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2002 News - continued
From BBC News A former US Army sergeant has admitted involvement in the 1998 bombings of two US embassies in Africa in which 224 people were killed, 12 of them Americans. Egyptian-born Ali Mohamed, 48, admitted conspiring with Osama bin Laden and others to murder Americans. Mohamed - who taught US special forces soldiers about Muslim culture - told a New York court that after he had left the army in 1989, he had helped train members of bin Laden's terrorist organisation, al Qaeda in the 1980s. The bombings of the US embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam in August 1998, were part of an Islamic Jihad, or Holy War, against western targets by bin Laden, he said. "The objective of all of this was to attack any Western target in the Middle East," Mohamed told the court. Plea bargaining Mohamed also revealed that he had helped secretly move bin Laden from Pakistan to Sudan. He was among 17 people charged in connection with the simultaneous embassy bombings. The bombings were part of an Islamic Holy War said Mohamed Mohamed, who entered the courtroom in leg shackles, stood in his prison blue uniform as he pleaded guilty to charges of conspiring with bin Laden and others to murder Americans anywhere they could be found. He also admitted attacking the US military in Somalia and Saudi Arabia, killing Americans at unspecified embassies and to concealing the conspiracy. His guilty pleas followed a bargaining agreement with prosecutors. US District Judge Leonard B Sand first said the agreement guaranteed a minimum of 25 years in prison, but after an objection by defence lawyers, the judge did not specify the length of the potential prison term. Mohamed was among 17 people charged in connection with the embassy bombings. Of those charged so far, six defendants are held in New York, three others are held abroad and eight are fugitives, including bin Laden, who is on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted List. The US government has offered a $5 million reward for the capture of each fugitive. ------------------From BBC News http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/americas/newsid_982000/982069.stm --------------------
Subj: A Call
to Kill Christians and Jews The most recent Mideast peace accord that was agreed upon in Egypt by Palestinians and Jews appears to offer little hope for a lasting peace. Violence continues in Israel as Muslim leaders incite their followers to hate and commit acts of violence against Christians and Jews. Following are excerpts from a sermon given last Friday in the Zayed bin Sultan Aal Nahyan mosque in Gaza. It was broadcast live on the official Palestinian Authority television. The speaker is Dr. Ahmad Abu Halabiya, Member of the Palestinian Authority appointed "Fatwa Council" and former acting Rector of the Islamic University in Gaza: "O brother believers, the criminals, the terrorists are the Jews, who have butchered our children, orphaned them, widowed our women and desecrated our holy places and sacred sites. They are the terrorists. They are the ones who must be butchered and killed, as Allah the Almighty said: 'Fight them: Allah will torture them at your hands, and will humiliate them and will help you to overcome them, and will relieve the minds of the believers...." "O brothers in belief, the beautiful bride has a costly price and dowry.... Our bride is paradise, O brothers in belief. The cost and the dowry of this bride, the dowry of this paradise, is that we fight in the path of Allah, and kill and be killed." "Allah has purchased from the believers their persons and their property in return for the promise that they shall have paradise, for they fight in the cause of Allah, and they slay the enemy and are slain. This is a promise that He [Allah] has made incumbent upon Himself, as set out in the Torah, the Gospel, and the Koran..." "We say to the Jews, and we say to Clinton, and we say to all those who supported the Jews and still cooperate with the Jews, we say to them, that this will not shake us, we are the Palestinian people, who are positioned in the land of the Isra' and Mi'raj. It will not shake a single hair of ours. Our determination will not sway. We will raise the banner of Jihad." "America and Europe and the world were shocked by the kidnapping of three tramps, the kidnapping of three wretched soldiers, and the killing of two in Ramallah. But their feelings were not moved, and they did not shudder when they saw the children Muhammad ad-Durrah and others women, and men, and youths being martyred by cannons and missiles, and all the barbaric instruments that the Jews possess." "They were moved, for the sake of five persons, and the world went into turmoil and it will not stop for Clinton or for the old hag Albright, they will not be relieved, and they will not cease to be concerned, and they will not rest until the Jews return to their families. But as for the Palestinians, as for this pure blood, it can go to Hell in the eyes of the Americans and Europe and the Jews." "This is the truth, O Brothers in belief. From here, Allah the almighty has called upon us not to ally with the Jews or the Christians, not to like them, not to become their partners, not to support them, and not to sign agreements with them. And he who does that, is one of them, as Allah said: 'O you who believe, do not take the Jews and the Christians as allies, for they are allies of one another. Who from among you takes them as allies will indeed be one of the.'" "...The Jews are the allies of the Christians, and the Christians are the allies of the Jews, despite the enmity that exists between them. The enmity between the Jews and the Christians is deep, but all of them are in agreement against the monotheists against those who say, 'There is no God but Allah and Muhammad is his messenger,' that is they are against you, O Muslims." "Even if an agreement of Gaza is signed - we shall not forget Haifa, and Acre, and the Galilee, and Jaffa, and the Triangle and the Negev, and the rest of our cities and villages. It is only a matter of time. The weak will not remain forever weak, and the strong will not remain forever strong... If we are weak today â?¦ and we are not able to regain our rights, then at least we have to pass on the banner waving high to our children and grandchildren..." "None of the factions is allowed to stand on the sidelines at this stage, or not to think well of avenging our pure martyrs and wounded. Our people must unite in one trench, and receive armaments from the Palestinian leadership, to confront the Jews. By Allah, the Jews, O brothers in belief, do not know, nor have they ever known throughout history, anything but force and Jihad in the path of Allah. The Jews are like a [gas] pedal as long as you step on it with your foot, it doesn't move, but if you lift your foot from it, it hurts you and punishes you. This is the case of the Jews." "Have no mercy on the Jews, no matter where they are, in any country. Fight them, wherever you are. Wherever you meet them, kill them. Wherever you are, kill those Jews and those Americans who are like them and those who stand by them they are all in one trench, against the Arabs and the Muslims because they established Israel here, in the beating heart of the Arab world, in Palestine. They created it to be the outpost of their civilization and the vanguard of their army, and to be the sword of the West and the crusaders, hanging over the necks of the monotheists, the Muslims in these lands. They wanted the Jews to be their spearhead." "Let us put our trust in Allah, close ranks, and unite our words, and the slogan of us all should be, 'Jihad! Jihad! For the sake of Palestine, and for the sake of Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa!'" "...We will not give up a single grain of soil of Palestine, from Haifa, and Jaffa, and Acre, and Mulabbas [Petah Tikva] and Salamah, and Majdal [Ashkelon], and all the land, and Gaza, and the West Bank" "...Allah, deal with the Jews, your enemies and the enemies of Islam. Deal with the crusaders, and America, and Europe behind them, O Lord of the worlds." Source: The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).
Bomb attack on a Refueling U.S.
