Iran: Prisoner List Update

Stacy L. Harp
February 23, 2012 

The Iranian Christian news agency Mohabat News recently published a list of Christians imprisoned in Iran. The list, which was current as of February 2012, consists of prisoners known by and confirmed by Mohabat News.

For security reasons, the prisoners listed below or their families have asked that they not be featured on VOM’s www.prisoneralert.com. However, please pray for each one of these believers. For a list of Iranian prisoners to whom you can write, visit the PrisonerAlert.com Iran country profile.

 

 

 

Prisoner Name	City of Arrest	Date of Arrest	Prison
Noorallah Qabitzade	Dezful	Dec. 24, 2010	Dastgerd
Farshi Fathi	Tehran	Dec. 26, 2010	Evin
Fariborz Arazm	Tehran	Oct. 17, 2011	Evin
Farshad Sabokroh	Ahwaz	Dec. 23, 2011	Karoon
Naser Zamen-Dezfuli	Ahwaz	Dec. 23, 2011	Karoon
Davoud Alijani	Ahwaz	Dec. 23, 2011	Karoon
Massis Moussian	Tehran	Feb. 8, 2012	Rajei-Shahr
Mojtaba Houseini	Shiraz	Feb. 8, 2012	Pelak 100
Fariba Nazemian	Shiraz	Feb. 8, 2012	Pelak 100
Homayoun Shokoohi	Shiraz	Feb. 8, 2012	Pelak 100
Nima Shokoohi	Shiraz	Feb. 8, 2012	Pelak 100
Vahid Hakkani	Shiraz	Feb. 8, 2012	Pelak 100
Shrifeh Dookh	Shiraz	Feb. 8, 2012	Pelak 100
Masoud Golrooyan	Shiraz	Feb. 8, 2012	Pelak 100

Source: Mohabat News

Islamic Extremists Behead Another Convert in Somalia

Young Christian man murdered outside Mogadishu.

NAIROBI, Kenya, February 8 (CDN) — Islamic extremists from the rebel al Shabaab militia in Somalia beheaded a Christian on the outskirts of Mogadishu last month, sources said.

The militants fighting the transitional government in Mogadishu murdered Zakaria Hussein Omar, 26, on Jan. 2 in Cee-carfiid village, about 15 kilometers (nine miles) outside of the Somali capital, they said. Omar had worked for a Christian humanitarian organization that al Shabaab banned last year.

His body was left lying for 20 hours before nomads found it and carried it into Mogadishu, a close friend said.

“We have been communicating with Omar, and he was sharing with me his life as a Christian,” the friend said. “Last year he mentioned to me that his life was in danger when the NGO [Non-Governmental Organization] he worked for was banned by the al Shabaab.”

The friend said he identified the body.

“One of the persons who saw him said, ‘This is the young man who stayed in Ethiopia, and people have been saying that he left Islam and joined Christianity.’”

Omar converted to Christianity seven years ago while in Ethiopia, where he lived with relatives. He returned to Somalia in 2008 and completed his university education in 2009 with a degree in accounting.

Omar had married in the latter part of 2010. He is survived by his wife, his parents (originally from central Somalia), a brother and four sisters.

Last September, the militants beheaded another young Christian near Mogadishu. The militants, who have vowed to rid Somalia of Christianity, killed Guled Jama Muktar on Sept. 25 in his home near Deynile, about 20 kilometers (12 miles) from Mogadishu (See www.compassdirect.org, “Islamic Extremists in Somalia Behead 17-year-old Christian,” Oct. 19, 2011).

Earlier that month, a kidnapped Christian convert from Islam was found decapitated on the outskirts of Hudur City in Bakool region, in southwestern Somalia. Juma Nuradin Kamil was forced into a car by three suspected Islamic extremists from the al Shabaab terrorist group on Aug. 21, 2011 and murdered on Sept. 2, area sources said (See www.compassdirect.org, “Somali Convert to Christianity Kidnapped, Beheaded,” Sept. 12, 2011).

With estimates of al Shabaab’s size ranging from 3,000 to 7,000, the insurgents seek to impose a strict version of sharia (Islamic law), but the transitional government in Mogadishu fighting to retain control of the country treats Christians little better than the al Shabaab extremists do. While proclaiming himself a moderate, President Sheikh Sharif Sheik Ahmed has embraced a version of sharia that mandates the death penalty for those who leave Islam.

