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Bulletin of Christian Persecution

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North America

March 26
New York, U.S.
A two-year-old girl answers questions, saying that Christians are "the misguided" and Jews "are stuck by Allah's wrath."  (Video).

March 28, 2009
U.S.
The State Department released its religious freedom violator blacklist.  Burma, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, the Peoples Republic of China, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, and Uzbekistan were designated “Countries of Particular Concern.”

March 28, 2009
U.S.
Christian Science Monitor has come out with a list of ten terms which are inappropriate for use around Muslims, such as "religious freedom" and "tolerance."

March 30, 2009
U.S.
Obama nominated a judge who believes that Sharia law should apply to disputes in the U.S. for the State Department's legal advisory post.

March 30, 2009
Washington, U.S.
Americans are concerned about the growing influence of Islamic law.

March 31, 2009
U.S.
U.S. State Department overlooks "especially dire" and "appalling" religious freedom violations in Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Uzbekistan.

April 1, 2009
Oakland, California, U.S.
Hundreds gathered at a mosque to mourn the death of a Muslim man who killed four police officers.  His Christian cousin payed tribute to the fallen officers.

April 2, 2009
U.S.
The Society for Threatened Peoples International urged Obama to address issues of religious freedom in Turkey and Cyprus on his trip.

April 4, 2009
U.S.
International Christian Concern urges Americans to contact their representatives to defend the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Turkey in light of several abuses of religious freedom.   Congresswoman Carol Maloney introduced a resolution to the same ends.

April 5, 2009
Vancouver, Canada
Two Iranian Christians who were on the run for 10 years found safe harbor in Vancouver.  They had been imprisoned in Iran and Turkey.

April 5, 2009
U.S.
Historical revisionism of the conquests of now-Islamic lands and falsehoods regarding Islamic tolerance abound in U.S. textbooks .

April 6, 2009
U.S.
Obama backed off from his campaign pledge to declare the murders of 1.5 million Armenians in Ottoman Turkey to be "genocide" during his visit to Turkey.  Update April 7 : An Armenian group which had endorsed him protested his decision.

April 6, 2009
U.S.
Obama: "We do not consider ourselves a Christian nation." (Video).  Update April 9: The move has offended millions of Christians during the holy week.

April 7, 2009
Washington, D.C, U.S.
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom expressed concern at the Orthodox Patriarch's non-invitation to the "Alliance of Civilizations" gathering in Istanbul, Turkey, and urged Obama to address issues of religious freedom during his trip.

Africa

March 24, 2009
Egypt
An imam declared that Christians who die in the service of their country are not martyrs because they are infidels.

March 27, 2009
Africa
The Arabization of Africa, and its killing fields.

March 27, 2009
Eritrea
Security forces use bondage, heat exposure, and beating to punish people whom they arrest for their faith.  Some are kept underground in metal containers.

March 28, 2009
Aim Shams, Egypt
A Muslim man broke into a church for the second time in 12 weeks, assaulted a church worker, and tried to molest a young Coptic girl.

March 28, 2009
Egypt
A highly-qualified Coptic man was prohibited from receiving an appointment in the university system, ostensibly because of his surname.

March 29, 2009
Rabat, Morocco
Five Christian missionaries were expelled from the country for illegally inciting Muslims to convert.

March 30, 2009
Egypt
Copts implore the U.S. and Europe to stop giving aid to Egypt and other Arab nations, saying that much of the money will go toward funding terror groups and radicalism among youth.

March 30, 2009
Egypt
Muslims launched a Facebook campaign to boycott Coptic businesses, which the Muslim Brotherhood condemned, claiming that the move "will play into the hands of expatriate Copts to claim persecution of Copts in Egypt.”

March 31, 2009
Casablanca, Morocco
Five foreign Christians were deported for alleged proselytizing at a Bible study gathering.

March 31, 2009
Maghagha, Egypt
2000 Coptic families planned to protest the seizure and demolition of Coptic cemeteries by city officials.

April 1, 2009
Cairo, Egypt
Customs officials arrested a Turkish man at Cairo airport with ancient Coptic relics in his luggage.

April 1, 2009
Upper Egypt
Security services prevented funereal prayers from being held for a Coptic woman.

