.

A Nigerian priest has compared the government option to marry off freed Boko Haram hostages to their abductors to trying to heal cancer with a bandage.

Father Moses Lorapuu – Director of Communication and Vicar General Pastoral for the Catholic Diocese of Makurdi in Benue State – was reacting to reports indicating that around 20 Chibok girls who have regained their freedom after years in Boko Haram captivity are now being forced to marry the men who abducted them.

SOURCE

“This strategy [of encouraging marriages between freed Chibok girls and their captors] is tantamount to bandaging cancer. You don’t bandage cancer,” Lorapuu told Crux.

The BBC tells the story of Yama Bullum, who is grappling with a profound sense of loss. A decade ago, Boko Haram militants abducted his daughter, Jinkai Yama, along with 275 other girls from their secondary school. Fifty-seven managed to escape, and between 2016 and 2018, 108 were either rescued or released through negotiations, according to the BBC.

Yet 91 girls remain unaccounted for.

Jinkai was among the 20 “Chibok girls” rescued from Boko Haram hideouts in the Sambisa Forest — a stronghold of the 15-year insurgency in north-eastern Borno state.

The trauma these young women endured during their captivity is unimaginable. Forced marriages to extremists, multiple husbands lost in clashes with the military, and the haunting memories of their abduction — all underscore the brutality they faced. Boko Haram’s name, meaning “western education is forbidden” in the local Hausa language, reflects their extremist ideology.

Despite their harrowing experiences, Jinkai – like many of the freed girls – has allegedly chosen to marry one of her captors, with the complicity of the Nigerian government. However, many observers say the women have been forced into these marriages.

Jinkai’s father now feels deep anguish at the realization that his daughter had allegedly chosen to remain married to one of her captors.

“I am not happy with what the governor did. The girls managed to come out of the forest and the governor married them off again. Her mother is very angry,” Bullum told the BBC.

It was a harrowing realization because Bullum had all along thought that his daughter, along with other freed girls had been in a special welfare center.

But the evidence on the ground suggests that the Governor of Borno State, Babagana Umara Zulum, approves of marriages between the freed girls and their abductors as a way of stabilizing the region.

Lorapuu has condemned the government, echoing the frustration and disbelief shared by many Nigerians.

The situation, the priest told Crux, is akin to trying to heal cancer with a bandage — a futile and damaging approach.

“To imagine that ten years on, some of the Chibok girls are still unaccounted for and the government does nothing except pieces of skullduggery in form of press statements by its spin doctors on how some of the girls have been resettled and how terrorists are being pushed back,” he said.

“No serious government will permit its citizens to be treated the way terrorists are dehumanizing Nigerians. See how the Israeli government reacted to Hamas for the October 7th terror attacks,” Lorapuu told Crux.

“What the government is doing is legitimizing Islamization. How do you ask a victim of a rapist to marry him? The government is seeking to minimize the catastrophe in international circles and allow the legitimization of Islamic terrorism,” he said.

The government has pushed back at the accusations, saying that the marriages are voluntary.

Zuwaira Gambo, Borno state commissioner for women affairs and social development, told the BBC that the girls do insist that “without their husbands, they will not stay in Maiduguri.”

She explained that the risk of denying them their wish is that the couples could run back to the forest.

Fr. Moses Lorapuu challenges this, telling Crux that “in every village where these attacks take place, the victims are told to learn to live with the terrorists.”

The priest described kidnappings in Nigeria as “an epidemic,” noting that he lacked a better word to describe the situation.

Money at the root of kidnappings
Maria Lozano of the charity Aid to the Church in Need said northern Nigeria has become home to “mass kidnappings.”

“It’s all about ransom money. Many criminal bands make a living from it,” she told Crux.

“Kidnapping has been a major source of revenue for both violent extremist organizations in the North East and bandit groups in the North West,” Lozano said.

On Feb. 29, insurgents kidnapped over 200 women, girls, and boys who had left their Internally Displaced Persons camp in search of firewood in Ngala, northeast Borno state.

“While the perpetrators of the abductions have not been claimed by specific groups, it is likely that either Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP) or Jama’atu Ahlus-Sunnah Lidda’Awati Wal Jihad (JAS) are behind the February abductions in Borno,” Lozano said.

She said Nigeria also leads in the list of religious people and priests kidnapped around the world by far, with 28 cases in 2023, including three religious sisters.

