₦airaland Forum

Nigeria is World’s Scariest Country to be a Christian

05/14/2022 Nigeria (International Christian Concern) – At least 896 civilians have been killed in violent attacks in Nigeria during the first three months of 2022. This, according to Open Doors, includes hundreds of Christians who were murdered because of their faith.

Open Doors is a non-denominational organization supporting persecuted Christians in the world.

Open Doors cited a report by SBM Intelligence, a Nigeria-based research firm, for the reported killings in the West African country. The attacks are blamed on Islamist extremist groups such as Boko Haram and Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP), militant Fulani herdsmen, bandits. . .

Open Doors reported that there were increasing signs that these groups were working together and widening the impact of their violence. The organization alleged more Christians are killed for their faith in Nigeria than in the rest of the world combined.

“Nigeria is currently one of the scariest places to be a Christian,” said Illia Djadi, an Open Doors analyst for sub-Saharan Africa.

Nigeria is Africa’s most populous country, with over 200 million people, and is divided roughly in half between Muslims, who live mostly in the north, and Christians, who live mostly in the south.

Last year, Nigeria earned the distinction of being the country with the world’s worst persecution in ICC’s Persecutor of the Year Awards.

“Christian communities in the Middle Belt of Nigeria have effectively suffered a twenty-year long genocide,” said ICC President Jeff King. “Where is any action? The Nigerian government gives these attacks lip service without any meaningful response. “Where is the outcry? Where is effective action? In Nigeria, the military, the police, and the intelligence agencies are all controlled by Muslims. This, coupled with a twenty-year lack of response by these agencies, should naturally lead to deeper questioning by the world community.

Simply put, the time for cheap talk and platitudes is over. The world is waking up and asking, “Is the Nigerian government complicit in these attacks. Time will tell, but for this long-time watcher, the decision is in.

“Kill the polytheists wherever you find them (Quran 9:5)

“When you meet the disbelievers, strike [with your blades at their] necks (Quran 47:4).

Quran (5:51) - "O you who believe! do not take the Jews and the Christians for friends; they are friends of each other; and whoever amongst you takes them for a friend, then surely he is one of them...

Quran (3:28) - "Let not the believers Take for friends or helpers Unbelievers rather than believers: if any do that, in nothing will there be help from Allah: except by way of precaution, that ye may Guard yourselves from them..."

Renowned scholar Ibn Kathir states that: " Muslims are allowed to show friendship [toward non-Muslims] outwardly, but never inwardly. "

Quran (9:23) - "O ye who believe! Choose not your fathers nor your brethren for friends if they take pleasure in disbelief rather than faith. Whoso of you taketh them for friends, such are wrong-doers"

Sahih Muslim (2167) - "Allah's Messenger said: Do not greet the Jews and the Christians before they greet you and when you meet any one of them on the roads force him to go to the narrowest part of it."

In 2019, Mufti Muhammad Ibn Muneer of New York said , "The general principle is to love and to hate for the sake of Allah. Which is simply summed up as, loving the Muslims and hating the non-Muslims "
https://caldronpool.com/new-york-mufti-says-muslims-cannot-integrate-muslims-should-hate-non-muslims/

Sahih Muslim Book 008, Number 3310:
'A'isha (Allah be pleased with her) reported: Allah's Apostle (may peace be upon him) married me when I was six years old, and I was admitted to his house when I was nine years old.

"Abu Sai'd al-Khudri said : The Apostle of Allah (may peace be upon him) sent a military expedition to Awtas on the occasion of the battle of Hunain. They met their enemy and fought with them. They defeated them and took them captives. Some of the Companions of the Apostle of Allah (may peace be upon him) were reluctant to have intercourse with the female captives in the presence of their husbands who were unbelievers. So Allah, the Exalted, sent down the Qur'anic verse: (Sura 4:24) "And all married women (are forbidden) unto you save those (captives) whom your right hands possess." That is to say, they are lawful for them when they complete their waiting period.(1479)" Abu Dawud vol.2 no.2150 p.577

Nigeria is World’s Scariest Country to be a Christian

05/14/2022 Nigeria (International Christian Concern) – At least 896 Christian civilians have been killed in violent attacks in Nigeria during the first three months of 2022. This, according to Open Doors, includes hundreds of Christians who were murdered because of their faith.

Open Doors is a non-denominational organization supporting persecuted Christians in the world.

Open Doors cited a report by SBM Intelligence, a Nigeria-based research firm, for the reported killings in the West African country. The attacks are blamed on Islamist extremist groups such as Boko Haram and Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP), militant Fulani herdsmen, bandits. . .

Open Doors reported that there were increasing signs that these groups were working together and widening the impact of their violence. The organization alleged more Christians are killed for their faith in Nigeria than in the rest of the world combined.

“Nigeria is currently one of the scariest places to be a Christian,” said Illia Djadi, an Open Doors analyst for sub-Saharan Africa.

Nigeria is Africa’s most populous country, with over 200 million people, and is divided roughly in half between Muslims, who live mostly in the north, and Christians, who live mostly in the south.

Last year, Nigeria earned the distinction of being the country with the world’s worst persecution in ICC’s Persecutor of the Year Awards.

“Christian communities in the Middle Belt of Nigeria have effectively suffered a twenty-year long genocide,” said ICC President Jeff King. “Where is any action? The Nigerian government gives these attacks lip service without any meaningful response. “Where is the outcry? Where is effective action? In Nigeria, the military, the police, and the intelligence agencies are all controlled by Muslims. This, coupled with a twenty-year lack of response by these agencies, should naturally lead to deeper questioning by the world community.

Simply put, the time for cheap talk and platitudes is over. The world is waking up and asking, “Is the Nigerian government complicit in these attacks. Time will tell, but for this long-time watcher, the decision is in.

"Even If Husband-Wife": Taliban's Restaurant Gender Segregation Plan

Kabul: The Taliban has implemented a gender segregation plan in the western Herat province, a media report said on Friday.

Men are not permitted to dine with family members in family restaurants, Khaam Press reported citing sources in Herat province.

According to the Afghan news agency, the rule of the Ministry for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice applies "even if they are husband and wife."

An Afghan woman revealed the manager of a Herat restaurant told her to sit separately from her husband.

Riazullah Seerat, a Taliban official at the Ministry for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, said that the ministry has issued a directive requiring Herat's public parks to be gender-segregated, with men and women authorized to attend only on separate days.

"We told women to go to parks on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday," he continued. "The other days are set aside for males to visit for leisure and exercise."

Back in March, the Taliban had issued a similar order, banning men and women from going to amusement parks on the same day.

