CHRISTIANS ATTACKED IN PAKISTAN
Islamabad: Christians in the village of Bahmaniwala in Punjab province, were attacked by Muslims on June 30, 2009 after a believer allegedly committed blasphemy against Islam.

When Sardar Masih (38) and his son were returning home on their tractor on June 29, they asked a reportedly intoxicated Muslim man and his nephew to move their motorbikes which were blocking the road. Enraged that a Christian gave them an order, the two grabbed Masih and began to beat him.

Later that evening, a group of 15-20 Muslims attacked Masih's family and damaged his home. His tractor was ruined and his brothers sustained serious hatchet wounds. The Muslim man filed a report with local police and told a Muslim religious leader that Masih had blasphemed.

The next day, a Muslim cleric used the local mosque's loudspeaker to call Muslims to attack Christians. That evening, more than 500 Muslims looted and damaged over 100 homes, burned vehicles and attacked believers. Electricity and water supplies were also cut off.

Dozens were injured, including women and children who were reportedly sprayed with acid. One of the women who were beaten miscarried. Muslims have registered blasphemy cases against 11 believers.

CHRISTIAN SHOPKEEPER BEATEN AND DETAINED ON BLASPHEMY CHARGES
Islamabad (Pakistan): Imran Masih (25) was arrested after Muslims accused him of burning pages of the Qur'an in the town of Hajwery, Faisalabad, Pakistan, according to reports.

While Masih was cleaning up his fruit and vegetable shop, he set some paper and books on fire--a common practice for waste disposal in the area. The Muslim owner of a nearby shop then accused Masih of burning the Qur'an and called for Muslims to kill the "infidel." A group of Muslims gathered and beat Masih until police intervened and took him into custody.

Later that day, announcements were made from the local mosques calling for Muslims to take revenge on Christians for Masih's "sacrilegious act." A mob of Muslims blocked the roads, chanted slogans against Christianity and demanded that Masih be publicly hanged.

At last report, Masih was detained at a local police station and Christians in the region had gone into hiding in fear of further attacks.

CHINESE COUPLE SENTENCED FOR "ENGAGING IN ILLEGAL RELIGIOUS ACTIVITIES"
Beijing: Pastor Dou Shaowen, who was arrested by officials on June 14, 2009 has been given a one year sentence of "re-education" through labour, according to recent reports. Pastor Dou's wife, Feng Lu, received the same sentence.

While Pastor Dou is currently imprisoned in a labour camp, authorities have permitted Feng Lu to serve her sentence at home so she can care for their 12-year-old daughter. However, officials informed her that she will be sent to the camp if she is discovered engaging in further "illegal religious activities."

The believers who were given 15-day administrative sentences following the June 14 house church attack have not yet been released at last report.

CHURCH BUILDINGS BURNED DOWN IN ZANZIBAR, TANZANIA
Two church buildings on the outskirts of Unguja Township on the Tanzanian island of Zanzibar were burned by suspected Muslims on June 28, 2009 according to reports.

A flier stating, "We don't want churches on our street. Today we are going to burn the church, and if you continue we are going to burn your house also," was left at the home of the man who donated the plot for The Evangelical Assemblies of God church building, which was later burned.

The Pentecostal Evangelical Fellowship in Africa church building, only a few kilometres away, was also torched. The week before, an assistant sheikh approached the church leader and told him that the building, which was in the final stages of construction, would be destroyed unless the construction was stopped.

SEVENTH CHURCH BOMBED IN IRAQ WITHIN 48 HOURS
Baghdad: A Chaldean Christian church in Iraq was bombed on Monday, July 13, 2009, injuring three children in the latest violent act against a Christian house of worship, Iraqi officials said.

An Iraqi Interior Ministry official said Monday's bombing, the seventh since Saturday; occurred when a car bomb exploded and damaged the church in Mosul.

A coordinated attack on six Baghdad-area churches on weekend killed four and wounded 32 others, officials said.

"This is going to make the Christians scared," Bishop Shlemon Warduni, who was in his office in a Christian church in Baghdad bombed Sunday, told the Los Angeles Times. "They will be scared to come to services, and maybe more will leave the country."

CHRISTIAN SCHOOL PRINCIPAL ATTACKED IN GUJARAT
Hindu extremists allegedly from the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Council or VHP) and Bajrang Dal (Youth Wing of the VHP) on July 6 attacked a Christian school and the principal in Dahod, Gujarat.

