On October 4, 2014, the FBI arrested American ISIS recruit Mohammed Hamzah Khan, a 19 year old man, in the Chicago, IL suburb of Bolingbrook, for allegedly attempting to travel overseas to join a foreign terrorist organization operating inside Iraq and Syria.
On January 8, 2015, a federal grand jury indicted Mohammed Hamzah Khan, who was charged with attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in a single-count indictment. The FBI reports: “According to the complaint affidavit, a roundtrip ticket was purchased for Khan on Sept. 26 to travel from Chicago to Istanbul, departing on Saturday, and returning later this week. Law enforcement agents observed Khan passing through the security screening checkpoint Saturday afternoon at O’Hare’s international terminal. Federal agents then executed a search warrant at Khan’s residence and recovered multiple handwritten documents that appeared to be drafted by Khan and/or others, which expressed support for ISIL, the affidavit alleges. Some of those documents, including travel plans and materials referencing ISIL and jihad, are described in the complaint affidavit. Khan was initially approached by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers and was later interviewed later by FBI agents at the airport.”
On October 29, 2015 ,American ISIS recruit Mohammed Hamzah Khan pleaded guilty to one count of attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization. The U.S. Department of Justice reported: “Beginning no later than approximately February 2014, Khan used the Internet to obtain introductions to ISIL members in Syria and to assist him with traveling there to join the terrorist group, according to the plea agreement. Khan spoke with ISIL members to coordinate the logistics of his admission into ISIL-controlled territory, the plea agreement states. Khan admitted in the plea agreement that he knew ISIL had been designated by the United States as a foreign terrorist organization. Upon arriving in Syria, according to the plea agreement, Khan intended to work under the direction and control of ISIL, and be required to take any assignment ISIL gave him.”
The UK Guardian reports that: “His 17-year-old sister and 16-year-old brother were also arrested at O’Hare international airport as he tried to board a plane to Vienna en route to Istanbul, but were not charged. Khan, who lived with his parents, was described by neighbors as a polite teenager. But he left a letter expressing disgust: ‘We are all witness that the western societies are getting more immoral day by day,’ he wrote. ‘I do not want my kids being exposed to filth like this.’ ”
A sentencing hearing has been scheduled for December 3, 2015.
American ISIS recruit Mohammed Hamzah Khan, Bolingbrook, IL (Source: Facebook)
Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) stands in support of our universal human rights for all, and we stand in defiance against those, including terrorist and hate groups, which seek to attack such universal human rights, dignity, and security for all
In Maiduguri, Nigeria, multiple terrorist attacks have taken place on the evening of October 15, and the morning of Friday, October 16, 2015. Dozens have been killed, and the death toll is still being determined, as the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) seeks to protect the lives of the Nigerian public in the northeast Nigerian Borno state region, where the attacks have taken place. The area is frequently a target of the ISIS-affiliated Boko Haram terrorist organization.
NEMA is reporting that within the past 24 hours: 5 bombs, 39 dead, and 49 injured.
On Thursday evening, multiple terrorists attacked a Maiduguri area mosque in Molai, with suicide bombs, murdering dozens of worshipers. The attacks were the result of two terrorist suicide bombers. The Nigerian Daily Times reported that: “The bombings happened during prayer time.”
The first terrorist reportedly exploded a bomb when entering the Maiduguri mosque, and the second terrorist set off another bomb, when people came to help the first victims on the scene. Police said the mosque collapsed after the explosions, injuring many more people.
News mediareports range from 32 to 42 deaths in the terrorist attack on the mosque. AFP reports that a witness near the site of the blasts stated, “all of the people in the mosque died. Not a single one escaped.” Other reports indicate that many were injured in the terrorist attack on the mosque.
On Friday morning, additional terrorist attacks were made by three women as suicide bombers in the village of Umarar, also in the Maiduguri area.
In addition, seven people were killed in a separate bombing on Wednesday in Maiduguri. An emergency official told the BBC that they believe the suicide bombers could be between 11 and 15 years old.
The Nigerian Daily Times reports that the “city is often targeted” by Boko Harm “but no group has claimed responsibility for these recent attacks.”
Terrorist and extremist violence which seeks to deny our universal human rights, our human dignity, and religious freedom has no boundaries. It can strike anywhere against anyone of any faith. Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) urges people of all faiths to stand together united for our shared Universal Human Rights and defy those terrorists of every kind who would deny us the inherent freedom that we share together.
Nigeria’s National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) urges the public to warn them if they see terrorist threats (Source: Twitter)
The following is Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.)’s letter to the Fairfax Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) Lodge 77’s president, Officer Bradley Carruthers, asking for him to apologize for his comments attacking Cox Farms, for its support that “Black Lives Matter.”