“The vast majority of [religious] kidnapped in Nigeria ended up being released,” she said.

Lozano noted that three were killed last year “related to a kidnapping or attempt of it: Father Isaac Achi was brutally murdered in January, when he was unable to escape his residence as it burned to the ground following an attack, and seminarian Na’aman Danlami in September suffered the exact same fate. “

In October, Godwin Eze, Benedictine who had been abducted along with two fellow novices, was murdered by his kidnappers, she said.

“The abduction of priests and religious in Nigeria has become so common that new cases barely register. Although most end up being released, in what has become a lucrative business for criminals, there have also been cases of fatalities, leaving Catholics in constant fear,” Lozano said.

Do you know how many Christians have been slaughtered this week? You can find out here: https://www.thereligionofpeace.com/

The Tehran Revolutionary Court has handed down an 11-month prison sentence to a woman following an altercation with an [islamic] vigilante while walking her dog, according to an activist news agency.

SOURCE

Negin Chaparian, 34, was convicted of “spreading propaganda against the [islamic] regime, provoking impurity and indecency, and outraging public decency,” HRANA reported on January 31.

In August last year, Chaparian engaged in a dispute with an [islamic] vigilante who was harassing her for walking her dog in a Tehran park.

Chaparian was arrested after sharing photos of the altercation on social media. She spent three days in custody before being released on bail.

Iran’s islamic clerical establishment views dog ownership as "morally depraved" and a sign of Western [Christian] influence. It also argues that keeping the animals inside homes is unhygienic and un-Islamic.

However, the ownership of dogs and other pets has become more popular, particularly among young people.

Attempts by the [islamic] authorities to curtail the practice through bans on dog walking have largely failed or met resistance.

You can read more here: https://www.thereligionofpeace.com/

The governor of Kaduna state met with church leaders after the pace of terrorist killings since September increased in a Christian area, including 25 people slain in the first two weeks of January, sources said.

SOURCE

James Bitrus, Christian leader of the Dnata Chiefdom in predominantly Christian Kagarko County in southern Kaduna state, said Muslim terrorists killed more than 100 Christians in the area over the past four months.

“In fact, these attacks became worse from the month of September to this January,” Bitrus told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News. “Since November, many of our people have been forced to flee our communities; farmers are not able to go to their farms. This is aside from about 100 more Christians who have been killed in the past four months.”

More than 100 Christians were also kidnapped as terrorists killed 25 Christians in the first part of January, he said.

“These figures do not include those kidnapped in the past year,” said Bitrus, whose Dnata Chiefdom has headquarters in Gujeni town.

Bitrus spoke with Christian Daily International-Morning Star News after he and other Christian leaders met with Kaduna Gov. Uba Sani and the heads of security agencies on Tuesday (Jan. 16) in response to the outcry against terrorism in the state.

Sani, who took office in May, told the leaders that the purpose of the meeting was to brainstorm how to curtail recent attacks in the areas of Kauru, Kajuru, Birnin Gwari, Igabi, Chikun, Kachia, Kagarko and Kaduna-Abuja Road. He acknowledged that some parts of the state have become enclaves for terrorist activities.

“The recent occurrences on that axis clearly indicate the re-opening of a front on that route, and this points us strongly to the need for renewed focus and coordination,” he said, according to a copy of remarks obtained by Christian Daily International-Morning Star News. “Bandits and terrorists have exploited gaps, particularly around Maganda, Kuyello and other villages surrounding Buruku, Udawa, Damba, Kuriga, Polewire and other flash points, to carry out ambushes on citizens as well as security forces attempting to respond to distress calls.”

Chikun, Giwa and Igabi also have become areas of concern, he said.

“The Kauru general area has equally witnessed a resurgence of deadly attacks and kidnappings in recent weeks around Dokan Karji stretching into Kajuru, and also Kachia from the Bishini general area,” Sani said.

Bitrus told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News that there is an urgent need for the Nigerian government to check terrorist activities in the area.

“Six Christians were kidnapped at Maraban Idda area on Saturday, 13 January, and up to this very moment those kidnapped are in captivity,” he said.
Many Christians in the Gida Biyu village area were also kidnapped, he said.

“Day and night, Christians are being attacked and villages raided by these terrorists,” Bitrus said. “And we have complained to the government and security agencies about our plight, but nothing has been done.”

