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Orissa, India Christians Still Face Boycott, Forced Conversion
Hindu nationalists continue to oppress Christians in Kandhamal district, report says.
NEW DELHI, November 11 (CDN) — More than two years after losing relatives and property in anti-Christian violence, there is no sense of relief among survivors in India's Orissa state, as many are still ostracized and pressured to "return" to Hinduism, according to a private investigation.
"Despite the state administration's claim of normalcy," the preliminary report of a fact-finding team states, "a state of lawlessness and utter fear and sense of insecurity" prevails among Christians of Kandhamal district, which saw a major anti-Christian bloodbath in 2008.
The team, consisting of local attorney Nicholas Barla and another identified only as Brother Marcus, along with rights activists Jugal Kishore Ranjit and Ajay Kumar Singh, visited four villages in three blocks of Kandhamal on Nov. 5.
In Bodimunda village in Tikabali, the team met a pastor who said he has been closely watched since Hindu extremists forced him to become a Hindu. The pastor, whose name the report withheld for security reasons, said he had to convert to Hinduism in 2008 "to save his old mother, who could not have escaped the violence as she was not in a position to walk."
He is still closely watched in an effort to prevent him from returning to Christianity. While the attorneys and activists were still at the pastor's house, a man who identified himself as from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS, India's most influential Hindu nationalist conglomerate) came to inquire about his visitors. The pastor felt compelled to tell them that they were "bank officials."
In the same village, Hindu nationalists have also imposed a de facto ban on any private or public vehicle to ferry Christians or their belongings, said the report.
The team met the family of a paralyzed Christian, Bamadev Pradhan, whom auto-rickshaw drivers refused to take to a hospital when he recently ran a high fever. Eventually a Christian driver took him to the only hospital in Tikabali, around eight kilometers (nearly five miles) from his village of Bodimunda, but as the Christian was driving back, some local men confiscated his vehicle.
With the help of the auto-rickshaw union, the driver (unnamed in the report) got the vehicle released after paying a fine of 1,051 (US$24) rupees and promising that he would not transport any Christians in the future.
Another Christian said area Hindus extremists prohibited Christians from procuring basic necessities.
"We are not allowed to bring housing materials or food provisions or medicines, and nor are we allowed to buy anything from local shops," he said. "We do not have any shop of our own. Here, we are struggling to live as human beings."
The team also met a Hindu who had to pay 5,000 rupees (US$112) to get his tractor returned to him, as he had transported housing material for the construction of the house of a Christian.
In the house of a Christian in Keredi village in Phulbani Block, the team found a picture of a Hindu god. The resident, who was not identified in the report, explained that he had to display it in order to protect his family from harm.
The team found pictures of Hindu gods also in the house of a Christian in Gandapadar village in the Minia area, Phiringia Block. A woman in the house told the team that local Hindu nationalists had given her pictures of Hindu gods for worship.
"We have kept them, as they often come to check whether we have reconverted to Christianity," she said.
Almost all Christians the team met complained that the local administration had done little to protect them and suspected that officials colluded with area Hindu nationalists.
Released on Nov. 8, the report asserts that Christians have been barred from taking water from a government well in Dakanaju village, under G. Udayagiri police jurisdiction in Tikabali Block. The village head, Sachindra Pradhan, has promised to take action "at the earliest," it added.
Violence in Kandhamal and some other districts of Orissa state followed the assassination of Hindu nationalist leader Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati on Aug. 23, 2008. The rampage killed over 100 people and burned 4,640 houses, 252 churches and 13 educational institutions, according to estimates by human rights groups.
The spate of attacks began a day after Saraswati's killing when Hindu nationalist groups blamed Christians for his murder, although Maoists (extreme Marxists) active in the district claimed responsibility for it.
John Dayal, a Christian activist in Delhi, told Compass that "the apparatus of 2008 remains undisturbed." The Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was part of the ruling state alliance with the regional Biju Janata Dal (BJD) party at the time of the violence. Although the BJD broke up with the BJP in 2009, blaming it for the violence, the former cannot be excused, said Dayal.
"While the BJP is mainly to be blamed, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik is not entirely innocent," Dayal said. "Not just that he allowed the BJP and RSS cadres to run amok when they were part of his government, turning a blind eye to their very visible anti-Christian activities, but he was his own home [interior] minister and cannot really shirk command responsibility for the carnage together with his BJP ministerial colleagues and senior officers."
Kandhamal district Magistrate Krishan Kumar, who was on a tour at press time, could not be contacted for comment despite repeated attempts.
Of the 648,201 people in Kandhamal district, 117,950 are Christian, mostly Dalit (formerly "untouchables" in the caste hierarchy in Hindu societies), according to the 2001 Census. Hindus, mainly tribal people and numbering 527,757, form the majority.
Posted in Christianity, Communism, Hinduism, India	| Tagged 2001, 2008, 2009, according, action, active, activist, activists, activities, administration, Ajay Kumar Singh, alliance, allowed, amok, anti-Christian, anything, apparatus, area, assassination, asserts, attacks, attempts, attorney, auto-rickshaw, Bamadev Pradhan, ban, bank, barred, basic, belongings, Bharatiya Janata Party, Biju Janata Dal, BJD, BJP, blamed, blaming, blind, blocks, bloodbath, Bodimunda, boycott, bring, broke, brother, burned, buy, cadres, cannot, carnage, caste, census, check, Chief Minister, Christian, Christianity, Christians, churches, claim, claimed, closely, colleagues, colluded, command, comment, compelled, complained, confiscated, conglomerate, construction, contacted, conversion, convert, Dakanaju, Dalit, de facto, display, district, drivers, driving, earliest, educational, effort, entirely, escaped, estimayes, excused, explained, extreme, extremists, eye, face, fact-finding, family, fear, felt, ferry, fever, fine, followed, food, forced, former, formerly, future, G. Udayagiri, Gandapadar, God, government, groups, harm, head, help, hierarchy, high, Hindu, Hinduism, Hindus, Home Minister, hospital, house, housing, human beings, human rights, identified, imposed, India, influential, innocent, inquire, insecurity, institutions, investigation, John Dayal, Jugal Kishore Ranjit, jurisdiction, Kandhamal, kept, Keredi, killed, killing, Krishan Kumar, lawlessness, leader, little, live, local, losing, magistrate, mainly, major, majority, Maoists, Marcus, Marxists, materials, medicenes, men, met, Minia, ministerial, mother, murder, nationalists, Naveen Patnaik, necessities, New Delhi, Nicholas Barla, no, normalcy, officers, officials, old, oppress, order, Orissa, ostracized, paralyzed, part, party, Pastor, paying, people, Persecution, Phulbani Block, picture, police, position, preliminary, press time, pressured, prevails, prevent, private, procuring, prohibited, promised, promising, property, protect, provisions, public, rampage, ran, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, reasons, recently, reconverted, refused, regional, relatives, released, relief, remains, repeated, report, resident, responsibility, return, returning, rights, RSS, ruling, run, Sachindra Pradhan, save, security, senior, sense, shirk, shop, shops, societies, spate, state, struggling, survivors, suspected, Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati, take, taking, team, Tikabali, time, tour, tractor, transport, transported, tribal, undisturbed, Union, unnamed, untouchables, utter, vehicles, villages, violence, visible, visited, visitors, walk, watched, water, well, withheld, woman, worship | Leave a comment
Victim of Orissa, India Violence Rescued from Trafficking Ring
Posted on September 4, 2010 by particularkev
Christians displaced by Kandhamal violence in 2008 sold for coerced labor or sex.
NEW DELHI, August 25 (CDN) — Nearly two years after large-scale anti-Christian violence broke out in India's Kandhamal district, Orissa state, a team working against human trafficking on Aug. 9 rescued a 16-year-old Christian girl – one of at least 60 people sold into slavery after being displaced by the 2008 attacks.
The recovery in Delhi of the girl represented the cracking of a network that has trafficked Christian girls and women from Orissa to the national capital, sources said.
"Human trafficking agents operating in the tribal belt of Orissa have targeted the Christian girls who are displaced by the Kandhamal communal violence – we have been receiving complaints of missing girls from Kandhamal after the violence broke out in 2008," said attorney Lansinglu Rongmei, one of the rescue team members. "Roughly 60 girls are estimated missing and have been trafficked to different states."
The girl, whose name is withheld, is a tribal Christian who was sold into slavery along with her 19-year-old sister and two other girls, all victims of the 2008 violence; they were trafficked from the Daringbadi block of Kandhamal district to the capital in December 2009, according to the Human Rights Law Network (HRLN). Her sister and the other two girls remain missing.
The mother of the girl accompanied the rescue team the evening of Aug. 9 in the Rohini area of Delhi, said a source from the HRLN Anti-Human Trafficking department on condition of anonymity.
"It was only the joint efforts of the All India Christian Council [AICC], HRLN Anti-Human Trafficking and the area police that made this rescue possible," the source said.
The rescue team took action after the minor's mother approached the HRLN of Kandhamal for help, which in turn called the Delhi office. Team members said they were disappointed by the reaction of police, who were initially cooperative but later "just unwilling to help," in the words of one member.
