Pray for imprisoned Christians to be comforted in their loneliness and despair. Pray that they would have opportunities to fellowship and worship with other believers. Pray for christians who are beaten and tortured. Pray that this physical violence would end. Pray that these brothers and sisters would forgive their tormentors. Pray for Christians who are made slaves. Pray that their conduct as slaves will glorify God. Pray that they may escape or gain their freedom and return to their families. Pray for Christians who have lost all their possessions and cannot provide sustenance for their families. Pray that God would give boldness and faithfulness to Christians as they endure persecution. Pray that they would be encouraged to stand strong in their faith. Pray for the provision of bibles and other forms of help to Christians in restricted nations. Pray for the oppressors of Christians, that they may come to repentance and salvation. “Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body.” Hebrews 13:3
Prayers for January 22, 2008 From The Voice of the Martyrs
Newsletter
PAKISTAN Pastor Killed VOM Sources
On January 17, a pastor was shot and killed by an unknown person in Peshawar, Pakistan. According to The Voice of the Martyrs contacts, the pastor had worked with the Assembly of God Church in Peshawar, for the past 10 years. He is survived by his wife and a one-year-old daughter. Pray for this grieving family and church. Ask God to comfort believers in Peshawar and for this pastor’s family to realize that to be absent from the body is to be present with Him. Psalm 27:1, Psalm 23
ETHIOPIA Christian Family’s House Bombed VOM Sources
On January 12, a home belonging to a Christian family was bombed in the southeastern city of Jijiga. According to The Voice of the Martyrs contacts, “Terefe Feleke, his wife and their two children were in the house at the time of the attack, thankfully none of them were seriously hurt. The roof of the house was destroyed by the bomb blast. While searching the compound, the police found another bomb set to explode a few hours later.” Praise God, this family was kept from serious harm. Pray for Christians in Jijiga, where Muslims have recently mounted attacks against Christians in an attempt to drive them out of the region. Pray believers in this area will remain faithful and demonstrate Christ’s love to their persecutors. Joshua 1:9; 2 Timothy 1:7
INDIA Hindu Extremists Injure Nearly 100 Compass Direct News
On January 16, more than 80 people were injured in an attack on a large Christian meeting in Chhattisgarh state. According to Compass Direct News, the attack was followed by an assault on a missionary camp in Dhamtari district that hurt at least a dozen Christians. “The Hindu attacks come within weeks of unprecedented anti-Christian violence in neighboring Orissa state. In Chhattisgarh’s Durg district violence, Christians said it was no coincidence that Hindu nationalist extremists launched the attack as the political arm of the militants, the Bharatiya Janata Party, was holding a public meeting in the area,” Compass Direct reported. Pray for the safety of believers in India. Ask God to heal and encourage them to remain courageous despite attacks and increased persecution. Pray the testimonies of these faithful believers will draw non- believers into fellowship with Jesus Christ. Philippians 4:19, Isaiah 26:3
British Muslim computer geek, son of diplomat, revealed as al Qaeda’s top cyber terrorist
Younes Tsouli, 23, an IT student at a London college, used his top-floor flat in W12 to help Islamist extremists wage a propaganda war against the West.
Under the name Irhabi 007 — combining the James Bond reference with the Arabic for terrorist — he worked with al Qaeda leaders in Iraq and came up with a way to convert often gruesome videos into a form that could be put onto the Web.
Irhabi 007 aka Zib .007
Al-Qaeda’s 007
The extraordinary story of the solitary computer geek in a Shepherds Bush bedsit who became the world’s most wanted cyber-jihadist
About a dozen uniformed police in riot gear, and a handful of detectives, gathered outside the four-story terraced house on a quiet street just off Shepherds Bush roundabout in West London.
After a tip-off from overseas colleagues, they knew that inside was a man in contact with a group planning a bombing in Central Europe. His name was Younes Tsouli, but the detectives knew little more about him.
