Human rights group International Christian Concern has released its annual top ten list of the world's worst persecutors of Christians.
International Christian Concern on Thursday released its annual Hall of Shame report that calls attention to the trend of Christian persecution around the globe.
India is ranked with countries such as Eritrea, Pakistan, Iran, North Korea, Somalia, Saudi Arabia and China where religious freedom has been suppressed and atrocities persisting on an alarming scale.
According to the report, India remains on the top ten worst persecutors list “due to constant violent attacks against Christians.”
"Sources indicate that in 2009, there was an average of three attacks per week against Christians. Although attacks are not comparable in intensity with other top ten countries, the scope of persecution in India is widespread and affects millions of believers," the report stated.
It cited the 2008 Orissa violence where dozens of Christians were murdered and over 50,000 were displaced following the murder of a Hindu leader.
"Many Christians in Orissa are still unable to return to their homes due to threats issued by Hindu radicals forcing their conversion to Hinduism as a condition for their return. These Christians continue to suffer in refugee camps that lack housing, sanitation and food," ICC said.
In addition to violence, Christians also face discrimination from state and local officials.
"The states of Gujarat, Orissa, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, and Himachal Pradesh enforce anti-conversion laws which restrict the freedom of Hindus to convert to other religions."
ICC President Jeff King laments that the persecution of Christians has become a common occurrence and is rarely reported by the mainstream media.
"Due to their faith, Christians endure harassment, discrimination, deportation, imprisonment, rape, torture, murder and other forms of persecution," he said.
Interestingly, the report says Communist and former Communist states are becoming less antagonistic towards Christianity (North Korea being the exception). However, persecution continues to increase in Islamic countries.
Last year, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom placed India on its Watch List for the country’s inadequate response in protecting religious minorities.
The federal commission’s watch list consists of countries with governments that tolerate "serious violations of religious freedom.
source: http://www.christiantoday.com/article/human.rights.group.releases.persecution.shame.list/25141.htm
Showing posts with label Eritrea. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Eritrea. Show all posts
Monday, January 25, 2010
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
43,000 people call for religious freedom in Eritrea
by Jenna LylePosted: Sunday, January 17, 2010, 15:58 (GMT)
A petition calling for religious freedom for Eritrea’s Christians has received more than 43,000 signatures.
The petition was handed in to the Eritrean Embassy and 10 Downing Street by the former bishop of Rochester Michael Nazir-Ali, patron of persecution ministry Release International.
Mr Nazir-Ali said: “We want to assure the government of Eritrea that Christians are loyal citizens and present no danger to the integrity of the Eritrean nation.
“We are appealing to the government of Eritrea to allow all Christians freedom of assembly, worship and expression.”
Eritrea has been a major campaign focal point for Release International in the last few months. It says more than 2,000 Christians have been imprisoned by the government for their faith, some placed in underground cells or shipping containers where temperatures are freezing during the night and soaring during the day.
As part of the campaign, Release published the book Song of the Nightingale, the first-hand account of gospel singer Helen Berhane who was incarcerated in a shipping container, where she endured terrible conditions, and was beaten by the Eritrean authorities.
It believes tens of thousands of people have fled the country to neighbouring Sudan, Ethiopia and Yemen, passing through crocodile-infested rivers and minefields and running the risk of being shot by border guards who are under orders to shoot on sight anyone attempting to flee the country.
“Those we speak to love their country and want nothing more than to live in freedom as good citizens,” said Andy Dipper, the CEO of Release International, which serves the persecuted church worldwide.
“Yet many are being hounded out, jailed and tortured for no other reason than their Christian faith.
“Our message to Eritrea is stop the brutality. We’re calling on Eritrea to honour the right to freedom of religion, guaranteed under its own constitution.”
Eritrean Christians who were tortured and jailed for their faith have told their harrowing stories in the latest edition of Release magazine.
One prisoner, Hzkias, was chained and kept in solitary confinement in a tiny pitch-black cell for five months. He said he "looked like another creature" when he was finally let out, with long hair and nails.
"My body colour was yellow," he said.
A Christian activist documenting persecution in Eritrea, and named in the magazine only as Hanibal, reported that authorities were torturing and killing Christians.
