Iraq: Church leaders plead for Govt protection in Mosul

This is not the first time they ask for the protection:

Church leaders in Iraq have issued a statement demanding government action to end a campaign of violence against Christians in Mosul. A joint message from Catholic and Orthodox prelates calls attention to "a premeditated plan to place pressure on Christian Churches, to achieve a certain agenda." Decrying the failure of government officials to take effective action despite five execution-style murders within a week, the Church leaders said that the lack of security creates "the impression that we are unwanted in this city, which is our homeland."

It won’t be the last, I’m afraid.

Gaza: Hamas terrorism against Christians

It’s shameful this is not published and reported on by those same useful idiots who are protesting about Israelis. Just have some balls you people and fight the real enemy!!

Voice of Martyrs’ persecution alert

Iraq:

A 75-year-old Christian was shot and killed in Mosul, Iraq on January 11. Hikmat Sleiman had just returned home from closing his grocery shop when a group of assailants opened fire, killing him instantly. Local Christians see his murder and the string of other attacks against believers in recent months (click here for more information) as evidence of “ethnic cleansing” designed to force Christians from the area. (Source: AsiaNews)

Pakistan:

On December 26, two Pakistani Christians, Imran Masih (21) and Khushi Masih (24), were shot for refusing to convert to Islam while at a wedding in Chak 297-JB, Punjab province. Shortly after the believers arrived at the wedding, a group of armed Muslim youths surrounded them and began shooting into the air, as is a customary show of celebration at village weddings. However, one of the Muslims then threatened to shoot Imran and Khushi if they did not recite the Islamic profession of faith. The Christians refused and instead recited Psalm 91. The infuriated Muslims then shot the believers in the chest and left them for dead. At last report, the believers were receiving treatment at a hospital and doctors were hopeful that they would make a full recovery. Police have yet to arrest the suspects, who have claimed that the shootings were an accident. (Source: Compass Direct)

China:

On December 25, Chinese authorities disrupted a Christmas celebration in Korla City, Xinjiang province and arrested several elderly Christians. One of the believers, Wang Qiuyue (71), was seized roughly and thrown against a police car. Her furniture was then set on fire as she looked on. Authorities also broke into the home of He Cuiying (69), who is half-paralyzed and confined to her bed, and set fire to 30 Bibles and other religious literature.

On the afternoon of January 8, 30 leaders of the Chinese House Church Alliance were detained in Handan City, Hebei province after a group of officers from the Public Security and Religious Affairs Bureaus barged into their Bible study. The 30 men and women were then forcefully taken to an unknown interrogation centre within the city. At last report, the authorities were threatening some of the detained pastors with 15 days of administrative detention. (Source: ChinaAid)

Yemen:

Anthony S. Authorities in Yemen have reportedly started negotiations for the release of six Christian hostages — a family of five from Germany and a British engineer — who were kidnapped along with three other women in June (click here for more information). The bodies of the women, Rita Stumpp (26), Anita Gruenwald (24) and Eom Young-sun (33), were found shortly after the kidnapping. Until recently, however, the state of Johannes (37), his wife Sabine (37) and their children, Lydia (5), Anna (3) and Simon (1), as well as Anthony was unknown. The kidnappers have demanded a ransom of $2 million USD as well as immunity, free passage and a guarantee that they will not be handed over to neighbouring Saudi Arabia. (Sources: Middle East Concern, AFP)

Islam 2010

Article by Horacio Vázquez-Rial published at Revista LD (Translation and links added by T&P):

“One day millions  of men will abandon the South to break into the North. And they won’t be doing it as friends. They will be there as conquerors. ANd they will conquer it colonizing it thanks to their sons. It will be the wombs of our women what will give us the victory”. (Houari Boumedienne, UN, 1974).

That was the beginning, and my readers will be absolutely bored of me writing quoting that once and again. To ease the tiredness they must be feeling, I will add other quotes this time:

We have 50 million Muslims living in Europe now and there are signals that God will proclaim Islam in Europe without weapons nor conquests. As time goes by, the 50 million Muslims in Europe will transform it and will convert it into an Islamic continent. God has arranged that an Islamic nation, Turkey, adds itself to the European Union. Those 50 million Muslims will multiply and there will be 100 million Muslims in Europe. Bosnia is a member of the European Union [sic]  and its a Muslim country; moreover, at least more than 50% of its population are Muslims. Statistics show that there are thousands of mosques in Europe. We have thousands of Islamic organizations and societies in Europe (…) I have here some statistics. There are 50 million Muslims in Europe nowadays, 14,000 mosques and Islamic centers and 1,500 Islamic societies and organizations. Those numbers are nothing but booming, to whom we have to add the numbers related to Bosnia, Turkey and Albania. Therefore, the words that God proclaimed in the Quram are just coming to reality: “It is Him that has sent His Messenger with the Address and the true religion to make it prevail over every other religion, despite the infidels” (Muammar El-Gadaffi, 2008).

Egypt: Violence against Christian Copts on Christmas

Firstly, a man is burned, his father stabbed and a brother beaten because of a rumour:

The events took place in the small village of “Dmas” Meet-Ghamr, after a rumor spread around of a relationship between the 25-year-old Copt Shihata Sabri, and the sister of a Muslim man named Yasser Ahmed Qasim.

Yasser went to Coptic Shehata, holding a gasoline canister, poured it over him and set him on fire, as bystanders looked on in horror. The young Copt threw himself into the adjacent canal to try to put out the flames from his burning body. The fire left burns all over his body, leading to his death.

via The naked truth is still taboo: Muslim Burns a Young Copt Alive and Murders His Father Because of a Rumor!!!.

Then Al-Jazeera reports that “clashes” happened after a Muslim mob killed 6 Christians again for a rumour: the alleged rape of a Muslim girl by a Christian man. You know, why waiting to know the truth when you can kill several Christians because of rumour:

Clashes have broken out in southern Egypt between more than 2,000 Christian Copts and police after the Christmas Eve killing of six Copts in a drive-by shooting, police officials say.

Fighting erupted outside a hospital morgue on Thursday where the bodies of the Christians killed the previous day were kept, with protesters hurling stones at police, the official said.

Six male churchgoers and a security guard were shot dead outside a church in Egypt as Christians left a late night mass, Bishop Kirollos of the Nag Hammadi Diocese said.

… Kirollos said he had an idea of who the attackers were, calling them “Muslim radicals”.

“It is all religious now. This is a religious war about how they can finish off the Christians in Egypt,” he said.

Christians, mostly Coptic, account for about 10 per cent of Egypt’s 83-million predominantly Muslim population.

Isn’t this wonderful? A rumour says a 12-year-old girl had been raped by a Christian man (bastard! if he did it, whatever his religion). So, logically, they go to a church and shoot randomly to the churchgoers because they are… Christians.

Times:

An Amnesty International report said sectarian attacks on the Coptic Christian community, comprising between 6 million and 8 million people in Egypt, increased in 2008. Sporadic clashes between Coptic Christians and Muslims left eight people dead.

Three men have been arrested, reports BBC.

Iraq: Catholic student kidnapped in Mosul, intimidation campaign continues

I’m sure this is not going to open any news bulletin tomorrow:

A Christian student at the University of Mosul was kidnapped on December 28; Islamic militants claimed responsibility. The abduction was the latest in a series of attacks on the city’s minority Christians, including murders, bombings, and other kidnappings. Christian leaders believe that Islamic zealots have begun a campaign of “ethnic and religious cleansing,” hoping to drive Christians out of the region through intimidation.

via Catholic Culture : Latest Headlines : Iraqi Christian kidnapped in Mosul: intimidation campaign continues.

Religious cleasing in Islamic countries

As ever no important MSM is reporting about them. This video refers to Christian persecution under Palestinian authority:

The Palestinian Constitution “guarantees freedom of religion”, while stating that Islam is the official religion and Shariah Law one of the sources of legislation”, “so any Muslim who converts to other faith must be killed”. “Western leaders say that Palestine is moving to a democratic state”.

Oh, yeah, don’t make me laugh!!! This is called religious cleansing in my language. If a democracy is based on the equality of all people under the law and the rule of law, the mere mention of Shariah Law as one the sources of legislation ends with that “democracy”. But of course, that’s what exists nowadays in Iraq and Afghanistan, so in the end, the conclusion must be that Western leaders are not supporting real democracy, but some sort of imitation.

via Faith Freedom.org.

Egypt: Obama is asked to stand with Egypt’s Persecuted*

On August 18, President Barak Obama will meet with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak at the White House. It will be the third meeting between Obama and Mubarak, who is accompanied by Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit and Finance Minister Yusef Boutros-Ghali, as well as Egypt’s information and trade ministers and intelligence chief.
Prior to the meeting, the Institute on Religion and Public Policy sent a letter to President Obama calling on him to raise the serious conditions of religious discrimination and persecution in Egypt during the meetings with Mubarak. President Mubarak is expected on Sunday to meet with representatives from eight American Jewish groups, including the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, J Street and the Anti-Defamation League for an hour-long, off-the-record meeting and on Monday to meet with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, National Security Advisor James Jones and Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair.
"Of particular concern are President Mubarak’s policies which allow for extensive government control over internal religious matters, restrictions on the right to convert, and the outright banning of many religious groups," the letter states. "The state continues to prosecute and imprison those accused of non-approved religious beliefs within the Islamic faith, as well as anyone who insults the three "heavenly religions of Islam, Christianity and Judaism". Courts may prosecute anyone whom the Government deems to have unorthodox or deviant Islamic or other religious beliefs or practices. This has been deemed acceptable by the courts, which have held that the Constitutional provision regarding religious freedom does not apply to the Baha’i or any other religious group not affiliated with Christianity, Islam or Judaism."

