COMPASS DIRECTGlobal News from the Frontlines

November 12, 2004

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.

Copyright 2004 Compass Direct

****************************************************************************IN THIS ISSUE

CHINA

Government Announces ‘Change’ in Religious PoliciesGovernment officials discuss new regulations while raids and arrests continue.

EGYPT

Teenagers Fight Forced Muslim Identities***Coptic sisters’ court verdict due within weeks.

INDIA

Catholic Priest’s Murder Tied to Hindu RitualKilling aimed at destroying inter-religious harmony in Kerala

Dead Man ‘Reconverted’ Christians lack access to public burial grounds.

Hindu ‘Reconversions’ Continue Over 330 tribals exchange Christianity for Hinduism.

Five Christians Charged with ‘Wounding Religious Feelings’ Hindu “reconversion” drive continues unhindered.

What’s Wrong With Conversion?Hindu extremists say Christianity is a threat to Indian culture.

INDONESIA

Five Die as Sulawesi Turns Violent

Gunmen kill Christian villagers in nighttime attack.

Man Shot in ChurchBombs found in Sulawesi and Ambon; pig farms attacked by Muslim youth.

More Than 1,000 Flee Conflict Government policy fuels ethnic and religious clashes.

Catholic School Closed for Three WeeksMuslim residents object to church services on school grounds.

Authorities Grant Early Release for Pastor***Rev. Damanik rejoins family, plans to continue peace campaign.

IRAN

Concern Mounts for Jailed Christian***Government officials admit Christianity ‘out of control.’

IRAQ

Christians Fleeing to Jordan, SyriaChristian leaders say Iraqi church’s future threatened.

JORDAN

Custody Case Hinges on Conflicting Testimonies***Christian widow denies Muslim guardian’s claim.

MALAYSIA

Malay Woman Fights for Right to ConvertLina Joy appeals court ruling on constitutional grounds.

NIGERIA

Muslim Militants Threaten to Kill Christian NursesManagement bans Christian worship at a hospital.

Christian Leaders Call for End to Emergency RuleGovernment committee establishes death toll from religious violence at 53,000.

SAUDI ARABIA

Court Sidesteps Religious Accusations***Expatriate Christian ‘convicted’ on alcohol allegations.

Christian Prisoner Deported***Indian Brian O’Connor released after seven months.

UZBEKISTAN

Authorities Raid Baptist Church***Tashkent congregation refused registration for eight years.

VIETNAM

Trial Date Set for Rev. Nguyen Hong QuangPersecution continues for Mennonite house church Christians.

Vietnamese Officials Hinder Trial Preparations Mennonite church workers seek a fair defense on November 12.

ZANZIBAR

Suspects Arrested in Wake of Attacks on Three ChurchesChurch leader addresses tensions with message of peace.

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***********************************China Announces ‘Change’ in Religious PoliciesGovernment officials discuss new regulations while raids and arrests continue.by Sarah Page

DUBLIN, November 9 (Compass) -- In a two-day international conference on religion and law held in Beijing on October 18 and 19, Chinese officials said they were open to changes in religious policy.

During the conference, Zhang Xunmou, director of the policy and legal department of the State Administration of Religious Affairs (SARA, formerly the Religious Affairs Bureau), said the days of issuing administrative orders on religious affairs were over. New laws would set clear limits on the authority given to local officials to control religious activity.

Zhang said existing laws and regulations were now inadequate after two decades of reform. He also claimed the new approach would be a paradigm shift in China’s religious policy.

However, Ji Wenyuan, deputy director of SARA, emphasized that China was unique and cautioned against the adoption of religious policies from the West, the South China

Morning Post reported on October 23. In the past, Chinese Christian converts were accused of “collaborating” with the West and corrupting Chinese culture.

Asia News said the changes in religious policy were a positive step forward, but only if the government recognized religious freedom as a basic human right. On October 25, the news service quoted an anonymous source in Hong Kong who said the announcement was merely “cosmetic” -- a move aimed at “sheltering China from international criticism against its harsh religious policy.”

Zhang Qianan, a professor at Peking University, confirmed to reporters that while the constitution guarantees freedom of religion, this freedom was only available to groups recognized by the state.

Indeed, Ji’s cautious admonition of “change, but not yet” was borne out in a wave of arrests and raids carried out on Christians in October.

In mid October, a building belonging to a house church leader was raided by police. “They took everything from her -- all she has left is a mattress,” one source told Compass. “They watch her place all the time and someone is stationed outside the house 24 hours a day, seven days a week.” Bibles were also confiscated in the raid, along with other Christian literature and tapes.

In late October, another house church leader reported that authorities were watching him closely. One of his church meeting points was raided in the last few days of October, and many believers were arrested, beaten and questioned.

Information obtained during questioning led to raids on several other meeting points for the same house church network. The believers have now scattered and their pastor has gone into hiding.

One ministry reported a sharp increase in persecution throughout September and October, with a large number of arrests. One co-worker was beaten to death after she was arrested by police. A 70-year-old Chinese believer was also arrested in Xinjiang province; this man was hospitalized after a severe beating.

Another co-worker was arrested in Shaanxi province. Police confiscated all of the family’s belongings, “right down to their very last chair.”

Perhaps more significantly, four printing presses were shut down within the space of a month, when police discovered they were printing illegal Christian materials. One press operator was puzzled by the raids, saying “... we have never seen this type of crackdown before.”

Another source who verified the closure of one printing press said the owner was arrested and held on false charges while his warehouse was emptied of thousands of Christian books.

Officials said the new regulations proposed at the conference would strengthen the self-government of registered churches and reduce administrative costs for SARA. Tax laws and levies would also be applied to registered churches, some of which had amassed considerable wealth.

An article in the Shanghai Daily on October 19 seemed to indicate that changes were already underway. The article said the Bible would be placed on a recommended reading list for students in the city, along with a popular series of Kung Fu books. However, some parents interviewed by the newspaper said they were concerned that students would be adversely affected by what they read in the Bible.

After the changes were announced, deputy director Ji said that Beijing must tread carefully in making these reforms. He emphasized that social stability and harmony must be the basis for any new laws, stating, “A religion must be accepted not only by its own congregation, which follows its teachings, but also by non-believers who can live with it,” according to an article in the South China Morning Post on October 23.

Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell met with Chinese officials on October 25 to discuss human rights violations, The New York Times reported. Talks ground to a halt earlier this year after the U.S. proposed a resolution against China at the United Nations Human Rights Commission in Geneva.

Li Zhaoxing, China’s foreign minister, assured Powell that China was now willing to re-open the dialogue on human rights abuses.

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***********************************Egyptian Teenagers Fight Forced Muslim IdentitiesCoptic sisters’ court verdict due within weeks.by Barbara G. Baker

CAIRO, November 8 (Compass) -- Two teenage Christian sisters in Egypt have gone to court to contest the forced change of their official religious identity to Islam.

A State Council verdict is due by the end of November on the case of Iman and Olfat Malak Ayet, now 17 and 18 years of age.

Raised as Christians for their entire lives by their Coptic Orthodox mother, the two girls were infants when their now-deceased father converted to Islam.

After leaving his Christian wife, little Olfat and as yet unborn Iman in 1986, Malak Aayad Assad changed his name to Mohammed Abdullah al-Mahdi, married a Muslim wife and fathered three more children. After several years’ legal battle, he eventually consented to a formal divorce from his Christian wife.

But the father had never taken custody of his two Christian daughters or interfered with their mother for raising them as Christians. “He sometimes visited us on the Christian feast days,” Olfat told Compass during a private interview in July, “but he never suggested to us that we should become Muslims.”

It was only in the spring of 2003, when Olfat requested a copy of her birth certificate from government computers, that she learned her father had changed their official identities from Christian to Muslim. The documents had been altered several years before his death in November 2002.

In doing so, he had falsified his own birth certificate, claiming that his new Muslim name was the one given him when he was born in 1955, rather than the one he took when he converted to Islam in 1986.

In order to enter their final school examinations and then apply for university acceptance, the Christian sisters must first be issued their national I.D. cards. But if based on their “Muslim” birth certificates, the formal identity cards will declare them Muslims, rather than Christians.

Once a citizen is officially registered as a Muslim, the Egyptian government has historically refused to allow the individual to renounce Islam, which forbids apostasy on penalty of death. But in an unprecedented exception this past April, an administrative court in Cairo ordered the Interior Ministry to reinstate a Coptic Christian woman with her formal Christian identity, 11 years after she had converted to Islam.

So through a maternal relative, the two minor girls filed a case in May against the Interior Ministry, requesting the right to change their birth certificates back to their original Christian names and religion.

“How can these children be forced to become Muslims, when they have never practiced Islam in their entire lives?” Coptic Christian lawyer Naguib Gabriel asked the court at the third trial hearing on July 6. Gabriel is currently representing Coptic citizens attempting to maintain or restore their Christian identities in 11 similar cases.

Defending the Egyptian government’s viewpoint, the Interior Ministry declared in its legal brief that the two girls must wait until age 21 to apply to the courts, if they want to revert to their Christian birth-identities.

At the June 22 hearing in the trial, the Interior Ministry representative insisted that because Islamic law is “the main source of legislation and the Islamic faith is the religion of the state,” it followed that Islamic law “should be applied to the other citizens embracing any other heavenly religions -- Christianity or Islam -- in their personal matters.”

The government bureaucrat went on to demand that the Egyptian state use an “iron hand” to stop such religious quibbling over trifles, “in order to protect social peace and the structure of society.” In conclusion, he quoted Islamic law injunctions requiring that a male Muslim apostate should be killed if he refuses to repent, and a woman should be “imprisoned and beaten until she dies or embraces Islam.”

Since 1998, the Egyptian government has been issuing new bar-coded national I.D. cards, which all citizens are required to carry on their persons. The deadline for obtaining the new cards is set for January 2005.

A Coptic human rights activist filed a lawsuit in 1997, attempting to challenge the constitutionality of a 1994 Interior Ministry decree requiring that religious identity be stated on national I.D. cards. But the courts unilaterally withdrew the case documents and never heard the case.

A final verdict on the two sisters’ case, which is being tried before the Administrative Court of the State Council in Doqqi, was set for November 16. But the hearing is expected to be postponed for another week because it falls at the end of Ramadan holidays, with the court to then issue its ruling within the next 15 days. According to the girls’ attorney, both the Interior Ministry and the father’s Muslim wife have the right to appeal the decision.

Gabriel said the girls could not hold back their tears when he took them to court in July to talk with the judge hearing their case.

“We are praying all the time to win this verdict,” Olfat and Iman told Compass.

***Photographs of Olfat and Iman Malak Ayet are available electronically. Please contact Compass Direct for pricing and transmittal.

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***********************************Catholic Priest’s Murder in India Tied to Hindu RitualKilling aimed at destroying inter-religious harmony in Kerala.by Abhijeet Prabhu

BANGALORE, October 7 (Compass) -- Christians in Kerala have alleged that a ritual at a Hindu temple led to the murder of Father Job Chittilapilly, a Syrian Catholic priest.

Father Job, a 71-year-old priest and champion of the poor, was brutally murdered on August 28, the day of Kerala’s annual Onam harvest festival. His body, marked with four stab wounds, was found at 6 a.m. on a verandah within the precincts of the Varaprasadam Matha (Mother of Grace) church in the Thrissur district of Kerala.

Parish sexton Shibu Ambadan saw Father Job walking through the church compound at 5:30 a.m., fingering his rosary beads. The priest was due to celebrate a special communion service at 6 a.m.

Ambadan greeted the priest and collected the keys for the church. He then switched on the sound system in preparation for the service. At 6:15 a.m., Ambadan sent a parishioner to look for the priest.

The parishioner found Father Job lying face down on the verandah in a pool of blood.

Police promptly ruled out robbery as the motive, since the priest’s gold chain and cash were found intact. Those who knew the priest said he had no personal enemies, ruling out revenge or personal rivalry.

On September 7, police arrested Panthalkoottam Raghu Kumar on suspicion of murder. Kumar, known locally as a drug addict, was previously accused of involvement in the 1995 murder of a Christian Congress Party activist. He also had close ties to the right-wing Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party and its militant affiliate, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.

Both organizations have been implicated in violent attacks against Christians.

On September 8, an angry mob prevented the police from entering the church to collect evidence, accusing them of arresting a scapegoat to shield the real killers.

According to a report by Asia News, evidence suggests the murder was the direct result of intrigue at the local Veluppillakavu Hindu temple, situated near the church.

Rev. Mar Jacob Thoomkuzhy, archbishop of Thrissur, explained to local media that the temple was abandoned 20 years ago after the murder of a Hindu priest. Two years ago, a group of Hindu activists volunteered to renovate the temple. The group included a Hindu priest who would serve at the temple and Raghu Kumar, who was later arrested on suspicion of Father Job’s murder.

