Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 185 | Wed 14 Nov 2012
ERITREA: CHRISTIAN PRISONERS & REFUGEES SUFFERING UNIMAGINABLY
By Elizabeth Kendal
Eritrea, in the Horn of Africa on the Red Sea coast, has one of the most brutally repressive dictatorships in the world. The population is equally divided between Christians (90 percent Eritrean Orthodox) who live mostly in the highlands and Muslims who live mostly in the coastal lowlands. Eritrea won its independence from Ethiopia in 1991 and Isayas Afewerki has been the president since independence was declared and internationally recognised in 1993. In 2001, in the wake of a two-year border war with Ethiopia (1998-2000), Afewerki began cracking down hard on anything that could be viewed as a threat to national unity. He cancelled elections and closed all independent media. Opposition figures -- politicians, activists and journalists -- were removed, mostly to underground 'secret prisons' for the 'disappeared'.
In May 2002, reportedly at the behest of the Eritrean Orthodox Church (EOC), the government began cracking down on 'foreign' and 'non-traditional' religion. A Biblical revival and renewal movement had exploded within the EOC. While some priests accommodated or even embraced the movement, others resisted, forcing those desiring a more evangelical Christianity to leave the EOC for Protestant fellowships. The exodus has caused great angst in the hierarchy of the EOC. Now only state-sanctioned Muslim, Eritrean Orthodox, Roman Catholic and Mekane Yesus (Evangelical Lutheran) denominations are legal and worshipping in a Protestant fellowship is a criminal offence. However, by mid-2005 the authorities were oppressing the EOC as well, specifically those EOC priests supportive of the renewal movement and protesting religious persecution. When EOC head, Patriarch Abune Antonios, complained about the persecution of his priests, Afewerki had him deposed, placed under house arrest and replaced with a government administrator.
By the end of 2010 an estimated 3000 Eritrean Christians of all denominations (mostly Protestant) were incarcerated purely for their faith; today the number is estimated at around 1500. Whilst most prisoners are held in shipping containers in desert camps, some are kept in underground cells. The conditions are inhumane: children and the elderly are amongst the prisoners sharing skin diseases, dysentery and other horrors in confined, unventilated spaces. Torture is routine. An Amnesty International report published in May 2004 details the tortures suffered by Christian prisoners.Several Christians have died in custody and others have perished in the desert trying to escape.
Because Eritrea has no independent media, news of persecution is difficult to obtain for it must be leaked at great personal risk. Open Doors (OD) reports that on 30 October a Christian by the name of Adris Ali Mohammed (31), a Muslim convert from the town of Tesenai, died in custody. Adris had spent almost two years in a suffocating dungeon located in Eritrea's Aderset Military Camp, where some 100 Christians are believed to be detained. According to sources, Adris had stood firm through two years of terrible suffering and systematic torture aimed at forcing him to renounce his faith. According to OD, 'Military officials secretly buried Adris outside the camp.'
The repression has created a refugee crisis with many Christians amongst them. In July The Guardian reported that the Eritrea military runs a business kidnapping Eritrean refugees out of refugee camps in Sudan and trafficking them into the Sinai where they are sold to Bedouin gangs 'who use starvation, electrocution, rape and murder to extort up to $40,000 from relatives in the Eritrean diaspora for their release'. (See also NYT, 31 Oct 2012, for horrific details.) According to Strategic Policy magazine (4, 2012) Maj-Gen. Tekle 'Manjus' Kiflai has been identified as the 'co-ordinator of the human smuggling operation' which reportedly serves as 'a major revenue source for the PFDJ', the ruling People's Front for Democracy and Justice. This very powerful Maj-Gen. Tekle, an ethnic 'Christian', is rumoured to be a possible successor to Afewerki. Eritrea also funds, arms and trains anti-Ethiopian forces across the region, as well as rebels fighting against the Government of South Sudan.
