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.

The Rt. Rev. Timothy Yahaya, Bishop of Jalingo, Taraba State, in Nigeria’s Middle Belt, told Barnabas Aid that 300 Christians have been killed in his diocese in a series of incidents over the last three weeks.

Then on Sunday (29 April), three church services in Northern Nigeria were targeted in attacks that left 27 people dead.

The first happened when people had gathered for worship in two lecture theaters at Bayero University in Kano. So far 22 people are confirmed to have died, while 23 were injured, after bombs were thrown into the building at around 8.30 a.m. and gunmen fired on worshippers. Witnesses said that the offenders first threw in explosives and fired shots, and as Christians fled, the gunmen chased them, firing indiscriminately.

Later on Sunday, gunmen opened fire on another church in the north-eastern city of Maiduguri. Five people, including a pastor, were killed in the attack at the Church of Christ in Nigeria (COCIN) building.

War on Christians
Nobody has yet claimed responsibility for Sunday’s church attacks, but most people suspect militant Islamist group Boko Haram, which in March declared “war” on Christians.

This statement followed a three-day deadline, issued by the group on New Year’s Day, for Christians to leave the North. Unrelenting attacks have ensued, including the bombing of a number of churches as well as attacks on individual Christians.

Around 40 people were killed in a suicide bombing outside two churches during Easter services in Kaduna.

And two churches in the central Nigerian city of Jos were targeted in the space of two weeks; a pregnant woman and an 18-month-old child were among those killed.

Dr. Patrick Sookhdeo, International Director of Barnabas Aid, said:

The simple act of going to church on a Sunday has become a perilous one for Christians in many parts of Nigeria. They very much need our prayers as they courageously continue to gather for worship despite the unrelenting violence

Please Pray

• For all those who have lost loved ones or been injured in the anti-Christian violence in Nigeria this year; pray that the Lord, who “heals the broken-hearted and binds up their wounds” (Psalm 147:3), will comfort them.
• That the authorities will be able to restrain Boko Haram and others in Nigeria who have evil and destructive intent, and bring the perpetrators of violence to justice.
• That the Lord will grant wisdom to Nigerian Christians as they consider how to respond to the violence and practice their faith in such a hostile environment. Pray that they will be protected from further harm.

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.”

NEW DELHI (Compass Direct News) – Islamic extremists in India attacked a Christian prayer meeting in West Bengal state, beating a 65-year-old widow and other women less than a month after they helped drive a young woman out of her home and village for her faith.

Islamists in Nutangram, Murshidabad district forced their way into the home of Gaffar Shaike on March 30 at around 2 p.m., as 11 Christians from Believers’ Church were gathered for lunch and worship. In the same area of Nutangram on March 9, Islamic extremists drove 22-year-old Rekha Khatoon out of her village because she dared to give thanks for healing in Christ’s name in the predominantly Muslim village; her parents helped the Islamists to beat her nearly unconscious.

Initially seven extremists led by Mohammed Aanu Shaike stormed into the home of Gaffar Shaike and ordered the Christians to stop the meeting, said Pastor Bashir Pal, founder and pastor of the village Believer’s Church.

Gaffar Shaike said the extremists called them pagans as they kicked, slapped and pushed the Christians, adding that they reprimanded him and his wife for dismissing several warnings from them to stop leading prayer meetings in their house. A year ago, the extremists had burned Shaike’s crops for his faith in Christ, he said.

“I asked the radicals why they barged into my house and why they were not allowing us to pray in my own home,” Shaike said, adding that the extremists were so blinded by fury that they only continued beating them, calling them pagans and threatening to continue doing so until they returned to Islam.

“We want freedom to worship Jesus in our home,” he said.

As the extremists mocked and otherwise verbally abused the Christians, a mob of about 100 Islamists gathered and charged into the house entryway, which is 72 feet long and eight feet wide, shouting anti-Christian slogans and threatening to murder them as they pushed, kicked and slapped them.

When the Christians tried to flee, the extremists blocked their way. The son of Muslim extremist Ahammed Shaike, Mohammed Kuran, beat 65-year-old widow Moyazan Bewa, Christians present said. While Ahammed Shaike’s wife was called in from the front porch to beat a Christian woman at the meeting named Selina Bibi, Mohammed Aanu Shaike beat Gaffar Shaike’ wife, Aimazan Bibi, kicking her head and stomach and leaving a deep cut on her hand, they said.

