Nearly a dozen captives freed; prayer needed for those who remain

(Map courtesy Wikipedia)

Iran (MNN) ― Two of the prisoners released from Iran's notorious Evin prison are Christ-followers.

"We want to thank God that these two women, these two believers are released. That is wonderful news to receive," says E3 Partners VP of Church and Ministry Partnerships and Middle East Strategy Director, Tom Doyle.

A few days ago, at least 11 political prisoners were released from Iran's notorious Evin Prison. Among them were believers Mitra Rahmati and Maryam Jalili, according to Mohabat News.

The women were sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison for sharing the Gospel with Muslims and "being members of a Christian group", the Mohabat article states.

"It is a good sign," Doyle adds, "but we know that Iran--their government--is very famous for kind of 'pandering to the press' when the pressure is on, and they're feeling that right now."

Iran's moderate Islamic president, Hassan Rohani, is scheduled to appear before the United Nations General Assembly next week. Rohani is expected to deliver a speech and raise diplomatic favor.

With U.S. Pastor Saeed Abedini and Pastor Farshid Fathi among those remaining within Evin's walls, the desperate need for prayer remains.

"When I heard prisoners were going to be released, we certainly prayed, but it didn't happen that two of the key ones were let go, so we need to just keep praying for them," says Doyle.

"It seems like they go harder after the leadership," he adds, explaining that Abedini and Fathi are viewed as "prized possessions" by Iranian officials.

"Pastor Saeed and Pastor Fathi had quite a network, and that's what [officials are] trying to do: break up any kind of network and [its] influence."

Pray for their release. Ask the Lord to keep them safe during their imprisonment.

"I never hear believers in Iran pray for persecution or hardship to end," Doyle notes.

"I've always heard them pray, 'Lord, just show us what we need to learn. You are God. You could've stopped this, so we conclude that there's a reason for it, so teach us everything that we need to know'."

For 25 years, E3 Partners has been sharing the Gospel with the Middle East and Central Asia (MECA). Doyle says they help persecuted believers in any and every way they can.

"Some of them have struggled financially; some of them are needing follow-up materials for new believers," he says.

One of E3's most recent projects is a small publication printed in the Farsi language, called "The Incredible Journey."

"It's just a small Bible survey that helps new believers navigate from Genesis to Revelation," Doyle explains. "Obviously, the Holy Spirit leads us, but we find that there are extra resources that we can get that can really help them as they're training this new, vibrant, fast-growing Church in Iran."

Learn more about E3's MECA program and how you can get involved.

"If people want to reach out and bless the Church in Iran, the leaders that need help with resources, materials, going to conferences, or help with feeding their family, they can get on E3Partners.org," says Doyle.

You can also get updates on Abedini, Fathi, and Iran's other persecuted believers on E3's 8thirty8 Facebook page.

"Informed prayer is critical," Doyle states. "We give updates of people who are either in prison, under persecution or in danger, whether it be Iran, Egypt, Syria.

"If believers get connected, they'll be a little bit more informed on their prayers, and that would really be helpful."

Pray for the Body of Christ in Iran.

"It amazes me the believers that go to underground churches and risk their lives, knowing that they might end up at a place like Evin Prison," says Doyle. "They want to share the Gospel, and that's why Iran is the fastest-growing Church in the world now, per capita.

"People are sharing the Gospel, but it's risky, and that's why we need to pray for them."

Vietnamese Christian electrocuted in prison

(Photo courtesy of Aapo Haapanen/Flickr)

Vietnam (MNN/VOM) ― “Bao,” a new Christian, is being pressured by village authorities in Vietnam to recant his faith, a Voice of the Martyrs (VOM) worker reports.

After Bao and his family converted to Christianity four months ago, authorities told Bao he could not live in the village. They also barred him from purchasing products like food, clothing, or candles in the village as long as he continued in his beliefs.

They repeated their threat three times. After Bao was baptized on July 16, his brother beat him and had him arrested. Bao was jailed for two days, beaten, and shocked in his eye with electric wires.

Police fined Bao $250, which had to be paid before he could be released. His wife was unable to go and find someone to loan them the money because she is blind. Instead, Bao was released on the condition that he returns in two days with the full payment. VOM is providing Bao with money to pay the fine.

VOM exists to serve the worldwide persecuted church through spiritual and practical assistance. Their ministry is based on Hebrews 13:3 which reads, “Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body.”

You can also take action to show our persecuted brothers and sisters in Christ that they are not forgotten. Click here to support VOM’s ministry or write a letter to a Christian prisoner.

Please pray for the provision and protection of Bao and his family. Pray that Bao’s faithfulness to Christ will cause others to ask, “Who is this God he serves?”