Al Shabaab was among several splinter groups that emerged after Ethiopian forces removed the Islamic Courts Union, a group of sharia courts, from power in Somalia in 2006. It has been designated a terrorist organization by several western governments.

Sudan bombs US-funded Bible school, forcing students, teachers to flee; US condemns attack

By Associated Press,

NAIROBI, Kenya — Sudan’s military bombed a Bible school built by a U.S. Christian aid group, prompting students and teachers at the school to run for their lives in the Nuba Mountains in South Kordofan state.

The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations condemned the attack.

Pictures obtained by The Associated Press on Friday showed that two stone school buildings were demolished in the attack. No one was hurt or killed despite the fact school was in session.

Ryan Boyette, a former aid worker who lives in Sudan and is now leading a team of 15 citizen journalists, spoke to a teacher at the site of Wednesday’s attack in the Nuba Mountains. The teacher, Zachariah Boulus, told Boyette that he couldn’t find his wife and children after the attack because everyone ran into the mountains for safety.

Boyette said that two of eight bombs dropped hit the school.

The Heiban Bible College was built by Samaritan’s Purse, a North Carolina-based aid group. Samaritan’s Purse President Franklin Graham said the attack was carried out by the Sudanese Air Force.

“Please pray for the safety of believers, and that God would intervene,” Graham said.

Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., said she was outraged by what she called a “heinous” bombing.

“It was the first day of school, and the campus was full of students, teachers and families,” Rice said in a statement. “While miraculously no one was killed, this attack-involving eight bombs dropped from the air-underscores the viciousness of Sudan’s ongoing military campaign in Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile states.”

The Nuba Mountains have been an area of conflict between Sudan’s military and a rebel group formerly aligned with South Sudan for months. Tens of thousands of people have fled the violence. Rice said the conflict is affecting more than 500,000 people.

If the conflict continues, it could precipitate a famine, Rice said. Sudan is preventing aid groups from accessing parts of Sudan’s South Kordofan and Blue Nile states.Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.

Site of Hindu Attacks on Christians Sees Conversions

National Catholic Register

Many of those who persecuted Christians in India are themselves becoming Christian. Kandhamal proves Tertullian right.

BY ANTO AKKARA
Posted 1/13/12 at 12:03 AM

GADRAGAM, India — Two dozen Christians were dancing excitedly to the tune of Christian hymns on New Year’s Day at Gadragam village in the Indian state of .

That may not be a surprise, considering the red-letter day. But this is the Kandhamal jungles of eastern Orissa state, where just a few years ago, fundamentalist Hindus let loose a severe attack on their Christian neighbors, taking the lives of more than 100 people.

Plus, the rejoicing was in front of the remains of a burnt-out house in which a disabled Christian youth had been burned to death during the widespread violence. 

“Our people are no longer afraid; they are ready to profess their faith boldly,” exclaimed Rabindra Pradhan, elder brother of 28-year-old Rasanand Pradhan, who was torched alive in his house during the orchestrated anti-Christian violence in Kandhamal.

“The martyrdom of my brother has not gone in vain. Half a dozen Hindu families are now regularly attending our worship,” pointed out the retired Indian soldier.

Disabled by stroke, his younger brother Rasanand was the first martyr among the Christians who laid down their lives in Kandhamal for their faith during the worst persecution of Christians in Indian history.

Following the killing of Hindu leader Swami Lakshmanananda Saraswati on Aug. 23, 2008, Hindu fundamentalists alleged that the murder was a Christian conspiracy. Despite Maoist rebel claims of responsibility for the murder, Hindu mobs went on a rampage against the Christians in the region.

In the widespread violence that went on unabated for weeks, in addition to the many deaths, 300 churches and nearly 6,000 houses were looted and torched, rendering more than 54,000 Christians homeless.

When several hundred armed Hindus led by fundamentalists descended the next evening on Gadragam and started destroying the local church, Rabindra recalled, the 40-odd evangelical Christian families took to their heels.

