the NHRC, Dr George appealed for an immediate inquiry "into the targeting of Pastor Paul Chinnaswamy and his family for the sole reason that they are Christians."
"It is alarming that, far from dealing with the lawlessness in the region, the police are busy imprisoning peaceful preachers," Dr George wrote.
"They allow dangerous criminals to roam about unhindered. We appeal for immediate action."
Regarding increased attacks on Dalits, including Dalit Christians, National Integration Council member John Dayal noted that, "Christ's message liberates entire caste groups which were in the thrall of the upper castes."
Pastor Chinnaswamy and all Catholics and Protestants in India, he said, are attacked for the theological position of Christians that Dalits are equals, which "rocks the Hindu boat".
"This is why even liberal Hindus find fault with conversions."
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Hide this story.30/08/07 | INDIA – Recent incidents of persecution
Compass Direct publishes another digest. Full Story...
Chhattisgarh – Two pastors were arrested on charges of 'hurting religious feelings' and 'fraudulent conversion' on 26 August after Hindu ultranationalists and police disrupted a church's Sunday worship following the baptism of five converts in Chhattisgarh state.
Arun Pannalal, general secretary of the Chhattisgarh Christian Forum, said nationalists from the Dharam Sena entered the church shouting anti-Christian slogans and, accompanied by police, made allegations of forcible conversion where 52 people were worshipping in Bhilai sector, Durg district.
Independent church pastor Charles Patel had baptised five new converts in a nearby river before the service.
Police summoned the church members to the Nevai police station, where they interrogated them and the newly baptised converts "who insisted they had willingly accepted Jesus as their Saviour and that it was a conscious, personal decision to embrace the Christian Faith," Mr Pannalal said.
Two strangers showed up telling police that pastors Samson Patel (brother of Charles) and Neeraj Martin had given them money to convert to Christianity.
Charles Pastor Patel told reporters, "We have never seen those two men before, they are unknown to anyone."
Police Inspector Anil Bakshi told reporters that Samson Patel and Martin have been charged with 'deliberately injuring religious sentiments' and with violating provisions of the state anti-conversion law.
Karnataka – On 26 August, at least 25 Hindu ultranationalists launched a violent attack on a house church in Kolar district, Karnataka state, stabbing one member and beating the pastor.
In Raji Nagar area, Malur, the attackers beat 38-year old independent pastor Emmanuel Venkatesh and M S Thimmakka and stabbed a church member identified as Venkattarajappa on his hand and hips, reported Dr Sajan K George of the Global Council of Indian Christians.
The attack took place during Sunday worship at Thimmakka's house in Malur, about 34 miles from Bangalore.
The nationalists also vandalised Mr Thimmakka's house.
All of the injured were admitted to Malur Hospital.
Circle Inspector Shiva Kumar initially tried to defend the perpetrators when Dr George contacted him, but the official later filed a complaint against them.
No one had been arrested at press-time.
Andhra Pradesh – On 22 August, Hindu ultranationalists from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh allegedly prompted a neighbour of a Christian shopkeeper, identified only as Justin, to beat the store owner after he accidentally broke a Hindu idol outside his business in Nizamabad, Andhra Pradesh.
Area shopkeepers intervened, sparing the Christian from further attack, according to the All India Christian Council (AICC).
The Christian was cleaning the shop and the surrounding area when he tripped and fell on the idol made of mud, breaking part of it, an AICC official told reporters.
The following day, the shopkeeper's neighbour filed a police complaint charging that the Christian deliberately broke the idol to insult the Hindu god Ganesha.
Police from Nizamabad arrested the shopkeeper, who was reportedly released on bail on 25 August.
Karnataka – Hindu ultranationalists of the Rashtriya Swayemsevak Sangh (RSS) thrashed students of the Full Gospel Church on 21 August in Davangere, Karnataka.
Dr Sajan K George of the Global Council of Indian Christians said six female and 12 male students were on a picnic when a person approached them and began questioning them.
A mob of around 50 RSS nationalists arrived on bicycles, motorbikes and cars and began hitting and kicking the students, swearing at and insulting them, and accusing them of forcible conversion, Dr George said.
The nationalists dragged students identified only as Parasuram, Ramesh, Vani Jyothi, Pushpa, Vijay, Shilpa, Prasan, Nirmala and Chandra, to the Vidyanagara police station and filed a complaint of forcible conversion against them.
Police initially told reporters the students were arrested but later said they were held "for keeping peace" and released on 27August.
"The case against the students was officially closed," a police official told reporters.
Karnataka – On 19 August, about 50 people beat some of the 30 people worshipping at Indian Pentecostal Church of God in Jakkur, Bangalore in Karnataka state.
Entering the facility where congregants were worshipping at 11:30am and bolting the doors shut behind them, the attackers beat four church members.
When church members managed to escape, the assailants chased them away, following them to a house. Then the attackers ran them from that place too.
"These attackers had warned us not to conduct worship service today," pastor Thomas Koshy told reporters.
"Even a week before, these people had attacked our meeting and nothing extreme took place. But this time they made it severe."
A member of the church filed a police complaint, but the assailants indicated they would seek another opportunity to beat the pastor.
The owner of the facility where the church worships has asked the pastor to vacate the hall.
Uttar Pradesh – On 15 August, about 30 Hindu ultranationalists from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh beat two Christians from the Believers Church identified only as Pastor Santosh and Bible student Babu Lal, in Mohanlalganj area of Lucknow district in Uttar Pradesh.
The two Christians, attacked while they were distributing literature, were hospitalised with head, chest and stomach injuries.
The Christian Legal Association (CLA) said that initially the Mohanlalganj police station refused to register a complaint against the attackers, and police filed a First Information Report only after the CLA intervened.
Police officials told a CLA solicitor, "Why can't these Christians sit at home peacefully on 15 August [India's Independence Day]? Why are they forcing people to read their tracts?"
No arrests had been made at press-time.
Karnataka – Hindu ultranationalists threw stones at Kalwari Prayer Centre in Ganeshpur, a suburban area of Belgaum, Karnataka, causing damage to the prayer hall, house and nursery late at night on 15 August, according to the Deccan Herald News Service (DHNS).
Pastor Sajan Philips told reporters that at 11:30pm about a dozen youths threw stones at the centre for about half an hour, "damaging the cement sheets of the roof and breaking all the windows and the portico of the church."
Pastor Phillips filed a police complaint, but at press-time no one had been arrested.
Police suspect the stoning might have taken place as the result of evangelisation activities in the area, the DHNS reported.
The centre was attacked twice in 2005.
Rajasthan – Hindu ultranationalists from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh stormed the showing of a film about Jesus Christ, "Daya Sagar" ("Ocean of Mercy") on 7 August and forced Believers Church workers to stop the screening it in Vardha village in Rajasthan state's Dungarpur district.
The nationalists called local police and accused the Christians of converting Hindu villagers, the Christian Legal Association said in a statement.
Police promptly arrived and detained four Christians – and Akash Kumar,
Shantilal Kalasua, pastor Ruplal Nathat and pastor Iswarlal Kasota – and allegedly beat the Christians.
They also confiscated film equipment.
About 20 villagers were watching the film when the nationalists arrived.
The four Christians were released the following day.
Police relinquished the equipment on 13 August and apologised to the Christians.
Karnataka – On 5 August, Hindu ultranationalists from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh disrupted and stopped a Christian prayer meeting for the dedication of a Seventh Day Adventist Prayer Hall in Sira town, Karnataka.
Dr Sajan K George of the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC) said that subsequently, on 16 August, police summoned the president of the Seventh Day Adventist church, Peter Alamane, along with secretary A J Devadas, pastor Leonard Anthony, and pastors identified only as P John and Lazarus, to the local police station.
After questioning, the pastors were taken to the magistrate, Dr George said.
Pastor Emmanuel Magimaidass told reporters, "One of the nationalists had filed a First Information Report against us [Seventh Day Adventists] accusing us of alleged forcible conversions."
The pastors were arrested and charged with 'hurting religious sentiments'.
The GCIC secured their release on bail on 18 August.
Chhattisgarh – The governor of Chhattisgarh has objected to excessive government control and a religious double standard in a state 'anti-conversion' amendment bill proposed by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Chhattisgarh Gov Ekkadu Srinivasan Lakshmi Narsimhan raised objections to two provisions: obtaining permission from the district collector (administrative head) before any conversion, and 'allowing people to return to Hinduism and not treating this as conversion', reported news agency Press Trust of India on 22 August.
Gov Narsimhan has reportedly referred the bill to the state law department for assessment.
Such 'anti-conversion' laws are used to levy spurious accusations at Christians of 'forced conversion'.
Similar bills introduced by the BJP are facing obstacles in three other states: Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.
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Hide this story.29/08/07 | INDIA – Pastor kidnapped twice, nearly killed
Assailants intended to crush his head with a stone. Full Story...
Pastor Mark Jaikumar is recovering in a private care facility in Bangalore, Karnataka state after being kidnapped, blindfolded and hearing Hindu nationalists' plans to kill him – his second abduction in one week.
Pastor of the Divine Gospel Church in Chelekere village, Bangalore, the 43-year old was abducted from the church compound at 8:30pm as he set off for home on Saturday 25 August.
He had just survived an attempt to kidnap and kill him on the previous Wednesday.
In Saturday's kidnapping, four men sitting in a car with the engine running were stationed near the church gate when Mark saw one get out. Assuming they needed assistance, he walked towards the man.
"The man then forced me into the rear seat of the car, got in after me and drove off," Mark told reporters.
"They blindfolded me and took my mobile phone. They kept cursing and mocking the Christian faith in filthy language and told each other that all my conversion activities would end once they killed me."
After he was driven around for about five hours, the car stopped near a bus station, Mark said, at Peenya, an industrial township about nine miles from Bangalore.
