| International Persecution of Christians Continues in 2007 |
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It is estimated that nearly 250 Million Christians were persecuted throughout the world in 2007. Many were martyred, imprisoned, beat, and ridiculed for their faith in Jesus Christ. Some of the worst offenders and stories include: North Korea The United States Commission on International Religious Freedoms calls North Korea’s treatments of Christians alarming for its "egregious and systematic human rights violations.” Although North Korea claims to have “religious freedoms” the Bible is banned, and all religious activities are discouraged. In a recently uncovered report indicates that “more Christians were arrested in 2006 than in 2005. Between 50,000 and 70,000 Christians are currently suffering in prison camps. Many of them are tortured. Others are still putting their lives at risk by trying to flee to China.” India: 2007 Most Violent Year on Record In India, a series of premeditated Hindu extremist attacks beginning Christmas Eve in Orissa state’s Kandhamal district made 2007 the most violent on record for Christians, with more than 800 incidents reported throughout the year. Over a period of 10 days in Orissa state, Christian leaders said, at least nine people were killed, close to 90 churches burned and about 600 houses were torched or vandalized, leaving 5,000 people facing hunger and fear. The reason for the violence was conversions by area Christians. Anticipating attacks during Christmas week, local Christians had on December 22 urged district authorities to provide police protection. Their pleas went unheeded. Iraq: Heightened Attacks on Iraqi Christians Father Ragheed Ganni and three deacons were shot to death on June 3 in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. In Baghdad, Islamic extremists killed Fouad Salim for refusing to convert to Islam. In Baghdad’s Dora neighborhood, Iraqi Christians fled their homes in April after Sunni extremists threatened to kill them if they did not convert to Islam within 24 hours. Chaldean priest Nawzat Hanna, was abducted May 19 in Baghdad’s Baladiyat neighborhood; he was released two days later after kidnappers demanded a six-digit figure in U.S. dollars. On October 13, kidnappers demanded $1 million after abducting Syrian Catholic priests Pius Affas and Mazen Ishoa from Mosul; they were released on October 21. Iraqi Chaldean priest Hani Abdel Ahad was kidnapped on June 6 in Baghdad and released on June 17. A local bishop confirmed that the motive for the priest’s kidnapping was a mix of religious and financial considerations. Due to the heroic efforts of American and Coalition troops in Baghdad, it seems the pattern of persecution is decreasing. China: Pre-Olympic Crackdown The Chinese Communist Party waged a secret campaign against unregistered house churches for nearly six months, from mid-June until the end of November, in an attempt to diminish dissident voices ahead of the 2008 Olympic Games. Local authorities were ordered to detail “meeting places, participants, locations and patterns.” Information sought reached deeply: “the content of sermons, personal history of [house church] evangelists, the sources of their funds, the system of their activities, key members, and the ordinary people who participate.” The government instructions came with a stinger: “For those who refuse to mend their ways or to stop their activities … public security agencies shall work together with agencies in charge of religious affairs and resolutely crack down.” On November 18, authorities detained 40 church leaders from China Gospel Fellowship (CGF). 21 of the CGF senior leaders were released before November 24. Attorney Li Heping said a group of men ordered him to stop practicing law, beat him and struck him with electric batons for nearly five hours on September 29. On September 22, Christian human rights attorney Gao Zhisheng and his family were reportedly arrested a day after he sent an open letter to the U.S. Congress listing human rights abuses. Laos: Indiscriminate Killing of Christians Soldiers, police and others killed at least 13 Christians in Laos in July in a crackdown on Hmong villagers falsely accused of stirring rebel dissent. In the sweep, encouraged by communist village leaders and others who falsely accused the Christians of being separatist rebels, authorities arrested and imprisoned about 200 members of the 1,900-strong Laos Evangelical Church in Ban Sai Jarern village, Bokeo province, in northwestern Laos. The Christians were largely Hmong refugees who had fled persecution in Vietnam. Turkey: Unprecedented Violence In April five Turkish Muslims young men bound three workers at a Christian publishing house, tortured them with stab wounds, and slit their throats in the southeastern city of Malatya. Two of the victims, Necati Aydin and Ugur Yuksel, were converts from Islam, and the third, Tilmann Geske, was a German Christian. Defendants were accused of founding an armed group and murdering the Christians in a deliberate, organized manner. On December 16, a 19-year-old Muslim youth stabbed an Italian priest in the stomach after Sunday services outside a Catholic church in Turkey. Father Adriano Franchini, 65, was hospitalized overnight in the Aegean city of Izmir. Nigeria: Muslim Rampage Kills 10 A Muslim rampage in Tudun Wada Dankadai in the northern state of Kano resulted in the killing of 10 Christians and the destruction of nine churches. Another 61 people were injured and more than 500 displaced in the September 28 disturbance, touched off when Muslim students of Government College-Tudun Wada Dankadai, a public high school, claimed that a Christian student had drawn a cartoon of Islam’s prophet, Muhammad, on the wall of the school’s mosque. All area homes, shops and businesses owned by Christians were looted and burned, eyewitnesses said. Eritrea (North East Africa): Deaths by Torture Eritrean authorities tortured a woman to death on September 5 for refusing to recant her Christian faith, the fourth such killing in less than a year. Nigisti Haile, 33, died at the Wi’a Military Training Center; she was one of 10 single Christian women arrested at a church gathering in Keren. On February 15, Magos Solomon Semere also died under torture, at the Adi-Nefase Military Confinement facility outside Assab. Eritrea has officially recognized only Islam and the Orthodox, Catholic and Lutheran Christian churches. But authorities have deposed and detained the patriarch of the Eritrean Orthodox Church, Abune Antonios, due to his criticisms of government interference in church matters. According to Amnesty International, more than 2,000 Eritrean Christians are imprisoned in Eritrea. All have been denied legal counsel or trial, with no written charges filed against them. Eritrean authorities have also ordered that all Catholic schools, clinics, orphanages and women’s vocational training centers be turned over to the government’s Ministry of Social Welfare and Labor. Palestine: Christian Leader Killed in Gaza Police found Christian bookstore manager Rami Ayyad murdered on October 7 in the Palestinian territory of Gaza. He had been shot twice by unknown individuals who abducted Ayyad, shortly after he closed The Teacher’s Bookshop at 4:30 p.m. October 6. The bookshop is operated by the Palestinian Bible Society, which Muslim extremists have repeatedly threatened. Security officials for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah party reportedly said there is evidence that Ashraf Abu Layla, central Gaza chief of Hamas’ military wing, the Izz al-Din Al Qassam Brigades, was behind the murder. Since his death, seven Palestinian Christian families have been evacuated out of Gaza and remain in temporary exile in the face of ongoing death threats from Islamic militants. Taliban terrorists killed two members of a team of 23 Christian aid workers from South Korea after abducting them on July 19. Shim Sung Min, 29, was shot to death on July 30. The group’s leader, pastor Bae Hyung Kyu, was shot on his birthday. After the freeing of two hostages, South Korea agreed to withdraw troops and missionaries from Afghanistan in exchange for the release of the remaining 19 aid workers. A Taliban spokesman said his group would continue kidnapping foreigners because they had found it to be an effective tactic. According to Agence France-Presse, a Seoul doctor confirmed that Taliban captors had beaten hostages in captivity. “They said they were beaten at first for refusing to take part in Islamic prayers or for rejecting a demand to convert,” the doctor said in the September 3 article. Seoul-based Christian Today newspaper on September 5 quoted Sammul church head pastor Park Eun Jo as saying that Bae Hyung Kyu had been killed for refusing to convert. The Sammul church referred to Bae as a martyr at his funeral.
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