Milenar mosteiro cristão de Dadivank em risco de ser tomado por muçulmanos

 

© Eva Mont - shutterstock

O mosteiro na vila de Karvachar está no centro das tensões entre armênios e azeris em Nagorno-Karabakh

Milenar mosteiro cristão de Dadivank em risco de ser tomado pelos muçulmanos azeris: os padres armênios, no entanto, prometem permanecer no local enquanto os habitantes cristãos armênios são forçados a abandonar a vila de Karvachar levando tudo consigo – até mesmo os corpos dos seus antepassados, para evitar profanações.

Protegido pelos militares da missão internacional russa, o mosteiro de Dadivank, em Karvachar, tornou-se símbolo da tensão entre os armênios e os azeris na disputa pelo território de Nagorno-Karabakh. Historicamente, é uma região de maioria armênia cristã, mas, politicamente, faz parte do território do Azerbaijão, país de ampla maioria muçulmana. Os dois países estão em guerra pelo controle do território.

© Mato Z - shutterstock

Segundo a tradição armênia, o mosteiro de Dadivank foi fundado no século I por um discípulo de São Judas Tadeu, evangelizador dos armênios. De fato, a Armênia foi o primeiro país do mundo a adotar o cristianismo como religião oficial, antes até que o Império Romano tomasse a mesma medida. Os mosteiros mais antigos, como Dadivank, são testemunhas justamente desse fato.

© Sagittarius Production - shutterstock

Agora, porém, a vila de Karvachar (ou Kalbajar, no idioma azeri) está sendo entregue às forças do Azerbaijão, conforme os termos do tratado de paz assinado dias atrás entre os governos dos dois países, com a mediação da Rússia e da Turquia.

Na iminência da entrega do território historicamente disputado pelos azeris e pelos armênios, a população armênia tem se visto forçada a fugir em massa. Na fuga, além de levarem consigo tudo o que podem, os armênios estão incendiando suas próprias casas para que nada de cristão caia em mãos dos muçulmanos azeris. Os retirantes chegaram a abrir os túmulos para transferir os corpos de seus entes queridos, porque temem que os cemitérios cristãos sejam profanados pelos azeris.

De fato, profanações desse tipo não seriam novidade, posto que o Azerbaijão tem histórico de destruir monumentos armênios em seu território. Foi o caso, por exemplo, dos cemitérios de Julfa, em Nakichevan, e de Sabunchi, em Baku, ambos destruídos pela população muçulmana local com o aval das autoridades azeris.

Milenar mosteiro cristão de Dadivank

Entre os tesouros cristãos que não podem ser levados embora de Karvachar está o mosteiro de Dadivank.

A sua existência, aliás, é uma prova de que os armênios estão presentes no território há mais de um milênio. O Azerbaijão alega, no entanto, que a vila foi ocupada pelos armênios depois de expulsarem a população azeri.

Quando os governos divulgaram que a vila seria entregue ao Azerbaijão, os monges começaram a retirar os sinos do mosteiro e a planejar a remoção dos “kachkar”, grandes cruzes tradicionais armênias, esculpidas e ornadas em pedra e colocadas diante de igrejas e locais importantes para a população. O abade, no entanto, afirmou que não abandonaria o local e que estava disposto a morrer para defendê-lo.

David Galstyan / Spoutnik / Spoutnik via AFP

As autoridades armênias conseguiram que o mosteiro seja protegido pelas forças russas, que darão ao local uma segurança provisória. O futuro, porém, continua incerto. A permanência russa prevista pelo acordo de paz é, inicialmente, de cinco anos.

Como quer que seja, o fato é que a população armênia ficará privada durante tempo indefinido de ouvir as badaladas milenares dos sinos de Dadivank.

Terroristas islâmicos em Moçambique decapitam mais de 50 pessoas

AED

Reportagem local - publicado em 12/11/20

Eles esquartejaram os corpos num campo de futebol transformado em local de execuções: entre as vítimas, ao menos 15 crianças e jovens

Terroristas islâmicos em Moçambique decapitam mais de 50 pessoas: a chocante notícia veiculada nesta semana pela mídia mundial e dá um indício do nível de horror que se vive hoje na parte norte do país africano de língua portuguesa.

O grupo terrorista autodenominado Estado Islâmico na África Central atacou a pequena localidade de Muidumbe, na província de Cabo Delgado. Os fanáticos decapitaram mais de 50 pessoas e esquartejaram seus corpos num campo de futebol, que o grupo transformou em local de execuções. Entre as vítimas estão ao menos 15 crianças e jovens.

Os militantes islâmicos se declaram ligados ao mesmo Estado Islâmico que aterrorizou o Iraque e a Síria, onde hoje tentam se reorganizar após as pesadas derrotas militares que sofreram.

Terroristas islâmicos em Moçambique

Em Moçambique, os confrontos têm acontecido desde 2017 na província de Cabo Delgado, que é rica em gás natural, mas tem população muito pobre. Os jihadistas exploram essa pobreza para recrutar novos adeptos, visando o controle da região.

Desde que invadiram a província, os fanáticos já mataram mais de 2 mil pessoas e provocaram a fuga de pelo menos 430 mil. É comum que os jihadistas disparem contra civis, incendeiem casas, sequestrem mulheres e executem pessoas.

O governo moçambicano pediu ajuda internacional para conter os brutais e covardes ataques dessa corja de fanáticos, que intensificaram drasticamente os níveis de violência ao longo de 2020.

Uma das vozes mais ativas em denunciar e organizar ajudas para a população apavorada é a de dom Luiz Fernando Lisboa, bispo da diocese de Pemba, capital da província. O bispo, que é brasileiro, está ameaçado de morte.

do site Alateia

Papa preocupado: o Estado Islâmico chegou a um país de língua portuguesa

Reportagem local - publicado em 25/08/20

Francisco telefonou para o bispo local, o brasileiro dom Luiz Fernando, ameaçado de morte

No Ângelus deste 23 de agosto, o Papa Francisco declarou:

“Desejo reiterar a minha proximidade à população de Cabo Delgado, no norte de Moçambique, que sofre com o terrorismo internacional. Faço isto na memória viva da visita que fiz há um ano àquele amado país”.

