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COMPASS DIRECTGlobal News from the Frontlines

December 12, 2003

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 2003 Compass Direct

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

BOLIVIA

President Receives Evangelical AmbassadorLa Paz meeting focuses on democracy, religious liberty.

CHINA

Urban Migration Causes Crisis for House ChurchesRural churches face debilitating loss of young leaders.

Brutal Treatment of Chinese Christians ContinuesZhang Hongmei dies in police custody.

COLOMBIA

Another Catholic Priest Assassinated in AraucaClergyman is second to die in less than three weeks in volatile region.

Lessons from a Hostage Pastor***A young minister works to prevent guerrilla kidnappings.

EGYPT

Christian Mother Still Jailed ♦ ***One convert dies after severe beating.

Convert Ordered Released on Bail ♦ ***Legal charges uncertain against arrested Christians.

Christian Captured at Libyan Border ♦

Compass Direct December 12, 2003 1

Immigration to Canada blocked while police search for convert wife.

ERITREA

Eritrea Jails 18 More Evangelical Christians ♦Local Protestants confirm 334 members in prison.

INDIA

Hindu Extremists Burn Effigy of ChristTensions mount in Orissa state over recent Christian conversions.

Vocal Anti-Christian Campaigner Caught in Corruption Scandal Union Minister caught in scandal, but BJP Party still wins state elections.

Fundamentalists Pressure Dalit Christians to Re-ConvertShiv Sena launches propaganda campaign in Uttaranchal state.

INDONESIA

Christians Face New Discrimination in PapuaThe move to divide Papua into three provinces may create a Christian ‘ghetto.’

Three More Deaths Mark Renewed Violence in PosoChristians fear ongoing violence after recent attacks.

Christians are ‘Afraid and Losing Confidence’ in PosoAn interview with Dr. Edduwar Mangiri.

JORDAN

Courts Stall Justice for Christian Widow ♦ ***Royal promises are yet to be fulfilled.

LAOS

‘Their Hearts are Unchanged’Lao pastors give an overview of religious freedom.

NIGERIA

Campus Violence Leaves Three Christian Students DeadChristians endure Ramadan school closures and mandatory Arabic instruction.

British and Nigerian Christians Launch Religious Rights InitiativeInternational advocates seek reinstatement for Christian nurses.


Muslim Mobs Burn Churches and Homes of ChristiansThousands of Christians are displaced by religious violence.

PAKISTAN

Accused Terrorists Given Bail ♦Released Muslim cleric threatens Chianwali’s Christian villagers.

PERU

David de Vinatea Released from Prison ***Evangelical army officer spent eight years behind bars.

Interview with Col. David de Vinatea

SAUDI ARABIA

Authorities Release Egyptian Christians ♦Future of Riyadh jobs still uncertain.

SRI LANKA

Attacks Target ChristiansBuddhist monks spearhead assaults on churches, Christian aid organizations.

TURKEY

Authorities Block Use of Protestant Church ♦ ***Diyarbakir council declares worship place ‘illegal.’

Court Releases Alleged Attacker ♦ ***Hospitalized Christian remains in coma.

Expatriate Christian Sues Turkish Newspaper for Slander ♦Right-wing ‘Tercuman’ demands American’s ouster.

VIETNAM

Prominent Hmong Christian Leader Arrested, Extradited ♦ Observers fear Ma Van Bay will face abuse in police custody.

Protestant Activist Survives Assassination Attempt in Vietnam At least 15 Christians are arrested in police crackdown.

Christian Tract Distribution Brings Arrests


Evangelists beaten and Christian leader threatens street demonstrations.

♦ Indicates Former Flash News release

***Indicates an article-related photo is available electronically. Contact Compass Direct for pricing and transmittal.

(Return to Index)***********************************President of Bolivia Receives Evangelical AmbassadorLa Paz Meeting Focuses on Democracy, Religious Libertyby David Miller

MIAMI (Compass) -- Carlos Mesa was at his home in La Paz the night of October 17 when he learned that the Bolivian Congress had elevated him to the presidency of the beleaguered South American nation. News reporters gathered at his front door, waiting to record the chief executive’s first public statement.

“I want God’s blessing in order to confront this challenge,” Mesa told them. “We need all of the force in our hearts and in our souls and in our spirits because we have a very, very important task before us.”

Two items on the president’s agenda during his first days in office reinforced his call for divine guidance to confront the critical problems the country is facing. Mesa’s first appearance in public came at a Roman Catholic Mass celebrated in the national cathedral.

Three weeks later, the president met with representatives of the evangelical Christian community. It was the first official meeting in more than a decade between Protestant leaders and a Bolivian head of state.

“President Mesa expressed his gratitude for prayers and the support of evangelicals,” said Johan Candelin, Goodwill Ambassador of the World Evangelical Alliance who met with the chief executive on November 7. “We expressed evangelical support for the democratic process in Bolivia.

“The present situation is a historical possibility for a stronger evangelical voice in society,” Candelin added. “The situation is so fragile and difficult, that any support for the democratic process is badly needed.”

Mesa, 53, a television journalist who had never held political office before running for vice president last year, inherited a difficult situation indeed. His predecessor, Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada, was forced to resign and leave the country after weeks of unruly protests against his administration left more than 60 people dead.

Political analysts predict that the same protest leaders who brought down the Sanchez government will topple Mesa, perhaps within a mere three months. His chief political


rivals -- Evo Morales, a radical union boss and friend of Libya’s Moammar Gadhafi; and Felipe Quispe, an Aymara shaman who wants an independent republic for Bolivia’s native Indians -- have announced they are granting the new chief executive a 90-day grace period before resuming their protests.

Due to the highly charged mood in the country, the meeting between Mesa and Candelin was more than just a courtesy call, according to Bruno Ossio, president of the Evangelical Alliance of Bolivia (ANDEB in Spanish), who arranged the audience.

“The interview gave us an opportunity to convey our concern, on both a national and international level, for the situation in Bolivia with respect to recent events,” Ossio said. “The interview concluded with prayer to God on behalf of Bolivia.”

The meeting also provided evangelicals with an unexpected opportunity to raise an issue that is especially close to their hearts: religious liberty.

Protestants, who comprise 16 percent of the 8.5 million population, often say they feel like “second-class citizens” of their country, due to constitutional prerogatives granted to the Roman Catholic Church.

Article Three of the Constitution of Bolivia declares, “The State recognizes and sustains the apostolic Roman Catholic religion.” Protestants say the clause perpetuates religious inequality and allows for laws that discriminate against non-Catholic believers.

During the previous administration, for example, the Senate considered legislation that would have required evangelical churches to submit detailed reports of offerings and donations to tax authorities. The same law also sought to impose regulatory control on evangelical schools, universities and communications media. Roman Catholic organizations, due to their constitutional status, were exempted from such regulations.

ANDEB organized a lobby against the measure and succeeded in preventing its passage. Yet evangelical leaders cite this as just one of the many examples of religious inequality they face.

Until Candelin’s visit, more than 13 years had passed since Bolivia’s Protestants met on an official basis with their president -- at an ANDEB-sponsored prayer breakfast with President Jaime Paz Zamora in 1990. In the interim, evangelicals have tried twice, in vain, to amend Article Three of the constitution.

In 1992, the national parliament voted, almost unanimously, to keep the article intact. When President Hugo Banzer Suarez called for a constitutional referendum in 2001, the measure failed to come under consideration.

According to Candelin, Bolivia’s evangelicals may have another opportunity soon, if Mesa continues in office.


“The basic understanding during the talks with President Mesa was that religious freedom is an important issue and that evangelicals should have the same religious freedom as all other citizens in the future in Bolivia,” Candelin told Compass.

“(The meeting) has permitted us to harmonize and adapt our national strategy for the defense of religious liberty within our biblical principles,” Ossio added.

(Return to Index)***********************************Urban Migration Causes Crisis for China’s House ChurchesRural Churches Face Debilitating Loss of Young Leadersby Xu Mei

NANJING, China (Compass) -- China’s rural house churches are reeling from the impact of rapid urbanization. The flow of young peasants to the cities in search of employment has become a tidal-wave. The greatest migration in China’s history is having catastrophic effects on house churches in the rural heartland.

When the communists came to power in China in 1949, only 10 percent of the population were living in cities. By the year 2000, that percentage had multiplied three-fold. However by 2015, the Chinese government estimates that fully half of the total population of 1.3 billion will be urbanized.

At present, about 20 million peasants migrate to the cities every year. Many of them are Christians.

At least five of China’s major house church networks are based in the rural heartland of Henan and Anhui provinces. The New Birth church, the Fangcheng church and the Tanghe church started in Henan. The Lixin and Yingshang networks originated in Anhui. Each claims millions of followers and a nationwide network.

Henan and Anhui have been the center of rural revival and church growth for 30 years. But now continuing growth is threatened by the tide of migration to the cities.

House church evangelists recently admitted that almost all of the Christian young people in many villages had left to find jobs in the cities. The only people remaining in these churches were the elderly and small children. Many letters written to Christian broadcasting stations vividly express the struggles of young migrant workers to maintain their faith under the pressures of low pay, hostile management and indifferent workmates.

According to government statistics, the average annual wage for a farmer in Henan is only 2,000 RMB ($250). But young people, desperate to provide for themselves and their families, can make that much per month driving taxis in the cities.


Even those who head for the grim factories near Hong Kong can earn several times what they would make back home on the farm. Many peasant girls from Anhui find jobs as maids for middle-class families in Beijing and Shanghai.

Rural house church leaders are struggling to cope with this new mega-trend. At first they were content to preach against the rural exodus, fulminating against worldliness and materialism. But the tidal wave of economic migration has proved too strong.

Rural house churches now face the very real danger of imploding through lack of trained young pastors and preachers. Far from the romanticized view that some Christians overseas have of them, rural house church believers struggle with chronic poverty, low levels of education and illiteracy. Many lack Bibles and Christian literature, as well as basic Bible teaching, and face the ever-present threat of cults and syncretism with folk-religion.

Eastern Lightning has already devastated many rural churches, first infiltrating them and then taking charge. In April 2002, this cult actually kidnapped 34 of the top leaders of the China Gospel Fellowship. All were eventually released, but the incident showed the vulnerability and fragility of rural house churches and their leadership.

Although there have been efforts to bring the leaders of the various “streams” of house churches together, there is still division. The Born Again Movement founded by Peter Xu Yongze has now split five ways. Some groups face problems relating to morality and the misuse of funds from overseas. The larger networks have been reporting a decline in giving, so have increased solicitation of foreign funds from overseas.

However, positive opportunities do exist. Most of China’s cities are still largely unevangelized, with Christians comprising less than one percent of the population. Properly trained, thousands of young Christian migrants could become a potent force for urban evangelism.

However, it is not easy for them to adjust cross-culturally to a new life in the city with its materialism and temptations. The better-educated, wealthier urban residents regard their country cousins with disdain and suspicion.

Migrants who find work in factories and live in dormitories with other Christians can be trained to start cell groups to reach out to other migrants, particularly in factories run by fellow believers. Christian businessmen from Hong Kong and South Korea have been particularly effective in this regard.

Other migrants may be granted small loans to set up shops or businesses which can become the nuclei of urban cell-churches. Christians can normally pay back the loans after a few months, a practice that discourages unhealthy dependence on foreign funds.

The Chinese word for “crisis” consists of two characters meaning “danger” and “opportunity.” China’s rural house churches are at a critical crossroad. One route leads to


inexorable decline; the other promises a way to become an effective force for the evangelism of China’s cities.

(Return to Index)***********************************Brutal Treatment Claims Life of Chinese ChristianMrs. Zhang Hongmei Dies While in Police Custodyby Xu Mei

NANJING, China (Compass) -- Reliable sources have confirmed the death of a house church Christian in police custody on October 30.

Mrs. Zhang Hongmei, 33, was arrested by local police in Dongmiaodong village near Pingdu city in Shandong province on October 29. News of her death was released by China Aid, an organization based in Philadelphia and run by Bob Fu, a former member of a Chinese house church.

At 2 p.m. on October 29, police summoned Zhang’s family and asked them to pay a bribe of 3,000 RMB (about $400) to secure her release. As this sum is well over a year’s wages for many peasant families, they were unable to raise the money. Zhang’s family returned to the police station at 7 p.m. to beg for mercy.

As they pleaded with police officers, they saw Hongmei bound with heavy chains, visibly injured and unable to speak to them.

On the following day, the family was again summoned to the police station and told that Hongmei had died at noon. A subsequent autopsy revealed several wounds to her face, hands and leg and serious internal bleeding.

On November 31, Hongmei’s family approached city officials and asked for an inquiry. Approximately 1,000 people joined a protest march in front of the Pingdu city offices that day, a rare display of solidarity with a victim of police brutality.

In another incident on November 11, Chinese Christian Zhang Yi-nan was badly beaten on arrival at a labor camp just outside Ping Ding Shan city. According to a report released by Voice of the Martyrs, Zhang was beaten by fellow inmates at the request of prison guards, as part of the “re-education” process.

Zhang was arrested on September 26 and sentenced to two years of “re-education through labor.” The sentence, common for lay members of house churches, is often imposed without a court trial or access to lawyers.

The two incidents prove China’s lack of commitment to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, a veteran China watcher said. That 1,000 ordinary Chinese citizens were brave enough to oppose the treatment of Hongmei marks important progress in addressing such abuses, he added.


(Return to Index)***********************************Another Catholic Priest Assassinated in Arauca, ColombiaClergyman is Second to Die in Less Than Three Weeks in Volatile Regionby Deann Alford

AUSTIN, Texas (Compass) -- The bullet-riddled body of the second priest murdered in less than three weeks in Colombia’s volatile Arauca department (state) was found November 21 on a street near the community where he ministered.

José Rubin Rodriguez, 51, was kidnapped at a roadblock November 14 on his way back from a priests’ retreat, news sources report.

Arauca Bishop Carlos Germán Mesa says that, while no one contacted the church to negotiate Rodriguez’ release or claim responsibility for his abduction, military intelligence and local citizens believe the 10th front of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) killed him.

Saulo Carreño, parish priest of Christ the King Church in the town of Saravena, Arauca, and his secretary, Maritza Linares, were shot and killed November 4 after leaving a hospital where he had been ministering to sick parishioners.

Carreño and Rodriguez are the fourth and fifth Arauca priests killed since 1985. Authorities have not determined who killed Carreño.

Church sources say they do not know whether the killings are linked. Asked whether he believed the two kidnappings indicate that priests are now rebel military objectives, the bishop told Compass, “This is what I’ve been wondering, but what would the reason be? We haven’t given anybody a reason to wage war against us. We serve the community and preach the gospel.”

