Islamic Forced Conversions – Past And Present: ‘The Lost History Of Christians Forced To Convert To Islam – Or Die – Is Reemerging, Figuratively And Literally’

Revelation 13:15, “The second beast was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that the image could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed.”

By Raymond Ibrahim, The Blaze – “The lost history of Christians forced to convert to Islam—or die—is reemerging, figuratively and literally. According to the BBC: ‘Pope Francis has proclaimed the first saints of his pontificate in a ceremony [last Sunday] 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.’

The BBC adds in a sidebar: ‘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.’

Historical texts throughout the centuries are filled with similar anecdotes, including the ’60 Martyrs of Gaza,’ Christian soldiers who were executed for refusing Islam during the 7^th century Islamic invasion of Jerusalem. Seven centuries later, during the Islamic invasion of Georgia, Christians refusing to convert were forced into their church and set on fire. Witnesses for Christ lists 200 anecdotes of Christians killed—including some burned at the stake, thrown on iron spikes, dismembered, stoned, stabbed, shot at, drowned, pummeled to death, impaled and crucified—for refusing to embrace Islam.

If history is shocking, the fact is, today, Christians—men, women, and children—are still being forced to convert to Islam.  Pope Francis alluded to their sufferings during the same ceremony: ‘As we venerate the martyrs of Otranto, let us ask God to sustain those many Christians who, in these times and in many parts of the world, right now, still suffer violence, and give them the courage and fidelity to respond to evil with good.’

Consider some recent anecdotes:

In Pakistan, a ‘devoted Christian’ was butchered by Muslim men ‘with multiple axe blows [24 per autopsy] for refusing to convert to Islam.’ Another two Christian men returning from church were accosted by six Muslims who tried to force them to convert to Islam, but ‘the two refused to renounce Christianity.’ Accordingly, the Muslims severely beat them, yelling they must either convert ‘or be prepared to die. . . . the two Christians fell unconscious, and the young Muslim men left assuming they had killed them.’

In Bangladesh some 300 Christian children were abducted in 2012 and sold to Islamic schools, where ‘imams force them to abjure Christianity.’  The children are then instructed in Islam and beaten. After full indoctrination they are asked if they are ‘ready to give their lives for Islam,’ presumably by becoming jihadi suicide-bombers.  (Even here the historic patterns are undeniable: for centuries, Christian children were

Yemen: Austrian Hostage Held For Months Forced To Convert To Islam At Gunpoint

Qur’an Sura 9:5,11, “… fight and slay the Pagans [non-Muslims] wherever ye find them, and seize them, beleaguer them, and lie in wait for them in every stratagem (of war) … But if they repent and establish worship [of Allah] … then [they are] your brethren in religion [Islam] …”

Revelation 13:15, “The second beast was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that the image could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed.”

Gulf News – “Vienna: An Austrian man held hostage for five months in Yemen said he was kept in permanent darkness in a room too small to stand up in and was forced to convert to Islam at gunpoint.

At one point, Dominik Neubaur told Austrian magazine News, he was taken out for what he thought would be his execution — but believed he was spared after he recited verses from the Quran.

‘I heard a weapon being loaded and felt its muzzle on the back of my head,’ he said his first interview since his release a week ago.

Neubaur, a 26-year-old student of Arabic, and the Finns were kidnapped by tribesmen in Sanaa on December 21, and were later sold to Al Qaida, according to the Yemeni government. The three were freed on May 9.

The Austrian said he did not know how his release had come about. Both Austria and Finland have denied paying a ransom.

Austrian media has however claimed that Oman, which negotiated the release, paid close to $50 million in ransom. Omani authorities have not commented on the matter.

The three hostages disappeared from view after their capture until a video appeared on YouTube in February in which Neubaur, with a rifle pointed at his head, said he would be killed if ransom money were not paid to a Yemeni tribe within a week.

Neubaur said he believed he was taken out to be killed when that deadline expired …” Read more.