Subject: Open Letter Calling for Fairfax Police Union to Respect Human Rights
Mr. Carruthers –
My name is Jeffrey Imm, with the volunteer human rights organization, Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.).
Jeffrey Imm, Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.)
I also have my own background working in law enforcement, and was a proud member of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), when I was younger. I have great respect for law enforcement and the Constitution of the United States of America, which is the basis for all of our American law, as well as our universal human rights which are the fundamental building blocks for all law in America and around the world.
Those who respect the law should inherently respect the human rights that are the basis for such law – including respect for the lives of people of all genders, nationalities, religions, identity groups, and of course, all races. Especially in the United States of America, and certainly in former slave states, such as Virginia, this would certainly demand that anyone credible in the justice community would have a special respect for the rights and lives of African-Americans as well, who have been specifically and historically wronged by this nation, and who patriots in America have sought to rectify those wrongs over the years.
I find it necessary to speak out to those who would abuse our law and the Constitution of the United States. I have seen too much of such abuse defended by misguided police union leaders, and unfortunately by too many members of the Fairfax, Virginia law enforcement community over the past several months. I am not going to write on the details of these unfortunate incidents, as they are publicly well documented, including the sad cases of John Geer, Natasha McKenna, and others who lost their lives at the hands of officers of the law in Fairfax County. It is disturbing, and I would hope that those who respect the law would share such concerns.
I have been in direct contact with the U.S. Department of Justice on their investigation of the death of Natasha McKenna, and I have been assured there will be a thorough investigation into her rights. I know there is an ongoing criminal investigation into the death of John Geer and FCPD Officer Adam Torres has been charged with second degree murder. However, it was just two months ago that Fairfax County Police Union leader of the Fairfax Coalition of Police, Local 5000, International Union of Police Associations’ President Sean Corcoran defended FCPD Officer Adam Torres, charged with murder of John Geer, and provided such a defense by saying to all of the FCPD that “we could all be Adam Torres.” Given that Mr. Torres was charged with murder, the American people certainly should hope not.
Especially in these times and under these circumstances, responsible members of the law enforcement community should know that now is the time for circumspect and measured public statements.
But Mr. Carruthers, instead of such circumspect and measured focus on important matters, it seems that you and too many other leaders of police unions would rather go out and try to pick a fight with the Washington DC metropolitan and the American people.
I don’t see the merit and value in this, especially in your own efforts this week, to use your authority and your position within law enforcement to target (of all things) a Northern Virginia pumpkin patch, because a private residence nearby has a sign reading “Black Lives Matter” in the window. I would think that you might have more important things to do than harass a pumpkin patch farm.
However, in the charged environment that our nation finds itself today, where in a dozen states we have seen law enforcement members being denied service or access even to restaurants, you have decided it should be the business of the Fairfax County police union to petition the public to boycott to Cox Farm pumpkin patch, because some people seek to respect the lives of historically persecuted racial minorities. You seem to think this position is beneficial to the public relationship with law enforcement in our communities.
I am writing to tell you that your position is misguided and counterproductive to law enforcement, its relationship with the public, and a consistent and productive stance on the law and our shared human rights. In our support for our shared universal human rights and respect for the law, we offer an outstretched hand to all, including those with whom we disagree, to promote and defend these rights and responsibilities.
But such responsibilities also include the obligation to challenge words and actions, which we believe will have the result in undermining and denying such freedom. We have read your response, as well as the comments by Cox Farms. What R.E.A.L. truly finds “disturbing and disappointing” is the ongoing abuse of authority, and the politicization of our law enforcement.
Our law enforcement is better than this, and our law enforcement is more important than this. The idea that you believe a police authority can and should be seeking to lead a boycott of a pumpkin farm, because there is a sign which recognizes that “Black Lives Matter,” is deeply offensive to our American values of justice and freedom. It is something that the American people should not expect to see from the law enforcement whose judgment they MUST TRUST.
We don’t give the law enforcement authority to the brave men and women in our justice system to represent OUR SHARED LAW because we are weak, because we are cowards, or because we don’t care about justice. In fact, it is completely the opposite. It is because we care so passionately about all of these that we have sought to have mature, sober, responsible, and professional individuals in our justice system, who we give badges and authority to represent the American people to responsibly enforce our shared law and protect our shared rights.