The girl was used only for labor, although she was sexually harassed, sources said.
Rongmei told Compass that police refused to file a First Information Report, telling rescue team members, "No rape of the victim took place as per the medical examination, and there was no need for a case registration against anyone."
The rescue team was not given a copy of the report of a medical examination at Bhagwan Mahavir Hospital, Pitampura, in Delhi, but they were told it indicated no sign of rape.
"It is confirmed that she was not raped," said Madhu Chandra, spokesperson of the AICC and part of the rescue team. "She was physically abused, with teeth bite marks and bruises on her body – her neck, leg and right hand."
The girl stated that a well-known woman from their village in Kandhamal district gave her and her sister a false promise of safe and secure work in Delhi as gardeners.
Instead, operatives brought the sisters and the two other girls to a placement agency in Ratala village in Delhi, Sakhi Maid Bureau, which was run by a man identified only as Montu.
The HRLN source told Compass that the girl was with the placement agency for six days as the owner, Montu, attempted to rape her on several occasions. She was threatened, beaten, drugged with alcohol and sexually molested, the source said.
The girl said her sister and the other two girls were treated the same way.
She was placed in a home in Rohini, Sector 11, as domestic help beginning in January. Until July, she said, she was treated relatively well there, except for a few instances of being slapped by the lady of the house. Then the family's 10-year-old son began to hit her and their 14-year-old son tried to assault her sexually, and she tried to flee earlier this month.
The girl told the rescue team that she informed the lady of the house about the elder son's misbehavior, but that the woman stated that she could do nothing about it.
"She bears marks from being beaten on her right hand by the younger boy," said Chandra.
He told Compass that the owner of the placement agency collected the girl's wages from the family who employed her, promising to send the money to her mother in Kandhamal district, but that he failed to do so.
Compass was unable to meet with the girl as she was still traumatized and undergoing counseling sessions. The girl's mother sobbed for her other daughter, grieved that no one knew what condition she was in.
Montu, the placement agency operator, has absconded, according to police.
Passive Police
Prasant Vihar Police Station House Officer Sudhir Kumar confirmed the rescue team's accusation that he refused to register a complaint in the girl's case.
"The victim is from Kandhamal, let her go back to Kandhamal and register her complaint there," Kumar told Compass. "No rape of the victim took place as per the medical examination, and thus there is no need for registering a case against anyone."
Assistant Commissioner of Police Sukhvir Singh told Compass he had no explanation why the girl's complaint was not registered, but he insisted on having her and the rescue team return.
"We will file their complaint if they come back to us now," he said.
Karuna Dayal, coordinator of Anti-Human Trafficking Initiatives at HRLN, led the rescue team, which also included AICC Legal Secretary Advocate Rongmei, Chandra and Ashis Kumar Subodh of the AICC, and three others from the HRLN – Afsar Ahmed, attorney Diviya Jyoti Jaipuria and one identified only as Sangram.
Dr. John Dayal, secretary general of the AICC, said large-scale human trafficking in Christian tribal and Dalit women of Kandhamal district is one of the worst problems in the aftermath of the Kandhamal violence.
"Police have made arrests in the nearby Andhra Pradesh and other states," he said. "Because of the displacement due to the violence, they lost their future, and it is very easy for strangers to come and lure them. Community and family life has been disrupted; the children do not have the normal security that growing children must have. Trauma, unemployment and desperate measures have resulted in the loss of childhood, forcing many to grow up before their age."
The AICC is calling on the National Commission for Women, the National Commission for Scheduled Castes and the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes to investigate, he added.
Posted in Christianity, crime, Hinduism, India	| Tagged 2008, absconded, abused, accusation, Afsar Ahmed, aftermath, age, agency, agents, AICC, alcohol, All India Christian Council, Andhra Pradesh, anti-Christian, area, arm, arrests, Ashis Kumar Subodh, assault, Assistant Commissioner of Police, attempted, attorney, beaten, belt, Bhagwan Mahavir Hospital, bite, Block, body, bruises, capital, childhood, children, Christian, Christianity, Christians, coerced, collected, communal, community, complaint, condition, cooperative, coordinator, counseling, Dalit, Daringbadi, desperate, disappointed, displaced, displacement, disrupted, district, Diviya Jyoti Jaipuria, domestic, Dr, drugged, easy, efforts, elder, employed, examination, explanation, false, family, file, FIR, First Information Report, flee, forcing, future, gardeners, girl, grieved, grow, growing, hand, harassed, help, Hindu, Hinduism, Hindus, hit, home, HRLN, HRLN Anti-Human Trafficking, human, Human Rights Law Network, India, indicated, informed, investigate, John Dayal, joint, Kandhamal, Karuna Dayal, Labor, lady, Lansinglu Rongmei, leg, legal secretary advocate, life, loss, lost, lure, Madhu Chandra, man, marks, measures, medical, members, misbehavior, missing, molested, money, Montu, mother, national, National Commission for Scheduled Castes, National Commission for Scheduled Tribes, National Commission for Women, nearby, neck, network, New Delhi, normal, operatives, operator, Orissa, owner, passive, Persecution, physically, Pitampura, placed, placement, police, possible, Prasant Vihar, problems, promise, promising, rape, raped, Ratala, reaction, recovery, refused, register, remain, rescue, rescued, resulted, right, ring, Rohini, Rongmei, safe, Sakhi Maid Bureau, Sangram, Secretary General, sector 11, secure, security, send, sessions, sex, sexually, sign, Sister, slapped, slavery, sobbed, sold, son, spokesperson, state, states, station officer, strangers, Sudhir Kumar, Sukhvir Singh, targeted, team, teeth, trafficking, trauma, traumatized, treated, tribal, tricked, tried, undergoing, unemployment, unwilling, up, victim, village, violence, wages, woman, women, work, worst, younger | Leave a comment
Christian Woman in Pakistan Abused, Forced to Resign
Sanitation worker on verge of receiving benefits; in another village, church builders attacked.
SARGODHA, Pakistan, June 10 (CDN) — A Christian woman here said she has been falsely accused of theft, beaten, threatened with rape and forced to resign her job in a bid to keep her from obtaining full benefits as a regular government employee.
Razia Bibi, a 38-year-old sanitation worker known as Rajji of village No. 47-NB (Northern Branch), Sargodha, was due to obtain regular status as a government employee at Aysha Girls' Hostel at the University of Sargodha at the end of May. On May 7, however, Muslim office worker Safia Bibi accused her of stealing 10,000 rupees (US$120) from her cubicle – and when Muslim hostel warden Noshaba Bibi learned of it, she called female police officers and ordered them to beat her until
she confessed, Rajji said.
"Lady police constables subjected me to inhumane thrashing with bamboo sticks and kept saying that I must confess or they would not spare me," she said, adding that she was beaten for four hours in one of the hostel rooms. "I said that, being a Christian from childhood, I had learned not to steal, therefore I told them the truth, but it seemed they were bent on making me confess a crime I had not committed."
Her comment about being a Christian and therefore not having stolen anything seemed to especially enrage Safia Bibi and Noshaba Bibi, she said.
"Hostel officials turned violent, and they called Haaser Khan, the chief security officer of the university, accompanied by two junior security guards, and ordered them to take me into a cubicle and take off my clothes and rape me," she said. "I raised a cry for help, but there was no one to help me."
Her husband, Nayyer Aftab, told Compass that someone informed him that his wife was in serious trouble at her workplace. Rushing to the girls' hostel, he said, he found the security guards dragging his wife on the ground as she screamed for help. When Aftab asked why they were treating her this way, Khan charged him with his baton and left him injured on the ground, Aftab said. The chief security officer took Rajji inside.
"Both hostel officers, Noshaba and Safia, told me that Rajji had stolen 10,000 rupees, and that because she didn't confess her crime the security guards were going to teach her a lesson," Aftab said.
Aftab said he knew that his wife would not confess to theft even to spare herself from rape, and he pleaded with the two accusers to stop the security guards, promising that he would pay them the amount of the allegedly stolen money.
"At this both Safia and Noshaba ordered to bring Rajji out and not rape her," Aftab told Compass. "They gave me an hour to make payment of the allegedly stolen amount."
He said he went to friends and relatives to gather up the 10,000 rupees and gave it to Safia Bibi and Noshaba Bibi, but Aftab said they still compelled his wife to resign by forcibly obtaining a thumb print from the illiterate woman on a resignation statement.
Rajji said she had been happily looking forward to obtaining regular employee status.
"In three weeks I was going to become a regular employee as a sanitation worker at the university, but as I am a Christian, the Muslim hostel officers Safia and Noshaba wanted a Muslim regular employee after their hearts instead of me," she told Compass.
Noshaba Bibi initially refused to comment on the allegation that she falsely accused the Christian woman of theft in order to provide a job to someone of her choice. After repeated questioning by Compass, however, she became exasperated and used coarse language, yelling, "Yes, I have done it, do whatever you want!"
The Christian couple in the village in Punjab Province has an 8-year-old daughter and two sons, ages 9 and 5.