Sob o terror

Milicianos jihadistas ligados ao Estado Islâmico incendiaram a igreja de Mocímboa da Praia, no norte de Moçambique, além do colégio Januário Pedro, o hospital distrital e dezenas de casas, carros e lojas.

Ajuda à Igreja que Sofre

Igreja destruída por jihadistas em Mocímboa da Praia, Moçambique

A cidade portuária fica na região do Cabo Delgado, rica em reservas de gás natural liquefeito. A jazida é uma mais importantes da África e atrai grandes investimentos para a sua extração. Invadida pelos jihadistas e por bandeiras pretas, principalmente desde junho, a província está apavorada: as pessoas, com medo de ataques repentinos e brutais, estão fugindo sem levar praticamente nada.

O Estado Islâmico espantou o mundo ao se aproveitar das instabilidades que se seguiram aos levantes populares da fracassada “Primavera Árabe”, a partir do final de 2010, para conquistar territórios e implantar um regime de terror principalmente nas regiões mais debilitadas pela fragmentação do poder entre facções em combate, como o Iraque, a Síria e, pouco depois, a Líbia. Além disso, aliou-se ao selvagem bando de fanáticos terroristas islâmicos Boko Haram, da Nigéria, um dos mais sanguinários da atualidade. Apesar da derrota do Estado Islâmico no Oriente Médio e da perda da quase totalidade dos territórios que havia conquistado e devastado, o grupo de assassinos mantém células ativas e laços com vários outros bandos doentios em diversas regiões da Ásia e da África.

Agora, pela primeira vez, o grupo está começando a espalhar o seu fanatismo terrorista de modo mais intenso num país de língua portuguesa.

Telefonema do Papa

O Papa Francisco telefonou no dia 19 de agosto para o bispo de Pemba, dom Luiz Fernando Lisboa, que é brasileiro e está ameaçado de morte. Sua diocese fica na região invadida pelos terroristas.

Francisco orientou dom Luiz Fernando a manter contato com o cardeal Michael Czerny, do Dicastério para a Promoção do Desenvolvimento Humano Integral da Santa Sé, que o ajudará na assistência humanitária à população local.

Foto: Leandro Martins

Dom Luiz Fernando Lisboa, bispo de Pemba, Moçambique

Por sua vez, dom Luiz Fernando contou ao Papa que, depois dos ataques, além das pessoas assassinadas, do terror entre os sobreviventes e da destruição provocada na região, há também duas freiras desaparecidas, ambas da congregação internacional das Irmãs de São José de Chambéry.

Uma região desolada pelo sofrimento

O Papa visitou o país em 2019. O lema da visita foi “Esperança, paz e reconciliação”. Moçambique vinha de uma guerra civil devastadora, principalmente em suas regiões centro e norte. Além disso, também sofreu os efeitos arrasadores dos ciclones Idai e Kenneth, com mais um rastro de mortes e miséria.

© fivepointsix - Shutterstock

Pemba, Moçambique, devastada pelo ciclone Kenneth (2019)

O novo fantasma é o jihadismo.

Segundo informações da fundação pontifícia Ajuda à Igreja que Sofre, mais de 500 mil pessoas são afetadas pela tragédia humanitária na região, com centenas de mortos e cerca de 200 mil deslocados.

Dom Luiz Fernando Lisboa vem denunciando internacionalmente a violência que devassa o país e tem feito apelos intensos pelo fim da onda de violência e mortes que se agravou a partir de outubro de 2017 e assim prossegue até hoje, com preocupantes perspectivas.

Moçambique: Irmãs de São José descrevem ataque jihadista “forte e cruel”

Fundação AIS - publicado em 14/06/20

As irmãs, sabendo “do risco” que corriam, pois a região estava já sobressaltada pela ameaça dos grupos armados que reivindicam pertencer ao Daesh, abandonaram a missão dias antes

É a primeira vez que as irmãs Carmelitas Teresas de São José descrevem o mais recente ataque de grupos terroristas em Macomia, que ocorreu no final de Maio. Segundo a descrição da irmã Blanca Nubia Castaño, “o ataque”, que começou na madrugada de 28 de Maio, “foi forte, cruel e durou três dias”.

As irmãs, sabendo “do risco” que corriam, pois a região estava já sobressaltada pela ameaça dos grupos armados que reivindicam pertencer ao Daesh, abandonaram a missão dias antes.

Só na passada quinta-feira, dia 4 de Junho, “apesar de os riscos não terem passado totalmente”, as irmãs decidiram regressar a Macomia para ver a dimensão dos estragos causados pelos terroristas.

Nas palavras da irmã Castaño, a destruição foi brutal. “Como resultado desta barbárie, temos a zona urbana totalmente destruída, a maioria das infraestructuras do Estado danificadas e a zona comercial reduzida a cinzas.”

Além da destruição material, importa apurar o número de vítimas. Mas essa contabilidade ainda está por fazer. “Ainda não sabemos o número de vítimas civis e nem das forças [de segurança]. Só ontem, [dia3 de Junho], as pessoas começaram a voltar lentamente para as suas casas, algumas foram queimadas, outras saqueadas… Lembrem-se que há apenas um ano que vivemos a destruição da passagem do ciclone Keneth…”

A missão das irmãs Carmelitas Teresas de São José foi poupada, mas, ao que parece, segundo a irmã, apenas por estar situada relativamente fora da zona atacada pelos terroristas. “A nossa missão salvou-se por estar na parte alta, ao lado de uma base militar. Apesar de os riscos não terem passado totalmente, hoje [dia 4 de Junho] decidimos ir visitar, encorajar e ajudar pelo menos os nossos trabalhadores e as suas famílias. Por questões de segurança, tivemos que voltar hoje mesmo para a outra missão onde estamos refugiadas.”

A Irmã Blanca Castaño refere ainda, na mensagem que colocou nas redes sociais, o sentimento de indignação perante o cenário de destruição a que ficou reduzida a zona. As irmãs estão presentes em Macomia há 16 anos, desenvolvendo um trabalho notável na área educacional. “Desde há dois anos e meio”, escreve ainda a religiosa, a região de Macomia, como aliás toda a província de Cabo Delgado, tem vindo a ser “aterrorizada” por ataques cruéis por parte de grupos armados jihadistas.

