You can email us HERE. Click HERE to contact us

   

Mission Network News

Mission Network News reports these incidents of Christians being persecuted.

Vietnam:

A radio station helps persecuted believers stay faithful.

The government is cracking down on the Hmong Christians. Far East Broadcasting Company’s president, Jim Bowman, says they’ve been trying to encourage the struggling church there since the word got out in the mid 1990’s about the persecution. "It really saddens and surprises us that, here in the year 2002, it’s the worst it’s ever been. So, in spite of the best foot forward that the Vietnamese government puts with regard to human rights, the fact is that the Hmong are being horribly persecuted, both in Vietnam and in Laos." Bowman says the value believers place on FEBC’s outreach comes through clearly in their correspondence. "The common request of Hmong who write us, who are being persecuted is: ‘Don’t give up the broadcast, because many of us begin to lose our faith, we begin to doubt our faith, especially when we’re persecuted; we want to stay strong. So, keep those broadcasts coming."

Eritrea:

Evangelical churches ordered closed.

There are reports that the Eritrean government has closed all churches in the country other than the Orthodox, Roman Catholic and Lutheran denominations. It’s a surprise move, and one that may be a result of outreach that took place during the war with Ethiopia. For security reasons, we’ll call our source ‘Dan’. He details the effect on their outreach. "Many of these young men and women were led to the Lord out on the battlefields, both by radio programs that they were listening to, as well as by the personal witness of many people from the believers in that country." Dan says the future for their work is unclear; please pray. "It seems as if the government has some major concern about these people coming back into the city and coming back into the evangelical churches. So, last week, the minister of religious affairs in Eritrea called all of the evangelical church leaders together and announced to them that their churches would be closed, that they would need to register with the government."

Ghana:

Smear campaign waged against Christian organization.

The International Needs Network reports that their director is facing false accusations in Ghana. The country’s president is calling on the ministry to answer the charges being made against them. The trouble stems from INN’s help to free hundreds of women enslaved to fetish priests. Now, those who want to keep the system are smearing the outreach’s reputation publicly.

Georgia:

Persecution incidents exposed as Americans fight terrorism.

As part of the ongoing U-S led war on terrorism, special forces are in the Georgian Republic. Even as training begins, there are questions about breaches in human rights and religious freedoms. Baptist World Alliance’s Wendy Ryan says one of their leaders confirms trouble, but says it stems from a more localized source. "Malkhaz Songulashvili has been threatened with having his offices burnt down. Already, he has seen this happen. The warehouse in which they house Bibles and other religious books was burnt down, so right now, his ministry is under threat." Ryan asks people to pray for their workers in Georgia. "The Baptist World Alliance is very concerned that not enough is being done to physically protect the offices and the people. And, already, with the documented cases of religious harassment and criminal activity, that there has not been enough done to bring these perpetrators to justice."

Please go to Http://www.mnnonline.org to learn more about these stories, missions news, and to hear a weekday audio broadcast.

Voice Of The Martyrs

The Voice Of The Martyrs reports these persecution incidents.

Sudan:

Village bombed as aid was distributed.

The desperate need in Sudan was driven home again on May 22 as the villages of Reir and Tam were hit by bombs. At 2:00 a.m., 16 bombs were dropped by Sudanese government aircraft on Reir, killing 15 people and wounding 100, many of them children. The testimonies of those who witnessed this attack are horrid, as they describe limbs missing and large gaping wounds. Reir is a humanitarian relief centre approximately 25 miles south of Kaikang, a major centre for Canada’s Talisman Energy. It is this proximity to oil activity that likely sparked the attack. This attack directly contravenes an agreement brokered by the US that limited attacks on civilians in the ongoing war in Sudan. Despite eyewitness accounts by relief workers and journalists, the Government of Sudan was quick to deny the bombing, saying that it never happened. An eyewitness account by western aid workers in Reir at the time of the bombing is available at www.liaafrica.org/.

Uzbekistan:

Preaching in Uzbek Forbidden.

On May 22, Keston News Service received an open letter from Dmitri Pitirimov, the press-officer of the Evangelical Christians/Baptists of Uzbekistan. The letter cited numerous recent situations demonstrating renewed restrictions on religious freedom in Uzbekistan. The letter outlines how the head of the Full Gospel church, Bishop Sergei Nechitailo, was summoned to the Committee for Religious Affairs, where the deputy chairman of the committee, Shoazim Minovarov, demanded that his denomination’s churches stop preaching and distributing literature in Uzbek (the country’s state language). Minovarov confirmed this report, saying that he has received complaints that members of the church had been trying to convert people from Islam. Such activity, he states, is illegal.

