Pakistan Supreme Court Confirms Decision to Drop Blasphemy Case

Rimsha Masih now free; lawyers say she always will be at risk in Pakistan

By Jeremy Reynalds
Senior Correspondent for ASSIST News Service

Rimsha Masih arrest picture.

LONDON (ANS) -- The Pakistan Supreme Court on Tuesday threw out an appeal to reopen a blasphemy case against a 14-year-old Christian girl, who had been accused of burning verses from the Koran.

A report from World Watch Monitor using a variety of sources said Rimsha Masih had been acquitted of the charges in November by the High Court in Islamabad. A Muslim cleric was subsequently charged with fabricating evidence against the girl. The lower court's decision was appealed to the nation's highest court.
One of the girl's lawyers, Thahir Naveed Chaudhry, confirmed the Supreme Court's rejection of the appeal to World Watch Monitor.

Separately, Federal Minister for National Harmony Paul Bhatti told Asia News he was satisfied with the decision of the Supreme Court confirming "Rimsha Masih is innocent."

According to Vatican Radio, the minister said these were "days of stress and tension," but "justice had prevailed."

Bhatti is the brother of Shahbaz Bhatti, the government Minorities Minister who was assassinated for calling for reform of Pakistan's anti-blasphemy law.

Although Rimsha was 14 at the time of her arrest last summer, her developmental age is said to be lower. Some reports say she has Down syndrome and has never received an education.

World Watch Monitor reported that prior to Tuesday's ruling, Vatican sources said the decision to appeal at the Supreme Court may have been taken for political reasons to appease fundamentalists ahead of the parliamentary elections later this year.

World Watch Monitor said that Father Mario Rodrigues, director of the Pontifical Mission Societies in Pakistan, told the Vatican information service, Fides, "On the one hand there is the political manipulation of Rimsha's case; on the other hand there are some mullahs who insist. Moreover, there is a right to lodge an appeal."

World Watch Monitor said Rimsha was arrested Aug. 16 2012 after being accused of burning pages on which were printed verses from the Koran, a violation of Pakistan's anti-blasphemy laws. The girl, who lived in Meranabadi, a poor Christian district outside Islamabad, was held for three weeks in an adult prison in Rawalpindi, before being released on bail in September.

After being granted bail, World Watch Monitor reported, Rimsha had to be airlifted by police helicopter to avoid an angry mob. She went into hiding with her family for fear that extremists would take revenge, whatever the outcome of the court decision.

World Watch Monitor said according to Christian relief organization LEAD, dozens of poor Christian families fled the neighborhood of Meranabadi after blasphemy charges were brought against Rimsha. They say fear returned to the neighborhood when it was learned Rimsha's case was being brought back to the Supreme Court.

World Watch Monitor said while Rimsha now is legally free, Christian lawyers say she and her family have no future in Pakistan, where their lives will always remain at risk. Others who have been acquitted of blasphemy have been assassinated by militants taking the law into their own hands.

The case against Rimsha was thrown out by the High Court in Islamabad in November, after Chief Justice Iqbal Hameed-ur Rehman cited the lack of witnesses to support the allegation.

World Watch Monitor said the case against Rimsha collapsed after the police were informed the cleric of the mosque in Rimsha's area had planted the evidence against her. The cleric was named as Khalid Chishti.

News agency Agence France-Presse said his deputy, Maulvi Zubair, reported to the police that Chishti had added pages of the Koran to papers Rimsha had burned.

Citing police sources, AFP said Chishti's deputy warned the cleric not to interfere with the evidence, but Chishti replied, "You know, this is the only way to expel the Christians from this area."

Police arrested the imam on suspicion of tampering with the evidence and desecrating the Koran.

World Watch Monitor reported that Pakistani lawyers said Rimsha's acquittal is unlikely to result in a change in Pakistan's blasphemy laws, which critics say are routinely abused to settle scores and take revenge.

However, religious liberty campaigners said they hope the case will set a precedent for the way future blasphemy allegations are investigated.

World Watch Monitor said Chief Justice Rehman warned that blasphemy charges should only be brought with caution because of their sensitivity. Campaigners hope the court's remarks will have a positive bearing on other outstanding cases, including that of Asia Bibi, the first Christian woman to be sentenced to death on blasphemy charges.

But Rodrigues told the Vatican's Fides service that "the abuse of the blasphemy law, such as Rimsha's case, continues while the country is crossed by a worrying spiral of violence."

World Watch Monitor said Pakistan's blasphemy laws have been in the spotlight since January 2011, when Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer was shot dead by his own bodyguard after calling for reform to the blasphemy law.

Two months later, Minorities' Minister Shahbaz Bhatti, a Roman Catholic, was also assassinated, after campaigning for the blasphemy law to be changed.

U.S. demands release of American pastor from Iranian prison

Advocates say he faces death penalty for professing his faith

Colorado Springs, Colo., Jan. 18 (World Watch Monitor) — Stepping up the urgency of American response, the White House on Friday called on Iran to release a jailed American pastor facing a trial that could send him to the gallows.

Saeed Abedini, a native of Iran and a naturalized American citizen, is expected to enter one of Iran's revolutionary courts Monday to face accusations that he is a threat to national security. His lawyers say he faces a lengthy prison term and even the death penalty at the hands of one of Iran's most notoriously severe judges.

Abedini's supporters in the United States say he was in Iran last summer to complete construction of an orphanage when members of Iran's Revolutionary Guard snatched him off a bus, confiscated his passports, and threw him in prison. Since then, they say, the pastor has been subjected to solitary confinement and beatings.

It wasn't until last week that Abedini's attorney in Iran got access to his case file and discovered his client would be brought into court as soon as Jan. 21, according to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, an advisory panel to the administration and Congress.

