A video was sent recently to a Christian publication, which showed the beheading of an Afghan Christian by members of a Muslim terrorist group for leaving his Islamic faith.

The video, which was sent to World Magazine, showed the beheading of Abdul Latif, believed to be in his 40s, by men who said that they are members of the Taliban in Afghanistan, according to BosNewsLife.

The two-minute video showed Latif struggling while his captors pinned him to the ground. His feet were bound and his hands were tied at the back. He pleaded repeatedly, “For God’s sake, I have children,” World Magazine reported.

The kidnappers wore suicide vests and covered their faces with scarves. Two of them held automatic weapons. They recited verses from the Quran, then one of them said, “As a warning to other infidels, you who are joined with pagans, your sentence is to be beheaded. Whoever changes his religion should be executed,” BosNewsLife said.

One of the men then slashed his neck from the side with a medium-sized knife as the others chanted repeatedly, “Allahu Akbar,” or “God is great,” BosNewsLife said.

When Latif’s head was completely severed, it was placed on top of his chest, according to World Magazine.

Latif was kidnapped earlier in the year from his village located south of Herat, the third largest city in Afhanistan. The video of the execution reached students of Herat University.

It also reached Afghan exiles living in India, who sent it back to an aid worker in Herat Province. The worker was able to confirm from villagers that the beheading took place.

The video was also forwarded to World Magazine by sources that the publication did not reveal for reasons of safety. It was also sent to The Barnabas Fund.

Both World and The Barnabas Fund believe the video is authentic, noting that the chanting resembles that which was done in the beheading of Daniel Pearl of the Wall Street Journal by al-Qaeda in Pakistan in 2002; and the beheading of U.S. Defense contractor Nick Berg in Iraq in 2004.

The video did not appear to be doctored, World Magazine said. Copies were forwarded by both Christian bodies to the U.S. State Department, the U.S. Commission on Religious Freedom and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

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A missionary group said recently that Christians in Syria are being threatened by Muslim extremists to join rallies that are calling for the resignation of the country’s president.

International Christian Concern said it has been receiving reports that Syrian Christians are being pressured to join rallies even as violence against them has stepped up, according to Christian Today.

Christians are told to either join the protests or leave the country. In Dara’a, a Christian village in southern Syria, some 20 masked men drove through the village on motorcycles for a drive-by shoot at a Christian home, Christian Today said.

In Karak village, Muslim Salafists coerced Christians to remove pictures of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad from their homes and to join the protest demonstrations. One man who rebuffed the Salafists was found dead the following morning, his body hanging on his front porch, Christian Today reported.

Christian churches also were sent letters during the Easter season, according to ICC, that stated that unless parishioners joined the demonstrations, they should leave the country, according to Christian Today.

Aidan Clay, ICC’s Middle East regional manager, told Christian Today that the U.S. should be careful in its diplomatic relations with Syria noting, “Unlike in Egypt, where Christians predominantly supported the revolution that removed President Hosni Mubarak from power, Syrian Christians have not participated in protests, anticipating that chaos and bloodshed will follow if radical Islam takes hold of the country.”

Christians enjoy more protection and freedom in Syria than in Muslim countries where Shariah law prevails. Because of this, Christians would like to see change in Syria, but without having to unseat Assad, Christian Today said.

Although as of now the riots are not yet sectarian, there is fear that they may be overtaken by an extremist agenda. So far, protests are rooted in social issues of repression and inequality, and economic woes including employment and massive price hikes of food and fuel, Continental News said.

Sneaking in

An unnamed Christian leader told Christian Today, “Muslim Salafi groups are sneaking in with their goal, which is not to make changes for the betterment of Syria, but to take over the country with their agenda. We want to improve life and rights in Syria under this president, but we do not want terrorism. Christians will be the first to pay the price of terrorism.”

The Assad family has been in power for 50 years. Christians have been protected because the Assad family belongs to the Alawite sect, which is an obscure offshoot of Shi’ite Islam, according to Continental News.

Only one percent of Syria’s population is Shi’ite, while 6.3 percent is Christian. The majority, 90 percent, is Sunni Muslim, which views the Alawite sect as heretical, Continental News said.

Syria’s constitution has a provision for religious freedom, but the government has imposed strong restrictions on this right. ICC told Christian Today that protesters in Duma, a suburb of Damascus, chanted last week, “Alawites to the grave and Christians to Beirut!”

The protection the Assad family lends Christians is strategic, as are its ties with Iran, and Lebanon’s leading Shi’ite leader. Of late, however, there has been concern by analysts of the “Shi’itization” of Syria, Continental News reported.

