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Subject: PERSECUTION REPORT FOR NOVEMBER 4, 2003.

Date: Sun, 2 Nov 2003 18:54:25 -0800

From: "Bruce Atchison" <ve6xtc@telusplanet.net>

To: "Ted" <thilts@help-for-you.com>

CC: "John M. Lindner" <jml@christianaid.org>

PERSECUTION REPORT FOR NOVEMBER 4, 2003.

The Voice Of The Martyrs presents these bulletins of Christians suffering for Christ.

Australia:

Trial resumes for pastors

Hearings resumed in the court case against Daniel Scot and Danny Nalliah, accusing the two of "vilifying Muslims" in a seminar on March 9, 2002. The Islamic Council of Victoria contends that the seminar violated Victoria State's Racial and Religious Tolerance Act.

Last week, defense attorneys sought a two-week delay to prepare their defense, when the judge allowed the case to be expanded beyond the original charges (for more details, see http://www.persecution.net/pnparchive/arch2.htm). However, the judge denied that request. During the trial, the two accused will not be allowed to argue whether or not their statements from the Koran and other Islamic sources are true; but only whether or not they "incited hatred against, serious contempt for, or revulsion or severe ridicule" of Muslims. VOM Spokesman, Glenn Penner commented, "This legislation was bound to be misused. It is vaguely written without clear legal definitions of what 'vilification' really is. It desperately needs to be withdrawn and either rejected or redrafted to prevent the kind of injustice we see Scot and Nalliah being subjected to." To view this legislation, go to http://www.persecution.net/rrta.pdf.

China:

Catholic priests arrested

The systematic attack on churches by the Chinese government continued on October 20 with the arrest of approximately twelve underground Roman Catholic priests and seminarians as they met for a retreat in the Hebei province. According to the Cardinal Kung Foundation, they are being held in the detention house of Gaocheng County. Those arrested include Father Li Wenfeng, age 31, Father Liu Heng, age 29, Father Dou Shengxia, age 37, Chen Rongfu, age 21, Han Jianlu, age 24, and Zhang Chongyou, age 23. This attack appears to be part of a coordinated effort by the authorities against the underground church.

On May 28, a Catholic expert in Chinese affairs published an article in the Italian newspaper, Avvenire, outlining three Chinese government directives specifically aimed at the Catholic Church, particularly to sever ties with the Vatican. The Chinese government is recently stepping up efforts to strengthen the communist grip on religion while defending their religious practices.

On October 22, the South China Morning Post published an article outlining new efforts to defend and promote atheism in order to curtail the rapid growth of religious activities in China. On the same day, religious leaders were speaking at the Chinese Embassy in the U.S. about freedom of religion in China. According to Rev. Cao Shengjie, president of the China Christian Council, "The Chinese government is doing a better and better job of ensuring freedom of religious belief." They deny the existence of an underground church in China as well as denying persecuting the church. They claim that there are only a limited number of unregistered churches in China.

Egypt:

Police protecting Muslim kidnappers of Christian girl

The parents of an Egyptian Christian teenager, kidnapped a month ago by Muslims who claim she has converted to Islam, are being refused access to their daughter. Ingy Nagy Edwar disappeared on September 27, the day after she celebrated her nineteenth birthday at her home in El-Maryouteya El-Haram. The last time her father saw her was when he sent her on a bus to visit an aunt in Cairo's Heliopolis district. She never arrived.

According to an October 27 report from Compass Direct, her brother Nagy went to the police station on September 28 to report the disappearance where he was treated very rudely. Ingy's father then went to the police station where he was held overnight, accused of trying to interfere with his daughter's conversion to Islam. He was shown a declaration of conversion and a written complaint from his daughter, rejecting any interference in her conversion. She is staying in the home of former neighbours, Abdel Gaber Abdel Moteleb Mohammed Kandyl and his wife. According to the U.S. Copts Association, police are guarding the apartment to prevent unauthorized contact with the family.

