RLPB 708. August Update, incl. India, Pakistan, Iraq, Nicaragua

Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 708 | Wed 30 Aug 2023
RLPB is published weekly to facilitate strategic intercessory prayer.

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AUGUST 2023 UPDATE & ROUNDUP
By Elizabeth Kendal

UPDATE: DURING AUGUST 2023 WE PRAYED CONCERNING

THE MISSING [RLPB 704 (2 Aug)] and asked the Lord to shed light on the plight or fate of church leaders, missionaries and human rights lawyers who have gone missing after being abducted or arrested. We prayed specifically for a pastor and three elders abducted by troops in Burma’s Chin State; for Gratia Pello (40) theologian and apologist in Indonesia, who has not been seen since being arrested for ‘blasphemy’ in December 2022; for Reverend Hans-Joachim Lohre and Father Père Joël Yougbaré, two Catholic priests abducted in the terrorist-infested Sahel; and for Gao Zhisheng, a Christian human rights lawyer, missing in China for nearly six years since his capture in late 2017. We pray for their deliverance; but at the very least, that their loved ones would know the truth. Lord have mercy.

Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence?  If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! (from Psalm 139:7-12 ESV)

INDIA [RLPB 705 (9 Aug)], specifically the high cost of faith in Uttar Pradesh (UP) where dozens of pastors and believers – many of them young women/mothers – are languishing in various jails as radical Hindu nationalists exploit the state’s severe anti-conversion law to persecute Christians. Like ‘blasphemy’ in Pakistan, luring people toward religious conversion is a non-bailable offence in UP; the accused go straight to jail. We prayed especially for Pastor Harendra Singh, his wife Priya and their three-year-old son who has been incarcerated with his mother. In the words of one Christian leader, ‘The situation has reached such a stage that holding a prayer service or reading the Bible at home can land you in jail.’ Please pray.

CHINA [RLPB 706 (16 Aug)], where the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) new Measures on the Administration of Religious Activity Venues will, in the words of Bitter Winter, ‘convert places of worship into branches of the CCP propaganda system.’ We also prayed specifically for Christian human rights lawyer Yang Maodong (pseudonym: Guo Feixiong). Detained in January 2021, Yang was only formally arrested in January 2022 (two days after his wife died). On 11 May 2023, Yang was deemed guilty of subversion, and sentenced to eight years in prison. However, his whereabouts remain unknown. Yang Maodong now joins the ranks of ‘the missing’. Please pray.

PAKISTAN [RLPB 707 (23 Aug)], after radical Islamic fundamentalist clerics exploited a local accusation of blasphemy to incite a mob of up to 10,000 fanatical Muslims to attack the Christian colony in Jaranwala city in Faisalabad district, Punjab province. The Jaranwala pogrom of 16 August has left the Christian community totally shattered. Tensions remain high; harassment and threats continue; Christians fear justice will elude them. Please pray. We also prayed for Christians currently languishing in prison because of vexatious blasphemy allegations – especially for those who have been sentenced to death: including Noman Masih (22), Ashfaq Masih (34) and the long-suffering and ailing Pastor Zafar Bhatti (57). Lord have mercy.

UPDATE: A RELATED ‘BLASPHEMY’ ARREST

On Saturday night 19 August, police in Sahiwal (100km southwest of Jaranwala) arrested Ehsaan Shan Masih (27) and charged him with blasphemy under Section 295-A of Pakistan’s Penal Code which criminalises ‘deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs.’ Morning Star News (MSN) reports (22 Aug) that Eshaan Masih – an illiterate labourer and father of two children – reportedly uploaded images of the material that triggered the Jaranwala pogrom. Pastor Daniel told MSN: ‘[Ehsaan] came across a video on social media related to the attacks in Jaranwala that he posted on his TikTok account. Ehsaan was probably not even aware that sharing such content is a crime…’ Bishop Abraham Daniel of the Sahiwal Baptist Church told MSN that it was only due to prompt action from local police, who took Eshaan and his family into 'protective custody' [where members were subsequently beaten], that another major crisis was averted. Blasphemy is a non-bailable offence in Pakistan, and so Eshaam Masih remains in jail on judicial remand. He could face years of incarceration before his case is finally resolved. Please pray for Eshaam and for the Church in Pakistan.

AUGUST 2023 ROUND-UP – ALSO THIS MONTH

* INDIA: UPDATE ON MANIPUR
Background: RLPB 694, Manipur Burns, 17 May 2023

 David Thiek: tortured and beheaded.
screenshot from short film by Vishal Arora

During his most recent trip into Manipur (July), Indian Christian journalist Vishal Arora saw first-hand what ethno-religious hatred looks like in Manipur. While Vishal was in the area, a Meitei Hindu mob attacked a Kuki Christian community, killing a Kuki youth. A survivor told Visal how the Meitei mob tortured David Thiek (24) by severing his arms and legs before they beheaded him. They showed him where the Meitei put David’s severed head on public display to be mocked. Vishal reports that the near daily attacks on Christian Kuki-Zo communities are being perpetrated by ‘the Meitei extremist groups Arambai Tenggol and Meitei Leepun. But what is most striking,’ says Vishal, ‘is a claim by Kuki-Zo leaders. They say the Manipur Police, including their elite commandos, and the India Reserve Battalion, or the IRB, which reports to the state government, are present alongside the Meitei groups during these incidents of violence.’ Please pray.

Recommended
Article: The Men Behind Violence in the Indian State of Manipur,
by Vishal Arora. Published by Religion Unplugged, 18 August 2023
Video (YouTube): The Men Behind Violence In Manipur, India (11:30 mins),
by Vishal Arora. Published by Religion Unplugged, 16 Aug 2023.
WARNING: video footage is graphic and distressing (recommended for adults only). 

* IRAQ: AN EXISTENTIAL CHRISTIAN CRISIS
Update to RLPB 695, Iraq: An Existential Christian Crisis, 24 May 2023
and RLPB 702, Final Solution in Iraq, 19 July 2023

Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) has published a detailed report on what RLPB has been calling ‘an existential crisis’ for Iraq’s indigenous Assyrian Christians. Written by N. Moses, and dated 23 Aug 2023, the MEMRI report opens by rightly noting: ‘Although it has been five years since the Islamic State (ISIS) was defeated in Iraq, it appears that the danger to the Christians in the country remains, and is in fact escalating.’

Cardinal Sako vs Al-Kildani

A major struggle is underway over leadership of Iraq’s Chaldean Christian community and control of its resources. The struggle pits Cardinal Louis Raphaël Sako, the Patriarch of Baghdad and head of the Chaldean Church, against challenger Rayan Al-Kildani. A fellow ethnic Chaldean/Assyrian, Al-Kildani commands the Babylon Brigades (a militia within the Iran-backed Shi’ite-dominated Popular Mobilization Units (PMU)) and leads its political arm, the Babylon Movement. The crisis attracted international attention on 3 July when Iraq’s president, Abdul Latif Rashid – whose Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) is the more pro-Iranian of Iraq’s two main Kurdish political parties – entered the fray on the side of Rayan Al-Kildani. MEMRI rightly concludes: ‘These internal conflicts over the identity of Iraq’s Christian community are likely to further weaken it and endanger the future of this historic group in the country… The involvement of President Abdul Latif Rashid, which harms Sako, does not bode well for the future of the Chaldean Church and Christianity in Iraq generally… Iran’s man Al-Kildani seems to be following a pattern seen elsewhere, in both Syria and Lebanon, where Shi’ite militias and their non-Shi’ite front-men push for advantage against vulnerable religious minorities.’ An existential Christian crisis indeed! Lord have mercy.

