RUSSIAN FEDERATION (ANS) — A Muslim lawyer has called for the introduction of sharia courts in Russia, threatening a “bloodbath” if the demand is opposed, reports the UK-based Barnabas Fund (www.barnabasfund.org).

Chechen Dagir Khasavov, the founder of an organization that defends the rights of Muslims, said in an interview broadcast on April 24 by the independent channel Ren-TV: “Muslims do not want to get involved in the multi-layered court system, it is alien to them. You think that we come here to Russia like to some alien place. But we think that we are at home.

“Maybe you are alien, and we are at home. And we will set the rules, the rules that suit us, whether you want it or not. Any attempts to change it will end in blood, it will be the second Dead Sea. We will flood the city with blood.”

Barnabas Fund says the statement provoked a backlash in Russia, and Khasavov fled the country after receiving death threats. The Prosecutor’s Office has launched an investigation after experts from The Russian Institute of Culture found that the speech was aimed at exciting hatred and animosity based on religion, and could be considered a call for extremist activity.

Khasavov’s call for sharia courts in Russia was rejected outright by Mikhail Fedotov, the head of the country’s Presidential Human Rights Council.

Barnabas Fund reports Fedetov said on 25 April: “The creation of parallel justice systems is impossible in a modern law-governed state. It undermines the foundation of the justice system.

“Attempts to force sharia courts on people are only possible in theocratic states.”

Fedotov said that the only way sharia courts could be created in Russia was to give them a role in arbitration hearings, the Barnabas Fund reports states.

Barnabas Fund goes on to explain that in 2008, the British government acknowledged that it had for some time accepted the role of sharia tribunals in arbitration, in certain limited fields. Opponents fear a slippery slope effect; that the acceptance of certain aspects of Islamic civil law could eventually lead to the introduction of full-blown sharia.

Barnabas Fund stated that Khasavov has subsequently claimed that his words were distorted and said that he was referring only to inter-family cases, not criminal law. His son believes Khasavov was provoked, possibly by Chechen authorities.

KANO, NIGERIA (ANS) – Attackers armed with bombs and guns opened fire at church services Sunday, April 29 at a Nigerian university, killing about 20 people as worshippers tried to flee, witnesses and officials said.

“Explosions and gunfire rocked Bayero University in the northern city of Kano, with witnesses reporting that two church services were targeted as they were being held on campus,” said a report from the AFP news agency.

One of the services was being held outdoors, while the second was inside a building in a lecture theater, but with an overflow audience outside, witnesses said.

Lieutenant Iweha Ikedichi told AFP that it appeared the attackers, who arrived in a car and two motorcycles, used bombs and gunfire in the assault.

A witness told the AFP news agency the attackers had first thrown in explosives and fired shots, “causing a stampede among worshippers,” adding, that “they now pursued them, shooting them with guns. They also attacked another service at the sporting complex.”

Another witness spoke of “pandemonium,” and said he had seen two men shooting indiscriminately.

Officials were unable to confirm casualty figures, but an AFP correspondent counted six bullet-riddled bodies near one of the two sites.

At least another dozen bodies could be seen on a roadside by the university, but the exact number was unclear.

Musical instruments and half-eaten meals could be seen at the site of one of the services.

An army spokesman confirmed the attack but could not provide a casualty toll.

The BBC said in its report, “No group has said it launched the attack, but the violent Islamist Boko Haram group is active in Kano. It has recently attacked churches.”
Mohammed Suleiman, a history lecturer at the university, said security guards had to run for their lives when the violence broke out.

Nigeria’s central government has struggled to contain the militant group, which operates mainly in the predominantly Muslim north, but has also struck as far south as the capital, Abuja.

Kano state police spokesman Ibrahim Idris said that by the time police arrived, the attackers had “disappeared into the neighborhood.” A manhunt is under way.

But the situation at the university was now calm, according to the Red Cross spokesman.

Boko Haram carried out a bombing in Kano in January that killed more than 180 people, its deadliest attack to date.

A Red Cross spokesman said adults – possibly professors – and three women were among the casualties. Several needed urgent blood transfusions.