On September 29, the Giza State Security Directorate held a hearing into the girl's case, producing Ingy dressed in an Islamic veil. According to the family, her moods were extremely unusual. "She was not in a normal mood," Nagy stated. "When we started crying, she was laughing hysterically." Based on that, and other phone conversations with her since, the family believes that she has been put on mood-altering drugs.

During a second hearing, two Coptic priests were present, as required by law, to ask her about her alleged conversion to Islam. However, she did not come, saying that she was very sick.

The family is concerned about her psychological stability since her mother's death two years ago. She has told her brother by phone that she wants to commit suicide.

Under Egyptian law, a daughter under the age of twenty-one cannot convert from one religion to another without her father's consent and there is no legal reason for keeping her from contact with her family, based on the alleged conversion. A third hearing has been set for November 1, where her father will be pressing for Ingy to be returned to his custody.

Abductions of young Christian women, followed by forced conversions to Islam, are not uncommon in Egypt. The U.S. Copts Association reported this week on the case of Heba Samir Wahba, 19, who was last seen on the campus of El Minia University on October 20. When the family reported her disappearance to the police, they were told of her conversion to Islam and were warned to not attempt to intervene. After beginning a hunger strike, the State Security officials had agreed to arrange a meeting between the family and their daughter, in the presence of officials and her new guardians. However, Christine Tadros of the U.S. Copts Association told The Voice of the Martyrs this morning that the meeting did not happen. There have been several similar reports from El Minia University and other college campuses where young Coptic women are befriended by Muslim male students, drawn into a life of drug addiction, and finally abduction and conversion to Islam.

Mexico:

Evangelical pastor assassinated

Mariano Díaz Méndez, 38, a minister of the Tzotzil Evangelical Church, was assassinated on October 24 near the town of San Juan Chamula in Mexico's troubled southern state of Chiapas. According to an October 28 report from Compass Direct, Méndez was near the village of Botatulán, on his way to a prayer service, when heavily armed men stopped his automobile around 3:00 p.m. According to witnesses, Méndez left his vehicle, attempting to evade his attackers, when they shot him to death with an AK-47 assault rifle. Mariano Díaz Méndez is survived by his wife, the former María Pérez Gomez, and a daughter, Rosa.

Méndez is the second evangelical pastor to die in the past two weeks. On October 17, Jairo Solís Lopez was killed in the municipality of Mapastepec. The circumstances surrounding Solís's death are unclear, but sources fear that this is a resurgence of persecution against evangelicals by local caciques, or powerful community chieftains. Caciques practice "traditionalist" religion, a semi-pagan mix of Roman Catholic beliefs and ancient Mayan religion. Over the past thirty years, scores of evangelicals have died and hundreds injured. About 35,000 live in ghettos around the district capital of San Cristobal de las Casas, having been forced to leave their homes by caciques. Recently cacaques had issued threats in San Juan Chamula, saying that the evangelical leaders would fall one by one.

Pakistan:

Authorities attempt to silence a voice for equality

Shahbaz Bhatti is no stranger to threats and harassment. As chairman of the All Pakistan Minorities Alliance (APMA), he has raised the voice of persecuted Christians in Pakistan since 1985. For the past several months, threats have increased. Anonymous phone calls warn him to stop his work or face death. He has been threatened by government security agencies with severe punishment. According to sources, he faces arrest and imprisonment at any time. His name has recently been added to Pakistan's Exit Control List, normally reserved for criminals and dissidents, meaning that he is no longer able to travel outside the country.

Despite the threats, Bhatti is determined to continue. In a letter to The Voice of the Martyrs, Bhatti said, "In spite of government intimidations that may jeopardize my life I am determined to carry on this struggle for the amelioration of minorities and the most dejected class of my countrymen. I am ready to even sacrifice my life for the mission of peace, preservation of Human rights and dignity, alleviation of discrimination and victimization perpetuated by the extremist forces for the attainment of their vested interests."