As they tried to shove their way in, the young man in the top-floor flat forced his door shut. It didn’t hold for long. Once the police flooded in, there was a struggle. A mirror smashed and one officer emerged bloodied from a shard of glass. Tsouli was overpowered. “He was thoroughly detained,” one detective recalls. At first, officers were not sure that they had the right person: the long-haired young man in jogging shorts bore little resemblance to the short-haired man in the photo they had been given. But when he confirmed his name, they knew they had their man. Two detectives led him away.
Amid the mess typical of any 22-year-old’s room, detectives found a laptop on a desk, still switched on and with programes running. When specialist forensic science officers arrived, they found that Tsouli had been creating a website called YOUBOMBIT. A banner with the title and flames was across the bottom of the screen. Also on his screen was a search box with the word “bomb” as the search term. Tsouli was logged in under the username IRH007. The detectives didn’t know it – and wouldn’t realize for some weeks – but they had caught one of the most notorious, most wanted cyber-jihadists in the world: a man whose case illustrated perfectly how terrorists are using the internet not just to spread propaganda, but to organize attacks. Continued.
A man mourns his father who was killed Tuesday in a bombing attack on a Baghdad funeral procession.
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) — The toll from the deadliest Baghdad attack in five months rose to 36 killed and 34 wounded, said an Iraqi Interior Ministry official on Wednesday.
Tuesday’s suicide bombing on a funeral procession preceded another suicide blast that killed four people Wednesday near a Baquba hospital, said police.
The Baquba bomber, who set off his explosives in a crowd of people, also wounded 23 others, a police official said.
The attack on the Shiite funeral took place in the mixed eastern Baghdad neighborhood of Zayouna. Mourners gathered for Nabil Hussein, an Iraqi killed Friday in a car bombing in central Baghdad’s Tayaran square, the Interior Ministry official said.
“At the end of a three-day mourning period, a terrorist blew up himself in the mourning tent, leaving bodies scattered,” Abu Hasanain, a man wounded in the attack, told AP Television News from his hospital bed.
The attack was the deadliest in the capital since August 1, when a blast from a fuel tanker rigged with explosives killed at least 50 people and wounded 60 others in the western Mansour district.
The funeral was for one of 14 people killed and 64 wounded when a parked car detonated near the square, a popular shopping district for food and clothes. Continued.
“The hatred of the extremist mullahs for the Baha’is is such that they, like the Taliban of Afghanistan who destroyed the towering Buddhist sculptures at Bamiyan, intend not only to eradicate the religion, but even to erase all traces of its existence in the country of its birth,” says the statement, which took the form of a paid advertisement in the New York Times. Such has been the plight of one of the greatest segments of the Iranian population.
In 1993, in Tehran alone, under the orders of the Islamic authorities, more than 1500 graves were bulldozed on the pretext of constructing a municipal center. In a similar fashion, the Islamic Republic of Iran, which holds in great contempt any non-Islamic belief or heritage, has embarked on destroying the archaeological sites of Pasargad, Persepolis and the tomb of Cyrus the Great as well, also on another pretext of building a dam.
As early as last month, and with the direct order of villainous, handpicked President Ahmadinejad who is notorious for his anti-Baha’i sentiments , the bulldozing began of Baha’i cemeteries across Iran. That is the latest series of incidents in an Islamic government-led campaign of hatred against Baha’is. The destruction of the cemetery by using large and heavy equipment occurred between September 9th and September 10th near Najafabad, on the outskirts of Esfahan. What happened there is an almost total replica of what happened in July in Yazd, where another Baha’is’ cemetery was savagely damaged by earth-moving equipment.
The House of the Báb in Shiraz, one of the most holy sites in the Bahá’í world, was destroyed by Revolutionary Guardsmen in 1979 and later razed by the government. Also, the residence of Baha’u’llah in Takur, where the Founder of the Baha’i Faith spent his childhood, was also demolished soon after the radical Islamic revolution, and the site was offered for sale to the public. In the Islamic Republic of Iran, Baha’is are forbidden to live peacefully in this life and rest in the next.
