Church Buildings Attacked across Tanzania

Muslims incited to destruction after children's argument leads to alleged defiling of Koran

By Dan Wooding
Founder of ASSIST Ministries

TANZANIA (ANS) -- According to Morning Star News, Islamists burned several church buildings in various parts of Tanzania this week after two children's argument about the Koran resulted in a Christian boy allegedly defiling Islam's sacred book.

A church on fire in Zanzibar

The attacks took place in the normally peaceful country from its western border to its semi-autonomous island of Zanzibar. In Kigoma, on the western border, two church buildings were set ablaze on Sunday (Oct. 14), and the roof of another one was destroyed; on the island of Zanzibar in the Indian Ocean some 25 kilometers (16 miles) off the Tanzanian coast, Muslim extremists on Saturday (Oct. 13) demolished a building belonging to the Evangelical Assemblies of God-Tanzania in Fuoni, near Zanzibar City; and in Dar es Salaam on the mainland, where two boys' argument over the Koran set off the violence, three church buildings were set on fire on Friday (Oct. 12), and another was destroyed yesterday, sources told Morning Star News.

Morning Star News said that yesterday's destruction of the Evangelical Lutheran Church building in Dar es Salaam's Teneke district took place at 1 p.m., said a source who requested anonymity, adding that agitators were stirring up rancor in mosques throughout the country.

"'We shall continue attacking the churches until they are no more in Tanzania' was a word echoed in several mosques in Tanzania," the source said by phone.

Brighton L. Killewa, secretary general of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tanzania, confirmed that suspected Islamic extremists burned down the church building in Dar es Salaam's Teneke district on Thursday (Oct. 18).

The attacks on church buildings came after Muslims began falsely asserting that Christians had sent the Christian boy to his Muslim friend with the intent of urinating on the Koran in the Mbagala area of Dar es Salaam on Oct. 10, sources said.

The Muslim boy, 12-year-old Zakaria Hamisi Mbonde, had left a madrassa (Islamic school) and had his Koran when he met up with his friend Emmanuel Mwinuka, 13, an area source who spoke with the Muslim child told Morning Star News.

When Emmanuel asked to see the Koran, Zakaria jokingly told him that if he played with it or urinated on it, he would turn into a dog or snake, the source said. The comment turned into an argument that led to Emmanuel allegedly testing his friend's assertion.

"When I arrived at home, my parents questioned me regarding the affected Koran, and I told them my friend Mbonde urinated on the Koran," Zakaria told the area source.

The two families met and tried to settle the matter, without full satisfaction; word of the incident spread fast, quickly inflaming passions in area mosques in Chamanzi, an area within Mbagala Ward of Dar es Salaam, the source said.

Obeid Fabian, who as chairman of the Pastors' Fellowship in Zanzibar is a spokesman for Christians to the archipelago government, said he received details about the incident from contacts in Dar es Salaam.

"As tension mounted up in the mosque, Emmanuel was picked up by the police at his home place and taken to the Chamanzi police station for interrogation," Fabian said.

Morning Star News added, "Enraged Muslims stormed the police station on Oct. 12, demanding that the boy be handed over to them to be slaughtered. Police refused, and the group became furious, mistakenly assuming Christians had sent Emmanuel to desecrate the Koran, Fabian said.

"The mob burned a Seventh-day Adventist church in Mbagala, causing damages of an estimated 25.2 million Tanzanian shillings (US$15,710); then they burned an area Anglican church, though a church secretary there was unsure of the amount of damages; the mob also set fire to a Tanzania Assemblies of God (TAG) church building, with Assistant Bishop Magnus Mhiche saying damages amounted to 40 million Tanzanian shillings (US$24,940).

"Several cars of unconfirmed value were also destroyed, and two Catholic Church buildings were also reportedly damaged."

Tanzania's Muslims, 31 percent of the total population, are largely tolerant but have become increasingly polarized between moderates and extremists, according to Operation World. Christians make up 54 percent of the country's population.