Flashback: Islamists Vow To Continue Killing Those Who Do Not Worship Allah – “Somalia militia group Al-Shabaab has claimed responsibility for Sunday’s twin attacks on two churches in Garissa County that left 17 people dead… An Al-Shabaab loyalist Sheikh Hassan Takar said that the militia killed people who did not profess allegiance to Allah. ‘The mujahedeen (holy warriors) punished with their hands those believing and worshipping other than Allah,’ he said. ‘The militants will continue until such practice is eliminated.’ He added” Read more.

Nigeria: Suspected Islamists Follow Christian Pastor Home From Church, Shoot Him Dead In Front Of Daughter

For peaceful purposes …

Matthew 16:25b, “… whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.”

Morning Star News – “Gunmen believed to be members of the Islamic extremist Boko Haram group yesterday killed the Rev. Faye Pama Musa, secretary of the Borno state chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN). He was 47.

The gunmen reportedly followed the long-time Christian leader from his church building, where he was holding an evening Bible study, to his house in the Government Reservation Area in Maiduguri, and shot him dead there, said the Rev. Titus Dama Pona, chairman of CAN’s Borno chapter.

‘Rev. Faye Pama was killed last light,’ Pona said this morning by phone from Maiduguri, the state capital. ‘I am right now with his family, and they are still consulting on what next to do.’

The assailants reportedly dragged the pastor from his home and shot him outside, in front of this daughter, who had followed them out pleading for his life. Pama was the father of three children.

Senior pastor of a Pentecostal church, Rhema Assembly, Pama often spoke out against persecution of Christians in Borno state, epicenter of Boko Haram attacks in northeastern Nigeria. He had been involved in ministry leadership for more than 26 years.

The shooting happened within an hour of President Goodluck Jonathan declaring a state of emergency in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states, allowing the government to send more troops and take other special measures to try curbing violence by Boko Haram. The group has reportedly killed more than 4,000 persons since 2009, and the state of emergency comes after a gun battle between the military and Boko Haram in Baga, Borno state last month that some say took more than 100 civilian lives.” Read more.

Lawlessness: Nigerian President Declares State Of Emergency As Entire Villages, Towns Across Northeast Now Controlled By Islamists – “Admitting Islamic extremists now control some of his nation’s villages and towns, Nigeria’s president declared a state of emergency Tuesday across the country’s troubled northeast, promising to send more troops to fight what he said is now an open rebellion. President Goodluck Jonathan, speaking live on state radio and television networks, also warned that any building suspected to house Islamic extremists would be taken over in what he described as the ‘war’ now facing Africa’s most populous nation. However, it’s unclear what the emergency powers will do to halt the violence, as a similar past effort failed to stop the bloodshed.” Read more.

‘Growing Insecurity’: Christian Priest Violently Attacked By Muslim In France, Archbishop Denounces Muslims Taking Control Of District

By Le Dauphine via Islam verses Europe – “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 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.’

Meanwhile, politicians have not been slow to react.

The mayor of Avignon Marie-Josée Roig (UMP) said he was ‘dismayed by this indescribable act’, recalling that ‘our republican compact cannot tolerate such violent acts perpetrated by some who have an unbearable sense of impunity’. the deputy mayor of Orange Jacques Bompard (Ligue du Sud) [League of the South] calls it an ‘act of racism (in the sense of the penal code) with regard to a Catholic priest, which is also the consequence of the hatred which a certain Islamism propagates with regards to everything that is French and Christian.’” Source – Islam verses Europe.

