COMPASS DIRECTGlobal News from the Frontlines

October 8, 2004

Compass Direct is distributed monthly to raise awareness of Christians worldwide who are persecuted for their faith. Articles may be reprinted or edited by active subscribers for use in other media, provided Compass Direct is acknowledged as the source of the material.

Copyright 2004 Compass Direct

****************************************************************************IN THIS ISSUE

AFGANISTAN

Five Christians MartyredTaliban militants target converts to Christianity.

CHINA

Christians Appeal Labor Camp PunishmentSentencing without trial contradicts China’s claim of religious freedom.

ERITREA

Five More Evangelicals Arrested ***Three Protestant pastors kept incommunicado.

HAITI

Christians Face Increasing RiskMurder of prominent radio evangelist exposes growing anarchy.

INDIA

Tribal Christians Return to HinduismWorld Hindu Council steps up ‘reconversion’ campaign in Orissa.

Missionaries of Charity Attacked in KeralaHindu extremists claim nuns entice Hindus to adopt Christianity.

INDONESIA

Early Release for Pastor *** Rinaldy Damanik to be released in November.

Authorities Close 12 Churches in Bandung ***Congregations denied building permits, forbidden to worship in private homes.

IRAN

Police Detain 80 EvangelicalsTen pastors remain under arrest.

Police Release 10 Evangelical PastorsNo reasons given for four-day detention.

One Pastor Still Jailed *** Whereabouts of evangelical convert from Islam unknown.

JORDAN

Court Postpones Widow’s ‘Last’ Hearing *** Muslim guardian fails to appear.

MEXICO

Evangelical Refugees Demand JusticeFourteen families occupy municipal building in Chiapas to publicize their plight.

NIGERIA

Islamic Sect Attacks VillagersMilitants kidnap seven Christians in raids on rural communities.

PAKISTAN

Children Kidnapped by Muslim Father ***Judge files criminal charges against abductor.

Police ‘Stumped’ on Christian Murders ***Survivors of Karachi massacre remain under threat.

Mental Patient Sentenced to Life in Prison *** Accused Christian judged ‘guilty’ of blasphemy.

Another Pastor Kidnapped and BeatenCaptors insist, ‘Stop praying for Muslims.’

Judge Orders Muslim Father Arrested ***Whereabouts of abducted children still unknown.

Arrest Warrants Issued for Police Officers ***Two charged with contempt of court over Karachi terrorist attack.

SAUDI ARABIA

Jailed Indian Christian Summoned to Court ***Brian O’Connor is charged with crimes of alcohol, pornography and ‘preaching.’

SRI LANKA

Debate Continues on Anti-Conversion LawBuddhist monks lobby for international support of controversial bill.

VIETNAM

Christians Petition GovernmentHouse church representatives ask for greater religious freedom.

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***********************************Five Afghan Christians MartyredTaliban militants target converts to Christianity.Special to Compass Direct

LOS ANGELES, September 9 (Compass) -- Five Afghan men who had converted to Christianity have been killed in separate incidents since late June near the borders of eastern Afghanistan.

All five men were stabbed or beaten to death in summary executions by Taliban adherents who accused them of abandoning Islam and then “spreading Christianity” in their communities.

The first stabbing death was reported on July 1 by Reuters news agency, which received a telephone call from a Taliban spokesman identifying himself as Abdul Latif Hakimi.

The caller declared that a group of Taliban fighters had killed Mullah Assad Ullah the previous day in Ghazni province’s remote Awdand region, a known Taliban stronghold and traditional seat of Islamic learning.

“A group of Taliban dragged out Mullah Assad Ullah and slit his throat with a knife because he was propagating Christianity,” Hakimi told Reuters. “We have enough

evidence and local accounts to prove that he was involved in the conversion of Muslims to Christianity.”

Hakimi went on to accuse a number of foreign aid agencies of involvement in spreading Christianity among Afghanistan’s overwhelmingly Muslim population.

“We warn them that they face the same destiny as Assad Ullah if they continue to seduce people,” he told Reuters. At least 33 foreign aid workers have been killed by the Taliban in the past 18 months.

According to local sources, Assad Ullah was seized in broad daylight while at the market buying fruit and vegetables for his family. His attackers reportedly dragged his dead body around the market area, shouting warnings that the same fate awaited anyone else who listened to his heretical teachings.

The former mullah had first obtained a copy of the New Testament about five years ago, while still living under the Taliban regime. He had been baptized secretly about two and one-half years ago.

In his mid-40s, Assad Ullah is survived by a widow and four daughters, ages 7 to 14.

The murder of another Afghan convert to Christianity who had gone to visit Assad Ullah’s family was confirmed on August 7. According to a fellow convert, the body of Naveed ul-Rehman was discovered in early August near his abandoned car in Awdand, at the same marketplace where the former mullah had been killed.

Nothing had been stolen from ul-Rehman’s pockets or car, nor was any evidence found to reveal the identity of his attackers.

About 40 years of age, ul-Rehman was a well educated Afghan who had been living in Kabul since his return to Afghanistan. He was married without children.

During the month of July, another three Afghan Christians were stabbed or beaten to death in separate incidents on July 15, July 23 and July 28. Each left behind a wife and several children.

The three men had been accused by their attackers of studying the Bible, praying in the name of Jesus or associating with other known Afghan converts to Christianity.

In the context of a closed, strictly Muslim society, Afghanistan’s new provisional constitution adopted in December 2003 falls short of any guarantee of religious freedom for its citizens. The document declares Islam the religion of the state, with all laws required to conform to the tenets of Islamic law.

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***********************************Christians in China Appeal Labor Camp PunishmentSentencing without trial contradicts China’s claim of religious freedom.by Xu Mei

NANJING, China, September 20 (Compass) -- The relatives of three Christian men being held in labor camps in mainland China have appealed to local authorities for an explanation of their crimes. A written appeal was also sent to Christians in Hong Kong in May 2004.

The appeal reveals the ignorance of many officials in rural China concerning Christianity. It also demonstrates the injustices suffered by believers in the Peoples Republic of China.

All three men -- two with the family name Wu and another with the family name Li -- hail from Guangxi in southwestern China. They were sentenced to “re-education through labor” for the crime of belonging to an unregistered church. In the words of local authorities, the men are being punished for “creating an atmosphere of terror and making the people psychologically fearful.”

The text of the appeal sent to Hong Kong reads as follows:

In 1996 a man from Sichuan, with the family name Li, came to our area to preach Jesus. It was all very new, and we listened carefully but he did not baptize anyone.

In June 1997 the (local) government said our meeting was divisive and ‘upset social order.’ They sent more than 30 officials to surround us, and in the middle of the night they went into every believer’s home and ordered everyone, old and young, male and female, to assemble outside. They drove all our livestock away to the local rural government office and the Christians were taken to the local government detention center.

The prosecutor told us, ‘China has not established Christianity. There is no God. It’s just a fairy tale. You must not believe in Christianity propagated from Hong Kong. Hong Kong has a capitalist system. They propagate reactionary theories which disturb social order.’

Then they used handcuffs and electric stun batons to intimidate the Christians. One person was actually knocked out with one. They also forced the Christians to ‘confess.’

Finally 10 Christians were fined. The highest fine was 900 RMB ($110) and the lowest 300 RMB ($35 -- more than many peasants earn in a month.) “The officials stole all the livestock and ate it. People were in despair.

At 3 a.m. one morning in April 2003, more than 40 police surrounded two house-churches [in this area]. They found a Bible in the homes of Wu, Wu and Li. All the adult

men and women in their families were driven to the local detention center and kept there for two days. The police arrested Li just in his shorts and handcuffed him. The three men were then taken to the county prison. Then their relatives lost all trace of them.

Finally in October 2003, a policeman told the families that the three men had already been sentenced to ‘re-education through labor.’

If you have a Bible in your home, does this mean you are bad? It’s very strange! When the Christians were all in detention, the officials told them that they could no longer believe in God. ‘If we discover you still believe, we will not be polite -- we will arrest you as we please and beat you as we please,’ the Christians were told. But don’t Chinese citizens have freedom of religious belief? How can we be arrested, beaten and even killed for our faith?

In October 2003 we finally were able to go to the labor camp and see the two Wu’s and Mr. Li. Five months had already passed but only then did we discover their ‘crime’ was ‘creating an atmosphere of terror and making the people psychologically fearful’.

We don’t understand! What does this mean?

Signed: the families of Mr. Wu, Mr. Wu and Mr. Li

This appeal shows that the basic attitude of Chinese authorities towards Christianity has not changed despite the government’s claims of religious freedom in China. House churches are still being harassed by local authorities and Christians are still being sentenced without trial to “re-education through labor” camps.

The appeal seems doubly ironic in the wake of China’s rejection of the annual report issued by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom. Released on September 15, the report criticized China for continued abuse of religious freedoms.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan denied the allegations, and according to the Associated Press, said China firmly opposed “the U.S. practice of interfering in the religious affairs of other countries.”

Quan also claimed that “Freedom of religious belief is protected by China’s constitution and other laws.”

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***********************************Eritrea Arrests Five More EvangelicalsThree Protestant pastors kept incommunicado.Special to Compass Direct

LOS ANGELES, September 15 (Compass) -- Eritrean security police pounced on five evangelical Christians holding a prayer meeting in their church office in Asmara last week, hauling them off under arrest to a local police station.

Five members of the newly formed New Covenant Church meeting at an office building in the capital were taken into custody about 7:30 in the evening on September 7.

Reportedly six or seven security officials were systematically searching through an entire corridor of offices in the building when they came upon the small group praying together in their office.

After a day’s detention at Police Station No. 2, the one woman among them was released, but the four men were transferred to cells at the Adi-Abyto military camp outside Asmara. Among the jailed men was the pastor, identified only by his first name of Yohannes, and his assistant, named David.

Meanwhile, three leading Protestant pastors jailed since late May remain under arrest in a dungeon-like inner prison in Asmara, where many of Eritrea’s prominent political dissidents incarcerated over the past three years are believed to be held.

At last report, Pastor Tesfatsion Hagos of the Rema Evangelical Church and Full Gospel Church pastors Rev. Haile Naizgi and Dr. Kiflu Gebremeske were being held at Wongel Mermera, a government investigation center located behind Police Station No. 2 in the capital.

“Short-term imprisonment in this place is something which occurs rarely,” a source told Compass. Prison authorities have refused to allow the pastors’ families or friends to deliver any food or other provisions to the men since late August, when they were moved to Wongel Mermera from a local police station.