Christians Beaten, Jailed
In a village in southern Punjab Province, Muslim extremists on Saturday (June 5) attacked Christians trying to construct a church building, and then got police to file charges against them for defending themselves, according to the All Pakistan Minorities Alliance (APMA).
A club-wielding Muslim mob led by Muhammad Nazir Ahmed beat Christians who were laying the foundation for the church building in village No. 184/9-L, in Cheechawatni of Sahiwal district, seriously injuring several of them, said Javed Akber Gill, APMA district coordinator in Sahiwal.
Ahmed later enlisted Inspector Allah Ditta, station house officer at the Dera Rahim police station, to file charges against four Christians – Noreen Mumtaz, who is pregnant, and her husband Mumtaz Inayat, Aftab Inayat and Kashif Masih, Christian sources said. All four were charged with critically injuring others and attempting to kill or threaten to kill, they said.
Inspector Ditta refused to respond to repeated requests by Compass for comment on allegations that he colluded with the Muslim extremists to falsely accuse the Christian victims of the attack.
The accused Christians pleaded with police that they were innocent, to no avail. Gill said that he was doing his best to resolve the issue peacefully in an attempt to avert the kind of violence that hit the Christian communities of Gojra and Korian in July and August of 2009 and Shanti Nagar in 1997.
The Rev. John Rizwani of Cheechawatni city said the government had allotted a small piece of land to the Christians for the building and that they had permission to build. There are only 25 Christians' homes amid the approximately 500 Muslim homes in the village.
Ferhan Mazher, chairman of Rays of Development Organization, Azher Kalim, general secretary the Christians Lawyers Foundation and Khalid Gill, head of APMA in Punjab, condemned the attack.
"Attacks on worship places usurp basic human rights and constitute a conspiracy to belittle the name of Pakistan worldwide," Mazher said.
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Official Orders Halt to Beleaguered Church in Indonesia
With construction permit in limbo, government also denies congregation's temporary site.
JAKARTA, Indonesia, April 20 (CDN) — A local government official in Bekasi, West Java last week forbid all worship of the Filadelfia Huria Kristen Batak Protestan Church (HKBP) in Jejalan village.
Regent Sa'duddin on April 12 ordered a halt to all activities of the church, including worship services that have been held on a strip of roadside land since the government on Jan. 12 summarily sealed the church's building, which was under construction.
Announcing the order at a meeting of government officials with the Rev. Palti Panjaitan, Vice-Regent Darip Mulyana said the reason for the closure of the church's makeshift site was that worship interfered with "community activities," though the site is on a nearly deserted roadside bordering vacant fields.
The regent also suggested that the church join with another HKBP congregation in the Graha Prima housing development, far from the Filadelfia church's site. Pastor Panjaitan said the church objects to this suggestion as it would be impractical, creating time and transportation difficulties.
Mulyana said that Sa'duddin had ruled that the church needs to find a new place to construct its prospective permanent church building because local residents had rejected it – even though the church had secured approval from local residents when it submitted its application for a permit in 2008. The government has never acted on the application, and since then Islamic organizations have organized protests to try to pressure government officials to deny approval.
The church on March 30 filed suit against Sa'duddin for unilaterally closing their church building under construction.
The church's Tigor Tampubolon said the church would never have been forced to meet by the roadside if the government hadn't sealed its building under construction without due process.
"We have been waiting for the government to grant us a temporary permit so that we can hold services, instead of forbidding them," Tampubolon said. "It's difficult for the 500 or so members to hold church beside the road, and it would be even more difficult if the location was moved, because most of the people live near the church."
Tampubolon said the church had purchased 1,088 square meters of land, had obtained signatures of 60 people living near the church as well as letters of agreement from the Jejalan village head and leaders, and had submitted all necessary documents to the government in 2008.
The Bekasi Regency never took any action on the application, saying the permit needed to be discussed and approved by the Bekasi Interfaith Harmony Forum.
In December the church held a Christmas service in a temporary structure on the lot.
"We held our Christmas service there because we had village level permission and were waiting on permanent permission from the regency," Tampubolon said.
The Christmas service drew a large mob of protestors claiming to act on behalf of the local citizens. The mob demanded that services end and that no Christian worship take place in the area.
The regent then recommended that the church hold services in Jejalan village hall, but when the congregation tried to do so on Jan. 3, another demonstration harried them. Since then the church has held worship services on the roadside.
The Filadelfia congregation has been active since 2000, with services initially held in the pastor's home. In 2006, a mob of 300 people swarmed the pastor's home during a Sunday morning service. Claiming to be neighbors, they pressured the pastor to sign a document promising not to hold religious meetings at his home.
Posted in Christianity, Indonesia, Islam	| Tagged 2000, 2006, 2008, act, acted, action, active, activities, agreement, announcing, application, approval, behalf, Bekasi, Bekasi Interfaith Harmony Forum, Bekasi Regency, beleaguered, bordering, building, Christian, Christianity, Christians, Christmas, church, citizens, claiming, closing, closure, community, congregation, construct, construction, creating, Darip Mulyana, demanded, demonstration, denies, deny, deserted, development, difficult, difficulties, discussed, document, documents, drew, due, end, fields, Filadelfia Huria Kristen Batak Protestan Church, filed, find, forbid, forbidding, forced, government, Graha Prima, grant, hall, halt, harried, head, held, HKBP, hold, home, housing, impractical, including, Indonesia, initially, interfered, Islam, Islamic, Jakarta, Jejalan, join, land, large, leaders, letters, level, limbo, living, local, location, lot, makeshift, meet, meeting, members, mob, moved, Muslim, muslims, near, nearly, necessary, needed, needs, neighbors, never, new, objects, obtained, official, order, ordered, orders, organizations, organized, Palti Panjaitan, people, permanent, permission, permit, Persecution, place, pressure, pressured, process, promising, prospective, protestors, protests, purchased, reason, recommended, regent, Regent Sa'duddin, rejected, religious, residents, Rev, road, roadside, ruled, Sa'duddin, sealed, secured, services, sign, signatures, site, strip, structure, submitted, suggested, suggestion, suit, summarily, swarmed, temporary, Tigor Tampubolon, time, took, transportation, try, unilaterally, vacant, Vice-Regent, village, waiting, West Java, worship | Leave a comment
Armenian Christian leader put to 'Évin' prison in Iran
Pastor Vahik Abrahamian, an Armenian Christian residing in Tehran, Iran, who was visiting a friend, upon his return to his home was arrested in Tehran by plainclothes security officers, reports FCNN. The manner in which he was arrested and the prolonged detention in Evin notorious prison, has created grave concern amongst the Iranian Christian community, particularly with family and friends.
"As per reports by FCNN correspondents and sources within the country, on Saturday 20th February 2010 (1 Esfand 1388) plainclothes security officers arrested 44 years old 'Vahik Abrahamian' , who is an Armenian Christian leader, as he was departing a friend's house who was visiting Iran from Europe.
The manner in which Pastor Abrahamian was arrested is very unsettling and indeed ambiguous. As per received reports, 3 plainclothes security agents who were in a green Peugeot vehicle, swarmed upon Mr. & Mrs. Abrahamian as they were departing their friends house.
What is quite uncommon in any similar incident, one of the agents was filming the whole episode with a handheld camera. The agents showed an arrests warrant with permission to 'shoot to kill'. After searching their vehicle and seizing all personal belongings, they set Mrs. Abarahmian free and took Pastor Vahik to Evin prison.
As per FCNN reports, wife and parents and extended family and friends of this Armenian Christian leader, are extremely concerned for the well being of the prisoner and are completely in state of shock. Mrs. Abrahamian has been unwilling or afraid to discuss the matter with anyone.
All Pastor Vahik's family and friends vouch for his meek, humble and Godly character. All are unanimous that he was not only God fearing and law abiding citizen but was also very compassionate and sensitive particularly to the drug addicts and reached out to serve them. All are totally convinced that his character is beyond reproach and are hoping that this grave misunderstanding by the authorities will clear and he will be set free.
It's noteworthy that Pastor Abrahamian had dual Dutch and Iranian citizenship, yet chose to live, work and serve in his native country Iran, staying close to aging mother and family.
As per obtained reports, there are many unanswered questions with regards to the circumstances leading to his arrest which is normally conducted in detaining known terrorists or political activists. The authorities have neither commented why this extraordinary measures were taken and nor why is he being held for such lengthy period. It's also unclear who is holding this law abiding ordinary citizen and which authority has ordered his arrest! It seems that we have a long wait to hear from Islamic republic Juridical and legal authorities about reason of his arrest.
The received reports indicate that after elapse of over a month from his arrest, there is complete silence by Iranian Legal and juridical authorities and so far he has been denied appointment of a lawyer or visits by next of keen. Mother, Wife, brother and extended family are extremely concerned for his well being and are grief stricken with no clear and promising news.
At this time we would like to beseech all Christian community in Iran and overseas to fast and pray for his release and also pray for other Christians arrested in the last days and weeks in various cities in Iran. May God in His grace intervene in this situation and let's hope that he will unite with his family bringing great joy and relief in the festive days of the Nowruz' spring in Iran.
