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Subject: Persecution Report for May 20, 2003.

Date: Sun, 18 May 2003 20:03:14 -0600

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

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

The Voice Of The Martyrs reports these incidents of Christians suffering persecution.

Yemen:

Death sentence for hospital attacker.

Abed Abdulrazzak Kamel, 30, a suspected al-Qaeda militant, was sentenced to death on May 10 for killing three American missionaries and wounding a fourth. During the trial, he confessed to the December 30 attack, saying that the missionaries were converting Muslims to Christianity. According to the Associated Press, Kamel plans to appeal the verdict, claiming that it violates Islamic law. Kamel admitted to being part of a five-man terrorist cell, committed to carrying out operations in Yemen.

Sri Lanka:

Methodist church threatened.

The Minneriya Methodist Church in north central Sri Lanka has been meeting for more than ten years, growing steadily in this predominantly Buddhist city. To accommodate growth, the church began construction on a new building. On April 28, a mob led by local monks threatened to destroy any new construction, as well as threatening the pastor, Oscar Fernando.Despite a restraining order against the members of the mob from the police, the monks warned Fernando on May 3 that they would assault any who gather for worship the next day. Thankfully nothing happened, but there is still concerns for their safety. The Evangelical Alliance of Sri Lanka is asking for prayer for Brother Fernando and the members of the church.

Sudan:

Priest imprisoned for not destroying his church.

An Anglican priest was sent to prison "indefinitely" on April 7 for refusing to demolish the church he built himself eleven years ago on the outskirts of Khartoum. Judge Kamal Abd-Rahaman Alli ordered Rev. Samuel Dobai Amum to tear down St. Matthew's Parish in Takamol and surrender the land to its "rightful owner." Amum said that, while he would not resist the destruction of the building, he could not personally destroy a building devoted to God. In response, the judge sentenced him to prison until he destroys the building or pays 7 million dinars (over $3,700 CDN) to secure the land in the name of the church.

St. Matthew's Parish was established to meet the needs of refugees from southern Sudan, fleeing the ongoing conflict. In 1987 Amum built a chapel from straw in what was, at the time, unclaimed land as a place of worship for displaced Christians like himself. In 1992 it was rebuilt out of mud and straw. The church averages 150-200 members. Three years later, the government surveyed the area and, without notifying Amum, the church land was given to Awad Abdalla Bashir, a Muslim member of the Popular Committee of the local government. Soon afterwards, Bashir demanded payment from the priest for the plot of land. Initially he asked for 10,000,000 dinars but later reduced his demand to 7,999,000 dinars (over $4,200 CDN). Unable to pay such an amount of money, Amum declined and requested the courts to intervene on his behalf. Unfortunately, the court ruled against him and ordered him to demolish the building.

When a mosque is built on unclaimed land in Sudan, that land is considered community property. Apparently, the same cannot be said for Christian meeting places. In reporting the court case, a guest columnist wrote in the Khartoum Monitor, "Is it not religious discrimination? Because I am sure that if the church was a mosque, it shouldn't have been touched. Instead more land could have been added to it." According to their web site (http://www.khartoum-monitor.com), the Khartoum Monitor was shut down by the government on May 8 because of articles it had written. The publisher, Nhial Bol, was also arrested on May 6 and held for 24 hours for questioning about three articles the paper had published regarding problems facing Sudan's Christian community, including the article on Amum's church.

Kosovo:

Repeated attacks on Christians.

The Serbian Orthodox Church of St Nicholas in Kosovo's capital Pristina was stoned on May 10, breaking many of the windows. This was only the latest of many attacks against Orthodox Christians in the region. In a May 13 report from Forum 18, Father Miroslav Popadic said that his church is completely locked down except for services and he opens the gates by prior appointment only. When visiting villages, he said, "I make the sign of the cross, sit in my car and drive fast at my own risk."

Protection for the church by NATO-led KFOR troops was removed at the end of last year. More than a hundred Orthodox churches have been destroyed or badly damaged in Kosovo since the international community took control and there have been no arrests for these attacks since 1999.