Inflammatory Statements

In the attacks on the other side of the country in Kigoma, the two church buildings burned on Sunday (Oct. 14) belong to the TAG and another to the United Pentecostal Churches in Tanzania; an Anglican church building on the outskirts of Kigoma, in Ujiji, lost its roof to the mob that day, a source told Morning Star News.

The previous night (Oct. 13) on Zanzibar Island, Muslim extremists in Fuoni, on the outskirts of Zanzibar City, attacked an Evangelical Assemblies of God-Tanzania church, pulling it down during the night, a source said. By Sunday morning, separatists from the extremist group Uamsho, the Association for Islamic Mobilization and Propagation, had raised their flag at the site, he said.

On Tuesday (Oct. 16), Bishop David Mwasoda, general secretary of the Pentecostal Churches in Zanzibar, released a statement appealing for protection.

"The Pentecostal Churches in Zanzibar do hereby appeal to the president to offer protection to the churches and Christians in Zanzibar who have become victims of attack in the recent years," the statement reads.

The story goes on to say that more than 126 people associated with the violence in Tanzania have been detained, including Sheik Ponda Issa Ponda, secretary of the extremist Council of Muslims' Organizations, who was reportedly arrested on charges of inciting religious hatred. The council is linked to Uamsho.

It adds that on Wednesday (Oct. 17), Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania leaders released a statement saying churches had also been set ablaze in Mdaula, Mto wa Mbu, Tunduru and Rufiji. The Mbagala attacks, they stated, resulted from inflammatory statements by local religious leaders. They also blamed media outlets for instigating religious hatred.

Calling on Christians to continue fasting and praying for peace, they stated, "Christians are not ready to kill, punish or take revenge . . . Our God is not defended through violence, killing and burning other people's properties."

Pakistani Imam Charged in Christian Girl's Case Wins Bail

Cleric accused of producing false evidence against Rimsha Masih, charged with "blasphemy"

By Jeremy Reynalds
Senior Correspondent for ASSIST News Service

LAHORE, PAKISTAN (ANS) -- A Muslim cleric charged with fabricating evidence to make it appear that a Christian girl desecrated the Koran - and incurring charges of desecrating the Koran himself - has been granted bail.

Rimsha Masih mug shot

According to a story published in the Morning Star News, while Christians accused of blaspheming Islam in Pakistan routinely spend years languishing in jails, Islamabad Session Judge Raja Jawwad Abbas on Oct. 11 granted bail to Khalid Jadoon Chishti, leader of a mosque in the Meherabadi suburb of Islamabad. The bail came less than six weeks after his arrest.

The Morning Star News said he was granted bail for 200,000 rupees (US$2,065) after witnesses on Oct. 1 retracted statements that he added burnt pages of the Koran to a bag of ashes carried by Rimsha Masih, the Christian girl originally charged with desecrating the Koran.

The Morning Star News reported that Rimsha's lawyer, Tahir Naveed Chaudhry, said the backtracking of the witnesses would not harm chances of acquittal for Rimsha, who is about 14 but mentally younger than that, according to a recent medical report.

She was originally charged as an adult with desecrating the Koran, punishable by life in prison, but her case has been transferred to a juvenile court.

"Our case is secure," Chaudhry told the Morning Star News. "Rimsha has been declared medically unfit by a government board, and even the police investigation has given her a clean chit. We are nearing complete victory."

The Morning Star News said Jadoon Chishti was arrested on Sept. 1 after Hafiz Mohammad Zubair, a leader at his mosque, testified against him before a magistrate. On Sept. 23, Sub-Inspector Munir Jaffrideclared Rimsha innocent and instead charged Jadoon Chishti with desecrating the Koran.

The Morning Star News said a report submitted by Jaffri stated that Jadoon Chishti had ripped two pages from the Koran and mixed them into half-burnt pages of an Arabic-language, prayer-learning book called the "Noorani Qaida."

The report also stated that Zubair and two other witnesses had claimed that they had seen Jadoon Chishti mixing pages of the Koran into evidence to strengthen a case against Rimsha, and that there was no evidence or any eyewitness who claimed to have seen the girl burning the Islamic texts.

According to the Morning Star News, Zubair stated that he was sitting in meditation in the mosque in front of Rimsha's house when he saw Malik Hammad, a neighbor of the girl and the complainant in the case, bring the burnt pages of the Koran to Jadoon Chishti. He then included them in the evidence against the girl

Zubair said he had tried to stop Jadoon Chishti, and insisted that only the original materials taken as evidence against Rimsha be brought to police.

The Morning Star News said the two other witnesses, Khurram Shahzad and Hafiz Mohammad Owais, had also stated to Jaffri that Hammad had brought to the mosque a plastic bag filled with ashes and burnt papers and handed it to them. Shahzad was offering prayers while Owais was in meditative seclusion. However, they said Hammad later took the bag from them and handed it to Jadoon Chishti, and that he later tore some pages from the Koran and put them into it.

They reportedly said they objected to the what was going on, but that Jadoon Chishti replied, "This will strengthen a case. Now is a good time to get rid of the Christians of this area."

Later they brought the matter in the attention of Zubair, who unsuccessfully objected, according to Jaffri's report.

The Morning Star News said Jadoon Chishti's defense has benefitted from the vigorous efforts of a large group of lawyers who were actively involved in defending Mumtaz Qadri. He is the self-confessed assassin of Salmaan Taseer, the governor of Punjab who voiced support for Asia Bibi, a Christian mother of five unjustly convicted of blaspheming Islam.

The Morning Star News said Jadoon Chishti was actively involved in conspiring against Christians of Meherabadi, besides once forcibly stopping them from playing musical instruments during worship, sources said.

According to the Morning Star News, the three witnesses who recanted said they were tortured into making the statements incriminating Jadoon Chishti.

Pakistan is nearly 96 percent Muslim, according to Operation World, and religiously charged court cases commonly involve clamoring crowds of Muslims and other pressures coming to bear on lawyers and judges. Christians make up 2.45 percent of the population.

The Morning Star News said the additional district and sessions court of Islamabad granted bail to Rimsha on Sept. 7. The next day she was airlifted from Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi to an unspecified location within Islamabad under the protective custody of police.

The girl's arrest under Pakistan's widely condemned blasphemy laws had triggered an exodus of several hundred Christians from her poor neighborhood on the edge of the federal capital, Islamabad.

The Morning Star News said Chaudhry, the main lawyer for Rimsha, said his team was prepared to ask the judge to drop all charges against the girl.

"God willing, the case against Rimsha will be dropped at the court hearing on Oct. 17," the Morning Star News reported he said confidently.

The Morning Star News reported that Chaudhry said Rimsha and her family were safe at a secret location.

"People accused of blasphemy are seldom able to settle in the same area even after being acquitted of the charge or having served the sentence - this family will have to be relocated," he said, adding that Rimsha's father, Mizrek Masih, did not wish to go abroad.

Most of the other Christian residents of the area have returned, while others have relocated to Islamabad and its twin city of Rawalpindi, Chaudhry said.

Weekend attacks rock northern Nigeria

Nigeria (MNN) ― A roadside blast and two separate gun attacks rocked Nigeria's Maiduguri Sunday.

(Story photo courtesy Voice of the Martyrs USA)

Todd Nettleton is a spokesman for Voice of the Martyrs USA. He describes one of the attacks outside the Church of Christ in Nigeria. "[It] seems to be a husband, and a wife, and their child who were shot as they were leaving their church in Maiduguri, Nigeria." 

The same day, the Nigerian army confirmed an early morning assault on a mosque that killed over 20 people. One attack seemed to be more military, the other more personal in nature. Nettleton says, "At this point, Boko Haram has not publicly taken credit for this. But it looks like what they've done in the past, so the assumption is that Boko Haram was behind it."

The city in Nigeria's restive northeast is a bastion for Boko Haram. The terrorist group has ties to al Qaeda and is known for their open declaration of war on Christians, among others. They want to create an Islamic state in the mainly Muslim north of Nigeria. These Islamists have also vowed to kill many of Nigeria's traditional Muslim leaders, many of whom they accuse of betraying Islam by submitting to the authority of a secular government.

The attack on the family brought its own question: was it personal? "Is there some connection to this particular family that they were being targeted, rather than indiscriminately targeting Christians as they were leaving church? Both of those are possibilities with Boko Haram." Nettleton says answering that question is up to the authorities.

Boko Haram is known for two kinds of attacks: "There are attacks just indiscriminately just seeking to create chaos, seeking to create a high body count. There are other attacks that target specific people that they don't like, or people who have advocated philosophies that they don't like."

Boko Haram is blamed for killing more than 1,400 people in Nigeria since 2010. Maiduguri is considered the group's base. The group may be succeeding in accomplishing one aim in their campaign to eradicate Christians, says Nettleton. "I think the first goal is to create fear and to make the Christians fearful."

Pray that believers will not be overcome with fear, but that they will sense God's presence and peace. "Scriptures tell us that when one part of the body of Christ is hurting, we're all supposed to connect with that. We're all supposed to feel that pain. So if you think about a husband and wife and a child who were shot and killed as they left church, their family is hurting, their church family is hurting, and we're a part of that family."

So, continue to pray. It's the first thing believers are asking for, says Nettleton. "Pray for our Christian brothers and sisters there, that they won't succumb to that fear, that they won't be overwhelmed by a sense of fear and a sense of hopelessness." At the same time, there's the realization that "when there is chaos, that can be a time when people are open to the Gospel, and it can be a time when people ask questions about eternity and about life after death."

Please lift up Nigerian Christians in your prayers for God's protection and consolation. Remember the families of the believers who have lost their lives as a result of these attacks. Pray that the government will take steps to protect Christians from further violence.

VOM assists hundreds of Nigerian pastors and also provides food, clothing, and medical aid to Nigerian Christians who are attacked by Muslim extremists. There's more. Check our Featured Links Section for details.

Seven Iranian Christians Detained Following Raid on Prayer Meeting

By Jeremy Reynalds
Senior Correspondent for ASSIST News Service

IRAN (ANS) -- Seven Christians from the Church of Iran denomination have been imprisoned following a raid by members of the security services on a house in the city of Shiraz in Fars Province.

According to a news release from Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), Mohammad (Vahid) Roghangir, Suroush Saraie, Roxana Forughi, Eskandar Rezaie, Bijan Haghighi, Mehdi Ameruni and Shahin Lahooti are currently being held in Plaque 100, the Intelligence Ministry's notorious detention center. They were detained after security forces raided a house where a prayer meeting was underway.

According to sources close to CSW, older people attending the prayer meeting were threatened, but not taken into custody. CSW said the detentions are part of a marked upsurge in a campaign of harassment of Christians of all denominations, with reports of a significant increase in arrests during recent weeks.

CSW said in other developments, Mohabat News Agency reported on Wednesday that five Christian converts detained in Adel-Abad prison eight months ago following a raid on a house church in Shiraz have been told they will face trial on Oct. 15.

Since their arrests, CSW said the five have reportedly been confined in cells housing dangerous criminals and are charged with "creating illegal groups," "participating in a house church service," "propagation against the Islamic regime," and "defaming Islamic holy figures through Christian evangelizing."

Most recently, seven Christians jailed in Rasht six years ago have received suspended five year sentences for "action against the national security."

CSW's Chief Executive Mervyn Thomas said in a news release, "CSW is deeply concerned at news of yet another increase in the harassment of Iranian Christians. We particularly deplore the nature of the charges that are currently being leveled against Christians and other religious minorities."

He added, "There appears to be an increasing tendency by the Iranian authorities to characterize legitimate religious activities as crimes against the state. In reality, people are being harassed merely on account of their faith. The ongoing harassment and imprisonment of Christians, Baha'is and other religious minorities contravenes international covenants to which Iran is a signatory, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which guarantees the right to freedom of religion."

Thomas continued, "By arresting Christians who have peaceably gathered to pray or worship, Iran is violating their right to manifest their religious belief. We urge the Iranian government to end the harassment of religious minorities within its borders, to respect their right to freedom of religion, and to release all who have been held on account of their faith immediately and unconditionally."

Christian Solidarity Worldwide works for religious freedom through advocacy and human rights, in the pursuit of justice.

For further information, visit www.csw.org.uk.

Sudanese Military Kills Christian Mother in Bombing

Non-Arab Nuba Christians targeted in town in South Kordofan

By Dan Wooding
Founder of ASSIST Ministries

JUBA, SOUTH SUDAN (ANS) -- Government bombing of ethnic Nuba civilians in a predominantly Christian town of Sudan last month - killing a mother of seven children - is further evidence that officials are trying to rid the country of Christians, area Christian leaders said.

Clip from Nuba News about the bombing

According to Morning Star News*, Sudanese government forces bombarded Heiban in war-torn South Kordofan state on Sept. 27, killing the Christian mother of seven and wounding at least six others, the sources said.

They said bombs from an Antonov airplane dropped five bombs near a crowded market, killing Asia Omer Kuku (mistakenly identified as Hassia Karri Kuku in other media reports, according to a relative). The youngest of her seven children is 4 months old. Kuku was working in a field near a church building when the bomb hit, according towww.NubaReports.com.

"At exactly 10:30 a.m. Sept. 27, a Sudan government plane dropped five bombs in Heiban town," one source said. "The bombs wounded six civilians and killed a woman, Asia Omer Kuku, leaving behind seven children, the youngest being 4 months old."

Howeda Hassan, another Christian mother of seven children, sustained a serious stomach wound. She was described as in critical situation but without medical care, added Morning Star News.

Other Christians wounded in the bombing of the town south of Kadugli, capital of South Kordofan state, was a son of the Rev. Yagoub Ibrahim Tia of the Sudanese Church of Christ, area Christians told Morning Star News. 

Manas Yagoub Ibrahim Tia, 15, sustained wounds to his right leg and burns on his face. The sources said another Christian, 65-year-old Martha Kuku Bilal, received injuries to her face.

Samira James Kuku, 70, suffered a broken right leg; both her arms were also broken. Firous Silas was wounded in her right leg, and 40-year-old Abdelrasoul Angolo sustained a wound in his right shoulder, according to the area sources.

There have been claims of ethnic cleansing  in South Kordofan (Photo: Reuters)

Since military conflict broke out in south Kordofan state in June 2011, Christians in the Nuba Mountains have been living in fear and hunger. Humanitarian agencies have stated that the Islamic government is targeting civilians in the Nuba Mountains as an "ethnic cleansing" of non-Arab peoples, at the same time aiming to rid the area of its large Christian population.

South Kordofan, where war raged during Sudan's 1983-2005 civil war, saw fighting break out anew in June 2011 when Khartoum took military action against gunmen who were once allied with the now independent South Sudan. Fighting between President Omar al-Bashir's forces and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) also spread to Sudan's Blue Nile state in September 2011.

When Sudan's Comprehensive Peace Agreement was signed in 2005, the people of South Kordofan were to vote on whether to join the north or the south, but the state governor - wanted for war crimes, as is Bashir - suspended the process, and Khartoum instead decided to disarm the SPLM-N by force.

The Sept. 27 attack in Heiban hit about 100 yards from a crowded market where civilians from surrounding villages come weekly to sell their possessions in order to buy food. Worship buildings in the area belonging to the Sudan Presbyterian Evangelical Church, Roman Catholic Church and Sudanese Church of Christ were not hit, and services were not taking place as local Christians have come to fear air strikes.

But sources said another Christian, teacher Martha Kalu, sustained a serious forehead injury and was also wounded on other areas of her body.

"How can we accept such thing?" said one long-time friend of Kalu.

Part of Heiban Bible College after bombing

Earlier this year, Heiban Bible College in the same town was reduced to ashes when an Antonov plane bombed it on Feb. 1; there were no injuries. Since early August, Sudan has reportedly dropped more than 81 bombs on 11 villages.

Islamic government officials consider the various Nuba ethnicities as enemies or "infidels" in their campaign to clear the region of non-Arab races and Christianity, sources said.

Sudan's Interim National Constitution holds up sharia (Islamic law) as a source of legislation, and the laws and policies of the government favor Islam, according to the U.S. Department of State. Bashir has warned that Sudan's constitution will become more firmly entrenched in sharia.

Five Iranian Christian Converts Receive Trial Date

By Jeremy Reynalds
Senior Correspondent for ASSIST News Service

IRAN (ANS) -- Following a long wait with much uncertainty and after the judicial authorities rejected their appeal to be released on bail, five Christian converts in Shiraz officially received a trial date.

Five Christians in jail in Adel-Abad prison in Shiraz

According to Mohabat News Iranian Christian News Agency reporters, they spent eight months after their arrest in prison with their fate unknown.

Mohabat News said, according to the "announcement paper," their trial is to be held on Oct. 15 at 10 a.m. in Branch 3 of the Revolutionary Court in Shiraz.

The names of the Christians are Mojtaba Hosseini, Mohammad-Reza Partoei (Kourosh), Vahid Hakkani, Homayoun Shokouhi and his wife Fariba Nazemian.

The report received by Mohabat News says these Christian converts are charged with "creating illegal groups," "participating in house church service," "propagation against the Islamic regime," and "defaming Islamic holy figures through Christian evangelizing."

According to Mohabat News, on May 11 2008, Mojtaba Hosseini and Homayoun Shokouhi had been arrested because of their Christian faith, together with ... other Christian converts in Shiraz.

At that time, they were sentenced to five years in prison but released conditionally. One year from that suspended five year sentence remains. It is believed that their prior case may also be reviewed in the forthcoming trial.

Since their arrest, Mohabat News reported, all five Christian prisoners are being held separately in wings of Adel-Abad prison in Shiraz where murderers and drug dealers are also incarcerated. prison in Shiraz.

Mohabat News said according to reports, Homayoun Shokouhi is being held in wing 10, which is believed to be the worst of all. Mohammad-Reza Partoei is in wing 11 and Mojtaba Hosseini and Vahid Hakkani are in wing four, but on different floors. In addition, Fariba Nazemian is in the women's wing along with female drug addicts and murderers.

Mohabat News said Homayoun Shokouhi and his wife Fariba Nazemian, have two children, a 17- year-old son and a 12-year-old daughter. Their children are on their own since their parents' arrest, and are experiencing a number of difficulties.

Mohabat News said they were transferred to Revolutionary Court of Shiraz, and were interrogated by Rezaei Dadyar in Branch Seven. They were told that some judicial officials said that they would not accept any kind of bail for their temporary release.

Mohabat News said the rights of these Christian prisoners were also violated during their transfer to the court. As Mohabat News reporters witnessed, each time they were transferred with their hands and feet chained. This occurred, Mohabat News said, although according to the regulations of Iranian prisons, prisoners of conscience should not be handcuffed or chained.

Mohabat News said it's important to remember that security authorities raided a house on Feb. 8 2012, after they had identified it as a house church. The group of Christians who had gathered there to worship were ill-treated and eventually arrested. They were then taken in police cars to the detention center of the Intelligence Office in Shiraz, known as "Pelak 100," for interrogation.

Mohabat News commented that harassment and discrimination against religious minorities has been a major human rights violation issue for the last 30 years by the Islamic regime of Iran.

Mohabat News quoted a report from America's Fox News, which said that in a country like Iran where Christians experience ongoing pressure, the only way to secure the release of Christian prisoners is to continue international pressure on the Iranian regime.

According to Mohabat News, the Islamic government of Iran has increased its pressure on Iranian Christian converts during recent years. It has closed churches or prevented Farsi-speaking people from entering churches, and uses all means at its disposal to restrict and suppress religious freedom.