Recommended
In Iraq, Struggles Over Power and Control of the Chaldean Catholic Church’s Resources and Identity; Iraq’s Interim President Sides With Patriarch Sako’s Rivals.
By N. Mozes, for MEMRI, 23 August 2023

* NICARAGUA: JESUITS TARGETED
Background: RLPB 660, Ortega Moves to Silence the Church, 31 Aug 2022.

On Tuesday 15 August the government of President Daniel Ortega ordered the confiscation of all assets belonging to the prestigious, Jesuit-run, Central American University (UCA) in the capital, Managua, after a judge labelled it a ‘centre of terrorism organised by criminal groups.’ Then, on Wednesday 23 August, the government banned the entire Society of Jesus (Jesuits) – from the country and ordered the confiscation of all its assets, claiming the religious order had failed to comply with tax reporting. At the time of writing, only 11 Jesuits remained in the country. The government has been pursuing the Catholic Church since April-May 2018, after it opened its doors to shelter the victims of deadly state violence. Reuters notes (23 Aug) that, since the anti-government protests of 2018, the government has ‘outlawed or closed more than 3000 civic groups and non-governmental organisations’. In its report, The Tablet notes (16 Aug), ‘Since 2021 the government has imposed restrictions on 25 private universities, including the Protestant Martin Luther King University.’ In May of this year, the government ordered the Nicaraguan Red Cross shut down, accusing it of ‘attacks on peace and stability’. In June, the government confiscated properties belonging to 222 forcibly exiled political prisoners, comprising church leaders, rights activists, journalists and lawyers [see RLPB 681, Forced Exile and Imprisonment, 22 Feb 2023]. Please pray for the Church in Nicaragua.

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Elizabeth Kendal is an international religious liberty analyst and advocate for the persecuted Church. The Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin (RLPB) is a donor funded ministry. To support this ministry visit www.ElizabethKendal.com

Elizabeth has authored two books: Turn Back the Battle: Isaiah Speaks to Christians Today (Deror Books, Melbourne, Australia, Dec 2012) which offers a Biblical response to persecution and existential threat; and After Saturday Comes Sunday: Understanding the Christian Crisis in the Middle East (Wipf and Stock, Eugene, OR, USA, June 2016). She is also an Adjunct Research Fellow at the Arthur Jeffery Centre for the Study of Islam at Melbourne School of Theology.

For more information see www.ElizabethKendal.com

RLPB 705. India: High Cost of Faith in Uttar Pradesh

Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 705 | Wed 09 Aug 2023
RLPB is published weekly to facilitate strategic intercessory prayer.

Sign up for the RLPB at www.ElizabethKendal.com  
View RLPB archives at Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin blog.
For bite-size: follow religiouslibertyprayer on Instagram.

INDIA: HIGH COST OF FAITH IN UTTAR PRADESH
By Elizabeth Kendal

Pastor Harendra Singh and his wife Priya. 
Facebook/Harendra Singh.
Christian Post 4 August 2023

On Sunday 30 July, 15 Christians – including three pastors – were arrested and imprisoned in four separate incidents across four districts of Uttar Pradesh in response to complaints by Hindu nationalist activists of illegal ‘forced conversion’. In Barabanki district, Protestant Pastor Harendra Singh and his wife, Priya, were arrested during a prayer and worship service held in their home. The couple faced court the following day, charged with violating the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Religious Conversion Law, 2020. Bail was denied, and the couple’s three-year-old son has been incarcerated with his mother. In Ghazipur district, Pastor Amarjeet Ram and five other believers were arrested during a Sunday prayer meeting in Balapur village. Bail was denied and the believers were jailed. A further five Christians were arrested and jailed in Azamgarh district; two other believers were arrested and jailed in Jhansi district. A Christian leader who did not want to be named told Catholic media (UCA, 2 Aug) that persecution of Christians has become a routine affair in Uttar Pradesh. ‘The situation has reached such a stage that holding a prayer service or reading the Bible at home can land you in jail,’ he said.

Earlier in July, police arrested and imprisoned nine believers (eight women and one man) in Azamgarh district after Hindu nationalists stormed their prayer gathering, smashing church property, hurling abuse, issuing threats and accusing the couple of luring villagers to convert to Christianity. Subsequently, a group of five Christian women gathered at a home to pray for the imprisoned believers; they too were likewise accused, arrested and jailed. An eyewitness told International Christian Concern (ICC, 26 July) that most of the women are young mothers with small children at home, and that ‘their families are going through enormous trauma and stress due to this’. On Sunday 9 July police arrested Pastor Baburam and nine other believers in Siddhanpurwa village, in Bahraich district, after a case was registered against 19 believers – all of whom police are determined to arrest. A local pastor visited the jailed believers, all of whom had been denied bail. Speaking to ICC (26 July), Pastor Baburam’s wife laments: ‘The situation is very dangerous for Christians in the entire area where we are living now, since there is absolutely no freedom to gather and worship. If we want to worship, we need to be ready to go to jail; that is what happened to my husband and his congregation.’

Located in North India, Uttar Pradesh is ruled by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party; hard-line Hindu cleric Yogi Adityanath is the Chief Minister. It is one of 12 Indian states to have enacted harsh anti-conversion laws which are used to persecute religious minorities, including Christians, who account for a mere 0.18 of the state’s 200 million population. The New Delhi-based United Christian Forum (UCF) has recorded 400 incidents of persecution against Christians across India in the past six months; 155 occurred in Uttar Pradesh. According to Catholic media, in May 2023 at least 33 pastors and believers were languishing in different jails in 12 districts in Uttar Pradesh (UP). And as investigative journalists from The Quint have discovered, virtually all of those arrests are illegal – in breach the law they are based on – because the complaints are being registered not by the ‘aggrieved person’ or their family (as the law intimates), but by Hindutva activists who have never been subjected to an illegal ‘forced conversion’ [The Quint, 10 April 2023; includes a 16 minute video report]. As Morning Star News reports (6 June 2023): ‘From December 2020 [after the anti-conversion law was passed] through May, 234 people have been arrested and jailed under the statute, none convicted …’ (emphasis mine). It seems the aim is not to criminalise Christians, as that could have geo-political implications. Rather, the aim is to intimidate, persecute and paralyse Christians, to make church life unviable and Christian witness costly.