Mark Lobel of BBC News, based in Lagos, said, “Police say small explosives inside soft drink cans were used in the attack on the university campus in Kano – trademarks of the Islamist group of Boko Haram. There are other signs pointing to them – the use of attackers on motorbikes for instance.

MIDLAND, TEXAS (ANS) — According to ChinaAid for many years, China’s house churches, which uphold religious freedom and hold fast to the true faith, have been viewed by the Chinese government as a hostile group of dissenters and have become the target of persecution and crackdowns.

“Furthermore,” the organization says in a communiqué to Western media, “these vile acts of the government, which blatantly violate the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China, have increased in frequency and severity year after year.”

ChinaAid says that in December 2010, the Communist Party Central Committee’s Public Security Commission issued a secret document to target China’s “house churches” in implementing its special suppression campaign “Operation Deterrence.”

Government officials of all levels were told to “guide” Christians attending those unregistered churches to worship in [government-approved] Three-Self churches, and to “break up” large churches like Shouwang Church into small groups, the organization says.

“Soon thereafter,” ChinaAid states, “beginning on Easter 2011, Beijing Shouwang Church was forced to hold its Sunday worship service outdoors, and various government agencies have joined together in continuous attacks on the church, which has had its former large-scale Sunday worship services ‘broken up’ into small groups meeting separately.”

“The so-called ‘house churches,’ this problem does not exist…,” Wang Zuo’an, head of the State Administration for Religious Affairs (SARA) said in an interview with Wu Xiaoli on her show “Q & A about Shenzhou,” which aired on Hong Kong’s Phoenix Satellite Television on the afternoon of Oct. 21, 2011.

“According to the Regulations on Religious Affairs promulgated by State Council, religious groups need to follow the related regulations and register with the government. Nevertheless, a well-known fact is that many Christians of China spontaneously get together and meet at illegal and unregistered locations. The number of these believers is not clear to us. They call themselves ‘house churches.’ Western countries call them ‘underground churches’.” ChinaAid says this remark of Wang’s signaled the Chinese Communist government’s new round of initiatives to eradicate house churches.

At the National Work Conference on Religious Affairs on Jan. 9, 2012, SARA deputy director Jiang Jianyong said that SARA in 2010 had started the process of certifying and creating files on clergy, and that the process is supposed to be completed in 2012. This was the starting point for promoting the implementation of the “Regulations on Religious Affairs.” The plan is to systematize and computerize the management of clergy in three years.

ChinaAid goes on to say that as a matter of fact, SARA is certifying and creating files only on clergy from government-approved religious groups; the purpose of this is to target religious groups unwilling to become part of the government-approved religious entities, to exclude them and purge and eradicate them. In this way, thousands of “house churches” in China will become “illegal” religious groups, and thousands of “house church” ministers will become “illegal” clergy.

ChinaAid states that at the same time, SARA held the first training class for “Patriots in the Christian Community” in Beijing in September 2011, and in 2012 a second class is planned for the near future. During this time, the China Christian Council and the Three-Self Patriotic Movement (CCC/TSPM) across China have been holding “Training Sessions for Ministerial Certification,” in which “patriotic” education is conducted.

Reports of these sessions have appeared on many religious websites, in the media and in periodicals. In some CCC/TSPM “Training Sessions for Ministerial Certification” that ChinaAid’s reporter has attended, the local religious bureaus had all made special arrangements for officials of the deputy bureau chief level or higher to speak on “Regulations on Religious Affairs” and “patriotism.”

According to ChinaAid sources, SARA’s certifying of and creating files on [church] ministers and its pervasive “patriotic” education are aimed at consolidating the joint forces of the CCC/TSPM and the Communist government so as to further eradicate the foundation upon which house churches stand. The government is calling this “solidify the foundation and reinforce the framework.”

In the course of reporting, ChinaAid’s reporter learned that in September 2011, when SARA held its first training class for “Patriots in the Christian Community,” a secret document issued jointly by SARA and the ministries of Public Security and Civil Affairs was released that addressed the issue of completely eradicating “house churches.”

Its main points were:
Phase One: from Jan. to June 2012, conduct thorough, intensive and secret investigations of house churches throughout the country and create files on them.
Phase Two: in two to three years, concentrate on cleaning up the “house churches” that have been investigated and have had files created.
Phase Three: in 10 years’ time, completely wipe out “house churches.”