Islamic terrorists have established enclaves in the Kajuru forests, among other sites, he said.

“Security agencies know this, but nothing has been done to curtail these terrorists’ activities against our communities,” Bitrus said. “We are calling on the Kaduna state and Nigerian governments to collaborate with each other towards saving us from the threat of extinction from terrorist attacks. We plead that a military base should be established in our area so that these terrorist attacks can be curtailed.”

You can read more here: https://www.thereligionofpeace.com/

This is what they do when they are in power and others are in the minority. Take note.

Islamic Police in Pakistan refused to file charges in the case of a Christian mother who lost her unborn child in a Muslim co-worker’s attempt to rape her, sources said.

SOURCE

Rakhil Nadeem Masih was eight months pregnant when a muslim co-worker at a brick kiln near Clarakabad village in Kasur District, Punjab Province, attacked her in her living quarters at the kiln, said her husband, Nadeem Masih.

He found her bleeding as the co-worker kicked and beat her, but after Masih took her to a government hospital, a doctor who stated that the violence led to her baby’s death refused to sign the medical report due to the influence of the Muslim kiln owner, Masih said. The kiln owner also influenced police, he said.

Rights activist Napolean Qayyum told Christian Daily International/Morning Star News that the case was another example of how influential Muslims circumvent the law.

“The poor couple’s unborn child was murdered,” Qayyum said. “The medical report certifies that the woman was brutally tortured, which caused the baby’s death, yet the [islamic] police are still refusing to register an FIR [First Information Report].”

Qayyum said he has filed a complaint with the office of the Punjab Inspector General of Police, “but there has been no progress on it.”

Masih said that his 25-year-old wife had stepped out of their living quarters at the kiln to dispose of some garbage when she noticed the co-worker, identified only as Chand, taking photos of her with his phone. Rakhil Nadeem rebuked Chand and returned to her quarters, but he followed her inside and attacked her, Masih said.

Chand beat her and attempted to rape her, the impoverished laborer said, adding that his three children witnessed the violence.

“Rakhil begged and pleaded Chand to leave her, repeatedly telling him to spare her and her unborn child, but he would not listen,” Masih told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News. “I was working at the kiln when I heard the screams of my wife and children. I ran towards my quarters, where I saw Chand punching and kicking Rakhil, who was lying on the floor profusely bleeding.”

He tried to seize Chand, but he broke free and ran outside, Masih said.

“My immediate concern was for Rakhil, who was in a very bad condition,” he said. “I took her to a nearby government hospital with help from some co-workers, where we were told that the baby had died due to the torturous attack.”

Doctors performed an emergency Cesarean section (C-section) on Rakhil Nadeem to remove the baby’s body, Masih said, in tears adding that it was then that he realized they would have been blessed with a second son.

His wife remained in the hospital for more than a week for treatment of internal injuries.

“The thought of filing a police complaint immediately did not cross my mind at that time, because all my attention was focused on Rakhil’s condition,” he said. “I had already lost my unborn son, and I couldn’t even think of seeing my three children losing their mother.”

After Rakhil Nadeem returned home, Masih and his father went to the police station to file a complaint against Chand.

“The police asked us to bring the medico-legal certificate from the hospital, which was required to file a First Information Report,” Masih said. “However, when we submitted the certificate, the police refused to register a case, saying that the certificate had not been signed by the concerned doctor.”

When he went back to the hospital, the doctor declined to sign the document, he said.

“I later came to know that both the police and the doctor have been influenced by the Muslim owner of the brick kiln, Chaudhry Abdul Rehman,” Masih said. “The accused, Chand, is a henchman of Rehman, and it is because of his influence that police are reluctant to file a case against Chand and arrest him.”

He added that Chand was notorious for harassing Christian female workers at the kiln, and that complaints against him went unheard because of his association with the Muslim owner.

Chand continues to work at the kiln, and he and his family members have threatened Masih, warning him to stop pursuing legal action, Masih said.

“The kiln owner is also pressuring me to reconcile with Chand and also offered me money, but I’ve resolved not to give up till I get justice for my wife and our murdered unborn child,” he said.

Sohail Habil, executive director of HARDS Pakistan, a Christian rights group, said they had decided to file a legal case against [islamic] police for inaction against the suspect.

