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Subject:: Persecution report for May 27, 2003.

Date: Sun, 25 May 2003 22:22:38 -0600

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

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

The Voice Of The Martyrs reports the following incidents of Christians being persecuted.

Peru:

Church leader marked for Attack.

In the early hours of May 17, Joshua Saune and his wife woke to the sound of an explosion. Below their bedroom window the Quechua Indian church leader found a makeshift bomb consisting of ten sticks of dynamite. Thankfully, only one of the sticks detonated and no one was injured. However, tied to their garage door was a red flag, symbolizing that the Shining Path had marked them for attack.

According to Assist News, the Peruvian government reports that at least 800 Quechua pastors have been killed by the Marxist guerilla organization. Joshua is the leader of around 200 Quechua churches in Peru. His grandfather was killed for his faith in 1989 and his two brothers in 1992. This week's attack is somewhat unusual, since the Shining Path generally attacks in the countryside and jungles rather than in the cities.

Several times Joshua and his wife Missy have been threatened and told to leave their ministry in the highlands city of Ayacucho, but they have remained steadfast in their ministry. Since the attack, they have been urged by police to be extremely cautious since little protection can be provided. According to Joshua, "We have to rely 100% on our Lord and your constant prayers. We remain steadfast in the ministry the Lord has bestowed upon us. We have a deeper desire to continue the work until the Lord guides in another direction. "Joshua is particularly concerned for the emotional well being of his parents and his four children, Noconi (12), Zoyla (9), Sheyava (5) and Athaliah (2).

Pakistan:

Prayer Meeting Attacked.

A prayer meeting at the New Apostolic Church of Pakistan in the district of Narowal was attacked on May 9, resulting in serious injuries to at least two believers.

According to sources for The Voice of the Martyrs, a group of Muslims stopped and harassed a group of Christian girls on their way to the church that evening. Once the prayer meeting had begun, they entered the church, carrying weapons and yelling. When Mughal Masih stepped outside to speak with the men, he was taken to a field and beaten in the head and chest with guns. He was then stabbed and left bleeding. The rest of the group dragged the guest pastor, Ashraf Masih, out of the church, stripped him, and beat him. Mughal was admitted to hospital but has received minimal care because of his inability to pay. Due to threats, the incident was not registered with the police.

Cuba:

Increasing Pressure on Church Leaders.

Recent reports received by The Voice of the Martyrs indicate increasing difficulties for Christians in Cuba. A VOM contacts was recently refused permission at the border to enter the country, even though he had an officially approved visa. He has travelled to Cuba many times to serve the Church there. He was forced to take the next flight back home and was not allowed to make a telephone call to members of his family. * Returning home, he telephoned one of the Cuban pastors that VOM has worked with extensively over the past several years. While unable to speak freely for fear that his phone is being monitored by Cuban authorities, the pastor was able to communicate that he expects to be brought to court soon and may face prison for his Christian activities.

Please go to http://www.persecution.net to learn more about the persecution of Christians and how to help them.

Mission Network News reports this persecution situation.

Palestine:

Islamic persecution causes mass-exodus.

Salvaging the Middle East peace plan may be difficult due to the threat of violent backlash. Anti-Western sentiment is again on the rise, presenting a danger for believers. Voice of the Martyrs' Gary Lane says Muslims generally equate Christianity with the West. The trouble lies in the harassment. "Muslims are turning to Christ in the Palestinian areas. I would say there's been an exodus of those that have been cultural Christians, those that have been Christians from generation to generation in the Palestinian areas. There's been a mass exodus out of Palestine because of the persecution. "Lane urges believers to pray the safety of Christians there. "Some people will say 'well, it's because of the fighting between the Palestinian Authority and the Israelis'. But, those that I talked to said, 'no, some of our relatives and friends have left simply because of the persecution'. This is typical for many Christians, particularly those that have been former Muslims and have converted to Christ in the Palestinian Authority areas."

Please check http://www.mnnonline.org to read missions news and to hear a weekday audio broadcast.

Christian Aid Mission presents these persecution reports.

Vietnam:

Christians Suffer Horrendous Persecution.