Destroyer killed 17 Sailors U.S. investigators converged Friday at this port where an apparent bomb attack on a refueling U.S. destroyer killed 17 sailors and 33 others. In Yemen's capital 200 miles away, an explosion rocked the British Embassy. Windows shattered but nobody was hurt at the embassy in San`a. Britain's foreign secretary said a bomb may have been flung into embassy grounds. Authorities were investigating. Navy officials in the United States, meanwhile, said explosives experts who examined the USS Cole's damaged hull have concluded that Thursday's blast came from an external source, bolstering the contention that it was a terrorist attack. U.S. officials say suicide bombers blew up a small boat next to the 9,100-ton destroyer, ripping a hole at the water line. Western diplomats in Yemen said the warship's explosion seemed to be the work of a well-organized group with good connections in the port of Aden who might have provided the bombers with some logistical support. The diplomats, insisting on anonymity, said the boat used by suicide bombers was similar to boats used by port authorities to guide vessels into port or facilitate ships with refueling. Seven bodies have been recovered, and 10 sailors missing since the blast were presumed dead, according to U.S. Navy officials in Washington. Officials said they expected to find more bodies on Friday. Thirty-three sailors were injured. American military planes on Friday evacuated 22 of the injured from Aden to Germany for medical treatment, said Lt. Terrence Dudley, a Bahrain-based U.S. Navy spokesman in Yemen. The French Defense Ministry said its army planes had taken 11 of the injured overnight to Bouffard military hospital in the east African country of Djibouti, where six underwent surgery. Dudley said some of the injured sailors were in serious condition and others were stable. He did not give further details. American investigators as well as U.S. Marines and soldiers filled Aden, bringing in equipment to search for clues beneath the water near the USS Cole. Sniffer dogs also were seen being brought to the area. The HMS Marlborough, a British frigate, was heading to Yemen from the Gulf to provide technical assistance, Dudley said. He said investigators may keep working at the site another two days. The USS Cole, one of the world's most advanced warships, was left slightly tilted in Aden harbor. ``The ship took (in) some water and we are trying to dewater it. But, generally, it is seaworthy and we will tow it to the United States,'' said Dudley, of the Bahrain-based U.S. 5th Fleet. The Cole is a dlrs 1 billion guided missile destroyer home-ported at Norfolk, Virginia. It was heading with a crew of about 350 to the Gulf for maritime intercept operations in support of the U.N. embargo against Iraq. U.S. embassies in the Middle East said Friday they had been ordered by the U.S. State Department to cease public operations until Monday in light of developments in Yemen and escalating violence in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Dave Ballard, a U.S. Embassy spokesman in Cairo, Egypt, said the order affects the embassy's library and probably its visa operations. Because of the Friday-Saturday weekend in many Islamic countries, no practical effect would be seen in many countries until Sunday. Anti-American sentiment has been running high in the Arab world where protesters have been condemning the United States during demonstrations against Israel's actions in two weeks of deadly clashes in Jerusalem and the Palestinian territories. In Washington, President Clinton said Thursday that the USS Cole explosion appeared to be an act of terrorism, the worst against the U.S. military since the bombing of an Air Force barracks in Saudi Arabia in 1996 that killed 19 troops. ``We will find out who was responsible and hold them accountable,'' Clinton pledged. He dispatched to Yemen investigators from the FBI, the State Department and the Pentagon and ordered a heightened state of alert for all U.S. military installations around the world. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack. Yemeni officials privately rejected the accusations of a suicide attack, saying a joint investigation is needed to determine the cause. President Ali Abdullah Saleh on Friday ordered his security staff to investigate the blast quickly, though Dudley indicated the Americans are conducting their own probe. Yemenis are helping with security, he said. ``The investigation is being done by our team and is being conducted quickly and fairly,'' Dudley said. ``I can't go into the details.'' Yemeni police officials said a number of people had been detained for questioning. The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, did not say how many or if any were considered suspects. Yemeni police and soldiers sealed off the port area, preventing vessels from approaching the warship. Journalists were barred from the area. Yemen became a more frequent refueling stop for Navy ships after a December 1997 U.S. decision to open up contacts with the country. The impoverished country on the tip of the Arabian Peninsula on the Red Sea is known for its anarchic politics, streak of fundamentalism and routine snatches of Western hostages who generally are exchanged unharmed for government pledges to provide basic services. Islamic extremists also have been active in Yemen, including the Yemeni Islamic Jihad and the Aden-Abyan Islamic Army. However, Yemeni Prime Minister Abdul-Karim al-Iryani said in March that the United States' most-wanted terror suspect, Osama bin Laden, at one time had ``colleagues'' in Yemen, but now ``has no place in Yemen, no military camps.'' The United States accuses bin Laden of organizing a militant network with followers across the Mideast, including Yemen, and says he masterminded 1998 bombings against the U.S. Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, which killed 224 people. AP-NY-10-13-00 1053EDT
Kuwait MP says Sydney Olympics more sex than sport An Islamist politician says Sydney's Olympic games contain more sex than sports and wants some events banned on Kuwait's state television. ``Some events, especially women's contests, have flagrant scenes which are unacceptable,'' parliamentarian Waleed al-Tabtabaie said in a complaint addressed to the information ministry and published in Kuwaiti newspapers on Wednesday. ``Women's beach volleyball games, diving and synchronised swimming contests are not acceptable...they reflect Western norms that do not give a woman's body any of the respect, honour or protection which Islam and Sharia (Islamic law) have granted her,'' added Tabtabaie. The controversial MP has in the past protested against the staging of music concerts in the conservative state as well as celebrating St. Valentine's Day.
Storm in Italy over cardinal's anti-Muslim comment
A leading cardinal's comments that the Italian government should discriminate against Muslim immigration in order to preserve the country's Catholic identity set off a storm of controversy on Thursday. Government ministers and even some priests condemned as dangerous and reactionary Cardinal Giacomo Biffi's stinging comments against Muslims made in a letter to his Bologna archdiocese. Only the once separatist-minded Northern League and the far-right National Alliance party agreed with Biffi, a conservative who is sometimes mentioned as a possible successor to Pope John Paul. ``I read about Cardinal Biffi's words with disbelief,'' said Livia Turco, a practising Roman Catholic who is minister for Social Affairs and partly responsible for immigration policy. ``A secular and democratic state can never accept... discrimination based on religion, ethnicity or culture.'' Her comments, unusually tough for a Catholic minister, were just the cusp of a wave of outrage. ``This is a racist position which smacks of the worst kind of right-wing European xenophobia,'' said Paolo Ferrero, a leading member of the Communist Refoundation Party. Although a small minority, Muslims have overtaken Jews as Italy's second-largest religious group after Roman Catholics. Some half a million Muslim immigrants are currently registered in Italy as opposed to some 350,000 Catholic immigrants. But many more are in Italy without permits. Most Muslim immigrants in Italy are from North Africa and Albania. Christian immigrants come mostly from the Philippines, Ethiopia and South America. Moslems got their first mosque in Rome in 1995 and around 130 other mosques and prayer centres have sprouted around the country, most of them small and makeshift. IMMIGRANTS VITAL TO ITALY'S FUTURE, ECONOMISTS SAY Immigrants take jobs Italians no longer want. Economists and demographers say immigrants are vital to Italy's future. In his comments, which received big play on the front pages of Italian newspapers, Biffi said Italy should take Catholic rather than Muslim immigrants to ``protect the identity of the nation.'' He said aspects of Islamic culture were not compatible with Italian culture, citing a different day to worship, different dietary rules and a different view of a woman's role. ``Europe will either become Christian again or it will become Muslim,'' Biffi said. Father Antonio Mazzi, a popular priest who runs several centres to help drug addicts and often appears on television, was one of the priests who broke ranks and blasted Biffi. ``Either we are people of hope or we are people of fear. I would rather talk to believers of a different religion rather than those who believe only in money and consumerism...otherwise it means poor Christ died for nothing,'' Mazzi said. One of the most poignant reactions came from Cheikh Anta Diop, head of an association of Senegalese in Italy. ``We come from a Muslim country with a Catholic minority which we don't discriminate against,'' he said. Northern League parliamentarian Mario Borghezio, whose party wants to limit immigration, praised the cardinal for ``taking a very authoritative stand which broke a taboo. Members of the right-wing National Alliance also supported Biffi. Ironically, Avvenire, the newspaper of the Roman Catholic Bishops Conference, ran a story about Biffi on its front page next to an advertisement for a book called: ``Christians and Islam in Italy: Knowing, Understanding and Welcoming Muslims.''