Iran's Revolutionary Court is not exactly transparent, so it's not known what precise charges Abedini will face, said Tiffany Barrans, international legal director for the American Center for Law and Justice, a Washington, D.C.-based attorney group that uses litigation to press for religious and speech freedom. But Barrans said it was Abedini's background as an organizer of house churches in Iran that has angered the government, and for which he will be tried. Christianity, she said, is regarded in official Iranian circles as a security threat because it can entice young people away from Islam, which is Iran's official religion.

During a routine press briefing Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney had no response to a question seeking President Obama's position on Abedini's trial. On Friday, U.S. National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor issued a statement demanding Abedini's release.

“We remain troubled by the case of U.S. citizen Saeed Abedini, who was arrested by Iranian officials more than three months ago on charges relating to his religious beliefs," Vietor said in the statement. "We call upon Iranian authorities to release him immediately.”

It is the first official remark by the administration about Abedini's case. The ACLJ called it a "significant step forward in the effort to save this American pastor."

On Tuesday, 11 members of the U.S. Senate and 37 members of the House of Representatives sent a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urging the U.S. to bring whatever diplomatic pressure it can to persuade Iran to release Abedini. The United States and Iran do not have diplomatic ties, so any pressure would have to be applied indirectly.

"Your voice can motivate countries and international organizations that have diplomatic relations with Iran into action," the Senate letter read. "We strongly encourage the State Department to exhaust all efforts to secure Mr. Abedini's prompt return. Saeed's efforts to provide humanitarian relief and exercise fundamental human rights should be applauded not condemned. We should not stand idly by while the Iranian regime arbitrarily persecutes a U.S. citizen who has committed no crime."

"There is still a great deal of good that the State Department can and should do on behalf of Mr. Abedini, one of our own  citizens," the letter from the House members read. "Strong and sustained advocacy from the State Department would do much to rally the voice of the world against this wrongful detainment."

Barrans said the U.S. could exert leverage through countries such as Brazil and Turkey, which have diplomatic relations with America and strong economic ties to Iran.

"We can reach out to multiple countries to just put in an inquiry on pastor Saeed," she told World Watch Monitor. "If Iran takes enough inquiries from friends, they will take notice of Saeed's case and ensure justice is done, whether that means he receives a fair trial, or they take him out of the Revolutionary Court system, or if they release him immediately."

The Commission on International Religious Freedom, comprised of presidential and congressional appointees, demanded Abedini's release in a statement issued Wednesday:

“The national security charges leveled against Mr. Abedini are bogus and are a typical tactic by the Iranian government to masquerade the real reason for the charges: to suppress religious belief and activity of which the Iranian government does not approve,” Commission Chairwoman Katrina Lantos Swett said.

The commission and the American Center for Law and Justice both say Abedini's case has been assigned to Iran’s Revolutionary Court, which answers to the country's supreme leader, Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Hosseini Khamenei. The judge in the case, Abbas Pir-Abbassi, is known in the West primarily for his harsh sentences, including execution, of students who participated in protests after the 2009 elections. The European Union has branded Pir-Abbassi, among other Iranian judges, a human-rights violator. The U.S. religious-freedom commission has recommended that the State Department make a similar declaration, but it has yet to do so.

Even so, "our government is very well aware of how this man abuses his position of authority," said Barrans of the ACLJ. "It is great cause for concern."

Barrans said Iranian lawyers quail at the prospect of representing human-rights cases before Pir-Abbassi. "Most lawyers know your chances of being thrown in prison merely for representing someone like Saeed are greatly increased," she said, adding that Abedini should expect no due process at all during his trial.

Both Abedini, 32, and his wife, Nagmeh, were born Muslim in Iran. She moved to the United States as a child, obtained U.S. citizenship, converted to Christianity, relocated to Idaho with her family, and eventually returned to Iran to connect with her extended family, said Lauren Phillips, coordinator for international outreach for Cavalry Chapel of Boise, where the couple are members. Though ordained for his work planting house churches in Iran, Abedini is not active as a pastor in his home church, Phillips said.

In Iran Nagmeh met Abedini, who had converted to Christianity in 2000 and was helping to start house churches. Married in 2004, they moved to Idaho in 2005 after Abedini endured an interrogation session over his church activities, Barrans said. As the spouse of an American citizen, Abedini too was granted citizenship.
Barrans said Abedini continued to visit Iran, under a 2009 agreement with Iran's intelligence police. The deal, she said, was that Abedini could come and go from Iran to build an orphanage, but only if he stayed out of church planting. By last July, he had visited Iran eight times.

"He had no reason to expect the ninth trip would look any different," she said.

But on Sept. 26 he was arrested by Revolutionary Guard soldiers, and has been kept at Evin prison, where many political prisoners are held.

Sometime between that eighth and ninth visit, Barrans said, police jurisdiction over Iranian Christian life shifted from the politically controlled intelligence police to the religiously controlled Revolutionary Guard, which answers directly to Iran's grand ayatollah. The government has become increasingly aggressive about driving Christianity out of Iran, she said.

So aggressive, she said, that the prosecution intends to use as evidence against Abedini a series of satellite broadcasts to Iranian Christians in 2005.

"Some of the evidence against Saeed that is going to be brought against him are actions he took on U.S. soil," Barrans said.

In a Jan. 10 letter that the ACLJ said Abedini was able to send from Evin, he describes being held for three months in a constantly lighted room, and provided a brief glimpse of the sky once per week.

"One day I am told I will be freed and allowed to see my family and kids on Christmas (which was a lie) and the next day I am told I will hang for my faith in Jesus," the letter states. "One day there are intense pains after beatings and interrogations, the next day they are nice to you and offer you candy."

Nagmeh told Boise television station KBOI on Thursday that she has been able to speak by phone with her husband.

"It was weeks and weeks before I even heard his voice," she told the TV station. "He shared that he really misses the kids, and me, and really wants to be home." The couple has a daughter, 6-year-old Rebekkah, and a son, 4-year-old Jacob.

