compass direct - living faith information, news & …old.lff.net/resources/compass/compass...

COMPASS DIRECTGlobal News from the Frontlines

September 8, 2005

Compass Direct is distributed monthly to raise awareness of Christians worldwide who are persecuted for their faith. Articles may be reprinted or edited by active subscribers for use in other media, provided Compass Direct is acknowledged as the source of the material.

Copyright 2005 Compass Direct

****************************************************************************IN THIS ISSUE

BANGLADESH

Christians Call for Justice in MurdersPolice yet to hold suspects; three more Christians threatened.

CHINA

Voices in the Dark: Quotes from the Suffering ChurchLetters from house church Christians reflect challenges to faith.

COLOMBIA

Seminary Student Absolved of Armed Mugging ChargesLuis Vera had been under house arrest for months.

ERITREA

Prisoners from Wedding Roundup Mocked, Beaten***Christian couples now afraid to extend invitations to marriage ceremonies.

Government Strips Authority of Orthodox Patriarch***Prelate challenged government interference with church.

Police Jail Another Protestant Wedding PartyOrthodox patriarch remains ‘suspended’ under house arrest.

INDIA

Couple Arrested for Attempted Forced ConversionHindu villager asked for prayer, then accused Christians of enticing him to convert.

Compass Direct September 2005 1

Hindu Extremists Launch ‘Reconversion’ Campaign in North World Hindu Council plans to ‘reconvert’ 80,000 Dalits.

Hindu Extremists Attack Prayer Meeting in RajasthanNine Christians seriously injured; situation tense.

Second State to Strengthen Anti-Conversion LawThirty-five Christians detained after praying for a sick villager.

Hearing on Dalit Christian Rights Case DelayedBelievers declare week of prayer and fasting.

Mob Attacks Prayer Meeting in Madhya Pradesh***Christian couple and their 2-year-old child brutally beaten.

World Hindu Council Calls for Nationwide Anti-Conversion Law Hindu mob detains, assaults six Christian workers in Orissa state.

INDONESIA

Verdict for Sunday School Teachers Expected September 1 Muslim mob takes over courtroom, warns judges to hand down a guilty verdict.

Sunday School Teachers Sentenced to Three Years in Prison***Islamic extremists again threaten violence before court session.

IRAN

Jailed Christian Pressured to Return to Islam***Convert pastor allowed two prison leaves since June.

MEXICO

Huichol Evangelicals Driven from Homes in JaliscoTraditionalists say community bylaws require them to practice native religion.

PAKISTAN

Former Government Minister Murdered***Well-known layman Derick Cyprian had received death threats.

TURKEY

Protestants Face Personal AbuseViolent attacks continue despite government’s EU reforms.


VIETNAM

Authorities Offer Pastor Freedom for ConfessionTransferred to another prison, the Rev. Quang refuses to sign declaration.

City Officials Shut Down International ChurchLarge, independent congregation had sought permission for years.

Mennonite Pastor Released from Prison as Part of Vietnam’s National Day***The Rev. Quang never yielded to pressure to admit guilt.

(Return to Index)

***********************************Christians Call for Justice in Bangladesh MurdersPolice yet to hold suspects; three more Christians threatened.by Sarah Page

DUBLIN, August 23 (Compass) -- Police have yet to find the killers of Tapan Kumar Roy and Liplal Mardi, two Christian men who were brutally murdered in Bangladesh on the night of July 27.

Roy, 27, and the 21-year-old Mardi (not Marandi, as missions groups previously reported) worked with Christian Life Bangladesh (CLB), a registered non-governmental organization. Along with educational films on health care and AIDS prevention, they often showed the “Jesus” film at the invitation of local villagers.

Edward Ayub, a respected Christian leader in Bangladesh, said the two men had received verbal threats from Hafez Abdullah al-Mamun, the supervisor of the madrassa (Islamic school) in Dhopapara village, Faridpur district, where the two men were based.

Following the murders, Abdullah left Dhopapara on July 31, telling people he would visit his home village in Narail district and return that afternoon. When police arrived at the madrassa to question Abdullah on August 1, he had not yet returned.

Police regard Abdullah as a suspect. Before he left Dhopapara, however, Abdullah said he had never met Roy or Mardi and denied threatening the two men.

Police arrested a young man named Yunus Kazi on August 2 on suspicion of murder but released him that night after questioning. Kazi is the nephew of a former local politician, Kazi Sirajul Islam. Many area Christians believe Kazi was released as a result of the influence his uncle still wields.

“Everyone knows he escaped [prosecution] because of political influence,” one local Christian said. “This is an open secret.”


Christians have since organized several protest rallies calling for justice in the case of Roy and Mardi, and in that of Dulal Sarkar, a lay pastor who was violently murdered on March 8.

Sarkar’s widow, Aruna, who witnessed his murder, identified the killers, who were then arrested and taken into custody. But they escaped prosecution due to pressure from a local member of parliament, according to Ayub.

Likewise, area sources say police know who murdered respected Christian doctor Abdul Gani on September 18, 2004, but have yet to apprehend them. The local sources say the killers are still threatening Christians in Jamalpur district.

Christians held a protest meeting in the capital, Dhaka, in the week following the latest murders to demand justice. They also held a silent procession in Faridpur district and submitted a memo of protest to local councilors.

The regional committee of the Hindu, Buddhist and Christian Unity Council also organized a meeting in Faridpur district and visited the site of the killings to express solidarity with the victims’ families.

With the growth of Islamic extremism in Bangladesh and the climate of impunity (see sidebar below), further violence is expected. Ayub recounted another incident on August 9 in which three young Christian men were threatened with death.

The men, identified only as Helal, Iqbal and Masud for security reasons, were distributing tracts on the streets of Dhaka when they were approached by two Muslim men whom they later described as gangsters. Having read the tract, the men began asking questions and eventually a large crowd gathered. Two imams (Muslim religious leaders) were summoned; after reading the tract, they declared it was the “work of infidels,” in which case it would be “no sin” if the young men were killed.

Helal, Iqbal and Masud were then taken to the banks of a river, where the mob beat them and further intimidated them. A gun was pushed into Helal’s pocket, and the mob threatened to call the Rapid Action Battalion -- which has powers to arrest anyone possessing unregistered firearms. The mob threatened to kill them.

The gangsters then told the Christians they could purchase their lives with a sum of money. The young men declined.

The situation was eventually defused after five hours of tense confrontation. Incidents such as these, however, show the need for Christians and other religious minorities in Bangladesh to exercise great caution in an increasingly hostile environment.

SIDEBAR


Bombings Reinforce Fears of Islamic Extremist GrowthMore than 400 bombs exploded almost simultaneously in Bangladesh on August 17, reinforcing fears that Islamic militants are gaining power and influence in the country.

The blasts, which killed two people and left 150 injured, were the latest in a series of bombings attributed to Islamic extremist groups over the past five years.

An outlawed Islamic group, Jamatul Mujahideen Bangladesh, has claimed responsibility for last week’s mass bombing, which affected 61 of 64 districts in the country.

According to a BBC report on August 18, leaflets printed by Jamatul Mujahideen and found at some of the blast sites declared, “It is time to implement Islamic law in Bangladesh.”

Police are still searching for Sheikh Abdur Rahman, the leader of the organization. Security officials believe Jamatul Mujahideen and a sister organization, the Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh, were behind the attacks, Agence France-Presse reported on August 23.

Militant groups run several training camps in the south, unhindered by the government and security forces, according to U.S. State Department reports. (See Compass Direct, “Death of Evangelist Highlights Growing Tension in Bangladesh,” June 2, 2003.)

At least two parties in the ruling coalition are Islamic, with suspected links to militant groups.

Militants suspected of involvement in previous bombings have not been apprehended.

With a population of more than 144 million, widespread poverty, corruption and frequent environmental disasters, Bangladesh a fertile recruiting ground for extremists.

Bangladesh has suffered from religious tensions since 1971, when the nation was partitioned from Pakistan. Following its independence, Bangladesh was established as a secular state, but in 1972 the constitution was amended to make Islam the state religion. Tensions have increased dramatically since the election of a strongly Islamic coalition government in October 2001.

(Return to Index)

***********************************Voices in the Dark: Quotes from China’s Suffering ChurchLetters from house church Christians reflect challenges to faith.Special to Compass Direct

LEGAL RESTRICTIONS


“Here in March the government imposed itself on religion, and the house churches have suffered restrictions. Those not attending the Three Self [government-controlled] churches will be fined. I made up my mind that if things become even more difficult, we should divide up our flock. Everyone will worship God at home just in their own family ... Our God loves the house churches; but the big Three Self churches worship according to the will of man. How can we go there?” (Anhui province, April 2005)

China’s new Regulations on Religious Affairs, which came into effect on March 1, have tightened government control over religious activity. For example, Christians who attend unregistered churches, or are found in possession of unlicensed religious publications, now face much stiffer penalties.

One house church leader pointed out that the new regulations are “not set in concrete. From the Party’s point of view, they can be still further refined and improved, leading to more control.” (See Compass Direct, “Chinese Christians React to New Religious Regulations,” March 9, and “China’s New Religious Law Promises Little Change,” January 17.)

CENSORSHIP

“Here generally we cannot send letters out to Hong Kong. If they are addressed to pastors or churches, the County Religious Affairs Bureau will open them. So I write all my letters carefully and wait until someone is going to a church in Hong Kong, and they hand carry them for me to Hong Kong.” (Guangdong province, March 2005)

Chinese sources have reported widespread phone tapping, interference with e-mails and Internet censorship in mainland China.

Representatives of the China Internet Project at the University of California at Berkeley shared their concerns about Internet censorship before the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission in April. Member Xiao Qiang pointed out, “The [Chinese] government ... is expending significant resources to maintain control over both Internet content and public access to that content.”

According to Xiao, all Internet traffic in China passes through six gateways that are tightly controlled by government agencies. These gateways are protected by a firewall that screens any incoming content deemed “undesirable” for a Chinese audience. “In effect,” Xiao said, “the Internet in China is really a nationwide intranet [internal network], with limited and government-controlled access to the global Internet.”

Internet police in over 700 centers monitor websites and e-mail for “heretical teachings or feudal superstitions” and information that is “harmful to the dignity or interests of the state.” They also use software to detect key words in e-mails and Internet downloads and to trace “subversive” messages back to the computers from which they were sent.


A Washington Post article on July 20 pointed out “Golden Shield,” a high-tech Chinese Internet surveillance system that has been under development for the past five years. Harry Wu, a Chinese human rights activist, told Post reporters that the program had already been offered to police in at least 31 provinces.

Several laws have been passed since 1994 to regulate the content of the Internet. Illegal content, however, is vaguely defined; for example, in Article 15 of the “Measures for the Administration of Internet Information Services,” all information that “endangers national security, divulges state secrets ... or undermines the state’s policy for religions” is strictly prohibited. Such vague definitions mean Christians are at the mercy of local officials, who may or may not approve of Christian references in e-mail or Internet postings.

ARREST, DETENTION, TORTURE

“Recently the brother administering our house church was sentenced. During the spring festival he went with some brothers and sisters to Beijing to study, but he was arrested when he arrived at the Beijing train station. Some have had their houses ransacked, but he has been sentenced to jail.” (Henan province, February 2005)

The China Aid Association (CAA) reported a string of raids on Chinese house church believers in July and August. Police raided a house church baptism ceremony in Henan province on July 1. Of the 70 Christians present, 10 were held for 15 days of administrative detention while all others present were fined. CAA also reported the arrest of 100 high school students at an unregistered Bible school in neighboring Hebei province, and the forced closure of a house church fellowship in Shanghai on July 26.

