Britannia Radio

Steel On Steel Persecution Update
August 9, 2010
Edited by: Donald McElvaney, www.missionbarnabas.org

Top Stories:
1. Messianic Jewish Church Won’t Appeal Israeli Court Ruling
2. Christian Nursing Student Nearly Dies from Assault in Pakistan
3. Two Christians Play Dead to Survive Attack in India
4. Pastor in Russian Republic of Dagestan Killed
5. Suspected Islamists Shoot Five Christians to Death in Pakistan
6. Convicted Hindu Nationalist Legislator in India Released on Bail
7. Two Christian Families in Bangladesh Suffer Extortion, Beatings


1. Messianic Jewish Church Won’t Appeal Israeli Court Ruling

Congregation sought apology for riotous attack on baptism service.

By Wayne King

ISTANBUL, July 14 (Compass Direct News) – A congregation of Messianic Jews in Israel who recently lost a lawsuit against an ultra-orthodox Jewish group that allegedly incited a riot against them has decided not to appeal their case, the church’s pastor said. After meeting with his congregation and members of the Messianic community in Israel, Howard Bass, pastor of Yeshua’s Inheritance church in Beer Sheva, said that although there are strong legal grounds for an appeal, he believes it is not God’s will to do so. “We didn’t see that it’s right to appeal, even though there is good legal basis. But we don’t feel it’s the Lord’s will to appeal,” Bass said, later adding he felt the verdict was “totally distorted.” In 2007, Bass filed suit against Yehuda Deri, chief Sephardic rabbi in the city of Beer Sheva, and Yad L’Achim, an organization that fights against Messianic Jews in Israel, for allegedly inciting a riot at a December 2005 service that Bass was leading. On Dec. 24, 2005, during a baptismal service in Beer Sheva, a group of about 200 men pushed their way into a small, covered structure being used to baptize two new Christians and tried to stop the service. The assailants tossed patio chairs, damaged audiovisual equipment, threw a grill and other items into a baptismal pool, pushed Bass into the pool and broke his glasses. In the days before the riot, Yad L’Achim issued notices to people about a “mass baptism” scheduled to take place at the facility in the city 51 miles (83 kilometers) southwest of Jerusalem. In the days after the riot, Deri bragged about the incident on a radio talk show, including a boast that Bass had been “baptized” at the gathering. Bass demanded either a public apology for their alleged role in the attack, or 1.5 million shekels (US$389,052) from the rabbi and Yad L’Achim. The case, Bass said, was to “honor the name of Jesus Christ in Israel.” He said he had sought monetary damages “as a tool to elicit an apology” from Deri and Yad L’Achim.


2. Christian Nursing Student Nearly Dies from Assault in Pakistan

She charges Muslim doctors threw her from hospital window after gang-rape.

By Thomas Kelly and John Little

KARACHI, Pakistan, July 26 (Compass Direct News) – A Catholic nurse trainee has regained consciousness after a Muslim doctor allegedly raped her and threw her from a hospital’s fourth-floor window this month. The third-year student nurse told media and rights groups that on July 13 several Muslim men, led by Dr. Abdul Jabbar Meammon, beat and raped her, and then threw her from the window of Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Center (JPMC) to keep her from revealing the abuse. Meammon, who had taken over a room in the all-female wing of the hospital, has a history of abusing Christian nurses, a hospital administrator said. Dr. Seemi Jamali, chief of JPMC’s Emergency Department, told Compass that Meammon had been suspended from the hospital seven times for drinking alcohol on the job and other misbehavior, and that he was drunk when he assaulted Ashraf. A medico-legal officer at the hospital who carried out autopsies, Meammon was forcibly occupying a room in the women-only wing of the doctors’ hostel, Jamali said. She added that Meammon is an influential figure backed by a leading political party in Karachi. The young woman, Magdalene Ashraf, was unconscious for 56 hours as surgeons fought for her life at the intensive care unit of JPMC and is still in critical condition. Police have charged Meammon and his accomplices with attempted murder, but Christian organizations are urging police to file gang-rape charges. He added that police have also arrested Dr. Ferhat Abbas and another doctor identified only as Tayyab. Dr. Donald Mall, an administrator with Seventh Day Adventist Hospital, told Compass that there “are hundreds of rape cases of Christian nurses by doctors which go unreported in Pakistan,” and that the Sindh Province Health Department has ignored them.


