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?”

Spotlight on religious freedom chief highlights problems in Eritrea

(Images courtesy Open Doors)

Eritrea (ODM/MNN) ― The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom has a new chair: Robert P. George, McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence at Princeton University and a Visiting Professor at Harvard Law School.

As focus turned to function, the leaders of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom say that religious liberty is an "essential element" of human dignity and that its protection deserves prominence in U.S. foreign policy.

The State Department and the religious freedom commission both named Burma, North Korea, Eritrea, Iran, China, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, and Uzbekistan as "countries of particular concern."

It's a designation that Eritrea both disputes and ignores. However, there have been multiple reports of a widespread crackdown on Christians this year, especially for those outside the state-approved churches.
While children were once considered exempt from it, that's not the case anymore, says Jerry Dykstra, a spokesman for Open Doors USA. "We believe there's been about 200 Christians that have been incarcerated in military camps. That includes 39 students who had just completed the training for military and for schooling. They were not allowed to go forward. Instead, they were arrested because of their ‘Christian beliefs.'"

According to a statement on the official Eritrean Ministry of Information Web site, 17,000 students of the 26th national service intake graduated on July 13. All of these students had successfully completed eight months of academic studies and four months mandatory military training, according to the announcement. These students will now proceed to Senior Secondary school to complete grade 12.

The group of 39 was taken to the Sawa Military training center. Sources told Open Doors that the arrests came as a result of the students' "Christian beliefs and for their commitment to Christ." Dykstra says, "They now face beatings, hard labor, lack of food and water. But if they renounce Christ, then they can go back to their studies."

Since the beginning of the year, Christians belonging to groups outside of the government sanctioned Orthodox, Catholic, and Lutheran churches have faced a widespread arrest campaign. More than 200 men and women of various ages have been arrested since the beginning of the year, he adds. "They have no judicial system. In other words, they're arrested, there are never any charges, there is no trial. They just disappear into thin air."

One 85-year-old woman is being held in a shipping container and has contracted pneumonia. She is still being refused medical attention because she will not agree to camp authorities' terms for receiving medicine. Military training forms part of the Eritrean curriculum. But after completing school, all Eritreans must also do national service.

Since 2002, worship has been forbidden outside the government-sanctioned Sunni Muslim, Eritrean Orthodox Church (EOC), Roman Catholic, and Evangelical Lutheran Church of Eritrea, with Protestant worship a criminal offense. In 2005, authorities also began persecuting the EOC, particularly those in the church's renewal movement. The flip side, Dykstra observes, is that "where there is hostility toward the church, Christ spreads the church and grows it. That's what's happening in Eritrea."

The fact that it's a seemingly sanctioned campaign is disconcerting, at best. "A government official stated that there are three things that need to be eradicated from Eritrea: HIV/AIDs, the regime of arch-enemy Ethiopia, and independent Christians." At least 105 Christians were arrested in 2012, and 31 Christians were reported to have died in prison.

Dykstra goes on to say that it's likely to get worse before it gets better. There's a new peril. "Another growing threat is the rise of the Muslim terrorists in the country, besides the government. We've seen the increase of that over the past year."

Pray for God's strength for Christians imprisoned in containers, especially those arrested in 2012. Pray for spouses and families who are forced to live as refugees in different countries, and for worldwide awareness of the plight of Eritrean Christians.

Uzbekistan: Violent Police Assault on Protestant

By Dan Wooding
Founder of ASSIST Ministries

URGENCH, UZBEKISTAN (ANS) -- Police in Uzbekistan have violently physically assaulted a local Protestant, and charged him with committing an offence after he insisted on making a formal complaint about police brutality.

Uzbek Christians studying the Bible

Mushfig Bayram, the Central Asia Correspondent of the Forum 18 News Service (www.forum18.org), said that Nodir Akhadov of the Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan had told the news service that in the north-western Khorezm Region of the country, police had violently physically assaulted Sardorbek Nurmetov, a local Protestant.

