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TURKEY: ‘MISSIONARIES MORE DANGEROUS THAN TERROR ORGANISATIONS’ CLAIMS SENIOR JUSTICE OFFICIAL - Plus news from India, Pakistan and Eritrea |
| Nov 02 2007 |
Persecution Now
Turkey: A senior Turkish official is claiming ‘missionaries are more dangerous than terror organisations’. This comes as police arrest four Christian evangelists in Istanbul, and while Turkey is still reeling from the murder trial of militants who tortured and killed three Christians.
The statement, from the Ministry of Justice, comes amid concern over whether Turkey will remain a secular society. A senior judge has overturned the first round of elections that could have led to Turkey becoming an Islamic state.
Meanwhile, police have jailed four Christian street evangelists in Istanbul for ‘missionary activity’ even as government officials defended the right of all religious groups in Turkey to share their faith. All four Christians have now been released. One is likely to be deported. (International Christian Concern; Compass Direct).
India: 300 Hindu extremists attacked and demolished an evangelical church – while police and local officials looked on.
The hired gang also destroyed the house of the pastor, who was forced to flee for his life.
The extremists claimed the land did not belong to the church. And after destroying the buildings, they put up banners warning Christians they would prevent any church being built in the village.
Police have arrested nine people. (Compass Direct News).
Pakistan: a gang of four Muslim men repeatedly raped a 12-year-old Christian girl. They took the girl from her home in Lahore and systematically raped her over a two-day period.
One of the attackers reportedly told the others not to ‘hesitate to rape a Christian girl’, claiming the law would look more favourably on Muslim men than Christian women.
In Pakistan’s courts the testimony of a Christian woman is worth just a quarter of that of a Muslim man. As a result there are many cases of Christian women being raped with impunity.
Last year two women – as young as 15 – were attacked because they refused to convert to Islam or read the Koran.
Police have arrested four men for this latest attack on the 12-year-old girl. But her family are being pressed to drop the charges. (Voice of the Martyrs, Canada; Compass Direct).
Eritrea: The Eritrean government is at loggerheads with the country’s Orthodox Church after replacing the head of the Church and appointing a new fourth patriarch - seemingly against the Church’s wishes.
The new patriarch, Bishop Dioskoros Mendefera, will be installed on May 27. But the Church has issued an open letter saying that this ‘flagrantly violates’ the wishes of its two million members.
This follows the removal from office of the head of the Eritrean Orthodox Church, Patriarch Abune Antonios, by the authorities in August 2005.
More than 2,000 Christians are now held without trial or charge in Eritrea.
A fresh crack down on Christians began in January this year. Police arrested 68 believers and pressurised many to denounce their faith. Simultaneously, military leaders raided so-called ‘Christian extremists’, burning Bibles and torturing Christian teenage conscripts (International Christian Concern).
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
Additional information:
Turkey: ‘Missionaries are more dangerous than terror organizations,’ quote attributed to Niyazi Guney, Ministry of Justice director general of laws. Tensions between Christians and Muslims have continued following the violent murder of three Christians at a publishing house. Their attackers tortured them before cutting their throats.
Pakistan: We have removed the rape victim’s name to protect her identity and spare her further indignity.
For further background, also see: http://www.persecution.org/suffering/countryinfodetail.php?countrycode=4
http://www.speroforum.com/site/article.asp?idarticle=8319
Eritrea: There are fears for Patriarch Antonios' health as he is a severe diabetic.
Additional sources:
For further information, please contact Andrew Boyd on 01730 301905 or Release International on 01689 823491 or by email at info@releaseinternational.org
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.
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