Release International
INDONESIA: KILLERS OF CHRISTIAN SCHOOLGIRLS JAILED Top story in Persecution Now news roundup |
| Nov 02 2007 |
Top story: Indonesia: Three Islamic militants have been found guilty of beheading three Christian schoolgirls and trying to murder another. They left the heads with the warning: ‘We will murder 100 more Christian teenagers’. Earlier, the Christian parents of the schoolgirls embraced the killers and publicly forgave them. Persecution now is the weekly bulletin of Release International, giving the latest news of the persecuted church.
Additional sources are given in brackets. Further details from those sources.
Indonesia: Three Islamic militants have been found guilty of beheading three Christians schoolgirls and trying to murder another.
They ambushed the girls on their way to school, cut off their heads with machetes and left them in plastic bags with the warning: ‘We will murder 100 more Christian teenagers and their heads will be presented as presents.’
The killers confessed to murdering the girls as an offering to celebrate the end of Ramadan, and to avenge the deaths of Muslims during earlier clashes.
One of the killers also confessed to machine-gunning a woman church minister in 2004. The murderers claim to have been recruited by Islamist terrorists.
Earlier, the Christian parents of the three murdered schoolgirls met the killers and publicly forgave them. They embraced the three Islamist extremists and shook hands as a sign of peace.
The fourth girl who escaped with serious injuries has been given reconstructive surgery by Release International’s partners (Compass Direct).
Uzbekistan: Dmitry Shestakov, a protestant pastor, is appealing against his four-year sentence for religious activity. The 37-year-old was sentenced to go to a penal colony earlier this month. His jailers have banned him from kneeling to pray and confiscated his New Testament, giving him the Koran to read instead. Other leading evangelicals are now concerned for their freedom, following the trial (Forum 18; Voice of the Martyrs).
Israel: hostility towards converts to Christianity has erupted into violence. Orthodox Jews attacked a member of a congregation in the town of Arad. They beat him up in the car park of his Chess and Bible Shop. Militants firebombed the shop two years ago.
Christians in the town report facing ‘jeers and taunts’ every week. Jewish hardliners throw tomatoes and eggs at the Christians, spit at them and attack their homes (Voice of the Martyrs).
India: violence against Christians continues in many regions, notably Andhra Pradesh. This week Hindu extremists burned down an independent church after its congregation refused to stop speaking openly about their faith. Militants burnt down another church in the same village earlier this month.
Meanwhile, in Orissa, Hindu militants threatened to burn down the homes of 20 Christians, following local elections in which the BJP candidate was defeated.
Six Indian states have adopted anti-conversion laws, reflecting a growing Hindu nationalism and culture of intolerance towards Christianity (Voice of the Martyrs).
Release International serves the persecuted Church in 30 nations. For video reports download our monthly webcast - World Update - available from the Release International website: www.releaseinternational.org
ENDS
Notes to the Editor
The Indonesian militants were sentenced to between 14 and 20 years for killing the schoolgirls.
Additional sources:
Through our international network of missions RI serves persecuted Christians in 30 countries, supporting pastors and Christian prisoners and their families, supplying Christian literature and Bibles, and working for justice. RI is a member of the UK organisations Global Connections, the Evangelical Alliance and the Micah Network.
Please note:
Persecution Now will resume after Easter. The next edition will be distributed on April 14.
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