Earlier today, the foreign ministers of western countries in a joint statement expressed disappointment about escalating restrictions imposed by the Taliban that impact the human rights of Afghan women.

"All Afghans should be able to enjoy their fundamental human rights. These rights are indivisible and inalienable, expressed in international human rights law, and endorsed by all members of the United Nations," the statement read.

Realadey:
I don't know what is really wrong with these people sha.

Eight soldiers were killed and 13 wounded in an attack in northern Togo on Wednesday, the government said, marking potentially the first deadly raid on its territory by Islamist militants who have killed thousands in neighbouring countries.

Before dawn, a group of heavily armed gunmen ambushed an army post in the Kpendjal prefecture near the border with Burkina Faso, the government said in a statement.

Security analysts said the attack was likely carried out by a local al Qaeda affiliate that is based in Mali but in recent years has spread south into Burkina Faso.

Groups linked to Islamic State and al Qaeda have carried out hundreds of attacks across the Sahel region of West Africa in recent years, focusing mainly on the landlocked countries of Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali.

Togo has so far been spared the violence, which has forced millions to flee their homes, but security experts have warned about a spread in operations that could encompass coastal states like Togo.

In 2018, Togo's military launched an operation to stop Islamist groups ghosting in from the north. Security forces repelled an attack by gunmen on a outpost in the same area as Wednesday's attack in November, without sustaining casualties. It said at the time that the attackers had come over the border from Burkina Faso. Read More

Togo's coastal neighbour, Benin, has seen a sharp rise in attacks near its northern border with Burkina Faso. Five soldiers were killed last month when an army convoy struck an improvised explosive device. read more

International partners led by France have spent billions of dollars and deployed thousands of troops to contain the attacks, which began in Mali in 2012 before spreading into Niger and Burkina Faso.

But the violence continues, especially in poor rural areas where jihadist groups blend in.

The insecurity has undermined democracy in countries where residents have become fed up with the violence and rallied for change. In Mali and Burkina Faso, military juntas have snatched power since 2020, promising to shore up security.

Five soldiers were killed by suspected Islamist militants in northern Benin's Pendjari National Park, two military sources said...

The attack on Monday also wounded several soldiers who are being treated at a nearby hospital, said the sources, who requested anonymity.

The soldiers were killed when an army convoy struck an improvised explosive device, they said.

It was the latest in a string of deadly attacks in northern Benin, where groups linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State have spilled over from neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger. read more

Benin's army has not officially communicated on the incident and its spokesman did not respond to requests for comment.

Coimbatore: Nallur Police arrests man for forcing Dalit woman to convert to Islam.

Nallur Police arrested Iman Haneef for torturing his live-in relationship partner, a 21-year-old Dalit woman, and forcing her to convert to Islam. He had threatened to release her explicit pictures and videos on the internet if she didn’t agree to convert to his religion.

A 21-year-old Dalit woman filed a complaint with Nallur Police in Tamil Nadu's Coimbatore district stating that her partner, with whom she was in a live-in relationship, was torturing her and forcing her to convert to Islam.

The woman had stated that the accused, Iman Hameef, had contacted her through Instagram in 2021 and their friendship turned into a relationship.

He had then brought her to Tiruppur where they lived together, but Iman began to force her, and allegedly also tortured her to convert to Islam.

She stated that Iman took her phone and released explicit pics of them being together on her Instagram profile and also threatened to upload videos of her taking a bath if she didn’t convert to his religion.

The victim stated that Iman had called her by caste name, forced himself upon her several times and took nude pictures of her.

She also said that, unable to bare the torture, she left for her hometown. But, she had to come back to Tiruppur to collect her education documents from Imran. That is when he took her phone and used her own Instagram account to upload the pics.

Based on her complaint, Nallur Police registered an FIR under sections 354 A, 506 (1) of IPC, 66 C, 66 E, 67 A of the IT Act and several sections of the Prevention of Atrocities against SC/ ST Act.
Police have arrested Imran Hameef and have initiated an investigation.

Most of the Christians holding an all-night prayer vigil had left when the structure of Holy Healing Ministry International Church in te city of Jinja’s Mpumudde ward was set ablaze at about 4 a.m., said church Pastor George Kato.

“The fire weakened the church structure and forced it to collapse,” Pastor Kato told Morning Star News. “I managed to escape with other remaining few members, but two elderly members were trapped inside, and the fire burned them beyond recognition.”

As he came out of the church building, Pastor Kato said, he found jerry cans of gas near the door.

“I made an alarm while running away,” he said. “I saw three Muslims dressed in long Islamic attire taking off. I couldn’t identify them.”

Hardline area Muslims accusing the Christians of being too loud in their worship services and prayer meetings had told them many times to remove the church building, he said.

As the building burned, Pastor Kato called police who arrived quickly, but the wooden structure was already engulfed in flames.

One of the two church members who died was identified as Jonathan Kalyecheru, 70. The identity of the second victim was unclear. The bodies were taken to Jinja Regional Referral Hospital mortuary as police investigated.

Jinja is in Jinja District on the north shore of Lake Victoria, about 80 kilometers (49 miles) from Kampala, the capital.

Near eastern Uganda’s Mbale town, hardline Muslims on April 28 intercepted a church leader and cut him with knives after he left an open-air evangelistic event where he had debated Muslims, sources said.

Bishop Amon Sadiiki was receiving treatment for wounds on his head, stomach and legs. He was ambushed after four days of debates with Muslims in Mbale.

“On the fourth day of the debate, 11 Muslims converted to Christianity,” an area contact said, adding that as the bishop left Mbale at about 8 p.m., many Muslims were shouting at him.

Believing Sadiiki might not be safe traveling alone, organizers of the event arranged for two Christians on motorcycles, Peter Wabukoma and Moses Werikhe, to escort him. On the Mugiti-Kabwangasi road, they noticed two motorcycles with three riders following them, who then passed by brandishing knives and shouting the jihadist slogan, “ Allahu Akbar [God is greater],” the source said.

The men jumped off their motorcycles, stopped them and immediately began hitting and cutting Sadiiki before he could be defended, one of the escorts said.

“We made a loud alarm shouting for help for the bishop needing rescue, for he was at the point of death, which brought the attention of some nearby students from Mugiti High School, a Christian-founded school, and the school management managed to chase the attackers away, but the bishop was seriously injured,” Wabukoma said. “The bishop’s stomach, head and legs were cut with sharp knives, and he lost a lot of blood.”

Sources said Sadiiki was on a Muslim “wanted list” because he left Islam to put his faith in Christ, built a church in the middle of a predominantly Muslim village and carried out healing services that led many Muslims to Christ. He was also targeted, residents said, because he organised an evangelistic event in Mbale, considered a Muslim stronghold, during the Islamic month of Ramadan at which many Muslims embraced Christianity.