SOMALI CHRISTIAN ARRIVES IN NEW
ZEALAND "This is a very far place here," a sleepy Haji told Compass by telephone today. More than 24
hours after their arrival, the Somali refugee said he and his
wife Sarah were still sleeping off the four marathon days and
nights they had spent in planes and airports between Yemen and
New Zealand. After the initial leg of their journey to the
Eritrean capital of Asmara, they were "Really it was God who saved me," the former Muslim told Compass. "I am happy that all the believers prayed for me everywhere, Christian people," Haji said. "It's a miracle that I am free." Haji, 27, was released from a Yemeni prison in Aden on August 24, seven weeks after a local judge threatened to execute him for apostasy if he did not return to Islam. The case was halted in the courts after it was reported in the international press. After extended negotiations with local representatives of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), under which Haji had official refugee status, the government of Yemen agreed to allow Haji and his family to be deported for resettlement elsewhere. A refugee living in Yemen since 1994, the
Somali had converted to Christianity two years ago and adopted
the name "George." He was first jailed last January by Yemeni
security police, who reportedly beat him and tried for two
months to coerce him to return to Islam. Haji was later "There is no religious freedom in Yemen,"
Haji commented. "Nobody knows about The former Muslim had been given a one-week ultimatum at his July 5 trial to recant his faith in Christ and return to Islam, or face execution. Four days later, he told Compass, the judge at a closed-door July 9 hearing on his case offered to "give me everything I wanted" if Haji would come back to Islam. "I don't want everything, I want Jesus Christ. I don't want anything else. If I die, I die with Jesus. He died for me and also for you," he said he told the judge. Although UNHCR staff were present at this hearing, Haji's court-appointed lawyer was neither informed nor invited. According to the Somali refugee, one of the many miracles he experienced while in jail for his Christian faith was actually forgiving the Yemeni policeman who had beaten him the most. "That man, he beat me so much," he said. "But I forgive him, because of Christ." Haji and his wife and son are being housed temporarily at the New Zealand Immigration Service's refugee resettlement center in Auckland. Several local churches have applied to sponsor the Haji's resettlement process since the New Zealand government offered the family asylum in late July. END
Fury over Muslimbook
Egypt Copt killed in fight with Moslem
villagers
Egyptian
writer sentenced in blasphemy case CAIRO, July 8 (Reuters) - An Egyptian
writer on trial for atheism and blasphemy against Islam
was given a six-month suspended sentence on Saturday,
court sources said.
Prosecutors put Salaheddin Mohsen on
trial after he admitted under questioning this year that
he did not believe in Islam and sought to promote
secular thought in four recent books. Mohsen had been in
detention since April.
Mohsen ``is sick in the heart and an
example of atheism,'' prosecuting lawyer Ashraf
al-Ashmawi told the state security court after the trial
opened last month.
``He mocked Islam and its rites and
duties and was proud of his insolence against religion
under the slogan of enlightenment and freedom of
creativity,'' he said.
Mohsen ``claimed that Islam is the
reason for the nation's backwardness, that Mohammed is
not a prophet but wrote the Koran and that the Koran is
full of contradictions,'' Ashmawi said. Mohsen was
charged with ``using religion to promote, by writing,
extremist ideas to denigrate the Islamic religion,
provoke strife and damage national unity.''
The trial is the first of its kind
since Egypt's top appeals court pronounced Cairo
University professor Nasr Abu Zeid an apostate on the
basis of his writings in 1996 and forcibly divorced him
from his Moslem wife.
Thousands of religious students
clashed with police in May in protests over the reprint of ``A
Banquet for Seaweed'' by Syrian writer Haider Haider, a book
they said insulted Islam.
YEMEN COURT SENTENCES SOMALI CONVERT TO DEATH Former Muslim Given One Week to Recant Christianity or Face Execution
July 5 (Compass) -- A Yemen court meted out the death penalty today to a Somali efugee for converting from Islam to Christianity, unless he recants within seven days. Mohammed mer Haji, 27, was given a one-week ultimatum by Adens Tawahi Court to return to Islam, or face xecution under Islamic law for committing apostasy. "His situation is very serious and very angerous," the converts defense lawyer, Mohammed Abdul Karim Omarawi, told Compass today. Under the court ultimatum issued by Judge Gamal Mohammed Omer, Omarawi said, his client was told to be prepared at his final hearing on July 12 to either declare three times before the judge that he was returning to Islam, or face execution.
According to Omarawi, the Yemeni legal system still allows for two final\appeal motions, one before an appeals court and the other before the Supreme Court, before the verdict against Haji would be carried out.
Married with an infant son, Haji came to Yemen from his native Somalia in 1994. He is formally registered as a refugee under Case No. 11911 with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Aden. Omarawi said that his clients file indicated Haji had become a Christian about two years ago.
According to a handwritten letter from Haji drafted after his first arrest this year, five Yemen security police detained him at his home on January 16. After 23 days in the Tawahi police station, he was transferred to security police custody, and then imprisoned in the Mansoora Jail until his release March 13. Haji said police officials gave him no reason for his arrest except his Christian faith. They slapped and hit him, he said, declaring, "We arrested you because you are a Christian. You are George, the Christian Somali."
An article in the Islam partys "Al Sahwah" newspaper during this first imprisonment reported that Haji had declared to Tawahi police that he and his wife had embraced Christianity, and that he had changed his name from Mohammed to George. The report said documents indicated both the husband and wife had been born of Muslim parents in Somalia. Headlined "Two Somali Refugees Embrace Christianity, Abandon Islam," the report also appeared in the February 7 issue of the "Yemen Times," an English-language weekly.
According to Haji, during his first imprisonment a UNHCR staff woman named Aisha came to question him at the Tawahi police station where he was being held. In front of the police, the woman told him, "We dont have anyone called Mohammed who believes in Christianity!" Throughout the following weeks, Haji said he was threatened and beaten every night, "very badly," with police officers warning him they would kill him if he did not return to Islam. The officials interrogated him repeatedly about any other Somali Christians he knew, he said. "They were beating and punishing me every night, [so] I was not able even to stand and walk and even to talk," he stated. On what the convert called "my worst night," three security officers and another three policemen masked him and took him up a high mountain at midnight. After giving him a severe beating, they vowed to throw him off the mountain if he refused to recant. "To save my life that night," Haji admitted, "I said I believe in Islam. Otherwise I would have died."
The following day, the Yemen authorities allowed another individual with UNHCR connections to talk privately with Haji. The convert said this person advised him, "No one can do anything for you. So youd better become a Muslim to end your problems." Haji said he refused, assuring his visitor, "God will help me and save me. I am not alone."
According to Haji, his wife has been threatened that she will also be arrested if she has any contact with churches or Christians. UNHCR officials reportedly refused her pleas for money to buy milk for the baby while her husband was under arrest. "What crime has my baby committed?" Haji wrote in his letter. "Is it because his father is a Christian? Why the Christians dont have the right to live?" After his release in March, Haji said the UNHCR office in Khormaksar told him they would only help him on the condition that he believe in Islam. If he continued to go to church and was arrested for that, then the UNHCR would not take responsibility for him, an official said. Haji was subsequently re-arrested "about two months ago," said his lawyer, who could not confirm the exact date.
From Aden, UNHCR representative Mohammed Taher denied today that he knew anything about Hajis case. Claiming that the converts refugee case number indicated it had been issued from Sanaa, the capital city, Taher said in a telephone interview, "Really, I dont know anything about this." A copy of Hajis UNHCR card obtained by Compass shows the place of issue as Aden. Lawyer Omarawi said his clients choice is clear cut: He will live if he chooses to return to Islam, and he will die if he chooses to remain Christian. "But if he returns and says I return to Islam three times, the judge will free him from the court, directly." "I know this is very difficult for him," the lawyer said. "He says that he is a true Christian, that he believes in Christ. But this is against the constitution and criminal laws of Yemen. And the judge cannot understand this situation.
His parents and all of his family, his wife, all are Muslims. How has he now become Christian?" The Yemen Constitution declares Islam to be the state religion, with Islamic law the source of all legislation. The government forbids conversion from Islam or proselytizing by non-Muslims. *A photo of Mohammed Omer Haji is available electronically. Contact Compass Direct for pricing and transmittal.
