Pastor brutally attacked in Andhra Pradesh

Hyderabad: Veiled men attacked a pastor on Sunday after the worship service, injuring the pastor who received nine stitches on his head and still in the hospital in southeast coastal state of Andhra Pradesh.

According to Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC), the attack took place when Pastor Vanamala Parishuddam, his family and few believers were returning home after the Sunday service around 11.45 a.m. on Sunday, September 20, 2009 from Yellareddygudam village, Narketpalli Mandal, Nalagonda district..

The report said four veiled radicals on two motorcycles stopped the Pastor on the way and started beating him with the wooden sticks. Few believers who accompanied the Pastor ran away. Pastor Vanamala was profusely bleeding and collapsed on the spot, GCIC stated.

GCIC said that after seeing the profuse bleeding of the pastor, the radicals ran away from that place and the Pastor’s wife and other two believers carried the Pastor to Kaminani Hospital, near Narketpally, an administrative division in the district. The doctors recommended the Pastor to go to a bigger hospital in Hyderabad, the capital of Andhra Pradesh. The pastor was admitted to Gandhi Hospital; there he had 9 stitches on his head. Again the Pastor was redirected to get admitted at Kaminani Hospital - another Hospital in the city.

Pastor’s condition is very serious and he is still under medical treatment in the hospital, GCIC, Christian advocacy group and the voice of the persecuted India Christians reported.

Pastor Vanamala’s bother lodged a complaint against the radicals at Narketpalli Police Station on Monday, no arrest have been made so far.

According to GCIC, the 40-year-old Pastor Vanamala Parishuddam of Gospel Ministry has been ministering in Yellareddygudam Village for the past 4 years. About 30 families gather for the Sunday services. Pastor and his wife Prasanna are blessed with two children.

Bangalore-based GCIC has requested believers to pray for Pastor’s early recovery.

One Christian martyred in Egypt

Cairo: A Coptic Christian man was murdered and three others suffered severe stab wounds when a Muslim man, Osama Araban (35), attacked three villages in northern Egypt on September 16 according to reports. Abdo George Younan (63) was stabbed nine times and his head severed from his body in the village of Bagour. Araban then travelled to the nearby village of Behnay and attacked Adib Boulous, a Christian shoemaker. Boulous suffered a broken skull and lung hemorrhage.

An eyewitness was able to stop Araban, who then went on motorcycle to the village of Mit Afif where he stabbed a third man, Sobhy Barsum. Barsum’s brother, Hani Barsum, was also stabbed and sustained severe wounds to his neck. Araban was arrested the following day. Thousands of Copts joined in Younan’s funeral procession, carrying banners calling for justice in this case and protection for Egypt’s Christians.

Christians persectured in Bangladesh

A Christian journalist and his family members were attacked and threatened by members of the radical oufit called Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).

The journalist reported, “On 23rd September 2009 the local political leader of Bangladesh Nationalist party suddenly attacked on my cousin Mohammed Faruk , who came to visit us with his wife at around 6:45 in the evening.

“As my father and mother ran to save him, they hurt my father and mother. After wards I ran to the place. The attackers threatened me because I had converted to Christianity. They asked me to flee from their area.

“These people were spreading rumor to kill me before for my conversion to Christianity before. I ran away from the place and called up the local police station. The police came and with in a moment more than 100 people came along with the perpetrators local BNP Mohammed Mijan Bandari and his older brother Mohammed Mojibar. I asked the police to let them go out of the room, the police remain silent.

“Finally, I went to the local police station to save myself with my co worker Dipal Barua. There I filed a general Diary, but later on the perpetrators warned my parents along with a huge crowd to file a memorandum saying that everything has finished.”

The entire family is now living in fear.

Christian transporting Bibles killed in Somalia

Mogadishu: A 69-year-old Somali Christian man was shot dead by members of al-Shabaab, a Muslim militant group, on September 15, 2009 when Bibles were found in his possession, according to reports.

At approximately 10:30 a.m., a bus that Omar Khalafe was riding was stopped by militants at a checkpoint near the city of Merca. When the militants discovered 25 Somali Bibles in one of the bags — Bibles that Khalafe was hoping to deliver to an underground fellowship — they demanded to know who owned them.

The passengers remained silent. The assailants then used photos they found in the bag to determine if they could match the faces to any passengers. When they noticed a resemblance to Khalafe, they asked if the Bibles were his. He did not respond and was shot and killed.

Khalafe’s body was brought to Merca and the Bibles were placed on him as a warning to others. Later that day, a militant reported Khalafe’s death on a radio program. Khalafe, who had been a Christian for 45 years, was active in sharing the Good News and baptizing converts from Islam. He is mourned by his wife and seven children.

Imprisoned Eritrean Christian dies in prison

Asmara: A Christian man detained in Eritrea’s Wi’a Military Camp for the past year died of meningitis on September 3, 2009 following an outbreak of the illness at the prison, according to reports.

