Chinese religious freedom activist awarded Nobel Peace Prize

A Chinese human rights dissident and democracy advocate was awarded this year’s Nobel Peace Prize on Friday, reports Peter J. Smith, LifeSiteNews.com.

Liu Xiaobo is the architect of a pro-democracy and human rights manifesto called Charter 08, which called for basic freedoms such as freedom of religion, assembly, protection of private property, and the guarantee of rights outlined under the U.N.’s Declaration of Universal Human Rights.

Authorities arrested Liu two days before the Charter’s December 8, 2008 release and charged him with "inciting the subversion of state power." After declaring him guilty, a Chinese court sentenced Liu on Christmas Day 2009 to 11 years in prison.

The Nobel committee in particular cited Liu’s pacifism in challenging communist China’s human rights abuses and calling for democratic reforms.

Liu was nominated in part by eight U.S. lawmakers who praised his work and suffering for human rights in China.

On behalf of himself and seven other U.S. Congressman, Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.) recommended that the Nobel Peace Prize Committee recognize not only Liu, but jointly award the prize to two other human rights activists, Chen Guangcheng and Gao Zhisheng, who have been persecuted specifically for fighting China’s brutal policy of forced abortion and sterilizations under the “one-child” policy.

Chen is a blind self-taught lawyer, who took the burden upon himself to defend local Chinese peasant women from forced sterilization and their children from forced abortion by local government authorities.

Gao, a Beijing attorney committed to defending human rights in China, was one of Chen’s lawyers. On February 4, 2009, Gao went missing under suspicious circumstances.

Geng He, Gao’s wife, told the Associated Press that she has not spoken to her husband since April and fears for his safety.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry has blasted the Nobel committee’s selection of Liu, calling the award a “blasphemy” and Liu a “criminal.”

"The Nobel Peace Prize is meant to award individuals who promote international harmony and friendship, peace and disarmament. Liu Xiaobo is a criminal who has been sentenced by Chinese judicial departments for violating Chinese law,” the ministry said on its website. “Awarding the peace to Liu runs completely counter to the principle of the award and is also a blasphemy to the Peace Prize."

The AP reports that news of Liu’s Nobel award has been blacked out in China. It added that Liu Xia, his wife, is guarded in her Beijing apartment by police, who have forbidden her from meeting with reporters.

Liu’s wife, who is able to communicate by telephone and electronic media, told CNN that she intends to visit him in prison soon to inform him of the prize, and encourage him. She hopes to be able to visit Norway to collect the award on his behalf.

Last year’s Nobel Peace Prize recipient was President Barack Obama, who was nominated shortly after his presidential inauguration. Obama praised Liu for his sacrifice in a statement and called upon Chinese authorities to release him from prison.

“By granting the prize to Mr. Liu, the Nobel Committee has chosen someone who has been an eloquent and courageous spokesman for the advance of universal values through peaceful and non-violent means, including his support for democracy, human rights, and the rule of law,” said Obama.

Report from the Christian Telegraph

Recent Incidents of Persecution

Karnataka, India, June 1 (CDN) — Hindu nationalists on May 27 falsely accused a pastor of forcible conversion in Rajanpura village, Hassan district, after disrupting a worship service. The Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC) reported that the intolerant Hindus also warned the Christians not to worship in the area. Manjunath Shastri led a mob of 20 area Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh extremists that barged into the rented home of Pastor Siddanagowda Barmanagowda as he led a house
church service affiliated with the Karnataka Evangelical Association. The extremists forced the pastor to the Hiriseve police station, where they filed a complaint about the alleged forcible conversions and warned him against conducting worship services in the village, according to the GCIC. A GCIC coordinator told Compass that police told Pastor Barmanagowda to vacate his home and leave the area. –

Andhra Pradesh – Hindu extremists from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh damaged a church building and installed an idol of the Hindu god Hanuman inside it on May 23 in Tadipatri, Anatapur. The All India Christian Council (AICC) reported that at about 9 a.m. the extremists from the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Council) attacked India Pentecostal Church’s Holy Spirit Prayer House, which was under construction. Pastor Venugopal Reddy approached Tadipatri police, but officers refused
to help him. After local Christian leaders’ intervention, police questioned the attackers. AICC reported that Pastor Reddy had acquired government permission to build the church building. –

