Compass Direct News’ Top 10 Stories of 2010
Pakistan’s blasphemy laws led to the murder of two Christians and a death penalty sentence for a Christian mother of five in 2010, topping Compass’ top 10 news stories. Following this blend of state and societal violence to Christians was a spike in attacks on Christians in Iraq; a possible death penalty for an Afghan Christian accused of apostasy; a 17-year-old Somali girl’s martyrdom; and large-scale attacks on Christians in Nigeria. The complete list follows:
1. Pakistan’s Blasphemy Law Leads to Murder, Death Penalty for the Innocent
Pakistan’s widely condemned blasphemy laws led to the murder of two men and a death penalty sentence for a mother of five in 2010. On July 19 in Faisalabad, Pakistan, a suspected Islamic extremist shot dead two Christians accused of blasphemy. An armed gunman shot the Rev. Rashid Emmanuel, 32, and his 30-year-old brother Sajid Emmanuel after handwriting experts on July 14 notified police that signatures on papers denigrating Muhammad did not match those of the accused. Expected to be exonerated, the two leaders of United Ministries Pakistan were being led in handcuffs back to jail when they were shot. Advocacy group representatives said the two bodies bore cuts and other signs of having been tortured while the brothers were in police custody.
Muslims had staged large demonstrations calling for the death penalty for the brothers, who were arrested when Rashid Emmanuel agreed to meet a mysterious caller at a train station but was instead surrounded by police carrying papers denigrating Muhammad — supposedly signed by the pastor and his brother and bearing their telephone numbers. The Muslim who allegedly placed the anonymous call to the pastor, Muhammad Khurram Shehzad, also filed blasphemy charges against the brothers, said Atif Jamil Pagaan, coordinator of the Harmony Foundation advocacy group. Khurram Shehzad had filed the blasphemy case on July 1 under Section 295-C of Pakistan’s blasphemy laws, which are commonly abused to settle personal scores. Section 295-C states that “whoever by words, either spoken or written, or by visible representation, or by imputation, innuendo, or insinuation, directly or indirectly, defiles the sacred name of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) shall be punishable with death, or imprisonment for life, and shall be liable to fine.” The shooter (or shooters) escaped.
The first woman to be sentenced to die in Pakistan for allegedly blaspheming Islam’s prophet said she was shaken and aghast that she was never asked for a statement in her defense. In an interview with Compass at Sheikhupura District Jail, Asia Noreen (alternatively spelled Aaysa, and also called Asia Bibi) said through tears and a shaking voice that she was heartbroken and shattered. The mother of two children and step-mother to three others asked a question that no one has been able to answer for her. “How can an innocent person be accused, have a case in court after a false FIR [First Information Report], and then be given the death sentence, without even once taking into consideration what he or she has to say?”
Arrested on June 19, 2009, Noreen was accused of blaspheming Muhammad and defaming Islam. A judge under pressure from area Islamists convicted her under Pakistan’s blasphemy statutes on Nov. 8. “In the entire year that I have spent in this jail,” she told Compass, “I have not been asked even once for my statement in court. Not by the lawyers and not by the judge.” Noreen said the triggering incident resulted from a “planned conspiracy” to “teach her a lesson” because villagers in Ittanwali, near Nankana Sahib about 75 kilometers (47 miles) from Lahore, disliked her and her family. “They have been saying that I confessed to my crime, but the fact is that I said I was sorry for any word that I may have said during the argument that may have hurt their feelings,” she said. “What my village people have accused me of is a complete lie.”
In spite of the trauma the blasphemy laws have visited on Pakistan’s minorities as well as on Muslims, the U.N. General Assembly voted on Dec. 21 to pass a “Defamation of Religions” resolution that lends international legitimacy to such laws. The resolution was adopted with 79 votes in favor, 67 votes against and 40 abstentions — the smallest level of support it has received since it was first voted on 10 years ago.
2. Christians Increasingly Targeted in Iraq
An Islamic extremist assault on a Syrian Catholic Church in Baghdad on Oct. 31, one of the bloodiest attacks on the country’s dwindling Christian community, culminated a year of increasing violence against Christians in Iraq. Seven or eight Islamic militants stormed into Our Lady of Salvation church during evening mass after detonating bombs in the neighborhood, gunning down two policemen at the stock exchange across the street, and blowing up their own car. More than 100 people were reportedly attending mass. A militant organization called the Islamic State of Iraq, which has links to al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, claimed responsibility for the attack. The militants sprayed the sanctuary with bullets. Iraqi security forces launched an assault on the church building, and it was unclear how many of the 58 deaths resulted from the raid; the militants reportedly began killing hostages when the security force assault began.
Political tensions ahead of parliamentary elections in Iraq on March 7 left at least eight Chaldean Christians dead and hundreds of families fleeing Mosul. “The concern of Christians in Mosul is growing in the face of what is happening in the city,” said Chaldean Archbishop of Kirkuk Louis Sako. “The tension and struggle between political forces is creating an atmosphere of chaos and congestion. Christians are victims of political tension between political groups, but maybe also by fundamentalist sectarian cleansing.” On Feb. 23 the killing of Eshoee Marokee, a Christian, and his two sons in their home in front of other family members sent shock waves across the Christian community. The murder took place amid a string of murders that triggered the mass exodus of families to the surrounding towns and provinces. “It is not the first time Christians are attacked or killed,” said the archbishop of the Syrian Catholic Church in Mosul, Georges Casmoussa. “The new [element] in this question is to be killed in their own homes.”
Three Christian students were killed and 180 injured in a May 2 bomb attack on a bus outside Mosul. The blasts targeted three buses full of Christians traveling to the University of Mosul for classes. The convoy of buses, which brings Christian students from villages east of Mosul, was making its daily route accompanied by two Iraqi army cars. By year’s end it was estimated that only 334,000 Christians were left in Iraq, less than half of the number in 1991.
3. Afghan Christian Accused of ‘Apostasy’ Faces Death Sentence
A Christian in Afghanistan facing “apostasy” charges punishable by death was still without legal representation by year’s end after authorities blocked a foreign lawyer’s attempt to visit him in prison, sources said. A Christian lawyer from the region who requested anonymity travelled to Kabul on behalf of Christian legal rights organization Advocates International in November to represent 45-year-old Said Musa (alternatively spelled Sayed Mossa). Authorities denied him access to Musa and to his indictment file.
After several court hearing postponements, Musa appeared before a judge on Nov. 27 without prior notice. The judge sent Musa’s case file to the attorney general’s office for corrections, according to the lawyer. The prosecutor in charge of western Kabul, Din Mohammad Quraishi, said two men, Musa and Ahmad Shah, were accused of conversion to another religion. But Musa’s letters from prison and other sources indicate that Shah is a government informant posing as a Christian. Musa and Shah appeared before the judge on Nov. 27 “shackled and chained” to each other, according to a source who was present. Musa and the other sources claim Shah sent images of worshipping Christians to the country’s most popular broadcaster, Noorin TV, which aired them in May. The broadcast put in motion the events that got Musa arrested, sources said. In early June the deputy secretary of the Afghan Parliament, Abdul Sattar Khawasi, called for the execution of converts from Islam.
Another Afghan Christian is in prison for his faith, sources said. Shoib Assadullah, 25, was arrested on Oct. 21 for giving a New Testament to a man who reportedly turned him in to authorities. Assadullah is in a holding jail in a district of Mazar-e-Sharif, in northern Afghanistan.
