Pakistani Police Arrest Two Christians for Eating During Ramadan

ICC reports:

“Pakistani Police Arrest Two Christians for Eating During Ramadan”

“Washington, D.C. (September 1,2009) – International Christian Concern (ICC) has learned that on August 25, police in Pakistan arrested two Christians for eating during the Islamic fasting season of Ramadan in the city of Silanwali.”

“Gull Masih and Ashir Sohail were traveling to Lahore when their bus stopped at the Bismillah Hotel to let off passengers. After the waiter served them tea and a snack, several policemen started to question them as to why they were desecrating Ramadan by eating during the Islamic fasting season. The two Christians told the police that since they are Christians, they are not supposed to fast during Ramadan.”

“The police then threw them in a van and took them to the Silanwali police station and registered a case against them, alleging that the Christians desecrated the Islamic fasting month. Later the police transferred the Christians to the district jail in Sargodha. Now their case is pending before a court.”

“Azzaq Bhatti, the father of Gull Masih and paternal uncle of Ashir Sohail, in an interview with ICC said that, “during Lent, all Muslims eat, drink and smoke publicly and neither police nor government authorities take notice of it. And none of the Muslims are arrested for desecrating Christians’ Lent season.'”

“ICC’s Jonathan Racho said, ‘Forcing Christians to fast during the Islamic fasting month is both outrageous and a clear violation of freedom of religion. We call upon Pakistani officials to immediately release Gull and Ashir and take appropriate legal measures against police officers who detained them.'”

“Please contact the Embassy of Pakistan in your country and politely ask the Pakistani officials to immediately release Gull and Ashir.”

Pakistan Embassies:

USA:      (202) 243-6500
Canada:  (613) 238-7881
UK:         0870-005-6967

Communist China: Lawyer Tortured for Defending Falun Gong Clients

Communist China: Lawyer Tortured for Defending Falun Gong Clients
— “Yet another human rights lawyer in China has been arrested because he has chosen to defend Falun Gong practitioners’ right to freedom of belief.
— “Attorney Wang Yonghang, who is from northeast China’s harbour city Dalian, has taken the defense for several Falun Gong practitioners. He insists on upholding his profession’s code of ethics, and has refused to yield to the regime’s unofficial policy, which has mandated that there be ‘no legal defense of innocence for Falun Gong [adherents].'”

Ohio: White nationalists, conspiracy theorists join Traficant’s cause

Ohio: White nationalists, conspiracy theorists join Traficant’s cause
— “Conspiracy theorists, white nationalists and visitors to a Web site kept by a former ranking member of the Ku Klux Klan were calling on their readers to send money and shows of support to former congressman Jim Traficant during his prison sentence.”
— “Former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard David Duke’s personal Web site and blog contains calls to send contributions to Traficant’s canteen fund.”
— “Duke, president of European American Union and Rights Organization, also posted a Traficant letter that was being circulated through several Web sites. The letter, which is attributed to Traficant and says the federal government sought revenge against him, explains that people can send help to his wife at her home address, which it lists.”

Hamas “Spiritual Leader” calls Holocaust “a lie”

AP reports:
— “Hamas spiritual leader Younis al-Astal lashed out after hearing that the U.N. Relief and Works Agency, the main U.N. body aiding Palestinian refugees, planned to introduce lessons about the Holocaust to Gaza students.”
— “Adding the Holocaust to the curriculum would amount to ‘marketing a lie and spreading it,’ al-Astal wrote in a statement.:”
— “‘I do not exaggerate when I say this issue is a war crime, because of how it serves the Zionist colonizers and deals with their hypocrisy and lies,’ he wrote.”
— “Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri also objected to including what he referred to as the ‘so-called Holocaust’ in the lesson plan. ‘We think it’s more important to teach Palestinians the crimes of the Israeli occupation,’ he said.”

Afghanistan: Taliban disfigure Muslims who dare to vote

AP reports:
— “In an example of the extreme threats that voters faced, an Afghan man said Monday that Taliban militants cut off his nose and both ears as he tried to vote.”
— “‘I was on my way to a polling station when Taliban stopped me and searched me. They found my voter registration card,’ Lal Mohammad said from a hospital bed in Kabul. He said they cut off his nose and ears before beating him unconscious with a weapon.”
— “‘I regret that I went to vote,’ Mohammad said, crying and trying to hide his disfigured face. ‘What is the benefit of voting to me?'”

Communist China: “Organ trafficking flourishes. The government tries to regulate it.”

Communist China: “Organ trafficking flourishes. The government tries to regulate it.”
— Asia News reports:
— “The issue of organ transplants in China has two major problems. First of all organs transplanted are mostly taken from people condemned to death, often without their consent or without that of family members. Secondly, very often the transplants are carried out to supply foreigners who can pay handsomely for the organ and the operation, but penalizing the local people in need of a transplant. Until two years ago, the cost for a kidney transplant was 62 thousand dollars, for the heart it was 140 thousand U.S. dollars.”

“Bangladesh: Muslims threaten Catholic women of Dewtola village”

“Bangladesh: Muslims threaten Catholic women of Dewtola village”
— Asia News reports: “Catholic women of the village of Dewtola can no longer go to mass because of continual threats from local Muslims. For the past several weeks tensions have been mounting around the parish of St. Francis Xavier in Golla, Nawabgonj district.”

Communist Chinese Regime Blacklists 247 Dissidents

Communist Chinese Regime Blacklists 247 Dissidents
— NDTV reports:
— “Zan Aizong is a well-known Chinese blogger who’s sometimes critical of the Communist Party. In 2006, he was arrested and fired from his job as the Zhejiang bureau chief of the Chinese Ocean News for writing an article that exposed the forced demolition of a Christian church building.”
— “Well now the regime has labeled him a dissident—adding him to a secret media blacklist and shutting down his blog.”
— “The blacklist was created by China’s Propaganda Ministry. It contains the names of 247 so-called dissidents that Chinese media are now forbidden to interview or write about.”
— “Chinese news service Boxun.net reports that the media have been ordered to copy the blacklist by hand—making sure there’s no electronic record.”