Other Christians present received minor injuries. Two Christian children present at the meeting were crying in fear, the Christians said.

The Christians somehow made their way out and scattered, but Mohammed Aanu Shaike, brandishing a sickle, chased many of them, “hurling all kinds of insults and attempting to murder them all, but God saved the Christians at that moment,” said Pastor Pal.

By then about 500 Muslims had gathered and were watching in amusement as the extremists chased and harassed the Christians for about 90 minutes, the pastor said.

“The Christians were running in all directions for their lives, including the children who were crying in fear, but the [adult Christians] were stopped at every corner by the radicals who thrashed, bashed and verbally abused them,” Pastor Pal said; no children were attacked.

Aimazan Bibi said spectators took up many positions.

“Some were standing on the house roofs, some stood in front of their houses and on the road,” she said. “There was a huge number of people who were mocking, pushing and shouting at us while some were also just spectators.”

Pastor Pal added that at one point the extremists had trapped many from the Christian group.

“The Christians were cornered at one place, where they all stood petrified in fear, but somehow the almighty God saved them,” he said.

“We pleaded with the radicals to let us go, and eventually they freed us while they were still shouting at us to leave Jesus or face more sufferings,” said one of the trapped Christians, Moyazan Bibi.

The Christians fled to the outskirts of the village about two kilometers away and took refuge in the home of one of the participants in the prayer meeting, Nasima Bibi, meeting police en route and informing them of the attack.

Area Christian leaders also informed the station officer of Nutangram Thana, who immediately sent police force to the site.

“After realizing that the police had reached the village, I urged Moyazan Bewa to go out and meet the police,” Pastor Pal said. “She asked the police why the Islamic radicals were constantly attacking them.”

Assuring her that they would take action against the assailants, police took the 65-year-old widow to her home, where a furious mob of Islamic extremists had gathered, said the pastor.

Officers warned the Islamic extremists not to disturb the Christians again, but they continued to taunt and mock them, he said, treating them as criminals.

“The extremists were always passing insulting remarks against them even while they were simply walking on the road,” Pastor Pal said.

On April 5, Mohammed Aanu Shaike threatened to kill Aimazan Bibi after he found her talking to a Muslim woman on the street, he said.

“Some extremists soon gathered, and they were calling her pagan and they threatened to murder her if they ever find her talking to any Muslim again,” the pastor said.

The Muslims have since ostracized the Christians, prohibiting them to buy and sell in the area and keeping them from using the public bathroom and water well, he said. The extremists have sternly told all shopkeepers not to sell anything to the Christians, and at press time they were all complying with the order.

The Christians filed a police complaint against the assailants, but no arrests have been made.

Some of the victims have been attacked earlier. Last year Selina Bibi was beaten for her faith and, as the Muslims assumed she would have some mark on her body indicating her faith, they stripped her naked to search for one. They beat her in spite of finding no mark (see www.compassdirect.org, “Muslim Extremists in India Attack, Threaten Women,” Aug. 5, 2011.)

“Even though the radicals have beaten me many times and want to kill me, I will not leave Jesus,” she said. “I will worship Him as long as I live on this earth.”

AUCKLAND, New Zealand (Compass Direct News) – Lao officials on Thursday (April 5) confiscated and sealed a church building in southern Laos after holding a two-day seminar warning against religious belief, according to advocacy group Human Rights Watch for Lao Religious Freedom (HRWLRF).

Besides sealing the church building in Khamnonsung village, Saybuly district, they also warned that other unrecognized churches in the district in Savannakhet Province would soon be shut down.

Local Communist Party official Saysamorn, along with Saysana, district deputy chief of police, and Bountha, district head of religious affairs, ordered all villages to attend the seminar, held from Tuesday through Thursday (April 3 to 5) and entitled “Tricks of the Enemy.”

According to villagers present at the seminar, the officials declared that Westerners, particularly those from the United States, were using the Christian faith to destabilize the government. They then declared that the 745 Christians in the village could only meet in private homes, claiming that they did not have permission to construct the Khamnonsung church building – although it was erected in 1963, prior to the 1975 Communist takeover of Laos.

“How do these officials know that Khamnonsung did not follow proper procedures back in 1968?” HRWLRF asked in a press release issued today. “And if a permit is required for this building, why wait 49 years to tell them?”