Furthermore, in the Washington DC metropolitan area, we have one of the most unique bodies of constituents in America, with likely the single largest concentration of those who have sworn to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States of America from all enemies foreign and domestic. Those who have sworn such a sacred oath are a very large portion of the constituency that the FCPD represents in Fairfax County in terms of law enforcement. Speaking as one who swore this oath myself, while employed with the F.B.I., I can tell you there are no caveats to this oath, and we don’t seek to defend the Constitution just for people of some races, some identity groups, and only in some circumstance. That is NOT what we swore to, Mr. Carruthers, and I urge you, the Fairfax County FOP, and the FCPD and law enforcement community to recognize exactly who you are dealing with here.
Let me perfectly clear and candid, sir. The people in Fairfax County and the Washington D.C. metropolitan area who swore to defend the Constitution of the United States of America have absolutely no intention of surrendering on that solemn vow to those who believe they can misuse their authority to bully and harass people in our community on issues of our shared rights and freedoms.
Of all the places in this great nation, the one place you don’t want to pick a fight against the rights and freedoms of the people is in the metropolitan area of our Nation’s Capital.
Our law and our Constitution are shared with the people in Fairfax County and the American people. It does not belong to simply one or two of us, and it certainly is not owned by the Fairfax County Police or their police union. If you want to pick a fight with Cox Farms’ pumpkin patch over the rights of African-Americans lives to have an equal measure with all other Americans, believe me, your fight is not with Cox Farms, your fight is not with African-Americans, and your fight is not with people in Fairfax County. If you want to fight with people on this issue, you need to understand you are picking a fight not just with them, but with the AMERICAN PEOPLE, including all of us who swore that OATH to defend the Constitution.
Those who want to attack those who seek equal justice and respect for the lives of African-Americans are not simply seeking a quarrel with certain groups, but are actually seeking to challenge all those who are RESPONSIBLE for equality and liberty.
Including me.
I don’t know what country you think you live in, Mr. Carruthers. But in case you have forgotten, let me remind you. This is not some totalitarian or fascist police state, where those in “authority” can use power like a whip to force their views on others and deny their fellow citizens’ fundamental freedoms.
You are in the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, sir. In this great nation, when someone seeks to bully and attack the rights of equality for some, they attack the rights of equality for all. Because in this great nation, we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men and women are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
That, Mr. Carruthers, is why Black Lives Matter.
If you don’t understand those truths that we hold self-evident, sir, then you don’t understand the basis for this great nation, and I am sorry, you don’t understand the basis for OUR LAW. If you cannot understand our law, then sir, I am sorry, but you really do not belong in a position in LAW ENFORCEMENT.
I would urge you to reconsider your position on attacking Cox Farms, not simply to delete your inflammatory Twitter message seeking to abuse and politicize your authority within law enforcement to attack their business because someone there has the conscience of the truths we hold self-evident as a nation.
I am asking you to publicly retract and apologize regarding your statement on Cox Farms, and I am asking you to make peace with the community on this issue. We don’t want a fight with leaders in our law enforcement community. Trust me, sir, the leaders in our local law enforcement community don’t want a fight with those who have sworn an oath to defend the freedoms and laws of the United States of America.
Especially in the Washington DC metropolitan area, where so many have committed their lives to the freedoms our nation is based on, we take our vows to defend those freedoms and the LAW on which it is based very seriously and very personally. It is not simply some political idea or theory to many of us here; it is a fundamental definition as to who we are. The millions here who this is a core part of our identity are as unyielding on this, as the marble towers of the Lincoln Memorial overlooking the great statue of the defender of our Union, President Abraham Lincoln, and the marble statue of the defender of nation’s Conscience, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
We are a solid ROCK on this issue, and we will not be moved.
Under the circumstances, Mr. Carruthers, it would be in the best interests of the FCPD and your union to clarify your position on this matter expeditiously.
Now would be a good time. It is always a good day to be responsible for equality and liberty.
Sincerely, with Fidelity – Bravery – Integrity to our Nation, Law, and Shared Human Rights,
Jeffrey Imm Founder, Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) usa@realcourage.org 301-613-8789
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Fairfax Fraternal Order of Police, Lodge 77 Officer Bradley Carruthers, President Comments Regarding “Black Lives Matter” Sign Near Cox Farms
Volunteer human rights organization Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) has received a letter from the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) stating that it is currently investigating the death of Natasha McKenna who died at the Fairfax County Jail on February 3, 2015. Natasha McKenna was shocked four times with a 50,000 volt taser gun, while being restrained, which drove her into a cardiac arrest, and resulted in her death. The Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office police members were aware that Natasha McKenna had a history of mental illness. R.E.A.L. has been reporting on this since February 2015, including a report on the video of her terrifying treatment, and report after Fairfax prosecutor Raymond F. Morrogh decided not to press charges against the police involved in her death.