But change is looming. For many years Afewerki had been funded and propped up by Gadhafi (Libya) and Mubarak (Egypt). With these two backers now removed, Eritrea's principal ally is US-allied, Islamist Qatar which is fully occupied trying to orchestrate regime change in Damascus, Syria. Furthermore, Afewerki is so unwell that when he disappeared in March, rumours circulated that he had died. Eventually he quelled those rumours by making an appearance on State TV on 29 April. Afewerki allegedly has a liver complaint for which he has received medical treatment in Qatar. Whilst Eritrea is ripe for change, the rot runs deep.
PLEASE PRAY SPECIFICALLY THAT GOD WILL --
* interpose himself in Eritrea to bring deep and radical change; may he bring judgment on all who trade in suffering and terror and bring an end to belligerence and repression. May he open the door to a new era of justice, liberty and peace, to his glory.
'In my distress I called upon the LORD . . . and my cry to him reached his ears. Then the earth reeled and rocked; the foundations also of the mountains trembled and quaked, because he was angry. He rescued me, because he delighted in me.' (Psalm 18:6,7,19b ESV)
* have mercy on his sorely persecuted Church. Lord, comfort and protect them, sustaining them in body and soul, especially prisoners and refugees. Lord, provide all their needs, fanning their faith into flame so they may not lose hope; may their trust be in you.
* redeem this era of intensive persecution by refining and unifying the Eritrean Church and use their stories of faithfulness to soften the hearts and open the eyes of multitudes.
SUMMARY FOR BULLETINS UNABLE TO RUN THE WHOLE ARTICLE
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CHRISTIAN PRISONERS & REFUGEES SUFFERING UNIMAGINABLY IN ERITREA
Eritrea has one of the most brutal dictatorships worldwide and the repression has created a refugee crisis. Since May 2002 Christians have been severely persecuted and an estimated 1500 are suffering torture and appalling prison conditions today, simply for their faith. With no independent media, news is extremely difficult to obtain. Open Doors reports that on 30 October a Christian Muslim convert, Adris Ali Mohammed (31), died in custody after two years of systematic torture aimed at forcing him to renounce his faith. Christians in refugee camps are no safer as the Eritrean military runs a lucrative operation on behalf of the government, trafficking them to Bedouin gangs in the Sinai. Please pray for Eritrean Christians and that God will effect deep and radical change in Eritrea.
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
RLPB 184. EGYPT: what Salafis want from Coptic girls
Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 184 | Wed 07 Nov
2012
EGYPT: WHAT SALAFIS WANT FROM COPTIC GIRLS
By Elizabeth Kendal
In Islam, a child is given the religion of the father the
day he or she is born. In Egypt, as in most Muslim countries, when children
turn 16 they receive a State-issued identity (ID) card with their
State-designated religion stamped on it. Those born to fathers registered as
Muslim are deemed Muslim regardless of the actual belief of the father or the
child because identity / affiliation is far more important than faith in Islam.
As Muslims, they are not permitted to leave Islam and they are obliged to live
according to Sharia Law: observing food and clothing restrictions, remaining
separated from Jews and Christians, and other stipulations. Furthermore a Muslim woman must marry a Muslim man.
Christians who wish to convert to Islam -- as nominal
Christians sometimes do, mostly for pragmatic reasons -- find getting a new ID
card is easy. However, as Muslims are not permitted to leave Islam, their
religious identity may not be changed. In recent years two extremely courageous
Egyptian fathers, both converts from Islam, have sued the Interior Ministry for
their right to change their religious identity. Both were motivated by concern
for their children whom the State deems Muslim. Both cases failed because the
courts would not permit apostasy from Islam. Death threats forced both families
into hiding. Because their children are deemed Muslim, their daughters will be
obliged by law to marry Muslim men and their sons, though free to marry a
Christian, would be obliged by law to raise those children as Muslims.
