Compass Direct News

Life Sentences for ‘Blasphemy’ in Pakistan Overturned

Prosecutors find no evidence for charges against Christian couple.

LAHORE, Pakistan, May 18 (CDN) — A court acquitted a Christian couple of “blasphemy” charges yesterday, overturning their life sentences, their lawyer said. Chaudhry Naeem Shakir told Compass that Justice Mazhar Ali Akbar Naqvi of the Lahore High Court accepted the couple’s appeal because prosecutors failed to prove allegations that 32-year-old Munir Masih and his wife Ruqayya defiled the Quran or insulted Muhammad on Dec. 8, 2008. The allegations by Muhammad Nawaz in Mustafabad, Kasur district, came under sections 295-B and 295-C respectively of Pakistan’s blasphemy laws, which are routinely employed to exact revenge on Christians over personal disputes; in this case, the Christian couple’s children had fought with the family of Muhammad Yousaf, who directed his driver, Nawaz, to file the blasphemy charges. Shakir said that the First Information Report (FIR) indicated Nawaz initially accused Ruqayya Masih of using the Quran for exorcism.... Read full story »

Wrongful Conviction in Ethiopia Robs Christian of Children

Widower returns home from prison to find house taken over, two kids missing.

MOYALE, Ethiopia, May 17 (CDN) — His wife died shortly before he was falsely accused of desecrating the Quran, and by the time he was released from prison in southern Ethiopia, his two children, ages 6 and 15, were missing. Tamirat Woldegorgis walked out of prison in Jijiga on April 25, limping, after spending nearly two years in custody, including months in a small cell with 50 other inmates that left one leg paralyzed. “I have been trying to locate my children, but all in vain,” Woldegorgis told Compass. “My life is ruined – I have lost my house, my children, my health. I am now homeless, and I am limping.” Muslims in his native Hagarmariam village may have taken his children to further discourage him from having any influence in the area, said Woldegorgis, now staying with a friend in an undisclosed town. A member of the Full Gospel Church, Woldegorgis was arrested in August 2010 after a Muslim co-worker in the clothes-making business the two operated out of a rented home discovered he had inscribed “Jesus is Lord” on some cloth, area Christians said. His b... Read full story »

Harsh Era Looms in Aceh, Indonesia

Election of hard-line Islamic governor followed by closure of 17 churches.

JAKARTA, Indonesia, May 16 (CDN) — The election of a hard-line Islamic governor in Indonesia’s Aceh Province last month appears to have opened the way for a crack-down on the minority Christian community, which saw 17 churches sealed shut in early May. Emboldened by the April 9 election of Zaini Abdullah of the militant Aceh Party (Partai Aceh, or PA), hundreds of Islamists demonstrated in front of the office of Aceh Singkil regency on April 30, demanding area church buildings be not only sealed but demolished. Christian leaders told Compass that, besides the usual pretext of lack of church permits – applications for which local authorities routinely deny or delay – the demands were based on a controversial agreement that Christians were reportedly forced to sign in 2001 stipulating that there be only one church and four chapels in the regency. The number of churches in the regency had grown to 22, and the Diakonia Secretary of the Ind... Read full story »

Injured Convert in Pakistan Tries to Rebuild Life

Christian, pregnant wife endure threats while he seeks treatment for injuries from beating.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, May 15 (CDN) — Muhammad Kamran isn’t sure who sent the men to beat him after his Muslim wife told both her family and his that he had become a Christian. The 34-year-old native of Karachi said his wife’s brothers had begun coming to his office to threaten him before unidentified assailants attacked him as he was returning home two years ago. “I don’t know who sent those men,” Kamran said. “It could have been my family or hers. They beat me up mercilessly, the effects of which I’m suffering even today. My pelvic area and groin were badly injured by their kicks and punches, and still today I’m suffering from pain.” Two years later, he still has a pelvis injury from the beating that requires treatment. But even help from a local politician has not been able to procure medical treatment funding for a convert from Islam in Pakistan’s current religious climate. “The biggest hurdle I’m ... Read full story »

Sudanese Authorities Close Christian Offices in South Darfur

Sudan Council of Churches, Sudan Aid in South Darfur state shuttered without explanation.

