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Tag Archives: homeland
Kurdish Homeland?
Posted in Iraq, ISIL - Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, Islam, Kurds, news, Syria, Turkey, video	| Tagged homeland, Iraq, Is, ISIL, Isis, Islam, Islamic State, Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, Kurdish, Kurds, Muslim, muslims, news, Syria, Turkey, video | Leave a comment
Somali militants chase Christians who've fled, beat them
After months of evading his pursuers, they finally caught up with him.
Voice of the Martyrs Canada confirms that on August 21, Islamic militants in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia found Mohamed Ali Garas, a prominent Somali church leader and convert from Islam, and beat him severely, reports MNN.
Five years ago, Garas fled his Somali homeland. VOMC's Greg Musselman says Garas he sought refuge in Ethiopia because "he was involved in church work there as a pastor. Attempts were made on his life. He's been threatened, he's been arrested."
On the night he was attacked, he was walking home when he heard two men calling his name. He turned to see what they wanted, and they attacked, fleeing only when a neighbor arrived on the scene. Although the beating was severe, Garas survived.
The attack itself is unsettling, explains Musselman because "they [extremists] are not just leaving it back home; they're taking it wherever they find these people that have converted to Christ from an Islamic background."
This incident shows that the persecution is not contained within Somalia's borders. For al Shabaab, they're ramping up to an all-out war meant to eradicate Christianity.
Shortly before a deadly suicide bombing attack on August 24, an al Shabaab spokesman was quoted as saying: "The operation is meant to eliminate the invading Christians and their apostate government in Somalia. The fighting will continue and, God willing, the mujahideen will prevail."
Somali Christians living in Ethiopia have come under increased attacks from Somali Muslims in recent months. That's a trend that is likely to continue. Musselman says, "When you understand a little bit of the group like al Shabaab…you're not surprised that they will go to any length. They're thinking is that 'the only kind of a Somali Christian is a dead one.'"
International Christian Concern notes that a Somali pastor in the Ethiopian capital has described this latest attack as "an apparent attempt to scare the Somali Christian community in Addis Ababa who considers Ethiopia a safe haven from religious persecution."
Musselman notes that prayer is a powerful recourse. "Lord, our brothers and sisters in Somalia are such a small group. They're trying to be faithful. There are other Somalis that have left the country; they're trying to be faithful, and they continue to suffer attacks, and it's difficult for them. But we ask You, Lord, to move on the hearts even of the enemies that are persecuting these believers, that they would have the freedom to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ."
Posted in Al Qaeda, al Shabaab, Canada, Christianity, Ethiopia, Islam, Somalia, Voice of the Martyrs	| Tagged Addis Ababa, al Shabaab, all-out-war, apostate, apparent, arrested, arrived, attack, attacked, attempt, attempts, background, beat, believers, bombing, borders, brothers, call, Canada, capital, caught, chase, Christ, Christian, Christianity, Christians, church, community, considers, contained, continue, convert, converted, dead, deadly, described, difficult, eliminate, enemies, eradicate, Ethiopia, Ethiopian, evading, extremists, faithful, fighting, finally, find, fled, fleeing, found, freedom, God, gospel, government, group, hearts, home, homeland, ICC, incident, increased, International Christian Concern, invading, involved, Islam, Islamic, Jesus, kind, latest, leader, leaving, left, length, life, men, militants, Mohamed Ali Garas, move, Mujahideen, Muslim, muslims, name, neighbor, noted, operation, Pastor, people, persecuting, Persecution, powerful, prayer, prevail, prominent, pursuers, quoted, ramping, recourse, refuge, religious, safe haven, saying, scare, scene, severe, severely, share, sisters, small, Somali, Somalia, spokesman, suffer, suicide, surprised, survived, threatened, trend, trying, unsettling, Voice of the Martyrs, VOM, VOMC, walking, willing, work | Leave a comment
Christian Who Fled Iran Wins Asylum in Kenya
Judge rules Iranian convert from Islam requires protection from persecutors.
NAIROBI, Kenya, March 15 (CDN) — Mohammad Azbari, a Christian convert from Islam who has fled to Kenya, knows what it's like to be deported back to his native Iran.
When it happened in 2007, he said, Iranian authorities pressured the government of Norway to return him and his wife Gelanie Azbari to Iran after hearing rumors that he had forsaken Islam.
"When we arrived in Iran, we were interrogated by security and severely beaten," he told Compass in Nairobi, where he and his family fought to persuade the Kenyan government to decline Iran's demand to deport him back. "My son got scared and began urinating on himself."
A cousin managed to secure their release, but not before Iranian authorities had taken valuable – and incriminating – possessions.
"They took everything that I had – laptop, camera and some of my valuables which contained all my details, such as information concerning my baptism, and my entire profile, including that of my family," Azbari said.
Azbari had been employed in the Iranian army before fleeing, he said, and authorities were monitoring his movements because they were concerned that, having left Islam, he might betray his country and reveal government secrets.
When he and his Christian wife, a native of the Philippines, first fled Iran in 2000, he was still a Shia Muslim. The previous year authorities had arrested his wife after finding a Christmas tree in their house in Tehran; Azbari was not home at the time and thus escaped arrest, but as authorities took his wife away they left their then 3-year-old son unattended.
"I was put in a small cell for two days," Gelanie Azbari told Compass, through tears. "While in the cell two police guards raped me. It was the worst of all the nights I have had in my lifetime. Since that time I have been sick both physically and mentally."
Authorities soon took her husband in for interrogation, suspecting he was a spy for foreign states.
Still a Muslim, Azbari allowed his wife to follow her Christian faith. He had grown accustomed to watching her pray as a Christian and watch the Jesus Film. As time went by, he developed an urge to embrace Christianity. They started reading the Bible together.
The idea of trusting in and following Christ filled him with fear, as it was against the law to convert from Islam – it would mean losing his life, he said.
"I started questioning our leaders, who see themselves as God," he said. "The claim of Jesus as the prophet as well as the Word and spirit of God is indicated in the Quran. When I read in the Gospels of Jesus giving people rest, it made me want to decide to accept him as my Lord and Savior."
Sensing danger, the family fled to the Netherlands in 2000, and it was there that Azbari embraced Christianity. In 2003 the family left the Netherlands for Norway.
Azbari was an avid student of his new-found Lord; while in Norway, he became seminary teacher of Christology.
Throughout, Azbari said, the Iranian government had been monitoring his movements. In 2007 Iranian officials persuaded the Norwegian government to send him, together with his wife and son Reza Azbari, back to Iran.
After their interrogation and mistreatment upon arrival in Iran, Azbari managed to call his sister, who connected him with the army general cousin who helped secure their release. His sister took them in, but his brother in-law was not happy with their Christian prayers; he began quarreling with his wife, Azbari's sister.
"They began looking for trouble for us," Azbari said. "Sensing danger, we then left the home and went to find a place to stay. Everywhere we tried to book in we were rejected, since we were people who had been deported."
They began attending a church made up primarily of foreigners, where Azbari's wife and son felt more at home than he did. His army general cousin found out and, angry that they had sought refuge in a church after he had secured their release, grew furious.
"He was very angry, as they had also discovered this information from the laptop they had confiscated and threatened that I should be arrested," Azbari said. "I then decided to move to central Iran to look for employment, leaving my family behind."
The couple felt they could not go to Gelanie Azbari's homeland as the Philippines has such friendly relations with Iran, he said.
"To go back to Philippines or Iran is quite unsafe for us," Azbari said.
In October 2009, his sister notified him that police were looking for him and his family.
"I then decided to flee the country through Turkey, then to Kenya where I was arrested and then deported to Turkey," Azbari said. "In Turkey they could not allow me to enter the country, hence I was returned to Kenya."
They were arrested in January for illegal entry into Kenya. On March 4, a judge at Chief Magistrate Court No. 3 of Kenya dropped the charges against him, declaring that Azbari required international protection from his persecutors. The court also directed that Azbari be given back all his documents and the 10,000 Kenyan Shillings ($US130) in bail he had deposited.
They had applied for asylum with the United Nations. Appearing before the court on behalf of Azbari on Jan. 15, a representative of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees had argued that he deserved asylum because his religious status had forced him to flee from his country of origin. On March 4 the court found that Azbari and his family require international protection under Section 82 of the laws of Kenya, and he was set free.
"We have witnessed the love of God and the sacrifices of what it means to love one in word and deed," Azbari said moments after the decision. "We saw the love of Christ from the people who understood and stood with us."
He thanked friends who introduced his family to Nairobi Pentecostal Church, which provided them spiritual strength. Three attorneys represented Azbari: Wasia Masitsa, a legal officer for the Urban Refugee Intervention Program; Christian lawyer John Swaka; and Laban Osoro of the United Nations. Rene Kiamba of the International Christian Chamber of Commerce had helped him post bail.
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Anti-Christian Sentiment Marks Journey for Bhutan's Exiles
Forced from Buddhist homeland, dangers arise in Hindu-majority Nepal.
KATHMANDU, Nepal, February 23 (CDN) — Thrust from their homes in Bhutan after Buddhist rulers embarked on an ethnic and religious purge, Christian refugees in Nepal face hostilities from Hindus and others.
In Sunsari district in southeastern Nepal, a country that is more than 80 percent Hindu, residents from the uneducated segments of society are especially apt to attack Christians, said Purna Kumal, district coordinator for Awana Clubs International, which runs 41 clubs in refugee camps to educate girls about the Bible.
"In Itahari, Christians face serious trouble during burials," Kumal told Compass. "Last month, a burial party was attacked by locals who dug up the grave and desecrated it."
Earlier this month, he added, a family in the area expelled one of its members from their home because he became a Christian.