R.E.A.L. contacted the U.S. Department of Justice and we contacted senior members of the United Nations involving human rights in the Americas. We thank those who signed our petition on this human rights issue. We thank the Justice Department for its reply and R.E.A.L. will continue to monitor the Justice Department’s investigation on this matter.
Our support for human rights must include our commitment to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) Article 5, which states that “No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment,” and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) Article 7, which states “No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.” The United States of America is a signatory to both the UDHR and the ICCPR and should be held accountable for following international human rights covenants. Its ratification of the ICCPR includes a specific support for the ICCPR Article 7 to be consistent with the U.S. Constitution.
The law is the law, for everyone, and for every nation, without exception, without qualification.
We urge our fellow Americans and fellow human beings to be RESPONSIBLE FOR EQUALITY AND LIBERTY — especially for those – who cannot speak for themselves.
Natasha McKenna,37, dead after repeated electric shock via police taser while restrained in a chair.
United States Department of State’s International Religious Freedom Report for 2014 regarding Pakistan, and the ongoing persecution of Pakistan Christians and other Pakistan religious minorities.
This report is publicly available to the world at:
In support of our shared universal human rights, Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) urges those who care about human rights, dignity, equality, democracy, and freedom, including freedom of religion, to use the 70th anniversary of the Communist totalitarian oppression of North Korea — as a renewed change to promote human rights and support for those suffering from this Communist oppression.
We urge human rights activists to use the Communist October 10 celebration of oppressing our fellow human beings in North Korea, not with our upraised fists, but with our outstretched hands in urging the people of North Korea to reject such dictatorial rule and reject the denial of their shared human rights with the rest of the world. For those people of faith, we urge you to pray for those who suffer from hunger, torture, despair, and violent death, and whose spirits have been crushed by the endless Communist totalitarian efforts to deny any freedom at all.
On October 10, 2015, the Communist totalitarian government of North Korea will celebrate “Party Foundation Day,” which allegedly celebrates the 1945 founding of the “Workers’ Party of Korea” (WPK), which is the ruling political party in the so-called “Democratic People’s Republic of Korea” (DPRK aka North Korea). It is also the ONLY political party in the Communist totalitarian nation.
In fact, the celebration is actually of the October 13, 1945 founding of the North Korean Bureau of the Communist Party of Korea (NKB–CPK) (also known as the Central Organizing Committee of the Communist Party of North Korea), which over time evolved to become called the Worker’s Party of North Korea, and then the Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK), with a goal of Communist unification of both North and South Korea under its Communist dictatorship.
North Korea’s Communist Dictator Builds Missiles to Threaten the World, while North Korean People Suffer and Starve
The challenge we face is the need to reject the falsehoods spread by those who claim that they are providing “socialist” or “workers” rights, even that they are promoting “democratic” values by denying freedom, denying human rights, and denying democracy. The falsehood that the WPK was for “worker’s rights” is shown by the dictatorship in North Korea and other Communist nations. In such Communist totalitarian nations, the dictators argue that the workers must be “led” by party “chairman,” or in the case of Communist North Korea, the workers must have a “Great Leader,” which have been the dictatorial “Eternal General Secretary.” The North Korean government was ruled first by dictator Kim Tu-bong (1946-1957), then by dictator Kim Il-sung (1957-1980), then by dictator Kim Jong-il (1980–2011) who was succeeded by his son Kim Jong-un in early 2011, who is the current Communist dictator of North Korea.
The consequences of the North Korea’s Communist dictatorship has been the destruction of human lives, human rights, human freedoms, and freedom of religion. The support of our Universal Human Rights must include our support for inherent human dignity of our fellow human beings. But without democracy, human rights, and freedom, there really is no opportunity for human dignity.
The heroic leader of the North Korea Freedom Coalition (NKFC), Suzanne Scholte, told us in 2009 on Human Rights Day (December 10) when NKFC issued a report showing how North Korea rejected the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHF): “When the General Assembly of the United Nation’s adopted this Declaration on December 10, 1948, it cited in the preamble that ‘disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind. This statement is certainly descriptive of what is happening in North Korea every day, and we hope by releasing this report on how North Korea fares under the 30 Articles of this Universal Declaration that it will outrage the conscience of mankind to press for human rights for the citizens of North Korea.”