Liberal
Professor Arrested in Egypt .c The Associated Press
Date: 27
June, 2000 Here is a more detailed update on the
situation in Indonesia that we mentioned in our last
posting (June 24). The following information comes from
our correspondents in Indonesia, with whom we have had
telephone contact, as well as numerous reports from
other Indonesian Christians and the international press.
The Muslim jihad warriors have apparently started their
major military offensive against the Christian
population in the Moluccas. In the last two months the
Islamic Laskar Jihad (holy warriors) have been traveling
to the Moluccas, or Spice Islands, with the stated
purpose of wiping out or driving out all Christians from
the Moluccas in a jihad (holy war). The first wave of
about 2-3,000 jihad warriors arrived in April and May,
and were mostly disaffected Muslim youth recruited from
around Indonesia, poorly trained and armed. I personally
saw these people, clad in white robes, standing on
street corners in the city of Yogyakarta in March. They
held signs saying "contribute to the jihad against
Christians in Maluku." They had buckets to collect money
and maintained well-marked staging areas around town to
sign up recruits. Recent reports indicate that another
3,000 or more Laskar Jihad warriors have arrived in
recent weeks; the number of armed Muslim warriors in the
Moluccas are now estimated to be between 6-7000. The
second wave of arrivals appear to be much better trained
and armed then the first group, who were often repelled
by Christian defenders. It appears that a large number
of arms are now being shipped to the area. Several press
reports today state that the Indonesian army intercepted ten
boats carrying arms to the fighters in the Moluccas.
With the amount of sea traffic in the area, it is
thought unlikely that the navy could stop more than 10%
of the arms shipments, indicating that large amounts of
weapons and ammunition are getting through to the jihad
warriors. The Offensive Begins On June 19-20 the offensive
began. A large force of Muslim fighters attacked a
Christian village on Halmahera Island, killing between
160 and 180 people. One Protestant clergyman, Rev. Hadi,
said fleeing people from the village of Duma had told
him that about 500 Muslim fighters in black and white
uniforms descended upon their homes. "It was a very quick
attack. They had automatic rifles but the Christians
only had homemade weapons," he said. About 20-30 women
and children were carried off by the attackers and it is
feared they have been killed. On the island of Halmahera
(a very large island) only two Christian villages are
left. The rest have apparently been destroyed.
Simultaneously, fighting erupted in the provincial capital of
Ambon, the scene of continual battles since January
1999. Fierce fighting has raged in Ambon for a week. The
city is now largely burned, with at least 75% of it
under Muslim control. The Christian University in Ambon
was completely destroyed. As of June 24, much of the city
was on fire and the Christian population was deciding
when and how to evacuate safely. Fighting was heavy, and
the Christians were severely outgunned; the Christian
population is now overwhelmed by the Muslim warriors. We
were told by phone today that most of the Christians in
Ambon have fled to the surrounding mountains. The police
station was burned and the jihad warriors were also
attacking Indonesian army troops who were not siding
with them, i.e. Christian troops and moderate Muslims.
The military in the area is disorganized and unable to
respond. It has divided into three factions, Muslim
forces, Christian forces, and those Muslim soldiers who
will not support the jihad or defend the Christians. The
Muslim forces have attacked and killed many civilians,
including the police, who were predominantly Christian.
There have also been skirmishes between Muslim and
Christian army forces. The central government intends to
rotate these troops out as soon as possible and replace
them with more neutral military commanders. A number of
the Muslim military personnel in the region have taken off
their military uniforms and donned the white garments of
the jihad warriors. Some of the jihad warriors who were
killed by Christian defenders had military IDs. These
forces were very well armed and trained. A number of the
Moluccan refugees are fleeing to Manado on the larger
island of Sulawesi, immediately to the west. There has
also been fighting on Sulawesi in recent months, but it is
isolated and the current situation in not known. The
northern half of Sulawesi is Christian, the southern
half Muslim, so it is a volatile situation.
Communication is a real problem. The Muslims now control
all but one main phone line out of Ambon, and in many of the
remote areas and outlying islands (there are many) it is
not known what is happening. The Endgame The worst case
scenario is that this situation will cause the collapse
of current Wahid government, which many believe is the
aim of the jihad warriors. The Parliament meets in full
session in mid-August, and some think that there will be
much more violence in the next six or seven weeks to force a
vote of no confidence and bring down the current
democratic government, which is opposed to the Muslim
radicals. If the current government falls, it will
likely be replaced by a much more conservative and
autocratic pro-Muslim state. This will have the likely effect
of shutting down the violence, but will limit the
freedom of Christians in a country where the church is
growing rapidly. Indonesia is at least 15% Christian.
There are different theories on who is behind the
current violence: 1) Suharto loyalists who want to restore
the old corrupt order, and have much to lose if real
democracy is permanently installed (Indonesia has always
been listed as one of the world's most corrupt countries
under Suharto, who was driven from power in 1998 after
over 30 years in power. It is believed he and his family
and political friends vacuumed untold billions of
dollars from the country and placed it in foreign banks.)
2) Disaffected military radicals who want to preserve
their fading status and regain control of the country.
The military ruled Indonesia by fiefdoms under Suharto,
and were the real power in Indonesia. 3) A
well-organized and well-funded group of international
Muslim radicals who had planned all this over two years
ago and started the conflict in January 1999 in Ambon. It
is quite possible that all three of these elements are
at work, and may even be fighting against each other. If
the democratic and moderate Wahid government falls and
is not replaced with a stable central government, it
could plunge Indonesia into irreversible chaos. If the
religious war spreads into the main island of Java (a
mixed Muslim-Christian population of 100 million in a
relatively small area), it would be a horrible situation
much like Kosovo, only on a much larger scale, and much
worse than East Timor.
- Mark Albrecht
Egypt puts writer on trial for blasphemy, atheism CAIRO, June 18 (Reuters) - An
Egyptian writer on trial for atheism and blasphemy
against Islam rooted his defence in the right to free
speech, court sources said on Sunday.
``I have an opinion and I
expressed my opinion in these books,'' Salaheddin
Mohsen, in detention since April, told a state security
court when his trial opened on Saturday.
Prosecutors put him on trial after he
admitted under questioning this year that he did not
believe in Islam and sought to promote secular thought
in four recent books.
Mohsen ``is sick in the heart and an
example of atheism,'' prosecuting lawyer Ashraf
al-Ashmawi told the court.
``He mocked Islam and its rites and
duties and was proud of his insolence against religion
under the slogan of enlightenment and freedom of
creativity,'' he said.
Mohsen ``claimed that Islam is the
reason for the nation's backwardness, that Mohammed is
not a prophet but wrote the Koran and that the Koran is
full of contradictions,'' Ashmawi said.
Mohsen is charged with ``using
religion to promote, by writing, extremist ideas to
denigrate the Islamic religion, provoke strife and
damage national unity.''
The trial is the first of its
kind since Egypt's top appeals court pronounced Cairo
University professor Nasr Abu Zeid an apostate on the
basis of his writings in 1996 and forcibly divorced him
from his Moslem wife.
Thousands of religious students
clashed with police in May in protests over the reprint
of ``A Banquet for Seaweed'' by Syrian writer Haider
Haider, a book they said insulted Islam.
Defence lawyer Samir Bagoury said
Mohsen's works were ``merely philosophical ideas'' and
asked the court to call as witnesses Religious
Endowments Minister Mahmoud Hamdi Zakzouk and Gaber
Asfour, secretary-general of the Supreme Culture
Council, a state body.
The trial resumes on Saturday.
Canada Warns of Islamic Extremists .c The Associated Press
OTTAWA (AP) - Last year's arrest
of an Algerian accused of trying to smuggle bomb-making
materials into the United States indicated that Islamic
extremists may be intensifying activities in North
America, the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service
says.
In its annual report for 1999,
the spy and security agency made a case for increased
funding by warning that international terrorist
organizations operating in Canada raised money, recruited
members and may even be planning attacks on the
United States.