Bhutan began expelling almost one-eighth of its citizens for being of Nepali origin or practicing faiths other than Buddhism in the 1980s. The purge lasted into the 1990s.
"Christians, like Hindus and others, were told to leave either their faith or the country," said Gopi Chandra Silwal, who pastors a tiny church for Bhutanese refugees in a refugee camp in Sanischare, a small village in eastern Nepal's Morang district. "Many chose to leave their homeland."
Persecution in Bhutan led to the spread of Christianity in refugee camps in Nepal. Though exact figures are not available, refugee Simon Gazmer estimates there are about 7,000-8,000 Christians in the camps – out of a total refugee population of about 85,000 – with many others having left for other countries. There are 18 churches of various faiths in the camps, he said.
"Faith-healing was an important factor in the spread of Christianity in the camps," said Gazmer, who belongs to Believers' Church and is awaiting his turn to follow five members of his family to Queensland, Australia. "A second reason is the high density in the camps."
Each refugee family lives in a single-room hut, with one outdoor toilet for every two families. The Nepalese government forbids them to work for fear it will create unemployment for local residents.
Life was even harder for them before 2006, when Nepal was a Hindu kingdom where conversions were a punishable offence.
"When I began preaching in 2000, I had to do it secretly," said Pastor Silwal of Morang district. "We could meet only surreptitiously in small groups. I used my hut as a make-shift church while many other groups were forced to rent out rooms outside the camp."
A fact-finding mission in 2004 by Brussels-based Human Rights Without Frontiers found that police pulled down a church structure built by Pentecostal Christians in the Beldangi camp by orders of Nepal's home ministry. The rights group also reported that Hindu refugees ostracized the Christians, who had proceeded to rent a room outside the camp to meet three times a week for worship services and Bible study.
When the Jesus Loves Gospel Ministries (JLGM) organization sent officials from India to the Pathri camp in Morang in 2006, they found that local residents resentful of the refugees had taken note of a baptism service at a pond in a nearby jungle.
"In August, we were planning another baptism program," JLGM director Robert Singh reported. "But the villagers put deadly poisonous chemicals in the water … Some of the young people went to take a bath ahead of our next baptism program. They found some fish floating on the water and, being very hungry – the refugees only get a very small ration, barely enough to survive on – they took some of the fish and ate them. Three of them died instantly."
Singh also stated that poisoned sweets were left on the premises of the refugee school in the camp. They were discovered in time to avert another tragedy.
Life for Christian refugees improved after Nepal saw a pro-democracy movement in 2006 that caused the army-backed government of Hindu king Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah to collapse. The king was forced to reinstate parliament, and lawmakers sought to curb his powers by declaring Nepal a secular state.
Though Christian refugees are now allowed to run churches openly in the camps, ill will toward them has yet to end. When Pastor Silwal asked camp authorities to allow him to open a church in 2006, Hindu neighbors protested, saying it would cause disturbances. Camp authorities allowed him to open a tiny church in a separate room on the condition that its activities would not disturb neighbors.
Earlier in his life in Bhutan, said the 40-year-old Pastor Silwal, he had been a stern Hindu who rebuked his two sisters mercilessly for becoming Christians. He forbade them to visit their church, which gathered in secret due to the ban on non-Buddhist religions in place at the time. They were also forbidden to bring the Bible inside their house in Geylegphug, a district in southern Bhutan close to the Indian border.
"I became a believer in 1988 after a near-death experience," Pastor Silwal told Compass. "I contracted malaria and was on the verge of death since no one could diagnose it. All the priests and shamans consulted by my Hindu family failed to cure me. One day, when I thought I was going to die I had a vision."
The pastor said he saw a white-robed figure holding a Bible in one hand and beckoning to him with the other. "Have faith in me," the figure told him. "I will cure you."
When he woke from his trance, Silwal asked his sisters to fetch him a copy of the Bible. They were alarmed at first, thinking he was going to beat them. But at his insistence, they nervously fetched the book from the thatched roof of the cow shed where they had kept it hidden. Pastor Silwal said he tried to read the Bible but was blinded by his fever and lost consciousness.
When he awoke, to his amazement and joy, the fever that had racked him for nearly five months was gone.
Pastor Silwal lost his home in 1990 to the ethnic and religious purge that forced him to flee along with thousands of others. It wasn't until 1998, he said, that he and his family formally converted to Christianity after seven years of grueling hardship in the refugee camp, where he saw "people dying like flies due to illness, lack of food and the cold."
"My little son too fell ill and I thought he would die," Silwal said. "But he was cured; we decided to embrace Christianity formally."
In 2001, Bhutan4Christ reported the number of Bhutanese Christians to be around 19,000, with the bulk of them – more than 10,500 – living in Nepal.
When persecution by the Bhutanese government began, frightened families raced towards towns in India across the border. Alarmed by the influx of Bhutanese refugees, Indian security forces packed them into trucks and dumped them in southern Nepal.
Later, when the homesick refugees tried to return home, Indian security forces blocked the way. There were several rounds of scuffles, resulting in police killing at least three refugees.
Simon Gazmer was seven when his family landed at the bank of the Mai river in Jhapa district in southeastern Nepal. Now 24, he still remembers the desolation that reigned in the barren land, where mists and chilly winds rose from the river, affecting the morale and health of the refugees. They lived in bamboo shacks with thin plastic sheets serving as roofs; they had little food or medicine.
"My uncle Padam Bahadur had tuberculosis, and we thought he would die," said Gazmer, who lives in Beldangi II, the largest of seven refugee camps. "His recovery made us realize the grace of God, and our family became Christians."
The plight of the refugees improved after the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) stepped in, receiving permission from the government of Nepal to run the refugee camps. According to the UNHCR, there were 111,631 registered refugees in seven camps run in the two districts of Jhapa and Morang.
Though Nepal held 15 rounds of bilateral talks with Bhutan for the repatriation of the refugees, the Buddhist government dragged its feet, eventually breaking off talks. Meantime, international donors assisting the refugee camps began to grow weary, resulting in the slashing of aid and food. Finally, seven western governments – Canada, Norway, Denmark, New Zealand, Australia, the United States and the Netherlands – persuaded Nepal to allow the refugees to resettle in third countries.
The exodus of the refugees started in 2007. Today, according to the UNHCR, more than 26,000 have left for other countries, mostly the United States. A substantial number of the nearly 85,000 people left in the camps are ready to follow suit.
Although they now have a new life to look forward to, many of Bhutan's Christian refugees are saddened by the knowledge that their homeland still remains barred to them. So some are looking at the next best thing: a return to Nepal, now that it is secular, where they will feel more at home than in the West.
"I don't have grand dreams," said Pastor Silwal. "In Australia I want to enroll in a Bible college and become a qualified preacher. Then I want to return to Nepal to spread the word of God."
Posted in Australia, Belgium, Bhutan, Buddhism, Canada, Christianity, Denmark, Hinduism, India, Nepal, Netherlands/Holland, New Zealand, Norway, Queensland, United Nations, USA	| Tagged 1988, 1990, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2004, 2006, 2007, activities, affecting, aid, alarmed, allow, allowed, amazement, anti-Christian, Anwana Clubs International, apt, area, arise, army-backed, assisting, ate, attack, attacked, Australia, authorities, avert, awoke, bamboo, ban, bank, baptism, barred, barren, based, bath, beat, beckoning, become, becoming, began, Beldangi, Beldangi II, believer, Believers Church, Bhutan, Bhutan4Christ, Bhutanese, Bible, Bible College, Bible Study, bilateral, blinded, blocked, book, border, breaking, bring, Brussels, Buddhism, Buddhist, Buddhists, bulk, burial, burials, camps, Canada, cause, chemicals, chilly, Christian, Christianity, Christians, church, churches, citizens, clubs, cold, collapse, condition, consciousness, consulted, contracted, conversions, converted, copy, countries, country, cow, create, curb, cure, dangers, deadly, death, decided, declaring, Denmark, density, desecrated, desolation, diagnose, die, died, director, discovered, distric coordinator, district, disturb, disturbances, donors, down, dragged, dreams, dug, dumped, during, dying, eastern, educate, embarked, embrace, enroll, ethnic, exiles, exodus, expelling, experience, face, fact-finding, factor, failed, faith, faith-healing, faiths, families, family, fear, feet, fetch, fever, figure, fish, flee, flies, floating, follow, food, forbade, forbidden, forbids, forced, forces, formally, found, frightened, gathered, Geylegphug, girls, God, Gopi Chandra Silwal, government, grace, grand, grave, groups, grow, grueling, Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah, harder, hardship, health, hidden, high, High Commissioner for Refugees, Hindu, Hinduism, Hindus, holding, Home Ministry, homeland, homeless, homes, homesick, hostilities, Human Rights Without Frontiers, hungry, hut, illness, important, improved, India, Indian, influx, inside, insistence, instantly, international, Itahari, Jesus Loves Gospel Ministries, Jhapa, JLGM, journey, joy, jungle, Kathmandu, kept, killing, king, Kingdom, knowledge, lack, land, largest, lawmakers, leave, left, life, living, locals, lost, Mai, majority, make-shift, malaria, marks, medicene, meet, members, mercilessly, mission, mists, morale, Morang, movement, near-death, nearby, neighbors, Nepal, Nepalese, Nepali, nervously, Netherlands, new, New Zealand, non-Buddhist, Norway, note, offence, officials, openly, orders, organization, origin, ostracized, outdoor, packed, Padam Bahadur, Parliament, party, pastors, Pathri, Pentecostal, people, permission, Persecution, persuaded, planning, plastic, plight, poisonous, police, pond, powers, practicing, preacher, preaching, premises, priests, pro-democracy, proceeded, program, protested, pulled, punishable, purge, Purna Kumal, qualified, Queensland, raced, racked, ration, read, realize, reason, rebuked, receiving, recovery, refugee, refugee camps, refugees, registered, reigned, reinstate, religions, religious, remembers, rent, repatriation, resentful, resettle, residents, resulting, rights, river, Robert Singh, roof, roofs, rooms, rose, rounds, rulers, run, saddened, Sanischare, school, scuffles, secret, secretly, secular, security, segments, sent, sentiment, separate, serious, services, serving, shacks, shamans, shed, sheets, Simon Gazmer, single-room, sisters, slashing, small, Society, son, sought, southeastern, southern, spread, started, state, stepped, stern, structure, Sunsari, surreptitiously, survive, sweets, talks, thatched, thin, thinking, third, thrust, tiny, toilet, towns, tragedy, trance, tried, trouble, trucks, tuberculosis, UN, uncle, uneducated, unemployment, UNHCR, USA, various, verge, village, villagers, vision, visit, water, weary, West, western, white-robbed, winds, woke, Word, work, worship, young | 2 Comments
TURKEY: CHRISTIAN MURDERED ON BUSY STREET IN ISTANBUL
Posted on August 9, 2009 by particularkev
Mentally disturbed Muslim stabs German businessman as he leaves church.
