8/12/2010 - Death of Elderly Christian Couple Highlights Religious Persecution in Iraq

Death of Elderly Christian Couple Highlights Religious Persecution in Iraq

Posted on: 2010-12-08 04:17:09

by Marshall Ramsey II, Worthy News US Correspondent

BAGHDAD, Iraq (Worthy News)-- An elderly Christian couple was gunned down in their Baghdad home Sunday night in what is the latest incident in a string of religious-rooted attacks against Christians in Iraq.

According to CNN, Maj. Gen. Qassim Atta said that 15 "Arabs" (non-Iraqis) were responsible for three deadly attacks in Baghdad in recent months. While not assigning responsibility for Sunday's killing of the elderly couple to these men, Maj. Gen. Atta did link them to the October 31, 2010 incident at Sayidat al-Nejat Cathedral in Baghdad where around 70 people died, and 75 more, including 51 congregants and two priests, were wounded.

The first of the three attacks came on August 17, when suicide bombers killed at least 48 people at a military recruitment center in central Baghdad. The second incident took place on September 5, where at least eight people died in a suicide bombing at a military base in the same area. While there have been larger scale operations carried out, most were like what happened Sunday evening, with gunfire or bombs targeting a few Christians at a time.

PERSECUTION INTENSIFYING

Although the issue of attacks against Christians in Iraq has recently been brought to the mainstream, violence and/or the threat of it has been a way of life for years. Christians are a religious minority in Iraq, which is predominantly occupied by Sunni and Shiite Muslims, and tens of thousands have fled the country in recent years. This has led the United States, the United Nations Security Council, and an American Catholic archbishop to express concerns for Christians and other religious minorities in Iraq.

Cardinal Emmanuel Delly III, patriarch of Iraq's largest Christian community, the Chaldean Catholic Church, urged Iraqi Christians to "stand firm" during these "difficult times."

Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said on Sunday that he spoke with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on the need to protect Christians, calling it an issue "of paramount interest for my country and for me personally." Mr. Frattini also met this week with survivors of the church siege and Cardinal Delly, saying it was important that Christians feel secure in Iraq, and that they remain there. "We shouldn't tolerate Christians leaving Iraq," he said. "If Christians leave, the terrorists and al-Qaeda would have won."

Mr. Frattini said that the Iraqi prime minister told him that a Christian would head a new parliamentary committee that will look into how best to safeguard security for members of this religious group. Mr. al-Maliki has given "assurances" that those behind the violence would be "severely punished" and that Christian leaders in Iraq would be kept up-to-date on key developments. In the meantime, Iraqis are also mulling forming police units specifically charged with protecting Christians, according to Mr. Frattini.

2/11/2010 - UZBEKISTAN: Large fine for film about Jesus

UZBEKISTAN: Large fine for film about Jesus

Posted on: 2010-11-02 04:52:04

By Joseph C. DeCaro, Worthy News Correspondent

TASHKENT, Uzbekistan (Worthy News)-- Uzbekistan police confiscated a Christian's private property and then imposed a massive fine on him for owning a film about Jesus.

Five police officers led by Zufar Rashidov of the Sergeli District Criminal Investigation and Anti-terrorism Department raided the home of Murat Jalalov and his family on the pretense of conducting an identity check; after taking Murat's passport, the officers searched his home.

After the raid, police confiscated 75 DVDs/CDs, including one disc about the life of Jesus produced by Campus Crusade for Christ, as well as other films along with family photos.

The confiscated discs were sent for "analysis" to the state Religious Affairs Committee, which determined that the film about Jesus "could be used among local ethnicities for missionary purposes" and banned it under Article 216-2 of the Criminal Code. Contray to international human rights commitments, Article 216-2 prohibits "attracting believers of one faith to another and other missionary activity" and carries a maximum of three years imprisonment.

All the confiscated discs were ordered destroyed.

In addition, Judge H. Tulyaganov of Sergeli District Criminal Court also found Jalalov guilty of violating Article 184-2 of the Code of Administrative Offenses, specifically the "illegal storage, production, import, distribution of religious materials". In lieu of a prison sentence, the judge fined Jalalov nearly $2,000 (US) dollars.