link: Institute Urges President Obama to Stand With the Persecuted in Egypt

More here:

Another terrible issue facing the Christians of Egypt is the abduction of Christian female teens. These girls are taken by Muslim men and forced to convert to Islam. Other have been enticed to renounce their Christian faith by promised of wealth and a more prosperous life as a Muslim. Earlier this month on the Persecution and Prayer Alert we reported two more Christian girls who were kidnapped by Muslims. One of our contacts in Egypt told me what happens in many of these cases. They drug them, then force them to marry Muslim men, they abuse them sexually and take pictures, and with those pictures the girls feel ashamed and they can’t return to their families, so they continue as Muslims. “Mustafa”, who also is a former Muslim says there were about 40 cases of minor girls of 15, 16 and 17 who were kidnapped last year and never returned to their families.”

I really doubt he would say anything on the subject.

Previously: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

*The last of these abducted teens has been 15-year-old Mariam Bishay. via Dazibao.

Iran: the mass trial and crackdown on dissidents and people from other faiths continue

This is an update on this story:

Some 25 people have gone on trial in a Tehran revolutionary court over their alleged involvement in provoking the unrest that erupted after the disputed June 12 presidential election.
The identities of the protesters and opposition supporters were not disclosed as the trial opened on August 16. They are the third such group to face prosecution in a mass trial since the postelection unrest.
According to the IRNA new agency, some of the detainees were accused of moving toward overthrowing the Islamic system, participating in illegal demonstrations, vandalizing public property, and using handmade bombs and grenades during the protests.
The proceedings have been criticized by Iranian opposition and the international community as “show trials.”
Over 110 people, including many political activists, journalists, and lawyers, have appeared in two previous court trials, most of them facing charges such as acting against national security.

Iran Begins Another Mass Trial Over Postelection Turmoil – Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty © 2009

Clotilde Reiss has already been freed (don’t know what has France done about this France has had to pay a bail of several hundreds of thousands euros).

But the French student has only been released on bail and can’t return to France by now. Her father has said that she seems to be in good health after speaking with her on the phone.

Meanwhile, Ahmadinejad has condemned Europe for not congratulating him on his “victory”:

“You have clearly interfered in Iran’s internal affairs and were naïve enough to think that you can damage the system but with God’s help you failed,” Ahmadinejad said.

The EU and US have not acknowledged Ahmadinejad’s re-election. They have also decried the country’s harsh response towards the protests that took place over the alleged election fraud as well detained dissidents.

“You (world powers) will be held accountable for this ballyhoo you made in the world,” the president said. 

Of course, no one speaks about the Christian crackdown (not even Christians form other parts of the world):

Authorities crack down on Christians in Iran

Shahnam Behjatollah
Photo from Compass Direct

More than 30 Christians were arrested in recent weeks in Iran, according to an August 11 report from Compass Direct. In the city of Rasht, eight Christians were detained after two separate rounds of arrests on July 29 and 30. Seven of the believers have since been released. On July 31, police raided a meeting of approximately 24 Christian converts from Islam in the village of Amameh, north of Tehran. Officials confiscated books, CDs, computers, cell phones and passports and arrested all of the believers present. While most were released the same evening, seven of them — Shahnam Behjatollah (34) and six others identified only as Shaheen, Maryam, Mobinaa, Mehdi, Ashraf and Nariman — were still being held in an unknown location at last report. Police have questioned their families and have told them to prepare to pay bail. The detained believers have not been allowed contact with their family members. On August 7, some of the same Christians who had been earlier detained and released were re-arrested and interrogated by authorities.

No one speaks either of the last Baha’is trial in Iran but a lot of MSM have reported that he has named three women to be Ministers on his Government (wow, this is truly supportive of women’s rights, isn’t it?). What they have failed to underline is that he has also named this other guy:

He also said Heydar Moslehi, now an adviser to Ahmadinejad on clerical affairs, would be nominated as new intelligence minister.

Heydar Moslehi is what Western MSM call a “hard-line” or an “ultraconservative”:

Ahmadinejad has already taken de facto control of Iran’s Intelligence Ministry after purging it of officials deemed insufficiently loyal. On Sunday, he nominated Heydar Moslehi, a mid-ranking cleric, to lead the ministry, which controls a vast trove of data on Iranians as well as an extensive human and electronic surveillance infrastructure. Moslehi served as an advisor to Ahmadinejad on clerical affairs and is close to Khamenei.

 Is this (another) attempt to whitewash the regime, after everyone has seen its evil?

Regarding Kharroubi, the regimen has banned his newspaper after it “printed claims that some election protesters were raped or tortured in custody”.