Bayram stated that on June 14, 2013, Police Captain Shukhrat Masharipov, Chief of the local police Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in Urgench [Urganch], stopped Nurmetov in the street near Urgench's railway station. He belongs to an unregistered local Protestant church, and who lives in the Region's Khanki District.

Captain Masharipov was accompanied by another unknown officer who would not identify himself.

"Under the guise of passport control they took Nurmetov to the nearest police station, where they confiscated a memory stick from him containing Christian materials local Protestants told Forum 18 on July 31, 2013," he said.

"Of course they know who Nurmetov is, and it is no accident that he was stopped by the police," a Protestant who knows Nurmetov told Forum 18.

Police officers then brought Nurmetov to Urgench City Police Station, where Bayram claimed, "Captain Masharipov five times hit Nurmetov with a thick book on the head and then delivered blows to his head and chest, and kicked his legs. As a result of this, Nurmetov became 'dizzy, weakened, and felt like vomiting."

He went on to say, "Captain Masharipov refused to call for an ambulance, despite Nurmetov's requests for this. In violation of Uzbek law, Nurmetov was kept at Urgench's main police station from 14.30 to 21.00, and not allowed to move, drink water, or go to the toilet, Protestants told Forum 18."

A Protestant informant told the journalist, "Masharipov treated Nurmetov brutally and tortured him, which is a severe violation of his rights and the Criminal Code."

Forum 18 says that violence and torture, or threats of this, by police and other officials are "routine" the United Nations Committee Against Torture has found.

Home searched

Mushfig Bayram added that Captain Masharipov and other officers then forcibly put Nurmetov into a police car and took him to his home in Khanka District, about 20 kilometers [13 miles] away from Urgench. With three more policemen from Khanka Police Station, they broke into Nurmetov's private home where they confiscated Nurmetov's laptop computer, three Christian books and a DVD disk.

"Police Captain Masharipov did not answer his office number but refused to talk to Forum 18 on August 2, 2013, on his mobile phone, claiming that it is a wrong number," he wrote.

Hospital collaborates with perpetrators of assault

The story continued by saying that, after the departure of the police, Nurmetov went Khanka District Hospital for treatment for his injuries and to get these formally certified. Doctor Zafar Kalandarov, who received Nurmetov at the hospital, informed the police, following which, two officers of Khanka Police - one of which took part in the raid on Nurmetov's home - came to the hospital.

Uzbek Christians praying

"When the officers found that Nurmetov wanted to get his injuries formally certified, they forcibly took him from the hospital with no regard to his health. They told Doctor Kalandarov that they were taking Nurmetov to the police station to investigate what had happened," the correspondent said.

"At Khanka Police Station the officers tried to pressure and talk Nurmetov into not complaining about them and Captain Masharipov. Despite this, Nurmetov did submit a formal complaint at the police station, demanded that action be taken against Masharipov."

Bayram stated that Nurmetov was then released and told to go home, even though he asked police to "take him back to the hospital as he felt ill."

Hospital refuses ambulance

He added that coming home, Nurmetov asked his wife to call for an ambulance.

"When they heard the reasons of the call, doctors from Khanka Hospital refused to send an ambulance. They claimed that none were available," local Protestants stated.

Nurmetov had to take a taxi to the hospital and, at the hospital, Doctor Kalandarov "fearing police reprisals refused to write a medical report, but gave Nurmetov a painkiller injection after examining the bruises on his body", the Protestants told Forum 18. He then told Nurmetov to go home and undergo out-patient treatment without formally certifying the injuries.

Victim not perpetrator charged

Bayram said that Urgench City Prosecutor's Office commissioned T. Ataniyazov, who local Protestants described as "an inexperienced probationer instead of a qualified, experienced Prosecutor," to deal with Nurmetov's formal complaint.

Ataniyazov ordered a forensic medical examination of Nurmetov, without, Protestants claimed, "thoroughly investigating Nurmetov's complaint and case files." On June 18, 2013, Nurmetov underwent forensic examination, and Ataniyazov sent the results of the examination to Urgench City Police for investigation.