After Jalalov protested that he couldn't pay the fine, he was informed by police that his passport would not be returned until he did.

2/11/2010 - UZBEKISTAN: Raid on Protestant worship service brings beatings, fines

UZBEKISTAN: Raid on Protestant worship service brings beatings, fines

Posted on: 2010-11-02 04:54:28

By Joseph C. DeCaro, Worthy News Correspondent

TASHKENT, Uzbekistan (Worthy News)-- Five Baptists in Uzbekistan have failed to pay fines for participating in an unregistered worship service.

Judge S. Ashurov of Samarkand Regional Criminal Court rejected the Baptists' appeals against fines first imposed in September. The Baptists told the court they consider the fines to be a violation of their religious freedom.

The fines were the result of a so-called "anti-terror" raid on the congregation when they met for worship in August. During the raid, police cursed at church members and seized hymnbooks, personal Bibles and even handwritten notebooks from church members.

"They seized a digital camera from one sister, forcing back her fingers," church members said. "They took away one brother, having forced his hands behind his back."

Officers recorded the identity of all those present at the service and forced them to write statements about their activity. Veniamin Nemirov, in whose home the church met, had his passport confiscated: police have since refused to return it.

Although police allowed mothers of young children and the disabled to leave, officers took ten congregants to the local police station where they were questioned individually; police accused one church member, Alisher Abdullaev, of "betraying" his Muslim faith, while Nemirov was threatened with criminal prosecution, but all detainees were released within hours.

After the raid, police sent the confiscated literature to the Religious Affairs Committee in the capital Tashkent; the Committee ruled that the literature -- including Bibles and hymnbooks -- can only be used within a religious organization that had a central, registered body: as the Samarkand Baptist congregation didn't have that, the literature was declared to be illegal.

In defiance of its international human rights commitments, Uzbekistan bans religious activity without state approval. Fines for unregistered worship are common, as are fines for possessing religious literature and/or films banned by the state Religious Affairs Committee.

Religious communities in Samarkand face particular pressure by the closing of many of its churches by the authorities, usually through the denial of state registration. Seven Samarkand churches have been stripped of their registration in the last four years.

13/10/2010 - Chinese House Churches Raided, Two Pastors Missing

Chinese House Churches Raided, Two Pastors Missing

Posted on: 2010-10-13 03:15:48

by Marshall Ramsey II, Worthy News Correspondent

BEIJING, CHINA (Worthy News)-- Worthy News has just learned of two incidents of religious persecution in China, thanks to ChinaAid.

In the first, which took place in Qu County, Da Prefecture, Sichuan province, the Youqing Church on Sept. 26 was raided by police. Objects of value to the church were broken, books were confiscated, and members of the congregation were arrested and taken to the local police station. Family members of those arrested were requested to pay bail money to get the detainees out of jail.

On Sept. 29, 2010, four of the church members attempted to negotiate with Sichuan police in hopes of having the belongings that were confiscated returned to them. This was done in accordance to Chinese laws regarding places of worship. Instead of having the items returned to them, the members themselves were arrested.

In Henan provice, in the Wancheng District of Nanyang City, another house church was raided. All occupants of the church were arrested except for one elderly woman.

Two foreign pastors, one from the United States and the other from Russia, both present at the time of the raid, were arrested along with thier translator.

Ma Hanzhong, a member of the house church and arrested with the others was beaten. The location of the two foreign pastors are unknown at this time.

Henan province officials have threatened to sentence the detained believers to "re-education" (attempt to get them to renounce their faith in Jesus Christ) through labor.

Anyone interested in information about the location of the foreign pastors may call:

Russian Embassy: +86 106 532 1381
United States Embassy: +86 108 531 3000

1/10/2010 - Chinese Christians Attacked

Chinese Christians Attacked

Posted on: 2010-10-01 01:01:10

by Marshall Ramsey II, Worthy News International Correspondent

JI'NAN, China (Worthy News)-- Members of the Three-Self Patriotic Movement Changchunli Church in Ji'nan, Shandong province, were attacked by a mob of over 200 people last week, according to ChinaAid Association (CAA).

