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Mission Network News

Mission Network News reports these incidents of believers being persecuted.

Nigeria:

Two new believers in peril.

Voice of the Martyrs reports two Nigerian Muslims who converted to the Christian faith in northern Nigeria are missing. Area believers fear the men are possibly in the hands of militant Muslims seeking to kill them for changing their faith. Local authorities assure that they are not in police custody and local Christians are searching for them.

Saudi Arabia:

More Christians arrested.

Ten Ethiopian Christians were arrested in Saudi Arabia on May 10^th when religious police raided their meeting. The International Christian Concern reports that as of May 20^th, the whereabouts of seven remain unknown. Pray that God would strengthen the body of Christ in Saudi Arabia, for the witness of the prisoners, that they would be released unharmed and restored to their jobs.

Philippines:

Captivity of missionary couple reaches the 1 year mark.

Little progress has been made in the attempt to free a pair of US-missionary hostages from the Abu Sayyaf. The group kidnapped Martin and Gracia Burnham, May 27,2001. New Tribes Mission’s Scott Ross says in spite of ongoing negotiations, they have questions. "We are just wondering why we are twelve months down the road, why we’re at one year anniversary; it doesn’t really appear that the Philippine government or the U-S has been able to bring us any closer [to a release] than when we were just a few days into the kidnapping.iou Ross asks believers to join New Tribes in vigil. "We’re asking for a special day on Sunday, if people would carry the concern of Martin and Gracia to their local churches...if they, as bodies in Christ would join together on Sunday and pray for Martin and Gracia. Then, on Monday, the actual day of the anniversary, we’re asking if folks would just take some time out of their day and think about Martin and Gracia.iou Saudi Arabia:

Christian workers get deported because of their possessions. Saudi Arabia continues to show its anti-Christian colours. Christian Solidarity Worldwide reports the government deported 38-year-old Danilo de Guzman and 40-year-old Benjamin Diaz back to the Philippines last week because they owned a Bible and Christian C-D’s. The men were working in Saudi Arabia when they were arrested. Authorities found the material when they raided their hotel room in March. Public expression of religious beliefs other than Islam is forbidden.

Please check http://www.mnnonline.org for more information about these stories, missions news, and a weekday audio broadcast.

Voice of the Martyrs

From The Voice of the Martyrs comes the following persecution stories.

Ghana:

Building a New Life in Christ.

The Voice of the Martyrs received a letter from northern Ghana this week from a pastor that we visited in February. He shares how God has been mightily at work and has recently seen five Muslim young people come to Christ. Once their families learn of their new faith, these converts are expelled from their homes and the church is left with the responsibility of caring for them. Often, they must be sent to other areas of the country for their own safety. Pastor K. asks for prayer that these new believers will remain committed to Christ and resist the temptation to return to Islam. China:Over 100 Korean Missionaries Detained.According to sources for the Korea Times, Chinese authorities are detaining more than 100 South Korean missionaries on charges of supporting North Korean defectors and engaging in religious activities in China. Among those being held is Korean-American Joseph Choi, who has been detained since May 9, together with fourteen North Korean escapees.

According to the May 20 report, both South Korea and China have been keeping the issue quiet to avoid diplomatic friction. However, on May 19, the South Korean Foreign Affairs-Trade Ministry did acknowledge that the Chinese government has been cracking down on organizations assisting North Korean defectors. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are claiming that some of the missionaries have been tortured by Chinese authorities while being interrogated about their activities in China.For the past year, the Chinese government has been intensifying it’s crackdown on missionaries and NGOs active in China.

Pakistan:

Justice Thwarted

For Now.On May 6, 2000, VOM was shocked to learn of the gang rape of eight Christian women near Lahore, in an act of religiously-motivated violence. The women, ranging in age from 16 to 35, worked in Lavaira Stitching Factory of the area, and were returning home at 11:30 PM in the factory van along with several of their Muslim female colleagues.Suddenly, another van containing a group of armed, masked men, forced the girls’ vehicle to stop. The driver and his helper were ordered not to move. Shahid Masih, a male Christian co-worker at the factory, was tied him to a nearby tree. Then they separated the Christian girls from the Muslim ones and taking the Christians one by one to the fields, they raped them at gunpoint. For four hours this satanic act went on. The Muslims girls were all spared.The perpetrators were eventually arrested and put on trial, despite death threats against the girls, their families, and their lawyers.

