Bulletin of Christian Persecution
February 13, 2009
Facts without comments-- We Collect the Dots;
You Connect Them
This is our first Christian Bulletin. Please spread this bulletin
and send us events that you find.
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Summaries:
Dhaka, Bangladesh: A gang of Muslim pilgrims beat a Bible student for distributing
Christian literature. The Muslims had gathered for the World Muslim Congregation,
where Murmo was distributing the literature. 50 men attacked him, demanding
to know the location of his Bible college, before was rescued by law enforcement.
Police say that if they had not arrived in time the crowd would likely have
killed him. 2/5/09
Rochdale, England: A gang of 20 “youths” attacked a pastor and his church
for the second time. Pastor Dennis Rigg and his brother were setting up for
their father’s funeral when a crowd hurled snowballs at them and shouted
anti-Christian slurs, some of them relating, erroneously, to Operation Cast
Lead and Zionism. Zion Baptist Church had previously been spray-painted with
racist slurs. 2/6/09
Tur Abin, Turkey:
State escalates a legal battle against an Assyrian monastery. The St. Gabriel
monastery, one of the world’s oldest, has been under legal siege by nearby
villages . . . arguably an attempt on the government’s part to drive out
the remaining Assyrians by annexing the land for Kurdish villages. 2/6/09
Port Sa’id, Egypt: Christians were jailed after a brutal police raid. Six
Christian brothers’ café was raided and vandalized by 13 police
officers for remaining open during Ramadan. The brothers were beaten with sticks,
leaving two of them with broken arms and another with a head wound. 1/29/09
Cairo, Egypt: The State has released two Christian men who had been arrested for
distributing Bibles at the Cairo International Book Fair. They were charged
with defaming Islam and preaching. Preaching is not forbidden by Egyptian law.
2/5/09
Somalia: A report by Open Doors USA places Somalia in the top 10 nations for Christian
persecution. The 2009 report puts Korea in first place for the 7th straight
year, but Somalia has risen from 12th to 5th place. Seven of the top 10 nations
in the report are Islamic states. The organization estimates that 100 million
Christians worldwide suffer persecution, making Christians the most oppressed
group in the world. 2/3/09
Punjab, Pakistan: Muslims attack church and torture four Christian families in their
homes. The violence originated in a dispute over land acquired by a Catholic
from a Muslim and the marriage of a Christian man to a Muslim woman. Police
have made no arrests. The 25 Christian families in the village of Kot Lakha
Singh are subjected to constant harassment. 1/20/09
Cairo, Egypt: Muslims riot over plans for Christian church. One man died in Aswan
the same day during a separate riot over the police killing of a suspected criminal,
probably after having inhaled tear gas. The riot took place after large numbers
of Christians and Muslims showed up outside a building which the Christians
want to convert into a church. 11/25/08
Eritrea:
The Christian death toll mounts in prisons, or rather, “military confinement
centers.” One man died from complications resulting from diabetes and being
tortured, another as the result of torture endured after refusing to recant
his faith, and another after having been refused medication for malaria. Incarcerated
Christians throughout Eritrea have been transferred to Mitire prison. Church
leaders told Open Doors that 2981 Christians have been incarcerated for their
faith. 1/21/09
Vennabari, Bangladesh: A Baptist pastor’s wife is gang-raped and their home robbed.
7 or 8 local Muslims held up the pastor at gunpoint, broke into his home, tied
him and his wife up, blindfolded her, robbed them, and then gang-raped his wife.
“If my daughters had been present in the house at that night, they would
have been victims as their mother was,” 1/20/09
Dhaka, Bangladesh: Muslims drive Christian grandparents from their home. Two brothers
have been forced by neighbors in the entirely-Muslim village to expel their
parents for converting to Christianity. The sons fear that their children will
not be married in the Muslim tradition if their parents remain in the village.
Their pastor says that they are becoming ill from malnutrition, as they are
living on handouts. Another Christian in a nearby village is being framed as
a terrorist after police found planted bombs and weapons behind his house. 1/14/09
Izmir, Turkey: a 19-year-old Muslim was sentenced to four and a half years in prison
for stabbing a Catholic priest in December of 2007. The man expressed interest
in Christianity before stabbing Fr. Franchini in the stomach. 63% of Turks view
Christians unfavorably, according to a poll by the Pew Global Attitudes Project.
1/12/09
Mosul, Iraq: Islamic fundamentalists call for the expulsion of Christians from Mosul, the
last Al Qaeda stronghold in the country. Jalal Moussa was shot to death in the
neighborhood of Noor, where four clergymen were killed in 2007 and Archbishop
Paulo Farj Rahho was kidnapped and killed. There may be two more victims. Nine
Christians were killed in Mosul during the same week. Christians in Mosul are
continually threatened, their businesses boycotted, and are being driven out.
Every week more than 20 families flee Mosul, emptying entire neighborhoods,
"to the indifference of the media and of Western governments." 10/9/08
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