Zhao Jing and Cong Mei, information officers of China Human Rights Defenders, received the complaint on Sept. 23, 2010, stating that a large group of young people dressed in police attire broke into tents inhabited by the members of Changchunli Church at a construction site in Wanda Square.

Sixteen people, including elderly and women, sustained serious injuries, along with one person that was left permanently blind in one eye, according to CAA.

Believers immediately dialed the emergency police number (110), but police response was slow. Upon arrival the police officers acted more like bystanders than police, and did not speak with the victims, but land developers that were present. Some 300 believers later that day went to the municipal government to stage a protest and petition the police.

BEGINNINGS OF SORROWS

On July 7, 2008, the director and deputy director of the Ji'nan Municipal Bureau for Ethnic and Religious Affairs secretly negotiated with demolition and removal officials about claiming the church's property.

The presidents of Ji'nan Christian Council and Municipal Christian Three-Self Patriotic Movement Committee (Municipal CCC/TSPM) were manipulated, then the Municipal CCC/TSPM president signed an agreement authorizing the removal and demolition of Changchunli Church, an agreement that at least twice violated Regulations on Religious Affairs codes.

Management Committee officials and Changchunli church members were not made privy to the arrangement, and the land that belonged to the church was reduced from 1129.33 square meters (1234.734 yards) to just 300 square meters (328 sq. yards).

In an effort to force the belivers into accepting the contract, the Municipal Bureau for Ethnic And Religious Affairs made the Municipal CCC/TSPM on June 8, 2009: stop all religious activities of Changchunli, recall the chief pastor, cancel the church's management committee functions, and disperse its members. The decision was boycotted however, because the decision did not have any legal basis.

PROTESTING THE DECISION

Changchunli church members set up tents on the Wanda Square construction site because they were told by land developers that the area was designated as the site for another church. Upon realizing the congregation objected to it, developers changed their account and said they would be building an underground basement.

After setting up the tents and voicing their disagreements with the demolition decision, Changchunli Church then retold their story to Municipal CCC/TSPM directors and filed a report to a section chief of the Municipal Bureau for Ethnic and Religious Affairs.

After not receiving any responses to their report, church members submitted an application to the Municipal Public Security Bureau for a demonstration. Approval for the application was denied, and church members took matters into their own hands by building the tents on the construction site to prevent the illegal agreement from being put into practice.

Since 2008 when the initial agreement was issued, Changchunli Church members have reported to the Municipal Party Committee of Ji'nan, the municipal government, and other relevant agencies. Petitions and written letters have also been sent to the State Council and relevant ministries and commissions of the central government. The issue is still unsolved due to repeated delays, and as a result of such actions conflicts over the demolition and removal of the church has intensified, with the congregation now having to figure out how to handle these latest incidents.

17/09/2010 - Taiwanese Pastor Seized and Released in China

Taiwanese Pastor Seized and Released in China

Posted on: 2010-09-17 03:00:04

by George Whitten, Worthy News International Correspondent

SHANDONG, CHINA (Worthy News)-- Taiwanese Pastor Lu Daihao was visiting with local pastors when the house church was raided by over 100 Public Security Bureau (PSB) officers and government officials on September 7, 2010, according to ChinaAid.

According to family members and coworkers in Taiwan, Pastor Lu was taken to a hotel and questioned about the audience and content of his message during the training session in Zibo City, Shandong. He was then given a meal and released.

Pastor Lu is a very well-known Christian evangelist in Taiwan. He received two PhDs in Theology and Education while in the United States, and is now studying Philosophy at Beijing University. He converted to Christianity while serving a prison sentence for his crimes as the ringleader of a prominent group of gangsters in his home country. He has now dedicated his life to full-time ministry, especially to those who are currently imprisoned.

The Chinese government has allowed Pastor Lus visits into China, including his preaching and evangelism in recent years. He has even received positive press about his life and legacy from some of the government-controlled media outlets.

The house church members in Zibo City are still uncertain about his current location.

The persecution of Christians in China comes amid concerns among Communist Party officials about the spread of Christianity in China, Worthy News established. Some officials recently suggested there are about 130-million Christians in China, 50-million more than previous estimates. Most of them are believed to worship in the 'underground' house churches as they do not want to gather in the Communist approved denominations.

