Washington, D.C., International Christian Concern (ICC) has learned on July 16 five Somali Muslim men assaulted and seriously injured a Christian man in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia for reading a book critical of the Prophet Muhammad.

Falahow refused to surrender the book and reminded them that they were living in Addis Ababa and not in Mogadishu, and [...]]]> Washington, D.C., International Christian Concern (ICC) has learned on July 16 five Somali Muslim men assaulted and seriously injured a Christian man in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia for reading a book critical of the Prophet Muhammad.

Falahow refused to surrender the book and reminded them that they were living in Addis Ababa and not in Mogadishu, and therefore had religious freedom.

One of the Muslim men attempted to seize the book from Falahow’s grasp, but when he failed, he proceeded to punch and kick Falahow. Fourother Muslim men joined in, ganging up on Falahow and beating him mercilessly.

Falahow suffered injuries that included a broken leg and cuts to his face. Currently, he is recovering in a safe house provided by the Somali Christian community in Addis Ababa. The incident has been reported to the police.

A Somali church leader in Addis Ababa spoke to ICC, describing the attacks as ‘a brutal attempt to subdue the growing Somali Christian community in Addis Ababa’

This is not the first time that Somali Muslims have attacked Somalis who converted to Christianity in Addis Ababa. However, this is the first time that such an attack took place in a crowded public place.

Jonathan Racho, ICC’s Regional Manager for Africa, said “Several Somali Christians have been killed by Islamic radicals in Somalia and many have left their country due to the persecution they face. Sadly, they don’t escape from persecution even after they leave their country. We urge Ethiopian authorities to stop the attempt by Islamists to import their violent ideologies from Somalia. The mistreatment of Christian converts will get worse unless the authorities take action against the individuals responsible for attacking Falahow.”

Muhammad Guul Hashim Idiris, a Christian convert from Islam, was traveling by land from Kalafo, an Ethiopian border town, to visit [...]]]> Washington, D.C. — International Christian Concern (ICC) has learned that members of the Al-Qaeda linked Somali Islamist group, Al-Shabaab, publicly executed a Christian convert from Islam in the in Hudur district, Somalia on July 1st.

Muhammad Guul Hashim Idiris, a Christian convert from Islam, was traveling by land from Kalafo, an Ethiopian border town, to visit his mother in Mogadishu.

A fellow passenger recognized his Christian background and asked him if he thought the prophet Muhammad was a genuine messenger from God. Idiris responded by saying, “If I thought so, I would have believed in him instead of the Messiah.”

Once they reached the Hudur district, a stronghold of the Al- Shabaab terror network, the Muslim man reported Idiris to Al-Shabaab and had him detained on June 27th. Idiris was accused of insulting the prophet Muhammad. It is a serious sin to consider Muhammad not to be a genuine prophet and it warrants the death penalty.

Sheik Adan Yare, the Al-Shabab governor of the Bakol region, spoke to the press on July 1st and said, “Our holy warriors have today, on July 1st at 11: 45 am, executed in front of angry Muslim witnesses a young man whose name was Muhammad Guul Hashim Idiris who insulted our beloved prophet.”

The execution, which took place at a make-shift soccer stadium, was attended by hundreds of people, including school children who were forced to watch the execution.

The martyr had been married since January 26th and is survived by his pregnant widow.

Idiris’ paternal uncle and a Christian convert from Islam spoke to ICC from Addis Ababa, calling the Al-Shabaab execution “further evidence of Al-Shabaab’s attempt to eliminate Christianity from among Somali people in the Horn of Africa.”

Jonathan Racho, ICC’s Regional Manager for Africa, said “We are deeply saddened by yet another execution of a Somali Christian. Al-Shabaab and Islamic extremist groups in Somalia have repeatedly vowed to wipe out Christians from Somalia. Al-Shabaab has murdered several Christians, chopped off the hands of Muslims suspected of crimes and even stoned Muslim women to death for allegedly committing adultery. The cruel and inhumane action of Al-Shabaab shows its complete disregard for human life.

Mumtaz Masih, pastor of the Full Gospel Church of Pakistan, and his wife Noreen came under attack after Muslims accused them of evangelism.

Imam Maqsood Ahmed allegedly led the assault, [...]]]> Washington, D.C. – International Christian Concern (ICC) has learned that on June 3, fourteen Muslims attacked a pastor, his pregnant wife, and his brother in Sahiwal, Pakistan.

Mumtaz Masih, pastor of the Full Gospel Church of Pakistan, and his wife Noreen came under attack after Muslims accused them of evangelism.

Imam Maqsood Ahmed allegedly led the assault, injuring the pastor’s legs and his wife’s hands and belly. The younger brother of the pastor was ambushed when he went to get medical help for his wounded brother and sister-in-law.

The Christians complained about the attacks to the police, but the police took no action against the perpetrators.

ICC’s Regional Manager for South Asia, Jonathan Racho, said, “We strongly condemn the violence against pastor Mumtaz and his family. Pakistani Christians come under attack from Muslims for expressing their faith in Christ. In our conversation with Pastor Mumtaz and many other persecuted Christians in Pakistan, the persecuted believers have repeatedly told us their determination to stand for their faith despite the persecution.”

Please contact the embassy of Pakistan in your country and ask the Pakistani officials to bring the perpetrators of the attack against pastor Mumtaz and his family to justice.

Pakistani Embassies:

USA:       (202) 243-3254 (phone), (202) 686-1534 (Fax)
Canada: (613) 238-7881 (phone), (613) 238-7298 (Fax)
UK:         0870-005-6967 (phone)

The Islamists [...]]]> Washington, D.C. – International Christian Concern (ICC) has learned that on May 28, twelve heavily armed Muslim men attacked a pastor and his family in Smundri, Pakistan. Pastor Mubarak Masih and his family were assaulted after Shaid Masih, the pastor’s 13-year-old nephew, refused to read verses from the Qur’an despite pressure from his teacher.