“Registration of an FIR is the right of every citizen of Pakistan, regardless of their social standing,” Habil told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News. “The police must ensure that the accused is booked for assaulting the poor [Christian] woman and killing her unborn child.”

Cases of sexual violence against Christian women and children are common at brick kilns in islamic Pakistan. Christians make up less than 2 percent of Pakistan’s population, and those at the bottom of the economic scale face even greater persecution.

.

A 60-year-old Iranian Christian convert will begin serving a six-year prison sentence for purportedly "acting against national security by promoting 'Zionist' Christianity".

SOURCE

Mina Khajavi was arrested in 2020, and the sentencing took place in 2022, involving two other individuals: Christian convert Malihe Nazari, who received a six-year sentence, and Iranian-Armenian pastor Joseph Shahbazian, sentenced to 10 years.

While Shahbazian and Nazari began serving their sentences a few months later, Khajavi was initially considered unfit for incarceration due to a car accident resulting in a severely broken ankle, necessitating the insertion of metal plates.

Despite enduring ongoing physical challenges, such as walking with a limp and developing arthritis, Khajavi was instructed on January 3, 2024, to report to Evin Prison within five days.

Both Shahbazian and Nazari, convicted on similar charges, secured early release. Shahbazian's sentence was initially reduced to two years by an appeal-court judge citing insufficient evidence under Article 498 of the Islamic Penal Code, related to organizing groups deemed a threat to national security. In September 2023, Shahbazian was fully pardoned and released. Nazari, freed earlier in 2023, reportedly gained her release due to her son's declining health, who was hospitalized with leukemia.

Activists are demanding the immediate and unconditional exoneration of Khajavi, who faces imprisonment solely based on her Christian faith. They are also urging Iran to cease the harassment of the Christian community and adhere to the November 2021 Supreme Court ruling that explicitly stated, "the promotion of Christianity and formation of a house-church is not criminalized in law" and should not be considered a threat to national security.

An Iranian woman received 74 lashes for defying the Islamic Republic’s mandatory hijab, while another hijab refuser was given a two-year prison sentence.

SOURCE

Iranian islamic authorities on Wednesday executed the sentence of 74 lashes on Roya Heshmati, a woman who had been convicted for refusing to adhere to the compulsory hijab in accordance with a court's orders in Tehran.

Heshmati, a vocal critic of compulsory hijab, shared a distressing account of her experience during the execution of her sentence. She disclosed that on the day of the punishment, she, accompanied by her lawyer, arrived at the enforcement unit to undergo the 74 lashes. Heshmati stressed that upon entering the courthouse, she had removed her hijab, and when officials admonished her to cover up, she defiantly asserted, "I have come to receive my lashes; I won't cover up."

According to Heshmati, the enforcement officer threatened to intensify the lashes and open a new case against her for non-compliance with hijab if she did not cover up.

Providing a vivid description of the whipping room, Heshmati wrote, "They opened the iron door. The room had cement walls. There was a small bed in the corner with iron shackles on both sides... A medieval torture chamber."

The international community strongly condemns the use of degrading and inhumane punishments, such as flogging, which is explicitly prohibited under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Iran's continued use of such humiliating punishments sets it apart as one of the few countries that still resort to such practices.


Zeynab (Bahar) Khonyabpour
In another case, Zeynab (Bahar) Khonyabpour, a resident of Behbahan in Ahvaz province and an opponent of compulsory hijab, has been sentenced to two years in prison for sharing photos without hijab on social media. Her lawyer, Sajjad Chatrsefid, confirmed that she was sentenced to imprisonment by the Behbahan Criminal Court.

Christian + Muslim = Problems
Atheist + Muslim = Problems
Jew + Muslim = Problems
Buddhist + Muslim = Problems
Taoist + Muslim = Problems
Muslim + Muslim = Problems

Whalis:

Is Islam cultism?

Basically, yes. I recommend you check out the website below to read more about the cultism of islam:
https://atheism-vs-islam.com

You can read more here: https://www.thereligionofpeace.com/

Fears grow of sectarian violence between Sunni and Shia Muslim migrants of Bibby Stockholm as authorities are told prayer sessions should be segregated

Officials should consider providing separate prayer rooms for Sunni and Shia Muslims living on the Bibby Stockholm to avoid [further] sectarian clashes, a government report has found.