Popular evangelical Christian singer Helen Berhane also remains jailed in strict isolation in a metal container at Mai Serwa, just north of Asmara. Since her arrest four months ago, Berhane has refused to sign a promise to stop participating in evangelical activities and return to the Orthodox church.

According to reliable sources, an elderly man from the Jehovah’s Witnesses faith who had been incarcerated for many months in a container at Mai Serwa was finally released last week. Leaders of the government-targeted Jehovah’s Witnesses sect had feared for the man’s life, since he was 96 years old and suffering from chronic diarrhea.

Last week, the Eritrean government also expelled the last international journalist based in Asmara, ordering BBC correspondent Jonah Fisher to leave the country within three days. “As a foreigner, I am fortunate,” Fisher wrote in a BBC release on September 10. “Had I been Eritrean, I have little doubt that I would now be in detention.”

The regime of President Issayas Afewerki banned all of Eritrea’s independent Protestant churches in May 2002, ordering their buildings closed and criminalizing any meetings for private worship in members’ homes. The 12 outlawed denominations represent congregations totaling at least 20,000 members.

Along with adherents of Islam, who represent nearly half the population, only the Orthodox, Catholic and Lutheran churches are recognized by the Department of Religious Affairs as “official” religions.

***Photographs of jailed Eritrean evangelicals and their closed churches are available electronically. Contact Compass Direct for pricing and transmittal.

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***********************************Christians in Haiti Face Increasing RiskMurder of prominent radio evangelist exposes growing anarchy.by Deann Alford

AUSTIN, Texas, September 29 (Compass) -- As Haiti suffers through a series of national disasters, spokesmen for the Christian community in the island nation say believers are facing even greater risks.

More than 1,500 people died in floodwaters from Tropical Storm Jeanne. This comes after the United Nations was obliged to station a peacekeeping force on the island to quell political violence following the February ouster of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

Haitians, however, find little peace in Haiti. Rampant delinquency has turned the island into a nation under siege by criminal gangs. The crime wave that has escalated since Aristide’s departure claimed one of the island’s most prominent Christians earlier this month.

Robbery was the apparent motive for the September 13 murder of Jean-Moles Lovinksky Bertomieux, 43, a Haitian Baptist minister who hosted a Christian radio program. Bertomieux was on his way to work at Port-au-Prince’s Radio Caraibes to broadcast his popular “Morning Manna” program. Police have arrested three men in connection with the shooting.

Tens of thousands of people attended Bertomieux’s funeral on September 19 at an amphitheater near the National Palace. “He was greatly appreciated by Haitians, both evangelicals and non-evangelicals,” said Boxley Boggs, international director for the UFM International mission.

According to news reports, many of those who attended Bertomieux’s funeral were there to call attention to Haiti’s rising crime wave and to urge the government to take action.

“[Crime] is something they don’t have control over in Haiti,” said Julio Volcy, a Haitian pastor living in the United States. “Everybody in the church is affected, including evangelicals because we’re part of society.”

“You’re dealing with spiritual warfare, and the devil will do anything to stop you,” Volcy said. “You have to be on your knees all the time and constantly in the word of God.”

Enoc Lucien, church-planter and pastor of Cap Haitien Evangelical Free Church, said that the lack of rule of law can lead to increased attacks against Christians.

“That could happen where somebody might use chaos as a platform to hurt Christians,” Lucien said. “Sometimes we have people who get saved but their families want to hurt them or kick them out of their family.”

Paul Shingledecker, a missionary with World Gospel Mission who served in Haiti 23 years before leaving in December, said that roving armed gangs have besieged Haiti. “I know of a number of people who have been robbed, including missionaries, in the past several weeks,” said Shingledecker, who returned to Haiti in mid September as a short-term consultant at Christian station Radio Lumiere, or Light Radio.

“It affects everybody in Haiti. Anybody is at risk, and it certainly wouldn’t be just evangelicals. There are a lot of weapons out there.”

“Sometimes it gets scary,” Lucien said. “It’s unpredictable, it’s frustrating, but that’s life in Haiti.

Lucien estimates he was mugged a dozen times in 2003, most often at gunpoint. He recalled one week when he was attacked three times. Miraculously, he managed to escape each assault.

Reporting thefts to authorities is futile. “In Haiti, if you’re not killed, it isn’t a crime,” Lucien said. According to him, stealing has never been considered a felony. A thief is simply “somebody trying to find a way to survive,” he said.

That’s affected his ministry. He used to hold two to three evening services a week in one church he planted, but canceled them because he can no longer travel to the area at night.

Haiti holds the unenviable record of being the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere. Annual per capita income in the country of 8.2 million people is $310.

Boggs, who lived in Haiti for 14 years during his missionary career, joins many other Haiti-watchers who believe the country’s woes and fatalistic world view stem from its spiritual darkness.

“The root underlying cause is voodooism. Spiritism is very real and very powerful, and one doesn’t have to live in Haiti very long to notice that. It’s very fatalistic.

“People think, ‘I have no control over my life.’ The average Haitian always thinks about how to placate these spirits by sacrifices.”

Some observers believe Haiti’s woes can be traced to a slave revolt in 1791, during which rebels solicited assistance against their French overlords by dedicating the country to voodoo spirits.

Witch doctors are often the most respected people in Haitian villages because their drums have the power to conjure spirits. Many Haitians – and many foreigners familiar with Haiti – view voodoo as the country’s “cultural heritage.”

According to Operation World, 22 percent of Haiti is evangelical. Operation World notes that evangelicals openly stand against voodooism. As a result, Christians often face mystical persecution in the form of hexes and spells.

Despite the recent upswing in violent crime, Boggs says, gangs and other social problems besetting Haiti were worse under Aristide, including the persecution of Christians.

Despite the risks, Lucien said that people are responding to the gospel. He cited a church he planted in August in a town 20 miles south of Cap Haitien. By late September, 200 people were attending.

“As we are preaching the gospel, people are coming to Christ and people are changing,” he said.

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***********************************Tribal Christians in India Return to HinduismWorld Hindu Council steps up ‘reconversion’ campaign in Orissa.by Vishal Arora

DELHI, September 29 (Compass) -- The World Hindu Council announced the “reconversion” of 75 tribal Christians in Mayurbhanj district in the eastern state of Orissa on September 19. The reconversion took place in Sarat village, 40 miles from Baripada, the home of martyred Australian missionary Graham Staines and his wife Gladys.

The leading national daily Hindustan Times reported that Christians from 35 families turned back to Hinduism in a ceremony organized by the World Hindu Council, known locally as the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP).

For the ceremony, an atmashudhi yagna or soul purification ritual was held at a Hindu temple, after which yellow headbands were sprinkled with sacred water and distributed among the new converts.

Gauri Prasad Rath, VHP state secretary and Member of Parliament for the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), presided over the ceremony. He was joined by Pratap Sarangi, state convener of the Bajrang Dal -- a radical Hindu youth organization -- and several other key Hindu leaders.

Speaking on behalf of the VHP, Rath told reporters from the Hindustan Times that, “it would be wrong to describe this as reconversion. We call it ‘homecoming.’”

One of the Christians who took part in the ceremony told reporters, “We were ostracized in our villages after embracing Christianity. We weren’t invited to social functions, and others didn’t come to our gatherings. That’s why we decided to return to the Hindu fold.”

However, Christian leaders in Orissa say most church members have a strong faith in spite of social opposition. They claim the VHP has targeted nominal Christians who are easily swayed.

Rev. Dr. D.B. Hruday, general secretary of the local chapter of the All India Christian Council (AICC) and President of the Orissa People’s Church, told Compass that, “The VHP has ‘reconverted’ only those who were healed by the prayers of Christians but did not give up their former lifestyle -- or those who became Christians but gave up attending church a long time ago.”

A field worker from the Evangelical Church in Mayurbhanj agreed. “Those who have supposedly reconverted are from families that haven’t been to church for a long time, or who never truly embraced Christianity in the first place.”

Hruday said the VHP and its sister organization, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), recently launched a new reconversion drive in Orissa, focusing mainly on Mayurbhang and Phulbani districts. “In Mayurbhanj they are holding these reconversion programs; but in Phulbani they are aggressively threatening Christians and destroying churches,” he explained.

According to Hruday, the VHP and the RSS also established literacy centers in Orissa, which doubled as reconversion centers. The teachers at the centers were paid 200 rupees ($4) per month to knock on doors and search for Christians who were not attending church services. Threats were then made against the Christians if they did not turn back to Hinduism. For example, they were told their tribal quotas would be cancelled and jobs withheld.

The Indian Constitution provides a quota of college admissions and government jobs for Scheduled Tribes, which have historically suffered from poverty and discrimination.

The government also provides loans and other grants to improve the overall living standards of these tribes. However, the quota system applies only to Hindus. If a member of a Scheduled Tribe officially declares faith in Jesus Christ, he or she is no longer entitled to these benefits.

Monsignor Lucas Kerketta, bishop of Sambalpur district, Orissa, believes the church must work harder to prevent people from turning back to Hinduism. “To fight against these reconversions in Orissa, we must educate tribal people ... [and] equip them to understand their rights,” he said.

Christian leaders point out that the reconversion ceremony held on September 19 did not meet the requirements of Orissa’s anti-conversion law, since it was held without prior permission of the state. However, the state administration chose not to take action against the VHP.

Sajan K. George, a spokesman for the Global Council of Indian Christians, said the Orissa government seemed to think Hindus were exempt from the conditions of Orissa’s Freedom of Religions Act. In practice, he said, the act was applied only to Christian pastors and priests.

Orissa has the unhappy reputation of being hostile to Christians. The state has one of the highest concentrations of Hindu extremists in India, and Christian communities throughout the state have suffered numerous attacks.

Violence has marked many of these attacks. In the most notorious example, Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two sons were burned to death in January 1999.

More recently, a group of 300 Hindus attacked Our Lady of Charity Parish in Raikia, Kandhamal district, on August 26, burning Bibles and destroying statues of the saints.

The VHP launched their first Orissa reconversion campaign in 1998. By 2002, according to a report in The Hindu, the VHP had reconverted more than 5,000 tribal people in the state.

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***********************************Missionaries of Charity Attacked in Kerala, IndiaHindu extremists claim nuns entice Hindus to adopt Christianity.by Abhijeet Prabhu

BANGALORE, India, October 4 (Compass) -- Four nuns and three brothers belonging to India’s most famous religious order, Mother Theresa’s Missionaries of Charity, were attacked on September 25 by Hindu extremists in the southern state of Kerala.

The incident took place on the outskirts of a Dalit colony in the Kozhikode district. Sister Rose Merlin and Sister Serlina arrived at the colony that morning to distribute food and medicines to Dalit members, formerly known as Untouchables. A gang of six Hindu activists pulled the nuns from their jeep, and accused them of using charity as an inducement to convert the “gullible” tribals and Dalits.