Be a part of a petition

(Photo Courtesy of BP)

Iran (MNN) ― You can be a part of saving a life. An Iranian-born pastor, who is a U.S. citizen, was arrested by the Iranian government on September 26, 2012. He is undergoing physical and mental torture in a notoriously brutal Tehran prison. An international campaign for his release is being shared, according to the American Center of Law and Justice (ACLJ).

On January 27, Saeed Abedini was sentenced to eight years in prison for establishing a network of Christian house churches years ago and for "attempting to sway Iranian youth away from Islam."

Since his conviction, he has not been allowed to communicate with his wife and two children who are in the United States, according to Baptist Press.

In the beginning of February, his Iranian relatives were allowed to visit him. According to FoxNews.com, he expressed apprehension and concern for his future. Abedini asked if there were international efforts to secure his freedom, the news network said, adding that his downtrodden spirit "is due to abuse and brainwashing techniques used by prison officials."

"It is no surprise that the Iranian prison guards are engaging in this kind of psychological abuse," Jordan Sekulow, ACLJ's executive director, told FoxNews.com. "We know that Pastor Saeed is undergoing physical beatings and torture. And we know there is growing concern about his health."

One of the many things ACLJ has done for the pastor is to launch a Web site SaveSaeed.org, and they are promoting #SaveSaeed on Twitter.

As of Monday (Feb. 11,) almost 195,000 people had signed a petition at SaveSaeed.org asking the United Nations, European Union, and Council of Europe to mobilize their resources to require Iran to honor its treaties and its constitution, and release the pastor.

ACLJ is looking for 300,000 signatures for this petition. That means for every day Saeed is supposed to be in prison, 100 people will have signed the petition. ACLJ believes that the more people are calling for Abedini's release, the more international media, governments, and world leaders are willing to put pressure on Iran to grant his freedom.

If you would like to sign this petition, click here. You can be a part of getting Pastor Saeed Abedini his freedom back. Also on the site are videos of Steven Curtis Chapman, TobyMac, Bart Millard of MercyMe, and other musicians and concerned citizens who have joined the effort.

Pray for Saeed as he is facing many trials in prison. Pray for his safety and continued strength to keep fighting. Ask God to give his wife and children the support they need at this time. Pray that God will use this devastating situation for growing His kingdom.

Book uncovers horrors hidden by Communist government

North Korean Prison Camps hold 150 -200 k
 human beings in bad conditions

North Korea (MNN) ― Spotted easily on satellite images but heavily denied by the government, North Korean prison camps harbor horrors equal to the Holocaust. A biography released earlier this month profiles the only man to escape from a "total control zone" camp, Shin Dong-hyuk. After spending a few weeks on bestseller lists, Escape from Camp 14 is drawing international attention to North Korea.

As North Korea faces human rights criticisms, Open Doors USAdraws attention to the plight of North Korean believers. The isolated Asian nation ranks #1 on the Open Doors 2012 World Watch List: a compilation of 50 countries where believers face the most religious persecution. An estimated 40,000 to 70,000 Christians suffer in total control zone internment camps, where people labeled as "wrong thinkers" are sent to die.

Shin Dong-hyuk was born in this same type of camp in 1982. In his book, Shin admits reporting his mother and brother to prison guards because they were going to escape without him. As a result, they were hung in front of Shin and other prisoners, and he was also tortured as punishment for their "crime."

Shin told American journalist Blaine Harden, author of Escape from Camp 14, "I wanted people to know this is the kind of children they are raising right now in these camps: people whose loyalty is to the guards and who will do anything to get more food."

Conditions in North Korean prison camps are similar to camps under the unforgettable regime of Hitler, Stalin and Mao. "Political prisoners" essentially work themselves to death while being subjected to severe physical and psychological torture. Open Doors reported they work 18-20 hours each day, with little to no food. To supplement their rations, prisoners consume anything edible, including snakes, rats, insects, roots, and grass.

In April, the U.S.-based Committee for Human Rights in North Korea released a report based on interviews with 60 former prisoners and guards. The 200-page report describes prison camps located mainly in northern mountainous regions behind barbed wire and electric fences -- fences Shin climbed through to escape, using his best friend's body as insulation against the deadly current.

In 2009, North Korea told the UN Human Rights Council, "The term 'political prisoner' does not exist in the [Democratic People's Republic of Korea] DPRK's vocabulary…the so-called political prisoners' camps do not exist." According to the April report, former prisoners were able to identify their work sites, execution grounds, and other landmarks using satellite imagery available through Google Earth.