ISTANBUL, July 28 (Compass Direct News) – On a crowded street here last week a German businessman died after a Turk with a history of mental problems stabbed him for being a Christian.
Witnesses saw Ýbrahim Akyol, 26, stab Gregor Kerkeling in the chest on July 20 at 10:50 a.m. after following him out of St. Anthony Catholic Church in Istanbul's central district of Beyoglu. Church security cameras captured the attack on Kerkeling, who regularly visited the church when he was in town for business.
Kerkeling, in his early forties, had just visited the church to pray that morning. Akyol, a Muslim who reportedly had been visiting area churches scouting around for a Christian victim, followed Kerkeling out of the church building and asked him for a Turkish lira. When Kerkeling refused and gestured him away, Akyol repeatedly stabbed him in the heart and chest area before passersby intervened. According to various news reports, an ambulance did not arrive in time to save Kerkeling's life.
In a statement to the prosecutor, Akyol reportedly confessed that he woke up that morning and decided he would kill a Christian. He took a kitchen knife with him and went to Istiklal Street, a long pedestrian and commercial road where some of the main traditional churches are located, looking for a victim.
"I wanted to kill a Christian that day and was visiting churches for this reason," he told prosecutors, according to the Hurriet Daily News. "I saw the person and killed him."
Akyol, according to various Turkish papers, was addicted to paint thinner. They also reported he had received treatment at a well-known mental hospital in Istanbul but did not give details of his state of mind.
Earlier that morning at St. Anthony church, one of Turkey's best known and visible churches, at around 9:30 a.m. Akyol tried to pick a fight with a door guard by refusing to take off his cap, saying he couldn't remove it because he was a Muslim.
In his confession to the prosecutor, Akyol said he looked into the eyes of the door guard and tried to decide whether to kill him, reported the daily Sabah. The guard had asked him to come out of the church with him, and Akyol followed him to the front steps where he attempted to open a debate about Islam and Christianity.
In the end, he reportedly said he decided not to kill the guard because "there was no light in his eyes."
After his conversation with the guard, Akyol took his knife to a knife store and had it sharpened, according to police.
A member of St. Anthony church said that the community was upset.
"The community was a little bit shaken by what happened," said the church member. "We realize that we are vulnerable, and that we must rely on God for our security. It is easy to be affected by fear when the motives and circumstances for this event are completely unclear."
The church has hundreds and often thousands of visitors daily, and it is the first church that many Turks curious about Christianity visit.
Since 2006, five Christian men have been killed in Turkey because of their beliefs. The murders have been committed by men in their early twenties who said they were motivated by religious and nationalistic beliefs allegedly fanned by official elements and other influential figures said to be plotting to destabilize Turkey.
Media reported that according to police, Akyol carried a photo of the founder of the modern nation, Kemal Ataturk. On the back of the photo he had written: "I love my homeland. Those who disagree with my thoughts or don't like them can get out of my country."
Although last week's murder does not seem to be related to the previous ones, St. Anthony's community members are aware that their visibility could make them an easy target to those wanting to attack Christians or foreigners.
"St. Anthony's would be an easy target for someone who would want to lash out at Christians, or even at foreigners, because often people view the church as a foreign institution," said a member of the parish on the condition of anonymity.
The St. Anthony member asked for prayer that the community will "not be controlled by a spirit of fear, but continue to live out our very simple testimony with His incredible joy."
Man of Prayer
In an interview with the daily Vatan, Kerkeling's fiancée, Hatice Isik, said he was quite "religious" and prayed every day.
"First thing every morning, he would go to St. Anthony church in Taksim and pray," she said, according to Vatan. "Sometimes we went together."
Kerkeling was on his way to meet Isik at an area café after his prayers when he was stabbed. She and Kerkeling were planning on getting married in a few months.
Kerkeling's body was sent to Germany on Friday (July 24).
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CHINA: BOOKSTORE OWNER SENTENCED TO THREE YEARS IN PRISON
Shi Weihan also fined nearly $22,000; 'illegal business' printed Bibles for free distribution.
LOS ANGELES, June 10
(Compass Direct News) – A Beijing court today found Christian bookstore owner Shi Weihan guilty of "illegal business operation" and sentenced him to three years in prison and a 150,000 yuan (US$21,975) fine.
Sources said Shi's store operated legally and sold only books for which he had obtained government permission, and that his Holy Spirit Trading Co. printed Bibles and Christian literature without authorization but only for free distribution to local house churches.
The 38-year-old Shi had been released on Jan. 4, 2008 due to insufficient evidence for the same vague charge of "illegal business operation," but he was arrested again two month later, on March 19, and held virtually incommunicado. Contrary to Chinese law, authorities have denied all but a few visits from his lawyer and family, held him without charges for most of his time in jail, and initially withheld medication for his diabetes.
The court ruling appears to have allowed time that Shi has spent in jail to count toward his sentence, a source said, as his prison term was described as running from Nov. 28, 2007, when he was initially arrested, to Nov. 27, 2010.
Others in a printing company who stood trial with Shi appeared to have received similar sentences. A written judgment is expected within 15 days to allow time for an appeal to be filed, said Ray Sharpe, a friend of Shi.
"Absent an appeal, it is also possible that Shi could be allowed a sort of medical parole, due to his diabetic condition," Sharpe said. "Hopefully, he could then be allowed to stay in a hospital under a sort of house arrest."
He said that Shi did not yet know whether he would appeal, adding that the process could take up to a year.
Friends and business acquaintances of Shi have described him as a model citizen of China, saying that he has inspired them to love China by his patriotism and love for his homeland. They said he is known for selfless sacrifice on behalf of poor and disenfranchised rural Christians and minority children.
For much of his incarceration, Shi's wife Zhang Jing and their two daughters, 12-year-old Shi Jia and 8-year-old Shi En Mei, have not known where he was being held. The family has been under nearly continual surveillance, limiting their ability to make contact with people who could assist them.
Sources said Zhang has worried about her husband's condition and that she has taken on leadership duties at their church, where Public Security Bureau officials have intimidated the congregation with regular visits. Some members have left the church because of the intimidation, sources said, and Zhang is said to have suffered anxiety and stress that have led to depression.
Their two daughters have been ostracized at school for being the children of a prisoner, sources said.
Shi has lost more than 44 pounds since his second incarceration, they said, dropping to less than 130 pounds. The sources added that he has suffered from blisters because of unsanitary conditions in prison, as well as tinnitus that at times causes his ears to ring so loudly that he cannot sleep.
Chinese officials claim that the Nanjing Amity Printing Co. (Amity Press), the only government-approved Bible publisher, produces enough Bibles to meet the needs of the Chinese church, which various religious freedom organizations dispute. The groups complain that Amity prints a large share of its Bibles for export, and those sold domestically are not available to many Christians.
Posted in China, Christianity, Communism	| Tagged ability, absent, acquaintances, allowed, Amity Press, anziety, appeal, appears, approved, arrested, assist, authorities, authorization, available, Beijing, Bibles, blisters, Books, bookstore, business, causes, charge, charges, children, China, Chinese, Christian, Christianity, Christians, church, citizen, claim, Communism, communist, communists, company, complain, condition, congregation, contact, continual, contrary, court, daughters, denied, depression, described, diabetes, diabetic, disenfranchised, dispute, distribution, domestically, dropping, duties, ears, evidence, expected, export, family, filed, fine, fined, found, free, freedom, friends, government, groups, guilty, held, Holy Spirit Trading Co., homeland, hopefully, hospital, house arrest, house churches, husband, illegal, incarceration, incommunicado, inspired, insufficient, intimidated, intimidation, jail, judgment, known, large, law, lawyer, leadership, legally, limiting, literature, local, loudly, love, medical, medication, members, minority, model, Nanjing Amity Printing Co., nearly, needs, obtained, officials, operated, operation, organizations, ostracized, owner, parole, patriotism, people, permission, Persecution, poor, possible, printed, printing, prints, prison, prisoner, process, produces, Public Security Bureau, publisher, Ray Sharpe, regular, released, religious, ring, ruling, rural, sacrifice, school, selfless, sentence, sentenced, share, Shi En Mei, Shi Weihan, Shia Jia, sleep, sold, sources, store, stress, suffered, surveillance, term, tinnitus, trial, unsanitary, vague, various, virtually, visits, wife, withheld, worried, written, yuan, Zhang Jing | Leave a comment
WAR IS OVER IN SRI LANKA, CHRISTIANS ARE REACHING OUT
Posted on May 23, 2009 by particularkev
Sri Lanka's civil war between the government and the Tamil Tigers rebel group is now over, and it is time to minister to the survivors, says Gospel for Asia President K.P. Yohannan, reports MNN.
