"The Pacific Justice Institute told a charter school in Southern California they may be violating the First Amendment after the school removed books with Christian content from their library. The books removed were by Christian authors and Christian publishers, which included Corrie ten Boom’s acclaimed “The Hiding Place.”
"Pacific Justice Institute attorney Michael Peffer sent the school a cease-and-desist letter to the school in late August, but the superintendent of Springs Charter School Kathleen Hermsmeyer replied: “We do not allow sectarian materials on our state-authorized lending shelves...'” "ISIS advances over the weekend are putting Syria back into the international spotlight. According to BBC News, ISIS advances that began a week ago brought terrorists within six miles of Kobane, a Kurdish town in northern Syria, on Sunday.
"ISIS advances last week resulted in another 60 Syrian villages falling to the renowned black flag. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Kurdish forces withdrew and 39 villages fell to ISIS on Friday alone. Between 130,000 and 200,000 Syrian refugees fled from Kobane into Turkey as ISIS militants approached their community..." "Terrorist group Boko Haram used at least one of the kidnapped Nigerian schoolgirls as a suicide bomber, a Nigerian human rights lawyer confirmed Thursday at a congressional hearing on international religious freedom.
"After a month long investigation, Emmanuel Ogebe has “positively identified one of the remains recovered from the site of a school bombing as that of an abducted Chibok schoolgirl,” he wrote in a testimony submitted to the House Subcommittee on National Security. Boko Haram kidnapped nearly 300 girls after raiding their school in April. A month later, it claimed all the girls had converted to Islam. Many speculated the terrorist group turned the girls into bombers after a string of suicide bombings by young women in northern Nigeria..."
Children Among the 100 Christians Arrested During Sunday Service in Guangdong, China
200 Police Raided a House Church in Foshan City, 30 Still Detained after 24 Hours 09/22/2014 China International Christian Concern Over 200 police raided a house church on Sunday, September 21, eyewitnesses told International Christian Concern (ICC). More than 100 church members, including children, were arrested during the Sunday service in Foshan City, in China's Guangdong Province. As of the evening of September 22, more than 24 hours later, 30 parishioners still remain in police custody. "We don't know exactly why they raided our church," a local believer told ICC during an interview. "The government does not want us to get together and worship as a church." Local believers told ICC that the church was raided without any warning. The police left behind a notice stating that the church members were detained for conducting an "illegal gathering." All house churches in China are considered "illegal gatherings" and are frowned upon by the government. Any believers meeting together to practice their faith in house churches risk being arrested. ICC has learned that though 30 parishioners remain in police custody, most church members, including the children, were detained for 10-20 hours and then released. The Mount Olivet Church of Foshan City, a house church with 170 church members and over 20 years' history, is located in Foshan City of Guangdong Province. Foshan City is one of the most economically prosperous cities in Guangdong province where Deng Xiaoping's open door policy was first implemented in southern China. ICC's Regional Manager for Southeast Asia, Sooyoung Kim, said, "It is unbelievable that local authorities arrested over 100 church members, including children, in Foshan City. Even though most people have been released, the experience has been traumatizing. ICC urges local authorities in Guangdong Province to respect its citizens' rights to religious freedom, that the government of China says are upheld, and free these innocent Christians as soon as possible." For interviews, contact Sooyoung Kim, Regional Manager for Southeast Asia: RM-SEAsia@persecution.org # # # You are free to disseminate this news story. We request that you reference International Christian Concern (ICC) and include our web address, www.persecution.org. ICC is a Washington D.C.-based human rights organization that exists to help persecuted Christians worldwide. ICC provides Awareness, Advocacy, and Assistance to the worldwide persecuted Church. For additional information or for an interview, contact ICC at 800-422-5441.
