Shiite clerics and media in Iran have stepped up a deliberate campaign recently that is designed to quell and intimidate religious minorities through threats and intimidation, especially Christians.

Much of the persecution comes from the militia and media that is linked to security forces, and is particularly focused on Muslims who have converted to Christianity, according to Assist News.

An article in Mohabat News noted that the gravitation of Iranian citizens had been a source of “aggravation” for the government and Islamic clergy, citing the “Pasdaran Militia and media outlets belonging to these organizations” which it said leveraged “ever-increasing pressure on Christian families and those who have recently become Christians,” Assist News reported.

Woman flees country in fear

Human rights groups have slammed “gross violations” by the government against Christians in Iran, including jailing Christians for blasphemy and recently, executing a Christian couple in secret, This is Derbyshire said.

Even just being found with a bible in one’s bag can lead to fear of death. This was the experience of Mina Aminoo, who has fled to the U.K. where she is seeking asylum, after police in Tehran told her, “Be very afraid. You have done a bad thing by having a bible,” according to This is Derbyshire.

The 56-year-old woman spent her life savings to get false papers to flee to escape to the U.K. She told This is Derbyshire, “The police were watching me, that’s what they said.”

The bible was found in her handbag at the Iranian airport when she was coming back from a vacation in Turkey. Aminoo told This is Derbyshire, “I was told that it was forbidden in Iran for anyone to convert to Christianity and I was asked if I was going to preach the words of the Bible in Iran.”

Aminoo told This is Derbyshire, “I tried to explain that I’d been given the Bible from a woman in the local church in Istanbul – but the police didn’t believe me.” Aminoo was lucky to escape, but many other Christians who are still in Iran continue to face serious danger.

False Christians

Ayatollah Sobhani from Southern Khoarasan Province, in a meeting with leaders of the Islamic Guidance Foundation warned of the activities of “false” Christians referring to Protestants and born-again Evangelicals, Assist News said.

Sobhani did not define “false Christians,” but said, “[T]hese Christian evangelists have converted 600 people to Christianity in the city of Neyshabour.” He did not mention where he got his statistics, according to Assist News.

However, Assist News noted that Sobhani’s claims came after another Shiite cleric, Ayatollah Vahid Khorasani, claimed to have statistics of Christian converts from Islam in Qum City.

Khorasani slammed Iran’s government and security forces, saying they were neglecting this issue. He demanded forceful action. He also criticized Pope Benedict XVI whom he accused of working actively to spread Christianity in Iran, Assist News said.

Khorasani warned the Vatican that if it persists in doing this, there will be a harsh expose against the Catholic Church of issues that will cause it grave harm, according to Assist News.

The article in Mohabat News said, “These confrontations between the security forces with Christians, especially those who have recently become Christians, proves that despite the ongoing suppression of believers and measures that have made life more and more difficult for the Christian community, people still and willingly embrace the Christian faith as their personal belief,” Assist News reported.

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Pakistan Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani said recently that the blasphemy law will be retained just the way it is.

In his address to religious scholars at the Ulema and Mashaikh Conference 2011 in Islamabad, Gilani assured the participants that the government has no intention to amend or repeal the controversial blasphemy law, The Express Tribune reported.

In a separate development, Asia Bibi, the first Christian woman to be sentenced to death by hanging for alleged blasphemy, will be transferred to another jail. The 45-year-old mother of five is awaiting appeal of her case. (See http://theundergroundsite.com/index.php/2010/12/pakistani-official-dismisses-clergy-offer-of-reward-for-bibi%e2%80%99s-death-14750)..

Recently, moderate Muslim Gov. Salman Taseer was assassinated by his own security guard because he advocated amending the blasphemy law. (See  http://theundergroundsite.com/index.php/2011/01/muslim-pakistani-governor-assassinated-for-slamming-blasphemy-law-14988).

Taseer also openly supported Bibi. The blasphemy law has been often been abused to settle scores and/or for personal or political gain. This has led to an international outcry from human rights groups for its repeal. (See http://theundergroundsite.com/index.php/2010/08/human-rights-groups-seek-repeal-of-pakistan%e2%80%99s-blasphemy-law-13356).

True Islam

Gilani said that even as the law will remain the same, clerics should represent true Islam, and laws should be implemented to protect the rights of all people. Gilani told the religious scholars, “We are not in the favor of amendment in the blasphemy law, but we are not in favor of misuse of the law either…and it does not matter what law it is,” The Express Tribune reported.

Gilani’s statement comes within days of the thrashing and public humiliation of a mother and her daughter by a mob of angry men, because they were accused of blasphemy. However, none of the men who attacked them were present when the alleged blasphemy occurred. (See http://theundergroundsite.com/index.php/2011/01/two-pakistani-christian-women-thrashed-humiliated-by-mob-for-alleged-blasphemy-15079).