“Dói-nos a alma pelo atropelamento aos nossos irmãos, ficamos indignadas com a injustiça, ficamos tristes com a incerteza e sentimo-nos impotentes. Só nos resta esperar e confiar no Deus da Vida”, escreve ainda a irmã Castaño.

 

Conversões ao Islam: exemplos paquistaneses

 

Kidnapped, Raped, and Forced into Islam: The Plight of Christian Girls in Pakistan

10/16/2020 by Raymond Ibrahim 6 Comments

Gatestone Institute

Christian girls are being abducted, sexually abused, and forced into Islam with increasing frequency all throughout Pakistan, and everyone—including local police, court officials, and Islamic clerics—seem bent on facilitating this human rights tragedy.

Most recently, according to a September 16 report,

A Christian 6 year old girl was beaten and raped after being forcibly taken to the home of a Muslim rapist in broad daylight.  In a sickening twist the local Muslim community are threatening the Christian parents with violence, the rape of their other daughters and financial ruin if they proceed with a legal case against paedophile Muhammad Waqas (18 yrs)…   Tabitha [the raped child] had been verbally abused, shouted at, slapped and beaten and forced to do a number of sex acts with Waqas.  She had been stripped of her clothes and had described her terror that she would be killed by Waqas…

Though various societal elements pressured her Christian family to drop the case against the Muslim rapist and accept a financial settlement, her parents refused, demanding justice.  As a result, two imams from local mosques warned Munir Masih, the girl’s father, that “we shall burn your house and take away your other daughters too, if you fail to comply.” He responded by gathering his family and fleeing to an undisclosed location in the middle of the night.

Although “evidence for the case was strong with eye witnesses” and included “a medical examiner who found evidence of rape and brutality and a positive match on DNA tracing with that of  Waqas”—and despite the family’s perseverance for justice—the court granted the rapist bail.

“Tears rolled from the eyes of Munir while I hugged him in the yard of Lahore High Courts,” a legal representative of the family explained.  “The paedophile rapist who had sexually assaulted his daughter on many counts was granted bail and it caused him intense pain. It was excruciating for him to see the rapist of his tender-aged daughter released—I felt broken myself.”

This is just one of many examples of the sexual abuse of Christian girls and/or their forced conversion to Islam.  Below are a few more from those to occur in just the first nine months of 2020:

On Sunday, April 26, Maira Shahbaz, a 14-year-old Christian girl, was abducted by a group of armed Muslim men, under the leadership of one Muhammad Naqash (subsequently, her “husband”).  According to an initial report,

Eye witnesses claim that Myra was attacked while she was traveling to her workplace as a domestic worker on Sunday afternoon…. Myra’s abductors forced her into a car and Myra tried to resist…. [The] abductors were armed and fired several shots into the air…. [T]he Christian girl’s family has filed a police report and is begging police to recover their relative….  [The girl’s mother] fears her daughter will be raped, forcefully converted to Islam, or even killed….

In the ensuing weeks and months, the girl’s parents petitioned police and court officials to rescue their daughter.  The authorities responded by concluding that Muhammad had produced a certificate proving that their 14-year-old daughter had willingly converted to Islam and married him.  The parents pointed to discrepancies regarding her age and other indicators of forgery in the documentation,  but even the Lahore High Court ruled in favor of the kidnapper/rapist.

Then, in late August, Maira managed to escape and flee to a police station, where she gave testimony, including on how she was being “forced into prostitution” and “filmed while by being raped,” with threats that the tape would be published unless she complies with the demands of her rapist/husband and friends. “They threatened to murder my whole family,” the 14-year-old girl said. “My life was at stake in the hands of the accused and Naqash repeatedly raped me forcefully.”

In an interview, a friend of Maira’s family described how the family is now in hiding and constantly on the run, adding:

Maira is traumatized. She cannot speak. We want to take her to the doctor, but we are afraid we might be spotted. We are all very frightened, but we place our trust in God.

Days before Maira escaped in August, a  married Muslim father of four kidnapped Saneha Kinza, the 15-year-old daughter of a pastor, while she was walking to church for early morning prayers. According to the report:

Saneha’s family fears that their daughter will be added to the growing number of Christian girls who, after a kidnapping and forced conversion to Islam, are married to Muslims… On July 28, Pastor Morris Masih’s family received a call from the kidnapper, who threatened them if they dared to take any action to bring Saneha home.

In another instance, a group of 12 Muslim men, led by one Muhammad Irfan, broke into a Christian man’s household, “and tried to kidnap his [13-year-old] daughter, Noor, who they planned to rape and forcefully convert to Islam,” to quote from a July 26 report. “He often teased and disturbed my daughter in the streets, but we always ignored,” the girl’s mother later explained of Muhammad, adding:

Finally, Irfan forcibly entered into my house and intended to kidnap my daughter. However, we resisted. In response, he attacked and beat my entire family who got multiple injuries. My husband and others got injuries in the attack. However, police have not registered the case against Irfan and medical staff have not provided medical aid to the injured.

The report adds that “Local supporters of Irfan have issued threats against the family… [They] have threatened to burn down their house if they pursue legal action against Irfan and the other attackers.”

On April 11, a Muslim man kidnapped and sexually assaulted another Christian girl, aged 7.  When Nadia’s father discovered she was missing on arriving home from work, he and others began a frantic search, and eventually found her in a field, “beaten and sexually assaulted.”

Two days earlier, on April 9, another group of Muslims attempted to kidnap Ishrat, aged 9. According to the report,

[The] assault took place while Ishrat was walking in the street in Qutiba. There, a group of Muslim men approached her and asked her to convert to Islam and marry Asim, one of the men in the group. When Ishrat refused, the men beat Ishrat, made derogatory remarks against Ishrat and Christianity, and attempted to kidnap Ishrat. The kidnapping, however, was averted as local villagers intervened. According to Ishrat, another man in the group named Ijaz had been harassing her before the assault. Ishrat claims that Ijaz followed her for a long time in an attempt to develop a physical relationship. Ishrat and her family reported the assault to local police. However, after reporting the incident, a group of armed Muslims attacked Ishrat’s family home. According to Ishrat’s family, the group threatened the family with severe consequences for ‘creating hurdles to their mission.’

In order to justify marriage to another 14-year-old Christian girl who was previously abducted, forced to convert to Islam, and wed to a Muslim man, on February 3, during a hearing on the case of Huma Younus, the Sindh high court in Karachi ruled that men may marry underage girls once they have their period, in direct compliance with sharia, or Islamic law. “Our daughters are insecure and abused in this country,” Huma’s mother remarked. “They are not safe anywhere. We leave them at schools or home but they are kidnapped, raped, humiliated, and forced to convert to Islam.” Marriage to underage girls is illegal due to the Sindh Child Marriage Restraint Act, which the high court ignored to side with Muslims against Christians.

Discussing this particular incident, Napoleon Qayyum, executive director of the Pakistan Center of Law of Justice, said:

Another Christian girl aged 14 was recently abducted and gang-raped by some Muslim youths… The victim is a student of grade nine and was abducted by four or five boys on her way to a local tuition center on Jan. 16, 2020. The abductors not only raped her but also obtained her signatures and thumb impressions on some papers.

Although police recovered her, the rights activist expressed his “fears the suspects will use her signed documents to produce a fake marriage certificate and religion conversion letter in a bid to escape abduction and rape charges,” which, he said, “is common modus operandi of Muslims to confuse the court and avoid justice”:

Moreover, the girls are also forced to give false statements in court that they have changed their religion of free will and had married of their own choice….  Girls belonging to minority communities often succumb to pressure and consideration for their family’s security, which has further emboldened the men belonging to the majority faith.

In a somewhat similar case, on March 1, two Muslim men abducted Saima Javid, a 13-year-old Christian girl, while she fetched water outside the family home, forcibly converted her to Islam, and married her off to a Muslim. “I was deeply depressed and thought of committing suicide when I lost my daughter,” her mother shared.  “Young Christian girls are not safe in this country. Muslims consider them as their property or slaves and therefore humiliate them as they wish.”

After confirming that “our daughters are often sexually harassed by influential Muslims,” the girl’s father added that “The police did not listen to us for five days,” and did so only after “the abduction went viral on social media.”  As a result, on March 26, the 13-year-old Christian girl appeared in court where she “testified that she had been abducted and was forced to convert to Islam and forced to marry [a Muslim man].”  Due to the negative publicity revolving around this particular case, a judge ordered her returned to her family. As the report explains, however, “This order marks a rare victory for Pakistani Christians affected by the issue of abduction, forced conversion, and forced marriage.”

The reason few authorities do anything and some even side with the abductors/rapists was explained by the Asian Human Rights Commission in a 2011 report:

The situation is worse with the police who always side with the Islamic groups and treat minority groups as lowly life forms. The dark side of the forced conversion to Islam … involves the criminal elements who are engaged in rape and abduction and then justify their heinous crimes by forcing the victims to convert to Islam. The Muslim fundamentalists are happy to offer these criminals shelter and use the excuse that they are providing a great service to their sacred cause of increasing the population of Muslims.

In short, “Christian girls are only meant for the pleasure of Muslim men”—to quote a group of Muslim men, seconds before they rammed their car into three young Christian girls, who had ignored their sexual advances while walking home from work; one died.  Talking about this incident, one human rights activist said that police were “doing little to apprehend the young men and are allegedly delaying the investigative process”:

In any other nation [than Pakistan] the perpetrators would be arrested, convicted for murder and sentenced for a long term…. Violence against Christians is rarely investigated and highly unlikely to be met with justice…. Women have a low status in Pakistan, but none more so than Christian women who find themselves under the grip or terror, especially after this attack. Muslim NGO Movement of Solidarity and Peace state[s] that around 700 Christian women in Pakistan are abducted, raped and forced into Islamic marriage every year – that figure is almost two a day and the world does nothing.

More recent statistics from 2019 indicate that “around 1000 girls from [Christian and other] religious minorities are forcibly converted to Islam every year. The numbers might [even] be higher as many cases are not even reported.”

As another indicator of prevalence, back in 2010, a Pakistani pedophile told his 9-year-old victim “not to worry because he had done the same service to other young Christian girls”—some of whom were then murdered—before mauling her.  While discussing that particular incident, another human rights activist summarized the situation in Pakistan well:

It is shameful.  Such incidents occur frequently. Christian girls are considered goods to be damaged at leisure. Abusing them is a right. According to the community’s mentality it is not even a crime. Muslims regard them as spoils of war.

Genocídio cristão na Nigéria

Massacre de cristãos na Nigéria é comparado a genocídio em relatório do Reino Unido

Um grupo britânico de parlamentares elaborou um relatório, alertando que o massacre de cristãos na Nigéria está seguindo o curso de um genocídio.

FONTE: GUIAME, COM INFORMAÇÕES DO CHRISTIAN POST

ATUALIZADO: SEGUNDA-FEIRA, 22 JUNHO DE 2020 AS 8:47

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Cristãos são sepultados em tempos de massacre na Nigéria. (Foto: Intersociety)

A violência contra os cristãos na Nigéria segue o curso de um genocídio, um grupo de parlamentares do Reino Unido alertou esta semana em um novo relatório, analisando o impacto da violência perpetuada por extremistas do Boko Haram e milícias Fulani em todo o país da África Ocidental.
O Grupo Parlamentar do ‘Partido para a Liberdade Internacional de Religião ou Crença’ (APPG) do Reino Unido, um grupo bipartidário de parlamentares de ambas as casas do parlamento, divulgou seu novo relatório “Nigéria: Revelando o Genocídio?” na segunda-feira passada.
Enquanto a Nigéria continua sofrendo com a insurgência do Boko Haram e a existência de seu grupo dissidente (‘Província Islâmica da África Ocidental’), os membros do APPG estão preocupados com relatos de violência crescente caracterizada como um "conflito entre fazendeiros e agricultores", apesar de um número desproporcional de assassinatos sendo realizado por pastores (criadores de gado) militantes Fulani contra comunidades agrícolas predominantemente cristãs na fértil região do Cinturão Médio.
Os defensores dos direitos internacionais sustentaram que o padrão de genocídio foi atingido na Nigéria, pois as estimativas sugerem que milhares de cristãos foram mortos no Cinturão Médio, como um processo tradicional de arbitragem entre agricultores e criadores de gado por causa de colheitas danificadas nos últimos anos.
A violência no Cinturão Médio e no nordeste da Nigéria (onde o Boko Haram e Fulanis cometem atrocidades) levou ao deslocamento em massa de milhões, pois comunidades inteiras foram forçadas a fugir com medo de suas vidas, após inúmeros massacres.
"Entre todas as injustiças para o Reino Unido ajudar a corrigir em um futuro próximo, a perseguição generalizada e crescente sofrida pelos cristãos deve estar no topo da lista", disse o deputado Jim Shannon em comunicado. “Assim, como o Reino Unido enfrenta o desafio de bloquear e quarentena em massa pela primeira vez na memória, peço que você reserve um pensamento para os cristãos que enfrentam não apenas uma pandemia, mas também ameaças de violência e perseguição que nem podemos imaginar”.
O relatório exige que o governo da Nigéria e a comunidade internacional implemente, recomendações para ajudar a salvar as vidas dos cidadãos nigerianos, como investigações e processos abrangentes.
"Como os ministros do governo nigeriano admitiram publicamente e com razão, os cristãos estão sendo cruelmente alvejados, especificamente por causa de sua fé", afirma o relatório. “Sem dúvida, porém, muçulmanos pacíficos, por meio de violência colateral, também podem se tornar vítimas dessa cruel ideologia religiosa islâmica. É uma ideologia destrutiva e divisória que rapidamente se transforma em crimes contra a humanidade e segue o curso de um genocídio”.
"Não devemos hesitar em dizer isso", acrescenta o relatório. “Infelizmente, o Boko Haram não é a única ameaça que os cristãos nigerianos enfrentam. Ataques de grupos armados de pecuaristas Fulani resultaram na morte, mutilação, expropriação e despejo de milhares de cristãos. Às vezes, é difícil para nós no Ocidente imaginar esse tipo de sofrimento, por isso é importante que reconheçamos as histórias de sobreviventes”.
Perseguição religiosa disfarçada
O relatório examina vários fatores que aumentam a violência praticada pelas milícias Fulani contra as comunidades agrícolas e a violência retaliativa periódica. Os fatores analisados ​​incluem "competição de recursos, sectarismo religioso [a maioria dos pecuaristas Fulani são muçulmanos], má gestão da terra pelo governo nigeriano, crescimento populacional, mudança climática e insegurança".
“O rápido crescimento populacional, as mudanças climáticas e a desertificação diminuíram a água disponível para terras e pastagens e pressionaram os recursos”, afirma o relatório, citando uma estimativa das Nações Unidas de que cerca de 80% das terras agrícolas do Sahel estão degradadas e “as terras disponíveis para pastores estão encolhendo”.
Isso significa que a produção de grãos e alimentos está forçando os pastores "a uma busca desesperada por pastagens férteis".
"À medida que os Fulani viajam para regiões mais distantes em busca de água e terra para pastagem de seu gado, entram em conflito com os agricultores locais, que os acusam de invadir suas terras e danificar suas colheitas", acrescenta o relatório. “O aumento do conflito reduziu a capacidade dos líderes tradicionais de amenizar as tensões e resolver conflitos de forma amigável. Isso contribuiu para o colapso dos mecanismos históricos de solução de controvérsias e o conflito que virou violência”.
Embora haja fatores econômicos em jogo, o relatório também afirma que a escalada da violência "também deve ser vista no contexto do crescente poder e influência do extremismo islâmico no Sahel".
“Vários grupos, como o Estado Islâmico na província da África Ocidental (ISWAP), uma facção do Boko Haram e afiliada do califado enfraquecido do E.I. no Iraque e na Síria, continuam a expandir suas redes na Nigéria, Mali, Níger, Camarões, Chade e Burkina Faso”, explica o relatório. "Embora não necessariamente compartilhem uma visão idêntica, alguns pastores Fulani adotaram uma estratégia comparável ao Boko Haram e ao ISWAP e demonstraram uma clara intenção de atingir cristãos e símbolos da identidade cristã, como igrejas".
O APPG recebeu numerosos relatórios sobre pastores e outros líderes comunitários cristãos sendo alvejados por esses grupos que promovem atos terroristas.
"Durante muitos dos ataques, os pastores relataram que os terroristas gritaram 'Alá ou Akbar' [‘Alá é grande’], e mataram os que chamam de ‘infiéis'", alega o relatório.
“Centenas de igrejas foram destruídas, incluindo mais de 500 igrejas no estado de Benue. Como o bispo de Truro concluiu em seu relatório para o Ministério das Relações Exteriores e da Commonwealth do Reino Unido, "a dimensão religiosa é um fator significativamente preocupante" nos confrontos entre agricultores e pastores e a "violência direcionada contra comunidades cristãs no contexto da adoração sugere que a religião desempenha um papel fundamental nessas comunidades'”.
Justiça falha
Embora os cristãos pareçam ser as principais vítimas da violência no cinturão médio, o relatório explica que os ataques dos Fulani “levaram a violências periódicas de retaliação, pois as comunidades agrícolas concluem que não podem mais confiar nas autoridades para proteção ou justiça".
"Alguns vigilantes locais, liderados por jovens, buscam fazer justiça com suas próprias mãos, realizando represálias violentas contra muçulmanos que eles acreditam que são apoiados pelo governo", afirma o relatório. “Tal violência retaliatória não pode ser tolerada. No entanto, suas represálias devem ser vistas no contexto de uma necessidade urgente de que as autoridades apliquem o Estado de Direito para proteger todos os seus cidadãos”.