The nuns immediately reported the incident at the nearby Nallalam police station and alerted their mission house. When six members from Sneh Bhavan, the mission house, rushed to the scene, a mob of 40 persons launched a renewed attack.

Witnesses said the attackers shouted slogans supporting right-wing Hindu groups: “Bharatiya Janata Party zindabad! Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh zindabad!” (“Long live the BJP! Long live the RSS!”) The mob then brutally assaulted the missionaries and their two drivers with sticks and vandalized the charity’s jeep before making their escape.

The six missionaries who arrived in the second jeep were identified as Sister Kusumam, the Mother Superior; Brother Bernado, a missionary from Kenya; Brother Varghese; Brother Superior Varghese; Brother Anto and Sister Sherlet.

Several members of the Catholic group were admitted to hospital with head injuries. They have since been discharged.

Sister Kusumam, one of the injured, strongly denied charges of using charity to convert. “Our driver is a Hindu,” she told local reporters. “He has been with us for the past six years. We could have converted him. At our center we have around 50 inmates belonging to all communities, Hindus, Christians and Muslims.”

Kusumam also said the sisters would not file a police complaint. “Our religion does not preach for us to take revenge,” she said.

According to news reports, a senior resident of the colony, Mrs. S. Prabahvati, had invited the sisters to the area. “I asked them to come and distribute food to the residents. They had no other intention,” Prabahvati said.

“I have known these sisters for nearly two years. What happened is a brutal attack which should not have taken place.”

Police filed charges of attempted murder, outraging modesty of women and disrupting communal harmony.

Two days after the attack, police detained 14 BJP and RSS sympathizers in connection with the incident. However, many were released after questioning due to a lack of evidence against them. Police refused to name these initial suspects.

On September 30, a man named Shiju was arrested. “The probe is still on and more arrests are likely soon,” Inspector General of Police (North) Aravind Ranjan told the press.

Ranjan later said the police had received clear information about the incident and artists had been assigned to draw sketches of the accused.

Meanwhile, the Kozhikode RSS unit denied any role in the attack and said vested political interests had unfairly pinned the blame on the RSS and their sympathizers.

RSS leaders demanded a police probe into the alleged conversion activities of the Missionaries of Charity. They also pointed out that Brother Bernard, a Kenyan missionary, entered India on a tourist visa, which technically prevented him from carrying out public religious activities.

Later, in an interview on a local television channel, Kummanam Rajasekheran, organizing secretary of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP, World Hindu Council), said there was nothing wrong with missionaries doing charity work but that attempts at conversion would not be tolerated.

“I have records to prove that Missionaries of Charity workers have been engaged in conversions,” Rajasekheran charged.

On September 26, churches in the Kozhikode district observed a day of prayer in protest against the attack. Fr. Mathew Munjanattu, vicar of St. Joseph’s Church at Mankavu, held a special meeting of its council members and demanded stern action against those responsible for the attack.

“Such incidents, aimed at disturbing the communal harmony, are unwarranted and have to be checked immediately,” he said.

Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy assured the Christian community that stern action would be taken against the attackers and asked both Hindus and Christians to remain calm.

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***********************************Early Release for Indonesian PastorRinaldy Damanik to be released in November.by Sarah Page

DUBLIN, September 29 (Compass) -- On Saturday, September 25, Rev. Damanik -- an Indonesian pastor imprisoned under what many believe were false charges -- celebrated his 45th birthday.

But on Monday, September 27, he had far greater cause for celebration. Prison authorities announced this week that Damanik would be released in November 2004 -- almost a year earlier than his original release date of September 2005.

Mona Saroinsong, the coordinator of the Protestant church’s Crisis Center in Sulawesi and a close supporter of Damanik, hinted on Friday, September 24, that changes were in the air. News of the early release came as a joyful surprise to friends, family and supporters who had campaigned tirelessly on Damanik’s behalf.

Damanik, a prominent figure in peace negotiations between warring Muslim and Christian communities on the island of Sulawesi, was convicted on charges of “illegal weapons possession” in June 2003. The charge dated back to an incident on August 17, 2002, when his relief convoy -- returning from a mission to assist refugees on both sides of the conflict -- was stopped by police.

Members of the convoy were taken to a nearby building for questioning while their cars were searched. Days later, police claimed to have found firearms and ammunition in the vehicle.

Damanik was detained by police in September 2002, and the court case finally opened in February 2003. Several witnesses for the prosecution admitted in court that police had pressured them into giving false testimony. Judge Somanada admitted there were irregularities in court proceedings but sentenced Damanik to three years in prison.

Taking into account the time already spent in police custody, his sentence was due to end in September 2005.

Sources in Indonesia say a leading Muslim cleric, Idrus R. al Habsy, befriended the imprisoned pastor after the cleric’s son Husen met Damanik in prison. When Idrus learned how Damanik was working for peace in Poso, an area wracked by conflict and bloodshed since 1998, the elderly cleric became a staunch advocate for Damanik’s release.

On August 20, an ailing Idrus signed a written guarantee directed to the Minister of Justice and Human Rights declaring Damanik to be a “man of good character” who “should be allowed to go free.” It is believed the document helped pave the way for Damanik’s early parole.

On August 23, Idrus R. al Habsy passed away from his illness.

In late July, Compass spoke with Rev. Damanik at the Maesa Detention Center in Palu through an interpreter, who noted that Damanik was gaunt, red-eyed and obviously still suffering the effects of a serious kidney problem that led to his hospitalization in May 2004.

However, Damanik appeared to be in good spirits as he described his prison experience and commented on religious violence in North and Central Sulawesi.

“I had visited people in the prison before,” Damanik said, “but I never thought I would actually be a prisoner here!”

In an ironic twist, 15 men who were arrested for killing 13 Christians and wounding several more in October 2003 occupied other cells at the prison. Damanik said he had gained real insight into the religious tensions in Sulawesi through conversations with the men.

The prison also held two Laskar Jihad fighters and five members of Jemaah Islamiyah, both Islamic terrorist organizations.

“I mingle with them and they call me ‘big brother,’” said Damanik. “Sometimes they even ask me to pray for them.

“My greatest desire is to go back and work with the Crisis Center (of the Protestant Church in Central Sulawesi) where I worked previously,” said Damanik when asked about the hardest thing he faced in prison. “Why should I be here and not with all my co-workers, helping those who are suffering?”

Violent Shootings Target Christians

Damanik’s release may not be the end of the story. Some friends have expressed fears for Damanik’s safety. Several violent shooting incidents have occurred this year on the island of Sulawesi; the majority of the victims were Christians.

The most recent incident occurred on July 18 at Effata church in Palu, resulting in the death of Rev. Susianty Tinulele, a 26-year-old minister, and serious injuries to 17-year-old Desrianti Tengkede.

Tinulele had visited Damanik in prison just two days before the shooting. However, the senior pastor at Effata church told Compass that she was not necessarily the specific target of the marksmen, since she was a visiting speaker and not a regular member of the church. It was simply a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

On other occasions, marksmen have specifically targeted Christian ministers or professionals, such as Ferry Silalahi, a lawyer who had prosecuted Muslim militants in high profile court cases, and defended Damanik in court. Silalahi was shot and killed as he emerged from a church meeting on May 25, 2004.

Commenting on the response Christians should have to the violence, Damanik said the church needed to pray and bless their enemies. However, “We also need to show we are not cowards in facing this injustice. I’m not saying we should express our anger in revenge, but we need to speak the truth in love.”

***A July 2004 photograph of Rinaldy Damanik in prison is available electronically. Contact Compass Direct for pricing and transmittal.

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***********************************Indonesia Closes 12 Churches in BandungCongregations denied building permits, forbidden to worship in private homes.by Samuel Rionaldo

JAKARTA, September 29 (Compass) -- Local authorities recently ordered 12 churches in the sub-district of Rancaekek, Bandung, Indonesia, to close their doors. The order came after Muslim clerics protested that the churches were meeting illegally.

The Christians admit they do not have the legal permits required to conduct worship services in private homes. However, these “house church” meetings seemed to be the only option after local authorities refused permission to build proper worship facilities.

Church leaders told Compass that the congregations living in Rancaekek had applied for permission to build churches as early as March 1993, when the Bumi Rancaekek Kencana government housing project was established.

However, the first and subsequent applications for church permits were turned down.

“We submitted another application on June 12, 1995, again on January 20, 2000, and on August 27, 2004,” explained Rev. Bungaran Silitonga who leads the Rancaekek Christian Communication Forum. All four applications were rejected on the grounds that local residents did not want churches in the area.

Also, officials said the land was reserved for housing, not for places of worship.

According to a September 10 report by Komintra news service, flyers were distributed to people living in the housing project in August. Among other things, the flyers warned Muslim residents to stay away from visiting missionaries and Christians.

The same month, the Forum Silahturahmi Ulama Cendikiawan Muslim (FSUCM or Fellowship of Muslim Scholars and Intellectuals) launched a campaign to close unlicensed churches in Rancaekek. The group, led by Koko Komaruddin, sent a letter to the local government objecting to the practice of churches meeting in private homes.

The complaint was based on a 1949 Letter of Decision issued by the Bandung local government regulating the establishment of places of worship, and Letter of Decision No. 28/1990 issued by the governor of West Java, forbidding the conversion of a private dwelling into a place of worship.

On August 19, 2004, leaders of the twelve disputed churches were invited to a meeting with local government officials and members of the FSUCM. At the meeting, the Christian ministers were asked to sign a document agreeing to stop their worship services. “We refused to sign it,” Silitonga said.

A second meeting was held on September 1, during which Komaruddin gave an ultimatum to the churches: they must halt services by September 5 or face the consequences.

The original owner of the land, Mr. Sobari, also addressed the meeting, saying he had sold the land to the government to build houses -- not churches.

Two days later, Elyadi Argaraharja, vice-district officer of Bandung, released Letter of Decision No.4522/829/Kesbang. The decree said the 12 churches must be closed because homes had been converted to places of worship. According to Argaraharja, this decision was made to “avoid conflict and create tolerance.”

Komaruddin and the FSUCM followed this on September 5 with the release of a flyer entitled “Stop Church Meetings in Houses!” The flyer declared that, beginning on September 6, church meetings in private homes in the Rancaekek housing project would no longer be permitted.

Rev. John Simon Timorason, head of the West Java Christian Communication Forum, said the move was nothing new. “They tried something similar in 1995,” he told Compass, “and again in 2000, when they tried to close the Tabernacle Pentecostal Church.