The main strategies for implementing the above are:

1.  Incorporate denominationally affiliated “house churches” into the CCC/TSPM management system.
2. Comprehensively implement the management model of “meeting sites attached to churches” [i.e. house churches become “meeting sites” attached to an official Three-Self church]. Within the CCC/TSPM system, register those “house churches” that are willing to register and eradicate the “house churches” that do not want to register.
3. Ban the words “house church” as well as all reports on “house churches” from all websites, media and documents, and use “house gatherings” instead of the term “house church,” that is, call “house churches” “house gatherings.”
4. Implement humane law enforcement measures for “house churches”.

ChinaAid went on to say: “We have noticed since the beginning of 2012 an increase in the frequency of persecution and suppression of house churches by the Chinese Communist government. In addition to the continuing persecution of Beijing Shouwang Church which has lasted for more than a year, the number of other similar cases has risen 20 percent over last year and has spread into other areas, including Christian education publication and bookstores.

The group added: “In a recent random survey conducted by this [ChinaAid] reporter in several provinces, cities and regions, over 95 percent of house church ministers surveyed said they had strongly felt the impact of the relevant government departments launching intense investigations into and creating files on the house churches, which has extended to grassroots-level villages and towns. Over 85 percent house church ministers said that their local religious affairs departments had already created files on them. A house church pastor from Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, said he had received reliable information that the provincial government had issued secret documents regarding the eradication of house churches. He said, ‘The situation this year is especially tense.’”

The ChinaAid reporter has observed that the implementation of Phase One of the eradication of “house churches” as described in the secret document issued jointly by SARA and the ministries of Public Security Civil Affairs not only has already begun but has entered an intense phase. According to the main points of this secret document, this new round of the Chinese government’s campaign to eradicate “house churches” will be rolled out in three stages of six months, three years and ten years. Compared with Operation Deterrence launched in December 2010, it is gentler, longer, and more sustained, as well as being full of “united front” strategy [that is, using persuasion to try to achieve cooperation].

ChinaAid asked how will this new Chinese government campaign to eradicate “house churches” impact house churches that are seeking a path to religious freedom and holding fast to the true faith? “We’ll wait and see.”

“Meanwhile, we also pray for China’s house churches, asking that God protect them as they journey on the path to religious freedom. May God bless the house churches that proclaim the truth of the Gospel and may God strengthen Beijing Shouwang Church in the midst of severe persecution.”

TEHRAN, IRAN (ANS) – Thirteen Christian converts have been arrested following an attack by security authorities on a house church in Iran. Three of them are being held in custody at an unknown location, according to Mohabat News.

The news agency says that February 21, 2012, at 7 in the evening, security authorities raided a home dedicated to be used a house church and seized all thirteen gathered there for worship. To date, no precise news is available regarding some of these detainees.

Mohabat News says that during this incident, security authorities who were wearing plain clothes transferred these Christians to an unknown location while insulting and abusing them.

The authorities also invaded and thoroughly searched the detainees’ homes and confiscated some of their personal belongings.

Numerous Christian converts have already been arrested in various cities in their house church gatherings, homes or workplaces by order of judicial and security authorities of the Islamic Republic of Iran, as a result of the continued anti-Christian wave in Iran during past months.

Now, in addition to Ahwaz, Shiraz, Esfahan and Tehran, this on-going wave has reached the city Kermanshah, 526 KMs west of Tehran, in the western part of Iran.

A knowledgeable source told Mohabat News that the Christian detainees may have been transferred to a building in Hafezieh Junction in Kermanshah or 22-Bahman Street which is known as the location of security and intelligence forces.

The source said that nine of these detainees (their names are not given due to security reasons) were released the next day after their photos were taken, their details and fingerprints recorded and they signed a disclaimer stating they would not attend any Christian gatherings.

Mohabat News also received word that Ms. Azadeh Sharifi was released on February 28 after enduring 8 days in custody. As yet, no detailed information has been received regarding the way she was released.

Three other detainees, Mehdi Chaghakaboudi, Mojtaba Baba-Karami and Shirin Ghanbari, however, are still being held. Some of the named Christians had also been arrested by security authorities before.