• Flashback: The Islamization Of France In 2012
• Flashback: France Seeks To Reclaim Muslim ‘No-Go’ Zones
• Flashback: France Sees ‘Shocking Surge’ in Anti-Semitic Violence
• Flashback: France: Muslim Man Attacks, Stabs Rabbi And His Son In Paris
• Flashback: Imams’ Indoctrinating French Muslims With Culture Of Hate, Racism
• Flashback: France: Muslim Mobs Burn Nearly 1,200 Cars On New Year’s Eve
• Flashback: France: Christian Church Vandalised With Graffiti, ‘Islam Is Growing In Power’
• Flashback: France: Gunman Claiming Associations With Al-Qaeda Kills Three During Random Shooting Spree In Southern Town

Christian Homes Torched, Churches Threatened As Violent Islamists In Bangladesh Call For The Killing Of All Non-Muslims

Qur’an Sura 9:123, “O ye who believe! Fight those of the disbelievers who are near to you, and let them find harshness in you …”

Qur’an Sura 8:12b, “… terrorize and behead those who believe in scriptures other than the Qur’an.”

Barnabas Aid – “Barnabas Aid has received requests for prayer and practical help from Christian leaders in Bangladesh as the Church is endangered by a violent uprising by Islamists who are demanding that the country become an Islamic state.

Christian homes have been torched and churches threatened as increasingly volatile protests have rocked the country.

Scores of people have been killed in the clashes, which erupted in February. At least 37 died earlier this week as police tried to quash protests in the capital, Dhaka, where 70,000 Islamist demonstrators took to the streets on Sunday (5 May), calling for the introduction of an anti-blasphemy law.

This was the deadline that one Islamist group, Hefazat e-Islam Bangladesh (HIB), had given the government to implement its demands, which include sharia rule, virtual segregation of women and the death sentence for those who insult Islam or Muhammad.

An anti-blasphemy law would be disastrous for Christians in Bangladesh. Their counterparts in Pakistan suffer grievously as a result of the blasphemy laws there, under which they are vulnerable to malicious, false accusation. Devotion to Muhammad is a particular feature of South Asian Islam, and the Pakistani law specifies a death sentence for anyone who insults him.

Jama’at-e-Islami (JI), the largest Islamist political party in Bangladesh, has threatened to ‘kill all the Malauns [infidels]‘. Muslims view Christians and other non-Muslims as ‘infidels’.” Read more.

• Flashback: Christian In Bangladesh Goes To Prison For Evangelism
• Flashback: Bangladesh: Hundreds Of Christian Children Abducted And Forcibly Converted To Islam
• Flashback: Bangladesh: Three American Missionaries Attacked by Muslim Mob, Accused of Converting Muslims into Christians
• Flashback: Bangladesh: Muslim Teacher Burns Children’s Legs With Hot Iron Rods After Learning They Didn’t Pray Regularly During Vacation

Destruction: Muslim Mobs Attacking Christian-Owned Businesses And Pharmacies In Northern Egypt

Revelation 13:16-17, “Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name.” (ESV)

The Christian Post – “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.” Read more.

Flashback: Egypt: If You Don’t Repeat the Islamic Statement of Faith, You May Not Be Able to Buy From Muslim Stores – “A friend from Egypt, who lives in Cairo says that she is regularly greeted in Muslim places of business with ‘lā ilāha illà l-Lāh, Muḥammadun rasūlu l-Lāh’ (There is no God other than Allah, and Muhammad is his messenger). If she does not respond in kind, she is asked to leave.” Read more.

Flashback: Media To Muslims: Do Not Buy Or Sell To Christians – “Christians in Egypt are currently experiencing their worst time in recent centuries… Christians are being violently killed under the eyes of the international media… churches are being systematically burned and destroyed. The police are taking no action… Problems are also experienced in day-to-day life because calls are often made in the media not to buy from Christian merchants or to sell anything to Christians. Businessmen are therefore faced with a struggle for economic survival. Christians are indirectly excluded from employment…” Read more.

Flashback: Islamists Destroy Christian Businesses In Iraq: ‘If Anyone Decides to Reopen His Store, We Will Kill Him’ – “… [T]he managers [of Christian businesses] have received threatening letters, which state that the exercise ‘will be blown up.’ The attacks are the result of a ‘campaign’ that targets ‘all that is contrary to Shariah,’ promoted by Islamists who want to radicalize the country. Unfortunately, the source adds, there is no ‘moderate movement’ capable of containing the fundamentalist drift.” Read more.

