The Overcomers ( Egypt – March 2008)

An Egyptian court has refused to rule in a case filed by 25 year old Mohammed Hegazy who is seeking legal recognition of his conversion from Islam to Christianity.

Hindu Radicals Beat Up Pastor in India

By James Varghese
Special to ASSIST News Service

MADHYA PRADESH, INDIA – A pastor has been beaten up by a group of Hindu radicals.

According to a story on the web site www.persecution.in, the assault occurred on the evening of March 11 in Madhya Pradesh, India.

When leaving his house, Pastor Tulsi, 26, was attacked by members of a Hindu militant group called RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh).

When he was assaulted Tulsi (who works for an Indian evangelical team), was holding a copy of Jesus Calls magazine and his organization’s brochure.

The Hindu militants snatched the material from Tulsi and started to beat him up. Later the radicals took Tulsi to an area police station where they locked him up, claiming that Tulsi was converting people to Christianity by force.

Area believers attempted to see Tulsi but were refused permission. They were told that police needed to talk to RSS leaders before granting any visits to see Tulsi, as they feared trouble from members of the militant Hindu sect.

Tulsi was made to forced to sign his name on blank pieces of paper. That  would enable either the police or the Hindu radicals to say he was engaging in forced conversions.

Tulsi was apparently told that if he renounces his faith he would be immediately released, but he refused.

Christian bookstore in Egypt raided by police, employee arrested

By Michael Ireland
Chief Correspondent, ASSIST News Service

CAIRO, EGYPT (ANS) — Egyptian police arrested an Egyptian Christian bookstore employee midday Saturday, confiscating books, compact discs, and issues of a newspaper read by Christians in Egypt.

According to Advocates For The Persecuted, (www.advocatesforthepersecuted.org) , David Joseph, chief editor of Al Tareek Wa Al Haque [The Way and The Truth] — the only newspaper specifically geared toward serving the Christian minority community in Egypt — says Egyptian authorities arrested and interrogated Shenouda Armia Bakhait, who was working in the bookstore at the time police raided the shop.

Joseph is President of the Egyptian Christian Youth Union, which runs the Nile Christian Book Shop. The Church of God in Egypt owns the bookstore. Joseph founded the Egyptian Christian Youth Union in 1982. Pastor Safwat Al Baiadi, president of the Evangelical Churches in Egypt, is chairman of the newspaper. The newspaper’s website is www.akhbarsarra.com .

Joseph said: “At 12 noon, Cairo time, General Tarik Barakat, Lt. Assem Al Sherief, and eight undercover policemen stormed into the Nile Christian Book Shop. They spent two hours searching everything in the bookstore. Mr. Shenouda was interrogated for more than five hours by Mohamed Abou al Fetouh, a prosecutor, and Mohammed Issa, president of the court.”

He said that under Egyptian law, if the court found no basis for a formal accusation, the bookstore worker should have been set free immediately. If there were found to be a basis for accusation, he could then be held for four days to allow time for an investigation.

“The interrogators did not apply either of these options. They detained him only for the night, with plans to continue the interrogation the next day, and they requested a report from the Egyptian national security office about the activities of Mr. Shenouda and the Nile Christian Book Shop. Egyptian authorities claim they can detain Mr. Shenouda for up to 40 days without a trial under Egypt’s emergency laws,” said Joseph.

Jan Fletcher, executive director of Advocates For The Persecuted, said the arrest came one day after Mohammed Hegazy came into the bookstore, apparently to buy books.

Hegazy is the first Egyptian Muslim convert to petition Egypt’s Administrative Court to change his religious affiliation on his national identity card. A hearing over his petition sparked a melee in an Egyptian courtroom in January. Judge Muhammad Husseini denied Hegazy’s request in January, ruling that it was against Islamic law for a Muslim to leave Islam.

The Nile Christian Book Shop opened in 2006 in a location that first housed a bookstore in 1890.

Joseph is a native Egyptian and U.S. citizen, and is also President of Advocates For The Persecuted, a U.S.- based nonprofit organization that advocates for religious minorities in the Middle East, with offices in Spokane, Washington, and El Cajon, California. The organization’s website is www.advocatesforthepersecuted.org .

Pastor Safwat Al Baiadi, president of the Evangelical Churches in Egypt, is chairman of the newspaper. The newspaper’s website is www.akhbarsarra.com.

Attack on Ethiopian Christians worshipping in church services leaves 4 dead, 70 injured

By Michael Ireland
Chief Correspondent, ASSIST News Service

ETHIOPIA (ANS) — Last week, Christians gathering at local churches in a southern region in Ethiopia were enjoying singing and worship when, without warning, hundreds of men armed with machetes and clubs leapt through the open windows and indiscriminately began attacking everyone present. The attackers barricaded the doors to try to prevent people from escaping.

Envoy Ministries (www.envoyministries.org ) says that when the carnage was complete, there were three Ethiopian church planters (missionaries) dead, one more person died March 9, and more than 70 were injured, with 40 people sustaining serious injuries. The death toll is expected to rise. Hundreds fled the area and are being cared for by Christians in other towns.

David Hunt, President of Envoy Ministries, says the attack occurred on March 3, when initially three people were killed. One person later died of wounds sustained in the attack, and seven people remain in hospital.

Hunt told ASSIST News: “Three days ago evangelists began flowing into a nearby town and in one day more than 30 evangelists begged to be sent back into exact area. Yesterday we committed to support the first ten with $60 monthly — today the 10 headed back to the area saying ‘We are ready to lay down our lives.’”

The Envoy Ministries website says that why such brutal attacks would take place is hard to understand, except that as the Gospel has flourished in Ethiopia and as people put their faith in Christ, others, violently opposed to the Gospel, do anything they can to stop the proclamation of the Gospel.

The site goes on to state: “However, Jesus said, ‘I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.’ Truly we are seeing that being borne out in the Church in Ethiopia and in the lives of our brave brothers and sisters in Christ.”

Violence Escalates at Sri Lanka Bible College

SRI LANKA -The volatile situation at Gospel for Asia’s Sri Lanka Bible College is escalating as a local elected official and a small group of Buddhist monks are falsely accusing the school of being a front for a Sri Lankan terrorist group, the Tamil Tigers. The Tigers are fighting to divide Sri Lanka along ethnic lines.

On Saturday, March 15, the elected official attacked a school security guard who was on duty about midnight. The official, who was carrying a gun, severely beat the guard and threatened to return to the campus and rape the women. Earlier in the day, this man and the monks staged a protest at the school carrying banners and placards. The Sri Lankan media covered the protest.

After the midnight attack, the elected official filed a police complaint against the security guard, but the police arrested the official instead. The politician told police that he was acting out of patriotic concern for his country.

On March 2 a group of students from the Bible college were attacked while on their way to worship at a nearby GFA-related church. The militants responsible for that attack say their ultimate goal is to close down the Bible college.

Gospel for Asia’s leaders in Sri Lanka ask prayer for the safety of the students and staff at the Bible College. They also request prayer that God would intervene in this injustice and stop this kind of violence against His children.