Iran Continues Imprisonment of Christian Women for Religious Beliefs

ICC Report: “Iran Continues the Illegal Detention of Christian Converts”

— ICC reports:
— International Christian Concern (ICC) has learned that Iranian authorities told Maryam Rustampoor and Marzieh Amirizadeh, converts from Islam to Christianity, to recant their Christian faith during a hearing before a revolutionary court in Tehran on August 9.”
— “Maryam, 27, and Marzieh, 30, were first arrested on March 5, 2009, for leaving Islam.  Iranian authorities kept them in solitary confinement at the infamous Evin prison, deprived them of medical attention, and blindfolded and interrogated them for long periods of time.”
— “At the time of hearing before the court, the deputy public prosecutor, Haddad, asked Maryam and Marzieh about their faith and told them to recant their belief in Christ.  When he asked them if they were Christians, they replied, ‘We love Jesus.’ He then repeated his question, and they said, ‘Yes, we are Christians.'”
— “When he said, ‘You were Muslims and now you have become Christians,’ their reply was ‘We were born in Muslim families, but we were not Muslims.'”
— “During the questioning, when they made reference to their belief that God had convicted them through the Holy Spirit, the deputy public prosecutor said, ‘It is impossible for God to speak with humans.’ In return, Marzieh asked, ‘Are you questioning whether God is Almighty?’ The prosecutor replied, ‘You are not worthy for God to speak to you.’  Then Marzieh said, ‘It is God, and not you, who determines if I am worthy.'”
— “At the end of the hearing, the deputy prosecutor told them to take time to think about the option of returning back to Islam, but Maryam and Marzieh replied, ‘We have already done our thinking.'”
— “After the questioning, they were taken back to the prison.”

Congo: Voices of Grassroots Congolese Women on the Crisis in the DRC

Congo: Voices of Grassroots Congolese Women on the Crisis in the DRC
— Congo – Women speak out against misogynist violence and oppression of women…

— Clinton demands end to sexual violence in Congo
—- Clinton: “”We believe there should be no impunity for the sexual and gender-based violence committed by so many — that there must be arrests and prosecutions and punishment”
— Related reports: Congo: Hillary Clinton Pledges to ‘Banish Sexual Violence’
— “Women and girls in particular have been victimized on an unimaginable scale, as sexual and gender-based violence has become a tactic of war and has reached epidemic proportions. Some 1,100 rapes are reported each month, with an average of 36 women and girls raped every day.”
— Sec. Clinton Vows to ‘Banish Sexual Violence’
— Clinton Leaves Her Mark on Congo’s Rape Zone
— Clinton Puts Spotlight On Women’s Issues

— Rape in Congo: What got me was the laughter

—  A Broken U.N. Promise in Congo

According to V-Day reports on the Congo war, “[a]n estimated 5 million people have died here since 1996, with over 250,000 victims of rape.”  U.S. Department of State Secretary Hillary Clinton recently reported from a trip to the Congo: “Women and girls in particular have been victimized on an unimaginable scale, as sexual and gender-based violence has become a tactic of war and has reached epidemic proportions. Some 1,100 rapes are reported each month, with an average of 36 women and girls raped every day.”  This misogyny against women in Africa includes the use of rape as acts of war by military and terrorist organizations.  Regarding the ongoing war in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the United Nations reports that “the Congolese army, security sector personnel, and several armed groups still use sexual violence as a weapon of war in the DRC. Further, international actors, including UN personnel, have been implicated in perpetrating sexual violence in the DRC.”  While the United States is providing funding for medical care and support for rape victims in the Congo, it must also set expectations for President Kabila to prosecute Congo military involved in such sexual violence, and U.N. Secretary Ban to ensure action against any UN personnel involved in such sexual violence.  The violence in the Congo is linked to violence in Sudan (where a human genocide continues to rage) and Uganda on its borders.  In addition, these rapes are also performed by the Uganda rebel terrorist organization, the “Lords Resistance Army” (LRA).  The LRA terrorist organization claims to seek to create theocratic state based on the Ten Commandments, while murdering and raping other Christians and destroying their churches.  In addition to setting expectations for the Congo and U.N. leaders, we must have a continued commitment against the LRA Ugandan terrorist organization, and Christian organizations must publicly and aggressively reject the actions of the LRA.  The continuing conflicts in the Congo, Uganda, and Sudan must be a priority for Africans, Christians, Muslims and human beings around the world.