Christians in Peshawar Remain Insecure One Year after the Bombing of All Saints Church
Pakistan's Promises of Security Remain Unfulfilled 9/21/2014 Washington D.C. International Christian Concern International Christian Concern (ICC) has learned that the Christian community of Peshawar, Pakistan continues to feel insecure and under threat one year after All Saints Church was attacked by suicide bombers. This feeling of insecurity remains despite the Pakistani government's promises to provide security for the places of worship belonging to the country's persecuted religious minorities. On September 22, 2013 at 11:45 a.m., two suicide bombers connected to the Pakistani Taliban detonated themselves outside the gates of All Saints Church. The church had just concluded its Sunday service and over 600 members were exiting the church when the bombs exploded. The resulting scene was that of mass carnage with shrapnel, body parts and blood littering the church compound. "For the entire world, a year has passed, but for me it feels like it just happened," Ms. Fahmeda, a widow of a Christian killed in the bombing, told ICC. "I still remember and will never forget the smoke, the cries, the blood and the loss of my husband and hundreds of other Christians." When the dust settled, over one hundred Christians were killed in the attack and hundreds of others were severely wounded and required immediate medical attention. The Jundallah group, an affiliate of the Pakistani Taliban, claimed responsibility for the deadly attack, labeling the wanton murder of Christians a "protest" to the U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan. The group's leader, Ahmad Marwat, promised attacks would continue until the U.S. drone strikes were halted. In response to what has been termed the worst single attack on Pakistan's Christian community, Pakistan's Supreme Court pass a judgment suo motu that the government had to take more steps to protect religious minorities. As part of the 32-page judgment, Chief Justice of Pakistan Tassaduq Hassain Jillani said, "A Special Police Force [must] be established with professional training to protect the places of worship of minorities." Since that judgment was passed down in June 2014, the Pakistani government has done little to secure the Christian minority or their places of worship. Father John William, a Catholic priest in Peshawar told ICC that his church has been unsatisfied with the security arrangements provided by the government for his church. "The Christian youth, therefore, performs as security guards voluntarily without proper equipment during the Sunday services," Father William told ICC. "The government is not in the least bothered about religious minorities," Gulshan Bhatti, a member of the Awami National Party, told ICC. "Christians are still living under fear and feel threatened. Children do not like going to church or any other gatherings due to fear. The Christians of Peshawar were even too afraid to celebrate Christmas and Easter this past year." ICC's Regional Manager for South Asia, William Stark, said, "The Christian community of Pakistan continues to be treated like an unwanted religious minority in Pakistan. Despite Pakistan's government's rhetoric regarding the protection of religious minorities and their places of worship, little has actually been done to protect Christians and their churches. A year has passed since an entire Christian community was shattered by the extremism and intolerance that has been escalating in Pakistan for many years. More must be done by the government and international community to secure this and other highly persecuted communities in Pakistan. False blasphemy accusations, forced conversions to Islam and widespread discrimination and intolerance have become hallmarks of what it is like to suffer as a Christian in Pakistan. Unless Pakistan and the international community take decisive action to protect Pakistan's Christian population, deadly attacks, like that seen last year in Peshawar, and intolerance will only increase in Pakistan's future." For interviews, contact William Stark, Regional Manager for South Asia: RM-SAsia@persecution.org # # # You are free to disseminate this news story. We request that you reference International Christian Concern (ICC) and include our web address, www.persecution.org. ICC is a Washington D.C.-based human rights organization that exists to help persecuted Christians worldwide. ICC provides Awareness, Advocacy, and Assistance to the worldwide persecuted Church. For additional information or for an interview, contact ICC at 800-422-5441.