The kidnappers then removed his blindfold and forced him onto a bus, with one of the men accompanying him. Mark said they were heading towards Dharmastala which is about five hours by car from Bangalore.
"The road is a long, winding one with hairpin turns," he said.
"By God's grace, the bus developed a problem and was stalled at the side of the road somewhere near Sakleshpur, about 90 miles from Bangalore."
The bus driver ordered everyone off the bus, and on his way out Mark told the driver he was being kidnapped.
"Realising I had informed the driver, the accomplice got into the car that was following us and disappeared," Mark said.
The driver rang Mark's family, and the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC) sent two cars to pick him up.
Previous murder attempt
Mark fared less well in the earlier kidnapping. He was on a routine visit to Ray Peace Ministry Orphanage in Sasulu village near Dodbalapur, about 35 miles from Bangalore, for their weekly prayer service with orphans and staff members.
At around 10pm, as he was leaving, five men armed with knives entered the orphanage and abducted Mark.
One of the men immediately gagged him, and the others carried him off to a lonely stretch of road.
"They ripped off my shirt, and then kicked, punched and hit me with their fists all over my head and body," he said.
"All the while, they kept cursing the Christian faith and made allegations of converting the orphans, then they tore my shirt and tried to strangle me, while one of the attackers took a big stone to crush my head."
The headlights of an approaching vehicle beamed onto them, he said, and the assailants ran away.
In severe pain, Mark managed to return to the orphanage. Staff members took him to the village dispensary for first aid, and the next morning he registered a complaint at the Doddabalavangala police station.
After the second kidnapping on 25 August, Dr Sajan K George, national president of the GCIC, told reporters the GCIC coordinator went to the Hennur police station to file charges, but officials refused to register a kidnap complaint. Instead, they registered a missing persons complaint.
At the Hennur police station, Inspector Somshekar Chabbi told reporters, "We registered a missing persons complaint as there was no evidence that Mark was taken against his will."
At press time, no arrests had been made in either of the cases.
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Hide this story.28/08/07 | INDIA – Hindu nationalists target Christian Dalits
Attack on hospital reflects RSS' top priority. Full Story...
An attack on a Christian hospital during its programme for Dalits in Uttar Pradesh state highlights Hindu ultranationalists' main objection to Christian work: conversion of people who were once called 'untouchables'.
On 17 August, a mob of about 100 people, led by Hindu nationalists, barged into the compound of the Kachhwa Christian Hospital (KCH) in the Kachhwa Bazaar area of Mirzapur district and beat and stoned those leading the programme for the Dalit students and their parents, according to the Evangelical Fellowship of India.
Dr Raju Abraham, chief surgeon at KCH, and pastor T V Joy were among four Christians injured in the attack.
Dr Abraham, a Christian leader, and Pastor Joy received head injuries as mob leader Anshu Singh allegedly struck them with stones.
The mob was said to be led by nationalists from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and Bajrang Dal, the youth wing of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP or World Hindu Council).
There were about 400 Dalits, including women and children, attending the programme that celebrated the 60th anniversary of India's Independence (on 15 August).
The attackers also vandalised the hospital and beat Christians and Dalit participants, besides tearing the Indian flag.
On 16 August, about 20 nationalists had intruded into the hospital compound and threatened to kill Dr Abraham if he continued with the programme for Dalits.
Dr Abraham filed a complaint with the Kachhwa Bazaar police station two days later, naming six people who were leading the mob.
Police arrested four of the accused and were investigating the case at press time.
Uttar Pradesh has more than 35 million Dalits out of the total population of 166 million. Christians number only 212,578.
Obstructing Hindu consolidation
Because conversion of Dalits in most instances happens en masse, Hindu nationalists' are deeply concerned that Christian work could bring a change in religious demographics.
In 2003, supporters of the RSS promoted a book called Religious Demography of India, which warns that more than 50 per cent of India would be Muslims and Christians in the following 50 years due to a decline in Hindu population.
The book, written by A P Joshi, M D Srinivas and J K Bajaj, was published by the Centre for Policy Studies and released by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L K Advani.
The BJP is the political wing of the RSS.
According to a 1997 study by the Indian Missions Association, more than 65 per cent of Christians in India are from Dalit background. India's 2001 census showed there are about 24 million Christians, or 2.3 per cent of the total population.
Dalits make up about 16 per cent of the population, or close to 166 million.
With "Hindu consolidation" as one of its top objectives, the RSS has endeavoured to halt mass conversions taking place among Dalits.
"RSS is against mass conversions, which are carried on by various churches by means both fair and foul," the RSS says on its website.
"To allow a tolerant person to embrace an exclusionist belief is to turn him into an intolerant person. For this reason RSS is against the proselytising activities of Christians."
The website includes a special section devoted to 'social equality' and 'Hindu consolidation'.
While mass conversions to Islam took place decades ago – the latest being in Meenakshipuram, Tirunelveli district, Tamil Nadu state in the 1980s – Dalits continue to convert en masse to Buddhism and Christianity in order to protest and avoid discrimination and atrocities meted out to them by higher-caste Hindus.
Most recently, hundreds of Dalits converted to Buddhism and Christianity on 14 October 2006 in Nagpur in Maharashtra state as a part of a rally against both the caste system and anti-conversion laws in some states, the BBC reported.
As India legally defines a Hindu negatively as someone who is not a Jew, Christian, Muslim or Parsi – as shown in the Hindu Marriage Act – Hindu nationalists oppose conversions to Christianity more than they oppose conversions to Buddhism or other religions not named in the act.
The RSS' objection to conversions is also rooted in Hindutva, a Hindu nationalistic ideology that proposes a nation ruled by those whose ancestors were born in India and who belong to religions that originated there, namely Hinduism and its offshoots.
According to Hindutva, the India is the homeland of Hindus, while Christians and Muslims, as 'outsiders', are its enemies.
Dalits were formerly called 'untouchables' because they were traditionally considered to be outside the confines of caste by the Brahmins, the priestly class.
The Dalits' supposed impurity derived from their traditional, humble occupations.
India's former national leader, Mahatma Gandhi, applied the term Harijans, meaning "'children of God', to Dalits in the 1930s. In 1949, the Indian government outlawed the term 'untouchables' and reclassified them as the 'Scheduled Castes', granting them special educational and political privileges.
But Dalits continue to remain on the margins of society and still face discrimination.
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Hide this story.28/08/07 | PAKISTAN – Missing girls married off to Muslims
Police stall efforts to recover Christian minors. Full Story...
Shamaila Tabassum
The certificate for the missing 16-year old girl indicates the marriage took place 12 days before her disappearance, and the other certificate puts the missing 11-year-old's age at 18.
Police seem to be stalling efforts to recover the minors, prompting the girls' solicitor to bring a case against officers in the Punjab city of Faisalabad this week.
"This type of incident is increasing in Faisalabad," a representative of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan told reporters from Faisalabad today.
When Zunaira Rasheed, aged 11, disappeared from her home in Faisalabad's Warispura neighbourhood on 5 August, her mother was at first reluctant to go to the police, she said.
Abida Parveen said she was worried that news of the disappearance might ruin her daughter's 'honour' and with it her chances of marrying, according to Pakistani journalist Qaiser Felix of Asia News.
Whilst searching for her daughter, Abida was approached by a Muslim man from the neighbourhood, Rana Azher, who offered to help her in exchange for money.
"We saw your daughter going in a rickshaw with Muhammad Adnan," Rana Azher told Abida.
The Christian mother immediately went to Mr Adnan's home but was not allowed inside.
Desperate for help, Abida eventually scraped together 12,000 rupees (ca £100) to pay Mr Azher to negotiate with Mr Adnan on her behalf.
Mr Azher soon produced a copy of a certificate of marriage between Rasheed and Mr Adnan but failed to do anything more.
"Unfortunately, I found out too late that those men who said they would help me only wanted money," Abida said in an 22 August Asia News article."
"I have sold all I have, but it wasn't enough, and now I am alone."
The 9 August certificate, signed by Muslim cleric Kareem Muhammad Ramazan in Lahore, gave Rasheed's name as Fatima Bibi (indicating her conversion to Islam) and stated her age as 18.
Despite the name and age difference, Rasheed's family said they were not in doubt that the Fatima Bibi indicated in the certificate was the same person as their daughter because the certificate gives Rasheed's address and father's name.
Abida eventually registered a report with local police, but law enforcement officers have yet to recover her daughter.
The Christian woman, who works as a maid in Muslim homes to support her four children, said that Rasheed had been engaged to be married to a relative.
"They are a very poor family from a backward area, and there is a practice among backwards and poor people to get their children married early," journalist Felix told reporters.
He said it is not clear whether this marriage was actually scheduled to take place any time in the near future.
Kidnapping accusation
In a second incident last week, Shamaila Tabassum, aged 16, disappeared after telling relatives she was on her way to the hospital with several Muslim neighbours to visit her father, whom she said had suffered a serious accident.
The Christian girl's family became worried after her supposedly hospitalised father arrived home from work in perfect health.
Her uncles said they had passed Shamaila while they were bicycling home from work on the afternoon of 16 August, approximately 2 miles from their home in Faisalabad's Elahiabad neighbourhood.
Seeing her uncles, Shamaila exited the Toyota Corolla she was riding in, told them her father had been admitted to the city's Allied Hospital, and then left in the car.
According to the uncles, three Muslim neighbours – Mohammad Mazhar, his sister Naseem Akhter and a cousin named Zheer Ahmad – as well as an unknown fourth man, were in the car with Shamaila.
Worried for his daughter's safety, Shamaila's father visited Mr Mazhar's house that evening, solicitor Khalil Tahir said.
"Mr Mazhar's house was locked," Mr Tahir said, and Mr Mazhar's relatives claimed not to know his whereabouts.
On 18 August, Shamaila's father registered a case with police at Faisalabad's Sadar police station, accusing Mr Mazhar of kidnapping his daughter.
He indicated in the police report that he was worried that Mr Mazhar would attempt to force his daughter to convert, said solicitor Mr Tahir.
On the evening of 22 August, a former head of the Elahiabad union council visited Shamaila's home to deliver a certificate of her marriage to Mr Mazhar.
"Now your daughter has converted to Islam, so there is no need to go to court," Rana Javed told the girl's father.
According to the certificate, Shamaila and Mr Mazhar were married by a Muslim sheikh in the city of Sargodha, 37 miles north of Faisalabad.
But the document was dated 4 August, 12 days before Shamaila's disappearance.
"This is obviously a falsified document, because on 4 August she was at home," Mr Tahir said.
The document also carried a new Muslim name for Shamaila, indicating her conversion to Islam.
Though Pakistanis under the age of 18 cannot carry out legal transactions – including conversion and marriage – without the consent of their guardian, prejudiced lower court judges often turn a blind eye to the law in order to favour Muslims in cases against Christians, Mr Tahir said.
The Christian lawyer said he had agreed to take both cases pro bono because both families are poor.
Mr Tahir said the investigation was delegated to Assistant Sub-inspector Mohammad Ameen, who has yet to register the criminal case under Pakistan's penal code.
"The Station House Officer [SHO] is legally bound to register the case," Mr Tahir commented.
The solicitor filed a written petition against Sadar SHO Mohammad Zafar on 20 August for failing to have his subordinate follow through on the investigation.
Mohammad Zafar has been called to appear before Additional District and Sessions Judge Gabriel Francis on 31 August, Mr Tahir said.
"Many Pakistani Christians are poor, and this is the reason they are being targeted," writer Felix told reporters."
"There are many other individual cases of forced conversion that go unreported because of their poverty."
Felix said that impoverished Christians are often unable to pursue their cases in court when their interests conflict with those of more influential Muslims.
Amina Zaman of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan told reporters that three priests from the area recently reported a growing number of incidents similar to that of the disappearance, conversion and questionable marriages of Shamaila and Rasheed.
"It is increasing in Pakistan and especially in Faisalabad," Zaman said.
Christians make up 1.5 per cent of Pakistan's population, according to the American State Department's latest report on religious freedom.
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Hide this story.24/08/07 | ZIMBABWE – Fifteen church leaders arrested
Pastors detained, fined for attending prayer meeting. Full Story...
On 21 August, SW Radio Africa, an independent Zimbabwean station, reported the arrest of 15 church leaders from their homes for allegedly attending a prayer meeting in Chitungwiza, Zimbabwe, without police approval.
A statement from the Mutambara Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), the main labour-based opposition to the Mugabe regime, said, "The pastors were initially picked up on Saturday 18 August at the venue of the service for allegedly attending an unsanctioned meeting.
"They were subsequently released after paying fines of Z$40,000 [ca £80] each.
"Surprisingly they were picked up again from their homes on the night of 20 August and taken to Makoni police station where they were detained."
Legislators Job Sikhala and Goodrich Chimbaira had also attended the Saturday prayer meeting.
Among those arrested are Bishop Samuel Pasula, Reverend Mabhena, Reverend Patrick Tole, Reverend Gordon Chinogurei and a pastor identified only as Reverend White.
The MDC said, "To even suggest that the pastors should have sought permission to hold a prayer meeting is symptomatic of a government that has become so paranoid that the very idea of an opposition legislator attending such a meeting sends it into delirium."
Amid the political unrest and uncertainty in Zimbabwe, the church has continued to function openly and unhindered, and until recently, the church has distanced itself from the political arena.
However, as pressure on churches to take a stand increases, so have the challenges. Reports of clerics and church members being harassed are now widespread.
Those churches that have chosen to avoid politics however seem to function without interference.
Open Doors continues to monitor the situation in Zimbabwe as the Church there takes a stand for human rights and democracy.
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Hide this story.24/08/07 | ERITREA – Pastor disappears, 10 Protestants arrested
Christian humanitarian institutions now under threat. Full Story...
Eritrean pastors like this young theology student are at risk of arrest, torture and death
Pastor Leule Gebreab of Asmara's Apostolic Church failed to return home to his family on Sunday 12 August.
Since his disappearance, no one among his relatives or congregation has been able to learn anything about his whereabouts, despite inquiries to the local authorities.
"His wife is greatly distressed about his disappearance," a local source told reporters.
Pastor Gebreab, aged 35, is married with two children – an 8-year old son and an infant daughter.
Just a week after Pastor Gebreab vanished, police arrested 10 members of the Full Gospel Church who had gathered in a home in the Kahawata suburb of Asmara on Sunday morning 19 August.
The four women and six men accused of worshipping together were put into detention at Police Station Nr 2 in Asmara.
The Eritrean government criminalised all independent Protestant churches in May 2002, closing their buildings and banning them from meeting together even in private homes.
More than 2,000 Eritrean Christians – including dozens of pastors and other church leaders – remain locked up and subjected to severe torture for their religious beliefs in the nation's jails, police stations and military camps.
All have been denied legal counsel or trial, with no written charges filed against them.
During the past year, at least three Christians have died from physical mistreatment whilst under arrest.
Humanitarian institutions confiscated
In a separate development last week, Eritrean authorities issued an ultimatum on 16 August ordering all the Catholic Church's schools, clinics, orphanages and women's vocational training centres be turned over to the government's Ministry of Social Welfare and Labour.
The Faith of Christ Church has confirmed it received similar orders to relinquish control and possession of all its social aid institutions.
The new demands were reportedly based on a 1995 government decree requiring non-governmental welfare initiatives to obtain specific permission from the regime.
Despite the Eritrean government's controversial banning of all independent Protestant churches, the Catholic Church has official recognition as one of the nation's four historic religions.
The other three government-sanctioned faiths – the Orthodox and Evangelical Lutheran churches and Islam – have reportedly acquiesced to the regime's demands to send their clergy to military duty.
Jailed congregations
According to local sources, the Kale Hiwot Church pastor and 20 members of his congregation arrested in the town of Dekemhare in late May and early June have yet to be released from custody.
In an early Sunday morning raid conducted by security forces on 27 May, 20 members of the church in Dekemhare, located 24 miles south of Asmara, were arrested along with their young children.
This Christian Eritrean family have lost track of their husband and father who was 'disappeared' in 2004
Pastor Michael Abraha, who was not present at the time, was later apprehended at his home on 1 June, apparently after videotapes confiscated in the earlier raid showed him conducting a wedding ceremony.
Although initially sent to the Alla military confinement camp, Pastor Abraha was later transferred with his adult congregation members to Adi Abeyto for further investigation.
"Pastor Michael suffers from diabetes," a local Christian reports, "so he is now experiencing a very hard time from the lack of proper medical treatment."
A long-time pastor and leader in Eritrea's Kale Hiwot Church, Pastor Michael had been arrested several times previously by the Eritrean security forces, following the government-ordered closure of his church along with all other independent Protestant denominations five years ago.
Begun in the late 1940s, the Kale Hiwot (Word of Life) Church was pioneered by former Sudan Interior Mission personnel.
Separately, the Rev Zecharias Abraham and 80 worshippers at the Mehrete Yesus Evangelical Presbyterian Church, who had been arrested during Sunday services in Asmara on 29 April, were all reported released during the fourth week of May.
A handful of expatriates detained in the raid had been set free previously, just four days after the arrest.
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Hide this story.24/08/07 | BANGLADESH – MBB's killer sentenced to death
Murderer cites Quran, remains unrepentant. Full Story...
Martyr Hridoy Roy's family
The verdict was handed down in Dhaka court on 20 August.
Hridoy was killed by a group of JMB members led by Salehim on 23 April 2003. He was only in his 20s when he died.
A murder case was filed with Sarishabari Police Station following the incident, but the suspects were unidentified and remained at large for a time.
More than two years after that murder, Salehim was apprehended for his involvement in a wave of bombings last August 2005. During his trial, he confessed to the killing of Hridoy.
He said he got his orders from Sheik Abdur Rahman, the JMB President who was hanged in April last year along with six other top JMB militants.
Fourteen prosecution witnesses incriminated Salehim for the murder.
He was unrepentant to the end: "I will not appeal to the court, nor ask for mercy. I am delighted to have killed Hridoy, an enemy of Islam. ...
"I appeal instead to Allah to judge those who are involved in giving me this verdict. Killing is permitted by Quran for those who convert Muslims to Christianity. Hridoy was killed upon Allah's orders," Salehim said after hearing his sentence.
Hridoy Roy served the Lord through Christian Life Bangladesh (CLB) as an evangelist. He earned the ire of Muslim fanatics in the neighbourhood when he showed the Jesus film despite threats.
Open Doors sent aid to Hridoy's family through CLB last year, in order to help rebuild the martyr's house.
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Hide this story.22/08/07 | EGYPT – Jail time extended for Christian rights workers
Muslim scholars demand convert's death. Full Story...
Adel Fawzy Faltas
Police detained Adel Fawzy Faltas and Peter Ezzat after their organisation was involved in several controversial human rights cases, including that of Mohammed Hegazy who made an unprecedented bid to have his conversion to Christianity legally recognised.
Top Egyptian religious scholars called for the convert's death on 21 August in London-based, Arabic-language daily Al-Quds al-Arabi.
Mr Faltas, aged 61, had conducted a high-profile Internet interview with Mohammed Hegazy only days before his arrest, sparking claims in Egyptian media that he had led the Muslim to Christianity.
On 21 August, a state prosecutor at New Cairo's State Security Investigation (SSI) renewed Mr Faltas' and Mr Ezzat's detentions.
Muhammad al-Faisal refused to give a reason for his decision to hold the two Christians until 4 September.
