OCTOBER 2007 NEWS REPORTS:
October 31, 2007: (Source: Compass News Direct)"Islamic militants threatened to bomb a Christian family for refusing to convert to Islam as fighting between militants and government troops resumed in northwestern Pakistan yesterday. 'Become Muslim – otherwise, we are going to destroy your house with bombs,' an anonymous caller told a Swat Christian family last night.'" Click here to read more.
October 30, 2007: (Source: IFEX) "The criminal libel convictions and one-month jail terms handed down Saturday against journalists for an Egyptian opposition daily are part of a government-organized campaign to silence the press and should be overturned, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today." Click here to read more.
October 29, 2007: (Source: IFEX) "No one knows the number of lawsuits filed against journalists and writers in Egypt; there are about 500 cases every year, at an estimate. Prisons have become the expected residence of journalists in Egypt," said Said Gamal Eid, executive director of HRinfo." Click here to read more.
October 29, 2007: (Source: IFEX) -- "We condemn the killing of Shehab Mohammad al-Hiti and offer his family and colleagues our deepest condolences," CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon said. "Journalists continue to be killed in Iraq at an alarming rate, underscoring the risks of practicing what has become one of the deadliest professions in the country." Click here to more.
October 25, 2007: Noha Atef, the editor of the advocacy website www.tortureinegypt.net, recently discussed the September shutdown of the Association for Human Rights and Legal Aid with Cairo journalist Liam Stack. She said the shut down would have a chilling effect on human rights advocacy in Egypt. "This association is very active and has defended many torture victims, so it is only logical that the government would come after them. The state wants to send a message to other civil society groups - they say 'this was one of the biggest groups and we can just dissolve it whenever we want.'" If this happened to a big organization, she said, "with a lot of its own lawyers - how do you think normal people who don't have a team of lawyers with them will feel about standing up against torture? ... This association is very active and has defended many torture victims, so it is only logical that the government would come after them," she said. "That this can happen to a big organization with a lot of its own lawyers - how do you think normal people who don't have a team of lawyers with them will feel about standing up against torture?"
October 25, 2007: Muslim-background Christians the focus of International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church. Click here to read more.
October 22, 2007 (Source: Compass Direct News) – Two Iraqi priests kidnapped more than a week ago said they returned to their Mosul parish in good health yesterday morning and immediately celebrated mass. Click here to read more.
October 22, 2007: The Egyptian government has issued a summons to six people involved in the one-time publication of a magazine, “Egypt First,” to appear in court for questioning on October 23. Click here to read more.
October 16, 2007: (Source IFEX) "The Committee to Protect Bloggers (CPB), the first organisation devoted to the free speech and personal liberty of bloggers worldwide, has returned with a tighter focus. Its primary goal is to act as the 'comprehensive clearinghouse for information on threatened bloggers and on threats to bloggers' ... The site is hosted by Free Kareem, http://freekareem.org/, a website named after the imprisoned Egyptian blogger whom CPB proclaims is one of the leaders in "the 'creative disruption' of complacent free speech organisations.'" The worldwide Free Kareem rally is scheduled for Nov. 9, and will include public demonstrations in Brussels, Rome, Stockholm, Washington, D.C., New York City, Prague, Bucharest, Berlin, Amsterdam, and London, according to the Free Karem website.
October 16, 2007: (Source IFEX) "EGYPT - Just last month, five editors were each sentenced to a year in jail. Cases of journalists being harassed through the courts and sent to prison have increased tremendously over the past few years. In a joint action, 41 IFEX members and other organisations call for an end to the jailing of journalists for simply expressing their critical views of the government." Click here to read more.
October 16: 2007: (Source IFEX) "TUNISIA - Lawyer and human rights activist Mohamed Abbou, jailed more than two years for exposing torture in Tunisian prisons on the Internet, has been released but was told that he is banned from traveling. Meanwhile, journalist Abdallah Zouari has been living in internal exile for his work with the now-defunct Islamic newspaper "Al-Fajr". Zouari has spent 11 years in prison and more than five years under virtual house arrest nearly 500 km from his wife and children. In a joint statement, 23 IFEX members and partners call on the Tunisian government to allow both men to move freely." Click here to read more.
October 15, 2007: (Source: Compass Direct News) – An Iraqi bishop said today that he is negotiating for the release of two Christian clergymen kidnapped in Mosul this weekend. Click here to read more.
October 11, 2007: (Source IFEX) Two sentenced for 'insulting Turkishness' as European Court rules against Turkey. Click here to read more.
October 10, 2007: (Source: Compass Direct News) – Conservative Islamic lawyers came out in support of the Egyptian government last week at the opening court hearing of a Muslim convert to Christianity. Click here to read more.
October 9, 2007: The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information says the issue of human rights is a subject poorly covered on the Internet in the Arabic language. "There are critical areas that are not only taboo intellectually in the Islamic world and culture, but for which there are also no groups in the region today to even work on, such as, the death penalty, and rights of Christian minorities. Our objective is to create a space where these issues and other vital information about human rights can be discussed freely, and where people who share an interest in these areas can create a community." (Source: Arabic Network For Human Rights Information.) To read more, click here.
October 8, 2007: Bible Society leaders have paid tribute to a prominent Palestinian Christian who was killed in the Gaza Strip after being abducted near his home. Rami Ayyad, 31, manager of the Bible Society bookshop in Gaza, was kidnapped on Saturday near his home in Gaza City. His body was later found elsewhere in the city. Click here to read more.
October 4, 2007: (Source Compass Direct News) A new judge has prolonged the case of two Turkish converts to Christianity after his predecessor resigned under pressure from the plaintiffs’ ultranationalist lawyer. Click here to read more.
October 1, 2007: (Source Compass Direct News) For Semse Aydin, the shock of the cruel murder of her husband Necati last April still hits her every morning when she awakens. Equally painful, she said, is knowing that her two children will grow up without their father’s loving care and nurture. “Necati’s absence is a cross for me every day,” she admitted. Click here to read more.
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