Posted in Bulletin of Christian Persecution / Make a Comment (1) /

Bulletin of Christian Persecution

March 22 - April 14, 2011

March 22, 2011
Pakistan
Two Christians were gunned down and two others are in a serious condition with bullet wounds after Muslim youths attacked them outside a church building in Hyderabad.

March 24, 2011
Ethopia (Hat tip to InfidelsAreCool)
Where there was once religious tolerance between Christians and Muslims, now there are attacks against Christians by Muslims chanting "Allahu Akbar."

March 26, 2011
Egypt
A group of Muslims attacked Ayman Anwar Mitri, a 45 year old Christian Coptic man, cutting off his ear. The Muslims claimed they were applying Sharia law because Mr. Mitri allegedly had an illicit affair with a Muslim woman.

March 27, 2011
Lebanon (Hat tip to InfidelBloggersAlliance)
A bomb exploded overnight at the entrance of a church in the eastern Lebanese city of Zahle, causing no injuries, a church official said Sunday. The bomb, which consisted of about 4.4 pounds of TNT, was placed at the side entrance of St. Mary's Church, a Syriac Orthodox church.

March 28, 2011
Pakistan (Hat tip to JihadWatch)
In Hyderabad and Lahore, a mob of Islamic fundamentalists targeted Christian places of worship. Two Christians were killed and churches were burned. They desecrated several copies of the Bible and promised more violence if Washington [U.S. government] does not condemn pastor Jones to death for burning a Koran. Update HERE.

March 28, 2011
Saudi Arabia
Friends and family of two Indian Christians arrested after a prayer meeting in Saudi Arabia in January have tried in vain to secure their release. The two Christians were incarcerated for attending the prayer meeting with other Indian nationals and accused of converting Muslims to Christianity, though the government has not produced formal charges, sources said.

March 31, 2011
Malaysia
Malay language Bibles still under lock and key, because the government wants to limit to Muslims the use of the word "Allah" for God. A ruling rejects their decision, but in Kuala Lumpur pushes ahead with a policy of progressive restriction of religious freedom. The Malaysian Christians argue that there should be no "restrictions, prohibitions and proscriptions" in the use of the sacred books. The government wants to impose an inscription on the Bible, printed in Indonesia, to reduce the risk of Muslims converting. Update HERE.

Bangladesh
A judge this week exonerated a Christian sentenced to one year in prison for selling and distributing Christian literature near a major Muslim gathering north of this capital city, his lawyer said. After reviewing an appeal of the case of 25-year-old Biplob Marandi, the magistrate in Gazipur district court cleared the tribal Christian of the charge against him and ordered him to be released

April 1, 2011
Indonesia
A month that saw the Bogor city mayor defying a Supreme Court decision granting a building permit for a church in Bogor, West Java culminated in police turning away those seeking to worship - and church leaders today filing a police complaint on the mayor with National Police.

April 2, 2011
Ivory Coast (Hat tip to AtlasShrugs)
Troops loyal to Alassane Ouattara, the Muslim opposition leader, slaughtered 1,000 civilians in Duekoue last week. The victims were mostly men who were shot as they fled the city. More HERE and HERE.

Iran
Iranian security forces have stormed a house church and arrested 10 members. Mohabat News said while there has been no explanation offered by the Iranian Government's security sources, it is likely that these 10 house church members were arrested because of their Christian beliefs and participation in church gatherings. That, the news agency commented, is in line with the recent wave of repressive actions taken by the government against Iranian Christians.

April 3, 2011
Nigeria (Hat tip to JihadWatch)
Youths in Iraqi area of Sokoto metropolis yesterday sparked a violent protest over an alleged defilement on the Holy Qur'an. It was not immediately clear whether the attacks early Saturday were linked to elections or who was behind the violence in an area of the state repeatedly hit by clashes between Christian and Muslim ethnic groups.

Italy (Hat tip to InfidelsAreCool)
Muslim refugees from Tunisia have set on fire a church at Lampedusa Island, Italy. No details of this incident have yet been revealed. For some days, the situation on the island has been very tense. The church was set on fire after the priest had accommodated 36 teenage refugees in the parish.