April 1, 2009
Eritrea
Christian groups are concerned that Eritrea will use a European aid package for nefarious purposes.  The EU may give the funds "despite being aware of ongoing human rights abuses in the country."

April 1, 2009
Bauchi State, Nigeria
Murders and destruction of homes and churches.  (Video)

April 2, 2009
Alexandria, Egypt
Kidnapping, attacks, land confiscation, rape, and forced conversions.  (Video).

April 2, 2009
Cairo, Egypt
The Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies condemned the UN Human Rights Council's adoption of a resolution on "combating defamation of religions."

April 2, 2009
Cairo, Egypt
An anti-discrimination conference was held to discuss religious freedom, discrimination, and the removal of the "Sharia article" from the Constitution.

April 2, 2009
Deirot, Assuit, Egypt
A physically handicapped Coptic man was blackmailed into converting to Islam.

April 3, 2009
East Africa
Violence and murder from the Lord's Resistance Army in Sudan, Uganda, and Congo. (Video).

April 3, 2009
Cairo, Egypt
In a meeting called to establish an international Coptic entity the group's main demand was that of "full citizenship rights and equality in Egypt, without restriction or condition, and according to universal human rights standards."

April 3, 2009
Sudan
The UN assesses the impact of the ouster of aid groups on Southern Sudan, where recovery and development operations were halted.

April 4, 2009
Sebeah, Egypt
Police shut down a Coptic Evangelist church without providing a reason.

April 4, 2009
Egypt
Persecution in the courtroom in a case brought by a man who wished to change his and his daughter's religious affiliation from Islam to Christianity.

April 4, 2009
Sudan and Democratic Republic of the Congo
The Lord's Resistance Army continues to attack civilians in DRC and southern Sudan, displacing thousands.  Southern Sudanese officials believe that the Khartoum government is resupplying them.

April 5, 2009
Alexandria, Egypt
Hundreds of Muslims attacked Christian-owned shops after a rumor spread about a Muslim man being killed by Christian landlords.

April 8, 2009
Sudan
“The government has always focused on the Islamisation process. I do not see any change on the part of the authorities,” says a bishop.

April 9, 2009
Sudan
Support for Bashir has mobilized into an orchestrated attack on Christians, their land, and churches.

Asia

March 6, 2009
Iraq
Christian Iraqis tell their stories.  (Video).

March 27, 2009
Iraq
Christians are being "squeezed almost out of existence" in Iraq.

March 27, 2009
Iraq
Iraq is the "most dangerous place in the world for Christians."

March 28, 2009
Mindanao, Philippines
Jihadists clashed with the army, who attacked them to prevent the jihadists from ransacking Christian villages again.  Seven soldiers were killed.

March 29, 2009
Tehran, Iran
Two Christian women were arrested for their faith and labeled "anti-government activists."  They are being held without charge.  Update April 11 : They have been declared "National Security Risks."

March 30, 2009
Manila, Philippines
Separatists set the time for the beheading of one of three Red Cross hostages.  Update April 3: one hostage was freed.  Update April 10 : One hostage is "not in good shape."

March 31, 2009
Shiraz, Iran
Three Christian converts were ordered to discontinue Christian activities after being declared guilty of cooperating with "anti-government movements."  They were warned that they could be charged with apostacy. 

March 31, 2009
Iraq
Mandeans and Assyrians are "endangered" and continue to flee the country.

March 31, 2009
Dohuk, North Iraq
The local government refused to grant the Assyrian National Movement permission to hold traditional New Year's festivities, but then allowed them to after the ADM apparently threatened to do so with or without permission.  Update April 4 : The ADM held the celebration.

March 31, 2009
Uzbekistan
Officials have used a member of one Christian community to pressure members of another in a raid on a group of Baptists in a private home.

March 31, 2009
Sanaa, Yemen
Two Dutch tourists were kidnapped, probably by the same tribe that abducted three German tourists last year.

April 1, 2009
Azerbaijan
Three Baptists were detained and fined for "illegally spreading Christianity" after constitutional changes made it easier to crack down on "harmful religious groups."  Police, who did this on camera, are denying the accusations.

April 1, 2009
Uttara, Bangladesh
A Bible student was attacked by a mob of Muslims. (Video).

April 1, 2009
Indonesia
Christians are worried about Islamist parties making gains in the April 9 elections.