In addition, police arrested two U.S. theology students along with 43 leaders and members of the South China Church in Hebei province on August 2. A later report said 10 of the local Christians were released on August 13; many had suffered torture, including cigarette burns and beatings. By August 17, all but two had been released.

On August 7 a house church in Xinjiang province was reportedly raided; 10 women among the group of 30 believers were stripped and paraded naked. Those who refused to remove their clothes were savagely beaten. On August 11, authorities arrested 35 high school and university students at a Sunday school teacher training class in Jiangxi province. Six of those arrested will be prosecuted for criminal offences.

Finally, on August 15, four U.S. Christians were reported arrested along with 27 house church pastors in Luoyang, Henan province. Another American was detained by plainclothes police officers while walking in the nearby city of Yichuan, according to the CAA report issued on August 17.

RESTRICTIONS ON EMPLOYMENT, EDUCATION


“Mr. Zhao and others were warned by the government and their school when it was discovered they were Christians. They say that teachers cannot believe in Christianity. So far Mr. Li and myself are okay. But I have three close relatives who are in jail in Shenzhen; I am unable to explain to you the reasons in detail. My family is in turmoil. Please pray.” (Jiangsu province, March 2005)

A Chinese Communist Party (CCP) directive issued in August 2004 prohibited all religious activities in institutions of higher learning. The directive banned religious rites or buildings on university campuses. It also stated that all teaching staff or students who were members of the CCP and attended religious meetings would be forced to resign from the Party. (See Compass Direct, “China Tightens Control on Religion,” November 16, 2004.)

Critics of China’s new Regulations on Religious Affairs point out that religious education is not dealt with adequately in the new law. For example, the law does not clarify whether children under 18 are still banned from receiving religious education. “THEOLOGICAL RECONSTRUCTION”

“I have believed in the Lord for five years and have been drawn along the path leading to the truth step by step. I know my spiritual state is still poor, so this year I want to study the Bible even more. Here in mainland China, it is very difficult being a Christian. I was baptized in the official Three Self church. Recently Bishop Ding Guangxun of the Three Self has been proclaiming that certain truths in the Bible do not agree with Socialist development. On the one hand, he says that original sin is incorrect; on the other, that mankind is ‘God’s half-completed product’ ... Gradually the pulpits in the [Three Self] churches are no longer proclaiming the truth. I really want to receive genuine spiritual nourishment.” (Shanghai, February 2005)

The Chinese government prefers Protestant house churches to register with the government-approved Three Self Protestant Movement (TSPM), although March 1 Regulations on Religious Affairs theoretically allow them to bypass the TSPM and register directly with the government.

Many house church Christians are wary of the TSPM, particularly its figurehead Bishop Ding Guangxun, who launched a controversial “theological reconstruction” movement in the late 1990s.

In an article in the May issue of the TSPM’s Tianfeng magazine, Ding asked, “What is the aim of theological reconstruction? My own aim is very simple. I hope that our Chinese Christianity will undergo a change ... into a Christianity that is humanist, rational and moral.”

Earlier this year, Donald Messer of the Iliff School of Theology reviewed the book God is Love, written by Ding. According to Messer’s review, Ding believes love is God’s primary attribute, overshadowing his righteousness and judgment. On that basis, Ding


holds that “Jesus never made belief or unbelief the standard as to whether a person enters heaven or hell.”

Ding is evidently dissatisfied that at least 90 percent of the Chinese church is evangelical, as seen in Tianfeng and other writings. He prefers a liberal form of Christianity that downgrades the basic tenets of the Christian faith, including the cross and the uniqueness of Christ.

Ding’s goal mirrors that of the Chinese Communist party -- a Chinese gospel that is, in the Communist Party’s own terms, “compatible with socialism.”

(Return to Index)

***********************************Seminary Student Absolved of Armed Mugging Charges in Colombia Luis Vera had been under house arrest for months.by Deann Alford

AUSTIN, Texas, September 7 (Compass) -- After nine months entangled in Colombia’s complicated, often sloppy judicial system for an armed mugging he didn’t commit, Medellín seminary student Luis Vera is a free man. A Bucaramanga judge yesterday released him from house arrest at his in-laws’ home, acquitted of all charges.

“Glory to God!” Vera said. “Brothers, my joy is great to be able to prove my case before the justice system.”

Vera’s freedom comes more than nine months after the victim, Wilson Silva Becerro, and his wife, who witnessed the 2002 crime, told the court that Vera was not the man who attacked him. Last year Silva had seen Vera’s photo at the police station and told authorities Vera was the attacker, although the photo did not match Silva’s description of the culprit.

The ruling came September 6. At Vera’s final hearing August 30, the prosecutor asked Judge Gladys Mora to acquit him of all charges. Vera said the prosecutor was so convinced of his innocence that “she acted as if she were my lawyer.”

Despite the victim’s testimony at an August 23 hearing that Vera was not the attacker, he remained under house arrest at his wife’s parents’ home in Bucaramanga, where the crime took place, until Tuesday’s ruling.

The judge’s verdict followed a string of irregularities in a case that one Bogota human rights lawyer said never should have been brought to trial, much less extended so many months. (See Compass Direct, “Colombian Seminary Student Arrested on Weapons Charges,” December 3, 2004.)


Twice before, the victim failed to show up at court hearings to identify Vera as one of a gang of four armed muggers. At Vera’s August 23 hearing, Silva and his wife finally attended to identify the alleged culprit in a lineup. Not only did the couple see Vera twice before the lineup, but the judge and prosecutor each greeted him when they saw him enter the courtroom, compromising his identity to Silva.

In addition, after Silva failed to identify Vera from the lineup, Mora had him walk in front of Silva, an action that Bogota attorney Luis Abella described as suggesting Vera’s identity to Silva.

“It was very dangerous and illegal that they made [Vera] pass in front [of Silva] ‘to see whether he was the criminal,’” Abella said. “That is intolerable and an open violation of due process. What if the wife had said ‘Yes’ when at first she had said ‘No’? Well, thank God, his innocence was confirmed.”

Vera wrote in an e-mail, “[The judge] asked the plaintiff to confirm absolutely whether I was the person who attacked him,” and the plaintiff answered, ‘In truth, he resembles him, but he wasn’t the one who attacked me.’” Nor did Silva’s wife recognize Vera from the lineup.

Vera’s plight began on November 26, 2004, when the then-23-year-old student ending his first semester at Medellín’s Biblical Seminary of Colombia bought his family bus tickets to their home city, Bucaramanga. At the bus station, police had set up a routine identity check. Officers looked up Vera’s identification number and found a warrant for his arrest on charges of firearms trafficking and manufacture, and aggravated theft in the Silva mugging. They took him into custody.

Although Vera did not match Silva’s verbal description of the culprit, Vera learned that Silva in 2004 had identified his picture in a set of criminals’ photos that officers had shown Silva in the Bucaramanga police station.

In 2000, Vera was riding a motorcycle in Bucaramanga when an 11-year-old boy ran into the street. Vera swerved, wrecking the motorcycle but hitting the boy. Vera took him to a clinic, where he died several days later. A prosecutor investigated the wreck and concluded that the child, not Vera, was at fault.

But after Vera was cleared of wrongdoing, a police department worker asked to take his picture, telling him, “It’s part of the process.” Vera let the worker take the picture.

That the worker snapped his picture in a non-criminal case was not, in fact, police department procedure. It violated Vera’s human rights, according to Abella. “His picture was taken illegally,” he said.

At a hearing on August 17, the prosecutor asked the judge to find out why Vera’s photograph was in the criminal files. “She also made mention that the plaintiff, at the


time he recognized the photo at the criminal investigations office, gave a description completely different from my physical traits,” Vera said.

Over the months, Vera’s legal defense bills amounted to thousands of dollars, well beyond his or his family’s ability to pay. Vera says that the Lord has provided for much of his family’s needs. To Abella, it seemed that Vera’s case demonstrated that Colombians without money cannot speed up the administration of justice.

“It is a partialized justice that seeks results at the cost of human rights,” Abella said.

But Vera saw God use him. Inmates entered and left the Medellín prisoner processing center where he was held for two weeks while prison officials transferred all other prisoners within a day or two. Vera said he discovered a series of divine appointments. Though he said he had never before been an active evangelist, he began sharing the gospel with those held with him on charges ranging from terrorism to rape and murder.

He lost count of how many accepted Christ as savior through his witness; he estimated between 15 and 18. After police officials moved him to Bellavista Prison, he connected with many of the new converts and helped them connect with the jail’s renowned prison fellowship ministry.

But before Vera and his family can carry on with their lives, Vera must visit every place where he was jailed since his arrest and demand that his photo be removed from every file and destroyed. “Because they have this photo of me, I’ll have more problems,” Vera said. “Otherwise, any day of my life they could blame me for something else.”

Visiting each place to remove photos could take two months, Vera said.

He plans to return with his wife, Daisy Lined Ortiz, and 2-year-old son Luis Fernando, to study at Medellín’s seminary for the next semester, which begins in January. Vera said he left his heart in Bellavista and wants to return as a volunteer to disciple prisoners. After he graduates, he and his wife want to minister as a couple.

Vera’s uncle, Ricardo Gómez, witnessed Vera’s plight from the United States, where he is studying in an evangelical seminary. “We can’t help but wish the man would have shown up for the first police line-up months ago, but we can’t change the past,” Gómez wrote in an e-mail. “Someone was lamenting the wasted year of Luis’ life, but who knows how God will use the experiences of this past year. One thing is for sure: Luis probably learned more than he would have learned in his seminary classes.”

***Photographs of Luis Vera and his family are available electronically. Contact Compass Direct for pricing and transmittal.

(Return to Index)

***********************************


Prisoners from Eritrean Wedding Roundup Mocked, BeatenChristian couples now afraid to extend invitations to marriage ceremonies. Special to Compass Direct

LOS ANGELES, August 23 (Compass) -- Three months after 250 wedding guests were arrested in the Eritrean capital for attending a Protestant Christian wedding, 129 of them remain jailed under severe conditions.

Initially 70 of the arrested guests identified themselves as members of the government-approved Orthodox, Catholic or Lutheran churches, after which police officials in Asmara released them.

Compass has confirmed that the remaining 180 wedding guests were held at Asmara’s Police Station No. 5 for six weeks. The majority belonged to either the Meserete Christos or Full Gospel churches, in addition to members of Tebadasso, a renewal group within Catholicism.

Some of the prisoners had their Bibles confiscated and burned in front of them, and all were subjected to insults and mocking because of their faith. The male prisoners reportedly were subject to beatings.

In mid July, the police station commander assembled the 121 men and 59 women. He told them they were in prison because they and their church leaders were working for the United States to “disrupt the peace and unity of the Eritrean people” and eventually would try to overthrow the Eritrean government.

Shortly afterwards, all the accused were transferred to the Adi-Abeto military camp and placed in solitary confinement. Since then, 51 of the women have been released after signing a pledge not to attend any Protestant Christian activities in the future, including weddings.

Military authorities have so far refused to release the last eight women, two of them minors. Until they sign a complete denial of their evangelical faith, they were told, they will stay in solitary confinement.

The 121 men who had not yet done their compulsory military service have been relocated from Adi-Abeto to the Wi’a military training center, 20 miles south of the Red Sea port of Massawa. Included among them are a pastor of the Meserete Christos Church, an evangelist from the Kale Hiwot church, and the nationally known gospel singer Esayes Stefanos.