Sadiiki received first aid from the high school nurse, who bound his wounds, while he waited for a rescue team called from Mbale. The team arrived at about 10:45 p.m. and took Sadiiki to a private clinic in Mbale.

“The bishop’s condition is stable, but he will need another two weeks in the hospital because he suffered a deep cut on the head,” the contact said.

Church leaders planned to file a police report when the bishop is discharged from the hospital.

On May 3, Muslim extremists attacked his son, 21-year-old Frank Amon Sadiiki, as he returned home from taking food to his father at the hospital, the area contact said.

“While on his way back on a motorbike, two people stopped him at around 8 p.m. and then hit him with an object on his legs,” the source said. “Immediately a vehicle appeared with bright lights, and the attackers fled.”

Frank Sadiiki was rushed to a nearby clinic for treatment for cuts on his legs.

The bishop told Morning Star News that he and his family were unsafe and need prayer.

At least two children were among those killed in the Thursday night attack on Cinke and Zarama villages in Kwall District, Bassa County, and the Fulani muslims also wounded two Christians, a spokesman for the predominantly Christian, ethnic Rigwe said.

“The attack is no doubt the continuous perpetration of terror and mayhem in Rigwe land in an attempt to forcefully eject the peace-loving Rigwe people from their ancestral land, as well as complete annihilation of the entire tribe,” Davidson Malison of the Irigwe Development Association (IDA), said in a press statement. “The attacks have become a daily affair as the marauders have assumed [they are] an ‘immuned’ set of people and are feeling untouchable, daring the authorities concerned.”

Malison identified the slain as Mary Gya, 4; Esther La’aji, 5; Elizabeth Weyi, 21; Irah Weyi, 48; Ladi Mandu; Titus Agah, 40; Aweh Ngwe, 47; and Sunday Dada. He said the two Christians wounded were Munto Gado and Sarah Weyi.

The IDA is a community-based, non-governmental organization galvanizing Irigwe Christians in Plateau state toward self-reliance through community-based development.

Terming the assailants Fulani militia who carried out unprovoked killings in the two villages of Kwall District, Rigwe Chiefdom, Malison said, “This spate of wanton killings and destruction of lives and property, stealing of valuable items of the Rigwe people, has passed a condemnable level which requires a drastic decision and action.”

He said a number of houses were destroyed and valuables stolen by Fulani Muslims working with Muslim terrorists believed to be members of Boko Haram or its offshoot, the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP).

“It’s no doubt that the system has to a large extent failed to stop unleashing of carnage because of the kid-gloves treatment channeled on the entire issue rather than calling a dog by its name and having it dealt with accordingly,” Malison said. “We are yet again thrown into a deep mourning mood and painfully and sadly commiserate with the entire Rigwe people.”

Malison said IDA’s national leaders pray for the repose of the faithful, departed souls and encourage the Rigwe “to be security-conscious and alert.”
Raids on Seven Villages.

Fulani Muslims also destroyed a church building, Malison reported.

The Fulani shot three Christians to death in a midnight attack on April 28 on Rikwe Chongu village, wounded one other and burned down dozens of homes, Malison said. He identified the slain as Markus Audu, 41; Yah Hwenke, 42; and Amus Kanga, 61.

Area resident Jacob Maigida said another predominantly Christian community, Kamaru Miango near the boundary between Plateau and Kaduna states, was attacked on the same night. A spokesman for the the Special Military Task Force’s Operation Safe Haven (OPSH), confirmed the Fulani Muslims attack in a statement.

“Our troops deployed to the community, repelled the attack and in the process OPSH lost a soldier,” said Maj. Ishaku Takwa. “Two other civilians died as a result of the attack as well.”

In a failed assassination attempt on a Member of Parliament in the National Assembly for the Jos North/Bassa Federal Constituency, Musa Agah Avia, his wife and two children, aides and associates, Malison said in a statement.

“Regrettably, two people on a bike who were ahead of the Hon. Member’s convoy first encountered the ambush and were senselessly and inhumanely killed by the marauders,” Malison said.

Other Christians were killed in the area, on the same evening, he said. Malison said he was taken to a hospital, where one died from his injuries. He identified the three Christians killed that night as Timothy Weyi, Naomi Bitrus and Zere Abba.

Malison described the attacks as “a sign that terrorists, hoodlums and criminal elements are gradually taking over the nation and her territories.
To say a federal lawmaker is ambushed means that the Nigerian state has turned to anarchy and completely a failed nation.”

“Today in Irigweland, three Christians were laid to rest; they did not die naturally but were gruesomely murdered by enemies of the land well known by government,” Auta said. “The killings which have been on since the beginning of the year non-stop, have drawn little or no attention from either the state or federal government.”

Robert Ashi Dodo, president of the IDA, said in a statement that the Christians in Ariri were attacked as they slept in their homes. The attack was the sixth in a month, he said.

On April 2 in Chando Zerecci village, also in Miango District, 10 Christians were killed and 19 others wounded in an attack at about 8 p.m. by Fulani, said area resident Lawrence Zango in a text message to Morning Star News.

Malison confirmed that 10 Christians were killed in the attack on Chando Zerecci and said the Fulani also killed two Christians in an attack on April 3 on Ritivo village. In the attacks on the two villages, 28 Christians were wounded, he said.

Numbering in the millions across Nigeria and the Sahel, (are) predominantly Muslim Fulani comprising hundreds of clans of many different lineages. . . but some Fulani do adhere to radical Islamist ideology.

Excerpt: “They [I.e. Fulani Muslims] adopt a comparable strategy to Boko Haram and ISWAP [Islamic State West Africa Province] and demonstrate a clear intent to target Christians and potent symbols of Christian identity,” the APPG report states.

Christian leaders in Nigeria have said they believe Fulani attacks on Christian communities in Nigeria’s Middle Belt are inspired by their desire to forcefully take over Christians’ lands and impose Islam as desertification has made it difficult for them to sustain their herds.

Ramadan Sees Spike in ‘Disappearance’ of Coptic Christian Women and Girls who then appear in videos wrapped in hijabs, saying they “willingly” embraced Islam and don't want to be searched for.

On April 11, Simone Adel Isaac, a 15-year-old Coptic Christian girl, disappeared. Her parents immediately carried out an extensive investigation, including by questioning her friends, until they determined that the brother of one of her Muslim schoolmates was behind her disappearance. The parents provided police with the Muslim man’s name, home address, and phone number, and anxiously awaited the return of their daughter.