Israel, the U.S. and Arab government would like to see Syria pulled apart from its ties with Iran and Hezballah, while the latter two will not want this. The Salafi jihadists from Saudi Arabia and the Muslim Brotherhood are aiding Syria’s opposition, while the Syrian government is being aided by Iran, Continental News said.

Syrian Christians are concerned by the chaos that may follow as Syria “risks being torn apart by an Iraq-style sectarian conflagration over the regional balance of power,” according to Continental News.

Clay of ICC said, “We urge the U.S. Government to act wisely and carefully when developing policies that have deep political ramifications for Syria’s minorities by not indirectly supporting a foothold to be used by radical Islamists to carry out their anti-Christian agenda” Christian Today reported.

An unnamed Syrian Christian leader said, “If Muslim Salafis gain political influence, they will make sure that there will be no trace of Christianity in Syria,” according to Christian Today

Clay told Christian Today, “Throughout the Middle East, Christians have been fleeing their homeland in unprecedented numbers. Now, in a country where Christians have historically taken refuge from nearby purges in places like Turkey a century ago and Iraq in recent years, Islamists are threatening their existence.”

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A Christian rights worker said recently that another Afghan Christian is in jail and needs the help of the international community.

Aidan Clay, regional manager of the Middle East, International Christian Concern, said Shoaib Assadullah, 23, has been in jail since Oct. 21 for converting to Christianity, Allvoices reported.

Assadullah was arrested in Mazar-e-Sharif after giving a bible to a man who later reported the incident to local authorities, Allvoices said. While in prison, he has been physically abused and threatened with death by inmates.

Clay noted that another Afghan Christian, Said Musa, was released and granted asylum in Europe after nine months of abuse in jail, because of pressure from the international community including the U.S., Italy and other countries, Allvoices said.

In the same way, Clay told Allvoices that international diplomacy should be stepped up to help to secure the immediate release of Assadullah. Clay noted that while Musa was released amid a slew of international publicity, little progress has been made on behalf of Assadullah.

Clay expressed concern that Assadullah may be sentenced to death, the penalty for apostasy. Although Afghanistan’s constitution allows freedom of religion, apostasy falls under Islamic law, Allvoices reported.

In a letter that was shown to BosNewsLife and dated Feb. 17, Assadullah wrote, “Several times I have been attacked physically and threatened with death by fellow prisoners, especially [from members of the] Taliban [group] and anti-government prisoners who are in jail.”

Assadullah added, “These assaults on my human dignity have affected me negatively, close to the point of death,” according to BosNewsLife.

In another letter written by Assadullah dated Mar. 11, he wrote, “I am under emotional pressure from being in prison. Add to that the threat of being executed, constant insults and accusations, threats, cursing and being forced by other prisoners and by prison guards to do work for them… all because of prejudice against my different beliefs and my different ethnicity,” BosNewsLife reported.

Assadullah, on Mar. 24, said in a phone conversation that he would die for his Christian faith rather than return to Islam, according to BosNewsLife.

Clay told BosNewsLife that under President Hamid Karzai, “Afghanistan continues its anti-Christian crackdown and is far from altering any policies to protect apostates. The release of Musa was a great victory, but the battle carries on. The fight for religious freedom in Afghanistan is far from over.”

In a statement the U.S. State Department said, “The United States and its international partners remain committed to helping Afghans realize their vision for a country that is stable, democratic, and economically successful, and to an Afghan Government committed to the protection of women’s rights, human rights, and religious tolerance,” BosNewsLife reported.

In the Netherlands, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte promised to do “everything in his power to prevent executions of Christian converts,” BosNewsLife said.

It is estimated that there may be up to 10,000 Christian converts in Afghanistan, despite its being a highly Islamic nation where expressing one’s faith openly can lead to murder by militants, family members or government officials, BosNewsLife reported.

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The trial of a disabled man in Afghanistan who faces the death penalty for converting from Islam to Christianity was postponed recently to November 28.

Said Musa (also spelled Sayed Mossa), 45, who is married with six children, must on the appointed day face trial without a lawyer, because nobody wants to represent him, BosNewsLife reported.

Last week Musa was expected to be sentenced to death under sharia law, legislation from the former Taliban regime. Aidan Clay, International Christian Concern Middle East manager noted that millions of international dollars were spent training Afghanistan’s judiciary to follow the nation’s constitution, which has no penalty for changing faiths, BosNewsLife said.