3. Two Christians Play Dead to Survive Attack in India
Suspected Hindu extremists accuse them of ‘forced conversion.’
By Shireen Bhatia
NEW DELHI, July 27 (Compass Direct News) – Two evangelists said they survived an attack in Balaghat district, Madhya Pradesh by playing dead when suspected Hindu extremists on July 20 surrounded them and severely beat them. The six assailants accused Mahindra Kharoley, 20, and 30-year-old Munshi Prasaad Bahey of “forced conversion.” The two evangelists were bicycling to their home village of Susua following a prayer meeting at Dunda Sivni, 25 kilometers (15 miles) from Balaghat district, when the attackers on two motorbikes, with their faces covered, attacked them in Bhalwa village at around 10 p.m. The assailants did not wait for them to respond to the charges of forced conversion before they began hitting and kicking them, the evangelists said. “They banged my head on the cement road and hit me hard with their boots on top of my head, splitting my forehead,” said Bahey. After 20 minutes they lay motionless, pretending to be dead in order to survive, they said. Bahey told Compass that one of the attackers called another by name, saying, “Mahesh, stop hitting them, they are already dead – let’s get out of here.” With no moonlight, they were left bleeding in the pitch darkness of the jungle road about 800 meters from their home village. Kirnapur police accepted a complaint about the incident but have yet to investigate, the station officer in-charge told Compass. “I am busy till Aug. 5 in other, more important cases,” said Sub-Inspector Sandhir Chaudhary. “I will look into this only after that.”

4. Pastor in Russian Republic of Dagestan Killed

Media had spread call to take action against him for his work among Muslims.

By Wayne King

ISTANBUL, July 28 (Compass Direct News) – A pastor in the Russian republic of Dagestan known for founding the biggest Protestant church in the region and for successfully reaching out to Muslims has been killed by unidentified gunmen, local authorities have confirmed. Artur Suleimanov, 49, pastor of Hosanna Christian Church in Makhachkala, the capital of Dagestan, was shot on the evening of July 15 while leaving his church building. The identity of the shooters remains unclear, but in the weeks leading up to the killing Dagestan media broadcast calls for people to take measures against Suleimanov because he was too “active” and converted ethnic Muslims. According to a letter Suleimanov wrote to Compass several years ago, 80 percent of the congregation is made up of former Muslims. The church distributes food and other aid to residents of the poverty-ridden country. His death follows the shooting of Orthodox priest Daniil Sisoev of St.Thomas church in Moscow last November; a Muslim group claimed responsibility for the slaying. Suleimanov is survived by his wife, Zina, and five children.


5. Suspected Islamists Shoot Five Christians to Death in Pakistan

Muslim extremist groups had threatened church for two years.

By John Little

SUKKUR, Pakistan, July 29 (Compass Direct News) – A dozen masked men shot five Christians to death as they came out of their church building here on July 15, two months after a banned Islamic extremist group sent church leaders a threatening letter, relatives said. Pastor Aaron John and church members Rohail Bhatti, Salman John, Abid Gill and Shamin Mall of Full Gospel Church were leaving the church building after meeting to discuss security in light of threats they had received, said the pastor’s son, Shahid John. “As we came out of the church, a group of a dozen armed gunmen came and opened fire at us,” said Shahid John, who survived a bullet in his arm. Besides Shahid John, five others were wounded in the attack. In May church leaders received a letter from Islamic extremist group Sip-e-Sahaba (formerly Sipah-e-Sahaba until it was banned) warning the Christians to leave the area, said Kiran Rohail, wife of the slain Rohail Bhatti. Sip-e-Sahaba and Sunni Tehrik extremist groups are both linked with an area madrassa (Islamic school) whose students had been threatening the church since 2008, Christian sources said. The masked gunmen of July 15 had young physiques like those of students, Christian sources said, and their manner of attack indicated they were trained extremists. The madrassa students that have threatened the church since 2008 belong to the Sunni Tehrik extremist group, the sources said. Pastor John and Bhatti had reported the threats of the past two years to police, but officers at the local station did not take them seriously, relatives said. Police also declined to register a First Information Report (FIR) when church leaders reported the threatening letter of May. An independent government source confirmed the shooting deaths of the Christians, adding that local Islamist pressure had prevented media from reporting on it.


