Vietnamese police forces swooped down on a house church in a village, attacking worshippers with firearms, batons and tree branches, leaving 16 men and women injured, including a 13-year-old girl, and a man who was beaten unconscious, then arrested.

The incident, which occurred last month, took place in Buon Kret Krot village, in the  province of Gai Lai. The police forces kicked and beat the worshippers until many were rendered unconscious.

The police also threatened the villagers, saying they would return and if they are worshipping in the same way when they come back, they will face five years in prison.

Twelve men and four women were attacked in the melee, according to an ICC report. Ten of the men and two women were attacked so viciously that they fell unconscious.

The villagers were attacked and beaten with firearms, tree branches and batons. When they fell on the ground, the policemen kicked and stomped on them, including Y Kang, a 13-year-old girl.

Also beaten by the police was A. Jung, 29, who was repeatedly hit with a baton until he fell to the ground, after which police kicked him and stomped on his stomach until he was rendered unconscious. He was arrested by the police and is in custody, where he likely is being tortured.

The International Christian Concern said on its website that the persecution of Degar Montagnard Christians continues to be purposeful through policing, harassment and violent coercion of this minority indigenous and religious group.

Hundreds of Christians are festering inVietnam’s harsh prisons for refusing to join government-sanctioned churches, which are heavily monitored and controlled by the Communist nation.

House church preferred

Christians prefer house churches, which are illegal, but which they believe are more genuine. One worshipper, Puih H’Bat, a Central Highlands Degar woman, was arrested for leading an underground church.

Puih, then 41, is a mother of four. In 2008 police broke into her home while some 20 worshippers were praying with her. She and two others were arrested, tortured and threatened. The two men were later released, but Puih continues to be in jail and is serving a five year sentence for “destruction of the unity of the people’s solidarity,” Canada Free Press reported.

Although Puih is expected to be released in 2013, the international community has made several failed attempts to speak to her or to see her. It is not known whether she had been murdered or if she died amid the harshness of the prison system.

ICC has petitioned the government of Vietnam to release information on the state of health of Puih H’Bat, for the benefit of her family and her community.

On its website ICC said, “Vietnam has a long-standing practice of policing, harassing, and arresting Christians who are unaffiliated with the government-sanctioned and only legally-recognized religious bodies in the nation.”

Scott Johnson of the Montagnard Foundation told ANS, “The Vietnamese government has targeted indigenous Degar Montagnards for simply being members of Christian house churches, in a long running policy designed to eliminate independent Christian house churches.

“Hundreds of Degar Montagnards remain in prison today and in custody many prisoners are brutally tortured and even killed. There is a shameful silence from the international community, including the United Nations and State Department, as to the plight of these forgotten prisoners even while the evidence of systematic religious persecution is overwhelming.”

ICC’s Kris Elliot, regional manager of Southeastern Asia said on its website, “We call upon the Vietnamese government to cease this systematic practice of violence and persecution against Christians, especially Degar Montagnards. We also urge the US Department of State to once again designate Vietnam as a Country of Particular Concern, as conditions for religious minorities have vastly deteriorated since the designation was lifted in 2006.

“A CPC designation backed by strong US policies has the potential to pave a path towards significant improvements for Christians and other religious minorities inVietnam,” Elliot said.

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Hundreds of Christian writers will congregate at Langhorne, Penn to attend the Greater Philadelphia Christian Writers Conference from Wednesday to Saturday  to learn from the experts about Christian writing.

The conference will cover a wide range of aspects of Christian writing, from faith and the writer to writing that can spell a real difference in the world, including writing about the persecuted church.

Included, too, will be a one-on-one opportunity for all fully registered participants to pitch their work to agents, editors and representatives of publishers.

Many of the sessions in the conference, which is themed Write His Answer (culled from Habakkuk 2:2), will also be open, free of charge, to the general public.

“We live in a time when we need to be both encouraged and challenged,” Marlene Bagnull, conference director, told ASSIST News Service. “The sessions open to the public address issues of transforming our culture for the better, reaching out to impact the world for the better, and sobering reports of Christian persecution worldwide.”