Gilani said violence slurs the reputation of the Islamic faith, especially in the West, making the lives of Pakistanis overseas difficult. He said scholars of different religions should work together to bridge peace and understanding, The Express Tribune said.

Religious leaders in the conference said they believe people of all faiths can live together peacefully, even as they regretted that Islam is distorted by vested interests, according to The Express Tribune.

While calling for a deeper understanding of the Quran by everyone, the scholars at the conference said Islam does not differentiate people regardless of belief, color or caste. At the same time, they said they would not allow anyone to change the blasphemy law, The Express Tribune reported.

For her own safety

In a separate development, Bibi will be transferred to an all-women jail for her own safety, The Express Tribune said, noting that she could be harmed by male prisoners.

She will be moved at nighttime within the next week amid heavy security, The Express Tribune said. Bibi was sentenced to death by hanging for allegedly making derogatory remarks about the prophet Mohammed to a group of women who were pressuring her to convert to Islam.

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Human rights activists asked recently the Egyptian government to free hundreds of refugees from Eritrea and other African countries who have been kept hostage for one month in a desert prison.

Christian Solidarity Worldwide, Agenzia Habeshia, EveryOne Group and Human Rights Concern Eritrea also sent a joint appeal for urgent international intervention saying the 250 refugees have been tortured, are chained at the ankles, undergo electric shocks and lack food and water, Worthy News reported.

According to Worthy News, many of the hostages are Christians who fled persecution from their country of origin, and who paid $2,000 for passage to Israel. Instead, they were kept in purpose-built containers in the Sinai Desert by Bedouin human traffickers.

CSW told Worthy News that kidnapping, the trading of groups of asylum seekers and the trafficking of organs is common in the area and several gangs are involved. They exploit asylum seekers from the Horn of Africa and demand payment of up to $8,000 for a hostage’s release.

CSW expressed grave concern that already some 100 of the 250 refugees “were moved overnight” despite claims by the Egyptian government that it is working “round the clock” to seek the release of the victims, Worthy News reported.

CSW told Worthy News that no real progress has been made by the government. Stuart Windsor, CSW national director said, “The latest news that some of the refugees have been moved suddenly and under cover of darkness is deeply worrying. The welfare of the remaining refugees is also of great concern.”

Prior to separating and moving the Eritrean hostages, their religious materials were torn up and those who failed to make full payments were assaulted, according to Worthy News.

Case filed

Charges have been filed in Cairo, the capital city of Egypt, against traffickers by EveryOne Group and Agenzia Habeshia. However, human rights groups are also appealing to the international community to pressure Egypt to strengthen measures to free the refugees, Worthy News said.

Christians, many of them evangelicals, often flee Eritrea and other countries to escape persecution and imprisonment. In Eritrea only four religious groups are recognized, namely Islam, the Lutheran Evangelical Church of Eritrea, the Eritrean Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church, Worthy News said.

However, according to Worthy News even those from recognized religions experience persecution in Eritrea, which is in the U.S. State Department’s list of “worst violators” of religious freedom. Eritrea’s government has denied persecuting anyone for their religious beliefs.

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Christians in Nigeria are demanding more government protection from militant Muslims even as thousands have been slaughtered in recent attacks, largely in central and northern Nigeria.

A number of human rights groups also want help and intervention from the United Nations and the U.S., CBN News said. Last July 26, according to Continental News, 12 Christians were killed, three of them pastors, who died from beheading at the hands of the militant Islamic Boko Haram.

Boko Haram has also launched attacks on military bases. The violence, according to Continental News, started in Baruchi state in northeastern Nigeria, then spread out to the states of Kano in the northwest, Yobe in the north and Borno in the northeast.

Continental News reported that in the series of attacks churches were set afire and a number of Christians along with people of other faiths were abducted. Christians were also threatened with genocide if they did not convert to Islam.

The three pastors, Sabo Yukubu, Sylvester Akpan and George Orji were killed through decapitation as the extremists shouted “Allah Akbar.” They did this upon the order of the militant group’s leader, Mohammed Yusuf, whom authorities later killed, Continental News said.

Worst attack in years

CBN News said the worst attack in recent years took place on March 7 when militants attacked the village Dogo Nashawa at night, and massacred villagers while they were sleeping.

The victims were either hacked to death or burned alive in their homes, including children. Some 500 Christians were murdered in this way. CBN News said the militants wielded AK-47 rifles.

According to CBN News, in the past only bows, arrows and machetes were wielded by extremists, and the use of high powered weapons indicated a new level of war.

