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Home  News
Fulani herdsmen strike Christian villages, slaying mainly ethnic Berom with machetes.LAGOS, Nigeria, March 8 (CDN) — An uneasy calm prevailed in Plateau state, Nigeria today following the killing of hundreds of Christians early yesterday morning in three farming villages near Jos by ethnic Fulani Muslims. The mostly ethnic Berom victims included many women and children killed with machetes by rampaging Fulani herdsmen. About 75 houses were also burned. State Information Commissioner Gregory Yenlong confirmed that about 500 persons were killed in the attacks, which took place mainly in Dogo Nahawa, Zot and Rastat villages. "We were woken up by gunshots in the middle of the night, and before we knew what was happening, our houses were torched and they started hacking down people" survivor Musa Gyang told media. The assailants reportedly came on foot from...
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Outside Islamists had intimidated local officials into withdrawing approval.JAKARTA, Indonesia, March 8 (CDN) — A court in West Java has reversed the revocation of a Catholic church's building permit. The Purwakarta regency government had revoked the building permit for Santa Maria Catholic Church when Islamists threatened local residents and officials into opposing the project, church leaders said. The church sued the Purwakarta regency for revoking the approved building permit in Cinangka village last October, and in a little-publicized court ruling on Feb. 25, a judge in a state court in Bandung, West Java decided in favor of the church. "The error arose when external forces pressured the Purwakarta government so much that it revoked the building permit," the head of the church legal team, Dr. Liona Nanang, told Compass. "Government sources have admitted...
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Arrest, imprisonment appear to be part of larger crackdown in Isfahan.ISTANBUL, March 8 (CDN) — An Assyrian pastor the Iranian government accused of "converting Muslims" is being tortured in prison and threatened with execution, sources close to the case said. State Security agents on Feb. 2 arrested the Rev. Wilson Issavi, 65, shortly after he finished a house meeting at a friend's home in Isfahan. A city of more than 1.5 million people, Isfahan is located 208 miles (335 kilometers) south of Tehran. According to Farsi Christian News Network, Issavi's wife, Medline Nazanin, recently visited her husband in prison, where she saw that he had obvious signs of torture and was in poor condition. Iranian intelligence officials told Nazanin that her husband might be executed for his alleged activities. Issavi is the pastor of The Evangelical Church of Kermanshah in...
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Christians targeted as political tension builds in weeks leading to parliamentary polls.ISTANBUL, March 5 (CDN) — Political tensions ahead of parliamentary elections in Iraq on Sunday (March 7) have left at least eight Chaldean Christians dead in the last three weeks and hundreds of families fleeing Mosul. "The concern of Christians in Mosul is growing in the face of what is happening in the city," said Chaldean Archbishop of Kirkuk Louis Sako. "The tension and struggle between political forces is creating an atmosphere of chaos and congestion. Christians are victims of political tension between political groups, but maybe also by fundamentalist sectarian cleansing." On Feb. 23 the killing of Eshoee Marokee, a Christian, and his two sons in their home in front of other family members sent shock waves across the Christian community. The murder...
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Hindu nationalists try to burn Christians alive for protesting offensive Jesus banners.NEW DELHI, March 3 (CDN) — Attacks on Christians last month in Punjab state following protests against banners depicting Jesus drinking and smoking were eerily similar to the anti-Christian violence in Orissa state in 2007 and 2008, according to a fact-finding mission. "I was struck by the similarities between the attacks in northern Punjab state and the violence in eastern Orissa state in 2007 and 2008," said Dr. John Dayal, a member of the All India Christian Council (AICC) fact-finding mission, which released the report yesterday. Dayal pointed out that factors such as the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) being part of the ruling coalition, police inaction, coordination of attacks and support of the local merchant community for Hindu...
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Punjab, India, March 1 (CDN) — Hindu extremists from the Bajrang Dal and Shiv Sena on Feb. 20 beat Christians and vandalized two churches in Batala after a protest against an objectionable picture of Christ. Christians had noticed the picture posted as part of a composite poster for an upcoming Hindu festival, Ram Naumi. The poster contained pictures of other religious deities as they normally appear, while Jesus was portrayed with a cigarette and a beer, reported the Evangelical Fellowship of India. In response to the Christian protest, the Hindu extremists went on a rampage, beating the pastor of the Church of North India and a Salvation Army officer and burning and looting the two churches. With church leaders' pressure, police registered a case against Hindu extremists Pratap Singh and Raj Kumar, who were said to have put up the picture of Jesus, for a "malicious act intended to...
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North Korea Celebrates Leaders Birthday
CRISES AS LEADER TURNS 68
Halton Hills, ON (Feb. 16, 2010) – Most people in North Korea will celebrate the 68th birthday of North Korean “Dear Leader” Kim Jong-Il today with parades, cultural performances and other special events. February 16 is a national holiday. It is considered the most important date in North Korea along with April 15, which is the day on which Kim Jong Il’s father Kim Il-Sung was born. While Kim Jong-Il is being showered with expensive gifts, the North Korean people are being tortured by their government as two forced combat campaigns of 150 days and 100 days are continuing. In these periods almost every citizen has to work actively for the state or face imprisonment. Christians are even under more scrutiny during these combat campaigns.
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North Korea Top Persecutor of Christians for Eighth Straight Year
IRAN JUMPS TO SECOND PLACE ON WORLD WATCH LIST
Halton Hills, ON (January, 2010) – Two of the most notorious and restrictive regimes in the world top the Open Doors 2010 World Watch List (WWL) of 50 countries which are the worst persecutors of Christians. In the No. 1 spot for the eighth straight time is North Korea, the country where every religious activity is recognized as an insurrection to the North Korean socialist principles. In 2009, the North Korean regime of Kim Jong-Il targeted Christians all over the country. That resulted in arrests, torture and killings. North Korean leaders are desperately trying to control society in order to eradicate all Christian activities. There are an estimated 200,000 North Koreans in political prisons, including 40,000 to 60,000 Christians. A veteran North Korean watcher, who can’t be identified due to security reasons, states: “Christians are the target of fierce government action, and once caught, are not regarded as human. Last year we had evidence that some were used as guinea pigs to test chemical and biological weapons.”
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Moroccan Authorities Raid Bible Study, Arrest Christians
By Pablo Fredrick MARSEILLES, France, February 9 (Compass Direct News) – A large, military-led team of Moroccan authorities raided a Bible study in a small city southeast of Marrakech last week, arresting 18 Moroccans and deporting a U.S. citizen, area Christian leaders said. Approximately 60 officers from the Moroccan security services on Thursday afternoon (Feb. 4) raided the home of a Christian in Amizmiz, a picturesque city of 10,000 mainly Berber people 56 kilometers (35 miles) southeast of Marrakech. A church Bible study was in progress at the home with visitors from western and southern Morocco, the leaders said. Five of the 18 people held for 14 hours were small children, two of them infants no more than 6 months old. The other small children ranged from 20 months to 4 years old, and also detained was the visiting 16-year-old nephew of one of the participants. The Christian leaders said authorities interrogated participants in the Bible study for 14 hours. The authorities filmed the interrogations with digital video cameras and cell phones.
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