6. Convicted Hindu Nationalist Legislator in India Released on Bail
Stunned Christians suspect bias in case of politician’s role in Orissa violence.
By Shireen Bhatia
NEW DELHI, July 30 (Compass Direct News) – Less than a month after Orissa state legislator Manoj Pradhan was sentenced to seven years of prison for his part in anti-Christian mob violence in 2008, he was released on bail pending his appeal. Along with fellow Hindu nationalist Prafulla Mallick, Pradhan on June 29 was convicted of causing grievous hurt and rioting in connection with the murder of a Christian, Parikhita Nayak. Justice B.P. Ray heard the petition on July 7, and the same day he granted Pradhan and Mallick bail conditional on posting bail bond of 20,000 rupees (US$430) each. Pradhan and Mallick were released from jail on July 12 and await the outcome of an appeal to the Orissa High Court. Attorney Bibhu Dutta Das said that ordinary people don’t get bail so easily when convicted of such crimes. “It takes years for convictions in High Court,” Das told Compass. “We will not sit silent. We will challenge this bail order in the Supreme Court very soon.” The Christian community expressed shock that someone sentenced to seven years in prison would get bail within seven days of applying for it. “I am very disappointed with the judiciary system,” said Nayak’s widow, Kanaka Rekha Nayak, who along with her two daughters has been forced into hiding because of threats against her. “I went through several life threats, but still I took my daughters for hearings whenever I was called by the court, risking my daughters’ lives – certainly not for this day.” In addition to the bail, the court has issued a stay order on the 5,000 rupee (US$107) fine imposed on Pradhan and Mallick.

7. Two Christian Families in Bangladesh Suffer Extortion, Beatings
Muslims vehemently protest baptism of converts, fabricate false charge against church leaders.
By Aenon Shalom
PINGNA, Bangladesh, August 2 (Compass Direct News) – Two Christian women in Bangladesh’s northern district of Jamalpur said village officials extorted relatively large sums of money from them – and severely beat the husband of one – for proclaiming Christ to Muslims. Johura Begum, 42, of Pingna village said a member of the local union council, an area government representative and the father of a police officer threatened to harm her grown daughters if her family did not pay them 20,000 taka (US$217). The police officer whose father was allegedly involved in the extortion was investigating fabricated charges that Christians had paid Muslims to participate in a river baptism on May 26. Only six men among 55 converts were baptized by leaders of the Pentecostal Holiness Church of Bangladesh, Christian leaders said, as the rest were intimidated by protesting Muslims. Villagers backed by a political leader of the ruling Bangladesh Awami League party also allegedly extorted 250,000 taka (US$3,597) from another Christian woman, 35-year-old Komola Begum of Doulatpur village, whose husband is a successful fertilizer seller. After the baptisms in the Brahmanputra River in Mymensingh district, local Muslims beat her husband to such an extent that he received three days of hospital treatment for his injuries. “My husband is a scapegoat – he simply does business,” she said. “But he was beaten for my faith and activities.” Police forced one of those present at the baptism, 45-year-old Hafijur Rahman, to sign a statement accusing four of the Christian leaders of offering him and others money to attend, Rahman said. He told Compass that he was illiterate and did not know what he was signing, and that he was not offered any money to go to the baptism service. For three days after the baptisms, Jamalpur district villagers announced through bullhorns the punishment Christians would receive for their activities, chanting among other slogans, “We will peel off the skins of the Christians.”


For more information concerning the persecution of Christians around the world, please contact Compass Direct at www.compassdirect.org