Mesfin Gebrekristos, an evangelical Christian, is the fourth known believer to have died in detention this year. He is survived by a wife and two children.

Meanwhile, authorities in the country continue to pressure Christians who do not belong to the state-approved Lutheran, Catholic or Orthodox churches. At a September 6 meeting entitled “Working along with the police to prevent crime in the country,” the government called on citizens to report any “illegal” gatherings of Christians in their neighbourhoods.

Christian leader expelled for refusing to deny Christ
Vientiane (Laos): On September 3, 2009 Laotian authorities arrested a church leader in Liansai village in Savannakhet province for embracing Christianity, according to reports.

Authorities arrested Thao Oun, an elder at Boukham Church who came to Christ 10 months ago, in his home and forced him at gunpoint to the Saybounthong sub district office. Oun was charged with bringing destruction to the Lao nation and government by embracing Christianity, which the officials consider a “foreign religion to be abhorred.”

He was interrogated for three hours, during which authorities pressured him to sign a document renouncing his Christian faith. When he refused, he was expelled from the village.

At last report Oun had sought refuge in a nearby village.

On September 6, local officials surrounded the Boukham Church worship site in Saisomboon village and blocked church members from entering for Sunday morning worship.

Prominent Chinese pastor detained by officials

Beijing: Pastor Hua Huiqi was seized by Chinese officials in Fengtai District in Beijing on September 17, 2009 according to a reports.

At approximately 5:30 p.m., Pastor Hua called his wife, Ju Mei, on his cell phone and told her that he had been forced into a Public Security Bureau vehicle while on his way to a dinner meeting. Less than half-an-hour later, Hua phoned his wife again and told her that officials had taken him to an unknown location.

The phone line then went dead. When VOMC partners inquired about Hua, officials told them he was in their custody but refused to disclose his condition or location. A week before Pastor Hua’s arrest, a vocational training ministry that he is involved in was raided by officials.

Christian imprisoned in Ethiopia

Addis Ababa: An Ethiopian Christian convert from Islam has been languishing in prison for nearly four months for “malicious” distribution of Bibles, according to reports.

On May 23, 2009 police officers arrested thirty-nine-year-old Bashir Musa Ahmed in Jijiga, eastern Ethiopia for providing Muslims with Somali-language Bibles bearing covers that resemble the Qur’an.

Local sources, who requested anonymity, claim that authorities are secretly planning to transfer Ahmed from his Jijiga cell to Ghagahbur jail, in part to prevent other Christians from visiting him and in part because he has not been charged.

Ahmed’s arrested was reportedly instigated by family members intent on stopping him from spreading Christianity in the region, which is predominately inhabited by Muslims of Somali origin.

Several Christian converts arrested in Iran

Teheran: According to delayed reports, Iranian Christians have requested continued prayers for a number of believers from a Muslim background who are currently in prison or under other forms of pressure.

On August 3, 2009 security officers entered the home of Marzieh Fesahi. After searching the house and confiscating many of Marzieh’s personal belongings, the officials have detained her in the notoriously brutal Evin prison in Tehran.

On August 23-24, 2009 several Christian converts from Islam throughout the western province of Kordestan were detained for several hours and intensely questioned. Authorities have also ordered them to attend hearings at their local Ministry of Information offices.

On August 31, 2009 Iranian authorities arrested twenty-five Christians attending a house church meeting in Amameh, near Tehran. Officials transported the believers to an unknown location where they were interrogated and their personal information was collected.

Eighteen of the believers were released while the remaining seven Christians were taken to Evin prison and are detained in solitary cells.

Christians assaulted in China

Beijing: In the early morning hours of September 13, 2009 a mob of approximately 400 people, including Chinese officials, barged into the Good News Cloth Shoes Factory on the site of the Fushan Church building in Linfin City, Shanxi province, according to reports.

The officials used two construction vehicles to tear at the building’s foundation and also attacked church members who were sleeping on the site, beating them with bricks and other blunt objects. They also smashed windows, doors and appliances, looted church members’ money, cell phones, clothes and books and stole the factory’s business license.

At least ten church members were severely injured in the violence. Several were taken to the emergency room for treatment. However, the hospital was told by unidentified authorities to withhold medical treatment, including blood transfusions, from the injured church members.

The factory’s electricity, water supply and telephone have been terminated and guards have been placed on site to monitor the supply lines.
 

Priest slain in the Philippines

Manila: Father Cecilio Lucero (48) was shot and killed by unknown assailants in the region of Northern Samar on September 6, 2009.

At approximately 8:30 a.m., the priest was ambushed by a group of armed men while driving his car. He was shot several times and died instantly. The two other men in the car were seriously injured.

Father Lucero was the pastor of St. Joseph Church in the town of Catubig and was well known for his social work as the director of the Social Action Center of the Diocese of Catarman. According to a local bishop, Lucero had asked for police protection after he began receiving death threats by mail in February because of his activities.