Last October, a Christian village was also attacked in the middle of the night and the assailants also had high powered weapons. Six people were killed and 21 houses were burned, CBN News said.

At the same time, no one has been prosecuted for thousands of deaths linked to terrorists, CBN noted.

CBN News said Central Nigeria is where the most recent attacks occurred, including the Plateau state which is a key battleground. Twelve of Nigeria’s northern states are under Shariah law.

Central Nigeria is a strategic area and poses a barrier to the rest of the country where extremists hope to impose Shariah law, CBN News said. Nigeria is also crucial as a nation because it is a strategically located country that can serve as a jumping point to spread Islam throughout Africa.

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Hundreds of Vietnamese security forces attacked recently 100 Degar Catholics while they were worshiping, including women, children and elderly, leaving 22 injured and one crippled.

The attack occurred in Ploi Kret Krot, a highland village in Gia Lai province bordering Cambodia. This is the third attack on Christians in the province, the other two occurring in Ploi Kuk Kong and Ploi Kuk Dak villages, Montagnard Foundation reported.

Villagers were threated with arrest if they told media overseas. Vietnam has, of late escalated a crackdown on Catholics and Christians, some say in light of its pending congress (its first in five years) to meet in January. (See http://theundergroundsite.com/index.php/2010/10/vietnam-jails-catholics-over-funeral-melee-14218).

Others blame the crackdown on internal party struggles amid strengthening relations between Vietnam in the U.S. Several human rights groups have asked that Vietnam be placed on the U.S. annual list of Countries of Particular Concern for its violations of religious freedom rights. (See http://theundergroundsite.com/index.php/2010/12/christian-watchdog-seeks-release-of-two-pastors-in-vietnam-14706).

Electric prods, batons

In the latest attack Degar Catholics were holding an open prayer service when local police told them to leave. When the Christians said they were not committing a crime, the police confiscated their crosses, pictures of Jesus and the virgin Mary and other religious artifacts, Montagnard Foundation’s website said.

The website reported the police also beat the worshipers with electric prods, batons, kicks and stomps including women, children and the elderly. Nine were rendered unconscious, while others escaped into the forest.

Those rendered unconscious ranged in age from 24 to 60. They were beaten several times on the head with batons after which they were kicked and stomped on. One of them, A Bom, 50, may be crippled, the website said.

The website listed those who were beaten to unconsciousness as A Kat, 45, A cuun, 27, A Li, 31, A Cur, 43, A Liu, 24, A Sung, 24, A Khin, 46, and A Hlai, 60.

Those who managed to escape were hit on the back and thighs rather than on the head. The website said they are A Wung, 29, A Sinh, 27, A Yil, 30, A Gyun, 28, A Raih, 26, A Do, 30, A Kinh, 31, A Bop, 35, A Ngo, 34, A Mun, 22, A Wung, 17, A Yim, 16, and A Blun, 28.

Many who fled are now in hiding, while the police are hunting them down, patrolling the village and disallowing villagers to leave their homes, according to the website.

There are about 1 million Degar, nearly half of whom are Protestant and 200,000 Roman Catholics. Degar tribes who reside in the highlands do not share the language and culture of Vietnam.

Last month, at a General Assembly of the People of God, Bishop Cosmas Hoang Van Dat, secretary general of the Vietnamese bishops’ conference said, “Vietnamese Catholics are Vietnamese citizens. Our people have contributed to the development of the nation, in culture, education, society and the defense of the country. In particular, good pastors have consolidated and strengthened the Church in Vietnam in the context of contemporary society. We need to have dialogue and cooperation with the government. Above all, we trust in the Vatican and are in communion with the pope,” Spero News reported.

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A Christian wife and mother in Pakistan has been sentenced to death by hanging for blasphemy.

Asia Bibi, 45, was also fined some $1,135—about two and a half year’s earnings for a farm worker—for saying defamatory statements about the Prophet Mohammed, according to Christian Today.

Bibi denies the charges and said that she is being persecuted for her faith. According to the Telegraph, Christians in Pakistan are routinely discriminated against and harassed.

The Telegraph said that human rights groups and Christian organizations have condemned the verdict and are seeking a repeal of the blasphemy laws. Supporters of Bibi said that she will appeal the sentence of the local court in Sheikhupura, a town near Lahore in Pakistan.

Andy Dipper, chief executive of Release International, said he was shocked to learn of the local court’s ruling. Christian Today reported that Bibi had been hoping to be acquitted so that she could be back with her husband and children.

Dipper told Christian Today, “Although Asia has great courage, her dreams of release have vanished now. Please pray for her encouragement, strength and protection.”

Ashiq Masih, the husband of Bibi, said he could not yet tell their two younger daughters of the ruling. He told Telegraph, “They asked me many times about their mother but I can’t get the courage to tell them that the judge has sentenced their mother to capital punishment for a crime she never committed.”

