Steel On Steel Persecution Update
May 25, 2010
Edited by: Donald McElvaney, www.missionbarnabas.org
Top Stories:
1. Pakistani Christians’ Employer Has Them Illegally Arrested
2. Lao Christians Expelled from Village Suffer Critical Illnesses
3. Christian Forced to Sell Kidney to Pay Debt to Boss in Pakistan
4. Egyptian Convert from Islam Devastated by ‘Delay Tactic’
5. Christian Girls Kidnapped in Yemen Are Rescued
6. Muslim Teachers in Pakistan Allegedly Abuse Christian Students
7. Hindu Nationalists Plan ‘Religious Cleansing’ in Madhya Pradesh District
8. Second Wave of Deportations Hits Foreign Christians in Morocco
9. Muslim Youths in Nigeria Burn Church Buildings, Pastor’s Home
10. Allegedly Raped Girl, Family in Pakistan Forced to Flee Town
1. Pakistani Christians’ Employer Has Them Illegally Arrested
Upset with their objections to discrimination, factory owner uses police to beat them.
By John Little
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, May 12 (Compass Direct News) – Police illegally detained three Christians on false charges of alcohol possession in Sialkot last week at the request of their Muslim employer. The men – garment factory workers Atif Masih, Kamran Masih and Naveed Gill – said they had objected to their boss demanding they work on Sundays. Factory owner Rana Ejaz promptly accused them of selling alcohol, which is forbidden to Muslims in Pakistan and illegal to sell without a permit. On May 4 the station house officer (SHO) of Paka Garah, Sialkot, arrested the three Christians even though Ejaz had filed neither a First Information Report nor registered a written complaint, the Christians said. Authorities released them after three days when local human rights groups charged that they had been illegally detained. Paka Garah SHO Zulfiqar Ali refused to comment after their release. Previously he had said they had confessed to selling alcohol; parents of the three Christians denied the charge, asserting that their sons had been falsely accused. Factory owner Ejaz reportedly said, “I did all this on the advice of the SHO, Zulfiqar, so that I could terminate the Christian workers.”
2. Lao Christians Expelled from Village Suffer Critical Illnesses
One dead, two hospitalized; village chief threatens other residents.
By Sarah Page
DUBLIN, May 14 (Compass Direct News) – In spite of assurances of religious rights by officials in March, Lao Christians expelled from a village in Saravan Province in January are suffering from prolonged lack of adequate food and clean water. The lack of basic resources has led to diarrhea, dehydration, eye and skin infections, fainting and general weakness for the Christians expelled from Katin village, and one person has died, Human Rights Watch for Lao Religious Freedom (HRWLRF) reported. A Christian who went by the single name of Ampheng died suddenly in April while praying for one of two other Christians who were hospitalized with illnesses caused by their living conditions, an HRWLRF spokesman told Compass. The exact cause and date of Ampheng’s death were not immediately known. Expelled from their village at gunpoint on Jan. 18 for failing to renounce their faith, the 48 Christians were forced to build temporary shelters at the edge of the jungle, about six kilometers (nearly four miles) away from the village. Katin’s village chief recently warned other residents that their personal possessions would be confiscated and their homes torn down if they had any contact with the expelled Christians. Official reactions to the plight of the Christians have been mixed. In March, a delegation of provincial and district officials led by Gov. Khamboon Duangpanya visited the Christians at their jungle site and assured them of their legal right to embrace the faith of their choice and to live anywhere in the district.
3. Christian Forced to Sell Kidney to Pay Debt to Boss in Pakistan
Employer charges non-Muslims at least 400 percent interest.
By John Little
LAHORE, Pakistan, May 14 (Compass Direct News) – A low-wage Pakistani Christian said his Muslim employer last week forced him to sell his kidney in an effort to pay off a loan his boss made at exorbitant interest rates charged only to non-Muslims. John Gill, a molding machine operator at Shah Plastic Manufacturers in the Youhanabad area of Lahore, said he took a loan of 150,000 rupees (US$1,766) – at 400 percent interest – from employer Ghulam Mustafa in 2007 in order to send his 17-year-old daughter to college. Mustafa confirmed that he took over Gill’s home last week after giving the Christian two weeks to pay off the outstanding interest on the loan. Then, on May 6, Mustafa came to Gill’s home with “about five armed men” and transported him to Ganga Ram hospital, where they forced him to sell his kidney against his will, the Christian said. The value of the kidney was estimated at around 200,000 rupees (US$2,355), leaving Gill with outstanding debt of about 250,000 rupees (US$2,945), Gill said. He said he does not know how he will repay the rest, which is due next month. Mustafa told Compass that Gill owed him 400 percent interest on the loan. “I only offer 50 percent interest to Muslim employees,” he said, adding that he refused to take less than 400 percent interest from any non-Muslim.