Karnataka – Police on May 19 arrested Christians on a false complaint of forcible conversion in Mandya district. The Global Council of Indian Christians reported that Pastor Shanth Kumar and Pastor Nagesh Kumar had jointly organized a three-day Vacation Bible School for 35 to 40 children near Netkal village when nearly 30 Hindu extremists from the Bajrang Dal stormed the premises and forced the pastors along with two teenage students to the Belakawadi police station. Police charged the
pastors with “deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting religion or religious beliefs,” while the students were sent home without charges. The pastors are locked up Mandya Jail at press time. –

Karnataka – A mob of Hindu extremists from the Bajrang Dal attacked an evangelist and three women on May 18 in Hubli. The Evangelical Fellowship of India (EFI) reported that at about 6:30 p.m. Edward Bellary and three women from Mayer Memorial Church were visiting a family at their invitation to pray for a woman who was ill when the extremists barged in, accused them of forceful conversion and of deceiving the family with false hopes, and beat Bellary. Later, Elish Mulur of the same
church came to aid Bellary, but the Hindu extremists badly beat him, according to EFI. Mulur sustained injuries, and his left eardrum was damaged. The extremists dragged Bellary to a police station and pressured officers to arrest him. Police held him for about eight hours, and he was later released without charges. –

Chhattisgarh – On May 13 in Maroda, Bhilai, Hindu extremists from the Bajrang Dal and Dharam Sena (Religious Army) attacked a prayer meeting and accused Christians present of forceful conversion. A source told Compass that at 7:30 p.m., about 100 Hindu extremists shouting Hindu slogans gathered near the house of Dwarika Dewangaon, site of the prayer meeting. Accusing the Christians of forceful conversion, they locked the door from the outside and continued to shout anti-Christian slogans.
Police came and took the homeowner, Dewangaon, to the police station for questioning. They detained him for about four hours and warned him not to conduct further Christian meetings in his home. With area Christian leaders’ intervention, Dewangaon was released without charges, and the area superintendent of police informed the Christians that he would look into the matter. –

Andhra Pradesh – Hindu extremists on May 9 attacked a pastor who goes by the single name of Devasahayam, of Yehova Nissi Prardana Mandiram church, on May 9 in Nellore, sources said. A member of the Hindu extremist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) identified only as Babu barged into the worship service, verbally abused the pastor for his faith and manhandled him. The pastor stopped the meeting, and the assailant left the premises. Some 30 minutes later, the sources said, Babu died in
his home of a heart attack. That afternoon, a furious crowd of RSS members gathered near the pastor’s house and threatened to burn him and his home. The pastor took the matter to the police, but they refused to help, the sources said. The pastor has relocated as a safety measure. –

Uttar Pradesh – Hindu extremists from the Bajrang Dal attacked a church meeting, beat a pastor and threatened to kill his infant son on May 6 in Kanpur. The Evangelical Fellowship of India (EFI) reported that about 40 Hindu extremists accused the Christians of forceful conversion and verbally abused Pastor Dalayu Sonam before dragging him out to the street. They accused his wife of running a brothel inside the church building and threatened to kill his 1-year-old son. The attacks were
carried out in the presence of media, reported EFI. –

Karnataka – Hindu nationalists on May 2 disrupted worship in K.R. Nagar, Mysore district, verbally abused the Christians present and filed a false complaint of forcible conversion against the pastor. The Global Council of Indian Christians reported that at around 10:30 a.m. nearly 20 Hindu extremists from the Bajrang Dal stormed the rented home where the Indian Christian Revival Mission church met and drove away worshipers. The intolerant Hindus forced Pastor Elisha Gangadhar to the
K.R. Nagar police station. Pastor Gangadhar told Compass that police officials questioned him for nearly three hours, and then released him without charges on the condition that he vacate his home and conduct no future prayer meetings in the area. No services were held the next two weeks. –

Madhya Pradesh – On May 2 about 60 Hindu extremists from the Bajrang Dal disrupted a house church service in Mandla, and then threatened to kill a pastor after filing a complaint against him of forceful conversion. A source told Compass that the extremists were shouting Hindu slogans when they barged into the worship meeting of Bethel Prartna Church at 11:15 a.m., having already filed a complaint of forceful conversion against Pastor Bhagchand Rujhiya at Banhani Banger police station.
The extremists dragged the pastor out to the street and threatened to kill him if he continued to lead worship meetings there. Church members came forward to defend the pastor against the Hindu extremists, but police arrived and took him in for three hours of questioning. The intolerant Hindus gathered at the police station shouting that they would wipe out Christians from the area. Police forced the pastor to write a statement that he would conduct no future worship meetings, refrain from praying and visit no
church members at their homes. Area Christian leaders submitted a memorandum to government officials to take action against the attackers. –

