World Watch Monitor, October 19, 2020

The disproportionate presence of ethnic Fulani among Islamist militants wreaking havoc in the Sahel and West Africa has led to a stigmatisation of the Fulani generally, says a Protestant pastor from Burkina Faso.

In April security forces went into Djibo, a town in the northern part of Burkina Faso and killed 31 unarmed Fulani men. The men were rounded up after their IDs had been checked.

A former inhabitant of the village told Radio France Internationale the security forces “go to the villages where these people grew up and look for their relatives. The relatives don’t support terrorism, they are living in their villages. But they detain these people who they see as complicit in terrorism”.

“There is not a very good view of the Fulani,” said Adama, himself Fulani and a pastor in central Burkina Faso who asked not to be identified by his real name for security reasons.

“They are regarded as militants taking part in jihadi attacks, causing trouble in the Sahel region. But that is not all that there is to it. Not all Fulani are terrorists and not all terrorists are Fulani. We, the Fulani, are also the image of God and one first needs to see that”.

Barnabas Fund, 26 October 2020

After a five-month break during the Covid-19 crisis, the committee overseeing the licensing of churches in Egypt approved 100 new registrations when they met again on 19 October.

The new batch is made up of 45 churches and 55 affiliated service buildings. The Cabinet-affiliated committee, headed by Prime Minister Mustafa Madbouli, last met in May when it granted 70 licences.

This, the 17th batch of licences to be approved, brings the number of churches granted official recognition to 1,738 out of the original 3,730 that applied for registration.

A total of 1,992 churches are still waiting to be granted licences under the Law for Building and Restoring Churches, introduced in September 2016.

A number of churches were already registered before the new law was brought in.  It is illegal for Christians to worship in an unlicensed church building in Egypt, but until the committee began work in early 2017 it was extremely difficult to obtain a licence.

Forum 18, 21October 2020

Violence against people taking part in the ongoing protests, public events to pray for Belarus and for violence by the regime to end have increased.

For example, Catholics organising and participating in prayer events in the street in Minsk and other towns have been and continue to be accused and. The same charges are also brought against people organising and participating in peaceful political protests against the regime. Many Protestants participate in such protests.

Regime officials are hostile towards followers of beliefs they see as a threat and the regime maintains a network of KGB secret police and religious affairs officials to ensure compliance.

Restrictions include: restrictions on who can hold meetings for worship and where they can be held; difficulty of opening places of worship, and excessive charges for confiscated places of worship still owned by the state; strict controls on foreign citizens who exercise their freedom of religion and belief; prior compulsory censorship of religious literature; arbitrary and unpredictable denials of religious broadcasting; and obstruction of the freedom of religion and belief of death-row prisoners and their families.

As one Belarusian Protestant commented, “they have created conditions so you can’t live by the law. We would need to close half our churches in order to operate technically in accordance with the law”.

Morning Star News, 23 October 2020

Protests against police brutality in Nigeria that grew into generalized unrest over poor government took on a religious dimension this week with attacks on Christians and church buildings.

Following peaceful protests that began earlier this month against torture and killings by Special Anti­Robbery Squad forces, Christian leaders in Plateau, Kano and Kogi states led prayer walks of thousands of Christians in appeals for peace.

Suspected Muslim agitators took advantage of the chaos to attack churches, sources said. In Kogi state, following a prayer walk, Christians praying inside the Dunamis Christian Centre were attacked by suspected Muslim antagonists.

Friday Adah told Morning Star News by text message. “A peaceful prayer walk seeking God’s help for our country, Nigeria, for God to restore peace and love, was suddenly met with undue force as Christians were beaten and shot at with guns by Muslim mobs.”

Also on October 19 near Jos, suspected Muslim agitators opposing church prayer walks damaged the building of the Redeemed Christian Church of God in Bukuru.

Morning Star News, October 6, 2020

After beating and parading Pastor Raj Singh along with four other Christians in eastern India, Hindu extremists were tonsuring them to further ridicule them when one cut the pastor’s head.

“While shaving my head, the razor cut my skull, and blood oozed out,” Pastor Singh said of the Sept. 16 attack in Jharkhand state. “A man standing nearby pointed out the cut and asked the man shaving my head to be careful, to which he promptly answered back saying, ‘This Christian should be grateful that I am only using the razor on his head and not on his neck.’”

After shaving their heads, the mob tied garlands of old shoes and slippers around their necks and continued parading them from one area of Bherikudar village, in Simdega District, to another. The Hindu extremists told them to chant “Jai Shri Ram [Victory to god Ram]” and, when the Christians did not comply, beat them with wooden sticks, he said.

“Some of us chanted, to escape the beating from time to time,” Pastor Singh said. “Whoever did not chant was immediately beaten by sticks. They also had long wooden handles of large iron picks with which they hit us.”

World Watch Monitor, October 6, 2020

A Swiss missionary – kidnapped from Timbuktu in northern Mali in January 2016 – was killed only weeks before other hostages were freed by Islamist extremists, in an apparent prisoner-hostage swap negotiated by the new transitional government in Mali.

The Swiss Foreign Ministry expressed its sorrow that Beatrice Stockli, a single woman in her late forties, was “apparently killed by kidnappers of the Islamist terrorist organization Jama’at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslim (JNIM) about a month ago”.