Pastor R. Kirubendran with his
wife Manju Tiruvendram and
18-month-old daughter.
(Morning Star News, 6 June 2023)

Pastor Santosh John and his wife, Jiji, were arrested on Sunday 26 February while leading a prayer service in Ghaziabad district. The police questioned the couple and then released them, after which a mob of some 50 Hindu nationalists besieged the station and protested until the couple were re-arrested. The couple faced court the next day; bail was denied and they were jailed. They spent a month behind bars before being released on 29 March when the allegations could not be proved. Pastor R. Kirubendran (33) and his wife Manju Tiruvendram (32) were arrested and jailed in Kasimabad, a town in Ghazipur district, on Sunday 23 April. The couple’s 18-month-old daughter was incarcerated with her mother. After 13 days in jail, Manu and her daughter were released on bail. Pastor Kirubendran was released on bail on 24 May having spent a month in prison. ‘When I could not get bail, my heart became very sad,’ Pastor Kirubendran told Morning Star News (MSN, 6 June). ‘Initially I always prayed that the Lord would grant the bail, but my bail plea was repeatedly rejected. I changed my prayer to, “Lord, whether I get the bail or not, let my faith stay steadfast.”’ Pastor Kirubendran told MSN that they had never experienced any opposition before and, whilst the church had around 90 members, resuming worship is not feasible. ‘My life can get in danger,’ he said. ‘I must stay safe and keep a low profile.’


PLEASE PRAY THAT OUR MERCIFUL GOD WILL:

* comfort, encourage and sustain India’s many incarcerated pastors and believers, along with their traumatised congregations and families who are left to struggle without a pastor, a spouse, or a parent. We pray especially today for those who were recently arrested during Sunday worship and jailed in Uttar Pradesh, including many young mothers and several ministry couples including Pastor Harendra Singh and his wife, Priya, whose three-year-old son is incarcerated with his mother. Lord have mercy.

* intervene in power in Hindu India to ‘bind the strong man’ [Satan] who is holding the nation captive to lies that lead to death, while keeping the people ignorant of the truth that leads to life.

How can someone enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? Then indeed he may plunder his house (Jesus, in Matthew 12:29 ESV).

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places (Ephesians 6:12 ESV).

* raise up powerful, influential voices in India – from the Centre to the village – who will expose the dangers and immorality of divisive, intolerant Hindu nationalism.

* protect and sustain Indian Christians who risk much to pray with the sick, witness for Christ, help the needy and even just gather together for prayer and worship. Lord have mercy.


SUMMARY FOR BULLETINS UNABLE TO RUN THE WHOLE ARTICLE
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INDIA: HIGH COST OF FAITH IN UTTAR PRADESH

Uttar Pradesh is one of 12 Indian states to have enacted repressive anti-conversion laws. Despite comprising a mere 0.18 of Uttar Pradesh’s 200 million population, Christians are routinely targeted for persecution as Hindu nationalists use the anti-conversion law to intimidate, persecute and paralyse Christians, making church life unviable and Christian witness costly. Catholic media reported in May that at least 33 pastors and believers were languishing in different jails in 12 districts across Uttar Pradesh. On Sunday 30 July 15 Christians – including three pastors – were arrested during worship and imprisoned in four ‘anti-conversion’ incidents across four districts of Uttar Pradesh. One Christian leader laments: ‘The situation has reached such a stage that holding a prayer service or reading the Bible at home can land you in jail.’ Please pray.

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Elizabeth Kendal is an international religious liberty analyst and advocate for the persecuted Church. The Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin (RLPB) is a donor funded ministry. To support this ministry visit www.ElizabethKendal.com

Elizabeth has authored two books: Turn Back the Battle: Isaiah Speaks to Christians Today (Deror Books, Melbourne, Australia, Dec 2012) which offers a Biblical response to persecution and existential threat; and After Saturday Comes Sunday: Understanding the Christian Crisis in the Middle East (Wipf and Stock, Eugene, OR, USA, June 2016). She is also an Adjunct Research Fellow at the Arthur Jeffery Centre for the Study of Islam at Melbourne School of Theology.

For more information see www.ElizabethKendal.com

RLPB 703. July Update, incl. Vietnam, Eritrea, India, Iran, Nicaragua, Nigeria

Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 703 | Wed 26 Jul 2023
RLPB is published weekly to facilitate strategic intercessory prayer.

Sign up for the RLPB at www.ElizabethKendal.com  
View RLPB archives at Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin blog.
For bite-size: follow religiouslibertyprayer on Instagram.

JULY 2023 UPDATE & ROUNDUP
By Elizabeth Kendal

UPDATE: DURING JULY WE PRAYED CONCERNING

VIETNAM [RLPB 700 (5 July)], after the ruling Communist Party of Vietnam deployed massive military force into the Central Highlands province of Dak Lak in response to the deadly 11 June attack on two government offices in Dak Lak’s Cu Kuin district. We prayed specifically for the Central Highlands’ indigenous, predominantly Christian hills tribes who feared the deployment could herald an escalation in ethno-religious persecution and displacement. We also prayed for imprisoned Protestant Pastor and religious liberty advocate Nguyen Trung Ton (51), whose health continues to deteriorate as the authorities continue to withhold medical care.

UPDATE: On 21 July the Director of Dak Lak’s provincial police announced that all six suspected ringleaders of the 11 June attacks had been arrested. In total, more than 90 people have been arrested on multiple charges including terrorism. Please pray that the situation will now settle and that the government will withdraw its forces. Pray that no innocent, wrongly arrested person will be condemned; may justice prevail. Pray that the government will not exploit the situation to advance the ethno-religious persecution and displacement of the Central Highlands’ Montagnard/Degar Christians. Pray for the Church in Vietnam.

PHILIPPINES [RLPB 701 (12 July)], where the government of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and Vice President Sara Duterte appear set to continue the dangerous practice of ‘red-tagging’ its critics. Since the May 2022 elections, religious workers – including priests, bishops and missionaries – associated with the Protestant Iglesia Filipina Independiente (IFI, an independent member of the worldwide Anglican Communion), the United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP) and the Roman Catholic Rural Missionaries of the Philippines (RMP) have been ‘red-tagged’ – i.e. falsely accused of recruiting for or financing the New People’s Army (NPA; the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines). Victims of ‘red-tagging’ are often arrested, murdered or disappeared – mostly at the hands of the Philippine Armed Forces, and mostly for doing nothing more than criticising government policy. Please pray.

AZERBAIJAN AND IRAQ [RLPB 702 (19 July)], where remnant indigenous Armenians in Azerbaijan’s Nagorno-Karabakh (N-K) and remnant indigenous Assyrians in Iraq’s Nineveh Plains now face political (as distinct from military) efforts to drive them from their lands. While the besieged Christians of N-K face a government-induced humanitarian catastrophe, the displaced Christians of the Nineveh Plains face a political conspiracy of dispossession. If these Christians are forced to surrender their lands – lands they have inhabited for millennia – they will be replaced by land-grabbing Muslims backed by colonising governments. Those colonising Muslims will move quickly to erase millennia of Armenian, Assyrian and Christian heritage, as if it never existed. For up to 400,000 already traumatised Armenians and Assyrians, this is a Christians crisis of existential proportions. Please pray.

JULY 2023 ROUND-UP – ALSO THIS MONTH

* ERITREA: PASTORS MARK 7000 NIGHTS IN PRISON

On Saturday 22 July, as noted by Voice of the Martyrs (USA), Pastors Haile Nayzgi and Kiflu Gebremeskel spent their 7000th night in detention. Arrested on 23 May 2004, the pastors were leaders in the Full Gospel/Kale Hiwot Church of Eritrea, one of the many Protestant denominations banned in May 2002. Pastor Haile Nayzgi also served as chair of that denomination, while Pastor Kiflu Gebremeskel also served as chair of the Eritrean Evangelical Alliance. While Pastor Nayzgi is reported to be in good health, Pastor Gebremeskel has been seen ‘visiting hospital frequently under tight security’. Neither man has ever been charged with any crime. Both are believed to be held in the maximum-security Wengel Mermera Central Criminal Investigation Interrogation Centre. An estimated 400 Christians in Eritrea are currently imprisoned for their faith, many in appalling conditions in shipping containers in military camps, in unsanitary over-crowded prisons, and even in underground cells in the desert [see also RLPB 671, The Horror of Eritrea, 16 Nov 2022]. Please pray for the Church in Eritrea; and may God intervene to deliver Eritreans from tyranny.

