Recently in Muslim persecution of Christians Category

Open season on Christians in Pakistan, and the world yawns. "Christian student killed by firing of Muslims in native village of Shahbaz Bhatti," from the Pakistan Christian Post, May 20 (spelling and grammar as in original):

Faisalabad: May 20, 2013. (PCP) A Christian village named Khushpur in sub-district Samundari of Faisalabad district came under attack of Muslims on May 19, 2013, killing one Christian student of 10th Grade and injuring many Christian by firing.

Father Felix, a European missionary who established a number of villages like Mariamabad in Shekhupura district, Francisabad in Shorkot, Jhang district in Pakistan. “Felix” is the Latin word for "happy". The village was thus given the name of "Khushpur" in Urdu, the "land of Fr Felix" or “land of Happiness”.

Many important Catholic public figures come from the village in government records shown as Chak Number 451/GB; people like Bishop John Joseph, Bishop Rufin Anthony, Ilama Paul Ernest, and Shahbaz Bhatti were born and raised in this remote village;

On informations of Muslims attack, contingents of police reached to village and prevented further killing by Muslims.

Faisal Patras, a Christian student of class 10th of High School was killed by firing of Muslims while Danish Masih who is brother of Faisal Patras and Patras Masih father of deceased was seriously injured with bullet wounds when trying to safe Faisal Patras.

After agricultural revolution in Pakistan, many Christians peasants of these Christian villages in Punjab province of Pakistan which were distributed without any cost by Catholic and other missionaries moved to cities and sold this gifted land to Muslims.

Muslim attack was on a petty dispute on a piece of land which Christian of Khushpur have sold to Muslims.

According to Samundari Social Media Network, there was killing of one Christian in other Christian village Chack Number 468/GB in this district one months ago by firing of Muslims and killers are at large, this other killing happened.

Mr. Khalid Gill, Chief Orgnizer of All Pakistan Minorities Alliance APMA have stronly condemned attack on village Khushpur and killing of a Christian student.

Mr. Gill have demanded immediate arrest of killers and security of the Christians which are under constant attack of Muslims in Punjab province of Pakistan.

We need a few politicians like this in the U.S. "Australian MP Calls For Egypt’s Ambassador To Be Called In Over Coptic Persecution," from the Australian Coptic Movement, May 11 (thanks to Jonah):

Mr Laurie Ferguson MP, Federal Member for Werriwa has written to the Australian Coptic Movement Association (ACM) confirming that he requested Senator the Hon. Bob Carr, Minister for Foreign Affairs to call in the Egyptian Ambassador following ongoing attacks on Copts in Egypt.

Below is an excerpt from Mr Ferguson’s letter to Senator Bob Carr:

“I appreciate the seriousness of calling in an Ambassador to indicate Australia’s concerns about particular issues. However, events in Egypt appear to demand such action.

On April 14th I attended a sizeable rally in Sydney’s Martin Place with a significant number of NSW and Commonwealth parliamentarians in the aftermath of violent attacks on mourners at Cairo’s St Mark’s Cathedral”.

The ACM welcomes Mr Ferguson’s stance and we look forward to a prompt response from the Senator Hon. Bob Carr. We also demand that the Australian Government immediately makes strong representations on this serious issue at the United Nations.

It is quite clear that The Egyptian government has not only failed to take appropriate action to afford protection to Egypt’s vulnerable Coptic community but also directly participated in the persecution.

We are also deeply concerned over the welfare of 24 year Demiana Nour. She has been held by Egyptian police in Luxor since 8 May 2013 under ‘defamation of religion’ charges. Demiana is a young teacher who was merely undertaking her teaching duties.

We demand that the Egyptian authorities immediately release Demiana and all Copts who have been have been charged under flimsy ‘defamation of religion’ charges.

No one cares about this. Tell us more about "Islamophobia." "More Christians Killed in Northern Nigeria Last Year Than in the Rest of the World Combined," by Ann Buwalda for the Jubilee Campaign via AINA, May 20:

Two weeks ago I informed Nigerian Congressmen and women about this deplorable disrepute during my lecture to the Nigerian House of Representatives, Committee on Human Rights. Invited by the Chairman of the Committee, the Hon. Beni Lar, to address the topic of Ethnicity, Conflict, and Human Rights, I pointed out that the Nigerian Constitution reflects the broadest range of religious freedom exercise recognized within international law. I asked, "What good is this right in principle when in practice there is a societal actor, namely the Boko Haram, which strikes fear with bomb blasting of churches during worship services?" I called for an end to impunity because the predictable and certain result of impunity is more violence. I explained what it means within U.S. law that the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), a U.S. government funded agency, had just submitted its recommendation that Nigeria receive US Department of State designation as a "country of particular concern" under the 1998 International Religious Freedom Act which would trigger a menu of remedies for engagement.

The discussant to my lecture, Professor Muhammed Tabiu from the Faculty of Law, Bayero University, emphasized that the religious freedom called for in the Nigerian Constitution is even broader then the freedoms articulated within the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. He stated that the legal framework has done all that it can do and that the improvement must take place "on the ground." With respect to religious extremism, he noted that "lack of respect for human rights are a daily occurrence." Prof. Tabiu also agreed with my criticism of the US Department of State's surprising endorsement of a federal Sharia court of appeal. Jubilee Campaign has yet to find anyone other than the Boko Haram terror group calling for more sharia. I had noted that this illustrates how the US Department of State fundamentally misunderstands and misrepresents the constitution of Nigeria. Prof. Tabiu clarified that there are state courts of appeals for the Sharia courts and that the Constitution of Nigeria reflects a "reasonable compromise" accommodating Muslims as well as Christians in the context of state level Sharia and customary courts.