According to an EFI correspondent, Rev. Johny Desai, a few female students in St. Stephen's High School went to the school wearing henna tattoos on their arms. The teachers asked the girls to wash off the tattoos as too much application was against the school rules and regulations.

The parents of one unidentified student took the matter to the Hindu extremists. The following day, in an apparently pre- planned move, the Hindu hardliners stormed the school with a local television channel.

The extremists questioned the school principal, Fr. C. Rayyapan, on why they have asked the girls to wash off their henna tattoos. Unable to listen to reason, they started beating father Rayyapan, verbally abusing him and striking him on his head and body.

The Hindu hardliners also desecrated the `Grotto of our Lady" installed in the school premises.

The school remains closed on the following day as a sign of protest against the incident and a black badge was worn by Christians in the area.

The Christians lodged a police complaint but no arrests had been made at press time.

PASTOR, WIFE ASSAULTED IN KARNATAKA
Bangalore: A pastor and his wife were attacked by Hindu radicals on July 10, 2009 at one of the villages in Chitradurga district within South Indian state of Karnataka, Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC) reported.

On 10 July 2009 at 9:30 a.m. a group lead by H R Kallesh assaulted Sharada, a pastor's wife, in Srirampura village, Hosadurga Taluk, Chitradurga district. According to GCIC, the radical group led by

H.R Kallesh attacked Pastor Nagaraj, 41 and his wife Sharada at Srirampura village, Hosadurga Taluk in Chitradurga district, on allegation that the couple was forcibly converted to Christianity.

GCIC said Pastor Nagaraj of 'Yesu Prarthana Alaya' has been serving the Lord in Sriampura village for the past few years. He often visits the surrounding villages sharing the love of Christ. Pastor Nagaraj and his wife Sharada have a small tea stall near their house which is looked after by Sharada.

Bangalore-based Christian advocacy group said, on 10 July 2009 Pastor Nagaraj had gone out and Sharada was working in the tea stall. At around 9:30 a.m. H R Kallesh and some others came to the stall and questioned Sharada about her faith. The radicals asked her how much money she got for converting to Christianity and abused verbally in vulgar language. They assaulted her accusing her of indulging in forceful conversion and threatened to burn her alive by locking her inside the house.

The Hindu radicals then proceeded to the Srirampura village police station and lodged a complaint against Sharada alleging forceful conversion.

Meanwhile Pastor Nagaraj heard about the incident and was asked to come to the police station. When Pastor Nagaraj and Sharada appeared before the police, the Hindu radicals beat up the pastor in front of the police. He sustained minor injuries on his face.

Later Pastor Nagaraj and Sharada went to the police station to lodge a complaint against the radicals but the police made them wait for a very long time not accepting the complaint. After the intervention of the Superintendent of Police, Chitradurga, the police officials accepted the complaint and released the pastor and his wife and provided them with police protection.

According to GCIC, after Orissa state, Karnataka is the state that recorded the most number of attacks against Christians last year.

Dr. Sajan K. George, national president of the Karnataka-based GCIC told COmpass Direct News earlier: "Karnataka ruled by the Hindu nationalist party, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) recorded at least 112 anti-Christian attacks across 29 districts in 2008."

The pastor and his wife have been attacked by Hindu radicals before in 2003 and 2008. Pastor Nagaraj and Sharada have two sons. “Please pray for their ministry and for protection,” GCIC said.

CHRISTIAN SCHOOL ATTACKED IN ANDHRA PRADESH
Hyderabad: Hindutva activities have attacked a school in Jedcherla of Mahaboobnagar in Andhra Pradesh allegedly over the disciplinary action taken against an erring student by one of the teachers.

The activists attacked St Agnes School at Jedcherla in Mahaboobnagar on 1 July 2009 in protest against the disciplinary action taken against Keerthi, a student of Class X. Incidentally the student has been offered free education as she is an orphan. Keerthi was taken to task by one of the teachers as she was found disturbing the class. Keerthi in turn informed her brothers that she was severely punished in the school.

The brothers, along with some activists of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parisahd (ABVP) attacked the school, destroying the furniture and other fixtures. They also raised slogans like 'Jai Sri Ram' and threatened the school management with dire consequences. Later the activists filed a case against the school management.

The Christians took out a rally on 2 July 2009 to protest against the attack, demanding that the government protect the Christian schools and other institutions in the area.