Make haste, O God, to deliver me! O Lord, make haste to help me! (Psalm 70:1 ESV)

* INDIA: MANIPUR TEARING APART

On 19 July footage emerged from Manipur showing a mob of hundreds of ethnic Meitei Hindu men parading two naked ethnic Kuki Christian women through the streets. The horrific crime, which took place on 4 May (one day after the violence erupted), went far beyond mere humiliation. According to a report by British Asian Christians (21 July), the terrified women – aged 50 and 19 – were abused, groped and assaulted, before the younger woman was taken into a field and gang raped. When her father and brother tried to rescue her, they were bludgeoned to death. It is alleged (unconfirmed) that the women – who had been hiding in the bush as the Meitei burned their village – were betrayed by police who, instead of helping them as promised, led them into the hands of the mob.

Kuki 'Rally for Separate Administration',
Churachandpur, 20 July. (India Today)

The human toll – which is overwhelmingly Kuki – now stands at: at least 140 dead and 60,000 displaced; with over 4400 Kuki homes and 357 churches (Kuki and Meitei) burned, many razed to the ground. Convinced their relationship with the Meitei Hindus of the Imphal Valley is now damaged beyond repair, the Christian Kuki of the Manipur hills are demanding a separate state. On Thursday 20 July some 10,000 ethnic Kuki gathered in Lamka Public Ground in Churachandpur (in the hills, 63km south-west of Imphal) for the ‘Rally for Separate Administration’. Please pray!

Let them be put to shame and confusion who seek my life! Let them be turned back and brought to dishonour who delight in my hurt! Let them turn back because of their shame who say, “Aha, Aha!” (Psalm 70:2-3)

* IRAN: 50 CONVERTS ARRESTED IN A WEEK

Article18 reports (18 July): ‘More than 50 Christian converts have been arrested in a rash of new incidents across five Iranian cities over the past seven days, with fears the number could rise much higher as fresh reports keep coming in. At least 51 of those arrested at their homes or house-churches – in the cities of Tehran, Karaj, Rasht, Orumiyeh and Aligoudarz – remain in detention on unknown charges, while others have been released on bail.’ The evident crackdown on converts and house-churches comes as the Shi’ite regime re-instigates (after a brief pause) its aggressive policing of Islamic norms. On Sunday 16 July the regime announced its morality police patrol units would resume operations. Of particular concern to the regime is women’s compliance concerning the hijab, which has been compulsory since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Christian fear this wave of arrests heralds the beginning of a renewed effort to crush dissent, enforce Islamic norms and revive the values of the Islamic Revolution. Please pray for the Church in Iran.

May all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you! May those who love your salvation say evermore, 'God is great!' (Psalm 70:4)

* NICARAGUA: BISHOP CHOOSES JAIL OVER ROME

Having already chosen jail over exile in the USA, Bishop Rolando José Álvarez (56) has now chosen jail over Rome. Bishop Álvarez was arrested on 19 August 2022, ostensibly for his outspoken criticism of the regime of President Daniel Ortega. On 9 February 2023 the Nicaraguan government forcibly exiled 222 political prisoners, stripping them of their citizenship and putting them on a flight to the USA. Despite being given the option of exile, Bishop Álvarez chose to stay in his native country to be with the Catholic community under repression by the Ortega regime. The next day, on 10 February, the regime stripped Bishop Álvarez of his citizenship and sentenced him to 26 years in prison [see RLPB 681, 22 Feb]. Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) reports that, on 4 July, Bishop Álvarez was taken from prison to meet with a mediator ‘assigned by the Vatican who tried to persuade him to go to Rome. The bishop refused the offer and called on the government to grant his unconditional release and that of five other imprisoned priests, to unfreeze the bank accounts of Roman Catholic dioceses throughout the country and to halt its targeting of religious groups and leaders.’ The next day, on 5 July, Bishop Álvarez was returned to La Modelo Tipitapa prison, where he will continue to share in the suffering of the Nicaraguan Church. Lord have mercy! Please pray.

But I am poor and needy; hasten to me, O God! You are my help and my deliverer; O Lord, do not delay! (Psalm 70:5)

* NIGERIA: CHRISTIAN CRISIS IN PLATEAU STATE

Since mid-May, Christians in central Plateau State have been under sustained attack as large bands of Muslim Fulani herdsmen have attacked village after village, seemingly with impunity. Morning Star News (MSN) reports (7 June) that between mid-May and early June at least 300 Christians, including two pastors, were killed and 30,000 residents were displaced, while some 2,000 homes and 28 churches were destroyed in Mangu Local Government Area (LGA), central Plateau. In June the killings continued and spread west to Barkin Ladi and Riyom LGAs in Plateau’s north-west bordering some of the most conflict-stricken LGAs of south-east Kaduna. On 4 July, Truth Nigeria warned that ‘several hundred terrorists’ were ‘massing in the Fulani ethnic settlement of Bangai [in Riyom LGA] … They are moving on motorbikes, 3 men to a bike and may number as many as 800.’ On Sunday 9 July the new governor of Plateau State, Caleb Mutfwang imposed a 24-hour curfew on Mangu LGA in an attempt to restore order as the army sent reinforcements.

TVC News Nigeria, 13 July 2023,
video 3:13mins

On 17 July Governor Mutfwang labelled the wave of killings ‘a clear genocide’, adding, ‘what we are seeing is a deliberated and orchestrated plan to wipe out numbers of people’. As he noted, these killings cannot be described as ‘herder-farmer clashes’, for the villages are attacked at night and the residents are slaughtered in their beds. On 20 July Truth Nigeria warned that the ‘mother of all invasions’ was being prepared. According to intelligence they had received, the ‘invasion’ would start in Mangu LGA, and spread into neighbouring Barkin Ladi, and on through Riyom, Jos South and Bassa, employing not only Fulani herdsmen, but jihadists and mercenaries recruited from across Nigeria and the Sahel. By 24 July officials were reporting that Mangu LGA was housing some 80,000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in eleven makeshift camps, relying mostly on donations from local churches. One IDP, Grace Emmanuel (70) laments: ‘The crisis has made us homeless, our farmland has been destroyed and we have to manage to live in this primary school. It’s not easy, we don’t have anything to eat. We go and fetch water from the well, [but] sometimes the water is not enough for thousands of us.’ Lord have mercy! Please pray.

Make haste, O God, to deliver me! … O Lord, do not delay! (first and last words of Psalm 70).