UK: Probation for mosque threat man

Probation for mosque threat man
Geo World News reports:
— “GLASGOW: Muslim leaders called for action against the threat of violence from the extreme right after a man was sentenced for threatening to blow up a mosque.”
— “Neil MacGregor was given three years probation at Glasgow Sheriff Court after pleading guilty to breaching the peace and failing to appear in court.”
— “The 36-year-old admitted telephoning and emailing Strathclyde Police and threatening to blow up Glasgow’s Central Mosque in February 2007.”

Buffalo Beheading Trial: “Man accused of killing wife to get mental examination”

Buffalo News reports:

Man accused of killing wife to get mental examination
Lawyers may seek insanity defense
By Matt Gryta
NEWS STAFF REPORTER
August 08, 2009

“Muzzammil S. ‘Mo’ Hassan, who is accused of beheading his wife, is expected to undergo psychiatric examinations that will determine whether his lawyers will be able to raise insanity issues at his upcoming trial.”

“During a hearing Friday, attorney James P. Harrington told Erie County Judge Thomas P. Franczyk that psychiatric examinations of Hassan, 44, are expected to be completed by mid-September.”

“Hassan, who was born in Pakistan, cofounded Bridges cable TV network, based in Orchard Park.”

“He has been jailed since turning himself into Orchard Park police about an hour after allegedly beheading his estranged wife and business partner, Aasiya Zubair Hassan, 37, in their TV studio on Feb. 12.”

“The week before, the victim had filed for divorce and obtained a court order of protection against Hassan, to keep him away from their Big Tree Road home — the scene of a dozen domestic problem incidents in recent years, according to police.”

“On March 12, an Erie County grand jury indicted Hassan on a single count of second-degree murder.”

“The victim, Hassan’s third wife and mother of the two youngest of his four children, was attacked in the Thorn Avenue office of the Muslim-oriented cable station the two launched about five years ago.”

“The couple’s children currently are living with relatives under court supervision.”

“During Friday’s brief court session, Colleen Curtin Gable, the chief homicide prosecutor in the case, complained to the judge about “repeated demands” of the Erie County District Attorney’s office as to how Harrington plans to defend Hassan.”

“Harrington, without showing his legal hand, told the judge and prosecutor he has been “working through some practical matters” in the case, which have delayed Hassan’s ‘evaluation’ by defense mental health experts.”

“After prosecutors receive the required pretrial notice on the defense strategy, they will be able to arrange for their own mental health professionals to examine the defendant — if insanity-linked issues are part of the defense strategy.”

“After Harrington said he is confident he can provide prosecutors with his defense strategy by mid-September the judge scheduled another session in the for Sept. 18. To give both sides enough time to prepare Franczyk has scheduled a tentative Jan. 19 start of jury selection in the murder trial.”

Nigeria: Boko Haram: How 3 pastors were beheaded eyewitness

Nigeria: Boko Haram: How 3 pastors were beheaded eyewitness
— Daily Sun reports: “One of the victims of last week’s attack by the Yusufiya sect in Borno State has given a shocking account of how the extremists killed three pastors who were captured along with other victims on the second day of the insurgence. The victim was among those held hostage in Yusuf’s enclave.”
— “Speaking exclusively to Daily Sun in Maiduguri, the eye witness who preferred anonymity disclosed that the three pastors were beheaded on the instruction of the sect leader, Mohammed Yusuf shortly after bringing them out of his inner chamber.”
— ” ‘The pastors alongside one Ibo man were asked to change their faith to Islam like they did to other people taken as hostages. I think there was an argument by one of the pastors which gave the others some level of confidence to also resist accepting Islam.’ ”
— ” ‘The Yusufiya men who were armed on that Tuesday afternoon were not comfortable with the pastors and they took one of them to the sect leader in his inner chamber. They came out later to the courtyard within the compound and cut their heads one after the other and thereafter, shouted allah akbar in wild celebration accompanied with several gun shots,’ the eye witness disclosed.”
— “He said the hostages numbering about 50 within the area of the execution of the pastors and another fair complexioned man which he could not identify, were gripped with fear as non could foretell the outcome of their stay at the enclave of the fundamentalists. He was however lucky to escape as he was freed in the night with others with a warning not to mix with kafrici (infidels).”
— “Corroborating the account of the killing, a Senior pastor with Good News Church, Wulari Maiduguri Rev. Baba Gata Ibrahim told Daily Sun in an interview that a pastor in his church, Pastor George Orjih was beheaded on the instruction of the Boko Haram leader because the clergy man refused to accept Islam.”
— ” ‘An eye witness who was also captured by the Islamic militants gave us details of how the pastor was killed. He told us they were persuading him to accept Islam and he said over his dead body. He was even said to have preached Christ to Mohammed Yusuf and that reportedly angered the sect leader who then as he ordered that the pastor and others be killed immediately,’ he disclosed.”