Posted in Armenia, Christianity, Iran, Islam, Netherlands/Holland	| Tagged 2010, abiding, activists, afraid, agents, aging, ambiguous, appointment, Armenia, Armenian, arrest, arrested, arrests, authorities, authority, belongings, beseech, beyond, bringing, brother, camera, character, chose, Christian, Christianity, Christians, circumstances, cities, citizen, citizenship, clear, close, commented, community, compassionate, complete, concern, convinced, country, created, denied, departing, detaining, detention, discuss, drug addicts, dual, Dutch, elapse, episode, Europe, Evin, extended, extraordinary, extremely, family, fast, fearing, festive, filming, free, friend, friends, God, godly, grace, grave, great, Green, grief, handheld, held, holding, home, hoping, humble, incident, indeed, indicate, intervene, Iran, Iranian, Islam, Islamic, joy, judicial, kill, kin, known, law, lawyer, leader, leading, legal, lengthy, live, manner, matter, measures, meek, misunderstanding, mother, Muslim, muslims, native, news, next, notorious, Nowruz, officers, ordered, ordinary, overseas, parents, Pastor, period, permission, Persecution, personal, Peugeot, plainclothes, political, pray, prison, prisoner, prolonged, promising, questions, quite, reached, reason, regards, release, relief, reproach, Republic, residing, return, searching, security, seizing, sensitive, serve, shock, shoot, silence, similar, spring, state, staying, stricken, swarmed, Tehran, terrorists, totally, unanimous, unanswered, unclear, uncommon, unite, unsettling, unwilling, Vahik Abrahamian, various, vehicle, very, visiting, visits, vouch, warrant, well being, whole, wife, work | Leave a comment
Violent Death of Girl in Pakistan Spurs Push for Justice
Rare protest by family of tortured child puts spotlight on abuse of Christian working poor.
LAHORE, Pakistan, January 28 (CDN) — A daring protest and a high-profile funeral here on Monday (Jan. 25) for a 12-year-old Christian girl who died from torture and malnourishment has cast a rare spotlight on abuse of the Christian poor in Pakistan.
In an uncommon challenge in the predominantly Muslim nation, the Christian parents of Shazia Bashir Masih protested police unresponsiveness to the alleged violence against their daughter by Muslim attorney Chaudhary Muhammad Naeem and his family and his attempt to buy their silence after her death. The house servant died on Friday (Jan. 22) after working eight months in Naeem's house.
An initial medical report indicated she died gradually from blows from a blunt instrument, wounds from a sharp-edged weapon, misuse of medicines and malnourishment. Key media highlighted the case on Pakistan's airwaves, and minority rights groups along with high-ranking Christian politicians have swooped in to help.
Initially police were unresponsive to the family's efforts to file charges against Muslim attorney Naeem, and on Saturday (Jan. 23) they staged a protest in front of the Punjab Assembly. The power of Naeem, a former president of the Lahore Bar Association, was such that officers at Litton Road police station refused to listen to Shazia's relatives when they tried to file a complaint to retrieve her three months ago, telling the girl's relatives, "a case against a lawyer cannot be registered," her uncle Rafiq Masih told Compass.
Her mother, Nasreen Bibi, told Compass Naeem came to their home on the day Shazia died and offered 30,000 rupees (US$350) to keep the death secret and to pay for burial expenses.
"I refused to accept their offer, and they went they went away hurling death threats," she said.
Bibi, a widow who subsequently married a 70-year-old blind man, told Compass that hunger and poverty had forced her to send her daughter to work at Naeem's house for 1,000 rupees per month (US$12) – the family's only source of income. Two older daughters are married, and she still cares for a 10-year-old daughter and 8-year-old son living at home.
Rafiq Masih said Naeem illegally kept Shazia at his house, forced her to work long hours and summarily refused family requests to see her. Three months ago, Masih said, Naeem allowed him and Shazia's mother to see her for five minutes, and the girl complained that Naeem and his son were raping her. Shazia also told them that Naeem, his wife and sister-in-law were beating her and threatening to harm her if she tried to escape.
Enraged, Naeem promptly asked him and Shazia's mother to leave, Masih said.
"We tried to bring Shazia with us back home," he said, "but Naeem flatly refused to let Shazia go, and he cruelly and inhumanely grabbed her hair and dragged her inside the house. He returned to threaten us with dire consequences if we tried to file a case against him for keeping Shazia at his home as a bonded laborer."
Masih and Bibi then went to the Litton Road police station to try to get Naeem to release Shazia, and it was then that duty officers deliberately offered the misinformation that a case could not be made against a lawyer, they said.
A Muslim neighbor of Naeem, Shaukat Ali Agha, told Compass that Naeem tortured Shazia.
"Often that little girl's cries for mercy could be heard from the residence of the lawyer during the dead of night," Agha said. "And whenever Shazia requested some food, she got thrashed badly by his wife, son and sister-in-law. One day Shazia was viciously beaten when, forced by starvation, she could not resist picking up a small piece of sugar cane from the lawn of Naeem's residence to chew."
As Shazia's condition deteriorated, Naeem released her to the family and they took her to Jinnah Hospital Lahore on Jan. 19. After fighting for her life there for three days, she succumbed to her injuries and critically malnourished condition, her mother said.
Doctors at the hospital told Compass they found 18 wounds on her body: 13 from a blunt instrument, and five from a "sharp-edged weapon."
A high-ranking investigating official told Compass that Naeem had given contrary statements under questioning. The police official said that Naeem initially stated that Shazia had fallen down some stairs and died. The police official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Naeem quickly changed his statement, saying she had stolen food from the refrigerator and therefore was beaten. The official added that Naeem also said Shazia was insane, disobedient and stubborn, and "therefore she had gotten thrashed and died."
Doctors at Mayo Hospital Morgue have taken blood and tissue samples from Shazia's liver, stomach and kidneys and sent them to the Chief Chemical Examiner's Forensic Lab in Islamabad to determine the official causes of death, officials said.
Family Beaten in Court
On Saturday (Jan. 23) Shazia's family, along with many other Christians and Muslims, protested outside the Punjab Assembly for three hours, according to rights groups. Key television channels covered police inaction in the face of the violent death, and several high-profile politicians pledged their support, including Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari. He promised to give the family 500,000 rupees (US$5,835) after Pakistani Minister of Minorities Affairs Shahbaz Bhatti announced a gift of the same amount to compensate the family.
Only after this public pressure did police file a First Information Report, and Naeem and six others, including family members, were arrested earlier this week. Chief Minister of Punjab Shahbaz Sharif reportedly visited the family, promising justice.
The Lahore High Court took up the case on Tuesday (Jan. 26) and ordered police to conclude investigations within 14 days, but none of the high-level action seemed to matter at a hearing that day at District and Sessions Court Lahore, at which Naeem and his accusers were present. As routinely happens in cases where Christians in Pakistan accuse Muslims of wrongdoing, Compass observed as Naeem's lawyers chanted slogans against Shazia's family, threatened them and beat them – including Bibi and her blind husband – driving them from the courtroom.
Compass witnessed the Muslim attorneys yelling chants against local media and Christianity, as well. Naeem was neither handcuffed nor escorted by Defense A-Division Police, though he has been charged with murder.
At Shazia's funeral on Monday at Sacred Heart Cathedral Church, Bishop of Lahore Diocese the Rt. Rev. Alexander John Malik officiated as eminent Christian politicians, human rights activists, Christian clergymen and many others gathered to pay their respects amid heavy police contingents.
After the funeral, her body was taken to her home in the Sammanabad slum of Arriya Nagar, where a throng of neighbors and Christian mourners gathered, chanting for justice. Shazia's coffin was then taken to Miani Sahib Christian Cemetery, where she was buried amid cries and tears.
Present at the burial ceremonies were Provincial Minister of Punjab for Minorities Affairs Kamran Michael, Federal Minister for Minorities Affairs Bhatti, Christian members of Punjab Parliament Tahir Naveed Chaudhary and Khalil Tahir Sindhu, Bishop Albert Javed, Bishop Samuel Azariah, National Director of the Center for Legal Aid Assistance and Settlement Joseph Francis and other Christian leaders.
In a joint statement issued that day in Lahore, Catholic Archbishop Lawrence John Saldanha and Peter Jacob, executive secretary of the National Council for Justice and Peace, said that Shazia's death was not an isolated incident, but that violence against the more than 10 million child laborers in the country is commonplace.
