Iranian Christians Hit With A Wave Of Arrests During Christmas

Because they were behaving like Christians …

Matthew 10:22, “And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved.”

By Mohabat News – “According to Mohabat News, on December 31, 2013, Iranian security authorities arrested four Christian converts by the names of ‘Sara Rahimi-Nejad, Mostafa Nadri, Majid Sheidaei, and George Isaian’ in Karaj.

According to a report by the Human Right Activists in Iran, these Christians had gathered in Isaian’s residence to celebrate the New Year when plain-clothes security authorities raided the home, beat and arrested them. The authorities immediately transferred them to an unknown location.

The report added, the authorities searched Mr. Isaian’s house and all the guests. They seized some of their belongings including books, personal notes, computers, CDs and DVDs, Satellite TV receiver, and even their family photo albums.

The families of these Christian detainees were turned away when they went to Evin prison and to the Intelligence police to inquire about them.

One occasion when pressure on the Iranian Christian community intensifies is during Christmas and New Year. Every year near Christmas, Iranian authorities raid Christmas and New Year house church services/gatherings and arrest those worshiping and celebrating the birth of Jesus.

It should be remembered that in the last few weeks, during Christmas, another group of Christian converts had been arrested. Those arrested were Faegheh Nasrollahi, Mastaneh Rastegari, Amir-Hossein Nematollahi, Ahmad Bazyar, and Mr. Hosseini. They had gathered in a house church in eastern Tehran when they were arrested.

Reports on Christian persecution in Iran also indicated that the Revolutionary Court in Karaj sentenced Hossein Saketi Aramsari to one year in prison. He is currently being held in ward 7 of Karaj Central prison.

A few former Christian prisoners told Mohabat News in an interview, ‘We were both directly and indirectly pressured to make false confessions regarding our relationship with foreign countries. They wanted us to confess that we receive money to promote Christianity in the country’.

The Islamic regime of Iran is seriously concerned over the spread of Christianity across the country and does its best to counteract it.

The Iranian government uses every means possible to propagate against evangelical and house churches and describes them as a corrupted movement. The Islamic regime considers Christians a threat to national security and often targets them with security charges.

This year as well, Open Doors International published the World Watch List, a list of countries where Christians are persecuted the most. Open Doors also stated that Christian persecution is increasing around the world. The list ranked Iran among the top ten persecuting countries.” Source – Mohabat News.

Flashback: Islamic Militants Calling Themselves ‘The Unknown Soldiers of The Hidden Imam’ Threaten to Hunt Down and Execute Christians Who Flee Iran – “Islamic militants with suspected ties to Iranian security forces have been terrorizing evangelical Christians with threats to ‘repent’ or die, it was reported Sunday. Christian Solidarity Worldwide has reported that 11 Iranian Christians who fled Iran in the wake of a government campaign against Christianity have received threats via email to ‘repent’ or face extrajudicial execution, from a group identifying itself as the ‘The Unknown Soldiers of The Hidden Imam.’ The threatening emails that were sent to each individual on Sept. 14 aspired to extend the arm of Iranian Islamic militancy beyond the borders of Iran by implying that, although the recipients have left Iran, they have not escaped the ‘acute eyes of the unknown soldiers.’” Read more.

Australia: Young Muslim Woman Takes Islam More Seriously, Travels To Syria, Dies For “Allah”

Islam. It’s driven by death, followed by hell …

Revelation 6:8, “And I looked, and behold a [chlōros – green] horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts [thērion – savage, brutal, bestial men] of the earth…”

Recommended: Female Rebel Soldiers Fighting Assad In Syria

Amira Karroum Before The Qur’an Cured Her Of Life

News.com.au – “A MEMORIAL service has been held at a western Sydney mosque for slain Muslim woman Amira Karroum, and her husband Yusuf Ali.

Ms Karroum’s sister Rose requested the Masjid Noor mosque in Granville hold the service, last night, for worshippers to mourn the couple who were killed in Syria late last week.

Both Ms Karroum and Mr Ali were worshippers at the mosque before Mr Ali moved to Syria mid-last year.

Relatives today said arrangements were still being made to fly the couples’ bodies back to Australia for burial.

Pictured clad in a black burqa, Karroum bore no resemblance to the fresh-faced student from one of the country’s most prestigious Anglican schools when she died in a bullet-ridden house in Syria last week.

The 22-year-old had left her western Sydney home just days before Christmas, telling her family she was heading to Denmark to holiday with friends and then do some humanitarian work.

But on Saturday morning, Department of Foreign Affairs officials broke the news to Karroum’s father Mohamad and mother Honor Deane their daughter and her Muslim husband, Yusuf Ali, had died in the war-torn country, the latest victims of the conflict that has been raging since 2011.

Gold Coast-based Mr Karroum, who runs a kebab shop in Broadwater, collapsed with a heart attack after hearing the devastating news.

Amira Karroum and her husband were killed inside a house near the city of Aleppo, ground zero of the war near the border with Turkey, last Thursday, possibly by members of the Free Syrian Army, which is fighting government troops and other factions of the rebel movement trying to oust President Bashar al-Assad.