Under tightening surveillance by military and security police authorities, wedding couples in Eritrea’s banned churches are now forced to scale down their traditional marriage celebrations. Since singing or other Christian activity in a public place is considered illegal, local evangelical believers have stopped inviting any wedding guests, for fear of exposing them to arrest and imprisonment.


In still another crackdown, the national Security Office recently ordered all regional administrative offices to identify any Protestant Christians among those applying for new or renewed business licenses. To date, nine Protestant men and women have been victimized under this process, their right to conduct legal business revoked or denied.

Three Pastors Relocated, One ReleasedMeanwhile, Compass has confirmed that Eritrean authorities have shuffled the prison locations of three of the 17 jailed Protestant pastors, released one and possibly reviewed legal charges against two of them.

Full Gospel Church pastors Kidane Gebremeskel and Fanuel Mihreteab have been transferred from the Wongel Mermera investigation center in central Asmara to the Sembel Prison on the city’s outskirts. Eritrea’s largest prison, Sembel usually houses prisoners whose cases are under high court review. Local church authorities have been unable to learn whether actual charges were filed against them or any verdict has been reached on their case.

Full Gospel pastor Abraham Belay, who was arrested with the other two last January, has been relocated to Adi-Abeto, “presumably to be sent to Wi’a for military training,” a source said.

After nearly seven months in prison, Rema Church pastor Habteab Oqbamichael was released last week from the Mai-Serwa military camp. The camp commanders handed down a “final warning” to him, declaring he would be executed for any further religious activities. But Oqbamichael was reported by fellow Christians to be “in good spirits, and [seemingly] not threatened by the warning he received.”

But Kale Hiwot church pastor Oqbamichael Haimanot, who suffered a mental breakdown three months ago under harsh treatment at the Sawa military training center, is reported to be in very poor health. Arrested last January, Haimanot continues to be subjected to hard labor for refusing to renounce his faith and help convince his congregation to return to the Orthodox Church. (See Compass Direct, “Eritrea Now Holds 16 Pastors, Nearly 900 Christians in Jail,” April 20.)

Another jailed Protestant, evangelist Girmaye Ambaye, has endured severe punishment at Asmara’s Police Station No. 1 since his May arrest. This is the second months-long arrest by Eritrean police for Ambaye, 45, who has continued to witness about his faith despite his deteriorating physical condition.

The exact whereabouts or condition of 12 other evangelical pastors arrested and jailed incommunicado over the past 15 months remains unknown.

More than 1,000 of their church members also remain under custody in prisons, military confinement camps, police stations and metal shipping containers, accused of breaking the law by worshipping outside government-approved churches.


Popular Christian singer Helen Berhane has been locked in a shipping container at the Mai-Serwa military camp since March 2004. She was arrested for her latest music tape, accused of “corrupting” Eritrean young people.

In May 2002, the Eritrean government banned all religious groups outside the Orthodox, Catholic, Lutheran and Muslim faiths. Authorities have since refused to legalize the country’s 12 independent Protestant denominations, arresting and jailing any of their 20,000 members caught praying, singing or worshipping in now illegal church buildings or even in their own homes.

***Photographs of Eritrea’s closed churches and arrested Protestant pastors are available electronically. Contact Compass Direct for pricing and transmittal.

(Return to Index)

***********************************Eritrea Strips Authority of Orthodox PatriarchPrelate challenged government interference with church. Special to Compass Direct

LOS ANGELES, August 23 (Compass) -- Abuna Antonios of the Eritrean Orthodox Church has been stripped of his patriarchal authority by a congress of the Holy Synod convened on August 7.

According to a letter smuggled out of the repressive East African nation from the patriarch’s office, the 78-year-old prelate was not removed from his position. But Antonios was forbidden to carry out any administrative functions or even bless his congregation.

Dated August 9, the letter in the Tigrinya language was posted on the website of Asmarino Independent News on August 20.

According to an accompanying statement, the Holy Synod demanded that the patriarch be deposed over six accusations in which he was said to have been “an obstacle in the work of the Holy Christian Church.” The list of charges included his reluctance to excommunicate 3,000 members of Medhane Alem, an Orthodox Sunday School movement, and his high-level request that the government release some imprisoned Christian “traitors” from jail.

Elected patriarch only 17 months ago, Antonios had begun to challenge government interference in church affairs earlier this year. The Orthodox faithful, who constitute some 40 percent of the population, were first puzzled when their patriarch’s annual Christmas message was not broadcast on national radio or television on January 7.


Then, in the wake of several police raids on Medhane Alem gatherings, three of the Orthodox movement’s prominent leaders were arrested in March. Despite patriarchal inquiries, the Rev. Dr. Futsum Kuluberhan, the Rev. Dr. Tekleab Mengisteab and the Rev. Gebremedhin Georgis are still jailed incommunicado in Asmara’s notorious Wongel Mermera investigation center.

According to the Holy Synod’s statement, their congress to depose the patriarch was called by Yeftehe Dimetros, a layman appointed by the government as administrator of the Orthodox Church.

Sources in Eritrea accuse Dimetros of drafting all the accusations against the patriarch, noting that several priests who supported the elected head of the church have been suspended from office and lost their salaries.

As a political appointee, Dimetros violates centuries-old church canons in his new role. Articles 32 and 96 of the Eritrean Orthodox Church Constitution require that this position be held by a bishop appointed by the patriarch.

Rumors are now circulating in Asmara that President Isaias Afwerki’s government intends to announce the election of another patriarch soon. This would also be a direct contravention of church statutes governing the selection of a new patriarch.

During an escalating government crackdown that has outlawed all Protestant churches except Lutheranism since May 2002, the Eritrean Orthodox Church has enjoyed relative immunity as the nation’s oldest religious community, dating back to the fourth century A.D.

A branch of the Oriental Orthodox family, the Eritrean Orthodox Church became independent in 1994, followed by acceptance in 2003 as a member of the World Council of Churches. Along with the Catholic, Lutheran and Muslim faiths, it is one of four officially recognized religions in Eritrea.

By contrast, local evangelical churches have been closed down for the past three years, with their pastors and members subjected to harsh raids, imprisonment and torture for worshipping outside “legal” church buildings, even in their own homes.

But government pressures have also surfaced against the Catholic Church, with several raids and arrests reported against some of their members and renewal movements. In late 2003, the Catholic bishop vigorously resisted government demands that he submit regular reports on his church’s activities, declaring that his church reported only to the Vatican.

More recently, the Catholic Church has refused to comply with government orders that all their priests under the age of 40 register for military training. Reportedly the Orthodox, Lutheran and Muslim religious communities have already started this new compulsory registration requiring their priests, pastors and imams to do military service.


The Eritrean government has consistently denied that any religious persecution occurs in the country, describing the documented reports of Amnesty International, the U.S. State Department and other sources as “groundless.”

***Photographs of Abune Antonios and the headquarters of the Eritrean Orthodox Church in Asmara are available electronically. Contact Compass Direct for pricing and transmittal.

(Return to Index)

***********************************Eritrean Police Jail Another Protestant Wedding PartyOrthodox patriarch remains ‘suspended’ under house arrest.Special to Compass Direct

LOS ANGELES, September 7 (Compass) -- Eritrean police arrested a bridal couple from the banned Hallelujah Church along with their 18 wedding guests on Sunday night, dragging them to jail because they are “Pentes” (Pentecostals), authorities said.

The seven women and 13 men were attending a private wedding ceremony on September 4 in the home of the bride when Asmara police raided the house.

Breaking into the traditional wedding tent of the groom, Mengesteab Tesfamariam, the police took him into custody along with his bride, Berekti Keshi Almaze, and their best men and bridesmaids.

Jailed at Police Station No. 5 in Asmara, the 20 prisoners included two key leaders of the Hallelujah Church, Aklilu Habteab and Kashay Imbaye, as well as Zerit Gebreneguse, an evangelist in the Philadelphia Church.

The Hallelujah Church reportedly had taken careful precautions to avoid attracting the attention of local officials, who in recent months have escalated their raids on weddings conducted by Protestant congregations that have been closed. Sunday’s ceremony was conducted in a private home, with only a few close friends invited and none of the usual singing or other noticeable Christian activities.

But somehow police learned about the wedding, arriving just as the ceremony was beginning. So far relatives and friends of the jailed guests have not been allowed access to the prisoners.

A total of 17 Protestant pastors are now jailed in Eritrea, where worshippers from any Christian community outside the government-recognized Orthodox, Catholic or Lutheran churches have been subject to arrest since May 2002.

At least 1,000 evangelical church members are known to be in custody in prisons, police stations and military confinement camps across Eritrea for refusing, after arrest, to sign


documents recanting their faith. Many are held in solitary confinement and subjected to regular beatings and more severe forms of torture.

Government Denies Sacking PatriarchMeanwhile, Compass has confirmed that Abune Antonios, patriarch of the Eritrean Orthodox Church, remains “suspended from all his positions” and under house arrest. Local authorities have ordered the patriarch to limit his movements and religious activities between his residence and Asmara’s St. Mary Orthodox Church, a 10-minute walk from his home.

Last week, however, Patriarch Antonios emerged from isolation to sign the public book of condolences for the sudden death of Foreign Minister Ali Said Abdella. According to several sources in Asmara, this temporary lifting of the patriarch’s house arrest was “a government trick” to deceive the Orthodox community into believing that the prelate was still presiding over church affairs.

“The truth is that the entire [Orthodox] church is now under the full command and control of Yeftehe Dimetros,” a local source confirmed this week, describing the lay administrator as a “political appointee” without the required status of an ordained cleric.

On August 31, Eritrean Information Minister Ali Abdu denied news reports that had been circulating among Eritreans living in Europe and the United States declaring that the regime of President Isaias Afwerki had sacked the Orthodox patriarch on August 7.

Insisting that Patriarch Antonios was still at his post, Abdu told Agence France-Presse, “Our state system is secular, that is separate from religion. The synod elects the patriarch, it is a sovereign unity.”

But a number of local sources contacted by Compass declared that the patriarch had been deposed and stripped of his ecclesiastical authority for objecting to government interference in church affairs and the jailing of three priests.

According to an August 23 report on the Asmarino Independent News website, Dimetros had traveled to Egypt in late July in an unsuccessful bid to convince Coptic Orthodox Pope Shenoudah III to replace Abune Antonios as the head of the Eritrean Orthodox Church.

To date Pope Shenoudah’s office has declined public comment on the issue, although church canon law forbids the arbitrary unseating of a patriarch, traditionally considered to have a lifetime appointment.

(Return to Index)

***********************************Couple Arrested for Attempted Forced Conversion in IndiaHindu villager asked for prayer, then accused Christians of enticing him to convert.


by Vijayesh Lal

NEW DELHI, August 4 (Compass) -- Two Christians in Madhya Pradesh, India, await their first appearance in court after Hindu villagers accused them of attempted forced conversion.

Jagdish and Grace Nayak were arrested on July 19 in Jeet Nagar village, Indore district. That day a villager named Dharmendra Chaterjee invited them to his house for prayer. As soon as they finished praying, Chaterjee called his neighbors into the house and accused the Nayaks of enticing his family to convert to Christianity in return for education, health care and other benefits, including money for a family wedding.

Chaterjee’s immediate neighbor, Bhagwanti Bai, also said the couple offered her help with education and healthcare in return for converting to the Christian faith.

The Nayaks were detained by villagers, including members of the Dharma Raksha Samiti (DRS, or Religious Protection Committee) and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a Hindu extremist group.

Police soon arrived and took the couple to the Bhanwarkuan police station. The mob followed, accompanied by RSS leader Rajendra Chandel and several key members of the DRS.