Mesa said that Arauca’s previous bishop had talked with rebels, who agreed to respect the church and its priests. “This is what put me somewhat at ease,” he said. “But it wasn’t fulfilled.”

Rodriguez served as parish priest of the La Salina Roman Catholic Church in Fortul, near where his body was found. He served 19 of his 21-year ministry in Arauca, an oil-rich region bordering Venezuela that was granted statehood in 1991.

The national government has not established an effective presence in Arauca, creating a power vacuum that makes the state vulnerable to illegal armed groups seeking to control a key oil pipeline and drug trafficking routes. In earlier years, the National Liberation Army (ELN) vied with FARC for dominance, but right-wing paramilitaries have recently gained a presence in Arauca, considered among Colombia’s most violent departments (states).


Mesa is encouraged by the solidarity of priests from around the country who have called the diocese to show their support. Asked whether he and Arauca’s 34 remaining priests are living in fear, he replied, “Fear, yes and no. After all, God put me here and we are doing what our mission asks us to do. It doesn’t intimidate us. It gives us strength.”

Alvaro Hernandez Cordero, a priest who serves as chancellor of the Roman Catholic diocese of Arauca, says that t he deaths of Rodriguez and Carreño hit the small diocese hard, because the priests are like a family.

“You never stop being afraid,” he told Compass. “But in reality, you know that our mission is to commit our lives to the cause of the gospel. We gave up our lives a long time ago, when we were ordained.”

Hernandez said that Rodriguez enjoyed ministering in the rural areas, which are especially fraught with danger. The dead priest was described as a hard worker, dedicated to his mission and loved by those he ministered to. One of his favorite projects was training teachers to help peasants get high school educations.

According to Hernandez, Arauca’s priests are a tight-knit group. Had either Carreño or Rodriguez received threats, they would have told their fellow Christian workers.

Hernandez also said that deep needs remain for priests to continue their work because there is no safe place anywhere in Colombia. Terrorism manifests itself in car bombings, dynamited bridges, shooting attacks on public buses and other forms of senseless killing.

“That’s the situation we all face. It’s very troubling, of course. It’s troubling that, in less than 20 days, two priests have been murdered.

“Really, the insecurity is great -- everywhere and for everyone.”

(Return to Index)***********************************Lessons from a Hostage Pastor in ColombiaA Young Minister Works to Prevent Guerrilla Kidnappingsby Deann Alford

MEDELLIN, Colombia (Compass) -- Rice is a staple served with most Colombian meals, but over a steak lunch at a sidewalk café, Juan Carlos Villegas didn’t eat a bite of the fluffy white mound on his plate while he told his story.

Villegas, 28, was leaving a Sunday afternoon church retreat in his pickup truck on April 28, 2002. As assistant pastor at Family Christian Church in the hardscrabble Medellín suburb of Bello, he had just helped baptize 50 people in a stream running through a parishioner’s ranch in Barbosa, a village 24 miles from Bello.


A few yards down the road from the ranch, guerrillas of the National Liberation Army (ELN) took Villegas hostage and demanded his church pay $25,000 for his safe return. He joined the ranks of perhaps dozens of Christian clergy that rebel groups have held for ransom or for political reasons in Colombia’s four-decade-long civil war.

During his 12-day captivity, Villegas marched over mountains eight hours a day with the guerrillas, often soaked by driving rain, wearing the same clothes he wore at the baptism. He endured biting cold. He never knew where they were going or when his ordeal would end.

And he ate the only thing available to the guerrillas: “Rice, rice, rice,” Villegas said.

Colombia is kidnap capital of the world, with more than 3,000 abductions in 2001. More than 600 were snatched in the department (state) of Antioquia and its capital, Medellín. Kidnappings fund insurgents’ fight against the government and help them achieve political gain. A few hostages have been released through negotiations without ransom payment. Many more are released after paying ransom. Others are killed or die in captivity.

More than a year after Villegas was released, he is still rebuilding his life. The ordeal has left scars.

For the 12 days that the ELN held him, the rebels constantly told Villegas that if they ran into army soldiers or paramilitaries, the first one killed would be him. The rebels’ machine guns were often trained on him, emphasizing their willingness to make good on the promise. After church members picked him up from the side of a road where the guerrillas arranged to leave him, he sobbed during the entire four-hour journey back to Bello.

Most unnerving to Villegas was learning from Colombia’s special kidnapping investigation force, the Gaula, that his kidnapping had not been random. Guerrillas infiltrated the church and knew he would be at the baptism. They were waiting. Had they not abducted him at the ranch, they would have gotten him elsewhere.

Why?

“The general concept of a Christian pastor is of somebody who is an opportunist,” Villegas said. Some people perceive that ministers live well -- at other peoples’ expense. Because a few pastors do accumulate wealth and maintain a showy appearance, a stigma carries to all of them, he said. “Here it’s not an honor to be a pastor.”

At his captors’ request, Villegas read to them for hours from the Psalms and other books of the Bible. He read them the entire Gospel of Mark. He led four of his captors in prayer to receive Christ. He believes two of those guerrillas made sincere professions of faith.


Many expressed desires to leave the guerrilla ranks, which they joined because it offered poor young men and women a salary, a cause, and a hope for the future.

At least 3,000 fighters from Colombia’s illegal armed groups have taken part in the government’s “reinsertion” program to return them to civilian society. Villegas wonders about the spiritual seeds he planted among his captors, and what happened to the ones he led to the Lord.

During negotiations, the guerrillas lowered their ransom demand by half, after checking on the church’s bank balance. Family Christian’s head pastor, Andrés Puerta, told a rebel who phoned the demands, “You can’t kill him or touch him because he’s a servant of God.” The ELN had earlier agreed to not kidnap pastors. The rebel commander finally freed Villegas in exchange for a Bible, Villegas said.

He marked the first anniversary of his kidnapping quietly with a special meal at his parents’ house. The anniversary of his release fell on a Sunday and he preached on the kidnapping, saying that God’s purpose was fulfilled.

Villegas knows that what happened to him could happen to any pastor in Colombia. He estimates that because about 10 percent of Colombians are evangelical, then about 300 of the 3,000-plus hostages in Colombia are evangelicals, as well. He seeks to raise awareness of safety measures all should take.

In Family Christian Church, for example, all deacons take security classes and are vigilant of those who congregate in the 1,000-seat auditorium. The church does not publicize its plans for events as extensively as before.

And the church has not held a baptism since the day of Villegas’ kidnapping.

In the months following his release, Villegas lived in fear that people were pursuing him. Those fears have faded. He values life more and draws on his experience to counsel families of hostages. Israel’s ambassador to Colombia called him for advice on the ELN kidnapping of four Israeli tourists in September.

Villegas says with conviction that he could not endure another kidnapping. Soon after he was taken, he contracted leishmaniasis -- mountain leprosy -- a flesh-eating disease that is fatal without antibiotics. To Villegas, more deadly was the overall despair and grinding misery of finding himself captive.

“If this happens to me again, free me right then or kill me right then, because I can’t suffer this again,” he said.

Villegas is seeking to use his platform as a former hostage to bring peace to his war-torn homeland through the gospel. He sees that God had His purpose in all that happened to him. “If we didn’t have the Lord, what would we do?”


***Photographs of Juan Carlos Villegas are available electronically. Please contact Compass Direct for pricing and transmittal.

(Return to Index)***********************************Christain Mother Still Jailed in EgyptOne Convert Dies After Severe Beatingby Barbara G. Baker

CAIRO (Compass) -- Five weeks after her arrest tipped off a major crackdown against Egyptian converts to Christianity, Mariam Girguis Makar was sent back to El-Kanater Women’s Prison outside Cairo for another 15 days.

Married with two daughters, Makar, 30, has been accused by security police investigators of falsifying Christian identity papers for herself and other former Muslims. When brought before the state prosecutor on November 20, she was remanded to jail until December 5.

At least 22 other Christians, some converts from Islam and others of Coptic descent, were detained and interrogated in the harsh sweep following Makar’s arrest. One convert died while in police custody, and the others face legal prosecution.

Under Egyptian law, Muslims are not allowed to change their religious identities to any other faith, although Christians are free to convert officially to Islam.

From a devout Muslim family, Makar came to faith in Christ more than seven years ago while living in Cairo. After her husband also became a baptized Christian, they decided in 1999 to secretly change their religious identities and move to Alexandria. There they joined a church, put their daughters into a Christian school, and he found work in a local hospital.

No one in their new city knew that Makar’s original name had been Sahar El-Sayed Abdel Ghany, or that her husband’s name was once Mohammed Ahmed Imam Kordy.

But on the afternoon of October 20, Makar was arrested by four plainclothes police at her home in Alexandria in front of her daughters Marina, 13, and Sara, 12 . The officers produced no official arrest warrant from the public prosecutor, as required under Egyptian law.

When her husband, Yousef Samuel Makari Suliman, 42, was summoned to the police station to “sign” for her release, he was also detained, and the two were transferred that night to the Civil Affairs Investigation Headquarters in Cairo.

The couple later learned that several individuals, including employees in the local civil records department, had been arrested days before on suspicion of helping former


Muslims change to Christian identity papers. During harsh police interrogations, investigators had obtained the name of Mariam Makar.

According to Makari, he and his wife were kept apart from each other in solitary confinement over the next three days and subjected to repeated interrogations, beatings and insults. “The conditions there were very bad,” he told Compass, “and sometimes we were badly treated and insulted in front of each other.

“She was tortured more than me,” Makari declared. But he denied reports that his wife had been sexually abused either there or at Cairo’s El-Mosky police station, where they were held later.

Makari said police authorities were trying to force them to confess who had convinced them to change their beliefs and then helped them get their new Christian identities. “But they did not try to convince us to change back to Islam,” he said. “They know the truth, that we won’t go back.”

According to one of the released converts who spoke with Compass, one of the men detained with them at the El-Mosky police station died on either October 25 or 26.

The deceased was identified as Issam Abdul Fathr Mohammed, a former Muslim in his late 40s who had worked in the Azbakeya office of the Civil Records Department.

The deceased convert reportedly suffered from diabetes and other ailments, and was severely beaten along with other detainees after his arrest. “He was taken away from the police station in an ambulance,” said the source, who heard the next day that he had died at the hospital.

“He knew he had to go to the State Security to be questioned the next day,” the source said, “and he was very, very afraid.”

Most of the other detainees were released within a week after Fathr’s death, albeit with charges still pending against them. Each “suspect” paid from 100 to 500 Egyptian pounds ($16 to $81) bail. Makari was set free on November 1, he said.

Three of the accused men, identified as Samir Sa’ad, Sayed Abdel Afyfy and Aziz Zakhary Armanios, were left in detention at El-Mosky, and Makar and a woman named Reda Zaghoul were sent to El-Kanater Women’s Prison.

On November 22, Zaghoul and the three men were released by the public prosecutor, who demanded 2,000 Egyptian pounds ($325) bail from each person.

The couple’s daughters were reunited with their father on November 13, nearly two weeks after he was released and went into temporary hiding. Both he and his daughters have reportedly been allowed to visit Makar briefly during bi-weekly visiting hours at her prison.


Makari said he was not aware of any surveillance by the police since he had returned with his daughters to stay in their family home in Alexandria. “We are attending church services,” Makari told Compass. “We cannot go back to Islam.”

“I have put my hand in the hand of Jesus, and I can’t take it out and go back.”

***Photographs of Mariam Girguis Makar and her family are available electronically. Please contact Compass Direct for pricing and transmittal.

(Return to Index)***********************************Egyptian Convert Ordered Released on BailLegal Charges Uncertain Against Arrested Christiansby Barbara G. Baker

ISTANBUL (Compass) -- The last of 22 Egyptian Christians arrested and held for torture and interrogation by security police since mid October was ordered released in early December in Cairo.

Former Muslim Mariam Girguis Makar, 30, was granted bail by an Egyptian court and ordered released from El-Kanater Women’s Prison on December 3. The order came 45 days after she was arrested from her home in Alexandria.

But as of noon on December 9, she still had not been set free and reunited with her family, sources in Cairo confirmed to Compass.

“She will definitely be released, they say,” a source said, “but the release procedures still are not finished. So maybe she will be out tomorrow.”

Court authorities demanded 1,000 Egyptian pounds ($163) in bail for Makar’s release, indicating that charges pending against her have not been dropped.

Makar and her fellow suspects, more than half of them women, were accused of falsifying Christian identity papers for themselves and other former Muslims. All were required to pay various bail amounts to obtain release.

According to the suspects’ legal counsel, so far formal criminal charges are not believed to have been filed against Makar, her husband Yousef Samuel Makari Suliman or the other Christians put under arrest.

Parents of two young daughters, Makar and her husband converted to Christianity while living in Cairo. They moved to Alexandria in 1999 in an attempt to change their identities as Muslims and begin a new life as Christians .


State security police in charge of the sweeping crackdown, which included both Coptic Christians and converts from Islam, accused the suspects of cooperating in schemes to change the legal identity of former Muslims by issuing them new Christian identities.

One of the detained converts who was severely beaten while under police custody was transferred to a hospital where he later died. The deceased, identified as Issam Abdul Fathr Mohammed, was in his late 40s and reportedly suffered from diabetes and other ailments.

According to an Amnesty International report released November 20, at least seven detainees were tortured to death last year while under police custody in Egypt. “Torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment continues to be practiced systematically in detention centers,” Amnesty charged.

***Photographs of Mariam Girguis Makar and her family are available electronically. Please contact Compass Direct for pricing and transmittal.

(Return to Index)***********************************Egyptian Christian Captured at Libyan BorderImmigration to Canada Blocked While Police Search for Convert Wifeby Barbara G. Baker

ISTANBUL (Compass) -- A Coptic Christian secretly married to a woman convert from Islam was arrested for the second time while trying to leave Egypt for Canada.

Boulos Farid Rezek-Allah Awad, 31, was stopped at the Libyan border on November 25, the first day of the Muslim festival marking the end of Ramadan. He was detained by Egyptian border police for 12 hours, from mid afternoon until 3 a.m. the next morning. Once the authorities had confirmed the Coptic Christian’s identity, he was refused exit permission and then released.

Rezek-Allah returned to Cairo, only to be summoned to the security police’s Lazghouly headquarters after the holidays had concluded. There he was questioned and threatened by Hussein Gohar, a security police officer monitoring his case since he was first arrested nine months ago.

When Gohar again demanded to know the whereabouts of the Christian’s wife, Rezek-Allah told him that she had managed to leave the country ahead of him. Vowing that he would find her, the officer declared to Rezek-Allah, “I’ll bring her back and cut her into pieces in front of you.”