April 2, 2009
Iraq
Iraqi Christians are fearful for their security situation once U.S. troops diminish their presence.  200,000 Christians have fled the country.

April 2, 2009
Kot Lakha Singh, Pakistan
A Muslim mob attacked a church, desecrated it, and dragged Christian women through the streets.

April 2, 2009
Faisalabad, Pakistan
A Christian man was killed by Muslim militants for refusing to convert to Islam.

April 2, 2009
Uzbekistan
Authorities penalize people who distribute religious literature.  Baptists are facing fines, prosecution, and confiscations of literature.  Another Christian has been heavily fined and her was Bible destroyed.

April 3, 2009
Baghdad and Kirkuk, Iraq
Four Christians were killed in two days. 

April 3, 2009
Manila, Philippines
Terrorists killed 2 and injured 8 in a bomb blast across from a Roman Catholic cathedral.  A 9-year-old boy who had been held for over 3 months was released under military pressure.

April 3, 2009
Sulu and Tawi Tawi Archipelago, Philippines
Christians, clergy especially, are living in fear due to violence.  A curfew has been imposed.

April 3, 2009
Tajikistan
The new Religion Law has come into effect.  A Protestant church has been given ten days to leave the building after losing a battle to retain its ownership. 

April 5, 2009
Punjab, Pakistan
A mob killed a Christian mother and injured 17.  A woman and her father were jailed for allegedly desecrating a Koran. (Video).

April 5, 2009
Sargodha, Pakistan
A young Christian was wrongly implicated for dealing drugs and was jailed.  An asthmatic Christian inmate recently died due to negligence in the same prison after being jailed on similar charges.

April 6, 2009
Dhaka, Bangladesh
Muslim protests have halted construction of a church after they tried to destroy it altogether and threatened the pastor. 

April 6, 2009
Indonesia
A recent study indicates that Arab extremists are infiltrating society, which is leading to extremism and a decline in tolerance.

April 6, 2009
Mosul, Iraq
A Christian repairman was shot to death in front of his workshop, bringing the number of murdered Christians to five in five days in Iraq.

April 6, 2009
Iraq
Chaldean Catholic Archbishop Sako warned that Christianity may soon disappear in Iraq.  He also fears a security breakdown after U.S. troops withdraw.

April 6, 2009
Charnali, Pakistan
A Muslim employer fabricated a theft case against a Christian babysitter to get her to work for them free of charge.

April 6, 2009
Uzbekistan
Four Jehovah's Witnesses and a Pentecostal pastor are being jailed for their faith.

April 7, 2009
Sargodha and Johar Abad, Pakistan
Courts ordered a Christian man to relinquish his baby daughter to her Muslim mother on purely religious grounds.

April 8, 2009
Iraq
Internally displaced Iraqi Christians tell their stories.  (Video).

April 8, 2009
Faisalabad, Pakistan
A Christian man was murdered and residents feel that the police are not conducting a serious investigation.

April 8, 2009
Anatolia, Turkey
"[F]or some of my Christians the Via Crucis is a living reality, it is not something from the past," says the apostolic vicar of Anatolia.

April 8, 2009
Uzbekistan
Baptists have been handed huge fines for congregating to worship.  Two other Baptists have been arrested, questioned, and charged for carrying religious literature.

April 9, 2009
Gandja, Azerbaijan
The secret meeting spot of Jehovah's Witnesses has been discovered by police.

April 10, 2009
Sangla Hill, Pakistan
Three suspects in a case involving the gang rape of a 13-year-old Christian girl have been cleared of all charges despite eyewitness accounts and medical evidence. 

April 10, 2009
Mindanao, Philippines
A bomb explosion rocked a small Christian town on Good Friday.

April 11, 2009
Lahore, Pakistan
Muslims have threatened a Christian journalist and his family with violence, death, and forced conversion.

April 11, 2009
Zamboanga City, Philippines
Muslim separatists raided a farming community, killing one and abducting eight, six of them children.

Europe

March 16, 2009
Ljug, Kosovo
Two houses owned by Serbs were burned down.  (Video).

March 23, 2009
Bosnia-Herzegovina
Tensions remain as Serbia demands that those responsible for a bombing be handed over, and Serbia refuses to hand over the Bosnian Serbs they are sheltering. (Video).