Please go to http://www.persecution.net to learn more about persecution and how to help those Christians who are suffering from it.

Mission Network News has these stories to report.

Afghanistan:

New constitution may limit believers.

Christians believe that country's new constitution will limit religious freedom.Voice of the Martyrs' Gary Lane." They've got a new constitution that our state department helped them draft and when questioned about this religious freedom aspect of the constitution they said, 'look, we're not here to tell the Afghans what they need to have in the constitution. We're just here to make sure all the 'i's' are dotted and the 't's' are crossed and that this is a legal document.'" According to Lane, if the current draft of the constitution is ratified, it would make it illegal to share the Gospel there." If they end up with Sharia Law, we've seen that anywhere Sharia Law has been imposed, Christians have said, 'No, we're Christians and we don't live under Sharia Law',we've seen problems for Christians and then we've seen Christians taking up arms in many places to defend themselves." He's encouraging Americans to put pressure on their congressmen and the state department to push for religious freedom in Afghanistan.

Pakistan:

Islamic clerics threaten Christian organization with death.

While Iraq has been the focus of world events, Afghanistan has gone largely unnoticed. However, Christian organizations aren't forgetting about the three million Afghan refugees who are still living in Pakistan. The International Bible Society is reaching out to them with God's word, according to an IBS worker we're calling Mark Matthews. "To date, we have reached over 20,000 families with the New Testament, but we have received several threats from the Islamic clerics asking us to stop distribution and stop counselling people about the cross and about Christianity and if you don't do that, they said they would put an end to our life." Matthews says many are turning to Christ. He says prayer is essential because they're not giving up." The distribution is carried out through the volunteers of local church. You need to pray for the safety of our volunteers. Any Islamic cleric can step in and harm any of our volunteers."

Please check http://www.mnnonline.org to find mission news stories plus a weekday audio broadcast.

Forum 18 News has these persecution incidents to report.

Azerbaijan:

Religious rights groups barred from registering

Six months after lodging its application with the Ministry of Justice for registration as a non-governmental organization, the Azerbaijani chapter of the International Religious Liberty Association (IRLA) seems no closer to gaining legal status. "We applied to the Ministry of Justice six months ago but as usual it provides us with no reply," secretary-general Ilgar Ibrahimoglu told Forum 18 News Service. He said he and his colleagues intend to consult the head office of the IRLA in the United States and "will probably" challenge the denial of registration through the courts. The head of the registration department of the justice ministry said he "couldn't remember" the IRLA chapter's application. "We get many applications," Fazil Mamedov told Forum 18. At the same time, he insisted there is no ban on registering non-governmental organisations that campaign for religious freedom.

Poland:

Secret instructions order religious surveillance.

A month after secret instructions to collect information about religious minorities issued by a police officer in Gdansk were revealed, Baptists, Adventists, Pentecostals and others named in the instructions remain unconvinced by police claims that they have nothing to fear. "These instructions are absolutely unacceptable, like something from the communist part of our history," Baptist Union president Andrzej Seweryn told Forum 18 News Service. "They are against the law and the constitution." The Adventists have called for the instructions to be withdrawn. However, Marta Frykowska of the Gdansk police press office dismissed such concerns. "There has been a misunderstanding," she told Forum 18. "These instructions are geared only towards illegal sects." Yet she refused to pass on to Forum 18 the texts of the "internal" instructions.

Turkmenistan:

Threats and fines follow break-up of baptist sunday service.

Angered by the presence of many children, secret police, police, procuracy and city administration officials broke up the Sunday morning service of a Baptist church on 11 May, held in a private flat in the city of Turkmenbashi. They threatened to confiscate the flat and deprive the parents of their parental rights. One official who participated in the raid has rejected Baptist complaints about the raid and said he expected the Baptists to be fined. "There were no violations of the law in the actions of the authorities," administration official Shanazar Kocheev insisted to Forum 18 News Service. "This was an illegal meeting and we broke it up." The Baptists have called on the procuracy "to defend our constitutional rights to believe in God and to confess our religion".

