Christians fear losing freedoms in Arab Spring movement
By Oren Dorell and Sarah Lynch, USA TODAY
CAIRO – From her home in a labyrinth of stonewalled alleyways, Samia Ramsis holds a key chain bearing the face of the Virgin Mary as she sits in her yellow pajamas on the morning of Orthodox Christmas.
Christian Charged with ‘Blasphemy’ in Pakistan Denied BailYoung man accused after argument with his landlord.By Murad KhanLAHORE, Pakistan, January 30 (Compass Direct News) – A judge has denied bail to a young Christian man charged with desecrating the Quran under Pakistan’s controversial blasphemy laws despite the lack of evidence against him, sources said.
Police in Shahdara, near Lahore, had arrested 23-year-old Khuram Masih on Dec. 5 and charged him with desecrating the Quran after his landlord, Zulfiqar Ali, alleged that he had burned pages of the book in order to prepare tea. Section 295-B makes willful desecration of the Quran or use of an extract in a derogatory manner punishable with life imprisonment.
Jihadist Pleads Guilty to Attempting to Use Weapons of Mass Destruction
American Defense League
Muslim Admits He Attempted to Use WMD in Plot to Attack Armed Forces Recruiting Center.
BALTIMORE—Antonio Martinez, aka Muhammad Hussain, 22, of Baltimore, a U.S. citizen, pleaded guilty today to attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction against federal property in connection with a scheme to attack an armed forces recruiting station in Catonsville, Md. Martinez was arrested on Dec. 8, 2010, after he attempted to detonate what he believed to be explosives at the armed forces recruiting station.
The guilty plea was announced by U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein and Special Agent in Charge Richard A. McFeely of the FBI.
Saudi authorities reject an application to establish a rights organization
Cairo, 28 January 2012
ANHRI condemns Saudi Arabia’s insistence on confiscation of basic rights and freedoms of its citizens. The Saudi authorities rejected an application submitted by rights activists to establish a Human Rights organization, claiming that their objectives are incompatible with the enforced statute of associations and charities.
A group of activists had submitted an application last December to the Minister of Social Affairs, requesting an official license to establish the Justice Center for Human Rights. However, the Director General of Social Affairs in the Eastern Province issued a formal response rejecting to provide a license due to alleged incompatibility with the associations statute. The activists have refused this justification and submitted a grievance stating that the Center’s objectives are consistent with article II of the statute. They have also called on the Minister of Social Affairs to cancel the rejection and approve to grant them a license.
The producers of an explosive documentary on radical Islam are responding to attacks from an Islamic advocacy group that has ties to terrorism.
The trailer for the documentary titled The Third Jihad opens with these words: "The document states that their work in America is kind of a grand Jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western Civilization from within."
Rally for moderates: Tunisian people shout slogans and wave flags at a demonstration to 'defend freedom' following a series of incidents involving Salafist radicals. Picture: AFP Source: AFP
THOUSANDS of Tunisians angered by the rise of ultra-conservative Islamists have hit the streets in protest.
Several thousand activists, professors, artists and other demonstrators flooded the streets of the nation's capital yesterday, including along Bourguiba Avenue, a well-known thoroughfare that became a centre for dissent during protests that led to the ouster of dictator Zine el Abidine Ben Ali a year ago.
Over 3000 Muslims Attack Christian Homes and Shops in Egypt, 3 Injured
By Mary Abdelmassih
(AINA) -- A mob of over 3000 Muslims attacked Copts in the village of Kobry-el-Sharbat (el-Ameriya), Alexandria this afternoon. Coptic homes and shops were looted before being set ablaze. Two Copts and a Muslim were injured. The violence started after a rumor was spread that a Coptic man had an allegedly intimate photo of a Muslim woman on his mobile phone. The Coptic man, Mourad Samy Guirgis, surrendered to the police this morning for his protection.
According to eyewitnesses, the perpetrators were bearded men in white gowns. "They were Salafists, and some of were from the Muslim Brotherhood," according to one witness. It was reported that terrorized women and children who lost their homes were in the streets without any place to go.
A young Christian woman in Pakistan who was kidnapped, forcibly converted to Islam and married to her Muslim abductor has escaped after more than ten years in captivity.
Nadia Naira was aged 15 when she was seized at gunpoint by a Muslim man on 11 February 2001, from Mariamabad village in the district of Sheikhupura, Punjab province.
She said:
After two days of my kidnapping, [he] without my consent and at gunpoint forcibly converted me into Islam and I was given a Muslim name as Ayesha. Later he forcibly conducted a Muslim Nikha (marriage) and again he did not bother to ask for my free will.