"I wanted to tell him that we're fighting for him here, but I couldn't," she said. "I didn't know if it was safe. I know that his phone is being listened to."

Phillips said Calvary Chapel of Boise plans a prayer service with the Abedini family on Sunday.
"We just want to see Saeed back home," she said.

END

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Copyright 2013 World Watch Monitor

Two North Korean Christians Killed for Their Faith

Photo: Reuters/KRT via Reuters TV

SANTA ANA, Calif., Jan. 18, 2013 /Christian Newswire/ --

Open Doors has confirmed the death of two Christians in North Korea. According to the ministry that serves persecuted Christians worldwide, one Christian was recently shot while he was on his way back to Bible training in China. The other died in one of North Korea's notorious labor camps.

The first Christian had travelled to China several times before. People told him he could earn more money, but after working in China for six months he still hadn't received any money, even though he found several jobs.

After awhile he met an Open Doors worker who cared for the North Korean refugee. The North Korean became interested in the Christian faith. After studying the Bible and receiving teaching, he became a believer. He eventually chose to return to North Korea.

"He was very excited about his new faith and wanted to share the gospel with his family," says an Open Doors worker. "He wanted to come back to China to study the Bible more so he could explain the Christian faith better to his family. It is heartbreaking that he was killed. I cannot stop thinking: 'If only he had arrived a little later at the border river, the guard would not have seen and shot him. He could still be alive today.'"

Another Christian recently died in a labor camp. This man also studied the Bible in China. After eight months he decided to return back to North Korea. According to Open Doors, he became a dedicated and faithful Christian. However, North Korean authorities found out about his secret faith and he was sent to prison.

"We just received an update that he was dead," says the Open Doors worker. "He was terribly tortured because of his faith. He was also forced to do heavy labor while hardly receiving any food. Before his return to North Korea, he was baptized and willing to deal with the all the hardships he had to face. We never tell people to go back to North Korea, but he was happy to. We are devastated to hear about these murders. We know Christians die for their faith almost every day in North Korea, but it is still hard to deal with."

Open Doors has confirmed both deaths through several sources, which cannot be mentioned for security reasons.

North Korea has been No. 1 on Open Doors' World Watch List for the past 11 years. No where else in the world is the persecution of Christians so intense. Even the possession of the Bible is enough to be killed or sent to a labor camp for life with your family.

The 200,000 to 400,000 Christians in North Korea have to profess their faith in secret. Approximately 50,000 to 70,000 Christians live, work and ultimately die in one of the horrible concentration camps.

A refugee from North Korea recently stated: "there is no religious freedom whatsoever in North Korea. People are simply killed if they believe in Jesus. Kim Jong-Un is a god and there cannot be any god besides him. Yes, there are church services in North Korea, but only when foreigners are present. The state calls up some locals to be present. There is no freedom of religion, speech or press in North Korea."

Through its networks, Open Doors strengthens persecuted Christians in North Korea. Open Doors also ministers to refugees who flee to China because of hunger or political persecution.

Christians are persecuted for their faith in at least 60 countries worldwide. They suffer interrogation, arrest and even death in some of the most dangerous and restrictive countries in the world. For 58 years Open Doors has supported and strengthened believers worldwide through Bible and Christian literature distribution, leadership training and assistance, Christian community development and prayer and presence ministry. To partner with Open Doors USA, call toll free at 888-5-BIBLE-5 (888-524-2535) or go to our Website at www.OpenDoorsUSA.org.

Police break up plot to assassinate Turkish pastor

Two of the suspects 'were like family' in the church

By Dan Wooding
Founder of ASSIST Ministries

(Photo: World Watch Monitor)

Some of the other suspects also had visited the church, Karaali told World Watch Monitor. He said three of the suspects are women.

"These people had infiltrated our church and collected information about me, my family and the church and were preparing an attack against us," said Karaali, 33, a native Turk and a convert to Christianity. "Two of them attended our church for over a year and they were like family."

Accounts of the arrests in Turkish media reported that the suspects were planning to murder Karaali this week during a series of evangelistic outreach meetings.

"They caught them last minute," said Hakan Tastan, an Istanbul Christian who was visiting Izmit Wednesday. "If they had waited one week, we would have lost them," he said, referring to the pastor, his family and potentially other church members.

The 14 had collected personal information, copies of personal documents, created maps of the church and the pastor's home, and had photos of those who had come to Izmit to preach. In one of the homes raided by police, two guns were found, Turkish media reported. Police have recorded the telephone conversations of the 14 suspects.

Press reports said the Izmit anti-terror police decided to close in when they learned the network of suspects had brought in someone from Diyarbakir, in eastern Turkey, to carry out the murder.

"The police are not talking about the arrests, claiming their investigation is ongoing," added the World Watch story.

Karaali said he learned about the arrests reading the morning newspaper Wednesday. Later that day, he said, the police called him in for questioning and a briefing that lasted more than five hours.

He said police showed him photos of some of the 12 suspects who, unlike the remaining two suspects, had not been regularly attending the church. He said he recognized some of the 12 as occasional visitors. Karaali said his treatment at the hands of the police was "exceptional."

The pastor said he has been working with police since January 2012, when he informed them of a death threat he had received.

"I received a threat by phone and that's when the police started to investigate," Karaali said. It's not yet publicly known whether any of the suspects arrested Tuesday are connected to that initial phone threat.

Karaali said he declined police protection that was offered at that time, though his wife and two young children did move into an apartment building with better security. Another threat was made during the summer.

"They said, 'You talk too much. We're hearing your voice everywhere and we're going to break your head.' They didn't say they'll kill me exactly, but that if I didn't shut up it would be bad." Police have not revealed whether any of the 14 suspects arrested this week are suspected of making the threat.