I also pointed out that in addition to mistakes about Nigerian law, there are also mistakes as to facts. USCIRF for instance reported that only Muslims had been convicted of religious violence. This is however not accurate. Jubilee is involved in a case where Christians, arrested for curfew violation were wrongly convicted of terrorism. The attorney general of Plateau State also has previously provided updates of prosecutions which included a number of Christians arrested and charged in relation to incidents of violence.

Following the close of the Congressional Human Rights Committee session, four Northern Nigeria Congressmen pulled me aside to dialogue about how dangerous and "explosive" my factual statement about the religious identity of the victims in the death toll was. One of the Congressmen insisted that more Muslims have been killed by Boko Haram, and that mosques in the north were also bombed by Boko Haram affiliated actors. When I told him that my data consisting of specific incidents researched from Nigerian media and NGO sources can be found at http://factsnigeriaviolence.wordpress.com/, he could only provide anecdotal claims to support his contention that more Muslims were killed. Ironically, neither the U.S. Department of State's human rights report on Nigeria nor recent Human Rights Watch reports have provided more than anecdotal references for the same unsupported proposition that more Muslims have been killed by Boko Haram. Moreover, the fact that moderate Muslims have been killed by Boko Haram should be the real "explosive" cause for all of Nigerians to unite and seek the arrest and prosecution of those responsible for the violence.

Coincidentally, the next evening of May 3 I caught an interview on Al Jazeera entitled, "Jailed Boko Haram rebels seek pardon." Imprisoned since last August, Ibrahim Mohammed told the interviewer, "Yes my belief is that there should be Islamic law, and we have chosen to take up arms against people who do not want Sharia." Another fighter detailed the attacks he perpetrated which he prefaced with the statement, "Between me and God I took up arms to fight." When asked about the death of innocent bystanders, the third militant explained that such a death would be by a "mistake" and that "if he dies he is innocent and we don't worry at all. We are forgiven by God." Chilling. Without any hint of remorse from them concerning their actions on victims or victims' families, their lawyer and the interviewer described their efforts to obtain amnesty and prompt release. Amnesty would be a travesty and injustice of the worst kind to innocent victims. Nothing indicates these three men would not resume their jihad to impose Sharia law, as they so clearly stated on camera was the reason why they took up arms.

It seems that following a plea from the governor of Borno State, Kassim Shettima, that his state was on the brink of a takeover by the Boko Haram, President Goodluck Jonathan responded with a declaration of a state of emergency as well as sending military troops to Maiduguri, known to be Boko Haram's stronghold. After the militants again attacked the government, killed civilians, and seized property, Nigeria's military sent several thousand troops and imposed a 24 hour curfew in Maiduguri. The military seized stock piles of weapons, including sophisticated rocket-propelled grenades, killed 10 militants, and arrested 63, according to Al Jazeera. Al Jazeera reported yesterday that the blockade of supply routes to Boko Haram seems to achieving the goal of causing militants to flee their bases.

The predictable response from the U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry cautioned, "We are also deeply concerned by credible allegations that Nigerian security forces are committing gross human rights violations, which, in turn, only escalate the violence and fuel extremism. The United States condemns Boko Haram's campaign of terror in the strongest terms. We urge Nigeria's security forces to apply disciplined use of force in all operations, protect civilians in any security response, and respect human rights and the rule of law." The U.S. Department of State's response once again could not be more convoluted and confused as to who the perpetrators of human rights violations and spread of carnage are. In fact, as reported by Al Jazeera and others, the violent takeover of Borno state and other territories by the Boko Haram are being contained as per the state of emergency.

For example, as reported by The Independent on May 8 "The Nigerian Islamist sect Boko Haram is thought to have been behind a deadly siege on the northeastern town of Bama on Tuesday that left 55 people dead...Boko Haram is a terror group that wants to carve out an Islamic state in a country split roughly equally between Christians and Muslims." This article goes on to explain that its more recent tactics have resulted from "the help Boko Haram has received from al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), a branch of the international terrorist network based in the Saharan states of Mali, Niger and Algeria."

It seems that the Nigerian government is seeking to contain known militants responsible for weekly incidents of carnage and destruction on civilians. We continue to encourage the end to impunity and the restoration of peace for all civilians in the north of Nigeria.

Dialogue. "Updated | Bombers target Catholic church in Benghazi, priests escape unhurt," from Malta Today, May 19 (thanks to Tom):

Fr Alan Castillo and Fr Raghib Marzouk escaped unhurt after a bomb went off at the Catholic church in Via Torino, Benghazi, late Friday night.

According to sources, a bomb was placed at the main of the church when an explosion rocked the area at around 11.30pm shattering several glass windows on the opposite side of the narrow road and also several windows in the building adjacent to the church housing the priests.

Fortunately, Maltese bishop Mgr Sylvester Magro was not there as he is currently in Spain attending a religious function.

Fr. Alan Castillo and Fr. Raghib Marzouk were however present at the time of the explosion, but both escaped uninjured.

Soon after the explosion security officials cordoned the area barring anyone from entering or leaving the area.

No one was hurt in this incident.

Foreign Affairs Minister George Vella also contacted the Maltese Consul in Benghazi Joe Pirotta to obtain "first hand" information on the incident and to express his solidarity with the people.

The Maltese Consulate is the only consulate, from among the EU member states, still open in Benghazi. The other consulates are those of Turkey, Tunisia and Egypt.

In a statement, the Foreign Affairs Ministry described the situation in Benghazi as being "highly fluid" and "easy to obtain explosive material"....

More fruit of the glorious Obama-endorsed "Arab Spring." And look at how the Associated Press covered this atrocity.