April 4, 2011
Egypt
Liberals and minorities are worried as the Muslim Brotherhood advocates a "modesty" police force. Nagib Gibrail, a Coptic attorney and head of the Egyptian Union of Human Rights, said the Egyptian revolution had been kidnapped by Islamist radicals. "There are areas in Egypt where Christian girls can't walk outside after eight o'clock in the evening for fear of being kidnapped."

Saudi Arabia (Hat tip to JihadWatch)
An Eritrean Christian is facing the death penalty in Saudi Arabia after being arrested for sharing his faith with Muslims.

April 5, 2011
Pakistan (Hat tip to JihadWatch)
"Convert or die". Masih Gill, a Christian from the city of Mardan (Northern Pakistan) was threatened with these words by a group of Muslims with whom he had been speaking, after the recent episode of the burning of the Koran in the US. This event caused violent reactions in Pakistan (three churches attacked in a week) by Muslim extremists. Nearly one dozen UN guards were killed on April 1, while two were beheaded.

April 7, 2011
Pakistan
Asia Bibi is sick, in solitary confinement, and there are growing concerns for her life. The Christian sentenced to death for blasphemy on false evidence is sick with chicken pox, because of the appallingly unhygienic conditions she is being kept in.

April 8, 2011
Pakistan
The United States said Friday that Pakistan's security forces enjoyed a "culture of impunity" on human rights and voiced concern at religious intolerance in the frontline US war partner. An annual State Department survey on human rights reported widespread concerns in Pakistan, including violence against women, child labor, corruption, prison abuses and discrimination against religious minorities. Presenting the global report, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton voiced concern about Pakistan's blasphemy law which allows for the death penalty. Critics say it has been frequently abused against minorities.

April 9, 2011
Egypt
In the last two weeks three attacks on churches were undertaken by Salafis or Islamic Fundamentalists in Egypt. The Salafis demanded churches move to locations outside communities and be forbidden from making repairs, "even if they are so dilapidated that the roofs will collapse over the heads of the congregation," says Father Estephanos Shehata of Samalut Coptic Diocese. The latest of these incidents took place in the village of Kamadeer, in Samalout, Minya province on April 5, which escalated to the point where it was feared the church would be torched and demolished, as was done in the case of St. George and St. Mina Church in village of Soul, Atfif, on March 5.

Turkey
Non-Muslim intellectual in Turkey, including Christians, support government plans to replace the current Constitution with a new and civilian one, saying they would like to be protected under a new constitution, rather than relying on the Treaty of Lausanne. Erol Dora, a lawyer representing the Syriac Christian community of Turkey, said that Turkey’s political will should settle the problems of non-Muslim minorities in order to restore social peace and allow a democratic mindset to dominate the country, but not simply because Europe requires such conditions for full membership in the European Union.

April 10, 2011
Iran
Some detainees from the recent wave of persecution on Christians have been released on bail, and they are waiting for their next trial. The Iranian authorities are charging 60 Christian detainees with apostasy.

April 11, 2011
Egypt (Hat tip to InfidelsAreCool)
A Coptic mother was kidnapped taking her daughter to school. The Police have been reluctant to take action and the family is devastated. There are hundreds of cases of Coptic Christian women being coerced into Islam and in some cases actually forcibly being taken away. The State Security apparatus usually collaborate with local extremists groups and rarely do they undertake their investigations appropriately.

April 12, 2011
Nigeria (Hat tip to JihadWatch)
Armed with machetes and guns, 1,000 militants attacked the village of Bar Arewa in north Nigeria. Almost every home in the village was destroyed, and some elderly people were reported to have been burnt to death in their homes. The group is part of a larger band of 2,000 militants that has been attacking non-Muslim villages.

April 13, 2011
Iran
The blasphemy trial of members of the Church of Iran, which was adjourned on 5 April to give the prosecution more time to gather evidence, has been adjourned once more, in order to allow prosecutors to seek the assistance of Iran’s traditional churches in determining their guilt.

April 14, 2011
Egypt
A growing number of Egypt's 8-10 million Coptic Christians are looking for a way to get out of the country as Islamists increasingly take advantage of the nationalist revolution that toppled long-standing dictator Hosni Mubarak in February.

Pakistan
In Pakistan forced conversions to Islam, rapes and forced marriages are on the rise. The victims are mostly Hindu and Christian girls, belonging to religious minorities.

Produced by Political Islam.com
Publisher: Bill Warner; Edited by Asma Marwan
Permalink