"While the 30-year-long conflict has come to an end by the news of the Tamil Tigers' surrender, in reality this is the beginning of pain and crisis for hundreds of thousands of people who are displaced," Dr. Yohannan said. "There are 25,000 now in refugee camps, and the suffering is especially acute among the children and elderly.
"This is one of the greatest challenges and opportunities we have to minister to people in the name of Christ. We have more than 100 churches in Sri Lanka, and our people are engaged in doing whatever they can to help the suffering refugees. This is a drawn-out challenge that will be there for a long time to come."
The bloody civil war entered its final stages earlier this year and ended with the government's announcement Monday that it had killed Tamil leader Velupillai Prabhakaran and his son. A short time later, the handful of remaining Tamils surrendered.
The Tamils are a minority group on the island, and the Tigers were an armed militant group fighting for a separate homeland in northern Sri Lanka. The Indian state of Tamil Nadu is just across a narrow channel from the battle area.
Sri Lanka's army chief, appearing on television news broadcasts, said that government troops claimed victory over the last Tamil stronghold, a tiny sliver of land on the northwest coast of the island.
With the end of the war, Sri Lanka is now faced with resettling thousands of refugees who fled their homes in the wake of the fighting. Many of the refugees are living in government camps that lack basic hygiene facilities. They do not have access to adequate food, water or shelter.
But physical discomfort is not the only thing they have suffered. Many lost loved ones or were permanently disfigured in the violent confrontations. The rebels were accused of using civilians as human shields, and the government is accused of inadvertently bombing a hospital in the designated safe zone.
The United Nations estimates that 70,000 civilians were killed in the fighting during the last 30 years. There is a concern that the number will increase.
"Our country is in huge suffering," said Lal Vanderwall, GFA's Sri Lanka country leader. "We are praying for God to intervene so that many more will not die in the aftermath of this surrender."
Yohannan said there is a concern about the fate of the island's Tamils in the wake of the surrender.
The hurt runs deep, says Yohannan, and "unless we preach the Gospel and somehow bring Christ into the picture, and the church moves very aggressively, cares for the suffering and the poor, and does the work of God, we may have more problems."
"People are committing suicide out of despair," Yohannan reported. "When they lose hope, many will just kill themselves. So there is a very real fear of increased suicides."
Gospel for Asia-supported missionaries have been working in Sri Lanka for many years. Some are former rebel fighters, while others come from the majority Sinhalese population. Most of these missionaries now serve as pastors of Sri Lankan churches. The fact that Tamil and Sinhalese Christians work side-by-side has been a tremendous witness to the people.
Today these pastors, along with the workers at the Bridge of Hope children's centers, are mobilizing to help war survivors. During the next few days they will be gathering food, clothing and other daily necessities to help the displaced with their immediate needs.
As the people return home, these pastors and other workers will continue helping them rebuild their lives in whatever ways are necessary. For some, that could mean ministering to families who are burying their dead. For others, it could be providing food and other household necessities. Others may need new homes if theirs were destroyed in the conflict.
Yohannan says many are hopeless. "When people are hurting and in despair, hopelessness sinks in, and that's when the Gospel is presented and they cry out to God."
With the end of the war, GFA-supported missionaries will also be praying for their country's leaders as they plot a course for the future.
"I pray that somehow the international community will be concerned that the government of Sri Lanka will take care of its Tamil population," Yohannan said. "This conflict started because of the abuse of the Tamil population, so I pray that the government will now take care of its Tamil people as well as the majority Sinhalese."
Posted in Christianity, India, Sri Lanka, Tamil Tigers, United Nations, War, War on Terror	| Tagged abuse, access, accused, acute, adequate, aftermath, aggressively, announcement, appearing, area, armed, army, basic, battle, beginning, bloody, bombing, Bridge of Hope, broadcasts, burying, camps, cares, centers, challenge, challenges, channel, chief, children, children's, Christ, Christian, Christianity, Christians, churches, Civil War, civilians, claimed, clothing, coast, committing suicide, community, concern, conflict, confrontations, country, crisis, daily, dead, deep, designated, despair, destroyed, die, discomfort, disfigured, displaced, elderly, end, ended, engaged, entered, estimates, faced, facilities, families, fate, fear, fighters, fighting, Final, food, future, GFA, God, gospel, Gospel for Asia, government, greatest, group, handful, helping, homeland, homes, hope, hopeless, hospital, huge, human shields, hurt, hurting, hygiene, immediate, inadvertently, increase, increased, India, international, intervene, island, K. P. Yohannan, kill, killed, lack, Lal Vanderwall, land, last, leader, lives, lost, loved, majority, militant, minister, ministering, minority, missionaries, mobilizing, name, narrow, necessary, necessities, needs, news, northern, northwest, opportunities, pain, pastors, people, permanently, physical, picture, poor, population, pray, praying, preach, presented, President, problems, providing, reaching out, reality, rebel, rebuild, refugee camps, refugees, remaining, resettling, return, safe zone, separate, shelter, Sinhalese, sliver, son, Sri Lanka, Sri Lankan, stages, state, stronghold, suffering, suicides, surrender, survivors, Tamil, Tamil Nadu, Tamil Tigers, Tamils, television, tigers, tiny, tremendous, troops, United Nations, Velupillai Prabhakaran, victory, violent, War, water, witness, work | Leave a comment
EGYPT: STABBING, BOMBING ATTACKS STRIKE NEAR TWO CHURCHES
Copt leaving sanctuary knifed in Minya; bomb explodes near venerable structure in Cairo.
ISTANBUL, May 22 (Compass Direct News) – In separate attacks in Egypt earlier this month, a Coptic Christian suffered severe stab wounds as he left a worship service in Minya, and a car-bombing outside a venerable church in Cairo disrupted a wedding.
Without provocation, three Muslims repeatedly stabbed Coptic Christian Girgis Yousry, 21, as the army conscript was leaving the gates of the church of Saint Mary in Minya, Upper Egypt on May 2, according to Copts United.
The assault left him with severe injuries to internal organs, and he was taken to the district hospital, where he was still receiving treatment at press time.
When Yousry's father went to the police station to report the attack, the Intelligence Services officer in charge threw him out of the station. Three men implicated in the stabbing, Wael Mohammed Hagag, Mohammed Nasr Anwar and Shabaan Sayed Amin, were arrested on May 5 and have been given a 16-day initial incarceration while the investigation is underway.
All three men stand accused of attempted murder without premeditation, which carries a sentence of five to 15 years.
But Mamdouh Nakhla, president of the Al-Kalema Centre for Human Rights, said he thinks it unlikely that they will be convicted.
"From my experience over the last 15 years, in Minya in particular, all cases of attacks and murder against Christians either went without punishment and [the accused] were totally exonerated, or they were given suspended sentences," he said.
Home to Egypt's largest community of Copts (approximately 4 million), Minya is considered a hotbed of anti-Christian violence.
"I am aware of severe injustices happening to Christians who are being incarcerated for no reason," said Nakhla. "This is my experience of Minya."
Local sources told Compass that in the last few months there has been a wave of arrests of Christians who are held with no official charges. Sources spoke of cases where detainees are held for months in prison, where they are badly beaten and tortured.
"Police brutality is a widely practiced policy," said one source, "especially in rural areas, group punishment and systematic intimidation and humiliation are expected practices against all citizens, Christians included."
This month Compass learned of three illegal arrests of Christians that have taken place since November 2008. Two of the men who were detained have since been released.
"When people are released, they have been beaten and electrocuted so that they are hardly standing up," said a local Christian.
Local church leaders believe recent pressure is a response to rumors of an increase in Christian converts in Egypt due to Christian satellite programming, although arrests go beyond converts to Coptic-born Christians.
Makeshift Bomb
In Cairo, a makeshift bomb placed under a car exploded outside a renowned Catholic church building in Zeitoun district on May 9, incinerating the vehicle but causing no injuries.
Panicked passersby called police when the small explosion caused the car to burst into flames outside Saint Mary Church, which Egypt's Coptic community, citing numerous sightings of the Virgin Mary there in the late 1960s, considers a holy site.
Security forces arrived at the scene within minutes and sealed off the area. They found a second bomb, also planted beneath a car. Unable to disarm it, they were forced to detonate it in a controlled fashion, sources told Compass.
The explosion interrupted a wedding and a Bible study that were taking place inside the revered, historic building. Those in attendance were evacuated through a side gate as a precaution, reported Egyptian newspaper Watani. Boutros Gayed, the church's priest, was unavailable for comment.
The bombs were rudimentary. Cell phones were used as detonators and placed with the explosive material into a bag containing shrapnel.
Police have yet to release information about possible suspects or motives, but newspaper Al-Masry Al-Youm has stated security forces are investigating possible links to a Hezbollah cell, which uses similar explosive devices.
A spokesman for Hezbollah has denied its involvement, stating that the cell was focused on supporting Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and has never had plans to carry out operations in Egypt.
The head of the Orthodox Church, Pope Shenouda, condemned the attack as criminal and pointed to sectarian motives.
"[The bombers] are attempting to tamper with the future of this homeland that they do not deserve to belong to," he said, according to Egyptian newspaper Al-Ahram.
Similarities between this event and an explosion in February outside Al-Hussain Mosque, where one person was killed and 24 others wounded, have led to speculation that the attacks may be part of an attempt to inflame sectarian tensions.
Rumors also have been spread that "extremist Coptic groups" may have planted the devices in order to attract U.S. President Barack Obama's attention to their plight on his planned June 4 visit to Cairo.