---------------------------------

Elizabeth Kendal is an international religious liberty analyst and advocate for the persecuted Church. The Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin (RLPB) is a donor funded ministry. To support this ministry visit www.ElizabethKendal.com

Elizabeth has authored two books: Turn Back the Battle: Isaiah Speaks to Christians Today (Deror Books, Melbourne, Australia, Dec 2012) which offers a Biblical response to persecution and existential threat; and After Saturday Comes Sunday: Understanding the Christian Crisis in the Middle East (Wipf and Stock, Eugene, OR, USA, June 2016). She is also an Adjunct Research Fellow at the Arthur Jeffery Centre for the Study of Islam at Melbourne School of Theology.

For more information see www.ElizabethKendal.com

RLPB 699. June Update, incl. Sudan, Azerbaijan, India, Iraq, Nigeria, Uganda

Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 699 | Wed 28 June 2023
RLPB is published weekly to facilitate strategic intercessory prayer.

Sign up for the RLPB at www.ElizabethKendal.com  
View RLPB archives at Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin blog.
For bite-size: follow religiouslibertyprayer on Instagram.

JUNE 2023 UPDATE & ROUNDUP
By Elizabeth Kendal

UPDATE: DURING JUNE WE PRAYED CONCERNING

HONG KONG [RLPB 696 (7 June)], after three Chinese Communist Party (CCP)-approved religious umbrella bodies – the China Christian Council, the Three-Self Patriotic Movement and the Hong Kong Christian Council – held their first ever conference on ‘The Sinicisation of Christianity’ in Hong Kong. If Beijing’s directly imposed national security law (enacted June 2020) ended the era of ‘One China Two Systems’, then the conference doubtless heralds the end of an era of ‘tolerance’. Hong Kong’s roughly 1500 churches, 35 Bible Colleges and multiple Christian media organisations will now be expected to either ‘sinicise’ – i.e. become obedient servants of the CCP – or face persecution and dissolution, as on the mainland. Please pray for the Church in Hong Kong.

NORTH KOREA [RLPB 697 (14 June)], after the arrest of five Christians who had gathered at a farmhouse for a secret time of pre-dawn prayer and worship. In North Korea, the Kim Dynasty alone is to be worshipped and obeyed. Putting God above the Kim dynasty is a political crime in North Korea, the penalty for which would normally be that the accused – along with three generations of their family – would be imprisoned in a concentration camp and condemned to hard labour. These prisons are essentially death camps, where many prisoners die from brutality and starvation. A local resident told Radio Free Asia: ‘A staff member of the judicial agency told us that the [believers] refused to tell where they got their Bibles and said, “All for Jesus, even in death”.’ Please pray for the Church in North Korea.

SUDAN [RLPB 698 (21 June)], as the conflict which erupted on 15 April in Khartoum between the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) spreads south, into South Kordofan, threatening the lives of well over a million Christians. The Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army-North (Hilu faction: which represents the interests of the predominantly Christian Nuba tribes) is fighting both RSF and SAF forces. On 12 June, the SAF dropped bombs on the long marginalised, predominantly Christian Nuba Mountains for the first time since 2016. Christians in the jihad-ravaged Nuba Mountains are again facing the spectre of war, famine and death.

UPDATE: CONFLICT ESCALATES IN SOUTH KORDOFAN

Whilst most reports contain contested and unconfirmed accounts, fighting does appear to be escalating along the El Obeid – Kadugli axis, with the RSF and SAF fighting each other, and the SPLM-N (Hilu faction) forced to fight both. Responding to claims it has breached a cessation of hostilities agreement, the SPLM-N (Hilu faction) has publicly stated that it reserves the right ‘to respond to any attacks against the Nuba people in areas controlled by [its] army’. The situation is fluid; tensions are soaring, and much is at stake. Meanwhile, in Khartoum, numerous reports indicate that the RSF has taken control of most of the city by using civilians as human shields. Of course such a tactic would never work in Darfur (which is rich in gold) or South Kordofan (where most of Sudan’s oil reserves are located) or in Blue Nile (which is rich in water) as the SAF has never had a problem with bombing and strafing non-Arab civilians. The spectre of protracted devastating war looms large over the entire non-Arab periphery, including the predominantly Christian Nuba Mountains (population estimated to be around 1.5 million). Lord have mercy! Please pray.


JUNE 2023 ROUND-UP – ALSO THIS MONTH

* AZERBAIJAN: LACHIN CORRIDOR CLOSED

On 15 June Armenian and Azerbaijani soldiers engaged in a skirmish at the entrance to the Lachin/Berdzor Corridor. Each side blamed the other, and Azerbaijan responded by closing the corridor – which is the only road connecting Artsakh/Nagorno-Karabakh (N-K) to Armenia and the outside world. The closure extends to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) – which is responsible for getting humanitarian aid in and medical evacuations out – and Russian peacekeepers. On 20 June, Artsakh State Minister Gurgen Nersisyan lamented: ‘The situation is turning disastrous day by day, and it is incomprehensible why the world tolerates this.’ In a statement dated 23 June, the European Union described the situation as ‘very worrying’, adding, ‘It directly threatens the livelihoods of the local population and raises serious fears of a potential humanitarian crisis.’ Few doubt that Turkic Muslim Azerbaijan is eager to ethnically cleanse Artsakh/N-K of Armenian Christians. Talks are currently underway in Moscow. Please pray.

BACKGROUND: STALIN’S BORDERS
Long part of, and integral to, the historic Christian Kingdom of Armenia, Artsakh/Nagorno-Karabakh (NK) now exists as an Armenian Christian enclave inside Turkic Muslim Azerbaijan. In the 1920s-30s, Stalin carved up the Russian Federation into ethnic republics to create the Union of Social Soviet Republics (USSR). To ensure that the ethnic minorities of the Russian Federation’s periphery (e.g. Ukrainians, Uzbeks, Azeris etc) could not break away, Stalin made sure (by way of borders) that each SSR included a large (often 40 percent) ethnic minority. Following this strategy, Stalin placed Artsakh – which includes the mountainous NK region – inside the borders of the Azerbaijan SSR. By this means, Stalin hoped to keep the periphery restive (therefore focused on itself, not the centre) and forever tied to the Russian SSR. This is why so many Russians consider the break-up of the Soviet Union a disaster: it left millions of Russians – along with Armenians and others – stranded, as ethnic minorities, often in hostile territory, separated from their ethnic kin and co-religionists by artificial borders imposed by a mischievous dictator. Stalin’s ally, fellow Communist Bros Tito did the same in Yugoslavia. We continue to live with the consequences. Lord have mercy!

* INDIA: MANIPUR STILL BURNING
Update to RLPB 694. Manipur Burns, 17 May 2023

Manipur Violence: Escaping the Conflict,
 Kuki Families Find Safe Haven in Delhi.
The Quint, 1 June 2023

The ethno-religious violence that erupted in Manipur on 3 May shows no sign of abating. In an open letter dated 16 June and bearing the signatures of some 550 civil society groups, advocates demand Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi end his silence over the sectarian violence that has claimed some 115 lives and displaced over 50,000 people, mostly ethnic Kuki Christians. Catholic media reports (21 June): ‘The June 16 letter called for “an immediate stop to divisive politics by the state and security forces”… Manipur is burning today in very large part due to the divisive politics played by the BJP and its governments. And on them lies the onus to stop this ongoing civil war before more lives are lost.’