According to local sources, an astrological ritual carried out at Veluppillakavu in August “revealed” that the temple was suffering due to the functioning of a church nearby. The officiating priest allegedly told Hindu adherents that the soul of the priest slain 20 years ago would only attain peace if a non-Hindu priest in the locality was killed.

Father Job was murdered not long afterwards.

Mr. T.K. Paul, a parishioner who attended daily Mass at the church, said the priest was known for visiting and praying with the poor, regardless of caste or religion. Father Job had served the community faithfully for 45 years. However, Hindu leaders recently warned him to stop visiting and doing charitable work among poor Hindu families.

On September 9, two weeks after the murder, thousands of Christians from many denominations in Kerala came together in an unprecedented protest march, calling for a thorough investigation into Father Job’s death.

Monsignor Sebastian Eezhekkadan, vicar general of the diocese, and the Catholic Bishops Conference of India (CBCI), have asked that India’s leading intelligence agency, the Central Bureau of Investigation, be ordered to investigate the murder.

CBCI secretary general, Bishop Percival Fernandez, said stern action against the killers would send the “right signal” to those bent on sowing seeds of hatred among the religious communities of India.

“Christians in Kerala have been living in peace and harmony for centuries,” he said.

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***********************************Dead Man ‘Reconverted’ in IndiaChristians lack access to public burial grounds.by Vishal Arora

DELHI, October 12 (Compass) -- Villagers in Orissa dug up the body of a Catholic man buried in a Hindu cemetery on October 4 and ceremonially “reconverted” him to Hinduism.

The incident took place in Gurandi village in Gajapati district, Orissa. According to an article in the Hindustan Times, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP or World Hindu Council) encouraged Hindu villagers to oppose the burial of Bala Tulasiga, a 35-year-old Christian convert, in the local Hindu cremation ground.

After the burial took place, VHP members convinced Tulasiga’s family to dig up the body and submit to a mass reconversion ceremony, where the wife, mother and brother of the deceased were also reconverted.

The body was then re-interred, this time using Hindu burial rites.

Sub-Inspector B.K. Nayak of the Gurandi Police Station told Compass, “When Tulasiga died, his brother Harish Chandra Rao buried him in a Hindu cremation ground. The villagers objected to it, and when the district VHP president, Purna Chandra Mohapatra, heard about it, he intervened as a leader of the Hindu villagers.

“The Hindus demanded that Harish Chandra remove the coffin because the body was of a Christian, and it should be buried in a Christian cemetery.”

When asked if the family was reconverted by force, Nayak replied, “The family members of the deceased wrote a letter to the district president of the VHP and also sent a

copy to the police station. They said they wanted to bring the dead person back to Hinduism, and that they themselves wanted to reconvert out of their own free will.

“No First Information Report has been lodged by Hindus or Christians yet, but we are keeping an eye on the situation.”

VHP district president Mohapatra told reporters from the Hindustan Times, “There was imminent danger of clashes between both groups over the burial dispute. I intervened to solve the problem amicably.”

However, Christian leaders say the VHP forced the Christian family to reconvert by stirring up pressure from other villagers. The four or five Christian families in the village were disadvantaged because no Christian cemetery was readily available to them.

Rev. Dr. Babu Joseph, the spokesperson of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India, told Compass he was “extremely dismayed at the fact that a Christian family was forced to dig up a grave, remove the coffin, and do the last rites according to Hindu customs.

“Christian cemeteries in tribal areas are usually very far off, and the means of transportation are almost non-existent” he added.

Joseph also expressed concern over the growth of religious intolerance. “This is a serious development in a society which has always respected and valued religious plurality. All communities should voice their concern.”

Rev. Dr. D.B. Hrudaya, general secretary of the local chapter of the All India Christian Council, said Christians had used the common cremation grounds on earlier occasions, “but this time the villagers objected to the burial at the instigation of the VHP.

“The Christian family in Gurandi was helpless because the nearest Christian cemetery is at Parkhemundi, the headquarters of Gajapati district, which is about 22 kilometers from the village.”

Mr. V.V. Augustine, a member of the National Commission for Minorities, condemned the incident “because it is a case of forced conversion, which is illegal and harmful for society.”

Rev. Richard Howell, general secretary of the Evangelical Fellowship of India, said the reconversion of a dead man showed the complete ignorance some extremists had regarding the true meaning of conversion.

“It is ridiculous that an attempt was made to convert a dead man back to Hinduism,” he told Compass. “Such a conversion can never be valid. The issue of salvation is resolved in this life. For example, the Bible teaches in Hebrews 9:27 that a man lives once and then faces judgment.”

Meanwhile, an article in the Hindustan Times on October 7 reported that Hindu activists had organized another mass reconversion ceremony, this time for the living, in Mayurbhanj district on October 20.

The report claimed, “Six members of one Christian family have already agreed to change their religion.”

These ceremonies are part of a renewed campaign by Hindu activists to stem Christian conversions, particularly in tribal areas. A similar event organized by the VHP in Mayurbhanj on September 19 led to the symbolic reconversion of 75 tribal Christians.

However, Christian leaders commenting on the September incident said the VHP had targeted nominal Christians who were not attending church services. (See Compass Direct, “Tribal Christians in India Return to Hinduism,” September 29.)

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***********************************Hindu ‘Reconversions’ Continue in IndiaOver 330 tribals exchange Christianity for Hinduism.by Satya Kumar

DELHI, October 22 (Compass) -- At least 336 tribal Christians were “reconverted” to Hinduism on October 17 in a mass ceremony organized by the World Hindu Council in Orissa, India.

The ceremony took place in the remote village of Baridia in Sundargarh district, about 280 miles west of Bhubaneswar, the state capital of Orissa. Those who decided to change their religion belonged to several nearby villages.

“It was the largest purification program carried out by us,” Gauri Prasad Rath, state secretary of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), or World Hindu Council, told Compass.

“Three hundred and thirty-six people from 80 families who had been lured to become Christians were brought back to Hinduism.”

Indian Christian leaders expressed shock and dismay at the incident.

“This is nothing but a vicious and hostile hate campaign launched by the VHP,” said John Dayal, president of the All India Catholic Union, the largest Christian body in India. “We’ve told the state government several times about this hate campaign.”

Eyewitnesses said VHP leaders arrived in large numbers to collect the villagers. They then held a mass yagna, or Hindu fire ceremony. “Holy water” was sprinkled on the Christians, who numbered 144 men, 117 women, 44 boys and 31 girls.

A picture of the Hindu goddess Durga, along with traditional wrap-around garments and saris, were given to the Christians who converted to Hinduism.

District police chief Y.K. Jethwa said the district collector had informed him of the ceremony before it took place.

“The (converts) also gave affidavits,” he said. “All of them had given prior intimation to the district administration about their intention to embrace Hinduism.”

The Orissa Freedom of Religion Act requires any person wishing to change his or her religion to give a written affidavit to the local administration.

Most Christian leaders oppose the Religion Act, characterizing it as an “anti-conversion law.”

“What is this thing called ‘reconversion?’” Dayal said. “The church says man cannot make anybody change his faith. I can only tell you about God’s path. It’s for you to make up your mind.

“When they convert to Christianity, it’s the work of the Holy Spirit.”

Dayal also said the tribals who were being reconverted to Hinduism were not originally Hindus. Many of India’s tribal groups were originally animists -- worshipping the sun or nature -- but not traditional Hindus.

“We believe that tribals have their own faiths,” Dayal explained. “So if we are converting them, we are converting them from whatever their religion was, not from Hinduism.

“And when the VHP says it is ‘reconverting’ them, they are actually converting them to Hinduism and are doing it forcibly.”

Rath dismissed Dayal’s arguments and charged the missionaries with “cheating” the tribals. “They tell the poor tribals that there is lot of superstition in Hinduism. They lure them with rice and money and jobs. They have also grabbed land.”

Rath also claimed the tribals had made the decision of their own accord. “These people had contacted us themselves; we did not go to them,” he insisted.

However, he conceded that most of the people who claimed to be Christians and then reconverted were not actively practicing the Christian faith. “Some had been going to church; some were not.”

Rath said the VHP would continue their reconversion drive until the missionaries ceased their evangelistic programs.

This was the second reconversion drive launched by the VHP in recent weeks. In September, 75 tribal Christians were reconverted in a similar manner in Mayurbhanj district, site of the brutal murder of Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two sons in January 1999.

Many senior VHP leaders attended the ceremony, which lasted for several hours and included elaborate rituals. Speeches were also made through the public address system in the village, warning tribals to keep away from the missionaries.

The VHP claims missionaries are converting tribals in one third of the districts in Orissa. To counter this, VHP members are now staging regular awareness campaigns in villages, reading passages from the Hindu holy book Gita and preaching sermons against Christianity.

“The only long-term solution is that all these people should come back to Hinduism,” Rath concluded.

Orissa has one of the highest concentrations of Hindu extremists in India, and Christian communities throughout the state have suffered numerous attacks, the Staines’ murder being the most notorious example.

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***********************************Five Christians Charged with ‘Wounding Religious Feelings’ in IndiaHindu “reconversion” drive continues unhindered. by Vishal Arora

DELHI, November 2 (Compass) -- An Indian court recently charged five Christians in Orissa state with “wounding the religious feelings” of Hindus. The five were released on bail on October 28, but a full trial is expected.

One of the accused, Abhiram Dhala, is a local Christian convert. His companions, pastor Karl Silva, Roshan D’Souza, Ganesh Wankhede and Ramesh Thawar Chandwa, belong to a Christian fellowship in Mumbai, formerly known as Bombay, in Maharashtra state.

The charges relate to an incident at Suliapada village in Baripada district, in the tribal belt of Mayurbhanj, Orissa. Baripada district was the former home of Australian missionary Graham Staines, killed by Hindu extremists in January 1999.

Police arrested the five on October 21, after a student lodged a complaint against them. The student claimed the Christians had threatened him after he asked them to stop preaching near a shrine dedicated to the Hindu goddess Durga.

According to UCA News (UCAN), the Christians arrived in Baripada on October 1 and traveled to Suliapada on October 21 to address a Christian gathering and distribute Christian literature.

The five were charged under Sections 294, 295(a), 298, 506 and 34 of the Indian Penal Code. Charges included “uttering obscene words in a public place,” “uttering words with deliberate intent to wound the religious feelings of others,” and “issuing threats or criminal intimidation to several persons.”

The sub-divisional Balipada court rejected an appeal for bail on October 22 and sentenced the five to police custody.

However on October 27, a Sessions Court granted bail to the five, who were released on the following day.

Pastor Karl Silva, one of the accused, told Compass, “The case is fabricated. We were at least one kilometer away from the Puja Pandal [shrine] in an open square, and we were simply sharing the love of God.

“When we felt a section of the people could turn violent, we went to the police station, hoping we would be protected by the police, but the police turned against us. They didn’t even allow us to make a phone call. On the contrary, one of the policemen abused us,” Silva said.

Advocate Pratap Chhinchani of the Orissa High Court, who is defending the five, said the complaint was a deliberate attempt to malign the Christians.

“They were distributing tracts in Suliapada village when the complainant, Govind Chandra Mohanta, a class 12 student who does not even belong to Suliapada village, went to them and asked them to stop preaching,” Chhinchani told Compass.

“In his complaint, Mohanta claimed the preachers were furious and they used abusive language and threatened to kill him when he asked them to refrain from preaching,” he added. “Mohanta has urged in his complaint that the Hindu community must be protected from the ‘traitors’ -- otherwise strong Hindu feelings might erupt.”

According to Chhinchani, this is “clearly a false case, as the preachers, who did not even know the local language, could not have used the obscene and abusive language alleged by the complainant. It is common sense that no outsider would dare to talk like that.”

Rev. Dr. D.B. Hrudaya, general secretary of the local chapter of the All India Christian Council, confirmed that the Christians did not speak the local tribal language. Because of this, the villagers “may have viewed them with suspicion.” Hostile people in the crowd may have turned this suspicion to their own advantage.

Chhinchani indicated that a Hindu fundamentalist organization could be behind the complaint. “It appears from the language used in the First Information Report that the complainant ... was not speaking his own mind, but some other people used him to lodge the complaint to harass the Christians.

“It is not only unfortunate, but also illegal to treat preachers like criminals,” Chhinchani added.

Father Dibakar Parichha, a Catholic priest in Bhubaneswar, told UCAN he believed the complaint was part of a hate campaign of Hindu extremist groups against Christians.

Bishop Rueben Senapati of the Cuttack diocese of the Church of North India also said he believed the preachers were falsely charged.