"This sounds like a ridiculous suggestion, because the Copts do not even respond to attacks against them," said Ibrahim Habib, chairman of United Copts of Great Britain. "It is not in their agenda, and they have no precedence of violence."
Posted in Africa, Barack Obama, Christianity, Egypt, Hezbollah, Islam, Orthodox, Roman Catholicism, United Kingdom, USA	| Tagged accused, agenda, Al-Ahram, Al-Hussain Mosque, Al-Kalema, Al-Masry Al-Youm, anti-Christian, areas, army, arrested, arrests, assault, attack, attacks, attempted murder, attempting, attendance, attention, attract, badly, bag, Barack Obama, beaten, believe, Bible Study, bomb, bombers, bombing, Boutros Gayed, brutality, building, burst, Cairo, car, car-bombing, cases, cell, cell phones, Centre for Human Rights, chairman, charges, Christian, Christianity, Christians, church, churches, citizens, comment, community, condemned, conscript, considered, containing, controlled, converts, convicted, Copt, Coptic, Copts, Copts United, criminal, denied, detained, detainees, detonate, detonators, devices, disarm, disrupted, district, Egypt, Egyptian, electrocuted, evacuated, event, exonerated, expected, experience, explodes, explosion, explosive, extremist, fashion, Father, flames, focused, forced, forces, future, gates, Gaza Strip, Girgis Yousry, group, happening, Hezbollah, historic, Holy, homeland, hospital, hotbed, humiliation, Ibrahim Habib, illegal, implicated, incarcerated, incarceration, incinerating, increase, inflame, information, initial, injuries, injustices, Intelligence Services, internal, intimidation, investigating, investigation, involvement, Islam, killed, knifed, largest, leaders, leaving, Links, local, makeshift, Mamdouh Nakhla, material, Minya, Mohammed Nasr Anwar, motives, Muslim, muslims, newspaper, officer, official, operations, organs, Orthodox Churh, Palestinians, panicked, passersby, people, Persecution, plans, planted, plight, pointed, police, police station, policy, Pope, possible, practiced, practices, precaution, precedence, premeditation, President, press time, pressure, priest, prison, programming, provocation, punishment, receiving, recent, released, renowned, report, respond, response, revered, ridiculous, Roman Catholic, Roman Catholicism, Roman Catholics, rudimentary, rumours, rural, Saint Mary, Saint Mary Church, sanctuary, satellite, scane, sealed, sectarian, security, sentence, separate, service, severe, Shabaan Sayed Amin, Shenouda, shrapnel, sightings, similar, site, small, speculation, spokesman, stab, stabbing, stated, station, strike, structure, suffered, suggestion, supporting, suspects, suspended, systematic, tamper, tensions, tortured, treatment, unavailable, United Copts of Great Britain, Upper Egypt, USA, vehicle, venerable, violence, Virgin Mary, visit, Wael Mohammed Hagag, Watani, wave, wedding, widely, worship, wounded, wounds, Zeitoun | Leave a comment
TURKEY: ANCIENT MONASTERY THREATENED
Posted on January 23, 2009 by particularkev
Muslims' legal action against 1,600-year-old structure called 'malicious.'
ISTANBUL, January 22 (Compass Direct News) – Syriac Christians in southeastern Turkey say a land dispute over the historic Mor Gabriel Monastery is part of a larger system of discrimination against the religious minority in this overwhelmingly Islamic country.
Muslim residents of southeastern Turkey dispute the boundary lines of an ancient Christian monastery dating to the fourth century as being unnecessarily large for the needs of a religious community. Islamic village leaders from Yayvantepe, Eglence and Candarli are attempting to confiscate one-third of the monastery's property, claiming it was wrongfully appropriated and that they need it for their livestock.
Area Muslims also say the land in question is forest and thereby registered as land belonging to the State Treasury.
"Our land is being occupied by the monastery," said Ismail Erlal, village leader of Yayvantepe, according to Cihan News Agency. "We make use of the forest there and pasture our animals; we won't give up our rights."
Among the most contentious issues are the monastery walls built around its perimeter, rebuilt 15 years ago. Village leaders complain in a lawsuit to obtain the land that the monastery has gone beyond its rightful bounds. In August the land survey office of Midyat said it had determined that 270 hectares of the monastery's 760 hectares were government property, including land inside and outside the monastery's walls.
A court in Mardin originally scheduled a hearing for Friday (Jan. 16) to determine the legal status of the monastery walls, but it was rescheduled to Feb. 11 to allow the court more time to examine the case. At the February hearing the court will determine if the 270 hectares of land belong to the government or the monastery.
Metropolitan Timotheos Samuel Aktas, leader of the monastery, answered in a report that the monastery has the right to leave its land uncultivated and has paid taxes on the property since 1937.
The state originally charged the monastery with being founded illegally, but it dropped those charges by canceling a hearing originally schedule for Dec. 24. Rudi Sumer, the attorney representing the monastery, said that the claim was groundless since the monastery has foundation status dating back to modern Turkey's origins, not to mention centuries of existence beforehand.
The mayors of Yayvantepe, Eglence and Candarli also charged the monastery with attempting to proselytize young children (illegal in Turkey) and carrying out "anti-Turkish" activity.
Metropolitan Aktas said in a report that these claims were groundless and of the same provocative nature that has historically sparked violence against Turkey's Christians.
"All the allegations are frivolous and vexatious, devoid of any logic or evidence, solely aimed with the malicious intent of rousing anti-Christian sentiments by the surrounding Muslim villages," he said.
Europe Watching
Mor Gabriel Monastery, founded in 397, is the most revered monastery for Syrian Orthodox Christians. It is inhabited by 15 nuns and two monks and is the seat of Metropolitan Bishop of Tur Abdin Diocese.
In recent decades the monastery has turned into a religious and social center for the country's remaining Syriacs by offering schooling to children and teaching their ancient language of Syriac, a variant of the language spoken by Jesus.
"The monastery is everything for us," said a Syrian Orthodox Christian who grew up in Turkey's southeast. He added that many families in the area had named their children after Mor Gabriel. "Syriacs would give up everything for the monastery."
An international outcry from the European Parliament and numerous Assyrian organizations throughout Europe arose in response to the charges, according to the Assyrian International News Agency. A member of the German consulate said his country would monitor the case closely, as Turkey is attempting to join the European Union and its human rights record has come under close scrutiny.
Many Syrian Orthodox Christians have left southeast Turkey in the last 30 years as violence escalated between the military and Kurdish terrorists. In the last five years, however, some Syriacs have begun returning home – only to find their property occupied by others.
Residents who fled Mardin province in the mid-1980s returned to find two of their village's Syriac churches converted into mosques. And the demographic shift from Syriacs to Kurds has increased pressure on the monastery.
"Turkey must protect its Assyrian community," said Swedish parliamentarian Yilmaz Kerim to the Hurriyet Daily News. He visited the monastery as part of a delegation in December. "There are only 3,000 left in Midyat."
The lawsuit has the support of a local parliamentarian who claims Christians relished their opportunity to leave Turkey. Süleyman Çelebi, member of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), said Syrian Orthodox Christians had never come under pressure, despite their claim that they were exploited, and even emigrated away from Turkey "with joy" in previous decades.
The three villages that brought the lawsuit against the monastery overwhelmingly supported the Islamic-rooted AKP in last year's national elections. Çelebi claims that the official boundaries of the monastery were established in Ottoman times but not properly observed by the Syriac Christians.
According to the 1923 Lausanne Treaty, Turkey grants full protection to churches, synagogues and other religious establishments to freely practice their own religions. But this treaty only designated Greek and Armenian Orthodox Christians and Jews, creating complications for groups such as the Syrian Orthodox and Protestants to open schools and churches.
Syriac Christians claim to be one of the first people to accept Christianity in the Middle East. Their historic homeland stretches through southeastern Turkey, but their numbers have dwindled to 15,000 following decades of government pressure and fallout from war against the Kurdistan Workers' Party.
Posted in Christianity, European Union, Germany, Islam, Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), Orthodox, Sweden, Turkey	| Tagged 1923, 397, ;province, accept, action, activity, aimed, AKP, allegations, ancient, animals, answered, anti-Christian, anti-Turkish, appropriated, Armenian, Assyrian, Assyrian International News Agency, attempting, attorney, beforehand, belonging, boundary, bounds, built, called, canceling, Candarli, case, center, charged, charges, children, Christian, Christianity, Christians, churches, Cihan News Agency, claim, claiming, community, complain, complications, confiscate, consulate, contentious, converted, country, court, creating, dating, delegation, demographic, designated, determined, devoid, Discrimination, dispute, dropped, dwindled, Eglence, elections, emigrated, established, establishments, Europe, European, European Union, evidence, examine, excalated, existence, exploited, fallout, families, forest, foundation, founded, fourth century, freely, frivolous, German, government, grants, Greek, groundless, hearing, historic, historically, homeland, human rights, Hurriyet Daily News, illegal, illegally, increased, inhabited, intent, international, Islam, Islamic, Ismail Erlal, issues, Jesus, Jews, joy, Justice and Development Party, Kurdish, Kurdistan Worker's Party, Kurds, land, land survey, language, large, larger, Lausanne Treaty, lawsuit, leader, leaders, legal, lines, livestock, local, logic, malicious, Mardin, mayors, member, mention, Metropolitan Bishop of Tur Abdin Diocese, Metropolitan Timotheos Samuel Aktas, Middle East, Midyat, military, minority, modern, monastery, monitor, Monks, Mor Gabriel Monastery, mosques, Muslim, muslims, named, national, nature, needs, nuns, observed, obtain, occupied, offering, office, opportunity, organizations, originally, origins, Orthodox, Ottoman, outcry, overwhelmingly, paid, Parliament, parliamentarian, part, pasture, people, perimeter, Persecution, practice, pressure, property, proselytize, protect, protection, Protestants, provocative, rebuilt, record, registered, religions, religious, relished, remaining, report, representing, rescheduled, residents, response, revered, rightful, rights, rousing, Rudi Sumer, ruling, schedulled, schooling, schools, scrutiny, seat, sentiments, social, southeastern, sparked, spoken, state, State treasury, status, stretching, structure, Suleyman Celebi, support, surrounding, Swedish, synagogues, Syriac, Syriacs, system, taxes, teaching, terrorists, threatened, treaty, Turkey, uncultivated, variant, vexatious, village, villages, violence, visited, walls, War, watching, wrongfully, Yayvantepe, Yilmaz Kerim, young | Leave a comment
IRAQ: FLEEING CHRISTIANS FACE NEW HARDSHIPS IN TURKEY
Posted on November 15, 2008 by particularkev
As renewed violence in Mosul halts return, refugees wait in Turkish legal limbo.