Colombia:

"Hard-line" President Elected

On May 27, 2002, Alvaro Uribe Velez was elected president of Colombia. Uribe captured a majority on the first ballot after pledging an all-out military campaign against Colombia’s two leftist rebel groups. In his victory speech, Uribe said he would seek international support in a bid to reopen peace contacts with "groups outside the law," referring to both the rebels and right-wing paramilitary units loyal to the government. But he said peace talks would not begin unless the groups agree to a cease-fire and stop the practice of kidnapping civilians for ransom. It is unlikely that the groups will agree to those conditions. Christians have often been caught in the middle of the conflict. Last month, rebel forces closed down 11 churches in the town of Araquita, claiming that the church leaders were supporting the election bid of Uribe, despite statements from the pastors that they refused to be involved in politics. With Uribe’s victory, there are concerns about increased violence throughout Colombia. If this happens, it will undoubtedly directly affect the Christians.

Please check http://persecution.net for more details regarding the persecution of believers and what can be done about it.

Belarus:

Religion law goes to Parliament this week.

Amendments to the Belarusian religion law was discussed by the lower house of parliament on 31 May. A parliamentary official told Keston News Service this on 28 May. Religious and human rights representatives have told Keston that the long-running process to amend the religion law for the third time has been conducted in some secrecy and confusion. "We get the impression that the religious affairs committee and the parliamentary apparatus want to limit access as far as possible to the current draft of the text," said a representative of the Belarusian Helsinki Committee.

Belarus:

Religious censorship, compulsory re-registration under restrictive new law?

Unregistered religious activity will be banned, foreigners will be prevented from leading religious organisations, religious literature will be subjected to prior compulsory censorship and religious groups with fewer than 20 adult citizen members in any one location will be denied the possibility of registering, if new proposals to amend the religion law which begin their passage through parliament this week go through unchanged. Members of several faiths in Belarus, as well as local human rights activists, have told Keston News Service of their concerns. "If it is adopted there will be serious problems," one Pentecostal Christian said.

Kosovo:

Spate of attacks marred Orthodox Easter.

Despite recent signs that the Kosovo government is trying to bring reconciliation with the Serbian Orthodox community, the Orthodox diocese of Raska and Prizren reported attacks at monasteries and graveyards over the Orthodox Easter season, as well as more minor incidents. "Any attacks on any religious groups are deplorable," a spokesman for the United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), told Keston News Service from Pristina on 31 May. "The situation has got better recently, but such attacks have not completely stopped." However, the chief advisor to Kosovo’s prime minister denied to Keston that any such attacks had taken place, labelling the Orthodox accounts as "disinformation and propaganda".

Moldova:

Will Supreme Court victory help true Orthodox?

Moldova’s True Orthodox community has welcomed its 29 May victory in the country’s Supreme Court over the government’s repeated denial of registration, but fears that this may not be enough to overturn the government’s objections to granting registration to an Orthodox group outside the framework of the Moldovan Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate. It has not yet registered the Bessarabian Orthodox Church of the Romanian Patriarchate, despite a European Court of Human Rights ruling last year. Speaking to Keston News Service on 31 May, a senior religious affairs official appeared to reject the validity of Wednesday’s court hearing. Meanwhile the opposition politician and church activist Vlad Cubreacov, who disappeared on 21 March (see KNS 10 April 2002), reemerged on 24 May, saying he had been kidnapped.

Please go to http://www.keston.org to learn more about religious persecution in communist and post-communist lands.

ASSIST Ministries

ASSIST Ministries reports these incidents of suffering Christians.

Australia:

Muslims assault non-Muslims in immigration detention centres.

A deeply disturbing scandal has emerged in Australia’s immigration detention centres where Christians and other non-Muslim asylum-seekers have been "stoned, assaulted, sexually harassed and abused by Islamic fanatics," according to the Barnabus Fund. Reza, an Iranian Christian, was blinded in one eye last August when a group of Afghan Muslim men stoned Christians leaving the dining hall in Woomera detention centre, the Barnabus Fund said in a press release.

In another incident a Christian man was kicked to the floor and his cross was ripped from his neck, according to the release. In December, 2001 an 18-year-old Mandean girl (a small religious group which follows the teachings of John the Baptist) was shouted at by Muslim men in a dining hall who called her a "dirty, filthy infidel" who shouldn’t be allowed to serve food to Muslims. When she attempted to argue back she was "pushed to the ground and kicked and abused."

The Barnabus Fund release said that in a similarly shocking incident a blind Mandean man was seized by Muslim men, held down and defecated on before being left in a locked toilet. In other incidents non-Muslim girls have faced sexual harassment and verbal abuse because they do not wear Islamic veils, the doorways of Mandean asylum seekers have been defecated in, and a local Islamic mullah has even called for a jihad (holy war) against Mandeans at the Port Hedland detention centre. The organization said that non-Muslim men, women, and even children, many of whom fled Muslim-majority countries like Iran in the first place because they were being persecuted for their faith, are now facing abuse of a horrific nature from Muslim conservatives in Australia’s detention centres. "The majority of asylum seekers in Australia are Muslims," the release said. "Witnesses say that extremist Shiah Muslims, particularly Iranians, Afghans and Iraqis, are often those behind the violence."

