Catching Our Eye
Nun editor flees Bangladesh after Islamist threats
A Bangladeshi Catholic nun has fled to the United States, following repeated threats and harassment, reports Catholic News Service.
Sister Rosaline Costa, 67, followed three other members of her family in fleeing the country, after being targeted for her work as Executive Director of Hotline Human Rights Trust, and Editor of the Hotline Bangladesh newsletter, which reports on corruption and incidents of religious violence.
Costa’s two nephews and a niece each fled the country last year after facing their own threats – the niece by a Muslim uncle who wanted to force her to marry him; the nephews after being told they must convert to Islam or face the consequences.
There has been a flurry of violent incidents against Christians and other religious minorities in Bangladesh this year.
In June, a Christian grocer was killed by a group claiming to be the Islamic State. In May, two people were injured after bomb attacks on a Christian home. In April, a Hindu tailor was hacked to death for allegedly blaspheming against Islam’s prophet. In March, a 65-year-old Muslim convert to Christianity, Hossain Ali, was hacked to death, and in January a 75-year-old pastor, Khaza Somiruddin, was murdered.
Nigerian Fulani attacks ‘kill 1,269 since 2013’
Attacks by Fulani herdsmen in Nigeria’s central state of Benue have claimed at least 1,269 lives, a study by Premium Times magazine has shown.
On February 21, in an attack in Agatu, for instance, one of the most serious in Nigeria in recent years - over 500 villagers were reportedly massacred and over 7,000 displaced from 10 villages.
Out of 23 local government areas in Benue, herdsmen have invaded and occupied 14, and may invade the remaining nine unless urgent measures are taken, authorities said.
Clashes between herdsmen and farmers are increasingly common in some parts of the country as the struggle over grazing rights and access to water becomes more acute.
The long-running conflict is frequently framed in economic terms, but the current violence goes beyond the grazing issues, the Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in Benue State told World Watch Monitor.
“This is another jihad like the one waged by Boko Haram in the north-east of the country,” said Rev. Augustine Akpen Leva. “The attackers carry sophisticated weapons, sometimes they even used chemical weapons on our communities. They just come, often overnight when people are sleeping. They attack defenseless people and go away. They clearly have an agenda: to wipe out Christian presence and take over the land.”
The violence also plays into politics, frequently divided along ethnic lines. President Muhammadu Buhari, a Fulani, has been accused of turning a blind eye to the problem, sparking a public outcry.
Premium Times’ report compiles data obtained from local journalists, community leaders and the Movement Against Fulani Occupation, MAFO, showing a timeline of herdsmen attacks in Benue State between 2013 and July 2016.
BBC, Premium Times
Syrian militants held for Maaloula nuns’ kidnap
Two Syrians have been charged in Lebanon for taking part in the
kidnapping three years ago of nuns from the Syrian historic town of Maaloula, close to the Lebanese border, 60km north-east of Damascus.
Amer and Thaer Miskaf were described as militants of the Nusra Front, an Islamic jihadist group fighting the government of President Bashar al-Assad, Lebanese sources said.
A Lebanese judge charged (18 July) the Syrians with the abduction of the 13 nuns; according to the Lebanese Daily Star, one of the two suspects "received a share of the $16 million that was paid to free the nuns."
The nuns were freed in March 2014, three months on from their kidnapping, after negotiations reported to have been led by Qatar and Lebanon, in which the 13 were "exchanged for some 150 prisoners held by the Syrian government, including women and children."