Over 65 professional agents, editors and authors will be participating at GPCWC 2011. The conference will strengthen the writing and marketing abilities of participants, provide a means for them to get constructive feedback on their writing, enable them to talk individually about their work with professionals in the industry, and deepen their faith walk.

Speakers in the conference include MOVIEGUIDE magazine publisher Dr. Ted Baehr, who will give the keynote address, You Can Help Transform the Culture, on its opening day.

Other speakers are Liz Babbs of the U.K., who will discuss new ways to impact one’s culture through writing; Cec Murphey, bestselling author of some 100 books including 90 Minutes in Heaven; and Dan Wooding, ASSIST News Service founder, who will talk about Christian persecution and writing.

Steven Lawson, senior editor, Regal Publishing Group, will lead the seminar Who Is My Neighbor?, which will deal with issues such as abortion, human trafficking, orphans, racism, the poor, the learning impaired, the hungry and the handicapped.

Rick Marschall, author/editor of some 60 books and ANS columnist will give a seminar entitled Help Save Our Nation which will challenge and equip participants to defend the country’s spiritual and cultural heritage.

There will also be an interview by Wooding of C. Hope Flinchbaugh for Front Page Radio on the subject of North Korea, the country that ranks No. 1 in Christian persecution by Open Doors in its World Watch List.

GPCWC has, for 28 years, been giving intensive Christian writers workshops. This year, attendees will have choices on various aspects of Christian writing including skills building, getting published, marketing, fiction writing and nonfiction for children and adults.

There are also Earlybird Workshops on how to create a website (attendees will leave the session with a ready-to-use website of their own), earning through blogging, ethics in writing nonfiction, E-publishing and tips on how to maximize on a meeting with editors and publishers in the conference.

For full details, go to www.writehisanswer.com/Philadelphia.

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A court in Seoul, Korea granted recently refugee status to three Iranians who had converted from Islam to Christianity while they were living in the country.

The Seoul Administrative Court determined in its ruling that the three Iranians would face strong persecution if they returned to their home country.

For this reason, the SAC made an unprecedented move by reversing a previous decision of the Justice Ministry to deny asylum to the three Iranians, who filed their lawsuits individually in protest of the Justice Ministry decision.

Many nationals of Islamic countries have sought—and received—refugee status after fleeing their nations to escape harsh persecution for apostasy, or changing religions in their home countries.

Expatriates, under the United Nations convention, are allowed to get refugee status in another country if the person fears persecution in his own country because of his religion, race, or political view.

However, the case of the three Iranians is precedent setting because the Muslims converted to Christianity after they had arrived in South Korea.

Included among the complainants is R (pseudonym), a 40-year-old man, who arrived in South Korea in 2000. He began to attend a Christian church, and two years after, in 2008, was baptized.

That year, he applied for refugee status on the grounds that he would be oppressed if he returned to his home country. His request was declined two years later.

The SAC determined that there was strong evidence that R would be persecuted severely in his home country, “given that R’s family and friends are expressing strong reluctance to accept his religious conversion,” Yonhap News reported.

The SAC said in its decision, “For the past years, persecution against Christians has worsened in Iran and the criminal law was revised in 2008 to allow capital punishment on those who convert to Christianity from Islam,” according to Yonhap News.

Sources:

http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/national/2011/07/27/41/0302000000AEN20110727005700315F.HTML

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More than one million children in the world are victims of Christian persecution, the leader of a Christian group said in a recently-held conference in Germany.

Markus Rode, who heads the German office of Open Doors, said recently at a yearly gathering of the international organization that this figure was revealed in a recent study, according to BosNewsLife.

To address this, Open Doors Germany launched Giving a Future, or Zukunft geben, a campaign to raise support for Christian children living in troubled circumstances, BosNewsLife said.