Greg Scarlatoiu, Executive Director of the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, said that while North Korea tries to hide the horrendous realities of Pyongyang, over 30,000 North Korean defectors have fled the country -- up from 3,000 defectors ten years ago.

Pray for imprisoned believers in North Korea. Ask God to sustain them, and pray that they might be released. Pray for changes that can only be brought about by the Gospel.

Overseas Chinese Christian Businesswoman Who Visited House Churches in China is Kidnapped, Tortured by State Security Agents

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 27, 2012 /Christian Newswire/ -- A Chinese Christian businesswoman from Canada who visited China late last year was kidnapped and tortured by Chinese state security agents after she visited two persecuted Chinese house churches during the Christmas and New Year's holiday season, ChinaAid has learned.

Photo: Jenny Chen took this photo on Christmas Day 2011 of an armored personnel carrier and other police vehicles outside Jindeng Church in Linfen, Shanxi province.

Jenny Chen, who is in her 50s, was held by state security agents and denied food and water for nearly two days.  About to go into shock, she was taken to a police hospital, from where she managed to escape and get on a flight to Los Angeles, arriving in the United States on Jan. 17.

Chen, who does business in Canada, the United States and China, had learned of the severe persecution inflicted on Shouwang Church in Beijing and the Linfen house church in Shanxi province from reports online.

Motivated by Christian concern for her fellow believers, Chen and her daughter traveled to Beijing and Shanxi.  On Christmas Day, she was an eyewitness to police action in front of the Jindeng Church established by the Linfen house church.  She saw both regular and armed police and police vehicles, including armored personnel carriers, surrounding the church to stop church members from attending a Christmas worship service. Police blocked streets leading to the church and closed nearby shops.  Chen was followed and threatened by plainclothes police officers.

In Beijing, Chen had paid a visit before Christmas to Rev. Jin Tianming, senior pastor of Shouwang Church, who has been under house arrest since April 2011, and on New Year's Day, she and her daughter attempted to attend Shouwang's outdoor worship service. (See her account here: www.chinaaid.org/2012/01/new-years-visit-to-shouwang-church.html.)  On both occasions, she was followed by Domestic Security Protection agents.

Aware that they were being followed more and more closely, Chen put her daughter on a U.S.-bound plane on Jan. 10, then returned to her hometown in the city of Tianjin.  On the evening of Jan. 14, she was forcibly taken into custody by two plain-clothed state security agents who refused to show their IDs and taken to a secret place for questioning.  She later realized that she had been kidnapped by Tianjin state security agents.  She was interrogated in a cold, windowless cell with only one chair, and was asked what organization she was affiliated with and what overseas mission she was on.  Chen said she had no organizational affiliation nor was she on any overseas mission.  She said she was simply an overseas Christian whose conscience had propelled her to return to China to visit her fellow believers.  The agents appeared not to believe her and threatened to imprison her for more than ten years for subverting state power and stealing state secrets if she did not tell them the truth.  The agents also beat her, pulling her hair and slapping her hard. 

Chen was detained for nearly two days without food and water, and almost went into shock. 

Physically exhausted, she was sent to the Tianjin Public Safety Hospital, where she was diagnosed with slight pneumonia and had to be hospitalized.  However, Chen had no money with her, and the state security agents said they had no money either.  The hospital refused to treat her, giving her the excuse of returning home to get money.  Instead, she took a cab and rushed to Beijing Capital Airport, where she caught a flight in the early morning of Jan. 16.  She arrived in Los Angles on the following day and is currently undergoing medical observation and treatment.

"It is appalling to hear what Ms. Chen had experienced at the hands of the brutal Chinese security forces for simply visiting and trying to worship with the Chinese Christians during the Christmas season," said Eddie Romero, director of ChinaAid's Los Angeles office. "The unprecedented persecution against the peaceful house churches like Shouwang and Linfen should be stopped. We urge the Chinese government's highest authorities to hold those abusers accountable for the harm done to this businesswoman, Ms. Chen."

Jenny Chen's journal New Year's Visit to Shouwang Church:www.chinaaid.org/2012/01/new-years-visit-to-shouwang-church.html

Ugandan Girl Tortured for Christ Regaining Use of Legs

(Photo: Compass)

Released from hospital, Susan Ithungu takes steps with support.

BWERA, Uganda, January 17 (CDN) — A 15-year-old Christian girl in western Uganda who lost the use of her legs after her father locked her in a room for six months for leaving Islam has begun to take tentative steps.


Susan Ithungu of Isango village, Kasese district, had been hospitalized since September 2010 after neighbors along with police rescued her from her father, Beya Baluku, who had given her hardly any food or water. He was arrested shortly afterward but quickly released. She and her younger brother, Mbusa Baluku, lived alone with their father, who was divorced from their mother.