When she finished school five years ago, before moving to Granville in Sydney’s western suburbs, Karroum showed no hint of being the radical Muslim she would become…

Karl Karroum said his half-sister was always a Muslim, despite her Anglican education.

‘She was born a Muslim, so was her sister Rose. Their mum isn’t Muslim, but our dad is,’ he said.

‘She went to that school because it was the best education, and an all-girls’ school… it suited our faith.’

He said Karroum did not wear a burqua or niqab, traditional Muslim dress for women, until a few years ago.

‘She started wearing it once she studied her religion more as an adult …'” Read more.

Jihad For Beginners: Westerners Are Fighting For Al-Qaeda In Syria – “While Westerners make up about 10% of the foreign fighters in Syria, according to counterterrorism analysts, European and U.S. officials have raised the alarm about increasing numbers of their citizens taking up the fight. Most join al-Qaeda-affiliated groups like ISIS, which are dominated by seasoned jihadis from South Asia, North Africa and the Persian Gulf. The fear, say concerned officials, is that when fighters return home, they bring with them battlefield skills and extremist ideologies, or worse — intent to do violence in their home countries. Andrew Parker, head of the U.K.’s domestic intelligence service, MI5, said in a parliamentary hearing last week that British citizens in ‘the low hundreds’ had been going to Syria to fight with al-Qaeda. The danger, he said, is when al-Qaeda elements in Syria ‘meet British citizens who are willing to engage in terrorism, and they task them to do so back at home, where they have higher impact.’ While al-Qaeda might be focusing on Assad at the moment, the group is already discussing taking the fight beyond Syria’s borders …” Read more.

Nigeria: Islamist Militants Destroy Humanitarian Aid, Burn Down Church In Borno

For peaceful purposes …

By Maina Maina, Daily Post – “Gunmen suspected to be members of the dreaded Islamic militants, Boko Haram have burnt down a church and a house of a National Assembly member, Hon. Peter Biye.

DailyPost learnt that they carried out the attack on Friday in Gwoza town of Gwoza Local Government council of Borno State.

Biye, who is a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC) representing Damboa, Chibok and Gwoza federal constituency disclosed that a church, located close to his house was not spared by the assailants.

Speaking to DailyPost on Friday, the legislator said when the assailants stormed his house at Bzuba village along Gwoza Pulka road at night on Wednesday, they carted away over 70 domestic animals before setting the building on fire.

 He said about three weeks before the incident, he had raised alarm on the need for military authorities to intensify security in the area but nothing was done.

‘While in the house, the attackers burnt a consignment of sorghum which was meant for distribution to our people to cushion their hardships.

‘They also burnt 30,000 pieces of exercise books, 30,000 packets of biro and 30,000 packets of chalk which I bought for distribution to schools in my constituency.

‘When I got information from my people that the insurgents were in my village, I called the officer in charge of the area but he did not pick my call. It was the next day that he called back and told me that he was no longer in charge of the area’, he said.

There was no official statement from the 7 Division of the Nigerian Army but a senior military officer who spoke under anonymity confirmed the attack.” Source – Daily Post.

Flashback: Nigeria: Islamist Attacks Forcing Thousands Of Villagers To Flee Borno State – “The Adamawa government said at least 3,000 persons have arrived the state, fleeing recent Boko Haram attacks in neighbouring Borno state. The government said it was worried with the daily influx of people from Borno state where violence has continued and locals are often targeted by Islamist Boko Haram… ‘So far, no fewer than 3,000 people from Bama and Gwoza local government areas of Borno have been confirmed to have fled to Adamawa due to the fear of terrorists’ attacks,’ the commission said.” Read more.

Flashback: Nigeria: Islamists Massacre At Least 161 During Attack On Travellers In Borno State – “Environmental officers yesterday recovered 87 more corpses of travelers killed by suspected Boko Haram gunmen during an attack on Maiduguri-Damaturu road near Benisheik town in Borno State on Tuesday. This was in addition to 55 bodies earlier picked up on Wednesday… Apart from the 142 travellers, also killed in the attack were 2 soldiers, 3 policemen and 14 villagers, Sbringing the total death toll to 161.” Read more.

Flashback: Nigeria: Suspected Islamists Target Christians For Slaughter In Borno State, Burn Down Their Homes, Churches – “Suspected Islamist fighters went on the rampage in northeast Nigeria overnight, killing 10 Christians with guns and machetes and burning down their houses, witnesses said on Sunday. The attack happened in a village called Chibok, in a remote part of northeastern Borno state, at the heart of an insurgency led by Islamist sect Boko Haram.” Read more.

Flashback: Nigeria: Islamists Pull Over Bus Near Maiduguri, Kill All Christian Passengers, Embark On Door-To-Door ‘Islamisation Campaign’ At Gunpoint – “Release partners are reporting targeted violence against Christians in the northern state of Borno this weekend. Stefanos Foundation says that 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’.” Read more.