World Watch Monitor said that Izmit, about 100 miles east of Istanbul, is the heart of an industrial region of about 1 million people, known for the devastation it faced in the earthquake of 1999 that claimed thousands of lives. The Izmit Protestant Church, operating for 13 years, is a small congregation, ministering to 20 people, all of whom are Turkish converts to Christianity. Karaali and his wife have served the church for four years, in an environment he described as difficult.

"Every region of Turkey has its challenges," he said. "What is difficult about our city is that the people here are closed and there are many radical groups making it a hard place for the church. The anger towards us continues."

A Christian visiting the Izmit Church this week described a group of children yelling insults at those who were leaving an evening meeting. Earlier this week, a passerby threw rocks and hurled expletives at the church.

"There is hate and this hate feeling continues from people here," Karaali said of the attitude of the locals toward the church. "They look at us strangely. Unfortunately that continues. We've been trying to make known what Christianity is about. There are those who come to us who are warm and well-intentioned, but ones who hate us also come unfortunately."

Karaali's predecessor, Wolfgang Hade, a German, also had received death threats during his time as pastor in Izmit, and was under police protection for a year after the 2007 murders of three Christians in the eastern city of Malatya. The accused ringleader of the Malatya murders had said he was planning on killing Hade next.

The Istanbul Protestant Church Foundation, of which the Izmit church is a member, denounced the alleged assassination plot in a press statement Thursday.

"These types of assassination attempts are a black stain that some want to spread on Turkey making it a spectacle to the world," the statement read. "We stand against those who attack different faiths in our country. Instead we prefer the upholding of the virtues of love and brotherhood, which is the core of tolerance."

Karaali said he intends to continue to pastor his small flock.

"Two years ago I almost lost my life because of my health, but the Lord brought me back to life and he has done this for me again," he said. "He protects us, so we believe this means the Lord has work for us to do. We haven't lost our confidence. On the contrary, we feel the Lord is with us because he didn't allow this (assassination) to happen, and we will continue to do what the Lord asks. We will continue. We will continue."

Turkey was ranked No. 31 on the 2012 World Watch List, a ranking of the 50 countries where life as a Christian is most oppressed, as measured by Open Doors International, a ministry to persecuted Christians. Turkey did not rank among the top 50 in the 2013 World Watch List.

Egypt Family Gets 15 Years For Christian Conversion

By Jeremy Reynalds
Senior Correspondent for ASSIST News Service

NEW YORK (ANS) -- The 15-year prison sentence given to a woman and her seven children by an Egyptian court for converting to Christianity is a sign of things to come.

That's according to alarmed human rights advocates who say the nation's Islamist government is bad news for Christians in the North African country.

According to a story by Benjamin Weinthal for Fox News, a criminal court in the central Egyptian city of Beni Suef handed out the shocking sentence last week, according to the Arabic-language Egyptian paper Al-Masry Al-Youm.

Nadia Mohamed Ali, who was raised a Christian, converted to Islam when she married Mohamed Abdel-Wahhab Mustafa, a Muslim, 23 years ago.

Fox News said he later died, and his widow planned to convert her family back to Christianity in order to obtain an inheritance from her family. She sought the help of others in the registration office to process new identity cards between 2004 and 2006. When the conversion came to light under the new regime, Nadia, her children and even the clerks who processed the identity cards were all sentenced to prison.

According to Fox News, Samuel Tadros, a research fellow at Hudson Institute's Center for Religious Freedom, said conversions like Nadia's have been common in the past, but said Egypt's new Sharia-based constitution "is a real disaster in terms of religion freedom."

"The cases will increase in the future," Tadros said. "It will be much harder for people to return to Christianity."

President Mohamed Morsi, who was elected last June and succeeded the secular reign of Hosni Mubarak, who is now in prison, pushed the new constitution through last year.

Fox reported that Tadros said the constitution limits the practice of Christianity because "religious freedom has to be understood within the boundaries of Sharia."

He added that the constitution prescribes that the highest Sunni authority should be referred to as an interpreter of the religion clause contained in the constitution.

Fox News said opponents of the constitution, including Coptic Christians and secular and liberal groups, protested at the time against passage of the document because of the mix of Islamic-based Sharia law and politics. Roughly 10 percent of Egyptians are Coptic Christians.

A government spokeswoman told FoxNews.com she would determine "who is responsible for this and covers this issue in Beni Suef," a city of 200,000 located about 75 miles south of Cairo. She did not offer further comment.

The case is the latest example of the increasingly dire plight of the nation's roughly 7 million Christians, say human rights advocates.

"Now that Sharia law has become an integral part of Egypt's new constitution, Christians in that country are at greater risk than ever," said Jordan Sekulow, executive director of the American Center for Law and Justice.

Fox News said Sekulow added, "This is another tragic case that underscores the growing problem of religious intolerance in the Muslim world. To impose a prison sentence for a family because of their Christian faith sadly reveals the true agenda of this new government: Egypt has no respect for international law or religious liberty."

Fox News said Morsi has been under fire for failing to take action against rising violence inflicted on Egypt's Christians. In August, the roughly 100-family Christian community in Dahshour was forced to flee after Muslim neighbors launched attacks against the Christians' homes and property. Morsi said the expulsion and violence was "blown out of proportion."

Radical Salafi preachers -- who have formed alliances with Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood -- called for Muslims to shun Christians during Christmas.

Fox said Sekulow urged U.S. diplomatic intervention in Egypt to promote religious freedom. Morsi is scheduled to meet with President Obama, possibly in March.

"The U.S. State Department must play more of a role in discouraging this kind of persecution," Sekulow said. "The U.S. should not be an idle bystander. The U.S. provides more than $1 billion to Egypt each year. The State Department should speak out forcefully against this kind of religious persecution in Egypt."

Muslims Demolish Church Owned Building in Egypt

By Jeremy Reynalds
Senior Correspondent for ASSIST News Service

EGYPT (ANS) -- Hundreds of Muslims came out of mosques earlier this week armed with hammers, and while chanting Islamic slogans destroyed a social services building belonging to the Coptic Church.