Posted in Christianity, Islam, Pakistan, Roman Catholicism	| Tagged abuse, accept, accusers, activists, airwaves, Albert Javed, alleged, allowed, amount, announced, anonymity, Archbishop, arrested, Arriya Nagar, Asif Ali Zardari, attempt, attorney, badly, beat, beaten, beating, bishop, blind, blood, blows, blunt, body, bonded, burial, buried, buy, cannot, cares, case, cases, causes, Center for Legal Aid Assistance and Settlement, ceremonies, challenge, changed, channels, chanted, chants, charged, charges, Chaudhary Muhammad Naeem, chew, Chief Chemical Examiner's Forensic Lab, Chief Minister, child, Christian, Christianity, Christians, clergymen, coffin, commonplace, compensate, complained, complaint, conclude, condition, consequences, contingents, contrary, country, court, courtroom, covered, cries, critically, cruelly, daring, daughter, daughters, dead, death, Defense A-Division Police, deliberately, deteriorated, determine, died, diocese, dire, disobedient, District and Sessions Court Lahore, doctors, down, dragged, driving, duty, efforts, eminent, enraged, escape, escorted, executive secretary, expenses, face, fallen, family, Federal Minister for Minorities Affairs, fighting, file, FIR, First Information Report, flatly, food, forced, former, front, funeral, gathered, gift, girl, grabbed, gradually, groups, hair, handcuffed, happens, harm, heard, hearing, heavy, help, high-profile, high-ranking, highlighted, hospital, hours, house, human rights, hunger, hurling, husband, inaction, incident, income, indicated, inhumanely, initial, injuries, insane, inside, instrument, investigating, investigations, Islam, Islamabad, isolated, issued, Jinnah Hospital Lahore, joint, Joseph Francis, justice, Kamran Michael, key, Khalil Tahir Sindhu, kidneys, laborer, laborers, Lahore, Lahore Bar Association, Lahore High Court, lawn, Lawrence John Saldanha, lawyer, lawyers, leaders, leave, life, listen, Litton Road, liver, living, local, long, malnourishment, man, married, matter, Mayo Hospital Morgue, media, medical report, medicines, members, mercy, Miani Sahib Christian Cemetery, Minister of Minorities Affairs, minority, misinformation, misuse, mother, mourners, murder, Muslim, muslims, Nasreen Bibi, nation, National Council for Justice and Peace, national director, neighbor, night, observed, offer, offered, officers, official, officiated, older, Pakistan, Pakistani, parents, Parliament, pay, Persecution, Peter Jacob, picking, piece, pledged, police, police station, politicians, poor, poverty, power, predominantly, present, President, pressure, promised, promising, protest, protested, Provincial Minister of Punjab for Minorities Affairs, public, Punjab. assembly, push, questioning, Rafiq Masih, raping, rare, refrigerator, refused, registered, relatives, release, residence, resist, respects, retrieve, Right Rev. Alexander John Malik, rights, Roman Catholic, Roman Catholicism, Roman Catholics, routinely, Sacred Heart Cathedral Church, Sammanabad, samples, Samuel Azariah, secret, send, servant, Shahbaz Bhatti, Shahbaz Sharif, sharp-edged, Shaukat Ali Agha, Shazia Bashir Masih, silence, sister-in-law, slogans, slum, small, son, source, spotlight, spurs, staged, stairs, starvation, stated, statement, statements, stolen, stomach, stubborn, subsequently, succumbed, sugar cane, summarily, support, swooped, Tahir Naveed Chaudhary, tears, television, thrashed, threatening, threats, throng, tissue, torture, tortured, tried, uncle, uncommon, unresponsiveness, viciously, violence, violent, visited, weapon, widow, wife, witnessed, work, working, wounds, wrongdoing, yelling | Leave a comment
Massive Mob in Indonesia Protests Christmas Eve Service
Posted on January 4, 2010 by particularkev
Church meeting in tent has sought building permit for years.
JAKARTA, Indonesia, January 4 (CDN) — More than 1,000 people protested the Christmas Eve service of a church meeting in a makeshift facility in Bekasi, West Java.
Christians of the Filadelfia Huria Kristen Batak Protestan Church (HKBP) fearfully held their service, including the Lord's Supper, in spite of the disturbance.
With the Dec. 24 service scheduled to start at 9 p.m., the mob had already gathered at 6 p.m., shouting demands that it not take place and that the church be disbanded because it did not have permits. The church erected a tent and a semi-permanent structure for the service.
The church does not yet have a permanent building, though the congregation has been trying to obtain permission for one for years, church leaders said. The protestors claimed that the Christmas service could not be held at the site because a church building permit had not been issued.
Hundreds of police and soldiers were on hand to guard the 200 worshippers against the protestors. The service continued until the end, with police accompanying worshippers as they left. Other police and soldiers guarded the property after the mob had dispersed.
The Rev. Palti Panjaitan said that the crowd blocked the street in front of the site in an area of up to 200 meters.
"They blocked vehicles and people trying to get to the church," the pastor said. "However, after negotiations, our congregation was able to pass, and the service was held on time."
Bekasi Police Chief Herri Wibowo said that the church had not obtained citizens' approval or recommendations from either the local government or the Bekasi office of the Department of Religion.
"The mob in the street rejects the building of a church and holding of worship services because permits have not been granted," Herri said.
The church lot is located in the Ninth ward of Jejalan village in Bekasi district. A captain of the Ninth ward who goes by the single name of Bongkon said that the church permit application has been in process for at least two years.
"Some of the citizens have signed the letter agreeing to the church, but some have not agreed," said Bongkon. "The church claims that they have permission and will only use the place temporarily."
Church elder Tigor Tampubolon said that the church purchased the land with the intention of constructing a worship building from the beginning. He said the seller of the land and the village leader agreed to construction of a church building, but that sub-district level officials have created delays.
Thus far Filadelfia HKBP Church has held services in the tent. Tampubolon said he hopes that local residents will not bother the congregation's future worship.
"Every citizen has the right to worship in his own way," he said. "There is no need to request permission from the block or ward captains, or from the government."
Pastor Panjaitan said that the church has submitted all the necessary papers for a construction permit for a permanent building, but that formal permission has not yet been issued.
"The church building will go up as soon as the permit is issued," he told Compass.
On Dec. 27 another demonstration took place during Sunday worship, with a mob gathering and demanding that services cease. This crowd, however, was not as big as the one that tried to stop the Christmas Eve service.
Since then, services have been held in the homes of various church members on a rotating basis.
In 2008 there was another threat to close the church. The captain from the Fourth block of the 10th ward sent the church a letter and personally visited the pastor with a community request to stop worship services.
Posted in Christianity, Indonesia, Islam	| Tagged 10th, 2000, 2006, 2008, ;and, able, accompanying, active, agreed, agreeing, application, area, basis, beginning, Bekasi, big, Block, blocked, Bongkon, building, building permit, captain, cease, Christian, Christianity, Christians, Christmas, Christmas Eve, church, citizens, citizens' approval, claimed, claims, close, community, congregation, constructing, continued, created, crowd, delays, demands, demonstration, Department of Religion, disbanded, dispersed, district, disturbance, document, elder, end, erected, facility, fearfully, Filadelfia Huria Kristen Batak Protestan Church, formal, fourth, front, future, gathered, government, guard, guarded, held, Herri Wibowo, HKBP, hold, holding, home, including, Indonesia, intention, Islam, issued, Jakarta, Jejalan, leaders, left, letter, level, local, located, Lord's Supper, lot, makeshift, massive, meeting, members, mob, Muslim, muslims, name, necessary, need, negotiations, Ninth, obtain, office, officials, Palti Panjaitan, Panijaitan, papers, pass, Pastor, people, permanent, permission, permits, Persecution, personally, police, Police Chief, pressured, process, promising, property, protested, protestors, protests, purchased, recommendations, rejects, request, residents, Rev, right, rotating, scheduled, seller, semi-permanent, service, shouting, sign, signed, single, site, soldiers, sought, start, stop, street, structure, sub-district, submitted, swarmed, temporaily, tent, threat, Tigor Tampubolon, time, various, vehicles, village, visited, ward, West Java, worshippers | Leave a comment
Christians in Vietnam Hold Another Historic Celebration
Largest-ever event in northern part of country encourages house churches.
HANOI, December 21 (CDN) — For the second time in 10 days, Protestant history was made in Vietnam yesterday when 12,000 people gathered for a Christmas rally here.
The event, which took place in the large square in front of the entrance to My Dinh National Stadium in the heart of Hanoi, was said to be 10 times larger than any prior Protestant gathering in history in northern Vietnam. On Dec. 11 in southern Vietnam, an estimated 40,000 people attended a Christmas celebration in Ho Chi Minh City (see "Unprecedented Christmas Gathering Held in Vietnam").
Local sources said long-requested written permission for the event, entitled "Praise Jesus Together," never came in spite of several reminders. But four days before the event was to take place, Hanoi authorities and police told organizers – in words as close as they would get to granting permission – that they would "not interfere."
"One can hardly overestimate the importance of such an event in the lives of northern house church Christians," said one long-time Compass source. "For many, this will have been the first time to join in a large crowd with other Christians, to feel the growing power of their movement, to hear, see and participate in the high quality, and deeply spiritual mass worship."
The day before the event, Christians gathered near the stadium for final prayer and to help with preparations. Witnesses said the huge public square at the entrance to the stadium was arrayed with thousands of stools rather than chairs – plastic, backless, and bright blue and red. In 10-foot tall letters, "JESUS' was emblazoned on the backdrop to the stage.
Invitations had been sent through house church networks even as official permission for the event was still pending. When church leaders decided to move ahead only days before, Christians were asked to send out mass invitations by text-message, leading some to speculate whether this may have been the largest ever such messaging for a Christian event.
