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China prosecutes house church leaders as criminal ‘clique’

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Leaders of Linfen Covenant House Church in China’s Shanxi Province have been indicted on charges of forming a “criminal group” and acquiring “illegal income” approximating 780,000 yuan (about $108,000), the church has announced.

Preachers Li Jie, Han Xiaodong and their associate Wang Qiang have had formal accusations leveled against them by Yaodu District public prosecutors, the U.K.-based group Christian Solidarity Worldwide reports.

Prosecutors claim Li and Han set up an unauthorized organization and numerous “illegal activity sites” within the city with Wang, enticing individuals to contribute tithes and thanksgiving donations, the group said, adding that the indictment statement was shared by the church late last month.

Li and Han were subjected to residential surveillance in a detention site after an August 2022 church raid involving over 100 police officers. Both experienced three consecutive days and nights of sleep deprivation. They were officially arrested in September 2022, while Wang was detained in November and formally arrested on fraud charges in December.

The church and its members faced half a year of repeated harassment by Linfen police, with Li’s spouse and another associate held on suspicion of fraud for multiple weeks before securing bail, according to CSW.

Despite substantial pressure from Linfen authorities against church members, as reported by ChinaAid in February, the wives of Li, Han and Wang have written articles affirming their husbands’ innocence. These tactics included coercion and intimidation against the church involving employers, families and relatives, said the U.S.-based group which monitors human rights violations in China, adding that some were even forced to produce false evidence against the leaders and pledge non-attendance at the church.

Following the revised Regulations on Religious Affairs’ enactment in February 2018, Li signed a joint statement against the regulations that further solidified government control over religious groups.

The increasing prosecution of religious leaders on “fraud” charges, which could warrant over a decade of imprisonment, has been a noticeable trend in recent years.

Mervyn Thomas, founder and president of CSW, called the charges “blatantly unjust,” citing the coercive police methods used to extract “evidence,” including RSDL detentions and torture. He further called for the immediate release of the detained religious leaders, urging the international society to press the Chinese government to stop prosecuting unregistered religious groups.

In February, the Covenant House Church requested prayers as authorities prepared to resume their investigation into a fabricated case leading to the imprisonment of two pastors and a church member.

The wives of the accused have publicly questioned the charges. Wang’s wife, Wen Huijuan, and Han’s wife, Chen Ying, have written letters in defense of their spouses and their faith.

This case reflects the ongoing persecution many house churches face in China for refusing to join the state-sanctioned Three-Self Patriotic Movement, according to reports by the United Kingdom-based organization Release International.

China is ranked No. 16 on Open Doors’ 2023 World Watch List of the countries where it’s most difficult to be a Christian.

Open Doors also warned in its latest report that a growing number of countries are emulating the China model.

“China is trying not just to dominate the international agenda, but also to re-interpret existing (and coining new) human rights. China is trying to push this revisionism into the mainstream of international diplomacy, partly by attempting to re-define the tasks of the United Nations — and, most importantly, by filtering who is allowed to participate in debates on how human rights should be shaped in the future,” says the report.
Sources:Christian Post

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13-year-old Christian girl abducted, forced into Islamic marriage in Pakistan

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A Christian father in Pakistan is looking for justice after his teenage daughter was recently kidnapped and forced into marriage.

On April 4, 2024, 13-year-old Sania Ameen was abducted near her home in the remote village of Anjotar Sialkot in Punjab, Pakistan. The girl’s father, Ameen Masih, said his daughter was forcibly taken by a local man and two accomplices while on her way to shop for groceries for the family.

Masih reported that on the day of the abduction, he and his wife received a distressing call from another daughter about Sania’s disappearance. They hurried back home and immediately began searching for their missing daughter. Several eyewitnesses in the area said that Sania was unwillingly abducted by a man named Saif Ali and his associates. Masih quickly filed a complaint against Ali with the authorities, but it was not registered by the police, who instead blamed Masih for being an irresponsible father who failed to protect his daughters.

Despite Masih’s desperate appeals, local law enforcement has not a First Information Report (FIR) against the alleged abductors. Authorities justified the kidnapping by stating that Sania willingly married and converted to Islam, despite her status as a minor, and closed the case within three days.

In response, Ameen submitted another written application to the police station house officer, officially requesting the registration of a complaint against Ali and the two others for multiple crimes, including kidnapping, harassment, religious conversion and the fabrication of documents to alter her age. The complaint also states Ali and his partners abducted Sania for the purpose of sexual assault and exploitation. However, the police have yet to file a report on Masih’s behalf.

“We urge the authorities to apprehend and prosecute the perpetrator with the full force of the law, setting a precedent that dissuades any would-be kidnappers and exploiters from preying on the daughters of vulnerable communities like ours,” Masih said. “His punishment may help the majority community understand the gravity of these issues and empathize with the pain of parents who are powerless as their daughters are abducted and forcibly converted before their very eyes. These are girls who are not even physically or mentally prepared for such atrocities. They are naive and underage.”

Masih also said that regardless of the religious bias that Christians face in Pakistan and the social support of the culprits, this marriage of a minor is undoubtedly a crime and a violation of Pakistani law.