The 2003 persecution list issued by Open Doors International ranks Vietnam as the third greatest persecutor of Christians worldwide, up from fourth last year. A confidential report just received by Christian Aid highlights some recent persecution incidents:

In LK province, Pastor Sung and his whole family were beaten with rocks and clubs until they were unconscious. His son's arms were tied to his back and he was hung upside down from the ceiling because the family members would not renounce their faith in Christ. After being repeatedly tortured, Sung ran into the jungle and lived there for two months. Finally, he could not withstand the hunger and diseases any more and returned home and was fined. Sung and his family are under house arrest, but still keep the faith.

Another pastor was beaten and put in jail for one week for refusing to set up an altar for ancestor worship in his house. He was forced to tell his church members to give up their faith. He fled to the jungle last Christmas and still lives there. Once in a while members of his family and members of his church sneak away to visit him and worship with him in a cave.

A few months ago 36 Hmong and Zao Christians fled to the jungle to escape persecution. They were living in very poor conditions and became very hungry because they could not find any food, not even wild roots. They also came down with a disease that covered their legs with open sores. After four months of suffering they had to return to their village and be punished for attempting to escape. They are currently living under house arrest.

"Hundreds of similar stories were told during my visits with the indigenous pastors," Christian Aid's contact said.

Several months ago there were over 400 churches in Dac Lac Province. According to the contact, there are now only three churches that are still operating legally and openly. To avoid the attention of police, the rest of the churches subdivided into more than 600 house groups. To avoid detection, they gather for worship early in the morning any day of the week.

At the same time, hundreds of Jorai and Bahnar pastors and gospel workers have been imprisoned by authorities in Gia Lai and Kontum provinces in the Central Highlands. In the same area, hundreds of Mnong and Ede pastors and believers in Dac Lac Province also have been arrested. Two of them were brought to the hospital after they were released and are still under treatment. Others who allegedly have been released have not been found.

The number of Christians who have long-term prison sentences in the North remains the same (about 70 as of last month). Police are on a rampage to arrest pastors and church workers. They usually detain them at the police station several days to weeks, and then release them under very restrictive house-arrest rules. Some run for their lives into the jungle to escape.

The contact himself had a narrow escape. Due to the political pressure in Vietnam he could not visit the tribal Christians in their villages as he had hoped. Instead, many of them came to the cities where he was able to meet with them, listen to their troubles, and pray with them.

"Upon our arrival at one of our appointed locations, police confronted me and three of my colleagues. After a few questions, the officer told us to follow him to his office for further interrogation. We knew we were in big trouble and everybody prayed very hard to be rescued. The police officer rode on a motorcycle and we followed in our van.

"When we came to an intersection, it started to rain really hard. The policeman turned to the left, but our driver went straight and stepped on the gas. Because of the heavy downpour, the dusty roads became mud and the officer couldn't chase us on his motorcycle. After about 15 minutes, the rain let up, but by that time we had escaped."

The contact and his comrades spent over ten hours on a steep and winding road that night and continued their journey the next day.

The contact said that the Vietnamese churches have an open door to evangelize the 1. 1 million Khmer tribe in the South, and the 588,000-population Zao tribe in the North.

For more information write insider@christianaid.org and put MI-420 740-VTC on the subject line.

Laos:

Christians Forced from Homes, Deprived of Basic Needs.

Despite claims that persecution is unauthorized, Lao authorities recently ordered Christian families in the Attapue Province to leave their homes and cut them off from food and water supplies.

Twelve Christian families in Donphai village of the Attapue Province were given an ultimatum by village and provincial authorities to leave their homes by April 1 or be burned out. Local ministries are providing food and transportation for these believers, but they remain in need of prayer.

In the village of Kang, the police chief was joined by district and village officials in ordering Christians to leave their homes by April 28. The believers had already been cut off from food and water, forcing them to make a 4-hour round trip journey to the nearest city for supplies. They are also consistently denied basic medical and emergency services in their village.

When these Christians had not left their homes by April 30, unknown people posted mocking, threatening leaflets on the doors of their houses.