To their dismay, police did little. The distraught parents responded by sharing their experiences in a video that went viral. Being so abandoned by police, the mother, in tears, appealed to anyone and everyone, including the Egyptian president, Sisi, and Coptic pope, to intervene: “Any person with a merciful heart who can return her to me, please do so, because my girl is a minor, my girl doesn’t understand anything, she was deceived by that guy, his sister, and even his mother.” As the girl’s father added, “The government knows exactly where the [Muslim] fellow is. They should be the ones to go and get him, not us.”

Soon thereafter—and, as usual, under unclear circumstances—police reunited the girl with her family.

On April 5, Mary Wahib Joseph, 36, a Christian mother of three, disappeared with her one-year-old daughter, Julie. A week after her husband and extended family contacted everyone about her disappearance, including police, on April 12, Mary appeared in a video, wrapped under a hijab, and saying that she had willingly and without any coercion converted to Islam; that her name was now Mary Ahmed Muhammad; and that her husband, children, and parents should stop looking for her. All while making these claims Mary’s baby daughter can be heard crying in the background.

Responding to this video, her husband said that he knows his wife’s mannerisms and could clearly tell that she was speaking under duress. He also pointed out that, if she had really run away to convert to Islam and abandon him and their two other young children, why did she not take any of her belongings with her. Instead, she was in the midst of preparing the house for Easter, and had left the house without any of her possessions to do some shopping, so “are these the actions of a woman intending to escape?” he asked.

A few days later, and because this particular “disappearance” also made much noise, Mary and her child were returned to their family, again, with little clarification of what had happened.

It is difficult to emphasize just how common these two stories are—down to the very details. For example, Mary Wahib Joseph is hardly the first Christian woman to disappear, reappear in a video dressed in hijab and saying she had freely embraced Islam, only for the truth to later come out.

The only thing uncommon about these two stories, which have played out repeatedly in Egypt, is that both the woman and the teenager actually made it back to their families, though, no doubt, only after being permanently scarred by their ordeals.

The fact is, Coptic Christian girls have been and increasingly continue to be abducted, sexually abused, and forced to convert to Islam and marry their kidnappers— and the majority of them are never seen again.

It should also be emphasized that in those few cases that Coptic Christian girls and women are recovered, no legal action is ever taken against the abductors, even though Egyptian law is extremely harsh in such matters (for example, up to 25 years imprisonment for abducting a minor female, defined as under 18). But such is the reality of Egypt’s “justice” system when it comes to the non-Muslim Copts Christians.

A Dubious Conversion to Islam: Missing Coptic Christian Woman Reappears and Remains “Servant of Christ”

A Coptic Christian wife and mother who disappeared for nearly three months—supposedly because she had willingly converted to Islam and no longer wanted any connection to her “infidel” husband and three young daughters—has finally been returned to her family.

Ranya ‘Abd al-Masih, 39, a high school teacher of English in al-Minofiya, just north of Cairo, disappeared on April 22, 2020. A few days after her family contacted state security, she appeared in a one minute video dressed in a black niqab (female Islamic attire). In the video, and in between tears, Ranya insisted that she had finally and formally converted to Islam, which—“praise be to Allah”—she had been secretly following and concealing from her family for nine years. Accordingly, she no longer wanted anyone—her husband, children, family—to bother about her anymore.

From the start, her family refused to believe the video, insisting that it was obviously made under duress and noting that it was obvious that others were surrounding and giving her cues. “We’ve no problem for her to go [to Islam] of her own free will—based on conviction—but not as a person who is threatened and coerced into doing so,” her brother, Remon, had said in an interview . “She was definitely kidnapped and forced to make that video, due to threats against her or her husband and children if she refused to comply.”

He added that the idea that she had “secretly” embraced Islam was ludicrous, citing the fact that up until her disappearance she had been regularly attending church, visiting and praying in monasteries—even fasting 55 days in the lead up to Easter:

We are sure that Ranya, our beloved sister, whom we know so well, is not the one we saw on the video; that is a woman who is being threatened and coerced…If you can hear me, Ranya, know that we will never abandon you until we see you. Because you are a victim of a terror.

For nearly three months, Ranya’s family and the Coptic Church pleaded with the authorities—even sending a plea to President Sisi—until she was finally returned...

A Coptic Church spokesman said that Ranya and her reunited family are currently staying in an undisclosed location, “until calm returns” to the region. Due to the delicate nature of the situation, the spokesman gave no other details concerning her disappearance and reemergence, other than to say that “Ranya remains a Christian who never once converted to Islam.”

Similarly, when asked during a televised interview if she had converted, her lawyer simply said , “she returned as Ranya ‘Abd al-Masih”—a play on her last name, which means “servant of Christ.”

The capture and disappearance of Coptic women and minor girls is a bane of the Coptic Christian community in Egypt, yet little has been done to address this scourge by the Egyptian or foreign governments, NGOs, or international bodies.

According to a priest in the Minya Governorate, at least 15 girls go missing every year in his area alone. His own daughter was nearly kidnapped had he not been able to intervene in time…. The rampant trafficking of Coptic women and girls is a direct violation of their most basic rights to safety, freedom of movement, and freedom of conscience and belief.

The crimes committed against these women must be urgently addressed by the Egyptian government, ending impunity for kidnappers, their accomplices, and police who refuse to perform their duties.

Women who disappear and are never recovered must live an unimaginable nightmare. The large majority of these women are never reunited with their families or friends because police response in Egypt is dismissive and corrupt. There are countless families who report that police have either been complicit in the kidnapping or at the very least bribed into silence. If there is any hope for Coptic women in Egypt to have a merely ‘primitive’ level of equality, these incidents of trafficking must cease, and the perpetrators must be held accountable by the judiciary.

According to the judiciary, the daughter of former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani faces prosecution for social media comments about the Revolutionary Guards and the Prophet Mohammed.

Faezeh Hashemi, 59, has been “summoned by the prosecutor over these two affairs,” according to judiciary spokesman Zabihollah Khodayian, as quoted by the service’s Mizan Online website.

Khodayian referred to “remarks by Faezeh Hashemi on sanctions against revolutionary institutions and the insult against the Prophet”.

Hashemi, a former lawmaker and a women’s rights activist, contended in mid-April during an audio debate on a social media forum that Iran’s demand for the Guards to be removed from a US terror list was “damaging” to the country’s “national interests,” according to local media.

Removal of the terror designation is a key demand of Tehran in stalled negotiations over restoring its frayed 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.

And in a video posted separately on social media, Hashemi said that Khadija, wife of the Prophet Mohammed, was “a businesswoman”, but added with a smile that he went on to “waste the money” of his wife.