"It's not right for Peter to remain in custody," said Peter Ramses al-Nagar, solicitor for the two Middle East Christian Association (MECA) members.
He said Mr Ezzat, a volunteer with MECA, should be freed because police had already finished investigating him.
Police initially arrested the two men on suspicion of insulting Islam, 'degrading Egypt's reputation' and converting Muslims to Christianity, according to MECA president Nader Fawzy.
But during the investigation, state prosecutor Al-Faisal has also considered charging the Christians with causing public agitation and possessing a gun with an expired licence, according to the solicitors.
"He is under pressure from higher officials and the SSI to keep them," Al-Nagar commented.
Accused of converting
A Canadian non-governmental organisation that applied for legal recognition with the Egyptian government in June, MECA has been involved in several controversial human rights cases in recent months.
On 7 August, the day before the men's arrest, MECA members helped register a police complaint on behalf of a Muslim family whose father fell from his balcony and died during a police raid. The man's family accused the police of murdering him.
In July, a MECA lawyer brought a case demanding compensation for Christian families from the village of al-Kosheh who were attacked during a three-day rampage in January 2000. At least 21 Copts were killed, 18 injured and several hundred homes destroyed as police waited outside the town.
The North Cairo preliminary court has postponed ruling on the al-Kosheh case until 6 September.
But according to solicitor Al-Nagar, the main reason for Mr Faltas' and Mr Ezzat's detention is their work with Christian convert Mohammed Hegazy.
Mohammed Ahmed Hegazy
"The media have been saying they arrested Adel and Peter because they are the main reason Mr Hegazy became a Christian," Al-Nagar said.
During a telephone interview with an Egyptian talk show today, Mr Fawzy of MECA said that Islamic scholars had accused his organisation of converting Mohammed Hegazy to Christianity.
"The first question they asked was whether we converted Mr Hegazy," Mr Fawzy told reporters.
"I told them, 'We don't convert anyone; we are a human rights organisation. But even if we had, there is no law against that.'"
The interview on Dream satellite TV programne, Al-Haqiqah (The Truth), is scheduled to air at 5.00pm. on Saturday 25 August.
New solicitor
Mohammed Hegazy went into hiding earlier this month after his case sparked death threats and his solicitor withdrew. He told reporters last week that he had found a new solicitor but declined to reveal the name for security reasons.
Mr Al-Nagar said from Cairo om 22 August that his father, prominent Coptic lawyer Ramses Raouf al-Nagar, would not take Mohammed Hegazy's case as had been previously announced.
He said Mr Hegazy had not given them the necessary church documents that could be used in court as evidence of his conversion to Christianity.
It is rare for Muslims to openly convert to another religion in Egypt. Although leaving Islam is not illegal, doing so can prompt harassment and torture at the hands of family members and police.
Most converts lead double lives, unable to openly attend church, marry a Christian or withdraw their children from Islamic education classes.
"The Egyptian government should find Mohammed Hegazy and apply shari'a [Islamic law], giving him three days to reconvert and then killing him if he refuses," Sheikh Gad al-Ibrahim told Al-Quds al-Arabi yesterday.
Sheikh Youssef al-Badri and Souad Saleh, a professor at Egypt's al-Azhar university where Egypt's top Islamic scholars work, agreed with Al-Ibrahim, openly challenging statements by Egypt's second highest religious authority last month that 'apostasy' (leaving Islam) should not be punished in this world.
Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa later clarified his controversial statement by saying that only 'apostates' who "actively engaged in the subversion of society" should be punished, Agence France-Presse reported on 26 July.
But with shari'a enshrined as the basis of Egypt's legal code in Article 2 of the constitution, many Muslims see no distinction between 'apostasy' and subversion.
Though no conclusive figures are available, Egypt's indigenous Coptic Christians constitute between 8 and 15 per cent of the country's population.
The number of Muslim converts to Christianity in Egypt is unknown.
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Hide this story.22/08/07 | BANGLADESH – Converts forced back to Islam
Newly baptised MBBs taken to mosque and threatened. Full Story...
Muslims in Nilphamari district and Islamist missionaries from abroad are hauling recently converted Christians to mosques and forcing them to return to Islam, area sources said.
Evangelist and pastor Sanjoy Roy said local Muslims have forced 27 recently baptised Muslim-background believers (MBBs) to return to Islam.
Fourteen other recent converts are still facing intense pressure to return to Islam from villagers and from Muslim missionaries called Tabligh Jamat.
"The Muslims are still threatening us and saying they will change our faith," Rev Roy told reporters. "We wanted security and police protection, but the district commissioner did not accept our application."
Police provided eight officers to protect area Christians on 28 July but left on 5 August.
Muslims in Durbachari village then began capturing and hauling all male converts to a mosque, forcing them to sign or provide fingerprint signatures on written or blank papers, recapitulating to Islam.
As few of the MBBs can read, area sources said, most did not understand they were signing documents to return to Islam.
Earlier, on 26 July, a local source said, local Muslims and Tabligh Jamat missionaries gathered in a schoolyard near the homes of some of the Christians who had been baptised in a river on 12 June. Using a microphone, the Muslims threatened violence if the converts did not come out.
Fearing for their lives, the Christians emerged and gathered.
The source said the Muslims asked them why they had become Christians and, furious, told them that Bangladesh is a Muslim country "where you cannot change your faith by your own will".
"How dare you become Christians in a Muslim country?" they said.
"After that incident," the source reports, "some believers went to the local police station seeking protection, but police did not respond."
Most of the MBBs are labourers who rely on new opportunities each day to feed their families, and the Muslim villagers are withholding work from them, Christian sources said.
Local Muslims are also vandalising the homes of MBBs and taking their daily essentials.
"Some of them, in fear of death, left the village," said one Christian source.
"They cannot catch fish in the river or buy or sell anything in the markets, because of pressure from their neighbours."
Threats, relentless pressure
Abul Hossen, a fruiterer aged 38, told reporters that in the mosque Muslims threatened to hang him from a tree upside-down and lacerate his body with a blade.
"Then he will understand the consequences of becoming a Christian," the Muslims told him. Hossen added that they always use "filthy language whenever they see the Christians".
Hossen said the Muslims "do not allow us to net fish in the river" and offered him 5,000 taka (ca £35) and a mobile phone handset if he returned to Islam.
"But I did not give up my faith, because I found Christ in my heart," Hossen told reporters.
"They threatened me with severe consequences if I do not go back to Islam. But I said I am ready to offer up my life to Christ, and I won't renounce my faith in Him."
Hossen said that, at night, he and his wife each take it in turns to keep watch. "We are always worried that something dangerous may happen at any time," he said.
Day labourer and MBB Mohammad Ali, aged 55, told reporters that around 20 people came to his house and took him to the mosque.
"After [taking] me inside the mosque, they pressured me to recant my faith," Ali said. "But I did not give up my faith."
Ali said the local Muslims and Jamat missionaries continue to come to his house four or five times a day to pressure him to give up his faith.
"They always tell me to meet their emir [chief cleric] whenever they see me," he said.
Another day labourer identified only as 37-year old Sultan said that when local Muslims took him to the mosque a few days ago, he won approval to go outside to perform ablutions [ritual washing] before prayer.
After he washed his hands and legs, he said, he snuck away.
"Some 50 to 60 people surrounded my house, and some of them came to me with knives drawn," he said.
"When they dragged me to the mosque, they tore my shirt. They tried to change my faith, offering lots of financial incentives."
Sultan said the Muslims have refused to hire him for any work, taken his cooking utensils, vandalised his house and threatened to burn it down.
"How will I live?" he asked plaintively. "I am out of my mind with worry.
Leaders in our locality threatened to cut my tendon.
They say, 'This is an Islamic country, why have you become Christian?'"
A labourer identified only as Motaleb, 38, said village Muslims came to his house with cooked rice and meat.
"They gave me sweetmeat," he said.
"They said, 'What has Christ given you? We will give you many things, if you come back to Islam.'"
Motaleb said the Muslims pressured him into returning to Islam after they forcibly took him to the mosque.
"They do not allow me to go to the local market to buy or sell anything," he added.
"I cannot get any work. Whenever our children go to other peoples' houses, neighbours beat them."
On 26 June, two weeks after the converts in Durbachari village were baptised, Muslim villagers attacked and severely beat them.
On 27 June, they gave the MBBs a 24-hour deadline to leave the village or face further beatings and the destruction of their homes.
Last-minute intervention by local officials provided temporary relief; officials also agreed to station a special police force inside the village for three months, but the officers left after only a week.
Offering money
Bangladeshi Christian leader Edward Ayub said he was gravely concerned about the tactics of the village Muslims and Tabligh Jamat missionaries, terming the actions "social and religious tyranny".
"Some MBBs changed their faith under social pressure, not from the bottom of their heart," he told reporters.
"Changing faith forcefully is not the way of preaching any religion. It is a flagrant abuse of religious rights and violation of the Bangladeshi constitution, where it is written that every citizen has the freedom to practise or change his or her religion."
Another local Christian leader, Albert Adhikari Hirak, said a Muslim cleric has repeatedly questioned and threatened 35-year old MBB Barek Ali, a rickshaw driver, "asking how much money he received for his conversion and demanding that he abandon his Christian faith.
"Mr Ali denied receiving monetary incentives."
Barek said he still has faith in Christ: "Local people are putting lots of pressure on me and threatening me to become a Muslim [again]," he said.
"Secretly I try to meet with the believers, but local Muslims are watching my every move. I am leading the life of a fugitive in faith."
Hatem Ali, a 23-year old itinerant fruit-seller, said he was forcibly taken to the mosque on 8 August as he returned home from his small business and was only released on 13 August.
The imam of the mosque and the Tabligh Jamat fed him something that made him senseless, he said, and they prohibited him from coming home.
His uncle, Motaleb Hossen, went to the mosque but was not allowed to see him.