"Two Christian Churches in Egypt Attacked By Muslims This Week," by Mary Abdelmassih for AINA, May 18:

(AINA) -- The escalation of Muslim attacks on Christian churches in Egypt continues unabated. This week two attacks were carried out, one in Alexandria and one in Menbal in Upper Egypt -- both allegedly prompted by harassment of Muslim women. Yesterday the church of St. Mary, in the Dakhela district, west of Alexandria, was attacked by Molotov cocktails and bricks, causing the gate to burn and the breaking of most of the stained glass windows. One Copt was killed and several injured.

According to the official police explanation, the Copt Basem Ramzy Michael was seen by the Muslim Hamada Alloshy, a registered criminal, allegedly extending his body from his balcony to gaze at the flat of Alloshy's sister, who lives on the ground floor. A quarrel broke out and when the church was attacked, hundreds of Copts hurried to the area to defend the church, among whom was 36-year-old Sedky Sherif, a father of three children. According to his nephew Rabah, who was with him at the time of his death, 1000 Copts were present and were attacked by over 20,000 Muslims, who were firing bird shots at them and throwing bricks. While the church was being attacked the Muslims were shouting "Allahu Akbar." Security forces were sent out to diffuse the situation and disperse the crowd. They made several arrests on both sides.

According to the Security report, the Copt "died of fright," suffering a heart attack after hearing the sound of gun fire. According to his family and those who saw him, his body was full of bruises and marks from bird shots.

The family and relatives of Sedky Sherif waited this morning at Kom el Dekka morgue to receive his body and the results of the autopsy. A death certificate was issued quoting cause of death as "under investigation." Weesa Fawzy from Al-Kalema Human Rights Center said that this was the first time that a death certificate is issued and the cause of death is still under investigation. "Has he been seen by the forensics team or not, so how are they still investigating when the body is already buried?"

Coptic Mina Milad Saber, 19 years, was severely injured in yesterday's attack and underwent brain surgery, but this morning he was found shackled to his bed by the police for fear he might escape, although he is still in a coma.

Most Christians who were injured during the attack either went privately for treatment or quietly left hospital, "as it will end by them being arrested too," said Weesa Fawzy.

On May 13, in the village of Menbal, district of Matay, north of Minya province, a Muslim mob stormed the village church of Prince Tadros el-Mashreki and assaulted a person inside. They hurled stones and broke everything inside the church, including doors and windows. The mob then went along the streets looting and destroying all Coptic-owned businesses and pharmacies and torching cars. The Copts were also threatened to be expelled from the village. According to witnesses, any Copt who was met by the mob in the street was beaten up.

Attorney Dr. Ehab Ramzy, former MP, said that Menbal has a Muslim majority while Manshiet Menbal, 10 kilometers away, has a Coptc majority. In the afternoon of that day three Muslim youths went to Manshiet Menbal and harassed Coptic girls as they came out of church. "As they drove by, the Muslims threw plastic bags filled with urine at the girls," Ramzy said. "The Coptic youth defended the girls and, being outnumbered, the Muslims left." A couple of hours later Muslims congregated and attacked the church and the Coptic minority in village of Menbal.

"The two villages have nothing to do with each other, and Copts in Menbal have nothing at all to do with the quarrel that took place in Manshiet Menbal. They were attacked just because they are Christians," said Ramzy. Two Muslims were arrested from Menbal, and there is talk of a "reconciliation" meeting to be held. "Now security are looking for Christians to arrest them as a bargaining chip for this forthcoming "reconciliation" meeting," said Dr Ramzy.

And on the Tanzania mainland as well. "Anti-Christian Hostility High in Zanzibar as Tanzania Mainland also Heats Up," from Morning Star News, May 18 (thanks to Pamela Geller):

ZANZIBAR, Tanzania (Morning Star News) – Islamic extremist attacks and land grabs on this semi-autonomous island off the coast of Tanzania have continued unabated even as violence has increased on the mainland.

The May 5 bombing of St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic Church in Arusha killed a 45-year-old woman, a 16-year-old boy and a 12-year-old girl. Of the two Tanzanians and four foreigners arrested – now officially identified as one from Saudi Arabia and three from the United Arab Emirates – only one Tanzanian national reportedly remains in custody as a suspect.

While Islamic extremist activity has increased in Tanzania, Christians on the Zanzibar archipelago have recently suffered attacks by Islamists and the separatist group Uamsho (Re-awakening). Uamsho, the Association for Islamic Mobilization and Propagation, has issued explicit threats to Christians on Zanzibar Island since October 2012.

At midnight on April 20, Islamic extremists in Kianga, 16 kilometers (11 miles) from Zanzibar City, demolished most of the Pool of Siloam church building, a church leader said. Three suspects were arrested, only to be released after three days.

“When we tried to follow up the case, we found out that some of the information concerning the pulling down of the church was missing,” church pastor Israel Baraka Elijah told Morning Star News. “Hence, we decided to give up all together.”

Damages were estimated at $2,500, he added. Muslim extremists had attacked the church building before, setting part of it on fire on Feb. 19 and battering it with sledge hammers in November 2011.

Buildings aren’t the only targets. Suspected Islamic extremists on Feb. 17 shot and killed the Rev. Evaristus Mushi, a 56-year-old Roman Catholic priest, in the Mtoni area outside Zanzibar City. The murder came nearly two months after the Christmas Day shooting of another Catholic priest, the Rev. Ambrose Mkenda, that seriously injured him. Uamsho had left leaflets threatening to kill church leaders of the Roman Catholic, Anglican, Tanzania Assemblies of God and Pentecostal Church denominations.

The Islamist group is fighting for full autonomy of the Zanzibar archipelago; it arose after Zanzibar’s primary opposition, the Civic United Front, formed a government with the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi party in 2010.

