Category: Uncategorized

Somalia: Extremists in Somalia Kill Another Church Leader
— CDN reports:

extremist militants in Somalia this week killed a woman who led an underground Christian movement in the war-torn country.

Sources told Compass that a leader of extremist al Shabaab militia in Lower Juba identified only as Sheikh Arbow shot to death 46-year-old Mariam Muhina Hussein at 2 p.m. on Monday (Sept. 28) in Marerey village after discovering she had six Bibles. Marerey is eight kilometers (five miles) from Jilib, part of the neighboring Middle Juba region.

Local sources said that on Sunday (Sept. 27) Arbow sent his wife to the house of Hussein, a Somali Bantu, to confirm the presence of the Bibles. Pretending to be interested in Christianity, the militia leader’s wife confirmed the existence of the Bibles.

The sources said Hussein readily agreed to discuss Christianity with Arbow’s wife and read parts of the Bible with her. When Arbow’s wife requested one of the Bibles, however, Hussein demurred.

“She told her that it might not be safe for her, preferring instead that she could visit her regularly for discussions,” said one source. “She then left and promised to visit again soon.”

The next day, Arbow arrived at Hussein’s house with other men and, in a friendly manner, claimed that he wanted to check something in the Bible. Knowing only that Arbow was a fellow ethnic Somali Bantu and having met his wife the previous day, Hussein innocently gave one to him, sources said.

“Immediately, Arbow told her that their mission was to look for Christians who have defiled the Islamic religion,” a source said. “There and then she lacked words to say. She was ordered to get the other Bibles out, and she did.”

Upon receiving the Bibles, sources said, Arbow fired three bullets at Hussein, who died instantly.

The Bibles were published in Swahili; besides this East African lingua franca, Bantus in Lower Juba also speak Kiswahili.

Compass has confirmed the killing with various sources in Nairobi and Somalia who cannot be identified for security reasons.

Hussein’s death comes a few weeks after the rebel militants killed another one of the leaders of Somalia’s Christian movement for distributing Bibles. Al shabaab militants shot 69-year-old Omar Khalafe on Sept. 15 at a checkpoint they controlled 10 kilometers (6 miles) from Merca, a Christian source told Compass.

Former Muslim receiving death threats
Tulsa World reports:
— “The Tulsa atheist was critical of all religions, including Islam, in a Tulsa World interview.”
— “Sabri Husibi, a former Muslim who is now an atheist, says he has been ostracized and threatened with death since publication of a Tulsa World article Saturday in which he was critical of Islam and all other religions.”
— “The article was written to promote a talk he gave the next day to the Tulsa Atheists organization.”
— “Husibi, who has an unlisted telephone number, said he received about 30 calls Saturday from people who were cursing him, calling him a traitor and threatening him.”
— “Most were foreign-born, Tulsa-area Muslims whom he knows, he said. He also received angry calls from friends and relatives in Syria.”
— “One caller, whom Husibi would not identify, said that if he spoke at the meeting and said anything against Shariah (Islamic law), he would be killed.”

— September 26, 2009 – Islamic student turned atheist to speak to group

UK – Halifax: “Two more deny honour killing”
— Evening Courier reports:
— “Two men have denied involvement in a suspected honour killing in Halifax”
— “Allah Yaar, 18, of Craven Terrace, Pellon, Halifax, and Omar Mubareck, 28, of Bawtree Road, Sheffield, are accused of murdering 29-year-old Mian Shahid Mehmood at Great Edge Road, Warley, Halifax. Both pleaded not guilty to the charge at Bradford Crown Court. Their trial has been fixed for November 16”
— “Both were remanded in custody.”
— July 27, 2008: “The honour killing trial: Why murder a man they had never met?”