Egypt upholds religious freedom for Christians

Barnabas Fund, 11 February 2022

(excerpts)

The improved situation of Christians in Muslim-majority Egypt is an encouragement to Christians across the world.

That improvement was underlined with the appointment of a Christian, Judge Boulos Fahmy Eskandar, as President of the country’s Supreme Constitutional Court (SCC). No Christian has ever before been appointed to this position.

The SCC has truly significant powers, with the authority to judge whether or not Egypt’s laws and regulations are constitutional.

The appointment demonstrates the commitment of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to treating Christians as equal citizens.

President al-Sisi has already taken a courageous stand for religious freedom, for example in repealing Ottoman-era restrictions on the building of churches.

His government has worked steadily to legalise churches – 2,162 out of 3,730 applications from churches for licences have been approved – while congregations are allowed to worship in unlicensed church buildings pending completion of the licensing process.

The appointment of Judge Boulos is unusual in an Islamic context, where it is not expected that Christians or other non-Muslims will rise to positions of power and authority.

Yet in Egypt there is enthusiasm for the appointment.  Moushira Khattab, a Muslim and leader of Egypt’s National Council for Human Rights, described it as “historic” and “a giant move” for equal rights.

Indian government must protect minorities more

Barnabas Fund, 25 January 2022

A Christian Indian politician has called on the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to do more to protect Christians and other religious minorities from extremist groups.

Margaret Alva, formerly a member of the Indian Parliament and successively Governor of Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Goa, complained that religious minorities were at risk of becoming “second-class citizens”.  

Margaret Alva says atrocities against India’s minorities are mounting 

Ms Alva also argued that the silence of Prime Minister Modi was taken as “tacit approval and encouragement” by extremist elements within Indian society.

The Indian constitution, she added, which guarantees freedom of religion, must be upheld.

Ms Alva’s intervention comes amidst against churches and Christian communities across India.

(excerpts)

Pakistani sentenced to death for “blasphemy”

Zafar Bhatti, a Pakistani Christian who was convicted of “blasphemy” in May 2017, was sentenced to death by Rawalpindi District Court on 3 January.

Bhatti, who has been fighting to clear his name since his arrest in 2012, appeared in court as part of an ongoing appeal against the life sentence he received when first convicted for allegedly sending texts insulting Muhammad on a phone that was not registered in his name.

The court, however, upheld the 2017 conviction, and further ruled that the proper sentence for “blasphemy” against Muhammad, the Islamic prophet, was death rather than life imprisonment.

The ruling is based on a 1991 constitutional court decision that the death penalty is the only appropriate punishment for “blasphemy” against Muhammad.

Laws outlawing insulting religion have existed in the region since 1860, were incorporated into Pakistan’s Penal Code in 1947 and were strengthened under the military government (1978-88, stating that any person who “defiles the sacred name of the Holy Prophet” is to be “punished with death or imprisonment for life”.

This, however, was followed by the 1991 court ruling that the only suitable punishment for “blasphemy” against Muhammad was death, a more lenient sentence of life imprisonment being “repugnant to the injunctions of Islam”. 

Higher courts are, nevertheless, reluctant to uphold a death sentence, and no executions have ever been carried out.

Russian armed officers disrupt conference (excerpts)

Barnabas Fund, 14 December 2021

Several dozen officers from the Centre for Combating Extremism disrupted a Christian conference near Moscow, on 2 December, wearing bulletproof vests, armed with machine guns and confining attendees in the conference building for around ten hours.

Before being released the majority of attendees were charged with an “administrative offence” – thus violating “the rules and norms” of the Russian Federation – because the Christian ministry that had organised the event had been declared an “undesirable” foreign organisation.

Having entered the building, security officers aimed their guns at the attendees – including women and children – forcing them to lie face down on the floor.  Some pastors in attendance were kicked as they lay on the floor, despite offering no resistance, and some sustained injuries.

Anybody who asked the reason for the intrusion was met with the answer “shut up” or “shut your mouth”.

“We, as citizens of Russia, are interested in the legality of our actions. We pray for and bless Russia – we want to serve for the good of our country. But such actions of ‘law enforcement officers’ armed to the teeth undermine the credibility of the authorities in the most monstrous way.

“After all, now, judging by everything that happened, armed people will be able to break into any Christian congregation under the guise of it being an ‘undesirable organisation’ and mock believers, including women and children.”