Rode said at the meeting, which was held in Wetzlar, Germany, “Children often pay a high price for their own faith or for the fact that their parents are faithfully following Jesus,” according to BosNewsLife.

Rode said that many children grow up in impoverished circumstances because of the family faith. He added that children “are being a taken away from their parents or kidnapped.” Sometimes, he added, “They see how their parents are shot and killed in front of their eyes,” BosNewsLife reported.

The Open Doors Germany website noted that children who are impoverished and traumatized because of persecution from the Christian faith today will be tomorrow’s underground church leaders. Because of this, they need support from the free world.

Such children usually become orphans, refugees, children who must be secretive about their faith, children who are bullied, hurt and killed, or children who pay the consequence for the faith of their families, the website said.
One example is the experience of two boys, Rahaman, 11, and Hussain, 12, from Somalia who were decapitated because Muslim extremists could not find their father, who is a pastor. Their youngest brother, seven-year-old Abdulahi, witnessed the traumatic incident, the website said.

Another example is the experience of Amr from Egypt who, at the age of three, witnessed his house being broken into and searched by the police. He then saw the police beat up his father and take him to prison, according to the website.

Amr was forced to lead a double life, where at home he could openly talk about Jesus, but at school he had to hide his faith and make excuses when the children would go to the mosque, the website said.

When his schoolmates found out about his Christian faith, Amr they teased, bullied and would not play with him. Through Open Doors, Amr, now 11, came to know new children who are Christians who also once had a Muslim background.

A third example cited in the website is that children from North Korea, who are used as political agents and are told to spy on their parents to see if they have a bible.

From the time a child can speak, parents have to teach their children to say, “Thank you, Father Kim Il-Sung,” in prayer. The children also are taught to worship Kim Jong-Il. In school, teachers ask children to tell them if their parents read a “black book,” and say the Christian faith is bad.

Jong-Cheol, 11, fled from North Korea into China, where he was a street child until staff from Open Doors found him and matched him with a Christian family. However, police in China found out about him, interrogated and beat him to death, the website said.

Although the Open Doors study says at least 100 million Christians are persecuted globally, other sources say the figure is conservative and the true figure may be as high as 200 million, BosNewsLife said.

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A Christian aid group launched recently a major campaign for Christians in North Korea, a country which is viewed by many to be the cruelest nation in the world.

Release International, an organization that assists persecuted Christians globally, says Christians in North Korea face greater peril in 2011 because the country faces growing instability and political change, according to their website.

Andy Dipper, CEO of Release said in its website, “North Korea is considered by many to be the most repressive nation on earth. And as the nation grows more unstable, persecution is set to get even worse. That’s why Release is turning the spotlight on North Korea for 2011 by launching a major campaign.”

Dipper said, “2011 is likely to be increasingly precarious for Christians in the North, as military tensions grow between the two Koreas, famine continues, and the North grooms heir apparent Kim Jong-un to take over from his father. Add to that continuing concern over the North’s nuclear program, and it all points to tougher times ahead for Christians.”

Last year, Open Doors ranked North Korea No. 1 in their World Watch List for having “the deadliest level of persecution in the world.” (See http://theundergroundsite.com/index.php/2010/09/north-korea-ranks-no-1-for-deadliest-persecution-of-christians-13638).

The Open Doors report said that persecution of Christians is common including beatings, mutilation, torture, jail and murder. Christians are also used to test biological and chemical weapons, and entire families, including grandchildren, are often imprisoned if just one family member is found to be Christian.

Prior to communism, there were perhaps 300,000 Christians in North Korea and its capital city, Pyongyang, was so influential in forwarding the Christian faith that it was called ‘Asia’s Jerusalem,’ Release International said.

Today, BBC estimates that there may be 30,000 Christians in North Korea despite severe persecution. Dipper said, “The Release campaign will be a timely opportunity for both prayer and advocacy to support persecuted Christians in the North.”