SOURCE

The split between the two main sects of Islam is a major cause of conflict in the Middle East and can lead to unrest at sites where migrants are being housed in the UK, according to a Home Office equality impact assessment.

The document says that this can cause 'adverse behaviours' and 'consideration should be given to separate worship areas'. It adds that interactions between the two groups 'should be monitored'.

A separate report on RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire warns of 'tensions' resulting from the Sunni/Shia divide and says 'segregated onsite faith and worship rooms' are being made available.

Footage has emerged of fights breaking out between asylum seekers in the canteen at RAF Wethersfield, a former base in Essex.

Consideration should be given to providing separate prayer rooms on the Bibby Stockholm, a government report has found.

One asylum seeker said there had been 'nightly fighting' at the base.

A second, a 19-year-old from Iran, said the 'dangerous' conditions had left him feeling 'scared'.

He told ITV News: 'Inside the camp: dangerous, because [most] nights... [there is] fighting another nationality, another language, another people.

'[There is] security but they can't control [things], because there are many people inside here. [There is] no safety. I am scared in here. It's dangerous.'

The first migrants arrived at RAF Wethersfield in July and it currently holds 430 people, with plans for up to 1,700 at the site.

Another source who has access to asylum seekers at the base said they have been made aware of 'numerous fights' and 'disagreements' and witnessed cuts and bruises sustained from fights.

One person's injuries were 'so bad' they had to be taken to Broomfield Hospital in Chelmsford to have stitches, it is claimed.

You can read more here: https://www.thereligionofpeace.com/

In Islam, the punishment for apostasy is death:

https://reddit.com/r/exmuslim/comments/wghlt2/punishment_for_apostasy_updated_42_sahih_3_hasan/

Before Sawuba Naigaga succumbed to injuries her 25-year-old son inflicted on her this month, she described the assault to a friend from her hospital bed.

SOURCE

The friend said Naigaga’s son, Ashirafu Basalirwa, returned home to Busia town, Busia District from four years of working in Saudi Arabia on Dec. 15 and found his mother mentioning the name of Jesus as she prayed.

“As I was praying with my eyes closed, my son called me, saying ‘Mum, Mum – you are becoming a disgrace to the family and the religion of Allah,’” the 46-year-old Naigaga told her friend before she died on Dec. 17. “I kept quiet, and he pushed me hard to the wall, then I fell down. He then took a blunt object and hit me at the head. Since then, I lost all my consciousness, only to find myself in the hospital bed.”

The friend said she had told Naigaga the gospel and led her to Christ.

“I preached the Good News of Jesus to Sawuba, who gave her life to Christ in 2022,” said the friend, whose name is withheld for security reasons. “We had been attending church. One thing which I know is that she kept her faith silent from her family members, including her son.”

Basalirwa had gone to Saudi Arabia to look for employment after graduating from an Islamic university in Uganda, the friend said.

She found Naigaga the day of the assault.

“I ran to Sawuba’s home after hearing wailing from her house and an alarm from neighbors,” the friend recalled. “I dashed quickly to the scene, and I found her in a pool of blood but in an unconscious state. We rushed her to a nearby hospital, but she breathed her last breath after two days on Dec. 17 due to internal bleeding.”

Basalirwa has fled and is in hiding, sources said.

Besides her son, Naigaga is survived by a daughter.

You can read more here: https://www.thereligionofpeace.com/

Islamic terrorists killed 10 Christians in western Uganda, sources said.

“I heard the attackers saying that, ‘The Christians will not celebrate the birth of Jesus – we have to teach a lesson to these infidels for refusing our religion,’” said a young woman who escaped the attack.

SOURCE

Members of the islamic ADF from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) mounted the attacks on Christians in western Uganda’s Kyitehurizi village, Kamwenge Sub-County in Kamwenge District at around 2 a.m., according to a Uganda official and local sources.

“I heard the attackers saying that, ‘The Christians will not celebrate the birth of Jesus– we have to teach a lesson to these infidels for refusing our religion,’” said a young woman who escaped the attack.

She told Morning Star News that she heard wailing close to her house and managed to leave and find a hiding place.

Those who lost their lives were members of the Anglican Church of Uganda, the Pentecostal Church and the Catholic Church, area sources said.