Meanwhile, as the five Christians prepared to face trial for allegedly “wounding Hindu feelings,” a “reconversion” drive launched by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP or World Hindu Council) in the tribal belt of Orissa continued unhindered.

Six Christian villagers in Godapalasa, Mayurbhanj, were reconverted on October 20, according to UCAN. Three days earlier, over 330 tribal Christians were converted to Hinduism in a public ceremony arranged by the VHP at Lathikata village in Sundargarh district. (See Compass Direct, “Hindu ‘Reconversions’ Continue in India,” October 22)

A further 75 tribal Christians were reconverted to Hinduism in a VHP ceremony on September 19. (See Compass Direct, “Tribal Christians in India Return to Hinduism,” September 29)

Christians reject the term “reconversion to Hinduism,” since many of the tribal people involved in these ceremonies were traditionally animist before turning to Christianity.

However, Indian law views all tribal peoples as Hindu, placing them at the lower level of the Hindu caste system.

Christian leaders also claim the VHP has threatened tribal Christians with the loss of job opportunities and other privileges awarded to Hindu members of the Scheduled Castes. Under existing law, tribal villagers who convert to Christianity are denied access to these privileges.

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***********************************What’s Wrong With Conversion?Hindu extremists say Christianity is a threat to Indian culture.by Vishal Arora

DELHI, November 4 (Compass) -- While India’s constitution provides for freedom of religion, many Christians who have converted from a Hindu background still face discrimination from family, friends, neighbors and employers.

Some Hindus say conversion to Christianity is destructive to Indian culture. In their view, Indian culture is so rooted in Hinduism that one cannot exist without the other.

A staff member of the Evangelical Fellowship of India in New Delhi told Compass how friends and family reacted to his conversion. “At my sister’s wedding this year, I refused to participate in a hawan or Hindu religious ceremony. This hurt my relatives, especially my parents.

“Then at the anniversary of my father’s death, I didn’t take part in the usual Hindu ceremony. Nor did I tie the rakhi for my sister.” According to Hindu tradition, brothers tie the rakhi threads around their sisters’ wrists as a sign of their commitment to protect them.

“But I praise God that I can see some improvement recently,” he added. “My family has begun to understand that I still love them and I’m very much a part of the family, even though I have a different faith.”

However, Swami Dayanand Saraswati, an eminent Hindu philosopher and the founder of the Arsha Vidya Hindu study centers in the U.S., believes every conversion is an “act of violence.”

In an open letter to Pope John Paul II in 1999, Saraswati said conversion would ultimately lead to the destruction of the entire Indian culture. “Religion and culture are not often separable,” he wrote. “This is especially true of the Hindu religious tradition. [For instance,] the greeting word, namaste, is an expression of culture as well as religion.”

He also referred to the bindi, a mark worn by women. “Even though a ... mark on the forehead is purely religious, it is looked upon as an integral part of Hindu culture.”

Saraswati said culture often disintegrated after conversion, “leaving only dead monuments.” In other words, some Christian converts still followed cultural traditions but abandoned the religious meaning behind these traditions.

Some high caste Hindus have the mistaken belief that only members of the Dalit or lower castes convert to Christianity. Approximately 65 percent of Christians in India are Dalits, according to statistics provided by the Indian Missions Association in 1997. However, the remaining 35 percent come from higher castes, or from foreign backgrounds. Despite this fact, high caste Hindus often treat Christian converts as “untouchables,” regardless of their social background.

Rev. Ramesh Pathak, originally from Uttar Pradesh state but now pastoring a Methodist church in Delhi, told Compass that his high caste Brahmin family rejected him when he converted to Christianity.

“They said I had brought shame to my family and my society,” said Pathak.

“My family was so intolerant of my new faith that they asked me to leave home. I was not able to go home until eight years later.”

Antagonism and misunderstanding are also fueled by Hindutva, a philosophy that sets India apart as a homeland for Hindus only. Organizations such as the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP or World Hindu Council) and the Bajrang Dal have worked hard to spread this philosophy throughout India over the past five years.

These organizations all belong to the Sangh Parivar, a “family” of Hindu nationalist groups that supports Hindutva. The Sangh also has a political wing -- the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which was voted into government in 1998. The BJP then actively promoted Hindutva, and cultivated an atmosphere of immunity which encouraged hundreds of violent incidents against Christians.

Through the eyes of Hindutva, Christianity is a Western religion, brought to India under British colonial rule. Under this policy, the anti-British sentiments held by many Hindus are extended towards the whole Christian community.

Unfortunately, many Indian citizens are ignorant of the true beginnings of Christianity in India. History teaches that Christianity reached the country in 52 A.D., when the apostle Thomas landed on the southwest coast.

In recent years, some Hindu extremists have claimed that missionaries are part of an international conspiracy to convert and overtake India. They point to the northeastern state of Nagaland as an example. Christians make up 87 percent of the population in Nagaland; some civil groups have called for autonomy, while others are fighting for complete independence from the Indian government.

Opponents of Christianity also claim Western missionaries use material bribes or force to convert the poor and illiterate.

Naveen, who became a Christian in 1994, told Compass, “My father, an RSS supporter, thought some foreign missionaries had given me money to convert to Christianity. Therefore he said I had betrayed India.

“At first he beat me up and asked me to stop reading the Bible. Then one day in 1995, he said, ‘Your Jesus or this home -- you can choose right now.’

“I had to leave home in just the clothes I was wearing that day,” he continued. “I had to work as a coach in a gymnasium. I used the gym as a bedroom and slept on the floor. Several times I had to sleep without food.”

Missionaries have always denied using bribes and other unethical means to win new believers. Despite these claims, five Indian states have passed laws to combat “unethical” or “forced” conversions. Madhya Pradesh passed the first definitive anti-conversion law in 1966; Orissa in 1967; Arunachal Pradesh in 1978; Tamil Nadu in October 2002; and most recently, Gujarat in April 2003.

While the BJP was soundly defeated in this year’s election, the party still controls state governments in Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Orissa, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab. Three of those states have anti-conversion laws. The VHP has also sent hundreds of volunteers to establish schools and training camps promoting Hindutva throughout these states.

The new Congress Party coalition elected in April 2004 has begun to investigate some of the abuses of religious freedom carried out under the rule of the BJP.

They have also tackled the “saffronization” of education: a BJP policy which ordered Hindutva teachings to be included in school textbooks and the school curriculum.

There have been other promising moves in recent months. For example on May 18, a few weeks after the general election, Chief Minister Selvi J. Jayalalithaa of Tamil Nadu announced her intention to drop the state anti-conversion law. Many Christians hoped this would eventually lead to a lessening of restrictions in other states.

The government still has a long way to go in combating age-old suspicions and prejudices against Christianity.

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***********************************Five Die in Indonesia as Sulawesi Turns ViolentGunmen kill Christian villagers in nighttime attack.by Sarah Page

DUBLIN, October 20 (Compass) -- A Hindu woman and two Christian men were killed on the island of Sulawesi on October 13 when gunmen launched two separate attacks on predominantly Christian villages. At least two other Christians were seriously injured.

The gunmen attacked a village in the Poso Pesisir district around 11:45 p.m. on Wednesday night. The Jakarta Post reported that a group of 10 armed men shot into houses at random, injuring a 25-year-old Hindu woman, Ni Nengah Anggrenadi, and wounding two Christian men, before fleeing by motorboat.

Nengah later died at Poso General Hospital, where the two unnamed Christian men were treated for gunshot wounds.

Police said they believed the attack in Poso was committed by the same group of gunmen who murdered Christian lawyer Ferry Silalahi on May 26 and Rev. Susianty Tinulele, shot while speaking at a church service on July 18.

The mysterious snipers have attacked several times over the past year. A particularly violent attack on Beteleme and three other villages in October 2003 resulted in the deaths of at least a dozen Christians.

Poso Police Chief Abdi Dharma Sitepu told reporters from The Jakarta Post that police have arrested several suspects in the murders. However at press time, no charges had been brought for the murders of Silalahi and Tinulele. Suspects charged with the Beteleme murders still await trial and sentencing.

On October 13, gunmen launched a second attack on the predominantly Christian village of Jono Oge, Donggala regency. Witnesses said two assailants riding a Yamaha FIZR motorbike attacked two Christian men on the street.

Sakeas Tesa, 54, and Yahya Yuta Jama, 45, both died after receiving deep cuts to the neck.

Residents launched community patrols of the village after the murders and at least 70 police officers were deployed to the village, according to the Post.

Further south, conflict erupted in the Polewali Mamasa district of South Sulawesi on October 15, the Straits Times reported.

Inter-religious problems began in 2002, when officials enacted Law No. 11/2002 to split the district into two separate regencies, Mamasa and Polewali Mamasa. The division was scheduled to take effect October 16, 2004. Muslims living in the three districts of Aralle, Tabulahan and Mambi immediately objected because the split would place them in the Christian-majority Mamasa regency.

As part of this re-arrangement of provincial boundaries, Mamasa regency would then become part of West Sulawesi, a newly formed province carved out of South Sulawesi. West Sulawesi would be inaugurated as a province on the same date as the Mamasa split.

Riots broke out in North Aralle village on October 15, a day before the inauguration. By Sunday, two people were reported killed and at least 31 houses were burned to the ground. Some residents said as many as 47 houses were destroyed. A mosque was also set afire.

A report issued by Agence France Presse and the Associated Press said one man died from spear wounds on Saturday, and a young boy died in a stampede as hundreds fled violent clashes.

Polewali Mamasa Regent Ali Baal confirmed to reporters that around 1,000 residents of North Aralle had taken refuge in surrounding villages.

Violent disputes over the creation of the new regency previously broke out in July 2004 and September 2003.

Hari Sabarno, minister of Home Affairs, speaking at the inauguration of West Sulawesi province on Saturday, asked the new acting governor, Oentarto Sindung Moewardi, to resolve the conflict as quickly as possible.

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***********************************Indonesian Man Shot in ChurchBombs found in Sulawesi and Ambon; pig farms attacked by Muslim youth.by Sarah Page

DUBLIN, October 27 (Compass) -- Around 9:30 p.m. on October 21, snipers shot and injured Hans Sanipi, 25, custodian of the Tabernakel Pentecostal Church in Poso, Central Sulawesi. Sanipi was speaking with several other people in front of the church when two men on a motorbike passed and shot randomly into the crowd.

Christians and Muslims alike are speculating why police have not yet found the mysterious “drive-by killers” who have murdered at least five Christians and injured 11 others since April 2004.

Mona Saroinsong, coordinator of the CC-SAG Crisis Center in North Sulawesi, pointed out that in “almost every corner of Poso city, there is a police or military post. Why can’t the security forces find the actors?”

A Christian leader who preferred not to be named commented, “It could be that the police have some of their own men involved, or they are afraid to deal with the problem in case the military are somehow behind all this. I don’t know -- we’re still in the dark.”

Accusations of police and military involvement in the sectarian conflicts of Sulawesi and neighboring Ambon have been widespread since the conflicts erupted in the late 1990’s. Despite peace accords signed in December 2001 and February 2002, sporadic violence continues between Muslim and Christian communities in Sulawesi and the Maluku islands.

On October 24, three days after Hans Sanipi was shot, residents found a cache of 123 homemade bombs in a Muslim cemetery in Poso, The Jakarta Post reported. According to ABC Radio Australia, the bombs were found after bulldozers cleared shrubs to enlarge the cemetery.

Poso Police Chief Abdi Darma said the bombs were filled with shrapnel, including nails and sharpened metal. No comment or speculation was made on the identity of those who had stockpiled the weapons.

On the same day, a bomb threat was made against the Bank Modern Express in neighboring Ambon island.

Two days earlier on October 22, Christians found a suitcase containing 15 homemade bombs in the Baileo Oikumene building, adjacent to the Protestant Maranatha church in Ambon city. A report by Asia News claimed similar devices were found at nearby Silo church, the oldest Protestant church in the city, on October 20.

The Amboina Diocese Crisis Center reported that the bombs were simple devices with low explosive potential. However, church members were disturbed at the finding. Sectarian clashes over the past five years have claimed thousands of lives on the island. The violence abated somewhat in 2003, but residents fear a new outbreak that may lead to more bloodshed.

Police Chief Commander Brig. Gen. Aditya Warman told members of the Amboina Crisis Center that he believed certain individuals in Jakarta had hired people in Ambon to carry out these terrorist threats, “hoping -- for whatever reason -- for a resumption of the Malukus conflict.”

Meanwhile, members of the South Tatura Muslim youth organization in Palu, Central Sulawesi, launched their own attack on October 20, targeting pig farms operated by Christians.

The pig farms are an affront to Muslims who consider pork to be “unclean.” Muslim residents had previously filed objections with the local government, and the farmers were ordered to relocate further away from residential areas, but the orders were ignored.