Peeping through the window on the night of 8 August, however, Motaleb Hossen saw that Ali was sleeping on the floor surrounded by Jamat missionaries.
Mosque keepers also prohibited his mother from seeing him that night and the next day, Pastor Adhikari said.
"Jamat people used abusive language against her and threatened to attack her if she goes again," Adhikari said.
"They forced Hatem to return to Islam and he 'became Muslim' [again]."
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Hide this story.21/08/07 | INDIA – Recent incidents of persecution
Compass Direct files another brief. Full Story...
Karnataka – On India's Independence Day, 15 August, Hindu ultranationalists allegedly belonging to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Council) barged into a church in Karnataka, disrupting worship and forcibly taking believers to police.
Dr Sajan K George of the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC) said about 20 nationalists shouted insults and accusations at the 70 congregants of the Full Gospel Church, Taluka Mysore district, before marching four of them to the Nanjengode police station.
Calling Christianity a foreign faith as they entered the church, the Hindu nationalists walked up to the front platform and slapped pastor Vinod Chacko, aged 32, and then punched him in the head and back, Dr George reports.
They then dragged Pastor Chacko and an assistant pastor, C T Joseph, along with two other church members, to the local police station and made a verbal complaint against them.
Police Inspector Lakshimkant Talwar said, "We held a brief enquiry about the details of the complaint and called Pastor Chacko to the police station on Saturday 18 August in order to ascertain whether the charges made against the pastor are true or false."
Karnataka – Hindu nationalists allegedly belonging to the Ram Sena (Army of Lord Ram) beat independent pastor Victor Paul on August 9 and filed a complaint of forced conversion against him in Bijapur district, Karnataka.
Dr Sajan George of the Global Council of Indian Christians said Pastor Paul, aged 46, of Rehoboth House of Worship, and his wife Glory Shanti were distributing gospel tracts at houses in the Jala Nagar area of Bijapur district.
Ashok Halleppagol, owner of a grocery store, invited the couple inside his home, he said.
Pastor Paul told reporters, "As we were speaking about the tracts, a group of Ram Sena activists entered Mr Halleppagol's house and angrily questioned our presence there.
"The nationalists snatched the tracts from my hand, abused me and began punching and slapping my face and head."
They then dragged the pastor and his wife out of Mr Halleppagol's house and shoved them into a motorised rickshaw, took them to the local police station, and filed false charges of forcible conversion against the pastor and his wife, he said.
Sub-inspector of Police Deve Singh told that Pastor Paul and Shanti have been arrested and charged with 'hurting religious sentiments' under the Indian Penal Code.
The couple were released on bail on 10 August.
Chhattisgarh – About 50 Hindu ultranationalists disrupted the Sunday worship service of a church and attacked the pastor and an elder on 5 August in Chhattisgarh state.
The Christian Legal Association (CLA) reported that in Baba Deep Singh Nagar in Bhilai city, Durg district, a mob led by Rajesh Thabre and Sudeep Banerjee, allegedly from the Bajrang Dal, youth wing of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, beat with sticks pastor Babula Chandra Paik and church elder Adi Narayan of the Mid-India Christian Services ministry.
The crowd also shouted slogans against Christianity, accusing the pastor of forcible conversions, tore up Bibles and vandalised the house where the church meets.
The Supela police station registered a complaint against Mr Thabre, Mr Banerjee and others, but no one was arrested.
CLA lawyers W P Massey and Kanti Kumar are helping the victims.
Rajasthan – On 4 August, about 200 masked men demolished a parish house under construction at Chavand, 30 miles from Udaipur in Sarada town, Rajasthan, according to the daily newspaper The Hindu.
At around 2:00am Hindu nationalists entered the mission compound and bashed down the priest's residence, which was nearing completion with only the roof yet to be built.
Joseph Pathalil, bishop of Udaipur, told reporters he suspected the attackers belonged to the Hindu nationalist Vishwa Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Council or VHP).
Father Paul Ninama was away and was unharmed, but the nationalists hit and injured the two watchmen on duty, Pathalil said.
"The VHP had earlier attacked Fr Ninama and threatened him against going ahead with the construction of the building," Pathalil said.
"I suspect this to be the handiwork of the same Hindu nationalist group. The nationalists in this area have been opposing our social welfare work amongst the tribal people and also make false allegations of forced conversion."
Church authorities have filed a complaint, but at press time no arrests had been made.
Rajasthan – On 25 July, five armed people beat up a worker of Emmanuel Mission International (EMI) and threatened to kill EMI founder Archbishop M A Thomas and his son, the Rev Dr Samuel Thomas, EMI president, in Deen Ganj Mandi area in Rajasthan state's Kota district.
The attackers, two of whom were identified as Nafees and Kalu, entered the EMI head office and beat an EMI assistant identified as Jetha when he tried to stop them, EMI lawyer Mohammad Akram told reporters.
Before fleeing, the five, who were carrying pistols and swords, threatened to kill Archbishop Thomas and his son.
Kalu is allegedly associated with the nearby Rajendra Hotel, and Mr Akram said the owner apparently holds a grudge against the archbishop and his son.
"The attack was launched to take advantage of the ongoing opposition to the EMI by Hindu nationalists, but I don't think it was arranged by nationalist forces," Akram said.
Police allegedly refused to register a complaint against the attackers.
In early 2006, police arrested the younger Thomas and other EMI workers for allegedly distributing the book Haqeekat (The Truth), which supposedly denigrates the Hindu faith.
This was followed by cancellation of registration of all EMI institutions and several attacks by nationalists.
The courts however temporarily restored the registration of the institutions and granted bail to the EMI leaders.
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Hide this story.16/08/07 | PAKISTAN – Non-Muslims told to convert or die
Christians remain fearful after deadline passes. Full Story...
Many Pakistani Christians have been wounded in attacks by Muslim fanatics
Police continued to provide security around churches and temples this week, even as Christians received new deadlines for converting to Islam.
Though the original 10 August deadline for converting has passed, Peshawar's minorities continue to live in fear, cancelling church activities and skipping services.
"Embrace Islam and become Muslims ... otherwise, after next Friday 10 August your colony will be ruined," read more than a dozen identical letters collected by the Church of Pakistan (COP) in Peshawar, 93 miles west of Islamabad.
A spokesman for COP, Pakistan's largest Protestant body, said that on 7 August some of the threatening letters had been thrown into the courtyards of Christian and Hindu homes in Peshawar's Kohati, Interior City and Cantonment districts.
Different letters were mailed to Peshawar's Catholic and Protestant churches.
"All in all, we were able to collect only 15 of the letters from the community," said Ashar Dean, assistant director of communications for COP's Peshawar diocese.
Explaining that they were delivered to neighbourhoods heavily populated by minority families living in small houses around a common courtyard, Mr Dean said the letters probably reached more than 100 Christians and Hindus.
A separate letter mailed to COP diocesan priest Joseph John threatened suicide attacks against churches.
"Our mosques and children are being martyred at American orders," read the letter. "Therefore the churches will also be wiped off the face of the earth."
Christian leaders immediately informed local police about the threats, prompting a meeting on 10 August with City Police Chief Abdul Majeed Marwat.
"The security in their areas has been beefed up around churches and other places of worship," Police Chief Marwat told reporters on 15 August, reiterating promises made to minority leaders last week.
A Christian politician also brought the letter to the national government's attention on 10 August, English-language daily Dawn reported.
Pervaiz Masih, a member of the National Assembly of Pakistan, read a copy of the threatening letter to the assembly and called on the government to take note of insecurity the letters had created amongst Peshawar's Christians.
But Christians remain uncertain as to how seriously authorities have taken the threat.
"The speaker [of the house] took the matter very lightly and asked [Pervaiz Masih] to remind him about it in the presence of the interior minister," Dawn reported on 11 August.
Whilst some Christian sources told reporters Peshawar police had done a good job providing security, others were hesitant to speak openly on the phone fearing their criticism might draw police anger.
"It's just a hoax, I presume," said Police Chief Marwat, explaining that a similar incident in May had turned out to be a prank pulled by teenagers.
More than 50 Christians fled the village of Charsadda this spring when a local Christian politician received a letter threatening death if the community did not embrace Islam.
A Pakistani Christian lad surveys the remains of his home, burned down by Islamists when they attacked his village
At least five families who fled Charsadda after the original threat have not yet returned however.
When asked why Christians did not pursue a court case against the Muslim youths, Mr Dean said their faith places emphasis on reconciliation and that a court case could have backfired.
"If we had been harsh, things would have escalated and gone against our interests," said Mr Dean.
The cryptic comment reflects years of violent incidents against Christians in Pakistan. In November 2005, a mob of several thousand Muslims destroyed four churches, a convent and Christian schools in the Punjabi town of Sangla Hill after a Muslim accused a Christian of committing blasphemy.
No one was held responsible for the attacks.
"We have experience of our [Christian] neighbourhoods being attacked by Islamists, so we took this very seriously," Mr Dean commented.
Peshawar minister Yousaf Amanat speculated that references to the United States in the letters could reflect anger over recent anti-Islamic comments by USRepresentative Tom Tancredo (Republican from Colorado).
The Republican presidential hopeful said on 31 July that the best way to deter a nuclear attack on the United States by Islamic terrorists would be to threaten to bomb Mecca and Medina in retaliation.
"The letters said we are friends of the American people," said Amanat, explaining that many Pakistani Muslims automatically link Pakistani Christians to the West because of their religion.
New threat
Rev Amanat said he received a letter by post telling him to convert to Islam by 14 August.
"I was away from the parish, and when I came on Monday evening the letter was on my desk," he said. "It said if we don't become Muslims we will be killed."
Ongoing threats have caused many Peshawar Christians to avoid church and other public gatherings. Rev Amanat says he was forced to cancel several church activities planned for the week.