The source also stated that on February 28, Ms. Shirin Ghanbari and Mojtaba Baba-Karami were permitted to have a brief contact with their families telling them that they are in a good health. However, it seems that they were prevented by prison authorities from giving any additional information or details on their situation.

Mohahbat News further says that Masoud Delijani, a Christian convert resident of Kermanshah and a member of a house church, was sentenced to three years in prison by the Revolutionary Court of Kermanshah for the charges of having faith in Christianity, holding illegal house church gatherings, evangelizing Muslims and action against national security. He is currently being held in Deizal-Abad prison in Kermanshah to serve his sentence.

Prior to this, on January 2, 2010, the official Pentecostal church of Assyrians in Kermanshah was also closed by the order of the judicial and security authorities for spreading Christianity among Farsi-speaking Muslims and for preaching the gospel. Security authorities also arrested the pastor of the church, Wilson Isavi on February 2, 2010. He was temporarily released on bail after 54 days in Dastgerd prison in Esfahan.

Mohabat News states: “With the growth in the number of Iranian converts to Christianity in recent years, and the increased pressure by the Islamic government on Christians, especially Christian converts, the Islamic Republic is seeking to stop the growth of house churches in Iran by any means.

“The Islamic Republic considers the growth of Christianity as a religious threat against its national security and is greatly concerned about the spread of the truth of the gospel among the people.”

ALEXANDRIA, EGYPT (ANS) — National and international rights groups have consistently criticized the recourse to the so-called “reconciliation meetings” — dubbed “Bedouin sittings” — that take place between Copts and Muslim assailants after every attack on Coptic Christians, says Egyptian journalist Mary Abdelmassih, writing for AINA — Assyrian International News Agency www.aina.org .

The meetings are conducted under the auspices of state security, Abdelmassih writes.

“Last week a series of meetings were held by radical Muslims to decide on the fate of the Copts in a village in Alexandria, and Muslims insisted that the whole Coptic population of 62 families must be deported because of an unsubstantiated accusation levied against one Coptic man,” Abdelmassih states in an online report.

According to AINA, Copts in the village of Kobry-el-Sharbat (El-Ameriya), Alexandria, were attacked on January 27 by a mob of 3,000 Muslims led by Salafi leaders, who looted and torched homes and shops belonging to Copts.

“The violence was prompted by allegations made by a Muslim barber named Toemah that a 34-year-old Coptic tailor, Mourad Samy Guirgis, had on his mobile phone illicit photos of a Muslim woman,” writes Abdelmassih.

She continued: “Mourad denied the accusation and surrendered to the police for fear for his life. Muslims looted and torched his workshop and home after he surrendered to the police, and his entire family, including his parents and his married brother Romany, were evicted from the village. He is still in police detention.”

Abdelmassih reports that three “reconciliation meetings” were held at the El-Ameriya village police headquarters. They were attended by Salafi and Muslim Brotherhood representatives from neighboring villages, as well as church representative. Muslims demanded the eviction of all Coptic inhabitants from the village because “Muslim honor had been damaged.”

Abdelmassih says many believe that the mobile phone story was fabricated as an excuse to start violence against the Copts. According to the police, the woman in question denied the story and no photos were found on Mourad’s mobile phone, according to Ihab Aziz, a Coptic-American activist who is presently in Egypt.

“During the first reconciliation meeting it was agreed that only Copts who were directly involved with the Mourad incident would be evicted, and the church demanded compensation of two million pounds for the innocent Copts whose homes and businesses were torched on January 27. Muslims, especially Salafis from the neighboring villages, refused any kind of compensation and insisted on the eviction of all Copts,” Abdelmassih went on to say.

AINA reports that on January 30 a Muslim mob attacked Copts in Kobry-el-Sharbat for the second time, and torched three Coptic homes in the presence of the security forces, “which took the role of an onlooker and made no effort to stop the violence,” according to Joseph Malak, lawyer for the Coptic church in Alexandria.

“This proves that the assailants were not afraid of the security forces or the law,” he said.

