Egypt: Muslim Group Threatens Christians, Promises Jihad Against Military If They Do Not Move Against Copts

By MidEast Christian News – “An armed Islamic movement calling itself the ‘Brigade of Muslims’ released a statement on Saturday threatening Egypt’s Coptic Christians and asking them to pay tribute.

‘Egypt is an Islamic country and will be ruled according to Shariah,’ the statement added.

The movement threatened all Egyptian media professionals who ‘mock religion and Islamic rule,’ adding that it has a special list of media professionals and their persistence in mocking will result in the ‘shedding of their blood in the ugliest way.’

The movement explained that it has been established because of the strife being plotted against the country and the plans of enemies of Islam, both at home and abroad.

The movement accused Copts of trying to create a ‘separate Coptic state,’ accused the National Salvation Front of involvement in the burning of Egypt, and accused the so-called corrupt media of distorting the image of Muslims and Islamic rule.

The movement noted its approach is jihad, and it would fight the Egyptian army and Interior Ministry if they do not stand up to ‘Copts and their helpers.’

‘Let the unbelievers and the hypocrites know we are as keen on dying for the sake of God as they are keen on life,’ the movement confirmed.” Source – CP Africa.

Flashback: Egypt: Rising Islamic Leader Declares ‘We Will Launch a Campaign of Islamic Conquest Throughout the World’, ‘Exterminate’ Christians Who Get In the Way of Sharia – “A rising leader in the radical Islamic movement in Egypt that has become a major political player since the demise of Hosni Mubarak’s regime says Christian churches may need to be blown up and Christians exterminated to allow the advance of Islamic law, or Shariah. The comments come from Sheik ‘Adel Shehato, a senior leader with the Egyptian Islamic Jihad terrorist group… The sheik, a senior jihadist leader, responded to a question about using violence against Christians, who make up a substantial minority in Egypt.” Read more.

Flashback: Muslim Cleric Issues New Fatwa To Christians: Choose Islam Or Be Killed – “An Advent of light and shadow for Iraq’s Christians, who are celebrating the reopening of the cathedral of Baghdad but at the same time subjected to new – and heavy – threats from a radical Shiite Muslim leader. From studies of a television broadcaster based in Egypt, an Iraqi Ayatollah launches a fatwa against the religious minority on the eve of Christmas: ‘Conversion to Islam or death.’” Read more.

Turkey: Planned Assassination Of Christian Pastor May Signal Further Attacks Against Turkish Christians

By BARIŞ ALTINTAŞ, CAHİT KILIÇ, Today’s Zaman – “One person was arrested last week in Kocaeli on charges of planning an attack on the İzmit Protestant Church to assassinate its pastor following a round of detentions in the town shortly after the Kocaeli Police foiled the alleged plot, which has brought fears that an illegal group behind many attacks on non-Muslims in 2006 and 2007 is currently highly active.

The discovery is not only very important because it prevented a potential attack, but also shows that groups looking to trigger a coup d’état and who have planned and carried out attacks in the past against non-Muslims as part of a larger plan against the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government are still operating.

Recent trials involving the Ergenekon gang — a clandestine group that includes generals and officers of other ranks, both active and retired, as well as many civilians, including journalists — and several other coup plots have revealed that Ergenekon and related groups worked hard in the 2000s to create chaos in the country for the purpose of manufacturing panic about and distrust in the AK Party government. Although hundreds of suspects have been arrested in many trials, including the now concluded Sledgehammer trial, the plot uncovered in Kocaeli might indicate that they have extensions.

Details linking the murderers of three Bible publishers in Malatya in 2007, in a case known as the Zirve trial, to Ergenekon have emerged. Similar links also came up in the trial regarding the murder of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, which also took place in 2007, and in the murder case of Father Santoro, a Catholic priest killed in Trabzon in 2006.

Orhan Kemal Cengiz, a journalist and contributor to Today’s Zaman, who was in fact targeted by a similar group according to documents found on the computer of a major general who has been arrested in connection with the Zirve murder trial, said there was no way of capturing the entire Ergenekon network without focusing on the anti-Christian activities of the group. He said: ‘The Ergenekon trial is all about anti-Christian movements. The prosecutors are far too focused on the coup attempt; the anti-Christian activity was not investigated thoroughly. There is a problem in their outlook here.’ He said attacks, assassinations and other planned atrocities, some of which have been carried out, against non-Muslims comprise the ‘core’ of the Ergenekon trial.” Read more.

Flashback: Turkey: Attacked Turkish Pastor Told to Accept Islam or Die, Joins Memorial Service for Slain Christians – “After a memorial service for three Christians who were murdered in Malatya, Turkey five years ago today, an Istanbul pastor who was attacked over Easter weekend said he’s experienced hostility from Muslims nearly all his life… ‘I’ve been verbally abused for being a Christian many times, but this was the first time I was hit, so this was surprising and made me sad,’ Serkek said… The men, whom Serkek said appeared to be about 18 years old, were agitated, and when he refused to let them in they used insulting language, he said. They threatened to kill him if he didn’t recite the Islamic testimony of faith.” Read more.