In March 2010, Susan had trusted Christ for her salvation – prompting her father to threaten to slaughter her publicly with a knife. Pastor Joseph Baluku of Bwera Full Gospel Church in Kasese said neighbors who discovered that the girl was locked in a room with almost no food or water notified authorities.


After her release, they took her to a hospital on Sept. 6, 2010. She would not be discharged from hospital care until Oct. 19, 2011.


After Compass published her ordeal on Aug. 11, 2011, several individuals and ministries came forward to help her (see www.compassdirect.org, “Girl in Uganda Loses Use of Legs after Leaving Islam for Christ,” Aug. 11, 2011). She now lives in a rented house in an undisclosed location.


“Well-wishers have been paying the house rent and buying me food and clothing,” said Susan, who added that she has forgiven her father.


A member of the Bwera Full Gospel Church in Kasese, Biira Dreda, left her own four children under the care of her mother in order to look after Susan while she was hospitalized.


“It is now becoming difficult to meet the school fees for my own children,” Dreda said. “I am praying to get some little funds so as to start an income generating project.”


A member of a Pentecostal church, Susan has begun to walk with support. She cannot squat or stand upright because she lay on one side for such a long time, besides suffering a bout of malaria.


“I thank all those who have continually supported me spiritually, materially and even morally,” Susan said. “I am also thankful to Biira Dreda, who stood by me in the hospital, and to date she is still with me when none of my family members has come to see me. I now take Dreda as my mother because of her care and love. My own people have abandoned me.”


Jacob Mukobi, who works with Uganda police as a child protection volunteer, was tipped off that Susan had been locked up in the house for six months.


“When I got the horrifying message about Susan that she had been put under house arrest for converting to Christianity, I went with the police to the house on Sept. 6, 2010 and took her to Bwera hospital,” he said.


Her father, he said, is not ready to take her back.


“A neighbor heard Susan’s father saying that she will be accepted back to the family only if she recants the Christian faith and rejoins Islam,” he said.


When Mukobi asked Susan’s father about his mistreatment of her, he said only that he was upset by her conversion to Christianity, Mukobi said.


“I do not like my daughter calling herself Susan and leaving her Muslim name, Aisha,” Mukobi said Baluku told him.


On Oct. 22, 2010, Susan was referred to Kagando hospital, about 20 kilometers (12 miles) from Bwera. Six months later, she was referred to Curso hospital in Kampala. She still could not walk. Surgeons operated on both her thighs, but as a doctor tried to stretch her leg, one thigh bone was so weak that it broke.


She returned to Kagando hospital after two weeks, but with her condition deteriorating, after two months she was referred to Kilembe hospital, about eight kilometers (five miles) from Kasese.


Though she has had to drop out of school, she said she hopes to return this year.


“I am now able to handle a pen and write,” she told Compass late last year. “I am able to sit down for at least one hour, and I hope by next year it will be much better, enough to enable me go to school.”


Pastor Baluku said that “many Good Samaritans” came to her aid.


“Susan at the moment needs a balanced diet to strengthen her weak bones, so that she can go to school soon,” he added.



END

ChinaAid Seeks Special UN Investigation of Missing Human Rights Lawyer Gao Zhisehng

By Jeremy ReynaldsSenior Correspondent for ASSIST News Service


GENEVA, SWITZERLAND (ANS) -- ChinaAid has formally requested a special U.N. investigation into the torture of missing Christian lawyer Gao Zhisheng.

Gao Zhisheng

ChinaAid said Aug. 15 was the five-year anniversary of his first kidnaping by Chinese police.

ChinaAid said the request was submitted by its legal counsel, and filed with the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture.

According to ChinaAid, Gao was taken by police on Aug. 15 2006 from his sister's home and held for unknown reasons. It wasn't until Sept. 21 2006 that the Chinese government announced he was being charged with inciting subversion.

In March 2010, ChinaAid said, the NGO Freedom Now partnered with a number of human rights specialists in filing a petition before the U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary Detention. That resulted in a U.N. finding of serious wrongdoing by the Chinese government, which had failed to even reply to the U.N. inquiry.

ChinaAid said China basically told the U.N. and the rest of the world to "mind its own business," because Gao's case was a matter of China's internal affairs, adding that China is a country under rule of law.

ChinaAid Founder and President Bob Fu and its legal counsel David E. Taylor said in a news release they expect that China is likely to respond similarly to this request for a special U.N. investigation.