It cited the December arrest of
Ahmed Ressam at the Port Angeles, Wash., border crossing
as evidence of increased activity by extremists possibly
backed by Saudi terrorism financier Osama bin Laden.
The report said Ressam's and
subsequent arrests in Canada and the United States
pointed to an upswing of terrorism by extremists linked
to the Sunni branch of Islam.
``While previously limited to support
activity, efforts by Sunni extremists in Canada and the
(United States) appear to have escalated to coordinating
attacks on North American soil,'' said the report issued
Thursday.
The arrest of Ressam by U.S.
border guards provoked criticism by some U.S. officials
of Canada's border security and immigration policies.
U.S. and Canadian officials have
increased border security and pledged greater
cooperation since the arrests of Ressam and his alleged
associates, suspected of plotting a terrorist attack
during millennium celebrations in the United States.
``Not only do the arrests underline
the threat from terrorism to Canada's security but also
the impact of shared threats on Canada-U.S. relations,''
the report said.
Innocent Shayboub sentenced to 15 years with hard labour CAIRO, June 5 (Reuters) - An Egyptian
court sentenced a Coptic Christian to 15 years with hard
labour on Monday for a double murder that led to a police
investigation marked by alleged brutality in the southern town
of al-Kosheh.
Muslims on Trial in Southern Egypt The trial centers on clashes between
Muslims and Coptic Christians that erupted Jan. 2 in the
southern village of Dar el-Salam. Five Copts were injured in
the violence and 156 stores, homes, pharmacies and offices
belonging to Copts were burned or looted.
The violence had spread to Dar
el-Salam from the nearby town of el-Kusheh, where 23 people
died - mostly Christians - after riots erupted following an
argument between a Muslim customer and a Christian shopkeeper.
Prosecutors on Saturday told the Sohag
Criminal Court that it had forensic and ballistic reports as
well as town council reports proving the suspects -who include
12 aged 16 and 17 - were guilty.
The defense countered that the reports
only showed that the actions were committed, but did not prove
that the suspects were the perpetrators.
The court adjourned until July 3 and
ordered that a government social worker examine the 12 minors
to see whether they should be tried as adults.
Five of the suspects are being tried
in absentia.
The suspects are accused of stealing
money and documents at gunpoint from a priest at the Mary
Guirges Church in Dar el-Salam. They are also accused of
robbing five Coptic Christians and beating them with sticks.
Other charges include arson, looting and destruction of
property.
Egypt's Christians, who are mostly
Orthodox Copts, comprise 10 percent of the country's 64
million people and have generally lived peacefully with
theoverwhelmingly Muslim population. In another ruling Saturday, the
Supreme Constitutional Court said that the Law of Civil
Associations - which has been criticized as curbing human
rights groups' activities - was unconstitutional.
The law, passed one year ago by
Egypt's lower house, gave the Ministry of Social Affairs the
power to disband boards of directors, nullify their decisions
and object to the civil groups' funding sources.
But the court said Saturday the law
was never presented for approval to the Shura Council, or
upper house, in accordance with the constitution.
Furthermore, the law bypassed the
administrative court, which is supposed to resolve cases
against civil bodies as well as government officials and
organizations, judicial officials said.
The government has branded human
rights groups unpatriotic, saying they are AP-NY-06-03-00 1859EDT
Copyright 2000 The Associated
Press. The information contained in the AP news
report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or
otherwise distributed without prior written authority of
The Associated Press.
Date: 31 May, 2000 Source: World Evangelical
Fellowship's Religious Liberty E-mail Conference The conflict began in
January 1999 in the provincial capital of Ambon, and has since
spread to a number of other places in the Molucca Islands, a
vast archipelago that is also known as the fabled Spice
Islands, where nutmeg, cinnamon and cloves originated.
In March and April radical
Muslims began paramilitary training at a site on the main
island of Java, with the outspoken purpose of going to the
Moluccas to wage a "holy war" (jihad) against the Christians
in the Spice Islands, one of the few parts of Indonesia where
Muslims and Christians have co-existed in roughly equal
numbers.
By early May at least 2,000
of these jihad warriors had assembled at various departure
points in northern Java, principally in Surabaya. The
Indonesian navy had received orders to intercept them, but
this proved impossible, as most of them traveled to the
Moluccas on ferries and boats in small groups without
arms. Once there they armed themselves from existing
supplies of weapons. There have been many indications
over the last month that the jihad warriors, known as "Laskar
Jihad," are in fact now beginning to carry out their threat to
eliminate as many Christians as they can.
On May 25-26, at least 34
people were killed when a band of Muslim militants launched a
sea-borne raid on a Christian village in the remote Galela
district on the island of Halmahera, according to Indonesian
officials and the Associated Press.
Despite the overwhelming
evidence that the jihad warriors are a highly aggressive
offensive force, they continue to deny this. The
paramilitaries from the Muslim Ahlus-Sunnah Wal Jama'ah Forum
say their role is to help Muslims, not attack
Christians. On May 25, newspapers in Ambon quoted Forum
official Ma'ruf Bahrun as saying that some of the group's
members had become embroiled in violence in the region, but
only in "self-defense."
To make matters worse,
similar strife has now broken out on the large Indonesian
island of Sumatra, which is over 1,000 miles to the west of
the Moluccas. On May 28, two churches in the large city
of Medan were bombed during worship services there, with many
seriously injured. Someone is obviously hoping the
Christians will retaliate and Medan, which like Ambon is about
50-50% Christian-Muslim, will also fall into the chaos of
religious warfare. The Muslim radicals have said that
they want to "mengAmbonkan" Medan. ("Make Medan into
another Ambon.") Thankfully, so far the Christians have
not retaliated. It is clearly the work of someone who
wants to create chaos.
Indonesia is the world's
most populous Muslim nation, with about 200 million
people. Statistics are unreliable, but it is generally
accepted that the population is about 80% Muslim, 15%
Christian and the rest animist, Hindu or Buddhist.
This appears to be a very
critical time. The vast majority of Indonesians - Muslim
and Christian - do get along with each other and want
peace. But provocative incidents of violence can quickly
spread fear, terror, hatred and the desire for revenge.
All Indonesian Christians
have asked for prayers from around the world to saturate the
land.
Islamic Sharia vs. Human Rights Saudi not to abandon Sharia despite
rights report ``If they claim that we do not apply
Sharia as prescribed in the (Moslem holy book) Quraan and
Sunnah (spoken and acted examples of the Prophet Mohammad), we
can discuss that point,'' Prince Nayef said in comments
published on Saturday by the English language Arab News
newspaper. Other Saudi newspapers carried similar reports.
``But we reject outright their
opposition to Islam as an ideology and a source of law,'' he
added.
London-based Amnesty International
recently accused Saudi Arabia of ``gross and systematic''
human rights violations, charges which have been rejected by
Saudi officials. In response, Amnesty said in a
statement e-mailed to Reuters on Thursday it wanted to send a
delegation to Saudi Arabia.
Prince Nayef said the Amnesty report
was clearly a ``tendentious campaign intended to tarnish the
image of Islam.
``Does the fact of applying Sharia to
guarantee security violate human rights? Do we also have to
pardon criminals and ignore their victims?'' the prince said.
``They should tell frankly that their
campaign is against Islam and Sharia,'' he added. ``The respect of human rights is
present in Islam and Sharia, and no other law on earth could
be more just to man than Islam.''
Saudis Declare War on Christians Within the last 2 years, the US
government has been receiving very favorable statements from
the Saudi government in regards to religious toleration within
its borders, especially to the over 200,000 person Christian
community. The Saudi regime has verbally committed to the
State Department, notable Senators and Congressmen the
provision for allowing Christian worship in private homes. The
Saudi government had previously stated such provisions for
religious freedom exist in the Arab News as well as at the
1998 dedication of the Saudi-funded Mosque in Los Angeles
(stating that "Islam is a Religion of love and tolerance").
