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Subject: Persecution report for April 29, 2003.

Date: Sun, 27 Apr 2003 20:03:57 -0600

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

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

The Voice Of The Martyrs reports the following examples of believers suffering for the sake of the gospel.

Eritrea:

Continued attacks on evangelicals.

On April 9, the Persecution and Prayer Alert reported that 170 Protestant Christians had been beaten, jailed, and threatened by security forces in Eritrea. On April 21, Compass Direct reported on two more attacks within the past week.

In Kushte, a small town ten kilometres from the capital Asmara, a Bible study group was meeting in a home on April 17 when ten individuals, four reported to be Orthodox priests, pushed their way into the room and began beating them with sticks. All fifteen were admitted to hospital, one with a serious eye injury.

The fifteen were members of a renewal group within the Orthodox Church.

In a separate incident, eleven members of the Mesert Christos Church in Asmara were detained in their church by security police on April 18. They were released that evening after being warned to not try meeting again.

Though freedom of religion is guaranteed in the Eritrean constitution, only four groups are recognized: Orthodox Christians, Muslims, Catholics and Evangelical Lutherans. Much of the recent persecution is against the independent Pentecostal and charismatic churches which now number around 20,000 members.

For the most part, these churches have emerged from a renewal movement within the Orthodox Church which began five years ago.

Sudan:

No longer a violator of human rights?

In a move spearheaded by Libya, the present head of the United Nations Human Rights Commission, and actively supported by France, Sudan has been dropped as a "country with special problems" in the area of human rights. In a vote of 26-24 (with three abstentions), the Commission rejected Resolution L.35 on April 16 that would have extended the human rights monitoring of Sudan for another year. The Commission ruled that there has been sufficient improvement in the area of human rights by the Khartoum government to warrant this action. This comes despite a report from the UN Special Rapporteur, Gerhard Baum, on March 28 stating that there has been no significant change in Sudan's violations of human rights in the past year.

According to a press release from the Commission, some of the members felt that the resolution "did not sufficiently credit the Sudanese Government for well-intentioned efforts and progress achieved in the field of human rights."

For several years the government of Sudan has been consistently involved in ethnic cleansing, wiping out entire villages to advance its hold on oilfields, attacking civilians, supporting militia groups involved in slavery and religious persecution, and preventing aid from reaching war-torn areas.

On March 26, US Secretary of State, Colin Powell, said the United States would fight any effort to ease pressure on the government of Sudan. Despite this, on April 21, in accordance with the Sudan Peace Act, President Bush certified to various Congressional Committees his belief that both sides of the conflict were negotiating in good faith and that negotiations should continue. The president acknowledged that there have been "sporadic military activities" that have hindered the peace negotiations. The State Department Fact Sheet also acknowledged that they had received reports of violent actions against civilians and forced displacement, most notably in the Western Upper Nile. The fact that the peace talks had continued, despite these violations, since the signing of the October 15, 2002 cessation of hostilities memorandum apparently motivated the president to issue his certification. This certification came only two days after peace talks in Kenya were suspended without settling key military security arrangements. Peace talks are scheduled to resume on May 2.

Please go to Http://www.persecution.net to learn more about the persecution of Christians and what can be done to help them.

Mission Network News reports these persecution incidents.

Nigeria:

Christians fear retaliation over election winner.

Anxiety grips Nigeria over disputed Presidential elections in which Olusegun Obasanjo, a devout Christian, reportedly won a second term. His opposition, though, claims election fraud and demands a new election. Christian Aid Mission's Rae Burnett (BURN-ett) says they are cautiously optimistic, especially in light of history and what happened during Obasanjo's first term. "Muslims saw this as a threat to their power and their authority, and then the situation got really much, much worse as far as persecution, as far as their acting up." Christian Aid's partnerships will continue, although staffers remain alert for potential problems that could interrupt their work.

As for the threat of sectarian violence flaring in the immediate future, Burnett responds: "We need to pray certainly that Christians in Nigeria would really be serious and would be filled with the Spirit and not react in the flesh to these challenges."

Vietnam:

Day of remembrance called.

A special day has been set aside to remember the persecuted church in Vietnam. Open Doors and several other organizations have set aside Sunday, May 4th as the International Day of Prayer for Vietnam. While the laws in Vietnam promise religious freedom, in practice the government continues its policies of religious repression.

Please check http://www.mnnonline.org for missions news and a weekday audio newscast.

Forum 18 presents these persecution incidents.

Armenia:

Secret order banishes religious minorities from police.

Human rights activists, the Baptists and the Jehovah's Witnesses have criticised a secret order issued by the head of the police service last December banning members of religious minorities from working for the police. "This order is unconstitutional and violates human rights," Mikael Danielian of the Helsinki Association told Forum 18 News Service.

"We regard this order as very negative," Asatur Nahapetyan, general secretary of the Baptist Union, declared. Drew Holiner, a Jehovah's Witness lawyer who defended Zemfira Voskanyan sacked earlier this year from the police for her faith, agreed. "It is clearly discriminatory," he told Forum 18. "It requires dismissal in pretty unambiguous terms of those who belong to other groups than the Armenian Apostolic Church." Forum 18 has been unable to obtain the text of the secret order and has not found any official prepared to discuss why religious minorities cannot serve in the police.

Russia:

Court closes down Bible college.

On 21 March Primorsky Krai regional court in Russia's Far East ruled to close down the charismatic Faith in Action Bible College in Vladivostok. Speaking to Forum 18 News Service, the public prosecutor's representative in the case, Nina Saiko, defended the court-ordered closure, arguing that the college was conducting "educational activity" without a licence in violation of the education law. The college's lawyer Aleksei Kolupayev insisted to Forum 18 that it was not conducting educational activity "but simple study for religious believers, a right guaranteed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Russian Constitution." Others claim that the FSB (former KGB) has been harassing the college and looking for excuses to close it down.