JUBA, South Sudan, May 14 (CDN) — Security agents in Sudan’s South Darfur state have closed down the Nyala offices of the Sudan Council of Churches (SCC) and relief group Sudan Aid, sources said. Agents from the Sudanese National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) arrived at the organizations’ compound in Nyala at 8 a.m. on April 22, ordered SCC staff members to hand over keys of offices and vehicles and, without explanation, ordered them to leave immediately, an SCC staff worker said. “They came early in the morning to our office and took all the keys of the offices, chasing us out of the compound with no reason given to us,” the SCC staff worker told Compass by phone. Three staff members from Sudan Aid were arrested in the course of the closure and were taken to an undisclosed location, the source said. “Their families are living in agony due to the uncertainty of their fate,” the worker said. NISS agent... Read full story »

Iranian Officials Heighten Control on Farsi-Speaking Church

AOG church in Tehran faces pressure to identify members to authorities.

ISTANBUL, May 11 (CDN) — Leaders of the Assemblies of God’s (AOG) Central Church of Tehran told their congregation on Sunday (May 6) that authorities have demanded a list of names and identification numbers of church members, a major risk to converts from Islam. Church leaders then asked members in attendance to volunteer their information. The AOG church holds two Sunday services, both conducted in Farsi. It is the only church remaining in Tehran that offers Farsi-language worship on Sundays. “This [government move] is basically to make sure the church is not taking in new members and to make it difficult and risky for non-Christians to attend,” Monsour Borji, an Iranian Christian and advocacy officer for rights initiative Article 18, told Compass. “It is an effort to limit the church, basically.” Article 18 is a London-based initiative of the United Council of Iranian Churches (Hamgaam), which seeks to defend and promote religious ... Read full story »

Egyptian Judge Frees Attackers Who Knifed Christian

Hard-line Salafi Muslims cut off Copt’s ear, terrorize his family.

ISTANBUL, May 9 (CDN) — A judge in Upper Egypt has dismissed all charges against a group of Salafi Muslims who cut off the ear of a Christian in a knife attack and tried to force him to convert. The Salafists, who say they base their religion on the practices of the first three generations of Muslims after Muhammad, had falsely accused 46-year-old Ayman Anwar Metry of having an affair with a Muslim woman, the Christian told Compass. On April 22 the judge exonerated the assailants only after Metry, under intense pressure in a “reconciliation meeting,” agreed to drop charges, said his attorney, Asphoure Wahieb Hekouky. “Him dropping the case and accepting the reconciliation meeting is shameful,” Hekouky said of the Egyptian justice system. The same Salafi Muslims who attacked Metry terrorized him and his family for a year, Hekouky said. The AttackOn the afternoon of March 20, 2011, in Qena, in the province of the same name,... Read full story »

Lawyer of Iranian Pastor on Death Row Faces Prison

Court upholds prison sentence, ban on law practice.

ISTANBUL, May 8 (CDN) — The main defense lawyer for Iranian pastor Yousef Nadarkhani, who is appealing a death sentence, may be facing imminent imprisonment for defending the rights of Iranians, according to Amnesty International. Mohammad Ali Dadkhah, a prominent human rights activist, had been sentenced in July to a nine-year prison sentence and a 10-year ban on legal practice and teaching, and he learned on April 28 that an appeals court had upheld the sentence. Charges against him included “membership of an association seeking the soft overthrow of the government” and “spreading propaganda against the system through interviews with foreign media,” according to a press statement by Amnesty International. At press time it was not known whether he had been detained, but he has reportedly said he expected to be imprisoned. Dadkhah is co-founder of Iran’s Center for Human Rights Defenders (CHRD). The CHRD was forcibly closed in 2008, and though... Read full story »

Burma Reforms Offer No Respite for Ethnic Christians

Minorities in war zones continue to suffer.

KAREN STATE, Burma, May 4 (CDN) — Amid global euphoria over reforms in Burman-majority parts of Burma, life has changed little for more than 3 million Christians and other minorities left to suffer from one of the world’s longest running civil wars. Headlines around the world hailed the induction on Wednesday (May 2) of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi into parliament as the beginning of a new era in Burma, officially known as Myanmar. But for the 150,000 Internally Displaced People (IDP) living in eastern Karen state’s 4,000 IDP camps, life is still about landmine blasts, gun and mortar attacks, and the possibility of a final war between armed insurgents and the Burma army. Burmese President Thein Sein, a former military general, has introduced political reforms – the release of hundreds of political prisoners, new laws allowing labor unions and strikes and a gradual easing of media restrictions – and has reportedly ordered troops to stop offensive in ethnic a... Read full story »