Nigéria: Radicais atacam aldeia cristã e deixam mais de 80 mortos

Nigéria: Radicais atacam aldeia cristã e deixam mais de 80 mortos

"Jihadists Martyred Him for Refusing to Renounce Jesus Christ": The Persecution of Christians, February 2020: Saleem Masih, a 22-year-old Christian farmhand, was tortured and killed for using his Muslim employer's water well.... The employer later insisted that he had committed no crime; it was the murdered Christian who had 'committed a crime by dirtying' their

Jihadists Martyred Him for Refusing to Renounce Jesus Christ": The Persecution of Christians, February 2020

• Saleem Masih, a 22-year-old Christian farmhand, was tortured and killed for using his Muslim employer's water well.... The employer later insisted that he had committed no crime; it was the murdered Christian who had "committed a crime by dirtying" their water, his murderer insisted, and therefore his punishment — torture and death — was "justified." — CLAAS, February 28, Pakistan.
• "Are we to deny the evidence before us, of kidnappers separating Muslims from infidels or compelling Christians to convert or die?" — Matthew Hassan Kukah, Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Zenit.org, February 12, 2020, Nigeria.
• "Christians are losing everything they own without an actual legal basis. They are losing everything Christians have worked for over the course of history." — Fr. Slavomir Dadas, Aid to the Church in Need, February 6, 2020, Turkey.
• "Another Christian girl aged 14 was recently abducted and gang-raped by some Muslim youths... The abductors not only raped her but also obtained her signatures and thumb impressions on some papers." Although police recovered her, the rights activist "fears the suspects will use her signed documents to produce a fake marriage certificate and religion conversion letter in a bid to escape abduction and rape charges," which, he said, "is common modus operandi of Muslims to confuse the court and avoid justice." — Napoleon Qayyum, executive director of the Pakistan Center of Law of Justice, Morningstar News, February 12, 2020, Pakistan.

In Trabzon, Turkey, locals interrupted the burial of a Christian woman — in part by shouting, "Allahu Akbar!" — at the cemetery of the Santa Maria Catholic Church on January 18, 2020. On February 14, her grave was found desecrated, its wooden cross broken and burned. Pictured: The funeral of 60-year-old Italian Catholic priest Andrea Santoro at Santa Maria on February 6, 2006. Santoro was shot and murdered at the church by a 16-year-old. (Photo by STR/AFP via Getty Images)

The Slaughter of Christians

Burkina Faso: On Sunday, February 16, Islamic gunmen raided a church during service and slaughtered 24 worshippers, including their pastor; 18 other congregants were injured and several others kidnapped. The terrorists torched the church building before leaving.

In a separate incident on February 10, militant Muslims abducted and slaughtered a church pastor, his son, two nephews, and another Christian clergyman. According to yet another report on February 3:

"Jihadists, claiming to be killing 'in the name of Allah,' returned to the scene of a previous atrocity ... and murdered at least ten Christian men in a village market place; some estimates have put the death toll as high as 50."

The attack took place in the same small town "where Boko Haram extremists began their murderous rampage last year on 28 April 2019, shooting the pastor, his son and four members of the congregation." Then, as in other instances, the Islamic gunmen "threatened to kill anyone who would not convert to Islam."

"Christians say they are in a fight for survival," another report declared:

"Dozens of Catholic priests have been killed; Protestant pastors and their families have been killed or kidnapped by violent Islamic militants. Villagers wearing Christian symbols are singled out and killed on the spot. Jihadists replace schools with what locals call 'Arab' schools; churches, shops and health centers are burned down."

Democratic Republic of Congo: During several orchestrated raids, militant Muslims slaughtered a 60-year-old pastor "after he refused their demands to convert to Islam." According to a February 6 report:

"Ngulongo Year Batsemire, the Archdeacon of Eringeti, was walking to his fields with his wife when they were surrounded by members of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), an Islamist militant group that has been active in the north-east region of DRC for more than two decades and repeatedly targets Christians. The militants demanded Pastor Ngulongo tell them where they could find other pastors. They then attempted to force him to convert to Islam. When the father-of-ten refused to renounce Jesus Christ, the jihadists martyred him. His wife's life was spared. She recalls that the militants had uttered a local phrase known to be used when they are looking to kill Christians but spare Muslims."

According to another report, around the same day that the pastor was murdered and over the ensuing 48 hours, jihadists slaughtered "at least 74 civilians, many of them women and children, with knives and guns" in ten different villages in the Christian-majority nation in early February.

Kenya: On February 19, Muslims linked with the Islamic terror group Al Shabaab ("the youth"), raided another bus in search of Christians and killed at least three people (one report said four); two others were injured. At least two Christian men, Kevin Onyango and Peter Kilonzo, were executed because they could not or would not proclaim the Islamic statement of faith, the shahada, which instantly converts its reciter into a Muslim. One man of Muslim background was also killed for heroically trying to defend the Christians (and therefore, in the eyes of the terrorists, apostatizing). Discussing this incident, a local evangelist said:

"We are seeing a return of planned violent attacks against Christians... Hostility against Christians has been escalating in Mandera at an alarming rate and is being carried out by al-Shabaab members. They target public service vehicles, where they separate Christians from Muslims and execute them. If not vehicles, they attack residential places and kill non-local Christian people. We are, however, proud of the few courageous Muslims who stand up and defend Christians. In this bus attack, one of them was killed for trying to stop the gunmen from shooting the Christians who were not able to say the Islamic prayer."

Two months before this attack, 11 Christians were also executed in a similar fashion: jihadists raided their bus and ordered them to recite the shahada.

Mozambique: In the Christian-majority nation (where Muslims amount for less than 20% of the population), "Continuing Islamist attacks," a February 14 report documented, "have already claimed 500 lives and left thousands displaced," since October 2017, and "shows no signs of coming to an end." Between just January 29 and 30, there were six separate attacks "causing a general exodus of the population and leaving behind a broad swath of destruction in villages." Local Bishop Luiz Fernando Lisboa decried the attacks as "a tragedy" and acknowledged his own vulnerability. He added:

"I am not afraid. I'm simply trying to fulfil my own role, which is to support the missionaries who are there, in the direct line of fire. They are extremely brave. They are the oasis that the people need, [trusted figures] to whom they can cry out and ask for help. They have not abandoned their posts and so I have no right to be afraid."

Pakistan: Saleem Masih, a 22-year-old Christian farmhand, was tortured and killed for using his Muslim employer's water well. Once the employer saw what Masih was doing, he accused him of being a "filthy Christian" who "had polluted the water." A number of equally scandalized Muslims gathered; "vow[ing] to teach him a lesson," they "dragged him to their cattle farm, where they tied his hands, chained his feet and continued to torture him with sticks and iron rods."

Before he died from his wounds on February 28, Masih told his family that he had been "tortured just for being a Christian." The employer later insisted that he had committed no crime; it was the murdered Christian who had "committed a crime by dirtying" their water, his murderer insisted, and therefore his punishment—torture and death—was "justified."

Masih's father also confirmed that his son was murdered "for nothing but for being Christian." Violent and murderous outbursts by Muslims whenever "filthy Christians" drink or use "their" water is not uncommon.

In 2004, Javed Anjum, another young Christian, was trapped and tortured for five full days, before being killed for having the audacity to drink water from a madrassa. Even the most notorious case of Christian persecution in Pakistan, that of Asia Bibi — who was beaten, falsely accused of blasphemy, and imprisoned for nearly a decade — began after she, then a farm laborer, also drank from a well, prompting outrage from her Muslim coworkers.

The Massacre of Nigeria's Christians

Still more Christians were killed and churches torched at the hands of militant Muslims (Fulani herdsmen, Boko Haram, generic terrorists).

On February 21, well over a hundred heavily armed Boko Haram jihadists raided Garkida in Gombi of Adamawa State, a predominantly Christian village. According to one report, they "opened fire sporadically and indiscriminately and set churches and houses on fire, killing many people..."

"At least five churches were destroyed, including two houses of worship belonging to the Church of the Brethren denomination, an Anglican Communion church, and a church and a separate office of Living Faith Church."

Possible abductions were reported. The raiders had suddenly emerged out of a neighboring forest after Friday prayers riding atop 60 motorbikes; each vehicle carried two terrorists armed with AK47s and RPGs, followed by about 20 mounted gun trucks. "Garkida is currently on fire," one local reported; "many people have been killed and their houses covered with smoke."

According to a February 18 report, the Fulani Muslim herdsmen that slaughtered 32 Christians during late January raids on three Christian villages (reported here), also torched four Christian churches:

"These churches include the Kauna Baptist Church and Church of Christ in Nations (COCIN) in Rubio village, and the COCIN Church and Anglican Church in Marish. Although other structures were also destroyed, the destruction of these churches demonstrates a particular hatred toward Christianity. Despite this, the Nigerian government insists that there is no religious motivation in Fulani militant attacks throughout Nigeria's Middle Belt region."

On February 1, Michael Nnadi, an 18-year-old theology student at the Good Shepherd Seminary in Kaduna, was found killed. Along with three other seminarians who had since gained their freedom, he was earlier abducted by unknown but suspected militant Muslims. "Michael was a young and gifted seminarian," said one of the teachers at the seminary.

"He was an orphan who had been brought up by his grandmother. Just a few weeks ago, after a year of spiritual preparation, he had been clothed in the soutane. It seems that his only crime was his desire to serve God. The security forces and the government have failed him."

During a homily at Michael's funeral, Matthew Hassan Kukah, Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, said: "We have no evidence of what transpired between Michael and his killers. However, for us Christians, this death is a metaphor for the fate of all Christians in Nigeria but especially northern Nigeria," where Muslims make the majority, and where "destroying Christianity is seen as one of their key missions," he said of Boko Haram and its many sympathizers in the north. "Are we to deny the evidence before us, of kidnappers separating Muslims from infidels or compelling Christians to convert or die?" The bishop continued:

"The persecution of Christians in northern Nigeria is as old as the modern Nigerian state. Their experiences and fears of northern, Islamic domination are documented in the Willinks Commission Report way back in 1956. It was also the reason why they formed a political platform called, the Non-Muslim League. All of us must confess in all honesty that in the years that have passed, the northern Muslim elite has not developed a moral basis for adequate power sharing with their Christian co-regionalists. We deny at our own expense. By denying Christians lands for places of worship across most of the northern states, ignoring the systematic destruction of churches all these years, denying Christians adequate recruitment, representation and promotions in the State civil services, denying their indigenous children scholarships, marrying Christian women or converting Christians while threatening Muslim women and prospective converts with death, they make building a harmonious community impossible.... Are we to deny the evidence before us, of kidnappers separating Muslims from infidels or compelling Christians to convert or die?"

For his part, Femi Fani-Kayode, Nigeria's former Minister of Culture and Tourism, accused the "evil Barack Obama" and his administration for being behind the persecution of Christians and general chaos plaguing Nigeria. On February 12, the former government official asserted:

"What Obama, John Kerry and Hilary Clinton did to Nigeria by funding and supporting [current president Muhammadu] Buhari in the 2015 presidential election and helping Boko Haram in 2014/2015 was sheer wickedness and the blood of all those killed by the Buhari administration, his Fulani herdsmen and Boko Haram over the last 5 years are on their hands.

"... I just thank God for Donald Trump. Had he been President of America in 2015 things would have been very different, Jonathan [Goodluck Jonathan, a Christian, was Nigeria's president 2010-2015] would have won, Boko Haram would have been history and the Fulani herdsmen would never have seen the light of day."

Hate Crimes against Christians and Churches

Pakistan: On February 2, local Muslims, led by Muhammad Akram and Muhammad Liaqat, opened fire on a group of Christians because they were building a small church on their own land in the village, which has nearly 150 Christians in need of a church. The armed Muslims first came and tried forcefully to seize the Christian-owned land, including by demolishing the church's boundary wall. According to the report:

"When Gulzar Masih [the Christian owner] heard of this he and his sons rushed to the plot to stop the wall from being demolished, the Muslim attackers opened fire and three people (Christians) were severely injured. Azeem, son of Gulzar, was shot in the head, Sajjad was shot in his arm and Razaq was attacked with an axe.... The other suspects fired their guns into the air and escaped the scene."

Egypt: On February 3, a Christian priest traveling to his church in Alexandria was ambushed and "nearly murdered" by a Muslim parolee. According to the report, the man "blocked the priest's car and began attacking him with stones. Fortunately, only the car was damaged. The parolee, nicknamed Kareem Madi, has a history of attacking Christians—especially women and girls."