At the police station, Chaterjee repeated his accusations, and the police arrested the couple under articles 3, 4 and 5 of the 1968 Madhya Pradesh Dharma Swatantraya Adhiniyam or Freedom of Religion Bill.

Article 3 states, “No person shall convert or attempt to convert, either directly or otherwise, any person from one religious faith to another by use of force or by allurement or by any fraudulent means, nor shall any person abet any such conversion.”

The bill defines allurement as any offer or temptation in the form of financial gifts or other material benefits given to encourage a person to convert.

Conversion is defined as renouncing one religion and adopting another; while force is defined as a show of force or a threat of injury of any kind, including the threat of divine displeasure or social rejection.

If Chaterjee alone had lodged a complaint, the couple could have faced imprisonment of up to one year and/or a maximum fine of 5,000 rupees ($115) if convicted. But since one of the complainants, Bhagwanti Bai, is a woman, the punishment may be extended to two years imprisonment and/or a maximum fine of 10,000 rupees ($230).

The Nayaks were released on bail within 24 hours. The court has yet to schedule a date for the trial.


Police inspector Parihar of Bhanwarkuan station told Compass he believed that the complaint was a planned attempt by the DRS and the RSS to keep the Nayaks away from the village.

The couple often came to Jeet Nagar to pray with villagers, Parihar explained, but only when they received an invitation to do so. Two people in the village recently became Christians, a move which may have attracted the wrath of the RSS.

In addition, the state government has said the Freedom of Religion Bill will soon be amended to check conversion of tribal people to Christianity. The announcement came after a retired director-general of police, Narendra Prasad, submitted a report on May 21 claiming missionaries were forcibly converting large numbers of tribal people in the state. (See Compass Direct, “Indian State to Tighten Control on Conversions,” July 26, 2005.)

(Return to Index)

***********************************Hindu Extremists Launch ‘Reconversion’ Campaign in Northern IndiaWorld Hindu Council plans to ‘reconvert’ 80,000 Dalits. by Vishal Arora

NEW DELHI, August 8 (Compass) -- Hindu extremists have launched a mass campaign to “reconvert” Christians from Dalit backgrounds in the north-central Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.

The term Dalit is reserved for the so-called “untouchables” of India, who occupy the lowest place on the caste ladder of Hinduism. Many Dalits convert out of Hinduism to escape the social ostracism and discrimination imposed on them by the caste system.

The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP or World Hindu Council) says it plans to convert at least 80,000 Dalit Christians to Hinduism in the Agra division of Uttar Pradesh by the end of this year, according to local newspaper reports.

Agra division is composed of seven districts, including the tourist town of Agra where the Taj Mahal, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, is located.

The division is also home to 638,000 Dalits.

The announcement of the VHP’s new ghar vapsi or “homecoming” program comes in the wake of a survey conducted by Hindu organizations in Agra division. The survey claimed that over 200,000 Dalits in the region had converted to Christianity.

“Almost 90 percent of Dalits from the Valmiki community have come under the sway of baptization [sic] drives,” the daily Pioneer reported in mid July.


Indrajit Arya, regional co-coordinator of the Hindu Jagran Vibhag, an arm of the VHP, said a large number of Christian converts still followed Hindu customs even after their conversion.

“The women still observe the karwachauth fast [an annual fast carried out by wives for their husbands], the cross on their neck notwithstanding,” he said.

The Pioneer report claimed that the VHP had already “reconverted” more than 18,000 Dalit Christians in the region over the past year.

John Dayal, a member of India’s National Integration Council and president of the All India Christian Council, told Compass that he was “amused” by the VHP’s goals.

“Which caste will [these Dalits] profess after they become Hindus?” Dayal asked. “Will the VHP make them all Brahmins [the highest caste in Hinduism] so they can live with dignity ... Or will they be forced to live with other Dalits in filthy ghettos?”

Contrary to the allegations of Hindu groups, Dayal said Agra had a Christian population of fewer than 100,000. “However, it does have a 400-year-old Christian tradition,” he acknowledged.

He also objected to the term reconversion, a phrase that “has no legal or theological meaning in India.” According to Dayal, most Dalits are traditionally animists or follow tribal religions and therefore cannot be “reconverted” back to Hinduism.

“These homecoming ceremonies are a strategy of Hindu fundamentalist groups ... based on deceit and force, and often done under the supervision of armed thugs,” he continued. “I hope some day the state and federal governments will wake up to this danger, and instead of harassing Indian-born evangelists and priests, take due action against this political brigandry.”

Oppressed by higher caste Hindus for hundreds of years, Dalits generally have been responsive to the gospel. They account for approximately 60 percent of India’s Christian population of 24 million, according to 2001 census figures.

(Return to Index)

***********************************Hindu Extremists Attack Prayer Meeting in Rajasthan, IndiaNine Christians seriously injured; situation tense.by Vishal Arora

NEW DELHI, August 15 (Compass) -- Hindu extremists violently attacked a prayer meeting in Rajasthan state last night, seriously injuring nine Christians, including one woman.


The mob struck at midnight on August 14, during an all-night prayer vigil held in a private home in Pathda village, Banswara district, near the border between Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. The Christians had gathered for a three-day prayer meeting to mark India’s Independence Day on August 15.

“There were about 50 people from Pathda and Piploda villages at the prayer meeting, in which prayers were offered for the nation,” Patras Habil, a member of the Madhya Pradesh State Minorities Commission, told Compass.

The assailants delivered an axe blow to the head of Jeeva Badar, in whose house the prayer meeting was organized. The resulting wound required nine stitches.

“They also tried to strangle Asha Suresh, a Christian lady, which has apparently affected her vocal cords as today she is unable to speak,” Habil said, adding, “Laxman Rupara received an injury to his lower back, making him unable to stand up.”

The names of the nine Christians injured in the attack are Jeeva Badar, Border Dippa, Bua Rupa, Prabhu Baji, Laxman Rupara, Shandu Mangu, Khumji Hawala, Dangi Mangu, and Asha Suresh.

Tensions were still running high at press time. A mob of about 300 people went on a rampage today when representatives of Miracle Ministry, the Madhya Pradesh-based Christian organization that organized the prayer meeting, came to the local police station to collect a copy of the First Information Report (FIR).

“Seeing a 300-strong mob with sticks, the police had to escort the Christians back across the border to Madhya Pradesh in the afternoon,” Habil explained. “It seems there is a threat of further attacks.”

Pastor Biju Varghese of Miracle Ministry, who was at the police station, told Compass that about 20 people chased the police jeep as the Christians drove to the Madhya Pradesh border.

“We are worried about the Christians in [the area],” Varghese said. “They are not safe there.”

Varghese said those who attacked the prayer meeting were wearing the typical khaki uniform of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a Hindu extremist group. A member of the Rajasthan State Minorities Commission confirmed that the border area was the center of RSS activity in the state.

But Sanjeev Kumar, police superintendent of Banswara district, denied that Christians were seriously injured in the attack or that a Hindu extremist organization was behind it.


“It was a very ordinary clash, and no one has received serious injuries,” he said. “No organization was behind it. However, I have ordered an investigation and the arrest of the accused who are absconding.”

The police are seeking seven men in connection with the incident on charges of rioting, house-trespass with intent to commit a punishable offence, voluntarily causing hurt, and unlawful assembly.

Banswara district, which is among the poorest in the state and is populated mainly by tribal peoples, has long been a target of Hindu extremist organizations.

In 1998, Advocate P.L. Mimorth and M.P. Chaudhry of the Indian Social Institute noted that leaders of the Sangh Parivar (a family of Hindu extremist organizations under the leadership of the RSS) had declared their intention to stamp out Christianity in Banswara district by the year 2000.

Incidents of violence against Christians increased after the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party defeated the Congress Party in the state elections in December 2003. In one recent example, extremists violently attacked students of the Emmanuel Mission Bible School in Rajasthan’s Kora district on February 19. (See Compass Direct, “Indian Hindus Attack Christian Students in Rajasthan,” February 22.)

(Return to Index)

***********************************Second Indian State to Strengthen Anti-Conversion LawThirty-five Christians detained after praying for a sick villager.by Vishal Arora

NEW DELHI, August 15 (Compass) -- Attempts to strengthen the state anti-conversion law in Chattisgarh state, India, have been held up due to “technical problems,” according to a government official.

“The Chattisgarh Dharma Swatantraya Adhiniyam (Freedom of Religion Act) is already in force, but we want to make some amendments in it to make it more effective,” Brij Mohan Agarwal, the state law minister and former home minister, told Compass.

Under the proposed amendments, any person wishing to convert -- and any religious leader involved in the conversion -- must contact district officials 30 days in advance. Officials must approve the conversion before it takes place.

If the amendments are accepted, anyone found guilty of attempting to convert someone forcefully or fraudulently may be imprisoned for up to four years and fined up to 100,000 rupees ($2,290).


Under existing provisions, an offender may be imprisoned for up to two years and fined a maximum of 10,000 rupees ($229).

While Agarwal said the proposed changes were on hold due to “technical problems,” Kaviraj Lal, a local member of the Christian Legal Association of India (CLAI), said the opposition Congress Party had objected to the changes.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), still ruling in Chattisgarh, first suggested the amendments in 2003. Chattisgarh Gov. Lt. Gen. K. M. Seth told the state assembly in December of that year that the anti-conversion law would be “stricter” under BJP rule.

BJP ministers felt the existing law was not rigorously enforced and contained too many loopholes.

As politicians clash over the bill, police officers have used other legal means to harass Christians.

According to Lal of CLAI, “In at least two recent incidents, police have used Section 151(1) of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) to arrest Christian workers without any arrest warrant or legal formalities.”

Section 151(1) of the CrPC states, “A police officer knowing of a design to commit any cognizable offence may arrest, without orders from the Magistrate and without a warrant, the person so designing, if it appears to such officer that the commission of the offence cannot be otherwise prevented.”

On July 10, police detained 35 Christians, mostly women and children, belonging to the Gosner Evangelical Lutheran Church (GELC), in the town of Ambikapur in Chattisgarh’s Sarguja district, on suspicion of attempted conversion.

“We were taken to the police station at about 11 p.m. after we prayed in the house of Kailash Ram,” Vijay Nikunj, a 35-year old member of the GELC and one of the accused, told Compass.

Ram had hosted a small thanksgiving dinner for the Christians who had prayed for his healing from an illness several days earlier.

“While the thanksgiving prayer was on, eight young men who identified themselves as part of the Judeo Sena (followers of Dileep Singh Judeo, a local leader of the BJP) and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP or World Hindu Council) broke in and started manhandling us,” Nikunj explained. “They also phoned the police station alleging that we had come to the village for conversions. The police came immediately and took us to the police station.”


The police released the Christians on July 11 but registered a First Information Report against Nikunj and his sister, Salen Nikunj, who had both prayed for Ram. A court case is pending.

Earlier, police arrested four Christians in a village in Chattisgarh’s Durg district, after local villagers accused them of attempted conversion. (See Compass Direct, “Hindu Extremists Attack Church in Chattisgarh, India,” June 9.)

India’s federal government created Chattisgarh state in November 2000, splitting it from Madhya Pradesh. Chattisgarh retained the Freedom of Religion Act adopted by Madhya Pradesh in 1968.

(Return to Index)

***********************************India Delays Hearing on Dalit Christian Rights CaseBelievers declare week of prayer and fasting.by Satya Kumar

NEW DELHI, August 29 (Compass) -- Christians throughout India have begun a week of prayer and fasting following a government delay in determining equal rights for Dalit Christians.

Dalit, or “untouchable,” is the term given to the lowest of India’s caste groupings under the Hindu caste system.