It was “a joke… without any intention of causing insult”, she later pointed out, state news agency IRNA reported.

Hashemi’s late father was a centrist who advocated for better relations with the West and the United States.

In late 2012, Hashemi was arrested and sentenced to six months in prison on charges of “propaganda against the Islamic republic.”

Upset over conversions to Christianity, hardline Muslims in an area of eastern Uganda this month sprayed a newly Christian family with acid and beat a former mosque leader, sources said.

In Intonko village, Namutumba District, Muslim relatives on March 8 sprayed acid on Juma Waiswa, 38, his 32-year-old wife Nasimu Naigaga, and their 13-year-old daughter, Amina Nagudi after they put their faith in Christ the previous month, Waiswa said.

They converted to Christianity when a pastor visited their home the morning of Feb. 17 and explained the gospel. When their relatives learned of their conversions, they called them to a meeting with other clan members on March 8, Waiswa said.

“During the meeting we were asked about our salvation, and we affirmed to them that we had believed in Jesus and converted to Christianity,” Waiswa told Morning Star News. “They told us to renounce Jesus, but we stood by the newly founded faith in Jesus.”

Christians had deepened the family’s faith in visits and Bible study after their conversion, he said.

“When we refused to recant our faith in Jesus, my father, Arajabu, recited some koranic verses, and after that they forcefully started beating us with sticks as prescibed in the Koran, claiming that we were apostates,” Waiswa said. “As this was not enough, my father went inside the room and picked up a bottle of acid and began spraying it on us while the group started shouting, ‘ Allah Akbar [God is greater], you deserve death,’ and then disowned us.”

Initially they did not know what kind of liquid was sprayed on them, he said.
“But as we were fleeing for our lives, we started feeling some serious itching that continued till the pain intensified,” Waiswa said. “A nearby Christian neighbor called the pastor, who arrived immediately and took us to hospital in Mbale, but our daughter was seriously affected and was referred to a hospital in Jinja.”

On March 9, while the three were receiving hospital treatment in, their house was set ablaze, he said.
The three are still undergoing hospital treatment. They requested prayer for healing and for a place to stay after recovering.

On March 13 in the same district, hardline Muslim villagers attacked former mosque leader Swaleh Mulongo of Bugobi village.

Mulongo said he had met with a local pastor, whose name is undisclosed for security reasons, for six years before putting his faith in Christ on Jan. 13.

After Mulongo stopped leading prayer at the Bugobi mosque, Sheikh Abubakar Sekimpi took over and organized a manhunt for him, the former imam said. He had begun worshipping at a church in Iganga, and hardline Muslims waited for him about five kilometers (three miles) from the worship site, he said.

“It was around 8 a.m. when four Muslims stopped me and began asking me so many questions regarding Christianity, but I did not respond,” Mulongo told Morning Star News. “Then the men started beating me up with blows and sticks, but thank God when they saw some people approaching, they fled away.”

With deep head wounds, a broken wrist and bruises on his back, Mulongo was taken to a hospital in Iganga that belongs to one of the Christians in Bugobi, he said.

The assailants continued on to kill goats and chickens of the pastor who had led Mulongo to Christ, the former imam said.

They left a letter warning, “We know you are a deceiver, and that you converted our imam to Christianity. We shall soon get hold of you, which will be a big regret to your family and the entire church.”

The letter left the pastor deeply disturbed.
“I have reported the matter to the area chairperson, who told me to be vigilant as the investigation is going on,” the pastor said.

The assaults were the latest of many instances of persecution of Christians in Uganda that Morning Star News has documented.

Uganda’s constitution and other laws provide for religious freedom, including the right to propagate one’s faith and convert from one faith to another.

Muslims make up no more than 12 percent of Uganda’s population, with high concentrations in eastern areas of the country.

05/06/2022 Nigeria (International Christian Concern ) – Fulani militants attacked Nigeria’s Chinke community of Kwall District on Thursday night, May 5, killing at least eight Christians and wounding several others.

A picture from the scene shows two deceased victims, each appearing to be under five years of age, lying side by side. A representative for International Christian Concern (ICC) is currently at the hospital with a two-year-old gunshot wound survivor whose mother was killed in the attack.

“The attackers are Fulani militants with AK-47 rifles,” another survivor of the attack told ICC. “They shouted, ‘Allah Akbar’ [Allah is the greatest] and shot randomly.”

Prior to the attack, a community member with intel into the situation issued a security alert, warning: “ Plans are underway to strike Rigwe people any time from now… They have gone as far as Lokoja axis to go and mobilize for support of attackers… They concluded the arrangement yesterday in a meeting at the bushes of Zangon Kataf to attack the earmarked places. They are waiting for the Lokoja mercenaries to arrive anytime, then they will strike.”

“After attacking Miango and Kwall areas, they plan to proceed to Kagoro areas for the continuation of the mayhem,” the alert continued. “All this is in their program of sending our people away from our lands so that they can expand their grazing areas, then occupy the lands. They are doing this in the camouflage of [avenging] their people… Pray so that the God of Elijah, Jehoshaphat, and Hezekiah comes to fight for us. As God dealt with the proud kings of the times of these prophets and kings, pray without ceasing so that God will frustrate and defeat the enemies in all their plans of expansionism. We are in the hands of God and will not depend on any arms.”

In response to this warning, an ICC representative went to the community before the attack began and rescued 15 children, whom he hid in his home beyond the scope of the assailants.

“Despite an early warning, we told government officials, but they kept silent and allowed Fulani militants to kill us,” a leader in the community told ICC. “The government is silent over the killings in my region because we are Christians, not Fulani Muslims.”

Last year, Nigeria earned the title of the worst country for Christian persecution in ICC’s 2021 Persecutor of the Year Awards. Radicalized and armed Islamist Fulani militants have killed tens of thousands of Christians and left more than 3 million displaced in a 20-year genocide.

“Christian communities in the Middle Belt region of Nigeria have effectively suffered a 20-year genocide,” said ICC President Jeff King. `“Where is any action? The Nigerian government gives these attacks lip service without any meaningful response. Where is the outcry? Where is effective action? In Nigeria, the military, the police, and the intelligence agencies are all controlled by Muslims. This, coupled with a 20-year lack of response by these agencies, should naturally lead to deeper questioning by the international community. Simply put, the time for cheap talk and platitudes is over. The world is waking up and starting to ask, ‘Is the Nigerian government complicit in these attacks?’ Time will tell, but for this long-time watcher, the decision is in.”

Islamic genocide against Christians in Nigeria continues unabated while the world continues to turn a blind eye.