“There was no problem between churches and local residents. All of this was stirred up by Komaruddin and the FSUCM. He provoked our neighbors to take up this issue against us. Before this we had no real complaints.”

The order to stop meeting in their homes left the Christians with a serious dilemma: they had no other place to gather for worship.

Timorason and other church leaders began negotiations with the local government. Finally on September 11, Argaraharja offered the use of an old, vacant warehouse in the middle of a sea of rice paddies. However, as soon as the Christians began cleaning the building, residents of the housing project objected and permission to use the warehouse was withdrawn.

Left without a place of worship, the Christians met again in their former venues on September 12. This move drew criticism from government officials who said the church leaders had broken the law.

The 12 churches represent a growing problem in Indonesia. Muslim groups have forced many other unlicensed churches in West Java to close. (See Compass Direct,

“Muslim Radicals Harass Indonesian Churches,” May 16, 2003; and “Protestant Churches Sustain Attacks,” January 26, 2004.) The problem stems from the fact that local officials rarely grant permission for a church building to be erected and they don’t allow congregations to meet in private venues. Many Christians feel they have no option but to meet illegally.

They say this is an abuse of their basic right to religious freedom.

Church closures have occurred in several districts in West Java in recent weeks. For example, the Gereja Sidang Kristus (GSK, Assembly of Christ) church in Bekasi was closed following an attack during services on August 29. The attacking mob, led by members of the Bekasi Islam Defender’s Front, caused significant damage to church property, but no injuries were reported.

Suhartono said the relationship between GSK and its neighbors was good until the attack happened. “There were only one or two people that seemed to dislike us,” he said.

Police arrested 20 people for their involvement in the Bekasi attack, but the suspects were released soon afterward.

On August 23, another mob forced the closure of three churches -- Caro Batak Church, the Indonesian Protestant Church and Bethel Church -- in the Cileungsi sub-district of Bogor, West Java.

Rev. Karel Silitonga, a senior church official in the district, said Muslim clerics and the Bogor Islam Defender’s Front had provoked local residents to attack the churches. The churches had been meeting without complaints from their neighbors since 1997.

Timorason says West Java has always been a difficult area for Christians. “We will try to settle this through proper legal channels,” he told Compass, “and I hope the case will be resolved quickly.”

FOR THE SIDEBAR:

Twelve churches in Rancaekek, Bandung, were ordered to cease services in the first week of September, 2004. The names of the churches are:

Gereja Baptis Independen Indonesia (GBII - Baptist Church)

Gereja Batak Karo Protestan (GBKP - Caro Batak Church)

Gereja Katolik (Roman Catholic Church)

Gereja Kemah Injil Indonesia (GKII - Christian and Missionary Alliance Church)

Gereja Kristen Indonesia (GKI – Church of Christ in Indonesia)

Gereja Kristen Jawa (GKJ - Java Christian Church)

Gereja Kristen Oikumene (GKO - Ecumenical Church)

Gereja Kristen Pasundan (GKP – Pasundan Church)

Gereja Pentakosta (Pentecostal Church)

Gereja Pentakosta di Indonesia (GPdI - Pentecostal Church in Indonesia)

Gereja Pentakosta Tabernakel (GPT - Tabernacle Pentecostal Church)

Huria Kristen Batak Protestan (HKBP – Batak Church)

*** Photographs of the GSK church and pastors from closed churches are available electronically. Contact Compass Direct for pricing and transmittal.

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***********************************Police Detain 80 Iranian EvangelicalsTen pastors remain under arrest.by Barbara G. Baker

ISTANBUL, September 10 (Compass) -- Iranian police invaded the annual general conference of Iran’s Assemblies of God Church yesterday, arresting at least 80 church leaders gathered at the church’s denominational center in Karaj, 20 miles west of Tehran.

Without warning, a large number of policemen surrounded the church’s garden property yesterday morning, bursting in to arrest all the men and women present at the first day of their annual meetings. “The police came from everywhere,” one Iranian Christian said, “and there were a lot of them.”

“Every single person present was put under arrest, blindfolded and taken in for interrogation,” an Iranian source confirmed to Compass today. The detained Christians were driven around blindfolded for several hours so they would be unable to understand where they were being taken.

Reportedly each individual was questioned separately by security officials, who had a specific list of questions. The interrogation revealed that the authorities had very precise information about each person, including his or her activities, relatives and other personal data.

By evening, the authorities had released all the arrested Christians except for the 10 pastors among them. The location of these 10 men is unknown, and their families have not been allowed any contact with them.

Six ordained ministers were named among the prisoners, identified by their given names of Vartan, Soren, Harmik, George, Omid and Farhad. Another two men serving as pastors and two church elders were identified as Neshan, Hamid, Henry and Robert.

The pastors serve in congregations located in Tehran, Urumiyeh, Rasht, Ahwaz, Boshahr and Karaj.

All the evangelicals released last night were forbidden to attend church services today, the weekly day of rest in Iran when most churches meet for worship. “Anyway, all their pastors are now under arrest, so there will be no one to preach when the congregations gather for services,” the source noted.

“This is the biggest crisis for evangelical believers in the country since three Protestant pastors were murdered 10 years ago,” another source told Compass.

As the world’s only theocracy, Iran has strictly proscribed the activities of its evangelical Christian citizens, closing down their churches and arresting known converts to Christianity. Under Islamic law, apostates who leave Islam are subject to the death penalty.

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***********************************Iranian Police Release 10 Evangelical PastorsNo reasons given for four-day detention.by Barbara G. Baker

ISTANBUL, September 13 (Compass) -- Ten evangelical church leaders arrested four days ago by Iranian police were released last night from their unknown detention site.

All pastors and elders in Iran’s Assemblies of God Church, the 10 men were set free on Sunday night, “quite late in the night,” an Iranian Christian source confirmed.

After their release, the pastors were allowed to return to Tehran to stay with their families or friends in the capital or nearby Karaj. Those living in other cities were returning home today to Rasht, Urumiyeh, Ahwaz and Boshahr, church sources said.

The pastors reportedly were not given any specific reason for their arrest, although they were asked “many questions about themselves and each other,” one source said.

Due to police surveillance monitoring their movements and telephone conversations, the pastors have not made direct contact with other evangelical believers since their release.

Together with 70 other Assemblies of God Church leaders, the pastors had convened at a church center in Karaj for their annual general conference on September 9 when the arrests occurred. Police officials swarmed onto the property that morning, blindfolding all the men and women present and taking them off to be fingerprinted and interrogated.

All the detainees were released by nightfall except for the 10 pastors and elders, who were held incommunicado until their release Sunday night.

Reportedly the church leaders had refused to name any one person among them as their top leader, prompting the police to arrest the entire group en masse. The police crackdown was the largest known arrest of Iranian evangelical believers in the past decade.

The murderers of three of Iran’s leading Protestant pastors 10 years ago have never been brought to justice. Assemblies of God leader Rev. Haik Hovsepian-Mehr was murdered in January 1994, shortly after launching a successful international campaign to free Mehdi Dibaj, a long-time convert to Christianity jailed for nine years.

Six months later, Dibaj was also killed, followed days later by the disappearance and murder of Rev. Tateos Michaelian, a Presbyterian pastor.

Since its declaration as an Islamic state in 1979, Iran has clamped down harshly on its Protestant citizens and even closed the Iranian Bible Society. A large number of evangelical churches have been closed for worship, their buildings confiscated and known converts to Christianity put under arrest.

Under Islamic law enforced in Iran, a Muslim who converts to Christianity faces the death penalty.

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***********************************One Iranian Pastor Still JailedWhereabouts of evangelical convert from Islam unknown.by Barbara G. Baker

ISTANBUL, September 14 (Compass) -- Protestant church leaders in Iran learned this morning that one of 10 evangelical pastors reportedly released from detention by police authorities on September 12 is still being held incommunicado.

Assemblies of God Pastor Hamid Pourmand, 47, has not returned to his home in Bandar-i Bushehr, nor has he been in touch with any of his relatives or friends. He is

presumed to remain under police arrest in the Karaj-Tehran area, where he was initially detained with other church leaders on September 9.

Eighty leaders of Iran’s Assemblies of God Church had convened for their annual general conference in Karaj when police swarmed into the church-owned center on the morning of September 9. All were blindfolded and taken away to be fingerprinted and interrogated. Although most were released by evening, the 10 pastors among them were held for questioning for four days. (See Compass Direct, “Iranian Police Release 10 Evangelical Pastors,” September 13.)

When the other pastors were released separately late in the night of September 12, they were strictly warned not to contact one another or other members of the church. So it was not until this morning that the Assemblies of God leadership discovered that in fact Pourmand was still missing.

A former Muslim who converted to Christianity nearly 25 years ago, Pourmand pastors a congregation in Bandar-i Bushehr, along the Persian Gulf in southern Iran. He and his wife, who is of Assyrian Christian background, have two children.

Since the government-ordered execution of convert pastor Hussein Soodmand in Mashhad in December 1990, the Islamic Republic of Iran has enacted a harsh crackdown against the country’s evangelical churches and various house-church movements accused of evangelizing Muslims.

Another long-term convert to Christianity, Assemblies of God pastor Mehdi Dibaj was murdered in July 1994. After being jailed for nine years for refusing to recant his Christian faith and return to Islam, Dibaj was killed just six months after his release from prison.

Two years later, the body of Pastor Mohammed Bagher Yusefi was found hanging in the forest near his home in Sari, in northern Iran’s Mazandaran province. Survived by his wife and two children, 34-year-old Yusefi had converted to Christianity 10 years earlier.

Over the past decade, local Protestant congregations who allow Muslims to visit their services or are suspected of baptizing former Muslims converting to Christianity have been harshly suppressed by the Iranian authorities.

“Government actions create a threatening atmosphere for some religious minorities,” last year’s U.S. State Department report on religious freedom in Iran declared, “especially Baha’is, Jews and evangelical Christians.”

***Phototographs of Pastor Pourmand are available electronically. Contact Compass Direct for pricing and transmittal.

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***********************************Jordanian Court Postpones Widow’s ‘Last’ HearingMuslim guardian fails to appear.by Barbara G. Baker

ISTANBUL, September 20 (Compass) -- The Muslim guardian of Christian widow Siham Qandah’s minor children failed to appear yesterday before an Islamic court in Amman.

Abdullah al-Muhtadi, Qandah’s estranged brother who converted to Islam in his youth, was to have been questioned regarding his alleged misuse of a large portion of the children’s trust funds.

In al-Muhtadi’s absence, the Al-Abdali Sharia Court declared that, if necessary, a police escort would be sent to ensure his attendance at the next hearing on the case, set for October 10.

