Free Republic

Lead story - Monday April 11, 2005 PAKISTAN : PASTOR AND DRIVER MURDERED Kidnapping followed threats for ‘converting Muslims.’ Daniel Emmanuel and Pastor Babar Samsoun April 11 (Compass) -- Unknown killers kidnapped and brutally killed a Protestant pastor and his driver near the capital of Pakistan’s North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) last week, apparently in retribution for their evangelizing activities among Muslims. The bullet-ridden, mutilated bodies of Pentecostal pastor Babar Samsoun and his driver and fellow evangelist, Daniel Emmanuel, were found dumped on a roadside near the outskirts of Peshawar on April 7, two days after they were kidnapped. Both...

The bleak statistics from Gush Katif will not - for now - precipitate any change in Israeli policy. Nearly 80 mortars and Qassam rockets landed on the settlements of Gush Katif in the last 36 hours, but it seems that as long as the shelling does not cause casualties, the troops will be kept in their positions. On Saturday night the settlers had hoped for "a proper Zionist response" - a euphemism for aggressive action against the mortar launchers - when they heard the helicopters over Khan Yunis. But their hopes were quickly dashed. The pilots were told only to...

CWNews.org – The U.S. Congress has passed a resolution calling the Sudanese government's war on black Africans in Darfur, Sudan, genocide. By doing so, the Congress hopes to pressure the United Nations to take action in Darfur. But lost in the tragedy are the recent atrocities committed against Christians and animists in South Sudan. Kenneth Roth is with Human Rights Watch. He said the group has documents proving Khartoum's military support of the Janjaweed in Darfur. Roth said the documents, "…show the provision of military support to the Janjaweed, including the provision of arms." Another important document was released. But...

Heed the New Hindu Mood March 11, 2003 It is not easy to be an Indian living abroad: Not only one has to retain one's Indian-ness while coping with the West's positive and less positive aspects which creep into one's life, but one is also subjected to the humiliation of seeing one's own countrymen spit on India in mainstream foreign newspapers and television. Recently, the Gujarat riots and the IDRF episode have been used by a few Indian academics/scholars/writers, particularly in the United States, to demean India and Hindus. Many of us are appalled by the comments people like Pankaj...

Protest at Pakistan priest murder About 200 Pakistani Christians have marched in Peshawar to protest over the murder and mutilation of a priest and his driver. The bodies of Protestant priest Babar Shamoun and Daniel Emmanuel were found near the North-West Frontier Province's capital on Thursday. The protesters blocked a main road for more than two hours, demanding the killers be brought to justice. A woman and a man have been arrested in connection with the killings. Motive 'unclear' The men's bodies were found dumped on a roadside. "The victims had been stabbed and shot," a senior police officer told...

Defending Terrorism: Interview with Kristine Withers Ryan Mauro - 3/28/2005 Kristine Withers claims to have been assaulted by the Islamic Thinkers' Society, a group she says is likely tied to Al-Muhajiroun, which is a radical Islamic group that is believed to have worked with Al-Qaeda. The following is our conversation about ongoing threats to her from the group, and charges that have been brought against her by the group. Ryan Mauro: First of all, Kristine, what got you involved in looking at the activities of these Islamic protesters you are warning about? Kristine Withers: I noticed a group of Muslim...

Lay Pastor Beheaded in Bangladesh (Compass) - Sources have confirmed the murder by beheading on March 8 of Dulal Sarkar, a lay pastor and evangelist in Bangladesh. Sarkar worked with the Bangladesh Free Baptist Church in Jalalpur village as an evangelist and church planter. On the night of March 8 as he returned home, he was attacked and killed by Muslim extremists. His wife, Aruna, immediately filed a case against the killers, and three suspects were arrested. However, militants are now threatening Aruna and her children. The beheading is the second in the space of a year. Dr. Abdul Gani,...

The Jihad against John Paul II Posted by @ 11 11 200212:02 AM Revelations of an ongoing Al Qaeda conspiracy to kill John Paul II should cause us to examine the 1981 attempt on the Pope's life. The London Times is reporting that Al Qaeda planned to kill John Paul II in the Philippines in 1999. Bin Laden's lieutenant Khalid Mohammad, who is still at large, was reportedly the mastermind. The plot was apparently called off because the papal visit was cancelled. An earlier Qaeda plot to murder the pope was foiled on January 6, 1995, when a fire led...

This article was published by F18News on: 31 March 2005TURKMENISTAN: Heavy fines for registered but "illegal" Baptist worship By Felix Corley, Editor, Forum 18 News Service Despite being members of their nationally-registered Church, five Baptists in the eastern city of Turkmenabad (formerly Charjou) were fined two months' average wages in late March to punish them for holding a small service which the secret police claim was "illegal". If they fail to pay by 10 April, the fines will be doubled, Protestants have told Forum 18 News Service. When the service was raided, officers insulted one Baptist, asking her why...

Injured Pakistani Christians Receive Poor Treatment Believers in Khambay, Pakistan continue to live through the consequences of last Sunday's attack on their church (click here for details).  On Monday the funeral was held for Arshad Masih who was killed.  Click here for pictures of the funeral.  Of those injured, VOM has learned, two remain in hospital while the other four were forcibly released, despite their injuries.  Pervez Masih remains unconscious and in critical condition.  Ismael Masih (65) has been crying out in pain.  He told VOM contacts on March 28 that he had received no medication for his pain....