“When we realized that Rasanand was left behind, we could do nothing about it. The mob leaders were challenging us to come forward, if we were bold, and save him. The memory of the house going up in flames with Rasanand inside it still haunts me,” Rabindra said.


A Flower and an Apology

Kartick Behra may have been haunted too, though in another way.

“We have been inspired by the faith of these people, so we decided to become Christians,” said Behra, a Hindu farmer who has been attending church services in the village for a year. “When I fell sick, I started coming to the church, and my sickness got healed. I am no more worried about being attacked by those people,” said Behra.

During the attack on the Christians in Gadragam, surrounded by exclusive Hindu villages, Hindu fundamentalists had put a sword to Behra’s neck. That was because he had refused to hand over the valuables Christian families had kept in his house for safety.

“Many more families here now want to become Christians,” said Behra, whose wife and four children are now regular churchgoers.

This correspondent also met several Hindus who are now regularly attending Sunday Mass at the Catholic church at Tiangia, which had witnessed the brutal murder of half a dozen Christians during the 2008 violence.

“Coming to the church gives me peace of mind. Nothing is going to change my decision,” said Jamboti Digal, a widow who attended Mass on New Year’s Day in Tiangia, about 40 miles from Gadragam.

Apart from hundreds of Hindus embracing the Christian faith across Kandhamal, even those who attacked Christians to force them to forsake their faith are now apologizing for the brutality.

Hippolitus Nayak, a retired government official and a Catholic, said he had one of the happiest New Year’s greetings this year. Lakhno Pradhan, one of the leaders of Hindu fundamentalists who had led mob attacks on Christians and churches around Tiangia, greeted him with a flower on the morning of Jan. 1 at his door.

“He apologized for what the Hindu mobs had done to the Christians. Certainly, God is melting hardened hearts in Kandhamal now,” said Nayak, whose house was destroyed in the violence.

Father Prasanna Kumar Singh, vicar of the Pobingia parish, said one of the leaders of the Hindu fundamentalists in the area had already apologized for the severe damage to the church, which was not repaired and rededicated until 2011.

“He even took part in the Christmas service and offered fruits during the offertory,” Father Singh said.

Father Subhodh Pradhan, vicar of the Raikia parish, the largest in Kandhamal, with 750-plus families, also confirmed that several Hindus are now expressing a desire to become Christians.

“We have to be careful, as the law could put us in trouble,” Father Pradhan pointed out. He has already been approached by well-to-do Hindus.

Under the Orissa Freedom of Religion Act, those changing their faith and religious leaders undertaking the conversion first have to seek prior permission from the highest government official of the district.

“All the same, it is a fact that Kandhamal is proving Tertullian right,” commented Father Pradhan, former rector of St. Paul’s Minor Seminary at Balliguda in Kandhamal.

Church historian Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus, better known as Tertullian, is the author of the dictum “The blood of martyrs is the seed of Christians.”


No Ill Will

The unfaltering witness of the Christians in Kandhamal, with many of them harboring no ill will towards their tormentors, Father Pradhan said, has touched the hearts of hundreds of Hindus.

Despite such optimism, Kandhamal is far from normal with regard to the persecution of Christians. Two pastors — Saulo Pradhan and Minoketon (Michael) Nayak — had been killed in 2011 under mysterious circumstances, and the dependent families suggest it was murder at the hands of Hindu fundamentalists.

When Dilip Mallick, a Hindu who recently became a Baptist, returned from a midnight Christmas service with his wife and younger brother, they found their traditional wood house at Madinato village near Balliguda reduced to ashes.

“This shows the danger of becoming a Christian in Kandhamal,” remarked Montfort Brother K. J. Markose, who has been assisting the young convert to restart his life.

But Mallick was unfazed. “I will remain a Christian whatever happens,” he said, clutching the burnt wooden pillar of his house, while his wife stood next to him.

“I can only say they are God’s own people,” said Archbishop John Barwa of Cuttack Bhubaneswar, the diocese that contains Kandhamal, during his New Year’s pastoral visit to the region.

“God’s plans are beyond our comprehension. What happened here (in Kandhamal) was very painful,” said Archbishop Barwa, who took charge of the persecuted Church in April 2011. “But it was not a curse. It is now turning out to be a blessing.”

Register correspondent Anto Akkara writes from Bangalore, India.