According to a story by Mary Abdelmassih for the Assyrian International News Agency (AINA), security forces arrived after the building was completely destroyed.

AINA said the 100 square meters social services building in the village of Fanous (130 KM southwest of Cairo) had all the necessary government permits. The building had a reception hall on the first floor and a kindergarten on the second. However, AINA said, Muslims insisted it would become a church.

According to AINA, prior to the incident a meeting had taken place between the village mayor, and Muslim and Coptic elders. It was agreed that only the first floor was to remain and the second be demolished.

AINA said Mosques in surrounding villages broadcast a message on loudspeakers to Muslims to go and help their Muslim brethren in Fanous, because Christians were "building a church."

According to rights activist Nader Shukry of Maspero Coptic Youth Organizations, nearly 5000 Muslims took part in demolishing the church property, while shouting "Allahu Akbar."

AINA reported Shukry said noone was arrested, not even the imams who called on Muslims to demolish the building.

The district of Tamia and neighboring Senousen is home to a large congregation of Islamists. Shoukry said that the Coptic Church had previously warned the security authorities of the potential of the Islamists provoking violence in this and neighboring areas.

According to AINA, a witness from Fanous said they had been working on the building site for two months. Workers were removing the wood ,which was intended for the second floor, when a Muslim man started insulting the Copts. An assault by village women followed. The
Muslim men followed with their attack saying that the whole building has to be demolished.

The witness said that the Muslim elders pretended to be peacemakers, but to no avail. He added, "The Muslims with their hammers and spare pipes were demolishing also the walls of the ground floor, leaving nothing standing."

According to AINA, the village mayor and Muslim elders made excuses for not honoring their agreement of leaving the ground floor intact by blaming the "unreasonable actions" of the youth.

AINA said security authorities arrived after the building was demolished.

AINA said a number of village Copts, together with priests from St. George's Church, went to the police station to file a report. No Muslim was arrested.

"Although we recognized the village youth who participated in the demolition work we could not name any of them," AINA reported a Christian resident said.

The individual added, "We are a minority in the village and we do not want to have problems, because we fear for the safety of our children. We go away to work in Cairo leaving our families behind in the village. I believe that as Copts, we are destined to be always persecuted."

According to Shukry, AINA said, the Copts are staying indoors, afraid to get into any confrontation which might lead to other attacks on their homes and businesses.

Shukry said, "This incident will end like all other similar incidents. No one will be arrested and the building will never be rebuilt."

AINA said Shukry believes the Copts should stand firm and insist on rebuilding this demolished services building, "otherwise it will be a green light to repeat this incident in the neighboring villages."

AINA said in 2007 in the village of Roda in Tamia, Muslims demolished the fence of the Protestant church. Security initiated a "reconciliation" meeting. Officials promised to rebuild the fence at their own expense, and the perpetrators were released. However, the fence has still not been rebuilt.

For more information about the Assyrian International News Agency, go to www.aina.org

Iran Pursues 'Sham Trial' Against American Pastor Saeed for his Faith in under One Week

His case has been turned over to one of Iran's notorious 'hanging judges'

By Dan Wooding
Founder of ASSIST Ministries

Iranian-American Pastor Saeed Abedini
with his wife, Naghmeh, and his two children.

TEHRAN, IRAN (ANS) -- American Pastor Saeed Abedini's Iranian lawyer has finally permitted to see Saeed's court file. What he discovered is that Pastor Saeed's trial has been set for Monday, January 21, 2013.

Jordan Sekulow, Executive Director of the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), has said in a story, "It is an outrage that Pastor Saeed's trial date and charge against him would be withheld from his legal counsel until less than a week before the trial itself. Not only is Iran violating Pastor Saeed's fundamental freedom of religion, but it is making a mockery of 'justice.'

"Even more disturbing, the only charge that Pastor Saeed's attorney was able to decipher dates back to the year 2000, the year that Pastor Saeed converted from Islam to Christianity. The supposed charge levied against him, actions against the national security of Iran, is a typical charge brought by the radical Islamic regime against those it wishes to persecute for their religious beliefs. His court file indicated that this national security charge was directly related to his work starting a house church movement in Iran."

He went on to say, "As we know from Pastor Youcef's case, who was also involved in house churches, charges related to apostasy (converting to Christianity) can carry the death sentence in Iran. This coupled with the fact that, as Saeed stated in his recent letter, he has been told that he 'will hang' for his 'faith in Jesus' and that his case has been turned over to one of Iran's notorious 'hanging judges' clearly indicates that Pastor Saeed is in grave danger."

Sekulow said that in addition to the national security charge brought against Pastor Saeed for his religious beliefs, the Islamic regime has also confiscated an Iranian bank account which included 130 million Toman (about $105,000) that had been donated by an Iranian toward Saeed's efforts to build an orphanage.

Pastor Saeed was arrested in September, while he was traveling to Iran to oversee efforts to set up an orphanage for Iranian children in need.

"Iran's continued crack down on religious minorities cannot be allowed to continue unchallenged by the international community," said Sekulow. "The U.S. State Department has begun to engage this issue noting its "serious concerns" about Pastor Saeed's imprisonment. However, we urge the State Department to take immediate and direct action to intervene on this American citizen's behalf who suffers merely because of his Christian faith.

"As more individuals and governments around the world take notice of Pastor Saeed's case, the pressure on Iran to release him and stop violating religious liberty will increase. Action must be taken quickly as the Iranian regime is clearly bent on rushing through a sham trial that leaves counsel unprepared and in the dark about the nature of the charges against their client and exacerbates the already horrific violations of Pastor Saeed's human rights."

He asked people to "stand with the ACLJ (http://aclj.org/) and tens of thousands of others in defense of this American citizen and pastor by signing their petition to save Pastor Saeed today."

He concluded by saying, "Also, please call your Representative and Senators immediately and ask them to sign on to Representative Aderholt's letter in the House and Senator Risch's letter in the Senate calling for Pastor Saeed's freedom."

Pakistan Supreme Court confirms decision to drop blasphemy case

Rimsha Masih now free; lawyers say she always will be at risk in Pakistan

London, Jan. 16 (World Watch Monitor) — The Pakistan Supreme Court on Tuesday threw out an appeal to reopen a blasphemy case against a 14-year-old Christian girl, who had been accused of burning verses from the Koran.

Rimsha Masih had been acquitted of the charges in November by the High Court in Islamabad. A Muslim cleric was subsequently charged with fabricating evidence against the girl. The lower court’s decision was appealed to the nation’s highest court.

One of the girl’s lawyers, Thahir Naveed Chaudhry, confirmed the Supreme Court’s rejection of the appeal to World Watch Monitor. Separately, Federal Minister for National Harmony Paul Bhatti told Asia News he was satisfied with the decision of the Supreme Court confirming “Rimsha Masih is innocent.”

According to Vatican Radio, the minister said these were “days of stress and tension” but “justice had prevailed”. Bhatti is the brother of Shahbaz Bhatti, the government Minorities Minister who was assassinated for calling for reform of Pakistan’s anti-blasphemy law.

Although Rimsha was 14 at the time of her arrest last summer, her developmental age is said to be lower. Some reports say she has Down syndrome and has never received an education.

Prior to Tuesday’s ruling, Vatican sources said the decision to appeal at the Supreme Court may have been taken for political reasons to appease fundamentalists ahead of the parliamentary elections later this year.

Fr. Mario Rodrigues, director of the Pontifical Mission Societies in Pakistan, told the Vatican information service, Fides: "On the one hand there is the political manipulation of Rimsha’s case; on the other hand there are some mullahs who insist. Moreover, there is a right to lodge an appeal.”

Rimsha was arrested Aug. 16 after being accused of burning pages on which were printed verses from the Koran, a violation of Pakistan’s anti-blasphemy laws. The girl, who lived in Meranabadi, a poor Christian district outside Islamabad, was held for three weeks in an adult prison in Rawalpindi, before being released on bail in September.

After being granted bail, Rimsha had to be airlifted by police helicopter to avoid an angry mob. She went into hiding with her family for fear that extremists would take revenge, whatever the outcome of the court decision.

According to Christian relief organisation LEAD, dozens of poor Christian families fled the neighborhood of Meranabadi after blasphemy charges were brought against Rimsha. They say fear returned to the neighbourhood when it was learned Rimsha’s case was being brought back to the Supreme Court.

Though Rimsha now is legally free, Christian lawyers say she and her family have no future in Pakistan, where their lives will always remain at risk. Others who have been acquitted of blasphemy have been assassinated by militants taking the law into their own hands.

The case against Rimsha was thrown out by the High Court in Islamabad in November, after Chief Justice Iqbal Hameed-ur Rehman cited the lack of witnesses to support the allegation.

The case against Rimsha collapsed after the police were informed the cleric of the mosque in Rimsha’s area had planted the evidence against her. The cleric has been named as Khalid Chishti.

News agency Agence France-Presse said his deputy, Maulvi Zubair, reported to the police that Chishti had added pages of the Koran to papers Rimsha had burned. Citing police sources, AFP says Chishti’s deputy warned the cleric not to interfere with the evidence, but Chishti replied, “You know, this is the only way to expel the Christians from this area.” Police arrested the imam on suspicion of tampering with the evidence and desecrating the Koran.

Pakistan Lawyers say Rimsha’s acquittal is unlikely to result in a change in Pakistan’s blasphemy laws, which critics say are routinely abused to settle scores and take revenge. However, religious liberty campaigners say they hope the case will set a precedent for the way future blasphemy allegations are investigated.
Chief Justice Rehman warned blasphemy charges should only be brought with caution because of their sensitivity. Campaigners hope the court’s remarks will have a positive bearing on other outstanding cases, including that of Asia Bibi, the first Christian woman to be sentenced to death on blasphemy charges.
But Fr. Mario Rodrigues told the Vatican’s Fides service that "the abuse of the blasphemy law, such as Rimsha’s case, continues while the country is crossed by a worrying spiral of violence."

Pakistan’s blasphemy laws have been in the spotlight since January 2011, when Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer was shot dead by his own bodyguard after calling for reform to the blasphemy law. Two months later, Minorities’ Minister Shahbaz Bhatti, a Roman Catholic, was also assassinated, after campaigning for the blasphemy law to be changed.

Sources: AsiaNews, Pakistan Christian Post, Vatican Radio, Fides, AFP
END

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Copyright 2013 World Watch Monitor

Jihad in Kenya takes a startling turn

Al-Shabaab soldier (Story photo courtesy Assist News Service)

Kenya (MNN) ― The jihad in Somalia seems to have spilled into Kenya now where tensions between the Christian majority and the Muslim minority are building.

Even as the Muslim hardliners connected to al-Shabaab (subsequently al-Qaeda) gain influence, the economic plight in Kenya seems only to add fuel to the fires they're stirring.

As a result, attacks on churches, specifically designed to provoke communal anxiety, have been on the rise in Kenya. Last October, Kenyan military forces entered Somalia to engage the al-Shabaab.

At first deemed a successful operation, it's now thought that the militia responded with a recruitment drive of Kenyan youth, offering cash incentives for the families of would-be martyrs. Jihadists are also thought to be targeting nominal Christians.

Todd Nettleton is a spokesman for the Voice of the Martyrs USA. First, he says, take this issue: "The unemployment rate in Kenya is said to be about 40%. Among out -of-school youth, it is thought to be as high as 75%. A lot of young people are out of school; they can't find a job."