Uzbekistan:

Prosecutor "fed up" with Baptist appeals.

In apparent testimony to the power of international protests, public prosecutor Shurali Ashurov, who questioned Baptist pastor Vladimir Khanyukov for up to five hours at a time and threatened his congregation for its refusal to register with the authorities, has called for an end to the flood of appeals that have reached his office. "I constantly receive protest letters from Baptists from various parts of the world," he told Forum 18 News Service from the western Uzbek town of Mubarek. "I am fed up with reading them." He revealed that in the wake of the petitions, a commission came from the capital Tashkent to investigate the Baptists' complaints. He insisted to Forum 18 that he is not preventing the church from meeting.

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

ASSIST News Service has these incidents of persecution to report.

India:

Christians burned alive in their homes due to mistaken identity.

A case of mistaken identity has erupted into a tragic conflict in northeast India! As a result, 22 Hmar villages have been burned to the ground and nearly three-dozen villagers have been killed -- burned alive in their own homes.

This shocking news comes from Dr. Rochunga Pudaite, Founder and President of Bibles For The World based in Colorado Springs, CO.

Dr. Pudaite, himself a Hmar, said that Naga political revolutions "instigated the violence on the evening of March 3, 2003, by kidnapping three people from a neighbouring Dimasa village and demanding ransom."

He went on to say, "Apparently one of the kidnappers wore a Hmar cloth. As a result, the Dimasa people accused the Hmars of being involved in the kidnapping. The Dimasa people then demanded that the Hmar villagers release the three kidnapped men. The Hmars told them that they were not involved. Moreover, the Hmar Christians had been praying and sharing the Gospel with the tribal Hindu Dimasa people and had even been helping in the translation of the Bible in their language."

Dr. Pudaite said that two nights later, at midnight, a Hmar village with 48 houses was set on fire. "In the darkness of the night the Hmars were running for their lives, helter-skelter," he said. "A few days later, the Dimasas again demanded that their kidnapped men be released. Again, the Hmar leaders told them, "We were not involved. We did not kidnap anybody."

Again, several Christian Hmar villages were set on fire. More houses were burned down.

The worst affected villages were Mahur, Sharon, Boromuolkawi, Retzawl, Hebron, Khawthar, Simtuiluong and Hmartlangmawi. "Twenty-one Christians were burned alive in their homes because there was no time to escape in the night." "Unfortunately, some angry Hmar young men took matters in their own hands and retaliated by burning three Dimasa villages, which resulted in the death of 11 Dimasas.

Dr. Pudaite described the violence as being terrible. "Altogether 22 Hmar villages have been burned to the ground," he said. "Now the homeless Hmar Christians are escaping for their lives, many walking three or four days without food to other districts and thousands arriving with nothing except their nightclothes.

"This tragic conflict has uprooted the lives of 9,263 men, women and children -- more than 50% of the Hmars who live in the District. Thousands of displaced Hmars are living in temporary "refugee camps" in schools and churches throughout several districts. All our village schools are closed down and the education of the children is disrupted. My heart aches. These Christians are my very flesh and blood. The State government of Assam and the central government of India have yet to respond."

He said that a few days ago, the Hmar Christian leaders called for tolerance and a truce to both the Dimasa and the Hmar people in North Cachar Hills.

"They've also called for a day of fasting and prayer every Tuesday in all the Hmar villages," said Dr. Pudaite. "This is the most critical time of year for our mountain farmers. Unless they can return home to work on their farms it will displace them completely for another year." He then asked for urgent prayer for the situation and for gifts to help the Hmar people.

Iraq:

Christians face an uncertain future.

Whilst Saddam Hussein's dictatorship was brutal and ruthless, it was primarily political and not a religious oppression. He persecuted those who threatened his leadership. Shiites were a threat simply because they were in the majority, so Saddam repressed them mercilessly. The non-Arab, stateless Kurds, forming some 20% of the population, were suppressed because they resisted subjugation. The situation was intensified because Iraq's oil fields lie in the predominantly Shiite south and the mostly Kurdish north. These groups were persecuted, terrorized and policed into submission. No-one dared criticize the regime.

Saddam's secular Baathism promoted pan-Arab nationalism and suppressed overt religious expression, including Islam.

As a small minority (estimated 1.5%), Iraq's Christians were not a political threat to Saddam. Unless they challenged him directly, they were free to import Bibles and Christian literature, and worship without government interference or persecution. After the 1991 Gulf War, Saddam began to use Islam as a unifying force, permitting its expression in a way unknown for decades, with the aim of unifying Iraq's fractured Muslims against a common outside enemy. Christians quietly watched this and many have emigrated.

Today, Iraqi Christians have good reason to feel anxious. Because they were not overtly persecuted by Saddam's regime they risk being seen, by some, as Saddam sympathizers. Because they are Christians they risk being seen, by some, as pro-American. Iraq's proposed draft Constitution is not secular, but Islamic.

Many Christians have fled and are trying to find safe-haven as refugees. Lebanon however is refusing to grant visas to Iraqi refugees, and hundreds of Iraqi Christians are reported to be imprisoned there as illegal immigrants. The Church in Lebanon says it is struggling to care for some 6,000 Iraqi refugees.

Meanwhile, inside Iraq, Christian concern is growing as the Shi'ite majority calls for an Iran-style Islamic state. Just before the war, observers noticed a sharp rise in radical rhetoric emanating from some mosques. Whilst Christians are relieved that Saddam has gone, they fear the prospect of living in an Iraq dominated by Islamic political parties. There is much despair and anxiety.

Please check http://www.assistnews.net for many interesting Christian articles.

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