On 19 June Times of Israel expressed alarm regarding the plight of Manipur’s ethnic Kuki, Jewish Bnei Menashe community, among whom one has been killed and over 1000 are now displaced (20 percent of the community), while two synagogues have been burned to the ground. An estimated 292 Bnei Menashe families have fled into the Kuki-majority hill areas within Manipur or to the nearby state of Mizoram. Times of Israel quotes researcher, Sushant Singh – who accuses state police and security forces of joining Meitei groups in targeting Kukis: ‘It has essentially been a state gone rogue acting against a minority community.’

On 20 June India’s top court declined to entertain an urgent hearing on a plea filed by the Manipur Tribal Forum to deploy army personnel to protect Kuki Christians in strife-torn Manipur. A Catholic official told UCA News (21 June): ‘Abandoned houses of displaced Christians continued to be burnt down, apparently, in a planned attempt to erase their existence there.’ Lord have mercy! Please pray.

* IRAQ: EXISTENTIAL CRISIS IN NINEVEH PLAINS
Update to RLPB 695, May Update, Iraq: An Existential Christian Crisis, 24 May 2023

In an open letter dated 19 June, five Iraqi political groups led by Christian leaders and activists protested the large-scale real estate operations underway in Northern Iraq designed to change the demographics of the Nineveh Plains. The five political groups are: the Assyrian Democratic Movement (Zowaa), the National Union of Beth Nahrain, the Abnaa al-Nahrain Party, the Assyrian National Party and the Chaldean-Assyrian-Syriac Popular Council. The ‘Babylon Movement’ – which controls four of the five seats reserved for Christian deputies in the Iraqi Parliament – did not sign. As noted in RLPB 695 (24 May) the Babylon Movement is profoundly compromised. Having won its seats on the votes of Sunni Kurds and Shi’ite Arabs, it is obliged to advance the interests of those communities, not the region’s indigenous Assyrian Christians.

The illegal real estate operation involves the municipalities of Nineveh selling residential land in the Assyrian homeland of the Nineveh Plains to individuals who are not from the region and who are not members of the Assyrian Christian community. The operation violates Iraq’s 2005 constitution Article 23.3.b – ‘Ownership of property for the purposes of demographic change is prohibited’ – and the 2013 Federal Supreme Court ruling which interpreted that article.

The signatories are appealing for Iraq’s Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ Al Sudani and other relevant Ministers to intervene immediately to put a stop to the illegal sale of land and real estate in the Nineveh Plains to individuals outside the indigenous Assyrian Christian community. If the Iraqi government fails, then the end of the Assyrian nation’s existence in its historic homeland is all but guaranteed. If the constitution is not upheld, then, within a few years, Muslims will come to dominate the Nineveh Plains and the indigenous Assyrians will be driven out, ending a history that spans well over three millennia. Please pray.

* NIGERIA: CHRISTIAN CRISIS PERSISTS IN MIDDLE BELT

At least 450 Christians have been killed in the Middle Belt states of Nasarawa, Benue and Plateau states since mid-May. Christianity Today reports (22 June): ‘Tens of thousands were displaced… Whole villages, dozens of church buildings and thousands of homes reportedly were destroyed. Grain was looted.’ The culprits: Muslim Fulani herdsmen. International Christian Concern reports (27 June): ‘Christian communities in Plateau State, North-Central Nigeria, were heavily hit this month by radical Fulani militants…Thirty-seven Christian farmers saw their crops destroyed and land taken over by Fulani this month.’ Christian communities are targeted in what is an orchestrated campaign of Fulani-Islamic expansion. Civilians are massacred, farms are seized, churches are burned, believers are abducted and pastors are slaughtered – all with impunity. There is no security. Lord have mercy! Please pray. [For stories and more detail see Morning Star News / Nigeria.]

* UGANDA: ISLAMIC STATE TERROR ROCKS THE WEST

Uganda school attack
survivor speaks of ordeal.
(Al Jazeera, 18 June 2023)

On Friday evening 16 June, the roughly 60 boarding students at Lhubiriha Secondary School in Mpondwe, in Uganda’s Western Region, were singing Gospel songs (as is their custom at the end of the day) when they came under attack. The five terrorists – presumed to be Islamic State Democratic Republic of Congo (ISDRC) – first targeted the boys’ dormitory. When the boys refused to open the door, the terrorists unleashed a round of gunfire. They then dowsed the dormitory with flammable liquid and set it alight. They then moved on to the girls’ dormitory where they attacked the girls with machetes, all the while shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’ (Allah is greater). The dead include 38 students, one guard and two members of the local community. Eight survivors remain in a critical condition in hospital. Six students were abducted – taken across the border into DRC’s terror-wracked North Kivu Province. Three students who had managed to escape were subsequently rescued by the Ugandan Army. A woman with two children who had been kidnapped outside the school was also rescued, together with her children.

Due to its location – close to border of Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC’s) North Kivu Province where ISDRC [formerly known as the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF)] is believed to be based [see RLPB 681 (22 Feb)] – many believe the school should have been provided with more security. By 20 June more than 20 people had been arrested, including school officials who stand accused of collaborating with the terrorists for personal gain. Please pray for the grieving families, for the wounded and traumatised, and for the school community. May justice be done, may Islamic State be defeated and may peace and security be restored in predominantly Christian Uganda and in predominantly Christian DR Congo’s long-suffering north-east.

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Elizabeth Kendal is an international religious liberty analyst and advocate for the persecuted Church. The Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin (RLPB) is a donor funded ministry. To support this ministry visit www.ElizabethKendal.com

Elizabeth has authored two books: Turn Back the Battle: Isaiah Speaks to Christians Today (Deror Books, Melbourne, Australia, Dec 2012) which offers a Biblical response to persecution and existential threat; and After Saturday Comes Sunday: Understanding the Christian Crisis in the Middle East (Wipf and Stock, Eugene, OR, USA, June 2016). She is also an Adjunct Research Fellow at the Arthur Jeffery Centre for the Study of Islam at Melbourne School of Theology.

For more information see www.ElizabethKendal.com

RLPB 695. May Update, incl. India (Manipur), Australia, Azerbaijan, Burma (Myanmar), Chad, India (Goa), Iran, Iraq, Mali, Pakistan, Sudan

Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 695 | Wed 24 May 2023
RLPB is published weekly to facilitate strategic intercessory prayer.

Sign up for the RLPB at www.ElizabethKendal.com  
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NOTICE: There will be no RLPB next week – Wednesday 31 May – as I will be taking a much-needed break. Consequently, I am publishing the May Update this week, giving us plenty to pray about for the rest of May.

MAY 2023 UPDATE & ROUNDUP
By Elizabeth Kendal

UPDATE: DURING MAY WE PRAYED CONCERNING

BANGLADESH [RLPB 692 (3 May)], where the Bangladesh Armed Forces is waging a counter-terror operation in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. Because the BAF accuses the Christian Kuki-Chin minority of providing aid and support to al-Qaeda-linked jihadists (JAFHS), the Christian Kuki-Chin – who are seeking autonomy so they might preserve their people, lands and culture – are also under attack. Thousands have been driven from their homes, with the help of a tribal Buddhist militia that has forged a peace deal with the Bangladeshi government. This is an on-going – and indeed, existential – Christian crisis. Please pray.