The AINA report goes on to say that Muslim representatives demanded the eviction of the wealthy Coptic merchant Abeskhayroun Soliman, together with his four married sons and their families, accusing them of causing sedition by shooting in the air when Muslims broke into and torched their home while the family was inside. “No one was wounded due to the alleged shootings, which the family says never took place. The police authorities issued an arrest warrant for two of the Soliman sons,” said Ihab Aziz.

AINA stated that the Solimans have been in hiding with a Muslim family which saved them from their burning homes, and is presently giving them protection. Muslims threatened that if eight Coptic families were not evicted by February 3, all remaining 54 Coptic families in the village would be subjected to violence after Friday prayers. They called it “Friday of Eviction” and “Friday of Clean-up.”

The news agency said that on Wednesday, February 1, a hastily-organized reconciliation meeting was arranged by security authorities, and was attended by Ebeskharion Soliman and one of his sons.

The terms of the agreement which resulted were:

** Eviction of eight Coptic families, namely three of the Mourad families, in addition to five Soliman families.
** Selling of the assets of the wealthy Abeskhayron Soliman family within three months by a committee, under the supervision of Salafi shaikh Sherif el Hawary. Soliman has no right to get involved in the sale or even accompany a prospective buyer.
**The Committee is to collect any money accrued from the sale of his land, properties, businesses as well as collect promissory notes pending from business transactions by the Soliman-owned chain of stores.
** In case of non-implementation of this Agreement, all Copts in the Kobry-el-Sharbat village will be attacked, their homes and property completely torched.

AINA reports that Abeskhayron Soliman signed the agreement, which most Copts viewed as “humiliating.”

Father Boktor, who attended the meeting, described the reconciliation agreement as “utter injustice,” AINA said

According to the AINA report, Wissa Fawzi, member of the Maspero Coptic Youth Union in Alexandria, said that Soliman has nothing at all to do with the Mourad story, but signed the agreement to save his family and the Copts in the village, “otherwise there would have been a massacre of the Copts on that Friday.” He said that Security authorities pressured Soliman into accepting the terms of the agreement by threatening him with refusal of police protection for him and his family.

“What constitutes the real crisis is the complicity of security officials in the process of displacement,” said Fawzi.

AINA explained that Copts in Kobry-el-Sharbat were stunned after hearing the news of the eviction of the “top Copt” in their community, whose wealth is estimated at more than 20,000,000 Egyptian pounds. “There is a feeling of humiliation and being completely under the mercy of the radical Muslims,” said Rami Khashfa of the Alexandria Maspero Youth Union, adding:”They are terrorized and are scared of the future. Copts in the neighboring villages are also scared.” He said that Copts in the village are thinking of moving elsewhere.

Speaking on US-based Christian TV channel Al-Karma, Magdy Khalil, head of the Middle East Freedom Forum, said that reconciliation meetings made up of Salafis and members of the Muslim Brotherhood, and arranged by security officials are illegal and forced eviction is one of the crimes under international law.

“Who gave them the right to form a committee headed by a Salafi to sell Christian property? This is thuggery and blatant targeting of Copts,” Khalil said

The AINA report says Khalil called on the Coptic Melli Council, which is the civilian body that represents Copts in the Egyptian State, to protest this agreement and ask for the return of the Copts to their homes.

“If we accept it, this will open the door for an avalanche of forced evictions,” Khalil said. He believes that radical Muslims have a bigger plan they hope to achieve by terrorizing the Copts, namely displacing and dispersing them from places with high Coptic population density, taking their property and weakening them economically.

Ihab Aziz, like many others, believes that “Coptic capital” is targeted everywhere in Egypt. He said that members of the Egyptian parliament have been made aware of the El-Ameriya forced displacement, and the issue will be brought before parliament shortly.

TEHRAN, IRAN (ANS) — In the latest approach of the Islamic Republic of Iran to oppose the growth of Christianity, a Christian convert was sentenced to one year of deprivation of education by a Revolutionary Court in Tehran.

According to the Iranian Christian news agency, www.MohabatNews.com , Ms. Fatemeh Nouri, an art student in one of the universities in Tehran (the name of university is withheld for security reasons) was sentenced to one year of deprivation of education by the Revolutionary Court for believing in Christianity.