Youths carrying spears, machetes and wooden sticks attacked several sheds and accused the farmers of polluting the Palu river.

The Jakarta Post reported that about 20 pigs were slaughtered in the attack. Farmers estimated total losses of around 75 million rupiah ($8,244); farm property was badly damaged, and each pig was worth 600,000 to 800,000 rupiah ($66 to $88).

The leader of the youth organization, Abdul Haris, defended the move and said the odor of the pig farms was offensive, “especially during Ramadan.”

This year’s observance of Ramadan, the Muslim month of fasting, began on October 15 and will end on November 12.

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***********************************More Than 1,000 Flee Conflict in IndonesiaGovernment policy fuels ethnic and religious clashes.by Sarah Page

DUBLIN, October 29 (Compass) -- More than 1,000 people remained in temporary accommodation this week, afraid to go home after violent conflict erupted in Mamasa regency on the island of Sulawesi, Indonesia.

People began fleeing their homes on October 17 when conflict broke out between Muslims and Christians in North Aralle village, Mamasa.

The dispute arose over Law No. 11/2002, enacted in April 2002 to divide Polewali Mamasa regency into two separate regencies, Mamasa and Polmas.

Mamasa would then join a new province, West Sulawesi, scheduled for inauguration on October 16, 2004.

Muslims living in the three districts of Aralle, Tabulahan and Mambi immediately objected because the split would place them in Christian-majority Mamasa.

Riots broke out in North Aralle village on October 15, a day before the Mamasa split became official. By Sunday, two people were reported killed and at least 31 houses burned to the ground. Some residents said as many as 47 houses were destroyed. A mosque and a church were also set on fire.

Polewali Mamasa Regent Ali Baal confirmed to reporters that over 1,000 residents of Aralle district had taken refuge in surrounding villages.

Baal said the clashes began earlier in the week, when Muslims put up protest banners in North Aralle village. Other residents who supported the new regency -- most of them Christians -- attacked the Muslim objectors and took down the banners.

Supporters of the split also expelled Andi Jalilu, a key leader of the Muslim objectors, from the village.

However, Jalilu returned on October 15 with “hundreds of supporters” to attack the Christians, Baal told The Jakarta Post. Residents then fled en masse to escape the fighting.

A report issued by Agence France Presse and the Associated Press said one man died from spear wounds on October 16, and a young boy died in a stampede as hundreds fled violent clashes.

Further violence broke out on October 17, as some 300 Christians attacked Muslim residents, apparently in retaliation for the damage sustained on Saturday.

Police Inspector General Saleh Saaf told reporters that two men opposing the split, Suharman and Usman, sustained severe stab wounds. Suharman died later in the hospital, according to The Jakarta Post.

Almost 400 soldiers and police personnel were sent to the area to prevent further violence. Police also began a search for 12 people accused of provoking the conflict.

On October 18, supporters of the new regency burned down seven houses in Saluasin village, Mambi subdistrict, Antara News reported. Later that day, men armed with swords and machetes attacked nearby Lingga and Uhaelano villages. However, there were no reports of casualties, as most of the residents had already fled.

Those who reached Mambi were housed by locals, or given emergency accommodations in a public school building.

The conflict is partly religious and partly ethnic. Mamasa is dominated by an ethnic group linked to the Torajans, many of whom are Christians. However, Polmas is home to the Mandar people, who are predominantly Muslim.

The districts of Aralle, Tabulahan and Mambi, at the heart of the clashes, are where these ethnic groups meet. Mandar people fear discrimination if they come under the authority of the Torajans -- while Torajans fear discrimination if they become part of Polmas.

The seeds of the current conflict were planted over 400 years ago, when the forefathers of the Mandar people pledged eternal allegiance to each other. In the mid 1960s, the Mandars were accused of supporting an anti-government Islamic group. Government intervention fueled distrust between the Mandars and other ethnic groups -- a distrust that continues to this day.

As a result, the Mandar and Toraja groups live in distinctly separate communities, divided along ethnic and religious lines. From April 2002, when Law No. 11/2002 was ratified, the delicate balance remained shaken.

Violent disputes over the creation of the new regency broke out in September 2003, when 200 residents of the opposing three districts held a protest rally in Makassar. By October 2, 2003, supporters of the split had tortured three residents of Aralle district to death, and over 1,000 people had fled for the relative safety of nearby Mamuju regency.

Conflict also broke out in July 2004, as villagers blocked roads linking Mamasa and Polmas, paralyzing transport and disrupting business activity.

Hasyim Manggabarani, a leader of the Mandar community, said ethnic and religious differences were not the true cause of the riots. “Not every Muslim refuses to join Mamasa,” he told Tempo magazine in a recent report. Instead he blamed government authorities for passing a law that was against the wishes of the people.

Meanwhile, police arrested Jalilu, one of the key provocateurs, on October 21. They also confiscated 50 homemade firearms and hundreds of sharp weapons, according to the same Tempo report.

Hari Sabarno, minister of Home Affairs, spoke at the inauguration of West Sulawesi province on October 16 and asked the new acting governor, Oentarto Sindung Moewardi, to resolve the conflict as quickly as possible.

Oentarto has suggested the establishment of yet another regency made up of the three disputed districts, Aralle, Tabulahan and Mambi. As he told reporters, his first goal is to encourage the refugees to return to their homes.

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***********************************Indonesian Catholic School Closed for Three WeeksMuslim residents object to church services on school grounds.by Sarah Page

DUBLIN, November 1 (Compass) -- Heated disputes over a Catholic school in Tangerang, Indonesia, have yet to be fully resolved despite a meeting held between government ministers and local residents on October 27.

The Sang Timur Catholic school in Karang Tengah, Tangerang, 25 miles west of Jakarta, caters to over 2,400 students. Owned and operated by the Sang Timur Foundation, the school teaches classes up to junior high level and provides separate classes for 137 mentally or physically disabled students.

All classes were suspended on October 4 after a mob disrupted a Sunday Mass held on the school grounds on October 3.

Sister Theodora, a board member of the school, confirmed to Komintra News that Catholic residents have used the school hall for weekend church services for the past 12 years.

District authorities had refused permission to build a Catholic church on a nearby site, citing objections from local residents. However, the local bupati or district officer gave

permission in July 1992 for the St. Bernadette congregration to meet on the school grounds.

The first whisper of trouble began in February when residents of the housing complex accused the school of attempting to convert Muslims. Residents also objected to the use of the school hall as a venue for Catholic church services.

Inflammatory speeches were made at the local mosque on October 1, according to Worldwide Religious News. The school was attacked on the morning of October 3 as the congregation celebrated early Mass.

The Indonesian Catholic Community Forum sent an official letter of complaint to the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM), describing the incident and asking that their constitutional right to religious freedom be upheld.

The letter explained that, as Mass began at 6:30 that morning, approximately 100 people from the Islamic Youth Front of Karang Tengah staged a noisy demonstration outside the school. The mob destroyed the sign outside the school, broke the hinges on the gate, burned old car tires, and threatened to burn down the school buildings as well.

Church members eventually had to abandon the service.

Later that day, the mob built a two-meter tall brick wall in front of the gate, effectively blocking entrance to the school grounds. A plaque hanging on the wall read, “This passageway has been sealed by the Karang Tengah Islamic Communication Forum.”

Banners criticizing the alleged attempts of the school to “convert” people were also hung throughout the housing complex where the school was located, according to The Jakarta Post.

The school voluntarily closed its doors on October 4 and 5 to prevent any further violence or harm to students, Komintra reported. However, the school said it would not close down permanently for the sake of “a certain group who had different political interests.”

Staff members reached an agreement with local authorities on October 4 that the offending wall would be torn down. Authorities backed down when the Islamic Forum protested.

On October 6, the students remained at home. A meeting between government and religious leaders that day failed to resolve the situation.

When school staff approached the Department of Religious Affairs, they received no sympathy. In fact, officials asked them to consider closing the school as well as ceasing the church services.

By October 21, parents were ready to file a complaint after their children had missed classes for two weeks.

The Jakarta Post quoted Hillon Goa, chairman of the parents’ forum, who said, “We are still trying to resolve the matter amicably ... Our legal advisors are still working out the specific details.

“Obviously, we will be requesting that the government ensure that the basic, constitutional right of our children to an education is fulfilled.”

Parents also approached the executive board of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), one of the largest Muslim organizations in the country.

Abdurrahman Wahid, a former president of Indonesia and current chairman of the NU’s advisory board, said he was willing to help settle the case.

Wahid, well-known for his policy of tolerance between people of different faiths, planned a visit to the school on October 25. According to local media reports, government workers tore down the wall around 6:30 a.m. on the day of his intended visit. Approximately 100 policemen then formed a barricade in front of the freshly exposed school gates. Local residents gathered and began shouting in protest. As the mob grew, three more truckloads of policemen were sent in.

Wahid and his party arrived at 10:00 a.m. Observing the situation, Wahid ordered that members of Banser, a youth organization connected to the NU party, stand guard to protect the school.

“[Wahid] said we need to be tolerant of each other,” Derikson Turnip, a priest at the school, told reporters from The Jakarta Post. “We should not resort to violence because of our differences.”

Two days later, a team from the Department of Religious Affairs met with members of the Sang Timur Foundation and about 20 residents of the housing complex. They agreed on a compromise: the school would no longer use the front gate, which opened into the housing complex, but instead would use a back entrance.

They also agreed that the Catholic congregation would stop meeting on the school grounds. The congregation would split and attend other services in nearby towns.

Members of the Indonesian Catholic Community Forum said they planned to pursue the matter on behalf of St. Bernadette’s congregation. They pointed out that freedom of worship was a basic constitutional right for all Indonesians, and that church members should have the right to meet in their own community.

Christians make up 10 percent of Indonesia’s population of 210 million, while Muslims, at 80 percent, form the overwhelming majority.

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***********************************Authorities Grant Early Release for Indonesian PastorRev. Damanik rejoins family, plans to continue peace campaign.by Sarah Page

DUBLIN, November 10 (Compass) -- Rev. Rinaldy Damanik walked free from his cell at the Maesa Detention Center in Palu, Sulawesi, yesterday after authorities granted him an early release.

A smiling Damanik greeted the small crowd of friends and reporters who had gathered outside the prison. He spoke for a few minutes and expressed thanks to those who had campaigned on his behalf during his imprisonment.

Before his arrest on what many believe were false charges, Damanik worked tirelessly to provide relief for Muslim and Christian victims of the sectarian violence that erupted on Sulawesi island in the late 1990s. He was also a signatory of the Malino Peace Accord, signed in December 2001.

The charge of “illegal weapons possession” dates back to an incident in August 2002, as Damanik returned from a refugee relief mission. Police stopped the relief convoy and took Damanik and his team members some distance away from their vehicles for questioning.

Days later, police claimed they had found illegal weapons in Damanik’s vehicle. This was contrary to normal police procedure. If the weapons were found as claimed, the police should have informed Damanik at the scene.

During the trial, witnesses said they were tortured by police and pressured to give false evidence against Damanik. Despite many such irregularities, the pastor was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment. Allowing for time already spent in police custody, he was due for release in September 2005.

The breakthrough for Damanik’s early release came in August this year, when a respected Muslim cleric, Idrus R. al Habsy, befriended Damanik after the cleric’s son, Husen, met Damanik in prison. When Idrus learned that Damanik had worked tirelessly to promote peace, the elderly cleric became a staunch advocate for his release.

On August 20, Idrus sent a letter of appeal to the Minister of Justice and Human Rights, asking that Damanik be freed as he was a man of good character. Observers say this letter was vital in securing an early release date.

It seems other Muslims are also supportive of Damanik. Compass received a letter from a Muslim refugee in late October, expressing the belief that Damanik was innocent. The letter, translated from the original Indonesian, read in part; “I myself am one of the victims amongst the thousands of the Poso violence who were evacuated by Damanik with his Crisis Center. Even though we differed in religion, their hearts and humanitarianism were extraordinary.”

The letter also referred to Damanik’s election as president of the Synod of the Christian Church of Central Sulawesi (GKST) on October 17 while he was still imprisoned: “This election also testifies that Rev. Rinaldy Damanik is innocent and greatly beloved by the people.”

Meanwhile, a press release from Open Doors on November 9 said Damanik planned to continue his work with the GSKT Crisis Center. “When I leave, I will continue to do exactly what I was doing before I was arrested,” he told an Open Doors staff member.

He also expressed thanks for support provided by Open Doors and other organizations throughout his imprisonment. “All the people, including children, who sent me letters, cards, band-aids, lotion for my skin and little chocolates with Scriptures written on them -- you really touched my heart.”