How Uamsho’s separatist agenda could overlap with Islamic extremists’ objectives on the mainland remains to be seen, but the Zanzibar-based group has increased in stature by appealing to Islamist sentiments. While Tanzania’s population is 34.2 percent Muslim and 54 percent Christian, according to Operation World, the Zanzibar archipelago in the Indian Ocean about 25 miles off the Tanzanian coast is more than 97 percent Muslim.

Islamists burned several church buildings in various parts of Tanzania last October after an argument between two children about the Koran resulted in a Christian boy allegedly defiling Islam’s sacred book (see Morning Star News, Oct. 19, 2012). In Kigoma, on the western border, two church buildings were set ablaze on Oct. 14, 2012, and the roof of another one was destroyed. In Dar es Salaam, where two boys’ argument over the Koran set off the violence, three church buildings were set on fire on Oct. 12, and another was destroyed on Oct. 18.

The attacks on church buildings came after Muslims began falsely asserting that Christians had sent the Christian boy to the Muslim boy to urinate on the Koran in the Mbagala area of Dar es Salaam on Oct. 10, sources said.

On Oct. 17, Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania leaders released a statement saying church buildings had also been set ablaze in Mdaula, Mto wa Mbu, Tunduru and Rufiji. The Mbagala attacks, they stated, resulted from inflammatory statements by local religious leaders....

This AP story suggests that both sides threw birdshot and Molotov cocktails and that the Christians began the conflict, but this is wildly unlikely. Muslim mobs brutalize Christians in Egypt on an increasingly frequent basis. The Christian community is small and embattled and doesn't go around picking fights. "Egypt Muslim-Christian Clashes Leave 1 Dead," from the Associated Press, May 18 (thanks to all who sent this in):

CAIRO — Egyptian security officials say clashes between Muslims and Christians in the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria left one man dead of a heart attack.

Officials say the clashes in the city's el-Dekheila suburb erupted when a Coptic man allegedly sexually harassed a Muslim woman.

Sounds like exactly the sort of charge that Islamic supremacists would trump up: their mythology is full of licentious, sexually predatory non-Muslims looking for their chance to prey upon good, modest Muslimas.

Residents of the area fired birdshot and threw Molotov cocktails at one another during the Friday night fighting.

Police say Christian resident Sherif Sedky died of a heart attack during the clashes. Police forces were beefed up around the local church Saturday in case of further violence....

Will the Islamophobia never end? "Christian leader gunned down by Islamic militants in Nigeria," from FoxNews.com, May 16 (thanks to Mike):

A Nigerian Christian leader was killed when suspected Muslim militants burst into his home and shot him, as the religious fighting in Africa’s most populous nation continues to worsen.

Two members of Islamic militant group Boko Haram shot Faye Pama Mysa, a Pentecostal pastor and secretary of the Christian Association of Nigeria, in his home Wednesday, according to multiple reports. The attack came just after President Goodluck Jonathan declared a state of emergency because of ongoing attacks.

“The Borno CAN secretary has been killed,” CAN spokesman Kenny Asaka told the BNL news service. “We've got the report and the national president received it with heavy heart. It is very sad.”

Jonathan had earlier called the state of emergency to address “systematic effort by insurgents and terrorists to destabilize the Nigerian state and test our collective resolve,” referring to a surge in violence that threatens to engulf northern and central Nigeria. The violence has given rise to widespread concern Boko Haram could be on the verge of seizing control of the state.”

The murder of Mysa is likely to stoke tensions between Christians and Muslims, which were already at a breaking point after southern militants threatened to unleash a "crusade" against Boko Haram, the Muslim group behind a recent attack last month in which 185 people were killed.

The group that vowed to launch a campaign against the Islamists is a coalition of armed groups that includes political and religious activists as well as criminal gangs that has waged an insurgency in the region, the center of Nigeria's oil production, since 2005.

Boko Haram translates to "Western education is sacrilege." Christians have been a major target of Boko Haram and its offshoots, as scores of churches have been bombed or burned since the Islamists, who have links to Al Qaeda, launched their insurgency in 2009 in the predominantly Muslim north.

The Copts have to know their place: as dhimmis, subservient to the Muslims. That is their place in the new, Obama-endorsed Muslim Brotherhood Egypt. If they don't accept it, the mobs will come. "Mob Attack Copts and their Businesses in Northern Egypt," from the Christian Post, May 15 (thanks to AINA):

Coptic-owned businesses and pharmacies in Menbal village, Minya in northern Egypt were attacked by a mob, resulting in extensive damage and several injuries.

"The thugs attacked my shop, assaulting it with stones. Some of the contents were damaged … they destroyed a number of Coptic-owned shops and pharmacies," Michael Sobhi, a witness from the village, told Mideast Christian News.

"The Copts of the village couldn't confront the thugs, as their numbers increased. They had firearms and blades, so Copts tried to avoid fighting with them," he added.

"The thugs began the attack by insulting Copts from the village entrance and car park," Sobhi continued. "They threatened to expel them from the village."

Sobhi said the mob attacked Coptic citizen Ibrahim Abdou, 48, and his wife as they were returning home. Abdou suffered a cut to the forehead from a blade and his wife sustained bruises.

The Copts of the village submitted a complaint to the Matai Police Station and security forces were sent out to difuse [sic] the situation and disperse the crowd....

Careful, monsignor! You might harm the wonderful dialogue!

"France: Priest Attacked by Muslim, Monsignor Denounces Muslims Taking Control of District," by Cheradenine Zakalwe for Islam Versus Europe, May 14 (thanks to Pamela Geller):

The day after the attack on Father Grégoire, Monsignor Cattenoz has spoken out strongly and denounces "people of the Muslim faith taking control of the district". The facts are taking on a political/religious dimension...

