Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Christian Persecution by Muslims

Two items focusing on Islamic governments persecution of Christians.  Pakistan has sentenced a Christian to life imprisonment for "insulting" and "desecrating" a Koran.   The government of Morocco has raided a Christian fellowship meeting in a private home and arrested 18 people including several young children and deported a Christian U. S. citizen.

I guess that makes Morocco "moderate" and "tolerant" compared to Pakistan.


FROM ENERGYPUBLISHER.COM:

Christian sentenced to life in prison for blaspheming Islam
Sunday, February 07, 2010 by Spero News 

A court in Faisalabad, Pakistan, sentenced to life imprisonment Imran Masih, a young Christian, for having insulted and desecrated the Koran, according to the Minorities Concern newsletter.

On July 1, 2009 Masih, a shopkeeper by profession, was brutally tortured by a group of Muslims, then arrested by police on charges – allegedly fabricated- that he had burned pages of the Koran.

On January 11, 2010 the judge sentenced him to prison for life, which he will serve in the federal prison in Faisalabad where he is currently confined.
The court also imposed an additional penalty of 10 years' imprisonment and payment of 100 thousand rupees (just over 800 euros), under provisions of the law prohibiting blasphemy against Islam.

Peter Jacob, executive secretary of the National Commission on Justice and Peace, sponsored by the Catholic Church, while not openly criticizing the ruling, speaks of "not a good verdict " and "lack of freedom" of the judiciary.

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FROM COMPASSDIRECT.ORG:

Moroccan Authorities Raid Bible Study, Arrest Christians

Order to detain 18 nationals, deport U.S. citizen apparently came from highest levels.

MARSEILLES, France, February 9 (CDN) — A large, military-led team of Moroccan authorities raided a Bible study in a small city southeast of Marrakech last week, arresting 18 Moroccans and deporting a U.S. citizen, area Christian leaders said.

Approximately 60 officers from the Moroccan security services on Thursday afternoon (Feb. 4) raided the home of a Christian in Amizmiz, a picturesque city of 10,000 mainly Berber people 56 kilometers (35 miles) southeast of Marrakech. A church Bible study was in progress at the home with visitors from western and southern Morocco, the leaders said.

Five of the 18 people held for 14 hours were small children, two of them infants no more than 6 months old. The other small children ranged from 20 months to 4 years old, and also detained was the visiting 16-year-old nephew of one of the participants.

The Christian leaders said authorities interrogated participants in the Bible study for 14 hours. The authorities filmed the interrogations with digital video cameras and cell phones.

The leader of the Christian group, who requested anonymity for security reasons, said the raiding party was unusually large. It included an accompaniment of 15 vehicles led by a colonel and two captains.

“It’s the first time in our current Moroccan church history that the Moroccan government used this size of a legion to attack a small Christian meeting,” he said. “All the time they kept repeating that this was ordered personally by the new Moroccan Justice Minister [Mohamed Naciri] and by the highest level General of the Gendarmerie [Housni Benslimane].”
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