Lawlessness: Nigerian President Declares State Of Emergency As Entire Villages, Towns Across Northeast Now Controlled By Islamists

2 Thessalonians 2:1a,3, “Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him … that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction …”

President Goodluck Jonathan

By JON GAMBRELL, Associated Press – “LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — Admitting Islamic extremists now control some of his nation’s villages and towns, Nigeria’s president declared a state of emergency Tuesday across the country’s troubled northeast, promising to send more troops to fight what he said is now an open rebellion.

President Goodluck Jonathan, speaking live on state radio and television networks, also warned that any building suspected to house Islamic extremists would be taken over in what he described as the ‘war’ now facing Africa’s most populous nation. However, it’s unclear what the emergency powers will do to halt the violence, as a similar past effort failed to stop the bloodshed.

‘It would appear that there is a systematic effort by insurgents and terrorists to destabilize the Nigerian state and test our collective resolve,’ Jonathan said.

Jonathan said the order will be in force in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states. He said the states would receive more troops, though he will not remove state politicians from their posts. Under Nigerian law, the president has the power to remove politicians from their posts and install a caretaker government in emergency circumstances.

The president’s speech offered the starkest vision of the ongoing violence, often downplayed by security forces and government officials due to political considerations. Jonathan described the attacks as a ‘rebellion,’ at one point describing how fighters had destroyed government buildings and ‘had taken women and children as hostages.’

‘Already, some northern parts of Borno state have been taken over by groups whose allegiance are to different flags than Nigeria’s,’ Jonathan said.

The president later added: ‘These actions amount to a declaration of war and a deliberate attempt to undermine the authority of the Nigerian state and threaten (its) territorial integrity. As a responsible government, we will not tolerate this.’” Read more.

Flashback: Nigerian President Warns The End Times May Be Near After Islamists Massacre More Christians Attending Church – “In another deadly move portraying Nigeria’s Borno state as a killing field for Nigerian Christians, attackers have stormed a church service in Kiyak village in the outskirts of Chibok, killing another set of 15 worshippers. It was the second major killing of Christians in the Chibok area. Early in December, 10 Christians were also killed in the area… News of the killings emerged after President Goodluck Jonathan questioned whether deadly Islamist attacks on churches in his country and other violence worldwide could be signs of coming ‘end times’… The attack followed another gruesome killing Friday that saw attackers slit the throats of 15 Christians in a pre-dawn raid in Musari …” Read more.

Flashback: ‘The New Killing Fields For Christians’: Islamists In Nigeria Burn Pastor’s Family To Death Along With 50 Church Members – “Reports disclosed that over 100 people were killed by armed terrorists this past week, who went on a 12-village killing spree in Nigeria’s Plateau state. Islamic extremist group Boko Haram has once again taken responsibility for the assaults. While different sources shared various reports of the numbers who lost their lives last week in the latest assault on Christians, which have been occurring on a weekly basis for many months in Nigeria, a story last week by the Baptist Press confirmed that about 50 members of the Church of Christ in Nigeria in the village of Maseh were burned alive after they took refuge in their pastor’s house following a terrorist raid.” Read more.

Anti-Christian Hostility Behind Islamist Killing Spree In Nigeria

Samuel Bitrus, one of 14 Christians killed in Islamist attack.

Morning Star News – “Anti-Christian hostility drove an Islamic extremist killing spree in this village in northeastern Nigeria, though the attack was portrayed mainly as politically motivated, an area Christian leader says.

In the course of an attempt to attack the deputy governor of Adamawa state last month, gunmen from the Islamic extremist group Boko Haram killed 14 Christians, including the cousin and two nephews of the Rev. Moses Thliza, head of a Christian organization dedicated to preventing AIDS and caring for AIDS patients and orphans.