Commenting on the sectarian conflict in Sulawesi which began in the late 1990s, Damanik said, “From the beginning, I’ve said this is not a religious conflict. The real causes are the injustices we live with -- for example, corruption and favoritism, which are not being addressed or handled wisely by the government. This has prolonged the conflict.”

After attending a church meeting in Palu on the evening of his release, Damanik hoped to return to Tentena on November 10. Some local Christians feared for his safety. Local police have failed to apprehend those responsible for the murders of several Christians over the past few months.

One of the most recent murders, reported by a senior GKST church official, occurred on November 4. A group of men sitting outside a petrol station in Poso were intrigued when a black plastic bag was dropped from the window of a passing vehicle. On investigation, the black bag was found to contain the severed head of 48-year-old Sarminalis Ndele, a Christian pastor and the chief of Pinedapa village in Poso district. The pastor’s body was later found near Masani village on the Poso coast.

A minibus driver was also shot in Poso city on November 8, Agence France Presse reported. The driver was killed instantly, but several passengers traveling in the vehicle escaped injury. In the hope of preventing further religious tension, police chief Abdi Darma Sitepu declined to announce the religious identity of the victim.

With these events in mind, Damanik’s supporters have asked for prayer as he continues his campaign for peace.

***Photos of Rev. Damanik’s release from prison are available electronically. Contact Compass Direct for pricing and transmittal.

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***********************************Concern Mounts for Jailed Iranian ChristianGovernment officials admit Christianity ‘out of control.’by Barbara G. Baker

ISTANBUL, October 6 (Compass) -- Concern is growing among Iran’s evangelical community for the safety of a pastor arrested four weeks ago by the Iranian security police.

Iranian authorities have refused to give any reason for the arrest and prolonged detention of Hamid Pourmand, 47, a lay pastor in the Assemblies of God Church. No one has been allowed contact with Pourmand since September 9, when he was arrested along with 85 other evangelical church leaders.

However, Compass confirmed today that Pourmand, who is a colonel in the Iranian army, was allowed one very short telephone call to his wife last week. Without saying where he was or giving any other details, he simply told her that he was all right.

Of the other Christians detained with Pourmand, 76 were released by nightfall the day of their arrest. Ten pastors were kept for interrogations for three more days, after which Pourmand’s nine colleagues were released conditionally. The freed pastors were warned that they should expect to be summoned again within a few weeks for more questioning.

But authorities have remained tight-lipped about Pourmand, a former Muslim serving as the volunteer pastor of a congregation in Bandar-i Bushehr. Famous as the site of Iran’s first nuclear reactor, the port city is located 240 miles south of Tehran along the Persian gulf.

At the time of Pourmand’s arrest, his Assyrian Christian wife and two young children were visiting relatives in Tehran. When the family returned to Bushehr, they discovered that their home had been broken into and ransacked, with all of the family’s papers, documents and photographs removed.

“His relatives fear for his life,” one source admitted, particularly if the secret police transfer him to the jurisdiction of a military court.

After converting to Christianity nearly 25 years ago, Pourmand had continued to serve as an officer in the Iranian army, despite laws instituted after the Islamic revolution to prohibit non-Muslims from holding officer rank. “Hamid did not keep his conversion

secret,” one of his friends told Compass. “But he is an honest man, and people liked and respected him.”

A few days before Pourmand and his fellow evangelicals were arrested, a top official within the Ministry of Security Intelligence spoke on state television’s Channel 1, warning the populace against the many “foreign religions” active in the country and pledging to protect the nation’s “beloved Shiite Islam” from all outside forces.

Reportedly, this same official participated in the extended interrogation of the 10 evangelical pastors, complaining that Christian activities in Iran had gone “out of control” and insisting that their church do something to stop the flood of Christian literature, television and radio programs targeting Iran.

Over the past year, prominent government leaders have publicly denounced Christianity, Sufism and Zoroastrianism as threats to Iran’s national security.

Under Iran’s Islamist regime, several ex-Muslims who converted to Christianity have been either assassinated or executed by court order, under the guise of accusations of spying for foreign countries.

Apostasy is listed along with murder, armed robbery, rape and serious drug trafficking as a capital offense in Iran.

During a speech to high school students in Tehran six months ago, Shiite cleric Hasan Mohammadi from the Ministry of Education declared, “Unfortunately, on average every day, 50 Iranian girls and boys convert secretly to Christian denominations in our country.”

After the speech, which was reported by the Inter Press Service (IPS) news agency’s correspondent Ramin Mostaghim on May 5, the father of one student in the audience told IPS that Mohammadi had “unknowingly admitted the defeat of the Islamic Republic of Iran as a theocratic regime in promoting its Islam.”

According to one Iranian Christian who spoke with Compass last week, “Neither the government nor the established churches can control what is happening spiritually across Iran right now.”

“We are hearing estimates that 60 percent of the Iranian people have now heard the message of Christ, even out in the villages,” the source said. Although many of the new Christians are young people, reports indicate entire families have come to faith in Christ and started worshipping in the privacy of their own homes.

“So really, the government can’t do anything to stop the growth of Christianity in Iran,” he said. “It’s out of control.”

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

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***********************************Iraqi Christians Fleeing to Jordan, SyriaChristian leaders say Iraqi church’s future threatened.by Dale Gavlak

AMMAN, Jordan, and DAMASCUS, Syria, October 6 (Compass) -- A quiet but steady hemorrhaging of Iraq’s ancient Christian presence is underway and little is being done to stem the flow.

Written threats, kidnappings, bombings and murder by Muslim extremists are driving thousands of Iraq’s minority Christian population out of their ancestral homeland, fleeing for safety to neighboring Jordan and Syria.

“The Christians are experiencing an absence of leadership,” explained Hala Hikmat, a recent arrival from Baghdad who has joined thousands of her countrymen in Syria. “We have no leaders who are communicating our urgent needs to the authorities, so consequently each person has to take care of themselves.” Their urgent needs, as expressed by Hikmat, are for protection and for a stand to be taken on Christians’ behalf.

A string of church bombings in August and September sent anywhere from 30,000 to 40,000 Christians fleeing the country, according to estimates by Iraqi government and church officials. And they admit that hundreds more families out of Iraq’s 750,000 Christians are leaving each week.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) disputes these figures, saying they are too high. But UNHCR offices in Amman and Damascus admit that it is hard to know exactly how many Iraqi Christians are currently in Jordan and Syria.

Of the 4,000 Iraqi families officially registered as refugees with the agency in Damascus, more than half are Christians. It is believed that there are larger numbers of Iraqis in Syria because it is cheaper to live there than in Jordan. Iraqi Christians also said they have stronger cultural and spiritual ties to Syria. Syrian authorities estimate there are about 300,000 Iraqis in the country.

“The Syrian government has been extremely generous to the Iraqis,” explained Abdelhamed El Ouali, UNHCR head in Damascus. “It has kept the borders open without political considerations. And it believes it has a sacred duty to allow Iraqis who need safety to stay as long as necessary. But I am afraid if the numbers continue to rise dramatically without any international assistance, the situation here could change,” he warned.

A member of Iraq’s Chaldean Catholic community, who refused to give her name for fear of reprisals against family members, said she lived near one of the churches that was bombed in Baghdad last August. “I received a letter threatening me. It also claimed that the church where I served would explode while I was inside,” she said, “unless I paid $300,000.

“We are poor people and do not have such money, so I took my husband and my son and we fled to Syria,” she said.

The synchronized bombings of five churches on August 1 and a car bombing at a Baghdad church on September 10 sent shock waves through the Christian community. Iraqi officials blamed al-Qaeda ally and Jordanian terror-mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi for the attacks.

A university student visiting Syria from Baghdad said she wanted to attend Mass at the Chaldean Church of St. Terese of Little Jesus while she was in Damascus because there was little opportunity now to worship back home without fear. “We can’t attend services because all of the churches are threatened with explosions,” she said. “No one knows what will happen now.”

Most of Iraq’s Christians are Chaldean eastern-rite Catholics who are autonomous from Rome but who recognize the pope’s authority. Other Christian denominations in Iraq include Roman and Syrian Catholics; Assyrians; Greek, Syrian and Armenian Orthodox; Presbyterians; Anglicans; and evangelicals.

One Baptist woman from Baghdad who also refused to give her name said she had taken to wearing a head-covering when going outside, simply to protect herself and her children. “It is very risky now to go out on the streets in Iraq without a scarf on your head,” she said. “When I dared to do it, people shouted at me from a passing car that I had to respect Islamic traditions in a country where Muslims are the majority.”

But the woman said that was not the main reason why her family fled Iraq. Her husband is a university professor. She explained that because he is a Christian and an educated professional, he was a double target for militants. “They have been killing university professors. They want to rid Iraq of intellectuals.

“We have received threats and letters saying they have not incurred enough casualties. We were frightened and decided to leave.”

Although Iraq’s top Shiite Muslim cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, has condemned the assaults on churches as “hideous crimes,” Muslim leaders have largely refused to criticize the killings of Christians who work for the U.S. military or sell liquor. Beauty salons and shops selling music cassettes run by Christians have also been targeted because they are deemed offensive to strict Islamic practices.

Christian businessman Sawa Eissa said it was more than threats that forced him and his family out of Baghdad and over the border to Jordan. He said militants linked to renegade Shiite Muslim cleric Moqtada al-Sadr recently kidnapped and tortured him until his family paid ransom money.

“A gang came to my shop with machine guns and forced me into a car where I remained for nine days,” he said. “They wanted $200,000 from me.

“They repeatedly hit me and poured boiling water all over my body. I was held hostage until my family paid them $50,000 to finally get me released.”

Eissa, who is in his mid 50s, now walks with a cane and burn marks are visible on his body. He said he and his family hope to find permanent refuge in Australia because he cannot find legal work in Jordan.

An Iraqi church leader, Noel Farman, said other Iraqis have also become victims of the escalating violence and militant clashes with U.S. and Iraqi forces. But because Christians are much fewer in number, he argued, attacks against them have a disproportionate impact.

“Christians in Iraq are becoming more and more of a minority, and they are being sacrificed for the sake of the war against terrorism taking place on the battlefield of Iraq,” he said. “We feel depressed, because we are considered like a ‘playing card’ that outside forces can manipulate for their own aims.

“We Iraqis of various religious and ethnic backgrounds are used to living together and enjoying good relationships, but now these relations are being exploited,” Farman explained, shaking his head.

The number of Christians in Iraq is expected to drop as long as hostilities continue in the country, in line with their already steady decline over the past 15 years. Before the 2003 war, Christians represented one million out of Iraq’s 25 million inhabitants, while a 1987 census recorded their number as 1.4 million.

A Syrian Orthodox bishop, preferring not to be named, said he feared Iraq’s Christian population could totally disappear within a decade if emigration continues at its current rate. But Farman was more hopeful. He said the Iraqi church was resilient and would move underground if the circumstances worsened.

Yet even in these troubled times, there are stalwart Christians who are choosing not to leave their homeland. A small group of Pentecostal Christians who visited Amman recently from Baghdad reported that their church is growing, despite some outward pressure. In another instance, a family returned to the Iraqi capital in order to start a Bible study with women from one of the Catholic churches targeted in the August blasts.

Without a strong Christian presence in Iraq, or candidates in the upcoming elections who insist on a separation between religion and the state, the country could move precariously toward becoming a theocracy dominated by Islamic parties and clerics. Iraqi Christians said they do not want to leave their country, but without the needed recognition and support of their rights, staying there is becoming a more difficult proposition.

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***********************************Jordanian Custody Case Hinges on Conflicting TestimoniesChristian widow denies Muslim guardian’s claim.by Barbara G. Baker

ISTANBUL, October 25 (Compass) -- A Jordanian judge heard opposing testimony from Christian widow Siham Qandah last week, calling her to the witness stand on October 21 over the disputed use of her children’s trust funds by their Muslim guardian.

Qandah’s statements before Judge Mahmud Zghul of the Al-Abdali Sharia Court in Amman flatly contradicted court testimony given 10 days earlier by guardian Abdullah al-Muhtadi.

As Qandah’s estranged brother who converted to Islam as a teenager, al-Muhtadi has been trying to gain custody of her two minor children through Jordan’s Islamic court system.

Al-Muhtadi had testified in court to Judge Zghul on October 10 that his massive withdrawals of more than $17,000 from the children’s orphan trust funds had all been spent “legitimately.”

Most of the money was used for paying his lawyers’ fees in the long-fought custody case, he declared. He also claimed to have given Qandah 750 Jordanian dinars ($1,100) in cash to buy a refrigerator for her daughter Rawan, now 16, and son Fadi, who turns 15 next week.

“I told the judge that I had never received any money from the guardian for a refrigerator,” Siham told Compass yesterday. “And he has not been giving me the children’s monthly benefits, either.”

“In fact, he has never even visited our family for the past 10 years, to see if we needed anything. My son Fadi is almost 15, and he was only five years old the last time he saw his guardian.”

After repeatedly failing to appear in court, al-Muhtadi answered an official court subpoena to testify before Judge Zghul on October 10. When he was again summoned for

the October 21 hearing, the court waited until 1:30 that afternoon for him to appear. When the guardian failed to come, Judge Zghul heard Qandah’s testimony and then set November 9 for a final hearing on the case.

Qandah said the judge spoke with her privately after last week’s hearing. The judge reportedly told her that the children’s guardian should understand that he was “accountable to Allah,” if he was not telling the truth to the court.

“I told the judge that I don’t care about the trust fund,” Qandah said. “The guardian can take all that money. I don’t want it or anything else, just my children.”

Qandah said that her daughter Rawan, who is the official plaintiff in the pending case to cancel al-Muhtadi’s guardianship, will be required to attend the November 9 hearing, when final arguments and testimony on the case will be heard.

In August, Jordan’s Supreme Islamic Court upheld an appeal filed by Qandah’s lawyer, protesting against the lower court’s refusal to disqualify al-Muhtadi as a fit guardian for the children for alleged mishandling of their trust funds.

Judge Zghul was instructed by the supreme court to investigate the guardian’s actual use of these large sums of money, which he had withdrawn after obtaining written authorization from various Islamic court judges, including the chief justice.

Qandah and al-Muhtadi have been embroiled in a judicial wrangle since 1998, when he filed suit to take custody of the children away from his Christian sister and raise them as Muslims.

After Qandah’s Christian husband died 10 years ago while serving as a soldier in the U.N. Peacekeeping Forces in Kosovo, an Islamic court produced a “conversion” certificate claiming he had secretly converted to Islam three years earlier. So even though the children were baptized Christians, Islamic law automatically made them Muslims, and their financial affairs could no longer be handled by their Christian mother.

Qandah asked her Muslim brother to become their legal guardian, but to her dismay, he soon began to appropriate the children’s monthly orphans’ benefits. Later he dipped into their trust funds allocated by the United Nations for them to inherit at age 18, through the Widows and Orphans Fund of the Jordanian army.

After Qandah’s brother learned that she had enrolled both children in a Christian school and was taking them to church regularly in Husn, their hometown in northern Jordan, al-Muhtadi opened a case in the Islamic courts to take them into his home to raise as Muslims. The Supreme Islamic Court ruled in his favor in February 2002.

Despite court orders to hand over her children or face prison, Qandah has gone into hiding with her children several times over the past 30 months, while appealing for legal

or diplomatic intervention to reverse the decision. Her children are blacklisted by court order from leaving the country.

Jordan’s royal family, including King Abdullah II and Queen Rania, have actively monitored the case, pledging that Qandah will neither go to jail nor lose her children. But they have stopped short of direct interference in the judicial process.

***Photographs of Qandah and her children are available electronically. Contact Compass Direct for pricing and transmittal.

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***********************************Malay Woman Fights for Right to ConvertLina Joy appeals court ruling on constitutional grounds.By Sarah Page

DUBLIN, October 18 (Compass) -- In most countries of the world, citizens have the right to change their religion. But a recent case proves that this right does not necessarily apply in Malaysia.

On October 14, the Court of Appeal heard the case of Azlina Jailani, who adopted the name Lina Joy when she became a Christian in 1998. Lina Joy had appealed for a second time for the right to remove the word “Islam” from her national identity card. A final announcement on the ruling is expected in December, according to the Malaysian news agency Bernama.

In Malaysia, all ethnic Malays are deemed to be Muslim from birth. Malays and other indigenous groups make up 58 percent of the population. Chinese, Indian and other immigrant groups make up the remainder. A 2000 census claimed 60.4 percent of the total population was Muslim.

Lina Joy first applied for permission to change her religious status in 2001. Without this official change, she could not marry outside the Muslim faith.

However, according to a Malaysian newspaper report in May 2001, High Court Judge Datuk Faiza Tamby Chik declared that “As a Malay, the plaintiff exists under the tenets of Islam until her death.”

Judge Faiza also ruled that the Islamic sharia court must handle the case, since conversion came under sharia jurisdiction.

This ruling created huge obstacles for Lina Joy. The Quran states that the act of apostasy -- or abandoning the Muslim faith -- is punishable by death. A sharia court is therefore highly unlikely to grant permission for a change of religion.

Under Malaysian law, apostates can be sentenced to three years in a faith rehabilitation center, where Muslim counselors try to persuade them to return to Islam. If apostates do not “repent,” they can be sentenced to a further six years of “rehabilitation.”

Lina Joy appealed against Judge Faiza’s 2001 ruling on the grounds that the Malaysian constitution guarantees freedom of religion. By doing this, she hoped to circumvent the sharia court.

Article 11 of the constitution guarantees Malaysian citizens the right to adopt the religion of their choice.

However, in practice it seems Article 11 does not apply to ethnic Malays. A report by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom released on September 15 confirmed that while the constitution guarantees religious freedom, the government has placed “some restrictions” on that right.

Lina Joy argued that, as a Christian convert, she should not be subject to sharia law.

However, Islamic law professor Shad Faruqi stated in the Straits Times on October 11 that the requirement for official approval of conversions was a legal safeguard. Without it, Muslims could evade sharia law by leaving their faith whenever they were charged with a religious offense.

Lina Joy’s case highlights the need for Malaysia to set clearer ground rules on religious conversions. Both civil and sharia courts are reluctant to handle these cases because of the controversy involved.

A similar ruling earlier this year sparked heated debate in newspapers and online forums. The four Malay Muslims at the center of the debate first applied to change their religion in 1992, but the court refused permission and sentenced them to 20 months of imprisonment.

In August 1998, the four formally renounced Islam before a commissioner of oaths. The Kelantan Sharia Court then charged them with contempt for refusing to attend rehabilitation classes which were part of their original sentence in 1992, and sentenced them to an additional three years at a rehabilitation camp.

Appeals to the High Court were rejected in July 2004. (See Compass Direct, “Malaysians Debate True Meaning of Religious Freedom,” August 2004.)

Malaysian citizens are also debating Lina Joy’s case. The administrator of the United Subang Jaya Web forum, who goes by the name “Kwchang,” recently asked forum members, “If I do not have ‘Islam’ on my card, could I be negatively discriminated as well for being a non-Muslim?”

A member identified only as Timo replied, “This leads to another question, one that I have asked before. Do Malays have to be Islamic?”

Another member responded, “This is one of those things that make me ashamed of my own religion ... there is nothing un-islamic [sic] in the act of denouncing Islam. In fact, it’s more un-islamic to forbid people to denounce it.”

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, addressing a congress of the ruling United Malays National Organization (UMNO) in September, promoted his concept of Islam Hadhari -- a progressive form of Islam designed to equip Malay Muslims for the challenges of modern society.

Under Islam Hadhari, “Islam must be delivered in a judicious manner through reminders and advice, through dialogue and the exchange of thoughts ... war and the use of force should not be used as a shortcut to success.”

Abdullah also claimed that UMNO, the ruling party, “staunchly opposes the use of Islam as an instrument to manipulate people’s beliefs.”

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***********************************Muslim Militants in Nigeria Threaten to Kill Christian NursesManagement bans Christian worship at a hospital.by Obed Minchakpu

KEFFI, Nigeria, October 13 (Compass) -- Muslim militants have threatened to kill Christian nurses serving at the Federal Medical Center in the town of Keffi, in the central state of Nasarawa, Nigeria, unless they stop conducting Christian worship services.

An undated letter received by the hospital’s chapter of the Fellowship of Christian Nurses (FCN) -- also delivered to hospital management -- stated, “We are making it abundantly clear that our thirst for your heads/blood is mounting daily if you continue with your worship services in the hospital unabated.”

The letter carried no names and was simply endorsed by a group calling itself “Islamic fundamentalists.” The group said that it has a strong presence in the hospital and would do everything possible to deal with all Christian health workers there.

The letter has reportedly caused panic at the hospital and prompted institutional authorities to ban all Christian worship activities.

Christiana Shiaki, secretary of the local chapter of the FCN, told Compass that Dr. B.A. Abiminku, medical director and chief executive at Keffi Federal Medical Center, sent the nurses a letter on July 19, 2004, stating that Christian-related activities at the facility had been banned.

“Following the events of last week ... which occurred within the center, Management has decided that Christian religious activities at the center is [sic] suspended in the interim,” Abiminku wrote.

Shiaki said the letter also contained a summons for the nurses to meet with hospital management. “On arrival, we were informed that the management has reached a decision based on the threat letter to ban our fellowship in the center indefinitely,” she said. “No mention was made [at the meeting] to the threat to our lives as Christians.”

Shiaki told Compass that the ban on Christian activities at the hospital denies Christian nurses and other health workers the privilege to exercise their faith as guaranteed by the Constitution of Nigeria.

“We are being discriminated against because we are Christians,” she said. “We have not done anything wrong to deserve this. How can they ban us from praying or worshipping here when the Muslims have two mosques built with public funds for them here in the hospital?”

Shiaki also said that for the past five years, the Christian community at the hospital has been pleading for space to build a chapel to serve health workers and patients, but the request had been turned down.

Nigeria’s chapter of the FCN was established in 1960, the year the country attained independence from Britain. The fellowship is affiliated with the Nurses Christian Fellowship International, headquartered in Scotland.

According to a report released last week by the Associated Press, violence between Muslims and Christians in central Nigeria over the last three years has left more than 53,000 people dead. A government-appointed committee said 53,787 people had died in Plateau state alone between September 2001 and May 2004.

Most of the casualties have been Christians killed in riots and militia attacks carried out by radical Muslim groups. Evidence is emerging that shows the Muslim militias receive foreign funding to purchase weapons and material. The militias often mount attacks from neighboring countries, such as Niger and Chad, which have large Muslim populations.

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***********************************Christian Leaders in Nigeria Call for End to Emergency RuleGovernment committee establishes death toll from religious violence at 53,000.by Obed Minchakpu

JOS, Nigeria, November 2 (Compass) -- Representatives of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in the central state of Plateau, Nigeria, have called on the government to bring to an end to emergency rule imposed on the state six months ago and to restore all democratic structures. They say the move will reassure Christians of the Nigerian government’s commitment to transparency in handling issues of religious rights.

“The emergency period has provided an opportunity for the church and the whole state to do a soul search,” CAN leaders wrote in a letter to Nigeria’s president, Olusegun Obasanjo. “With the return of peace, any such extension of the emergency rule will lead to unnecessary restlessness and questioning of your motives. We urge you not to allow a situation in which you are seen to be selective in treating Christians in Plateau state with respect to this matter.”

The letter was signed by Rev. Yakubu Pam, chairman of the Plateau state chapter of CAN; Rev. Ignatius Kaigama, Catholic Archbishop of Jos; Rev. Dr. Alexander Lar, president of the Church of Christ in Nigeria; Rt. Rev. Benjamin Kwashi, Anglican Bishop of Jos; and 10 others.

CAN leaders said they were obliged to ask Obasanjo to end the emergency period due to agitation from Muslim leadership in the country aimed at extending the state of emergency for no apparent reason. The Christian leaders made their appeal just as a government report from the Committee on Rehabilitation and Reconciliation of Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) revealed that over 53,000 persons were killed in religious violence that has engulfed the state in the past three years.

Christian leaders also told President Obasanjo that they fully support the establishment of a government Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and suggested that the proposed commission be constituted after the full restoration of democratic structures in the state.

“This is so that the commission can properly focus on genuine reconciliation of offended parties across ethnic, religious and political lines,” they said. “If the commission can work to restore permanent peace and healing of hearts in Plateau, the other areas of the nation where crises have occurred may be able to learn from the Plateau initiative.”

The IDP report disclosed that 53,787 persons have been killed during the three-year crisis that has pitched Muslims against Christians in the state. Thomas Kagnaan, chairman of the IDP committee, told journalists in Jos that of the total number of victims, 18,931 were men, 17,397 women and 17, 459 children.

Kagnann also reported that 218,164 households have been displaced and 25,129 houses destroyed. He placed the estimated cost of properties destroyed at 130 million naira ($1,000,000).

The period of the state of emergency in Plateau state began in May 2004 and extends through November.

Meanwhile, the Plateau state government has released details of its proposed Truth and Reconciliation Commission. State Attorney General Yusufu Pam announced yesterday the appointment of retired Supreme Court Justice Anthony Aniagolu to head the commission, which is expected to begin functioning soon as the National Assembly passes into law the necessary legal instruments to support its work.

