Acid Attack on Convert Pastor

Posted on February 19, 2012 by jacob

Pastor Umar Mulinde on his hospital bed. Standing is his wife.PHOTO:Nicholas Kajoba

Pastor Umar Mulinde had acid thrown in his face and on his back outside his church in Kampala, Uganda, on December 24th 2011. The attack occurred in the church parking lot. Pastor Umar later testified, “I was attacked by a man who claimed to be a Christian. He called out to me shouting ‘pastor, pastor’, and as I turned to see who he was, he poured acid which burnt part of my face. As I turned away from the attacker, another man poured the liquid on my back and ran away shouting ‘Allah Akbar [god is great].’” The pastor was quickly rushed to a hospital in Kampala by church members. Pastor Umar, a convert from Islam and former sheikh, had been receiving threats for some time; it is believed that he was targeted because of his conversion to Christianity and strong criticism of the Islamic faith. The 38-year-old father of six had also been a key opponent of Muslim plans to introduce Kadhi courts (sharia courts) in Uganda. Full Story

Ex-Muslim Boy Persecuted

Posted on February 12, 2012 by jacob

A former Muslim 12-year-old Hussein publicly professed his Christian faith in Turkey by wearing a silver cross necklace in school. “It’s not the physical cross. It’s the meaning of the cross that is important. It is a beautiful thing,” he explained. “I wanted people to ask me about it and then I could tell them about Christ.” His Muslim classmates taunted Hussein in school. They spat on him and called him names. His father said “Hussein refused to attend school, so I asked him if he was still getting beat up by those boys, Hussein said, ‘No, by my religion teacher.” Like in most Islamic countries, students of all faiths are required to attend Islamic studies in school. Those who refuse to recite the Koran and Islamic prayers are often beaten by the teacher. Hussein now attends a new school where he suffers fewer attacks. “Christ said, ‘You would suffer for me.’ So it’s okay to suffer and we should be happy to suffer for Him. The Lord is with me,” the boy said.

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20 Christians in Prayer Assaulted

Posted on January 26, 2012 by jacob

Already at the third anti-Christian, incident in the first month of the year dozens of Hindu activists of the RSS (Rashtriya Sangh Savayansevak) attacked 20 Christians of the Fellowship of New Life in a private house, 3km from the town of Haliyal.

Accusing those present of proselytism and forced conversions, the ultranationalists have begun to beat Kishore Kavalekar, a faithful, and Rev. Kalappa Chandrakanth Chavan, 27, under the eyes of his wife Vandana, 24, and 3 year old daughter.

After tearing the clothes of the pastor, the activists dragged him in front of the whole village. Finally, attackers tied him to a tree near a Hindu temple and called the Haliyal police. The police arrested Rev. Chandrakanth and Kishore, imprisoning them for 24 hours, leaving the RSS activists to roam free.

“Christians – adds Sajan George – are treated as second class citizens not only by the ultra-nationalist forces, but also the authorities. With the approach of Republic Day, it is time that the State ensures the Christian minority of its constitutional rights. “ Full Story

Widow and Daughters Stranded in India

Posted on January 22, 2012 by jacob

An Afghan widow and three of her daughters, whose names cannot be disclosed for security reasons, received a deportation notice from the Indian Ministry of Home Affairs after their first application for asylum was rejected by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) in October 2009.

When the mother reapplied in July 2011 with her three daughters and a fourth daughter, who is widowed with a child, only the widowed daughter and child were accepted. The others are no longer permitted to correspond with the UNHCR office and are currently living in India as illegal immigrants.

Aidan Clay, ICC Regional Manager for the Middle East, said, “In 2011, at least two Christians in Afghanistan were imprisoned by the Karzai administration, another was brutally beheaded by the Taliban, and nearly all Afghan Christians lived in fear of persecution. There is no evidence to suggest that the situation for Christians is improving, but every indication that it is only getting worse. Deporting the Christian widow and her three daughters back to Afghanistan will lead to inevitable hardship, if not imprisonment or even death. We urge the UNHCR to immediately reopen and approve this family’s applications for asylum.” Full Story

Seven Underground Churches Raided

Posted on January 19, 2012 by jacob

Since the unexpected death of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il December 17th, and the succession to power of his third son, Kim Jong Un, the underground Christian church has faced increased persecution.

“Three weeks ago seven underground churches got exposed,” says Thomas Kim, executive director of Cornerstone Ministries, which is actively involved in serving the church in North Korea. “It’s been very difficult for the last month and I think it’s going to continue,” he says.

The North Korean leadership apparently fears the kind of insurrection that swept other communist regimes and is now sweeping the Middle East. “They are scared there will be an uprising,” Kim notes. “They are scared by the expansion of the Christian faith because Christians will die for their faith.”

