Ethiopia: Christian sentenced to three years in prison for defacing Qu’ran

This is an update of this story. It is not even clear he actually defaced the Qu’ran, even if imprisoning someone for defacing it would be so unjust and stupid. But I as said, it’s even worse: it isn’t even proved that he actually did what he is accused of (and condemned afterwards):

A Christian in Ethiopia’s southern town of Moyale was sentenced to three years in prison for allegedly desecrating a Qur’an, church leaders said. Tamirat Woldegorgis, a father of two and member of the Full Gospel Church, was arrested in early August after a Muslim co-worker in the clothes-making business the two operated discovered Tamirat had inscribed “Jesus is Lord” on some cloth, area Christians said. His business partner later accused him of writing “Jesus is Lord” in a copy of the Qur’an, although no evidence of that ever surfaced. Tamirat was sentenced on November 18 and transferred to Jijiga prison, a source said. Jijiga is the capital of Ethiopia’s Somali Region Zone Five, which is governed by Islamic principles. Tamirat’s transfer there puts his life in great danger, a church leader said. The church is concerned about Tamirat’s condition.

via The Voice of the Martyrs Canada :: Christian accused of defacing Qur’an :: Providing Information and Support for Persecuted Christians.

Saudi Arabia: Muslims Chant ‘Death to America and Israel’ at Hajj Pilgrimage

Hajj 2010

Tens of thousands of Muslims chanted “Death to America” and “Death to Israel” at the annual Hajj pilgrimage, which the Ayatollah of Iran called “a symbol of spirituality.”

The Arab Ahlul Bayt News Agency reported, “The pilgrims chanted anti-US and anti-Zionist slogans during the ceremony, also attended by the Supreme Leader’s representative for Hajj affairs, Hojatoleslam Ali Qazi-Asgar.

“God is the Greatest“, “Death to Israel” and “Death to America” were among slogans chanted by the masses in unison as they gathered in the Desert of Arafat near Mecca, where more than 2 million Muslims have gathered.

Qazi-Asgar read a message from the Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic Revolution in Iran, who told Muslims to engage in “struggle and resistance against the aggressions of the United States and the Zionist regime.”

Jamarat ritual (stoning the devil)

“Today the Zionist regime is no more the undefeatable monster of 30 years ago,” he said. “The United States and the West are also no more the unquestionable decision-makers of the Middle East that they were two decades ago. Today the arrogant United States, the self-styled commandant of the Islamic region and the real sponsor of the Zionist regime, is bogged down in the quagmire of its own making in Afghanistan.”

via The New Media Journal | Muslims Chant ‘Death to America and Israel’ at Hajj Pilgrimage.

We can perceive the “Alliance of Civilizations”, hein? 😯

Imagine what would have happened if in a Christian or Jewish (or Hindu…), participants would have chanted “Death to Saudi Arabia” or “Death to Iran”. The best thing people would have told them would have been “racists” and “warmonger”.

But has this been widely reported? I don’t really have seen it on TV, haven’t listened to this on the radio… So I can safely say that at least here, it hasn’t been reported “widely”… 😡

Bangladesh: “Jews and Christians are true evils” and “it’s a divine task to kill them”

Enchanting…

Selim Panni, claims himself to be ‘Imam-uz-zaman‘, by placing him just behind the prophet of Islam. He terms working women as and women in politics as ‘prostitutes‘ and gives his own ‘Islamic Code‘ for men to marry any number of wives. His interpretation is, “women are created only for sexual pleasure of men and this is their only task”.

Selim Panni projects Jews and Christians as true evils and preaches killing them or raping female members of Jewish and Christian societies as “divine task”. He also teaches his followers to wage any type of offensives on the West.

He believes in theory of hate speech and poisoning the minds of innocent people with his self-made imaginary statements and stories, which are aimed at creating tremendous hatred in the minds of Muslims against Christians and Jews. He calls upon Muslim in waging Jihad [Holy War] against Jews, Christians and the Western world, for the ‘sake of Islamic revival and establishment of HuT rule’.

via Sri Lanka Guardian: BANGLADESH: Hizbut Towhid linked with LOT and Al Qaeda.

Hizbut Towhid was founded by Bayejid Khan Panni aka Selim Panni, after Bangladesh forbid its previous group: Hibz-ut Tahrir.

Found.

Iraq: Five Christians killed and 20 wounded

Final death toll here. “On Oct. 31, Thomas’ brother-in-law bled to death on the church floor after militants stormed the building, shot congregants in the first row, held others hostage and then set off bombs when Iraqi forces came to the rescue. Then Wednesday morning, two bombs went off in quick succession outside his home. “We are terrified,” Thomas said, who sought refuge with his family Wednesday at the church. “I cannot go back to my house. They will attack again. They want to kill us.”

Three dead and 26 injuries is the provisional death toll from a series of attacks against Christian homes this morning in different districts of Baghdad. Between 6 and 8 this morning, two mortar shells and dozens of homemade bombs exploded in front of the homes of the faithful.Last night in the capital three other Christian houses were hit by bombs, without causing any victims. Despite this, the Prime Minister al Maliki is urging Christians not to abandon the country.