SIX CHURCHES BOMBED, FOUR KILLED IN IRAQ
Baghdad: Bomb attacks on six Baghdad-area churches within 24 hours have killed at least four and wounded 32 people.

The deadliest attack came on Sunday, July 12, 2009 evening at around 7 p.m. near a church on Palestine Street in eastern Baghdad killed three Christians and one Muslim, according to reports. The first bombing took place on Saturday, July 11 night at St. Joseph's church in western Baghdad. Two bombs placed inside the church exploded at about 10 p.m. No one was in the church at the time of the attack.

It was followed by three bomb explosion on Sunday afternoon outside two churches in central Baghdad's al-Karrada district and one al-Ghadeer in eastern Baghdad, wounding eight civilian. And in southern Baghdad's Dora district, a bomb outside a church wounded three other civilians.

Most of the churches were damaged in the bombings. Iraq's Christians, believed to number about one million, are a small minority in a mainly Muslim country of about 28 million people. Christians have sporadically been the target of attacks, particularly in Baghdad and the northern city of Mosul, leading many of them to flee abroad.

In October, 2008, more than a thousand Iraqi families fled the northern city of Mosul after they were reportedly frightened by a series of killings and threats by Muslim extremists, who apparently ordered them to convert to Islam or face possible death. At least 14 Christians were killed in Mosul in the first two weeks of October.

ISLAMIC MILITANTS BEHEAD SEVEN SOMALI CHRISTIANS
Islamic Militants in Somalia beheaded seven prisoners accused of abandoning the Muslim faith and spying for the government on 10 June in the southwestern town of Baidoa.

The beheadings may be linked to the Islamists' failure to take Mogadishu after a 2-month-old offensive, said Mark Schroeder, a senior analyst at global intelligence company Stratfor. “Al-Shabab is reacting to a setback,” he told media.

The U.S. considers al-Shabab a terrorist group with links to al-Qaida, which al-Shabab denies. The group controls much of Somalia and its fighters operate openly in the capital.

Baidoa resident Madey Doyow, who spoke to members of the al-Shabab militia guarding the seven headless bodies, said the gunmen told him some of the executed men had links to pro-government militias.

According to reports, Hawa, who wanted her full name withheld, was at the police station with six other families who had been informed a relative had been executed. She told that her brother had been missing for about 20 days after being abducted from his house by masked men, and that she had just been informed that he had been beheaded.

Al-Shabab militia officials told her that the seven had been accused of either renouncing the Islamic religion or spying for the government, she said. Somalia's last functioning government was overthrown in 1991, and since then the country has been fought over by packs of warlords.

Somalia, the most eastern country in the Horn of Africa shares much of its border with Kenya and Ethiopia, two nations with strong percentage of Christians; its people used to practice a moderate Sufi Islam. But a more violent form of Islam having its roots in Saudi Arabia has taken roots lately.

It is believed that many foreign fighters have come to assist the Islamic alliance who eventually seized the capital Mogadishu in 2006 and much of the south and ruled for six months before being chased from power by the opposing forces.

In the past year, the militants have re-conquered key towns and swathes of the country, where they have carried out several whippings, amputations or executions.

Open Doors estimates there is about 4,000 Christians out of a population of about 10 million people in the predominantly Muslim country. According to Jerry Dykstra, media relations coordinator at Open Doors USA, most of the Christians in the country are from a Muslim background, and because of their conversion these Christians face the double threat of being targets of random acts of violence as well as religious extremists.

Somalia is ranked No. 5 this year in Open Doors' World Watch List of countries with the worst records of Christian persecution. Somalia is ranked below North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Afghanistan, respectively.

Somalia has been a failed state for the last 18 years. The current U.N.-backed government, supported by 4,300 African Union peacekeepers, is struggling to maintain its control of a few blocks of the capital.

Also in early May, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) recognized Somalia's religious intolerance problem and placed it on the group's watch list of countries that should be closely monitored for severe religious freedom violations.

CUBAN PASTOR SENTENCED TO SIX YEARS
Havana: A Christian advocacy group has strongly condemned the sentencing of a Cuban evangelical Pastor to six years in prison “despite credible claims," it says “he was falsely charged.”

It is calling upon Cuban authorities to “ratify the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.”

