Muslims “Have Nothing Whatsoever to do with Terrorism”

Spain: On November 2, a group of Muslims stormed the Church of our Lady of Carmen in the town of Rincon de la Victoria. They smashed wooden statues of the Virgin Mary and Jesus on the cross during the attack. A spokesman for the Diocese of Malaga said the attack was not representative of all Muslims and that the diocese was committed to maintaining “respect and fraternity between different religious groups.” The month before, a Moroccan man was arrested in the same town after trying to destroy another statue of the Virgin Mary while screaming “Allahu Akbar!” Iraq: The Islamic State reportedly detonated the convent belonging to the Dominican Sisters of St. Catherine of Siena on the morning of November 5. The explosion of the convent also caused considerable damage to adjacent buildings. According to the Assyrian Monitor for Human Rights and other media, this latest attack by the “caliphate” occurred in Tel Keppe—“Hill of Stones”—one of the largest historically Assyrian Christian towns in northern Iraq, about 8 miles from Mosul. Egypt: On November 12, three gunmen opened fire on an Evangelical church by the Giza pyramids near Cairo. Separately, in the city of Rashid, a retired Muslim judge is attempting to destroy a church. Judge Mohamed Mostafa Kamel Tirana and his two sons claim that they purchased the church building in 1990 and say that it was their family’s ancestral home. However, he registered the purchase of the building in 2008—18 years after the alleged purchase. The lawyer acting for the church leaders says the building has been registered as a church since 1948 in the city’s real estate authority, the Property Taxes office and the 1946 Cadastral map. “His [the Muslim judge’s] purpose of taking over the church is demolishing its building and rebuild[ing] big shopping malls on its land,” said church leader Luka Asaad Awad. Last September 2, the judge managed to infiltrate the church and tried to demolish the building from inside. “We beg President Abdel Fatah El-Sisi to intervene and protect the church and stop the demolition of it,” said the church leader.

Kenya: Muslims burned down two Christian churches, Faith Victory Church and Holistic Church, on the outskirts of Tiribe town. Prior to these arson attacks, church leaders received threatening messages from Muslims, including calls to “stop converting our people to Christianity, and if not you will soon regret changing our people to Christianity.” Christians have been since worshipping in tents, some of which have been flooded by strong rains—five people were swept away by a heavy downpour. Indonesia: More than 1,000 Christian churches have been shut down in the Muslim majority nation since 2006, when the “religious harmony” law was passed, according to a report. The law requires minority religious groups to secure 60 signatures of local residents of another faith, and a written recommendation from local authorities—which, as Christian leaders indicate, is often impossible—before obtaining permits to build houses of worship.

Dhimmitude

Iraq: Parliament passed a law that will force Christian children to become Muslim if their father converts to Islam or if their Christian mother marries a Muslim. Assyrian Christians, Yazidis, Mandeans, Kakai and Bahai leaders vigorously fought the law and their representatives walked out of the parliament session in protest after it was passed. They had requested adding: “Minors will keep their current religion until the completion of 18 years of age, then they have the right to choose their religion” — but the clause was rejected. Iran: Fourteen Christians, among them converts from Islam, were arrested after agents from the Ministry of Intelligence raided a private house-church meeting. Most of the group had previously been members of the Emmanuel Protestant Church in Tehran, which Iranian authorities had forced to close in 2012. According to Christian Solidarity, “We are extremely concerned at the arrests of these 14 Christians and the fact that their whereabouts remain unknown, which gives rise to concerns regarding their wellbeing. These people had merely gathered peacefully and had not partaken in any illegal activities. It is unacceptable that the Iranian authorities continue to harass the Christian community without cause.” Uzbekistan: On Sunday, November 8 in Tashkent, the nation’s capital, twelve Protestant Christians holding a worship meeting in a private home were detained and some beaten after eight plain-clothed anti-terrorism officers stormed their morning meeting. A large quantity of Christian literature—approximately 100 books—was also confiscated. Two Christians were handcuffed and another was “hit and kicked” on the head and in the abdomen by an armed officer. The Christians were then taken to the police station where they were held for nine hours. During that time, they were forbidden to use the toilet facilities and denied water. Some of the Christians detained had infant children with them and were not allowed to feed them until they had written statements against Sarvar Zhuliyev, in whose home they had met. Christian parents were forced to write statements declaring that Sarvar Zhuliyev had “taught them the faith of Jesus Christ.” Some of the children were also interrogated by police and forced to write statements. Problems began when the head teacher of a school in the capital’s Yashnobod District told police that two pupils were speaking about their Christian faith with other pupils. Turkey: A survey revealed that “Eighty percent of minorities in Turkey say they cannot express themselves openly on social media, while 35 percent said they are subject to hate speech on the same platform.” The survey was conducted among 746 Turkish citizens who are members of the Greek, Armenian, Syriac, and Jewish communities. Over one-third of respondents also said they were subject to defamation, humiliation, obscenity or threats due to their minority identity on social media.

Pakistani Dhimmitude

• Sana John, a 13-year-old Christian girl, was kidnapped and converted to Islam by force in Haji Pura, near Silakot. On November 9, Muslim men stopped the girl while she was returning home from school and seized her. The Christian family was threatened not to file a complaint. According to her father, “In Pakistan there is no justice for the poor and, above all, no one cares for Christians, no one has heard my cry. The police do not pursue the culprits, no one is doing anything for us.”
• A few days later, a Muslim family kidnapped, beat and left naked on the streets an 8-year-old Christian girl, as a way to “punish” her uncle for pursuing a relationship with a female member of the Muslim family. The Muslims kidnapped the Christian girl, named Parwasha, on her way home from school, after which she was stripped naked and beaten. When the girl ran home to her family, they went to local police, only to find that the Muslim family had already filed a complaint against the entire Christian family for “shaming” the Muslim family.
• Another 8-year-old girl, Sara Bibi, was scolded, beaten and locked in a school bathroom by her Muslim head teacher for using the same toilet as Muslims. Headmistress of the school, Zahida Rana, locked Sara in the bathroom and then shouted at her: “You are a Christian, an infidel. How dare you use the same toilet as Muslim girls?” Despite vigorously pleading her innocence Sara was beaten and only released from the toilet 3 hours later at the end of the school day. The girl has since been expelled from the school.
• A Christian activist, Aslam Masih, was shot in the legs by four Muslims in Lahore. The episode, says Christian lawyer Sardar Mushtaq Gill, “is a clear sign of intimidation towards our work.” Before shooting, the criminals asked him to withdraw a complaint that the police had registered. When he refused they opened fire.
• A group of masked men set fire to a Christian broadcasting outlet, Gawahi TV, in Karachi. The building collapsed. Gawahi television was established in February 2013 in a joint collaboration between Catholic and Protestant communities, to “spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ to people of all religions who live in Pakistan.” As reported by the television website, about 12 million people watched it regularly. Despite many threats and many requests for security, police did not comply.