CAIRO, EGYPT (ANS) -- A Middle East journalist is reporting that an Egyptian court has ordered a 16-year-old Christian girl to be held in a state-owned care home, instead of returning her to her family, allegedly for expressing her wish to convert to Islam.
“She is to be held in state care until she reaches the age of 18. The decision has been widely criticized by Copts, who say it encourages Islamists to continue unabated the abduction of Christian minors for conversion to Islam.
AURORA, Colo. (AP) — The FBI arrested a refugee from Uzbekistan at Chicago's O'Hare airport on charges that he planned to travel overseas to fight for a terrorist group and give up his life if necessary, an official said Monday.
However, there was no evidence that suspect Jamshid Muhtorov was plotting attacks inside the United States, authorities said.
Muhtorov, 35, of Aurora, Colo., was arrested Saturday by members of the FBI's Denver and Chicago Joint Terrorism Task Forces.
Muhtorov, who goes by several other names, was indicted on charges of providing and attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization. Prosecutors allege he planned to fight for the Islamic Jihad Union, which has been blamed for suicide attacks in Uzbekistan and claimed responsibility for numerous attacks against coalition forces in Afghanistan.
After becoming suspicious that he was being watched by law enforcement, he abandoned the plan and returned to Colorado.
Prosecutors allege Zazi and two associates went to Afghanistan in 2008 to join the Taliban and fight U.S. soldiers. They instead were recruited by al-Qaida operatives, who gave them weapons training in their Pakistan camp and asked them to become suicide bombers, authorities say.
Zazi's father, Mohammed Zazi, also of Aurora, was convicted in July of destroying evidence and lying to investigators to cover up his son's plot.
Antonio Martinez "Muhammad Hussain" faces 25 years in prison
A Baltimore-area man will face up to 25 years in prison after pleading guilty Thursday to the attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction in connection with a failed terrorist plot to blow up a Catonsville military recruiting center in December 2010.
Antonio Benjamin Martinez, 22, who also goes by the name Muhammad Hussain, had also been charged with attempting to murder federal officials, but he pleaded not guilty to that count in a deal with federal prosecutors. His sentencing is set for April 6 in Maryland U.S. District Court.
Two Copts Killed in Egypt For Refusing to Pay Extortion Money
By Mary Abdelmassih
(AINA) -- Two Copts were killed this afternoon in the village of Bahgourah, a suburb of Nag Hammadi in Upper Egypt, after a Muslim racketeer opened fire on them for refusing to pay him extortion money. Three days ago Ahmed Saber had asked from the Coptic building contractor Moawad Asaad for a considerable sum of money. This afternoon Saber drove to Moawad's home to collect the money, but Moawad refused to go to his car to speak to him for fear of being kidnapped. Four men came out of the car with machine guns and shot Moawad and his 26-year-old son Asaad Moawad, an engineer. Both were killed instantly.
Bishop Kyrollos of Nag Hammadi said that Ahmed Saber, who is known to the police, has been extorting money from the Coptic community and kidnapping their children for ransom since November last year. "Reports were filed with the police about all incidents. I don't know why the police have not arrested him," said the Bishop.
Egyptian Judiciary Accused of Collusion in Kidnapping and Forced Islamization of Christian Minors
By Mary Abdelmassih
(AINA) -- An Egyptian court has ordered a 16-year old Christian girl to be held in a state-owned care home, instead of returning her to her family, allegedly for expressing her wish to convert to Islam. She is to be held in state care until she reaches the age of 18. The decision has been widely criticized by Copts, who say it encourages Islamists to continue unabated the abduction of Christian minors for conversion to Islam.
In the last five years I have personally visited over 250 Islamic Centers, Mosques, and Islamic Schools throughout America. The goal of my research has been to determine what Islamic leaders are teaching the young and innocent Muslim children. The findings are abhorrent, sad, unbelievable, frightening, and most disturbing is the fact our government is keeping this dangerous fact from the American people. Muslim children attending mosques and Islamic schools are being taught to hate America, our government, our military personnel, and its non Muslim population. In this article I will identify three significant mosques in America that are leading the way in teaching Muslim children to hate and to influence them to commit violent acts inside our country.
Muslims in Egypt Burn Christian Homes and Shops, Attack Church
By Mary Abdelmassih
(AINA) -- A Muslim mob attacked Copts today in the Upper Egyptian village of Rahmaniya-Kebly, Nag Hammadi, Qena province, destroying and torching their homes, straw huts and shops, while chanting Allahu Akbar. No one was reported killed or injured (video). According to reports, security forces were present but did not intervene and the fire brigade arrived 90 minutes late.
An eye-witness said that a straw hut belonging to a Copt was torched to clear the area for a mosque. There are more than 300 mosques in the village and one church.
Double Standard in Application of Egyptian Contempt of Religion Law
By Mary Abdelmassih
(AINA) -- Anger and frustration have risen among Egypt's Coptic Christians after the recent escalation of court cases against Copts charged with contempt of Islam. Copts accuse the authorities, including the ruling Supreme Council of Armed Forces (SCAF), of exercising double standards in the application of the "contempt of religion" law. In the last month three cases have been brought against Copts, based on accusations mostly from postings on Facebook or Twitter of cartoons or comments deemed by Islamists as insulting to Islam.
Persecution of the Copt community in Egypt - Testimony of Dr. Ashraf Ramelah in Canadian Parliament
The Subcommittee on International Human Rights of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development.
.
EVIDENCE
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
[Recorded by Electronic Apparatus]
* * *
(1310)
[Translation]
The Chair (Mr. Scott Reid (Lanark-Frontenac-Lennox and Addington, CPC)):
Welcome to the Subcommittee on International Human Rights of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development.
Today, November 15, 2011, marks our seventh meeting.
[English]
We are discussing the persecution of the Copt community in Egypt . Today as a witness we have Mr. Nabil Malek, president of the Canadian Egyptian Organization for Human Rights. Ashraf Ramelah from Voice of the Copts is joining us from Allentown , Pennsylvania
The stage is set. Christians in Islamic Africa and the Islamic-dominated middle east are on the chopping block and barely a peep is heard from the left-leaning media.
So much for the Arab Spring rebels seeking freedom. They were seeking freedom all right, freedom to kill, pillage and ethnically cleanse without reprisals.
Little attention is given in the media to the new crises being suffered by Christians in Islamic nations. With the de facto backing that the United States government has provided the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and other places, they are doing exactly what their manifestos have predicted which is to fundamentally Islamize the region. To do that, is to oust non-Muslims.
Leading Copt faces Egypt trial for insulting Islam with Mickey Mouse tweet
egypt copt christian sawiris islamist islam insult niqab tweet mickey mouse
(Naguib Sawiris speaks during a conference in Beirut June 2, 2010. REUTERS/Cynthia Karam)
Egyptian telecom tycoon and political liberal Naguib Sawiris will face trial on a charge of showing contempt for religion, judicial sources and Mamdouh Ismail, the Islamist lawyer who brought the case, said on Monday. Sawiris, a prominent figure in Egypt’s Coptic Christian community, was accused by a group of about 20 lawyers of showing contempt by tweeting a cartoon seen as insulting to Islam. According to the daily Al Masry Al Youm, “In June, Sawiris posted a picture depicting Mickey Mouse wearing a beard and Minnie Mouse wearing a face veil on his Twitter account, a cartoon that many Muslims considered offensive.”
The prosecutor’s office in the Upper Egyptian Governorate of Assiut has ordered the detention of Gamal Abdallah Masoud, a Coptic high-school student accused of posting images on his Facebook account that Muslim residents described as “offensive” to Prophet Mohamed.
Masoud denies posting the images, claiming that they were shared on his Facebook account without his permission.
As news of the images spread on Friday afternoon, angry Muslim residents from four villages in Assiut gathered to pelt security forces with stones after fire-bombing Masoud’s house. The house was empty at the time and the attackers failed to break into it due to tight security measures.
Masoud was taken by security forces to an unknown location to be interrogated over the alleged incident.
In Salam village in Damaira, a group of angry residents also set the homes of two Coptic families on fire. However, no injuries were reported as security forces and fire fighters arrived on the scene in time to put out the flames. The protesters attempted to set a third home on fire, but security forces intervened and secured the homes of Copts in the villages of Adr and Salam.
Clashes erupted again in the afternoon between security forces and the residents of the villages of Adr and Baheeg, with hundreds gathering to call for the Coptic man’s removal from the village. They bombarded security with stones and set fire to the agricultural waste around his home, forcing security forces to use tear gas to disperse them.
The clashes erupted only hours ahead of New Year’s celebration, which Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi had pledged to secure.
Last October, an Egyptian court sentenced a young Coptic man to three years in prison for posting opinions on his Facebook account that were thought to be offensive to Islam and Prophet Mohamed.