Nearby Christians as well as those bussed from more distant areas began to fill the venue hours before the event. They were not dissuaded by a Hanoi cool spell of 12 Celsius (56 Fahrenheit) with a chill wind. Bundled in thick jackets, their heads wrapped in scarves, they waited expectantly without complaint.
They were not disappointed. Witnesses said the throng deeply appreciated a program of outstanding music and dance, a powerful personal narrative followed by a gospel message and an extended time for prayer for the nation. As at the previous event in Ho Chi Minh City on Dec. 11 that house church Christians had long worked and prayed for, the program featured music from Jackson Family Ministries of the United States.
In a world of globalized gospel and praise choruses, songs included hymns such as "How Great Thou Art" as well as classic praise songs such as "Sing Hallelujah to the Lord." Witnesses said the music was accompanied by tasteful, emotionally engaging dance. Top Vietnamese artists performed, including news songs by Vietnamese songwriters, and a Vietnamese choir of 80 sang, as did a Korean choir.
A young man in his 30s who now pastors two house churches told the crowd how an encounter with Jesus proved more powerful than the grip of drug addiction. His story, simply and humbly told, proved an effective bridge to a Christmas evangelistic message by Pastor Pham Tuan Nhuong of the Word of Life house church. Then the winsome Pastor Pham Dinh Nhan, a top southern house church leader, gave a disarming but strong invitation to follow Jesus, witnesses said.
Organizers said approximately 2,000 people then poured forward in response, packing the large area in front of the stage.
The final portion of the program included a time of intense prayer for the nation, with pastors confessing and praying for righteousness for Vietnam's leaders, as well as for God's protection and blessing on their land. In their prayers they claimed Vietnam for Christ, witnesses said.
A high point for the throng was the superimposing of a large white cross on a yellow map of Vietnam on the backdrop. As the Korean choir sang a spirited revival hymn, the crowd raised thousands of hands and exploded in sound.
"The sound of crying, of praise, of prayer were blended as one, beseeching Almighty God for spiritual revival in Vietnam," said one participant.
The event was streamed live at www.hoithanh.com for Vietnamese and others around the world to see.
Until recently – and still in some places – most Vietnamese meet in small groups in homes knowing at any time there could be a hostile knock on the door, a source said.
"None of these groups is registered or recognized by the government," the source said of the crowd at yesterday's event. "What you see is Christians standing up!"
In addition to this event and the Dec. 11 event in Ho Chi Minh City, a large public Christmas rally was held by the Evangelical Church of Vietnam (North) at the Hoang Nhi church in Nam Dinh Province on Saturday (Dec. 19). Some 2,500 people gathered in the church's large courtyard, with sources saying 200 responded to an invitation to follow Christ.
In Tuy Hoa, on the coast of central Vietnam, a Christmas program is planned for Saturday (Dec. 26) in a 4,000- seat theater. Many smaller events are also planned in other areas, part of an unprecedented public display by Vietnam's Protestants.
At the same time, the freedom for Christians tolerated in large cities has not reached some more remote parts of the country, where ethnic minority Christians live. In Dien Bien Dong district of Dien Bien Province, authorities on Tuesday (Dec. 15) orchestrated immense ethnic social pressure on a new Christian couple to recant. The couple told Compass that police added their own pressure.
"The police said they would beat me to death, and take away all my possessions, leaving my wife a widow, and my children orphans with no place to live," the husband told Compass. "I folded. I signed promising that I would no longer follow God. I really want to, but it is very, very hard to be a believer where we live, as the officials will not allow us."
Posted in Christianity, Christmas, Communism, Special Days, Vietnam	| Tagged accompanied, added, addiction, allow, Almighty, appreciated, areas, arrayed, artists, attended, authorities, backdrop, backless, beat, began, believer, beseeching, blended, blessing, blue, bridge, bright, bundled, bussed, celebration, central, chairs, children, chill, choir, choruses, Christ, Christian, Christianity, Christians, Christmas, church, cities, claimed, classic, close, coast, Communism, communist, communists, complaint, confessing, cool, country, couple, courtyard, cross, crowd, crying, dance, death, decided, deeply, Dien Bien Dong, Dien Bien Province, disappointed, disarming, display, dissuaded, distant, district, door, drug, effective, emblazoned, emotionally, encounter, encourages, engaging, entitled, entrance, estimated, ethnic, Evangelical Church of Vietnam (North), evangelistic, event, ever, expectantly, exploded, extended, featured, fill, Final, first, folded, follow, forward, freedom, front, gathered, gathering, globalized, God, gospel, government, granting, grip, groups, growing, hands, Hanoi, hard, heads, hear, heart, held, help, high, historic, History, Ho Chi Minh City, Hoang Nhi Church, hold, homes, hostile, house church, house churches, How Great Thou Art, huge, humbly, husband, hymns, immense, importance, included, interfere, invitation, invitations, jackets, Jackson Family Ministries, Jesus, join, knock, knowing, Korean, land, large, larger, largest, latter, leader, leaders, leading, leaving, live, lives, local, man, map, mass, meet, message, messaging, minority, movement, music, My Dinh National Stadium, Nam Dinh Province, narrative, nation, networks, new, northern, official, orchestrated, organizers, orphans, outstanding, overestimate, own, packing, part, participant, participate, Pastor, pastors, pending, people, performed, permission, Persecution, personal, Pham Dinh Nhan, Pham Tuan Nhuong, place, places, planned, plastic, point, police, portion, possessions, poured, power, powerful, praise, Praise Jesus Together, prayed, prayer, prayers, preparations, pressure, previous, prior, program, promising, protection, Protestant, Protestants, proved, public, quality, raised, rally, reached, recant, recently, recognized, red, registered, reminders, remore, response, revival, righteousness, sang, scarves, seat, second, see, send, signed, simply, Sing Hallelujah to the Lord, small, smaller, social, songs, songwriters, sound, southern, speculate, spell, spirited, spiritual, spite, square, stadium, stage, standing, stools, story, streamed, strong, superimposing, tasteful, text message, theater, thick, throng, time, told, tolerated, top, Tuy Hoa, United States, unprecedented, unpredented, USA, venue, Vietnam, Vietnamese, white, widow, wife, wind, winsome, without, witnesses, Word of Life, words, worked, world, worship, wrapped, written, yellow, young | Leave a comment
Egyptian Christian women forced to marry, convert to Islam
Coptic Christian women in Egypt are being forced to marry and convert to Islam and that oppression is part of a larger pattern of persecution against Christians facilitated by the Egyptian government, according to two recent reports, writes Baptist Press.
"Cases of abduction, forced conversion and marriage are usually accompanied by acts of violence which include rape, beatings, deprivation of food and other forms of physical and mental abuse," said a new assessment by Christian Solidarity International and the Coptic Foundation for Human Rights.
At the same time, the 2009 U.S. State Department report on international religious freedom noted the Egyptian government fails to prosecute crimes against Copts and even has taken a hand in destroying church property and, in one case, a government official reportedly raped a woman who had converted from Islam to Christianity.
About 90 percent of the Egyptian population is Sunni Muslim, and the rest primarily identify themselves as Coptic Christians, according to the Human Rights Watch report "Prohibited Identities: State Interference with Religious Freedom." Copts typically are underprivileged and experience discrimination.
Egyptian sex traffickers entice Coptic Christian women from low-income families by promising an escape from poverty, then force the women into Muslim "marriages" or outright slavery, according to the CSI/CFHR report.
"Such abuse remains covered in a cloak of silence and tacit acceptance, even though it is against the constitutional affirmations of civil rights," the report said.
Once a Coptic girl is coerced into marriage and Islamic conversion, her family will not take her back, and if she leaves her "husband," she is considered a "disgrace" to her family, the report said. In addition, the Coptic Orthodox Church excommunicates female members who wed Muslim men, the State Department said.
Since Islam is the "religion of state" in Egypt, conversion to Islam is easy, while returning to Christianity is unacceptable, the HRW report said. The Civil Status Department, which issues national identity cards, sometimes refuses to give Coptic women a new card identifying her as Christian since it is considered apostasy for a Coptic woman to leave Islam, even to return to her religion of origin.
Egyptian law requires every citizen to have an identity card for purposes such as voting, employment and education.
Most of the cases of Coptic women being coerced into marriage are not reported and "observers, including human rights groups, find it extremely difficult to determine whether compulsion was used, as most cases involve a female Copt who converts to Islam when she marries a Muslim male," the State Department report said.
In two examples of coerced conversion, CSI/CFHR reported Nov. 10:
— An Egyptian woman was raped and beaten since she would not have sex with the man she was forced to marry. The Coptic cross on her wrist was later removed with acid.
— Another woman was forced to marry a Muslim lawyer and work for him in "slave-like conditions" for five years.
John Eibner, CSI's chief executive officer, urged President Obama in a letter to combat the trafficking of Christian women and girls in Egypt and to make sure the U.S. makes this issue a priority in its relations with Egypt.
"Trafficking of Christian women in Egypt is not a new phenomenon…. But this problem has now reached boiling point within Egypt's Coptic community, which views it as symptomatic of a much broader pattern of religious persecution," Eibner said in his letter.