Other countries that Release cited as hotspots of Christian persecution are Eritrea (a stepped up campaign is ongoing against evangelical and Pentecostal Christians, see http://theundergroundsite.com/index.php/2010/11/eritrea-governor-detains-11-christians-in-undisclosed-locations-14414), China (Christian persecution intensified in 2010, see http://theundergroundsite.com/index.php/2010/10/christians-in-china-unfazed-remain-optimistic-despite-continued-persecution-14165), Iran (government has blamed house churches for undermining Islam), Pakistan (Asia Bibi is the first woman to be handed a death sentence under its blasphemy law, see http://theundergroundsite.com/index.php/2010/12/pakistani-official-dismisses-clergy-offer-of-reward-for-bibi%e2%80%99s-death-14750 ), Sudan (a referendum is slated on Jan. 9 to determine the independence of southern Sudan, see http://theundergroundsite.com/index.php/2010/11/christian-leaders-lend-unified-support-to-fair-and-free-sudan-referendum-14502), and Iraq and Nigeria, where Christians faced violence during Christmas (see http://theundergroundsite.com/index.php/2011/01/multiple-blasts-attack-christian-homes-across-baghdad-at-year%e2%80%99s-end-14952 and http://theundergroundsite.com/index.php/2010/12/christian-muslim-leaders-in-nigeria-decry-christmas-eve-bombings-14928) .

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Iran authorities arrested recently dozens of Christians who were former Muslims, raising concerns about stepped-up persecution of Christians in the Islamic world.

Gov. Morteza Tamadon of Teheran said the Christians were arrested during the Christmas holidays either for converting to Christianity from Islam, and/or for trying to convert other Muslims, the UPI said.

Tamadon said, “Just like the Taliban who have inserted themselves into Islam like a parasite, (evangelicals) have crafted a movement in the name of Christianity.” The UPI reported.

The UPI said plainclothesmen raided Christian homes during the Christmas season and searched for religious items. Iran forbids Christians to possess bibles, nor can they say mass in Persian.

Stepped up attacks

This is the latest among stepped up attacks against Christians from Muslim-majority countries. Last October extremists occupied Our Lady of Salvation church in Baghdad leaving 52 dead and 67 wounded. (See http://theundergroundsite.com/index.php/2010/11/iraqi-cardinal-condemns-bloody-ruthless-attack-on-landmark-church-14305).

Stepped up attacks led to planting bombs on the grounds of nine Christian churches and most recently, lobbing bombs at some 14 Christian homes during the Christmas season, The Sydney Morning Herald said.

In Egypt 23 Coptic Christians were killed 30 minutes into the New Year and 79 were injured when a bomb was lobbed at Al-Qiddissin Church in Alexandria, according to The Sydney Morning Herald.

In Nigeria, 32 were killed and 74 wounded in a series of Christmas eve bomb attacks at churches in Jos. (See http://theundergroundsite.com/index.php/2010/12/pope-condemns-church-bombings-in-nigeria-philippines-14909). In Pakistan, most recently, moderate Muslim Gov. Salman Taseer of Punjab was assassinated for opposing the blasphemy law.

Pretext

The attacks on churchgoers in Iraq and Egypt were done on the pretext that two Coptic Christian women in Egypt allegedly converted to Islam, but are now ‘imprisoned’ in a Coptic monastery.

The Sydney Morning Herald said, “These seemingly absurd sparks ignited two of the higher-octane bonfires in a new wave in the persecution of minority Christians across the Islamic world in recent days.”

The Sydney Morning Herald compares such retribution to that which was generated when the head of a 50-member Florida sect planned to burn copies of the Qu’ran in front of their property.

Safer under Saddam

Iraqi Christians were safer under Saddam, Father Rony Hanna of the Iraqi Chaldean Archdiocese said. “This is what we miss most now—being protected,” he told The Sydney Morning Herald.

The Sydney Morning Herald said Christians post-Saddam make easier targets, noting that in the initial post-Saddam years violence was focused between Sunni and Shiite Muslims. It shifted to Christians amid harsh public criticism and because both sides are well armed for counterattacks.