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) states in its 2015 report that “North Korea remains one of the most oppressive regimes in the world and among the worst violators of human rights. The government tightly controls all political and religious expression and activities, and it punishes those who question the regime.” The North Korea Freedom Coalition reports that: “North Koreans lack almost every human right. The government regulates speech, opinion, thought, press, information, employment, movement, location of residence, food rations, assembly, association, religion, and even the right to life.” We have seen the vicious public executions of North Koreans, some for offenses as minor as watching South Korean movies or possessing a Bible.
It has been estimated that 3 million North Koreans have died under North Korea’s brutal dictatorial regime since the mid-1990s. The North Korean Communist government withholds food rations to entire regions to starve families to death. The vast majority of North Korean citizens who live outside of Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea, continue to suffer from hunger and malnutrition. The North Korea Freedom Coalition also reports that: “The international community became aware of food shortages in North Korea in 1991. It is reported by 1997, only 6% of the population was receiving food through the Public Distribution System (PDS). North Korea continues to rely heavily on international food aid, however, there are doubts that some of the food aid is reaching those in desperate need. Children suffer the worst, particularly orphans. In 2003, it was reported that 42% of North Korean children suffer from chronic malnutrition, resulting in drastic height and weight differences with children from the South.”
Starving Orphans in Communist North Korea
In April 2012, the Tokyo Shimbun newspaper reported that “from December 2011 until April 2012, twenty thousand people have starved to death in South Hwanghae Province,” which is about ten percent of the area’s population. The article also states that “in some regions, over one thousand people starved to death in one day.”
The Communist North Korean government regularly detains, tortures, and executes its citizens, including children. The North Korean government maintains a series of forced-labor prison camps, including remote political prison camps (Kwalliso). It is estimated by The International Coalition to Stop Crimes against Humanity in North Korea (ICNK) that more than 10,000 people die in the prison camps every year. According to U.S. News & World Report, more than 400,000 people have perished in the camps in the last forty years. There are more than 200,000 North Koreans incarcerated, including children, who face torture and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment. Prisoners are forced to work in slave-like conditions and many prisoners die in the camps because of starvation, lack of medical care, abuse by guards, and unhygienic living conditions. Prisoners are refused trials.
The North Korea Freedom Coalition reports that: “Prisoners are brutally treated in these institutions with testimonies from North Korean defectors describing the application of torture techniques, hard labor, starvation, forced abortions, infanticide, families of up to three generations imprisoned, detention without judicial process, public executions, chemical and medical experimentation on prisoners, and gas chambers, resulting in thousands of deaths.”
North Koreans Rounded Up for Prison Camps (Source: U.S. News and World Report)
As Lamont Colucci reports on the Communist North Korean concentration camps, “their names, like Auschwitz, and Cabanatuan, should resonate with everyone, but do not. These camps, with names like Kaechon, Yodok, Pukchang, and Hoeryong, should inspire revulsion, disgust, and condemnation. These are places where torture, infanticide, starvation, and executions are daily occurrences. In an effort to outdo his Maoist and Leninist forebears, the Kim dynasty created a camp system whereby the so-called offender is not the only one condemned, not even the immediate family, but often the generation above and below. It is therefore common for those labeled with that totalitarian catch-all favorite of the Soviets and the Chinese, ‘enemies of the state,’ to be small children and elderly grandparents. The existence of these camps is unacceptable to anyone whose faith in God, and whose belief in human rights and human liberty exist in any way, shape, or form.”
Reports state North Korea military train dogs to viciously attack and maim prisoners
Last year, a 2014 reportwas issued by the U.N. Human Rights Council Commission of Inquiry (COI) on such Communist concentration camps and crimes against humanity, including the testimony of 80 witnesses of Communist North Korean atrocities. The United Nations report describes families being murdered, mothers, children being killed. One witness told them: “In front of all the inmates, political prisoners, and in front of my father and myself, my mother and older brother were publicly executed.” ““My mother was hanged in front of me and my father.”
The U.N. COI reported on the witness of “Jee Heon A, a victim of forced repatriation and forced abortion in DPRK, recalls a rare moment when a baby was born in the detention center in the city of Chongjin of Hamgyong Province. The joyous moment took a tragic turn when a security agent told the new mother that she must drown her own child. The mother pleaded for her baby’s life. ‘But this agent kept beating this woman, the mother who just gave birth,’ Jee Heon A said. ‘And the mother, with her shaking hands, picked up the baby and put the baby face down in the water. The baby stopped crying and we saw water bubbles coming out of the mouth of the baby.'”
In addition, the U.N. COI conducted confidential interviews with over 240 witnesses who did not appear in public for fear of reprisals. The U.N. states that the “unprecedented report of the Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in the DPRK documents in great detail the wide-ranging array of crimes against humanity being committed in the country. The report was presented to the UN Human Rights Council’s 25th Session in Geneva, Switzerland. ‘The gravity, scale and nature of these violations reveal a State that does not have any parallel in the contemporary world,’ the report states.”
North Korea military kick and beat political prisoners
Religious freedom is denied in Communist North Korea. North Korea is officially an atheist state, consistent with the Communist ideology. The Communist North Korean government policy is to deny the individual’s ability to choose and to manifest his or her religious belief. The Communist regime oppresses the religious activities of unauthorized religious groups. The U.N. COI report states that “The State considers the spread of Christianity a particularly serious threat…People caught practicing Christianity are subject to severe punishments in violation of the right to freedom of religion.”
The USCIRF 2015 report on North Korea states that “Genuine freedom of religion or belief is non-existent. Individuals secretly engaging in religious activities are subject to arrest, torture, imprisonment, and sometimes execution. North Koreans suspected of contacts with South Koreans or with foreign missionaries, particularly in China, or caught possessing Bibles, reportedly have been executed. While it is
challenging to document the full scope and scale of the government’s repression of religious freedom, growing information available through firsthand accounts from
defectors and refugees makes it clear that the violations taking place are systematic, ongoing, and egregious. Thus, USCIRF again recommends in 2015 that North
Korea be designated a ‘country of particular concern,’ or CPC, under the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA). The State Department has designated North Korea a CPC since 2001, most recently in July 2014. North Korea has long maintained absolute control through systematic repression and the cultivation of widespread political fear. The government indoctrinates its people with the Juche ideology, the Kim family cult of personality, which requires absolute obedience to the Kim family and to the overall state. This pseudo-religious, socialist mentality suppresses the expression of individualized thought, belief, and behavior. North Korea has traditions of Buddhism and Confucianism, and before the Korean War had a sizable Christian population, earning Pyongyang the nickname ‘the Jerusalem of Asia.'”
It is currently estimated that more than 50,000 Christians are locked inside concentration camps because of their faith, where they are systematically subjugated to horrible treatment such as unrestrained torture, mass-starvation and even imprisonment and death by asphyxiation in gas chambers. This entails that a staggering 20% of the Christian community in North Korea live in concentration camps. The number of Christians being murdered for their faith seems to be increasing as times goes by because in 2013 the death toll was 1,200 and in 2014, this figure doubled rendering it to close to 2,400 martyred Christians.
The NGO Open Doors maintains Communist North Korea as the leading oppressor of Christians and “North Korea is ranked No. 1 on the World Watch List of the 50 countries where persecution is most extreme.” Open Doors states the “god-like worship of the leader, Kim Jong-Un, and his predecessors leaves little room for any other religions and Christians face unimaginable pressure in every sphere of life. Meeting with other Christians is virtually impossible. Anyone discovered engaging in unauthorized religious activity is subject to arrest, arbitrary detention, disappearance, torture and/or execution. Those Christians who attempt to return to North Korea from China are sentenced to life in prison or executed. Leader Kim Jong-Un purged 10,000 North Koreans last year, including some Christians.”
Human rights groups have also sought to get the U.S. government to pass bills to enforce stricter sanctions on North Korea, such as H.R. 1771, which did not pass the U.S. Senate, and which has been replaced by a new House Bill H.R. 757 in 2015. The motivation is clearly not yet there to get this completed by the current government leaders, and we must urge Americans in human rights to urge their representatives to take a leadership role on this.
Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) urges those reading this to use the Communist North Korean “holiday” of October 10 not just as a remembrance of their success in oppressing our fellow human beings, but also as an opportunity to reach out to those oppressed by such Communist dictators and work for their freedom and liberation from tyranny, including those whose freedom of speech and conscience are denied.
As founder of R.E.A.L., I am grateful to have had opportunities to contribute to the great work of the NKFC and other human rights activists for those suffering in North Korea. One of the most inspirational moments in my life was the opportunity to join a prayer rally at a Korean Christian church in Northern Virginia to pray for strength and liberation of the oppressed people of North Korea. To people of faith, I urge you to use October 10, not just as a grim reminder, but also as an opportunity to pray united for those who have no freedom of religion, who have freedom of speech, and who know right for such free prayer together.
As Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, the “arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.” Amidst the darkest night of injustice, dictatorship, oppression, persecution, and crimes against humanity in Communist North Korea, let our voices of human rights, and confidence that moral justice and freedom will ultimately prevail provide a light to other brothers and sisters across the seas.
October 10 and EVERY DAY is another GOOD DAY to be Responsible for Equality and Liberty.
South Korea: Human Rights Activists Launch Thousands of Balloons with Leaflets Promoting Freedom and Criticizing North Korea’s Communist Regime (Photo: NDTV Video Report)
Yes, We Can.
R.E.A.L.’s Orange Ribbon Campaign for Equality And Liberty
A Christian pastor and two other Christians have been arrested on trumped up “blasphemy” charges in Pakistan, and they are scheduled for a court appearance on October 16, 2015. Pastor Aftab Masih Gill, Latif Masih, and Shafqat Gill voluntarily surrendered to be arrested in the Gujrat district of Pakistan’s Punjab province in mid-August.
However, they are being denied a police escort for their protection, and fear extra-judicial death threats by extremists when going to the court appearance. They are being charged because of the word translating similar to “apostle” appeared on a poster, and in the misunderstanding they are being charged with blasphemy. According to Ahsan Masih Sandu, a local Christian leader, Aftab Gill printed the pamphlets to mark the anniversary of the death of his father, Fazal Masih. The pamphlet referred to biblical verses that used the word “prophet” to pay tribute to his father for years of service to the local religious minority community.
Local Christian leader Ahsan Masih Sandu stated: “We [Christians] have already apologized to our enraged Muslim brethren for this misunderstanding and asked for forgiveness, but they have rejected our apology and pressed the police to arrest the organizers.” Sandu also noted that three days before the arrests, local officials demolished the walls of St. Savior Church, a 120-year-old church, in order to build a parking lot. “We have lodged an official complaint with the district commissioner against the demolition of walls,” he said.
Their Muslim attorney is seeking their release over what he views as an “exaggeration” leading to the spurious charges.
“Christians accused and arrested for alleged blasphemy are in danger of being killed in an extrajudicial killing. As Fides learns, Protestant Pastor Aftab Gill, Unatan Gill and two other Christians currently detained in the central prison of Punjab, should appear in court on October 16, but the court has refused to provide them an escort. Family members fear that, in the transfer, they can be killed by the radicals. The four are accused of insulting Islam by publishing, on the occasion of a funeral, some posters in which the word ‘rasool’ (Urdu: Apostle) was used which is an attribute of the Prophet Muhammad (see Fides 20/08/2015). A month ago the court denied the release of the Christians, but granted bail to Muslim printmaker who printed the posters. The NGO CLAAS (Centre for Legal Aid, Assistance and Settlement) says that ‘the judge was biased because the term ‘rasool’ is found in the Bible in Urdu and Christians had no blasphemous intention.’ Imtiaz Shakir, Muslim lawyer who defends Christians in court, told Fides: ‘The trial is an exaggeration, one is abusing the word rasool, which in Urdu means messenger. The accusation is preposterous, the whole system is biased, local authorities are looking for an opportunity for another extrajudicial killing’. ‘My religion – Shakir continues – does not allow me to endorse such injustice: these innocent people are suffering because of a misunderstanding of Islam. This is a failure of the judicial system and an abuse of power. Not only Christians but all Pakistani citizens who believe in the rule of law and justice should speak out to defend these innocent people.'”
Pastor Aftab Masih Gill, Latif Masih and Shafqat Gill at a police station in Gujrat (Source: UCA News)
A Pakistan Christian teacher at a school in a small village has beaten and tortured by extremists because of his Christian religion, in rejection and denial of his universal human rights.
Agenzia Fides reports that Saddique Azam, a Catholic teacher appointed headmaster at a primary school in the village of Pernawa was beaten and tortured by a group of extremist teachers who rejected his authority. Fides lawyer Sardar Mushtaq Gill states that “Christians in Pakistan continue to suffer discrimination because of their faith and given the existence of laws that legitimize discrimination.”
The report states that Pakistan teacher Saddique Azam was appointed as a headmaster of a school in the village of Pernawa three months ago, but extremists rejected his work there. He was called term “choora” pejorative used to describe Christians in Pakistan (it is the name of a low caste). Other non-Christian “teachers complained to the district authority of the Education Officer in Kasur because the appointment had been assigned to a Christian. Azam has been under massive pressure and was asked to resign, but he refused.” Fides reports that on October 5, 2015, extremist teachers “barged into his office and sat at his desk. When Azam walked in his office he asked for explanations, and after showing yet another refusal to resign, the three teachers started beating him, causing him several injuries and trauma, and was treated in hospital. The rest of the school staff intervened and called the police, who arrested the three attackers.”
Pakistan Christian Teacher – Saddique Azam (Source: Christians in Pakistan)
— “Concerted efforts to stem the flow of Americans and others traveling to join jihadists overseas have largely failed. The House Homeland Security Committee’s bipartisan Foreign Fighter Task Force found that authorities have only managed to stop a tiny fraction of the hundreds of aspiring U.S. jihadists from leaving the country to join terrorists abroad. Moreover, the U.S. government lacks a strategy for combating terrorist travel, and glaring security gaps overseas are putting the American homeland in danger.”
— “Despite a year of airstrikes, the United States and its allies have failed to rollback ISIS. In fact, the group has largely maintained its core terrorist safe haven while expanding its global footprint. ISIS kept its grip on Iraq’s Anbar province as the counter-offensive to take back the key city of Ramadi was put on ‘operational pause.’ Its affiliates in Afghanistan, Egypt, Libya, and the Caucasus showed their growing strength by launching attacks or targeting local security forces over the past month.”
— “ISIS’s global campaign has fueled attacks against Western targets at an unprecedented pace. As of early October, the group has inspired or directed 61 terror attack plots against Western targets, including 17 in the United States. There have been more than twice as many ISIS-linked attack plots against Western targets in 2015 (41) than in 2014 (20). Now officials have expressed concern that ISIS may be exploiting refugee flows to enter the West undetected.”
— “The homegrown Islamist extremist threat in the United States has escalated dramatically this year. There have been more U.S.-based jihadist terror cases in 2015 than in any full year since 9/11. The number of U.S. terrorist cases involving homegrown Islamist extremists has gone from 38 in July 2010 to 127 today—more than a three-fold increase in just five years. See the Committee’s interactive Terror Threat Snapshot map, here.”
Report from U.S. House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee
Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) stands in support of our universal human rights for all, and we stand in defiance against those, including terrorist and hate groups, which seek to attack such universal human rights, dignity, and security for all.
In Bangladesh, a Christian pastor survived an attempted murder attack by terrorists who sought to kill him, while pretending to want to learn more about Christianity. Three men (aged 25-30) attacked 52 year old Christian pastor Luke Sarker with a knife at his home in the northwestern district of Pabna. While the terrorists sought to slit his throat, Pastor Sarker escaped with minor injuries after his wife discovered the attack and the terrorists fled.
The AP reports that: “Sarker, the pastor of Faith Bible Church, said by telephone that the men had phoned him about two weeks ago saying they wanted to visit him to learn about Christianity. After they arrived at his home on Monday, the men suddenly attacked him with a knife and tried to slit his throat, Sarker said. But as he shouted, his wife came to his rescue and the men fled. Police later recovered a motorbike from outside his home. Rahman said that police had no clues yet about the identities of the three men but suspect they could be members of a fundamentalist group.”
Nirmal Rozario, general secretary of the Bangladesh Christian Association (BCA), a Christian activist group, told AsiaNews that “We are very concerned about the attack.” “We Christians are vulnerable in this country, as are other Muslim minorities. We can be attacked at any moment.” Mr. Rozario stated: “I call on the government in Dhaka to ensure security in all churches and for all Christians in Bangladesh. The police must arrest the three assailants and impose an exemplary punishment.”
Those concerned about attacks on religious minorities have previously protested to seek protection for their shared universal human rights.
Bangladesh Christian Association (BCA) – has sought security and universal human rights for Christians and other religious minorities in Bangladesh and Pakistan (Source UCA News)
The attack follows two recent murders of foreign workers.
On September 28, 2015, Cesare Tavella, 50, an Italian aid worker died, after he was shot three times by attackers, who fled on a motorcycle, in the Gulshan area of Dhaka.
On October 3, 2015, Kunio Hoshi, a Japanese agricultural worker, was shot to death in Mahiganj village in Rangpur district, 300 km (185 miles) north of Dhaka, Sunday. Masked assailants riding a motorbike shot Kunio Hoshi, and escaped. Two suspects are reportedly being held in connection with this murder.
While the ISIS terrorist group claimed responsibility for the murder of Cesare Tavella and the murder of Kunio Hoshi, the Bangladesh government states this was the responsibility of a “Bangladesh internal opposition” group. The Japan Times reports that Bangladeshi Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan said: “Oh, it’s absolutely rubbish, there is no IS in the country, no way. Why would IS do this here? These are incidents for creating instability in the country.”
Terrorist and extremist violence which seeks to deny our universal human rights, our human dignity, and religious freedom has no boundaries. It can strike anywhere against anyone of any faith. Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) urges people of all faiths, all races, all ethnic backgrounds, all nationalities, all genders, and all identity groups to stand together united for our shared Universal Human Rights and defy those terrorists of every kind who would deny us the inherent freedom that we share together.