JUBA, South Sudan
Morning Star News Sudan this week banned five attorneys from leaving the country after another lawyer accused them of tainting the country’s image by defending Meriam Ibrahim, the Christian mother of two falsely accused of apostasy, two of the attorneys said. The move came in response to attorney Iman Hassan submitting a letter of complaint to a Sudan court accusing the defense lawyers of wresting the case from her, Ibrahim’s lawyers said. Hassan is also requesting that the court revoke the licenses of the five lawyers, who are not Christian but support the rights of Christians and other minorities in the country. “The five attorneys have tarnished the image of Sudan by allowing human right organizations to put pressure on the government,” Hassan wrote in her complaint. The court in Ibrahim’s case rejected Hassan’s attempt to defend the Christian mother at Ibrahim’s request, the defense attorneys said. Ibrahim was sentenced to death after refusing to renounce Christ, but the sentence was revoked on June 23, less than two months after Morning Star News broke the story that set off a firestorm of international protests, and she was permitted to leave the country on July 24. The defense attorneys said judicial authorities appear to be biased against them. One said he was surprised that the government sought to retaliate for a case that was already closed. “Who can challenge the government?” he told Morning Star News. “We have been told to give explanation to the accusations filed against us without being given enough time,” said another defense attorney. “We have no intention to leave the country, but it seems time has come for ‘payback’ for our work on Meriam’s case.” Nuba Christians Arrested, Attacked Ibrahim, of Ethiopian/Sudanese descent, and her husband, from South Sudan, lived as dark-skinned Christians among Arabic Muslims in Sudan, where some officials regard both black people and Christians as second-class citizens. Black, ethnic Nuba Christians face the same disdain, both in the Nuba Mountains where the government is fighting a rebel force and in Khartoum. In Omdurman, across the River Nile from Khartoum, police in June raped a Christian Nuba woman after arresting her and several others at a wedding reception, sources said. Police arrested 40 Nuba Christians after a wedding ceremony at the Sudan Presbyterian Evangelical Church in Omdurman, according to the African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies, a Sudanese rights group based in Kampala, Uganda. A church leader who spoke with Morning Star News confirmed the incident. Those attending the wedding proceeded to White Nile Beach in the Hai Al-Mulazmeen area for a reception, where police made the arrests. They released without charge 34 of the 40 people arrested on June 22 but detained four men and two women overnight, gang-raping one of the women on June 23, the group and church leader said. All six of those held overnight were charged with disturbing the peace – the wedding had included worship songs sung in Arabic – before being released on bail on June 23. Among the 40 detained, several reported being beaten, verbally abused with racist language and threatened with sexual violence while in detention. Those detained included at least 14 teenage Christians. Church Bombing In the Nuba Mountains, Sudan destroyed another church building on July 16 in South Kordofan state, Christian sources told Morning Star News. The Sudanese Air Force bombed the building of the Sudanese Church of Christ in the Sabat Administrative area of Dalami County, seriously damaging it, local Christian said. “We are saddened by the destruction of the Sudanese Church of Christ in Sabat,” he said. The damaged church building was destroyed by Sudan Armed Forces in 1989 fighting but had since been renovated. “The Sudan government is targeting civilians and Christian institutions in the Nuba Mountains,” another area source said. Since South Sudan split from Sudan in a 2011 referendum, Nuba people in Sudan’s South Kordofan state believe the government’s goal of quashing rebels is also meant to rid the area of non-Arabs and Christianity. Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has said post-secession Sudan will adhere more exclusively to Islam and Arabic culture. Thousands of civilians have taken refuge in Nuba Mountain caves in South Kordofan, which borders South Sudan. The Nuba people have longstanding complaints against Khartoum – including neglect, oppression and forced conversions to Islam in a 1990s jihad – but as Sudanese citizens on the northern side of the border, they were never given the option of secession in the 2005 peace pact between northern and southern Sudan. A Sudanese Air Force bomber had destroyed the building of the Episcopal Church of Sudan (ECS) in the area of Al Atmor on July 6. Nuba Reports, based in South Kordofan, has verified 1,929 bombs dropped by the Sudanese Armed Forces on civilian areas since April 2012, including 756 since September 2013. The bombs have killed and maimed hundreds of civilians, it reports. ### © 2014 Morning Star News. Articles/photos may be reprinted with credit to Morning Star News. Morning Star News is a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation that relies solely on contributions to offer original news reports of persecuted Christians. By providing reliable news on the suffering church, Morning Star News’ mission is to empower those in the free world to help and to encourage persecuted Christians that they are not forgotten or alone. For free subscription or to make tax-deductible donations, contact editor@morningstarnews.org, or send check to Morning Star News, 24310 Moulton Parkway, Suite O # 157, Laguna Hills, CA 92637, USA.