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

ASSIST News Service provides these persecution incident stories.

Mexico:

Imprisoned Christian needs our prayers and support.

Javier Luna Perez, a lay preacher in his evangelical church, was working in his cornfield in Acteal Alto on December 22, 1997, when his wife Loida and other women of the village came to tell him about trouble at the Catholic hermitage. He returned to his home and heard shooting in the distance. Three days later - on Christmas Day - he was on his way to a community meeting in Chenalho when authorities stopped the open truck in which he was a passenger and took him into custody, charging him with homicide and illegal weapons possession. Javier, 34, has been sentenced to 36 years in prison. His wife is raising their two sons. His two uncles are also imprisoned.

Representatives of Christian organizations, including Open Doors, in the U.S., Europe and Latin America travelled to Mexico last week to convey to government officials their concern for the fate of 34 evangelical Christians unjustly imprisoned for more than five years in connection with the Acteal massacre. The Coalition for Acteal met with senators José Antonio Aguilar Bodegas and Sadot Sánchez Carreño; Dr. Soberanes Aguilar, president of the National Human Rights Commission of México, and Chiapas state governor Pablo Salazar. Coalition delegates also participated in a worship service with some 70 imprisoned evangelicals at the Cerro Hueco Penitentiary. The men expressed their appreciation for international support for them and their families during the long ordeal.

Egypt:

Christian teenager abducted by Muslim neighbour, now restored to her family.

A Christian teenager abducted by a Muslim neighbour has been restored to her family following the unprecedented intervention of the Egyptian Under Secretary of State for the Interior.

Niveen Malak Kamel, a 17-year-old from Klosna village in the Samlout district of El Minia, 240 km south of Cairo, was abducted by a fellow villager, according to the El Kalema Centre for Human Rights in Cairo.

When her family approached local law enforcement authorities for help in securing her release, they were informed that no action would be taken since Niveen had allegedly converted to Islam. However, such a conversion would have been illegal since Egyptian law states that minors cannot change their religion.

According to Egyptian sources, many Christian girls have been abducted over the years and in each case local authorities have refused to take action. Niveen's release was unprecedented and follows decisive intervention by the Under Secretary of State for the Interior, General Habib El Adly.

Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) said Niveen's release comes as great relief for her family, especially since her 19-year-old sister Heba can now end the hunger strike she began on April 23 in protest at the abduction of her younger sister and the police's reluctance to take action against the kidnapper. Heba had recently been transferred to El Minia General Hospital following a marked deterioration in her health.

The release will also serve as an encouragement to Egypt's Christian population, which has been under pressure since the beginning of 2003. In February, a controversial court decision acquitted 96 defendants accused of participating in the murders of 21 Christians in El Kosheh over the Millennium weekend.

In April the Egyptian Army attacked the Patmos Centre, a Christian home for handicapped and orphaned children near Cairo in an attempt to destroy the outer wall of the complex. The wall was built ten years ago in full accordance with existing law and is situated 50 metres from the Cairo-Suez road. A law passed in January 2003 requires all buildings to be 100 metres away from the road, and the Patmos Centre has been singled out for attack despite that fact that there are several other buildings nearby in far closer proximity to the road.

The El Kalema Centre for Human Rights thanked all those involved in securing Niveen's release and expressed the hope that this event would mark the beginning of a more pro-active and even handed government policy on issues affecting religious liberties.

Mervyn Thomas, Chief Executive of CSW said: "CSW joins the El Kalema Centre for Human Rights in commending the Egyptian government, and particularly the Under Secretary of State for the Interior, for taking such decisive action to restore Niveen to her family. We urge the government to continue such actions, as this will send a message to potential perpetrators that such abductions will no longer be tolerated, and will serve as an illustration of its commitment to protect the rights all of its citizens regardless of their religious beliefs."

For more information on this story, please contact Richard Chilvers, Communications Manager at Christian Solidarity Worldwide on 020 8329 0045 or 020 8949 0587 or e-mail richard.chilvers@csw.org.uk

Please see the http://www.assistnews.net web site for many interesting articles.

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