Dalits belonging to the Hindu, Buddhist and Sikh faiths qualify for a government plan that reserves 26 percent of jobs and educational places for them. Under current laws, Dalits who convert to Christianity or Islam lose their reservation privileges.

“A nationwide week of fasting and prayer is being observed in churches and Christian institutions all over the country from August 25 in support of the Dalit cause,” John Dayal, the president of the All India Christian Council, told Compass.

The campaign to secure equal rights for Dalit Christians was launched over a year ago in the Supreme Court and at grass-roots levels. It followed successful lobbying by Dalit Sikh and Buddhist communities that forced the government to include them in the rights plan.

The Supreme Court was to hear the matter on August 25. On August 23, the government, represented by Attorney General Milon Banerji, demanded a four-month adjournment. The delay would allow an advisory panel, the Justice Rangnath Mishra National Commission for Linguistic and Religious Minorities, to review the case.

“This came as a surprise to us,” Dayal said. “We were very close to concluding the matter favorably ... The government is trying to buy time on the issue. We feel betrayed.”


Dayal pointed out that the Justice Rangnath Mishra Commission was set up in October 2004 to investigate economic and social problems in linguistic and religious minority communities.

“Its charter does not include, so far, deciding the constitutional issue of caste among non-Hindu religions,” he added.

Chief Justice R. C. Lahoti of the Supreme Court also had expressed anger at the government’s move, threatening to “wind up the courts” if such matters were taken out of its jurisdiction.

Lahoti, however, eventually relented and granted the government six weeks to give a status report on the work done by the commission.

The Supreme Court will now hear the case on October 18.

“The court has said that the judicial process can continue alongside the commission’s investigation,” senior advocate Prashant Bhushan, who is handling the case for Christian petitioners, told Compass. “We don’t see it as a total setback -- at least we are moving in the right direction.”

Dayal and several other Christian leaders presented a memorandum to the commission on August 26, demanding an early decision in favor of Dalit Christians.

In the memo, the leaders asked for the opportunity to make “written, oral and visual presentation, bringing [before the commission] adequate literature and other evidence on the issue.”

The Federation of Indian American Christian Organizations of North America (FIACONA), which is dedicated to the safety of all Christians in India, has joined the host of local Indian groups supporting the campaign.

“We are confident that the Indian Supreme Court will draw support from the Constitution of India to award Dalit Christians the rights and protections that are due to them,” the Rev. Bernard Malik, FIACONA president, said in a press release on August 25.

Malik also urged the government to avoid prolonging a resolution.

(Return to Index)

***********************************Mob Attacks Prayer Meeting in Madhya Pradesh, IndiaChristian couple and their 2-year-old child brutally beaten.by Vishal Arora


NEW DELHI, August 29 (Compass) -- A mob of Hindu extremists violently attacked a prayer meeting in the town of Indore in the north-central state of Madhya Pradesh on August 21. At least 10 people, including women and a 2-year-old child, were injured.

The attack seemingly targeted Jagdish and Grace Nayak, independent Christian workers who are awaiting trial on charges of forced conversion. Grace Nayak is a convert from Hinduism.

The attack took place at around 11:30 a.m. “About 50 people allegedly belonging to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh [RSS] threw stones at the prayer room, where about 15 people were praying, and beat them up,” Indira Iyengar, a member of the Madhya Pradesh State Minorities Commission, told Compass.

“The prayer room was completely ransacked and stones were lying all around the place,” she added. “The attackers had vandalized all the equipment inside, including the public address system. They also tore Bibles into pieces.”

The Nayaks and their baby were brutally beaten, she added. “When I went to the hospital to see them, I was horrified. They were beaten up as if they were not human beings, but animals. It was difficult for me to even look at them, as her husband was still bleeding profusely.”

All the injured Christians were treated at a local hospital.

The Nayaks were able to identify three of their attackers; Shalik Ram Pawar, Chauhan Singh and Prem Singh.

All three men were named in the initial police report, but at press time they remained at large.

The police have denied that the RSS, a Hindu extremist group, was behind the attack. Adarsh Katiyar, the superintendent of police in Indore, told Compass, “The attackers were local people of that area, who claimed the family was converting Hindus to Christianity. They were not from any organization.”

Katiyar said the attackers had lodged a counter complaint against the Nayak family after the attack, accusing them of attempted forced conversions.

Members of the Dharma Raksha Samiti (DRS, or Religious Protection Committee) and the RSS had filed a similar complaint against the Nayaks on July 19. The Nayaks were immediately arrested under the state anti-conversion law, held in police custody overnight and released on bail the following day.

“The police, while releasing Grace, issued a warning to her, saying she was not to return to her locality for at least eight days, nor was she allowed to conduct any prayer meeting,” Iyengar, of the minorities commission, said. “The complainants also put up


posters and distributed pamphlets saying Grace was converting people to Christianity using fraudulent means.”

Judges have yet to set a date for the first court hearing. (See Compass Direct, “Indian Couple Arrested for Attempted Forced Conversion,” August 4.)

Tension between Hindu and Christian communities increased after the Madhya Pradesh state government released the Narendra Prasad Committee Report on religious conversions in late July.

Prasad, a retired director-general of police, claimed missionaries were forcibly converting large numbers of people in the state. His report also blamed government laxity for the “huge” numbers of conversions.

The Prasad Committee was set up following an incident in which the Hindu community blamed Christians for the brutal rape and murder of a 9-year-old girl identified only as Sujata. (See Compass Direct, “Indian City in Uproar over Death of 9-Year-Old Girl,” January 22, 2004.)

After making the report public, the state government announced its plan to amend the Dharma Swatantraya Adhiniyam (Freedom of Religion) Act of 1968 to tighten controls on conversion of tribal people to Christianity. (See Compass Direct, “Indian State to Tighten Control on Conversions,” July 26.)

*** A photograph of Grace Nayak is available electronically. Contact Compass Direct for pricing and transmittal. (Return to Index)

***********************************World Hindu Council Calls for Nationwide Anti-Conversion Law in IndiaHindu mob detains, assaults six Christian workers in Orissa state.by Vishal Arora

NEW DELHI, September 2 (Compass) -- The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP or World Hindu Council) has called for a comprehensive law to ban religious conversions in India as part of a new campaign to stem the “increasing” number of conversions around the country.

Addressing media on August 25, Mohan Joshi, national secretary of the VHP, said the existing anti-conversion laws in some states were not stringent enough to curb religious conversions.

“The law should have provision to penalize foreign nationals and organizations engaged in conversion with a fine of 10 lakh* rupees [1,000,000 rupees or $22,750] and 10 years of imprisonment to effectively check conversion,” Asia News quoted Joshi as saying.


Anti-conversion laws are in force in the states of Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, and Arunachal Pradesh. Gujarat state passed a similar law in March 2003; but the law has not been enforced because the government has not yet formulated rules under the Act.

Responding to the VHP’s demand for a nationwide anti-conversion law, John Dayal, secretary general of the All India Christian Council, told Compass, “Such laws are against the constitution, and they violate international covenants to which India is a signatory, including the United Nations charter.”

After the repeal of the Tamil Nadu state anti-conversion law last year, all states should follow suit, he added.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa repealed the state Prohibition of Forcible Conversion of Religion Act in May 2004, following the poor performance of her party in the April 2004 general elections.

In his statement to the press, Joshi said the VHP would launch a renewed campaign across India to combat an alleged rise in proselytization by Christian missionaries over the past year.

The VHP would convene Dharma Sansads (religious gatherings) in six locations “as part of its fresh attempt to curb the increasing number of conversions in India,” he said.

Claiming that the VHP had reliable information about plans of the Seventh-day Adventists (SDA) to convert 1 million Indians, Joshi said all foreign Christian missionaries should be expelled from the country.

The Chennai High Court in the southern state of Tamil Nadu passed an order in July to seize the travel documents of SDA South Asia president Pastor D. Ronald Watts and his wife, Dorothy Watts, both Canadian but based in south India, on the grounds that they had allegedly forced more than 1 million Hindus to convert to Christianity.

Joshi has also demanded an investigation into grants given to Christian missionaries, claiming that a large portion of the funds given by the Indian government or foreign sources were being used either for religious conversions or for creating communal disharmony.

The VHP was founded in 1964 with the goal of reconverting “all those who have been knowingly or unknowingly proselytized to alien faiths and are now desirous of coming back to the Hindu fold.”

Two other associations allied with the VHP continue to engage in violent attacks against Christians.


About 25 extremists belonging to the Bajrang Dal, the youth wing of the VHP, and members of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) attacked members of the Indian Missionary Society in Orissa’s Malkangiri district on August 22.

The group stopped six Christian workers who were returning from a nearby village, seized books and tracts from them and ordered them to attend a meeting in the village hall on August 23.

The six were held in the room from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. while the extremists slapped, abused and threatened them, a local Christian told Compass on condition of anonymity.

In the end the Christians were forced to sign a blank piece of paper. Their captors also threatened to shave their heads as a punishment for preaching Christianity.

The local police finally intervened and took the Christians to the police station to record their statements. The Christians were released at 10 p.m. Angered with the police response, the extremists organized a protest the following day, blocking the main road into the village.

* Note: 1 lakh is equal to 100,000.

(Return to Index)

***********************************Verdict for Indonesian Sunday School Teachers Expected September 1 Muslim mob takes over courtroom, warns judges to hand down a guilty verdict.by Sarah Page

DUBLIN, August 30 (Compass) -- A verdict is expected on September 1 for three Christian women in Indonesia accused of attempting to convert Muslim children.

Rebekka Zakaria, Eti Pangesti and Ratna Bangun were arrested on May 13 after members of the local Majelis Ulama Indonesia (MUI, or Muslim Clerics Council) discovered that Muslim children were attending a Christian education program run by the women. Some of the children had asked for and received Bibles, drawing the wrath of the MUI.

Since the trial began on June 30, Muslim hecklers have crowded the courtroom, often shouting insults at the accused and taking part in noisy demonstrations outside the building.

In the most recent hearing on August 25, Islamic radicals took over the court before proceedings began and conducted an Islamic worship service, according to a source who requested anonymity.


Leaders in the mob also used a megaphone to make a series of speeches, warning the judges that they were willing to shed their own blood for justice if the women were not found guilty or were given a light sentence.

Members of the mob also said the women would never be forgiven, and that they would not be allowed to return to their village in peace. Anyone who supported the women, some of the Islamic radicals said, would share the same fate.

When the court session finally began, hecklers continued to shout “Liar!” as the women responded to questioning.

In their summation of evidence, the defense pointed out that the prosecution had listed many witnesses who had not testified against the women. And those witnesses who had testified, defense counsel said, had no first-hand knowledge of the educational program and were speaking from hearsay.

The women were accused of deliberately lying, deceiving and forcing the children to change their religion against their will, without parental consent. None of the witnesses, however, had testified or provided evidence of these charges.

The defense also emphasized that most of the Muslim children attending had their photos taken with their parents, an indication that they were aware of program activities and consented to their attendance.

When the defense rested their case, the judges announced that a verdict would be given on the following Thursday, September 1.

While Zakaria, Pangesti and Bangun anxiously await the verdict and hope for the best, Christian leaders in Indonesia are praying with them, fearing that a guilty verdict in this case may set a legal precedent that would further restrict Christian activity in the world’s largest Muslim nation. Those found guilty of attempting to convert children under the Child Protection Act of 2002 may be imprisoned for up to five years and/or fined up to 100 million rupiah ($10,226).

Zakaria pastors the Christian Church of David’s Camp in Harguelis, Indramayu district, West Java, while the other two women are church elders.