Two Years, but Still Praying for Pastor Saeed
ICC to Join Thousands in Calling for the Release of Imprisoned American-Iranian Pastor 09/19/2014 Washington, D.C. International Christian Concern International Christian Concern (ICC) joins with thousands of Christians around the world to call for the release of American-Iranian Pastor Saeed Abedini. September 26, 2014 marks two years since Pastor Saeed was taken to an Iranian prison. He is serving an eight year prison sentence for his work among Iranian house churches in the early 2000s. One week from today, thousands are expected to gather at more than 460 prayer vigils in over 30 countries spanning the globe to mark the two year anniversary of his imprisonment. "Saeed was encouraged to know that so many cities and countries are gathering for a prayer vigil to remember him and the persecuted church on September 26," Naghmeh, Saeed's mother, said following her recent visit mother to the prison where he is being held in Karaj, Iran. "Thank you for all who are standing with us and the persecuted church. Thank you for bringing a smile to Saeed's face during such hard times." Since his imprisonment, Saeed has been subjected to long periods of solitary confinement and physical abuse. He is believed to be suffering from internal injuries that continue to go untreated and are causing him severe pain. Saeed's case has been raised before numerous international groups including the UN Human Rights Council which has released a report documenting his arbitrary detention. "The report details how Pastor Saeed was detained in Iran while finalizing the details of a government approved orphanage in July 2012, was subjected to a sham trial on charges related solely to his religious beliefs, and has spent nearly two years behind bars, enduring periods of solitary confinement and brutal beatings, because of his Christian faith," Jordan Sekulow of the American Center for Law and Justice said of the report adopted by the working group on Arbitrary Detention at its August 2013 session. On September 27, 2013, one day after prayer vigils marking the first anniversary of Saeed's imprisonment, President Obama raised Saeed's case in his "historic phone call" with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. The Iranian President will again be in the United States next week for the UN General Assembly. While no meeting is currently planned for the two presidents, Secretary of State John Kerry is expected to meet with Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, presenting an opportunity for the Secretary to directly address Saeed's case with his Iranian counterpart. As U.S. and Iranian officials continue to negotiate regarding Iran's nuclear program ahead of the November 24 deadline, the freedom of American citizens who are unjustly imprisoned in Iran should certainly be part of the concerns for the United States. For times and locations of the prayer vigils visit: www.beheardproject.com Todd Daniels, ICC Regional Manager for the Middle East, said, "We are privileged to join with thousands who will exercise their fundamental right of religious freedom by gathering to pray together, an act that, for Saeed Abedini and many more in Iran and around the world, would put them in prison. In a time when Christians around the world are facing increasing persecution, the church cannot remain silent. We urge Christians across the United States and around the world to gather and raise their voices to God on behalf of Saeed and others facing similar abuses and to raise their voice before world leaders and call for the freedom for all people to worship freely without fear of imprisonment or persecution. For Secretary Kerry, we urge him to directly address Saeed's case with Minister Zarif and ask him to follow through on offers of clemency that he said may be possible for Saeed." For interviews, contact Todd Daniels, Regional Manager for the Middle East: RM-ME@persecution.org # # # You are free to disseminate this news story. We request that you reference International Christian Concern (ICC) and include our web address, www.persecution.org. ICC is a Washington D.C.-based human rights organization that exists to help persecuted Christians worldwide. ICC provides Awareness, Advocacy, and Assistance to the worldwide persecuted Church. For additional information or for an interview, contact ICC at 800-422-5441.
When Chinese authorites released Christian human rights attorney Gao Zhisheng from prison on Aug.7, we didn’t hear anything from him, presumably because of the communist state’s one-year prohibition against him saying anything publicly that might “damage the reputation or interests of the state.”
