Barnabas, Mission Partners of Castle Street, Missions

Barnabas Update, May 4th 2018

Conditional release of Hadi Asgari from prison

Barnabas Fund, 19 April 2018

After a harrowing 19-month detention, Hadi Asgari, a Christian convert from Islam, was released after posting bail on 11 April.

Hadi was arrested in August 2016 when security officials interrupted a gathering of Christian families. He and pastor Victor Tamrazare are appealing ten-year sentences for “acting against national security”.

Fellow Christian convert Amin Afshari was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment on the same charges.

Hearings are now expected to take place in late April or early May.

Local sources confirm that Amin and Hadi remain firm in their faith despite facing ongoing pressure to convert back to Islam.

Adult male converts from Islam are punishable by death according to sharia law in one of the countries of the world where the Islamic death sentence for apostasy is officially available, although it has not been used since 1990. 

Barnabas, Mission Partners of Castle Street, Missions

Barnabas Update, April 18th 2018

Deteriorating health of Iranian Christian prisoner

Barnabas Fund, 12 April 2018

Naser Goltapeh, a Christian convert from Islam imprisoned in Iran, “might lose all of his teeth if he does not receive immediate medical attention”.

Naser was kept in solitary confinement for two months, while undergoing a gruelling interrogation. After sentencing, he was sent to the notorious Evin prison to serve a ten-year sentence on 20 January 2018.

In July 2017, he was during a secret police raid on a church meeting and convicted of assembling in an “illegal gathering” that “threatens the security of Iran”.

Similar accusations are often made against Christians active in ministry in Iran, especially in churches of converts.  An appeals court upheld his 10-year term on 12 November 2017, making the sentence final.

Barnabas, Mission Partners of Castle Street, Missions

Barnabas Update, April 4th 2018

Christians in hiding as Turkish forces seize Afrin

Barnabas Fund, 22 March 2018

Christians in Afrin in northern Syrian went into hiding on 18 March and villages were reportedly “cleared” of Christians and other religious minorities as Turkish armed forces and Syrian rebels seized control from Kurdish militia.

Jihadist militants fighting with Turkish armed forces are eliminating the presence of religious minorities and “consider Yazidis ‘infidels’, while announcing that if you kill Christians, you will go straight to paradise.”

“This horror is reminiscent of the initial actions of ISIS in Iraq … This situation foreshadows ethnic cleansing and genocide,” said Nadia Murad, a Yazidi genocide survivor.

Instead of protecting Christians, Kurdish militia have been known to conscript them to fight against the Turkish army.

Barnabas, Missions

Barnabas Update March 2018

The Middle East March Update 1

Liberated Mosul still not safe for Iraqi Christians

Barnabas Fund, 1 March 2018

The presence of Iranian-backed Shia militia in Mosul means Christian do not feels safe, more than seven months since the city was liberated from Islamic State.

The Shiites are met with a lot of distrust and not seen as allies. The city has not become safe for Assyrian Christians.

Many Christians used to live in Mosul and the nearby Nineveh Plains, but they remain very hesitant to return to their homes, many of which are damaged or destroyed.

Violence against Christians began in Mosul long before the arrival of Islamic State.

In 2008 and 2009, Christians began to be threatened, abducted and killed for their faith. A well-known priest was abducted and slaughtered. His body was found in pieces.

For Iraqi Christians considering what lies ahead, their future prospects remain bleak.

Barnabas, Missions

Barnabas Update Jan 2018

Syria – January Update 1

No justice for Christian genocide survivors

Barnabas Fund 21 Dec 2017

Survivors of Islamic State’s genocide against Christians are not receiving justice in government trials of militants.

Former Islamic State fighters are being tried under counter terror laws “without any distinction based on the gravity of the offences they are accused of committing.”

Authorities have made “no efforts to solicit victims’ participation in the trials,” – Christians have not been able to give evidence as witnesses.

The use of counter terror laws to secure convictions appears to be an effort to clear a large backlog of cases. But it has left victims side-lined and raises the prospect that the perpetrators of the genocide against Christians and other minorities may never be held fully accountable.

Barnabas, Missions

Barnabas Update Dec 22nd 2017

Syria – December Update 2

With 7 Syrian families now confirmed to be arriving in Dingwall around the middle of January, and with the situation in Syria still very volatile, the Mission Team agreed last week to transfer our giving to the Barnabas Fund from Myanmar to Syria.  The article below highlights the need of Syrian Christians for our ongoing prayerful support.