It is well known that fundamentalist Muslim men are being encouraged to seduce and marry Christian girls. When married to Muslim men, the
Christian girls are not only prevented from increasing the Christian
demographic, they are actually used to increase the Muslim population. Fearing
the influence of Christians, Salafi Muslims (hard-line Sunni fundamentalists)
oppose all interfaith marriage and want it criminalised; they also want the
legal marriage age for girls dropped from 18 to nine. It is well known that
Salafis kidnap Coptic Christian girls for forced conversion and forced marriage
to Muslim men to ensure Christian wombs are producing Muslim babies. In these
cases the Salafis always insist that the girls have converted freely, ensuring
that the girls cannot be rescued. As soon as the Salafis assert the girl is a
convert who deserves freedom of religion, the police, local officials and wider
Muslim community will rally to hold on to her as one of their own.
Born on 1 August 1998 in the town of el-Dabaa, 130km south
of Mersa Matrouh (north-east of
Cairo), Sarah Ishaq Abdelmalek is only 14. She was last seen on 30 September, entering a stationery shop near her
school. After her father filed a missing persons report with the police,
he received a call telling him that he will never see his daughter again.
According to a school friend, the 27-year-old shop owner -- a Salafist and the
son of a local Salafi leader -- had been pursuing Sarah for some time. He nowstands accused of abducting her. On 28 October the Salafist Front issued a
statement that Sarah, who they maintain is not under-aged, has converted to
Islam freely and married a Muslim man.
The case should prove a serious test for President Morsi,
for Sarah is under-age according to
Egyptian law which states the marriageable age for girls is 18. Will President
Morsi bend for the Salafis out of respect for fundamentalist Islam or will
he demand that Egyptian law be upheld and Sarah returned to her parents? Will
he follow other precedents and have Sarah placed in a secure Muslim girls home
until she is of marriageable age or will
he allow Sarah the opportunity to freely declare her true faith and then
protect her? Egyptian human rights organisations, including the National
Council of Women, are lobbying for Sarah to be reunited with her family without
delay. Still the prospects are not good. Surely a more obscene abuse of human
rights would be hard to find.
PLEASE PRAY SPECIFICALLY THAT GOD WILL --
* comfort, strengthen, preserve and ultimately rescue Sarah
Abdelmalek (14); may he have mercy on this family and all families likewise
grieving the loss of their abducted daughters.
* redeem this case to draw international attention to the
plight of hundreds of Coptic Christian girls who have been abducted, raped and
trafficked across religious lines; may the LORD of hosts expose and
destroy this obscene trade.
* enlighten many -- Muslims included -- to the terrible
implications of Islam's apostasy law: not merely that it mandates death but
that it forces people to live their whole lives as prisoners of Sharia, with no
means of escape, generation after generation.
'The LORD looked and was displeased that there was no
justice. He saw that there was no one, he was appalled that there was no one to
intervene; so his own arm achieved salvation for him . . . ' (From Isaiah
59:15b-16.)
SUMMARY FOR BULLETINS UNABLE TO RUN THE WHOLE ARTICLE
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WHAT SALAFIS IN EGYPT WANT FROM COPTIC GIRLS
In Islam, a child inherits the religious identity of the
father. If that is Muslim, then it is inescapable because rejecting Islam is a
capital offence. This religious designation has huge implications as Sharia
covers all of life, including whom you can marry. A girl deemed 'Muslim' must
marry a Muslim man so that the fruit of the Muslim womb is always Muslim. However,
a Muslim man may marry a Christian. Afraid of Christian influence, Salafis
disapprove of all interfaith marriage. Salafis are known to abduct Coptic
Christian girls who are then forcibly converted and married to Muslim men.
Furthermore, by claiming the girls have freely converted to Islam, they say the
case is about religious freedom and not abduction across religious lines. May
God bring justice to Egypt.
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With
persecution escalating and intensifying globally, please consider participating
in International Day of Prayer (IDOP) for the persecuted church on 11
November. 'For we wrestle not against
flesh and blood . . .' (Ephesians 6:12). See Critical Prayer Requests (CPR)
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