His family had telephone conversations with him, but they didn’t hear much from him either. After some phone talks in which he said very little, the Los Angeles Times reported, his wife wasn’t sure whether he was still in too much pain to talk or had forgotten how. It has become clear that isolation and torture left Gao, once a prominent attorney who defended Christians and the Falun Gong, unable to speak coherently. China Aid reports, “Gao has been utterly destroyed. He can barely talk – and only in very short sentences – most of the time he mutters and is unintelligible. It is believed that he is now suffering from a broad range of physical and mental health problems; he has not been allowed to see a doctor since his release.” As his wife, Geng He, pointed out to the Times, if he cannot even obtain adequate dental care, what hope does he have for obtaining help to recover his mental health? While she and their two children escaped to the United States in 2009 and are living in northern California, Gao is under virtual house arrest at Geng’s sister’s place in Urumqi, capital of China’s Xinjiang Province in the country’s far west. Dentists there don’t have the means to repair the damage malnutrition did to his remaining teeth, and the government has forbidden him to travel to Beijing, much less to the United States to be reunited with his family. Gao’ s advocacy for religious minorities led to his conviction in 2006 for “inciting subversion,” and in 2007 he began serving a previously suspended sentence of three years in Shaya County Prison in Xinjiang region. After he wrote an open letter to the U.S. Congress about human rights abuses in China, authorities “disappeared” him on Sept. 21, 2007, torturing him for more than 50 days. Gao later revealed that his captors shocked his genitals with an electric baton and pierced them with toothpicks. “As with the torture experienced during his pretrial detention, the purpose of this mistreatment was to extract a false confession,” noted a petition by Freedom Now, which works to free prisoners of conscience. Thugs suspected of being agents of the state again abducted Gao on Feb. 4, 2009. He reportedly reappeared from March 28, 2010, to April 20 of that year, during which he described how police beat him for two days and nights, according to Freedom Now. China announced on Dec. 16, 2011 that it would take him to prison to serve the three-year sentence imposed on Dec. 22, 2006, thus withdrawing the five-year probation then about to expire. In Shaya Prison since December 2011, Gao remained in isolation in a small cell with little light 24 hours a day, according to China Aid. “Guards were strictly instructed not to speak with him,” the advocacy group reported. “He was not allowed any reading materials, television, or access to anyone or anything. He was fed a single slice of bread and piece of cabbage, once a day; as a result, he has lost roughly 22.5 kilograms (50 pounds) and now weighs about 59 kilograms (130 pounds). He has lost many teeth from malnutrition. It is believed he was also repeatedly physically tortured.” His wife commented to China Aid that she was devastated by his condition. “The only thing I feared more than him being killed was his suffering relentless and horrific torture and being kept alive,” she said. “We desperately need help from our adopted country and from President Obama and Secretary Kerry personally to demand the Chinese government to allow my husband to come to the United States for medical treatment. If President Xi Jinping has any sense of decency or humanity, after crushing my husband both physically and psychologically, the least he could do is allow me as a devoted wife to care for him.” Jared Genser, head of Freedom Now, told China Aid he was heartbroken for Gao and his family. “We knew that if Gao wasn’t killed, he would have suffered immensely,” Genser said. “But the situation is far worse than my limited imagination enabled me to contemplate. While China is a great power in the 21st century, the inhumanity and brutality that it has demonstrated by the torture of Gao Zhisheng shows its profound insecurity and fear of anyone in its population who stands up to its repression.” If you or your organization would like to help enable Morning Star News to continue raising awareness of persecuted Christians worldwide with original-content reporting, please consider collaborating at http://morningstarnews.org/donate/? ### © 2014 Morning Star News. Articles/photos may be reprinted with credit to Morning Star News. Morning Star News is a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation that relies solely on contributions to offer original news reports of persecuted Christians. By providing reliable news on the suffering church, Morning Star News’ mission is to empower those in the free world to help and to encourage persecuted Christians that they are not forgotten or alone. For free subscription or to make tax-deductible donations, contact editor@morningstarnews.org, or send check to Morning Star News, 24310 Moulton Parkway, Suite O # 157, Laguna Hills, CA 92637, USA.