We encourage you to contact the Pakistani authorities, politely calling on them to remove his name from the Exit Control List and protect him from danger and injustice. You can fax Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf at 92-51-9224768 or contact the Pakistani Embassy in your country. For contact information for the Pakistani embassy in your country, follow the links from our web site at http://www.persecution.net/links.htm.

Egypt:

Muslim converts arrested and tortured

According to reports, since October 20, twenty-two converts from Islam to Christianity arrested in northern Egypt with unconfirmed reports of several more. According to the U.S. Copts Association, Egyptian authorities have been searching for eighty others.

On October 20, Yousef Samuel Makari Suliman and his wife Mariam Girgis Makar were arrested by the Alexandria police. According to lawyers who have seen them, they have both been subjected to physical abuse, but particularly Mariam, who has suffered sexual abuse. They have been charged with "falsifying ID papers," because they obtained new ID cards with their Christian names.

Following their arrest, police arrested the individuals who helped them obtain new ID cards.

Through torture, authorities obtained the names of others who had received such cards and immediately arrested twenty others in Alexandria. The Voice of the Martyrs spoke with Christine Tadros of the U.S. Copts Association this morning, who reported that one of the administrative officials who assisted in obtaining the false ID cards died in prison on October 28 due to a pre-existing illness. Authorities have taunted Mariam, threatening a similar fate if she does not cooperate with them. There are concerns that at least eighty others will be arrested in the coming days.

The U.S. Copts Association is waiting for confirmation on several additional arrests reported in recent days.

Changing one's name and religion on identity papers is impossible for Muslims converting to Christianity in Egypt. For Christians converting to Islam, however, it is relatively simple. According to Tadros, there are various reasons why it would be important for those who become Christians to want to change this information. For example, if a woman's papers state that she is a Muslim, she would not be permitted to marry a Christian. Also the children of those who are legally classified as Muslims are required, by law, to be educated as Muslims. It can also be dangerous for a person with an Islamic name to enter a church, since police guard most churches. Consequently, many converts to Christianity obtain their official papers under an assumed Christian name not recognized by the state, risking charges of falsifying official documents. While it is officially legal for anyone to convert from one religion to another, issues such as ID cards have been used as a way of punishing those who convert from Islam.

Michael Meunier, president of the U.S. Copts Association, said, "It is ironic that while the Egyptian constitution guarantees the individuals' freedom to change his or her religion, the Egyptian government repeatedly violates the constitution by harassing, torturing, raping, and holding converts indefinitely to pressure them to leave their new faith. In addition the government does not legally recognize conversion from Islam to Christianity and, as a result, converts lose all their rights, inheritance and all positions."

We encourage you to contact the Egyptian authorities to politely express your concern for the welfare of these Christians and the policies, which led to this situation. Urge them to pass legislation making it easier for minorities to change one's name and religion on ID cards and insist that police not harass those who desire to do so. For contact information for the Egyptian embassy in your country, follow the links from our web site at http://www.persecution.net/links.htm.

Please go to http://www.persecution.net to learn more about Christians in peril and how to speak out on their behalf.

Mission Network News presents this persecution bulletin.

Nigeria:

Despite security risks, ministry grows.

The Association of Christian Schools International is in the process of rebuilding their missionary school following arson attacks last year.

At the outset of the Islamic holy month this year, there are some fears that the staff could see more of the same. ACSI's Dan Egeler. "The school was targeted by Islamic fundamentalists and their dormitory for the boys was burned down, twice. They were singled out because they were the children of missionaries that were going in and expressing the Gospel message to Muslim people."

However, Egeler says this year, the local Muslim leader came to school officials to tell them he did not condone the violence done to the school. Further, he says the cleric's granddaughter attends the school. "He really values the ministry of the school. He said these were extremists, folks that he did not concur with at all. So, he's put a call out to protect the school and its ministry, because he's seen its ministry and vitality in the life of his own grandchild."

