<http://www.barnabasfund.org>Prayer Focus Update Prayer Focus Update August 2008 Issue PRAYER FOCUS UPDATE is a monthly information bulletin with up-to-date news on the persecuted Church to help Christians pray for their suffering brothers and sisters. You can use this for prayer groups, your own information and for inclusion in church magazines. It can be sent via email, is available as printable versions on the Barnabas Fund website or can be sent through the post FREE OF CHARGE. Please contact your national Barnabas Fund office or the UK office if you would like to receive this in the post. * SOMALIA - CHRISTIAN CONVERT FROM ISLAM SHOT DEAD BY ISLAMIC EXTREMISTS <#SOMALIA-CHRISTIANCONVERTF> * CHINA - PASTOR DRIVEN FROM HIS HOME IN BEIJING <#CHINA-PASTORDRIVENFROMHIS> * PAKISTAN - KIDNAPPING, FORCED CONVERSION AND MARRIAGE OF CHRISTIAN GIRLS RATIFIED BY JUDGE <#PAKISTAN-KIDNAPPING,FORCE> * BELARUS - THREE CHRISTIAN COMMUNITIES HARASSED BY LOCAL AUTHORITIES <#BELARUS-THREECHRISTIANCOM> * UN - HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL FORBIDS ANY CRITICISM OF RELIGIONS, ESPECIALLY ISLAM <#UN-HUMANRIGHTSCOUNCILFORB> * IRAN - CRACKDOWN ON CHRISTIAN CONVERTS FROM ISLAM CONTINUES <#IRAN-CRACKDOWNONCHRISTIAN> SOMALIA - CHRISTIAN CONVERT FROM ISLAM SHOT DEAD BY ISLAMIC EXTREMISTS Sayid Ali Sheik Luqman Hussein (aged 28), a Christian convert from Islam, was shot dead by Islamic extremists on 10 July in the town of Afgyoye, Somalia. Mr Hussein became a Christian in 2004, and had been active in telling people in his community about his faith. On 8 July, two Muslim men approached Mr Hussein and asked him whether he faced Mecca when praying. He answered that as a Christian, he did not have to face a specific direction to pray as God is everywhere. The two Muslims returned two days later armed with guns and shot Mr Hussein dead. His wife, who was pregnant at the time, went into premature labour when she heard about her husband’s death. The baby was stillborn. In recent months, attacks against Christians by Islamic extremists have increased in Somalia. /• Pray for Mr Hussein’s wife that God will be close to her and comfort her. Pray that the hurt of losing her husband and her child will not drive her away from the Lord, but that she will be able to give everything to Him. Pray that Mr Hussein’s death will not have been in vain. • Pray for Somali Christians as they face increasing danger from Islamic extremists. Pray that God will protect them and keep them strong in their faith. / Back to top <#top> CHINA - PASTOR DRIVEN FROM HIS HOME IN BEIJING Bike Zhang, pastor and chairman of the Federation House Church, and his wife Xie Fenglan were forced from their home in Beijing on 6 July by Public Security Bureau officials. The couple found shelter at the home of a friend, but when PSB officials learned about it, they came to the friend’s house and again forced the couple to leave. Bike Zhang and his wife then moved to a hotel in Guo Xian. However, only a few days later, on 14 July, PSB officials again arrived on the premises and asked the hotel manager to evict the couple, threatening him with imprisonment if he did not comply. Pastor Zhang and his wife were then taken for interrogation by the police. Xie Fenglan collapsed after hours of questioning without any food, drink or rest, but was not taken to hospital until several hours later. Bike Zhang and his wife then went to stay with Xie Fenglan’s sister in Sanhe, Hebei, but on 16 July, local police, who had followed Pastor Zhang as he went to get medicine for his wife, again forced the couple out of the house. Unable to find shelter, Bike Zhang and his wife are now living on the streets. One source reports that, when asked why the couple was being expelled from Beijing, officials said: “Because Bike Zhang met the Americans, and destroyed the harmony of the Beijing Olympic Games.” /• Pray for Pastor Zhang and his wife that they will find shelter and that the PSB and other government officials will leave them in peace. Pray for full recovery for Xie Fenglan as she still struggles with the after-effects of the hours of interrogation and torture. • Pray for the situation of Chinese Christians and house churches who have faced much harassment and persecution in the run up to the Olympic Games in Beijing. Pray for their protection during the Games which are about to start on 8 August and run through to 24 August./ Back to top <#top> PAKISTAN - KIDNAPPING, FORCED CONVERSION AND MARRIAGE OF CHRISTIAN GIRLS RATIFIED BY JUDGE Two Pakistani Christian girls, Saba Younas (13) and her sister Anila (10) were kidnapped by a Muslim as they were visiting their uncle in the village of Chowk Munda, Punjab, Pakistan, on 26 June. They were then married to two Muslims, one of them the son of Falak Sher Gill, a man who was involved in the kidnapping. When Saba and Anila’s father went to court to request his daughters back, he was told by the judge that the two girls had “converted in a legitimate manner to Islam” and therefore they could not return to their family. The judge also ratified the “validity” of the marriages of the sisters. Falak Sher Gill and his son also claimed that the marriages had been contracted with complete willingness on the part of Saba and Anila. The sisters’ family and other Christians believe that the kidnappers are in fact human traffickers who force girls into prostitution. The kidnapping of Christian girls by Muslims who then force them to convert to Islam and marry Muslim men happens frequently in Pakistan. In most cases, police do little to help. /• Pray for Saba and Anila that they will be freed and returned to their family. Pray that God will envelop them with His peace and that He will protect them from any harm. Pray for their family that the Lord will give them wisdom to know what to do in this terrible situation. • Pray that the kidnapping of Christian