Enock Tukamushaba, chairperson of Kyitehurizi village, identified 10 Christians killed as 3-year-old Mary Kyomuhangi; Rossete Kugonza; Princess Ahumuza; Margaret Bunyazaki; Tugume; Esther Kurihura; Glorious Arindwaruhanga; Mesulamu; Bagiriana and Panddy.

More the 200 people were able to flee, but the assailants burned down their houses. Richard Baguma, a 35-year-old member of the Anglican Church of Uganda, said he escaped but lost all his belongings, including crops and farm products.

Originally based in western Uganda, the islamic ADF has operated in the neighboring DRC’s North Kivu Province since the late 1990s. Considered one of the most lethal of more than 120 armed groups in the eastern DRC, the ADF in 2019 split into two factions, with one merging into the Islamic State Central Africa Province.

The U.S. government in 2021 designated the ADF as a foreign terrorist organization with links to the Islamic State.

A Uganda People’s Defense Forces spokesperson, Brig. Gen. Felix Kulayigye, reportedly confirmed that ADF militants attacked the village but gave no details.

On June 6, an ADF splinter group was suspected in an attack on a school dormitory in Kasese District, Uganda, killing at least 37 students, most of them Christians.

On Oct. 17, the rebels killed a Christian tour guide along with a foreign married couple he was driving at a national park in Kasese District, which is near the DRC border.

You can read more here: https://www.thereligionofpeace.com/

With a decades-old history of Islamic extremist attacks, Nigeria’s Bauchi state is home to a Christian community that continues to suffer oppression and killings, a long-time pastor said.

SOURCE

While Muslim officials and others drove Christians to the outlying edges of the city of Bauchi decades ago, those areas later became the city center – from which Christians were again forced out and now live far from their worship sites, said the Rev. Abraham Damina Dumus, chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Bauchi State, and a Baptist pastor.

“In spite of the number of Christian worship places here, Christians do not live here in the city center, simply because of persecution,” Pastor Dumas told Morning Star News. “Christians who own these worship places are forced to live in the suburbs or outskirts of the city.”

Those Christians have been faithful to make the trips back to their church worship services and other programs, he said.

“The dexterity of Christians not to be deterred by Muslim authorities here in Bauchi has made them to remain steadfast, and they have continued to use their worship places,” Pastor Dumas said. “Without the commitment of Christians, these worship places would have been shut down completely.”

At present no Christians live in the old city center of Bauchi, he said.

“Christians who were living inside the old city as tenants were chased out by Muslims,” he said. “They had to move out and live in the outskirts.”

At the same time, the extremism of area Muslims is such that anti-Islamic events elsewhere, including internationally, lead them to vent their fury on local Christians, he said.

“Anytime these Muslims are provoked by events occurring elsewhere, Christians living in the suburbs become their targets of attacks,” Pastor Dumas said. “For instance, the Yelwa area, a Christians suburb where Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University and the Federal Polytechnic, Bauchi, are located, is readily attacked by Muslims any time they feel provoked by events occurring elsewhere, even when they know that Christians in Bauchi state have nothing to do with such events. These areas have been attacked numerous times over the years.”

As part of Nigeria’s northeastern geopolitical zone, where Islamic extremism took root in the early 1990s, Bauchi state has a history of bombed churches and assaults that continue to this day, he said.

“The persecution of Christians in Tafawa Balewa Local Government Area has remained a thorn in their flesh up to this very moment as I speak to you,” Pastor Dumas said. “From 1991 to date, there has been continuous bloodletting by Muslim terrorists targeted at Christians in that area.”

Bauchi state Gov. Bala Mohammed recently expressed concern over a spike in attacks by terrorists whom he said were coming from other states.

“Because of the federal government’s sustained war against bandits and terrorism in other zones of the country, the state is becoming a hiding place for the unscrupulous elements who are beginning to disturb the peace of the citizens,” Mohammed told a meeting of traditional rulers in September. “We have established a Ministry of Internal Security that will partner with the federal government just to drive the issue of providing internal security.”

Armed terrorists cross state borders in their assaults. A police rescue effort in response to a kidnapping in Bauchi state’s Toro County on Nov. 29 resulted in the recovery later that evening of three others who had been kidnapped in neighboring Plateau state, a pastor and two other Christians.