Sadly this type of persecution is nothing new for Christians in Kang village. They have been imprisoned, had their animals poisoned, had rocks thrown at their houses and have been the victims of shootings. All four church leaders in this village have been imprisoned at one point or another.

According to an Agence France-Presse story dated April 27, Lao authorities similarly evicted three other Christian families from their homes in Maung Phine District of Savannakhet Province. The story cited U.S. State Department reports of Christians in the northern city of Luang Prabang and elsewhere facing similar threats.

The story quoted seven members of the U.S. Congress as saying Laos "continues to be one of the world's most reprehensible abusers of human rights--with a repertoire that includes torture, harsh restrictions on the press and free speech, and imprisonment of people for their religious beliefs."

Please pray that the Laotian Christians will hold strong in the face of this persecution, and that God will provide all their needs. Also pray that the Laotian government will follow through on promises to investigate these acts of cruelty.

For more information, write insider@christianaid.org and put MI-420 730-CFL on the subject line.

Nepal:

Christians Remain Jailed Despite Pleas.

Despite at least one hearing by the District Court and an attempted appeal to the king himself, three believers from the Pyuthan District of Nepal who were imprisoned in February remain in jail.

The three men were arrested for carrying Bibles and Christian literature in their bags. While this is not technically against the law in Nepal, authorities presumed the literature was being used to convert others to Christianity, and charged them with proselytizing, which is criminal in their country.

Leaders from the Nepal Gospel Outreach Center have made continuous appeals on behalf of their brothers. They even tried to submit a letter to the king, but they were turned away by his secretary, who promised to make phone calls to the judges involved and give authorization to set the three Christians free. Yet freedom has not come for the men, and any court decision continues to be delayed. It could take up to six months for a final verdict to be reached, according to a Gospel Outreach Center newsletter.

Even attempts to visit the believers in prison have been thwarted. About a month after they were arrested, five of their friends and family coming to see them were also put in prison for carrying Christian literature and Bibles. Thankfully they were released the next day.

Unfortunately, persecution continues to occur in Nepal even though new, more "freeing" political changes were brought about in 1990. Believers are still victimized by Hindu radicals. Ministries such as the Gospel Outreach Center remain faithful to support their brothers and sisters. If charged with "attempting to convert others into Christianity," the men could face three to six years in prison.

To find out more about this situation or the Gospel Outreach Center in Nepal, e-mailinsider@christianaid.org and put MI-420 702-GOC on the subject line.

Indonesia:

Churches Threatened; Damanik Trial Update.

As the trial of pastor Renaldy Damanik in Sulawesi draws to a close, Muslims are threatening churches in West Java.

According to Elizabeth Kendal of the World Evangelical Alliance, churches in Bekasi, about 20 km southeast of Jakarta, are being threatened and intimidated by local radical Muslim groups, and local authorities are doing nothing to protect the Christian minority or rein in the Islamist militants.

Wanting to put an end to Christian worship, the various Islamist groups visit and threaten Christians in their churches. As a result, hundreds of Christians stay home instead of attending services. Christian outreach has virtually ceased due to this Islamist pressure.

Their campaign in Bekasi has intensified in recent months and is based on unconstitutional local laws. The original 1969 legislation simply required Christians to apply for a license before building a church. Now the new, highly restrictive legislation requires Christian groups to have at least 40 'heads of families' before applying for a church building permit.

Instead of upholding the constitutional rights of minorities to maintain their religious freedom, federal and state authorities have turned a blind eye, while District Government Regulation No. 4/1998 calls for 'serenity and orderliness' in Bekasi. This regulation has been invoked to close houses and a shopping center at Lippo Cikarang used as church meeting places.

Meanwhile, the trial of Pastor Renaldy Damanik in Palu, Sulawesi, is drawing to a close. According to Kendal, "The final prosecution witnesses called on 28 April were a disaster for the prosecution, contradicting each other, forgetting the 'script', and testifying to police intimidation....

"On 12 May, Prof. J. E. Sahetapy, an expert witness and legislator with the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, told the Palu District Court that the police engineered Renaldy Damanik's arrest. Sahetapy called for Damanik to be acquitted of all charges, claiming his arrest and subsequent interrogation violated the Criminal Code."