ISTANBUL, Turkey
Morning Star News Three pastors in Iran are facing charges that could lead to the death penalty for activities in the house-church movement in an unprecedented crackdown on converts from Islam, according to human rights groups. Iranian authorities recently filed charges against Silas Rabbani, assistant pastor in a Church of Iran group in Karaj, for “Mofsed-fel-arz” or “spreading corruption on Earth,” according to Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW). Authorities previously charged Behnam Irani, lead pastor of the church, with the same offense. The exact date when each pastor was charged is not publicly known, but information about each pastor leaked out of Iran the first week of this month and was reported by CSW, a freedom of religion advocacy group based in London. Prior to charges being filed against Irani and Rabbani, the Sixth Branch of the Revolutionary Tribunal on Aug. 3 charged Abdolreza Ali-Haghnejad, another a leader in the Church of Iran movement in Karaj, with “Moharebeh,” or “warring against God.” A court has now changed the charge to “spreading corruption on Earth.” The charges are “a clear escalation in Iran’s campaign against Persian Christians” and “an attempt to gain an apostasy conviction by other means,” CSW Chief Executive Mervyn Thomas said in a press statement. While both the “warring against God” and “spreading corruption on Earth” charges can carry the death penalty, human rights activists generally consider the latter to be more serious, as legal requirements for conviction are less strict than those of “warring against God.” According to Iranian law, the death penalty can be handed down in “warring against God” cases only when a weapon is used in the commission of a crime. There are no such constraints on the other charge, though the distinction offers minimal protection as Iran has executed numerous people under the “warring against God” statute for acts that didn’t involve weapons. “Warring against God” has historically been a catch-all, capital charge reserved for political opponents or dissident members of ethnic minorities in Iran, including Hashem Shabaninejad, an Arab-Iranian poet and human rights activist, said Khataza Gondwe, CSW’s team leader for Africa and the Middle East. On Jan. 25, Iranian authorities hanged Shabaninejad, 32, according to the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center, after finding him guilty in July 2013 of both “spreading corruption on Earth” and “warring against God” for speaking out against the treatment of Iranian Arabs in Khuzestan Province. So far this year, Iran has executed 12 people under the “warring against God” statute and two for “spreading corruption on Earth.” What exactly Iranian authorities accuse Ali-Haghnejad of doing is unknown, but Gondwe suspects he is being punished for being a convert from Islam and for his leadership role in a fellowship in Karaj. She said the charge was a worrying sign because it shows “escalation in charges against Christians who have converted from Islam.” “It’s almost if Christianity is being seen now as some kind of crime,” Gondwe said. History of Harassment Iranian officials raided Ali-Haghnejad’s home in Bandar-Anzali on July 5, arrested him and confiscated Christian materials, including Bibles and a computer. Two other Christians, Mohammad Roghangir and Suroush Saraie, both converts from Islam, were arrested at his home. Both are thought to be held in Shiraz Prison, where they are serving sentences previously ordered in court. On July 16, both men were found guilty of “action against the national security” and “propaganda against the order of the system.” Roghangir was sentenced to six years in prison. Saraie was sentenced to two and a half years in prison. The appeal of their sentences failed. Ali-Haghnejad has a longstanding history of arrests because of his faith, dating back to 2006. He has faced numerous charges, including actions against national security, blasphemy and, in 2011, a charge of propaganda against the state for drinking communion wine. Irani’s record of faith-related arrests also started in 2006, when he was arrested for evangelizing and holding house-church meetings and then released on bail in January 2007. In February 2008, a court sentenced him to five years in prison but immediately suspended the sentence, essentially giving Irani, also a convert from Islam, five years of probation, so that his sentence could be brought into effect at the slightest infraction against the government, according to human rights activists. Continuing his Christian work unabated, Irani was arrested again on April 14, 2010. Authorities charged him with spreading Christianity, attending house-church meetings and committing other crimes against “national security.” Irani was released on bail in June 2010. In January 2011, Irani was convicted and ordered to serve a one-year sentence in prison. On May 31, 2011, when he showed up to start serving his sentence, he was informed that the suspension on the five-year sentence had also been revoked. According to Jason Demars of Present Truth Ministries, a group that advocates for Irani, the pastor was charged with “spreading corruption on Earth” because, while in prison, he “continues to speak out on his own behalf and encourage believers in his church by phone.” Little is publicly known about Rabbani, the assistant pastor in the Church of Iran group in Karaj charged with “spreading corruption on Earth.” Agents from VEVAK, Iran’s internal security agency, arrested him on May 5. He was