International attention on Musa’s case may have caused the delayed trial. Ann Buwalda, executive director of Jubilee Campaign, USA expressed gratitude for the delay and said, “This dear brother has been illegally imprisoned for six months, tortured, abused and threatened with death, all because he is a Christian,” BosNewsLife reported.

Musa was jailed in May after nationally televised footage showed Muslims being converted to Christianity, triggering protests and causing a crackdown on Christian converts. (For background go to http://theundergroundsite.com/index.php/2010/06/afghanistan-suspends-relief-efforts-of-2-christian-aid-groups-12375).

Qamaruddin Shenwari, director of Kabul courts’ north zone, said that in the end, the judge may still consider sharia. “According to Afghanistan’s constitution, if there is no clear verdict as to whether an act is criminal or not…then it would be referred to sharia law,” BosNewsLife reported.

Under sharia law conversion from Islam to another faith is punishable by death. However, ICC said this goes against the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which forbids executions for crimes that do not fall under national or international law, and of which Afghanistan is a signatory, BosNewsLife said.

Forced to renounce faith

Clay said he worries that Musa might be made to “stand before a Muslim court without representation and will likely be asked to renounce his Christian beliefs. His response to that question may determine his fate, and before a sharia court, his sentence may be death,” according to BosNewsLife.

Clay asked Christians worldwide to call their Afghan embassies and consulates on behalf of Musa. ICC is demanding that Musa’s trial is delayed until he has legal representation, BosNewsLife said.

In a letter, Musa wrote, “Nobody [lawyer] wants to be my defender before the court. When I said ‘I am a Christian man’, he [a potential lawyer] immediately spat on me and abused me and mocked me…I am alone between 400 [people with] terrible values in the jail, like a sheep,” BosNewsLife reported.

Musa also wrote to “the international church of the world and…President Brother [Barack] Obama and to the head of  [International Security Assistance Force] ISAF in Afghanistan” to be released from jail, BosNewsLIfe said.

He said he worries about wife and six children. The eldest child eight years old, and one child is mute. In 2006 Abdul Rahman, another Afghan Christian charged with death for conversion, was granted asylum in Italy, BosNewsLife reported.

There are some 10,000 Christian converts in Afghanistan, a country where people are killed for openly expressing their Christian views, according to BosNewsLife.

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The Syrian government closed down recently at least eight Christian churches in Northern Syria, amid stepped up efforts to assail evangelical Christianity in the country.

The churches were closed down because of legislation that states that parishes must only congregate in buildings that bear a resemblance to church structures, BosNewsLife said.

However, Syrian Christians believe the law is being implemented as window dressing for the government’s underlying intent to attack and clear out evangelical Christianity in the country, according to BosNewsLife.

International Christian Concern told BosNewsLife that many churches lack funding to purchase a church building, so they meet and worship either at the house of a believer, or buy a home dwelling for church services.

ICC quoted a Syrian Christian who said, “Christians who are active in their faith know that they are watched very closely, and the government is waiting for an excuse to crack down on them,” BosNewsLife reported.

The Christian, who spoke anonymously for security reasons added, “The government is targeting all religious activities which are considered ‘extreme’ — from Muslim extremists all the way to Christians … It is generally believed that the government is getting reports from Orthodox and certain denominations as well as secret police and various Islamic congregations.”

A letter from an Arab Christian which was posted by Christian novelist Joel Rosenberg said the churches that were closed down are mainly located in the towns of Homs, Tartous, Lattakia and wadi Al-Nasara, BosNewsLife said.

According to BosNewsLife Rosenberg said, “Some of the churches in Damascus and Aleppo know that their turn will come soon. They are closing some of the Baptist and Alliance churches. It is apparently by the approval of the High Counsel representative in Syria.”

Aidan Clay, ICC’s regional manager for the Middle East, said the recent closure of so many churches indicate that evangelical Christians in the country are slated for more difficult times ahead.

Clay told BosNewsLife, “Christians in Syria, unlike some of their neighbors, have enjoyed relative freedom to practice their faith. Yet, religious freedom in Syria is a delicate ideal, and Syrian evangelicals have walked a tightrope not to offend the government and lose their precious liberty to worship.”

Clay said he felt that the Syrian evangelical community is falling prey to false reports and prejudice “by both Orthodox Christians and certain Muslim groups, (which) if continued, will destroy that fragile balance of religious freedom so cherished by Syrian evangelicals,” BosNewsLife reported.

The ICC called on the Syrian government “to preserve Syria’s religiously tolerant society and protect its religious minorities,” according to BosNewsLife.

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The beleaguered Christian community in Iraq may see a ray of hope as Iraq’s Federal Supreme Court approved recently the results of the March election, which include five Christian seats in the Iraqi parliament, Persecution.org said.