LIBYA [RLPB 693 (10 May)], where six Libyan nationals who have been arrested for apostasy (leaving Islam) and Christian proselytism (missionary work) could face the death penalty if found guilty. The authorities have broadcast video footage of their recorded ‘confessions’; one believer had already broken under torture. Please pray.
 
INDIA [RLPB 694 (17 May)], where rioting in the North East state of Manipur by the dominant, mostly Hindu Meitei tribe against the mostly Christian Kuki-Chin hill tribes has left the Christian community deeply traumatised.

UPDATE: SUPREME COURT BACKS CHRISTIAN APPEAL

On 17 May India’s Supreme Court (SC) heard a petition filed by the Manipur Tribal Forum appealing for urgent intervention to contain the violence. The SC’s Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud denounced the order of the Manipur High Court that led to the sectarian violence, declaring it ‘absolutely wrong’, and asked Manipur’s BJP-led state government to furnish the SC with a status report. A senior Catholic Church leader described the effect of the Chief Justice’s words as ‘like applying balm on the wounds’. ‘The high court order paved the way for violence and now the top court in the country has termed it illegal. This is something heart-warming amidst tension and fear,’ Father Velikakkam told UCA News on 18 May. The toll to date: more than 70 dead and 231 injured; with 121 churches and some 1700 homes burned. The state has opened 318 relief camps in which 47,914 persons have been accommodated. While those in the camps are receiving some aid, those taken in by relatives and those languishing in the bush, are not receiving any government assistance. Around 62 companies of Central Armed Forces and 126 columns of the Indian Army have been deployed along with state police to maintain law and order. Please pray.

‘your ruin is vast as the sea; who can heal you?’ [from Lamentations 2]

But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.” [Lamentations 3:21-24 ESV]


MAY 2023 ROUND-UP – ALSO THIS MONTH

* AUSTRALIA: A.C.T. GOVERNMENT SEIZES CATHOLIC HOSPITAL

Calvary Public Hospital, Canberra, A.C.T.

Located in Canberra, in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), Calvary Public Hospital is one of two major public hospitals in the city. Owned and run by the Catholic Church, Calvary Hospital has been serving the community since 1979. In recent years, however, the ACT’s Labor-Greens coalition government has been at war with the hospital administration over its ‘definition of healthcare’. As the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reports (ABC, 17 May): ‘For the government, the provision of abortion is non-negotiable, whereas Calvary Hospital relies on institutional conscientious objection to refrain from participating in abortion based on the conviction that it is morally wrong to intentionally end a human life.’ On 11 May the ACT government passed the Health Infrastructure Enabling Bill 2023. The legislation enables the government to legally take ‘the Calvary Public Hospital land, and transition existing Calvary staff and assets to the Territory’. This is happening at ‘breakneck speed’, with the acquisition set to be complete by 3 July.

John Steenhof of the Human Rights Law Alliance notes, this ‘disquieting move ... has sparked concerns about the future of religious freedom rights… Despite the government’s assertions that the acquisition is not related to ideology, the forced acquisition comes shortly after the release of the final report of the government’s inquiry into abortion access in the ACT, which was scathing of Calvary hospital, characterising it as “problematic” due to its “overriding religious ethos”.’ Archbishop of Sydney Anthony Fisher OP writes: ‘It’s no secret that the ACT government want to force Calvary Hospital to provide abortions now, and euthanasia and assisted suicide in the future. Taking the land, buildings and hospital equipment and transferring staff employment across to Canberra Health Services allows them to push their anti-life agenda right through the hospital.’ As the ABC notes, the move ‘has far-reaching ramifications for freedom of religion and freedom of conscience in Australia’. Please pray.

See also
Forced Government Takeover: What’s Next?
Australian Christian Lobby, 19 May 2023 (YouTube)

 * AZERBAIJAN: PERILOUS STATE OF ARMENIAN MINORITY
Update to RLPB 677, Nagorno-Karabakh Besieged, 25 Jan 2023

On 23 April Azerbaijan installed a border checkpoint at the entrance of the Lachin Corridor, the road that links Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh (N-K; an Armenian Christian enclave inside Turkic Muslim Azerbaijan). Whilst the blockade has now been suspended, all Armenians travelling to and from N-K are now being screened by Azerbaijani border guards. Armenian villagers living between the blockade (near Shusha) and the checkpoint report feeling trapped. N-K residents requiring urgent medical care in Armenia are having to be escorted by Russian peacekeepers. Armenians in N-K feel abandoned, particularly by the West which is heavily invested in Azerbaijan and needs its oil. For the Armenians of N-K, the threat of genocide looms larger by the day. Please pray.

BURMA (MYANMAR): REV. DR SAMSON’S APPEAL DENIED
Update to RLPB 675, Burma: Christian Leader Arrested, 14 Dec 2022

On 3 May, to mark the occasion of Vesak (an important Buddhist festival), the Burmese junta amnestied and released 2135 political prisoners. Among those not released was the Rev. Dr Hkalam Samson (65), a former leader of the Kachin Baptist Convention (KBC) and respected peace advocate. Arrested on 4 December 2022, Dr Samson was charged with ‘terrorism, unlawful association, and inciting opposition’, and sentenced on Good Friday 7 April to six years in prison [RLPB 689 (12 April)]. On 2 May – the day before the Vesak amnesty – the Myitkyina Prison Court, in Burma’s northern Kachin state, rejected Dr Samson’s appeal. Please pray.

* CHAD: CHRISTIAN VILLAGES ATTACKED IN SOUTH

encircled: Logone Oriental.
(click on map to enlarge)

On Monday morning 8 May Fulani Muslim militants attacked Christian communities in Logone Oriental, a region in Chad’s deep south bordering north-west Central African Republic and north-east Cameroon. According to Barnabas Aid, at least 17 people were killed, including (according to Catholic media) an infant. ‘Among the dead were a pastor, Doumro Tadingao Gaston, and 12 other worshippers who were attending a prayer meeting in the village of Don. Around 20 villages in the region have been burned down, with several thousand people displaced by the violence. This follows Islamist attacks on four other southern Chadian villages a month earlier, in which two pastors were killed and many other people injured.’

In April, Agence France Presse (AFP) reported on the escalating ‘clashes between [semi-nomadic Arab] herders and [sedentary indigenous] farmers in southern Chad’. Authorities accuse ‘rebels based in neighbouring Central African Republic [CAR] of igniting the trouble’. According to Chadian General Ahmat Dari Bazine, the rebels are aiming ‘to create problems between herders and farmers, between Muslims and Christians’. One Christian leader warns (in personal correspondence) that there is a ‘drift towards genocide of some villages and communities… [as] people speaking Fulani have attacked villages and church services killing many people including three pastors and a Catechist… There has been the move of many Fulani Communities from CAR to settle in the forest of Southern Chad. These Fulanis seem armed and ready to deal with any opposition to their ambition. Chad has experienced since last year many horrible situations in the South. The recent attack on churches and the killing of people in villages has affected the Church in Chad. The Evangelical Fellowship of Chad is sending a high-level team to access the situation, encourage Christians who are traumatised, seek ways to assist the victims, and promote peace according to the Bible…’ Please pray.