Flanked by the secretary to the Plateau state government, John G. Grobak, and the permanent secretary of security, Timothy B. Parlong, Pam explained to assembled journalists that the Truth and Reconciliation Commission is meant to outlive emergency rule and become a permanent feature in the state, “irrespective of which administration is in governance.”

“The major reason for seeking the establishment of the commission by a bill to the National Assembly is to guarantee its proper constitution and legal backing for the amnesty mechanism and procedure,” Pam said.

“Persons who wish to make full disclosure and apply for amnesty will have legal protection for confessing the truth.” However, Pam said that those who do not wish to benefit from this legal opportunity “will be subjected to the usual process of police investigation and prosecution before the law courts.”

The mandate of the Truth Commission, he said, allows for persons alleged to have committed crimes during the crisis to present themselves before the commission to make a full disclosure of their role, express remorse to the victims and people of Plateau state, and seek amnesty. The process aims to bring about reconciliation between victims and perpetrators, and bring peace to local communities.

Findings of a peace conference convened by the government in September reportedly revealed that most judicial panels have indicated that Muslims are the cause of the religious friction between them and Christians in the state. At press time, however, no further details were available about the issue.

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***********************************Saudi Court Sidesteps Religious AccusationsExpatriate Christian ‘convicted’ on alcohol allegations.by Barbara G. Baker

ISTANBUL, October 27 (Compass) -- In an arbitrary verdict handed down last week by a Saudi Arabian court, Christian prisoner Brian O’Connor was convicted of the alleged possession and sale of alcohol in the strictly Muslim kingdom.

Without explanation, an Islamic court in Riyadh ignored O’Connor’s previous charge of “spreading Christianity,” under which he has already been jailed for seven months.

Instead, the Indian national was sentenced on October 20 to three more months in jail, along with a punishment of 300 lashes, for the liquor accusations.

But O’Connor refused to accept the verdict, declaring to the court that he was not guilty of any crime. When he refused to accept and sign the verdict, the court granted him 10 days to re-think his decision.

O’Connor again declined, insisting he would not change his decision. The judge then warned him that his refusal would send his case up to the high court. Such an appeal process would delay even further the settlement of his case, he was told, possibly resulting in an even harsher penalty if he was still found “guilty.”

Jailed since March 25, O’Connor was first brought to court on September 15, when he was finally informed of three formal charges filed against him.

At that time, he was told that the muttawa (Muslim religious police) who arrested him had accused him of having 12 bottles of liquor in his possession, along with evidence that he had sold liquor. A group of seven muttawa abducted O’Connor off a Riyadh street and tortured him severely before turning him over to a local police station. He has been incarcerated at Riyadh’s Al-Hair Prison since April 4.

A second accusation on the charge sheet declared that he had pornographic movies in his possession, while the third charge stated O’Connor possessed Bibles and “preached Christianity.”

According to the “evidence” cited at last week’s hearing, 800 Saudi rials (equivalent to $213) had been found in his pockets at the time of his arrest. The muttawas claimed that the serial numbers of these bills matched those recorded by an undercover agent, who they said had bought 12 bottles of liquor from O’Connor in a planned sting operation.

When O’Connor asked the court if his fingerprints had been found on the bills said to have been in his pocket, the court told him that Saudi Arabia did not have any system for checking fingerprints. The judge went on to state there was no need to verify fingerprints, since the muttawas who testified against him were government officials, and the statements of such “elderly and respectable people” did not need to be examined.

Through an official interpreter, the Indian Christian reminded the court that he had been informed at his first hearing last month that the muttawas accusing him would be present in court at the next hearing. However, the court told him his accusers had been called to a separate hearing for recording their statements.

During the first hearing on September 15, O’Connor had defended himself at length regarding his possession of Bibles and Christian videos in English. The Indian said he had brought the Bibles into the country for his personal use six years ago, when he

arrived from India. He also had a copy of the Bible on his computer software, again for his personal use, he said.

The 160 videos in his home were mostly Bible-related films and sermons, many downloaded from a Christian satellite TV channel, he said, none of them with questionable moral content.

“Christians in Saudi Arabia are fully supportive of Brian’s claims,” the Christian advocacy group Middle East Concern noted in a release yesterday. Although O’Connor has firmly denied the liquor and pornography charges, he has freely admitted worshipping with other Christians in his home.

When questioned about having “illegal meetings for worship” in his home, O’Connor told the court he had read a public statement by a government official from the royal family, declaring that the Saudi kingdom did not “interfere” in the personal faiths of the thousands of non-Muslims working in the country.

In an Arab News article datelined Jeddah on April 9, 2003, and headlined “Non-Muslims Free to Practice Faiths in Private,” Deputy Interior Minister Prince Ahmad stated, “We don’t interfere in the affairs of other countries, and we don’t allow anybody to do anything contrary to Islam. People are free to practice their religious faiths and beliefs at home and in private.”

On the basis of this statement, O’Connor said he believed it was legal for him to lead a Bible study group with other expatriate Christians of various nationalities, and that he had only done so after reading the official’s remarks. The court denied that this was an accurate understanding of Saudi law, but requested O’Connor to produce the article for examination.

O’Connor had worked as a cargo agent for Saudia Airlines at the Riyadh airport for six years before his arrest.

Under Saudi Arabia’s implementation of Islamic law, defendants are not guaranteed access to a lawyer, with public access rarely granted to trial hearings.

***Photographs of Brian O’Connor and the Al-Hair Prison where he is held are available electronically. Contact Compass Direct for pricing and transmittal.

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***********************************Christian Prisoner Deported from Saudi ArabiaIndian Brian O’Connor released after seven months.by Barbara G. Baker

ISTANBUL, November 2 (Compass) -- Seven months and seven days after he was arrested, tortured and jailed on charges of “spreading Christianity” in Saudi Arabia, Indian national Brian O’Connor was deported back to his homeland today.

The Indian Christian was put aboard a Saudia Airlines jet leaving Riyadh at 2 a.m. this morning, arriving in Mumbai, formerly known as Bombay, at 8:30 a.m. local time. He was met at the airport by Christian friends who had previously worked in the strict Islamic kingdom.

“It’s a miracle,” O’Connor told Compass today by telephone from his aunt’s home near Mumbai. “God has been working miracles in my life, and He will continue doing this!” It was O’Connor’s first reunion with his family since April 1998, when he went to work in Saudi Arabia.

O’Connor said he was deported unconditionally by Saudi authorities, who discharged him from Al-Hair Prison at 9 p.m. yesterday and transferred him to the Riyadh airport terminal.

His handcuffs were removed while airport officials handled his immigration and airline check-in procedures, and police allowed him to get off the prison bus to greet friends who had gathered, hoping to see him off.

After being escorted through the terminal’s departure gate, O’Connor was treated as an ordinary passenger, mingling freely among other travellers.

On October 20, O’Connor had been convicted by an Islamic court on alleged liquor charges and sentenced to three more months in jail and 300 lashes. But the Indian Christian had refused to accept the verdict, despite the judge’s warning that he could incur heavier punishment if he rejected the court’s ruling.

Then on the evening of October 30, O’Connor said he was told without explanation that he was being processed for immediate deportation. However, after he was released from his cell that evening, prison officials said it was not possible to return to him the money confiscated from him at the time of his arrest.

When O’Connor insisted that the cash be returned to him, an official asked him, “So do you want to leave for the airport, or do you want your money back?”

“I told him I wanted both,” O’Connor told Compass. “That is the Lord’s money, and it should be used for Him.” To the officials’ amazement, O’Connor calmly walked back into his cell, waiting out another two days in jail until the next scheduled flight, when his money was returned to him.

During O’Connor’s seven months in jail, he said 21 of his cellmates came to faith in Christ through his active witness. “I was there for a purpose,” he continued. “And on the

flight home today, I shared with another man who prayed with me to receive Christ,” he said.

O’Connor had persistently denied two of the allegations filed against him by a group of “muttawa” (Saudi religious police) who detained him on March 25, beating and torturing him for seven hours before taking him to a police station. The muttawa claimed he was caught selling liquor and had pornographic videos in his possession.

But during his first hearing on September 15, O’Connor confirmed charges that he had Bibles in his home, declaring he had openly brought them through customs for his personal use when he entered the country.

He also testified that after Saudi authorities said publicly in April 2003 that non-Muslims were “free to practice their religious faiths and beliefs at home and in private,” he had hosted Bible studies in his home for expatriate Christians.

O’Connor, 36, had worked as a cargo agent for Saudia Airlines at the Riyadh airport for the past six years.

Saudi Arabia’s practice of strict Wahhabi Islam permits no freedom of religion, although the government claims to exercise “practical tolerance” toward the thousands of non-Muslims working in the country who wish to worship privately in their homes.

For the first time this past September, the U.S. State Department named Saudi Arabia as one of eight countries of particular concern for its “gross infringements of religious freedom.”

***Photographs of Brian O’Connor in the departure lounge of the Riyadh airport are available electronically. Contact Compass Direct for pricing and transmittal.

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***********************************Uzbek Authorities Raid Baptist ChurchTashkent congregation refused registration for eight years.by Barbara G. Baker

TASHKENT, Uzbekistan, October 27 (Compass) -- Police in the Uzbekistan capital of Tashkent raided a Baptist church during Sunday worship on October 17, declaring the service an “illegal religious meeting” and demanding the pastor promise to stop all the church’s activities.

About 120 members of the congregation of the Bethany Baptist Church in Tashkent’s Mirzo-Ulugbek district were midway through their Sunday morning service when eight district police officials appeared at the door.

Ringing the bell, the officers demanded to speak with the church’s leader. Pastor Nikolai Shevchenko complied, leaving the platform at the front of the church to walk outside and speak with the officers.

According to Shevchenko, who spoke with Compass two days after the incident, the policemen demanded, “What’s going on here?” When he stated that he and his congregation were singing and worshipping, the officials asked, “Do you have permission to do this? Is your church registered?”

“I told them no, so they asked me, ‘Why not?’” Shevchenko said. “That is also my question,” he told them. “Why is our church not registered?”

A member of the Baptist Union, Shevchenko’s church has been seeking official registration in vain for the past eight years. Despite a three-year lull in police actions against their activities, the church remains caught in an apparent standoff between local city regulations and the government’s restrictive registration laws instituted in 1998.

When the police insisted that paper be brought so they could write up official documents on the case, the pastor led them back through the church sanctuary to a room off the church’s inner garden. There they demanded that the pastor list the names of everyone present. When he refused to do this, they told him to write and sign a statement, admitting that he was conducting an illegal religious meeting.

“It is not pleasant for me to persecute you while you are praying to God,” one officer reportedly told Shevchenko. “But we have orders, so if you do not comply, we will have to call for trucks and buses so we can arrest everyone and take them to the police station.”

With the officers’ permission, Shevchenko returned to the congregation to ask if any would volunteer to represent the church by writing a personal statement for the police. Eight of the members came forward to write and sign statements declaring they had been present at the church’s morning service.

Although the police demanded that Shevchenko promise not to meet again in the church, he declined to do so. After confiscating samples of literature found in the church sanctuary and classrooms, the officers left, telling the pastor and eight members that they would be called to answer in court over the case.

In repeated attempts to gain legal registration, the Bethany Church congregation has provided the required list of 100 founding members and three pastoral leaders, paid a large registration fee and even secured the written approval of local community leaders and neighbors.

But nevertheless, police have twice before interrupted their worship services, assessing fines against the congregation, arresting the pastor and several members and filing criminal charges against them in May 2000 and again in June 2001.

In a straightforward plea to be heard, the church sent a letter in March 2001 to President Islam Karimov, attaching 18 documents confirming the history of the church’s attempt to register itself legally. Although Shevchenko was told orally that Karimov’s cabinet had seen the letter and would “resolve” the case, there has been no written response.

On October 19, Shevchenko told Compass that he had heard about three other Tashkent churches which had experienced similar interruptions from police officials over the past few days. “The clouds are gathering again over our churches here,” he said.

Shevchenko, 57, started the Bethany Church as an independent congregation in 1996. With Sunday attendance averaging 130 or more, the church has since started two spin-off church groups in nearby districts of northeast Tashkent. The members are an ethnic mix of Germans, Koreans, Uzbeks, Tatars, Kazakhs and Russians, the pastor said.

“We have existed since 1996,” Shevchenko said, “so how can the authorities say we do not exist?”

***Photographs of Pastor Nikolai Shevchenko and the Bethany Baptist Church are available electronically. Contact Compass Direct for pricing and transmittal.

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***********************************Trial Date Set for Rev. Nguyen Hong Quang in VietnamPersecution continues for Mennonite house church Christians. Special to Compass Direct

HO CHI MINH CITY, November 2 (Compass) -- Rev. Nguyen Hong Quang, prominent rights activist and general secretary of the Mennonite church in Vietnam, is scheduled to be tried on November 12. His wife was informed of this on Saturday, October 30.