Bauchi state, where sharia (Islamic law) has been instituted as the main body of civil and criminal law since 2001, is estimated to be about 85 percent Muslim. Christians make up about 6 percent of the population, with traditional indigenous religions followed by 9 percent of the inhabitants.

The history of bombings of churches in Bauchi state hit a new level with the birth of the rebel Islamic extremist group Boko Haram in 2009, Pastor Dumas said.

“In three years, 2009-2012, Boko Haram terrorists bombed almost all the churches in Bauchi city,” he told Morning Star News. “Christians’ worship places were bombed on Sundays as Christians gathered for worship services. It was from here in Bauchi that the Boko Haram attacks spread to Maiduguri in Borno state. In these massive attacks against Christians, my house was burned down by the terrorists. Many houses belonging to Christians were also burned down during these attacks.”

Christians in northern Bauchi state, saw their homes and church buildings burned down in Azare, Misau, Danbam, Giade, Zaki and others, and many of them were killed, he said.

“Also in the southern part of Bauchi state, in places like Bauchi, Tafawa Balewa, and the rest, the situation was nasty and ugly to the church,” Pastor Dumas said. “It was like the church was going into extinction as there were clear signs that Christians were not going to exist in Bauchi state.”

In Islam, the punishment for apostasy is death:

https://reddit.com/r/exmuslim/comments/wghlt2/punishment_for_apostasy_updated_42_sahih_3_hasan/

You can read more here: https://www.thereligionofpeace.com/

When Akram* went to the islamic police, it was to file a complaint against the muslim neighbours who had violently attacked his wife and his young children – including his daughter Sephali*, who is only four years old. Instead, he ended up in prison himself.

SOURCE

Like many of Bangladesh’s small number of Christians, Akram and his family converted from a Muslim background. This enraged Akram’s extended family and his community, and they have faced continued persecution and pressure to renounce their Christian faith. But they have remained strong in their faith, determinedly following Jesus.

Young children assaulted

A few weeks ago, his wife and young family were physically assaulted by Muslim neighbours in their community, a remote part of northern Bangladesh. They ended up being hospitalised, so severe was the beating. It’s shocking to see a child as young as Sephali caught up in this sort of violence. On the same day as the attack, Akram went to the islamic police – he knew who the attackers were, since they all live in the same community. Some were even his relatives. But the islamic police didn’t take any action against the persecutors.

These same persecutors then retaliated: they filed two false accusations against Akram. He was accused of being involved with opposition political parties and undertaking anti-government activities, and he was also accused of forcibly converting Muslims to Christianity and slandering the prophet Muhammad. These are extremely serious crimes in Muslim-majority Bangladesh. False accusations are often used as a way of intimidating Christian communities, and getting police on the case of believers...

A week after the violent attack, Akram was arrested at around 4pm from a local market. In the early hours of the next morning, he was sent to jail. He remains there at present.

Intimidation continues

Akram’s local church leader is looking for a neutral lawyer who will fight for him, because he does not want to hire a Muslim lawyer because he fears there might be bias. Since his arrest, Akram’s family have been fearful and panicked that there will be further violence. Often at night people throw stones on their roof and frighten the family while they’re sleeping. Even now, with Akram behind bars, the scare tactics still occur.

Since Akram is the only person earning an income and is the head of the family, his family is also suffering from a lack of food and safety. “The children are crying and asking every day to bring their father back home,” shares his wife. “The are doing exams and they cannot concentrate on their studies. We are living without food. Because of the tension and fear, we could not eat and sleep. I do not know what to do, or where to go to bring my husband back home.”

Open Doors local partners are sending support for emergency needs, and have visited the family to offer encouragement and prayer. They are also finding ways to aid in legal assistance to help Akram be released on bail.

*Names changed for security reasons

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The Public Prosecution Service (OM) suspects that the killing of a 28-year-old woman in Apeldoorn on September 5, 2023, was an act of “honor killing.” This allegation was presented during the first preparatory hearing at the Zutphen court on Tuesday. The victim's brother, Peshang A., is the accused.

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On a bright day, the woman was walking with her 3-year-old daughter on Casper Fagelstraat when, according to the Public Prosecution Service, she was attacked from behind and killed with dozens of knife stabs to her upper body, neck, and head. Her child was unharmed.