Then, inject disillusionment: "Into that situation comes a radical Muslim recruiter who says, ‘Come and work for us. It's a regular paycheck. We'll take care of your family if anything happens to you. Why don't you come and join the fight?' That becomes an enticing offer when there are no jobs to be found."

What you wind up with is an escalation in tensions in Kenya, swelling numbers of Kenyan Muslims currently in al-Shabaab's ranks in Somalia, and even some nominal Christians. Nettleton explains, "In Kenya, there is a tribal identity that most people have. If your tribe is a majority Christian tribe, then somebody who meets you on the street just sort of assumes that you are a Christian."

Those young people make the perfect recruit because the Kenyan government isn't looking at the Christian tribes as a threat, notes Nettleton. "That gives them an opportunity to have more freedom of movement. It gives them an opportunity to conduct surprise attacks. Really, al-Shabaab is going for these people who can fly under the radar from a security standpoint, because people who see them assume that they are Christians."

Recruiting "Christians" to attack churches reveals the insidious nature of the jihad in Kenya, he adds. Churches are now putting in security measures similar to those used in Nigerian churches. Nettleton says, "When we think about church, we think of it as a refuge, a place of peace, a place where everyone is welcome. When you put armed guards and when you start frisking people when they come in the door, it's hard to maintain that openness."

Kenyan pastors are on high alert, but keep praying. Nettleton says there is a vibrant Church body in Kenya. "When you are nervous about having new people in your church because they could be bombers, that affects how you reach out; that affects how you welcome visitors; that affects everything about how you conduct the service and how you do things. I think the other side of that coin, really, is a reckoning of your faith."

Still, the strain on Christians is wearing, Nettleton adds. First, "We want to pray for their protection because there is a growing risk. There are more and more of these attacks that we see, so we need to pray that the Lord protects them."

Hope in Mali rises with international military intervention

Hunted down in North, Christians fear Islamist advance on South

Malians demonstrating in favor of an international military intervention

London, Jan. 14 (World Watch Monitor) – French troops have launched a military operation in Mali, aiming at stopping the advance of Islamists from their bases in the north to the South.



The French intervention started on Friday, Jan. 11 with air strikes, and had enabled the Malian troops to regain control of the cental town of Konna, occupied by Islamists the day before.



Since then, French warplanes have been bombing Islamists’ positions in Timbuktu, Gao and elsewhere in the North.



More than half of Mali has been controlled by rebel groups, some with links to al-Qaeda, since April 2012.



The French military intervention has been widely welcomed by Malians. In Bamako, the capital, residents have been expressing their joy, and are praising France for its support. The military action has raised hopes of liberating  the North from the Islamists’ occupation.



Eradicate extremism



Until recently Mali has been a typical West African state with a mostly moderate form of Islam. It is constitutionally secular, and political parties with religious connotations are banned, though a high percentage of the population is Muslim. The cohabitation with the religious minorities, mostly Christians and animists, had been peaceful .



Christians had enjoyed widespread freedoms in Malian society, including foreign Christian missionaries, who also were in the North. But situation dramatically changed with the 2012 capture of the northern part of the country by Tuareg separatist rebels and Islamist fighters.



The insurgents soon established an Islamic state in the North, with a strict regime of Sharia, or Islamic law. They attacked and destroyed churches and other Christian buildings in Timbuktu and Gao, with the aim of eradicating all traces of Christianity in the region.



They also were very hard on less fundamentalist Muslims, killing people, amputating limbs and destroying Sufi Muslim sanctuaries.



The harsh conditions prompted thousands to flee. According to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, more than 250,000 Malians currently live in neighbouring countries like Niger, Burkina Faso or Mauritania, and about 200,000 others have fled to Bamako.
The rapid Islamist takeover of the North pushed Mali into the No. 7 position on the 2013 World Watch List, a ranking of the 50 countries where conditions for Christians are most oppressive. It is published annually by Open Doors International, a ministry to persecuted Christians. Mali had never before been included in the list.



Among other initiatives, a crisis committee has been set up by a group of churches and missions in Bamako, to help an estimated minimum of 330 Christian refugee families who’ve fled there from the North. It’s helping refugees with food, shelter and medical care, as well as long-term educational and vocational support.



Many of the displaced Christians living in Bamako are anxious because they don’t know whether some of their family members are alive or dead.



“I gave my life to Christ two years ago but all members of my family are Muslims, which is why my wife and daughter despise me,” said Mohamed Habi, a refugee. “When the Islamists captured Timbuktu and began their search for Christians to kill, I escaped to Mauritania. From Mauritania I went to Bamako to be with fellow Christians.”



French military strikes have paved the way for the deployment of an international military mission.



Many West African countries have announced their intention to send troops to Mali. More than 3,000 troops are expected in the following days, as part of the Military Mission for the Stabilization of Mali, backed by the UN, with logistical support from some Western countries such as the United Kingdom and the United States.



But the fight for the control of northern Mali will not be an easy task, French military experts are warning.



French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said France's campaign in Mali is "developing favourably".  But he admitted that the situation is "difficult" and the Islamist fighters are well-armed.



According to an analyst, if the international forces fail to drive away the Islamists from northern Mali, there will be no hope rebuilding a Christian presence in the North again. The church in the South, too, is wary of the rising influence of Islam in Malian politics.



END

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Copyright 2013 World Watch Monitor

A letter from the Depths of an Iranian Prison from a U.S. Minister

By Dan Wooding
Founder of ASSIST Ministries

Saeed Abedini and his family via ACLJ

TEHRAN, IRAN (ANS) -- A letter from Saeed Abedini, a U.S. minister imprisoned in Iran, has made its way, through family members, to the Assemblies of God national offices in the United States.