The most recent number of Christians displaced in Nigeria’s Middle Belt region due to Fulani jihadist attacks (as well as attacks from Boko Haram) does not begin to describe the real situation in that state. Two years ago, Genocide Watch adequately titled an article: Nigeria Is A Killing Field Of Defenseless Christians, which gave an accurate picture, and it has gotten much worse in over the last two years:

350 Nigerian Christians were massacred in the first two months of 2020. Over 11,500 Christians have been murdered since June 2015. Four to five million Christians are displaced. 2000 churches were destroyed.

Thousands of Christians in Nigeria’s Middle Belt region are currently homeless following a daylight attack by Muslim militants on 26 April, which killed at least 21 people.

According to local sources, dozens of armed men in multiple groups stormed four farming towns on the boundaries of Kaduna and Plateau States at about 4pm local time, shooting and burning houses.

Ezekiel Isa, a resident of one of the towns in southeastern Kauru Local Government Area of Kaduna State, said the attacks in all four towns occurred simultaneously.

“We suddenly heard gunshots everywhere and started running,” he said.

Isa said the attackers shot 21 people, including elderly people, and burned dozens of houses as the over 2000 residents of the towns fled. For five hours, the onslaught continued unhindered under the watch of a Muslim-led military task force.

“The STF [Special Task Force] are in one village not far away but they came around 9pm after the attackers had left,” Isa said.
“Our houses, food barns, and everything we owned was destroyed,” said the distraught resident, who noted the attackers spoke Fulani dialect.

Tens of thousands of Christians in Nigeria’s Middle Belt have been killed in Fulani militia attacks in the past ten years. The attacks have driven millions of people out of their homes, and many communities have been occupied by the attackers.

The attack was intended by the terrorists to capture territories for the forceful expansion of Islam, said a tribal spokesman, Davidson Malison…..

“The prophet of Allah took off his gown and put it on Om Ali and slept with her in her grave and they kicked dirt on him, saying: ‘Oh messenger of Allah, we saw you do something no one else has ever done.’ He said: ‘I dressed her in my gown, so she can wear the gowns of paradise and I slept with her in her grave to relieve her of the torments of the grave.'” ( Kanz al-‘Ommal in Sunan al Aqwal wa al-Af’al , vol. 16, p. 158)

“There is no need to rewash a dead woman if her husband has sex with her after she dies….And there is no punishment for anyone who has sex with a dead woman or limits sex to sex with a dead woman.” (Abd Al-Hameed Al-Sharawani,
Howashi al-Sharwani (Al-Qubra, Egypt: Al-Maktabah Al-Tojariah, 1983, vol. 1, p. 263)

“There is no restriction against sex with a dead woman or an animal.” (Mohammad Al-Sherbini Al-Khateeb, Al-Iqna3 fi Hal al-Faz: Abu Shoja’a (Beirut: Dar al-Fikr, 1994, vol. 2, p. 521)

“Anas said: ‘I was present when the daughter of Allah''s messenger was being buried. He was sitting beside the grave and I saw his eyes shedding tears. He then asked, “Is there any of you who did not have sexual intercourse last night?” Abu Talha replied that he had not, so he told him to go down into her grave, and he did so. Bukhari transmitted it.'” (Mishkat al-Masabih 1715)

Following are excerpts from an interview with Moroccan cleric Abd Al-Bari Al-Zamzami, a member of the International Union of Muslim Scholars, and from an address delivered by Al-Zamzami.

Abd Al-Bari Al-Zamzami: A few days ago, I was asked by the Al-Sabbah newspaper about men who have sex with their dead wives. The truth is that this question took me by surprise, and I asked the journalist whether there really are people who do this deplorable and disgraceful act, which is not to be expected from a normal, balanced person. Only a mentally or psychologically unbalanced man would do such a thing.

In any case, I do not have the right to prohibit things. Fatwas are not shaped according to one’s will or whim. Rather, they reflect the law of Allah.
[…]
Therefore, I do not have the right to prohibit that act merely because I consider it deplorable.
[…]
The evidence I relied upon in this case was that a wife’s death does not sever her relations with her husband. A wife’s death does not sever her marital relations with her husband. She remains his wife post mortem, in the Hereafter, just as she was his wife in her lifetime.
[…]
It is perfectly clear that marital relations are not severed by a wife’s death. She remains her husband’s wife. This being the case, the husband has the right to do whatever he wants with her. For instance, he may kiss her. It is common for a husband to kiss his wife after her death, out of love and sorrow. This is something that is done, and there is nothing wrong with it.
[…]
The fact that such an act is permissible does not make it commendable or even acceptable. Having sex with your wife’s corpse is permitted. . .

Egypt’s National Council for Women (NCW) has appealed to the Islamist-dominated parliament not to approve two controversial laws on the minimum age of marriage and allowing a husband to have sex with his dead wife within six hours of her death according to a report in an Egyptian newspaper.

The appeal came in a message sent by Dr. Mervat al-Talawi, head of the NCW, to the Egyptian People’s Assembly Speaker, Dr. Saad al-Katatni, addressing the woes of Egyptian women, especially after the popular uprising that toppled president Hosni Mubarak in February 2011.

She was referring to two laws: one that would legalize the marriage of girls starting from the age of 14 and the other that permits a husband to have sex with his dead wife within the six hours following her death….

The controversy about a husband having sex with his dead wife came about after a Moroccan cleric spoke about the issue in May 2011.

Zamzami Abdul Bari said that marriage remains valid even after death adding that a woman also too had the same right to engage in sex with her dead husband….

But it seems his view on partners having sex with their deceased partners has found its way to Egypt...

Egyptian prominent journalist and TV anchor Jaber al-Qarmouty on Tuesday referred to Abdul Samea’s article in his daily show on Egyptian ON TV and criticized the whole notion of “permitting a husband to have sex with his wife after her death under a so-called ‘Farewell Intercourse’ draft law.”

A woman who has come over to India from Afghanistan has revealed that Taliban has sex with dead bodies. The woman, called Muskan by News18 , worked in the police force in Afghanistan and has come to India due to fear of the Taliban and lives in New Delhi….

She continued, “They rape dead bodies too. They don’t care whether the person is dead or alive… Can you imagine this?” Muskan said that if any woman worked for the government, they would suffer a terrible fate….

On May 5, Thursday, some unknown men dug out the corpse of a teenage girl and raped it in the Chak Kamala village in Gujrat, Pakistan.

Attaullah Tarar, the deputy secretary-general of the Pakistan Muslim League (PMLN), took to Twitter on May 6 to inform that 17 suspects are being interrogated and the investigation of the case is being done as per scientific methods….

According to local media reports, the teenage deceased girl, who was mentally and physically handicapped, died on May 4, Wednesday. The family buried her in the graveyard as per their religious traditions at around 6 pm in the evening and returned home.