Flashback: Turkey: Muslims Subjecting More Christians to Discrimination and Attacks, Followers of Christ Vilified in Media, Textbooks – “… Christians in Turkey continue to suffer attacks from private citizens, discrimination by lower-level government officials and vilification in both school textbooks and news media, according to a study by a Protestant group. In its annual ‘Report on Human Rights Violations,’ released in January, the country’s Association of Protestant Churches notes mixed indicators of improvement but states that there is a ‘root of intolerance’ in Turkish society toward adherents of non-Islamic faiths. ‘The removal of this root of intolerance is an urgent problem that still awaits to be dealt with,’ the report states.” Read more.

Instilling Fear And Terror: Iran Unveils Machine For Amputating Thieves’ Fingers

For peaceful purposes, yet again. If they’re serious about Sharia Law, then they won’t stop at fingers. Don’t be surprised if they soon unveil (a bad word in Iran these days) the Limb Lopper of Justice and the Glorious Guillotine of Peace …

Qur’an Sura 8:12, “Remember thy Lord inspired the angels (with the message): ‘I am with you: give firmness to the Believers: I will instill terror into the hearts of the Unbelievers: smite ye above their necks and smite all their fingertips off them.'”

France 24 – “One of Iran’s official press agencies published photos showing the public amputation of a thief’s fingers on Wednesday. These show a man getting his finger chopped off with a machine resembling a rotary saw…

We contacted many of our Observers in Iran to ask them about this machine. Some of them had heard about it before, but many discovered its existence through these morbid photographs, which were reportedly taken on Thursday. According to the INSA press agency, the man shown getting his finger cut off was charged with robbery and adultery by a court in the southwestern city of Shiraz. He was also accused of being at the head of a criminal organisation. On top of losing one of his fingers, he was sentenced to three years in prison and 99 whip lashes.

No independent witnesses were able to recount the circumstances under which this amputation took place. Four photos of the scene published by the press agency were widely relayed on social media networks. Strangely enough, the man’s face did not betray any signs of suffering in the photos, though it is possible that he might have been drugged.

Contacted by FRANCE 24, the spokesperson for Iran Human Rights, Mahmoud Amiry-Moghaddam, who is based in Norway, explains: ‘What is surprising about this is that not only was this a public amputation, but that photos of it were distributed by official press agencies, and that they showed a machine that we had until yet never seen images of. We have noticed that the authorities have recently being making more and more publicity surrounding cases of corporal punishment. Every time we get closer to an election, the number of these incidents increases. And we’re getting quite close to the presidential election [slated for June]. I believe this is a strategy to instil fear in the population so as to avoid any protests.

Following the amputation, Ali Alghasi, Shiraz’s public prosecutor, announced that sentences against criminals would become increasingly severe, without explaining why.” Read more.

‘Mockery Of Justice’: Iran Sentences Christian Pastor From America To 8 Years In Brutal Evin Prison For Evangelism

By Perry Chiaramonte, Fox News, AP – “Christian pastor Saeed Abedini, an American imprisoned in Iran on charges of evangelizing, was sentenced this morning to eight years in prison.

According to the American Center for Law and Justice, Abedini was verbally sentenced in Tehran by Judge Pir-Abassi, known as the ‘hanging judge,’ to eight years in prison for threatening the national security of Iran through his leadership in Christian house churches. He will serve the time in Iran’s notorious Evin Prison, known as one of the most brutal.

The evidence, the ACLJ reports, was based on Abedini’s activities primarily during the early 2000s, when house churches were not considered a threat in Iran.

‘This is a real travesty – a mockery of justice,’ Jordan Sekulow, Executive Director of the ACLJ, who represents Pastor Saeed’s wife and children living in the U.S., said in a statement. ‘From the very beginning, Iranian authorities have lied about all aspects of this case, even releasing rumors of his expected release. Iran has not only abused its own laws, it has trampled on the fundamentals of human rights. We call on the citizens of the world to rise up in protest. We call on governments around the world to stand and defend Pastor Saeed.’

Although the U.S. does not have diplomatic relations with Iran, National Security Council spokesperson Bernadette Meehan said in a statement Sunday the administration is ‘deeply disappointed that Saeed Abedini has been sentenced to eight years in prison in Iran on a charge related to his religious beliefs.

‘We condemn Iran’s continued violation of the universal right of freedom of religion and we call on the Iranian authorities to release Mr. Abedini.’

Meehan added that the State Department remains in close contact with Abedini.

The State Department also called for Abedini’s release.

‘Mr. Abedini’s attorney had only one day (January 21) to present his defense, so we remain deeply concerned about the fairness and transparency of Mr. Abedini’s trial,’ spokesman Darby Holladay said in a statement.

Iran’s state news agency reported last Monday that Abedini, who was born in Iran but now lives in Idaho, would soon be free. But the report, which came on the first day of Abedini’s trial, was seen by Abedini’s wife, Naghmeh, as just another cruel manipulation.

‘This is all a lie by the Iranian media,” Naghmeh Abedini said. “This has been a repeated promise by the Iranian regime since Saeed was first thrown in prison on Sept. 26, 2012. We have presented bail. After the judge told Saeed’s lawyer that bail was back on the table, the family in Tehran ran around in circles today to make sure Saeed was let out on bail. But again the bail officer rejected bail.'” Read more.