"Urgench Police, instead of taking action against Captain Masharipov and others implicated in the crime, opened an administrative case against Nurmetov for illegally storing religious materials in his home," said the story. 

"Nurmetov has also made complaints to Uzbek President and other high state authorities."

Ruslan Bekmetov, the Secretary of Urgench City Court told Forum 18 on August 2, 2013, that Judge Makhmud Makhmudov will hear the case on 11 August 11, 2013.

Protestants confirmed to Forum 18 that a summons to this effect had been issued to Nurmetov. Asked what part of the Code of Administrative Offences Nurmetov had violated, Bekmetov said that Urgench Police had opened the case but would not give any details.

Asked whether the Court knew about Nurmetov being violently physically assaulted by Urgench Police, Bekmetov replied "No."

Asked whether Judge Makhmudov was available to discuss the case he asked to call back after the lunch. When Forum 18 called back, an official stated that the judge was not available and would not connect Forum 18 with other officials.

Bayram's story concluded with: "Captain Masharipov is already known for violations of freedom of religion or belief, having personally led two raids in January on the home of local Protestant Sharofat Allamova. These led to her being sentenced in April on criminal charges to 18 months' corrective labor, for the 'illegal production, storage, import or distribution of religious literature.'

"She has been placed in a low-paid state job, her salary being further reduced by having to pay 20 per cent of it to the state during her sentence."

Saeed Abedini's Attorney Speaks About the Uncertainty of His Client's Situation

By Jeremy Reynalds
Senior Correspondent for ASSIST News Service

IRAN (ANS) -- Imprisoned Iranian-American Pastor Saeed Abedini's attorney is speaking out against what he calls the uncertain situation of his client and calling on Iranian judicial authorities to clear things up.

Saeed and Naghmeh Abedini

According to a story by Mohabat News, Abedini was arrested during a trip to Iran to visit his family and continued efforts to establish an orphanage in Iran.

Abedini was later sentenced to eight years in prison in branch 26 of the Islamic Revolutionary Court chaired by Judge Pir-Abassi. His attorney filed an appeal, and the case was transferred to branch 36 of the appeal courts in Tehran.

However, Mohabat News said there's been no progress on that front and he has not been granted bail. That despite Iranian judicial authorities promising Abedini's family several times they would release him on bail.

Abedini's trial was held behind closed doors on Jan. 22 of this year.

Meanwhile, Abedini's wife Naghmeh believes the delay in the appeals court is a good sign regarding her husband's case.

Naser Sarbazi, Saeed Abedini's attorney, also said he is hopeful that the Iranian authorities will soon clear up the situation in an appeals court.

Sarbazi said, "The courts should handle cases of those who are in pr ison out of turn, but no decision has been made in this regard."

Mohabat News said Naghmeh expressed hope that the appeals court will make a fair review of the case, and release her husband soon.

After Abedini was sentenced to eight years in prison, Victoria Nuland, then spokesperson for the U.S. State Department, and Jay Carney, White House Press Secretary, expressed the U.S. government's deep concerns over Abedini and promised to make every effort to secure his freedom. They also called on Iran to honor Abedini's human rights and release him from prison.

Mohabat News said Abedini is suffering from a scar on his abdomen which needed medical care. According to reports, he was transferred to a private hospital on July 20. After being examined in hospital, doctors said he needed continuous medical care to treat the scars caused by beatings.

Abedini, who spent his 34th birthday in prison, was arrested for establishing house churches and therefore "disrupting Iranian national security.." He has been held in w ard 350 of Evin prison since Sept. 26 2012.

In the past few years, human rights advocacy groups and western governments have expressed ongoing concerns over the violation of religious minorities' rights in Iran.