ISTANBUL, November 14 (Compass Direct News) – In this Turkish city's working-class neighborhood of Kurtulus, Arabic can be heard on the streets, signs are printed in the Arabic alphabet and Iraqis congregate in tea shops.
In 99-percent Muslim Turkey, most of these Iraqis are not Muslims. And they are not in Turkey by choice. They are Christian refugees who fled their homeland to escape the murderous violence that increasingly has been directed at them.
It is hard to tell how many of Mosul's refugees from the recent wave of attacks have made their way to Istanbul, but finding these residents here is not hard. A middle-aged Iraqi refugee who fled Mosul five months ago now attends a Syrian Orthodox Church in the poverty-stricken neighborhood of Tarlabasi, where gypsies, transvestites, and immigrants from Turkey's east live in hopes of a better life in Istanbul.
Declining to give his name, the refugee said there is no future for Christians in Iraq and that nearly everyone he knew there wanted to leave the country. He said the only hope for Iraqi Christians is for Western countries to open their doors to Christian Iraqi refugees.
"We don't have hope," he said. "If these doors aren't opened, we will be killed."
Since October, violence in Mosul has pushed more than 12,000 Christians from their homes and left more than two dozen dead, according to U.N. and Christian organizations. In the face of Mosul violence, Iraqi Christians flee to Turkey before settling permanently in another country, usually in a place where their family has gone out before them.
Christian Sisters Killed
Weeks after the mass exodus of Mosul Christians to surrounding villages, Turkey and other nations, around one-third of families reportedly have returned due to the presence of 35,000 army and police and the Iraqi government offering cash grants of up to $800.
But those returning Christians were shaken again on Wednesday (Nov. 12), when Islamic militants stormed into the house of two Syrian Catholic sisters, Lamia'a Sabih and Wala'a Saloha, killing them and severely injuring their mother. They then bombed their house and detonated a second explosive when the police arrived, which killed three more.
The Christian family had recently returned after having fled Mosul. Many believe this attack will deter other Christians from returning to Mosul, and there are reports of Christians again leaving the area.
There has been a steady exodus of Christians from Iraq since the first Gulf War in 1991. The church in Iraq dates from the beginning of Christianity, but the population has plummeted by 50 percent in the last 20 years. The outflow of Iraqi Christians spiked in 2003 following the U.S.-led invasion.
Although Iraq as a whole has seen a dramatic decrease in violence due to last year's surge in U.S. troops, the flight of Christians to Turkey has grown. One-third of the 18,000 refugees who registered in Turkey last year are from Iraq. In Syria, an estimated 40 percent of the 1.2 million Iraqis who have fled Iraq are Christians, though they make up only about 3 percent of Iraq's population.
Monsignor Francois Yakan, the 50-year-old leader of the Chaldean Church in Turkey, said all Iraqi refugees are undergoing hardships regardless of religion, but that the situation is especially difficult for Christians since there is less support for them in Turkey.
"Muslims have the same difficulty as Christians, but there are more foundations to assist them," he said. "The government notices Muslim immigrants, but nobody pays attention to us."
Yakan travels to other countries to raise awareness of the plight of Iraqi Christians, trying to marshal the support of government and church leaders – last week he traveled to France, Romania and Germany. If Western governments don't wake up to this crisis, he said, the results could be catastrophic.
"People don't know the plight of Iraqi Christians. They have no government, no soldiers, and no power," he said. "Christianity in Iraq is ending. Why aren't they noticing this?"
Strangers in Strange Land
The unnamed Iraqi refugee in Tarlabasi said not even pleas from Iraqi priests can make them stay.
"The church in Iraq can't stop the people from leaving because they can't guarantee their security," he said.
He came to Istanbul with his family but still has an adult son and daughter in the city. He hopes to join his brother in the United States soon.
A group of Iraqi refugees at a tea shop in the Kurtulus area of Istanbul interrupted their card game to talk to Compass of their troubled lives.
"We can't find any work," said Baghdad-born Iraqi Jalal Toma, who acted as the translator for the group. He pointed to a young man at the table and said, "He works moving boxes and carrying things, and they pay him half as much as a Turk for a day's work."
All of the men are Chaldean Christians, a Catholic Eastern-rite church whose historical homeland is in northern Iraq, and came from Mosul in recent months. They are chronically under-employed and rely on financial help from family members abroad to make ends meet.
They had to flee their homes at a moment's notice, taking along their families but leaving behind their cars, houses and most of their possessions. The men hope to join family members who live in foreign countries, but they harbor few hopes that they can ever return to Iraq again.
Offering Relief
Work is scarce for refugees and hard to come by legally in Turkey. To survive, most Iraqi Christians rely on money from families abroad or the handful of local church charities that struggle to keep up with the overwhelming volume of refugees, such as the Istanbul Interparish Migrant Program, an ecumenical umbrella group that unites the city's parishes to assist migrants and asylum seekers.
Another such charity is Kasdar, the Chaldean-Assyrian-Syriac Humanitarian, Social and Cultural Organization, run by Yakan, the Chaldean Church leader in Turkey.
He launched Kasdar two years ago to provide a safety net for Christian refugees who live in Turkey's legal limbo. Kasdar assists all Christians regardless of denomination or faith tradition and has 16 volunteers from an equally diverse background.
Yakan sees thousands of refugees pass through Istanbul each year. Most of them are Chaldean, and he knows of 60-70 people who fled due to the recent October violence in Mosul. He travels constantly to visit Chaldean refugees scattered throughout the country.
When refugees first arrive in Turkey, they must register with the United Nations as asylum seekers. The Turkish police then assign them to one of 35 cities to live in as they wait to receive official refugee status. These Christians face the biggest hardships since they don't have access to the same social resources as refugees in Istanbul, said Metin Corabatir, U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees spokesman in Turkey.
"The Chaldean population faces problems in Turkey, especially due to the policy of resettling them to satellite cities," said Corabatir. "The Chaldeans in Istanbul have NGOs [Non-Governmental Organizations] and churches to help them, but in satellite cities there is no church or community to help them."
Most refugees send their children to school at a local center run by Caritas, a Catholic confederation of relief, development and social service organizations. Here, Iraq children receive education and lessons in basic vocational skills.
The wait for legal status can be as short as a few months or a couple of years. But complicated circumstances can push back the wait to five years, 10 years, or even 17 years – as it is now for a man who fled during the first Gulf War, Yakan of the Chaldean Church said.
Another church leader who has helped Christian refugees is 70-year-old Monsignor Yusuf Sag, vicar general of the Syrian Catholic Church in Turkey. His 350-person congregation assembles packets of clothes and food for the refugees.
Many who come to Sag also seek medical help. He has connections with doctors throughout the city, both Muslim and Christian, who offer basic treatment to refugees free of charge. Sag said he tries to help all who come to him, without asking them of their denomination or even their religion.
"Their situation is not a Christian problem, but a human problem," he said.
Often Iraqi Christians work illegally, where they are vulnerable to extortion. Refugee workers in Istanbul said registered asylum seekers can work legally, but it is not uncommon for employers to garnish their wages or withhold them completely, with the foreigners getting little protection from police.
The Turkish government charges a refugee a residence tax of US$460 a year and will not allow them to leave the country until it is paid, making them remain in the country even longer. With all these hurdles to finding stable employment, many Iraqi refugees are never too far from homelessness.
"There was a family we found living on the streets – a husband, wife and two children," Yakan said. "They have lived in Istanbul for six months and couldn't even afford to pay rent."
His foundation found the family an apartment and assisted them with rent, but they only have enough resources to help for two months.
Kasdar gave similar assistance to 54 families in October. But the organization can only help for a few months at a time and assist the most vulnerable refugees.
