Somali Church Leader Assaulted in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

By Michael Ireland
Chief Correspondent, ASSIST News Service

ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA (ANS) — Islamic extremists beat Mr. Ibrahim Yusuf [name changed for security reasons], a 35-year-old Somali church leader, on September 20 in the neighborhood Saris in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

The Washington-DC based human rights group, International Christian Concern (ICC) www.persecution.org , says Mr. Yusuf, who lives in another neighborhood in Addis Ababa, went to Saris to pick up documents that were left behind by his good friend David Abdulwahab Mohamed Ali.

The documents are about the persecution of the Somali churches. Mr. Ali was martyred in Somalia in April 2008 by Islamic militants. (See: www.persecution.org/suffering/newsdetail.php?newscode=7631 )

According to Yusuf, a Somali Muslim man entered the house where the documents had been safeguarded since Ali’s death and demanded to see them. Yusuf refused and the Muslim man left after threatening him.

ICC says that a few hours later, Yusuf left with the documents and was ambushed by five Muslim men who kicked and punched him repeatedly until he fainted and fell on the ground. Even after he fainted, the men continued their merciless assault for at least another fifteen minutes, according to the police report.

The attackers fled the scene when two policemen arrived. Yusuf was taken to Model Medium Clinic in Addis Ababa where he was treated and regained consciousness. He suffered lacerations and kidney and head injuries as a result of the attack.

ICC said two of the Muslim attackers were arrested on September 21. The rest are on the run.

The documents are now in safe hands.

Saris neighborhood is one of Addis Ababa’s “little Mogadishus,” populated by Somali refugees who have fled war-torn Somalia. The persecution against the Somali church has intensified since the beginning of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

ICC explains that Somalis are predominately Muslims, but, there are many Somalis who are becoming Christians as a result of the hard work of missionaries. Somalis who convert to Christianity face death. In the past year alone, five Somali converts to Christianity were killed simply for their faith. Even Somalis who live in neighboring countries such as Ethiopia and Kenya face persecution.

ICC’s Regional Manager for Africa, Jonathan Racho, said, “It is unfortunate that Christian Somalis face persecution in countries where they live as refugees. We hope that Ethiopian authorities will take the necessary action to bring the perpetrators of the attack against Yusuf to justice.”

ICC is a Washington-DC based human rights organization that exists to help persecuted Christians worldwide. ICC provides Awareness, Advocacy, and Assistance to the worldwide persecuted Church.

Murder, Rape and Arson Continue in India

Compass Direct News reports that:

The unprecedented wave of anti-Christian attacks that began a month ago continued in the past week with more incidents of murder, rape and arson, mostly in the eastern state of Orissa and southern state of Karnataka. Two Christians were also found murdered in the northern state of Uttarakhand.

“The atmosphere in the Kandhamal district of Orissa is still volatile,” an attorney visiting Kandhamal with a team to provide legal aid to victims told Compass. “Yesterday afternoon, we were going to the Raikia area, but as we were about to reach there, we were informed that a mob had attacked a police station and the police had to open fire. We had to flee Kandhamal right away.”

According to The Indian Express, around 2,000 people, including women, surrounded the Raikia police station yesterday to demand the release of two fellow villagers from Masakadia village who had been arrested on charges of arson and rioting.

Read the full story at Compass Direct News .

Son of Murdered Christian is also Killed

Compass Direct News reports:

ISTANBUL – An unknown group of armed men killed a Syrian Catholic in violence-plagued Mosul, Iraq two weeks after his father was kidnapped and murdered.

The gunmen killed Rayan Nafei Jamooa near his home on Sept. 10. Few details have emerged in the murder case, but sources said he and his father were targeted purely for their faith. Nassar Jamooa, the victim’s father, was kidnapped two weeks before his son’s murder; the elder man’s body was found four days later in the city’s western industrial area.

A shrinking minority in Iraq, Christians are frequently kidnapped for a mix of financial and religious reasons, but Nassar Jamooa’s kidnappers did not ask for any ransom. He and his son were targeted strictly for their faith, said a clergyman.

“Nobody asked about money, they just kidnapped and killed him,” said Father Bashar Warda, dean of St. Peter’s Seminary in Ankawa, a small town near Erbil. “The reason [for Nassar Jamooa’s kidnapping] would definitely be a religious one.”

The full story can be read at Compass Direct News.

Violence against Christians Rages in India

Rebel groups continue to burn and loot churches and attack Christians in Orissa and Karnataka, India, while new attacks are being reported in Uttar Pradesh and Kerala. While the attacks continue, the death toll among believers continues to rise as they struggle to survive in refugee camps where access to clean water and safe food is severely limited.

New Attacks in Uttar Pradesh

The latest report of violence came September 16 in Uttar Pradesh, a state in north central India, when four GFA missionaries were attacked while handing out tracts. Hindu extremists confronted the missionaries, grabbed their cell phones and used them to make threatening phone calls to the GFA state office. They vehemently told the men to “stop converting Hindus into Christianity” and mercilessly beat the missionaries.