1/09/2010 - Turkmenistan: Protestant Pastor Faces Five Years Imprisonment

Turkmenistan: Protestant Pastor Faces Five Years Imprisonment

Posted on: 2010-09-01 00:58:36

By Joseph C. DeCaro

MARY, TURKMENISTAN (Worthy News)-- A Pentecostal pastor remained in police custody Tuesday, August31, in Turkmenistan where he faces five years imprisonment and confiscation of properties for "large-scale swindling", charges his wife and church members strongly deny, rights activists said.

Police arrested Ilmurad Nurliev, pastor of Peace to the World Pentecostal Church, for allegedly swindling money from two women who attended church meetings, although church members deny that ever happened.

"I was out at work when the police arrested my husband," said Maya Nurlieva, "and the first I knew was when he was allowed to call me from the investigator's office."

She said police refused to allow her to meet her husband and have also refused to give her any document certifying his arrest or detailing the reasons for it.

Maya said after her husband was arrested, police confiscated his certificate in preaching and refused to return it; they also took 150 dollars he had in his pocket.

"All they gave back to me were the keys to our flat," she said.

Maya said that police and the investigators refused to discuss her husband's case with her.

INTERNATIONAL PRESSURE

Turkmenistan, which has a heavily Muslim population, is under international pressure to improve religious rights and to protect its tiny Christian minority.

The government is seen as the region's most autocratic. Christians and other devoted religious groups are often seen as a threat to its power base, rights groups have suggested. The government has made clear however it wants to distance itself from former dictator Saparmurat Niyazov. Last week, a prominent 12-meter golden statue of Niyazov was taken down in the capital Ashgabat -- a move further eroding the personality cult around the late Central Asian leader.

Workers removed the statue on August 25 and were dismantling the base on August 26, said Radio Free Europe.The Arch of Neutrality was a centerpiece of the capital, Ashgabat, and the most distinctivemonument built in honor of Niyazov.

The statue stood on a 70-meter white tile-clad tripod and rotated to face the sun. Niyazov -- who renamed himself the Great Turkmenbashi, the "Father of All Turkmen" -- died in 2006 after two decades of iron-fisted rule.

(With additional reporting from Worthy News International Correspondent Stefan Bos.)

16/07/2010 - Pentecostal Pastor Shot Dead In Dagestan

Pentecostal Pastor Shot Dead In Dagestan

Posted on: 2010-07-16 06:49:15

By Stefan J. Bos, Worthy News Chief International Correspondent

MAKHACHKALA/BUDAPEST (Worthy News)-- The pastor of the largest Pentecostal church in Russia's violent, mainly Muslim republic of Dagestan, has died after being shot in the head, in an apparent bid to intimidate converts from Islam, Christian rights activists and police said Friday, July 16.

Artur Suleimanov, 49, himself a convert from Islam, was shot late Thursday, July 15, by a gunman who opened fire while the pastor got into a car outside his Hosanna House of Prayer Church in Dagestan's capital, Makhachkala, explained Barnabas Fund, an advocacy group supporting Christians in predominantly Muslim nations.

"He died from his wounds in hospital around an hour later," Barnabas Fund added in a statement to Worthy News and its partner agency BosNewsLife. A spokesman for Dagestan's police, Vyacheslav Gasanov, said it was not immediately clear who was responsible for the killing, which involved one or more attackers.

Dagestan, which is over 90 percent Muslim, is plagued by insurgent violence, with many of the militants inspired by or affiliated with Islamic separatists in neighboring Chechnya. Two militants were killed by police in a clash in the town of Khasavyurt the previous day, according to local police.

FAMILY LEFT BEHIND

Pastor Suleimanov leaves behind a wife, Zina, and five children, the youngest of whom is twelve years old, Barnabas Fund said.

"Pastor Suleimanov was a wonderful Christian brother and his shocking death is a devastating loss for the Dagestan church," added the group, which had close contacts with his congregation. "He and the Hosanna House of Prayer church were very active in ministry and outreach in particular. We see his murder as an attempt to put further pressure on Christian converts in Dagestan."