The US government, by the request of
many organizations (both inside and outside of SA) concerned
for the welfare of the Christians residing in Saudi Arabia,
have been requesting formal confirmation of these stated
freedoms. The Saudis have continued to reject the requests,
only offering verbal commitments. International Christian
Concern, a Washington, DC based human rights organization, was
surprised to learn from many US government leaders that the
Saudi ambassador himself incessantly refuses to return all
phone calls or meet with our government representatives. In
the past 12 months, the Saudi's have already gone back on
their word of tolerance on 3 separate occasions - detaining,
torturing, and deporting Christians who were worshipping
privately in their own residences.
On January 7th, 2000, the 3rd such
incident occurred in Riyadh - where this time a residence was
broken into, people arrested and taken into custody, including
women and children. Those known detained are identified as Art
and Sabalista Abreu, their three children: Kristel (12), Aaron
(10), and Keilah (2), Dick Mira Velez, Disdado Cadoy, Jun and
Evelyn Vinegas and their two children, Paul (6), and John (4),
Rubino Sulit, George and Elen Rivera, and Eminesio Rabea. No
official reason has been given for detention of the five
children. In response to a Philippine embassy inquiry, the
Saudi Ministry of Interior (MOI) officials assured the embassy
that the children were all being well cared for in their
detention facilities of the notorious Malaz prison. Filipino
Christian sources in Riyadh admitted concern that MOI
interrogators were using the young children as hostages, to
force their parents to reveal details about the network of
expatriate Christian fellowships meeting for worship in Saudi
Arabia. It may be noted that in the summer of 1998 one
Filipino was tortured by the breaking of his ribs until he
divulged sufficient information, and was subsequently forced
to convert to Islam, then deported. As well, in 1998, one of
the detained women was pregnant, and was interrogated while in
the hospital soon after giving birth.
It should be considered an
international outrage that as the Muslim worldwide celebrates
the conclusion of their month of fasting (Ramadan), a time to
dedicate themselves back to God, this time the Saudi's have
clearly stated their intentions of driving all Christians out
of the country by jailing even children. There has been no
word of their condition for over 10 days. And there is much
reason for concern, for during the past 2 raids in Saudi
(June/Oct 1999), the Saudi's purposefully and willfully
violated international UN treaty which provides for the
embassy staff to visit the detained in the assessing of their
overall condition. In 1998, the detainees' embassies were
denied access for 31 days. As the Saudi's continue to fund the
propagation of Islam in our religiously free country, through
the billions of dollars received from oil money - yet today,
it is still a crime deserving of capital punishment in Saudi
Arabia for a person to convert to Christianity or Judaism.
This act is legally punishable in SA by public beheading.
These beheadings can be seen every Friday afternoon at 12 noon
throughout the year in the major cites of Riyadh, Jeddah,
Dhahran, Mecca, etc. ICC representatives have personally seen
these beheadings with their own eyes - and they continue to
this very day! And the world continues to turn a blind eye to
the despotism of the rich. As we continue to fuel our cars,
planes, minivans, etc, the helpless in this world are
detained, tortured, interrogated, even killed. And the
ultimate tragedy is that this goes on with the US governments'
full knowledge, making sure the media doesn't catch wind of it
(its termed: 'quiet diplomacy').
There are more that 40,000 Americans
working in SA, many of whom serve directly to continue the
flow of oil to the world markets. As Americans have given
their lives for Saudi Arabia in the Gulf war (and continue to
serve their even now), and developed the bulk of the oil
infrastructure that has provided the Saudi's with almost
unfathomable riches, they in turn have denied government
discourse, and the basic freedoms common to any civilized
culture. It has recently been reported to ICC that as a US
citizen is being interviewed for a position with Saudi Aramco
(Arabian-American Company - the Saudi US-built oil
enterprise), the Aramco official repeatedly states that the
candidate is entering the "Islamic Kingdom of Saudi Arabia",
and that as such, their effective rights to religion are to be
left on US soil. In almost shocking contract to this, young
Saudi's that come to the US for higher education are given
full freedom to their religious practice, both to build
Mosques and schools, while today Christians pray in their dark
Riyadh prisons - with the sound of US jet fighters flying
overhead patrolling the no-fly zone. By contrast, all the
other Arab states on the Arabian peninsula -- Kuwait, Bahrain,
Oman, the United Arab Emirates, even Yemen -- have allowed
expatriate Christian congregations to build churches and meet
for public worship (at least on designated compounds).
Recently, in an exclusive Gulf Times report, it is reported
that, "The establishment of a Catholic church in Qatar has
been approved in principle," Italian Ambassador Ignazio Di
Pace told the newspaper's weekend edition, released December
30 in the capital city of Doha. Calling the decision "yet
another sign of Qatar opening up to new vistas of freedom and
religious tolerance". Let us hope and pray that the Saudis
would also learn from such clear marks of freedom and
tolerance and immediately implement similar policies.
As ICC and concerned people around the
world continue to bring this crisis to the forefront of the US
governments attention, please pray that:
· Our Government would look beyond its
economic ties with nations, and not purposely overlook the
glaring religious rights violations committed by them. .That
they would use their clout to influence world leaders to right
actions and normal responsible behavior. · Pray also that our
US leaders would not be lead into bribery by the Saudi's which
has been used on many occasion to silence the issues. · Please
pray that as we enter this new millennium, governments would
not give into the religious extremism of outdated ideas,
repression, intolerance and physical brutality, in the guise
of religion. Pray specifically that the Saudi government would
not kneel to the Islamic extremism that would see the world
Islamicized by hook or by crook, by propaganda or the killing
of innocent people. · Remember each Friday at noon those
innocent ones that lose their lives in economically rich, but
morally bankrupt countries. God help Saudi Arabia to see that as
they stand up for righteousness and decency, not only will the
US government continue to back them, but they will have the
ultimate power behind them - God Himself.
Girl Seeks Italian Refuge in Kuwait .c The Associated Press In a highly unusual move,
Italy has dispatched a high-ranking diplomat to Kuwait to try
to find a solution. The girl, Erica, turned up at the embassy
Jan. 16, vowing not to leave until she won the right to live
with her Italian mother. A Kuwaiti divorce court had awarded
custody to her father after her parents divorced last year,
and she had been living with him. The saga has captivated
Italy, where newspaper editorials have used the case to
illustrate the difficulties of marriage between people of
different religious backgrounds. ``It is a case of two
citizenships and two lifestyles,'' the daily La Repubblica
wrote. ``But it is also a story of a man and a woman who no
longer want to live together and who are fighting to keep
their children.''
Erica's 32-year-old mother,
Stefania, has spoken to several Italian newspapers, accusing
her ex-husband of forcing an extremely strict Muslim code of
behavior on his daughters. Stefania, who converted to Islam
after the couple were wed in 1985, has custody of their
9-year-old daughter. Italian papers described the father,
Abdul, as a wealthy 52-year-old lawyer and a devout Muslim.
They said he has denied any
wrongdoing. The newspapers and Italian officials have
identified the girl and her parents only by their first names.
Last week, Erica's Italian grandmother wrote a letter to
Premier Massimo D'Alema asking him to ``help end our
nightmare.'' Franco Danieli, an undersecretary for foreign
affairs, traveled to Kuwait over the weekend, saying he hoped
to resolve the matter out of court and avoid prolonged custody
litigation. ``It is a very difficult case because of
conflicting Italian, Kuwaiti and Egyptian law,'' Danieli said
Monday after meeting with Kuwait's foreign minister.
Al Kiraza Magazine-January
21, 2000 Chief Editor:
Our Martyrs in Al Kosheh We love Egypt from the bottom of our
hearts and wish it well everywhere we go. It is painful for us
to see that its reputation is damaged on the Internet, foreign
broadcasts and publications. All this attention was over a
small village in Upper Egypt, Al Kosheh village. Local
security forces failed to control the situation and therefore
leading to a horrific event which some called a massacre and
others said it was a slaughter. We all want to resolve the
problem of Al Kosheh. However, the problem will not be
resolved by covering-up, or by painting the victims as
criminals!
People with intelligence
will not accept the approach of dealing with mistakes by
committing additional mistakes. If we intend to create an
atmosphere to calm people's hearts and reach reconciliation,
we must consider giving priority to the following principles:
A condition for reconciliation is truth. In all honesty,
attempting to cover-up the previous events in Al Kosheh,
approximately one and a half years a go, by means of
acquitting individuals responsible for the incident and
accusing the victims, has lead to the escalation of the
problem in a horrific manner.
Physical attacks have
turned into killings. The number of Copts killed in the
incident has reached 20, not counting missing individuals,
dozens were injured, in addition many Coptic-owned homes and
shops were destroyed. Therefore, we must consider the truth.
Whose interest did the incident serve? Whose interest is
served by damaging Egypt's reputation in the international
media? And, whose interest is served when western churches are
alarmed by what they read about this human massacre? Then we
need to ask: Were local authorities in the area capable of
their responsibilities? Did they intervene to control the mob
before the incident turned into a widespread crime?
Responsibility falls first
on security forces to stop a crime before it occurs. If they
were not able to prevent the crime, they should at least
intervene and prevent it from spreading. Did they do this? We
have confidence in the authorities in Cairo, however, the
problem lies among the authorities in the area where the
incident occurred. We did not wish to comment on the incident,
however, many newspapers reported inaccurate information that
was not based on eyewitness accounts. We finally decided that
people needed to hear eyewitness accounts of trusted
individuals who personally witnessed and recorded the
incident.
Sequence Of Events: The
problem started following an argument between a merchant and a
customer. This was on Friday, December 31, 1999, on New Year's
Eve. The situation could have been controlled. From 11:00 pm
on Friday until 10:00 am on Saturday (January 1),
Christian-owned homes and shops were looted, destroyed and
then burned. Where was the police at that time?
Al Kosheh is a small
village and was dealing with great tensions, which required
extra attention. On Sunday and Monday mornings the killings
began. The number of deaths reached 20 including two bodies
that were burned after being killed. The Copts were living in
fear and stayed in their homes, not even able to open their
windows. They did not feel safe at all. As if police has no
duty to protect them.
Some have congregated far
from the attack areas, and were able to hear shots being
fired, but had no protection at all. Pope Shenouda was
contacted on Sunday while he was in a Monastery. A decision
was reached to send two bishops to the area. They are, Bishop
Serbamoun and Bishop Marcos. Officer Atef Abu Shady
accompanied them during their flight to the area in order to
calm the situation. An armored vehicle was brought to
transport the bishops who were unable to leave their
residence. This was a temporary situation and the bishops had
not yet seen the crime scene.
The Dead: The two bishops
were escorted by Officer Atef Abu Shady and saw 11 bodies in
various homes, 8 bodies in nearby fields and one body which
was later discovered. The scene was very painful. There was
another individual with the eight people who were killed in
the field. The assailants shot him and left him behind
thinking that he was dead. His name is Marcus Rushdy Gindy.
Bishop Serbamoun shouted, "how can a man be left to bleed to
death without any attempt to save his life?" Officer Atef Abu
Shady responded and called for an ambulance to transport the
victim to a hospital. When the ambulance arrived, they asked
him about his attackers. He responded that Khalaf Abul Qassem
and Khalifa Rifai Sadek are responsible for killing the eight
and injuring him. A young girl was among the eight who were
killed. Her name was Maysoun Ayad Fahmy. They cut her face
first, then killed her. Her brother, Adel is a deacon at the
church. Following Sunday's mass, he went to the field to meet
his sister. He too was killed. Each one of those who were
killed and injured in their homes, had a story detailing this
human tragedy. Even some of our security escorts were in tears
upon hearing their stories. Mamdouh Noshy Sadek was killed in
front of his wife, Manal Zarif, and his body was burned. They
forced the wife to sign a check for 50,000 Egyptian Pounds
(approximately $15,000 USD). They released her when they saw
some security forces nearby.
Kingdom of Forced Conversion? Her daughters abducted and forced to
convert to Islam, a US. Catholic mom fight back Alia
Al-Gheshayan will celebrate her 21st birthday on Jan. 5 in
Saudi Arabia, half a world away from her American mother. Born
in California, Alia and her younger sister, Aisha, were
abducted by their Saudi-born father in 1986.
Baptized and raised as
Catholics the girls have been forced to convert to Islam,
according to their mother, Patricia Roush, who has only seen
them once since they were seized.
The girls are victims of
what Roush and others say is a growing phenomenon of forced
religious conversion in Saudi Arabia. Roush said
Saudi-government intransigence, and U.S. State Department
ambivalence have frustrated her anguished attempts to get her
daughters back. Part of the problem is that Saudi Arabia
hasn't signed the major international convention governing
kidnappings and abductions. Also, as State Department
spokesman, Christopher Lamora told Our Sunday Visitor, "Ms.
Roush's children are Saudi citizens (they have dual
citizenship) under Saudi law; the State Department is not
going to do anything to violate Saudi law."
Another factor is clearly
political. Oil-rich Saudi Arabia is a key American political
and economic ally. U.S. buisiness investments more than
doubled there in the 1990s. As ties have increased, however,
so have concerns over the status of non-Muslims in the desert
kingdom.
"It is even illegal to wear
a cross necklace, read a Bible or utter a Christian prayer in
the privacy of your own home," according to Catholic
human-rights advocate Nine Shea, head of the U.S.-based
Freedom House. Converting to Christianity, she said, is a
crime punishable by death. And there is growing evidence that
coerced conversions to Islam may be on the rise. For instance,
Yasmeen Shalhoub was an 11-year-old Catholic living with her
American mother in Florida in 1997 when she was kidnapped by
her Saudi father. She escaped two years later, but in a recent
sworn statement, she said she suffered "great physical,
emotional and spiritual abuse."I am Christian and have always
been Christian," she said. "However, while I was kept against
my will in Saudi Arabia, I was beaten by my father whenever I
admitted to being Christian or Catholic."
Despite such cases, the
State Department said in a September review of religious
freedom around the world that "there were no reports of the
forced religious conversion of minor U.S. citizens who had
been abducted or illegally removed from the U.S., or of the
government's refusal to allow such citizens to be returned to
the U.S."
Calls placed by Our Sunday
Visitor to the Saudi Embassy in Washington, D.C., were not
returned. Roush has formed an advocacy group, the Center for
Children's Issues, to call atentnion to the issue. But the
issue doesn't appear to be high on the priority list of either
the federal U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom
or the U.S. Catholic bishops. Commission spokesman Lawrence
Goodwich told Our Sunday Visitor that "forced religious
conversion is one of the many issues that the commission will
be considering," but that for now its focus will be on Sudan,
China, and Russia.
At the U.S. bishops'
headquarters, international policy adviser Gerard Powers said:
"Usually, you want some guidance from the local Church on how
to proceed. I'm not sure what that entree would be." The
Catholic Church has no official presence in Saudi Arabia, and
there are only six priests in the country of 21.5 million.
Roush, in the meantime, has
taken her daughters' story to the Internet. On Alia's 21st
birthday this week, the online publisher, Buybooksontheweb.com
will bring out "Alia's Rainbow: Journey Through An
International Kidnapping".
By Joseph Esposito (jesposito@osv.com) in Washington, D.C. Patricia Roush can be reached at the Center for Children's Issues, (415-585-8797, or PatRoush@aol.com
Saudi Arabian government declaring all out war against Christianity within its borders Within the last 2 years, the US
government has been receiving very favorable statements from
the Saudi government in regards to religious toleration within
its borders, especially to the over 200,000 person Christian
community. The Saudi regime has verbally committed to the
State Department, notable Senators and Congressmen the
provision for allowing Christian worship in private homes. The
Saudi government had previously stated such provisions for
religious freedom exist in the Arab News as well as at the
1998 dedication of the Saudi-funded Mosque in Los Angeles
(stating that "Islam is a Religion of love and tolerance").