Christians lack militias and political clout. Also, they are viewed by extremists as Western surrogates. The attacks prevail because the Iraqi government is not powerful enough to control them, The Sydney Morning Herald said.

Egypt

Egyptian analysts suggest the New Year church bombing in Egypt is the work of locals who are disaffected with Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak, rather than Al-Qaida, according to The Sydney Morning Herald.

Discovery News, however, blamed the persecution on the fact that moderate Muslims do not speak out. When they do, as did Egypt’s Grand Mufti Dr. Ali Gomaa, (who denounced the New Year bombing), the media doesn’t cover it.

Pakistan

The recent assassination of Taseer for opposing the blasphemy law and supporting Christian prisoner Asia Bibi, is a signal to moderate Pakistani Muslims to put their politics on the shelf, The Sydney Morning Herald said.

Discovery News said the exploitation of the blasphemy law for personal vendetta or material gain is so accepted in Pakistan that the government dares not repeal it, nor introduce court interpretation to curb whimsical arrests.

Analyst Ahmed Rashid told The Sydney Morning Herald, “We have a very, very severe polarization in the country—we have a small minority of extremists and a small number of liberals speaking out, but the very large silent majority are people who are not extremists in any way, but are not speaking out.”

It’s all about power

Christian persecution is more often about “raw political power and social control,” The Sydney Morning Herald said, which is done either by autocratic governments, fundamentalist breakaway groups or extremists, including Al-Qaida and imitators.

Discovery News said Christian persecution is increasing even in formerly tolerant Islamic countries such as Morocco, adding, “This really is the scandal of modern Islam and demands action from within the Islamic community.” It adds that media fails to give Christian persecution due attention.

Discovery News said perhaps Western elites ignore Christian persecution because “secularism of the West is…ambivalent towards Christianity and seeks ever increased infringements on religion[.]”

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Despite harsh persecution and discrimination against Christians in Laos, which Open Doors ranked among the top 10 World Watch List of Countries where Christians are persecuted, the church continues to grow.

Patrick Klein, president and founder of Vision Beyond Borders, told Mission News Network that there are more Christian believers than there are bibles within the community.

Klein said, “They have now over 200 churches throughout the country [and] over 60,000 believers. Young people are very open to the gospel. Even the church service we attended, the majority of them were young people. They’re searching. They want the truth. They’re hungry for Jesus Christ.”

Persecution remains high in the country. Weeks ago, the rice paddies of 11 Christian families were destroyed by officials and residents of Katin village in Sarvan province, Mission News Network said.

World Net Daily said seven Christian families were ordered at gunpoint to renounce their faith. When they refused, they were marched outside the village to join 56 Christians who were forced to live in the forests, World Net Daily reported.

The Underground reported on 48 Christians who were driven out of Katin in January (see http://theundergroundsite.com/index.php/2010/05/expelled-lao-christians-become-critically-ill-one-dies-from-living-in-jungle-12143 )  and were living in the jungle. They were followed shortly after by six more families, Christian Today said.

Before the eviction the Christians were threatened, harassed, and their livestock and property were confiscated. Some 80 men, women and children were imprisoned in a school compound and one Christian died from asphyxiation, Christian Today said.

Sirikoon Prasertsee, Human Rights Watch for Lao Religious Freedom Spokesman, told World Net Daily that such incidents are frequent. “It’s widespread. We’re only able to bring to light the incidents in the areas where the people are very much connected to us. But now we’re finding out there are many other areas and provinces we need to bring to light so things can be resolved.”

Klein said the incidents are not given international news coverage because “It’s not in the cities. It’s more in the remote villages. We have heard stories of isolated incidents in the villages, which makes me concerned because I think persecution could break out especially as they see the church growing,” Mission News Network reported.

Pratsertsee cited two reasons why Christianity is persecuted. First, because it’s considered a “colonial” faith, “so the Lao government is still very suspicious” and want to eliminate it, World Net Daily reported.