More than 120 churches destroyed by Islamists

Barnabas Fund 14 Dec 2017

“Terrorists destroyed more than 120 churches,” a notable Syrian Christian leader told his counterpart in Russia and the Russian foreign minister during a visit to Moscow.

However, the leader expressed hope that with the expulsion of Islamic State (IS) from most of Syria and Iraq, “the issue of providing assistance to people who need to return to their homes, creating jobs and bringing their lives back to normal comes to the fore.” He was hopeful that destroyed churches and other Christian buildings will be rebuilt.

Barnabas, Missions

Barnabas Update Dec 5th 2017

Myanmar – December Update 1

Christians hope Pope will speak for them

 

November 27, 2017 By World Watch Monitor 

 

The Pope landed in Myanmar today to start his six-day visit to Southeast Asia.

 

Among those welcoming him were more than 7,000 ethnic Kachin from northern Myanmar.

 

The predominantly Christian Kachin, together with the Karen ethnic minority, live along the country’s borders and have faced years of government oppression.

 

Myanmar’s Catholic Cardinal Bo said that the “Rohingya situation is a great tragedy but at least 66 churches in Kachin state have been destroyed since the conflict reignited in 2011.”

 

AP journalist Julhas Alam writes that “Christianity is viewed by many as a colonial belief after the country was ruled by the British for a century until its independence in 1948”.

 

A human rights activist adds that Myanmar has seen a “rise of religious intolerance, which has come from within society, although there’s evidence that elements of the military-backed political parties are also involved in this.”

Barnabas, Missions

Barnabas Update 22nd Nov 2017

Barnabas Fund – November Update 2

Despite the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and her winning a parliamentary seat in April 2012, little has changed for Burma’s Christians. The military continues to pursue its agenda of intimidation, violence, rape and trafficking against ethnic minority groups, many of whom are majority Christian.

 

Aung San Suu Kyi has been coming under worldwide pressure in relation to the Muslims Rohingya and this has continued to dominate the news from Burma.  But in other ethnic minority regions the Burmese military has continued to intimidate and harass pastors and Christian workers, disrupt worship services and destroy churches.

 

Barnabas Fund assists with projects that help Christians in Burma (Myanmar), including:

  •  
  • Bible distribution,
  • support for orphans,
  • widows and refugees,

the construction of churches and Christian schools.

Barnabas, Missions

Barnabas Update 7th Nov 2017

Two Pastors in Burma Sentenced to Prison 

October 29, 2017 YANGON, Burma (Morning Star News)

Two pastors arrested by the Myanmar army last December were sentenced to prison on Oct. 27 on false charges of unlawful association, defaming the military and spying.

 

Pastor Dom Dawng Nawng Latt, 65, received a prison term of 4 years and 3 months, and La Jaw Gam Hseng, 35, received 2 years and 3 months.

 

The pastors, members of the Kachin Baptist Convention, were charged for alleged connections with an ethnic armed group, the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO. They deny the charges, which colleagues say are baseless.

 

A spokesman for the Kachin Baptist Convention said there is no evidence that the two pastors work for the KIO. “If they were to help an armed group, that is a different story.”

 

The U.S. Embassy in Yangon has raised concern over the legal action against the two Christian leaders.  The Human Rights Watch group has called for their immediate release.

Barnabas, Missions

Barnabas Update 18th Oct 2017

Myanmar (Burma) – October Update 2

Barnabas Fund in countries worst for press freedom

5th October 2017

The 2017 Press Freedom Index, (from Reporters without Borders), shows that Barnabas Aid is helping suffering Christians in countries which most restrict journalists from reporting what is happening there.  Countries are colour-categorised for press freedom in the map below as good (white), satisfactory (yellow), problematic (orange), bad (red), or very bad (black).

(Image by Reporters Without Borders)

The index indirectly shows the influence of a country’s Christian heritage on developing freedom. All 49 countries in the first two categories, except for Burkino Faso (42nd) and Comoros (44th), have a predominantly Christian heritage. All countries in the “very bad” category, except Burundi only just in that category, are either Muslim-majority or Communist/former Communist countries.