There was nothing about the appearance of the young woman who stood up to speak at Rahat's new community center that hinted at the heretical statement she was about to make. "I'm five months pregnant, with a daughter, and already they're trying to fix her up with husbands," she said. "But I won't have my daughter marry a cousin." Like most of the 150 women and teenage girls in the hall, the speaker's head was covered with a cloth and she wore a long dress. But her statement reflected a new state of mind that has been infiltrating Bedouin society...

Nigeria - Tuesday March 15, 2005 POLICE KILL TWO MORE CHRISTIANS IN NUMAN Christian community demands withdrawal of soldiers, police from troubled town. March 15 (Compass) -- Tensions have escalated sharply between the Christian community of Numan town in the northern state of Adamawa, Nigeria, and government security forces following the shooting deaths of two Christian youths. Police killed Ezekiel Eli and Kingsley Zadok Imburu on February 7 when the two youths joined a group protesting the arrest of a local Christian woman. The shootings came a little more than one week after a young Christian woman named Judith...

ASSIST News Service (ANS) - PO Box 2126, Garden Grove, CA 92842-2126 USA Visit our web site at: www.assistnews.net -- E-mail: danjuma1@aol.comWednesday, March 9, 2005 MAURITANIA: REPRESSION AND SPIRITUAL BONDAGE By Elizabeth KendalWorld Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty Commission (WEA RLC)Special to ASSIST News Service AUSTRALIA (ANS) -- Mauritania, West Africa, is one of the world's poorest countries, although oil is set to flow from mid-2006. Mauritania bridges between the Arab-Berber Moors of North Africa and the black Africans of the sub-Sahara. Sunni Islam has been entrenched for over a thousand years. According to Operation World, just over four thousand...

Front Line News Seher Shafi, a Muslim convert on run for safety with her baby Angela and husband Naveed Paul. PCP Report. Karachi. Seher Shafi was born and raised in fundamental Muslim family. She accepted Christianity and witnessed change in life. She said "I always prayed that Jesus took me out from the darkness and place in everlasting light" Talking to PCP, she said "when I told my family that I am Christian now" My life came under constant threat and my family members tortured me day and night" I met Neveed Paul, a Christian and married him with my...

CBN.com – LAHORE, Pakistan - The country of Pakistan is one of America's top allies in the war on terror. But some militants in the Muslim-dominated nation are not demonstrating much friendship or tolerance for Christians. Many believers suffer discrimination and persecution, and most are deprived of basic human rights. Radical Pakistani Muslims shout ‘Death to America!’, but many sympathetic to the Taliban and Osama bin Laden target their Christian countrymen for attack. That is because they view Christians as pro-Western and anti-Islam. Many Pakistani churches now resemble armed fortresses, because of bombings, attacks and threats against them. Christians are...

NIGERIA : UNIVERSITY RE-OPENS FOLLOWING CHRISTIAN STUDENT’S MURDER Religious violence devastates Church of Christ in Plateau state. March 10 (Compass) -- The Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU) in Bauchi re-opened on February 28 under tight security and without meeting the demands of Christian leaders who sought prosecution of the murderers of a Christian student in December and reinstatement of five other Christians expelled for conducting an evangelistic outreach. ATBU and Federal Polytechnic in Bauchi were closed after Muslim students attacked Christian students and murdered Sunday Nache Achi, an evangelical campus leader at ATBU, on December 8, 2004. (see Compass Direct,...

NIGERIA : MUSLIM MILITANTS KILL 36 IN CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY March 4 (Compass) -- Muslim militants attacked the Christian community in Demsa village, Adamawa state, northern Nigeria, on Friday, February 4, killing 36 people, destroying property and displacing about 3,000 others. The surviving Christians have taken refuge in Mayolope village in the neighboring state of Taraba. Alhaji Saleh Jatau, a Muslim who spoke to Compass in Mayolope, confirmed the attack on Demsa. However, he said the militants do not have the support of the Muslim community when they attack Christians. “I am appealing that the government should act quickly to end...

Sudan Report: Widespread Gang-Rape of Boy Slaves July 16, 2002 From Freedom Now World News Widespread Gang-Rape of Boy Slaves By Maria Sliwa Sudan, July 15, 2002: During a recent fact finding trip to Southern Sudan, Freedom Now World News discovered overwhelming evidence that young black, boy slaves are repeatedly gang-raped by their Arab masters. While previous reports on slavery have focused mainly on the gang-rape of female slaves, sociologist and investigative reporter, Maria Sliwa received testimony from numerous boy victims of rape. "This type of sex is very strange to us," said recently redeemed slave Deng Deng. "Many...

A week after violence, fear remains on faces of Maghar's Catholics MAGHAR, Israel (CNS) -- Fear remained on the faces of Melkite Catholics who returned to Maghar a week after fleeing Druze-led violence. In the village's Christian neighborhood, cars were vandalized, overturned and burned. Windows of houses and businesses were shattered; shutters were broken and hacked through with hatchets and axes; buildings were blackened from flames reaching up to the third floor; and the insides of businesses -- which were first plundered -- were destroyed and charred. The scenes of destruction ended abruptly where the Druze neighborhood begins. "They destroyed...

Last week, a team from Jubilee Campaign traveled to the Maluku Islands of Indonesia to visit the Caleb Chandler House, a residential facility for children orphaned during the religious violence that rocked Maluku Province for nearly three years, from 1999 to 2001. Jubilee Campaign has conducted a sponsorship program for a number of years to provide housing, food, education and spiritual and emotional nurture to the orphans. In the following report, Jubilee Director Ann Buwalda offers her reflections on the history of the place and her hopes for the future of the residents of Caleb House and the Christian...