In August 2003, a local elementary school asked the church to provide a Christian education program for Christian students, in line with the National Education System Bill that came into effect in June of that year.

The women launched the “Happy Sunday” program in September 2003. The program proved popular, and Muslim children soon began to attend with the verbal consent of their parents. Most of the Muslim children had photos taken with their parents for church records.


When Muslim leaders lodged their complaint, however, the parents refused to testify in support of the women.

(Return to Index)

***********************************Indonesian Sunday School Teachers Sentenced to Three Years in PrisonIslamic extremists again threaten violence before court session.by Sarah Page

DUBLIN, September 1 (Compass) -- Indonesian judges today sentenced three women to three years in prison for allowing Muslim children to attend a Christian Sunday school program.

Rebekka Zakaria, Eti Pangesti and Ratna Bangun received the sentence after judges found them guilty of violating the Child Protection Act of 2002, which forbids “deception, lies or enticement” causing a child to convert to another religion. The maximum sentence for violation of the Act is five years in prison and a fine of 100 million rupiah ($10,226).

The Sunday school teachers had instructed the children to get permission from their parents before attending the program, and those who did not have permission were asked to go home, according to Jeff Hammond of Bless Indonesia Today, a Christian foundation operating out of Jakarta. None of the children had converted to Christianity.

When the verdict was announced at 11 a.m. local time, the courtroom crowd erupted with shouts of “Allahu akbar” (“God is great”). The women plan to appeal the conviction.

A source who spoke with Zakaria by phone as the three women were waiting to be taken into the courtroom for the verdict said she was calm and confident. Zakaria said the situation did not look hopeful but that some day, “in God’s time,” all three women would “walk free from the prison.”

The three women, described by friends as “ordinary housewives,” were relieved that they had not been given the maximum five-year prison sentence. All three, however, were devastated at the prospect of being separated from their children, who range from 6 to 19 years of age.

As they have done throughout the trial, Islamic extremists made murderous threats both inside and outside the courtroom. Hammond said several truckloads of extremists arrived; one brought a coffin to bury the accused if they were found innocent.

“The ladies, witnesses and judges were constantly under the threats of violence from hundreds of Islamic radicals who threatened to kill the three ladies, witnesses, pastors, missionaries and even the judges if the women were acquitted,” Hammond told Compass.


Before a court proceeding on August 25, the Islamic radicals warned the judges that they were willing to shed their own blood if the women were not found guilty.

Paul Marshall, a senior fellow at Freedom House’s Center for Religious Freedom, said the case could establish a dangerous precedent. “It’s especially troubling and worrisome since it occurred in Indonesia, a country long known for its relative religious freedom,” Marshall said. “If it signifies the future direction of the country, the consequences will be terrible.”

Zakaria, Pangesti and Bangun were arrested on May 13 after members of the local Majelis Ulama Indonesia (Muslim Clerics Council) discovered that Muslim children were attending a Christian education program run by the women. Some of the children had asked for and received Bibles.

Defense attorneys pointed out that several of the Muslim parents had been photographed with their children during the Sunday school activities, proof that they had permitted their children to attend. When Muslim leaders lodged a complaint, however, the parents refused to testify in support of the women.

No witnesses, defense attorneys had told the court, testified or provided evidence of the charges that he women had lied, deceived, or forced the children into change their religion. Also, they said, witnesses who testified against the women had no first-hand knowledge of the educational program and were speaking from hearsay.

The “Happy Sunday” program was established to meet legal requirements for a local elementary school.

Zakaria, who pastors the Christian Church of David’s Camp in Harguelis, Indramayu district, West Java, was approached by the school in August 2003 and asked to provide a Christian education program for Christian students, in line with the National Education System Bill that came into effect in June of that year.

The women launched the program in September 2003. It proved popular, and Muslim children soon began to attend with the verbal consent of their parents.

Church ClosuresSince the first accusations were made, Muslim authorities in West Java have forced Zakaria’s church to close. Muslim leaders have forced at least 60 unlicensed churches in West Java to shut down over the past year, with minimal intervention from the government.

A spike in church closures during the Indramayu trial has drawn coverage in the national press. An article in The Jakarta Post on August 31 quoted Police Chief Insp. Gen. Firman Gani, who said police would protect licensed churches from forcible closure. The police would, however, uphold a 1969 ministerial decree that required all houses of worship to obtain a permit from local authorities.


The Post also quoted the Minister of Home Affairs, M. Ma’ruf, who said the government planned to review the controversial decree as it was “no longer relevant.”

An editorial in the same newspaper said the forced closure of churches had reached an alarming level, and the government seemed to have no political will to uphold freedom of religion as guaranteed in the constitution.

The writer concluded, “It is time now to stop pretending that Indonesia is a perfect model for religious tolerance ... the people of this nation are less tolerant now toward differences in religion.”

***Newer photographs of the three Indonesian women are available electronically. Contact Compass Direct for pricing and transmittal.

(Return to Index)

***********************************Jailed Iranian Christian Pressured to Return to IslamConvert pastor allowed two prison leaves since June.by Barbara G. Baker

ISTANBUL, August 12 (Compass) -- Eleven months after Iranian police arrested Hamid Pourmand for converting to Christianity, authorities at Tehran’s Evin Prison continue to pressure the former Muslim to return to Islam.

Pourmand, now 48, remains incarcerated with other prisoners of conscience in the political ward at Evin, where he faces at least two more years in jail for his conversion.

According to the former army colonel’s family, Pourmand has not been subjected to any physical mistreatment since late May, when he was acquitted of apostasy charges before an Islamic court in the southern port city of Bandar-i Bushehr. (See Compass Direct, “Islamic Court Acquits Iranian Christian,” May 30.) But he remains under verbal pressure from Tehran prison officials to recant his Christian faith.

The lay pastor is serving a three-year military court sentence for “deceiving the Iranian armed forces” by allegedly concealing his conversion to Christianity 25 years ago. Iranian law forbids non-Muslims from holding positions as officers over Muslims in the armed forces.

Compass confirmed this week that Pourmand was allowed two official prison leaves since the end of June. Reportedly a 10-day leave was granted in July to allow him to gather up defense documents related to his court martial case, followed by a three-day leave for “good behavior” in the first week of August.


“His family was very grateful for these days together,” a source in touch with them told Compass. Pourmand’s Assyrian Christian wife Arlet and their younger son David are living in Tehran, where they have no regular source of income apart from the support of various Christians.

The couple’s 18-year-old son Immanuel, who left Iran and went abroad several months ago to study dentistry, spoke earlier this week by telephone with his father.

“He told me to never say to God, ‘I have big problems,’” Immanuel said. “Instead, I should say to my problems, ‘I have a big God.’”

Since January of this year various religious and other advocacy groups have begun a wave of letter-writing campaigns to protest Pourmand’s imprisonment to Iranian government officials. In apparent response to diplomatic inquiries from the European Union and various United Nations agencies, the jailed Christian is now receiving letters and cards addressed to him at Evin Prison.

Pourmand was arrested last September when Iranian security police raided a church conference he was attending near Tehran. A career army officer, he was also serving as lay pastor for the Assemblies of God congregation in Bandar-i Bushehr.

After five months under interrogation in strict solitary confinement, Pourmand was tried in February before a military tribunal and found guilty, despite documented proof of his innocence. He was dishonorably discharged from the military, with his salary and all pension benefits cancelled.

In a subsequent Islamic court trial on charges of apostasy and proselytizing on May 28, the judge acquitted Pourmand in a single hearing. Conviction of apostasy carries the death penalty under Iran’s strict interpretation of Islamic law.

It is not clear whether Pourmand’s military conviction can be appealed, nor whether his initial months spent incommunicado under police interrogation will be subtracted from his three-year prison sentence.

***Photographs of Pourmand and his family are available electronically. Contact Compass Direct for pricing and transmittal.

(Return to Index)

***********************************Huichol Evangelicals Driven from Homes in Jalisco, MexicoTraditionalists say community bylaws require them to practice native religion.by Elisabeth Isais


MEXICO CITY, August 31 (Compass) -- Huichol native mobs in Jalisco state have driven Christians from their homes and threatened to burn them to death, according to news reports.

The first wave of 70 Huichol refugees, including at least 12 infants, from the village of Agua Fria, near Mezquitic, fled on foot across the state border into Tepic, Nayarit, beginning August 14. Dozens of others have followed, and the total was expected to reach more than 300. Most arrived ill from the 20-hour walk.

Town leaders insisted that if the Huichol Christians wish to return to Agua Fria, they must renounce their faith and return to native traditions and rites -- such as drinking liquor and using hallucinatory peyote -- which are practiced alongside Roman Catholic customs.

One of the few refugees who was able to speak Spanish, Jesus Nunez Carrillo, told La Jornada newspaper on August 19, “Catholics of the town went through the community with machetes and clubs, shouting they were going to kill us and burn us alive.” The town’s three evangelical groups -- Baptist, Seventh-day Adventist and Apostolic -- were all affected by the persecution. The refugees are temporarily housed in the Seventh Apostolic Church of Tepic, whose pastor is Jesus Estrella Candelario.

The threat of being burned to death especially alarmed them as last February traditionalists set fire to the house of Agua Fria evangelical Hermelinda Vazquez de la Cruz. Barely escaping with her children, she suffered severe burns on her back, which now require her to use a walker. Behind the February fire, according to Estrella, was Aurelio Carrillo Gonzalez, a local strongman who enjoyed the backing of municipal president Heleno Lopez Ibarra.

In the trek to Tepic, the refugees took only one change of clothing per person. They left behind some 100 hectares (about 250 acres) of land, along with bean and corn crops, cattle, horses, burros, chickens, and houses, plus personal possessions.

Mezquitic authorities portray the problem as a land dispute, maintaining that Huichol community rules require people to participate in the native rites in order to remain. Magdaleno Lopez Ibarra, a municipal leader of nearby San Sebastian, reportedly said, “It’s dangerous for the Huichol culture for religious groups to enter. Communal statutes stipulate that they can stay within the community as long as they practice Huichol culture, but if not, they must leave home.”

The religious grounds of the conflict, however, are evident. The natives’ Saturday gatherings impede Seventh-day practice, and the rites conflict with Christian teachings. One local pastor, Dagoberto Cirilio Sanchez of the Adventist Church, told La Jornada, “I believe we could co-exist if the authorities did not force us to participate in the drinking or the drugs.”


According to interviews with the refugees by Christian social worker Ramon Espinosa, more than 10 Huichol Christian leaders went to Agua Fria on August 16 to meet with town authorities. But upon arrival, they were driven away when townspeople shouted, “Get out, get out, get out!”

The state government of Nayarit has provided thin mattresses, blankets, and some nonperishable food items for the displaced Indians, but the local church was desperate for disposable diapers and bread, tortillas, milk, eggs, fruit and vegetables.

Authorities from Jalisco state and the federal government were reportedly attempting to reach a settlement regarding the Agua Fria evangelicals’ property.

On September 2-4, Mezquitic town officials reportedly plan to further discuss officially expelling the Huichol evangelicals from Agua Fria.

Ethnic Huichols in Mexico total more than 80,000 people, mostly in Jalisco, Nayarit, Zacatecas and Durango states. The largest and most concentrated community of Huichols, however, is centered in the Mezquitic area.

In 2002, Huichol evangelicals expelled from their homes in Mezquitic fled to the village of Tenzompa, near Huejuquilla El Alto, in Jalisco. An expulsion order brought pressure on the state government to intervene to resolve the case (See Compass Direct, “Evangelical Refugees in Mexico Demand Justice,” September 23, 2004.)