The next day, when they returned to the graveyard to perform some rituals over the girl’s dead body the kin found the grave dug up and the girl’s body missing. Upon searching, they later found the corpse lying around 200 square feet away from the graveyard. It showed signs of rape….

This is not the first such incident in Pakistan. In 2021, some unknown men had carried out a similar barbaric act in Maulvi Ashraf Chandio village near coastal town Ghulamullah. In 2019, OpIndia also reported about in similar crime wherein a group of unidentified men dug up the grave of a woman in a graveyard in Karachi’s Landhi Town area and raped the dead body.

In 2011, a gravekeeper named Muhammad Rizwan from North Nazimabad, Karachi was arrested for necrophilia. He was arrested after he confessed to raping 48 female corpses. Rizwan was caught running away after desecrating a corpse. He had caught the attention of nearby grave diggers and some other people.

Pak Woman Shot Dead By Brother For Choosing Dancing, Modelling As Career

Sidra was modelling for a local clothing brand and danced in theatres of Faisalabad city against the wishes of her family, according to police.

Lahore: In another suspected case of dishonour killing in Pakistan, a 21-year-old woman has allegedly been shot dead by her brother for pursuing dancing and modelling as a career in Punjab province.

Sidra, a native of Renala Khurd Okara, 130 km from provincial capital Lahore, was modelling for a local clothing brand and danced in theatres of Faisalabad city against the wishes of her family, according to police.

Sidra's parents forced her to quit her profession, terming it "against family tradition" but Sidra insisted on continuing.

Police said Sidra had come home from Faisalabad to celebrate Eid with her family last week.

On Thursday, her parents and brother Hamza had an argument with her over the issue of decency in her profession and beat her for insisting to stick with dancing.

Later in the day Hamza opened fire on Sidra, killing her on the spot, officials said.

A murder case was registered against the suspect. Police claim to have arrested Hamza who confessed to the crime.

Police officer Fraz Hamid said Hamza got infuriated at Sidra when he saw her dance performance on his mobile phone forwarded to him by a relative.

He said Hamza told police that in a fit of rage he shot his sister dead.

In February this year, a 19-year-old female dancer Ayesha was shot dead in Faisalabad by her ex-husband.

Cases of dishonour killing are frighteningly regular in Pakistan, especially in areas close to the tribal regions in the north and west.

Islamabad [Pakistan], May 5 (ANI): Fourteen armed Muslim men attacked a Christian school in Sheikhupura city in Pakistan's Punjab province and demanded extortion money from the principal of the school as well as issued death threats if the school authorities failed to make payment.

The incident took place on April 29 at Global Passion School. School Principal Simon Peter Kaleem said that the armed men stormed the school, tortured staff and damaged their vehicles.

The school, managed by Presbyterians, has been providing free education and food to Christian students from brick kiln families since 2018, reported Union of Catholic Asian News (UCA news).
The attackers hurled chairs at the children while they were praying in the hall at 11.30 am, according to the school Principal.

"They attacked the security guard and demanded 100,000 rupees (USD 536) in extortion money every month, threatening that if their demand was not met they would forcibly stop Christian worship and the school's operations," Kaleem said in a first information report to local police.

"They misbehaved with the female staff and issued death threats if we failed to make payment in two days. They also damaged staff cars and motorcycles parked in the building, causing an estimated total loss of 350,000 rupees." Kaleem, who was also tortured, was due to hold a press conference with Sheikhupura district police and political leaders at the school on May 2, reported UCA news.

"Many of our religious and political leaders, while visiting other countries, say that minorities and Christians are safe in Pakistan. After what happened to us today, I will never say that. Our security guard can't even walk now. Our community is threatened to keep silent," Kaleem said in a video posted on social media.

"A few among the neighbouring Muslim community have always tried to stop us from praying. They literally demanded stopping the noise. We want to be treated equally. Please pray for us."

Last week's assault is the third attack on a church institution in Punjab province this year, reported UCA news.

In March, police in Lahore arrested a Muslim youth who climbed onto the rooftop of One in Christ Church and sat on the cement cross chanting "Allahu Akbar" (Allah is greater) while trying to pull it down.

In January, police charged four people with blasphemy for ransacking St. Camillus Church in a village in Okara district in Punjab province.

According to parishioners, the raiders tied up the Christian watchman and threw pictures of the Holy Family, Eucharist, Bibles and the Ark of the Covenant on the floor.

The Christian community, which constitutes roughly 1.6 per cent of the population of Pakistan, suffers from both racism and religious intolerance.

Christians continue to suffer targeted violence and other abuses, including land-grabbing in rural areas, abductions and forced conversion, and the vandalization of homes and churches. (ANI)

Allah Akbar, I will kill the infidels, bleed you like pigs”: In Castres, France, an illegal migrant, against whom a temporary stay permit has been issued, terrorises the inhabitants and injures 5 police officers.

An individual with extremely threatening behaviour”. This is how the prefecture of the Tarn department described a 29-year-old man who was arrested in Castres in the early afternoon. The dramatic deployment resulted in five police officers being injured.

(…) The aggressive man, who was eventually arrested in Rue Georges Layrac, allegedly uttered threats such as “Allah Akhbar I will kill the infidels, bleed you like pigs”, injuring five police officers, one of them in the face as he suffered a broken nose.

(…) As he has no papers, he was issued with an obligation to leave the country in 2020.

(…) According to our information, a 29-year-old man damaged cars in the vicinity of the mosque. He terrorised the residents and even his family members who tried to bring him to his senses.
After a tip-off from residents that a very agitated man was ” smashing everything in the area”, the police nabbed the man a few hours later at noon.

During his arrest, he went out of control, lashing out with his fists and injuring a police officer in the face.
According to the police, the man, who is not yet known to the police, had claimed after his arrest that he had “a mission: to attack police officers”. The young man was taken into police custody.

“He damaged the vehicles and the colleagues had already intervened a first time in the vicinity of the mosque, but could not locate him. He was very agitated and shouted “Allahu Akbar”, said he had a mission and threatened to kill the colleagues,” the police union added.

A young Christian couple in Sudan who have two children together face 100 lashes on charges of “adultery” after a Sharia (Islamic law) court nullified their marriage due to the husband’s conversion to Christianity, according to a report.

The couple, 34-year-old Hamouda Tia Kafi and 25-year-old Nada Hamad Shukralah from Al Jazirah state, got married in 2016 when both were Muslims and troubles began two years later after Kafi put his faith in Christ, Morning Star News said.

Shukralah’s family filed a case in a sharia court, which dissolved their marriage, as apostasy was a crime punishable by death at the time, it explained.