“We urge the government authorities, treating us as equal citizens of this land, to assist us in retrieving our daughter,” said Masih. “She has been forcefully detained and physically abused by her abductors before our very eyes, under the watch of law enforcement.”
Sources:Christian Post

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Christian Prisoner Denied Medical Care in Iran

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Iran — Mina Khajavi, a 60-year-old Christian convert serving a six-year prison sentence in Iran, is currently being deprived of necessary medical attention within Tehran’s Evin Prison.

Despite suffering from arthritis and walking with a limp caused by an untreated broken ankle sustained in a car accident shortly before her imprisonment, Khajavi is being denied medical care by Iranian guards. This neglect has resulted in significant suffering for Khajavi, particularly as she must put pressure on her injured ankle when climbing to the second level of her bunk bed in her cell.

Agents with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard arrested Khajavi in part of a string of coordinated raids against house churches in June 2020. Authorities charged Khajavi with “acting against national security by promoting ‘Zionist’ Christianity,” and she began serving her sentence at the beginning of this year. Khajavi was arrested alongside several Christian converts, including Malihe Nazari and Joseph Shahbazian, both of whom have had their sentences reduced due to retrials — hope that Khajavi clings to as she seeks a retrial of her own.

The conditions for Khajavi in Evin Prison, however, remain grim.

Widely referred to as a “torture factory” and “hell on earth,” Evin Prison houses roughly 60% of Christians detained in Iran. Rather than house the scoundrels and dregs of society, the prison serves as punishment for anyone deemed a threat to national security and the Islamic regime: Christians, politicians, journalists, intellectuals, and artists. Or, more specifically, anyone who is a threat to Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader who squashes any faith or dissent that challenges the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Prisoners incarcerated in Evin live in dismal conditions. Wards are overcrowded and lack necessities. Inmates have reported more than 70 types of torture, according to a report published by the U.K. Those with health conditions, like Mina Khajavi, report medical neglect and abuse.
Sources:persecution

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ദക്ഷിണ കൊറിയയിൽ പാർലമെന്റിലേക്ക് തെരഞ്ഞെടുക്കപ്പെട്ട കത്തോലിക്കരുടെ എണ്ണത്തിൽ റെക്കോർഡ്

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സിയോള്‍: ചരിത്രത്തിൽ ഏറ്റവും കൂടുതൽ കത്തോലിക്കരായ ജനപ്രതിനിധികൾ ഇത്തവണത്തെ ദക്ഷിണ കൊറിയയുടെ പാർലമെൻറിലേക്ക് തെരഞ്ഞെടുക്കപ്പെട്ടു. തെരഞ്ഞെടുക്കപ്പെട്ട 80 പേരിൽ ഭരണപക്ഷത്തുള്ളവരും, പ്രതിപക്ഷത്തുള്ളവരും ഉൾപ്പെടും. ഏപ്രിൽ പത്തിന് നടന്ന ഇലക്ഷനിൽ ഡെമോക്രാറ്റിക് പാർട്ടി ഓഫ് കൊറിയയുടെ പ്രതിനിധികളായി 53 കത്തോലിക്കരാണ് തെരഞ്ഞെടുക്കപ്പെട്ടത്. അതേസമയം ഭരണപക്ഷത്തുണ്ടായിരുന്ന പീപ്പിൾ പവർ പാർട്ടിയുടെ പ്രതിനിധികളായി 16 കത്തോലിക്കർ തെരഞ്ഞെടുക്കപ്പെട്ടു.

ഇതുകൂടാതെ ന്യൂ റിഫോം പാർട്ടിയുടെ പ്രതിനിധികളായി 11 കത്തോലിക്കരാണ് പാർലമെൻറിലേക്ക് വരുന്നത്. ഇലക്ഷനിൽ ഡെമോക്രാറ്റിക് പാർട്ടി 161 സീറ്റുകൾ നേടിയപ്പോൾ പീപ്പിൾ പവർ പാർട്ടിക്ക് 90 സീറ്റുകളാണ് ലഭിച്ചത്. 2020ൽ 300 ജനപ്രതിനിധികളുള്ള പാർലമെൻറിൽ 25 ശതമാനം കത്തോലിക്കരാണ് ഉണ്ടായിരുന്നതെങ്കിൽ ഇപ്പോഴത് 27% ആയി ഉയര്‍ന്നിരിക്കുകയാണ്.

രാജ്യത്തെ ആകെ ജനസംഖ്യയുടെ 28 ശതമാനമാണ് ക്രൈസ്തവ വിശ്വാസികള്‍. മൊത്തം ജനസംഖ്യയുടെ 11% കത്തോലിക്കാ വിശ്വാസികളാണ്. കത്തോലിക്ക വിശ്വാസം സ്വീകരിക്കുന്നവരുടെ എണ്ണത്തില്‍ ഉണ്ടായ വര്‍ദ്ധനവും ദൈവവിളിയില്‍ ഉണ്ടായ വര്‍ദ്ധനവും കൊറിയയിലെ സജീവ സുവിശേഷവത്ക്കരണത്തിന്റെ പ്രതിഫലനമായാണ് വിലയിരുത്തപ്പെടുന്നത്.
കടപ്പാട് :പ്രവാചക ശബ്ദം

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13-year-old Christian girl abducted, forced into Islamic marriage in Pakistan

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ദക്ഷിണ കൊറിയയിൽ പാർലമെന്റിലേക്ക് തെരഞ്ഞെടുക്കപ്പെട്ട കത്തോലിക്കരുടെ എണ്ണത്തിൽ റെക്കോർഡ്

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