March 24, 2009
Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina
Cancer rates have increased significantly after NATO bombings with uranium-enriched weaponry found to have radiation levels higher than what is internationally allowed.  Seven years later radiation is still detectable in the land, air, and water. Italian veterans also have increased cancer rates. (Videos).

March 28, 2009
Bosnia-Herzegovina
Radical Islam is expanding in the Serb Republic.  Serbs cannot return to Gornja Maoca, where their property has been confiscated and security cannot penetrate.

March 28, 2009
Istanbul, Turkey
Two Christians who are on trial for "insulting Turkishness” plan to take their case to the European Court of Human Rights after they were fined for taking "illegal" church offerings.

March 28, 2009
Manchester, UK
A Pakistani nurse in a cancer ward was fired after refusing to provide basic care to patients, some in their dying hour.

March 28, 2009
Rochester, UK
The Bishop of Rochester, Michael Nazir-Ali, has stepped down out of resentment toward the direction the Church has taken and in order to focus his attention on the persecuted church .

March 29, 2009
London, England
A borough council employee has been suspended from work for talking about God with a client and told that he will be fired if he does it again.

March 30, 2009
Belarus
A Christian alcohol rehabilitation program has been raided twice by police, who enforce segregation of religious and social activity

March 30, 2009
Kosovo
A Serbian man was beaten with pistols after running into a roadblock set by ethnic Albanians.  A Serbian woman was attacked inside her house and beaten about the head.

March 30, 2009
Kosovo
Serbia’s state secretary for Kosovo warned that the situation will escalate after the UN refused to provide security services to visiting Serbian officials despite an institutional ban on all non-separatist officials.

March 30, 2009
Canterbury, UK
The Archbishop of Canterbury warned the BBC not to neglect Christianity in favor of "minority programming" as religious programming is continually downgraded.

March 30, 2009
UK
The BNP is “the only political party which genuinely supports Britain’s Christian heritage” and “will defend [the] ancient faith and nation from the threat of Islamification."  Clergy are prohibited from joining.

March 31, 2009
Bologna, Italy
Muslims tried to blow up a 14th-century fresco in the church of San Petronio.  Two terrorist attempts have been foiled.
 
March 31, 2009
Burel, Albania
The European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo (EULEX) will investigate evidence of an organized Albanian separatist organ trade of kidnapped Serbs. 

March 31, 2009
Pristina, Kosovo
Italian troops, who protect the Decane monastery and other religious sites, will remain in Kosovo for the time being.

April 1, 2009
Burnley, UK
Two schoolchildren from Blessed Trinity Roman Catholic College were attacked and another was robbed by a gang.

April 3, 2009
Helsinki, Finland
The Helsinki Committee for Human Rights and the Yucom Committee have filed a lawsuit against Serbian author and former president of Yugoslavia Dobrica Cosic, claiming that his writing is "criminal."

April 5, 2009
UK
A government-funded cartoon strip for orphans portrays a Christian boy as an intolerant bully whose cross is "bling" while a Muslim girl's headscarf is a symbol of piety.

April 8, 2009
Albania
Evidence mounts of Serbs having been kidnapped and their organs harvested by KLA members.  (Video).

April 9, 2009
Kosovo
Two thousand civilians are still missing. 

April 10, 2009
Europe
The EU's anti-discrimination law has provoked outrage from religious organizations.

April 10, 2009
Manchester, England
British security thwarted what could have been Britain's worst Islamic attack ever, an "Easter spectacular" from al-Qaeda Manchester Airport employees .

April 10, 2009
Kosovo
A former prisoner of the camp in Kukes, Albania says that he witnessed Albanian forces torture Serbs to extract their organs while claiming to be victims of genocide to the Western press.

April 11, 2009
Spain
Descendants of the Moors who conquered Spain are demanding a formal apology from descendants of the Spanish who expelled their colonizers.

Australia

April 8, 2009
New South Wales
Royal North Shore Hospital has banned crucifixes, Bibles, and other Christian symbols from a chapel when it is not being used for services.  The chapel contains a separate Muslim prayer room.

Everywhere

April 8, 2009
Muslims rejoiced over news of the earthquake that killed 260 people in Abruzzo, Italy.

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