Pakistan

| Saturday July 12, 2008

Girls in Pakistan Kidnapped, Allegedly Forced to Convert

A Christian father in Pakistan is in a legal battle with kidnappers for the custody of his pre-teen daughters, who allegedly have been forced to convert to Islam. Yesterday a judge in Pakistan’s Punjab province ordered further investigation into the kidnapping of Saba Younis, 12, and Aneela Younis, 10, who went missing on June 26 in the small town of Chowk Munda. The kidnappers filed for custody of the girls at the local police house on June 28, stating that the sisters had converted to Islam and their father no longer had jurisdiction over them. When the father of the two girls, Younis Masih, was summoned to the police house to testify, police initially refused to file a case, telling Masih to “remain silent” as the girls had embraced Islam. Ashfaq Fateh, a Christian advocate who established contact with Masih this week, said that the girls’ Catholic family had not received threats for their faith. He asserted, however, that the kidnapping was a religious matter. “Being weaker and belonging to the Christian community, the girls were kidnapped,” he said.

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Turkey

| Saturday July 12, 2008

Alleged Masterminds of Murders in Turkey Named in Court

Despite new court testimony naming a web of ranking local officials behind the slaughter of three Christians in Malatya last year, defense lawyers for the alleged murderers attempted to turn last week’s hearing into an investigation into Christian missionary activities. Playing to rising anti-Christian sentiments in 99 percent Muslim Turkey, the murderers’ attorneys peppered four of the six witnesses testifying at hearing with probing questions about their personal religious beliefs and involvement in Christian activities. The defense also pursued a line of questioning linked to a farfetched conspiracy theory, based on the murderers’ claims that the Malatya office of Zirve Publishing Co. was secretly linked to the illegal Kurdistan Workers’ Party terrorist group. But the firsthand testimony of a prosecution witness claiming to know personally the instigators of the deadly plot dominated Friday’s (July 4) hearing. Metin Dogan said Burhan Coskun, president of the ultranationalist youth organization Ulku Ocaklari, had insisted to him, “This job will be done with a knife, it cannot be any other way. If it’s done with a gun, it cannot be arranged with the police.”

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Indonesia

| Saturday July 12, 2008

Church in West Java, Indonesia, Bulldozed

Public Order officials on June 26 demolished a church building in Cimahi regency of Bandung district, West Java, to make way for a new shopping mall and bus terminal after church leaders failed to convince authorities that they owned the land on which it was built. Since the Indonesian Anglican Church of Cirebeum village was established in 1992 – with a letter of approval from 20 families in the immediate neighborhood – courts have dealt with a succession of people claiming to be the rightful owners of the property. Even as the church was demolished, a civil tribunal in Bandung district was considering a verdict on rightful ownership following a hearing on June 24. As pastor Raman Saragih tried to stop officials from tearing down the church building, one of the men hit him in the face and chest. Several others joined in until another church member intervened. Saragih and his church members are pursuing legal action against the Cimahi government. At the same time, the Islamic Defender’s Front, a sub-group of the Anti-Apostasy Alliance Movement, has continued to forcibly close churches in Bandung district, citing the lack of necessary worship permits.

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Iran

| Saturday July 12, 2008

Iran Detains Ex-Muslims for ‘Apostasy’

Iranian authorities have detained two converts to Christianity in the southern city of Shiraz for eight weeks on suspicion of “apostasy,” or leaving Islam. In Iran, apostasy is a crime that can be punishable by death. Mahmood Matin, 52, and Arash Bandari, 44, remain imprisoned in a secret police detention center known by its address, Sepah Street 100, located in the center of Shiraz since their arrest on May 15 (previously reported as May 13). Matin and Bandari were detained with 13 other Muslim converts to Christianity while meeting together in a park in Shiraz. The 13 others have been released but were told they have an ongoing case against them, though officials have not informed them of the charges. During a visit on June 24, Matin’s wife was able to speak with her husband for five minutes as officials listened in, a source told Compass. “They are pushing me to tell them that I am connected to a church outside [Iran] and that I am receiving a salary, but I told them that I am doing it on my own,” he told his wife, according to the source. A draft penal code under discussion in Iran’s parliament this month may make the death penalty obligatory for those who leave Islam or use the Internet to encourage others to do so.

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Pakistan

| Saturday July 12, 2008

Backlash Feared in Pakistan's NWFP after Release of Captives

Just weeks after the release of 16 Christians kidnapped by the banned militant group Lashkar-e-Islam in Pakistan’s northwestern city of Peshawar, a government clampdown on extremist groups in the region has left Christians and locals fearing a backlash. On June 21, some 16 Christians were kidnapped in broad daylight in Peshawar’s affluent neighborhood of Academy Town in the North West Frontier Province. Militants burst into the compound where the group was worshiping and violently pulled the men into vans along with the Muslim renter of the compound. The Pakistan People’s Party government, in power since February, acted swiftly, ensuring the release of the Christian captives within 10 hours and drawing an apology from the militant group. But the local Christian community is unsure of the sincerity of the apology, and they fear the new government’s military offensive could invite retaliation. Ashar Dean, assistant director of communication of the Church of Pakistan Peshawar diocese, told Compass, “The situation in Peshawar remains tense, and all the security agencies are on standby.”

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