When he was released from questioning on December 1, police told Rezek-Allah he was blacklisted and would never be allowed to leave Egypt.


Rezek-Allah is accused of breaking Egyptian law by marrying a Muslim woman, Enas Yehya Abdel Aziz. Now 27, the woman had changed her name to Enas Badawi Yousef Guirguis after becoming a Christian three years ago.

Under Islamic law enforced in Egypt, a Christian man can only marry a Muslim woman if he agrees to embrace her faith. But in Rezek-Allah’s case, his wife had abandoned Islam and converted to Christianity. It remains illegal in Egypt for Muslims to change their legal religious status to Christian, since this “insults” Islam.

Since they were planning to immigrate to Canada, the two never lived together after their secret wedding last year.

“No one knew about our marriage,” Enas told Compass in May. “He still lived with his parents, and we were just waiting for my papers and medical test to come back from the embassy.”

But on February 26 of this year, just a few months before their anticipated departure, Rezek-Allah was arrested at home in the middle of the night by nine policemen. It was four days later before the family’s lawyer located him at the El-Shobra police station in Cairo.

Interrogators beat, insulted and hung the pharmacist by his arms, and accused him of evangelizing Muslims and falsifying legal documents. Under torture, he admitted that when he married his wife Enas, he knew she was a former Muslim who had secretly changed her identity.

But meanwhile, his wife had managed to disappear. Copies had been found of her Christian identity and marriage certificates, indicating that she had been baptized some three years earlier, and then married on May 22, 2002. But the police were unable to track down Enas herself, as the actual “proof” in the case.

Since Rezek-Allah did not know his wife’s whereabouts, he was finally released on June 1 from Tora Prison, where he had been transferred in mid April.

For the next two months, Rezek-Allah was subjected to almost constant surveillance and harassment, leaving his family very tense and making it nearly impossible for him to contact anyone in touch with his wife.

Seeing no other solution, Rezek-Allah decided to fly to Canada to take his final pharmacy-license exams. He already had a valid immigration visa for Canada, granted when he passed his initial qualifying exam the previous year. But shortly after he boarded an Air Alitalia flight at the Cairo airport on August 11, security police came aboard and arrested him off the plane.


Following this, state security officials even threatened the pharmacist, saying that they would charge him with having killed his wife, in an attempt to force her to produce herself before the authorities and disprove the murder charges.

On October 19, the public prosecutor hearing Rezek-Allah’s case agreed to drop the charges against him if he agreed to the cancellation of his illegal marriage certificate. However, the court left Enas named as the “first accused” on charges of falsifying an official document and blaspheming against a heavenly religion.

Having lost 20 kilos during the ordeal of the past nine months, Rezek-Allah is scarcely recognizable from his photo I.D. issued before his arrest. “I really struggle with depression,” he said, which he believes is linked to his captors drugging him while he was in jail to induce confessions under questioning.

“If the Canadian authorities or anyone else asks why I am not being allowed to leave Egypt,” Rezek-Allah told Compass in Cairo, “the state security will give them three reasons. They will say I am a drug pusher, that I am guilty of falsifying documents, and that I was kidnapping Muslim girls to convert them to Christianity.”

The pharmacist’s Canadian immigration visa expires if he does not arrive in Canada by early April of next year.

Local Christians believe Rezek-Allah’s only hope to ever leave Egypt and be reunited with his wife is direct intervention by either President Hosni Mubarak or Interior Minister Habib al-Adli.

(Return to Index)***********************************Eritrea Jails 18 More Evangelical ChristiansLocal Protestants Confirm 334 Members in PrisonSpecial to Compass Direct

LOS ANGELES (Compass) -- Eritrean police arrested and jailed another Protestant evangelical pastor, taking him and seven of his church members to prison.

Pastor Iyob of the Kale Hiwot Church was arrested off the street about 10:30 on the morning of November 23 in Mendefera, a market town about 30 miles south of the capital Asmara.

In separate arrests the same day, seven of his church members, four men and three women, were taken into custody. Friends of the jailed Christians have not yet been able to confirm the alleged charges against the pastor and his church members.

“But the police are treating them like criminals,” local sources reported. “They are in prison only because of their faith.”


A second new arrest of 10 young women from various Pentecostal churches has also been confirmed the last week in November. The women are incarcerated at Sawa, a military training camp in the mountains near the Sudanese border, where they were presumed to be doing their compulsory military service.

Six of the 62 young people locked into metal containers at Sawa this past summer for having Bibles are believed to still be jailed in underground isolation cells at this same camp.

Meanwhile, Compass has confirmed the release earlier in November of two women jailed for the past 21 months in the Assab military prison. Both women had been serving as nursing personnel in the Eritrean armed forces when they were arrested for their involvement in banned meetings for evangelical worship.

Fourteen other women soldiers, along with 63 men, are still being held at Assab, where authorities have used torture, isolation and cruel threats to try to force them to retract their evangelical beliefs.

According to lists compiled by local Protestants, currently at least 334 evangelical believers are imprisoned for their religious beliefs in nine known locations across Eritrea.

While some were arrested by police during meetings for worship in either unrecognized church buildings or private homes, others were accused of possessing Bibles or refusing to return to membership in the dominant Eritrean Orthodox Church.

In October, military officials evicted the Full Gospel Church from its rented facilities in Asmara, leaving the 4,000-strong congregation without a place to worship. Since the premises were sealed on October 26, soldiers have occupied the complex of buildings and refused church members admission.

The Eritrean government has targeted the country’s 12 independent Pentecostal and charismatic churches since May 2002, when all were ordered to close their churches and stop meeting for worship, even in private homes. Only the Orthodox, Catholic, Evangelical Lutheran and Muslim faiths are recognized as “official” religions.

(Return to Index)***********************************Hindu Extremists Burn Effigy of Christ in IndiaTensions Mount in Orissa State Over Recent Christian Conversionsby Joshua Newton

BHUBANESWAR, India (Compass) -- Tension has gripped the Christian community in the north Indian state of Orissa once again after Hindu militants unleashed a fresh wave of violence against Christian residents.

In the last week of November, about a dozen members of the Bharatiya Janata Party


and the Bajrang Dal, a group accused of complicity in the deaths of Australian missionary Graham Staines, broke into a local church in Deogarh. They ransacked bookshelves in the church and burned hundreds of religious books, police said.

Charges have been filed against the 12 suspects in connection with the incidents. A reporter of a local Orissa daily newspaper is among five persons that the police so far have identified as attackers. “We are taking steps to nab them,” officials said.

According to police, Hindu militants in the area resented the recent conversion, supervised by Gospel For Asia preacher John Nayak, of four tribal families in Ambulpani village. They broke into Nayak’s rented residence and ransacked it when the preacher was not at home, taking away sacks of leaflets and booklets and setting them on fire.

Deogarh police officials said the protesters also went to the official residence of collector B.P. Mishra but failed to find him. There the saffron-clad gang members -- saffron clothing is the symbol of Hindutva, or Hindu nationalist, ideology -- burnt an effigy of Jesus Christ and a few copies of the Bible.

Soon after, the mob marched to Rajamunda Square in Deogarh town and attacked a small church. Police said they assaulted a nun and broke windowpanes of the church. They also burned more leaflets and yelled anti-conversion slogans.

Later the group met the additional district magistrate and submitted a memorandum, protesting the growing number of conversions in the area. However, police spokesmen said the authorities had been informed about the conversions and that the tribal peoples had done nothing illegal.

In a handwritten statement to the press, a local Bajrang Dal leader said that if police fail to take action against those who are converting impoverished tribal peoples to Christianity, “people may take the law into their own hands.”

The Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC) protested the Orissa attack and called for police measures to protect minorities from Hindu fundamentalists.

“We are concerned for the safety of Christians in Orissa state, which seems to have learned from Gujarat how to terrorize religious minorities,” said Sajan George, GCIC chairman. He also called for the intervention of the National Commission for Minorities and the National Commission for Human Rights.

“Tension is mounting in Tileibani block, and police patrolling has been intensified,” Deogarh Superintendent of Police Laxmidhar Nayak told reporters. He said adequate security arrangements have been made around the churches located in all the sensitive areas.

Orissa state has a population of 36 million, mostly Hindu. It is ruled by Bharatiya Janata Dal with the support of nationalist Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party, which strongly


opposes the conversion of Hindus to Christianity or Buddhism.

Last October, an Orissa court sentenced prominent Bajrang Dal leader Dara Singh to death for the brutal 1999 murders of Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two young sons. Twelve of Singh’s accomplices were sentenced to life imprisonment for the crime, which sources say was inspired by the anti-conversion movement.

Orissa and the states of Gujarat and Tamil Nadu have passed laws obliging those who want to change their religion to obtain written permission from the local magistrate. Religious minorities, including Christians, oppose the law.

Elsewhere in India, police closed down a church in Hyderabad, the capital city of Andhra Pradesh.

Sam Vinton with Grace Ministries International said the police have given eviction orders to their church.

“This follows complaints from Hindu residents who didn’t want a Christian group meeting in their neighborhood,” he said. “Now our members are finding it difficult to rent a place for worship services.

“Once they were driven out, other Hindu landowners are demanding exorbitant rents so that Christians cannot afford to rent a place,” Vinton added.

(Return to Index)***********************************Vocal Anti-Christian Campaigner Caught in Corruption Scandal in IndiaUnion Minister Caught, but BJP Party Still Wins State Electionsby Abhijeet Prabhu

BANGALORE, India (Compass) -- One of India’s most vocal campaigners against Christianity was caught in a top-level corruption scandal in late November. The scandal, which rocked the ruling pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), was misrepresented as a “Christian conspiracy” in the tribal belt of Chattisgarh, North India, where conversions are the staple of election manifestos.

Dilip Singh Judev, Union Minister of State for Environment and Forests in the federal government, was trapped on video by the Indian Express newspaper on November 15 as he accepted a bribe of millions of rupees to release mining rights for protected land in Chattisgarh and Orissa states.

The scandal came barely a fortnight before the state election, where Mr. Judev was campaigning to oust chief minister Ajit Jogi, a Christian. The BJP party, represented by Judev, won the election despite the fact that Judev had been disqualified.


Leading sources allege that Judev was the invisible hand behind the murders of Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two sons. He sponsored the legal defense of Dara Singh, Staines’ assassin, and sparked off protests from Christians when he claimed that the Staines’ killings were “the handiwork of certain forces determined to brand Hindus as bigoted and blood-thirsty.”

India’s earliest anti-conversion bills in Orissa and Arunachal Pradesh were the result of tireless and vitriolic anti-Christian campaigning by Judev, who has also proposed a nationwide anti-conversion bill.

Judev is largely responsible for transforming the tribal belt of central India into the “homeland of reconversion.” In 1952, his grandfather, Raja Vijay Bhushan Singh Deo, donated land in this region to establish the Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram, a training center for the militant Hindu organization, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

The primary aim of the Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram was and still is to “reconvert” Christian tribals to Hinduism -- despite the fact that many of them were originally animist rather than Hindu.

Earlier this year, Judev vowed to re-convert 30,000 Christians to Hinduism within the next 12 months.

The RSS firmly backed Judev in a public statement on November 19, claiming that the videotape produced by the Indian Express was a “Christian conspiracy.” Senior RSS leaders said they did not want to upset the ruling BJP a fortnight before the elections.

“If we disown Judev at this juncture, it would hurt the cadre very badly and affect the BJP’s morale. And if we keep quiet, again motives would be attributed to our silence and it would be construed as expression of our anger against Judev. It is in this context that we decided to speak in favor of Judev,” said a Sangh leader.

Meanwhile, the uproar over the corruption scandal continues. Members of Parliament have called for criminal action against Judev. If prosecuted, his actions could bring him a prison sentence. At press time, no action had been taken.

(Return to Index)***********************************Indian Fundamentalists Pressure Dalit Christians to ReconvertShiv Sena Launches Propaganda Campaign in Uttaranchal Stateby Vishal Arora

DELHI (Compass) -- India’s 250 million Dalits have been virtually enslaved as “untouchables” for more than 2,000 years by upper-caste Hindus. Dalits are not even allowed to enter Hindu temples.

According to the Rig Veda of Hindu scriptures, the Brahmin caste, the highest in the


hierarchy in Hinduism, emerged from the head of Purusa, the creator. The Kshatriya sprang from his shoulders and the Vaishya from his thighs. The Shudra, untouchables who are now called Dalits, came from his feet.

In recent years, India’s Dalits have begun to come to Christ in increasingly large numbers. Hindu nationalists, who have historically shown little interest in Dalit affairs in the past, are raising a hue and cry about Christian evangelists’ alleged use of allurement and force to entice Dalits to convert.

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has raised the issue of conversion while portraying itself as “the protector of Hindu religion.” The strategy has created a huge vote bank in the country where 82 percent of the population is Hindu.

The month of November brought assembly elections in five states, and fundamentalist groups affiliated with the BJP took advantage of electoral campaigns to spread rumors about conversion by unfair means.

Hindu nationalist organizations targeted the northern state of Uttaranchal in particular. Media reports indicated that fundamentalist organizations were spreading rumors that “agents of missionaries” were alluring Hindus to Christianity through offers of money and other unfair means.

A national Hindi daily newspaper, Amar Ujala, reported that the Saharanpur and Haridwar units of Shiv Sena -- “the Army of (the Hindu god) Shiva,” an organization with close ties to the BJP -- launched a protest in the Biharigarh area of Saharanpur against the reported conversion of 10 Dalit families. The newspaper had earlier carried a story reporting the conversion to Christianity of 30 members of the Dalit families in Shahidwala Grunt village.

On November 3, activists of Shiv Sena shouted slogans against the Dalit converts. Vinod Chauhan, president of the Saharanpur unit of Shiv Sena, addressed a gathering of his organization’s “soldiers” and local villagers. In his speech, Chauhan warned the new Christians that if they did not reconvert to Hinduism, the organization would see to it that they were expelled from the village.

He also warned that the organization would take strict action against any missionary found offering incentives to Hindus to convert to Christianity.

Ashok Sharma, district president of the Haridwar unit of Shiv Sena, told the crowd that missionaries were coming from outside to lure Hindus to Christianity. He said the agents of missionaries were mainly alluring the poor and unmarried youth belonging to Hindu religion through the use of money and the free mingling of sexes, which is against the Hindu culture.

Portraying the Shiv Sena as “the protector of Hindu culture,” he said his organization would not allow the immoral culture to intrude in the village.


The provocative speeches created religious tensions in the village, obliging all 10 Christian families to flee the village due to their lives being threatened. Local administrators deployed police to prevent communal riots.

Although the assembly elections in five states are over, religious tensions continue to loom large in several parts of the country. Keenly aware that general elections are due next year, Christians expect the BJP to prolong its hate propaganda against minorities in India in order to win more seats in parliament.

(Return to Index)***********************************Christians Face New Discrimination in Papua, IndonesiaThe Move to Divide Papua into Three Provinces may Create a Christian ‘Ghetto’by Sarah Page

DUBLIN (Compass) -- In an important step toward the controversial division of the territory now known as Papua into three separate provinces, the central government of Indonesia on November 14 appointed Brigadier General Abraham Octovianus Atururi as the first governor of Central Irian Jaya.

Indonesia watchers say this move has the potential of crowding Papua’s indigenous people -- most of them Christians -- into the smallest and poorest of the three provinces. The resource-rich provinces of West and Central Irian Jaya would be populated by Muslim migrants.

In an interview with the Jakarta Post on December 5, Aloysius Renwaring of the Institute for Human Rights Study and Democracy (ELSHAM) said the human rights group would support Jakarta’s controversial division as a way of deflecting the growing independence movement in Papua.

The activity of pro-independence groups such as the newly established “Laskar Merah Putih” or Red and White Defenders’ Front has led to a steady increase of violence in Papua over recent months. In November alone, at least 10 suspected members of the Free Papua Movement were shot dead by security forces.

Indonesia’s House of Representatives endorsed the move to divide Papua on November 13, despite strong opposition from Papuans and other outspoken critics such as fomer president Abdurrahman Wahid.

In a prayer alert issued by the World Evangelical Alliance, Rev. John Barr said the ratio of Christians to Muslims in Papua has declined rapidly over the past few years. Some say the ratio is already approaching 40/60, with a concentration of Muslims towards the West.


The outlawed Laskar Jihad are also active in Papua. Some reports say Laskar militants are quietly working to recruit Javanese migrants. Osama bin Laden T-shirts and trinkets have been offered for sale in Papuan street markets.

The formation of three provinces will create a definite Muslim majority in the new provinces of West and Central Irian Jaya, which also contain most of Papua’s oil, gas, copper and gold.

Papua, the third province, retains the name of the original territory and the majority of its indigenous Christian inhabitants, but few of its natural resources.

In 2001, the Indonesian government decreed autonomy for Papua and passed a law requiring the formation of the Majelis Rakyat Papua (MRP), an independent assembly to be comprised entirely of Papuans. The Special Autonomy Law of 2001 ensured that any decision to divide Papua required the approval of the MRP.

However, the government reneged and rewrote the law in February 2003, opening the way to divide Papua without the consent of the MRP, which had not yet been created.

Under the original Special Autonomy Law, the MRP was not merely a consultative body. Its approval was required for many key decisions, including any decision to divide the province.

But the new presidential decree says autonomy will be granted only within each province, thus removing the right of Papuans to have any say in the division.

In September 2003, the Papuans’ hopes of having a strong voice in their region were dashed when Hari Sabarno, the Minister of Home Affairs, affirmed that the MRP would be nothing more than a cultural institution.

“The central government strongly opposes the idea to enable the MRP to annul the decisions of the governor or provincial legislative council,” he told reporters of the Jakarta Post.

At least five people were killed and dozens injured in a series of clashes sparked by the official declaration of Central Irian Jaya in late August. The clashes also sparked a tribal war among rival indigenous Papuans.

In response, the central government in Jakarta postponed the establishment of Central Irian Jaya, but said it would proceed with plans for West Irian Jaya and eventually follow with the establishment of the other two provinces.

A report on an Indonesian website posted December 4 said tensions were soaring in Papua. The government has already reduced tourist visas to Papua from 60 to 30 days and recently proposed a complete ban on foreign tourism in the area.


This could cause serious difficulties for the Christian community. According to Papua Governor Jaap Salossa, “Many churches in Papua have partners overseas. So, if the planned restriction is applied without selections, it could spark new problems.”

The Papua Council planned to meet on December 15 to discuss the fate of the original province of Papua. Council head Jhon Ibo told the Jakarta Post on December 4 that the council is considering four options that may help the government settle the future of the region.

ELSHAM has called on President Megawati Sukarnoputri to honor the commitment of Papua’s governor, provincial legislature, church leaders and other community groups to maintain all of Papua as a “zone of peace.”

(Return to Index)***********************************More Deaths Mark Renewed Violence in Poso, IndonesiaChristians Fear Increased Attacks from Muslim ExtremistsSpecial to Compass Direct

LOS ANGELES (Compass) -- Fifty-eight-year-old Oranje Tadjodja, Treasurer of the Synod of the Protestant Church in Central Sulawesi (GKST), Indonesia, was found beaten to death on November 16, along with his nephew Yohannes Tadjodja, 26, whose throat was cut.

The brutal murders occurred during a spate of drive-by shootings and renewed attacks on villages and individuals, sparking fears of an impending crisis in the Poso region of Central Sulawesi.

The bodies of Oranje Tadjodja and his nephew were discovered by police just after midnight on November 16. Attackers evidently smashed the car windows, killed the occupants and then pushed the car off the road into the jungle, about 12 miles from Poso.

Tadjodja was on his way to preach at Pantangolemba, one of the villages attacked by armed extremists on October 12. He left Tentena with his nephew at around 3 p.m. that day. Police estimate the time of death at around 5 p.m. Due to extensive head injuries, the senior Tadjodja was recognizable only by his clothes.

“I believe the attackers did not shoot them or burn the car because they were too close to the neighboring villages of Puna and Tabalu, where there are police posts,” reported Mona Saroinsong, coordinator of the Protestant Church Crisis Centre in North Sulawesi.

On the same Sunday, the body of Denis Lingbuliwa, a Christian from Wawopada village, was found dumped at the back of the marketplace in Poso. Witnesses said Lingbuliwa was stopped by an angry mob on his way to Palu, dragged off his motorcycle and beaten to death.


The deaths were attributed to a violent mob that rampaged through Poso on November 16, threatening police, burning tires in the street and looking for Christians on whom to vent their anger.

The day before, police had arrested three men suspected of involvement in a series of violent attacks against Christians on October 12 that left nine people dead. Irwin Hamid, one of the suspects, was killed during the arrest. Police released Hamid’s brother later that day, but he had been badly beaten while in custody, arousing the anger of Poso Muslims.

When word got out, a large group of Muslims gathered outside the Poso police station, shouting for the release of the other suspects and threatening further violence. This led to the deaths of Oranje Tadjodja, his nephew, and Denis Lingbuliwa on the following day.

In the past few weeks, residents of Christian villages in Poso and Tentena have reported the sound of gunshots in the forest at night. Many live in fear of imminent attacks by Muslim extremists.

According to Saroinsong, “Some villages in Poso coastal areas are now in trauma and afraid to do their daily activities. They are not free to go to their plantations or rice fields. They have asked for guards, but the police and military don’t have enough people to provide security.”

Tentena, a town on the northern tip of Lake Poso, has a majority Christian population. Residents there demonstrated outside police headquarters on November 29, asking for police intervention to prevent further violence.

However, two more Christian villages were attacked that same afternoon. A band of 20 Muslim extremists entered the village of Kilotran at about 7 p.m., shooting automatic weapons into the houses.

Two local residents, I Made Simson and his brother-in-law I Ketut Sarman, died from fatal injuries sustained in the attack. Several others suffered bullet wounds.

According to Ferdie Saerang of the Christian advocacy group “Poso Watch,” most of the residents were in church at the time, or there would likely have been more casualties.

The village of Tobomawo, 84 miles east of Poso, was attacked almost simultaneously by two men on motorcycles firing automatic weapons into the church during an evening service. Thirty-two-year-old Ruslam and 28-year-old Arifin were killed instantly. A 37-year-old woman named Moda was seriously wounded and is not expected to survive. Yulmin, 23, and Sandra Tengker, wife of the church’s pastor, suffered non-fatal gunshot wounds.


Flyers circulating in Poso and surrounding villages in recent weeks call on the Muslims of Poso to close ranks to attack, evict or murder Christians. The flyers urge Muslims to specifically target Christians in positions of authority.

The government has sent an additional 3,400 police officers and military soldiers to Poso since the attacks on October 12. A report in the Jakarta Post on December 3 quoted Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Coordinating Minister of Political and Security Affairs, as saying that tough measures were necessary because of the fragile situation in Poso.

Rev. Rinaldy Damanik, coordinator of the GKST Crisis Center and General Secretary of the Church Synod, who is serving a controversial sentence of three years in Palu prison, expressed his sorrow at the recent deaths. He called for people outside Indonesia to petition their governments and pray for the people of Poso.

“There is no better way of helping us than by alerting the international powers of the situation here in Poso and asking them to bring pressure on the Indonesian government to establish and maintain a meaningful peace,” Damanik said.

“Please do not give up praying for us. Especially as we draw near to Christmas, pray that the Christian community may be able to celebrate Christmas in peace,” he added.

(Return to Index)***********************************Christians are ‘Afraid and Losing Confidence’ in Poso, IndonesiaAn Interview with Dr. Edduwar MangiriSpecial to Compass Direct

A series of violent attacks in Poso, Central Sulawesi, over recent weeks has led to fears of an impending crisis in the region. Recently, Compass spoke with Dr. Edduwar Mangiri, director of the government health clinic in Tentena, about the current situation. Excerpts of Dr. Mangiri’s remarks follow.

Compass Direct: The GKST Synod (Synod of the Protestant Church in Central Sulawesi) met with government officials in Palu in November, asking them to declare a state of emergency in Poso. However, some Christians believe this would only make matters worse. They accuse Muin Pusadan, the district official or Bupati of Poso, of supporting the conflict.

Edduwar Mangiri: The accusations against Pusadan are born of anger and frustration over several unsolved incidents in the recent past. The Bupati is responsible for the security of all communities within his jurisdiction, and both the military and the police work under his directives. But there is not one incident that can be directly and convincingly credited to Pusadan. The only thing that can be said is that the Bupati and the district governor have not provided adequately for security in Poso, particularly for the Christian members of the community.


Compass: What is the general feeling of Christians in Poso at this point in time?

Mangiri: Christians are afraid and losing confidence that the situation can be improved by the government any time soon.

Compass: Is there a sense of fear, or a need for retaliation against the Muslims?

Mangiri: People do feel this way, but the feelings are kept to themselves. The greatest fear is that one day, when they cannot be contained anymore, there will be an explosion of anger, reflected in retaliation towards any Muslim. People hope the security forces and the government will handle the recent attacks, but the fear of escalating attacks is still there.

Compass: What is the general approach of Christians and churches towards the violence?

Mangiri: Pastors are encouraging their people to increase the amount and quality of prayers, as well as to demonstrate a righteous and holy way of life. Gambling and drinking are a big problem in Tentena now.

Compass: Do Christians see any solution to the violence, and if so, what is that solution?

Mangiri: They don’t see the solution as being in their hands. It’s in the hands of the military, the police and the government.

Compass: Do you know of any incidents where the Christian community has retaliated against Muslims?

Mangiri: So far there is no news about Christians retaliating towards the Muslims. There was an incident in the village of Kuku as a response to the killing of Oranje Tadjodja and his nephew Yohanes last month, when the locals stopped a bus from Palu en route to Bungku, a Muslim town, and searched everyone on the bus. One Muslim man ran into the darkness out of fear, but nobody was harmed.

Compass: What was the motive of those involved in the October 12 killing of Christians?

Mangiri: My best guess would be that whoever is masterminding these attacks is probably doing it to cause instability in the area, especially in light of the coming general election. I’d also say that their actions are a way of saying they do not want any Christians in Central Sulawesi -- or the whole of Sulawesi for that matter.

Compass: We’ve seen reports that Jemaah Islamiah (JI) has become much more active in Poso and Morowali over recent months. Do you believe JI are responsible for the recent attacks?


Mangiri: I think it is too soon to credit JI for the attacks. I’ve heard these reports from the head of police and others, but there is no solid evidence that JI are responsible. However, I have seen pamphlets put out by some local Islamic radical organizations calling on Muslims to join them and push Christians out of the province.

Compass: What makes Poso a significant target for Muslim extremists?

Mangiri: It is probably because, outside of North Sulawesi province, Central Sulawesi has the largest Christian population in the whole island of Sulawesi. It has been the vision of radical Islam to make the whole of Indonesia free of Christianity. I believe Central Sulawesi is just one of their target areas in Indonesia.

Compass: What is happening among the displaced populations in Poso?

Mangiri: Around 9,000 refugees (about 2,000 families) are still living in Tentena and the surrounding areas. Only 4,000 or so have returned to their villages, with the government’s assistance. The local administration and the central government have declared that the remaining refugees will soon be sent back to their respective villages, or relocated in new settlements before the general election in April 2004.

Compass: Apparently some villagers are afraid to go out to their fields after the recent attacks. Is this true for Muslims as well as Christians?

Mangiri: I don’t know about the Muslims -- but I never heard of any of them being attacked by Christians. This kind of fear has been with Christian farmers since the conflict began. Nothing is new, including the excuse that there aren’t enough security forces to protect them.

Compass: We’ve also heard that Poso’s central market, the largest in the area, is dominated by Muslims who discriminate against Christians. How does this affect the livelihood of Christian farmers?

Mangiri: It’s true that there is not a single Christian doing business in either the Poso Central Market or anywhere else within the town of Poso itself. But this is not to say there is no business activity at all between the two communities. The Muslim and Christian traders do their business outside Poso, usually in towns such as Kawua. Muslim fishermen sell their fish in exchange for Christian farmer’s vegetables and so on.

Compass: Recently the Crisis Center in North Sulawesi (representing the Synod of Churches in North and Central Sulawesi) met with representatives from Poso and Morowali and came up with a written statement suggesting solutions to the conflict in Poso. What steps do you think the government should take to begin a peace process?

Mangiri: It’s hard to answer your question, since this isn’t the first time such a venture has been tried. We’ve seen so many disappointments in previous attempts, we can only hope and pray that this time around it will be different. I believe the government should be working harder


to bring lasting peace to the region, especially guaranteeing the safety of Christians in accordance with the laws of Indonesia. If the government cannot address these issues, we should bring the matter to the attention of international bodies to bring pressure on the government.

(Return to Index)***********************************Jordan’s Courts Stall Justice for Christian WidowRoyal Promises Yet to be Fulfilledby Barbara G. Baker

ISTANBUL (Compass) -- A Jordanian Christian mother fighting for legal custody of her two children admitted that after more than five years, she has little hope that her country’s judicial system will ever rule in her favor.

And while grateful for the moral support and concern expressed by Jordan’s royal family and leading government officials, Siham Qandah said she could only trust God to protect her and her children.

“Everyone is giving me promises,” Qandah told Compass, “but no one is really doing anything. I am only counting on God and all the prayers of His people.”