Funding is still needed to repair the damages from the fires. On his recent trip to Nigeria, Egeler says he handed the school's administrator one-thousand dollars in cash, upon which he was told, "this money is going to replace the tin roof on our dorm that was burned to the ground."

ACSI's mission, Egeler explains, tells their story in the community, "The predominant part of that community is Muslim. But the high quality education that has moral fibre, they don't truly understand the Christian philosophy of education, but they're attracted to that, and enrolled their children. As a result of that, their kids are hearing the gospel message in the context of the school day."

Please go to http://www.missionnetworknews.org to read missions news reports and to hear a weekday audio broadcast.

Christian Aid Mission provides these persecution bulletins.

India:

Meteor foils persecution attack

Severe persecution against church planting ministry in India's Orissa State was interrupted with a sign from heaven when a meteor crashed to earth near the Bay of Bengal.

Missionaries with an indigenous church-planting ministry had won to Christ and discipled 15 families in a certain village. So in early September the ministry sent builders to construct a church building on a piece of land donated by one of the local believers.

Suddenly on the third day of construction about 50 Hindus gathered about 50 yards away, placed a stone there, and said that someone had dreamed they should construct a Hindu temple there.

The next morning about 300 people gathered at the site and attacked the labourers working on the church building. They snatched $220 from the builder's pocket, beat him mercilessly, and ordered him to stop construction.

At that time the pastor and the president of the church arrived to see what the trouble was. The angry crowd dragged them both away and ordered them to turn over 50 bags of cement and iron rods to them.

The next day, two missionaries with the church planting ministry arrived at the site and they, too, were beaten, but managed to escape by motorbike. Then the tide began to turn.

That very same night, one of the villagers who had forcibly taken four bags of cement died.

Two days later a meteor streaked across the sky, spreading flaming fragments as it went. Witnesses said the meteor lit up the night sky and others reported hearing a deafening roar. It crashed into a house and news reports said at least 20 people were injured. Local citizens were terrified.

After this, the leaders of the militant Hindus apologized to the Christians and said they wanted to return the materials they had taken away.

"The police authorities were not helpful at all, but the situation is under control," the leader told Christian Aid.

For more information about this church planting ministry in Orissa, write insider@christianaid.org and put MI-443 640-OFU on the subject line.

Please check http://www.christianaid.org for missions news and how to further the spread of the gospel.

Forum 18 News presents these incidents of religious rights violations.

Belarus:

When is a monastery not a monastery?

The Greek Catholic Church has no registered central body in Belarus under the 2002 religion law, so officially its two monasteries "do not exist", Forum 18 has been told. Under the same law, the church's 15 registered parishes are not considered to have any legal relationship with each other. Also, because the church's centre is not in Belarus but in the Vatican, the law prevents central registration and the current head of the church being its head, because he is not a Belarusian citizen. Even if the Greek Catholics had a registered central body, its monasteries still could not legally exist because they do not have the legal minimum number of fully professed monks. The local state official commented to Forum 18 that only fully professed monks could legally count because "Novices might leave at any moment, or their mummies could come and take them home".

Belarus:

Calvanists kept quiet

Although the Reformed Church's history in Belarus goes back to the 16th century, the authors of the 2002 religion law "forgot about the Calvinists", the presbyter of Minsk's present-day Reformed Church has told Forum 18 News Service. The Evangelical Lutheran Church is the only Protestant body described as "inseparable from the common history of the people of Belarus" in the 2002 religion law. The Minsk Reformed Church managed to hold an international conference to mark this year's 450th anniversary of the Reformation in Belarus, but faced much official obstruction. Following the conference, the Reformed Church has been told it needs to obtain official permission to hold worship services, but has yet to received any response to requests.

Forced to find another location for services, the community has effectively been prevented from advertising them. The presbyter told Forum 18 "We cannot say that this Church exists,preaches Jesus Christ and doesn't bite."

Please see http://www.forum18.org for details of these stories about religious rights violations in communist and post-communist lands.

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