The Islamists beat the pastor’s head with sticks and rods; almost killed his brother when they shot him, grazing his head and causing a minor injury; and broke their mother’s left arm.

In a statement to ICC, the family said that Zufair Gujhar, Shaid’s teacher, is a fundamentalist Muslim who routinely forces Christian students to read the Qur’an and other Islamic books. He pressures his Christian students to accept Islam.

Pastor Mubarak, a pastor of the Church of God, said, “We will continue our mission work at any cost and no one can stop us.”

The family reported the incident to the police but they have not yet taken any action against the alleged perpetrators.

ICC’s Regional Manager for South Asia, Jonathan Racho, said, “The violent attack against Pastor Mubarak and his family as well as the beating of Shaid for refusing to read the Qur’an is another demonstration of the dire situation in which Christians find themselves in Pakistan. We are saddened by the utter disregard of the rights of religious minorities in Pakistan.”

Please contact the embassy of Pakistan in your country and ask the Pakistani officials to bring Zufair Gujhar and the other 12 perpetrators of this attack to justice.

Pakistani Embassies:

USA:       (202) 243-3254 (phone), (202) 686-1534 (Fax)
Canada: (613) 238-7881 (phone), (613) 238-7298 (Fax)
UK:          0870-005-6967 (phone)

Fatima Sultan, Ali Ma’ow, Sheik Mohammed Abdi, and Maaddey Diil were killed by members of Al-Shabab, an Islamic extremist organization. The Islamists kidnapped and [...]]]> Washington, D.C. – International Christian Concern (ICC) has learned that Somali Islamic extremists beheaded four Christians after kidnapping them on July 27 in the coastal town of Merca, 56 miles from Mogadishu.

Fatima Sultan, Ali Ma’ow, Sheik Mohammed Abdi, and Maaddey Diil were killed by members of Al-Shabab, an Islamic extremist organization. The Islamists kidnapped and eventually beheaded the Christians after they refused to renounce their faith in Jesus Christ.

On August 4, a junior Al-Shabab militant notified all the families of the victims that the four Christians had been beheaded for apostasy. He described the Christians as promoters of “fitna,” a Muslim term for religious discord. The militant, who called himself “Seiful Islam” (“the Sword of Islam”), told the families that the bodies will not be given to them “as Somalia does not have cemeteries for infidels.”

One eye witness account said, “All the four apostates were given an opportunity to return to Islam to be released but they all declined the generous offer.”

The four Christians had been working for a local NGO that helps orphans in southern Somalia.

A Somali church leader who monitors the persecution against the Somali church described the latest beheadings as a desperate attempt to “purify” Somalia by eliminating all Christians from what the Al Qaeda linked terror group considers an Islamic Republic. The church leader added that such murders will only serve as a rich seedbed from where many more house-churches will form.

Al-Shabab is a radical Islamic organization fighting to establish an Islamic state in Somalia and enforce Wahhabi/Salafi Islam, an ultra-conservative interpretation of Islam practiced by the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. The Islamist group controls large parts of Somalia and seeks to overthrow the internationally recognized transitional federal government of Somalia.

The Islamists have been carrying out ruthless attacks against the Christian minority in Somalia. Last year alone, members of the group killed more than a half dozen Somali Christians. In July 2009, Al-Shabab beheaded seven people in the southwestern town of Baidoa after accusing them of converting to Christianity and spying for the transitional federal government of Somalia.

Jonathan Racho, ICC’s Regional Manager for Africa and the Middle East, said, “Al-Shabab has once again demonstrated its utter disregard for the dignity of human life. The majority of Muslims in Somalia, who are also the victims of Al-Shabab’s cruelty, do not support their ideology or practices. It is high time for the international community to take robust measures to end the heinous crimes that Al-Shabab and other extremist groups are committing against the people of Somalia.”

Please pray for God to protect and encourage the underground churches in Somalia.

Islamic courts, known as Kadhi, have existed for a long time [...]]]> Washington, D.C. – International Christian Concern (ICC) has learned that Muslim leaders are calling for Sharia to be enshrined in Kenya’s constitution. The move is opposed by Christian leaders who fear that it will lead to greater persecution, as it has in Sudan and Nigeria.

Islamic courts, known as Kadhi, have existed for a long time at district levels in Kenya. But they were limited to settling divorce, inheritance and marriage disputes among Muslims.

Kenya has drafted a new constitution which seeks to expand the power of the Islamic courts to include settlement of civil and commercial disputes. Kenyan Muslim leaders are also pushing to elevate the courts to the national level and give them the same privileges as the secular courts.

Christian leaders argue that recognizing Sharia courts in the constitution gives special privileges to Kenya’s Muslims. Rev. Dr. Wellington Mutiso, the general secretary of the evangelical alliance of Kenya, said in an interview with ICC, “We oppose the entrenching of Kahdi in the constitution of Kenya because religion and state should be kept separated in a secular state. Besides, the principles of Islamic laws are discriminatory to women’s right. Thus, entrenching Islamic principles in the Kenyan constitution violates constitutional principles of equality and non-discrimination.”

The majority of Kenyans are Christians with Muslims making up about ten percent of the population. But in the coastal and the northeastern provinces of Kenya, Muslims are the majority.

Jonathan Racho, ICC’s Regional Manager for Africa, said, “We urge Kenyan officials not to recognize Sharia courts in the new constitution. Such a move will lead to further violence and discrimination against Christians in the Muslim dominated provinces of Kenya.”

Please contact the Kenyan embassies in your countries and express your opposition to the inclusion of Sharia courts in the new constitution.

Kenyan Embassies: