ISTANBUL, February 22 (Compass Direct News) – Police detained Christian families in Upper Egypt and forced them to deny arson attacks on their homes during a spate of anti-Christian violence last week, the families said.
Two Coptic Orthodox families said police detained them for 36 hours when they attempted to report a February 13 assault on their homes in Armant, 600 kilometers (373 miles) south of Cairo.
The fires came five days after Muslim groups set four Christian-owned shops alight on February 9.
International media reported that rumors of a love affair between a Christian man and Muslim woman sparked the violence, but local papers said hostilities began over accusations that Christians were blackmailing Muslim women to convert.
In the wake of the violence, police detained eight Muslim young men and Copt Ramy Ishaq, whose relationship with a 19-year-old Muslim woman was the basis for the romance rumors, sources in Armant told Compass.
The rest of the story is here.
(Source) Compass Direct
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Girl Suffers Forced Abortion in Italy
I can't even comment at the moment:
Girl Suffers Forced Abortion in Italy
Minors have no “right to choose” life in Catholic nation
By Peter J. Smith
TURIN, Italy, February 19, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - An Italian judge ordered a 13 year-old girl to undergo an abortion, despite the girl's pleas to let her keep her child reports the Italian news agency, La Stampa.
The girl, Valentina, had become pregnant by her 15 year-old boyfriend, however rather than let her choose to keep her child, her parents demanded she have an abortion on the grounds that she was ruining her life by becoming a mother.
"You cannot hold this child ... you must abort, and father will never have to know,” Valentina's mother told her, saying that she did not have the money to support the child.
Despite Valentina's repeated attempts to make her parents understand she wanted to choose to keep her baby, the case went to the Court of Minors. Judge Giuseppe Cocilovo then issued the ruling to abort Valentina's child.
Under Italian law, a minor may not decide whether to keep or abort her child, and may be forced by her guardians or parents to undergo an abortion.
However, the abortion has meant nothing less than disaster for Valentina, who was confined to the psychiatric unit of Regina Margherita children's hospital in Turin after the abortion for wanting to commit suicide.
“You have made me kill, and now I kill myself, I kill myself”, cried Valentina. "I do not want here to be," Valentina repeated. "I am not crazy, I am only evil like a dog for what my parents and the judges have obliged to make to me."
The case of Valentina is an egregious case of forced abortion in Italy, where one would expect that a woman‘s “right to choose” would mean the possibility of choosing life. However, the silence of purportedly "pro-choice" feminist groups has been deafening thus far over 13 year-old Valentina's forced abortion, despite her very own choice that her body should carry life.
To respectfully protest the Italian authorities:
Italian Embassy in U.S.
3000 Whitehaven Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C., 20008
Tel (202) 612-4400
Fax (202) 518-2154
Italian Embassy in Ottawa
275 Slater Street, 21st Floor
Ottawa, Ontario K1P 5H9
CANADA
t. +1.613.232.2401
f. +1.613.233.1484
email: ambasciata.ottawa@esteri.it
Italian Justice Ministry
Via Arenula, 70 - 00186 ROME
Tel: 06.68851
Web Site: http://www.giustizia.it
Email: ufficio.stampa@giustizia.it
callcenter@giustizia.it
(Source)
Tuesday, February 06, 2007
Persecution Follows Anti-Conversion Bill in Indian State
I read this on The Free Copts (link)
Here is the article:
Written by Persecution.org
Tuesday, 06 February 2007
India (ICC) - Only two weeks after the Himachal Pradesh state government passed an anti-conversion bill, two Christian institutions have already faced harassment by Hindu fundamentalists.
This shows that there is a direct connection between anti-conversion legislation and Christian persecution. Rather than assisting in keeping the peace between religious groups, anti-conversion laws actually embolden Hindu extremists to attack religious minorities. These two attacks from last month are further proof of this disturbing trend.
In the first attack, about 250 people belonging to the VHP and its youth wing, the Bajrang Dal, gathered in front of the house of Pastor Behal, a retired officer from the Indian Army, who runs an orphanage in Kangra. They demanded that he close the institution and move out of the area on January 21, the Rev. Madhu Chandra of the All India Christian Council (AICC) told ICC.