Last month the Supreme Islamic Court of Jordan accepted the appeal filed by Qandah’s lawyer against the lower court’s decision to award custody of her children to her brother, named their legal guardian after their father’s death 10 years ago.

The Supreme Court decision required the Al-Abdali court to investigate the guardian’s actual use of nearly 12,000 Jordanian dinars ($17,650) which he claimed to have spent on a refrigerator and attorney fees during a four-year court custody battle.

Although the huge withdrawals constitute an apparent embezzlement by al-Muhtadi, he managed to obtain the required authorizations from various Islamic court judges, including the chief justice.

The court-ordered investigation represents Qandah’s last possible chance within the Jordanian judicial system to disqualify her brother’s guardianship of her daughter Rawan, 16, and son Fadi, 14.

After Qandah’s Christian husband died while serving in the U.N. Peacekeeping Forces in Kosovo, an Islamic court produced a so-called “conversion” certificate, stating that he had secretly converted to Islam three years earlier.

Under Islamic law effective in Jordan, Qandah could not contest the document, although her husband had not even signed it. At the same time, the father’s alleged conversion automatically gave his children Muslim identities, so the law forbade their Christian mother from handling their orphan benefits and other financial affairs.

She asked her brother to become their official guardian, never suspecting that he would begin to appropriate their monthly benefits. Eventually, he filed suit in 1998 to gain custody of the children, as his right under Islamic law, in order to raise them as Muslims.

Both of the children are baptized Christians, enrolled in Christian schools and attending church in Husn, their hometown in northern Jordan.

Qandah lost the four-year court wrangle in February 2002. Ever since, she has gone into hiding repeatedly with her children to avoid arrest, while appealing for legal or diplomatic intervention to reverse the decision. The children are blacklisted from leaving Jordan by court order.

King Abdullah II and other members of the royal family of Jordan continue to monitor the case, pledging that Qandah will not lose her children or be sent to jail, but stopping short of direct interference in the judicial process.

According to a September 12 news analysis released by Reuters, Jordan “remains a police state burdened by bureaucratic inertia, corruption and tribal conservatism,” despite the government’s public commitment to political and economic reform.

***Photographs of Qandah and her children are available electronically. Contact Compass Direct for pricing and transmittal.

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***********************************Evangelical Refugees in Mexico Demand JusticeFourteen families occupy municipal building in Chiapas to publicize their plight.by Elisabeth Isais

MEXICO CITY, September 22 (Compass) -- “Mr. Governor, don’t discriminate against us just because we are Indian farmers. Enforce the law!”

That has been the cry of 14 refugee families from the community of 20 de Noviembre in Las Margaritas, Chiapas, Mexico, who are leading a precarious existence in the corridors of the municipal headquarters building.

The families from 20 de Noviembre took shelter in the municipal building at the end of August. According to the Mexican organization SECOSICE, the Spanish acronym for The Secretary of Social Communication of Evangelical Christian Churches, the families are hoping Chiapas governor Pablo Salazar Mendiguchea will help solve their exile problem if they manage to draw enough public attention to their plight.

Seven of the families were expelled from the 20 de Noviembre community five months ago for practicing their evangelical Christian faith. The other seven were driven out 18 months ago for the same reason. A total of 67 people are affected. (See Compass Direct, “Mexican Evangelicals Flee Death Threats,” July 2, 2004.)

While pursuing their sit-in protest, they cook meals on the street over open fires, eating their tortillas, pozol and black beans, and drinking their thick, black coffee in the open air. They sleep under cardboard and burlap sacks to ward off the cold at night.

The Presbyterian and Renovation in Christ churches have provided some funds for them to purchase food.

Prior to their desperate move to the municipal building, the refugees were living in El Cedro colony in the city of Comitán. They have asked the government to arrest five men they say are responsible for their expulsions: Arturo Jimenez Perez, Otilio Jimenez Alvarez, Luis Lopez Vazquez, Demetrio Jimenez Mendez and Caralampio Luna Alvarez. Sources in Chiapas say the five enjoy the protection of local authorities.

To date, no punitive action has been taken against the men who expelled the evangelicals. Even if they are permitted to return home to 20 de Noviembre, the 14 families are concerned for their safety.

Antonio Hernandez Cruz, a candidate for mayor from the leftist PRD party, has stated publicly that if elected, he will persecute evangelical Christians more than ever, according to evangelical leader Alvarez Morales.

SECOSICE reports that as yet, Chiapas authorities have not responded to the sit-in protest or taken action on behalf of the 14 families from 20 de Noviembre.

In other news, a group of 56 evangelical Huichol Indians from Jalisco who were ordered to leave temporary quarters in Tenzompa, Huejuquilla El Alto, by June 30, have had their expulsion order postponed until December 30, 2004.

According to reports, their situation is so serious that the state governor is under pressure to intervene in the case.

The National Human Rights Commission issued a statement on September 5 declaring that state authorities have delayed justice. The commission requested protection for the affected Indians.

The group of Huichols was originally expelled from their homes in Mezquitic two years ago and took temporary refuge in Tenzompa. Religious intolerance has been severe in both areas.

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***********************************Islamic Sect in Nigeria Attacks VillagersMilitants kidnap seven Christians in raids on rural communities.by Obed Minchakpu

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria, September 27 (Compass) -- An Islamic militant group that has been terrorizing non-Muslim communities in the northern Nigerian states of Boro, Yobe, and Kebbi since the beginning of the year struck again on September 20, burning villages, killing four policemen and kidnapping seven Christians.

About 60 members of the Muslim sect known in Nigeria as the Talibans attacked police stations in the towns of Bama and Gwoza, Borno state. After retreating, the militants carried out raids on Christian communities, burning down houses, killing and raping.

Ezekiel Ibrahim, a Christian businessman from the city of Maiduguri, told Compass that the militants attacked several villages and police stations, killing people they perceive to be enemies of Islam, particularly Christians.

“Reports from some of the Christian communities affected indicate that seven Christians were taken away by the Muslim fanatics in Bama and Gwoza local government areas,” Ibrahim said.

On September 24, Nigerian police officers announced that 14 corpses had been recovered from areas targeted by the raids. More victims reportedly died in the violence, but their bodies could not be recovered due to the area’s mountainous terrain.

Police Deputy Inspector General Mike Okiro told a press conference in Maiduguri on Saturday, September 25, that some of the Muslim militants were killed in a joint operation carried out by the police and the Nigerian army.

Okiro said that five militants who escaped into the neighboring Republic of Cameroon were arrested by security forces of that country. The Nigerian government has reportedly begun negotiations with Cameroon authorities to extradite the suspects.

He also assured reporters that the search for violent fanatics will continue until all the surviving members of the militant sect are tracked down. Okiro disclosed that a number of firearms were recovered from the militants during the counterattacks against them.

Borno governor Ali Modu Sherif told journalists on September 24 that he had ordered security forces to track down the members of the Islamic group.

“We have directed soldiers to kill them on the spot,” he said. “We want to end this madness once and for all.

“We are happy the Cameroon authorities have intensified security along their side of the mountains and are ready to help arrest or kill them if they cross the border,” Sherif added.

Compass witnessed the corpses of victims of the raids and militants killed by the joint military operation being deposited in the mortuary of the Borno State Specialist Hospital in Maiduguri.

Meanwhile, police officials said they are attempting to trace the whereabouts of the seven kidnapped Christians.

The Islamic militants involved are predominantly Muslim university students and claim affiliation with the Islamic Taliban of Afghanistan.

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***********************************Pakistani Children Kidnapped by Muslim FatherJudge files criminal charges against abductor.by Barbara G. Baker

ISTANBUL, September 16 (Compass) -- Two Pakistani children were snatched away from their Christian mother by their Muslim father on Monday, secretly spirited out of the Lahore court premises where they had been brought for a court-supervised visitation session.

Abdul Ghaffar kidnapped his five-year-old son and three-year-old daughter on September 13, fleeing from the Lahore Family Court with them around noontime, shortly after he had begun a two-hour visit alone with them.

There has been no trace since of the whereabouts of the children or their father, who is from Gujranwala, 40 miles north of Lahore. “Their mother is very sad and very worried about the children,” a Christian lawyer involved in the case told Compass today.

The presiding judge over Ghaffar’s child custody case has declared that the abduction constituted contempt of court. He promptly filed criminal charges of kidnapping on behalf of the court against Ghaffar under Section 364 of the penal code.

In addition to the kidnapping charge, Judge Khizer Hayat Ghondal of the Lahore Family Court issued a warrant ordering local police officials to produce the two children before his court by next Monday, September 20.

For the children’s Christian mother, Maria Samar John, it was the second traumatic kidnapping in her life.

Seven years ago, as a teenager of 17, she had been abducted and held prisoner for five months until her Muslim captors literally sold her to Ghaffar for the rupees-equivalent of $2,000.

When she was forcibly married to Ghaffar, her name was changed to Kalsoom and she was forced to thumbprint a certificate of so-called “conversion” to Islam. For the next two and one-half years, she was a virtual slave in Ghaffar’s home in Gujranwala, locked in the house and beaten by both her husband and mother-in-law for refusing to say the Muslim prayers.

She had borne a son and was pregnant for the second time when she found a mislaid housekey and managed to flee her captors to return home. Soon afterwards, her husband sent men to recapture her. At the same time, her own father and brothers refused to shelter her and the baby, declaring she had shamed their family and was now a Muslim.

So in December 2000, the Lahore-based Center for Legal Aid Assistance and Shelter (CLAAS) provided lodging for Maria and her children in a safe-house location. Christian lawyers affiliated with CLAAS successfully won her lawsuit for a legal divorce from her forced marriage in February 2003.

Meanwhile, Ghaffar filed a counter suit to gain custody of his two children, insisting they were Muslims who must not be raised as Christians. Named Hassan Ali and Fatma by their father, the children have been re-named Joshua and Miriam by their mother.

Earlier this year, the Lahore Family Court granted visitation rights to Ghaffar for the duration of the custody case, permitting him two-hour private meetings with his children within the court premises twice per month.

“The procedure was that we handed the children over to the court on the fixed date, and then the court gave the children to the father,” CLAAS lawyer Tahir Gul told Compass today. “So the children were not in our custody when their father kidnapped them. Now it’s the court’s duty and responsibility to give back the children.”

After Gul and court officials realized that Ghaffar had escaped with the children, the father’s lawyer marched into court and filed a complaint against Gul. The complaint claimed that Maria’s lawyer had made threats against his client, saying he would attack and kill him.

“Ghaffar is trying to make a case for himself,” Gul said, “saying that he was afraid of me and that’s why he did not return the children to the court. He is just making a drama out of it, by making up this story.”