Two weeks earlier, two other Christians were also randomly targeted in two separate incidents by Muslim men with known hatred for Christians. The woman had her throat slit and the man had his ear sliced off. The report adds that

"These incidents are a reminder that while Egypt may be experiencing less Christian fatalities than previous years, the mindset which encourages the targeting of Christians still exist [sic]. It is a mindset that is encouraged by the government[,] by its policies which view Christians as second-class citizens and Islam as the official religion of the country."

Turkey: After locals interrupted the burial of a Christian woman— in part by shouting, "Allahu Akbar!" ["Allah is the greatest!"] — at the cemetery of the Santa Maria Catholic Church in Trabzon on January 18, her grave was later found desecrated, its wooden cross broken and burned, when her husband came to visit it on February 14. The priest of the church which the deceased woman was a member of, Father Andrea Santoro, was himself martyred in 2006 when a 16-year-old, also shouting "Allahu Akbar," shot the priest in the back of the head while he was kneeling in prayer inside the church.

"Christians are losing everything they own without an actual legal basis," said Fr. Slavomir Dadas in a February 6 report on the deteriorating situation for Christians in Turkey. "They are losing everything Christians have worked for over the course of history." Although the priest's discussion was focused on the hilly region of Tur Abdin — an ancient religious and cultural center for Christians where harassment and persecution has become the norm — his discourse had relevance for the entire nation:

"The Christians do not feel welcome in their own homeland and have to endure frequent harassment.... The biggest problem, particularly in Tur Abdin, is that people can no longer envision a future for themselves in the region. It is said that there were almost 50,000 Christians living there about 50 years ago. When I recently visited the area, they were talking about only 2,500 Christians.... [T]hey seem to be regarded as a problem because the area itself is considered a Christian region. This is not acceptable in a Muslim country... The villages were once inhabited by 200 to 300 families, most of them Christians. Today, two or three Christian families live in a village... They are guardians of the cultural heritage and the faith there."

Pakistan: In order to justify marriage to a 14-year-old Christian girl who was previously abducted, forced to convert to Islam, and wed to a Muslim man, on February 3, during a hearing on the case of Huma Younus, the Sindh high court in Karachi ruled that men may marry underage girls once they have their period, in direct compliance with sharia, or Islamic law. "Our daughters are insecure and abused in this country," Huma's mother remarked earlier. "They are not safe anywhere. We leave them at schools or home but they are kidnapped, raped, humiliated, and forced to convert to Islam."

Marriage to underage girls is illegal due to the Sindh Child Marriage Restraint Act, which the high court ignored to side with Muslims against Christians. Discussing this incident, Napoleon Qayyum, executive director of the Pakistan Center of Law of Justice, said:

"Another Christian girl aged 14 was recently abducted and gang-raped by some Muslim youths... The victim is a student of grade nine and was abducted by four or five boys on her way to a local tuition center on Jan. 16, 2020. The abductors not only raped her but also obtained her signatures and thumb impressions on some papers."

Although police recovered her, the rights activist "fears the suspects will use her signed documents to produce a fake marriage certificate and religion conversion letter in a bid to escape abduction and rape charges," which, he said, "is common modus operandi of Muslims to confuse the court and avoid justice. Moreover, the girls are also forced to give false statements in court that they have changed their religion of free will and had married of their own choice," Qayyum added. "Girls belonging to minority communities often succumb to pressure and consideration for their family's security, which has further emboldened the men belonging to the majority faith."

Uganda: "On Feb. 20, I received some threatening messages that my church is going to be destroyed because of converting Muslims to Christians," a pastor reported.

"Some of my members have stopped attending the church for fear of their lives in a possible attack by the Muslims. Sending away the helpless family is not a good idea, but losing church members is also not good. We as a church are in a dilemma."

Earlier, the wife and mother of the family had converted to Christianity and began to share the Gospel with a few of her children, who in turn shared it with their older siblings. Within a year, all nine children, aged between 5 and 20, also turned to Christianity. But then, "When I shared Christ's love to my husband," the woman explained, "he was so furious at me and responded by slapping and kicking, which injured my rib on the left side."

"I was taken for medication. But I continued praying and sharing Jesus with him. After two months Jesus appeared to my husband in a vision, which led to his conversion to the Christian faith. He then stopped attending the prayers at mosque."

However, when one of their youngest children innocently told her paternal grandfather that the family had been attending church, her father's "angry father summoned him to a meeting where mosque elders and clan leaders would determine his punishment for leaving Islam. Under sharia (Islamic law), apostasy is often punishable by death," the report adds. Instead, the family fled to and "sought refuge at the church," his wife explained, "where we have been residing since December 2019."

Jihad on St. Valentine

As happens every year, several Muslim nations made it a point to issue proclamations and threats of punishment for anyone who celebrates Valentine's Day, which Islamic leaders widely condemn as a Western holiday with Christian roots. This was the case, for example, in various regions of Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation: In Aceh, "Those who are [caught] celebrating Valentine's Day violate Islamic Sharia law applied in Aceh, and they can be caned," warned the regent of West Aceh. Similarly, the "Indonesian Ulema [Islamic Scholars] Council in West Java and the mayor of Bandung sought to ban Valentine's Day celebrations in all secondary and senior high schools," while their counterparts in Tarakan, declared Valentine's Day "illegal."

Similarly, in Iran, "On February 11 this year the Center for Reduction and Control of Social Harms of the Prosecutor's Office in Qom warned businesses that promote 'anti-cultural symbols such as Valentine's symbols' threatening to shut them down from one to six months if they do not comply. The statement issued by Prosecutor's Office has also provided a number for the public to call to report 'transgressions.'"

Raymond Ibrahim, author of the recent book, Sword and Scimitar, Fourteen Centuries of War between Islam and the West, is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Gatestone Institute, a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center, and a Judith Rosen Friedman Fellow at the Middle East Forum.

About this Series

While not all, or even most, Muslims are involved, persecution of Christians by extremists is growing. The report posits that such persecution is not random but rather systematic, and takes place irrespective of language, ethnicity, or location.