Posted in Barack Obama, Barrack Obama, Christianity, Egypt, Islam, Orthodox	| Tagged abduction, abuse, acceptance, accompanied, acid, Acts, affirmations, against, apostasy, assessment, beaten, beatings, boiling, broader, card, cases, chief executive officer, Christian, Christian Solidarity International, Christianity, Christians, church, citizen, civil, Civil Status Department, cloak, coerced, combat, community, compulsion, conditions, considered, constitutional, conversion, convert, Coptic, Coptic Foundation for Human Rights, Coptic Orthodox Church, Copts, covered, crimes, cross, CSI, deprivation, destroying, determine, difficult, Discrimination, disgrace, easy, education, Egypt, Egyptian, employment, entice, escape, examples, excommunicates, experience, extremely, facilitated, fails, families, family, female, food, force, forced, forms, girl, girls, give, government, groups, Human Rights Watch, husband, identify, identifying, identities, identity cards, include, income, interference, international, involve, Islam, Islamic, issue, issues, John Eibner, larger, law, lawyer, leaves, letter, low, male, marriage, marries, marry, members, men, mental, Muslim, muslims, national, new, noted, Obama, observers, official, oppression, origin, outright, part, pattern, Persecution, phenomenon, physical, point, poverty, President, primarily, priority, problem, prohibited, promising, property, prosecute, purposes, rape, reached, refuses, relations, religion, religious freedom, removed, report, reportedly, requires, returning, rights, sex, silence, slave-like, slavery, state, Sunni, symptomatic, tacit, traffickers, trafficking, U.S. Department of State, unacceptable, underprivileged, urged, USA, used, views, violence, voting, wed, woman, women, work, wrist | Leave a comment
ISRAEL: CHURCH SHOWERED WITH STONES IN NORTH
With attacks mounting, parishioners fear hostilities could escalate.
MIGDAL HA-EMEQ, Israel, June 22
(Compass Direct News) – When the congregation at St. Nicolay church in this northern Israeli town gathered on that quiet Friday morning of May 29, they never expected to be showered with stones.
The Russian Orthodox worshipers, including many women, children and the elderly, had filled the small building to overflow with several outside when they were stunned by the rain of stones. Some were injured and received medical care.
"The church was crawling with people – the worshipers stood not only inside the church, but also outside, as the building is very small, when suddenly a few young men started throwing stones at the direction of our courtyard," Oleg Usenkov, press secretary of the church told Compass. "Young children were crying, everyone was very frightened."
The church had also been attacked earlier that week, during a wedding ceremony. Stones and rotten eggs were thrown from the street, hitting guests as they arrived.
The same night, the Rev. Roman Radwan, priest of St. Nicolay church, filed a complaint at the police station. An officer issued a document to confirm that he had filed an official complaint and sent him home, promising that measures would be taken. But within 24 hours, the attackers again appeared at the church's doorway and no police were present to deter them – although the police station is located a few dozen meters from the church.
The identity of the assailants is unknown – a police officer said the complaint "lacked the exact description of the attackers" – but eye-witnesses claimed they were ultra-orthodox yeshiva students who frequently cursed the church on their way to the school or synagogue.
"They often assault us verbally, curse and yell at us, although we tried to explain that this is a place of worship, a holy place," said a frustrated Usenkov, adding that the police inaction amounts to nonfeasance.
Another member of the congregation identified only as Nina, born in Moscow and now living in Nazeret Ilit, said that she didn't understand where all the hatred is coming from.
"They are heading to the yeshiva or going back home after praying at the synagogue – are they inspired to attack us during their prayers?" she said. "I hope not. We are all Israeli citizens, we pay taxes, serve in the army and are entitled to freedom of choice when it comes to religion."
She and other members of the congregation fear hostilities could escalate quickly if measures are not taken soon. Already the small building, which barely accommodates the worshipers, is surrounded by a stone fence by order of Migdal ha-Emeq officials following a series of arson attempts and other attacks.
Members of the congregation, a few hundred Christians from Migdal ha-Emeq, Afula, Haifa, Nazareth and other Israeli cities still remember how their building was vandalized in June 2006. Under cover of darkness, unidentified men broke in and broke icons and modest decorations, smashed windows and stole crosses.
The identity of those responsible remains unknown.
Established in 2005, the church building was constructed to meet the needs of Christians who do not belong to the Arab Christian minority, mostly Russians who came to Israel from the former Soviet Union in the 1990s. Besides the Christians, these immigrants included other non-Jews, as well as atheistic Jews and Jewish converts to Christianity.
No official data on religious make-up of the immigrants are available, especially since many fear deportation or persecution for talking openly about their faith, but Usenkov – a Russian Jew who converted to Christianity after immigrating to Israel in the 1990s – said he believes there are at least 300,000 Christians of Russian or Russian-Jewish origin who live in Israel today.
According to Israeli law, non-Jewish relatives of a Jew are also entitled to citizenship, but Jews who have converted to other faiths are denied it.
Most of the Russian and Russian-Jewish Christians in Israel belong to the Russian Orthodox Church and find it difficult to adjust to Greek or Arabic services common in the Greek Orthodox churches of Israel. Since St. Nicolay's church opened its doors, hundreds of worshipers from across Israel have visited it.
"Many people fear they might pass away without seeing a priest, or they dream of a Christian wedding service," said Radwan, an Israeli-Arab whose family once owned the land on which the St. Nicolay church is located. "Here we can answer their needs. We do not want to harm anyone and wish that no one would harm us."
Posted in Christianity, Islam, Israel, Jews	| Tagged 2005, accomodates, according, across, adjust, Afula, amounts, answer, appeared, Arab, Arabic, army, arrived, arson, assailants, atheistic, attack, attacked, attackers, attacks, attempts, barely, believes, belong, born, broke, building, care, ceremony, children, choice, Christian, Christianity, Christians, church, churches, cities, citizens, citizenship, claimed, common, complaint, confirm, congregation, constructed, converted, converts, courtyard, cover, crawling, crosses, crying, cursed, darkness, data, decorations, denied, deportation, description, deter, difficult, direction, document, doors, doorway, dream, earlier, elderly, entitled, escalate, established, exact, expected, eye-witnesses, faith, faiths, family, fear, fense, filed, filled, former, freedom, frequently, Friday, frightened, frustrated, gathered, Greek, Greek Orthodox, guests, Haifa, harm, hatred, heading, hitting, Holy, home, hope, hostilities, icons, identity, immigrants, immigrating, inaction, including, injured, inside, inspired, Israel, Israeli, issued, Jewish, lacked, land, law, live, located, make-up, measures, medical, meet, member, men, Migdal Ha-Emeq, minority, modest, morning, Moscow, mounting, Nazareth, Nazeret Ilit, needs, night, Nina, non-Jews, nonfeasance, north, northern, officer, official, Oleg Usenkov, opened, openly, origin, Orthodox, outside, overflow, owned, parishioners, pay, people, Persecution, place, police, police station, prayers, praying, present, press secretary, priest, promising, quickly, quiet, rain, received, relatives, religion, remains, remember, responsible, rev. Roman Radwan, rotten eggs, Russian, Russians, school, series, serve, services, showered, small, smashed, Soviet Union, St. Nicolay Church, started, stole, stones, street, students, stunned, suddenly, surrounded, synagogue, taken, talking, taxes, throwing, thrown, town, ultra-orthodox, understand, unidentified, unknown, vandalized, verbally, visited, way, wedding, week, windows, wish, women, worshippers, yell, yeshiva, young | Leave a comment


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Multimodal Liter...
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Roadmap to Establish the Building Energy Testing and Certification (BETCC) Center at Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia
Humas UPI | 25/10/2022 | Research Collaboration | No Comments
Recently, the team comprising of experts from Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia (UPI), University of Florida (UF), and Milenium Solutions (now EnviroECOats) won the global Million Cool Roofs (MCR) Challenge conducted by Kigali Cooling Efficiency Program (now Clean Cooling Collaborative) in collaboration with the Global Cool Cities Alliance (GCCA). The prize money will be used to scale up the deployment of solar-reflective "cool" roofs in the Republic of Indonesia and to establish a Building Energy Testing and Certification Center (BETCC) at UPI.
As international visiting scholars to the UF and with the support of WinBuild Inc., an energy consulting company in Fairfax, Virginia, Dr. Beta Paramita (Project Lead of MCR) and Try Ramadan of UPI are exploring opportunities for further research collaboration with other US universities. During their visit here, in the US, they will be visiting the US national laboratories such as Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), and Oakridge National Laboratory (ORNL) whey they will undergo necessary trainings for the establishment of BETCC at UPI. The team will also meet with key Climateworks Foundation and US- Department of Energy's (DOE) Net Zero World (NZW) Program staff to explore collaboration.