On the 4th anniversary of Gojra murders: Pakistani Christians are still waiting for justice

By Dan Wooding
Founder of ASSIST Ministries

GOJRA, PAKISTAN (ANS) -- The Centre for Legal Aid, Assistance and Settlement (CLAAS), an interdenominational organization working for religious freedom in Pakistan, is calling for justice four years to the day since a horrific attack on the Christian town of Gojra in Pakistan.

Pakistani men celebrating the burning of Christians homes in Gojra

It was on August 1, 2009 that a Muslim mob went on the rampage in the town, burning eight people to death, including children, and torching dozens of homes. The attack was triggered by reports that local Christians had desecrated the Koran, a crime punishable by life imprisonment under Pakistan's blasphemy laws.

"Some eye witnesses claimed that the police stood by and ignored pleas for help from the Christians as the attack unfolded. In the immediate aftermath, there were promises that the perpetrators would be caught and punished," a spokesperson for CLAAS-UK told the ASSIST News Service (www.assistnews.net). "Yet no one has ever been brought to justice for the crime and Christians are wondering if anyone ever will."

A preliminary investigation, soon after the attack, concluded that the Koran had "not been desecrated" as alleged.

Christians digging through the wreckage of their homes after the violence four years ago

Police also arrested dozens of suspects, yet no one was ever brought to trial or imprisoned. There were reports that witnesses were intimidated and that police drew up a charge sheet attempting to reframe the attack as an instance of communal violence between Christians and Muslims, rather than an attack by Muslims on Christians.

"The Gojra judicial tribunal was set up to investigate the attack and recorded the statements of some 580 people," said the spokesperson. "However, the Punjab government has so far refused to publish the report into its findings.

"It is believed the report proposes amendments to the blasphemy laws and pins the blame largely on the failure of the police to respond adequately to the attack."

He added, "CLAAS is deeply distressed that after four years, so little has been done to bring the perpetrators of one of the worst attacks on Pakistani Christians to justice."

Nasir Saeed, Director of CLAAS UK, said: "The inaction and bewildering lack of urgency in holding the culprits of the Gojra violence to account has set a dreadful and terrifying precedent - that those who attack and murder Christians in Pakistan are likely to get away with it.

A Christian women in Pakistan visit her house that was destroyed by a mob in Gojra (Photo: PA)

"Persecution of Christians will continue so long as there is no deterrent to stop radical Muslims doing what they like and taking the law into their own hands.

 It is imperative that the authorities do whatever it takes to see the perpetrators caught, tried and punished. Otherwise we can expect more innocent blood to be shed."

CLAAS then told ANS that the recent arrest of a Christian couple in Gojra for blasphemy "shows that very little has changed for the area's Christians."

Shafaqat Masih, 35, and his wife, Shagufta, face an uncertain future after being arrested for supposedly sending blasphemous text messages to a local Muslim. A local human rights advocate says Shafaqat told him he had been "forced into confessing his guilt."

Nasir Saeed said, "The blasphemy laws are being misused time and time again. The Pakistani government must amend the blasphemy laws so that they can no longer be used to make false accusations against innocent people. People who committed no crime are literally losing their lives because of these unjust laws."

About CLAAS:

The Centre for Legal Aid, Assistance and Settlement (CLAAS) is an interdenominational organization working for religious freedom, Christians and other religious minorities who are being persecuted because of their faith in Pakistan. CLAAS works for religious freedom, to stop persecution of Christians in Pakistan because of blasphemy and other discriminatory laws, raise awareness, disseminate information and highlight the plight of Christians and other religious minorities on an international level. CLAAS provides free legal aid to victims of religious intolerance in Pakistan, as well as shelter and financial support for the victims and their families.

Madhya Pradesh awaits decision on stricter ‘anti-conversion law’

Bill on hold for now as opposition considers vote of no confidence against BJP

Protesters gather in Jhabua, a town in the west of Madhya Pradesh, on July 24.

World Watch Monitor

Madhya Pradesh state in central India awaits the outcome of proposed amendments to its ‘anti-conversion law’, which would lengthen prison time and fines for anyone convicted of forcing someone to change their religion.

With state elections looming before this government ends its term in October, some observers claim the move is an attempt by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to appease Hindu hardliners.

The Christian minority now awaits the verdict of the state Governor, Ramnaresh Yadav, who must sign the bill before it can become law.

The amendment was one of a number of topics considered during a two-week local assembly meeting beginning on July 8 and scheduled to finish on July 19.

However, local sources told World Watch Monitor that proceedings were halted on July 11, while the opposition prepared a no-confidence motion against the present BJP government.

The Governor has therefore delayed his response to the proposed amendment and called for another meeting of the local assembly.

The Madhya Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act, introduced in 1968, prohibits forcible conversion, but critics say the law has been abused by those who wish only to prevent others from changing their religion. As such, they have been widely labelled ‘anti-conversion laws’.

Dr. John Dayal, a member of the National Integration Council for the Government of India and Secretary General of the All India Christian Council, says that rather than promoting freedom of religion, laws such as the Madhya Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act of 1968 are in fact “violations of the religious freedom guaranteed by the constitution”.

“It is a deliberate attempt to polarise society and to keep Dalits and other marginalised groups in serfdom,” he says. “We are determined to challenge such black laws.”

As punishment, the 1968 Act recommends a fine of up to 5,000 rupees ($83) and imprisonment of up to one year. In the case of a conversion involving a child, a woman or member of a ‘scheduled caste or tribe’ (those recognised in India’s Constitution as ‘historically disadvantaged’ by background), prison term and fine can be doubled.

The proposed amendment recommends maximum punishment of three years’ imprisonment and a fine of 50,000 rupees ($830), or four years and 100,000 rupees ($1660) in the case of a child, woman or member of a scheduled caste or tribe.

The amendment also introduces the requirement for both the converter and would-be convert to obtain state permission at least 30 days prior to conversion. 

For this purpose an application would need to be filed with the district magistrate, who may then ask the police to investigate.

Those failing to obtain prior permission – both convert and converter – could face one year’s imprisonment and a 1,000-rupee fine.

ProtestsChristian leaders in Bhopal, the state capital, met Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan before the July 8 congress and petitioned him to reject the bill, while hundreds of Christians have attended protests across the state.

“We will not lay back, we will fight,” said protest organiser Indira Iyengar, Chairperson for non-profit organisations Mahashakti Seva Kendera, Jan Shikshan Sansthan Jhabua and Alirajpur Madhya Pradesh.

Protesters line the streets in Jhabua.

World Watch Monitor

“For us this bill is very important. The poor community in Madhya Pradesh will face a situation like Gujarat [a state in the west of India, where the law is particularly severe] if this amendment is made.”

Iyengar said that meetings had been held in every district in Madhya Pradesh and petitions signed against the amendment. Non-religious groups such as the centrist Bahujan Samaj Party (Majority People's Party) also attended the protests.

“Never were the Christian community so united as at this time,” she said.

BackgroundIn 2006, a comparable amendment to the state’s ‘anti-conversion law’ was reported internationally as ‘passed’, but then former Governor Balram Jakhar twice refused to give his approval.

This was also the case for a proposed amendment to the respective law in the mountainous northern state of Himachal Pradesh, which was quashed last year after protests led by the Evangelical Fellowship of India and Act Now for Harmony and Democracy.

Christians comprise a tiny fraction of the population of Madhya Pradesh (the 2001 census put the figure at around 170,000 people, or 0.3%) and just 2.3% of the total population of India (2011 census).

In the vast and diverse country, Christians often live freely. However, India ranks among the 50 countries where life as a Christian is most difficult, according to Open Doors International, a global ministry that serves Christians who are pressured because of their faith.

The country is No. 31 on Open Doors' 2013 World Watch List, largely because of a streak of Hindu nationalism, or Hindutva, that envisions India as a purely Hindu state.

Earlier this week, World Watch Monitor reported a number of specific examples of attacks against India’s Christians in recent months.