Funeral arrangements were not immediately announced.

The attack came after the pastor recently spokeaboutalleged harassment by authorities. He said his church had a five-year agreement allowing prison visits "abruptly canceled in early 2010" while officials also "changed" their earlier positive assessment of the church's work with drug addicts.

Forum 18, another rights group, said several Pentecostal pastors have complained that their congregations' lack of freedom was "overwhelmingly due to public attitudes, which prevent some church members from attending Sunday worship even at openly functioning churches in urban locations."

MINISTRY DENIES WRONGDOING

Dagestan's Ministry for Nationality Policy, Information and External Affairs has reportedly denied it imposes restrictions on churches' social work, but added that "the Protestants' activity must be in line with the law."

Barnabas Fund said iturged its supporters in a message to pray that God "will comfort" Pastor Suleimanovs family and protect his and other churches.

They were also encouraged to pray that those responsible for the attack will be detained, and that local "Christians will not be intimidated by this act of violence."

5/01/2010 - Tajikistan Churches Face Closures, Uncertain Future

Tajikistan Churches Face Closures, Uncertain Future

Posted on: 2010-01-05 02:38:51

By Worthy News Europe Bureau in Budapest with Worthy News' Stefan J. Bos

DUSHANBE/BUDAPEST (Worthy News)-- Devoted Christians in several areas of Tajikistan faced uncertainty Tuesday, January 5, over the future of their churches after the former Soviet republic introduced a new religion law that the United States has criticized as highly restrictive.

The Religion Law, which came into forces on New Year's Day, empowers the government to impose stricter control of religious groups in the former Soviet republic that tolerates only the state-approved version of Islam.

Under the legislation groups that choose not to register with authorities or fail to gain re-registration will become illegal. All Christian and other religious organisations need to provide the national government with written confirmation of their existence from their local administration.

Christians say however that local officials have been slow at issuing confirmation documents or have deliberately refused to do so for groups that they did not like.

Less than half of the religious organizations known to authorities have been registered, according to estimates by the Culture Ministry's Head Department for Religious Affairs (HDRA).

TERRITORIAL RESTRICTIONS

HDRA officials have also imposed territorial restrictions on the activity of some non-Muslim groups, including Christian churches, during the re-registration process, according to Christians familiar with the procedures.

The measures cast doubts about the future of groups such as the Council of Churches Baptists which refuses on principle to register with the State. Last month, a Council congregation in Dushanbe was reportedly already banned by a local court.

The new law also imposes censorship on religious literature and restricts performing rituals to state-approved venues, making it even more difficult for evangelical missionaries and other Christians to openly evangelize.

In Tajikistan, religion has been a particularly thorny issue since President Imomali Rakhmon defeated an alliance of Islamists and liberals in a 1990s civil war.

Rakhmon has defended his decision to sign the controversial legislation and other measures. Worried about the resurgent Taliban militant group in neighboring Afghanistan, he says his main goal is to maintain political and economic stability in his impoverished homeland.

POLITICAL DISSENT

However countries across former Soviet Central Asia, including Tajikistan, have been criticized in the West for using the threat of religious extremism as an excuse to crack down on political dissent and religious groups outside state-sponsored Islam.

Protestant and Jewish communities are the main non-Muslim groups that have been targeted, according to rights activists. In 2008, Tajikistan even demolished the country's only synagogue to make way for a presidential palace.

In a gesture apparently aimed at sweetening the decision, Khasan Asadullozoda, Rahmon's brother-in-law, donated a new building to the Jewish community, community members said. "We are extremely grateful," said chief rabbi Mikhail Abdurakhmanov at the time. "Now we have a place of worship again."

The Religion Law seems part of Rahmon's efforts to strengthen his power base and legalise harsh policies already adopted towards the population, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom said.

"The picture for religious freedom in Tajikistan is growing dim," said the Commission, which advises the U.S. government on religious freedom in the world. "The passage of this problematic new law could severely limit religious freedoms in Tajikistan," it added in a recent report.

Like elsewhere in Central Asia, most people in Tajikistan, a mountainous Persian-speaking nation, practice the Sunni branch of Islam, but there is a substantial Shi'ite minority.