4. Egyptian Convert from Islam Devastated by ‘Delay Tactic’
Court suspends Mohammed Hegazy’s lawsuit pending outcome of separate case.
By Wayne King
CAIRO, Egypt, May 17 (Compass Direct News) – An Egyptian convert to Christianity said he is devastated by a recent court decision to suspend a lawsuit he filed to change the religion on his identification card from Muslim to Christian. The First District of the Court of the State Council on April 27 suspended Mohammed Ahmed Hegazy’s case until the Constitutional Court rules on a challenge to Article 47, a section of the civil code that, in theory, allows Egyptians to change the religion listed on their ID card. Hegazy, 27, said the court’s suspension endangers his children’s welfare and will force them to lead a double life indefinitely. Because the religious designation on their ID cards is arbitrarily listed as “Muslim,” Hegazy said, if they follow Jesus they will be declared “apostates” and be persecuted the rest of their lives for “leaving Islam.” Hegazy, who has suffered severely after Egypt’s religious authorities declared him an apostate, including being imprisoned by State Security Investigations several times, said he filed the case so his children would avoid the same fate. “I didn’t want them to have to go through the same harassment and persecution that I went through,” he said. “My daughter won’t be able to go to school without constantly fearing for her safety. She might even be killed simply because she is my daughter.”
5. Christian Girls Kidnapped in Yemen Are Rescued
Parents, other abducted Christians remain missing.
By Damaris Kremida
ISTANBUL, May 18 (Compass Direct News) – Saudi Arabian and Yemeni security forces rescued two German girls yesterday, 11 months after the two young sisters, their parents, brother and four other Christians were taken hostage in Yemen. Reported to be between 3 and 6 years old, the two girls, Lydia Hentschel and her younger sister Anna Hentschel, were part of a group of nine Christian foreigners who were kidnapped on June 12 last year. Three of the adult hostages, a Korean and two German women, were murdered shortly afterwards. The foreigners worked in a hospital near the city of Saada. No group has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping. Although the German family, a British man, and the three murdered women were Christians, it was not clear if they were kidnapped because of their faith. There was no indication as to the whereabouts of the girls’ parents, Johannes and Sabine Hentschel, the girls’ 2-year-old brother Simon, and the Briton, identified only as Anthony. The two girls were found in a disputed border region between Yemen and Saudi Arabia during Saudi cross-border raids in the northern region of Saada, according to Reuters. Saudi and Yemeni security forces collaborated in the operation to free the sisters.
6. Muslim Teachers in Pakistan Allegedly Abuse Christian Students
Derogatory remarks, beatings, pressure to convert to Islam drive two girls to drop out.
By Jawad Mazhar
SARGODHA, Pakistan, May 19 (Compass Direct News) – Muslim teachers at a girls school here have derided Christian students for their faith, beat them, pressured them to convert to Islam and forced them to clean school bathrooms and classrooms after class hours, according to area Christians. Muslim teachers at Government Higher Secondary School in village No. 79-NB (Northern Branch), Sargodha, have so abused Christian students that two have dropped out, said a 16-year-old student identified only as Sana. “Christian students are teased and mocked by radical Muslim female teachers from the start of the school day to the end,” she said. “Due to the contemptuous behavior on religious grounds of the fanatical Muslim principal and staff, Christian students feel dejected, depressed and frustrated. I am totally broken-hearted because of the intolerance and discrimination.” Rebecca Bhatti, a 16-year-old grade 10 student, told Compass she left the government school because teachers and the principal would call Christian girls into the staff room at recess and demand that they polish their shoes or wash their undergarments and other clothes. “If any girl turned down the orders of any of the Muslim teachers, they were punished,” Bhatti said as she spilled tears. Questioned about the abuses, principal Ferhat Naz told Compass that she would discipline teachers if an inquiry found the accusations to be true, but local residents called for an independent investigation as Naz herself is among the accused.
7. Hindu Nationalists Plan ‘Religious Cleansing’ in Madhya Pradesh District
Ground-breaking for ‘reconversion rally’ leads to attack on Christian house church.
By Shireen Bhatia
NEW DELHI, May 20 (Compass Direct News) – Hindu nationalist organizations in Madhya Pradesh state have declared their intentions to rid Mandla district of all Christian influence by starting preparations for a large “reconversion” event next year. A similar event in Dangs district, Gujarat state in 2006 was filled with Christian hate speech. As a result of anti-Christian sentiment stirred at the April 22 ground-breaking ceremony for the Madhya Pradesh “reconversion” rally to be held next February, Hindu nationalists attacked a house church in the district’s Bamhni Banjar village on May 2, Christian leaders said. Hindu leaders reportedly announced a list of objectives to be achieved before the festival, with one prominent agenda item being to drive away Christian pastors, evangelists and foreign aid workers from the district. The leaders pledged to “cleanse Mandla of Christians” by means of the Feb. 10-12 event. A week after the ground-breaking ceremony, around 40 Hindu nationalists from the Bajrang Dal surrounded the home of Pastor Bhag Chand Rujhiya during a house church service and accused him of forceful conversion as they shouted anti-Christian slogans. Using abusive language, they pelted his house with stones as about 60 people were attending a worship service, Pastor Rakesh Dass said. “The mob was carrying deadly weapons like knives and rods,” he said. Police forced the pastor and his wife to sign statements that they would no longer lead Sunday worship or pray with friends or relatives inside their house, and that they would not evangelize again in the area.