On Monday at around 8 pm, Father Grégoire from the parish of Saint-Jean was attacked by an individual. Struck on the face, the priest was unconscious on the ground until two other members of the parish arrived. This Tuesday morning at around 11 am, Monsignor Cattenoz, Archbishop of Avignon, denounced growing insecurity in the district of Saint-Ruf (while the local authority official in charge of public safety claims instead that there has been a decrease in crime in this sector), as well as the proliferation of thefts and threats towards members of the parish.

The leader of the Catholics in Vaucluse went even further: "People of the Muslim faith have progressively taken control of this district"... before proposing to create a committee bringing together representatives of the main religions, in order to calm the situation.

The local Muslim leader wasn't buying it:

The Avignonnese Mohammed Moussaoui, president of the French Council of the Muslim Religion, also wants to calm things down: "Before highlighting adherence to one or another religion, we need to see if the attack was accompanied by words or gestures associated with the religion. Giving it a religious dimension seems counter-productive to me."...

It might even be "Islamophobic."

Source: Le Dauphine

A severe blow for the freedom of speech, and victory for the advance of Sharia blasphemy laws here. "Michigan Federal Judge Allows Muslim Violence to Suppress Christian Speech; Immediate Appeal Filed," from the American Freedom Law Center, May 14:

A Michigan federal judge today dismissed a civil rights lawsuit brought by several Christian evangelists who were violently assaulted by a hostile Muslim mob while preaching at an Arab festival last year in Dearborn, Michigan, which has the largest Muslim population in the United States. Video of the Muslim assault went viral on YouTube.

The American Freedom Law Center (AFLC) filed the lawsuit against Wayne County, the Wayne County Sheriff, and two Wayne County Deputy Chiefs for refusing to protect the Christians from the attack and threatening to arrest the Christians for disorderly conduct if they did not halt their speech activity and immediately leave the festival area.

Judge Patrick J. Duggan, sitting in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, granted Wayne County’s motion for summary judgment, dismissing the lawsuit. The judge also denied AFLC’s motion requesting that the court issue an order preventing the Wayne County Sheriff and his deputies from restricting the Christian evangelists from displaying their banners and signs on the public sidewalks outside of this year’s Arab Festival, which will be held in June. In the ruling, the judge stated the following: “The Court finds that the actual demonstration of violence here provided the requisite justification for [the Wayne County sheriffs’] intervention, even if the officials acted as they did because of the effect the speech had on the crowd.”

Robert Muise, AFLC Co-Founder and Senior Counsel, commented: “The First Amendment was dealt a severe blow today as a result of this ruling. Indeed, this ruling effectively empowers Muslims to silence Christian speech that they deem offensive by engaging in violence. And pursuant to this ruling, the Christian speakers are now subject to arrest for engaging in disorderly conduct on account of the Muslim hecklers’ violent response to their speech. In short, this ruling turns the First Amendment on its head.”

David Yerushalmi, AFLC Co-Founder and Senior Counsel, added: “This fight for our fundamental right to freedom of speech does not stop here. We have filed an immediate appeal of this ruling to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. While Judge Duggan may have been the first judge to rule on this issue, he won’t be the last. Indeed, we are prepared to take this case to the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary because it is imperative that our free speech rights not be subject to mob rule. This is the United States, not Benghazi.”

At least for now.

As Egypt continues its rapid descent to Sharia and Pakistan-like conditions. "Jail Time Extended for Teacher Accused of Blasphemy in Egypt," from Morning Star News, May 13:

CAIRO, Egypt (Morning Star News) – A judge in Egypt on Saturday (May 11) ordered 15 days of additional incarceration for a Coptic Christian teacher jailed last week on accusations of blasphemy and evangelism.

Three elementary schoolchildren and some teachers in the village of Al-Edisat, Luxor Province had complained on April 10 about social studies teacher Dimyana Obeid Abd Al-Nour, who rotates among three schools in the area. They accused her of making allegedly blasphemous comments while she was teaching on April 8 about Amenhotep IV, later known as Akhenaten, a pharaoh who introduced a form of monotheistic theology to ancient Egypt.

Accounts differ, but in some versions of the alleged incident, Al-Nour also made comparisons between the former head of the Coptic Orthodox Church, the late Pope Shenouda III, and Muhammad, the prophet of Islam.

The three students from Sheikh Sultan Primary School, along with their parents and a handful of teachers, complained to the school administrator, and school officials contacted legal authorities. Al-Nour has not been charged, but on Thursday (May 9) the judge ordered her to be held in prison for four days pending the outcome of an investigation by the general prosecutor’s office....

The blasphemy and evangelizing accusations against Al-Nour reflect two growing trends in Egypt – disproportionate use of the nation’s blasphemy statutes against members of Egypt’s Christian minority, and blasphemy charges against people working in education, human rights officials said.

“The education system in Egypt is not based on thinking and freedom of expression, but on copying without knowing, and the absence of a forgiving culture, and refusing the other – not accepting the other,” said Ishak Ibrahim, freedom of religion and belief officer for the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR).

Ibrahim said people are targeting Christians using the nation’s blasphemy statutes as a weapon. An EIPR study to be released at the end of this month found that 41 percent of blasphemy cases taken to court from Jan. 25, 2011, to Dec. 31, 2012, were filed against Christians, who make up only about 10 percent of Egypt’s population of 83 million people.

The total of 36 blasphemy cases involved 63 people. The country’s Sunni Muslim majority, which makes up almost 90 percent of the Egypt’s population, were charged in 59 percent of the cases.

Of the 36 blasphemy cases brought to court, only one case was filed against someone for blaspheming Christianity – in spite of a near-constant din of insults by the nation’s religious leaders against Christians and Christianity on Egypt’s television and radio airwaves. That single case, a blasphemy charge against Sheik Abu Islam for publically burning a Bible in front of the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, was dismissed. A private Coptic attorney is trying to re-file the case....

Pope Benedict XVI decreed the canonization; Pope Francis was stuck with it.

The BBC adds in a sidebar:

Otranto 14 August 1480

The `'Martyrs of Otranto" were 813 Italians beheaded for defying demands by Turkish invaders to renounce Christianity
The Turks had been sent by Mohammed II, who had already captured the "second Rome" of Constantinople
His fleet landed in Otranto, Italy's easternmost city, and laid siege
Its citizens held out for two weeks, allowing the King of Naples to muster his forces and prevent the fall of Rome

Jihad Watch reader Bob writes in:

Otranto certainly demonstrates several things.

1. Muslim violence is not a result of poverty, Jews, Israel, or US policy and actions.

2. There is a centuries-long tradition of Muslim beheading. It didn’t start with Daniel Pearl.

3. Muslim attacks on Copts in Egypt are in keeping with centuries-long Muslim traditions

4. Christian martyrs are Christians killed by others. Muslim martyrs are Muslims who kill non-Muslims [and are killed in the process].

"Pope canonises 800 Italian Ottoman victims of Otranto," from the BBC, May 12 (thanks to Bob):

Pope Francis has proclaimed the first saints of his pontificate in a ceremony at the Vatican - a list which includes 800 victims of an atrocity carried out by Ottoman soldiers in 1480.

They were beheaded in the southern Italian town of Otranto after refusing to convert to Islam.

Their names are unknown, apart from one man, Antonio Primaldo.

Within two months of taking office, Pope Francis has proclaimed more saints than any of his predecessors....

The Italian "Martyrs of Otranto" were executed after 20,000 Turkish soldiers invaded their town in south-eastern Italy.

There was no hint of any anti-Islamic sentiment in the homily that Pope Francis delivered before tens of thousands of worshippers gathered in St Peter's Square, the BBC's David Willey in Rome reports.

While it was Francis's predecessor, Pope Benedict, who gave the go ahead for their canonisations, the new pope is continuing the process of honouring a new generation of modern as well as historic martyrs, our correspondent says....

Over at Fox News, I describe how we are reliving early Islamic history, including how the "Islamic world" came into being: namely, by usurping the lands of others:

A mass exodus of Christians is currently underway. Millions of Christians are being displaced from one end of the Islamic world to the other.

We are reliving the true history of how the Islamic world—much of which prior to the Islamic conquests was almost entirely Christian—came into being.

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom recently said: “The flight of Christians out of the region is unprecedented and it’s increasing year by year.” In our lifetime alone “Christians might disappear altogether from Iraq, Afghanistan, and Egypt.”

Ongoing reports from the Islamic world certainly support this conclusion. Iraq was the earliest indicator of the fate awaiting Christians once Islamic forces are liberated from the grip of dictators.

In 2003, Iraq’s Christian population was at least one million. Today fewer than 400,000 remain—the result of an anti-Christian campaign that began with the U.S. occupation of Iraq, when countless Christian churches were bombed and countless Christians killed, including by crucifixion and beheading.

The 2010 Baghdad church attack, which saw nearly 60 Christian worshippers slaughtered, is the tip of a decade-long iceberg.

Now as the U.S. supports the jihad on secular president Assad, the same pattern has come to Syria: entire regions and towns where Christians lived centuries before Islam came into being have now been emptied, as the opposition targets Christians for kidnapping, plundering, and beheadings, all in compliance with mosque calls that it’s a “sacred duty” to drive Christians away.

In October 2012 the last Christian in the city of Homs—which had a Christian population of some 80,000 before jihadis came—was murdered. One teenage Syrian girl said: “We left because they were trying to kill us… because we were Christians…. Those who were our neighbors turned against us. At the end, when we ran away, we went through balconies. We did not even dare go out on the street in front of our house.”

In Egypt, some 100,000 Christian Copts have fled their homeland soon after the “Arab Spring.” In September 2012, the Sinai’s small Christian community was attacked and evicted by al-Qaeda linked Muslims, Reuters reported.

But even before that, the Coptic Orthodox Church lamented the “repeated incidents of displacement of Copts from their homes, whether by force or threat. Displacements began in Ameriya [62 Christian families evicted], then they stretched to Dahshur [120 Christian families evicted], and today terror and threats have reached the hearts and souls of our Coptic children in Sinai.”

Iraq, Syria, and Egypt are the Arab world. But even in “black” African and “white” European nations with Muslim majorities, Christians are fleeing...

Imprisoned for spreading Christianity, now he is being denied necessary medical care by believers in the Religion of Peace and Tolerance. The Islamic Republic of Iran seems to be rife with Misunderstanders of Islam's peaceful teachings (which we must believe exist on pain of charges of "Islamophobia") -- now, why is that?

"One of the Christian Prisoners in Shiraz in Critical Health Condition," from Mohabat News, May 8:

One of the Christian prisoners in Adel-Abad prison in Shiraz is in critical health condition, suffering from a lack of much needed medical care.

According to Mohabat News correspondents, Vahid Hakkani, a Christian prisoner in Shiraz, is suffering from internal bleeding of his digestive system. As told by doctors in prison, he needs surgery urgently. However, prison officials do not seem to care and have not taken any action to accommodate his transfer to a hospital for the much needed surgery. Mr. Hakkani's condition has been reported as critical.

Unfortunately, prisoners of the ward known as "Ebrat" (meaning edification), Mr. Hakkani being among them, are not given even minimum care and time to get fresh air. This has caused physical and mental difficulties for many of them. The ward is especially dedicated to prisoners of conscience.

Also, because these prisoners are taken to medical centers with their hands and feet chained and are humiliated, they do not readily express personal interest to be transferred to hospital.

Mr. Hakkani, together with Mojtaba Seyyed-Alaedin Hossein, Mohammad-Reza Partoei (also known as Koroush), and Homayoun Shokouhi, were arrested as they gathered for worship in a house church on February 8, 2012. The security authorities arrested them as well as a number of other Christian believers in attendance for participating in house-church services, evangelizing and promoting Christianity, having contact with foreign Christian ministries, propagating against the regime and disturbing national security.

According to the report, although it is one year since these four Christian converts where arrested, they are still in an uncertain situation, awaiting the decision of the court.

The Islamic regime of Iran has been restricting and pressuring political prisoners and prisoners of conscience both mentally and physically, causing illness for them. They don't stop there but make the situation even more difficult by delaying or denying medical care for them.

Muslim persecution of Christians spreads in Tanzania. "Tanzania police: 4 Saudis arrested after blast," from the Associated Press, May 6 (thanks to Andrew Bostom):

ZANZIBAR, Tanzania (AP) — A police commander in Tanzania says four Saudi Arabian citizens have been arrested following a bomb attack on a Catholic church.

Magesa Mulogo said Monday that the four Saudi nationals were among six people arrested.

Mulongo said two people died in Sunday's bombing of a newly opened church in the northern city of Arusha. Nearly four dozen people were wounded in the blast just before the church's inaugural Mass, which was attended by the pope's envoy to Tanzania.

Mulogo said eyewitnesses reported that the bomb was thrown from a motorcycle into the church. Mulogo said the driver of the motorcycle is among those arrested.

This is a demonstration of how effective the much-ballyhooed Saudi deprogramming of jihadists really is. Supposedly the Saudis show the jihadists how they're misunderstanding Islam -- yet Khalid al-Suwid is not the first recidivist to return to misunderstanding the Religion of Peace even after having been shown the Straight Path.

"Saudis Try to Quell Jihadists," by Ellen Knickmeyer in the Wall Street Journal, May 3 (thanks to Jerk Chicken):

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia—After spending two years in Saudi prison for fighting in Iraq, Khalid al-Suwid graduated in 2012, a free man, from the kingdom's well-regarded rehabilitation program for religious extremists, Saudi officials said. Mr. Suwid was a government-certified ex-jihadist.

Mr. Suwid turned up again in a photo released in mid-March, smiling, holding an assault rifle and wearing what appeared to be a bomb vest. It was a so-called martyrdom notice, announcing his death in Syria.

Mr. Suwid "killed a large number of Christians before his acceptance by God," said the notice, which appeared on a Facebook FB -2.27% page—"Foreigners in theSyrian [sic] Revolution"—that anonymously records and lauds foreigners killed fighting Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad.

The battle by Syria's Sunni majority against the Shiite-linked Assad regime has drawn more men from Saudi Arabia to Syria than any country except Libya and Tunisia, said analyst Aaron Zelin of the Washington Institute, a think tank.

But for Saudi Arabia's monarchy, Syria's pull to jihad is creating tensions and risks linked to its recent past.

During the 1980s Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, and later in Bosnia, Chechnya and other conflicts, Saudi Arabia encouraged jihad to promote the kingdom's legitimacy as a champion of Muslims world-wide. Some analysts said it also was aimed deflecting internal tensions at home.

That began to change by 2003, after Saudi members of al Qaeda returned home from foreign wars to launch a bloody campaign against the Saudi monarchy, which the jihadists saw as beholden to the West.

Within several years, the monarchy's security forces had crushed the insurgency. Now the Syria conflict is exposing rifts and contradictions within the kingdom over its tradition of aiding beleaguered foreign Muslims.

"There are tensions…between some elite decision makers over how best to deal with the Syrian issue," said Michael Stephens, a regional researcher at the British Royal United Services Institute think tank in Qatar. "It is clear some princes favor an activist approach that involves increased support for Islamist groups in Syria, while other princes remain concerned over the…undermining of Saudi's internal security."

Syrian rebels and Arab officials say Saudi Arabia has shipped arms and aid to the Syrian opposition, though the Saudi government hasn't confirmed or denied such reports.

But top Saudi government officials and religious leaders are ordering its citizens to stay home, telling them instead to send money and prayers to Syria's rebels.

"Involvement in the Syrian conflict is against Saudi laws," Maj. Gen. Mansour al-Turki told reporters in Riyadh in late March. Saudis will be arrested whether they are caught coming or going from fighting in Syria, he said.

But some Saudis say the government's message is mixed. "Sometimes the government says not to go fight, and acts on it," said Abdulrahman al-Talq, a resident of the religiously conservative central Saudi city of Buraidah. Other times, he said, the message is muddled.

Mr. Talq said his son traveled to Syria last year following the young man's arrest for taking part in a demonstration. A local judge had suspended the son's sentence then encouraged him to go to Syria, Mr. Talq said. The father said his son died there in December.

Buraidah has a reputation of sending its sons off for jihad to countries including Bosnia, Afghanistan and Iraq. When local men go to Friday sermons these days, though, they hear conflicting messages from the clerics.

"Some say, 'Help the Sunni, and Syria, and destroy the Shias,' " said Fawzan al-Harbi, a Buraidah native.

In other mosques, Mr. Harbi said, he hears Buraidah's imans counsel Saudis to let Syrians fight among themselves....

