August 2016

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.

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."

Uzbek Christian fined, but he doesn't know why

An Uzbek Christian was fined the equivalent of $300 in June without being told why, it has emerged.

A court hearing took place in Jurabek Vapayev’s absence and he was told later that he had been fined, but no reason was given.

He is preparing to appeal, but “the refusal to issue a written decision could deprive Vapayev of the possibility to lodge an appeal”, reports Forum 18.

Under Uzbek law, courts must provide a defendant with a copy of a decision within three days, after which the defendant has 10 days to lodge an appeal.

Vapayev’s home had been searched on 17 May, when police confiscated notebooks and his mobile phone. He was then taken to a police station, where he was questioned for eight hours and, according to fellow Protestants, beaten, deprived of food and water, refused access to a toilet and told that he must sign a statement prepared by the police. He refused.

One month later, he was fined.

Egypt parliament urged to ease church-building

The Egyptian parliament should affirm equality and freedom of religion, a US-based Coptic group has said, urging Egypt to "abandon the historically systematic discrimination against Copts".

"Draconian stipulations, related to the historical condition of Dhimmitude, make construction or even renovation of a church in Egypt a near impossibility," Coptic Solidarity (CS) added.

‘Dhimmitude’ refers to conditions non-Muslims have historically had to endure in order to safeguard a second-class existence under the rule of Islam.

"Over the past decades, the number of new churches averaged a paltry two per year. In spite of the growth in the number of Copts over the years, the total number of the churches of all denominations does not exceed 2,600, or about one church for every 5,500 Christian citizens," a CS statement on 4 August said.

"Not only is this an issue of insufficient places of worship for Egypt’s Christians, but it has become a flashpoint and a cause for repeated violence by fundamentalist Islamists against the Copts who dare to exercise their basic right of freedom to worship," said the group, adding it "demonstrates the extent of discrimination against Copts in Egypt, which has escalated lately to an almost daily occurrence."