Damanik is the leader of the Protestant Christians in Central Sulawesi Province, and is one of the signers of the Malino Peace Accord between Muslims and Christians. He worked diligently to prevent Jihad attacks on Christian communities and exerted his influence to prevent Christian retaliations against the Muslims. Perhaps because he accused local police and military of complicity in the jihad attacks, he was stopped by police on August 17, 2002, while attempting to relocate Christians to a safe area. He was evacuated from his car and kept at a distance while police searched his car. They later said they found guns in his car and charged him with carrying illegal arms and instigating attacks against Christian villages. The trial is expected to conclude May 23 with a verdict delivered by June 9.

Please pray that true justice will prevail in Damanik's trial, and that state and federal authorities will lift unreasonable restrictions and enforce constitutional guarantees of religious freedom for Christians in West Java.

Pakistan:

Christian Girls Attacked.

Some Pakistani Muslims are angry over the War on Iraq, and are venting their anger on Pakistani Christians. In the heat of hatred, two young Christian girls have been attacked and raped.

Nine-year-old Razia Masih went to work as a live-in servant in a Muslim household after her father died and her mother suffered mental illness. After the Iraq War began, Razia began to be abused by the Muslim husband and wife who employed her. Her brother, Farooq, tried to get her released from her work contract, and was rebuffed several times. He finally got police and both parties to sign an agreement stating Razia would be returned to her family May 1. On April 26 Razia tried to escape, and her tormenters beat her so severely, they broke her arm. Fearing she would die, she was brought to her brother's house at 11 o'clock at night with blood oozing from her elbow and leg. In addition, hospital reports said she had rope marks around her hands and ankles, a bruised and lacerated face, and multiple burns and bruises, including her genital area. Razia suffered depression, fear and mental trauma, waking at night screaming, "Don't beat me! Don't beat me!"

Similarly, on March 26, Natasha was raped by a Muslim neighbour in a fit of rage over the Iraq War and was admitted to an intensive care unit where she has been psychologically depressed.

Christians in the U.S. are urged to protest these two heinous hate crimes against Christian children to the Pakistani Embassy at 202-939-6200.

Details of this story were made known by International Christian Concern www.persecution.org. Shahbaz Bhatti, President of All Pakistan Minorities Alliance as well as founder of Christian Liberation Front Pakistan, organizations that defend the rights of religious minorities in Pakistan. Bhatti is currently in Washington D.C. to address the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom on the issue of Pakistani religious minorities in the age of terrorism.

For more information on Christian ministries in Pakistan write to insider@christianaid.org and put MI-420 470PERS on the writing line.

Please see http://www.christianaid.org for more interesting missions stories.

Forum 18 reports these persecution incidents.

Kazakhstan:

Criminal case for refusing to halt church services.

Pastor Sergei Nizhegorodtsev of Georgievka in Eastern Kazakhstan region was told on 12 May that he faces a criminal case for refusing to comply with a court-ordered ban on his church holding services, according to a 13 May statement from local Baptists reaching Forum 18 News Service. The move came two weeks after the church's Easter service was raided. Officials deny they are conducting a campaign against the church. "There is nothing illegal in the actions of the law enforcement agencies," assistant procurator Aset Biisekenov insisted to Forum 18. The launch of the criminal case against the pastor came at the same time as an international religious freedom conference was being held in Almaty to inaugurate the Kazakhstan branch of the International Religious Liberty Association. Please see the full length article at the web site for details.

Russia:

Supreme Court upholds Bible College closure.

On May 20, Russia's Supreme Court ruled that the Vladivostok-based charismatic "Faith in Action" Bible College should be closed down for conducting religious education without a state licence. Afterwards, the defence lawyer told Forum 18 News Service that the college's parent church, the Church of the Living God, could now be pressurised by the regional authorities for conducting unlicensed professional education activity.

Turkmenistan:

Detained Baptists threatened and insulted.