Nonetheless, they believe it is important for the international community to see how negatively the Chinese Communist Party responds with arrogance and recalcitrance to the U.N. They also want to show the world, especially Gao's family and the Chinese government, that Gao has not been forgotten.

For more information about ChinaAid go to www.chinaaid.org

---

Jeremy Reynalds is Senior Correspondent for the ASSIST News Service, a freelance writer and also the founder and CEO of Joy Junction, New Mexico's largest emergency homeless shelter,http://www.joyjunction.org He has a master's degree in communication from the University of New Mexico, and a Ph.D. in intercultural education from Biola University in Los Angeles. His newest book is "Homeless in the City." Additional details on "Homeless in the City" are available at http://www.homelessinthecity.com. Reynalds lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico. For more information contact: Jeremy Reynalds atjeremyreynalds@comcast.net.

No justice for kidnapping case

Sudan (MNN) ― Kidnapping, rape, torture, and threats are all methods of persecution suffered by Christians in Sudan at the hands of Muslims. One teenage girl who recently escaped from the hands of her Islamic abductors suffered all four.
Voice of the Martyrs, Canada(VCM) reported that Hiba Abdelfadil Anglo, 16, was abducted last year on June 17 by a Muslim gang. She was just reunited with her family last month after several months of trauma and suffering.

According to VCM's source with Compass Direct, Hiba was kidnapped while going to the Ministry of Education for transcripts to enter into secondary school. She didn't know she was being monitored and one of the kidnappers pretended to work for the Ministry of Education.

She was taken and moved around various locations in Khartoum by her kidnappers. All the while, Hiba was constantly pressured to convert from Christianity to Islam. She was often locked in a room and beaten until she lost consciousness.
In trying to recount the story to Compass Direct, Hiba broke into tears. "They did many bad things to me," she says.

The group members tortured her and referred to her family as "infidels." They would not let her pray Christian prayers, and the leader of the group sexually abused her. "Apart from abusing me sexually, he tried to force me to change my faith and kept reminding me to prepare for Ramadan," says Hiba.

Two days after Hiba was kidnapped, her family started receiving threatening phone calls and text messages demanding a random of 1,500 Sudanese pounds ($560 USD) if they wanted her back.

Hiba's mother, Anglo, went to the police station to open a case to find her daughter, but the police refused unless Anglo converted to Islam as well.

Hiba tried to run away three different times, but each time her captors caught her and severely beat her for trying to escape. Freedom finally did come when Hiba gave enough of a pretense of converting to Islam for her captors to lighten up on guarding her. She got out and begged a motorcyclist to give her a ride to her home two hours away.
Such a situation just shows the intensity of the religious profiling at the level of law enforcement in Sudan and the ongoing persecution there.

Even Hiba's captors were so sure of their safety if they were caught. Hiba says she was warned by her captors, "Even if you call the government, they will not do anything to us."

Anglo says, "It is good that those who prayed for us to know that their prayers were answered, and that my daughter is back at home with me. I also need prayers because I am jobless since the time my daughter was kidnapped."

Please pray for Christians in Sudan suffering persecution both from Islamic groups and from lack of justice by the law.

Pray for the emotional and spiritual wellness of Hiba and she and her family recover in Christ from this traumatic time.

Kidnapped lawyer still missing

China (MNN) ― Last Monday, August 15, marked the fifth year since Christian lawyer Gao Zhisheng was first kidnapped and tortured by Chinese officials. It has been over a year since his last kidnapping took Gao off the face of the map.

ChinaAid, a Voice of the Martyrs partner, formally petitioned the UN this past Monday to start an investigation into the illegal kidnapping and torture of the disappeared Gao.

The request was filed by the legal counsel of China Aid Association with the United Nations Special Rapporteur of Torture.

Gao first earned the Chinese government's attention in 2005 when he took on "sensitive" cases representing persecuted Christians, groups, and house churches in court. His wife and two young children were placed under communist police surveillance.

On August 15, 2006, Gao was kidnapped by police from the home of his sister, confined, and tortured. Authorities later charged him with inciting subversion or rebellion.

Gao was kidnapped again on September 21, 2007 after writing a detailed report to the U.S. Congress on the Chinese government abuses of human rights. His kidnappers brutally tortured Gao for 50 days before releasing him with a death threat if he spoke of his torture.

However, death threats wouldn't stop Gao. He waited until his family had escaped police surveillance and gained asylum with ChinaAid before publishing an account of his last kidnapping and torture.

A third kidnapping took place in February 2009 following the publishing of his torture account. Gao was released after the international community's outrage gained enough attention.

The last time Gao was heard from was in April 2010 before he was kidnapped again. European Parliament president Jerzy Buzek says he is assuming the worst after reading Gao's previous account of the torture he suffered.