In 2021, Shukralah also converted to Christianity and returned with their two children to her husband, as Sudan had decriminalized apostasy a year after the end of President Omar al-Bashir’s Islamist regime. Both are members of a Baptist church.

However, socially, conversion was still not accepted.
Shukralah’s brother charged them with adultery under Article 146 of Sudan’s 1991 criminal law based on the Sharia court’s annulment of their marriage, leading to the couple's arrest last August.
While the couple got bail four days later, the charges remained.

“The court has interrogated the couple after two of the witnesses told the court that the marriage between the couple is illegal. As a result, they are accused of adultery,” their attorney was quoted as saying.

Amid growing threats from hardline Muslims, in particular Shukralah’s brother, their next hearing has been scheduled for Wednesday, the attorney said.
In the case of adultery by an unmarried person, Article 146 calls for a sentence of flogging and expulsion from the area. If the convicted is married, adultery is punishable by death by stoning under Article 146.

After regularly being included among the worst countries in the world when it comes to Christian persecution, Sudan was removed from the U.S. State Department’s list of “countries of particular concern" in December 2019. The "CPC" list designates nations that tolerate or engage in egregious violations of religious freedom.

However, advances in religious freedom lasted for only two years in Sudan until a military coup last October.

The coup brought back fears of repression and harsh implementation of Islamic law, as an Islamist “deep state” rooted in former President al-Bashir’s 30 years of power remains influential.

Sudan is still the world’s 13th most dangerous country for Christians, according to the Open Doors’ 2022 World Watch List.

A Muslim man berated and beat a Coptic Christian woman because she entered his establishment with her head uncovered during Ramadan in Egypt.

According to the Apr. 27, 2022 Arabic language report, Nevin Sobhi, a 30-year-old married mother, went to her local drugstore to pick up some medication for her young son, who accompanied her. On entering, she noticed that the head pharmacist, Dr. Ali Abu Sa‘da, was giving her “the evil eye.” Before long, what was in his eyes reached his tongue: he launched into a loud and “hate-filled tirade” against her for daring to enter his store during Ramadan without any head covering and while wearing a short-sleeved T-shirt.

It should be noted that Ali was aware that Nevin was Christian and, therefore, not obligated to observe Ramadan’s rules. When the Copt told him as much, he responded with a violent slap to her face. When the startled woman responded with shock and anger, he slapped her again—all while her scared, young son cried.

Nevin ran outside, “in a state of collapse, crying and incapable of absorbing the shock.” She contacted her family, and they went to the local police station to report the incident. There, Nevin received what she called her “third slap.” According to the Christian woman:

Inside the police station, I was surprised by attempts and pressure to conciliate. The perpetrator’s lawyer steered the writing of the report [in a manner] that contradicted reality, and they forced me to sign the report which contained statements from the pharmacist’s lawyer without taking my statements. […] We were especially shocked to see the report said that “the pharmacist is a friend of the family, who was just bantering and joking around with Mrs. Nevin, because he is close to the family.”

Continued the woman: “I was so shocked; it was as a third slap to me—that such a radical character could emerge victorious, even as I lose my rights as an Egyptian woman!”

Criticism for and even violence against those who do not outwardly conform to the strictures of Ramadan—even if they are non-Muslims and therefore exonerated—is common throughout the Islamic world.

Some days before this incident, for example, a video surfaced of a woman in hijab yelling at and hitting Coptic girls in a bus for not being properly veiled. Muslim women have even been known to cut off—sometimes clandestinely other times not so clandestinely—the uncovered hair of Christian women. To quote from a report:

Two niqab-wearing women assaulted and forcefully cut the hair of a Christian woman on the metro Sunday, the third such reported incident in two months, raising fears of a growing vigilante movement to punish Egyptian women for not wearing the veil in public…. [T]he assaulters called the Christian woman, who is 28 years old, an “infidel” and pushed her off the train, breaking her arm.

Jeon:
ur shitz aren't right..

Jeon:
Even ibos.
gospel singer that was killed was murdered by her Muslim husband. I believe that.
woman that was killed by husband forcing the baby to came out [also dead ] was also killed by Muslim husband, I even forgot he's a Yoruba man.
all those yahoo +Gees are mainly muslims no Christians and Igbo among them..

Mercy Samuel, was also killed by Muslim Yoruba husband by ripping off her tummy.

Taliban Tells Driving Teachers To Stop Issuing Licenses To Women: Report

Afghanistan: The head of Herat's Traffic Management Institute said they have been verbally instructed to stop issuing licenses to women drivers. . .

It is not uncommon for women to drive in larger Afghan cities, particularly Herat.

Herat: Taliban officials in Afghanistan's most progressive city have told driving instructors to stop issuing licences to women, professionals from the sector told AFP.

While Afghanistan is a deeply conservative, patriarchal country, it is not uncommon for women to drive in larger cities -- particularly Herat in the northwest, which has long been considered liberal by Afghan standards.

"We have been verbally instructed to stop issuing licenses to women drivers ... but not directed to stop women from driving in the city," said Jan Agha Achakzai, the head of Herat's Traffic Management Institute that oversees driving schools.

Adila Adeel, a 29-year-old woman driving instructor who owns a training institute said the Taliban want to ensure that the next generation will not have the same opportunities as their mothers.
"We were told not to offer driving lessons and not to issue licenses," she said.

The insurgents-turned-rulers seized back control of the country in August last year, promising a softer rule than their last stint in power between 1996 and 2001, which was dominated by human rights abuses.

But they have increasingly restricted the rights of Afghans, particularly girls and women who have been prevented from returning to secondary school and many government jobs.

"I personally told a Taliban (guard) that it's more comfortable for me to travel in my car than sit beside a taxi driver," said Shaima Wafa as she drove to a local market to buy Eid al-Fitr gifts for her family.

"I need to be able to take my family to a doctor in my car without waiting for my brother or husband to come home," she said.

Naim al-Haq Haqqani, who heads the provincial information and culture department, said no official order had been given.

The Taliban have largely refrained from issuing national, written decrees, instead allowing local authorities to issue their own edicts, sometimes verbally.

"It is not written on any car that it belongs only to men," said Fereshteh Yaqoobi, a woman who has been driving for years.

"In fact it is safer if a woman drives her own vehicle."
Zainab Mohseni, 26, has recently applied for a licence because she says women feel safer in their own cars than in taxis driven by male drivers.

To Mohseni, the latest decision is just a fresh sign that the new regime will stop at nothing to prevent Afghan women from enjoying the few rights they have left.

"Slowly, slowly the Taliban want to increase the restrictions on women," she said.