8. Second Wave of Deportations Hits Foreign Christians in Morocco
Muslim hardliners pressure government; nationals fears they may be next victim of ‘purging.’
By Damaris Kremida
ISTANBUL, May 21 (Compass Direct News) – In a second wave of deportations from Morocco, officials of the majority-Muslim country have expelled 26 foreign Christians in the last 10 days without due process. Following the expulsion of more than 40 foreign Christians in March, the deportations were apparently the result of Muslim hardliners pressuring the nation’s royalty to show Islamic solidarity. The latest deportations bring the number of Christians who have had to leave Morocco to about 105 since early March. Christians and expert observers are calling this a calculated effort to purge the historically moderate country, known for its progressive policies, of all Christian elements – both foreign and national. At least two Moroccan Christians have been beaten in the last 10 days, sources told Compass, and police have brought other Moroccan Christians to police stations daily for psychologically “heavy” interrogations. Authorities are enquiring about the activities of foreign and local Christians. “I don’t see the end,” said Salim Sefiane, a Moroccan living abroad. “I see this as a ‘cleansing’ of Christians out of Morocco, and then I see this turning against the Moroccan church, which is already underground, and then persecution of Moroccan Christians, which is already taking place in recent days.”
9. Muslim Youths in Nigeria Burn Church Buildings, Pastor’s Home
Attack in Kano state said to stem from revenge by converts to Islam, land dispute.
By Lekan Otufodunrin
LAGOS, Nigeria, May 21 (Compass Direct News) – Scores of Muslim youths on Wednesday (May 19) besieged church property in Kano state in northern Nigeria, destroying two church buildings and a pastor’s residence. One of the buildings and the pastor’s house were set ablaze on the premises of the Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA) at Kwasam, in the Kiru Local Government area, while another building under construction was demolished. Youths reportedly numbering more than 100 in the predominantly Muslim area stormed the church grounds. “The problem started when some Christian youths of ECWA church were converted to Islam,” the Rev. Lado Abdul, chairman of ECWA district in Kano, told Compass. “They swore that the ECWA church would not remain in the area, as they would do everything possible to chase Christians out from Kiru.” No life was lost during or after the incident. Abdul, however, lamented the denial of rights to Christians in Kano by area Muslims. “Here in Kano, nobody gives you land to build a church,” he said. “The old churches built before now are being demolished for reasons no one can easily grasp.” Kano State Police Commissioner Mohammed Gana said that the attack on the church buildings grew out of a land dispute. Four suspects have been arrested, and an investigation continues, the police chief said.
10. Allegedly Raped Girl, Family in Pakistan Forced to Flee Town
Death threats, ultimatum from powerful Muslims compel father of 12-year-old to move.
By Thomas Kelly
GUJRANWALA, Pakistan, May 25 (Compass Direct News) – A Christian who accused a Muslim of raping his 12-year-old daughter has fled his town in Punjab Province with his family following death threats and police pressure to drop the case. Citing “continuous threats” to take his life, Zafar Masih left Gujranwala’s predominantly Muslim town of Nai Abadi Tatlay Aali within 10 days of accusing Ali Ahmed, a 28-year-old businessman, of beating and raping his daughter on May 12. His daughter, whose name was withheld, told Compass that her employer, Ahmed, beat and raped her when she went to his home, where she worked as a house servant. Her father said he immediately went to Tatlay Aali police station to file charges, but Station House Officer Inspector Iqbal Ojjhra refused and began to pressure him to withdraw the accusation. A powerful local politician along with the area’s largest land owner, Imtiyaz Kharral, have since threatened to maim or kill him, Masih said. “I declined to withdraw my application, though I was being immensely pressured by both the leading Muslim men,” Masih said. “And Inspector Ojjhra had a new alibi every day for not registering the case.” Inspector Ojjhra denied all allegations against him. He told Compass that he declined to register a rape case because he did not want to harm the Christian girl’s dignity, so instead he had recommended trying to resolve the conflict in a public gathering or “punchayat.” At the meeting at Kharral’s farmhouse, the land owner did not allow the Christians to speak and told Masih that he had to drop the rape charge or else he and all area Christian families would have to relocate.
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