The U.S. State Department has inquired of Chinese officials concerning Gao's whereabouts, and the UN declared Gao's treatment by the Chinese government to be illegal.

In response, the Chinese government blatantly told the UN to "mind its own business," saying this is a matter of internal affair in their country. This is despite the fact that China signed the UN Declaration of Universal Human Rights as well as 20 other UN agreements and documents.

ChinaAid's legal counselor, David E. Taylor, states, ""Nonetheless, we believe it is important for the international community to see again how the Chinese Communist Party responds with arrogance and recalcitrance to the UN, and to show the world--especially Gao's family and the Chinese government--that Gao has not been forgotten for even one second, and never will be."

Hopefully, through Gao's bold refusal to back down from supporting the persecuted in the face of threats and trial, other Christians will be bold to stand up for the Gospel and their fellow believers.

Please pray for the UN to pursue investigations of the illegal conduct of the Chinese government towards Gao. Pray that Gao would be found and released and that the Lord would protect him from harm.

Click here to sign the petition for Gao's freedom.

Genocide returns to Southern Sudan

By Ron Brackin Special Correspondent, ASSIST News Service DALLAS, TX (ANS) -- From 2004-2009, I worked with Brad Phillips and the Persecution Project Foundation (PPF), bringing relief and the gospel to survivors of the genocide in Southern Sudan and Darfur. Brad Phillips with Nuba resistance leader Abdelazia Adam Al-Hilu. During more than two decades of fighting, over  two million Southern Sudanese people, most of whom were Christian or animist, were slaughtered. Four million more were displaced. The Nuba Mountains lost 500,000 people, roughly half its population, both Christian and Muslim. And since 2003, the genocide in Darfur  has claimed an estimated 400,000 lives. In 2005, a  Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) was signed between north and south. This agreement provided South Sudan with semi-autonomy and eventually a referendum vote on self-determination, which, on July 9, 2011, resulted in the Republic of South Sudan becoming the world's newest nation. SPLA  soldier with corpse In 2009, the International Criminal Court in the Hague issued an arrest warrant for Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir for war crimes and crimes against humanity. The following year, another warrant was issued against him for genocide. Both were rejected by his regime in Khartoum, and Bashir remains at large and in power. And recently, Bashir launched another bloody campaign of genocide in the Nuba Mountains. On August 4, Brad Phillips, who also serves as Sudan Country Director for The Voice of the Martyrs, testified before the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health and Human Rights. The following is excerpted from that testimony: Under the CPA, the Nuba people were guaranteed a free election, followed by a popular consultation, whereby elected leaders would interview their constituents and determine what the people wanted with regard to their political future. This consultation process would hopefully pave the way for a regime change or power-sharing arrangement in Khartoum that recogn ized and respected the rights of all of Sudan's diverse communities. As of today, the popular consultation has not taken place. Moreover, Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir publicly stated in April this year that if the NCP cannot get its way with the ballot box, it will use "the ammo box." This was a declaration of war and violation of the CPA. Also in April, as an intimidation tactic, NCP-backed forces attacked el Fayit, home to the Nuba SPLM commander and gubernatorial candidate, Abdel Aziz Adam al-Hilu. Twenty-seven members of al-Hilu's family were murdered in this attack. All of this was done before the scheduled elections in May as an attempted provocation to draw the SPLM into war. But they did not take the bait. When the elections finally took place, evidence of large-scale vote rigging was reported. Yet, even with the evidence of voting fraud, Bashir sent down Nafie ali Nafie, special advisor to the president, to declare NCP candidate and indicted war criminal Ahmed Haroun the winner before the end of the mandated verification period. The newly "elected" Governor Haroun then ordered all SPLM/A forces out of Southern Kordofan by June 1.  This order was in direct violation of the CPA, which allows the SPLA to operate in Southern Kordofan up to 90 days after the close of the interim period on July 9th, 2011. Girl paralyzed by shrapnel wouds This attempt by the NCP to cleanse the north of the SPLM/A before the July 9th independence of South Sudan was also carried out in the disputed Abyei region. After massing troops around Abyei, NCP forces invaded on May 20th, forcing most of the indigenous African population out. Some estimates of the number of refugees from this area are as high as 100,000. It became obvious to all watching these events unfold what was happening. It's no wonder that the SPLM refused to disband or leave Southern Kordofan. When the order was not obeyed by the June 1st deadline, the NCP tried to disarm the SPLM by force. This was the beginning of the war on June 5th. On June 6th, the NCP attacked and sacked the capital of Kadugli, murdering potentially thousands of civilians in the subsequent days. The NCP also pulled out an old card from their deck: daily, indiscriminate aerial bombardment of civilian targets. Using Antonov bombers, MiG fighters, and helicopter gunships, the NCP launched a campaign of terror from the skies. I have included several pictures of bombed locations and civilian casualties for the committee's review. I personally arrived in the Nuba Mountains on July 4th on one of the few private charters flying to the Nuba since fighting ended all UN humanitarian flights. During my visit, I interviewed more than a dozen individuals who escaped from Kadugli, all of who m shared the same basic story: Man with amputated leg "Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) troops went from house to house searching for A. Any Nuba citizen, B. Christians, or C. Members of the SPLM. Anyone fitting this description was either killed on the spot or arrested and never seen again." Fortunately, a few thousand residents obtained shelter at the UNMIS compound. But the compound soon filled, and I heard many stories and accounts of people being killed at the gates of the UNIMIS compound while UN soldiers stood by. I spoke with Reverend Luka Bolis, an Episcopal Priest and Western Regional Chairman of the Sudan Council of Churches, who escaped from Kadugli and told me that "The NCP is targeting the church in this war." Rev. Luka received a call from some friends in Kadugli warning him not to return. They told him the SAF had a list of all church leaders and suspected SPLM sympathizers. Brave Nuba pastors facing arrest, torture, and death (faces blured for security) Rev. Luka's testimony corresponded with others I received from Nuba Christians who were persecuted in the last war by the same regime. Luka said the NCP does not distinguish between a Christian and a member of the SPLM political party. If one is a Christian, he is assumed to be a supporter of the SPLM. Consequently, pastors are specifically targeted as leaders and recruiters of the SPLM. Another pastor I interviewed, whom I will call "Kumi" for security reasons, was arrested by the NIF during the last war and tortured in the most horrific manner to try to force him divulge the names of his church members. His captors pulled out his fingernails and toenails. They hung him by the neck until he passed out. They crushed his testicles. They dragged him behind a tank. They poured gasoline on his hands and set them aflame, and many other cruel acts. Pastor Kumi was then imprisoned for a total of eight years. Although he lived several hours drive away from Rev. Luka and spoke concerning the previous war, his testimony was the sam e: the NCP troops assumed all Christians were SPLM members and all pastors SPLM leaders and recruiters.