The letter, carried out from Iran's notoriously brutal Evin Prison, in northwestern Tehran, tells of beatings and interrogations, around-the-clock bright lights and ongoing lies designed to create hope, in order to crush it.
According to a story from Dan Van Veen of the AG News & Information Service (www.ag.org), "The remarkable letter also reveals a depth of faith and compassion that could only be granted by God."

Pastor Saeed Abedini, a U.S. minister, has been imprisoned in Evin Prison in Tehran for his faith since Iranian authorities removed him from a bus in September 2012 while he was visiting his homeland.

Sign outside the prison

Recently, Naghmeh, Abedini's wife, received a letter from her husband through family members who were able to visit him in prison. Naghmeh passed the letter on to Assemblies of God (AG) General Superintendent Dr. George O. Wood, with the encouragement to share the letter with everyone.

"Saeed's letter is nothing short of a modern-day Pauline epistle," states Dr. Wood. "As I read his letter through several times, I could only marvel at how God's faithfulness transcends time as the same Holy Spirit that was with Paul in his times of desperation is fully evident in the words of our brother Saeed."

"I always wanted God to make me a godly man," Saeed writes in his letter. "I did not realize that in order to become a godly man we need to become like steel under pressure. It is a hard process of warm and cold to make steel. The process in my life today is one day I was told I will be freed on bail to see my family and kids on Christmas (they are all lies) and the next day I am told I will hang for my faith in Jesus."

"It's amazing to me how this letter, from an imprisoned pastor, inspires and ministers to me when he, it would seem, is the one who needs our prayers," Wood states. "I encourage believers to allow this letter to inspire them to greater things, to pass it on to friends and to continue to uplift Saeed, Naghmeh and their two young children to God in prayer."

To read the letter, which is less than 500 words, click this link: http://s2.ag.org/abendiniletter. To read the original "AG News" story about the imprisonment of Pastor Abedini, see: http://s2.ag.org/saeedstory.

Sudan Cracks Down on South Sudanese Christians

Church building demolished; student imprisoned

By Jeremy Reynalds
Senior Correspondent for ASSIST News Service

JUBA, SOUTH SUDAN (ANS) -- Sudanese authorities rang in the new year by bulldozing a church building outside Khartoum because it belonged to Christians of South Sudanese origin and lacked a permit, a source said.

Sudanese authorities demolished the Church of St. John

 in Khartoum without warning on June 18, 2012. 

(Barnabas Fund photo)

According to a story by Morning Star News, the South Sudanese have been ordered to leave the country following the new republic's secession from Sudan in July 2011. However, thousands are reportedly stranded in the north due to loss of jobs, poverty, transportation limitations and ethnic and tribal conflict in South Sudan.

The source told Morning Star News by telephone that officials from the Khartoum State Ministry of Physical Infrastructure accompanied by police on Jan. 2 demolished the building of the Sudan Pentecostal Church in Soba Al Aradi, a Khartoum suburb that began as a refugee camp for South Sudanese. The destruction came without warning as part of a government survey of the area, he said.
"We are surveying this area because it was not officially demarcated," a civil engineer surveying the area told area Christians, the source said. "We are bulldozing this building because it belongs to a church whose members are South Sudanese, but they are no longer citizens of Sudan."

Morning Star News reported that officials said the South Sudanese in the area are there illegally, but Christians said the government is targeting churches in its stated objective of making Sudan a purely Islamic country.

A Presbyterian church building in Soba Al Aradi also is slated for destruction, and authorities have already demolished a pastor's house that was attached to it, the source said.

According to Morning Star News, officials told Pastor Mubarak Hamad of the Presbyterian Church of Sudan, an Arabic-speaking congregation, that he needed to apply for a property permit. Hamad is from the Nuba Mountains, an area of Sudan populated by many of South Sudan origin.

The Pentecostal church building that was reduced to rubble was also lacking official permission, Morning Star News said officials told church members. The church had erected the building on land donated by church members, who said they are victims of selective enforcement.

"I saw staff from the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure of Khartoum State with policemen in plain uniform, and a bulldozer destroying the church building," the source said.

Morning Star News said harassment, violence and arrests of Christians have reportedly intensified since the secession of South Sudan. It was then that Sudan President Omar al Bashir vowed to adopt a stricter version of sharia (Islamic law) and recognize only Islamic culture and the Arabic language.

Morning Star News reported that church leaders say the government is targeting missionaries and expelling them from the country. Last month, Sudan arrested two Coptic priests for baptizing a woman who had converted from Islam to Christianity. The whereabouts of the priests remain unknown, and security officials have refused to allow their families to visit them.

Student Imprisoned

Hostilities against Christians in Sudan have so increased that the country jumped from 16th in 2011 to 12th last year on the 2013 World Watch List of nations where Christians face the most persecution, published by Christian support organization Open Doors.

"The government and society try to squeeze Christians in all spheres of life, and the level of violence escalated in the past year" Morning Star News said the report states.
Morning Star News said South Sudanese Christians in Sudan have faced increased hostilities due to their ethnic origins - though thousands have little or no ties to South Sudan - and their faith.

A 33-year-old university student of South Sudanese origin was imprisoned for three months last year after two Muslim women insulted him on a bus, according to a fellow student who requested anonymity.

He told Morning Star News that the women told George John Tangoon on Aug. 28 that he was an "infidel," and should leave Sudan. When Tangoon objected, the furious Muslims ordered the bus driver to go to a police station.

Officers held him for three days at Hillat Kuku police station in Khartoum North, where the student said Tangoon was falsely charged with violating Public Order Article 77, which among other things requires men to give up their seats to women on public transport.

Morning Star News reported that said sources said the Public Order Courts are frequently used to try Christians accused of violating Islamic laws that favor Muslims. Without benefit of a lawyer, Tangoon was sentenced to three months in prison, serving his time first at Kober Prison in Khartoum, then Omdurman Prison, and finally Soba Prison south of Khartoum.

He was released in late November.

Find Morning Star News at http://morningstarnews.org