The five Christian seats comprise part of 14 seats in the Iraqi parliament that are held by non-Muslims.  The legislature has a total of 325 seats.  Last term, Christians only held two seats, Persecution.org said.

According to the United Nations Human Rights Council , before the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 there were about 1.4 million Christians in this Muslim-dominated nation of nearly 30 million, USA Today reported.

Since then, about 50 percent of Iraq’s Christians have fled the country, taking refuge in neighboring Jordan, Syria, Europe and the USA, according to USA Today.  Regional manager Aidan Clay of the International Christian Concern  Middle East said, “If they fail to increase security [for Iraqi Christians], we may soon see the extinction of Christianity in Iraq.”

Sister Maria Hanna, who has lived in the Immaculate Virgin convent in Mosul for 52 years, said the convent has been attacked by extremists some 20 times since 2003, USA Today said.

They used to have 55 Assyrian Catholic nuns, but now there are only four.  Recently a bomb exploded in the courtyard just moments after Sister Hanna received an anonymous phone call warning her and the nuns to leave, USA Today said.

Other attacks were a rocket-propelled grenade, a car bomb and a propane can that was set on fire in front of the convent gate, USA Today reported.

Most Iraqi Christians are Chaldeans, Eastern-right Catholics who are autonomous from the Vatican but still recognize the pope’s authority. In many of the Chaldean churches in Iraq, services are recited in ancient Aramaic, the language of Jesus, USA Today said.

The other major group of Christians in Iraq is made up of Assyrians, like Sister Hanna.  She has written letters to the Iraqi Christian Diaspora to chronicle the experiences of the remaining Christians in Mosul, and recently visited Washington to meet with several members of Congress to lobby for more pressure on the Iraqi government to protect Christians.

Yonadam Kanna, one of the five Christian Iraqi Parliament members and secretary general of the Assyrian Democratic Movement, said that with larger representation in the legislature, Christians in parliament will push for security, more job opportunities, the end of discrimination policies and compensation for Christians who fled Iraq, to return what was stolen and what was lost, Persecution.org said.

Kanna is hopeful that if Christians are safer in Iraq, many who fled will return.

He said, “We will now be in a much better legal condition, and much more respected than we were under the persecution and discrimination policies of Saddam times.  We are full with hope that all together we will be able to do much more than we had achieved in the last seven years,” Persecution.org said.

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Two Iranian Christian women were acquitted recently of apostasy charges and were allowed to leave their country, the Baptist Press (BP) reported.

According to the BP Marzieh Amirizadeh, 31,  and Maryam Rostampour, 28, were charged with apostasy for converting to Christianity.  They spent more than 250 days in jail for their faith.

While in prison Amirizadeh and Rostampour were repeatedly placed under great pressure to recant and deny Jesus Christ. They faced repeated interrogations, weeks in solitary confinement, and unhealthy prison conditions. Both became seriously sick during their imprisonment and did not receive the treatment they needed. Senior judges and officials also intimidated them.

Amirizadeh said, “We have seen the Lord do miracles over and over again.  He sustained us during a very difficult period.”  She also thanked those who prayed saying, “I have no doubt that God heard the prayers of His people,” the BP reported.

Rostampour, 28, said “I believe our arrest, imprisonment and subsequent release were in the timing and plan of God and it was all for His glory.  The prayers of people encouraged and sustained us throughout this ordeal,” according to the BP.

The two women faced possible death sentences for converting to Christianity and for reportedly engaging in evangelistic activities and Bible distribution.  They were arrested in March 2009 and held in Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison until Nov. 18 when they were given a conditional release, the BP said.

The apostasy charges however were not dismissed, and Amirizadeh and Rostampour endured a difficult six months waiting for their case to be heard in an Islamic court, where they could have been sentenced to prison again, the BP reported.

According to the BP, both young women told an Islamic judge that they would never deny their faith in Christ.  The International Christian Concern (ICC), a human rights organization, helped publicize the women’s plight.

According to Aidan Clay, ICC’s Middle East regional manager, “Their faith and endurance has been an encouragement to countless believers throughout the world,” the BP reported.

The women were warned that any future Christian activity in Iran would be seriously dealt with.  It has not been specified to which country Amirizadeh and Rostampour traveled, the BP said.

Rostampour was quoted as saying, “We hope to eventually share some of what the Lord allowed us to go through to highlight the need and the opportunity for the church in Iran, but right now we will take time to pray and seek the Lord for His will,” the BP reported.

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