Six men singing and praising God, echoed for miles through the mountains.

Yet another church leader I met in a completely different area had a similar story and perspective. "Musa" was stabbed repeatedly and left for dead after NCP troops attacked his church in 1997. Thinking Musa was dead, one NCP soldier cut off his left ear as a trophy. Musa told me that if the SPLM is defeated in the present war, the same persecution will return to the Nuba Mountains because the same regime is still in power in Khartoum.

And this is what I heard over and over again during my trip: the same people who committed war crimes in the Nuba Mountains before are doing it again today.

Commander Abdelazia joins with the church in singing hymns at a spontaneous worship service deep in the mountains.

The only difference in what I saw in 1998 and what I saw last month is that the SPLM has clearly taken the initiative and taken the fight, as it were, to their enemies. Led by Commander Al-Hilu, the people of the Nuba Mountains are fighting back and have won some impressive victories on the ground. And this has occurred without any significant help from the international community. This determined resistance by the SPLM in the Nuba Mountains is a genuine "Popular Uprising" and the only thing that has prevented another Rwandan-style genocide from happening. But time is running out.

The UN ended humanitarian relief efforts in June, and most NGOs operating under the UN umbrella pulled out. All roads to the north have been closed, and the rainy season in South Sudan has affectively closed supply routes to the south until the fall. The daily bombings have terrorized the local population to the degree that normal cultivation is not taking place during this crucial planting season. The Nuba Mountains are isolated, cut off, and f acing a humanitarian crisis within 60 days unless relief flights are allowed to recommence. And this will not happen while SAF MiGs and Antonov bombers and gunships patrol the skies. The NCP refuses to allow UN observers into the Nuba Mountains to document what is happening, which should not surprise anyone.

It is absolutely essential that the international community bring pressure to bear on the United Nations to immediately declare a Humanitarian Emergency in the Nuba Mountains and impose a "no-fly" zone to stop the bombing campaign and allow humanitarian access so that relief flights back into the region may resume.

Photo of me with weapons in a Sudan Peoples Liberation Army (SPLS) camp, Nuba Mountains, 2004.

I will conclude by stating that there is more than enough evidence to justify speedy action by the US and the international community to address the dire situation in the Nuba Mountains. The president of Sudan, Omar al-Bashir, is an indicted war criminal. The current governor of the Nuba Mountains is Ahmed Haroun, also an indicted war criminal for his role in the Darfur genocide. These men make Libya's Gaddafi look like a choir boy.