From an influential family in Gujranwala, Ghaffar is known to be affiliated with the now banned Sipah-e-Sabaha Party, an extreme Islamist group notorious for its violent attacks against Pakistan’s minority Christian community.

“I feel very hated by this man,” Maria told Compass during an interview in Lahore two weeks ago, “and that always makes me sad.” Her biggest fear, she admitted, was the uncertainty of the future for little Joshua and Miriam.

“Joshua has very strong faith,” his mother smiled, recalling a recent night when he woke up terrified from a bad dream and asked her to take him straight to the matron of the safehouse. “Auntie will pray for me, and then I will be fine,” he told his mother.

“I am always praying for my children to have faith in God,” Maria continued. “Even though I am not very educated, I am studying now, and also learning some stitching skills.

“I believe God rescued me, and He has provided everything for me,” Maria declared. “He has something good for us, I know.”

***Recent photographs of Maria Samar John and her two children are available electronically. Contact Compass Direct for pricing and transmittal.

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***********************************Pakistani Police ‘Stumped’ on Christian MurdersSurvivors of Karachi massacre remain under threat.by Barbara G. Baker

KARACHI, September 24 (Compass) -- Two years after seven Christians were gunned down at the Karachi headquarters of one of Pakistan’s established Christian welfare agencies, local police investigators have failed to identify a single suspect.

Tomorrow marks the second anniversary of the execution-style massacre of seven staff members shot to death on September 25, 2002, in their downtown Karachi offices of the Institute of Peace and Justice (IPJ). The attack effectively shut down the IPJ ministry, with their offices still sealed by police order.

Of the two Christians who survived the attack, 26-year-old Robin Sharif remains partially paralyzed and unable to work due to a gunshot wound to the head.

The other, Robin Piranditta, has been in strict hiding, separated from his wife and four children since last year, while Christian advocacy groups continue a frustrating search for a country that will grant him asylum.

According to the Crisis Management Committee formed by the Catholic and Protestant bishops of Karachi immediately after the incident, both of the survivors were handled incorrectly by the police investigators.

In a report issued this past July, the committee declared that Robin Piranditta was “made a scapegoat,” while Robin Sharif’s statements to the police “were not taken seriously enough.”

Sharif was sidelined initially while lying in critical condition in a hospital for seven weeks. But Piranditta was arrested at the scene by police investigators, who refused to either charge or release him for four weeks.

For 27 days, the IPJ’s long-time watchman and errand man was subjected to severe torture under police detention. He was beaten repeatedly day and night, given electric shocks and hung upside down until he fainted. The mistreatment included forcing hot pepper into his anus, injecting him with drugs and making him lie naked on blocks of ice. One officer even broke his ankle while kicking him with a heavy boot.

“One time they brought ropes and hung me upside down from the ceiling,” Piranditta told Compass earlier this month.

“If you believe in Jesus Christ, then ask him to save you,” they taunted. Piranditta said that before he passed out, he cried aloud, “Jesus, you died on the cross for me. Save me!”

Eventually a lawyer, a human rights advocate and Piranditta’s wife demanded permission to meet with him. Later a court official was sent to check Piranditta’s condition under detention. But police monitored all his conversations, resulting in even worse torture after his visitors left. Officers told him that if his wife persisted in going to court to obtain his release, they would kill her and their children.

When Piranditta was finally produced before a court a month later, the court declared he had suffered “severe physical and mental torture” under illegal police custody and ordered him released.

But defying the release order, police abducted him minutes later from the grounds of the Sindh High Court, a highhanded operation witnessed and filmed by dozens of local reporters. Despite Piranditta’s fears that he would be killed that night, the police were eventually forced to set him free overnight near his home.

For nearly a year afterwards, Piranditta remained under literal house arrest. The around-the-clock surveillance was described by local authorities as “police protection” for himself and his family.

Both Piranditta and Sharif told Compass that they would recognize the faces of the attackers, at least one of whom had visited the office before. But police investigators have withheld public release of the face sketches drawn from the two eyewitnesses’ descriptions. Normally such sketches are released immediately through the local media, to help nab the culprits.

Three separate sources who have carefully explored the facts of the case told Compass that “mounting evidence” indicated that members of Pakistan’s secret police were directly involved in the murderous attack.

“But no one can do anything,” one commented, since the police investigation has stalled and no suspects have been named. Even families of the seven victims report they are being followed, harassed and threatened as they are pressured to drop their demands for justice to be done in the case.

Meanwhile, Piranditta’s wife is reduced to working as a live-in cook, with their children scattered in church boarding schools. It remains unsafe for him to telephone them, let alone try to meet them somewhere secretly.

“I have no hope unless I can get out of this country,” Piranditta told Compass. Living in fear of his life was “like being half dead, half alive,” he said. “Really, I am fed up with this life. I am still being tortured, every day.”

Christians constitute between two and three percent of Pakistan’s 150 million people, 96 percent of whom are Muslim.

According to the report released last week by the U.S. State Department on religious freedom in Pakistan, “The lack of adequate government response contributes to an atmosphere of impunity for acts of violence and intimidation against religious minorities.”

In a speech before the General Assembly of the United Nations this week, President Pervez Musharraf declared he is trying to move Pakistan away from a “culture” of extremism.

***Recent photographs of the two Christian survivors of the 2002 attack in Karachi are available electronically. Please contact Compass Direct for pricing and transmittal.

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***********************************Pakistan Sentences Mental Patient to Life in PrisonAccused Christian judged ‘guilty’ of blasphemy.by Barbara G. Baker

ISTANBUL, September 27 (Compass) -- A Pakistani court in Faisalabad has sentenced a mentally handicapped Christian to life in prison, ruling the 26-year-old man guilty of blasphemy against the Quran, the holy book of Islam.

Despite medical evidence of the defendant’s manic-depressive condition, Shahbaz Masih was sentenced to 25 years in prison -- the equivalent of a life sentence under Pakistani law -- by Judge Mohammed Shahid Rafique of the Faisalabad Additional Sessions Court on September 25.

More than 60 Muslim clerics and their supporters, many of them armed, were present in the court when the judge announced his verdict. Afterward the crowd surged outside

the courthouse, shouting slogans praising the judge and Islamic law, and denouncing other religions.

Masih had been accused by local Muslim cleric Qari Mohammed Rafiq of tearing up some leaflets containing verses from the Quran and scattering them at the shrine where a revered Muslim holy man was buried near Faisalabad.

Reportedly Masih was wearing a cross necklace at the time of the incident. In the police report filed by investigating officer Mohammed Sajah Hussein, the Muslim officer declared that Masih’s alleged conduct had “hurt his religious sentiments.”

Arrested on June 4, 2001, Masih has been jailed ever since in the Faisalabad District Jail, housed in a crowded prison ward reserved for mentally ill prisoners. He was charged under Articles 295-A and B of the Pakistan penal code, which call for life imprisonment for desecrating the Quran or any extract from it.

Testifying under oath on January 7 of this year, psychiatrist Dr. Pervez Ahmed declared that Masih’s diagnosis when he was hospitalized at the Punjab Institute of Mental Health in Lahore from September 23 to October 4, 2000, was “at that time bipolar effective disorder, currently manic episode.” Masih escaped from the hospital on October 4, the doctor noted.

The maternal side of Masih’s family has a history of mental disorders, including his mother’s current condition of insanity.

Article 84 of the Pakistan penal code prohibits the conviction of a person who because of “unsoundness of mind” is unaware of the nature of offenses he has committed.

“This law protects mentally sick persons,” lawyer Khalil Tahir stated. “But because of pressures from the Muslim clergy and religious fanatics, the judge has announced his verdict against an innocent, mentally retarded young man.”

From a Catholic family in Lahore, Masih is single. According to his defense lawyer, Masih’s father and other relatives have been afraid to visit him in prison, fearful of incurring violent attacks against their family for ties with an alleged “blasphemer.”

Tahir told Compass today that he plans to file an appeal before the Lahore High Court within the next few days, as soon as he can obtain a certified copy of the Faisalabad court’s judgment against Masih.

Saturday’s judgment was the second life-sentence verdict handed down by Judge Rafique against a Christian accused of committing blasphemy. Eighteen months ago, the same judge condemned Ranjha Masih, a Christian now in his late 50s, to life in prison for allegedly throwing a stone at a Muslim signboard during a bishop’s funeral procession.

Pakistan’s controversial blasphemy laws were toughened under the Zia ul-Haq regime, ostensibly to target members of the Ahmadi sect, who are defined as non-Muslims under Pakistani law. But during the past two decades, Muslim extremists have used the harsh, vague statutes as a pretext to jail Christians, who then face death or life-term sentences if convicted of blasphemy.

Although all lower-court convictions against Christians have been overturned eventually, these prisoners have spent long years in jail on false charges that trigger mob violence against them and their families. Several have been murdered while under trial, with those acquitted forced to flee the country for asylum abroad, away from fanatic Islamists determined to assassinate them.

***A photograph of Shahbaz Masih being escorted into court by his lawyer on September 20 is available electronically. Contact Compass Direct for pricing and transmittal.

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***********************************Another Pakistani Pastor Kidnapped and BeatenCaptors insist, ‘Stop praying for Muslims.’by Barbara G. Baker

ISTANBUL, September 28 (Compass) -- A Protestant pastor in the northern part of Pakistan’s Sindh province is recovering slowly after being kidnapped, drugged and beaten severely two weeks ago by bearded assailants. The Muslim attackers held their hostage for two days before dumping him along a road nearly 600 miles away.

His Muslim captors told Pastor Yousaf Masih, 33, that they were taking revenge for the United States’ military presence in the country and ordered him to stop “praying for Muslims” in his Baptist church in Jacobabad.

The Baptist minister was abducted off a back street near his home after dark on Sunday evening, September 12. Walking home from a worship service, Masih was confronted by a bearded man who held a revolver to his side, warning, “If you try to resist me, I will shoot you and your wife and children.”

With the help of another accomplice, the man forced Masih into a red car parked along a nearby main street. Although the men spoke Urdu with Masih, he said they spoke with each other in Pashto, the language of the tribal Pathans living in southern Afghanistan and the northwest territories of Pakistan.

Although Masih was blindfolded, he understood from the shouts of transport hawkers along the way that they were driving through Sukkur. “After this they turned left [north], but then the car turned many ways, so I had no knowledge where I was being taken,” Masih told Compass by telephone today from Jacobabad.

When the car stopped, Masih said he was taken into a room where his head was shaved, and his shirt and trousers exchanged for traditional “shalvar kamiz” clothing. “Then they injected something into my right arm, and I went unconscious,” he said.

When he came back to his senses, he said he found himself in another room with an iron girder, where his captors suspended him by his legs, with his hands tied behind his back.

“They beat me on my legs and arms and back with long wooden sticks, shouting, ‘Christians are dogs!’” Masih said.

The pastor said his captors denounced the “Christian” American military for killing “many, many of our Muslim people,” complaining specifically about the U.S. contingent based at Shahbaz Air Force Base near Jacobabad.

“You are a Christian, and the Americans are also Christians. So tell the Americans to leave this airbase. Otherwise, we will continue to give trouble to you and other Christians,” they warned.

In addition, the kidnappers ordered Masih to stop praying for Muslims at his church. Masih said he told them that Hindus and Muslims and people from the Christian community all come to visit his home. “So I pray with them over their problems,” he said.

After the threats and extended thrashing, he was taken down and given some bread, lentils and water. Soon afterward he again fell unconscious, causing him to suspect they had drugged the food. He awoke in yet another room, where he was whipped on the soles of his feet and fed bread and vegetable curry.

When he next regained consciousness, he said he found himself lying on the ground outside, in the dark of night. “My whole body was seriously swollen, my feet and my legs, but I started to walk slowly,” he recalled. After he came to a small road, a Suzuki pickup came along and stopped for him.

Masih explained what had happened, asking where he was. The driver told him they were just a half-hour’s drive to Bannu City, some 600 miles north of Jacobabad. So he agreed to take the injured pastor to the Bannu Christian Hospital, where he was admitted shortly before midnight on September 14.

According to a medical report issued by the Bannu hospital, the effects of the heavy beatings caused serious swelling and damage to the pastor’s leg tissues and injury to his back. His blood pressure continues to drop as low as 100/40 at times, he said.

Masih was transferred on September 17 under police protection back to his home in Jacobabad, where the small government hospital continues to monitor his treatment. It

has been recommended that he go to the Agha Khan Hospital in Karachi within the next week for an advanced medical checkup.

Although local police resisted initial attempts to file a report on his disappearance, an official First Information Report was registered on September 14. Since Masih’s return home, Jacobabad’s senior superintendent of police has insisted it was a faked kidnapping, and that his alleged captors were Christians, not Muslims. “You were not kidnapped,” Din Mohammed Baloch reportedly told Masih on September 23. “You were doing a drama.”

Married with a nine-year-old son and four-year-old daughter, Masih admitted, “My wife is really feeling very troubled now. So pray for us.”

Masih is the second Protestant pastor subjected to kidnapping and torture at the hands of Islamist extremists in Pakistan within the past four months. Pastor Wilson Fazal of the Pakistan Gospel Assembly in Quetta was abducted, shaved and beaten in May by a group of fanatic Muslims who tried to force him to convert to Islam. He escaped 40 hours later by jumping out of the jeep while being transported in the direction of the Afghan border.

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***********************************Pakistani Judge Orders Muslim Father ArrestedWhereabouts of abducted children still unknown.by Barbara G. Baker

ISTANBUL, October 4 (Compass) -- A Pakistani court issued a warrant Saturday for the arrest, without possibility of bail, of a Muslim father who abducted his two small children from a Lahore courthouse three weeks ago.

Judge Khizer Hayat Ghondal of the Lahore Family Court ordered the police to “take whatever measures necessary” to apprehend and produce Abdul Ghaffar before the court at the next hearing on the case, set for October 13.

Judge Ghondal himself has registered a criminal case against Ghaffar, who spirited his five-year-old son and three-year-old daughter out of the Lahore courtyard premises during a court-supervised visitation with them on September 13.

Ghaffar’s children were raised by their Christian mother, Maria Samar John, after she escaped four years ago from a forced, abusive marriage to their father. Since December 2000, she and her children have been provided safe-house shelter and legal representation by the Lahore-based Center for Legal Aid Assistance and Shelter (CLAAS).

Although the mother won a legal divorce from Ghaffar 20 months ago, his counter suit to gain custody of the children is still pending before Judge Ghondal.

Neither Ghaffar nor his lawyer Hafez Zia Ansari appeared in court for hearings set on three consecutive days last week, despite the judge’s repeated demands that the father return the children to the court’s custody and answer to criminal charges for their kidnapping.

A previous hearing set for September 20, a week after the children were kidnapped, had been postponed in the absence of the judge.

“Now it is the police’s duty to produce Ghaffar, because the plaintiff is the court, no one else,” noted Tahir Gul, a CLAAS lawyer representing the mother. “This is an exceptional case, because under normal circumstances, the court itself would not be the complainant. This makes a lot of pressure now on the SHO (station house officer), who until now has not produced the kidnapped minors.”

According to the U.S. State Department’s annual report released last month on international religious freedom, documented instances of both excessive police force and “police inaction” are faulted for the Pakistan government’s repeated failure to protect members of religious minorities.

“But I am hopeful, because Saturday’s orders are quite strict,” Gul told Compass. Reportedly the Lahore station house officer is being sent with a contingent of police to locate Ghaffar, whose home is in Gujranwala, 40 miles from Lahore.

“For sure, Ghaffar must be in hiding with the children,” Gul said, “because he knows that there is a criminal case registered against him.”

Ghaffar and his family have known links to the banned Sipah-e-Sabaha Party, an extremist Muslim group involved in numerous acts of violence against Pakistan’s minority Christian community.

Maria’s ex-husband had paid the equivalent of $2,000 to “buy” her from another Muslim who had abducted the Christian girl, then only 17 years of age. She was kept as a virtual slave in his home, where she was beaten and locked up for refusing to say the Muslim prayers.

“This is really a shocking thing for Maria and all of us,” another CLAAS lawyer told Compass after the children were kidnapped. “It will take a miracle, but we are praying for the safety and recovery of her children.”

***Current photographs of Maria Samar John and her children are available electronically. Please contact Compass Direct for pricing and transmittal.

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***********************************Arrest Warrants Issued for Pakistani Police Officers

Two charged with contempt of court over Karachi terrorist attack.by Barbara G. Baker

ISTANBUL, October 5 (Compass) -- Arrest warrants were issued yesterday by a provincial high court in southern Pakistan against two Karachi police officers standing trial for contempt of court.

Deputy Superintendent of Police Qasim Ghori and Inspector Tasarrud Mumtaz Mehmood of the Criminal Investigation Agency (CIA) failed to appear yesterday before a special division bench of the Sindh High Court hearing their case.

In issuing warrants demanding their arrest, Justices Shabbir Ahmed and Mohammed Sadiq Leghari set bail surety at 100,000 rupees ($1,665) for each of the accused police officers.

Charges have been filed against Ghori and Mehmood for manhandling several lawyers and abducting their Christian client from the Sindh High Court premises on October 22, 2002. The police actions flouted the court’s specific orders, issued minutes earlier, to release the Christian prisoner from “illegal police detention.”

The case constitutes a rare legal challenge against members of Pakistan’s powerful intelligence agencies, with two of its officers charged with alleged misconduct during security police investigations into a terrorist attack against a Christian welfare organization two years ago. Seven Christians were shot and killed in the still unsolved massacre at the downtown Karachi offices of the Institute of Peace and Justice (IPJ) in September 2002.

At an initial hearing on the case in early September, the two police officers had tendered their “unconditional apologies” for the incident, claiming that they were acting “for the protection of Robin Piranditta.”

The only uninjured Christian survivor of the attack, Piranditta had been arrested at the scene by police and kept under so-called “protective custody” for four weeks at the CIA’s Saddar center in Karachi.

Although the police tried to name him a key suspect and accomplice in the shootings, the high court findings declared that Piranditta had suffered “severe physical and mental torture” while in custody, with no evidence produced of his complicity in the crime.

Ghori and Mehmood are accused of disobeying court orders to release Piranditta, who they instead kidnapped from the court premises by force. When his lawyers tried to intervene, they were themselves injured and their clothes torn by the police. At the time, Piranditta had been so severely tortured that he could barely walk.

“As he came out of the court, police caught hold of him, threw him into a van and drove away, according to the petitioners,” today’s Dawn newspaper stated, recalling the incident witnessed by some 50 press reporters and photographers two years ago.

After high-level pressures were exerted later that night, the police were eventually forced to release Piranditta. But he and his family remained under strict police surveillance for nearly a year afterwards, and he has since gone into hiding.

Inexplicably, the families of the seven victims also continue to face anonymous phone calls, threats and police harassment, driving one widow to flee with her children to another province.

The government eventually doled out a token monetary compensation to the seven victims’ families. “But money is not everything,” one young widow told Compass in early September, wiping her eyes. “Justice is what we need, and we can’t get justice in this country.”

Married only nine months and newly pregnant when her husband Kamran was killed in the IPJ attack, Safia Anjum now has a 16-month-old son, Solomon. “He’s a carbon copy of his father,” she said, trying to smile through her tears. “But there’s no future for us here. How can I fight alone?”

According to advocate Noor Naz Agha, one of four human rights lawyers pressing charges in the case, police officers put on trial for dereliction of duty are normally suspended once the actual charges are framed against them in court. “So I think they might be suspended now, since the judges asked for all this bail surety,” she told Compass today.

Agha expressed confidence that she and her three colleagues would win this case. “We have honest judges, and the police committed contempt of court against them,” she said. “So they took serious note of this, and a special division bench is hearing the case.”

The maximum penalty for the police officers for violation of Article 204 of the Pakistan Constitution would be six months in prison and a monetary fine.

Karachi police investigators have failed to identify a single suspect from the IPJ attack, despite recognizable sketches of the murderers based on descriptions provided by Piranditta and a second Christian survivor, still partially paralyzed from a nearly fatal head wound.

“If the police do not try to identify the real culprits, then no one can do anything,” one Karachi Christian close to the case admitted.

For the Christian families of all seven victims and the two survivors, the shared conviction that the police themselves were involved in the massacre has made it even more difficult to move on past the tragedy.

***Photographs of Robin Piranditta, Safia and Solomon Anjum, and lawyer Noor Naz Agha are available electronically. Please contact Compass Direct for pricing and transmittal.

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***********************************Saudi Arabia Summons Jailed Indian Christian to CourtBrian O’Connor is charged with crimes of alcohol, pornography and ‘preaching.’by Barbara G. Baker

ISTANBUL, September 17 (Compass) -- Brian O’Connor, a Christian guest worker from India, was produced before an Islamic court in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on September 15, nearly six months after he was arrested, tortured and jailed for allegedly “spreading Christianity” in the strict Islamic kingdom.