then transferred to Gohardasht Prison, also known as Rajai Shahr, where he was tortured, human rights activists said. Originally it appeared that Rabbani, a former Muslim, would be charged with apostasy. All three men are being held in separate cells in Ghezal-Hesar Prison in Karaj, according to CSW, and have been pressured to make false confessions. Ali-Haghnejad is receiving the most pressure and is in a “dangerous situation,” according to CSW. The only Christian known to be legally executed for apostasy in Iran in modern times was Hossein Soodmand. Lead pastor of the Assemblies of God Church in Mashhad, Soodmand was hanged Dec. 3, 1990. Although Soodmand was the last Christian to be legally executed for apostasy, numerous other pastors and converts to Christianity in Iran have been murdered since his execution. Along with the capital charges filed against the pastors, the Iranian government conducted several raids across the country against Christians this month and in August. On the evening of Aug. 12, Iranian authorities raided a house church and arrested two converts, Mehdi Vaziri, 28, a graphic designer and Amir Kian, 27, a musician. Human rights groups think they both are being held in Ghezal-Hesar Prison, but no other information is publically known. Several weeks later at the beginning of this month, Iranian authorities arrested several members of the Church of Iran in Isfahan. On Sept. 1, security officials arrested Mohammad Taslimi, a worship leader for the church. The same day, authorities raided the home of Moluk Darvishi, and then the next day arrested her and her sister, Sepideh Morshedi. Hamidreza Borhani and his wife Zainab Akbari were also arrested on Sept. 2 during a raid of their home, according to Mohabat News. Officials also seized Bibles, computers and mobile phones during the arrests. The whereabouts of the five are unknown at this time. Abedini Threatened Also in August, the advocacy group supporting U.S.-Iranian pastor Saeed Abedini, the American Center for Law and Justice, reported that Islamic militants in prison were threatening him. ACLJ said that other prisoners have told him that radical Islamists in the same prison planned to kill him, most likely during exercise times, when there would be an opportunity for them to harm him. An expert on Iran who cannot be identified for security reasons said that because of this, Abedini has decided to stay in his cell. “It would seem to be he is taking the threat very seriously,” the expert said. “Of course, he was beaten before by fellow prisoners.” The Iranian Revolutionary Guard in July 2012 detained Saeed, during a visit to set up an orphanage he was building in Iran. After interrogation, Saeed was placed under house arrest and told to wait for a court summons to face criminal charges for his Christian faith. Two months later, in September, he was arrested at his parents’ home and taken to prison. This month marks the second year of Abedini’s imprisonment. On Jan. 27, 2013, Abedini, 34, was sentenced to eight years in prison for allegedly threatening “national security” by planting house churches years ago. Abedini, who became a U.S. citizen in 2010, has a wife and two children in the United States. The Iranian government does not recognize his U.S. citizenship. Fleeing the Country Another disturbing detail to leak out of Iran concerned the leadership of various church groups fleeing Iran to live abroad. A researcher for Middle East Concern, who cannot be identified because of his work in the region, said, “There is concern about the recent emigration of Christians from Iran, some in leadership positions.” In recent weeks, MEC has been notified of several families who have left the country because of the dangers they face inside Iran. “It has been going on for quite a bit, but there seems to be a stronger movement in recent times,” the MEC researcher said. According to MEC, internal pressures in Iran on banned religious groups, primarily the leaders of these groups, has something to do with the exodus. In one case, two leaders were out of the country on business, and “the authorities raided their house when they were gone, and church leaders said they should apply for asylum.” The researcher said the exodus threatens to strip church bodies in Iran of their leaders. In some cases, members of persecuted houses churches are ready to become leaders. In others, no one is ready to take the reins or is afraid to do so. “[In] some cases people are stepping up into their shoes,” the researcher said. “But sometimes it means some house churches are breaking up completely.” If you or your organization would like to help enable Morning Star News to continue raising awareness of persecuted Christians worldwide with original-content reporting, please consider collaborating at http://morningstarnews.org/donate/? ### © 2014 Morning Star News. Articles/photos may be reprinted with credit to Morning Star News. Morning Star News is a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation that relies solely on contributions to offer original news reports of persecuted Christians. By providing reliable news on the suffering church, Morning Star News’ mission is to empower those in the free world to help and to encourage persecuted Christians that they are not forgotten or alone. For free subscription or to make tax-deductible donations, contact editor@morningstarnews.org, or send check to Morning Star News, 24310 Moulton Parkway, Suite O # 157, Laguna Hills, CA 92637, USA. |
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