The officials also declared that only one church in the district, located in Dongpoong village, was officially recognized and that all others would soon be shut down, HRWLRF reported.

There are a total of 30 church buildings scattered throughout Savannakhet Province – but only seven are approved by the government.

Christians Protest
On Sunday (April 1), members of two other Lao churches in Saybuly district met for worship in buildings that were earlier confiscated by authorities, according to HRWLRF.

Authorities confiscated the 37-year-old Kengweng village church building on Feb. 22 and another belonging to a church in Dongpaiwan village on Sept. 22. At 7 a.m. on Sunday (April 1), Kengweng church members removed the padlock from the door of their building, entered and worshipped there. Members of Dongpaiwan did not enter their building but assembled outside it, HRWLRF reported.

The congregations met as a protest against the continued lack of access to worship facilities, a spokesman from HRWLRF told Compass.

Another church in Nadeng village was confiscated on Dec. 4, but members have not yet dared to meet in or go near the building.

Saysamorn, Saysana and Bountha also traveled to Kengweng on Feb. 21 and conducted a compulsory two-day seminar for villagers, urging them not to adopt or follow foreign religions, according to HRWLRF. At the close of the seminar on Feb. 22, they confiscated and sealed the village church building and ordered the 178 Christian not to hold services there.

Church members were instructed to submit a formal written request to village, district and provincial level officials if they wished to use the building again, according to a local church member who preferred to remain unnamed.

On Sept. 14, some 20 Saybuly district officials, military and police personnel seized Dongpaiwan village church and tore down a cross on the building on grounds that church members, numbering around 200, had not obtained prior approval for construction. (See www.compassdirect.org, “Lao Officials Seize Church Building, Convert it into School,” Sept. 26, 2011.)

The villagers argued that while permission was necessary, the local government routinely denied new applications for the construction of churches, thereby creating an impossible situation and denying them the right to worship freely as guaranteed in the constitution.

Officials then converted the church into a school for fifth graders, moving chairs and desks into the building and posting a military guard on the property to prevent Christians from returning there.

Trouble in the North
In northern Laos, Officials in Luang Namtha and Luang Prabang provinces recently ordered Christians in several villages to renounce their faith or face expulsion, according to HRWLRF reports.

On March 2, some 20 officials including district police officers, Communist Party members and village security forces, summoned pastor Khamla of Dongvieng village, Viengphuka district in Luang Namtha Province, and sharply rebuked him for believing in Christianity. After interrogation, officials ordered Khamla to give up his faith within five days or “be cast out of the village.”

Khamla was the only known Christian in a district with a population of 20,000.

On Feb. 18, the chief of Hueygong village in Pakoo district of Luang Prabang Province ordered 10 Christian families in the village, a total of 65 people, to give up their faith or face expulsion. The Christians, most of whom became Christians only three months prior to the eviction order, were meeting for worship in the home of church leader Yar Yang.

Before the order was given, Pakoo district officials told Christians in the district to report the number of church members and churches and apply for official permission to adopt the Christian faith. A leader of one of eight house churches in Pakoo explained to HRWLRF that the district chief, the religious affairs office and the local secretary of the Communist Party had to give their approval before Christians could openly confess faith and worship God.

When Christians failed to comply with these orders, officials gave them a month to recant their faith or face expulsion.

Before the expulsion could take place, however, Bousee Chantuma, head of religious affairs in Luang Prabang, reportedly told Pakoo officials that they must reverse the expulsion order as they had no legal grounds to issue it, and threatened to take the matter to provincial and central religious affairs offices. He also warned them that Christians in the district could not be arrested without his permission, according to HRWLRF.

Earlier, on Jan. 13, authorities in Hueysell village, Ngoi district of Luang Prabang Province, summoned two Christian leaders and ordered them and their congregation of about 80 people to abandon their faith or be expelled.

To date the Christians have held firm to their faith, and authorities have yet to follow through on the eviction order.

CAIRO, Egypt (Compass Direct News) – In a show of partiality to Muslims who go unprosecuted for like offenses against Christianity, a juvenile court in Egypt on Wednesday (April 4) sentenced a Coptic Christian teenager to three years in prison for allegedly insulting Islam.

Gamal Abdou Massoud, 17, denies the charges. The court claimed that he posted cartoons on his Facebook account in December that mocked the Islamic religion and its prophet, Muhammad. The court also claimed that he distributed the pictures to other students.

After the incident came to light, Muslims in Assuit, where Massoud lives, rioted. They fire-bombed his home and burned down at least five other Christian-owned homes in several Assuit villages. Massoud’s family left their village. It is uncertain if they were ordered out, left from fear or left because they had no home.

The sentencing was considered significant not only because violates the free speech clauses of the U.N.’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights, of which Egypt is a signatory, but also shows another area where justice is executed unequally between Muslims and Christians in Egypt. The sentencing also shows that rights are given to the Christian minority in Egypt only when Islamic sensitivities are not involved.

When Muslim public figures violate Egyptian laws related to insulting Christianity, which happens often, the laws are ignored, Coptic Christians said. But when Christians are accused of violating the same laws against Islam, they pointed out, even a minor is usually punished to the full extent of the law.

The court also held Massoud responsible for inciting the riots. No one responsible for burning down any of the homes has been charged.

Samia Sidhom, managing editor at Watani newspaper in Cairo, said the sentencing was a clear example of the double standard. When Coptic lawyers bring cases before the court about alleged instances of inflammatory speech broadcast publicly by Islamic or government leaders against Christianity, the Bible or Christians, the charges “are simply sidelined,” with cases going on for years with no outcome.

“They never get any sentences,” Sidhom said.

The three-year sentence was the maximum Massoud could have received.

Sidhom also called into question the veracity of the charges. She said her reporters could find no evidence that Massoud had even had a Facebook page, calling him “almost computer illiterate.”

This is the third high-profile case of “insulting Islam” to be brought to court against Copts in Egypt in roughly a month. On March 3, a Cairo court dismissed a case against Naguib Sawaris, a Copt and telecommunications tycoon, who was accused of insulting Islam for placing a cartoon of Minnie Mouse in a veil on his Facebook site as a satirical comment on what Egypt would look like if Islamists gained political power in the country.

Two weeks later, on March 16, a group of Muslim lawyers blocked off a courtroom where Makram Diab, a Coptic Christian, was trying to launch an appeal against a six-year prison term levied against him for insulting Islam. A Salafi Muslim brought the accusations against him after the two had a quarrel at a school where the two worked. Salafists claim to practice the Islam of the first three generations after Muhammad.

Sentenced six days after authorities arrested him, Diab was not allowed to have a defense attorney present at his original court hearing. His appeal is pending.

NAIROBI, Kenya (Compass Direct News) – An 8-year-old boy died today from injuries after suspected Islamic extremists on Saturday (March 31) threw a grenade into a Christian revival meeting near Kenya’s coastal town of Mombasa that instantly killed a woman and injured at least 30 people.

Kenyan Internal Security Minister George Saitoti said Islamic extremists from the rebel al Shabaab militia in Somalia were suspected of carrying out the deadly blast, although the group has not claimed responsibility. The government, which began military operations against al Shabaab in Somalia last October, today issued a warning of a possible attack by al Shabaab during Easter celebrations in Kenya this weekend.

The names of the boy and the woman who died after the suspected Islamic extremist threw a grenade into the open air meeting in Mtwapa have not been released.

Christians in coastal areas of Kenya were gripped with fear after the attack, which took place between 7 and 7:30 p.m., according to an eyewitness. The meeting, organized by the Mtwapa Pastors’ Fellowship, brought together 500 Christians from 16 denominations at the Kandara event site in Kilifi County, 16 kilometers (10 miles) from Mombasa. It began on Friday and would have continued through Sunday were it not for the attack.

“Someone inside a moving Nissan vehicle threw a hand grenade towards the podium where the preaching pastor, the Rev. Daniel Mwendwa of the Miracle in the Village Church, was ministering, and there was a group of singers close by,” said eyewitness Harrison Tembo Chome, pastor of the Holy Jerusalem Church. “Everything came to a standstill. There was wailing and immediately the police, the army and ambulances arrived.”

More than 30 people were seriously injured, mostly singers leading worship, he said.

Three people have been arrested in relation to the explosion, but it was not clear what relation they had with al Shabaab, if any.

“What we as the church are almost certain of at the moment is that the incident seemed to be a religious fight against Christians,” said another pastor who asked to remain unnamed.

About 300 meters from the Christian evangelistic meeting, a Muslim gathering near Kipingo Pharmacy Road took place throughout the week and continued during and after the blast, Christian sources said.

“Why were only the Christians affected and not the Muslim gathering, which had been going on for a longer period of time?” said one Christian. “On Sunday we the Christians could not continue with our meeting, but the Muslims continued. Why did they continue when they knew that such a terrible incident had happened close to where they were holding their religious meeting?”

A police investigation is continuing.

The attack comes after attacks and kidnappings in the area and elsewhere last year prompted the Kenyan military to strike at al Shabaab targets in Somalia. At press time Kenyan soldiers were moving towards Kismayo, an al Shabaab stronghold not far from Mombasa.

With estimates of al Shabaab’s size ranging from 3,000 to 7,000, the insurgents seek to impose a strict version of sharia (Islamic law) on Somalia, but the government in Mogadishu fighting to retain control of the country treats Christians little better than the al Shabaab extremists do. While proclaiming himself a moderate, President Sheikh Sharif Sheik Ahmed has embraced a version of sharia that mandates the death penalty for those who leave Islam.

CAIRO, Egypt (Compass Direct News) – As Christians across Egypt continued to mourn the loss of Pope Shenouda III this week, Islamist leaders of the Salafist movement issued a litany of insults, calling the late leader of the Coptic Orthodox Church the “head of the infidels” and thanking God for his death.

The vitriol indicated the level of hostility the Salafists, who now make up 20 percent of Egypt’s parliament, have toward Christians. In a recorded message released on the Facebook page of one leading Salafi teacher, Sheik Wagdy Ghoneim, the sheik celebrated the pontiff’s death.

“We rejoice that he is destroyed. He has perished,” Ghoneim said on Sunday (March 18), the day after Shenouda died at the age of 88. “May God have His revenge on him in the fire of hell – he and all who walk his path.”

After the cleric issued his statement, several others followed suit, releasing insults throughout the week. On Monday (March 19) in the lower house of Egypt’s parliament, the People’s Assembly, several Salafi members refused to stand in remembrance of Shenouda during an official moment of silence. Others left before the moment of silence took place.

Bishop Mouneer Anis, head of the Episcopal and Anglican Diocese of Egypt, North Africa and the Horn of Africa, said that insulting people after their death is considered one of the rudest things someone can do in the Middle East. Anis, a close friend of the pontiff, told Compass the comments and actions were “very sad.”

“I see this as being moved by hatred,” Anis said. “To be honest, I feel sorry for members of the Salafi – to criticize such a remarkable man.”

The provocative comments are not a good sign for Egypt’s Christians. Adherents of the Salafist movement, which obtained that one-fifth of the People’s Assembly through the Nour Party, have led most of the recent attacks against Christians in Egypt. The comments were thought to reveal the utter disdain the Salafists have toward Egypt’s Christian minority.

The Salafist movement claims it patterns its beliefs and practices on the first three generations of Muslims.

Shenouda, formerly know as Nazeer Gayed Roufail, died due to complications from kidney disease and other health issues. A former theology teacher, Shenouda was enthroned on Nov. 14, 1971 as the 117th Pope of Alexandria and head of the Coptic Orthodox Church.

He led the church through some of its most challenging times, often coming into conflict with the government. In 1981, he criticized then-President Anwar Sadat for what Shenouda characterized as an inadequate response to the rise of what is now called “political Islam” in Egypt. For this and the Coptic protests against Sadat that followed, Sadat banished Shenouda to a monastery in the desert.

Shenouda was released three years later, after Islamic militants assassinated Sadat, and after his successor, Hosni Mubarak, granted the pope amnesty. Last year, Mubarak was deposed after a series of pro-democracy protests roiled the country.

Shenouda’s passing leaves many questions unanswered as to how the leaders of the Coptic Orthodox Church will direct its followers to deal with the persecution leveled against them. Mubarak’s removal from power brought heretofore unfulfilled promises of change by the transitional military-run government, but it has also unleashed a tide of violence against Copts unheard of in recent history.

In his statement, Ghoneim made a long list of accusations against Shenouda that, put together, portray the former pope as waging a war against Muslims in Egypt. The accusations were considered either twisted by lack of context or were blatantly false, such as the claim that Shenouda was holding two female Coptic converts to Islam against their will in a monastery. Ghoneim characterized Shenouda’s well-known desire to see Egyptian society protect the human rights of Christians as impudence.