There is no justification in my mind for bombing Libya, while doing nothing in the Nuba Mountains. Seasoned reporters from the New York Times, Time Magazine, Aljazeera English, The Independent in Great Britain, and others have visited the Nuba Mountains and brought back testimonies, pictures, and video proving that war crimes are being committed against the Nuba people by the NCP regime. I have included copies of several of these articles with my testimony.

How is it, then, that the US government still claims there is not enough evidence to charge the NCP with war crimes? Why does the US government treat with the NCP and the victims of their crimes with moral equivalency? Based on the history of the NCP, and what we know about what they are doing today in Darfur, in Abyei, and in the Nuba Mountains, it amazes me how the US and the international community could tolerate these killers for so long, yet aggressively pursue other villains who have not killed 1/100th of the people for which Omar al-Bashir and his regime are responsible.

Three million lives-and counting. When will we say, "Enough"?

---

The writer of the NYT bestseller, "Son of Hamas", Ron Brackin has traveled extensively in the Middle East as an investigative journalist. He was in the West Bank and Gaza during the Al-Aqsa Intifada; on assignment in Baghdad and Mosul after the fall of Iraq; and more recently with the rebels and refugees of Southern Sudan and Darfur. Ron is the author of other books and has contributed articles and columns to many publications, including USA Today and The Washington Times. He was a broadcast journalist with WTOP-AM, Post-Newsweek's all-news radio station in Washington D.C. and weekend news anchor on Metromedia's WASH-FM. And he served as a congressional press secretary under the Reagan Administration. Visit his website at http://ronbrackin.com or his blog athttp://ronbrackin2.wordpress.com.

Two more Christians die in Eritrea's military camps

Story photo from Compass Direct: Shipping containers used for detaining Christians. [Cover photo from Google Maps: Satellite view of Dekemhare]


Eritrea (MNN) ― Eritrea's crackdown on Christians has claimed two more lives.
The country (ranked 12^th on the Open Doors World Watch List) is known for its brutal hostility and indifference toward believers they arrest. Ministry partners of Open Doors have sent reports indicating the conditions detainees endure are inhumane, i.e.- gross neglect in shipping containers in the dessert and military detention camps, as well as torture.

Open Doors USA CEO Carl Moeller says, "Two young women, 23 and 27 -- Hiwet  Tesfu and Zemame Mehari -- were reported to have died in one of these military camps." They had been in the ALLA military camp for two years and three months.

Their plight was largely ignored on the international stage, as similar cases have been. "Both of these women had apparently been in ill health," says Moeller. "They were repeatedly tortured. They had been repeatedly denied medical treatment." They were buried at the military camp.

The women were arrested in April 2009 for attending a prayer meeting in Dekemhare, 15 kilometers from ALLA Military Camp southeast of Asmara. Both Open Doors and Compass Direct News reports show that at the time of their arrest, prayer and similar Christian meetings were being arranged by groups of young believers in the military service.

However, the government maintains that it has no religious prisoners in custody. Moeller dismisses that claim as semantics. "They don't recognize these evangelical or Pentecostal sects as ‘religious' institutions or organizations; therefore, when they arrest them, it's for holding illegal activities or illegal meetings. So, when they're held, they're not holding ‘religious' prisoners: they're holding ‘social' and ‘political' prisoners."

Since 2002, the government has cracked down on all but the traditional Orthodox, Catholic, or Lutheran churches and certain branches of Islam.
Tesfu and Mehari are the 17^th and 18^th Christians known to have died while serving time for their faith in one of Eritrea's harsh detention centres. They are the fourth and fifth Christian deaths confirmed in the ALLA Military Camp.

There are reports of thousands of believers in similar conditions, and very few, if any, have actually been charged since their arrest. Given the government reaction to Christians, it might seem logical that this treatment produces a "chilling effect" for Gospel workers. Yet, the opposite seems to be true, says Moeller. "When they see Christians willing to go to prison, willing to die, willing to be tortured for this religion, it creates an undeniable thirst for understanding what that faith is about."
 
The great paradox, Moeller notes, is that "it is sometimes exactly those places where the situation is the most desperate that we see the growth of the church most dramatically. I believe it's because that in the midst of the crucible of persecution, Christians are continuing to stand up."

Please continue to pray for Christians all over Eritrea who are suffering dearly for their Christian beliefs. Pray for godly wisdom, perseverance, and God's protection in their lives. Pray that Christians across the world would open up their hearts for these persecuted believers, continuing to pray and advocate earnestly for them.