‘My cousin, Bulus Buba, was dragged out at gunpoint from his house by the Boko Haram members,’ Thliza told Morning Star News. ‘They collected his car keys, demanded money and asked him three times to renounce his Christian faith, and three times he declined to do so.’

Thliza’s two slain nephews were skilled volunteers at the organization he heads, Christian Faithful Fight AIDS in Nigeria (CFFAN), and their passing has left huge gaps in the organization, he said. CFFAN’s work centers on AIDS prevention, care of orphans and treatment of those infected with HIV and AIDS, as well as training of pastors. The organization provides services in Plateau, Gombe, Taraba, Adamawa and Borno states.

Thliza and another eyewitness, Usumam Ijarafu, said about 30 of the masked attackers – identified in local press reports as members of Boko Haram – arrived in two vans in Adamawa state’s Midlu Shalmi village, in the Madagali Local Government Area, at about 1:40 a.m. on April 7 and set upon a Church of the Brethren Church (EYN) building. Over the next three hours, they also attacked the residence of the deputy governor of Adamawa state in the village and a house where Christians were mourning at a wake.

‘They also went the pastor’s house of our [EYN] church in the village, where on sensing that armed men had stormed the church, the pastor escaped, but the attackers held his wife, Shuwa Ishaya, at gunpoint,’ Thliza said.

The gunmen ordered her to lead them to the house of the church treasurer, but as they approached, he too escaped from his home, Thliza said. The Islamic extremists then proceeded to the house of state Deputy Gov. Bala James Nggillari, where they killed two guards keeping watch and held a third at gunpoint.” Read more.

Flashback: Nigeria: Islamists Pull Over Bus Near Maiduguri, Kill All Christian Passengers, Embark On Door-To-Door ‘Islamisation Campaign’ At Gunpoint - “… gunmen pulled over a bus near Maiduguri on Saturday, demanded passengers declare their faith and then killed the six people who said they were Christian. Meanwhile, in Gwoza, also in Borno state, Islamists are reported to have embarked upon an ‘Islamisation campaign’. Stefanos reports that gunmen are going from door to door demanding people profess allegiance to Islam at gunpoint.” Read more.

Iran: Pastor, Wife And Church Workers Sent To Prison For Converting To Christianity And Spreading The Gospel

Christian Today – “An Iranian Assemblies of God (AOG) pastor, his wife and two church workers have been returned to jail after their one year sentences for converting to Christianity and ‘propagation against the Islamic regime through evangelism’ were upheld by a High Court on 1 May.

Pastor Farhad Sabokrooh, his wife Shahnaz Jayzan and church workers Naser Zaman-Dezfuli and Davoud Alijani were initially arrested in December 2011, after authorities in the southern town of Ahwaz raided their church’s Christmas celebrations and detained everyone in the building, including children attending Sunday School.

According to Iranian agency Mohabat News, all four were charged with ‘converting to Christianity and propagating against the Islamic Republic through evangelism’, and were each sentenced to one year in prison by the Revolutionary Court in Ahwaz. They were temporarily released, but were summoned to court on 1 May 2013 and re-arrested. Mr Alijani was transferred to Ahwaz’s Karoon Prison to complete his sentence, while Pastor Sabokrooh, Shahnaz Jayzan and Mr Zaman-Dezfuli were taken to Sepidar Prison.

Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) has also been informed that Mostafa Bordbar, a Christian arrested in Tehran in December 2012 and whose case details were obscure, is now confirmed to be detained in Ward 350 of Evin Prison, along with Church of Iran member Alireza Seyyedian and AOG Pastors Farshid Fathi and Saeed Abedini. Pastor Abedini, who had been placed in solitary confinement for taking part in a peaceful protest against prison conditions, has now been returned to Ward 350 after being taken to hospital this week following a further deterioration in his health.

Mohabat News reports that a Christian prisoner in Adel-Abad Prison in Shiraz is in urgent need of medical attention. Vahid Hakkani, who was arrested in February 2012 along with eight others during a raid on a prayer meeting, is reported to be suffering from internal bleeding and has been informed by prison doctors that he needs surgery urgently, but so far this has not occurred.” Read more.

