Month: August 2009


  • Iranian Christian women refuse to recant faith

    Two female Christian converts from Islam are defying an order to recant their faith issued by Tehran’s revolutionary court on Sunday.

    Posted: Wednesday, August 12, 2009, 8:51 (BST)


    Maryam Rostampour, 27, and Marzieh Amirizadeh, 30, are said to have been returned to Evin prison, where they have been held since 5 March without charge, Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) reports.

    The women were arrested by Iranian security officers on 5 March after their apartment was searched and their Bibles confiscated. Neither women have committed a crime as defined under Iranian or international law.

    No verdict was given at the end of last week’s hearing according to Elam Ministries, although various reports indicate that the women have been threatened with apostasy charges.

    Apostates - Muslims who convert to another religion - often face arbitrary arrest, indefinite detention and a host of other serious human rights abuses in Iran.

    A member of the Iranian church in London told Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW): “These are two adults who have decided to follow Jesus Christ and they have been treated very cruelly. It is completely unjustifiable. 

    “The world should demand that Maryam and Marzieh should be free to follow the faith of the historic Christian Church, the faith of the apostles and the church fathers.”

    CSW’s Advocacy Director Tina Lambert said: “CSW is urgently calling on the international community to demand the immediate release of Maryam and Marzieh. These innocent women have been unjustly kept in solitary confinement and subjected to harsh interrogation despite suffering from ill health. 

    “They are held solely on the basis of exercising their most basic right, freedom of thought, conscience and belief. Our concerns for them are heightened by the current volatility in Iran, evidenced by scores of unlawful detentions and gross human rights abuses”.


  • Nigerian Christians lament lack of international concern over bloodshed

    Christians in the northern Nigerian city of Maiduguri are expressing increasing dismay at what they perceive as a lack of international concern for the suffering of their communities, reports Christian Solidarity Worldwide.

    Christians in the northern Nigerian city of Maiduguri are expressing increasing dismay at what they perceive as a lack of international concern for the suffering of their communities, reports Christian Solidarity Worldwide. 


    During last week’s violence, Islamist Boko Haram militants attacked both Government and Christian targets, killing individuals and taking many civilians captive for possible use as human shields against government forces besieging their compound in Maiduguri's Railway District. 

    Once in the camp, male captives were given a choice between conversion to Islam or death, while women and girls were kept on as hostages. Survivors of the siege informed CSW sources that the Boko Haram leader, Yusuf Mohammed, personally oversaw the forcible Islamisation of hostages, and the execution of anyone who refused to convert. 

    Maiduguri's Good News Church held a memorial service for one of the hostages on Wednesday. Pastor George Orji was beheaded in the Boko Haram compound, and his body was buried in a mass grave there. He leaves behind a pregnant wife and two children aged two and four. 

    Over 800 people are now officially estimated to have died in last week's violence. CSW sources also report that a total of 20 churches were destroyed during the violence. 

    Archbishop of Jos, Benjamin Kwashi said: "It is unfortunate that the mayhem unleashed on the church is systematically downplayed in the media. The first victim was the ecclesia, which was subjugated and sacrificed prior to any attack on the establishment, yet no report is pointing to Christians as the number one target before all others. We will continue to speak out."

    There are growing concerns that the furore surrounding the death of the Boko Haram leader may be obscuring the suffering inflicted by the sect on northern civilians, and may eventually raise him to iconic status. Yusuf Mohamed was reportedly killed in questionable circumstances on July 30 while in police custody. Local sources report that pictures purportedly of his bullet-riddled corpse show one of his arms was practically amputated by gunshots. 

    Tina Lambert, CSW’s Advocacy Director said: “We are disturbed by indications that the Boko Haram leader may have been killed extra-judicially. 

    "A full investigation into this claim is needed but it is vital that this does not inadvertently obscure or detract from the appalling nature of the crimes committed by this sect against innocent civilians. 

    "There is an urgent need to assist and compensate the deeply traumatised victims, and for action to ensure a definitive end to the cycle of deadly religious violence in Northern and central Nigeria."