Posted in Chaldean Church, Christianity, France, Germany, Iraq, Islam, Roman Catholicism, Romania, Syria, Turkey, United Nations, USA	| Tagged 1991, abroad, acted, adult, alphabet, apartment, Arabic, army, arrived, assembles, assign, assist, assisted, asylum seekers, attack, attacks, attends, attention, awareness, background, Baghdad, basic, beginning, believe, better, bombed, born, boxes, brother, card, Caritas, carrying, cars, cash grants, catastrophic, center, Chaldean Church, Chaldean-Assyrian-Syriac Humanitarian Social and Cultur, charge, charities, charity, children, choice, Christian, Christianity, Christians, chronically, church, churches, circumstances, cities, city, clothes, complicated, confederation, congregate, congregation, connections, countries, country, crisis, dates, daughter, dead, declining, decrease, denomination, deter, detonated, development, difficult, difficulty, directed, diverse, doctors, doors, dramatic, east, Eastern-rite, ecumenical, education, employers, employment, ending, equally, escape, especially, estimated, exodus, explosive, extortion, face, faith, family, financial, finding, First Gulf War, fled, flee, fleeing, flight, food, foreign, foreigners, foundation, foundations, France, Francois Yakan, free, future, Game, garnish, Germany, government, governments, group, guarantee, gypsies, halts, handful, harbor, hardships, heard, help, historical, homeland, homelessness, homes, hope, hopes, houses, human, hurdles, illegally, immigrants, increase, injuring, interrupted, invasion, Iraq, Iraqi, Iraqis, Islam, Islamic, Istanbul, Istanbul Interparish Migrant Program, Jalal Toma, join, Kasdar, killed, killing, Kurtulus, Lamia'a Sabih, land, launched, leader, leaders, leave, leaving, legal, legally, lessons, life, limbo, little, live, lives, local, marshal, mass, medical, Metin Corabatir, middle-aged, militants, money, Monsignor, Mosul, mother, moving, murderous, Muslim, muslims, name, nations, neighborhood, new, NGOs, Non-Government Organizations, notice, notices, offering, official, open, organizations, outflow, overwhelming, packets, paid, parishes, pay, people, permanently, Persecution, pleas, plight, plummeted, pointed, police, policy, population, possessions, poverty-stricken, power, presence, priests, printed, problems, protection, provide, raise, recent, refugees, regardless, registered, relief, religion, rely, renewed, rent, reportedly, reports, resettling, residence, residents, resources, results, return, Roman Catholic, Roman Catholicism, Roman Catholics, Romania, safety net, satellite, scarce, school, security, settling, severely, shaken, signs, sisters, situation, skills, social, social service, soldiers, son, spiked, spokesman, stable, status, steady, stormed, strange, strangers, streets, struggle, support, surge, survive, Syria, Syrian, Syrian Catholic Church, Syrian Orthodox Church, table, talk, Tarlabasi, tax, tea shops, tradition, translator, transvestites, traveled, travels, treatment, troops, troubled, Turk, Turkey, Turkish, U. N., U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, umbrella, uncommon, under-employed, undergoing, United Nations, United States, unites, unnamed, USA, vicar general, villages, violence, vocational, volume, volunteers, vulnerable, wages, wait, Wala's Saloha, wave, western, work, working-class, young, Yusuf Sag | Leave a comment


« Senator Tom Harkin gives Commencement Address during Graduation day at M.U.M.
Iowa Senator Tom Harkin Inspired M.U.M.'s Class of 2013 with his Top Ten Rules To Live By at the University's largest graduating class.
In true David Letterman-style, Iowa Senator Tom Harkin presented the M.U.M. Class of 2013 with his top-10 list—Harkin's Top Ten Rules To Live By. Senator Harkin gave the Commencement Address after receiving an honorary doctorate from the University and inspired everyone with his humorous wit and down-to-earth wisdom.
Iowa Senator Tom Harkin received an honorary Ph.D. from Maharishi University of Management before delivering the Commencement Address at the start of M.U.M.'s Graduation exercises, which took place last Saturday, May 25, 2013, in the Maharishi Patanjali Golden Dome of Pure Knowledge.
The University's 38th Commencement graduated its largest class ever of 334 students from 54 countries, out of the 88 represented on campus. The Class of 2013 included 251 graduates and 83 undergraduates. Check this link to see a menu of videos from M.U.M.'s Commencement 2013 http://www.mum.edu/commencement-2013. See the full PRWeb press release here bit.ly/17bxT6k for more details.
Senator Harkin was awarded a Doctor of Laws Honoris Causa degree for his extraordinary lifelong service and compassionate and progressive leadership for the state of Iowa and the United States of America. He has served in the Senate since 1985 and also served in the House of Representatives from 1975–1985. He is chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions and is the seventh most senior Senator overall.
Senator Harkin began his commencement address on a humorous note. He thanked the University for this distinguished award and said, "I come before you with a measure of humility. I realize I was probably selected to be your speaker today because Oprah wasn't available." This elicited a lot of laughter as he was referring to Oprah's visit to Fairfield last year, which she aired, including a profile of the Maharishi School on the M.U.M. campus.
He was referring to Maharishi University's unique system of Consciousness-Based education and leadership role in wellness research and sustainability. M.U.M. was designated as a Center for Natural Medicine and Prevention and has received over $25 million from the NCCAM and NHLBI over the past 20 years to conduct collaborative medical research on the use of Transcendental Meditation as a complementary alternative approach to treat hypertension and cardiovascular disease in underserved minority populations, the results of which have been published in top peer-reviewed scientific journals.
Senator Harkin said he chose a method for the day's occasion that has imparted wisdom to millions of people throughout the years—"I speak of course, not of the Ten Commandments, but of David Letterman's top ten list." But his were more like suggestions for students to choose, depending on which ones they liked.
"You folks would agree with William Butler Yeats who said that education is not about filling up a bucket but lighting a fire. And you carry that one step further. At this university education is also about training, focusing, freeing the mind. It's about raising consciousness. Here you have been beautifully prepared intellectually and spiritually for all the challenges you will face in the world out there, so you should go forth with confidence." He encouraged students to move to smaller Iowa towns to make a contribution.
4. Express appreciation, and don't hold back. He told each graduate to go up to that professor that made a difference and to thank them. He told them to thank their parents and asked them to turn to them and give them a round of applause.
After thunderous applause Harkin came back to the mike to teach the enthusiastic crowd something. He told them that his brother was deaf, that he had learned sign language when he was growing up. He said there were a lot of wonderful signs in sign language and then demonstrated one of them. He raised his right hand and said it was made up of basically three letters. Lifting his pinky he said, "It's 'I'," then his thumb and index finger, "the letter 'l'," his thumb and pinky, "and the letter 'y'. And when you form those three, 'I', 'l' and 'y' in one thing, it spells out, in deaf language, 'I love you.'" He smiled and said, "Thank you." And the crowd joyously returned the sign and the loving sentiment.
Salutatorian Melodía Morales, joined by her twin sister Coral, presented the class gift.
Outstanding graduates and their special achievements were honored at the Awards Ceremony, the evening before Commencement.
The full report with photos and links to videos also available on PRWeb: Iowa Senator Tom Harkin Inspired Maharishi University Graduates with his Top Ten Rules To Live By. The press release was distributed widely and picked up in major media outlets. It even made the Everything about Top Ten list in David Letterman: Top Ten and Late Show With David Letterman posted by rsspump.com. This news story was at the top of their Latest News list under the David Letterman name.
Also see Iowa Senator Tom Harkin delivers M.U.M.'s commencement address—report by KTVO's Laura Simon and Senator Tom Harkin gives Commencement Address during Graduation day at M.U.M. M.U.M. Achievements reported: Iowa Senator Tom Harkin Gives Commencement Address, Receives Honorary Doctoral Degree.
This entry was posted on June 2, 2013 at 11:21 am and is filed under Articles, Education, Health, Maharishi University, Sustainable Living, Videos.	You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.


I really believe that too fewer people know the truth about what they look like in a photograph. I want my imagery to help you see the truth about yourself. As a photographer, it's my responsibility put you at ease in front of the camera. It's my responsibility to hide my presence in your imagery to allow your true being to shine through. This isn't about the technical aspects of photography. It's about my ability to communicate with other human beings in such a way as to allow your true self to be revealed. I will never make you feel uncomfortable or pose you in awkward ways. You are unique. Your job is to simply be yourself.
My pleasure in photographing a wedding comes from knowing that I'm creating a story about one day in two people's lives, and I'm able to influence that with an artistic eye. I work by watching the day unfold and documenting the details with my camera. My goal is to compose a photographic narrative with a beginning, middle and end; allowing the day to be re-lived 20 years later by generations to come.
I'm grateful to have photographed over 100 weddings all around the globe including Australia, Fiji, France and the United States. See below for a collection of my wedding imagery :) Packages start at $2199.
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Thank you cards from my past clients!
One of the most fulfilling moments in my profession is to witness couples seeing their wedding photographs for the first time. I asked Sharon and Varun if they would record themselves during this moment, seeing their wedding photographs for the first time… here's the video. Click here to see all of their photographs.
In order to provide the absolute best possible service for each of my clients, I select a limited number of wedding commissions around the world each year (between 15 and 20), prices start at $2199 AUD.


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Molds For PS Foam Thermoforming Machine: The products made by this type PS foam vacuum forming machine are connected (Please see photos as following). We need to use punching machine (cutting machine) to cut the products into single piece. We are a professional manufacturer and provider for different kind of plastic extrusion line & thermoforming machines in China.
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We are professional manufacturer in order to solve problem for on-line shop selling freezing food. 1.Compared with other external insulation, heat preservation effect in up to the same , its low cost ,can reduce the cost of packaging. 4. We will come up with a detailed production schedule for each order and this schedule will be a platform for onwards communication between customer and us.
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Production process is to put foam sheet into forming machine, and product and wastage will come out from the rear part. 4. Our machine have 1 year guarantee and lifetime maintenance. b) We have made foam machine about 30 years with strong experience and advanced technics.
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We use this to make sure an exact temperature so that we can make the best products. For some parts which can't be put into the box, we will use PE foam sheet to wrap them. For some parts which can't be put into the box, we will use PE foam sheet to wrap them.
Alibaba.com offers 6,586 foam lunch box products. About 28% of these are plastic vacuum forming machines, 18% are cooler bags, and 1% are packaging boxes.
A wide variety of foam lunch box options are available to you, such as free samples, paid samples.
There are 6,586 foam lunch box suppliers, mainly located in Asia. The top supplying country is China (Mainland), which supply 100% of foam lunch box respectively.
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SAN FRANCISCO - Angel.com and salesforce.com released SupportFone for salesforce.com's AppExchange.