He said: "Christians are treated like animals."
Release is helping Eritrean refugees start their own small businesses, and is supporting churches in refugee camps by giving them Bibles and Christian resources.
source: http://www.christiantoday.com/article/43000.people.call.for.religious.freedom.in.eritrea/25098.htm
A petition calling for religious freedom for Eritrea’s Christians has received more than 43,000 signatures.
The petition was handed in to the Eritrean Embassy and 10 Downing Street by the former bishop of Rochester Michael Nazir-Ali, patron of persecution ministry Release International.
Mr Nazir-Ali said: “We want to assure the government of Eritrea that Christians are loyal citizens and present no danger to the integrity of the Eritrean nation.
“We are appealing to the government of Eritrea to allow all Christians freedom of assembly, worship and expression.”
Eritrea has been a major campaign focal point for Release International in the last few months. It says more than 2,000 Christians have been imprisoned by the government for their faith, some placed in underground cells or shipping containers where temperatures are freezing during the night and soaring during the day.
As part of the campaign, Release published the book Song of the Nightingale, the first-hand account of gospel singer Helen Berhane who was incarcerated in a shipping container, where she endured terrible conditions, and was beaten by the Eritrean authorities.
It believes tens of thousands of people have fled the country to neighbouring Sudan, Ethiopia and Yemen, passing through crocodile-infested rivers and minefields and running the risk of being shot by border guards who are under orders to shoot on sight anyone attempting to flee the country.
“Those we speak to love their country and want nothing more than to live in freedom as good citizens,” said Andy Dipper, the CEO of Release International, which serves the persecuted church worldwide.
“Yet many are being hounded out, jailed and tortured for no other reason than their Christian faith.
“Our message to Eritrea is stop the brutality. We’re calling on Eritrea to honour the right to freedom of religion, guaranteed under its own constitution.”
Eritrean Christians who were tortured and jailed for their faith have told their harrowing stories in the latest edition of Release magazine.
One prisoner, Hzkias, was chained and kept in solitary confinement in a tiny pitch-black cell for five months. He said he "looked like another creature" when he was finally let out, with long hair and nails.
"My body colour was yellow," he said.
A Christian activist documenting persecution in Eritrea, and named in the magazine only as Hanibal, reported that authorities were torturing and killing Christians.
He said: "Christians are treated like animals."
Release is helping Eritrean refugees start their own small businesses, and is supporting churches in refugee camps by giving them Bibles and Christian resources.
source: http://www.christiantoday.com/article/43000.people.call.for.religious.freedom.in.eritrea/25098.htm
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Eritrea arrests 30 evangelical Christian women
by Ethan Cole, Christian Post
Posted: Wednesday, December 9, 2009, 7:52 (GMT)
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The Eritrean government arrested 30 elderly, Christian women this past weekend, a Christian persecution watchdog reported Monday.
On Saturday, security forces rounded up a group of mostly elderly women praying together at a house and took them to a police station in Asmara, the capital city, according to International Christian Concern.
The women are mostly members of the Faith Mission Church, an evangelical church with a Methodist background. The church has an over 50-year history in Eritrea but became a target of government crackdown after a law requiring churches to register with officials was adopted in 2002.
It is impossible for the Faith Mission Church to register because the government only allows three Christian denominations to legally exist - the Eritrean Orthodox Church, the Roman Catholic Church and the Lutheran Evangelical Church of Eritrea.
“We condemn the arrest of the 30 women by Eritrean officials,” said ICC’s regional manager for Africa and South Asia, Jonathan Racho, in a statement. “We urge officials of Eritrea to release the detainees and all the imprisoned Christians in the country. We call upon Eritrea to stop violating the freedom of religion of its people.”
In recent years, the Eritrean government has cracked down even on registered churches. The head of the Eritrean Orthodox Church has been under house arrest for years and there have been reports of raids on Christian functions, such as weddings.
Reports have also indicated that the torturing of Christians in prison is common. Christians are locked in outdoor metal shipping containers and have to endure unbearable heat, disease and mental distress. The containers are said to only be about 20 feet long and many of them contain 15 to 20 people.
Earlier this year, Compass News Direct reported that there have been several known cases of Christians dying at an Eritrean military camp.