Law enforcement officers who broke up the Sunday morning Baptist service in Balkanabad on 11 May forcibly took all those present to the police station,where they threatened and insulted the Baptists, a church statement reaching Forum 18 News Service reported. "What's the point in talking to them, they should be put in a bus and shot!" the Baptists quoted one police officer as telling them. This latest raid on the Balkanabad church came the same day as the Sunday morning Baptist service in Turkmenbashi was raided. "We are not conducting any special campaign against Baptists," Yagshimurat Atamuradov, the country's senior religious affairs official, insisted to Forum 18.

Please go to http://www.forum18.org/ to learn more about religious rights violations in communist and post-communist lands.

ASSIST News Service reports these incidents.

Jordan:

Thieves steal blankets from Christian youth camp.

A non-denominational Christian youth camp in Salt, Jordan preparing for its usual summer onslaught of youngsters in just a few weeks suffered a painful blow earlier this month with the theft of 200 blankets.

The camp is a project of the Amman based Manara Ministries and is for any needy youngsters who are Christians. Manara director Isam Ghattas said the blankets and other stolen items will cost 3,150 JD (Jordanian Dinar), about $4500, to replace. He added, "Bad neighbours stole the blankets when there was nobody there (at the church campgrounds). They broke the windows."

Ghattas said that while the loss is a setback it wouldn't stop the camps. He said with the Lord's help and that of the Body of Christ they will find some way around the problem.

Manara offers five camps a year and can accommodate about 150 children for each camp session.

Long time ministry staff person Nourhan Fakhhoury said that while Camp Gilead costs Manara about $35 for each youngster and individual campers pay only about $14 dollars for a five-day session, there are still some people unable to afford even that.

She said, "These kids and the parents wait for the camps from year to year. Not everyone can leave Jordan and go and have fun."

Fakhhoury is also a product of the camps and knows just how important they are. She said, "I became a believer at the camp when I was 10 years old.... The camp changed my life."

Fakhhoury has also seen the camp positively affect her own family. "I have seen a miracle happen to my home because of the camp. My 17-year-old son, who never believed in God and was leading a life very resentful of Christ, is saved now and he can't start his day without reading the Bible and praying. He never misses his meetings at church."

Camp counsellor Danny Emil described a typical day at a Manara camp. He said after the kids finish breakfast they have corporate morning devotions, which he described as also doubling for "a very useful time for dealing with very sensitive issues."

After that the formal sessions start. They deal with practical matters, the issues of the day, being regularly faced by the camp participants at both church and school. They are followed by lunch, free time, fellowship and then dinner.

Emil called the evangelistic evening session, which occurs after dinner, a "major part of the day."

"We choose the preacher very carefully. You have to convince the kids that they need Jesus," he said.

But Emil said that camp counsellors take advantage of every opportunity, not just formal sessions, to deal with important issues. He said, "Last year for example the kids asked about cloning. Leaders have to be educated to answer kids questions."

Emil said that camp counsellors will also face important but difficult questions this year and they are prepared to deal with them.

Emil described some of the issues up for discussion. "Some.... kids have heard from their parents that as evangelicals we are working together with the Americans to divide the Orthodox Church from the evangelicals. They have heard that we are trying to ignite conflict. We want the kids to be able to answer these questions."

Camp counsellors have the answer to help kids deal with these controversial issues. "We tell them that the Bible is their reference point. We turn their eyes away from the political opinion to the divine opinion. We turn their eyes from political issues to God's redemption," Emil said.

Readers wanting to contact Ghattas directly may do so by e-mailing him at mbm@nets.com. jo.

People in the United States wanting to help Manara replace the stolen blankets may do so by sending gifts to Manara Ministries through Christian Aid, 1199 5th St. SW, Charlottesville, CA 22902. Telephone (804) 977 5650 or e-mail info@christianaid.org.

Israel:

Christians fear more female bombers.

The International Christian Embassy Jerusalem (ICEJ), a Christian organization supporting Jewish people, said Wednesday May 21, that terrorists are now using female suicide bombers as part of an apparent shift in strategy.

"The Palestinian who killed three people at the Afula mall on Monday (May 19) was the first female suicide bomber for which a religious terrorist organization claimed credit," the ICEJ said.

Hiba Da'arma, from a northern Jordan Valley village, was said to be the fifth female suicide bomber. "Secular Fatah militias recruited the other four, but this attack was a joint venture - Fatah supplied the bomber, Islamic Jihad supplied explosives and transportation, " the well informed ICEJ News Service said.

The ICEJ warned that the "increased and now accepted use of female suicide bombers in Palestinian society presents a problem for Israeli security, since it widens the profile of potential perpetrators."

Like Hamas, Islamic Jihad originally raised both religious and social objections to female bombers. "But the cooperation this time suggests that the Islamic organizations have overcome religious and social objections to using women. Even Hamas, which still says it would not use a woman as a bomber, has begun using women in supporting roles, " said the ICEJ via its news service.

Wafa Idris, the first female suicide bomber, was a 27-year-old divorcee with no children, and the second female suicide bomber, Darin Abu Aisha, 22, was another divorcee whose ex-husband and brother had both recently been killed by Israeli forces.

However the third woman, Iyat al-Ahris, was 18-years-old, an outstanding high school student and engaged to be married. Her family publicly cursed the Fatah activists who celebrated her attack, ICEJ said.

The family of the fourth female bomber, Andalib Takatka, a 20-year-old single woman, was reportedly also upset and the Hamas group denounced the Fatah organization for recruiting her. The family of Monday's attacker, Da'arma, a 20-year-old single, university student, was reportedly also shocked.

The ICEJ News Service quoted Her brother, Sa'id, as saying she was not a member of any organization and never discussed politics. However Islamic Jihad claimed credit for the attack, publishing a video of her discussing the bombing, news reports said.

Solomon Islands:

Australian missionary beheaded.

A leading Australian Seventh-day Adventist Church missionary has been beheaded in the volatile Solomon Islands, ASSIST News Service monitored Tuesday, May 20.

The Adventist News Network (ANN) said Lance Gersbach (60), business manager at Atoifi Adventist Hospital, "was murdered (Sunday) May 18" in Atoifi, located on Malaita, 130 kilometres (80 miles) east of the Solomon Islands' capital Honiara.

Police investigators said the attack took place not far from the hospital but down a steep slope hidden from view. "Information we have is that he was beheaded with a sharp bush knife," said a police spokesman quoted by Reuters news agency.

Nobody claimed responsibility for the murder of Gersbach who reportedly was to find a way for the mission station to do more to support itself since he arrived there in February this year with his family.

Gersbach moved to Atoifi, home to about 3,000 Seventh Day Adventists, for a year with his wife and two young daughters. One of the first steps was to build a new mission shop, a trade store stocking the basic necessities for life in the villages of Malaita, The New Zealand Herald newspaper reported.

However the tribe and traditional custodians of the land did not feel the arrangements made by the Church for leasing were adequate or fair, the newspaper said.

It quoted police and church officials in the islands as being "almost certain that this was behind the beheading of the softly-spoken Australian," who had also worked for three years at the Sopas Hospital in Papua New Guinea.

However local tribal chiefs have pledged full support for the investigation, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) said.

This is the second time a Seventh Day Adventist Church worker has been beheaded in the Solomon Islands in less than a year, The New Zealand Herald reported. Last September, a deacon in his early 40s, Martin Reuben, was reportedly found by his wife decapitated on a beach.

"The church is in a state of shock," said Barry Oliver, general secretary for the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the South Pacific. "To family, colleagues and staff at Atoifi Hospital, we pledge ourselves at this time to give all that is needed. They are in our prayers," he told ANN.

The church, in cooperation with the Australian High Commission in the Solomons, has charted a plane to bring Lance's wife, Jean, a nurse their two daughters Louise, aged 11, and Anita, 8, to the capital, Honiara, ANN said.

In addition the church was also sending a counsellor to Honiara, while police detectives were on their way to investigate the scene.

"We're doing all we can to support Lance's family and the staff members at Atoifi," said Bronwyn Mison, communication director for the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the South Pacific.

"Lance had a keen interest in helping others," she told ANN. "He served at our former Sopas Adventist Hospital in Papua New Guinea for three years."

"The murder has again focused attention on the Solomons, where the Government is bankrupt, many services have collapsed and whole areas are considered lawless," the New Zealand Herald observed referring to ethnic strife and other conflicts.