girls will stop and that police will begin to help parents whose daughters have been kidnapped. Pray also for a refuge for Christian women and girls in Pakistan, supported by Barnabas Fund. / Back to top <#top> BELARUS - THREE CHRISTIAN COMMUNITIES HARASSED BY LOCAL AUTHORITIES Three different churches in the Grodno Region in north-western Belarus are struggling for their right to freedom of worship as local authorities are trying to prevent them from gathering for peaceful Christian activities. One congregation was banned from holding an open-air baptism at a beach in the town of Svisloch. According to one source, a government official claimed that they could not allow a popular beach to be used for two hours on a Sunday afternoon as it would disturb local people. She argued that “in good weather 200 people come there – they have the right to relax.” However, requests by the church to use two other different venues were denied as well. In the nearby town of Mosty, a pastor was fined for leading an unregistered religious organisation. Pastor Borovik’s congregation only has around 13 members, and therefore is ineligible to apply for state registration (the official number required to register is 20 adult members). Pastor Borovik had been summoned and threatened before, and on two occasions, his service had been interrupted by local police who came and intimidated elderly members of the congregation and confiscated Christian literature. When Borovik received the verdict, members of his congregation gave money to help pay the fine. On 2 July, Pastor Yuri Kravchuck from Grodno was summoned and told that leading a worship service in a private home violated the Administrative Code and that he was facing heavy fines for his “offences”. He is still waiting for a verdict. Belarus is the only country in Europe requiring state registration for religious organisations, despite the fact that its constitution guarantees freedom of worship for all. All three congregations insist that the local authorities are violating their constitutional right to conduct peaceful religious activities. /• Pray for the three congregations that God will give them wisdom and discernment when dealing with the authorities. Pray that Belarus will honour the freedom of religion which is stated in its constitution. Pray that local authorities will stop putting obstacles in the way of Christian communities. / Back to top <#top> UN - HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL FORBIDS ANY CRITICISM OF RELIGIONS, ESPECIALLY ISLAM The president of the UN Human Rights Council ruled on 16 June that the Council is not to criticise or evaluate religions, particularly Islamic fatwas. This ruling followed attempts by Egyptian and Pakistani delegates at the council to silence criticism of the human rights of women in Islamic countries. A statement denouncing the stoning to death of women accused of adultery and the marriage of girls as young as nine years in countries where shari’a law applies was interrupted over 15 times, and finally the president promised that “the next time a speaker judges a religion or a religious law or document, I will interrupt him and pass on to the next speaker”. The incident appears to be part of a policy adopted by the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (a body which links 57 Muslim countries) at a conference in Mecca in December 2006. The Mecca conference agreed a strategy of zero tolerance of any perceived insult to Islam, and set up structures to monitor and report any cases of perceived Islamophobia, even “hostile glances” at Muslims. /• Pray that the United Nations will be objective and courageous in standing up for human rights of all people, including women under Islam, and at analysing the root causes of human right abuses. • Pray that the Organisation of the Islamic Conference will not succeed in undermining freedom of speech and setting Islam above all criticism. / Back to top <#top> IRAN - CRACKDOWN ON CHRISTIAN CONVERTS FROM ISLAM CONTINUES Iranian security police arrested a Christian couple, recent converts from Islam, from their home in east Tehran on 3 June after a relative informed the police of the couple’s Christian activities. Tina Rad (28) and her husband Makan Arya (31) were taken from their home and forced to leave their four-year-old daughter Odzhan unattended. Tina was charged with “activities against the holy religion of Islam” for talking to Muslims about her faith. Makan was charged with “activities against national security”. Before being allowed home, the couple was badly beaten and threatened with long prison sentences if they continued in their faith. The police also told them that they would take away their daughter if they did not renounce their new faith. Mohsen Namvar, also a Christian convert from Islam who was arrested on 31 May (see PFU July 08), has fled the country with his family. Mohsen had been released on bail on 26 June after his family paid a large amount of money to the police. He returned home with severe injuries from beatings. /• Pray for protection for Tina, Makan and their daughter. Pray that the Lord will be close to them and keep them strong in their new faith. Pray for Mohsen, that the Lord will heal him from his physical and emotional wounds. Pray that God will strengthen him and his family and that He will provide them with a place of safety and rest. • Continue to pray for the release of Arash and Mahmood, two Christian converts from Islam who were arrested while talking in a park in Shiraz in May (see PFU June & July 08). They are still being held in a detention centre in the city of Shiraz. On 24 June, over one month after the arrest, Mahmood’s wife was allowed to visit her husband for the first time. Pray for God’s protection over all Iranian Christians, especially converts from Islam. /
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