Karnataka – As if religious conversion or manifesting one’s faith were illegal in India, Hunsur town police on May 1 arrested four Christians including a woman on charges of “attempted conversion,” reported the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC). The Christians were part of a group led by preacher Robin Paul, of Rolls Park Church, who were distributing pamphlets and brochures related to Christianity, reported the Deccan Herald. GCIC reported that at around 11:30 a.m. some 30
members of the Hindu extremist Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal stopped the Christians, accused them of “conversion activities” and called police, who arrived and took them into custody. After questioning, the Christians were charged with “hurting religious sentiments.” Paul and two other Christians were sent to K.R. Nagar jail, while a female Christian, Soundary Sandaman, was sent to Mysore jail. With GCIC intervention, all four were released on bail on May 3. –

Andhra Pradesh – Hindu extremists from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh on April 29 attacked a gospel meeting, where they accused Christians of forceful conversion in Mahaboobnagar. The All India Christian Council reported that the extremists angrily barged into the meeting and manhandled the pastor who organized the event and a guest pastor. The Hindu extremists accused them of forceful conversion and damaged furniture and the sound system. Police arrived on the scene but only watched
as the Hindu extremists ransacked the site. The following day, the extremists went to the home of the event organizer, identified only as Pastor Daniel, and beat him. They warned the badly bruised pastor not to conduct further Christian meetings.

Report from Compass Direct News

Pakistani Christian on Run from Taliban Death Threat

Islamic extremist sermonizing leads to altercation at barbershop in South Waziristan.

LAHORE, Pakistan, November 27 (CDN) — A young Christian man is in hiding in Pakistan from Taliban militants who seek to kill him for “blasphemy” because he defended his faith.

In February Jehanzaib Asher, 22, was working in a barbershop his family jointly owns with his cousin in Wana, South Waziristan – a Taliban stronghold in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas in Pakistan’s northwest – when the Islamic militants showed up to try to convert him to Islam.

It was not the first time the Taliban’s Noor Hassan had delivered strident sermons to him and his relatives, and this time Asher decided not to listen silently. He defended Christianity by citing verses from the Bible, and Hassan and another Islamic militant viciously beat him – breaking his left leg and some ribs and leaving his left hand non-functional.

He told Compass that he only defended Christianity and did not comment on Islam.

“One can bear the death of one’s father or mother, but can we keep listening to insults of our religion?” Asher said.

Nearby Muslims helped him and two cousins ward off the attack. Soon the Taliban militants began spreading the word to local residents that Asher and his cousin Christopher Masih had blasphemed Muhammad, the prophet of Islam.

Before the Pakistani military’s recent offensive against the Taliban stronghold in South Waziristan, Asher said, his picture was posted at check-points in an attempt to help the Taliban and other Islamists identify and kill him.

Asher’s cousin, Zaib Masih, managed to get Asher and Christopher Masih (Zaib Masih’s brother) into a vehicle, and they fled the market area where their two barbershops are located. As barbers they were targeted for the Islamic sermonizing and attack due to the Taliban’s opposition to shaving of beards, he said.

Zaib Masih told Compass that Christopher Masih was also injured in the attack, though not as seriously as Asher. They took Asher to a military hospital, safe from the Taliban. But when military doctors asked how Asher became so badly injured, they mentioned only a “family fight” so as not to draw the ire of any Muslim soldiers who might attack them for the blasphemy allegations.

For months Asher remained at home; even neighbors were unaware of the fact that he was still in Wana, Zaib Masih said.

“We live in the army compound, but we still feared that the Taliban might tip off some one in the compound, and we might be attacked on the allegations of blasphemy,” he said.

He said that they had been born and brought up in Wana and knew many Taliban members, and with their help he approach a grand mufti to try to obtain a decree that Asher was innocent.

“I took along a lamb with me to present to the mufti in order to appease his anger, but he listened to no word and wanted to know Asher’s whereabouts,” Zaib Masih added.

Asher still walked with a limp, and the Taliban were determined to kill him, Zaib Masih said. His and Asher’s families own a house in Sialkot, and Zaib Masih said he planned to sneak him there.