The Voice of the Martyrs assisted in relocating them to a safer place in late 2000. During the trial, the girls were often subjected to abuse from spectators. Still, there was hope that justice would be done and that their attackers would be found guilty. Sadly, this was not to be. On May 15, 2002, Justice Zahoor-ul-Haqannounced the decision in favour of the perpetrators. Three of the six accused, Mohammad Asghar, Mohammad Abbas, and Mohammad Iftakhar, each received a sentence of two years imprisonment with a fine on weapons charges. Since they have already spent two years in custody, they will soon be set free. The other three accused, Mohammad Arif, MohammadAnwar, and Mohammad Bashir, were given the "benefit of doubt" and acquitted. The court ruled that the rape charges could not be proven.

Please go to http://www.persecution.net to learn more about these stories plus what concerned people can do to help.

Keston News Service

Keston News Service has the following stories to report.

Russia:

Anti-Catholic feeling on the wane?

Could the current wave of anti-Catholic feeling in Russia be on the wane? Keston Institute investigates the latest developments, revealing a mixed picture. Although hostility remains evident in some areas of public life, it seems to have little resonance with the general populace. However, although there has been an upturn in the situation of some foreign Catholic clergy, there is still no progress in the case of the expelled Polish bishop Jerzy Mazur.

Bulgaria:

Religious liberty ahead of Papal visit.

The head of the Catholic Church, Pope John Paul II, arrives in Bulgaria in the evening of Thursday 23 May after visiting Azerbaijan on his 96^th papal visit outside Italy. As the world’s attention will focus on the religious situation in Bulgaria, it remains unclear whether the pope will raise any religious liberty concerns with the authorities. Identified by local believers and human rights activists as one of the main religious liberty concerns is the longstanding failure to adopt a new law on religion to replace the 1949 Denominations Act that remains in force. Several attempts have been made to adopt a new law - some of which would have severely restricted religious rights for minority faiths - but all have been unsuccessful. Three drafts are currently in contention.

On a local level, municipal authorities have severely restricted some religious communities they dislike, banning them from meeting or handing out religious literature in the street or refusing to grant them local registration. Some believers who feel their rights have been infringed have been forced to take their cases to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg (ECHR).

Please see http://www.keston.org for more details about these and other reports of religious persecution in communist and post-communist lands.

ASSIST Ministries

ASSIST Ministries reports the following item.

Philippines:

Green Berets, LRC equipped to rescue Burnhams.

Around 600 US green berets and 60 soldiers of the Light Reaction Company have finished extensive training exercises and are all set to patrol Tuburan, Maluso and Lantawan to lead in the rescue operation of American missionary couple Martin and Gracia Burnham who are being held captive by the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG). The ASG is a Moslem fundamentalist terrorist group operating in the Southern Philippines which the Federal Bureau Investigation confirmed that it has strong links with the Al Qa’ida network in Afghanistan.

Armed Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Roy Cimatu told reporters that the joint mission has prepared three bullets, "two of which will be fired at the ASG rebels holding the Burnham couple and the third bullet will be for Abu Sabaya," the self styled ASG spokesperson who warned over a radio station in Zamboanga City that the Burhnam couple will be beheaded soon because of the failed negotiation of the government.

Mindanews service reported that each soldier of the LRC was given, by the U.S., 1, million dollars worth of equipment ranging from M4 Carbine rifles, bulletproof vest and night vision goggles. The Burnham couple could not be located since February despite U.S. spy planes and sophisticated gadgets of the US military. The Burnhams will mark the first anniversary of their captivity on Monday May 27.

Col. Alexander Aleo, chief of the Army 103^rd Brigade said that due to the military pressure in Basilan the Abu Sayyaf strength was reduce from 1,000 to only about 40 men who are now holding the hostages including Filipino nurse Ediborah Yap. Aleo said that the ASG enjoys the support of local villagers which makes it difficult for the military to rescue the remaining hostages. The business sector and the bankers association in Zamboanga City wanted the extension of US presence in Zamboanga. The US troops are expected to leave on July 15 this 1 year as stipulated in the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA).1

   

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