Second, Pratsertsee told World Net Daily, is the cultural difference. “Christianity is not seen as local or national in origin. It’s seen as very much foreign to the people. Anything local or indigenous seems to promote harmony and Christianity seems to promote division.”

Right to intervene

Although the Lao constitution guarantees religious freedom, it also reserves the right to intervene if something promotes social division. Christianity is seen to promote division among families and people who no longer share the same religion. This is used to justify persecution, Pratsertsee told World Net Daily.

Pratsertsee said local government officials do most of the persecution with informal official endorsement. Government support is forced to be indirect due to internet and media coverage in the last 10 years, World Net Daily said.

Klein told Mission News Network the Laotian president said, “Americans are no longer our no. 1 enemy; Christians are.” Klein added, “They said Christians rape women, and Christians steal money. It puts up a barrier between Christians and people of other faiths to have this resistance to Christianity right from the start.”

It’s a good thing, Pratsertsee told World Net Daily, that Christians stay in the country. “[In] 1975, you basically had most of the Christian leaders leaving the country. Freedoms are obtained by those on the inside.”

To alleviate the plight of Christians, Pratsertsee recommended first, that Christians in Laos participate positively in the country’s reconstruction “so that Christianity is not viewed as anti-government,” World Net Daily reported.

Second, he stressed to World Net Daily the need for publicity. “The pressure from the global community is working. There is evidence all over that it is [helping] to bring freedom in many parts of the country. If we can keep the international pressure on, that’s the only channel we have now to help the government to move forward—positive external pressure.”

Klein, who is appealing for more bibles, also cites the protection of God. He told Mission News Network that recently six people with 18 bags of gospel material were able to get past customs.

Klein told Mission News Network, “[The customs inspector] was looking at all these bags. And I just said, ‘Father, we really need some help here.’ And all of a sudden, the customs man turned around and went back into his office and was totally engrossed in his conversation. Six people were able to take 18 bags full of materials right out the door. We walked right past him, and he never saw any of it.”

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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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Two years after a wave of violent attacks by Hindu extremists against Christians in Orissa, India, which left 120 dead and 50,000 displaced, survivors and their relatives are still experiencing persecution.

The violence occurred on Aug. 23, 2008 after a Hindu leader was killed. Maoists claimed responsibility, but Hindu extremists expressed their rage at Christians. Some 252 churches, 13 educational institutions and 4,640 homes of Christians were destroyed.

(For background, go to http://theundergroundsite.com/index.php/2009/08/orissa-one-year-later-fear-persecution-remain-high-10073).

Court cases are still ongoing. One victim, an Indian nun, identified in court recently five attackers who raped her, including the one who stood on her hand while the crime was done, Catholic News Service reported.

Some 19 people were arrested for attacking the nun and forcing her to walk down the streets half naked, according to Catholic News Service.

Worthy News reported that survivors and their relatives in Orissa state are still being pressured to convert to Hinduism. A preliminary report of a fact-finding team said, “Despite the state administration’s claim of normalcy, a state of lawlessness and utter fear and sense of insecurity” prevails.

The fact-finding team visited four villages in Kandhamal district earlier this month. Worthy News reported that a pastor in Tikabali said he was forced to convert to Hinduism so his aged mother, who cannot walk, would not be attacked.

In Bodimunda village Hindu extremists also do not allow any Christians or their belongings to be transported by vehicle, and Christians may not avail of basic needs, Worthy News said.

Christians may not bring in medicines or provisions, cannot purchase from local shops, and have no stores of their own, according to Worthy News. A number of Christians were forced to display pictures of Hindu gods for protection from attacks.

A 2001 census said that out of 648,201 people who live in Kandhamal district, 117,950 are Christians. Most of them are from the Dalit class, formerly known as the “untouchables,” Worthy News reported.

According to Worthy News, Christians said that local administrators are suspected to be collaborating with the Hindu extremists, and they receive no government protection.

The fact-finding team includes attorney Nicholas Barla and human rights activists Jugal Kishore Ranjit and Ajay Kumar Singh, according to Worthy News.

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