The latest attacks come only 10 days after the October 31 attack on the Syrian Catholic Church of Our Lady of Salvation, and after threats from Al Qaeda to eliminate Christians from the Middle East. The attack on the parish killed 44 faithful, two priests and seven security guards. About 90 people were injured. Of these, the first group (37, to be followed by those remaining) arrived in France on Nov. 8 to receive treatment offered by the European nation, the only one to propose such support.

Indonesia: 700 churches attacked in past decade

Some 700 Catholic and Protestant churches have been attacked in Indonesia over the past decade, according to the Indonesian Christian Communication Forum. Between October 12 and October 17, a Catholic parish was attacked, another was threatened with attack, and a Protestant church was burned down.

“The violence and attacks, against Christian churches of all denominations, has grown in recent years and now in the past several days,” said Bishop Johannes Pujasumarta of Bandung, secretary general of the Indonesian bishops’ conference. “Those responsible are small radical Islamic groups that are sowing panic among our people, especially in the Dioceses of Jakarta, Bandung, and Bogor. They are minority groups, but they should be stopped. The violence also increases the indifference of the civil authorities and police, who shrug off the violence. We demand more attention and protection for the Christian communities and that such acts may not remain unpunished.”

3% of the nation’s 224.9 million people are Catholic, according to Vatican statistics; 6% are Protestant and 86% are Muslim, making Indonesia the country with the largest Muslim population.

via Catholic Culture : Latest Headlines : Indonesia: 700 churches attacked in past decade.

The problem, then, is not that there are radicals (something that happens everywhere) but that the Govt does nothing to stop them.

Iraq: Mosul Christians protest demanding Govt action (U)

Following the Christian leaders’ plead for Govt protection, Christians have protested in the streets. From Catholic Culture:

Syrian Catholic Archbishop Basile Georges Casmoussa of Mosul led over 1,000 Iraqi Catholics in a silent protest on February 28 to demand that the government act to put a stop to violence against Christians there.

The United Nations estimated that 683 Christians fled Mosul between February 20 and February 27. Chaldean Catholic Bishop Emil Shimoun Nona of Mosul estimated that "about 400 families" had left the city’s community of 4,000 Christians.

“The daily massacre suffered by the Christian community … is met with indifference from the authorities,” said Archbishop Casmoussa on the eve of the march. “We will be fasting and praying for peace and for the survival of Christians.”

“Security is not guaranteed,” he added. “There are soldiers in front of the church, and this helps to prevent terrorist attacks. But today’s Christian families are being killed on the streets or in their homes. More protection is needed. We ask authorities that the culprits be arrested and prosecuted according to law. We want justice to be done.”

Archbishop Casmoussa added that the Christians of Mosul were consoled by a visit on February from 82-year-old Cardinal Emmanuel III Delly, the patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church. Eleven of the nation’s 15 dioceses and eparchies are Chaldean Catholic; two are Syrian Catholic, one is Armenian Catholic, and one is Latin Rite.

I’m not very optimistic. MSM are silencing Christian [*] persecution in Iraq and Christians (and Human Right activists) are not particularly interested in knowing about the plight of Christians in Iraq.

[*] Whatever the denomination they belong to, Christians are being subjected to attacks and harrassment to oblige them to emigrate from Iraq.

(U) Three relatives of Father Mzen Ishoa, a Syro-Catholic priest who was abducted and later released in 2007 (click here for more information), were shot and killed by unknown assailants on February 23. The gunmen forcibly entered the believers’ home and opened fire on Aishwa Maroki (59) and his two sons, Mokhlas (31) and Bassim (25). Aishwa’s wife and daughter were also in the home but were not harmed. (Sources: Middle East Concern, Catholic News Agency, AFP).(via).

Indonesia: Muslim Groups Demand Closure of Large, Legal Church

Oh, yeah, “we respect other prophets”, but not their followers and their religions:

Hundreds of Muslims from outside the area where a 600-member church meets in West Java staged a protest there to call for its closure this month in an attempt to portray local opposition.

Demonstrators from 16 Islamic organizations, including the hard-line Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), gathered on Feb. 15 to demand a stop to all activities by the Galilea Protestant Church (GPIB) in the Galaxy area of Bekasi City.

The Rev. M. Tetelepta, pastor of the church, told Compass that the church has had the required consent of local residents and official permission to worship since its inception in 1992.

“From the beginning we had permission to worship from both the government and the nearby residents,” Tetelepta said. “We worked on the building permit and had received principle clearance from the mayor of Bekasi. We had also received permission from the Bekasi Interfaith Harmony Forum.”

…Baeda of the FPI accused the church of “Christianizing” local residents by distributing food “and the nine essentials at a reduced price.”

“The church is distributing these things as incentive to confess Jesus as their Lord,” Baeda told Compass. “We have received several reports of this from people who have accepted these distributions.”

This type of activity disturbs society, he added. “I consider this wrong-doing.”

… Tetelepta denied that the church had tried to “Christianize” people.

“We have never distributed food or the nine essentials,” he said. “The only thing we have done is to spray for mosquitoes near the church.”

😯 These guys will never cease to amaze me.