Among the latest deaths is that of Yemane Kahasay Andom, 43, who died on July 23 at Mitire Military Confinement Center in northeastern Eritrea. He reportedly was tortured and suffered from a severe case of malaria that eventually led to his death.
“He was allegedly further weakened by continuous physical torture and solitary confinement in an underground cell the two weeks prior to his death for his refusal to sign a recantation form,” said Open Doors, whose sources informed the ministry of Andom’s death. “It is not clear what the contents of the recantation form were, but most Christians interpret the signing of such a form as the denouncement of their faith in Christ.”
Also in the month of July, Release International ran a story about an Eritrean Christian who was imprisoned for five months.
“My hair and nails were long. My body colour was yellow,” said former prisoner Hzkias about his condition after he was released from his underground cell, according to the July edition of Release magazine. Hzkias, whose real name is not used for security reasons, also said he “looked like another creature”.
Another former prisoner, identified as Essay by the magazine, was detained at a prison in Asmara for 11 months. Life in the prison, he explained, was “simply like living in an open toilet”.
There are more than 2,800 Christians who are imprisoned because of their Christian faith in Eritrea, according to Open Doors. Eritrea is located in Northeast Africa.
source: http://www.christiantoday.com/article/eritrea.arrests.30.evangelical.christian.women/24845.htm
Posted: Wednesday, December 9, 2009, 7:52 (GMT)
Font Scale:A A A
The Eritrean government arrested 30 elderly, Christian women this past weekend, a Christian persecution watchdog reported Monday.
On Saturday, security forces rounded up a group of mostly elderly women praying together at a house and took them to a police station in Asmara, the capital city, according to International Christian Concern.
The women are mostly members of the Faith Mission Church, an evangelical church with a Methodist background. The church has an over 50-year history in Eritrea but became a target of government crackdown after a law requiring churches to register with officials was adopted in 2002.
It is impossible for the Faith Mission Church to register because the government only allows three Christian denominations to legally exist - the Eritrean Orthodox Church, the Roman Catholic Church and the Lutheran Evangelical Church of Eritrea.
“We condemn the arrest of the 30 women by Eritrean officials,” said ICC’s regional manager for Africa and South Asia, Jonathan Racho, in a statement. “We urge officials of Eritrea to release the detainees and all the imprisoned Christians in the country. We call upon Eritrea to stop violating the freedom of religion of its people.”
In recent years, the Eritrean government has cracked down even on registered churches. The head of the Eritrean Orthodox Church has been under house arrest for years and there have been reports of raids on Christian functions, such as weddings.
Reports have also indicated that the torturing of Christians in prison is common. Christians are locked in outdoor metal shipping containers and have to endure unbearable heat, disease and mental distress. The containers are said to only be about 20 feet long and many of them contain 15 to 20 people.
Earlier this year, Compass News Direct reported that there have been several known cases of Christians dying at an Eritrean military camp.
Among the latest deaths is that of Yemane Kahasay Andom, 43, who died on July 23 at Mitire Military Confinement Center in northeastern Eritrea. He reportedly was tortured and suffered from a severe case of malaria that eventually led to his death.
“He was allegedly further weakened by continuous physical torture and solitary confinement in an underground cell the two weeks prior to his death for his refusal to sign a recantation form,” said Open Doors, whose sources informed the ministry of Andom’s death. “It is not clear what the contents of the recantation form were, but most Christians interpret the signing of such a form as the denouncement of their faith in Christ.”
Also in the month of July, Release International ran a story about an Eritrean Christian who was imprisoned for five months.
“My hair and nails were long. My body colour was yellow,” said former prisoner Hzkias about his condition after he was released from his underground cell, according to the July edition of Release magazine. Hzkias, whose real name is not used for security reasons, also said he “looked like another creature”.
Another former prisoner, identified as Essay by the magazine, was detained at a prison in Asmara for 11 months. Life in the prison, he explained, was “simply like living in an open toilet”.
There are more than 2,800 Christians who are imprisoned because of their Christian faith in Eritrea, according to Open Doors. Eritrea is located in Northeast Africa.
source: http://www.christiantoday.com/article/eritrea.arrests.30.evangelical.christian.women/24845.htm
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