The Barnabus Fund reports that Chaplains, pastoral workers and staff at the Woomera, Curtin and Port Hedland detention centres in Australia have spoken up about an atmosphere of Islamic intimidation and terror in which the authorities seem powerless to protect the non-Muslims. Whilst Muslim asylum-seekers have access to halal meat and mosques, many non-Muslims’ religious and dietary needs are not being met.

"In Woomera, Mandeans are now even allegedly forced to hold their religious meetings in secret, and in Curtin no Mandean services are being held at all because the authorities simply cannot guarantee the protection of the participants, and even Christian services, including baptisms, have been severely restricted," the report said. The widespread suffering and "constant discrimination" is leading to deep emotional distress and psychological trauma. Jim Monaghan, a Christian chaplain at Woomera, says that "at present the families there are very vulnerable. There have been attempted suicides and other forms of self-harm...they are desperate."

Philippines:

American missionaries mark one year in captivity.

The American missionary couple Martin and Gracia Burnham have spent one year in captivity with the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG), a terrorist group operating in the Southern Philippines and believed to have links to the Al Qa’ida network in Afghanistan. The couple were abducted at Dos Palmas Beach Resort last May 27, 2001 and were later brought to the jungles of Basilan Province where they are believed to be in captivity until now.

Provincial spokesman Cris Puno said that the most recent report he has gathered was that the couple has been very sick lately while Gracia is suffering from Urinary Tract Infection (UTI), Martin is infected with Malaria, a disease common in tropical countries like the Philippines. Worse, yet, the arrival of more than a thousand US troops in Zamboanga City and Basilan Province were not able to secure the safe release of the hostages for the past months despite sophisticated gadgets and weapons.

Washington is negotiating with the Philippine government for the possible extension of US troops in the Southern Philippines since they are expected to leave the country on July 15 as stated in the Visiting Force Agreement (VFA). A series of joint anti- terrorism training exercises continue between the RP-US soldiers but residents in Basilan continue to doubt that such training can capture the elusive abductors of the missionary couple. Wichita-based relatives of the couple have been calling radio stations in Zamboanga City saying words of encouragement and expressing concern to the couple.

North Korea:

Urgent appeal to halt execution of Christians.

Christian Solidarity Worldwide is raising urgent concern for a group of North Koreans who are in the process of being sent back to North Korea, where they are in danger of execution. According to CSW, the six defectors were arrested in Yunnan Province in China, near the Laos/Burma border between 24^th - 26^th May. They were attempting to leave China, without a guide, but were arrested and are now being taken by the Chinese authorities to North China for repatriation to North Korea. "The group was sent to Kunmin on the morning of 29^th May and were transported to Changchun the next day.

The situation is particularly urgent as the Chinese are moving exceptionally fast in this case," said a spokesman for CSW. "Amongst the group is Lee Song-yong, a 2 ½ year old boy, born 15^th November 1999 in 292 Chinese Army Hospital in Beijing. Lee’s mother, Park Sun-hi, aged 31, was 3 months pregnant when she fled to China for freedom in May 1999," the spokesman said. Afraid of arrest and repatriation in China she managed to reach South Korea on 22^nd November 2002. She is now a South Korean citizen, CSW said. "However she could not take her 12-month-old baby at the time and has been desperate to bring him to live with her. She managed to find a group of North Koreans preparing to leave China and asked them to take her son with them. Unfortunately this is the group that has been arrested," CSW said. CSW also reports that a second member of the group is Mr. Lee Hong-gang, aged 48. He was an underground Christian in North Korea. His father and one of his two brothers were executed for their Christian faith in North Korea. He fled North Korea in April 2000 when there were indications that his arrest and execution were imminent.

Accounts from North Korean defectors who have been recaptured and interrogated by the North Korean authorities systematically report that being a Christian or even having had contact with a Christian is one of the most serious crimes that a North Korean can commit. Eyewitness evidence gathered by CSW and other organizations attests that North Koreans who have tried to escape and who are Christians face execution. It is believed by those close to the situation that there is no doubt that he would be executed if he is repatriated to North Korea, CSW reported. A third member of the group is 30 year old Kim Mi-hwa, the spokesman said. The CSW spokesman told ASSIST News Service (ANS):"The other serious crime that North Korean interrogators look for is links with South Korea, as this is deemed the ultimate act of treason. The facts that the group were heading for South Korea, and Lee Song-yong’s mother has already defected to South Korea, are grave grounds for concern for the welfare of the group.

"This is a very serious case. It is understood that China and North Korea have an agreement that China will repatriate North Koreans to North Korea. We know from first hand evidence that this gives rise to the most horrific human rights abuses, including execution. Recent cases that have caught international attention have resulted in a more humanitarian response, with North Koreans seeking refuge in embassies being allowed to leave China for safety," the spokesman added. CSW said that China’s international reputation is at risk in sending these people back to certain death. "Besides the obvious outcry which such action should precipitate, her position as host of the Olympic Games in 2008 has to be called into question while such barbaric acts are carried out."

Please go to http://www.assist-ministries.org for further details about these and other stories.

   

email: ve6xtc@freenet.edmonton.ab.ca