Mohabat News says Ms. Nouri is a Christian convert who was arrested by security authorities on September 2011 at her residence in east Tehran and then transferred to Evin prison.

In an online report, Mohabat News says Ms. Nouri was convicted on charges of “attending a house church, insulting sacred figures, and activities against national security” in Revolutionary Courts branch of Moalem Street. The judge’s ruling was one year deprivation of education for her.

“This Christian convert was released on November 30, 2011, after nearly three months in prison, but the sentence of deprivation of education remained in place,” Mohabat News stated.

The news agency said Ms. Nouri’s arrest was related to the case of another Christian convert, Leila Mohammadi.

Commenting on the case, Mohanat News said: “It’s notable that Ms. Mohammadi was found guilty of ‘collaborating with foreign-dependent groups, broad anti-Islamic propaganda, deceiving citizens by forming what is called a house church, insulting sacred figures and activities against national security’ by the Revolutionary Court branch of Moalem Street on January 18, after enduring five months in custody. However, the judge acquitted her of the charge of ‘collaborating with foreign-dependent groups’ for he believed that the crime was done unintentionally. Therefore, this Christian convert was sentenced to two years in prison and the ruling was delivered to her.”

Sentence of deprivation of education is against the law

Mohabat News explains that although the Iranian constitution clearly affirms religious freedom for followers of non-Islamic faiths, the Islamic Republic regime has by its actions proved that it not only violates its own domestic laws but does not even show respect to international conventions and is careless in their enforcement.

Mohabat News stated: “Prior to this case, such rulings were an instrument in the hands of the regime to pressure the Bahaei community or a group of dissatisfied university students,but today they are used to threaten and pressure Christians as well. It seems that prior to Ms. Nouri’s case such sentences were not issued for Christian converts. This shows that previous methods of the regime for opposing Christians were ineffective.”

The news agency goes on to say that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which was adopted on December 10, 1948, “considers the rights of education as a right for all mankind regardless their race, color, belief, religion and gender.” According to this, everyone has the right to education (Section 1, Article 26 of The Universal Declaration of Human Rights).

Mohabat News concluded: “In the past, after identifying university students who had converted from Islam to Christianity, the Islamic Republic had made some efforts against them in holding Islamic courses to guide them to its own chosen way which is nothing other than Islam.

“So, they were trying to impact these students’ thoughts and change them through discussions. However, it seems that failure of these former approaches has caused the regime to use deprivation of education or expulsion from universities as a new way to oppose the growth of Christianity and put pressure on Christian converts and their families.”

BOGOR, WEST JAVA, INDONESIA (ANS) – A crowd of Muslim hard-liners disrupted about 100 members of the embattled GKI Yasmin congregation as they held divine services at a member’s home in Bogor, West Java, on Sunday.

“We were conducting our worship at one member’s home before people from Forkami and Garis came to our place,” GKI Yasmin spokeswoman Dwiati Novita Rini told The Jakarta Post (www.thejakartapost.com) over the telephone on Sunday.

Dwiati said she did not know why the groups – the Islamic Reform Movement (Garis) and the Muslim Communications Forum (Forkami) – were protesting.

The congregation resisted efforts by about 50 Public Order Agency (Satpol PP) officers to stop their service, Dwiati said.

“The Satpol PP came around 9 a.m. and were trying to stop our activity because they didn’t want any clashes to happen. [House of Representatives member] Lily Wahid was negotiating with one of the Satpol PP officers and the congregation could continue worship,” she said.

The congregation completed their service peacefully around 10 a.m. and the demonstrators from Forkami and Garis left the congregation member’s home around 11 a.m, Dwiati added.

“The Bogor City administration, citing permit application problems, has barred the congregation from conducting religious services for more than two years, defying a 2010 Supreme Court ruling guaranteeing the congregation’s right to hold services at its church building,” added the Jakarta story.

CAIRO, EGYPT (ANS) – A Muslim mob yesterday (Jan.19) attacked Copts in the Upper Egyptian village of Rahmaniya-Kebly, Nag Hammadi, Qena province, destroying and torching their homes, straw huts and shops, while chanting Allahu Akbar.