The US government, by the
request of many organizations (both inside and outside of SA)
concerned for the welfare of the Christians residing in Saudi
Arabia, have been requesting formal confirmation of these
stated freedoms. The Saudis have continued to reject the
requests, only offering verbal commitments. International
Christian Concern, a Washington, DC based human rights
organization, was surprised to learn from many US government
leaders that the Saudi ambassador himself incessantly refuses
to return all phone calls or meet with our government
representatives. In the past 12 months, the Saudi's have
already gone back on their word of tolerance on 3 separate
occasions - detaining, torturing, and deporting Christians who
were worshipping privately in their own residences.
On January 7th, 2000, the
3rd such incident occurred in Riyadh - where this time a
residence was broken into, people arrested and taken into
custody, including women and children. Those known detained
are identified as Art and Sabalista Abreu, their three
children: Kristel (12), Aaron (10), and Keilah (2), Dick Mira
Velez, Disdado Cadoy, Jun and Evelyn Vinegas and their two
children, Paul (6), and John (4), Rubino Sulit, George and
Elen Rivera, and Eminesio Rabea. No official reason has been
given for detention of the five children. In response to a
Philippine embassy inquiry, the Saudi Ministry of Interior
(MOI) officials assured the embassy that the children were all
being well cared for in their detention facilities of the
notorious Malaz prison. Filipino Christian sources in Riyadh
admitted concern that MOI interrogators were using the young
children as hostages, to force their parents to reveal details
about the network of expatriate Christian fellowships meeting
for worship in Saudi Arabia.
It may be noted that in the
summer of 1998 one Filipino was tortured by the breaking of
his ribs until he divulged sufficient information, and was
subsequently forced to convert to Islam, then deported.
As well, in 1998, one of
the detained women was pregnant, and was interrogated while in
the hospital soon after giving birth. It should be considered
an international outrage that as the Muslim worldwide
celebrates the conclusion of their month of fasting (Ramadan),
a time to dedicate themselves back to God, this time the
Saudi's have clearly stated their intentions of driving all
Christians out of the country by jailing even children. There
has been no word of their condition for over 10 days. And
there is much reason for concern, for during the past 2 raids
in Saudi (June/Oct 1999), the Saudi's purposefully and
willfully violated international UN treaty which provides for
the embassy staff to visit the detained in the assessing of
their overall condition. In 1998, the detainees' embassies
were denied access for 31 days.
As the Saudi's continue to
fund the propagation of Islam in our religiously free country,
through the billions of dollars received from oil money - yet
today, it is still a crime deserving of capital punishment in
Saudi Arabia for a person to convert to Christianity or
Judaism. This act is legally punishable in SA by public
beheading. These beheadings can be seen every Friday afternoon
at 12 noon throughout the year in the major cites of Riyadh,
Jeddah, Dhahran, Mecca, etc. ICC representatives have
personally seen these beheadings with their own eyes - and
they continue to this very day! And the world continues to
turn a blind eye to the despotism of the rich. As we continue
to fuel our cars, planes, minivans, etc, the helpless in this
world are detained, tortured, interrogated, even killed. And
the ultimate tragedy is that this goes on with the US
governments' full knowledge, making sure the media doesn't
catch wind of it (its termed: 'quiet diplomacy').
There are more that 40,000
Americans working in SA, many of whom serve directly to
continue the flow of oil to the world markets. As Americans
have given their lives for Saudi Arabia in the Gulf war (and
continue to serve their even now), and developed the bulk of
the oil infrastructure that has provided the Saudi's with
almost unfathomable riches, they in turn have denied
government discourse, and the basic freedoms common to any
civilized culture. It has recently been reported to ICC that
as a US citizen is being interviewed for a position with Saudi
Aramco (Arabian-American Company - the Saudi US-built oil
enterprise), the Aramco official repeatedly states that the
candidate is entering the "Islamic Kingdom of Saudi Arabia",
and that as such, their effective rights to religion are to be
left on US soil. In almost shocking contract to this, young
Saudi's that come to the US for higher education are given
full freedom to their religious practice, both to build
Mosques and schools, while today Christians pray in their dark
Riyadh prisons - with the sound of US jet fighters flying
overhead patrolling the no-fly zone.
By contrast, all the other
Arab states on the Arabian peninsula -- Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman,
the United Arab Emirates, even Yemen -- have allowed
expatriate Christian congregations to build churches and meet
for public worship (at least on designated compounds).
Recently, in an exclusive Gulf Times report, it is reported
that, "The establishment of a Catholic church in Qatar has
been approved in principle," Italian Ambassador Ignazio Di
Pace told the newspaper's weekend edition, released December
30 in the capital city of Doha. Calling the decision "yet
another sign of Qatar opening up to new vistas of freedom and
religious tolerance". Let us hope and pray that the Saudis
would also learn from such clear marks of freedom and
tolerance and immediately implement similar policies.
As ICC and concerned people
around the world continue to bring this crisis to the
forefront of the US governments attention, please pray that:
a.. Our Government would
look beyond its economic ties with nations, and not purposely
overlook the glaring religious rights violations committed by
them. That they would use their clout to influence world
leaders to right actions and normal responsible behavior.
b.. Pray also that our US
leaders would not be lead into bribery by the Saudi's which
has been used on many occasion to silence the issues.
c.. Please pray that as we
enter this new millennium, governments would not give into the
religious extremism of outdated ideas, repression, intolerance
and physical brutality, in the guise of religion. Pray
specifically that the Saudi government would not kneel to the
Islamic extremism that would see the world Islamicized by hook
or by crook, by propaganda or the killing of innocent people.
d.. Remember each Friday at
noon those innocent ones that lose their lives in economically
rich, but morally bankrupt countries.
e.. Pray for the continued
measures of openness and religious respect occurring in other
parts of the Middle East. That the leaders would be bold in
the face of fanaticism.
f.. As the Saudi's consider
themselves to be the 'custodians of the two holy Mosques' in
Mecca and Medina, let us pray that they will also see their
even greater responsibility to the upholding of true human
dignity of persons. The Muslim 'holy book' always makes
positive references to Christians, which the Saudis appear to
live in continual denial of by their actions.
g.. Pray that the
Philippine government would have the boldness to stand up to
the atrocities done to its people, and look less to the
economic impact to their country. The Philippine government
has always taken a low-profile approach to these problems
because they fear the loss of Saudi favor could result in a
shift to hire workers elsewhere. Now that prosperity is
returning to the Philippines, let them shed this fear and live
boldly for what they know is right.
h.. Pray for the health and
salvation of the Saudi King Fahd, and for all the Royal
family.
i.. Lastly, it has long
been know that the Saudi's take such a hard-line approach in
dealing with Christianity because of the continued pressure
that comes from the other Islamic nations, and well as their
own religious power circles. Countries such as Iran and Iraq
disapprove of how the Saudi's are handling the Islamic holy
cities. As Saudi is clearly the most economically prosperous
and most powerful country in that regions, having the full
support of the US government - Pray that the Saudi leaders
would not bend to the powerless idol speech of challenging
nations. Pray that they would have the stamina to face them
with the ensuring knowledge that God requires them to act
justly and righteously - even in the face of antagonism and
threat.
God help Saudi Arabia to
see that as they stand up for righteousness and decency, not
only will the US government continue to back them, but they
will have the ultimate power behind them - God Himself.
Christians Subjected to More Violence in Egypt CAIRO, Jan 1 (Reuters) - At least three men were wounded in the southern Egyptian village of al-Kosheh after a dispute between two traders developed into |