A missionary school in Kerala was also attacked September 15, according to a report issued by the Evangelical Fellowship of India.

Orissa in Crisis

The situation is even grimmer in Orissa, where Hindu radicals have been on a rampage since August 22. This week, a mob estimated to be 500 people attacked a police station, killing one officer and taking several others hostage. The BBC reports that the incident is thought to be in retaliation for police opening fire on a group of Hindu protestors over the weekend. Four people died, and many others were injured in the ensuing melee.

The protestors were reported to have been on a rampage burning down homes and prayer halls in the village of Kurtamgarh. When police tried to disperse the crowd, someone in the group fired a shot and injured an officer. Police say they were forced to open fire to control the situation.

Attacks against Christians in Orissa were commonplace, but they intensified into an organized ethnic cleansing in late August after a prominent, vocal anti-Christian Hindu leader was murdered. The Maoists have repeatedly claimed responsibility for his death, but a radical fringe of his followers blamed Christians as an excuse to incite a violent rampage of burning and looting churches and burning Christians.

It is estimated that more than half of the 100,000 Christians in the state’s Kandhamal district are now homeless. At least 20 people have been killed in the violence. Several Gospel for Asia missionaries are missing.

Thousands of Christians are living in relief camps or hiding out in Orissa’s dense jungles. Even if the violence stopped today, they would not be able to leave their temporary shelters. Their homes have been destroyed—burned to the ground in most cases—and they have been told by their fellow villagers that they are not welcome to return to the community.

The situation in the relief camps is horrifying, according to GFA leaders.

“People are dying in the relief camps because of contaminated food and water,” one leader said. “The militants are trying to stop relief from getting to the Christians. They are even coming into the relief camps torturing the people and taking away the supplies.”

The leader said there has been one positive ray of hope in the midst of the carnage.

“The churches are coming together in unity. And it is only when the Christians come together in unity and prayer that anything will change,” he said. “Our real fight is not against flesh and blood, but against spiritual things that we cannot see. But we can only deal with it through prayer and waiting upon the Lord.”

Karnataka Protests

The city of Mangalore, in Karnataka on India’s west coast, remains on a near shutdown as people protest the recent attacks on Christians and their places of worship. The Hindu extremists have attacked congregations three Sundays in a row. A Gospel for Asia missionary serves as pastor of one of the churches that was attacked on Sunday, September 14. The church was ransacked and set on fire, but the fire was put out before any significant damage could be done.

The rebels have also made numerous terroristic threats against churches throughout the state.

More than 50 people have been arrested in relation to the attacks, but this has not stopped the violence. Churches in Karnataka are now meeting under serious threats.

GFA missionaries in these areas shared the following prayer request:

* Pray for continued unity among Christians.

* Ask the Lord to send provision to the people hiding in the jungles and living in relief camps.

* Pray for protection of the missionaries and their families who are being targeted by the extremists.

* Pray for wisdom and discernment for GFA’s state and regional leaders as they respond to the crisis.

* Pray for the persecutors, that they would come to know Christ.

Churches Vandalized in India

By James Varghese
Special to ASSIST News Service

KARNATAKA, INDIA ANS — Two more churches were vandalised by a mob in Mangalore-one on Sunday and the other on Monday.

According to a story reported on www.thehindu.com, Samuel Mathew, Bishop of the Believers Church, said that soon after the Sunday service at Puttur Believer’s Church, “miscreants” forced open the church door and broke musical instruments, furniture, fans and windows.

The second incident took place on B.C. Road on Monday. “A mob set fire to the church door, but fortunately the blaze was put out early,” Mathew told The Hindu. The Hindu said Mathew has filed a police report.

The Hindu reported that Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa is promising swift action against the vandals, and has pledged to repair the destroyed buildings at government expense. It will also meet the cost of treatment of those who were injured in the attacks.

However, Yeddyurappa also asked missionaries not to practice forced conversions, saying there is no room for such behavior in a democracy.

The story reported that Yeddyurappa said the literature circulated by the New Life Organization has infuriated some people. They believe that it is insulting to Hindu gods.

The Chief Minister however clarified that he was not defending the actions of the attackers.

The Hindu reported he said, “The government will not protect anyone, and the guilty will be punished.”

Yeddyurappa said that if an organization had any information on forced religious conversion, it should have been brought to the government’s attention. Any such complaints would have been investigated, he said.

The Hindu reported Yeddyurappa said, “Some anti-social elements are indulging in such acts to bring bad name to the government … ”

However, Yeddyurappa did not specify to whom he was referring.

The Hindu reported that Yeddyrappa said it was wrong to put down any religion. He said when he met Christian leaders in Mangalore on Monday, they told him that Catholics and Protestants were not connected to any organization called “New Life.”

The Chief Minister also said that people should co-exist and lead a peaceful life.