Quang was arrested on June 8 on the charge of “inciting others to resist officers of the law doing their duty.” His arrest came three months after the arrest of four Mennonite church workers following an incident at the Mennonite church, office and home of Quang in Ho Chi Minh City. A sixth arrest of a woman evangelist connected to the incident occurred in early July. Unprecedented character attacks on Quang by Vietnam’s official media occurred shortly after his arrest.

Authorities admitted to some of Quang’s colleagues early on that the real reason for his arrest was his Internet activity in which he carefully documented and published many religious liberty and human rights abuses. But following significant international attention to this case, authorities seem to have changed their minds. A high official of the Ministry of Public Security told house church leaders who inquired about Quang in Hanoi at the end of September that the Internet charge was no longer in play but that

local officials in Ho Chi Minh City were insisting on putting him on trial for the original charge.

Irregularities and inconsistencies continue to surround the case. Contrary to Vietnamese law and practice, authorities have refused to give Quang’s wife a copy of the indictment which was turned over to the court by police investigators at least a week ago, and they also refused to give her a copy of the court’s decision to try him.

Section 182 of Vietnam’s criminal code requires that an accused be given time to engage a lawyer and prepare a defense. Vietnamese authorities delivered the news to Mrs. Quang on Saturday, making it impossible for her to contact a lawyer until Monday. When a lawyer went to the court on Monday, he was told that no date had been set for the trial.

Mrs. Quang was denied the bi-weekly visit scheduled for October 15 and went daily after that to try to see her husband. She was finally told on October 22 by a Mrs. Le that she would not be allowed to see him unless she agreed to try to convince him to admit to his “crime.” She refused.

The Vietnam Evangelical Fellowship (VEF), an association of about 25 house church organizations, is preparing a united statement of support and action for Pastor Quang. When they did this last January for Rev. Bui Van Ba, they succeeded in getting an indefinite postponement of his trial. This time the stakes are higher as 50 VEF and other house church leaders are already under special scrutiny, having recently signed a petition against the new Ordinance on Religion scheduled to come into effect on November 15.

Vietnamese Christians following the case are concerned that there have been no developments on the other five Mennonites, four of whom have been held without formal charges and trial for seven months.

Meanwhile, constant heavy pressure has been placed on Montagnard Mennonites in the Central Highlands. On October 22, Human Rights Watch released news of the September 24 destruction of the Mennonite church, office and home of Pastor Chinh. Compass has received reports and photos of other concurrent abuses.

A report signed by seven Jarai-minority Christians stated that a week after they received baptism by Rev. Nguyen Cong Chinh on September 19, they were summoned by the police chief, Major Nguyen Dinh Son, of Sa Thay District in Kontum. They were “tied, tortured and beaten” for three days in an attempt to get them to recant their faith and to have nothing further to do with the Mennonite church leaders.

Following an October 19 anniversary celebration at the Monu church in Chu A Commune of Pleiku City, Gia Lai, four Mennonite pastors and leaders were summoned on October 23 for interrogation. On arrival at the Chu A Commune People’s Committee office, the men were greeted by police and security officials of the city. During four days of detention, they were pressured by threats and abuse to sign a form letter giving up

Christianity and promising not to have anything further to do with the Mennonite church. Two of them succumbed to the pressure and signed but have since reaffirmed their commitment to their faith.

On October 27, about a dozen students and Mrs. Quang, who are living at the Quang home and Mennonite church, were summoned to the Binh Khanh Ward to “receive an announcement regarding residency” on October 28. An order, signed by Col. Nguyen Van Roi, head of the Binh Khanh Ward Security Branch, said that police had inspected the property on July 27 and found that various people “were living there without official permission.” The announcement said that “unlawful activities” continued to take place there. He said that police had “reminded, cited and taken measures” many times but that the owners had failed to respond to their “goodwill.” In fact, all but four of the students’ residence papers were in order. The “unlawful activities” refer to Christian worship.

Compass has learned that Larry Miller, executive secretary of the Mennonite World Conference in Strasbourg, France, plans to travel to Vietnam later this month to appeal for the release of the imprisoned Mennonite leaders.

A long-time Vietnam watcher told Compass, “Western governments, human rights and religious liberty organizations will be watching the Quang case closely to see if Vietnam will observe its own laws regarding a defendant’s basic rights to self-defense and legal help. The initial signs are not good.”

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***********************************Vietnamese Officials Hinder Trial Preparations Mennonite church workers seek a fair defense on November 12.Special to Compass Direct

HO CHI MINH CITY, November 5 (Compass) -- Vietnamese officials are hindering attempts to prepare the defense of six Mennonite church workers scheduled for a November 12 trial.

The arrests of six Mennonite church workers over a period of four months stemmed from an incident on March 2 when Mennonites tried to document the presence of two undercover policemen outside the residence of Rev. Nguyen Hong Quang in Ho Chi Minh City’s District 2. The building also served as a Mennonite church and national office. The policemen in question had previously harassed some of their visitors. Most prominent of the six is Quang, general secretary of the Vietnam Mennonite Church and head of the legal committee of an association of house churches.

Mrs. Quang was informed verbally on October 30 about the scheduling of Quang’s trial for November 12 (see Compass Direct, “Trial Date Set for Rev. Nguyen Hong Quang in Vietnam,” November 2). On November 2, family members of the accused went for a scheduled visit to bring food to the prisoners and asked authorities about the status

of the prisoners. They were informed that the other five Mennonite workers arrested in connection with the Quang case are to be tried at the same time as Quang. When they asked why they had not been previously notified, the families were told that the prisoners had not asked that their families be notified.

The refusal of the court to give the written order for the trial to Mrs. Quang and the family members of the other prisoners is a violation of article 182 of Vietnam’s criminal code. That regulation states, “The (written) decision to try a person in court must be given to the accused, the accused’s official representative and the accused’s legal counsel a minimum of 10 working days before the trial date.”

The families of the accused have also not been given a copy of the indictment which should have been given to the families even before the trial notice. However, the families were allowed to listen to a reading of the indictment, after which they were asked to sign papers saying that they had received it. The indictment indicates that all six are included in the same March 2 incident and charged with “resisting officers doing their duty.” Quang is charged in the indictment with inciting the others to resist. It carries a maximum penalty of two to seven years, while the lesser charge carries a sentence from six months to three years.

Observers believe that the fact that Quang is apparently not charged with more serious “crimes” involving his documentation and publication of numerous human rights and religious liberty violations is due to the considerable international attention the case has drawn. But they caution that in Vietnam, the judiciary is still controlled by the state. The court has received a report of 667 pages compiled by the People’s Investigation Office, and it is possible the court could find reasons to try Quang a second time on other charges.

Quang, who remains in good spirits, requested the court to call Rev. Bui Thanh Se as a witness, but the court has refused. Pastor Se, the leader of another house church organization, witnessed most of the two hour incident on March 2. Quang again appealed to the court to release his five colleagues and stand trial alone, but the court refused.

Because of the short notification which allowed less than the required 10 working days before trial, Mrs. Quang and the families scrambled to find legal help. A number of lawyers declined to accept the case, citing “trouble” if they did. But by November 4, some lawyers had been engaged. The lawyers have been allowed by the court to see the charges but so far have been prevented by authorities from giving copies even to next-of-kin. They have only a week now to prepare their defense.

An experienced Vietnam observer said, “In denying families copies of the legal documents, hiding information from them and infringing on the minimum amount of time required by law for the accused and their defendants to prepare for trial, officials are breaking the law. We should not be surprised. The Mennonite prisoners have already been held far in excess of the time the law allows people to be held without formal charges. They were also long denied family visits to which they are entitled by the law.”

A source in Vietnam told Compass, “Many Christians here believe the authorities have crudely and shamelessly already decided on a verdict for the Rev. Quang and the other church workers, brothers Thach, Nhan, Nghia, Phuong and sister Lien. False charges and blatant mistreatment will not likely be followed by a fair trail. But we are determined to stand together against this injustice. We are encouraged to know that many in the world are with us.”

Some observers are wondering if the sudden haste to hold the trial on November 12 has something to do with the fact that the new Ordinance on Religion, much maligned by religious groups, is scheduled to come into effect on November 15.

*** A Photograph of Rev. Quang is available electronically. Contact Compass Direct for pricing and transmittal.

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***********************************Suspects Arrested in Wake of Attacks on Three Zanzibar ChurchesChurch leader addresses tensions with message of peace.by Richard Nyberg

DAKAR, Senegal, October 29 (Compass) -- Police on the small, predominately Muslim island of Zanzibar off the coast of Tanzania have stepped up investigations and arrested three suspects after two Catholic churches were destroyed and a small Protestant church was set ablaze in a recent spate of violence.

According to Roman Catholic Bishop Augustine Shao, Tunguu Catholic Church in Zanzibar’s southern region was attacked around 10 p.m. on October 13. “Some people came with hammers and whatever and knocked the cement blocks down and disappeared,” he told Compass.

A small, thatched building, the “Africa for Jesus” church, was torched a short distance from the Tunguu Catholic Church on October 15.

On the same day, Mchangani Catholic Church, the house of worship for 120 Catholics in the Unguja South Region, was burned to the ground.

Church goers of Tunguu Catholic Church had invested a lot of their time, materials and money into the church, Shao said. The new church building under construction would have accommodated up to 300 parishioners. Even though they are saddened to see it demolished, “They are determined to continue with the construction, to continue in their faith and preach peace.”

It was too early to be pointing accusing fingers, he said, noting that it was not clear who had carried out the attacks. “We had no sour relationships with our [Muslim]

brothers and sisters. You may find one person talking against another religion but it is not a common thing.

“We have fanatics in both sides. We have fanatics from the side of Christians who come in and provoke the majority Muslims. We have as well fanatics on the side of the Muslims who also provoke the minority,” he said.

The local Guardian newspaper reported that the Zanzibar Mufti, Sheikh Harith bin Khelef, had condemned the attacks on churches in the Unguja South Region and called on Muslims in Zanzibar to respect freedom of worship.

He said in the statement that all peace-loving and law-abiding citizens should condemn the attacks as they were in direct contravention of rights enshrined in the constitutions of the United Republic of Tanzania and Zanzibar.

Zanzibar’s commissioner of police, Khalid Iddi Nuizani, was quoted as saying that the attacks were the work of “hooligans” with neither political nor religious affiliation. He added that police had already tightened security and stepped up patrols around churches in Zanzibar.

Bishop Shao said he and other church leaders were trying to alleviate tensions by trying to speak to the different small “sects who come with preaching in the streets without knowing the faith of the majority -- sometimes they end up abusing others.

“We should only represent ourselves as a Christian community and our message is peace. We also have meetings with our fellow brothers who are Muslims on the issue of preserving peace in the island,” he said.

A common theme of his preaching is: “Let the enemy be ashamed of our love. Let the enemy be ashamed of the spirit of building faith. We will never avenge. That has been the policy for the last eight years that I have been here: to pray for the enemy; to ask for forgiveness for the enemy; and at the same time, call for understanding to know that we have the right to do what we need to do providing we do not go against our constitution or the laws of the country.”

Early this year, tensions increased in Zanzibar, a generally peaceful, semi-autonomous territory of Tanzania governed by secular political parties. On March 5, the Islamist group Jumuia ya Uamsho na Mihadhara (UAMSHO, “Revival and Propagation Organization”) held an illegal rally against a government ban on their demonstrations.

The ban was imposed after demonstrations where UAMSHO distributed jihad-training videos and literature, urging the killing of secular politicians who refuse to impose sharia, or Islamic law.

Police fired tear gas to break up the young UAMSHO demonstrators, who hurled stones at security forces and set alight car tires in the streets of Zanzibar after leaving Friday prayers.

On March 10, arsonists set fire to a Roman Catholic church in the central Jumbi district. The Associated Press quoted police official Hamad Issa describing the attack as “a deliberate act aimed at inciting religious hostilities in [Zanzibar] ... It’s an act of religious intolerance.”

On March 17, unknown attackers threw a petrol bomb and destroyed a school bus belonging to the Catholic church while it was parked in the Francis Maria Lieberman Primary School grounds. And a year ago, a Catholic church and church-owned vehicle were bombed on Zanzibar’s Pemba island. Catholics number over 15,000 on the island. Congregations of Anglicans and Lutherans are also present.

Historically, Zanzibar differs greatly from mainland Tanzania, where Christians account for more than 50 percent of the population. An early Arab/Persian trading center, Zanzibar was ruled by Portugal in the 16th and 17th centuries but was retaken by Omani Arabs in the early 18th century.

The Anglo-German agreement of 1890 made Zanzibar a British protectorate. In 1964, Tanganyika united with Zanzibar to form the United Republic of Tanzania.

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