Mary Abdelmassih, an Egyptian journalist writing for the Assyrian International News Agency (AINA) — www.aina.org — says no one was reported killed or injured. According to reports, security forces were present but did not intervene and the fire brigade arrived 90 minutes late.

AINA reports that an eye-witness said a straw hut belonging to a Coptic Christian was torched to clear the area for a mosque. There are more than 300 mosques in the village and one church.

AINA says that according to Coptic residents, the reason behind the violence was the parliamentary elections. The Salafists wanted to prevent Copts, who number more than 50 percent of the inhabitants (20,000), from voting because they intended to vote for two moderate Muslims and not the Salafi candidates. “No Copt from Rahmaniya-Kebly was able to vote today, so the Salafists will win the elections,” said a witness. Copts were forcefully prevented from voting.

AINA goes on to say that US-based WAY TV, which covered live yesterday’s Rahmaniya attacks, called commander Osama, head of security at Rahmaniya, who said “everything was OK” — despite live pictures on TV of the burning homes.

AINA reported that Joseph Nasralla of WAY TV spoke to security and made them aware that the videos of the fires were being broadcast in the U.S. and Middle East, which caused the immediate dispatch of security vehicles. By late evening the violence had stopped.

In another incident yesterday, a large number of Salafis and members of the Muslim Brotherhood entered the Abu Makka church, in Bahteem, Shubra-el-Khayma, Qaliubia province, and informed the congregation that the church has no license and no one should pray in it. One Muslim said the 1,300 square meter church would be suitable for a mosque and a hospital.

AINA said Bishop Marcus of Shubra el Khayma was scheduled to inaugurate the incomplete church and celebrate the Epiphany mass in the evening.

However, according to Coptic witnesses the Bishop cancelled the festivities, which angered the congregation, who were not informed of the reason. A witness said the Muslim promised to be back Friday.

SURREY, ENGLAND – Thirteen Eritrean hostages currently held in northern Sinai, close to the Israeli border face a bleak future.

They’ve issued a desperate appeal for international intervention after being informed that they will be sold to organ traffickers if a large ransom is not paid for them.

Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) reported that in an appeal publicized by Italian NGO EveryOne Group, the hostages said, “We have been beaten, tortured, humiliated in the most atrocious fashion. We have now received an ultimatum from our persecutors: if our families do not pay US$33,000 per head within 24 hours, we will be sold to clandestine clinics that traffic in human organs.”

CSW said the hostages continued, “We are calling on the civilized countries, religious people who abhor these atrocities, the United Nations and the European Union not to abandon us. If we had been Europeans or Americans, would you have left us in this terrible condition? We are young men and women who have fled from a country that persecuted us.”

CSW said that Eritrean citizens are fleeing the repressive regime of President Isaias Afwerki at a rate of 1,000 people per month, conservatively speaking. Eritrea has one of the world’s worst human rights records, including stringent restrictions on religious freedom.

Tens of thousands of Eritreans are thought to be imprisoned in the country’s many detention facilities, including around 3,000 Christians. CSW said hundreds of Eritrean refugees, including women and children, have fallen into the hands of human traffickers.

Many are still held hostage in purpose-built camps in the Sinai Desert, CSW reported. There they face harassment, extreme sexual abuse and torture until relatives or friends make large payments to secure their release. A recent CNN report also confirmed that many African refugees have organs removed from their bodies for sale, before being left to die.

Andrew Johnston, Advocacy Director at Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), said in a news release, “This group of young people is representative of many other Eritrean refugees who are being held hostage in the Sinai. It has been over a year since these hostage camps were brought to light. In some cases the people traffickers have even been identified, yet these camps still exist, and the inhumane treatment of these refugees, along with the threat of organ trafficking, continues.”

He added, “We urge the Egyptian authorities to take effective action to end human trafficking within their borders, and to ensure that perpetrators of these appalling crimes are brought to justice. Human trafficking is a transnational crime carried out by criminal syndicates, and ought to be of international concern. It is therefore vital that the international community assists in combating this affront to human dignity, and in ensuring that victims are afforded protection and refuge.”

Christian Solidarity Worldwide works for religious freedom through advocacy and human rights, in the pursuit of justice.

For further information, visit www.csw.org.uk.