This fits well with objectives of US collaboration with the Republic of Indonesia in the NZE Program and provide capacity building for the Indonesian partners as well. These activities are supported by World Class University (WCU) Program of UPI, funded by Indonesia Endowment Fund for Education (LPDP). The visiting scholars started their journey on October 18th. They met with Prof. Diah Ayu Maharani (Education and Culture attaché ) and Bambang S. Achirudin (Education and Culture attaché affairs ) at the Embassy of The Republic of Indonesia on Wednesday 19th of October. They briefed the embassy staff about their program in the USA. Dr. Diah Ayu Maharani and Bambang S. Achirudin both were very supportive and excited about the NZW opportunity, and especially the University collaboration.
From left to right: Try Ramadhan, Prof. Diah Ayu Maharani, Dr. Beta Paramita, Bambang S. Achirudin, and Bipin Shah
Currently, the visiting scholars are at UF with whom they have signed an international collaborative agreement for mutual exchange of research, faculty, and students. Under this agreement, project leads Dr. Beta Paramita from UPI and Dr. Ravi Srinivasan from the M.E., Rinker School of Construction Management at UF continue to work on education curriculum and sustainable low-income housing design and development.
Try Ramadhan; Dr. Beta Paramita; Dean of DCP-UF, Prof. Chimay Anumba; and Director of Graduate Programs and Research, Dr. Ravi Srinivasan
The visiting scholars will also work with Mr. Bipin Shah, WinBuild Inc. which is already engaged with UF on several collaborative research and development of niche energy technologies. WinBuild was instrumental in facilitating the cool roof technology transfer to Indonesia under license agreement to UPI. In addition, WinBuild is helping these researchers to establish an energy and testing center at the UPI and on design of prefabricated sustainable low-income housing for developing countries.
UPI – WinBuild visit to Indonesian Embassy, 19th October 2022
The engagement with the US Net Zero World (NWZ) program will help to works closely with its Indonesian partners on high-performance building technologies, laboratory testing, and standards development. The Building Energy Testing and Certification Center at UPI will support implementation of the building energy codes and standards development and widespread implementation in the archipelago. They will be engaging with NZW program and US national laboratories from Oct 30 to Nov 14 on testing building envelope technologies and standards developments.
The Indonesian researchers will visit Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) as a part of the US NZW initiative to learn about the instruments used for the testing of building insulation materials, sun exposure and window durability, and reflective roof materials. During the training workshop at these labs, the Indonesian researchers will learn how to test and measure cool roof material solar reflectance, and thermal emittance. LBNL researchers will demonstrated how to conduct cool roof accelerated aging, an R&D 100 Award-winning, to test cool roof aged thermal properties and adopt the same for Indonesia, while ORNL will showcase the world-renowned 3D-Printing laboratory and NREL will showcase the Durability and Solar laboratory and it state of an art equipment's. These knowledgebases will assist in incorporating the requirements in the Indonesian building energy codes. During their visit to ORNL the scholars will also visit University of Tennessee and explore collaboration opportunities.
The NZW building sector technical lead Dr. Wei Feng from LBNL introduced to the visiting researchers on long-term energy and CO2 emissions modeling research and cost-benefit analysis. The modeling work showed that both passive and active cooling technologies can help Indonesia effectively reduce its cooling energy demand.
NZW program aims to help its partner countries to build capacity for energy-efficient technology testing and standard development. The knowledge from laboratory training will be used to develop standards of building envelope technology testing, develop technology rating methods, and upgrade building codes and standards in Indonesia.
Multimodal Literacy in The Classroom: Is it central?
Board of Trustees Sermon for The UPI Students
Indonesian Medical Council Support The Establisment of The Faculties of Medicine Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia
Five UPI Students Engage in Campus Asia Summer School of Five Countries in Japan
Campus Activity
Isola News

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Sea-Eye trafficking people to the EU. Facebook
'Sea-Eye' demands protection from German government
With a new decree, the Italian government is trying to control the activities of self-proclaimed sea rescuers in the Mediterranean. The Sea-Eye association is therefore calling on the German government to protect them. The decree will be ignored, they say.
Published: December 31, 2022, 8:16 am
The self-proclaimed sea rescuers of the Sea-Eye association have called on the German government to protect them from the Italian authorities during their activities in the Mediterranean. The government in Rome had previously passed a decree to control sea rescue off Italy's coasts.
"We reject this so-called code of conduct and fear that this will lead to conflicts with the Italian authorities. We therefore expect the Federal Government to protect the sea rescue organizations flying the German flag from the illegal behavior of the Italian authorities and to give us decisive support in the event of a conflict," stressed Sea-Eye board member Annika Fischer in a press release on Friday. Italy has no right to regulate the behavior of ships flying the German flag in international waters.
Sea-Watch also announces resistance
On Wednesday, the Italian government issued a decree that obliges self-proclaimed sea rescuers to head for a port immediately after salvaging shipwrecked people. "The provisions aim to ensure the safety of persons recovered at sea in accordance with national and international law," the statement said.
The self-proclaimed sea rescuers of the Sea-Watch association also rejected the decree of the cabinet of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni (Fratelli d'Italia). "The new Italian government decree is an invitation to drown. Forcing ships into port violates the duty to rescue other people in distress," said Sea Watch spokesman Oliver Kulikowski. He also announced that the decree would be opposed.
After taking office, the Italian government began tightening controls on refugee organizations operating in the Mediterranean. Since then, there have been repeated disputes with the German government and the EU.
Italy drastically restricts rescue operations
Under Prime Minister Meloni's government, Italy has taken a hard line on NGOs rescuing migrants. The new decree now prescribes further rules for civil sea rescuers. These are intended to limit the rescue operations.
It makes it more difficult for rescue ships to land in southern Italy. The cabinet clearly wants to limit systematic rescue operations by NGO ships that bring migrants to Italy. According to media reports, rescued refugees should submit their asylum application on board the rescue ships, which should be accepted by the ship's flag state.
NGO ships that carry out rescue operations must "meet the requirements of technical and nautical suitability for safe navigation," according to the immigration decree, Italian media outlets reported.
According to another provision of the decree, in the event of an operation in international waters, the rescuers must request a port that the ship must call at immediately after the rescue, without staying at sea for days waiting for other possible rescues, according to government sources in Rome.
NGOs that do not follow the rules are to be fined 50 000 euros. The penalty will be imposed on the ship's captain and the shipowner. The confiscation of the ship is also threatened.
Criticism of the Bishops' Conference
The Italian Bishops' Conference CEI criticized the decree issued by the government in Rome. Gian Carlo Perego, Archbishop and head of the Commission on Migration at the Italian Bishops' Conference, said aspects of the provision were inconsistent with international law and the law of the sea.
But in Europe, the supporters of a more decentralized "Europe of fatherlands" are gaining weight. Above all, the conservative-patriotic forces in Sweden and Italy that have come into power in recent months are strengthening the camp of those who are skeptical about a superstate graced by Brussels.
Polish Prime Minister Morawiecki has since declared that he and his Italian colleague Meloni wanted to make the EU a union of fatherlands again. The Polish head of government told the Italian media: "We do not believe in a superstate with 27 EU member states. We want a return to a Union of Homelands."
Morawiecki pointed out that Europe must choose between real solidarity among European states or the model of the superstate, in which decisions are made without regard for the smaller members in the largest capitals.
The new Italian head of government from the right-wing Fratelli d'Italia (FdI) recently let it be known that she wanted her country to follow the government policies of Poland and the Czech Republic.
New realism in Sweden
As a result of the conservative takeover of government in Sweden, a sense of reality is now evident in Stockholm. In his first Christmas address, new Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson painted a bleak picture of his country's situation. "Sweden is in a very serious situation," said Kristersson.
The head of government referred to the global climate crisis, but also to the three parallel crises that he believes are threatening the country: the internal security crisis with deadly immigrant gang violence, the external security crisis with the "Russian aggression against Ukraine" and the energy crisis in Europe.
A particular challenge, however, is internal violence, said Kristersson – no other EU country has a problem remotely as serious as Sweden; the country is largely perceived abroad as peaceful. From the beginning of the year to mid-December there were 378 gun attacks in Sweden, killing 60 and injuring 104. In Denmark and Norway, on the other hand, there were only four deaths each and in Finland two.
Since October, Sweden has been governed by a bourgeois-conservative minority government made up of the Moderate Party, Christian Democrats and Liberals, which is tolerated by the right-wing Sweden Democrats.
Arrested in Niger after smuggling 22 000 migrants to Europe
It is a big catch. The head of an illegal immigration network was arrested on 20 December in Niger with the help of French police, France Info reported on Friday 30 December. According to information from the Directorate for International Security Cooperation (DCIS) transmitted to the public radio station, during his police custody, the 29-year-old individual admitted to illegally smuggling 22 000 migrants, at a rate of 60 per week for seven years, between Niger and European countries, including France, but also Italy and Spain.
The arrest of this network leader, of Libyan nationality, was carried out after several months of joint investigation by French, Spanish and Nigerian police officers, and coordinated by the Directorate for International Security Cooperation. The individual was detained in Niamey, the capital of Niger.
His mobile phone was seized and other arrests of "accomplices could take place in the coming weeks," the DCIS told French outlet CNews. Most of them came from Nigeria or Cameroon, these migrants had to pay between 1 500 and 2 000 euros to make the crossing. By contacting them via the Internet, the network promised them a new life in Europe.