"With this type of threat, there is no kind of security that can stop the suicide attacks," said Mr Dean.
According to the American State Department's latest report on religious freedom, Hindus constitute 2 per cent and Christians 1.5 per cent of Pakistan's population.
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Hide this story.13/08/07 | VIETNAM – School denies entry to Christian boy
New district rule barrs "students who follow a religion". Full Story...
A school in central Vietnam has denied entry to a year-six boy because he is a Christian, according to a letter from a primary school headteacher to the ethnic-minority child's parents.
Tran Van Ha, headteacher of Ka Dang Public Primary School in Quang Nam province, wrote to Phong Hong Phong's parents on 2 July saying the Degar (Montagnard) child could not take an entrance exam because the school district had announced a new rule barring "students who follow a religion".
"Student Phong Hong Phong meets all the requirements to take the entrance examination for the Residential High School for Ethnic Minorities of Dong Giang District," Mr Tran wrote to the child's father, also named called Phong Hong Phong.
"However, after this [the previously announced requirements], the Residential High School for Ethnic Minorities of Dong Giang District announced in addition that students who follow a religion will not be allowed to take the examination.
"And thus student Phong Hong Phong does not meet the requirements to take the examination."
A source in Vietnam provided the letter and others to Compass Direct and reported that other parents received similar correspondence.
He added that, although Vietnam has shown some progress in religious freedom, "Ethic-minority Christian students still meet with considerable official discrimination."
The letter was clearly directed at Christians, he said.
Protestants make up an estimated one half of the 1 million Degar people of Vietnam's Central Highlands, and another 200,000 are estimated to be Catholic.
The Katu tribe in this region of Quang Nam province reportedly practised human sacrifice until the 1950s, and several thousand Katu are now Christians.
While 80 per cent of Vietnam's population adhere to no religion, about 9.3 per cent are Buddhist, according to the CIA World Factbook, with only 6.7 per cent Catholic and .5 per cent Protestant.
Potential embarrassment
According to the headteacher's letter, a copy of which was obtained by Compass Direct, the apparently embarrassed headteacher asks the parents for their "understanding and sympathy" saying the decision was outside his control.
"It is not the Ka Dang Public Primary School that is discriminating against students who follow a religion; this is the policy of the Residential High School for Ethnic Minorities of Dong Giang District," he writes.
Vietnam has been under pressure to improve the lot of its often poor ethnic minorities in the western and northern mountainous regions, and with the generous foreign aid it receives, Vietnam has established a number of residential high schools for ethnic minority students in the Western Highlands.
Degar Christian leaders have long complained that children of Christians are discriminated against and not allowed entrance into the residential schools.
Considered highly desirable, the schools offer the only opportunity for secondary education for many students, as they provide funding for tuition and room and board for poor students.
The school year was about to start, said the Christian source, and many Christian students did not know how they would further their education.
"Does being a Christian require our children to remain ignorant?" he asked.
'Actual policies'
Discrimination based on religion is supposedly strictly forbidden in Vietnam's constitution and religious regulations. Christian leaders in Vietnam however point to the letter as evidence that Vietnam still operates by 'actual polices' that contradict those promulgated for public and foreign consumption.
Whilst it is rare for clear documentation illustrating the contradiction between positive public pronouncements and actual discrimination to become public, there are still frequent reports of systematic discrimination against ethnic minority Christians.
Ironically, some Christian leaders in Vietnam expressed sympathy for Mr Tran. One said, "Whether Mr Tran's written explanation of discrimination was done out of ignorance about how this news could travel or was calculated, he will surely be in big trouble."
On 13 June, Mr Tran had published a bulletin for his year-six students spelling out stringent requirements for taking the entrance exam. The students had one week, until 21 June, to complete the requirements.
Phong had fulfilled all written requirements but was denied permission to take the exam. When his father complained, he received the letter of explanation from Mr Tran.
"I hope you parents will encourage your child to complete his studies even though he is not allowed to study in the residential school," Mr Tran writes.
"Our Ka Dang Public Primary School promises to create every favourable condition so your child will progress in his education and training."
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Hide this story.10/08/07 | MALAYSIA – Uproar over 'Islamic state' claim silenced
Gov't gags media discussion of minister's assertion. Full Story...
A government halt to media discussion as to whether or not Malaysia is an Islamic state last month was one indicator of how close to the surface strong religious feelings are raging.
Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak drew such protest and counter-protest from religious groups for claiming that Malaysia is an Islamic state that the Internal Security Ministry felt compelled to issue a gag order on media coverage of the issue.
At the International Conference on the Role of Islamic States in a Globalised World, organised by the Institute of Islamic Understanding Malaysia, Najib said on 17 July that Malaysia was an Islamic state and had never been a secular nation according to Western definition, since governance has "always been driven by our adherence to the fundamentals of Islam".
He qualified his remarks however by saying that the Federal Constitution guarantees religious freedom to non-Muslim minorities, who make up about 40 per cent of the population.
The deputy prime minister's claim drew immediate protests from religious, political and civil-liberty groups who fear restrictions on religious freedom, especially in the wake of a recent Federal Court decision unfavourable to Lina Joy, a Christian convert who tried unsuccessfully to remove "Islam" from her identification card.
Bishop Dr Paul Tan, chairman of the Christian Federation of Malaysia, responded to the comments by issuing a press statement voicing his concerns and appealing to the deputy prime minister to retract his remarks.
He claimed that use of the term 'Islamic state' is unacceptable to Malaysians of other faiths on three grounds: the term is not used in the Federal Constitution; the founding fathers of the country's independence never intended for Malaysia to be an Islamic state; and non-Muslim coalition parties that make up the ruling government never consented to, nor officially endorsed, the term 'Islamic state' to describe the country.
Ong Ka Chuan, general secretary of the Malaysian Chinese Association, a political party that is part of the ruling coalition government, noted documents prepared by British authorities before granting independence to Malaysia in 1957 clearly stating that "members of the Alliance delegation ... had no intention of creating a Muslim theocracy" and affirming that Malaysia "would be a secular state".
Fearing that continued discussion on the matter would cause tensions between different religious communities in the country, three days after Najib's remarks the Internal Security Ministry issued a gag order to all mainstream media prohibiting them from publishing on the matter.
Interestingly, the gag order did not apply to statements coming from Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi or Najib himself.
On 24 July, Dr Mahathir Mohamad, a former prime minister, expressed support for Najib's declaration via a web-based news agency Malaysiakini,.
In September 2001, Mahathir had made a similar declaration that was hotly debated, though discussion on it fizzled out over the years.
In an attempt to quell non-Muslim concerns over religious freedom in the country, Prime Minister Abdullah said on 5 August that Malaysia is neither a secular state nor a theocratic state.
He said Malaysia practises parliamentary democracy and that the government gives due attention to all races who enjoy religious freedom as provided for in the constitution.
Religious freedom concerns
The prime minister's statement is insufficient to address mounting concerns many have about religious freedom in the country.
In May, the highest court in the land delivered its judgment against Lina Joy, the Muslim convert to Christianity who sought to have the word 'Islam' deleted from the 'Religion' field on her identity card.
In a 2–1 majority decision, the court ruled that the National Registration Department was right in requiring her to obtain an exit certificate from the shari'a court before it could do so.
Lina did not regard turning to the shari'a court as an option as she is no longer a Muslim and the shari'a court has no jurisdiction over non-Muslims.
Earlier in January, Revathi Masoosai – an ethnic Indian born to Muslim-convert parents but raised by her Hindu grandmother – was sent to an Islamic rehabilitation camp for six months when she applied to change her name and religion at the shari'a court.
Revathi had married a Hindu, Suresh Veerapan, according to Hindu rites in 2004, and they now have an 18-month old daughter.
Whilst she was in detention, Islamic authorities seized her daughter and handed the child to her mother to be raised as a Muslim.
Released from detention, Revathi maintains she is a Hindu.
She is not allowed to live with her husband as she is legally still a Muslim while he is not. In Malaysia, Muslims can marry only Muslims.
Over the last two years, some grieving families have had to fight legal battles with Islamic authorities over burial rites for their loved ones following claims that the deceased family members had converted to Islam.
Also, some women have had to turn to the courts for custody of their children when their husbands converted to Islam. In at least one case, a non-Muslim wife was told she had to seek redress from the shari'a court.
Jurisdictional conflict
Jurisdictional conflicts have arisen due to Malaysia's dual legal system whereby civil courts apply to all, whilst shari'a courts are binding on Muslims in certain family and personal matters.
These conflicts are complicated further by the constitution's Article 121(1A), which states that "the [civil] courts ... shall have no jurisdiction over any matter within the jurisdiction of the shari'a courts."
In a 25 July Federal Court judgment involving a dispute over monies between the deceased's third wife, Latifah Mat Zin, and the daughters of his second wife, Rosmawati and Roslinawati Sharibun, Justice Abdul Hamid Mohamed said that issues of jurisdictional conflict must be resolved by Parliamentary amendments to existing laws or the making of new laws.
The justice thus affirmed that the role of the courts is only to apply the law.
He clarified that if one of the parties is a non-Muslim, the shari'a court has no jurisdiction over a case even if the subject matter falls within its jurisdiction.
Likewise, he said just because one of the parties is a non-Muslim does not mean the civil court will have jurisdiction over the case if the subject matter does not fall within its jurisdiction.
To determine jurisdiction, he said, both courts must look to the statutes.
Ambiga Sreenevasan, chairperson of the Bar Council, commended the high court for clarifying issues that have long plagued Muslims and non-Muslims and for emphasising the importance of conforming to the constitution.
She noted however that the judgment highlighted that there could be situations where there is no remedy in either court – something that must be "comprehensively addressed."
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Hide this story.10/08/07 | EGYPT – Christian rights advocates detained
Rights group's leader helped MBB. Full Story...