The past three months have been particularly discouraging to Qandah, who has gone again and again to scheduled court hearings in both Amman and the northern city of Irbid, only to have the sessions postponed to a date two or three weeks later.

At the last hearing on November 23 in Irbid, her children’s Muslim guardian failed to appear even though he had been summoned. So the judge ordered a continuance of the hearing.

“I hardly expect him to show up this next time either,” Qandah said. “But even if he does, what difference will it make? My lawyer has told me that if he just swears before the Islamic court that he is being a faithful Muslim guardian to my children, the court will accept that as sufficient proof!”

So far, no Jordanian court has given serious consideration to evidence which surfaced this past March. The evidence documented the guardian’s unexplained withdrawal of nearly $20,000 from the children’s trust funds.

In a crisis this past September, Qandah was handed another court ultimatum to turn over her children to their Muslim guardian or face arrest within three days. However, the Irbid civil court order ignored a previous restraining order issued by a higher court in Amman stipulating that Qandah cannot not be arrested or forced to surrender her children until a case pending to disqualify the children’s Muslim guardian is resolved. At present, Qandah remains under the protection of this temporary injunction.


Widowed nine years ago, Qandah has a daughter Rawan now 15, and her son Fadi turned 14 last month. Both children are baptized Christians, but the alleged conversion of their father to Islam three years before he died has forcibly changed their legal identity from Christian to Muslim.

In moderate Jordan, this would rarely pose a custody problem for their Christian mother. But Qandah asked her estranged brother, who had converted to Islam as a teenager, to help her meet Jordan’s legal requirements by becoming her children’s court-appointed Muslim guardian.

The brother began to appropriate some of their orphan benefits. Then, displeased to learn that his sister continued to raise them as Christians, he filed a court suit, demanding custody of the children so he could raise them as Muslims. After a four-year legal wrangle, the Supreme Court of Jordan ruled in his favor, turning down the mother’s last legal appeal on February 28, 2002.

Both Qandah and her children have ended up on the wrong side of Islamic law ever since. Desperate to escape police enforcement of the ruling, the widow and her children went into hiding for weeks at a time in the months following the verdict. After international media covered the case, both intelligence authorities and government leaders began to assure Qandah that a solution would be found.

Since then, Qandah has been given considerable moral support by members of the Jordanian royal family, including Prince Hassan and Prince Mired bin Raed. As a result, her plight has been raised directly with King Abdullah II several times.

As recently as September and October, concerned members of the U.S. Congress reportedly addressed inquiries to the king about the case, and Prince Mired discussed it again with him in mid November. The prince told Compass that King Abdullah was “a bit surprised” that the widow’s case had not yet been resolved.

“But because it’s a case in the courts,” Prince Mired noted, it remains “quite difficult” for anyone in the royal family to interfere. “We do not want to be accused of tampering with the judiciary,” he stressed.

In a rare exception, King Abdullah intervened last year after a military court sentenced Jordan’s first female legislator to 18 months in prison. Toujan Faisal was granted a special royal pardon which cancelled her punishment but did not vindicate her of the crime.

“It will work out in the end for Siham, so long as His Majesty is in the picture,” Prince Mired said confidently. “It might be a little bit of bumpy road, but in the end it will work out, I am sure.”

Meanwhile, month after month goes by and Qandah faces the tension of postponed court hearings, along with the worries of unpaid lawyers’ fees.


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

(Return to Index)***********************************‘Their Hearts are Unchanged’Pastors Give an Overview of Religious Freedom in LaosSpecial to Compass Direct

In October 2003, Compass Direct met with a small group of Lao house church leaders and asked how international advocacy has affected religious freedom in their nation. Names are omitted from the following interview, but the answers provide an intriguing glimpse into the current status of religious freedom in Laos.

Compass Direct: We hear many reports about the abuse of Christians in Laos. Which areas are the most restricted?

Lao pastors: Christians in the cities may face some intimidation -- and they are supposed to worship in the official church -- but apart from that, things are not so difficult in the cities. The problem begins in the countryside. In small towns or villages, everyone knows each other. It’s impossible to hide your activities.

Compass: Is it possible or advisable for foreign Christians to visit rural areas in Laos?

Lao pastors: It depends on the village chief. If the village chief is not sympathetic, then Christian villagers can do nothing. If the governor is negative in his attitude, he won’t accept any help from foreigners, even in the form of medical or social care.

Compass: How can we help Christians who are denied food and water, or evicted from their villages?

Lao pastors: The only way to do this is to channel funds through the local church. For example, in the case of Bru Christians who were evicted from their village, the local church stood behind them to give as much support as possible. But we gave food and clothing in small amounts, so the government didn’t notice it as much. When they rebuilt their houses, we gave them just enough to buy thatch for roofing. We gave just a little rice at a time.

Compass: How about prisoners? Is it possible to visit them?

Lao pastors: There were two prisoners in Udom Xhai recently who were unjustly accused. Their families were able to visit them, and they made an appeal to the government, but it probably wouldn’t have helped to have foreign visitors. It’s also very difficult for foreigners to get permission to visit them.


The situation is changing in Laos. The government knows that all things are reported to the outside, so arrests are decreasing and people are only held for a short time. But in reality, Christianity is not allowed in Laos. The hearts and minds of the government have not changed.

Compass: Several international groups have pressured the Lao government to lift religious restrictions. Has this helped the situation?

Lao pastors: It has been helpful recently in Attapoeu, where the government returned a church building that was confiscated earlier in the year. The government has made some changes in their approach because of pressure from the outside, but their hearts are still unchanged.

Intervention must proceed from the central government to lower levels of government and that doesn’t always happen. Sometimes the government says “yes” and agrees to make changes, but they don’t do anything. So we say the screws should be tightened. In the past when advocates came, the government would freeze for a while and then renew the persecution when the pressure was lifted. So advocates need to apply steady pressure, without turning their attention elsewhere.

Compass: But does foreign advocacy feed the belief that Christianity is a foreign religion and the church is a tool of the West?

Lao pastors: It is worse if you are not involved.

There are two things you can do to help us. First, send information to churches around the world to pray for us. Pray for Christians and pray for the government to accept and facilitate the church.

Second, as soon as you receive news about persecution, intervene immediately. The pressure helps the situation even though there is the negative balance of the connection with foreigners. It’s not possible to slacken your involvement, because the government will become bolder again. So we need to pray that the hearts of our government leaders will change. They still see the church as a tool of foreigners when, in fact, this is not true. All foreign missionaries left Laos in 1975, but the church continued to grow.

Compass: How do you as Lao Christians build bridges of understanding with non-Christians in your community?

Lao pastors: Relationships are very important to us. In tribal areas, new Christians are immediately seen as different by the authorities, because they don’t take part in the usual spiritual ceremonies of the village. This draws attention and more persecution.

Some Christians separate themselves completely from the rest of the village, but this is not good. It’s different with Buddhists who convert to Christianity. Even before


becoming Christians, they don’t attend the spirit ceremonies, so people don’t notice the change in their lives immediately.

We try to find a common ground that lets us remain part of the community without compromising our faith. For example, at a wedding ceremony, we clean the house, serve food and bless the couple with a love gift. But we avoid the religious parts of the ceremony. Other neighbors come to enjoy the food and the ceremony, but we go one step further and show our love for them.

In some places, Christians are accepted and left to practice their faith in peace. In other places, they have to leave the village.

(Return to Index)***********************************Campus Violence Leaves Three Christian Students Dead in NigeriaChristians Endure Ramadan School Closures and Mandatory Arabic Instructionby Obed Minchakpu

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (Compass) -- Hundreds of Muslim extremists unleashed violence on the Christian community at the University of Maiduguri, in the state of Borno, Nigeria, on the first weekend of November. The mayhem left three Christian students dead and at least 20 others critically injured.

The Saturday and Sunday violence disrupted church services in the city and led to the destruction of properties worth several million dollars. Mr. Elias Okoli, a Christian resident of the University of Maiduguri, gave Compass an eyewitness account of the attack.

“They were in huge numbers. They chanted ‘Allahu akbar’ (Allah is great) and were attacking Christians. Me and my 14-year-old son narrowly escaped from the attackers, but they burnt down my stores with goods worth 10 million naira ($73,400),” Okoli said.

He also said Muslim rioters raped and brutalized female Christian students.

Dr. Garba Ibrahim, the university’s Dean of Student Affairs, said the attack was entirely unprovoked. “There is no justification for the attack on these people,” Garba, a Muslim, told Compass.

University registrar Dr. Lawan Bukar Alhaji issued a statement indicating that the university has been closed indefinitely. “Following the security situation on campus, all activities of the university have been suspended till further notice,” it stated.

Administrators at the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital confirmed to Compass that 20 critically injured victims were receiving treatment at the facility. Mortuary attendants, who declined to give their names, confirmed that three bodies were deposited in the local morgue.


The hospital report contrasted with figures released by Mohammed Ahmed, the Maiduguri university’s chief of public relations. “In all, 33 students sustained injuries during the riot. They were later treated and discharged. Only one student was killed, and another had a head injury,” Ahmed said.

Hajia Binta Ibrahim Musa, Nigeria’s Government Minister of State for Education, visited the university shortly after the attack and ordered the university administrators to curb the activities of Muslim fundamentalists on campus. She then called on Muslim parents and the leaders of the Muslim community to educate their wards in a manner that will enable them live in harmony with Christians.

“We should not allow student fanatics to destroy the good legacies of the university,” the minister said. “Those involved in attacks, no matter how highly placed, should be brought to book.”

Meanwhile, tensions in the academic community escalated across northern Nigeria due to a decision by 12 state governments to close Christian schools during the one-month period that Muslims observe the fast of Ramadan. Leaders of the Christian community protested the policy in a visit to Mr. Stephen Shekari, deputy governor of Kaduna state, on November 24.

“The action is a blatant deprivation of the fundamental rights of Christians to education,” declared representatives of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN).

Archbishop Josiah Idowu-Fearon of the Anglican Communion led the CAN delegation, which included Christian leaders from the states of Kaduna, Kebbi, Jigawa, Zamfara, Sokoto, Kano, Katsina, and Borno.

“We do not want some people to create the impression that this country is an Islamic state,” Idowu-Fearon told the deputy governor. “Some people are trying to use religion to stop Christians from getting educated. This is a violation of our rights.

“We hope that when you meet as governors from the northern (Nigeria) states, you will look into this, so that Christians will not continue to be oppressed,” the bishop added.

As Christians were registering their displeasure over the Ramadan closures, the government of Zamfara declared that all schools in the state -- Christian institutions included -- must teach classes in the Arabic language or face stiff sanctions.

“The Arabic language is the major medium through which Islam is propagated,” Alhaji Ibrahim Birnin-Magaji, a spokesman for the governor of Zamfara, told a press conference in Gussau on December 2. “The teaching of the language in schools will be of an advantage for the government and for the growth of Islam as a religion.”


Birnin-Magaji then announced that Arabic language studies are to be compulsory in public and Christian mission schools in the state.

Christians constitute about 10 percent of Zamfara’s 2.1 million population. Zamfara was the first Nigerian state to adopt sharia, the Quran-based Islamic legal code. In the three years since, 11 other states in the north of the country have followed suit. Sources in Nigeria say that the imposition of sharia on non-Muslims is the major reason for the subsequent increase in religious violence in the country.

(Return to Index)***********************************British and Nigerian Christians Launch Religious Rights InitiativeInternational Advocates Seek Reinstatement for Christian Nursesby Obed Minchakpu

LAGOS (Compass) -- Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), a United Kingdom-based Christian human rights organization, is seeking the reinstatement of 11 Christian nurses fired for refusing to change their nurses’ uniforms for Islamic dress.

The 11 nurses lost their jobs two years ago when the management of the Federal Medical Center, in Azare, Bauchi state, introduced the Islamic dress code for all hospital staff. Christian hospital staff protested the decision, pointing out that Nigeria subscribes to secularism and guarantees religious liberty for all its citizens.

Despite their protests, hospital administrators dismissed the nurses for insubordination.

On December 1, Baroness Caroline Cox, a deputy of the British House of Lords and CSW president, announced during a visit to Lagos that the Christian human rights organization would take up the fight for justice for the unemployed nurses.

Another Christian rights organization called Macedonian Initiative (MI) hosted Baroness Cox’s visit to Nigeria. MI’s international coordinator, Rev. Ladi Thompson, told Compass that religious rights advocates in the country hope the case will call attention to other violations of the rights of Christians in Nigeria.

Thompson said that his organization planned a summit of religious liberty activists to work toward that objective.

“A series of constructive engagement papers were delivered by persons involved in the promotion of religious liberty,” Thompson said. He added that periodic meetings are planned in both Nigeria and Britain to bring together individuals involved in religious liberty advocacy.

“MI is helping to stabilize a position where both countries can achieve progress through regular ‘mind-rubbing’ sessions,” he said.


Baroness Cox reportedly plans to initiate a debate in the House of Lords on the matter of the 11 nurses discharged in Bauchi. Cox believes that, apart from the consideration of religious liberty, the nurses’ constitutional rights under Nigerian law have been violated.

In related news, the implementation of the Islamic legal code known as sharia has resulted in jail terms for 16 Christians in the central state of Niger.

Alhaji Awal Mohammed Bida, chairman of a state committee responsible for enforcing sharia law in Niger, told Compass on December 2 that 98 persons were arrested for violating Islamic regulations in October. Of that number, 34 were Christians.

The investigations into the alleged infractions resulted in jail time for 16 of the Christians. The remaining cases are still pending in Islamic courts, according to Bida.

According to the Quran, sharia law is to be applied only to professing Muslims. Non-Muslims -- even those living in areas under sharia control -- are to be accountable to the same civil law as any ordinary citizen. However, that precept is often violated in Nigeria.

“There is the need for all persons to respect the Islamic law, irrespective of their religious beliefs,” Bida told Compass. “Christians in this state should know that we have Islamic laws in place and they must try to abide by them. They must adhere strictly and obey the laws.”

(Return to Index)***********************************Muslim Mobs in Nigeria Burn Churches and Homes of ChristiansThousands of Christians Displaced by Religious Violenceby Obed Minchakpu

KADUNA, Nigeria (Compass) -- Mobs of Muslim fundamentalists rampaged through the town of Kazaure in the northern state of Jigawa, Nigeria, on November 19, burning 11 churches to the ground and destroying Christian homes and businesses.

Thousands of Christians have been displaced as a result of the attack, and a Catholic priest has not been seen since the violence erupted.

Arsonists destroyed buildings belonging to the Roman Catholic Church, Christ Apostolic Church, the Evangelical Church of West Africa, the Anglican Church and Christ Fellowship Church, as well as others in Kazaure. Churches in the city of Kano are housing Christian victims of the crisis.

Shortly after the incident, Alhaji Abubakar Saleh, commissioner of the Jigawa Police Command, told Compass in the state capital of Dutse that authorities had arrested nine Muslims who allegedly participated in the attacks.


“We have arrested at least nine suspects and we are sure of using them to get at their leaders,” Saleh said. “We will interrogate any Muslim leader named. But for now, I cannot tell you how far we have gone in order not to pre-empt our action.”

Meanwhile, the Roman Catholic Church disclosed that a total of 900 church families were displaced by religious violence in the Chikun local government area of Kaduna state.

Dr. Peter Jatau, archbishop of Kaduna, told Compass that the diocese has spent about $180,000 to provide relief aid to the affected families. At present, the church’s Justice, Peace and Development Commission is working to aid Christians affected by Muslim aggression.

“Unless the Nigerian government makes decisive strides towards curtailing the pandemic nature of religious violence, as is being perpetrated by Muslim fundamentalists, this country might be heading for the precipice,” Jatau said.

Mr. Buba Yaro, permanent secretary of the Bureau for Religious Affairs, told Compass that the riots cost the government over one million dollars in relief efforts for displaced persons. Last July, the Bureau released figures indicating that 117 Christian churches had been destroyed in religious riots up to that date.

“The government of Kaduna state is aware of surreptitious efforts of some Muslim clerics to use Kaduna state as the arrowhead of activities aimed at destabilizing this country,” Governor Alhaji Ahmed Mohammed Makarfi stated in a radio and television broadcast on November 23.

“We are in possession of documents and other information indicating that our people are being incited to take to violence and criminal sabotage of this country,” Makarfi added, warning that his administration is prepared to crush any threat to peace.

(Return to Index)***********************************Accused Terrorists Given Bail in PakistanReleased Muslim Cleric Threatens Chianwali’s Christian Villagersby Barbara G. Baker

ISTANBUL (Compass) -- After nine months in jail, two suspects accused of last year’s deadly Christmas night attack against a Pakistani village church have been released on bail for the duration of their trial.

By order of the Lahore High Court, Muslim cleric Mohammed Afzal and a young man identified by his first name Dildar were set free on October 2. Both reportedly were required to pay 100,000 rupees ($1,667) each in bail.


After the two men were released from prison, they went directly to Chianwali, a remote village near Daska, 40 miles from Lahore. There, in a small Presbyterian chapel, three young girls were killed and another 13 Christians injured by grenades thrown into a children’s Christmas program last December 25.

As soon as the two released suspects arrived in Chianwali, the cleric’s local Muslim supporters celebrated by firing guns in the air and distributing sweets throughout the community.

“They were shouting slogans, saying that they were going to teach the Christians a lesson,” a church source reported.

Since then, a number among the village’s 20 Christian families have come under increasing pressures to agree to a compromise and withdraw the case filed against the Muslim defendants.

“They are receiving verbal threats, even from some of the respectable persons of the village,” said one of the lawyers representing Aslam Pervaiz Masih, 40, the plaintiff who filed legal charges against Afzal and two other men.

“They are telling the Christians, ‘You have to compromise, after what has happened, or you will face the consequences,’” the lawyer said. “They say that Christians won’t be able to live anymore in the same society, in the same village, unless they compromise.”

Masih himself lost one eye in the grenade attack, and his younger brother was blinded in both eyes.

Dildar and a third suspect named Rashid, who has yet to appear before the court, are

accused of carrying out the attack in Chianwali. Local police claim that Rashid has managed to elude arrest, although church sources believe that the authorities are holding him in protective custody.

Afzal, described as a short, stocky man about 60 years old, has been charged with instigating the violence by repeated hatemongering against Christians in his mosque sermons in Daska. The bearded cleric ran an Islamic school near the small chapel that was attacked, and was an open supporter of the militant Jaish-e-Mohammed (Army of Mohammed) group banned in Pakistan.

Ironically, the case is being heard in Gujranwala before the Anti-Terrorist Courts, allegedly set up to conduct “speedy trials” against suspects involved in acts of terrorism. Although trial proceedings began last spring, very little progress has been made so far, Masih’s lawyers from the Center for Legal Aid and Assistance (CLAAS) in Lahore told Compass.

The two defense lawyers, one of whom is a retired judge from the Gujranwala Anti-Terrorist Court, have used a variety of delay tactics to postpone the hearings, CLAAS


lawyers said. Frequently one or both would fail to appear for a scheduled hearing, causing the judge to postpone the session for several more weeks.

A number of times the defense delayed the proceedings by applying again and again for bail for their clients, even though this was refused each time by Special Judge Mirza Rafi ul-Din.

“Judge Mirza Rafi is doing everything correctly,” a CLAAS lawyer commented, “but he is somewhat under pressure because of that lawyer who used to be a judge in the same court.”

With a number of witnesses yet to testify before the court, followed by cross-examination procedures, the trial is expected to take another two months or more, one lawyer said.

In the last hearing on December 3, one of the attending doctors recorded the medical certificates he had issued on 10 of the injured. “But he will have to be cross-examined next week, on December 10,” the lawyer said, “and we are not expecting much then.”

Meanwhile, CLAAS lawyers are preparing affidavits from Chianwali Christian villagers who have been threatened directly by the released cleric over the past two months, in order to file a petition before the Lahore High Court to cancel his bail order.

“We have proof that this maulvi [cleric] has wrongly used the concession of bail given to him by the court,” a CLAAS lawyer declared. “So we are going to file a petition for his bail to be cancelled.”

Meanwhile, President Pervez Musharraf reiterated the first week in December that his government was committed to “stamp out religious extremism” in Pakistan. In a speech on December 3, Musharraf stated that most Pakistanis were moderate Muslims. “Therefore a handful of extremists cannot be allowed to spread their vision of Islam in society,” the president declared.

(Return to Index)***********************************David de Vinatea Released from Prison in PeruEvangelical Army Officer Spent Eight Years Behind Barsby David Miller

LIMA (Compass) -- Colonel David de Vinatea, a decorated officer in the Peruvian army and an evangelical Christian, was released from prison on November 19 after serving eight years and 10 days in prison for alleged drug trafficking, Open Doors reported on November 20.


De Vinatea walked out of the gates of Lima’s Lurigancho Prison, accompanied by his wife Chely, his sister, Mrs. Maria Elena Mazzerini, and his three adult children, David, Daniel and Pamela.

Later, friends and family members greeted the de Vinateas at their Lima home with a surprise homecoming celebration, complete with confetti and yellow balloons.

“Right now, I feel kind of strange,” de Vinatea said, commenting on his long-awaited freedom. “Everything looks so new, so lovely, because when you lose your liberty, you lose everything.

“The good thing is, the Lord has protected and sustained us. My wife and my children have been strengthened and I was able to survive. Thank God, all that is over now.”

Arrested on November 9, 1995, while commanding an army base in the Amazon jungle, de Vinatea was sentenced in December 1997 to 16 years in prison for alleged involvement in cocaine trafficking.

Observers who closely followed the case became convinced that de Vinatea was not only innocent of the charges, but that high-ranking officials in the government of former president Alberto Fujimori falsely accused the respected army officer of wrongdoing in order to cover up their own illicit activities.

An international coalition of Christian organizations lobbied the Peruvian government to undertake a judicial review of the case. Largely due to their efforts, President Alejandro Toledo decided last year to commute de Vinatea’s sentence, opening the way for his release.

“We have seen a lot of cases of Christians going to jail for believing in Christ,” said Richard Luna, director of Open Doors Latin America and a participant in the international coalition. “In David’s case, he went to jail for obeying Christ. I think that we are going to see more of this kind of thing in the future.”

During his incarceration, de Vinatea maintained a strong Christian witness, leading Bible studies for inmates and pastoring a small church inside Lurigancho.

“The most emotional moment for me today came as we were leaving David’s cell block,” Chely de Vinatea told Open Doors hours after her husband’s release. “The inmates formed themselves into two lines on either side of the passageway, in a type of farewell salute to my husband. They said so many nice things to David as he walked out between them.”

When asked what he plans to do now, David de Vinatea responded, “Rest. Maybe after eight years I will be able to sleep through an entire night. In prison, you don’t sleep very well.


“Of course, after a few days’ rest, I plan to dedicate myself as much as I can to the Lord’s work. Things are not yet finished. How many more remain in prison? How many more need our support? That’s where all our efforts come to play, to press the battle on, to keep praying, to carry on the mission of liberating our brothers that are unjustly imprisoned.”

De Vinatea had one final word for Christians around the world who supported him and his family with prayers and letters during their long ordeal.

“I once said that those letters were like oxygen for us. Every letter that arrived was a tremendous joy for me, because I knew there were brothers and sisters around the world praying.

“I used to tell the brothers in the church in there that we enjoyed a real luxury, the luxury of knowing that 24 hours a day, Christians in different continents and countries and time zones were praying for us. Praise the Lord!”

***Photographs of David de Vinatea and his family are available electronically. Please contact Compass Direct for pricing and transmittal.(Return to Index)***********************************Sidebar:Interview with Col. David de VinateaLima, PeruNovember 20, 2003

A team from Open Doors visited David de Vinatea at his home a day after he was released. This interview is used by permission.

Open Doors: What did it mean for you, a colonel in the Peruvian army with an impeccable record, to be accused of drug trafficking?

Colonel David de Vinatea: To be accused of the same crimes that I had battled with integrity and professionalism was, for me, tremendously disconcerting. In fact, some of my own troops had died defending the nation against terrorism and the drug traffic. So to find myself suddenly in jail for unjustified reasons was depressing and demoralizing.

Despite all the evidence that I presented, every reasonable proof of my innocence, they never believed me. The courtroom was manipulated by a sinister and corrupt advisor. The judges, lawyers and district attorneys who tried my case and sentenced me are all now either in jail themselves or fugitives from justice because of corruption charges.

OD: Was it a blow to your family?

de Vinatea: It was devastating for us, terribly devastating. I was a colonel with a brilliant career in the army and aspirations of attaining a high command. The next day I was


thrown into a filthy cell, living with rats and separated from my family. Little by little I realized that it was all a trap to save the corrupt officers. I had blown the whistle on the general who was my commander. So because I accused him, they took me prisoner.

OD: How did this experience influence your relationship with Christ?

de Vinatea: I gave my life to the Lord in 1991, but I was, like a lot of people, a “lite” believer. I went to church every Sunday, sang praises to the Lord, prayed, gave my offering, and that was it until the next Sunday. But it was in prison and, mostly, in the maximum security cell where I was for eleven months, isolated and incommunicado, that I found the true Lord and Master of my life, the Lord Jesus Christ. I gave myself to the Lord in a new way with all my heart.

OD: Is it possible that others might have wanted to harm you because of your Christian witness?

de Vinatea: Obviously, although that was not the only reason I felt a certain antipathy from my commander. The first thing I did in each of my bases was to post a sign that read, “God is in charge of this base.” Well, this general pressured me to get rid of the sign. He said, “God is not in charge here, I am.” “Excuse me, general, you are the commander. You give orders here, but God is in charge.”

That was the detonator that prompted this general to arrange with the drug traffickers to set the trap that I fell into. It would not have cost me a thing to participate in that corrupt trade. I would not have gone to jail. Right now I would be a ranking general, a millionaire with property, nice cars and a fat bank account. I have nothing -- but I do have God in my heart.

OD: Once imprisoned and sentenced to 16 years, how did you feel?

de Vinatea: I could not believe it. To be in prison was something beyond possibility for me. But prison is where I really searched for God, because He is the Master of my life, and it was there where I came to know Him in His true dimension. I learned to pray for real.

To be imprisoned is to be in despair, because one doesn’t just lose one’s freedom, one loses everything. My family has stood by me throughout my imprisonment with much affection, but I could not take care of things. I couldn’t take care of things at home. I couldn’t check up on my children’s studies, or see whether they were cleaning their rooms, as the head of the house is supposed to do. I couldn’t give a devotional or say grace at a meal. Everything was impossible for me.

That’s where one learns to hold on to the promises of the Lord. As Philippians 4:13 says, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Those are promises that we need to learn.


OD: How did you pass the time in jail?

de Vinatea: God used me principally to form a church in the cell block. I sensed a need to preach the Word of the Lord. The church started with nothing, but never ceased to pray. It is still small, it’s still simple, but it is growing tremendously in spirit. A man in prison hungers for the Word of God.

In prison one learns to pray with feeling, to cry out to God, since one is tied hand and foot. We put all our faith in the Lord and He answers in many marvelous ways. In my case, if it were not for the Lord, I would be thinking about getting out of prison in the year 2011.

OD: Open Doors initiated a prayer and action campaign in 1998. How did you make contact with the ministry?

de Vinatea: I don’t know how it happened. The Lord brought them. They came by way of a brother, in a very, very critical moment for us. My comrades in arms all turned their backs on me because there was an order to make an example of me, an order to treat my family badly.

That was when Open Doors appeared to give us the Christian support that we so much needed in order to endure this test. Praise the Lord, because we have overcome. We always proclaimed victory, but now we can sing about it with greater happiness.

I cannot verbalize the immense joy and happiness we felt when we received letters from so many countries, from so many believers, that were sent to us through Open Doors. This raised our spirits so much; it maintained our faith. It kept alive the hope that one day I would be freed. These letters were like oxygen to us.

Unfortunately, for financial reasons I was unable to respond to all of them. I have 5,000 letters at home that we received from different countries. We had a unique luxury in our situation, because our case was supported in prayer 24 hours a day. While people were going to bed in Europe, in America they were getting up to pray, or in Asia, or in Africa.

I never lost my faith, but that doesn’t mean that I was always triumphant. Many times I felt beaten, depressed. Five times they denied my release, even though I deserved it. I was unjustly sentenced, and then they doubled the punishment. So I had to stand alone and take refuge in the Lord.

OD: What happened in those final days?

de Vinatea: The night before I was freed, I could not sleep. I would doze off for a bit. At the instant I fell asleep, I saw them in my dreams, telling me that I would have to stay in for the full 16 years because there was some mistake. I would jolt awake. Then, brother, it was down on my knees to pray. The enemy is conquered through prayer.


It was visitors day, a Wednesday. We had planned every activity 100 days in advance. It was one wild party that day. My wife came with my daughter and sister. Of course with the passing hours, some holdups occurred; things were delayed. We said, Lord, give us patience, give us serenity. It doesn’t matter what time it happens, but we are getting out of here.

The goodbyes were very emotional. There is a tradition in prison. Everybody wants to touch the person going free, because through the touch, a little bit of their freedom might rub off.