- Angel.com, a division of MicroStrategy® Incorporated (NASDAQ: MSTR), and salesforce.com (NYSE:CRM) released SupportFone for salesforce.com's AppExchange. Salesforce.com customers and partners can now gain access to their accounts via the phone by integrating SupportFone with their Salesforce Service and Support implementation. SupportFone is built on the AppExchange on-demand platform.
SupportFone from Angel.com allows a company's customers to call and check the status of a case, update a case, open a new case or transfer directly to an agent through the Salesforce Service and Support offering. SupportFone also includes virtual ACD functionalities, such as call-queuing, call-whispering (advance notice of the identity of an incoming caller), and call-queue management and monitoring. With SupportFone, case managers gain direct access to their Salesforce account via the phone, including the ability to open and close cases and modify system settings such as greetings and announcements.


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A new public housing estate to be built at the site of the former Old Police Academy
Singapore, 26 November 2021 – Housing Development Board (HDB) has announced the conceptual development plans for a new housing estate, on a brownfield site largely comprised of the former Old Police Academy (OPA) site in the Mount Pleasant area. When fully developed, the new 33-hectare estate will provide about 5,000 new homes and add to the good geographical spread of public housing to meet the different needs of Singaporeans, including young families who want to live near their parents for better mutual care and support. The plan is to launch the first Build-to-Order (BTO) project of the new housing estate within the next five years.
Bounded by Thomson Road and the Pan Island Expressway (PIE), the site of the new housing estate, which includes the OPA, has been earmarked for residential development in URA's Master Plan since 1998. It is situated close to established housing areas such as Toa Payoh. Future residents will be well served by the Mount Pleasant MRT station on the Thomson-East Coast Line (TEL), which will open in tandem with the completion of public housing developments in the area.
Conceptual Development Plans for New Housing Estate
Characterised by hilly terrain, the site of the new housing estate is an area with rich heritage, being home to the OPA and pre-war black-and-white bungalows. It is also close to Bukit Brown and the Central Catchment Nature Reserve.
Given the scale and context of the site, a pilot detailed heritage study and an Environmental Impact Study (EIS) were carried out to assess the heritage and ecological value of the area, and guide HDB's future development plans to mitigate the potential impact to both its natural and built environment. The agencies also consulted various stakeholders such as heritage and nature groups, as well as the police community on the proposed development plans. Based on the EIS findings and their feedback, the plans have been carefully adjusted to ensure that the new housing estate would be sensitively integrated into its environment, for example, by containing the development and its supporting infrastructure largely to the brownfield area to minimise environmental impact. The reports from both studies have been published on HDB's website for public feedback as well.
The design of the new housing estate will weave in the rich tapestry of heritage and nature in the area. Broadly, these include the retention and adaptive reuse of selected heritage police academy buildings and reinterpretation of key spaces in OPA, such as the former parade ground, to integrate memories with new living spaces. The neighbourhood centre will be designed to be open, green and low-rise, with community spaces for residents to interact and bond.
Detailed heritage study carried out to integrate heritage elements into the developments
The OPA, which will be redeveloped to comprise a large part of the new housing estate, presented Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), HDB and National Heritage Board (NHB) an opportunity to pilot a large-scale detailed heritage study to provide an independent and detailed evaluation of the heritage significance of the site, the potential impact of development, and the proposed mitigating measures. The extensive study was conducted between August 2018 and September 2019. This additional layer of external assessment provided agencies with a more holistic understanding of the significance of the buildings, architectural design features and spaces at the OPA. It also allowed agencies to better consider the trade-offs of the proposed plans, and develop the strategies and appropriate measures to sensitively integrate heritage elements with the new housing estate.
HDB, URA and NHB have thoroughly considered the findings of the detailed heritage study and feedback from the heritage community and stakeholder groups such as the Heritage Advisory Panel (HAP)and the Heritage and Identity Partnership (HIP), All Things Bukit Brown (atBB) and the Singapore Heritage Society. Since 2016, SPF has also been engaging the larger police fraternity including in-service, retired and Police National Service officers who are well-acquainted with the history of the OPA, to assist in the documentation of the sites and to seek their ideas on sustaining and celebrating the heritage of the institution.
Based on the findings and feedback, agencies will retain four buildings in the OPA (Blocks 1, 2, 27, 28), considering their assessed heritage significance. These will be meaningfully adapted for new contemporary uses while retaining the physical buildings. In addition, a part of the parade square will be retained as an open space within the new housing estate.
For buildings or spaces that cannot be retained in their entirety due to development needs or technical constraints, HDB will explore various strategies to retain and keep the heritage significance of these spaces. These include referencing their architectural elements in new developments where feasible, as well as exploring the possibility of retaining physical elements of the key sites in the OPA, and incorporating them into the new housing estate as street furniture or markers. HDB and URA will carry out photographic documentation to capture the key buildings and spaces that cannot be retained.
Outside of the new housing estate, URA has also identified two other buildings (Blocks 13 and 153) which will be retained. Block 153 will retain its current use as the Senior Police Officers' Mess, while the future use for Block 13 will be further studied. Together, these six buildings are assessed to be the most representative of the Police's historical, social and architectural heritage in the area.
New workgroup to be formed with heritage groups, HDB and SPF
In agencies' earlier engagements with the heritage community, there was consensus to work towards integrating the four heritage buildings within the design of the new housing estate. Dr Venka Purushothaman, Deputy President and Provost of LASALLE College of the Arts and member of the HIP said, "I am delighted that key heritage buildings of the OPA will be kept. It is important that heritage elements are incorporated into the new estate for everyone to develop a rich appreciation of the history of police in Singapore. Such integration of heritage into 21st-century public estates demonstrate a deep conviction to identify heritage not as a matter of the past but a pier into the future. This development will resonate well with Singaporeans."
HDB and SPF will jointly lead a new Workgroup involving URA, NHB, as well as members of the police fraternity and heritage consultants, to focus on how the rich heritage of OPA can be preserved and incorporated into the future residential parcels and design of common/park spaces, prior to the commencement of works. Chaired by Minister of State for Home Affairs and National Development Dr Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim, the Workgroup will discuss ways to enhance the distinctiveness and identity of the estate, such as through proposals for new road names related to the police heritage.
Environmental Impact Study carried out to guide plans
The new housing estate will sit on a brownfield site and will require minimal clearance of existing vegetation. To better understand the existing ecology of the area and manage any potential impact of the development to its immediate surroundings, HDB commissioned an EIS in Jan 2019 covering the area of the planned housing estate (33 ha) as well as its wider surroundings beyond the development site. This larger Study Area is bounded by Mount Pleasant Road to the north, Bukit Brown to the west, Thomson Road to the east, and the Pan Island Expressway (PIE) to the south. It covers a total area of approximately 71.6 ha. Besides assessing biodiversity, the EIS also studied physical environment parameters such as hydrology and water quality. The study found that the site is composed of predominantly abandoned-land forest and managed vegetation, including landscape and streetscape plantings, green verges, and managed lawns. Together with three streams within the site, i.e. a partially-naturalised stream (Stream 1) and two naturalised streams (Streams 2 and 3), as well as two stormwater drains, they provide a variety of habitats for fauna.
Following the conclusion of the EIS, HDB had engaged nature groups to refine the plans for the new housing estate to further minimise the potential impact to the environment. In particular, the proposed road network, meant to support the travel needs of future residents, was adjusted so that the surrounding greenery in Bukit Brown and the adjacent Kopi Sua Cemetery would not be affected. Two out of the three streams in the area would also be fully conserved, with the third stream partially conserved.
The road network requires two access points—one from the existing Onraet Road off PIE and one from Thomson Road to provide accessibility for the new housing estate. Based on the original plan, the access point from the PIE would be via a new slip road that would cut through Kopi Sua Cemetery. Taking into consideration the EIS findings, HDB, in consultation with LTA, has revised the plan for the road network to instead take access via the existing Onraet Road off PIE instead. With the adjustment, we will now be able to avoid affecting Kopi Sua Cemetery, as well as two of the three streams (Streams 2 and 3 as shown in the plan below). We will also be able to conserve about one-third of the upstream portion of Stream 1, where there is richer biodiversity. HDB will study how best to divert the downstream portion of Stream 1 and integrate it with the urban drainage network to facilitate flood control, while at the same time, maintaining the hydrology of the upper part of the stream.
Based on the original plan, the access point from the PIE would have been via a new slip road that would cut through Kopi Sua Cemetery.
Taking into consideration the EIS findings, the road network has been revised to take access via the existing Onraet Road off PIE. With this adjustment, the graves at Kopi Sua will not be affected. Two of the three streams (Streams 2 and 3) will also be fully conserved.
In addition, HDB will carry out other mitigating measures to minimise the potential impact on flora and fauna in the surrounding areas. These include planting more trees along the edge of Bukit Brown to serve as a natural barrier to light and noise, and to filter vehicular emissions that may be harmful to animals. We will also phase clearance activities to avoid the bird breeding season, as well as set up tree protection zones to protect large trees. In developing the estate, we will put in place an Environmental Monitoring and Management Plan (EMMP) to ensure the effectiveness of the mitigation measures, and to closely monitor and manage any potential environmental impact arising from the infrastructure and building works.
Dr Shawn Lum, Senior Lecturer at the Nanyang Technological University's Asian School of the Environment, and President of the Nature Society (Singapore) said, "The new housing estate will sit between a mature estate and major roads on one side, and a rich nature area on the other. In the discussions with nature groups for this site, the conversations ventured beyond risk mitigation measures to focus on how nature can be made a feature of the new development and become a defining character of life. In many cities in the world, only the wealthiest have the space and greenery to access urban nature. The new housing estate has the potential to set new standards for experiencing nature in a public housing estate."
Source: HDB
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl