Global News from the Frontlines

COMPASS DIRECT

January 12, 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.

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IN THIS ISSUE

THE TOP 10 FROM COMPASS DIRECT

Our pick of 2004’s leading news stories from the persecuted church worldwide.

ERITREA

Sixty More Evangelical Christians Jailed***

Men and women arrested at New Year’s Eve party.

INDIA

Hindu Leader’s Arrest Leads to Charge of Christian Conspiracy

Hardline Hindu groups take issue over jailed ‘Hindu pope.’

Hindus Build Temple on Church Property

Temple erected in Orissa on land donated by deceased church members.

Christian School Censured for Distributing Bibles

District officials ask school to concede to demands of Hindu protestors.

Dalit Christians Demand Equal Rights

“Untouchables” lose basic rights if they convert to Christianity.

INDONESIA

Pastor Kidnapped, Still Missing

Abductors attempt to steal funds donated for church reconstruction.

Two Churches Attacked, Three People Injured

Terrorists stage simultaneous bombing and shooting attacks on Sunday.

Government Orders Tighter Security for Churches this Christmas

Senior policeman arrested in connection with attacks on Christians.

JORDAN

Court Postpones Child Custody Verdict***

Muslim guardian refuses to appear in court.

NIGERIA

Student Murdered in Clash over Evangelism***

Five other Christians expelled from two public schools.

PERU

Judges Uphold Prison Term for Evangelical Christian

Tribunal confirms conviction of Walter Cubas on dubious terrorism charges.

SPAIN

Evangelical Church Still Homeless After One Year***

Gypsy Protestants await settlement after Madrid authorities demolish chapel.

SRI LANKA

Buddhist Monks Threaten to ‘Fast Unto Death’

Monks demand changes to constitution and adoption of anti-conversion laws.

Sidebar: Documented Hostility

Church Torched in Pre-Dawn Attack

President Kumaratunga orders police to guard against more Christmas violence.

UKRAINE

Thugs Attack Christian Publisher***

Brutal assault aimed at silencing pro-democracy advocate.

(Return to Index)

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The Top 10 from Compass Direct

Our pick of 2004’s leading news stories from the persecuted church worldwide.

Compass correspondents and editors selected the following stories from 2004 as the most important to watch for their impact on the persecuted church. They are listed in ascending order of importance, starting with the tenth-ranked story.

10. TURKEY: Authorities Finally ‘Legalize’ New Protestant Church in Diyarbakir

A local committee reporting to the Turkish Ministry of Culture finally approved legal zoning for the Diyarbakir Evangelical Church in October, making it the first new Protestant church opened in southeastern Turkey since the founding of the Turkish republic. Issued during the tense period of evaluation over Turkey’s pending membership in the European Union, the positive decision came after three years of repeated stonewalling by Turkish officialdom. Turkey insists that previous legal barriers have been removed to enable non-Muslims to open places of worship, but Pastor Ahmet Guvener states that his Diyarbakir congregation gained its permission as an exception -- not through any established legal mechanism. Although designed to facilitate membership in the European Union, Turkey’s package of revised laws represent only cosmetic changes for religious congregations. Dozens of small Protestant congregations in Turkey continue to struggle against police and court harassments to establish a formal, legal identity in the society.

***Photographs of Pastor Guvener and the Diyarbakir Evangelical Church are available electronically. Please contact Compass Direct for pricing and transmittal.

9. SRI LANKA: DEBATE CONTINUES ON ANTI-CONVERSION LAW

Buddhist monks from the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) party launched an international campaign to win support for a proposed anti-conversion bill in Sri Lanka, and they seem to have succeeded. Following a meeting with JHU activists on August 25, acting British High Commissioner Mr. Peter Hughs reportedly told the Sinhala language newspaper Divaina, “Christian fundamentalists cause problems not only to Buddhists, but to Catholics too, and traditional religions must work together against fundamentalism.” Meanwhile, many Buddhist laypersons oppose the legislation. One message to an online forum on August 30 is typical: “I have friends from all religions. It is disgusting to see religion [made into an issue] by some for their own sinister motives.” Church leaders worried that a Supreme Court ruling in August that declared parts of the bill in violation of the constitution would create complacency among local Christians. They urged foreign advocacy groups to continue to work on behalf of minority religions in Sri Lanka.

8. PAKISTAN: Christian Minority Weathers Another Year of Murders, Kidnappings and False Blasphemy Charges

Despite government assurances that Pakistan’s minority Christians enjoy full protection and religious freedom, 2004 was marked by repeated outbreaks of violence against Christian clergy and laymen, with virtual impunity for the aggressors. Church of God Pastor Mukhtar Masih was murdered in early January near his home in Khanewal by an unknown assailant. In two separate incidents, Protestant pastors in Quetta and Jacobabad were kidnapped, severely beaten and held for several days or weeks by Islamist captors who threatened them for their Christian activities. At least 13 people were injured when bombs exploded at the Bible Society shop and adjacent Anglican cathedral in Karachi. One 16-year-old Christian boy kidnapped by Muslim extremists and forcibly converted to Islam escaped when they tried to send him to Kashmir, but remains in hiding. Another Christian, university student Javed Anjum, was tortured to death in May by members of a Muslim “madrasseh” (seminary) near Toba Tek Singh when he refused to convert to Islam. Under Pakistan’s draconian blasphemy laws, Christian Anwer Masih was arrested on indirect evidence but finally granted bail in June after six months in prison, although he remains in hiding for the duration of his trial. Another Christian jailed for allegedly spitting on a mosque wall, Samuel Masih, was bludgeoned to death in June by a Lahore police constable determined to “earn a place in paradise” for killing a blasphemer. Still another young Christian with severe mental problems, Shahbaz Masih of Fasialabad, was sentenced to life in prison in September for alleged blasphemy.

7. INDONESIA: DEATH TOLL RISES IN SULAWESI

Indonesians mourned the death of the Rev. Susianty Tinulele, 26, killed by unidentified gunmen during worship services at the Central Sulawesi Christian Church in Efatah on July 18. Tinulele had just finished preaching on that Sunday evening when a man wearing a black mask appeared at the door and sprayed the congregation with machine gun fire. She died instantly. Choir member Desrianti Tengkede, 17, received a bullet in the forehead and remained near death in a comatose state. Four other worshipers received non-fatal bullet wounds. Eyewitnesses said three other armed men waited on motorbikes outside the church and all fled the scene with the gunman immediately after the shooting. Local Christians believe the murder -- and the stabbing death two days earlier of Mrs. Helmy Tombiling, a Christian -- were committed in retaliation for the murder of a 25-year-old Muslim motorcyclist on July 16. Violence escalated later in the year, leaving five more Sulawesi Christians dead in shooting or stabbing attacks.

6. VIETNAM: Harsh Sentences for ‘Mennonite Six’

The People’s Court of Ho Chi Minh City handed out harsh sentences to six Vietnamese Mennonite church workers in a four-hour trial on November 12. Rev. Nguyen Hong Quang and five colleagues were charged with “resisting officers of the law while doing their duty” in connection with a March 2 incident involving two undercover government operatives. The court sentenced Quang, general secretary of the Vietnam Mennonite Church, to three years in prison. Evangelist Pham Ngoc Thach received a two-year sentence. Nguyen Thanh Phuong, Nguyen Thanh Nhan, Miss Le Thi Hong Lien and church elder Nguyen Hieu Nghia received sentences ranging from nine to 12 months. A Vietnamese lawyer who asked to remain anonymous said, “On the basis of the legal issues and the realities of the case, we affirm that Rev. Nguyen Hong Quang and his fellow workers are not criminals guilty of the charges brought against them.” Like China, Vietnam claims that it has improved its record on human rights and freedom of conscience; however, sources in the country report stepped-up religious persecution.

5. NIGERIA: Fresh Violence Erupts in PLATEAU STATE

Fresh religious violence erupted in Yelwa town in the central state of Plateau, Nigeria, two months after Muslim militants killed a pastor and 48 members of his church there on February 23. The bloodiest Muslim-Christian clash in recent months resulted in the deaths of at least 350 people; some press reports put the death toll as high as 630. According to police, 250 women and children went missing. Meanwhile, more than 120 people were killed and thousands more displaced when inter-religious violence erupted in Sarkin Kudu and Dampar villages in the northern state of Taraba in late April. Local sources say an Easter Sunday attack by Muslim militants on Christian villages in the nearby state of Plateau provoked the Taraba violence. “Christians in Plateau state believe that these two villages are operational bases for Muslim militants,” Alhaji Lawal Mohammed, a Muslim and the chairman of the Ibi local government council, told Compass. “And because of this, the religious crisis has now spread into our state.” Following the violence, President Olusegun Obusanjo declared a six-month state of emergency in Plateau state and appointed a retired military general as acting governor. Martial law was lifted in November and Joshua Dariye, a civilian, was reinstated as Plateau governor.

4. INDIA: HINDU ‘DEFENSE ARMY’ FIGHTS CHRISTIAN CONVERSIONS

India’s extremist organization, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), continued its self-declared “war” against Christianity despite the defeat of Hindu nationalist parties in parliamentary elections. In May, the RSS announced plans to establish a number of Raksha Sena or “Defense Army” groups in Chhatisgarh, central India. In a two-day training session held for recruits in mid May, Dilip Singh Judeo, former Minister of Forestry and Agriculture, encouraged the recruits to “move into the interior parts of the country to check religious conversions.” Christian leaders are concerned about the development. “We have enough evidence that they are targeting Christians,” said John Dayal, general secretary of the All India Christian Council (AICC). AICC sources claim up to 20,000 Christian members of tribal groups have been forcibly “reconverted” in a campaign initiated by Judeo over the past five years. “Local RSS leaders, including Judeo, have gone on record saying their main target is Christian missionaries,” Dayal told Compass.

3. ERITREA: Incommunicado IMPRISONMENT of Evangelical Pastors Continues

Eritrean authorities arrested and jailed three prominent Protestant pastors in late May, escalating a two-year government crackdown against the country’s evangelical Christians. Haile Naizgi, chairman of the Full Gospel (Mullu Wongel) Church, Dr. Kifle Gebremeskel, chairman of the Eritrean Evangelical Alliance, and Pastor Tesfatsion Hagos of the Rema Evangelical Church were initially held at local police stations in Asmara. But since late August, they were believed to be incarcerated in a dungeon-like government investigation center in the capital. The pastors were not allowed visitors, nor have they been produced in court or charged with any legal offenses. The Eritrean government closed down all independent Protestant churches in May 2002, criminalizing their worship even in private homes. Currently, at least 400 members of these banned churches are under arrest and being tortured for their faith, many in sub-human conditions inside metal shipping containers.

***Photographs of the jailed pastors as well as the covers of the albums for Helen Berhane and Yonas Haile, the two arrested Eritrean Christian singers, are available electronically. Contact Compass Direct for pricing and transmittal.

2. IRAN: Year-Long Ripple of Arrests Across Iran Leaves One Pastor Still Jailed

Concerns deepened across Iran’s evangelical community at year’s end for the safety of Hamid Pourmand, a lay pastor in the Assemblies of God Church who was arrested with 85 other church leaders on September 9 by the Iranian security police. No one was allowed contact with Pourmand, a colonel in the Iranian army, since he was arrested. Although all other pastors and elders were released quickly, Pourmand was held incommunicado for two months and then transferred to a military prison in early November. A former Muslim, Pourmand converted to Christianity nearly 25 years ago. Married with two children, he was pastoring a congregation in Bandar-i-Bushehr. In the spring, dozens of other evangelical Christians meeting in house churches in Iran’s northern provinces were subjected to arrest, interrogations and harsh mistreatment for several weeks or months, until released under orders to stop meeting for worship. Government leaders continued to denounce Christianity as one of several “foreign religions” threatening Iran’s national security. A Muslim convicted of apostasy faces the death penalty under Iran’s Islamic courts.

***A photograph of Hamid Pourmand is available electronically. Please contact Compass Direct for pricing and transmittal.

1. CHINA: ARREST OF HOUSE CHURCH LEADERS CONFIRMS REPRESSIVE TREND

Chinese police arrested 100 house church leaders on June 11 as they gathered for a retreat in the central city of Wuhan. Xing Jinfu, 39, who has already been arrested three times in the past for church related activities, was among those detained and held at an unknown location, according to the China Aid Association. On the same day, Shen Xianfeng, a senior leader of the China Gospel Fellowship (CGF), was placed under house arrest. Reports of increasing arrests of house church leaders began to filter out of China in April, when the New York-based Committee for Investigation on Persecution of Religion in China reported that Xu Shuangfu of the controversial Three Grades Servants movement was kidnapped in the northeastern province of Heilongjiang. The mass arrest of CGF leaders confirms the belief of many Christians that the Chinese Communist Party apparently has not changed its repressive religious policies under the leadership of President Hu Jintao. Asia Harvest reported on July 2 that the 100 members of the China Gospel Fellowship arrested in Wuhan city, Hubei province, were released from police custody, but told to go to their home towns and villages where they are required to stay. Since many of them are evangelists who travel widely throughout China, the order was interpreted as an effort to control their movements. Evidence that the shift toward repressive religious policy is intensifying was reinforced on December 2, when police arrested Zhang Rongliang, one of China’s most high-profile house church leaders. Zhang’s arrest off the street in Zhenghou in the central province of Henan sent shockwaves throughout the international Christian community.