Pastor Omar Gude Pérez who was initially detained on 22 May last year was finally tried and sentenced by a Cuban court to six years in prison on July 9, 2009, as part of the sentence his family home will also be confiscated; stated a public statement made by Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW).

“He was falsely charged due to his leadership role in the 'Apostolic Reformation', a fast growing Christian denomination,” the statement stated. “The Apostolic Reformation, a group of independent self-governing nondenominational churches, is outside of traditionally and officially recognised denominations and it is viewed with suspicion by the government,” it added.

State prosecutors initially attempted to charge Pastor Gude Pérez with “Human Trafficking”. Although these charges were dropped in March 2009 after a court in Camaguey ruled there was no evidence, Pastor Pérez was still not released from prison.

In mid-April new charges of Falsification of Documents and Illicit Economic Activities were filed. The prosecution's petition also accused the pastor of “counterrevolutionary conduct and attitudes.” The Pastor's wife Kenia has informed Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) that false documents and testimonies were presented in court.

CSW said it has also received reliable information indicating that more than twenty other church leaders were temporarily arrested and threatened in the last two months. Some were detained just before Pastor Gude Perez's court hearing in May, indicating an attempt by the authorities to prevent a show of support for the pastor at his hearing.

The Christian advocacy group said there has been an increase in reported violations of religious liberty since Raul Castro took power in early 2008, and the heavy sentence handed to Pastor Gude Pérez follows a pattern of mounting state hostility towards religious groups. For example, for the past nine months Reverend Roberto Rodriguez, a denominational leader, based in Placetas, has also been subjected to ongoing legal proceedings on trumped up charges. Last week he received a fourth citation commanding him to present himself to the local courts.

The legal harassment of Reverend Rodriguez and his family began after the Interdenominational Fellowship of Evangelical Pastors and Ministers in Cuba (Spanish acronym; CIMPEC) withdrew from the Cuban Council of Churches (CCC) last October while under Reverend Rodriguez's leadership.

Open Doors Watch List 2009 has placed Cuba at 33rd spot and is clubbed under 'some limitations' category along with Indonesia, Syria, Oman, Morocco and others where Christians continue to face problem of practicing their faith freely.

In April this year, a U.S. religious freedom body was denied visas to enter Cuba for a fact-finding mission that included meetings with the island's religious communities and government officials.

Alexa Papadouris, CSW's Advocacy Director said: “In light of the evidence given by CSW's partners, we strongly condemn Pastor Omar Gude Pérez's prison sentence and call on the Cuban Government to immediately investigate and review his case,” in the statement.

“We urge the Cuban authorities to ratify the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and remind them of the protections, in particular religious freedom, laid out in the that document”.

CHRISTIANS ATTACKED BY MUSLIMS IN EGYPT
Cairo: Christians in the village of Ezbet Boshra-East are fearful to leave their homes after a mob of Muslims attacked believers and damaged property on June 21, 2009.

At approximately 11:00 a.m., a group of 25 Christians from Cairo arrived in the village to visit Father Isaac Castor, who lives in a building owned by the Coptic Church. When Muslims noticed six of the believers entering the building, they approached the remaining Christians waiting outside and began to taunt them. A Muslim woman approached one of the Christians and slapped her.

Hundreds of Muslims then started to throw stones at the building and the believers. Some Christian homes in the village were plundered, farmers' crops were uprooted and Father Castor's car was vandalized. Over a dozen Christians and several Muslims were injured in the violence. Nineteen Christians were arrested and released the following day. Their homes were reportedly ransacked by police and they were mistreated while in detention.

HOUSE CHURCH LEADERS RELEASED IN SICHUAN
Beijing (China): The house church leaders arrested in Langzhong city, Sichuan province on June 9, 2009 have been released following international pressure, according to a recent reports.

Thirteen of the leaders served 10 days of administrative detention and were released on June 20. The five leaders placed in criminal detention were released on June 23.

THREE CHRISTIANS RELEASED FROM DETENTION IN SHAANXI
Beijing (China): Three house church leaders that were arrested in Taochuan village, Shaanxi province on June 14, 2009 for "illegal religious activities" have been released, according reports. Xu Fenying was released on June 19 and Liu Caili and Huang Shumin were released on June 24.

The three have filed an administrative lawsuit against the Luonan County Public Security Bureau of Shaanxi Province on the grounds that the authorities had no legal basis to confiscate their literature or subject them to fines and detention.