(Return to Index)

***********************************Former Government Minister Murdered in PakistanWell-known layman Derick Cyprian had received death threats.by Barbara G. Baker

ISTANBUL, August 10 (Compass) -- A prominent Christian layman in Pakistan who disappeared four days ago in Lahore was found dead yesterday morning, his decomposing body dumped in a sewage drain on the outskirts of the Punjab provincial capital.

According to reports in Pakistan’s English-language newspapers today, the murdered man’s hands and feet were found tied, with rope marks around his neck indicating he had been strangled. His keys and wallet were reportedly found on his body, which was located in the Manga Mandi area of the city.

Derick Cyprian, 57, had failed to return home on Saturday evening, August 6, after stopping by a branch of the Union Bank in Lahore’s upscale Defense Housing Society district around 4 p.m. His car was left parked in the bank parking lot.


The branch bank manager confirmed to police that “a large amount of money was transferred from the deceased’s account a few hours before he was kidnapped,” according to an article in today’s Daily Times.

When initial inquiries by his family proved fruitless, Cyprian’s older brother, Noel Cyprian, filed a report with local police on Monday, August 8. According to a provincial official who spoke with Compass, both the governor of Punjab and the inspector general of police were also notified that he was missing and feared kidnapped.

A former banker, the Roman Catholic layman had served as Pakistan’s federal minister for minorities for 10 months in 1999-2000.

“On the face of it, it seems like it was an ordinary crime, such as is rampant in Pakistan,” National Commission for Justice and Peace (NCJP) executive director Peter Jacob told Compass today. “But we cannot rule out other options.”

The murdered man’s brother agreed. “There could be a financial motive, or some enmity, him being a Christian and [having held] such a high post,” Noel Cyprian told Compass from his family home in Lahore, where he received a stream of condolence visitors. “Derick used to tell me they were trying to make cases against him. He could tell they were trying to trap him some way.”

He declined to identify who might have been plotting against his brother.

Cyprian’s daughter, Hina, a student in Lahore, was quoted in several Pakistan dailies that her father had been receiving threats for several months from unknown persons -- and that he had told her just two days before his disappearance that he was facing death threats.

“There must have been something very serious, that it has escalated into what has happened,” a Muslim official in the Punjab government told Compass, describing himself as a personal friend of the murdered man. When he last saw Cyprian several weeks ago, he said his friend was “non-vocal” and “a bit subdued” but had said nothing about any particular problems.

During Cyprian’s short tenure in office, he had supported procedural amendments to Pakistan’s controversial blasphemy laws. For nearly 20 years, these vague statutes have been misused to afflict members of the Ahmadi, Christian and other minority communities with years of imprisonment without bail, under the shadow of execution, until patently false charges are overturned.

Although President Pervez Musharraf announced two key changes in the blasphemy laws on April 21, 2000, he retracted the amendments within a month, bowing to vigorous street protests and processions led by extremist Muslim clerics.


The following August, Musharraf announced that despite previous promises to the contrary, his government would maintain the separate electorate system on the basis of religion. In effect, this voting procedure marginalized non-Muslim citizens in what some regarded as a form of religious apartheid -- allowing them representation only through a few token seats in local and national assemblies.

As a federal minister, Cyprian had campaigned openly for restoration of the joint electorate system supported by Pakistan’s Christians, Hindus and other minorities. So he resigned from the federal cabinet within hours of the president’s speech. “He stood by his statement that he would use all his influence to have the joint electorate restored,” NCJP’s Jacob said. Finally, in January 2002, the federal government reinstated the joint electorate system, although some hiccups continue in its implementation.

“The Christian community has lost a leader and a friend of Pakistan who was able to stand with Christians and Muslims alike,” one grieving Protestant leader commented. “He championed the cause of the joint electorate for the minorities and willingly sacrificed his position when the government did not accept it. He will always be remembered for that.”

During his 25-year banking career, Cyprian had worked for Bank of America, NDFC Bank and finally National Bank, where he served as senior vice president.

A graduate of St. Anthony’s School in Lahore, Cyprian completed undergraduate studies in economics at Forman Christian College and then graduated with honors from Hailey College.

Besides his daughter Hina and his brother Noel, Cyprian is survived by two sisters, Margaret Rosiello and Helen Shaheen, both living in the United States. His elder daughter Anuba, in her early 20s, returned to Pakistan today from Canada, where she has been pursuing studies.

Following an official postmortem conducted by forensic experts yesterday, Cyprian’s body was transported directly from the police morgue for burial in a Lahore cemetery, where brief prayers were held at the graveside shortly before midnight on Tuesday.

Noel Cyprian said that he had already received a condolence call from Roman Catholic Archbishop of Lahore Lawrence Saldanha, who was traveling outside Pakistan.

The family plans to hold Cyprian’s memorial funeral mass in Lahore within two weeks, his brother said.

***A photograph of Derick Cyprian is available electronically. Contact Compass Direct for pricing and transmittal.

(Return to Index)


***********************************Turkey’s Protestants Face Personal AbuseViolent attacks continue despite government’s EU reforms.by Peter Lamprecht

ISTANBUL, August 30 (Compass) -- Bektas Erdogan never expected his Christian faith of 11 years to jeopardize his career as a fashion designer in Turkey.

Hired five months ago by a designer jeans company in the Beyazit district of Istanbul, Erdogan was assured by his Muslim boss that he would be evaluated on the basis of his work, not his religion.

After his first collection sold successfully in Russia, Erdogan thought the phone call he received earlier this month from his employer -- asking him to come to work on a Sunday afternoon -- boded well. Maybe there was a surprise company dinner.

But that evening at the shop, his supervisor angrily accused him of “missionary work” and “brainwashing.” With the help of two employees and a relative, he beat Erdogan for two hours. The men repeatedly struck the designer’s head and face with their fists and the butt of a pistol. Three times Erdogan’s boss attempted to shoot him, but the gun failed to fire.

“He really wanted to kill me. It wasn’t just to scare me,” said Erdogan, who told Compass that he prayed for help and meditated on Bible verses while his attackers threatened to murder him and hide his body.

His co-workers released the 32-year-old Erdogan with a swollen and bloody face around 9 p.m., warning that they would kill him later. Since then, he has received three anonymous phone calls threatening his life.

Erdogan did not report the August 7 incident to the police, fearing that his boss’ ties with local officials might make him the target of further aggression. He also felt that once the authorities learned he was a Christian, they would be unwilling to help.

He believes that his employer’s anger stemmed from shop employees’ interest in Christianity. During his last three months at the job, Erdogan said, “Almost every meal [at work] became a question-and-answer session about my religion.”

Plainclothes Police BrutalityErdogan is not the only victim of increasingly overt, anti-Christian sentiment within Turkish society. On the same day that he was attacked, Istanbul police beat two Protestant converts in their early twenties and told them they could not be both Turks and Christians.

Umit and Murat-Can, who asked to have their last names withheld, were on their way to one of Istanbul’s 25 Turkish-speaking Protestant churches on August 7 when they saw


American David Byle and his 3-year-old daughter surrounded by a small crowd of police and civilians.

Byle had been exercising the legal right to distribute Christian tracts on Istiklal Caddesi, one of Istanbul’s main pedestrian thoroughfares, when two plainclothes policemen accosted him. One of them grabbed his chin and shouted at him for distributing literature, quickly drawing a crowd of police and passersby.

When the two Christians tried to intervene on behalf of Byle, whom they recognized as a member of a local church, a scuffle broke out between Umit and one of the plainclothes policemen. According to Murat-Can, about 15 policemen forced Umit to the ground, where they kicked and hit him before handcuffing him and carrying him inside a nearby building.

“That’s when I first realized they were police,” said Umit, whose plainclothes attacker never identified himself as an officer. The policemen continued to beat Umit for three minutes before taking him to a local police station with Murat-Can, who had followed the group inside.

“They never showed us any ID or read us our rights,” Murat-Can told Compass as he described the following hour in the police station. After finding 100 Christian tracts in Murat-Can’s backpack, police accused the youths of being “missionaries” who were bent on “dividing Turkey.” Although finally releasing them without filing any formal report, they told the young men that they could not be both Turks and Christians.

In another incident last month in Eskisehir (120 miles southeast of Istanbul), three strangers in Kanli Kavak park assaulted Protestant Salih Kurtbas. They attacked him from behind at 6 p.m. as he waited for an anonymous caller who had asked to meet and discuss Christianity.

Shortly after arriving home with a bloody nose, split lip, black eyes and a swollen ear, he received an irate phone call from his attackers. They accused him of missionary activity and threatened to kill anyone associated with a local U.S. businessman whom they claimed was spreading Christian propaganda.

Eskisehir evangelicals have faced constant delays in obtaining legal permission to start the city’s first Protestant church. “We applied to the governor and haven’t received an answer, and the city government has said that the building is not up to earthquake safety standards,” Kurtbas told Compass. “Everything’s kind of gone downhill.”

Kurtbas didn’t even think of going to the police, explaining, “If they found out that I was a Christian, nothing good would have come of it.” Umit also wanted to avoid further problems with authorities, fearing that legal proceedings might hurt his brother’s chances of entering the police academy.

Fear of Court


“These sort of attacks are not shocking for me,” admitted Orhan Kemal Cengiz, legal consultant for Turkey’s Alliance of Protestant Churches (APC). “I was expecting them … but [Christians] should take this very seriously.”

With European Union (EU) accession talks looming on October 3, Turkey is attempting to improve its human rights image. A package of legal reforms passed in June reasserted freedom of religion, instituting a three-year prison sentence for anyone obstructing the expression of religious beliefs.

But the EU has remained skeptical, challenging officially 99-percent-Muslim Turkey to implement these religious freedoms among its non-Muslim minority communities. Fewer than 100,000 citizens follow the ancient Christian traditions of the Armenian, Greek and Syrian Othodox churches, which remain exclusively ethnic congregations.

By contrast, the emerging community of an estimated 3,500 Turkish Protestants challenges the centuries-old perception that to be a Turk is to be a Muslim.

Over the last 10 months, violence against Protestant Christians in Turkey has become publicly visible, prompting former U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Eric Edelman to make formal inquiries with Ankara officials in April and again in June regarding 10 incidents.

“Turkey is not aware of the gravity of the problem,” Cengiz said. “Some officials have good intentions, but I have a strong suspicion that they don’t really grasp the freedom of religion issues.”

While most Turkish Protestants remain reluctant to open court cases for fear of further persecution, others feel that the church can gain from aggressive legal action without undermining its message of love.

“I’m a big fan of opening a court case,” APC spokesperson Isa Karatas told Compass. “When we look at things from a Christian perspective, of course we need to be forgiving. But this is not an obstacle for us to pursue our rights.”

Cengiz, the legal consultant to the APC, also advises that abuse victims go to court to protect themselves. “If you do not file a case against the police, you may find yourself before a court or even in jail, in spite of the fact that you are the victim of police misconduct,” Cengiz said. Turkish law enforcers often sue abuse victims preemptively, Cengiz said, in order to shield officers from legal prosecution.

Turkish Protestant church leaders have opened seven libel cases this year against three TV stations to combat accusations aired nationally. Statements on the television programs claimed that local Christians spy for foreign governments that pay Turks to change their religion.


In the face of anti-Christian rhetoric from some government officials and the latest attacks against Protestants, many Turkish Christians admit that they are not expecting either the government or society to change overnight.

“There is a segment of the government that supports anti-Christian sentiment, but along with this section is a larger segment that opposes it,” Karatas of APC told Compass. He said that if Christians who suffered persecution for their faith “would open court cases now, I believe they would receive support from the government.”