Egyptian police detained the head of a Christian rights group yesterday after he held a high-publicity, online chat session with a controversial Muslim convert to Christianity, the group's international leader said.
The convert, Mohammed Ahmed Hegazy, has filed suit to legally change his identification card from Muslim to Christian.
Mr Hegazy's solicitor withdrew from the case this week amid death threats and public outrage in Egypt, but a new solicitor has stepped in to represent him.
The Egyptian head of the Christian rights group who chatted online with the convert, Dr Adel Fawzy Faltas, aged 61, was arrested at his Cairo home on 8 August at 2.40pm, said Nader Fawzy, head of the Canada-based Middle East Christian Association (MECA).
Mr Fawzy said he began receiving phone calls from various leaders of MECA's Egyptian branch on 7 August reporting that police were following
them.
Officials stormed Dr Faltas' home in Cairo's Zamalek neighbourhood the following day, confiscating two laptops and a desktop computer.
Mr Fawzy said little was known about the separate arrest of another group member, Peter Ezzat.
"They cut up the mattresses, tore everything up and took all the books as well," Mr Fawzy reports, referring to Dr Faltas' home.
He said the doctor had been blindfolded with his hands tied behind his back.
Police called in a priest involved with the organisation to answer questions at 9.00pm on 8 August, but released him soon afterwards, according to Mr Fawzy.
He said the rest of the group's leaders were still in hiding.
State Security Investigation (SSI) officials, Egypt's security police, initially held Dr Faltas and Mr Ezzat in New Cairo's fifth district, but transferred them to SSI headquarters in Lazoghly on 8 August. They will be held there over the Muslim weekend until the investigation can continue on Saturday.
"I am now the advocate for these men," solicitor Ramses Raouf el-Nagar told reporters from New Cairo on 9 August.
The solicitor was waiting to see clients at the public prosecutor's office.
After speaking withMr El-Nagar, Mr Fawzy said that the prosecutor was considering five charges against Dr Faltas, including converting Muslims to Christianity, "destroying the reputation of Egypt" and "insulting Islam".
Dr Faltas could also be accused of "having contact with a foreign organisation", Mr Fawzy said.
No charges will be made until the prosecutor's office completes its investigation.
Although leaving Islam is not specifically outlawed in Egypt, it goes against Islamic principles, which are enshrined as the basis of Egyptian law in Article 2 of the constitution.
Egyptian converts usually hide their identities in order to avoid harassment from police and family members.
"The charge that he converted Muslims is a complete lie," Mr Fawzey said.
Mr El-Nagar confirmed he has also decided to represent Mohammed, the convert from Islam to Christianity who hopes to have the change officially recognised.
Mohammed's first solicitor, Mamdouh Nakhla, quit the case on 7 August after being threatened by Egypt's security police. At a press conference Mr Nakhla told reporters he was backing out in order to avoid offending Muslims and to protect Egypt's "national unity".
The case has drawn intense criticism in Egyptian media, with many papers giving it front-page coverage.
Dr Faltas, president of MECA in Egypt, had hosted Mohammed in his home this past weekend, Mr Fawzy said.
El-Kosheh revived
On 4–5 August, the two held online question-and-answer sessions in MECA's chat room, publicising the details of Mohammed's case.
But Mr Fawzy said it was not only MECA's work with Mohammed that had angered police.
Last month MECA solicitors filed suit against the government on behalf of Christians whose village was destroyed in a three-day rampage in January 2000.
At least 21 Copts were killed, 18 were injured and several hundred homes were destroyed when Muslims attacked Christians in the upper-Egypt town of el-Kosheh.
On 26 July, MECA demanded the government compensate el-Kosheh villagers for the losses. The North Cairo preliminary court postponed ruling on the case until 6 September.
MECA members were also involved in helping the Muslim family of a man who fell from his balcony during a police raid on 7 August. The man's family has accused police of murdering him.
'They just happened to be neighbours to one of our members, so we helped them go to the police and file a case,' Mr Fawzy said.
MECA is still waiting to receive recognition as a registered non-governmental organisation after submitting its application in June.
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Hide this story.09/08/07 | LAOS – Hmong Christians killed, imprisoned
Forces search rice paddies, mountains, shoot on sight. Full Story...
Children were among those arrested
In the sweep, encouraged by communist village leaders and others who have falsely accused the Christians of being separatist rebels, authorities have arrested and imprisoned about 200 members of a 1,900-strong Laos Evangelical Church in Ban Sai Jarern village, Bokeo province in the north-west of Laos.
The hunted Christians are largely Hmong refugees who had fled persecution in Vietnam.
Those killed include Hmong who went into hiding when joint forces of Vietnamese and Lao police began rounding up Christians falsely accused of supporting Gen Vang Pao in August 2006.
Among those killed last month was Neng Mua, a Christian who slipped back to his native Fay village after hiding in the mountains from the police round-up.
On 7 July he went to a local villager's house to beg for food, but his one-time friend shot him dead as a suspected member of the "liberation army", a Christian source said.
Police have searched intensively for Christians in rice fields and mountains and are shooting them on sight, according to a source who requested anonymity.
"Many Christians were killed and badly injured," he said. "Women and children were arrested and taken to prison."
On 8 July, police shot Seng Wue to death by a roadside after he and other Christians suffering fatigue and hunger had come out of hiding and surrendered, according to Christian sources.
The sources heard reports of soldiers shooting two other Christians dead at a checkpoint on the road to Don Sawan village, but their names were still unconfirmed.
On 13 July, soldiers reportedly shot to death a person resembling Jong Wue Lao, a committee member of the Ban Sai Jarern church. He had escaped authorities on 3 July, although his whereabouts were unknown.
Soldiers reportedly killed eight to 10 Christians in the incident, but sources said it was unclear whether those deaths included Lao and his companions.
On 12 July, police arrested Jue Por Wang, head of the Ban Fay church, and Wang Lee Wang, head of the Ban Sawan church.
A Christian source said police forced members of their churches to declare that the leaders and others on police target lists were funded by Vang Pao to train Christians to fight the government.
In May and June, about 100 soldiers from Vietnam, along with authorities from Laos and Vietnam, arrived in Ban Sai Jarern to look for Hmong Vietnamese. There were 600 to 800 Lao soldiers and 200 Vietnam soldiers deployed in Bokeo province as of July, Christian sources said.
Soldiers have secured Ban Sai Jarern and nearby communities and prohibit people from entering or leaving, sources said.
As a result of the restrictions, they said, the Ban Sai Jarern church has not been able to meet for worship.
With the area swarming with soldiers and police, many area men fled on 4 July out of fear of further reprisals or imprisonment, sources said.
Those who escaped to the mountains have sent word that there is no food; they have resorted to eating banana leaves to survive.
Lao and Vietnamese officials have imprisoned an estimated 52 families from five villages: Ban Sai Jarern, Huay Klay, Fay, Numsamork and Chai Pathana.
That is nearly all of the known Hmong families from Vietnam in the greater area, including 30 Hmong families in Ban Sai Jarern.
Hostile to Christians
Members of the Ban Sai Jarern church, which also serves worshippers from Fay and five other villages, said the congregation has never in anyway cooperated with Vang Pao or anyone seeking a separate state.
"We are law-abiding citizens," one church member said, "and we want to present our case through legal means, not through armed struggle."
Vietnamese and Lao communist authorities have long been hostile to the Hmong since previous generations aided American forces during the Vietnam War.
Associating Christianity with the United States, authorities assume all Hmong Christians support Vang Pao, who fought alongside American soldiers.
"Christianity is not an American religion, it is a universal religion," said one source.
"We are not a political group seeking independence from the present Lao government: on the contrary, we are actively engaged in building a better nation by faithfully adhering to the teachings of the Bible."
In June, American authorities arrested Vang Pao and nine associates in California over an alleged plot to topple the communist regime in Laos.
Fast-growing churches in Bokeo province, Christian sources said, have drawn the ire of both Lao and Vietnamese governments for providing aid to Christian Hmong refugees from Vietnam and others fleeing persecution in other parts of Laos.
Until this past year, they said, the 4,000 Hmong Christians in Bokeo had not faced persecution. The crackdown in Ban Sai Jarern stems from an August 2006 capture in Vietnam of two Hmong women who had returned from the village to visit parents-in-law and other relatives, sources said.
Vietnamese officials sent them to prison but were unable to force them to divulge the locations of other Vietnamese who had fled to Ban Sai Jarern and other villages in Laos.
On 5 October, Lao and Vietnamese officers went into Sai Jarern village, seized five leaders of churches in Vietnam who had fled to Laos and sent them back to Vietnam.
One of the church leaders, Saoma Lao, is reportedly dead, but area Christians have not confirmed that information. He was chairman of the Christian Church in Geahkoh village in Vietnam before fleeing to Laos.
Christians sources have confirmed that another one of the five Hmong Christian leaders, Jongneng Yang, is alive. But his condition and whereabouts, like that of the other leaders, are unknown.
The others missing are Jue Lao, Thayeng Lei and Lei Yang, a church youth leader.
Chaicheng Lee, a teacher and treasurer of the Ban Sai Jarern church, is also missing. Christian sources said police arrested the 38-year-old church leader on 4 July after raiding his home and taking documents containing names of church leaders, members and activities.
Area Christians said police were forcing detained believers to declare that Pastor Lee was training Christians funded by Vang Pao to overthrow the government.
Police took Pastor Lee out of prison on 16 July, Christian sources said, adding that no one knows where they took him.
Enemies of the faith
Accusing the Christians of armed rebellion and disclosing their whereabouts are local village heads, communist committee members and others hostile to Christians.
Sources said these local opponents urged police to send the Christians to prison.
For every 10 to 15 Christian families in a given village, they said, a local leader monitors their whereabouts and activities, especially when they leave the area.