Christian Prisoner In Critical Condition, Denied Medical Attention – “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.” Read more.

Canada: Turkish Muslim Groups Celebrate Genocide Of Armenian Christians

While the French take measures to acknowledge the history of Turkey’s genocide of an estimated 1.5 million Armenian Christians, Turkish Muslims would rather rewrite it. You know what they say about those who ignore history …

By Robert Spencer, Jihad Watch – “What illness has overtaken these people?

‘Turkish-Canadian Groups Celebrate Armenian Genocide,’ from the Armenian Youth Federation of Canada, April 24 (thanks to Garabed):

OTTAWA – The annual Armenian Genocide Memorial Day protest in front of the Turkish embassy was met with 50 Turkish-Canadian counter-protesters denying the well-established actuality of the Armenian Genocide. The group quickly turned to singing and jubilant chanting at the face of the Armenians.

Further to this shameful act, the group was clearly attempting to incite a confrontation with their Armenian counterparts to undermine the annual gathering. Repeated name calling and general insults towards the Armenians could be heard from across the barrier.The Armenian group chose to ignore this immature and reprehensible behavior and kept their focus on the Turkish embassy demanding an end to the Turkish government’s denial campaign around the world and acknowledge the dark chapter from its past.

The Armenian Genocide is the first modern genocide of the 20th century, during which an estimated 1.5 million Armenians were killed by the Ottoman Empire leadership in an attempt to rid it’s Christian minority. Countless international organizations, scholars (such as the International Association of Genocide Scholars) and 22 countries have formally recognized these massacres during World War One as Genocide. The Canadian parliament passed a motion in 2004 acknowledging the Armenian Genocide and condemned these crimes against humanity.

Police officers present were questioned about the Turkish group’s permit to gather and answered that the Turkish group had applied for a barbeque party permit in the park.

Afterwards, the Turkish group was invited into the Turkish embassy by Ambassador Tuncay Babali. In an attempt to undermine Canada’s domestic policies, the ambassador recently held an interview with the Canadian Press indicating that Turkey will limit economic developments with Canada unless the government reverses its position on the Armenian Genocide.”

Source – Jihad Watch.

Saudi Arabia: Man Sentenced To Six Years In Prison And 300 Lashes For Encouraging Muslim To Convert To Christianity

For peaceful purposes …

AFP – “A Saudi court jailed a Lebanese man for six years and sentenced him to 300 lashes after convicting him of encouraging a Saudi woman to convert to Christianity, Saudi dailies reported Sunday.

The same court sentenced a Saudi man convicted in the same case to two years in prison and 200 lashes for having helped the young woman flee the ultra-conservative, US-backed Sunni kingdom, local daily Al-Watan said.

A court delivered the verdict in Khobar in the kingdom’s east, where the woman and the two accused worked for an insurance company.

The July 2012 case caused a stir in Saudi Arabia, which applies a strict version of Sharia that stipulates Muslims who convert to another religion must be sentenced to death.

The woman, known only as ‘the girl of Khobar,’ was granted refuge in Sweden where she lives under the protection of unspecified NGOs, according to local press reports.

She had appeared in a YouTube video last year in which she announced that she had chosen to convert to Christianity.” Read more.

Flashback: Saudi Arabia Arrests 53 Ethiopian Christians … For Behaving Like Christians – “Dozens of Ethiopian Christians, mostly women, have been detained in Saudi Arabia after attending a worship service in a private home, BosNewsLife learned Wednesday, February 13. The Christians – 46 women and six men including three church leaders – were arrested last Friday, February 8 … three church leaders – two of them women – were produced in an Islamic court in the eastern city of Dammam on charges of converting Muslims to Christianity.” Read more.