Most surprising was the claim that the former pope was somehow orchestrating the religiously motivated violence against Christians in Egypt.

“He wanted the sectarian strife,” Ghoneim said. “He wanted to burn Egypt.”

The irony of the comments has not been lost on most Copts. In May, Salafist leaders publicly threatened to kill Shenouda over the rumors about hiding the two women against their will. This was after groups of Muslims, led by members of the Salafist movement, held massive protests in April and blocked rail and road ways because the transitional military government appointed a Copt to be governor over the province. The rioting stopped only after the appointment was withdrawn.

Though it all, Anis said, Shenouda remained ardent in trying to engage Muslims in a peaceful way.

“He was a friend of many Muslim leaders. He was a peacemaker,” Anis said. “He was even criticized by Christians for making peace with those who persecuted the church.”

The last public meeting Shenouda had was with members of the Muslim Brotherhood, a little more than a week before he died.

“Pope Shenouda met members of the Muslim Brotherhood even when he was in pain,” Anis said.

Most Muslims in Egypt did not share Ghoneim’s sentiments. The leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, the largest Islamic group in the country, issued a statement expressing his condolences over the Coptic pope’s death.

Shenouda was buried on Tuesday (March 20) in the Monastery of St. Bishoy in Wadi el-Natrun, with several thousand followers attending. Before Shenouda was buried, Naguib Ghobrial, lawyer and head of the Egyptian Union for Human Rights, filed suit on Monday (March 19) against Ghoneim for contempt of a revealed religion.

Undeterred, Ghoneim released a statement the next day denying any wrongdoing and issued a challenge to all Christians.

“You believe in your Bible and say its words are holy,” he concluded. [Your Bible teaches] ‘Love your enemies and bless all who curse you.’ Your enemies – you love them and those who curse you – you bless them. So I say, God curse you! Bless me now. Bless me. Isn’t this your religion? I am going to say it again – I am your enemy, and I say, God curse you. Now, say it, ‘We love you Wagdy. And God bless you Wagdy.’”

Some 146,000 Christians are living in Israel. More than 90% of them are non-Jewish citizens, while about 10,000 are Messianic believers. The oppression of Christians in Israel comes mostly from Ultra-Orthodox Jews; though a minority in the country, the religious group has a major influence. In February, several Israeli newspapers had reports on the growing oppression. The spitting is especially a problem for priests and pastors who stand out with their clerical garb. Where these Christians regularly meet Ultra-Orthodox Jews, insulting, spitting and even cursing occurs.

Some priests declared that they have been subject to spitting for years now. It is not only Christian institutions that are targeted, Islamic and other non-Jewish institutions also suffer from such attacks. An Armenian priest declared in one of the newspapers, “It’s almost impossible to pass through Jaffa Gate without this spitting happening.” The spitting has become so prevalent that some priests have simply stopped going to certain parts of the city.

Recently one of the Baptist churches, a Christian cemetery, and a Greek Orthodox monastery were the targets of graffiti slogans. The church has also been burned two times, once in 1982 and then again in 2007. The pastor of this church, Charles Kopp, declared to an Israeli newspaper, “We mainly feel sad about the attacks.” Another spokesman of the church said, “We’re just extremely hurt and disturbed.”

According to a February 27th report in the newspaper Haaretz, father Pierbattista Pizzabella, Custodian of the Holy Land and head of the Franciscan Order in Israel, wrote to the Israeli government asking them to take the necessary steps to stop these anti-Christian actions. “Unfortunately, throughout the years we have learned to ignore provocations and continue our daily lives. Still, it seems that this time red lines have been crossed and we cannot remain silent. These shocking slogans sprayed on Christian sites of prayer, especially in Jerusalem, hurt the feelings of all the Christians in Israel.”

In the last week of February the attacks escalated into outright violence when a group dressed as ultra-Orthodox men brutally attacked a 70-year-old woman in her home in Jerusalem’s Nahlaot neighborhood. According to the police, the attackers apparently believed her to be a Christian missionary. The woman had to be treated for a broken ankle, a shattered and bleeding hand, a swollen face, and internal bleeding.

The situation, however, is far from hopeless. The pastor of a group of about 20 Messianic believers reported that in the past he has experienced several attacks on his ministry, but now, he explains with a big smile, “We regularly see Jews coming to Christ since we work here. I have prayed several times with people willing to accept Jesus.”