Activity inside the penitentiary came to a halt and everybody came to say goodbye. It was very sad because we knew a lot of suffering people were left behind. I know of many cases of prisoners who do not belong there, but they are just abandoned. It was happy and, at the same time, painful.

OD: A lot of emotional events occurred that day. What was it like to pass through that steel door that separated you from the free world?

de Vinatea: Passing the door meant liberty. It had been eight years since I had seen my wife and my two boys together at the same time. Eight years in which we couldn’t chat together, we couldn’t pray together. I saw my sons on Sundays, and then on Wednesdays and Saturdays I could see my wife and my daughter. But we could never be together as a family for eight years. It has been a blessing to be able to get to know each other again, to talk and share ideas.

I went to prison with small children. One of them was just graduating from high school, my daughter was just beginning grammar school. Now my two sons are professional engineers. But our faith is deeper than it was eight years ago. We blindly trust in the Lord now, because the Lord has saved our lives. He saved me from death three times during riots.

OD: As you were leaving Lurigancho Prison, you were looking up. Why?

de Vinatea: To give thanks to the Lord. I took my wife’s hand and my daughter’s hand, my boys were behind us, and I raised my eyes to the heavens because my help comes from the Lord. On the other hand, I did it to breathe the air of freedom. It was a time of gratitude to the Lord for leaving prison alive.

Every night I would wonder: Will I be alive tomorrow morning? In prison, life is not worth a cent. Anyone can kill you, enemies are plentiful. So it is really a blessing to cross the threshold alive and with your family.

OD: When you arrived at your house, you lingered at the door for several moments.

de Vinatea: I still don’t quite understand why I was separated from my home. Many times I imagined myself standing in this doorway, ringing the doorbell to enter the house


and see my family. It was a very moving moment, because I could finally touch the door of my home. That door has supporting beams in the form of a cross, and the cross means a great deal to me.

OD: Do you have any words for your friends at Open Doors?

de Vinatea: Thank you for your prayers; they have been answered. But things are not yet finished. How many more remain in prison? How many more need our support? That’s where all our efforts come into play, to press the battle on, to keep praying, to carry on the mission of liberating our brothers that are unjustly imprisoned. The suffering continues.

(Return to Index)***********************************Saudi Authorities Release Egyptian ChristiansFuture of Riyadh Jobs Still Uncertainby Barbara G. Baker

ISTANBUL, (Compass) -- Two Egyptian Coptic Christians jailed by Saudi authorities have been released 17 days after their arrest for establishing an expatriate house church in the capital of Riyadh.

Dr. Sabry Awad Gayed and Eskander Guirguis Eskander, both 38, were informed when they were discharged from prison on November 11 that they were being released “with the approval of their sponsors.”

“This means that the charges are not dropped against them,” Gayed’s wife, Dr. Salwa Khalil, told Compass from Cairo. “The case is not closed yet. So we don’t know what the next step will be.”

Dr. Khalil said she was informed that the two men were released by specific orders of Prince Sultan, Second Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense in the Saudi kingdom. The prince had been asked in a written complaint to review the file against the two Christians, said to be jailed for no valid reason.

The Saudi Ministry of Interior typically deports expatriate Christians accused of involvement in “illegal” worship activities. But after Gayed was set free, his Saudi employer told him that he was trying to transfer him to one of his other medical clinics in a different area.

According to Gayed’s wife, fanatic Egyptian Muslims had complained against the Coptic Christian pediatrician after he became manager of his Saudi sponsor’s medical clinic in El Bat’ha.

Gayed’s accusers reportedly filed an official complaint against him to the Saudi government’s Committee to Promote Virtue and Prevent Vice, declaring that a Christian


should not be allowed to manage the clinic and direct its Muslim employees. Under Islamic law, it is illegal for a non-Muslim to hold any position of authority over a Muslim.

“Fanatic Muslims from Egypt are causing problems now for Christians working in Saudi Arabia,” one Arab Christian employed in Riyadh for the past three years told Compass. “Basically, the Saudis are just interested in making money, and they believe Christians are good and trustworthy employees. But some Egyptian extremists complain against us, calling us ‘infidels.’”

Both men were arrested at their homes on October 25, registered at a police station and then jailed. They were accused of “establishing a temple [non-Muslim place of worship].” The two Copts had regularly attended a house church for expatriate Arab Christians meeting privately in Riyadh for several years.

After Prince Sultan reviewed their file, he ordered Gamel and Eskander released on November 4; however, it took a full week for the prince’s release order to be implemented.

According to relatives and friends of the released prisoners, the two Christians were not physically abused and were given “respectful” treatment during their 17 days in custody.

Saudi Arabia strictly forbids Christians and other non-Muslims to meet for public worship. But leading members of the royal family continue to insist that non-Muslims living in the kingdom are free to worship privately within their own homes.

(Return to Index)***********************************Attacks Target Christians in Sri LankaBuddhist Monks Spearhead Assaults on Churches, Christian Aid Organizationsby Sarah Page

DUBLIN (Compass) -- Buddhist monks in Sri Lanka carried out further attacks against Christians in November, acting with impunity as the government failed to prosecute several cases of arson and physical assault that occurred the previous month.

Several attacks took place on the last weekend of November, including two attacks on pastor’s homes where files and church membership lists were seized. One mob broke into the home of a pastor in Horana, painting a death threat on the outside wall of the house and burning Bibles, study notes and other belongings. Death threats were also issued against the pastor of a Christian Centre church in Horana on November 29. Some of his church members had already received death threats over the phone.

The home of another pastor in Homagama, Colombo district, was attacked on November 30. A crowd of about 20 Buddhist monks arrived at the pastor’s house while


he was out and threatened his wife and three female parishioners. They demanded that the pastor leave the area or face violent consequences. Sources said the same mob attacked the Katuwana Road Catholic Church later that day, breaking the cross on top of the church and erecting a Buddhist flag in its place.

On the same weekend, the meeting hall of the Jeevana Diya branch church in Horana district, Colombo, was attacked by a large mob, again led by Buddhist monks, who ripped Scripture verses from the walls and carried away Bibles, hymn books and other documents.

Other churches attacked in recent weeks include an Assembly of God church in Mathugama, southern Sri Lanka, and an independent church in northern Anuradhapura that was set on fire November 14.

On November 13, offices of the World Vision organization in Colombo sustained one of the most bizarre attacks to date. A group led by Buddhist monks stormed the premises, and one of the monks slapped a female staff member -- despite a Buddhist prohibition forbidding monks to touch any part of the female body.

The director and several other officials were then forcibly escorted to the Ministry of Buddhist Affairs, where the monks demanded that the ministry seal the World Vision office and begin an inquiry into its work.

The attack on the World Vision office received widespread news coverage on national television and in the Sri Lankan press.

The media gave less coverage to an arson attack in the early hours of November 10 on a Four Square church in Digana, a town in central Sri Lanka. The pastor and other church members brought the fire under control before it caused structural damage, but internal furnishings were destroyed.

On November 8, five Buddhist monks accompanied by 11 other people attacked Emmanuel Church in Nawala, Colombo. The intruders broke into the building at night and seized telephone indexes, files and books. When the pastor arrived, alerted by neighbors, the mob disconnected the phone lines to prevent him from calling the police.

When the intruders finally drove away, they instructed the pastor and other eye-witnesses to go to the local police station. By the time the Christians arrived, the monks were already making statements to the police, accusing the pastor of unethical conversion through financial enticement.

Compass has since learned of other attacks in recent weeks. One occurred in the Colombo area, where monks seized records and computers from a Christian organization. The monks ordered the Christian workers at one of the offices to vacate the building within a week, giving phone numbers to the neighbors and asking them to report if the Christians did not leave the area.


Earlier this year, the Supreme Court refused registration to three Christian organizations on the basis that their “acts of compassion” might encourage people to embrace Christianity, infringing on the rights of some to freely choose their religion.

The Supreme Court has since stated that if a Christian religious body were allowed to teach their religious beliefs, this would violate the foremost place given to Buddhism in the constitution. Buddhist groups have since used this ruling to claim that the expression of Christian faith in any form is now illegal.

How do Christians feel about the recent attacks? A local Christian, who preferred not to be named, told Compass, “While there is a frustration at the inability of the law to be upheld and the lack of relief from law enforcement officers, at the same time there is a sense of affirmation and thanksgiving for the ministry of the church.”

As for the wider community, “There is an increasing level of suspicion and animosity towards Christians, but not across the board. Some are sympathetic to our plight. Some are even taken aback at the viciousness of the attacks against Christians. It depends on the geographical area and the social makeup of the community.”

(Return to Index)***********************************Turkish Authorities Block Use of Protestant ChurchDiyarbakir Council Declares Worship Place ‘Illegal’by Barbara G. Baker

ISTANBUL (Compass) -- Seven months after the newly constructed Diyarbakir Evangelical Church opened in southeast Turkey, a local council under the Ministry of Culture and Tourism has again protested the building’s use as a place of worship.

Pastor Ahmet Guvener was served written notice on October 30 by the Diyarbakir Culture and Natural Structures Protection Council that the use of his building for any purpose except as a home was illegal.

Signed by Mehriban Karaaslan, the document declared that the building violated Law No. 2863 regulating the protection of historical sites. It is assumed this is a reference to the location of the new church, which stands opposite the ancient Syrian Orthodox community’s historic Virgin Mary Church. Both churches are in the city’s traditionally Christian neighborhood of Lalebey.

The notice declared that police photographs of the building and two complaints filed on October 2 and October 20 confirmed that it was being used as a church. Emphasizing that the structure cannot be used as a place of worship, the council stated it was “obliged” to notify local authorities of this breach of the law, so that either a court case would be opened or the building closed to prevent its misuse.


In response to the council’s notice, Guvener applied to the local municipality on November 4, requesting that the building’s zoning status be changed to a place of worship.

The same day, the pastor also sent letters to Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul and Interior Minister Abdulkadir Aksu in Ankara, asking for their intervention in legalizing the church. To date, Guvener has received no response.

While municipality officials have been consistently cooperative toward the new church, Guvener said, they have no actual authority and take their orders from the governate’s security officials and appointed representatives.

“There are at least 50 Turkish Protestant churches like ours which are all in a similar situation,” Guvener told Compass. “Most of them do not possess a building like we do, but they suffer the same difficulties with their local authorities.”

Under Turkey’s antiquated laws, there are no provisions for the building of new churches. As a result, local Protestant congregations have constructed meeting places as private residences, and then petitioned local authorities to declare them places of worship.

“This creates a contradiction,” Guvener said, since under Turkey’s secular laws, “We have the right to become Christians. Yet we cannot build for ourselves places of worship.”

Both city and Ministry of Culture officials had approved the original blueprints for the building in February 2001. These architectural plans clearly depict a pulpit, pews, separate men’s and women’s bathrooms and a baptistery on the main floor, designated as the sanctuary. But when the exterior construction was nearly completed in November, 2001, Karaaslan’s council ordered work halted and the site sealed.

Another 10 months passed before government officials finally accepted a revised blueprint in July 2002, allowing the building’s interior to be completed for use.

Meanwhile, Guvener was put on trial in May 2002, accused of making illegal structural alterations in the three-story building registered in his name. As the legal owner, the pastor declared in his defense that he had never disguised the building’s purpose. This past February, a criminal court judge ruled that the charges against Guvener were “unfounded” and dismissed the case.

Although officially a private home, the building has been functioning openly as a center for Christian worship and fellowship for its 50-member congregation since April 6 of this year.

Now that a sign engraved in the basalt facade has been uncovered, declaring the building the “Diyarbakir Evangelical Church,” an average of 200 visitors stop by every week to see the new church, talk with the pastor or acquire a New Testament.


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

(Return to Index)***********************************Turkish Court Releases Alleged AttackerHospitalized Christian Remains in Comaby Barbara G. Baker

ISTANBUL (Compass) -- Nearly a month after three suspects were jailed for severely injuring a Turkish Christian distributing so-called “missionary propaganda,” a court in northwest Turkey has ordered one of the alleged attackers released.

Metin Yildiran, president of the local chapter of the right-wing Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), was released by a panel of judges at the Orhangazi Criminal Court of First Instance on November 18.

According to a report appearing in the local Bursa Hakimiyet newspaper the following day, a thousand “ultranationalist” youths crowded around the Orhangazi courthouse during the hearing, breaking out into applause after Yildiran’s release was announced.

In its November 19 coverage of the hearing, Olay newspaper described the decision to release Yildiran as “a result of social pressure” brought to bear on the court.

But Yildiran’s co-suspects, Ibrahim Sekman and Huseyin Bektas, were remanded to Gemlik Prison until the next hearing on the case, set for December 17. According to several press reports, the court refused to release the other two suspects until it received an official report on the injured Christian’s medical condition.

Yakup Cindilli, 32, was hospitalized after the October 23 attack in which he sustained heavy blows on his head and face. He went into a coma during his second day at the Bursa State Hospital, where attending doctors describe his current condition in the intensive care unit as “stabilized” but still unconscious.

Together with his companion identified as Tufan Orhan, Cindilli had reported the beatings to the police, naming Sekman and Bektas as their attackers.

According to an October 25 article in Kent newspaper, Yildiran turned himself into the state prosecutor the day after Sekman and Bektas were arrested. In his official statement, Yildiran reportedly claimed that because he was also present during the incident, it was impossible to ignore his conscience when he learned his two friends had been arrested.


After the hearing, Necati Ozensoy, identified by the newspaper as MHP’s provincial chairman, declared that the other two suspects were innocent. Ozensoy said it was beyond understanding why the medical report confirming that Cindilli’s life was “not in danger” had been delayed, preventing the court from releasing the other two “innocent youths.”

The Turkish press has not reported that Cindilli was hospitalized from his injuries, nor that he has remained in a coma during November.

From a Muslim family, Cindilli had reportedly become a Christian during the past two years through his interactions with “Alo Dua,” a prayer hotline ministry staffed by local Turkish Christians.

Just five days before the Orhangazi hearing, Alo Dua’s Ankara office received an anonymous telephone call from a man who said he was calling from Orhangazi. “I want to warn you,” the caller said, “because the ones who are guilty in this case are free, and it’s the innocent ones who are in jail.”

“Be careful on the day of Yakup’s hearing,” the man continued, threatening a “very big protest” at the court.

On November 21, a doctor attending Cindilli said that there was “tiny, daily improvement” in his medical condition, mentioning that despite his unconscious state, he had uttered a word or two for the first time.

According to a November 19 report in the Kent Haber newspaper, the suspects told the court that they began arguing with Cindilli and Orhan when they tried to give them copies of the New Testament. At this point, they claimed, “Cindilli’s foot slipped and he fell, hitting his head on the pavement.”