Yet politicians made clear they were they were shocked and outraged about the killing. "The whole thing is horrific and completely baffling," the BBC quoted East Kwaio member of parliament Alfred Sasako as saying.

"It has taken the whole lot of us by shock and surprise. "He was a man of very few words, you would have to be straight out of a psychiatric hospital to attack him in the way he was."

Meanwhile Gersbach's death has also shocked New Zealand, where he had a successful accounting practice in Newcastle, New South Wales and worked at the Auckland Adventist Hospital in St Heliers from 1992 to 1994.

Friends and former neighbours told New Zealand media that he was a man who loved sport, especially cricket and running, was willing to help the neighbourhood and was deeply committed to his Christian faith.

New Zealander Kevin O'Brien, a Fletchers construction foreman, was also stabbed to death last year while a New Zealand diplomat Bridget Nichols died in Honiara in 2002 in a similar attack, the paper said.

Despite the dangers and evacuation of foreigners from the troubled region, four expatriates and Gersbach's colleagues at the Atoifi hospital have reportedly refused to leave and the church has said it will continue to serve the local community.

Iraq:

Two Christians murdered.

The Barnabas Fund reports that as Shia Muslims become more aggressive and vocal in their demands for an Islamic State based on Sharai'ah the anti-Christian violence which believers in Iraq have long feared, seems finally to have arrived with the brutal murder of two Christian men.

Britain's Daily Telegraph reported the deaths of Sabah Gazala and Abdul Ahed who were shot and killed by two Islamic gunmen within ten minutes in separate incidents in Basra on May 8. Like a number of Christians in the city and in other parts of Iraq, they were involved in the sale of alcohol, jobs forbidden to Muslims but permitted to Christians under Saddam Hussein's rule.

In recent weeks such vendors have faced severe threats from Shia Muslim conservatives seeking to impose defacto Islamic law (which bans alcohol completely) in Iraq in the chaotic wake of the victory of coalition forces in the country. Many Christian shop owners have been forced to close, others to defend their premises with metal bars across the windows.

In Basra, Baghdad and across Iraq some Christians are beginning to suffer harassment, threats, intimidation and even violence at the hands of conservative Shia Muslims who want to impose Shari'ah law on both Muslim and non-Muslim alike. On Friday May 2, Moqtada Sadr, one of the main Shia leaders in the country openly declared in a sermon in Kufa that "The banning of alcohol; and the wearing of the veil should be spread to all and not only to Muslims."

Last week in Basra the Los Angeles Times reported that Shereen Musa, a Christian woman, was pelted with vegetables to chants of "Shame! Shame!" as she walked with her mother through a market, simply because her head was not covered in accordance with the Shari'ah.

"Everyone was laughing at me, and I was crying," Shereen said, "When I had to walk back through the same place someone saw a cross on my neck and said: 'Oh, you're a Christian. You'll suffer a terrible fate. '"

Some Christian families like Shereen's have now begun to leave Basra to return to the traditional Christian heartland around Mosul.

In Baghdad Christians are "terrified" and "hesitating to come to church" as services at one Chaldean church in the city are drowned out by Islamic prayers and teaching broadcast by loudspeaker from a new mosque across the street. Elsewhere, shopkeepers selling western-style magazines with advertisements containing pictures of women considered unacceptable by many Shia Muslims have also been threatened and intimidated.

Christians are fearful for their future in an Iraq which seems to be slipping into the hands of Muslim extremists who want an Islamic state under Shari'ah. Both the Vatican and the US Committee for International Religious Freedom have issued statements expressing their concern that religious liberty should be guaranteed for all in the future Iraq.

Iraqi Church leaders from all the major denominations have similarly issued a joint statement asking that the new Iraqi constitution "recognised our religious, cultural, social and political rights ... consider Christians as Iraqi citizens with full rights" and "guarantee the right to profess our faith according to our ancient traditions" a clear indication of their concern. Said one Christian man in Baghdad "It is going to be like Iran... all Christians are afraid now."

Please check http://www.assistnews.net to read a wide variety of Christian news items.

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email: ve6xtc@freenet.edmonton.ab.ca