Asher said the grand mufti was not present when the Taliban initially sought to kill him, and that therefore no fatwa was issued ordering his death.

“If that had happened, then I would have been killed for sure,” he said. “The Taliban were even killing the army personnel, so what capacity did we have to defend ourselves?”

Earlier this month, Asher told Compass, he disguised himself as a Muslim with a long beard and left Wana.

Initially he fled to Sialkot, Punjab Province. Soon he learned that in Wana news of his departure had spread, and that there was a rumor that three Taliban had been dispatched to Sialkot to hunt him down. Crestfallen, he fled to another, undisclosed city.

Asher told Compass that he had recovered from all injuries except for his knee, which remained swollen. He said he was receiving treatment for it at a hospital.

“Only God could have saved me from this calamity,” he said. “Otherwise, no one could save me from their hands.”

The cousins’ barbershops in Wana have been closed after the encounter with the Taliban. Zaib Masih said that two relatives have government jobs as janitors, and the two families are surviving on their meager salaries.

Since the closing of their barbershops, Zaib Masih said, the families have living hand-to-mouth – barely able to have two meals a day.

South Waziristan is the headquarters of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, the Taliban umbrella group fighting the government, and is a hub of Arab and Uzbek Islamic militants. In mid-October the Pakistani Army launched an offensive after the Taliban managed to take the army’s general headquarters in Rawalpindi.

Report from Compass Direct News 

Cardinal: No ‘celibacy issue’ exists in reception of Anglicans into Church

In an extensive clarification released on Saturday by the Vatican press office, Fr. Federico Lombardi made clear, on behalf of the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Joseph Levada, that there is no “celibacy issue” delaying the publication of the Constitution that will establish the procedure for Anglicans to be received into the Catholic Church, reports Catholis News Agency.

In a statement released in English –breaking the common use of Italian- Fr. Lombardi explained that “there has been widespread speculation, based on supposedly knowledgeable remarks by an Italian correspondent Andrea Tornielli.

The Vatican analyst suggested that the delay in the publication of the Apostolic Constitution on Personal Ordinariates for Anglicans entering into full communion with the Catholic Church is due to “more than ‘technical’ reasons.”

“According to this speculation, there is a serious substantial issue at the root of the delay, namely, disagreement about whether celibacy will be the norm for the future clergy of the Provision,” Fr. Lombardi’s said.

Responding to other claims that the rule of celibacy for Latin rite clergy would be open to discussion, Fr. Lombardi offered the official comments of Cardinal Levada.

“Had I been asked I would happily have clarified any doubt about my remarks at the press conference. There is no substance to such speculation. No one at the Vatican has mentioned any such issue to me.”

According to Cardinal Levada, Pope Benedict’s Apostolic Constitution will be ready “by the end of the first week of November” and its delay “is purely technical in the sense of ensuring consistency in canonical language and references.”

The Prefect of the Congregation also explained that “the drafts prepared by the working group, and submitted for study and approval through the usual process followed by his congregation, have all included the following statement, which is currently Article VI of the Constitution:

– 1. Those who ministered as Anglican deacons, priests, or bishops, and who fulfill the requisites established by canon law and are not impeded by irregularities or other impediments may be accepted by the Ordinary as candidates for Holy Orders in the Catholic Church. In the case of married ministers, the norms established in the Encyclical Letter of Pope Paul VI Sacerdotalis coelibatus, n. 42 and in the Statement “In June” are to be observed. Unmarried ministers must submit to the norm of clerical celibacy of Code of Canon Law 277, §1.

– 2. The Ordinary, in full observance of the discipline of celibate clergy in the Latin Church, as a rule (pro regula) will admit only celibate men to the order of presbyter. He may also petition the Roman Pontiff, as derogation from can. 277, §1, for the admission of married men to the order of presbyter on a case by case basis, according to objective criteria approved by the Holy See.”

Cardinal Levada further explains that “this article is to be understood as consistent with the current practice of the Church, in which married former Anglican ministers may be admitted to priestly ministry in the Catholic Church on a case by case basis.”

With regard to future seminarians, the Cardinal explains that “it was considered purely speculative whether there might be some cases in which a dispensation from the celibacy rule might be petitioned.”

“Objective criteria about any such possibilities (e.g. married seminarians already in preparation) are to be developed jointly by the Personal Ordinariate and the Episcopal Conference, and submitted for approval of the Holy See,” Cardinal Levada said.