Bibi has been kept in isolation in prison since June last year, according to Telegraph.

The trouble began when Bibi, a field hand who worked with other women, was told to fetch drinking water. However, some of the Muslim women refused to drink the water because it was brought by a Christian, making it “unclean,” the Telegraph reported.

Christian Today reported that some of the women workers tried to make Bibi renounce her faith. Bibi told them that Jesus died for the sins of all men, and asked the women what Muhammad did for them.

The women, offended, struck Bibi repeatedly, and a group of men locked her in a room. Release International told Christian Today that a mob abused and beat her and her children.

According to the Telegraph, the police were pressured by the Muslim mob, some of whom were clerics, to register a blasphemy case against Bibi. Human rights often say the law is used to discriminate against religious minorities, including some three million Christians in Pakistan.

Ali Hasan Dayan, of Human Rights Watch, told Telegraph that Pakistan’s constitution guarantees many rights which are inconsistent with the blasphemy law. He said that oftentimes the law is used to settle scores that are not even related with religion.

Release International has launched a petition to end Pakistan’s blasphemy law and said the death sentence against Bibi would set a dangerous precedent for other blasphemy cases, Christian Today reported.

To sign Release’s online petition, go to www.releaseinternational.org/current.

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The U.S. Commision on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) noted in its recent 2010 annual report that President Obama has fallen short of doing what he can to lobby for the protection of religious freedom in the world.

The report noted that until now, President Obama has failed to appoint an Ambassador-At-Large for International Religious Freedom, a request that was made to him last month in a petition signed by lawmakers, scholars and human rights groups.

The same petition requested that the position be given equal level to other Ambassadors-At-Large who report directly to the Secretary of State, according to The Christian Post.

The USCIRF also noted that under Obama’s watch, no countries have been rated CPC, or “countries of particular concern” for having the worst religious violations.

Such a rating can prompt government action including trade restrictions, sanctions, embargoes, and withholding of military or financial aid, among others, The Christian Post said.

The same report said that the USCIRF, an independent US government commission, made these observations even as it said that with every year the issue becomes less and less important to the White House and the State Department.

The position of Ambassador-At-Large for International Religious Freedom, for example, was created in 1998, but it had only been filled in its initial year, and has remained vacant since 1999.

The commission warned Obama that failure to fill the position sent a message to the international community that religious freedom is not an important issue to the American government, the Christian Post said.

The same report noted that USCIRF took issue with the fact that Obama rarely mentioned religious freedom when he visited Ankara and Cairo last year.

Furthermore, Obama and Secretary of State Hilary Clinton replaced the words religious freedom with “freedom of worship.”

The commission said authoritarian governments could skirt the issue by noting that faiths that are okay with them can freely worship.

Credit:svilen001/sxc.hu

They could also permit only token houses of worship for minority faiths.

According to CNN, the USCIRF also reported that:

* Over 24 countries are religious freedom offenders and practice religious persecution.

* Forms of religious persecution may include imprisonment, murder, being fired from jobs, and being kicked out of universities; being forbidden to have bank accounts, driver’s licenses and even birth certificates, among others.

* 13 countries should be rated CPC or “countries of particular concern” because they have the worst religious violations. These countries include Myanmar (Burma), China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Suda, Uzbekistan, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan, Turkmenistan and Vietnam.

* 12 countries on the watch list are Afghanistan, Belarus, Cuba, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Laos, Russia, Somalia, Tajikistan, Turkey and Venezuela.

* The report has five more countries under CPC rating than does the State Department’s 2009 report, which did not include Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan, Turkmenistan or Vietnam.

* 3 countries, Bangladesh, Kazakhstan and Sri Lanka, should be closely monitored.

Specific Countries

* Egypt. Members of the Baha’I faith and minority Muslim sects are imprisoned, fired from jobs, kicked out of universities, and barred from having bank accounts, birth certificates and driver’s licenses.

* Nigeria. A decade of violence between Muslims and Christians in the Jos state recently culminated in 500 men, women and children hacked to death with machetes and dumped into wells.

* China. Cracked down on Uyghur Muslims in the west.

* Iran. Labeled domestic political opponents “enemies of God” which is a capital offense and can merit severing of the head.

* Eritrea. Harassment of Orthodox Church members and Jehovah’s Witnesses.

* Vietnam. Imprisonment of Buddhists and Protestants.

The USCIRF report urged the government to double its efforts to protect international religious freedom and to raise issues of abuse to the highest levels of the world community, the Christian Post said.

“Anything less betrays our history and values, and fails to leverage the extraordinary capacity we have as a nation to promote religious freedom and related human rights for all,” the report said.

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