“In theory we have a free environment,” Umit told Compass only 10 days after being beaten by the police. “I don’t think that there is a problem with the state. But the Turkish people have not yet understood democracy. They still see the state as a father. They don’t know that it’s meant to serve us. Therefore, when people working for the state say something bad about Christians, the people believe it.”

Despite ongoing death threats, Erdogan has no plans to leave the country. When asked how he felt about losing his job, enduring a severe beating and being threatened with death -- all in one evening -- he smiled. Even if his situation doesn’t improve, he said, “God tells me to rejoice, because He can bring glory to His name.”

(Return to Index)

***********************************Vietnamese Authorities Offer Pastor Freedom for ConfessionTransferred to another prison, the Rev. Quang refuses to sign declaration. Special to Compass Direct

HO CHI MINH CITY, August 15 (Compass) -- The Rev. Nguyen Hong Quang was working at a labor camp machine used to extract cashew nuts on August 9 when he was approached by high prison officials. They told him he would be moved immediately to another prison.

With no further explanation or time to prepare to leave, Rev. Quang was bundled into a comfortable staff car and driven with guards to the K1-Z30A Prison in Xuan Loc, Dong Nai Province, about 250 kilometers (155.3 miles) south of the Dak Lak prison camp where he had been held. He was not allowed to retrieve even his Bible.

Rev. Quang soon discovered the reason for this sudden transfer. Shortly after his arrival at the fifth prison since his arrest on June 8, 2004, officials indicated to Rev. Quang that he could be set free in connection with Vietnam’s traditional amnesty on the September 2 National Day. All he need do, they said, is sign a paper agreeing that he was guilty of the charges on which he had been tried and convicted.

Rev. Quang, who has maintained his innocence from the outset, told officials at the Dong Nai province prison that he would not change his position and admit to guilt now.


The pastor and five other Mennonite workers were arrested at various times between March and June 2004 in connection with an incident on March 2, 2004, when Rev. Quang confronted two plainclothes policemen who had harassed some of the workers and were staking out his home and church. The six Mennonites were convicted in a joint trial on November 12, 2004, and sentenced to various jail terms for “interfering with officers doing their duty.”

Rev. Quang’s lawyer, Nguyen Van Dai, presented what many considered a brilliant defense in an appeal to the People’s Supreme Court in April 2005. But Rev. Quang was overruled and his three-year sentence upheld.

The Mennonite prisoners, including a young woman, Le Thi Hong Lien, were subjected to harsh treatment in an attempt to make them accuse and betray Rev. Quang. Earlier this year, authorities released Lien during the April 30 Liberation Day amnesty, two months before the end of her sentence. Reports of the torture that resulted in her mental breakdown led to a wide international advocacy campaign. Lien was transferred to a mental hospital to allow for at least partial rehabilitation before she received the amnesty.

She also was pressured to sign an admission of guilt; she also refused.

“We find it interesting that Vietnamese authorities are so intent on getting Pastor Quang to admit guilt -- they have already declared him guilty,” a Vietnamese church leader told Compass. “We pray earnestly that he will be released anyway and be reunited with his wife and children and his church.”

The international advocacy around the Mennonite prisoners has caused major embarrassment for the Vietnamese government at a time it is urgently trying to show the world a kinder face in its treatment of religious groups. According to house church leaders and ethnic minority Christians in Vietnam, recent legislative measures on religion have not resulted in noticeable improvements.

No church organization has yet achieved legal registration, and church leaders have documented many ongoing attempts to force Christians to give up their faith.

In early September, the U.S. Department of State will announce whether Vietnam will again be named a Country of Particular Concern (CPC), the worst category of human rights offenders. In May, the U.S. administration announced that it had signed an agreement with Vietnam -- a secret exchange of letters how Vietnam could escape the CPC designation. Vietnam urgently needs removal of the CPC designation in order to obtain trouble-free trade with the United States, as well as for U. S. support for accession to the World Trade Organization.

“Failure to show improvement in the area of religious freedom and other human rights, at the very time Vietnam has promulgated legislation and is trumpeting improvements, should be worrisome to the world community relating to Vietnam,” a Compass Vietnam source observed. “Either the new legislation is a just a sham for public relations, as many


religious leaders believe, or Vietnam’s central government lacks the authority to direct its local officials.”

Update on Rev. Quang’s WifeCompass has also learned that Le Thi Phu Dzung, Rev. Quang’s wife and now president of the Vietnam Mennonite Church, has filed a petition to seek redress for the forcible demolition by local authorities of the Quang home and part of the Mennonite worship center on July 19. (See Compass Direct, “Vietnam Government Razes Portion of Mennonite Church,” July 20.)

The long document includes diagrams, official documents and photos demonstrating how authorities broke their own regulations in their aggressive campaign to stop the operation of the church. In the petition, Dzung informs authorities of her urgent need to repair the open back of the center as the demolition has threatened the structural integrity of the building and endangered her, her three children and the Mennonite Christians who worship there.

***Photographs of the destroyed portion of the Mennonite church center are available electronically. Contact Compass Direct for pricing and transmittal.

(Return to Index)

***********************************City Officials in Vietnam Shut Down International ChurchLarge, independent congregation had sought permission for years.Special to Compass Direct

HO CHI MINH CITY, August 30 (Compass) -- Local authorities shut down a 500-member, international church here on Saturday, August 27. The church had sought a permit to meet since its inception eight years ago.

Eric Dooley, pastor of the interdenominational New Life Fellowship, said District 5 police ordered the church to close because it had no permit. The government has repeatedly ignored New Life’s efforts to obtain permission to worship.

For the past eight months, the congregation has been meeting at the Windsor Plaza Hotel in the An Dong area of Ho Chi Minh City. Made up of people from various nations, the church had been holding three services on Sundays. Dooley stood outside the hotel on Sunday morning to inform those showing up that they would not be able to meet.

“Turning hundreds of worshippers away at the doors of the church is something no pastor should ever have to do,” Dooley said in an e-mail to supporters. “The looks of shock and disbelief, the tears and the questions, were very painful.”


At the same time, Dooley received a summons to meet with immigration officials. “I had to face my own tears and those of my wife and children at the prospect of having to leave our beloved Vietnam.”

When he met with immigration officials on Sunday afternoon, however, they only asked for copies of the letters he had sent to the government and told him to seek permission from the Religious Affairs Department -- something he has done regularly for eight years, he said.

The church closing seems to have originated among local authorities and does not appear to be a national government action against the church, according to Dooley.

Meeting with a representative of the city’s Religious Affairs Committee on Monday, however, Dooley faced hostile opposition -- the official indicated that no one outside of Vietnam would care that the city had shut down his church. Dooley remarked in an e-mail, “I felt as though the Devil were saying, ‘You guys can’t do anything!’”

On Monday the pastor also met with U.S. consular officials, who advised against spreading word of the closure and forcing Vietnam into a “face-saving” posture.

“We need to humbly seek the Lord’s intervention,” Dooley said, “and I will deal humbly with the Vietnamese authorities in hopes that we can back off from the current tension and find a way to get the church registered.”

New Life will continue to function through existing small groups meeting in homes throughout the week, though many more will have to be added, the pastor said.

“I want to make it clear to all that we are doing this in the open, as always, and are not ‘trying to hide,’” he said.

Church elders will discuss the possibility of starting various home-gatherings on Sundays until the congregation can meet again publicly. “Man can prevent the church from worshipping together corporately on Sunday,” Dooley said in the e-mail, “but man can not put an end to the church!”

Another international Protestant church, the Hanoi International Fellowship, has been meeting in Hanoi under similar circumstances for even longer than New Life Fellowship in Ho Chi Minh City. It met Sunday without incident.

The closure comes at a time when Vietnam is trying hard to convince the world, and especially the United States, that it is improving religious freedom.

(Return to Index)

***********************************Mennonite Pastor Released from Prison as Part of Vietnam’s National Day


The Rev. Quang never yielded to pressure to admit guilt.Special to Compass Direct

HO CHI MINH CITY, August 31 (Compass) -- The Rev. Nguyen Hong Quang, a Mennonite pastor here convicted of an offense he denied having committed, walked out of prison on August 30 as part of Vietnam’s National Day amnesty.

Since his arrest on June 8, 2004 for resisting officers doing their duty, the then-general secretary of the Vietnamese Mennonite Church had faced severe pressure to sign an admission of guilt.

Rev. Quang, convicted on November 12, 2004, has been held in five different prisons. According to Vietnamese Mennonite leaders, at times he was abused by fellow prisoners who were rewarded for doing so by the authorities. His health deteriorated considerably during hard labor at a prison in Dak Lak Province, and he suffered frequent fainting spells.

At one point he was imprisoned in a large cell full of prisoners with communicable diseases, including HIV/AIDS. At his last prison, his Bible was confiscated. He was not allowed to share his faith with fellow prisoners and was once disciplined for doing so.

Rev. Quang’s sentence was upheld in an appeal to the People’s Supreme Court on April 12, 2005. Mennonite leaders insist that their lawyer demonstrated that Rev. Quang and five others were innocent.

The pastor called his wife at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday to say he had been released. After completing paperwork at the District 2 and Binh Khanh ward offices, he walked through the doorway of what remains of his Mennonite center home -- on July 19 authorities destroyed a 16-foot section of the facility, including the Quang family apartment, in a dispute over a building add-on permit (See Compass Direct, “Vietnam Government Razes Portion of Mennonite Church,” July 20.)

Rev. Quang’s wife, Le Thi Phu Dzung, was elected in June to lead the denomination. The Quangs have three young children. Tuesday’s joyful reunion at 7 p.m. included his congregation, whose meetings have been raided more than 80 times by authorities looking for reasons to close down the church.

All attempts by the Vietnam Mennonite church to seek guidance on how to register, including appeals to the country’s prime minister, have gone unanswered.

The pastor was one of 10,000 prisoners to be released in connection with Vietnam’s September 2 National Day amnesty. Of the five other Christians convicted with him on the same charge, only one, Pham Ngoc Thach, remains in prison.

Also released in connection with the amnesty, according to the Paris-based Vietnam Committee on Human Rights, were Roman Catholic priest Nguyen Thien Phung (also


known as Nguyen Viet Huan), human rights defender Tran Van Luong, and Mua San So, a Hmong Protestant in the Northern Highlands. The first two men had been detained for almost 20 years in a re-education camp.

The committee deplored the fact that Van Luong was released just three months before his sentence was to end on December 9.

The Mennonite church has faced continual harassment, according to testimony submitted to the House Foreign Relations Committee hearings on Vietnam on June 20 by Mennonite missionary Truong Tri Hien, who fled Vietnam last year. He documented how local officials have abused administrative powers to harass the Mennonite church.

House church leaders in Vietnam remain skeptical of Vietnam’s supposedly liberalized religion laws inviting unofficial churches to register. Since announcing the Ordinance on Religion in November 2004, no churches have accepted the invitation to register.

They also doubt that the U.S.-Vietnam agreement in May on improving religious freedom will produce any benefits for Vietnam’s large and growing house church movement.

***A photo of the recently released Rev. Quang, is available electronically. Contact Compass Direct for pricing and transmittal.

(Return to Index)

**********************************************************************COMPASS DIRECT

Global News from the Frontlines

Jeff Sellers, Managing EditorGail Wahlquist, Associate Editor Nancy Von Schimmelmann, Editorial Assistant

Bureau Chiefs:Barbara Baker, Middle EastSarah Page, Asia

For subscription information, contact:Compass DirectP.O. Box 27250Santa Ana, CA 92799www.compassdirect.org


http://www.compassdirect.org/

compass direct - living faith information, news & …old.lff.net/resources/compass/compass...

Documents