"What seemed like a horrendous act by a single person soon turned out to be a premeditated, widely discussed case of honor killing," said one of the two prosecutors. The lawyer countered this, stating, "The investigation is not yet complete, and this is one of the things that still needs to be examined. Honor killing is very complex. Now, this case is being pushed too much into a cultural corner."

The OM then quoted a statement in which A. had said he "just killed his sister and that he had to do it out of tradition." "She had to die because she did not adhere to cultural [islamic] norms," said the OM.

A. appeared via a video link. He stated his unwillingness to cooperate in a psychiatric examination. "What do I have to gain from that?" he wondered. "Everything I told the police has been twisted." However, he did say he would speak more at the next court session.

Alongside him, three other men have been arrested: another brother of the victim and the accused, who will appear in court on January 22, and two cousins from Germany. One of them was also the ex-husband of the victim. He has recently been extradited to the Netherlands, and the other will be brought to the Netherlands on December 22.

The next preparatory session is scheduled for March 4.

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Authorities in islamic Mauritania have arrested 15 Christian leaders since late November following calls for punishment by Muslims outraged over a video showing a baptism ceremony, sources said.

The families of 14 of the Christian leaders were also arrested, according to aid and advocacy group International Christian Concern (ICC).

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The charges against the Christians were unclear; there is no law against evangelism in Mauritania, but officials nevertheless forbid non-Muslims from “proselytizing” and ban any public expression of faith except Islam, according to the U.S. State Department’s most recent (2022) International Religious Freedom Report.

Apostasy, or leaving Islam, is punishable by death in the northwest African country, where the population is 98 percent Sunni Muslim, 1 percent Shia Muslim and the constitution designates Islam as the sole religion of the citizenry and state.

At least three of the Christians were initially arrested on or shortly before Nov. 30 in Selibaby, more than 600 kilometers (373 miles) south of the capital city of Nouakchott, according to Spanish news service EFE. The arrests stemmed from protests calling for Christians to be killed after a video of a baptism ceremony appeared in social media, according to ICC and Christian leaders in the region.

“Tragically, this hostility has extended beyond the arrested individuals, affecting their families who are now facing harassment from their neighbors,” ICC reported on Wednesday (Dec. 13). “The Mauritanian government finds itself in a delicate position, torn between its commitments to human rights reforms and greater religious freedom, asserting that the arrests were made to protect citizens and other radical Islamist elements.”

Mauritanian officials believe the arrests were necessary to address the “Christian problem” in the country, as the video raised awareness of the presence of Christianity in the area, according to ICC.

A Christian leader in Mauritania told CDI that area protesting Muslims on Dec. 2 called for the homes of Christians to be burned.

“According to the Muslims, half of the population in the village has become believers,” he said. “They want to stop the progression of the gospel in this closed land. The police arrested six leaders at the beginning, but after checking the phone of one leader, the police found names. They are after any name they found in that phone.”

Mauritania’s 2018 Amendment to Penal Code Article 306 states that “any Muslim who explicitly apostatizes from Islam, or who says or does something that would require or include that, or who renounces what he knows to be required by the religion, shall be imprisoned for three days, during which time he will be asked to repent. If he does not repent, he will be sentenced to death for blasphemy, and his property will be transferred to the treasury of the Muslims.”

Mauritania’s laws and legal procedures derive from a mix of French civil law and sharia (Islamic law), but there were calls from the public for increased application of the country’s sharia-based criminal code, according to the State Department’s 2022 religious freedom report.

“The law prohibits apostasy and blasphemy,” the report states. “The criminal code mandates a death sentence for any Muslim convicted of apostasy or blasphemy..."

Faith-based Non-Governmental Organizations must refrain from proselytizing or otherwise promoting any religion other than Islam, and the government must pre-approve all group meetings, “including non-Islamic religious gatherings and those held in private homes,” according to the report.

At the same time, non-Muslim religious leaders stated the government typically does not prevent such groups from holding religious gatherings in private spaces, the report notes. Possession of non-Islamic religious materials remained legal, although the government continued to prohibit their printing and distribution, it adds.

Although Mauritania is a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which provides everyone the “freedom to have or to adopt a religion or belief” of their choice, the government continued to ban any public expression of religion except that of Islam, according to the religious freedom report.

“Authorized churches were able to conduct services within their premises but could not proselytize,” the report states. “An unofficial government requirement restricted non-Islamic worship to the few recognized Christian churches.”

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