“Now the regime is putting out many people to search for the underground church,” Kim notes. “There is a need to pray for protection.” Full Story

Christians Attacked on False Charges

Posted on January 15, 2012 by jacob

Hindu radicals armed with sticks and iron bars attacked 20 Pentecostal Christians in a private home in Anekal, near Bangalore.

The Hindutva nationalists accused the Christians of forced conversions. In the attack, Pastor Shanthakumar Srirangam, of the Agape Church, lost a finger of his left hand, while Vijay – a believer – was seriously injured in the leg.Even a woman, Mrs. Yashodamma, was attacked, resulting in a head injury, and perhaps permanent damage to a nerve of the right hand.

For Sajan K. George, President of the Global Council of Indian Christians, “such a severe and unjustified aggression against innocent Christians is a serious violation of human rights and religious freedom. For the Christian minority of Karnataka, 2012 has begun in terror. ”

After the attack, Christians called the local police at Sarjapur. The police registered the case and accompanied the wounded to the state hospital, but have yet launch an investigation. Full Story

Convert from Islam Whipped

Posted on January 12, 2012 by jacob

A Somali convert from Islam was paraded before a cheering crowd last month and publicly flogged as a punishment for embracing a “foreign religion,” sources said.

Sofia Osman, a 28-year-old Christian from Janale city in Somali’as Lower Shabelle region, had been taken into custody by Islamic extremist al Shabaab militants in November; the public whipping was meant to mark her release. She received 40 lashes on Dec. 22 while jeered by spectators.

“Osman was whipped 40 lashes at 3 p.m., but she didn’t tell what other humiliations she had suffered while in the hands of the militants,” an eyewitness, told Compass, adding that whipping left her bleeding. “I saw her faint. I thought she had died, but soon she regained consciousness and her family took her away.”

The whipping was administered in front of hundreds of spectators after Osman was released from her month-long custody in al Shabaab camps. Nursing her injuries at her family’s home, in the days after the punishment she would not talk to anyone and looked dazed, a source close in touch with the family said. She has since been relocated.

“Please pray for her quick recovery,” the source said. Full Story

Pregnant Woman Beaten in Pakistani Jail Granted Bail

Posted on January 8, 2012 by jacob

A judge this month granted bail to a Christian woman falsely charged with theft in Abbottabad after police failed to produce evidence incriminating her, she said.

Salma Emmanuel, 30, was freed on bail on Dec. 8. She and her husband were severely beaten for three days when they refused to confess, and she was taken to a hospital in critical condition on Nov. 7, the life of her unborn child also threatened.

The couple lost their life savings – gold ornaments of 100 grams – and both have lost their jobs as a result of the false charges and are depending on relatives to cover their living expenses, she said. “My husband goes out every day to find work but has been unsuccessful so far,” she said.

“This Christmas we didn’t have money to buy clothes for our children, and neither did we have any explanation to make them understand why we were so helpless. But we have witnessed the mercy of the Lord and have faith that this time shall pass, too.” The couple has three children – the oldest 12, the youngest 5. Full Story

Young Christian Convert Forced to Flee

Posted on December 18, 2011 by jacob

Abdol-Rahman Mohammad Pouri is one of a thousand Iranian youth who was born and brought up in a strict Islamic family but chose not to follow his parent’s religion and converted to Christianity by following his heart and personal investigation.

Abdol-Rahman spoke about people who choose to become Christians in Iran’s traditional society with all the security conditions. “We couldn’t express our faith among other people or attend church freely. And because of the difficulties we faced about going to a church, I decided to devote my rental house to the Lord to be used as a house church.”

Participation in the house church attracted the attention of the security authorities who threatened and raided the house church and prevented them from worshiping. In addition, some of the house church leaders were also identified by the security authorities.

Abdol-Rahman, 29 is currently seeking asylum in the neighboring country of Turkey.

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Police in Pakistan Beat Pregnant Christian

Posted on December 5, 2011 by jacob

30-year-old Emmanuel and her husband, Emmanuel Rasheed, said that they were arrested and accused of theft after the Muslim woman who employed Emmanuel as a maid had allowed the Christian woman to temporarily store some of her jewelry at her employer’s house.

Emmanuel said that upon reaching the police station, an inspector identified only as Nazia and two other policewomen started punching and kicking her and striking her with batons, demanding that she “confess her crime.”

“I begged them for mercy, pleading that I am five months pregnant, but they continued their merciless onslaught for over three hours,” she said. ‘They continued to try to force me to admit to the crime, even threatening that they would kill my baby, but I refused to confess a false allegation.”

Rasheed said police tried to convert him to Islam while he was in custody. “A policeman offered to remove the theft charges against me if I was willing to renounce Christianity and convert to Islam,” he said. “I told him that no matter what happens, I will not renounce my faith, nor would I confess the false charges made against us.

”Emmanuel was treated at Benazir Shaheed Hospital, where doctors began efforts to save her and the fetus.

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Keeping the traditions of the cross (2 Thessalonians 3:6)

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