NIGERIA (ANS) — The militant Islamist group Boko Haram has issued an ultimatum giving Christians living in northern Nigeria three days to leave the area amid a rising tide of violence there.

CNN reports that Boko Haram spokesman, Abul Qaqa, also said late Sunday that Boko Haram fighters are ready to confront soldiers sent to the area under a state of emergency declared in parts of four states by Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan on Saturday.

“We will confront them squarely to protect our brothers,” Abul Qaqa said during a telephone call with local media. He also called on Muslims living in southern Nigeria to “come back to the north because we have evidence they will be attacked.”

CNN said that recent weeks have seen an escalation in clashes between Boko Haram and security forces in the north-eastern states of Borno and Yobe, as well as attacks on churches and assassinations. Nearly 30 people were killed on Christmas Day at a Catholic church near the federal capital, Abuja — a sign that Boko Haram is prepared to strike beyond its heartland.

Human rights activist Shehu Sani told CNN that the latest Boko Haram threat is credible, but many Christians born and raised in the north have nowhere else to go.

“The killings will continue,” he said, and Boko Haram may respond to the state of emergency by taking its campaign of violence to areas not yet affected.

Sani said the state of emergency and an enhanced presence of the security forces would not improve the situation, alleging that troops had already been involved in human rights abuses and had done little to reduce violence.

CNN explained that Nigeria has almost equal numbers of Christian and Muslims, with the south predominantly Christian. Boko Haram and other Islamic groups claim the north has been starved of resources and marginalized by the government of Jonathan, who is a Christian.

Boko Haram (which according to the group means “Western civilization is forbidden”) is demanding the imposition of Islamic sharia law across Nigeria.

CNN goes on to say that Christian leaders have demanded a stronger response to the attacks from the government and the Muslim community. Ayo Oritsejafor, head of the Christian Association of Nigeria, complained last week that the response of Islamic leaders had been “unacceptable and an abdication of their responsibilities.”

“The Christian community is fast losing confidence in government’s ability to protect our rights,” Oritsejafor said.

David Cook of Rice University, who has studied the rise of Boko Haram, said that “if radical Muslim violence on a systematic level were to take hold in Nigeria … it could eventually drive the country into a civil war.”

CNN said corruption, poverty and a lack of government services have helped Boko Haram gain support, especially among young Muslims out of work. So has a perception that the Muslim north has been marginalized by a political establishment drawn largely from the Christian south.

Cook says the group has been responsible for at least 45 major attacks, which have included assassinations — frequently using gunmen on motorbikes — and, more recently, suicide bombings beyond its northern heartland.

Beyond the security forces and Christian targets, it has assassinated Muslim clerics who oppose the group, and even killed a prominent Boko Haram member who had attended talks to explore a truce. Boko Haram’s presence in the city of Maiduguri has made it almost ungovernable, according to analysts.

Analysts say its ability to inflict mass casualties has grown fast. In August, a suicide bomber struck the U.N. building in Abuja, killing 23 people. In November, some 150 people were killed in a series of bombings and shootings in Damaturu, capital of Yobe state.

CNN also stated the commander of U.S. Africa Command, Gen. Carter Ham, has suggested Boko Haram may have developed links with other Islamic jihadist groups in the region, especially al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. Sani agrees, and says Boko Haram’s leaders have established sanctuaries across the desert borders in Niger and Chad, out of reach of the Nigerian security forces.

CNN added that the former U.S. ambassador in Nigeria, John Campbell, says that Boko Haram is able to finance itself “through bank robberies and is arming itself by thefts from government armories and purchases — there is no shortage of weapons on the market.”

Less than two months ago, President Jonathan described attacks by Boko Haram as a temporary setback, which would soon be a thing of the past, CNN said.

CNN said Jonathan now appears to see the group as a lethal threat that demands the full attention of the security services. But since Yusuf’s death, Boko Haram has had no obvious leader or structure, and appears to act as loosely connected cells. And it is feeding on deep-seated grievances that the government seems unable to address.

According to CNN, Cook warns that “as more and more territories become ungovernable, such as Maiduguri, then Muslims more and more will want to join Boko Haram, if only because it represents the one group that can actually project power and hold out the illusion of security to the people.”