May 2008 NEWS REPORTS:
May 30, 2008: (Compass Direct News) – An Iraqi pastor jailed on kidnapping charges and held for 30 days in the Kurdish region last month has said the real reason for his arrest was religious. Click here to read more.
May 28, 2008: (Open Doors, Barnabus Fund) - Christian churches in Algeria are under massive attack. Over the last six months, Algerian authorities have closed half of the Protestant churches in the country. If the trend continues, the Algerian Protestant church will be non-existent by the end of 2008. Algerian officials have closed 26 Algerian churches by either written order or verbal warning since November 2007. Ranging in size from several dozen to more than 1,000 members, 32 congregations in Algeria belong to the Protestant Church of Algeria, while another 20 small fellowships exist independently. Algeria, a country of 33 million in northern Africa, is home to at least 10,000 Protestants. Click here to read more.
May 28, 2008: (Compass Direct News) – A state prosecutor in western Algeria demanded two-year jail sentences and large fines for six Muslim converts to Christianity yesterday in one of two trials against Christians that have caught the north African nation’s attention in the past week. Click here to read more.
May 28, 2008: (Compass Direct News) – Iranian police are refusing to release a Muslim convert to Christianity arrested 17 days ago in the southern city of Shiraz. Former Muslim Mojtaba Hussein has had no known charges filed against him. In spite of appeals from family members, Hussein, 21, remains jailed in an undisclosed location since he was arrested along with his father, brother and sister on May 11. Click here to read more.
May 27, 2008: (Compass Direct News) – In the past six months Algeria has begun enforcing a restrictive 2006 law resulting in jailed Christians and closed churches; reasons for the crackdown are varied. Click here to read more.
May 23, 2008: (Compass Direct News) – An Algerian public prosecutor has demanded a three-year sentence for a convert to Christianity in western Algeria for practicing her faith “without license.” Habiba Kouider, 35, was plucked off an inter-city bus outside of her home town of Tiaret on March 29 when police found several Bibles and books on Christianity in her hand bag. Click here to read more.
May 22, 2008: (Jerusalem Post) - The burning of hundreds of New Testaments by yeshiva students in Or Yehuda last week was regrettable and unplanned, the city's deputy mayor, the man who spurred the students to act, told The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday. Click here to read more.
May 21, 2008: (Human Rights Watch) - The Saudi Interior Ministry should immediately and unconditionally release Matrook al-Faleh, one of Saudi Arabias leading human rights activists, Human Rights Watch said today. On May 19, Saudi secret police apprehended Dr. al-Faleh on the premises of King Saud University in Riyadh, where he teaches political science. His arrest took place two days after he publicly criticized conditions in a prison where two other Saudi human rights activists are serving jail terms. Click here to read more.
May 21, 2008: (Compass Direct News) – Police in the southern Iran city of Shiraz this month cracked down against known Muslim converts to Christianity, arresting members of three Christian families and confiscating their books and computers. Click here to read more.
May 21, 2008: (Numerous sources) - Journalist Abdulkarim al-Khaiwani, a prominent advocate for democracy in Yemen, is facing sentencing for "insulting the president." Last year, during his arrest, he was beaten, and his six-year-old daughter was slapped unconscious by police. Click here to sign a letter advocating for his release.
May 20, 2008: (Barnabus Fund) - Algerian Christians have asked their brothers and sisters around the world to support them in prayer and to speak up for them by writing to their Algerian ambassador or to the Algerian government. Click here to read more.
May 20, 2008: (International Publishers Association) Ragıp Zarakolu, who at personal risk, has long campaigned for freedom of thought and expression in Turkey, is the latest recipient of the 2008 IPA Freedom to Publish Prize. Click here to read more.
May 20, 2008: (Compass Direct News) – Iraqi church leaders have spoken out against the death sentence given to the alleged murderer of a Chaldean bishop kidnapped in northern Iraq in March. Click here to read more.
May 16, 2008: (Compass Direct News) – Pakistani police have jailed a Christian doctor after “blasphemy” charges incited a mob attack on his home last week in Punjab province. Click here to read more.
May 15, 2008: (Compass Direct News) – Algerian authorities have charged six Christians with distributing illegal religious material after detaining them as they left a prayer meeting in a western city last week. The Protestants were charged with “distributing documents to shake the faith of Muslims,” according to a written court summons issued Saturday (May 10) prior to the men’s release in Tiaret city. Their first hearing is scheduled for May 27. Click here to read more.
May 13, 2008: (Human Rights Watch) - Courts in Jeddah should dismiss cases against a Saudi web critic and a Turkish barber charged with insulting Islam, an unequivocal violation of freedom of expression protected under international law, Human Rights Watch said today. The Saudi man used his website to criticize the religious police while the Turkish barber is accused of cursing the name of God. Click here to read more.
May 9, 2008: (ANS) - Anti-government forces have seized control of the main road leading to the Beirut airport, sparking street clashes and closure of the airport. The violence is affecting SAT-7 staff members who have been trapped in and out of Beirut, and inspirational broadcasting to more than 100 million kids in the Middle East may be disrupted if roads don't reopen soon. Click here to read more.
May 9, 2008: (Compass Direct News) – An Algerian Christian detained five days for carrying a Bible and personal Bible study books was handed a 300-euro (US$460) fine and a one-year suspended prison sentence last week, an Algerian church leader said. Click here to read more.
May 6, 2008: (CWN.org) - Three men, one of them armed with a gun and wearing gloves, threatened a Protestant church and its pastor in the Turkish capital city of Ankara yesterday. The culprits fled in a car before police could be summoned. Click here to read more.
May 5, 2008: (ANS) - The Chairman of All Pakistan Minorities Alliance (APMA) and Christian parliamentarian, Mr. Shahbaz Bhatti, has called on Prime Minister of Pakistan, Mr. Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani, and apprised him of long-standing demands of religious minorities of Pakistan in a one-to-one meeting at the Prime Minister Secretariat last week. Click here to read more.
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