Flashback: Saudi Security Forces Raid Christian Prayer Meeting In Jeddah and Arrest 42 Christians, Many Beaten and Threatened With Death – “International Christian Concern (ICC) has learned that Saudi security forces arrested 42 Ethiopian Christians at a prayer gathering in Jeddah on Thursday… Christians in Saudi Arabia, most of who enter the country as foreign workers, are not allowed to practice their faith openly. Saudi police have been known to raid private worship gatherings in homes, arrest and deport congregants, and confiscate Christian materials, including Bibles.” Read more.

Flashback: Virtuous Saudi Police Raid House, Arrest Dozens Of Christians ‘Plotting To Celebrate Christmas’ – “The religious police in Saudi Arabia have raided a house in the Al Jawf Province and arrested 41 people, who were ‘plotting to celebrate Christmas,’ a police statement said… The ‘virtue and vice’ police, which enforce religious norms in the country, regularly launch crackdowns on Christians and Hindus living in Saudi Arabia. The attitude is encouraged by religious leaders, who justify the persecutions.” Read more.

Flashback: Exporting Terrorism: Saudis Distributing Anti-Christian And Anti-Jewish Textbooks Fueling Intolerance And Violence Around The Globe – “Textbooks used in Saudi Arabia’s schools contain virulent forms of anti-Christian and anti-Jewish bigotry that continue to fuel intolerance and violence around the globe, says a new report. The problem is far greater than the five million students in Saudi Arabia who use these texts every day … ‘[These textbooks] are posted on the Saudi Education Ministry’s website and are shipped and distributed free by a vast Saudi-sponsored Sunni infrastructure to many Muslim schools, mosques and libraries throughout the world… It is exporting terrorism through textbooks.” Read more.

The Crushing Of Middle Eastern Christianity, ‘The Full Magnitude Of The Horrific Christian Plight Is Largely Ignored’

By Richard L. Russell, Lebanon Wire – “Americans of all political stripes have embraced the promotion of democracy as a centerpiece of U.S. foreign policy. But this American democracy crusade has caused huge, and largely overlooked, collateral damage since the 9/11 Al Qaeda attacks against the United States in 2001. The fall of authoritarian regimes throughout the greater Middle East has fueled growing persecution of minority Christian communities. The Pew Research Center has charted extensive government restrictions on non-Muslim religions in numerous countries, including Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Iran, Tunisia, Syria, Yemen and Algeria. Pew also has gauged very high social hostilities in Pakistan, Iraq, Yemen, the Palestinian territories, Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

These government restrictions and social hostilities directed against Christians are causing many to flee the region. In the early twentieth century, Christians accounted for about 20 percent of the Middle East population, but now that figure is down to only 5 percent. In the aftermath of 9/11 and the ‘Arab Spring,’ Christian communities throughout the greater Middle East find themselves increasingly besieged. While the United States seems to notice bits and pieces of this picture, the full magnitude of the horrific Christian plight is largely ignored.

Sieges against Christians in Lands ‘Liberated’ by the American Military

A democracy enthusiast would anticipate that the Christian community would be thriving now that a ‘democratic’ Afghan government was installed by American military power after the ouster in 2001 of the Taliban regime. After all, Afghanistan’s constitution, adopted in 2004, guarantees freedom of religion. But Afghan Christians today are compelled to worship in secret lest they be accused of apostasy for converting to Christianity from Islam, a charge punishable by death. Such persecution no doubt will grow after 2014, when American soldiers are largely gone and Washington is less able to influence the government in Kabul.

Across a troublesome border, Pakistan’s blasphemy laws are wielded more and more aggressively against Christians by a weak civilian government propped up by Pakistan’s Islamized military and society. Christians, who make up only about 2 percent of Pakistan’s 180 million people, are living under growing fear of persecution and economic discrimination. The assassination in March 2011 of the only Christian minister in Pakistan, who bravely criticized harsh blasphemy laws that impose the death penalty for insulting Islam, has chilled the willingness of secular and liberal Pakistanis to speak out.

Iraq’s open warfare against its Christian community has led to a mass