Eritrea arrests women and children as they pray

Eritrean officials on May 9 arrested eleven Christians, including women and children, in the Eritrean capital of Asmara, reports Michael Ireland, chief correspondent,ASSIST News Service.

International Christian Concern (ICC) www.persecution.org says that Pastor Mesfin, Pastor Tekie, Mr. Isaac and his four children, and four women were arrested while conducting a prayer meeting at a private home in Maitemenai, Asmara. According to ICC, the detainees are members of Faith Church of Christ.

ICC says the church has existed in Eritrea since 1950. It was among the evangelical churches that were banned by Eritrean officials in 2002.

ICC explains that Eritrea only recognizes four religious groups: Islam, the Eritrean Orthodox Church, the Roman Catholic Church and the Lutheran Evangelical Church of Eritrea. All the other religious groups are considered illegal and can’t even conduct worship services at private homes.

ICC goes on to say that Eritrean officials have imprisoned more than 3,000 Christians for exercising their religious freedom.

The imprisoned Christians are kept under inhumane conditions in underground dungeons, metal shipping containers, and military barracks. Several Christians have been paralyzed and blinded, and have even died inside prisons. The imprisoned have never been charged before any court of law.

Speaking to ICC, a well known Eritrean Christian based in the United States said: “The persecution of Christians in Eritrea is going from bad to worse. The number of Christians who are fleeing the country is increasing. Unless the international Christian community helps the Eritrean Christians, their plight will be intensified.”

ICC’s Regional Manager for Africa, Jonathan Racho, said: “We are extremely saddened to hear about the illegal imprisonment of the eleven Christians. We are concerned with the safety of the detainees, particularly the children. We urge Eritrea to immediately release these eleven Christians and the 3,000 Christians who have been imprisoned due to their faith in Jesus Christ."

ICC (International Christian Concern) www.persecution.org is a Washington-DC based human rights organization that exists to help persecuted Christians worldwide.

ICC provides Awareness, Advocacy, and Assistance to the worldwide persecuted Church.

Report from the Christian Telegraph 

Ministry team detained, house ransacked in India

A group of Hindu radicals barged into the house where an Operation Mobilization (OM) team was residing, ransacked the house and were taken to the Police station alleging of forceful charges of conversion at Tumkur district in Karnataka state, India on November 24, reports James Varghese, special correspondent in India for ASSIST News Service.

According to an advocacy group in India, Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC), it was known that on 24th November at about 3.30 pm, a group of Hindu radicals numbering 30 members barged into the house where the team was staying and ransacked it.

Speaking to ANS Mr., Sam Joseph, Assistant to the Director for OM South India, said that “the Hindu radicals barged into the house and ransacked by grabbing the Bibles, compact discs, Christian tracts. During their search the Hindu radicals found a copy of the monthly ministry report written by team members sent to their OM head office. The report contained report of the number of film shows made and people who accepted the Lord”

He also added that “That’s the only written document they took hold to charge the team members of forceful conversion”

GCIC Source said that the Police visited the house for spot enquiry and could not find any wrong doing on the part of the team members of OM, but the three team members Mr. Prabhu. Steven and Shivananda were taken to the Police station for further enquiry.

A team member of OM reported that the police officers very cooperative to them and assured their protection.

Mr. Sam Joseph of OM also said that no written complaint was registered against the team members by the Hindu radicals.

GCIC reported that these team members have been residing in Tumkur district for the last 5 years.

After the incident in this place, the team has moved to another place but it was not specifically known as to where they have been moved.

It was found out that the Police settled the matter with both the parties and then released the three team members at night.

Report from the Christian Telegraph 

Pakistan court releases 18 Muslims held for Gojra violence

Eighteen Muslims arrested in the wake of Gojra violence under the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA), were released from their local district jail on Saturday, September 19, Pakistan English Daily “Dawn” has reported, reports Dan Wooding and Sheraz Khurram Khan, special to ASSIST News Service.

Gojra, a small town in Punjab province of Pakistan exploded into the international limelight when miscreants on August 1 set ablaze over 50 Christian houses that resulted in killings of seven Christians. Scores of Christians left their houses, fearing further trouble from extremists.

The newspaper said the Muslim men were booked under Section 7 of the ATA on the charges of attacking Christian community on July 29 and August 1 following an incident of alleged desecration of the Holy Quran in Chak (village) 95-JB, Adda Korian, and Christian Colony, Gojra.

They were declared innocent by a joint committee of Muslims and Christians formed to reconcile between both the groups, said the Dawn report.

The committee recommended to the police to delete the names of these 18 people from the Police First Information Report on which they were set free, it said.

Reacting to the release of the Muslim men, Mr. Joseph Francis, Director of the Centre for Legal Aid, Assistance and Settlement (CLAAS), has alleged that the Chief Justice Lahore High Court, is “anti-Christian, biased and a fanatic.”

Francis alleged that the Chief Justice had granted bail to the Muslim men without serving notice on the lawyers of Catholic Church, therefore they could not appear in the court the day the accused were granted bails, he said.

He said CLAAS was going to protest against the decision by setting up a hunger strike camp outside Lahore Press Club.

When ANS asked him how Christians could have reservations on the release of the Muslim men when a committee comprising of Muslims and Christians declared them innocent, Mr. Joseph said he doubted the “credibility of the committee.” He went on to say that a Catholic priest of Gojra Shafique had given a pardon to the Muslim men without consulting with the victims.

“How could the Muslim men in question be granted bail when the findings of the Inquiry Commission led by Justice Iqbal Hameed-ur-Rehman have not come to the fore?,” he questioned.

Francis maintained the police in the wake of Gojra violence mentioned names of some 129 Christians in a cross version. Out of 129, he said, 100 Christians are unidentified where as 29 Christians have been named.

He also revealed that a Bishop of the Church of Pakistan, John Samuel and his son have also been named in the cross version, which means these people were not originally named in the FIR but police added their names later as accused.

The CLAAS director said the police arrested two Christian brothers named Naveed and Nouman and claimed to ANS that Nouman had opened fire on miscreants, which he said saved lives of so many Christians as it enabled them to flee the scene.

He said Nouman was in Karachi when the Gojra violence took place but the police have arrested him.

Francis said he lodged a petition against arrest of the two brothers in Lahore High court. Mr. Francis said that when the high court asked the police in a hearing on Friday, September 18, they said the pair was not in its custody rather they have been taken by the law enforcement agencies.

According to Mr. Francis, the court has ordered the Station House Officer, Rasool Ghulam, District Coordination Officer and District Police Officer to explain the court about Naveed and Nouman on October 1, 2009.

Asked to comment on the recent statements by Pakistani religious hardliners and conservative politicians opposing the repeal of Pakistan blasphemy laws, he said he was going to present a memorandum demanding the repeal of Pakistan blasphemy laws to the United Nations in Rawalpindi.

“The religious parties are making a political capital by reiterating their inflexible posture on repeal of the blasphemy laws,” he claimed.

Report from the Christian Telegraph 

Iran: Christians summoned to the office of Ministry of Information

According to subpoenas issued by the intelligence office of the Kurdistan ministry of information, several new Christian believers have been summoned to attend a hearing at the headquarters of the ministry in order to answer questions that the ministry is interested to know about, reports FCNN.

Farsi Christian News Network (fcnn.com) reports that on August 23rd and 24th, intelligence officers contacted several new Christian believers and their families and requested that they attend a hearing at the Ministry of Information. It is important to mention that these individuals had previously been identified by the intelligence officers.

According to this report, these individuals, upon reporting to the offices of the Ministry of Information, were detained and interrogated all day long and subsequently released from custody.

The names of some of these individuals are as follows: Mr. Sadegh, Mr. Farzam, Mr. Nik-khah, Mr. Sarmad, and Mr. Ayyoob. The women were: Ms. Tahereh, Ms. Nahid, and Ms. Roshanak – all from the city of Sanandaj. There were others who were detained from other cities that have requested anonymity. Also 2 new believers from the city of Saghez, one from the town Gharaveh, and one other from the town of Kamyaran that were taken to their local Ministry of Information offices for questioning.

FCNN reports that the intelligence officers were using these interrogations to identify the command chain and responsibilities of each and every one of these believers within the home-church movement in Iran and also to learn more about the tactics used by the believers in evangelism along with more information about a specific home belonging to a Christian man named Mr. Ghanei.

It needs to be reminded that Mr. Ghanei was summoned to the ministry, detained and questioned for his faith and beliefs in Christ for one week in July 2009, while his family and relatives were completely unaware of his whereabouts. Finally, through the follow up and insistence of a lawyer and posting of a bail bond, he was released. Shortly after this incident, Mr. Ghanei was re-arrested on the charge that his bail bond was not invalid and this time he was forced to post a 60 million Tooman bond (Approximately $60,000 USD). Subsequent to this and as of now, there is no information regarding his whereabouts.

According to these new believers who were detained and questioned, the intelligence officers are attempting to identify and locate the whereabouts of Mr. Ghanei in order to summon him to the office of the Ministry of Information. It’s not clear why these officers are so eager to re-question Mr. Ghanei and what seems to be the urgency in this matter.

In connection with this, the intelligence officers and plain clothes interrogators have visited Mr. Ghanei’s house as well as the residence of his father in-law in Sanandaj and have searched the house and questioned the residents. Also and apparently the intelligence officers have targeted several new believers and the church members of the church in Kermanshah who may know of the whereabouts of Mr. Ghanei and placed them under surveillance and undue pressures.

Lastly, it must be remembered that in October 2006, Mr. Ghanei was arrested for the first time and after lengthy interrogation and being charged for converting from Islam to Christianity was released. This cycle of arrest, interrogation, and released from detention was repeated many times over the last few years.

Report from the Christian Telegraph