O’Connor’s hearing occurred just hours before U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell named Saudi Arabia as one of eight “countries of particular concern” for its “gross infringements of religious freedom.”

The U.S. State Department’s annual religious freedom report on Saudi Arabia noted that “non-Muslim worshippers risk arrest, imprisonment, lashing, deportation and sometimes torture.”

During his 90-minute hearing, O’Connor was informed for the first time of the legal charges against him.

According to the formal charge sheet signed by the muttawa (religious police) who first detained and tortured him, O’Connor was caught “red-handed” in possession of 12 bottles of alcohol at the time of his arrest.

Furthermore, the muttawa claimed, O’Connor had money in his pockets from the sale of liquor which he had unknowingly sold to an undercover agent. He was also accused of having pornographic movies in his possession.

Finally, the muttawa declared the Indian national was a “preacher of Christianity” and had Bibles in his possession.

No verdict was given at the court session, and it was not clear whether any attempt was made to produce evidence of the charges.

O’Connor was told that he would be summoned to court again, although no date was given for such a hearing.

The Indian Christian was detained on March 25 by a group of Saudi muttawa who beat him severely, hanging him upside down and whipping him with electrical cables. His tormentors forced him to sign a document in Arabic which he could not read, and then turned him over to the police.

Executives at the El Khereji Corporation, where O’Connor worked as a cargo agent for Saudia Airlines, have declared that the liquor allegations against their employee are a “cover-up” for the real reason for his arrest.

O’Connor has acknowledged that he led Bible studies for expatriate Christians in his home, specifying that he only did so after the local press reported that Saudi authorities had publicly declared that non-Muslims living in the kingdom were permitted to practice their religious beliefs in private.

According to one colleague who visited O’Connor recently, the Indian Christian’s hair and beard have grayed considerably during his incarceration, “making him look a bit older than his 36 years.” During his months in prison, O’Connor’s elderly father and an elder sister have both passed away back in his native state of Karnataka, India.

Under Saudi Arabia’s practice of Islamic law, standard punishments carried out on expatriates for possessing or selling alcohol include jail terms, whiplashes and deportation.

The State Department’s designation of Saudi Arabia as a country of particular concern was the first such public rebuke issued by the United States against the desert kingdom, a close ally in the war on terrorism and one of its major oil suppliers.

***Photographs of Brian O’Connor and the Al-Hair Prison are available electronically. Contact Compass Direct for pricing and transmittal.

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***********************************Debate Continues on Sri Lanka Anti-Conversion LawBuddhist monks lobby for international support of controversial bill.by Sarah Page

DUBLIN, September 13 (Compass) -- Buddhist monks from the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) party have launched an international campaign to win support for a proposed anti-conversion bill in Sri Lanka. The monks have met with representatives at the United States, United Kingdom, Canadian, Indian, Australian, French and German embassies in Sri Lanka, according to local press reports.

Mr. Peter Hughs, the acting British High Commissioner, met with the JHU on August 25. According to an article in the Sinhala newspaper Divaina on August 26, the Commissioner told the JHU, “Christian fundamentalists cause problems not only to

Buddhists, but to Catholics, and traditional religions must work together against fundamentalists.”

A small delegation of monks led by the Ven. Athureliye Rathana Thero, a JHU member of Parliament, also attended the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association Summit in Ottawa, Canada, in early September. Sources say the JHU lobbied for support at the summit.

A JHU delegation is also expected to visit North America and the U.K. later this year.

Meanwhile, Christian advocacy groups seem confused by a Supreme Court announcement in August that two articles of the proposed bill are unconstitutional.

The Supreme Court ruled that Section 3 and 4(b) of the bill violate Article 10 of the constitution. Article 10 guarantees the freedom of thought, conscience and religion, including the freedom to have or adopt a religion or belief of one’s choice.

Yet the Bill for Prohibition of Forcible Conversion has not been overturned. On the contrary, it may still be presented to Parliament for a final vote. However, if the two contentious articles are not amended, the bill will not become law unless it gains a two-thirds majority vote in Parliament and passes a public referendum.

Senior church leaders in Sri Lanka say they fear complacency may set in among local Christians and foreign advocacy groups in the wake of the Supreme Court decision.

Even if the JHU bill fails in Parliament, the similar “Act for the Protection of Religious Freedom” proposed by Minister of Buddhist Affairs Ratnasiri Wickremanayake may be adopted. (See Compass Direct, “Sri Lankan Cabinet Approves Anti-Conversion Law,” June 24, 2004.)

However, not all Buddhists in Sri Lanka support the idea of anti-conversion legislation. An ongoing debate in newspaper opinion columns and online forums shows that many lay Buddhists, in fact, oppose it.

For example, Linda van Schagen, writing to the Sunday Leader on August 28, said the JHU bill would only encourage “religious division and hatred.”

One irate Buddhist castigated the JHU in an online forum in July, saying that corruption and mismanagement were responsible for the decline of Buddhism, rather than the activity of fundamentalist Christians.

Another writer told an online forum on August 30: “I am from Negombo which has churches, mosques and temples within a couple of kilometers. I have friends from all religions. It is disgusting to see religion [made into an issue] by some for their own sinister motives.”

Historically, the Buddhist temple was at the center of Sri Lankan village life, providing education, acting as a moral guardian and settling disputes. In modern Sri Lanka, however, some Buddhists have accused the monks of corruption and neglecting traditional duties.

Monks in turn are alarmed at the decrease in numbers attending the temple. The decline in Buddhism directly affects the monks, who rely on the generosity of temple donors to meet their daily expenses.

Corruption among Buddhist monks has raised considerable anger in some quarters. “To the men in robes -- you are always taking from society -- what are you giving back?” wrote another contributor to the Indo Lanka online forum on August 30. “Put your house in order and people will not move!”

Sri Lankan citizens also report seeing Buddhist monks, supposedly dedicated to a lifestyle of asceticism, driving BMW’s while clutching state-of-the-art mobile phones.

Meanwhile, Christian leaders in Sri Lanka have pleaded with advocacy groups to continue their work on behalf of minority religions in Sri Lanka.

“The danger of the anti-conversion bill remains very real,” said a representative from the National Christian Evangelical Alliance of Sri Lanka.

“The resolve of the JHU to see it through can be seen by these unprecedented moves of monks paying visits to foreign embassies and governments to lobby support for their cause.”

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***********************************Vietnam’s Christians Petition GovernmentHouse church representatives ask for greater religious freedom.Special to Compass Direct

HO CHI MINH CITY, September 30 (Compass) -- In an unprecedented move, representatives of Vietnam’s house church fellowships traveled to Hanoi on Monday, September 27, to deliver a petition to the government.

The petition appealed to Vietnam’s Communist Party leadership to rethink a controversial new law on religion which takes effect on November 15, and to allow greater freedom for religious worship in Vietnam.

Pastors and leaders from over 50 house church and indigenous mission organizations signed the petition on behalf of thousands of Protestant Christians throughout the country.

The evangelical house churches of Vietnam operate independently of the officially recognized Evangelical Church of Vietnam. Under the Communist government, churches must register and comply with strict regulations governing the activity and teachings of the church, training and appointment of ministers, and contact with Christians from other countries. Vietnam’s house churches have opted not to register because of these conditions.

After a brief salutation to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, the petition opens with the following words (translated from the original Vietnamese):

“We are people who have put our whole trust in the living God, worshipping him and exalting his ultimate sovereignty, faithfully carrying out his teachings in the Bible as do billions of Christian believers in all other human communities in the world.

“It is because of this true faith in God that millions of Vietnamese lives have been transformed to become better, and have contributed significantly to the social and spiritual life of our homeland and people.

“In obedience to the Bible and following the example of the early church, we evangelical believers have come together in various organizational forms: in small groups, in independent house churches, sometimes organized into an evangelical denomination.

“We meet together in many places: in our private homes, in chapels and in churches, to worship God and to help one another to live out God’s Word, to become good citizens and believers.”

The document then gives a brief history of the church in Vietnam, emphasizing that after almost 30 years of Communist rule, evangelical house churches still have not been recognized by the government. Because of this, the petition claims, they are forced to worship in private homes rather than church buildings. Police frequently disturb their meetings and slander them, forbidding them to carry out normal church activities.

Bibles, hymnbooks and church equipment have been confiscated. Many believers have been fined, arrested, publicly mocked before their communities, beaten and imprisoned.

Others have suffered when government officials withheld social and financial benefits normally available to Vietnamese citizens.

The government’s announcement of a new Ordinance on Religion, No. 21/2004/PL-UBTVQH11, set to go into effect on November 15, 2004, adds further restrictions to Christian worship in Vietnam. (See Compass Direct, “Vietnam’s Evangelical Fellowship Responds to New Religion Law,” September 1, 2004.)

The petition continues: “In light of all these matters above, we affirm that our belief is laid on the foundation of the Bible -- the perfect model that directs all of our religious activities and practices. Throughout history, millions of Christian believers, regardless of their political system, their culture or their location on this planet, were always loyal and faithful to the standards of the Bible.”

Basic foundational principles of the Christian faith are then explained. The writers also assert that according to Scripture, ministers should be ordained and appointed by God, not by the state.

The petition affirms the role of the government in other spheres.

“As Vietnamese citizens, we express our respect for leaders of the various levels of government, for our Bible itself teaches that, ‘Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established’ (Romans 13:1).

“In the history of mankind, because of prejudice and misunderstanding, there were times when certain people caused great difficulties toward blameless Christian believers. Today, if we are to be placed into such a situation, we would follow the example of Christian believers through the ages... and say, ‘We must obey God rather than men’ (Acts 5:29).”

The petition then lists, “with all of our good will,” three suggestions to overcome religious tensions in Vietnam.

First, the government should allow every citizen, regardless of religious belief, to live equally under the constitution. The writers pointed out that the new Ordinance on Religion contained articles that were contrary to the constitution, as well as to international treaties and conventions signed by Vietnam.

Second, in order to promote peace and social equality, the government should cease discrimination against Christian believers worshiping in house churches.

Finally, the government should create favorable conditions for believers in house church networks to carry out their religious practices according to the dictates of their faith. Christians meeting together to worship should also have the freedom to choose “times and places of their convenience.”

The petition closes with a blessing on the Communist Party leadership and their families.

A list of 50 signatures, representing the evangelical house churches of Vietnam, was affixed to the document.

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**********************************************************************COMPASS DIRECT

Global News from the Frontlines

David Miller, Managing EditorGail Wahlquist, Editorial AssistantSuzi Quinones, Design

Bureau Chiefs:Barbara Baker, Middle EastSarah Page, Asia

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Compass DirectP.O. Box 27250Santa Ana, CA 92799