When the AICC contacted Sudha Devi, the sub-divisional magistrate of Kangra district, she said police had been deployed at the site and the situation was under control. But she also said that the Hindu protestors had submitted a memorandum against Pastor Behal alleging that he was mistreating orphan children and converting them to Christianity.
The second attack occurred just a few days earlier in Kullu district, when police arrested four workers of a drug addiction rehabilitation center, the Last Resort, in Khokhan village. Two inmates had run away from the center and lodged a complaint alleging that they had been forcibly kept in the center and had Christianity preached to them. The names of the four workers are Rajesh Toppo, Nizam Minthang, Gopal Singh Bhatia and Lalboi, and their accusers are Vinod Saini and Amos.
The plaintiffs stated in an affidavit that they were pressured by a mob, allegedly comprising of Hindu fundamentalists from the VHP, to levy charges against the four Christians. The four said that the plaintiffs had recently been brought to the center by their parents, who had consented that they be given treatment at the center. The Christians also denied the allegation that they were trying to convert them.
Jeremy Sewall, ICC’s Policy Analyst for South Asia, said, “It is incredibly important to grasp the deception surrounding these anti-conversion bills. Although proponents claim that they will encourage religious freedom by prohibiting forcible conversion, they are really designed to stamp out India’s rapidly growing church. When a state government passes anti-conversion laws, radical Hindus see that as a license to attack Christian ministries. This is exactly what has happened to Pastor Behal and the four drug rehab center employees.”
The less than 0.1 percent Christian population of Himachal Pradesh was stunned when the Congress government passed the anti-conversion bill on December 30. The bill is awaiting the consent of the state governor.
Here is the article:
Written by Persecution.org
Tuesday, 06 February 2007
India (ICC) - Only two weeks after the Himachal Pradesh state government passed an anti-conversion bill, two Christian institutions have already faced harassment by Hindu fundamentalists.
This shows that there is a direct connection between anti-conversion legislation and Christian persecution. Rather than assisting in keeping the peace between religious groups, anti-conversion laws actually embolden Hindu extremists to attack religious minorities. These two attacks from last month are further proof of this disturbing trend.
In the first attack, about 250 people belonging to the VHP and its youth wing, the Bajrang Dal, gathered in front of the house of Pastor Behal, a retired officer from the Indian Army, who runs an orphanage in Kangra. They demanded that he close the institution and move out of the area on January 21, the Rev. Madhu Chandra of the All India Christian Council (AICC) told ICC.
When the AICC contacted Sudha Devi, the sub-divisional magistrate of Kangra district, she said police had been deployed at the site and the situation was under control. But she also said that the Hindu protestors had submitted a memorandum against Pastor Behal alleging that he was mistreating orphan children and converting them to Christianity.
The second attack occurred just a few days earlier in Kullu district, when police arrested four workers of a drug addiction rehabilitation center, the Last Resort, in Khokhan village. Two inmates had run away from the center and lodged a complaint alleging that they had been forcibly kept in the center and had Christianity preached to them. The names of the four workers are Rajesh Toppo, Nizam Minthang, Gopal Singh Bhatia and Lalboi, and their accusers are Vinod Saini and Amos.
The plaintiffs stated in an affidavit that they were pressured by a mob, allegedly comprising of Hindu fundamentalists from the VHP, to levy charges against the four Christians. The four said that the plaintiffs had recently been brought to the center by their parents, who had consented that they be given treatment at the center. The Christians also denied the allegation that they were trying to convert them.
Jeremy Sewall, ICC’s Policy Analyst for South Asia, said, “It is incredibly important to grasp the deception surrounding these anti-conversion bills. Although proponents claim that they will encourage religious freedom by prohibiting forcible conversion, they are really designed to stamp out India’s rapidly growing church. When a state government passes anti-conversion laws, radical Hindus see that as a license to attack Christian ministries. This is exactly what has happened to Pastor Behal and the four drug rehab center employees.”
The less than 0.1 percent Christian population of Himachal Pradesh was stunned when the Congress government passed the anti-conversion bill on December 30. The bill is awaiting the consent of the state governor.
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