Where is the international "human rights" community? "Syria Orthodox Easter marred by bishops in captivity," from AFP, May 3:

AFP - Syria's Greek Orthodox faithful bore a heavy cross on Friday as they marked the crucifixion of Christ, their country ravaged by two years of war and two of their bishops missing after being kidnapped by unknown gunmen.

Good Friday is a day when even the least pious tend to join in its solemn prayers and processions, but churches in Syria's capital, no longer safe from car bombings and mortar attacks, are unlikely to be full this year.

That was already the case on Holy Thursday, when streets leading to churches were blocked off and security forces out in numbers to protect the places of worship that one resident said were only sparsely visited.

"I won't dare go to church tonight," sighs Shaza, a mother who lives in the predominantly Christian and Druze neighbourhood of Jaramana, lamenting that her children will miss the traditional parade by Scouts, which has been cancelled....

As the war between the regime of Bashar al-Assad and rebels fighting to oust the president gains pace, Orthodox in Syria are also praying for the safe return of Boulos Yazigi, metropolitan bishop of the northern city of Aleppo and brother of Yuhanna X Yazigi, their patriarch.

Yazigi and Aleppo's Syriac Orthodox bishop, Yuhanna Ibrahim, were kidnapped by unknown gunmen on April 22 as they were returning home from a trip to Turkey. Their driver, a Syriac Orthodox deacon, and another passenger were forced out of the car and the driver murdered, shot in the head.

Their whereabouts and fate is still unknown in a country where Christian clerics have been murdered, but where kidnapping for ransom is also rife.

In October, Greek Orthodox Father Fady al-Haddad was seized and killed in Damascus province as he was trying to negotiate the release of a Christian doctor who had been kidnapped....

Patriarch Yuhanna has announced that this Easter he will not receive traditional greetings from the faithful.

Antoine, a 47-year-old doctor, said the "atmosphere is sad. For the third year we will be celebrating Easter with sadness, because the country is bleeding."

"We will pray for their return," he said, adding that Good Friday prayers would be dedicated to them.

"We believe in the resurrection (of Christ) and also that of Syria."...

While some may have fled the country and others are contemplating to leave, student Roula Salam, who lives in the central city of Homs, is defiant.

"Christians will remain despite all the hardships endured and everything used to chase us out," she said, pointing out that Christian roots in Syria date back to the beginning of the faith, 2,000 years ago.

Will the Islamophobia never end? "20 dead in Muslim attack on Christian funeral,," from The Commentator, May 4 (thanks to Raheem):

At least 20 people have been murdered in a violent attack on a Christian funeral in central Nigeria's Taraba state on Friday. A round-the-clock curfew is now in place as a result of the "Muslim mob" action, according to a report by the Agence France Presse.

An aid worker told the AFP, "We have recovered 20 bodies from the violence so far," adding that the unrest had occurred in the town of Wukari, some 125 miles from the state capital Jalingo.

"We are still going round the town in search of more bodies," he said on condition of anonymity. AFP reports that the source was not authorised to speak to the media about death tolls.

A curfew has been imposed in the area, said officials, in an effort to contain the violence.

Residents reported that Friday's violence erupted when the funeral procession of a traditional chief from the predominantly Christian Jukun ethnic group marched through a Muslim neighbourhood chanting slogans, which Muslims viewed as an act of provocation....

And murdering 20 people was just the apposite response, apparently.

What he means is that the Christians are properly dhimmis -- that is, the subjugated people under the rule of the Muslims. But the Copts have come out with weapons, and are thus in rebellion against their Muslim masters. In that case, their "contract of protection" (dhimma) that allows them to live in the Islamic state as long as they accept the denial of basic rights is forfeit, and according to Islamic law they can lawfully be killed.

"You Can 'Kill Some Christians Today,' Says Egypt's Secretary-General of Islamic Jihad Party," from MidEast Christian News, May 2 (thanks to Jerk Chicken):

Mohamed Abu Samra, secretary-general of the Islamic Jihad Party, made the claim that "it is permissible to kill some Christians today," then gave his argument defending such a position.

He justified this announcement by saying: "Those who came out with weapons, their blood is allowed for us [to spill], as a fighter is not considered dhimmi."

Dhimma is the Islamic law that specifies non-Muslims are to be protected residents within the Islamic state in exchange for taxes.

"In the recent funeral, the Christians brought the Qur'an and urinated on it.

Oh yeah, I'm sure that happened.

The Sheikh of Al-Azhar did not deny it. They also came out in demonstrations to destroy Muslim places, chanting 'We'll bring Islam down by any means possible,'" Samra said during an interview with Egyptian newspaper Al-Watan on Wednesday.

"Jihad gagged the new pope, as we told him in a statement 'your seclusion will not terrorize us.' If you want civil war, we will welcome it as you were the ones who started it," Samra said.

"I believe that Pope Tawadros is more dangerous than Shenouda, because the former considers using force as he is trying to establish a Coptic state. He considers the arrival of the Islamists an opportunity to declare civil war," Samra continued. "I believe that offering concessions to this person will make him continue on the path, which he charted, but the end will not be as he expects. Egypt is not like Lebanon or Southeast Asia, and national unity is a fact [here]."

"What Tawadros is doing is a far cry from what the Coptic people want," he added.

Samra stated to the newspaper that the Church stands behind the organization "Black Bloc," and that the "Tayyiban Battalion," which he claimed was formed under the late Pope Shenouda III under the cover of scouting, was trained in Lebanon and participated in the Lebanese civil war.

H.H Pope Tawadros II has not responded to such accusations. As for the claims of the Church supporting Black Bloc or its origins, there is no evidence for such and the scouting groups of the Church are responsible for church organization during prayers and did not receive any training in Lebanon.