The Swiss authorities say they will do all they can to find out details of exactly how she died, and to return her body, or her remains, to her family.

The missionary settled in Timbuktu in 2000, working for a Swiss church, before starting work alone, unaffiliated with any church.

She had led an austere life in a popular district of Timbuktu – but known to be frequented by armed jihadist groups – and used to sell flowers and hand out Christian material.

She was taken from her home before dawn on 8 Jan. 2016 by armed men in four pickup trucks, according to confidential sources.

International Christian Concern, October 6, 2020

The Lahore High Court has acquitted Sawan Masih, a Christian man sentenced to death under Pakistan’s notorious blasphemy laws. Masih was convicted in March 2014, just over a year after he allegedly committed blasphemy.

On March 8, 2013, Sawan Masih was accused by his Muslim friend, Muhammad Shahid, of insulting the Prophet Muhammad during a conversation on March 7. According to Shahid, Masih said, “My Jesus is genuine. He is the Son of Allah. He will return while your Prophet is false. My Jesus is true and will give salvation.” The incident allegedly took place in the primarily Christian neighbourhood of Joseph Colony, located in Lahore.

The next day, March 9, local mosques recounted the accusation against Masih over their PA systems, inciting mob violence. A mob of more than 3,000 enraged Muslims attacked Joseph Colony, looting and burning Christian homes, shops, and at least two churches. Amid the violence, Masih was handed over to the police.

On March 27, 2014, he was sentenced to death in a trial held in the Lahore Camp Jail due to security concerns.

After hearing arguments from both sides, the Lahore High Court decided that the prosecution had failed to establish that Masih had committed blasphemy. The court went on to acquit Masih, reversing his death sentence, and ordered his release.

Middle East Concern, September 29, 2020

Iranian Christians are thankful that a new charge against convert Ebrahim Firouzi has been rejected through lack of evidence and the case closed.

In 2013, Ebrahim was arrested and sentenced to 1 year in prison and 2 years of internal exile for “propaganda against the regime by establishing and organising Christian gatherings” and “having contacts with anti-revolutionary networks outside Iran.”

In March 2015 he was retried and sentenced to an additional 5 years in prison on charges of “acting against national security by gathering and collusion.”

In November 2019, after completing the consecutive prison sentences, Ebrahim started serving the 2-year period of exile near the border with Pakistan. On 12 March he was notified that his exile had been extended by 8 months for violating its terms, and an additional 3 months for failing to appear for a daily signing in.

On, 27 September, Ebrahim had to appear before the prosecutor in Rask to answer a charge of “propaganda against the state,” carrying a prison sentence of 3 to 12 months. Thankfully, on 28 September, the prosecutor closed the case against him for lack of evidence.

Morning Star News, September 22, 2020

A church elder was shot as his daughters were kidnapped in northwest Nigeria on Friday, Sept. 18.

Hassana and Hussaina Garba, teenaged Christian twin sisters, were kidnapped from their home in northwest Nigeria’s Katsina state. The kidnappers shot their father, Ibrahim Garba, in the stomach.

Kidnappings by various criminal elements have become rampant in Katsina state the past few years, with the high number committed by predominantly Muslim Fulanis.

Kwakware area resident Charles Yahaya said “Testimonies and exhibits at the crime scene show that the kidnappers were very organized, very informed on their target and heavily armed.  Christian girls in northern Nigeria are forcefully converted to Islam and married off, thereby becoming sex slaves.”

Another teenaged Christian girl, the only daughter of a widow, was kidnapped in Kaduna state on August 30 and forced to convert to Islam.

Her mother reported the disappearance to Local Government Area police.  But the police insisted on her unlawful detention to achieve the wish of her abductors to Islamize the young Christian girl.

After much prayer and the involvement of well-meaning Nigerians, the girl was released back to her mother.

According to a post from Steadfast Global on 2nd October, “Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) are reporting that twins Hassanna & Hussaina Garba were released on 21 September. We thank God and pray for their recovery and also for others affected by the attack that led to their abduction on 18 September. “

Release International, September 21, 2020

 The wife of abducted Malaysian pastor Raymond Koh has vowed to press relentlessly for his release, calling for international efforts to set him free to be continued – and for prayers for her family, which has been under surveillance.

 Pastor Koh was abducted in broad daylight in Malaysia in February 2017 by a disciplined snatch squad. A public inquiry has pointed the finger at the authorities.  Hooded men ran towards Pastor Koh’s car and shattered his windscreen, before the entire convoy was driven away.

Meanwhile the Human Rights Commission has resumed its inquiry into Pastor Joshua Hilmy and his wife Ruth who went missing in 2016. The inquiry was put on hold due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Hilmy was investigated after converting from Islam to Christianity. The pastor and his wife disappeared after he inquired about changing his religion on his identity card from Muslim to Christian.  The state bars Muslim citizens from converting to another faith.

Raymond Koh, an Evangelical Free Church pastor, set up Hope Community to help the poor in the capital Kuala Lumpur.  The authorities suspected him of attempting to convert Muslims.  Pastor Koh and his wife Susanna received death threats. He was sent two bullets and she white powder, which she was later told was anthrax.