* INDIA: RELIGIOUS RIGHTS UPHELD IN GOA
Update to RLPB 647, India: Viral Hatred Spreads Through India, 1 June 2022

In May 2022 Pastors Domnic and Joan D’Souza, of Five Pillars Church in Goa (a former Portuguese colony on India’s west coast), were arrested for allegedly ‘luring’ people to convert to Christianity. Lacking an anti-conversion law, the authorities booked the couple under the Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisement) Act for allegedly using magic to heal and convert people. Hindu nationalist BJP MPs – including the Chief Minister – immediately got busy plotting anti-conversion legislation. The couple were subsequently bailed on health grounds. Then, in December 2022, the North Goa District Magistrate banned Pastors Domnic and Joan from carrying out religious activities in their own residence, citing communal tensions. On 19 May the Goa High Court quashed the order, ruling not only that the accusations of forced conversions levelled against the pastors were totally baseless, but that the state has a duty to extend all possible protection to its citizens to propagate their religious practice, as guaranteed under India’s constitution. Praise and thank God! And please, continue to pray for the Church in India.

* IRAN: BELIEVERS RELEASED
Update to RLPB 660, Iran: Christians Fined, Imprisoned and Punished, 31 Aug 2022

Acquitted and released: Sara and Homayoun

On 9 May an Appeal Court in Tehran acquitted Christian converts Homayoun Zhaveh (64; with advanced Parkinson’s disease) and his wife Sara Ahmadi (45; a house church leader) and ordered they be released from prison. Critically, Article 18 reports: ‘In the ruling, the appeal-court judge said that gathering with people of one’s own faith was “natural”, and having books related to Christianity was “also an extension of their beliefs”. He added that there was “no evidence” that Sara and Homayoun had acted against the country’s security or had connections with opposition groups or organisations.’ He also noted that, ‘the law has not recognised [participation in Christian home groups] as criminal activity’. This is the second time an appeal court has ruled this way. Praise and thank God! And please, continue to pray for the Church in Iran.

* IRAQ: AN EXISTENTIAL CHRISTIAN CRISIS

(left) Cardinal Sako
(right) US-blacklisted Rayan al-Kildani 
('Rayan the Chaldean'),
head of the 'Christian' Babylon Movement,
which holds 4 of the 5 seats reserved for Christians
and is aligned with the Iran-backed Shi'ite
Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF).
(Asia News 17 May 2023)

On Friday 12 May hundreds of Christians – including many nuns and priests – gathered in Baghdad’s Tahrir Square to show support for Cardinal Louis Raphaël Sako, Patriarch of the Chaldean Church, as tensions between the Church and Iraq’s political leaders heat up. Iraq’s electoral law mandates that five parliamentary seats be reserved for Christians. However, anyone – not just Christians – may elect those Christian representatives. Consequently, major Kurdish Sunni and Arab Shi’ite political parties work to ensure the election of corrupted Christians who – for personal gain – will advance Kurdish or Arab Shi’ite interests at the expense of the mostly indigenous Assyrian Christian community. For advocating for change and for the rights and future of Iraq’s Christians, Cardinal Sako has come under intensive attack. The current situation further exacerbates Iraq’s existential Christian crisis. Please pray.

* MALI – BURKINA FASO: DR KEN ELLIOT RELEASED

On 19 May media reported that Australian missionary Dr Ken Elliot (88) had been released from captivity in Mali and reunited with his family in Western Australia. In January 2016 Dr Elliot and his wife, Jocelyn, were abducted from their home near Djibo, in northern Burkina Faso, by terrorists linked to al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb [RLPB 341 (27 Jan 2016)]. Whilst Jocelyn was released a few weeks later, Dr Elliot was retained. As a medical doctor, he was far too useful to be let go. The jihadists released a video in July 2017 in which Dr Elliot gives his name and requests that governments do what they can to negotiate his release. From the 6:20 minute mark, he addresses his family: ‘I just want to say again, I love you all. I appreciate all your prayers and all your cares; and I look forward to one day being reunited… I pray God will bless all of you, abundantly.’ At that time many (possibly including Dr Elliot himself) suspected the terrorists would never release him, and that he would die in captivity. We do not know any details about how he came to be released. What we do know, is that his release and homecoming is a wonderful miracle of divine mercy ‘in answer to the prayers of many’ (2 Corinthians 1:11). Praise and thank the Lord! And please, continue to pray for the Church in the Sahel: Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger.

* PAKISTAN: CHRISTIAN TEENS CHARGED WITH BLASPHEMY

On 18 May police in Lahore’s Qurban Lines neighbourhood arrested two Christian teenagers after a passing police officer claimed to have overheard them ‘disrespecting’ Islam’s prophet Muhammad. The boys – Adil Babar (18) and Simon Nadeem (14) – deny they had even been discussing Muhammad. Adil’s father, Babar Sandhu Masih (a Catholic) told Morning Star News (MSN) that he had been inside resting after lunch when he heard a commotion. He went outside to investigate, and found a policeman named Zahid Sohail beating Simon, and Adil trying to intervene. Sohail subsequently registered a blasphemy case against the boys – a case Masih insists is absolutely baseless. Masih saw the boys briefly on 19 May. ‘Both boys were in a state of shock and fear and are still unable to understand why Sohail had gotten them arrested.’ Napolean Qayyum of the Pakistan Centre for Law and Justice told MSN that they were helping the two families and arranging legal support for their children. Christian Solidarity Worldwide reports (22 May), ‘Approximately 50 Christian families reside in the Qurban Lines area, and most of these families fled the area for fear of violence after the accusation was made.’ Please pray.

* SUDAN: CHRISTIAN FLEE KHARTOUM; CHURCHES ATTACKED

Since the conflict erupted on 15 April, Christians have been fleeing Khartoum. Many Christians were settlers from the war-ravaged Nuba Mountains and South Sudan; they have fled back into harrowing situations, exacerbating an already serious humanitarian crisis marked by food insecurity and near total absence of medical care. But not all Christians have been able to flee and for those trapped in Khartoum the situation is rapidly deteriorating. On Sunday morning 14 May, fighters belonging to Hemeti’s Rapid Support Forces attacked the Coptic Mar Girgis (St George) Church in El Musalama in old Omdurman (Khartoum’s twin city across the Nile). Three worshippers received bullet wounds to their legs, while the church guard was shot in his abdomen. Assistant bishop Anba Sarabamon was assaulted; he sustained several fractures. His residence at the church premises was destroyed and his car was stolen. The Rapid Support Forces have forcibly occupied several churches, including the Episcopal All Saints Cathedral and the Coptic Virgin Mary Cathedral in Khartoum. These church compounds include schools, dormitories, and clerical residences. Everyone living in these compounds has had to be evacuated. Please pray for the Church in Sudan.

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Elizabeth Kendal is an international religious liberty analyst and advocate for the persecuted Church.

The Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin (RLPB) is a donor funded ministry.
To support this ministry visit www.ElizabethKendal.com

Elizabeth has authored two books: Turn Back the Battle: Isaiah Speaks to Christians Today (Deror Books, Melbourne, Australia, Dec 2012) which offers a Biblical response to persecution and existential threat; and After Saturday Comes Sunday: Understanding the Christian Crisis in the Middle East (Wipf and Stock, Eugene, OR, USA, June 2016). She is also an Adjunct Research Fellow at the Arthur Jeffery Centre for the Study of Islam at Melbourne School of Theology.

For more information see www.ElizabethKendal.com