Besides accusing the Christians of joining forces with Vang Pao and being part of an "American religion", local villagers have charged them with dealing drugs and breaking religion laws.
"We were never engaged in the use or selling of illegal drugs," said one area Christian.
"And even people who want to become Christians after receiving healing, we advise them to first inform the government about their intention to become a Christian, and after they receive their permit that's the only time we accept them."
Furthermore, he added, the churches secure permits for all large gatherings, and they even invite officials to join in their celebrations.
"We appeal to the Lao government to release our imprisoned brothers and sisters as they are innocent of the charges against them," he said.
"We appeal to the Lao government to grant Christians the freedom to worship God and give them the rights due to them."
Local Christians, closely monitored by the government, are not allowed to use mobile phones, obtain food or leave the village without permission, a Christian source said.
"All these restrictions are imposed for suspicion that they will contact Gen Vang Pao and the other Christian escapees," he said.
Christians are prohibited from worshipping together and fear that police will besiege the church. Area villages are under tight police control.
Authorities are still pursuing Christian leaders who escaped and are following closely Christians who go to other villages, sources said.
The Christians said there are about 50 refugees living near the border with Thailand who need food and water; they are "broken because their wives and children are in prison".
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Hide this story.07/08/07 | EGYPT – MBB sues for the right to convert
Solicitor receives death threats, withdraws from case. Full Story...
Mohammed Ahmed Hegazy
Mohammed Ahmed Hegazy, aged 24, brought a case against Egypt's interior ministry on 2 August for rejecting his application to replace Islam with Christianity on his personal identification papers.
"I think it is my natural right, to embrace the religion I believe and not to have to have a double personality for me as well as for my wife and my expected baby," said Mohammed, who converted to Christianity when he was 16 years old.
Though Egyptian law does not forbid conversion from Islam to Christianity, it provides no legal means to make the change. Converts from Islam usually hide their identity to avoid torture and forced recantation at the hands of family members and security police.
Mohammed, whose wife Zeinab is four months pregnant, said he wants his child to be born with Christian papers.
The couple, who were forced to hold an Islamic wedding ceremony because of their legal status as Muslims, know that a Christian ID card will allow their child to take Christian religion classes in school, marry in a church and even openly attend services without fear of harassment.
Mamdouh Nakhla of the Kalema Centre for Human Rights has taken Mohammed's case, telling reporters the lawsuit has caused him "big problems". Several Muslim clerics and solicitors headed up by Sheikh Youssef el-Badry have opened a case against Mr Nikhla on charges of causing sectarian strife and baptising Muslims.
A source close to Mr Nakhla told reporters Egypt's security police, the State Security Investigation (SSI), called him to tell him to withdraw the case or he may be killed.
"This is the first such case in the history of Egyptian justice," Mr Nakhla told Agence France-Presse (AFP) on 12 August.
Legal conversion from Christianity to Islam occurs regularly in Egypt – 7,000 Christians joined Islam between 2000 and 2006, according to a statement last year by Egypt's top Muslim cleric, the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Sheikh Muhammad Sayed Tantawi. But conversion from Islam to another religion is impossible under Egyptian law.
"As long as Article 2 of the constitution remains unchanged, Christians, Jews and Bahais, anyone who is not Muslim, will be at a disadvantage," Helmy Guirguis of the UK Copts Association told reporters.
Article 2 of the Egyptian constitution designates shari'a, or Islamic law, as the basis for Egyptian law. Under most mainstream interpretations of shari'a in Egypt, 'apostasy' – leaving Islam – is a punishable offence.
Last month Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa, a leading Egyptian cleric, backed down from earlier statements he made that Muslims should be free to choose a religion other than Islam.
Gomaa had written in a Washington Post– Newsweek online forum that leaving Islam was a sin punishable by God, but that the act warranted no worldly punishment, AFP reported. The news agency later published a clarification from Mr Gomaa's office stating that apostasy was subversion and therefore merited punishment.
In recent years, however, dozens of Copts who converted to Islam and later wished to return to their original faith have filed successful cases to have their legal status changed.
Mr Nakhla is one of several solicitors currently defending a group of Copts whose case is to be heard by Egypt's Supreme Administrative Court on 1 September.
Unprecedented challenge
Mohammed Hegazy, a native of Port Said, is the first Muslim-by-birth to openly challenge the government's restriction of conversion away from Islam.
"I believe there are thousands of converts," Mohammed said, indicating he had attended large meetings and conferences of converts from Islam to Christianity.
Addressing this group, he said, "Get out of your ghetto and establish organisations to speak for yourselves and defend your rights.
"The answer is not to escape or to leave the country, but to fight and struggle for our rights here in our own country."
In an interview, Mohammed called on the government to recognise the existence of converts and completely cancel the religion clause from national identification cards.
Jailed and tortured in 2002 when police discovered his conversion, Mohammed said he was not optimistic about winning the case.
"Martyrdom would be much better than being jailed under such a radical and fundamentalist authority," he said.
The convert has published a small book of 31 poems called Sherine's Laugh. In one poem, he recalled mistreatment at the hands of Ahsraf Ma'alouf, an SSI officer who reportedly tortured him for his conversion to Christianity.
Last month, Egyptian police in Alexandria brutally tortured Shaymaa Muhammad al-Sayed, a Muslim woman who had converted to Christianity.
They then handed her over to her Islamist family, who beat her behind the police station and are now keeping her in their home.
In April, security officials released another convert to Christianity, Bahaa el-Akkad, who had been jailed without charges for two years.
UPDATE 09/08/07 – On 7 August Mohammed's solicitor announced he would withdraw from the case. Although he has received death threats from Egypt's security police, Mamdouh Nakhla claimed he made his decision in the interest of "national unity".
Mr Nakhla said he would no longer represent Mohammed as he does not want to offend Muslims or "provoke public opinion".
At a press conference at his downtown office, Mr Nakhla placed some of the responsibility for his decision with his client. He said Mohammed had failed to provide important documents showing that authorities had refused to issue him an identification card.
As Mr Nakhla was giving his statement however a member of his organisation shouted, "He is being threatened, he is doing this under pressure."
Ongoing threats and attacks in the national media have forced Mohammed underground whilst he continues the search for a new solicitor.
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Hide this story.07/08/07 | INDIA – Governor won't sign 'Anti-conversion' Bill
Gujarat government to implement older version. Full Story...
The state government of Gujarat has decided to implement the dormant 'anti-conversion' law, passed by the state assembly in 2003, after the governor's refusal to approve the anti-conversion amendment bill of 2006.
On 1 August, the state government, ruled by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), officially declared it would reactivate the 2003 anti-conversion law that could not be implemented at the time due to legal complications, reported The Indian Express.
The daily quoted the BJP government as saying in a statement, "The state has been specifically targeted by some foreign powers for religious conversions, as they convert the innocent and the poor using inducements and threats.
"Strong nationalistic political will is needed to counter such forces, but unfortunately the Opposition Congress (party) does not believe in preserving national identity."
The statement also claimed that the decision was "in keeping with the national and societal interest".
Violation of religious freedom
The BJP's declaration came a day after Governor Nawal Kishore Sharma returned the Gujarat Freedom of Religion (Amendment) Bill, 2006, saying the proposed measure "violated the right to religious freedom".
The bill stipulated that people from the Jain and Buddhist faiths would be construed as denominations of Hindu religion – a provision that was opposed by leaders from the Jain and Buddhist communities, as even the government census distinguishes between Hinduism and those two faiths.
It also sought to exclude from the definition of 'conversion' the renouncing of one denomination to adopt another.
The Gujarat Freedom of Religion Bill was initially passed by the state assembly on 26 March 2003.
The government however was not able to frame implementing rules, reportedly because of objections by the state legal department over some of its provisions.
To clear the hurdles, the government introduced the Gujarat Freedom of Religion (Amendment) Bill 2006, last 19 September.
Dr John Dayal, member of the National Integration Council and secretary general of the All India Christian Council (AICC), told reporters the various anti-conversion bills and laws encourage "bigotry and hate campaigns".
"They also lead to police brutality and miscarriage of justice, especially in rural areas," he said, adding that data collected by the AICC, the Christian Legal Association and Dalit and tribal groups clearly showed "how emboldened nationalist groups have become in the states where they are being backed by the local police and political elements through anti-conversion laws."
Prior permission for conversions
If implemented, Gujarat will become the fourth state with an anti-conversion law in force.
The other three states are Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Orissa.
The states of Arunachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Himachal Pradesh also have anti-conversion legislation, but they have not been implemented.
The 2003 bill seeks to ban "conversion from one religion to another by force, allurement or fraudulent means". It provides for up to three years of imprisonment and/or a fine of up to 50,000 rupees (ca £600).
If the convert is underage, a woman, Dalit or tribal, the imprisonment is up to four years and the fine 100,000 rupees (ca £1,200).
The bill also makes it mandatory for clergy to seek prior permission from the administrative head of the district (district magistrate) to carry out or even take part in any religious conversion 'ceremony'.
Prospective converts are also required to inform the administration about their intent to convert.
Failure to inform authorities in both cases can lead to imprisonment of up to one year and/or a fine of 1,000 rupees (ca £13).
The BJP government in Rajasthan state passed an anti-conversion bill in the assembly on 7 April 2006, but it is still awaiting governor's assent.
In Himachal Pradesh, the Congress Party government introduced a similar bill on 30 December 2006. On February 20, Governor Vishnu Sadashiv Kokje gave his assent to bill, but the law is yet to be notified.
Two other states also sought to make their anti-conversion laws stricter in 2006.
Whilst Madhya Pradesh passed an amendment bill on 25 July, Chhattisgarh passed a similar bill on 3 August. These bills, however, have not been signed by the respective governors.
According to the 2001 census, of the 50.6 million people in Gujarat, only about 284,000 are Christians.
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