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Religious Persecution

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A Coptic Christian was believed to remain under police surveillance Friday, November 6, after he was reportedly detained for two days in central Egypt for “praying without a license.”

The Christian man said he was eventually released after two days on “compassionate grounds”, but added that Egypt’s feared State Security service has placed him under observation by three policemen.
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Svetlana Milchevich, an evangelical Christian who became a voice of the voiceless with her public fight against abuse of power and corruption by Ukrainian authorities, has died after officials refused to allow her to seek medical treatment in neighboring Hungary. She was 64.

“Svetlana Milchevich, who suffered of stomach cancer, peacefully passed away and is now with the Lord,” said her family in a statement. Milchevich died in a cold, run-down hospital of Ukraine’s western border town of Uzhhorod, where doctors were struggling to find enough pain killers for her and other patients.
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After the recent arrests of numerous Hindu terrorists for exploding bombs, authorities increasingly view Hindu rightwing extremists as a threat not only to Muslim and Christian minorities but also to national security.

Historically Hindu terrorist groups have traded blows with India’s Muslim extremists, but because of a perceived threat from Christianity many analysts believe Hindu terrorists increasingly pose dangers to Christians as well.
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A Coptic Christian blogger in Egypt entering his second year of prison without charge is being pressured to convert to Islam in exchange for his freedom, his attorneys said.

On Oct. 3, 2008, Hani Nazeer, a 28-year-old high school social worker from Qena, Egypt and author of the blog “Karz El Hob” (“Love Cherries”), was arrested by Egypt’s State Security Investigations (SSI) and sent to Burj Al-Arab prison.

Although police never charged him with any crime, Nazeer has been detained for more than a year under Egypt’s administrative imprisonment law.
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Two Baptist leaders who were detained in eastern Cuba while distributing humanitarian aid from American Christians were free Tuesday, October 27, after two weeks imprisonment Christians said.

Last week the charges of “illicit financial activity” were suddenly dropped and they were released, according to Cuban church leaders.
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Two Christians in Gojra, Pakistan who allegedly fired warning shots as an Islamist mob approached that burned seven Christians to death on Aug. 1 told Compass they were tortured after police arrested them.

From his jail cell, Naveed Masih told Compass that he and his brother were taken to the Police Training Centre in Choong, where they were kept in illegal detention for 18 days and were tortured “in so many ways ruthlessly and in inhumane ways.”
» Full Story

In a letter sent to the Christian community in the northeastern city of Sargodha, Taliban militants said Christians should convert to Islam, pay an Islamic tax imposed on religious minorities, known as ‘Jizya tax’, or leave the country.

If Christians refuse to accept these choices, Christians “will be killed, their property and homes will be burnt to ashes and their women treated as sex slaves,” said the letter.
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Pastor Manuel Camacho, of the Worldwide Missionary Movement, was shot six times by one or more fighters of The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) outside his home on September 21 in the municipality of San Jose del Guaviare, Christians said.

Pastor Camacho, who in the last eight years led a church with his wife in Chopal village, south of San Jose del Guaviare, was murdered because of his preaching and evangelizing in the town and surrounding areas, according to rights investigators.
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Following a mob attack on a church in northeastern China and the demolition of their worship site last month, the government put officials on alert to use military force against churches to quell potential “unrest,” according to a leading advocacy group.

In the wee hours of Sept. 13 some 400 uniformed police and civilians bearing shovels, batons, bricks, iron hooks and other weapons beat members of the church who were sleeping at the nearly finished factory building used as a worship site. [video]
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With at least 43 incidents of anti-Christian violence, Karnataka saw more attacks on Christians in the first eight months of this year than any other state in India, according to advocacy organizations.

The figure compares with 35 attacks on churches, worship services and Christians during the same period last year in the state, which has become the center of violence against Christians.
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Islamic militants have shot and killed a long-time underground Christian in Somalia after finding Bibles in his possession.

The man arried 25 Somali Bibles he hoped to deliver to an underground congregation, Christians said.
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A Christian Couple face losing their livelihood after being charged with a criminal offence for offending a Muslim woman by saying that Islamic dress is oppressive.

This attack on free speech is the latest example of religious persecution based on political correctness in the UK.
» Full Story

Pressure on religious leaders in Cuba has increased significantly over the past year according to a new report by Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW). Comprehensive evidence within the document details a sharp rise in religious liberty violations there.

Independent church leaders from the fast growing Apostolic Movement have been particularly targeted for harassment, detentions and court summons by the Government.
» Full Story

A group of ex-Muslims who converted to Christianity were preparing Wednesday, September 16, for an upcoming court hearing in Iran on suspicion of “apostasy”, after they were temporarily released on bail from one of the country’s most notorious prisons, BosNewsLife learned.

They were among 25 individuals arrested by security forces while attending a Christian gathering in Tehran.
» Full Story

Sudanese Christians have urged fellow believers around the world to pray for them as armed groups are kidnapping and killing church leaders and other Christians, an advocacy group with close knowledge about the situation told BosNewsLife Tuesday.

Christians, who comprise just about 18 percent of Sudan’s mainly Muslim population of nearly 39 million people, are increasingly in the crossfire as many of them abandoned Islam, rights groups say.
» Full Story

Women dressed in white have gathered outside the Iranian embassy in London as part of a prayer vigil to highlight the plight of two female Christian converts from Islam who have been held at Evin Prison in Tehran “without charge” for the last six months, organizers said.

In Iran, Muslims who convert to another religion, often face arbitrary arrest, indefinite detention and other human rights abuses, rights groups say.
» Full Story

Karnataka (India) police accompanied by 10 Hindu extremists on Friday arrested a Christian operator of a boys’ hostel after the extremists accused him and another Christian of offering food, shelter, education and future job prospects as an “allurement” to convert to Christianity.

After falsely accusing the two Christians of fraudulently converting students to Christianity by luring them with food, shelter and education, the extremists slapped evangelist Rama Naik repeatedly.
» Full Story

China’s government has issued a secret directive to dismantle at least six major house churches in and outside the capital Beijing ahead of the upcoming 60th anniversary of Communist rule in the country, according to Christian right investigators.

China Aid Association President Bob Fu linked the events to the upcoming 60th anniversary of China’s Communist Party. However, “The upcoming 60th anniversary…is not [a] cause for trampling on rights of peaceful citizens…” he added.
» Full Story

European ambassadors to Belarus have met with the leader of New Life Church in the capital Minsk to discuss “threats” by authorities to “destroy” one of the country’s largest evangelical churches by confiscating its building, a former cowshed, church officials said in a statement obtained by BosNewsLife.
» Full Story

“Traditionalist Catholic” leaders last month expelled 57 evangelical Christians from towns in two states for refusing to participate in their religious festivals.

Leaders of traditionalist Catholicism, a mixture of Roman Catholicism and native rituals, expelled 32 Christians from their homes in a village in Hidalgo state and another 25 from a town in Oaxaca; in each case, the evangelicals were deprived of their property for refusing to participate in drunken festivals that included worship of Catholic icons.
» Full Story

A pastor’s wife who lost her baby after a neighbour attacked her on the street, is being fined the equivalent of over two months salary on charges of “disturbing the public order” on that day, Christian trial observers said Friday, August 21.

The attack was the latest in a campaign of harassment against the Rodriguez family, carried out with what Christian Solidarity Worldwide described as “the tacit support of the authorities.”
» Full Story

Attacks on Christians in Sri Lanka have surged noticeably in recent weeks, following the government’s defeat of Tamil separatists in May.

Attacks were reported in Puttlam, Gampaha and Kurunegala districts in western Sri Lanka, central Polonnaruwa district, Mannar district in the north and Matara district in the south, according to the National Christian Evangelical Alliance of Sri Lanka.
» Full Story

Christians in India’s southern state of Karnataka remained concerned Sunday, August 16, about the whereabouts of eight pastors who were detained this week after Hindu militants broke up a major Christian training meeting, injuring and “humiliating” several believers, including women, church representatives said.

At least four pastors were reportedly seriously injured after being beaten, while others received minor injuries.
» Full Story

Christians in Somalia faced a tense day Thursday, August 13, amid fresh reports that fighters of the country’s main Islamic insurgent group al-Shabab beheaded four Christian aid workers for refusing to renounce their faith in Christ.

The four Christians had reportedly been working for a local non-governmental organization that helps orphans in southern Somalia.
» Full Story

They are now being targeted by militant Hindu organizations that blame the church for the abolition of Hinduism as the state religion and the end of monarchy.

A little-known, shadowy organization that claimed to be building an army of suicide bombers has achieved notoriety with two brutal attacks on Catholics in two years.
» Full Story

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Most Read about Religious Persecution

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1. Accused Christian convert in Afghanistan faces possible death penalty
2. North Korea comes top of persecution list
3. Saudi Arabia: Four Christians found praying at home arrested
4. China's Christians suffer for their faith
5. Trial begins for Christians
6. Saudi Arabia authorities release Christian blogger
7. Anger over Christian convert in Kabul who faces death
8. 125 Christian Meeting Halls in China Shut
9. Convert from Islam to face apostasy charges
10. Persecuted for their faith -- and ignored by the U.S.

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