Report from the Christian Telegraph 

TURKEY: ‘DEEP STATE’ SUSPECTED OF SILENCING WITNESSES

Two key figures in Malatya murder trial again fail to show despite court orders.

MALATYA, Turkey, July 21 (Compass Direct News) – Under the pretext of recovering from medical treatment he received earlier this month, a key suspect in the murders of three Christians in southeast Turkey dodged court for the second time, further stalling the legal process, prosecuting attorneys said.

Journalist Varol Bulent Aral, one of the suspected “middlemen” who allegedly incited five young men to brutally murder Turkish Christians Necati Aydin and Ugur Yuksel and German Christian Tilmann Geske at the Zirve Publishing Co. in Malatya two years ago, again failed to show at a hearing on Friday (July 17).

The three Christians were bound and tortured before they were murdered on April 18, 2007 at the Christian publishing house, where they worked. Suspects Salih Guler, Cuma Ozdemir, Hamit Ceker, Abuzer Yildirim and alleged ring-leader Emre Gunaydin were caught trying to escape from the scene of the crime.

Aral was admitted for mental health treatment a few days after the last hearing in June and was released from the Adiyaman penitentiary hospital on July 8. The gendarmerie, however, failed to produce him in court on Friday (July 17) claiming that he was recovering from treatment.

Prosecuting attorneys pointed out that the reason the gendarmerie did not bring him to the June hearing from the penitentiary in Adana, nearly 300 kilometers (186 miles) from Malatya, was due to lack of funds – yet the gendarmerie seemed to have no trouble finding funds to take him for treatment in Adiyaman, which is the same distance from Adana as is Malatya.

“Last time [in June] they said they couldn’t bring him because of insufficient funds,” said prosecuting lawyer Erdal Dogan. “This is unacceptable… now in the same way they make excuses, saying they took him to the hospital. It seems they are mocking us, especially since previous health reports said that he was in good health.”

Prosecuting attorneys also pointed out that it was suspicious that Aral was admitted to the hospital only days after a court order that he appear at the July 17 hearing.

“It seems to us that they are trying to silence him by making him evade court,” said prosecuting attorney Dogan of the “deep state” officials that he and his colleagues believe masterminded the murders of the three Christians. “I truly hope that is not the case.”

Charged with high-security cases, the gendarmerie are holding Aral, but some believe the gendarmerie and its intelligence services are connected with Turkey’s “deep state.”

In the last year, nearly 150 people have been arrested in Turkey under suspicion of being connected to a cabal of retired generals and politicians called Ergenekon, accused of trying to overthrow Turkey’s Islamic-leaning but secular government. Some key figures of the Ergenekon case are believed to be behind the Malatya slayings and the murders of Italian Catholic priest Andrea Santoro, killed in the Black Sea coastal town of Trabzon in February 2006, and Armenian Christian editor Hrant Dink, who was shot in front of the weekly Agos three months before the slaughter in Malatya.

The Malatya and Ergenekon prosecutors, however, are still researching links between the murders and have yet to try them jointly.

Aral has been arrested in conjunction with both cases. In a previous statement, he had complained that retired Gen. Veli Kucuk, who has also been arrested in connection to Ergenekon, had threatened him about testifying. Aral testified to the Ergenekon case state judges privately in May, but the content of his testimony has not been publicized.

Judges have found the phone numbers of ultranationalist lawyer Kemal Kerincsiz and Sevgi Erenerol, spokesperson for the Turkish Orthodox Church – a Turkish nationalist denomination – in Aral’s personal phone book. Both figures are accused of playing leading roles in Ergenekon and spearheaded prosecution of Christians Hakan Tastan and Turan Topal for speaking to people about their faith.

While in prison, alleged ring-leader Gunaydin testified to the state prosecutor that Aral had contacted him and instructed him to carry out the murders. Gunaydin had also testified that Huseyin Yelki, who worked as a volunteer at the Zirve office, had planned details of the crime with him.

Yelki is still obligated to appear at every court hearing and continues to be a suspected middleman. Thus far, however, his testimony has yielded no clear indication of his role.

Burcu Polat, Gunaydin’s girlfriend, also failed to appear in court on Friday, telling police that she was not ready because she is a student in Balikesir, in northwest Turkey. The prosecution noted in court that universities are not in session and requested that the court find her guilty of not fulfilling her duty to appear in court.

The court again has ordered Aral and Polat to appear in court at the next hearing on Aug. 21.

Report from Compass Direct News