The pastor of the Bursa Protestant Church where Cindilli sometimes attended worship called for a special day of prayer and fasting on December 17, urging fellow Turkish Christians to pray for Cindilli’s complete recovery and for a just court ruling on his case.

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

(Return to Index)***********************************Expatriate Christian Sues Turkish Newspaper for SlanderRight-Wing ‘Tercuman’ Demands American’s Ousterby Barbara G. Baker

ISTANBUL (Compass) -- An American English teacher at an Istanbul university has filed a 40.5 billion Turkish lira ($27,500) slander case against a Turkish newspaper for publishing a series of false charges against him.


Hans Chabra, 40, was accused by the right-wing Halka ve Olaylara Tercuman newspaper of doing “missionary” work this past summer while employed by the state as a teacher of preparatory English at Istanbul’s Marmara University.

The tabloid demanded that Chabra be fired from his job and deported from Turkey because of his involvement in Christian evangelism activities. From Seattle, Washington, the teacher has worked in Turkey for the past 11 years.

Together with a Turkish Christian, Chabra was detained briefly by Eskisehir police on July 9 when a local shopkeeper complained that they were offering passersby Christian books. “The police behaved impeccably,” Chabra said, questioning them politely and then completing a written statement before releasing them four hours later.

But on July 15, the Tercuman newspaper carried banner headlines and a photograph of Chabra, exposing the alleged “scandal” of a Bible teacher whom it labeled “both a [political] separatist and a missionary.”

Carrying the byline of Celik Celikyaman, the article claimed Chabra represented both a so-called “World Missionaries United” group and an organization called Human Rights Action. It went on to declare Chabra had written articles accusing Turkey of practicing occupation in Northern Cyprus and genocide against its Kurdish population.

According to Tercuman, Chabra was passing out New Testaments and crucifixes, neither of which was true, the teacher told Compass. “We were offering people a catalog from a local Christian publishing company, explaining they could get a free copy of one of three books by simply writing and requesting it,” Chabra said.

Tercuman also claimed that the families of “thousands of students” Chabra had been teaching at the university for all these years were upset to learn he had been brainwashing their children.

The following day, a second front-page story announced that the rector of Marmara University had promised to remove Chabra from his teaching position and have him ousted from Turkey. Dr. Tunc Erem reportedly informed Tercuman that he was requesting an investigation from the security police and planned to terminate Chabra’s teaching contract.

Subsequently, Tercuman complained in articles on July 25 and again on August 27 that the rector’s promised complaint against Chabra had never been filed with the Istanbul security police. In a rude pun on the word “misyoner” (missionary), the front-page headline on July 25 called Chabra a “pisyoner” or “filthy worker.”

Finally on August 29, Tercuman said that Dr. Erem had confirmed that an internal university inquiry regarding Chabra’s conduct was underway. But he clarified that any


deportation action would have to be taken by the police. “I have no such authority,” the rector noted.

“But when his contract expires in December, it will not be renewed,” Dr. Erem reportedly declared.

Nevertheless, when Chabra was questioned by the university’s law professor, who read over the Eskisehir police report as well as Chabra’s statement, he was told he had not broken any laws. “The law professor even said that missionary activity was not a crime!” Chabra said.

Under Turkish secular law, religious proselytizing cannot be prohibited unless the material involved is reproduced illegally, or it contains a proven political motive. However, local security authorities routinely arrest both Turkish and expatriate Christians involved in evangelistic activities in public places, sometimes detaining them for an extended investigation.

In a lawsuit filed September 25 before the Kadikoy Criminal Law Court, Chabra’s lawyer Ebru Bilsel demanded 40.5 billion Turkish lira ($27,500) in compensation for moral and physical damages from the untruths disseminated against her client. Although a preliminary hearing is set for December 23, the attorney expects the case to take a year to resolve.

If Chabra wins the case, Tercuman is required by law to print a retraction of its false statements in a similar front-page, banner headline article.

In a 1994 case involving an American doctor working for a university hospital in Izmir, Dr. John Fowler won a slander case against two newspapers for publishing blatant fabrications about his activities as a practicing Christian. Fowler was cleared in his university’s investigation and also won the civil court case and a subsequent appeal. But instead of printing the required retraction, the newspapers simply paid a minimal contempt-of-court fine.

On November 5, Marmara University officials informed Chabra in writing that as a result of their investigation, they had decided to fine him one day’s pay for failing to obtain formal permission from university authorities in July to leave Istanbul and visit Eskisehir. Turkey’s schools rarely enforce this rule on foreign teachers during the official summer holidays, but Chabra said he did not plan to object to their decision.

Although Chabra’s contract expires at the end of the calendar year, he told Compass that foreign teachers usually do not sign their renewed contract until the following spring. “So I’m just waiting to learn whether in fact this whole investigation scam created by Tercuman will actually make any difference in renewing my contract,” Chabra said.


“I am doing all I can to hold onto my teaching position, and to defend my rights under the Turkish Constitution,” he continued. “This is a secular state, and everyone has the right to share their faith under Article 26. So I expect the courts to support this right.”

(Return to Index)***********************************Prominent Hmong Christian Leader Arrested, Extradited in VietnamObservers Fear Ma Van Bay Will Face Abuse in Police CustodySpecial to Compass Direct

LOS ANGELES (Compass) -- On November 29, Vietnamese authorities extradited Ma Van Bay from Binh Phuoc province in the Central Highlands to his former home in Ha Giang province on the China border. Christians who know the brutality of government authorities in Ha Giang fear Bay, a key Hmong Christian leader, will face serious abuse.

On July 1, police in Ha Giang beat to death another Hmong Christian leader, Vang Seo Giao, and disposed of his body in a river. Compass sources have received a taped interview with Giao’s brother about the murder.

A journalist in Hanoi who questioned Vietnam’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs about this charge, based on an October 1 Freedom House press release about the murder, was informed that Giao had died because he “drowned crossing a stream while drunk.”

Bay was arrested on November 17 in Bu Dang district of Binh Phuoc province. Having become a Christian in the early 1990s after hearing the gospel on FEBC Radio, Bay soon became a leader of the rapidly growing Christian community in his province.

During one round of oppression in 1997, Bay, then a church elder responsible for his congregation’s modest collections, was accused by the authorities of “stealing money from the citizens for personal gain.” He was also charged with illegally following the Christian religion and propagating it .

Badly beaten after his arrest and facing up to 12 years in prison on the charges, Bay escaped custody and became one of the first of thousands of Hmong to flee to Vietnam’s Central Highlands. He was given help and local “witness protection” by Christians of another minority group, and after a time, his family was brought down to join him.

Bay became a key leader among the many Hmong Christians who fled to the Central Highlands. A gifted translator, he also translated urgently needed Christian literature from Vietnamese into the Hmong language.

A Compass source who talked to Bay’s colleagues in Vietnam quotes them as saying, “Ha Giang police came to Binh Phuoc to extradite him to the Bac Quang district prison in Ha Giang province on Saturday (November 29). We are very concerned that he will be severely tortured by the police there.”


They requested prayer that Bay not be abused, and also prayer for his wife and three children.

Hmong Christians in Vietnam reported that about 30 public security police descended on Phi Va village, Cam Te commune in Muong Lay district, Lai Chau province on October 21 to try to force people to sign papers renouncing Christianity. When the believers refused to sign, police became abusive and beat one woman until she was unconscious.

The incident is part of a wave of anti-Christian persecution in Vietnam’s northwest provinces. Sources tell Compass that police and soldiers are being sent to all villages in Lai Chau where there are Christian believers. Security forces carry out surveillance and badger Christians to sign statements agreeing to give up their faith and re-establish traditional ancestor worship.

In addition to such official persecution, Hmong Christians in both northern Vietnam and southern China have recently been targeted by the Eastern Lightning cult, noted for its brutal kidnappings and brainwashing. Christian radio producers are reportedly working feverishly to prepare programs in the Hmong language which will help people resist the cult.

(Return to Index)***********************************Protestant Activist Survives Assassination Attempt in VietnamAt Least 15 Christians are Arrested in Police CrackdownSpecial to Compass Direct

HO CHI MINH CITY (Compass) -- Public Security police in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) allegedly attempted to assassinate the Rev. Nguyen Hong Quang at about 9 p.m. on December 9 by staging a motorcycle “accident,” according to the Vietnamese Mennonite Church in Saigon.

Rev. Quang is a leader of the Mennonite house churches in Vietnam and a bold activist for religious freedom and other human rights.

Earlier the same evening, Pastor Quang and another house church leader met with Jean Geran of the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, who was visiting from Washington, D.C., to discuss religious liberty abuses. After the meeting, the two Vietnamese church leaders went to report to a colleague, the Rev. Tran Mai, who lives in central Saigon.

After leaving Rev. Mai, the small motorbike on which Pastor Quang was riding behind a colleague, Evangelist Pham Ngoc Thach, was deliberately rammed by a very large speeding motorcycle driven by a plainclothes policeman.


Pastor Quang -- who has survived previous attacks on his life -- and those close to him are convinced this was a clear attempt to “neutralize” him by “accident.”

Miraculously the two men were not seriously injured. But immediately after the “accident,” a number of police armed with rifles, handguns and electric cattle prods attacked both Quang and Thach. The police managed to subdue Evangelist Thach, but Pastor Quang escaped on foot and took refuge back in the house of the Rev. Mai. From there he phoned other house church leaders to alert them of the attack.

Evangelist Thach was taken into police custody at the Nguyen Thai Binh Precinct in District One for interrogation. He was reportedly abused by the police.

By 11:30 that night, Pastor Quang had managed to return to his home and organize 16 Christians to go the police station for a sit-in, hunger strike and prayer vigil to demand the release of Evangelist Thach.

Meanwhile, police were arresting at least 15 other Christian workers in Saigon’s Districts Seven and Nine, as well as in the Tan Phu area, for allegedly handing out Christian literature to those attending Seagames 22 events in the city. The Rev. Tran Mai and the Rev. Le Quang Son of the Nazarene Church went out that evening, but did not return home or report to their families.

About 24 hours later, near midnight on December 10, Saigon time, authorities released Evangelist Thach, as well as the Rev. Mai and the Rev. Son whom they had arrested and held in another location.

The Christians at the police station continue their hunger strike and prayer vigil, demanding that authorities release all the other workers who had been arrested and apologize unconditionally for the wrongful arrests. Christians have threatened a major street demonstration if the remaining detainees are not released.

(Return to Index)***********************************Christian Tract Distribution in Vietnam Brings ArrestsEvangelists Beaten and Christian Leader Threatens Street DemonstrationsSpecial to Compass Direct

HO CHI MINH CITY (Compass) -- News of clashes between Christians and public security police over the distribution of Christian tracts has been pouring out of Vietnam since the opening of the 22nd Southeast Asia Games (Seagames 22) on December 5. The house churches, often zealous in their evangelism, have apparently organized the distribution of Christian tracts and other literature featuring the testimonies of prominent Christian athletes, severely pushing the limits of religious freedom in this communist nation.


A December 8 Reuters news release from Hanoi told of the detention of seven Vietnamese students for the distribution of “flyers promoting Christianity” on December 4, the eve of the opening of the games. Authorities insisted the students were not arrested, only called in for questioning about causing disorder. Police said it was illegal to distribute literature without the authorization of the Seagames organizers and tried to find out where the materials came from.

Confrontations were more violent in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon). On December 5, Ms. Le Thi Thanh Tuyen was arrested, bound and beaten in the Ben Nghe police station where she was held for 24 hours before being released.

On December 7, three women evangelists and a male evangelist, Dang Quoc Tuan, were arrested and beaten right on Dong Khoi Street, the heart of the tourist area, in Central Ho Chi Minh City. Mr. Tuan was stripped of his clothes and beaten on the street by about 10 policemen before being taken to the Ben Nghe police station. Christians of the Mennonite house churches came to the police station to plead for his release. He was released at 2 p.m. on December 8 and given an apology by Police Major Bui Thanh Son of the PA38 religion unit of Ho Chi Minh City, who also promised such things would not happen again. But this proved an empty promise.

At about 9 p.m. on the December 9, eight workers of the Vietnam Mission Alliance group were arrested in District 7 and are being held. Five of them are women. Three others, including two women of the Inter-Evangelistic Movement in Vietnam, were arrested in District 9. That same evening, their leader, the Rev. Tran Mai, went to intercede for them and was himself detained for 24 hours, as was a Nazarene church leader, the Rev. Le Quang Son. By noon on December 10, at least 18 Christians were known to be in detention over the literature distribution. Others were missing . Christian leaders are still gathering information to try to understand the extent of the crackdown.

At noon (Ho Chi Minh City local time) on Thursday, December 11, a prominent house church leader informed Compass that some had been released, but that at least 10 remained incarcerated and the whereabouts of two workers was unknown. Church leaders reported that many boxes of Christian tracts had been confiscated, but they were determined to continue distributing what remained.

In an incident apparently unrelated to the Christian literature, police staged a motorcycle “accident” on the evening of December 9 in what appears to have been an assassination attempt on the life of the Rev. Nguyen Hong Quang, a prominent house church leader and activist for religious freedom and other human rights. Quang had recently angered authorities when he became involved in trying to defend at trial the two nephews and niece of the famous prisoner-of-conscience and religious freedom activist, Father Nguyen Van Ly. Quang escaped the police attack and attempted arrest, but a colleague, Evangelist Pham Ngoc Thach, who was carrying the Rev. Quang on his motorbike, was captured by police, beaten, and taken to prison. Within hours, the Rev. Quang had organized a sit-in, hunger strike and prayer vigil with about 30 Christians at the police station. Evangelist Thach was released within 24 hours.


However, when the Rev. Quang learned of the arrest of many other workers over literature incidents, he continued the confrontation with the police, demanding the release of all taken into custody. He threatened to organize unprecedented street demonstrations if they were not released. Other leaders entered into quiet negotiations with authorities and secured the release of some. But with at least 10 still being held, the Rev. Quang is threatening street demonstrations that are sure to embarrass authorities and could bring further dangerous clashes.

Although Vietnam recognizes two Protestant groups, dozens of house church organizations representing hundreds of house churches and thousands of Christians remain illegal and subject to official abuse.

(Return to Index)**********************************************************************COMPASS DIRECTGlobal News from the Frontlines

David Miller, Managing EditorGail Wahlquist, Editorial AssistantSuzi Quinones, Design

Bureau Chiefs:Barbara Baker, Middle EastSarah Page, Asia

For subscription information, contact:

Compass DirectP.O. Box 27250Santa Ana, CA 92799USAPhone: 949-862-0314FAX: 949-752-6536E-mail: [email protected]


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