Islam is now out of its own cage. It has declared war on the dead as well as the living. Islam plans to kill, destroy and eradicate anything and everything in its path to world domination. Secretly, most Muslims endorse suicide bombings and the underpinnings of bin Laden’s assault. For as long as there are bigoted, self-serving clergy and their collaborators with first exclusive access to the blank slate, the problem of supplying wave after wave of Islamofascists will persist. Do we have to have a bloodbath of monumental scale before we in the West see anything near peace again? Isn’t it time to stop this madness and think judiciously?
All free people must feel for the long-suffering Baha’is in Iran. They have been savagely brutalized for over a century and a half through the demonic machinations of the despicable mullahs. They continue to pay dearly for their audacity to believe in human dignity.
Why anyone would desecrate cemeteries is unfathomable.
Indeed, a careful examination of Iran’s persecution of the Bahá’í community reveals that the Iranian government has long sought specifically to completely block the “progress and development” of the community — as outlined by the government in a “secret” memorandum that surfaced in 1993.[See “Iran’s Secret Blueprint for Repression”]
Iran’s Secret Blueprint for Repression
THE ISRCC DOCUMENT
[Translation from Persian]
[Text in square brackets added by translator]
In the Name of God!
The Islamic Republic of Iran
The Supreme Revolutionary Cultural Council
Number: 1327/….
Date: 6/12/69 [25 February 1991]
Enclosure: None
CONFIDENTIAL
Dr. Seyyed Mohammad Golpaygani
Head of the Office of the Esteemed Leader [Khamenei]
Greetings!
After greetings, with reference to the letter #1/783 dated 10/10/69 [31 December 1990], concerning the instructions of the Esteemed Leader which had been conveyed to the Respected President regarding the Bahá’í question, we inform you that, since the respected President and the Head of the Supreme Revolutionary Cultural Council had referred this question to this Council for consideration and study, it was placed on the Council’s agenda of session #128 on 16/11/69 [5 February 1991] and session #119 of 2/11/69 [22 January 1991]. In addition to the above, and further to the [results of the] discussions held in this regard in session #112 of 2/5/66 [24 July 1987] presided over by the Esteemed Leader (head and member of the Supreme Council), the recent views and directives given by the Esteemed Leader regarding the Bahá’í question were conveyed to the Supreme Council. In consideration of the contents of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran, as well as the religious and civil laws and general policies of the country, these matters were carefully studied and decisions pronounced.
In arriving at the decisions and proposing reasonable ways to counter the above question, due consideration was given to the wishes of the Esteemed Leadership of the Islamic Republic of Iran [Khamenei], namely, that “in this regard a specific policy should be devised in such a way that everyone will understand what should or should not be done.” Consequently, the following proposals and recommendations resulted from these discussions.
The respected President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, as well as the Head of the Supreme Revolutionary Cultural Council, while approving these recommendations, instructed us to convey them to the Esteemed Leader [Khamenei] so that appropriate action may be taken according to his guidance.
SUMMARY OF THE RESULTS OF THE DISCUSSIONS AND RECOMMENDATION
A. General status of the Bahá’ís within the country’s system
They will not be expelled from the country without reason.
They will not be arrested, imprisoned, or penalized without reason.
The government’s dealings with them must be in such a way that their progress and development are blocked.
B. Educational and cultural status
They can be enrolled in schools provided they have not identified themselves as Bahá’ís.
Preferably, they should be enrolled in schools which have a strong and imposing religious ideology.
They must be expelled from universities, either in the admission process or during the course of their studies, once it becomes known that they are Bahá’ís.
Their political (espionage) activities must be dealt with according to appropriate government laws and policies, and their religious and propaganda activities should be answered by giving them religious and cultural responses, as well as propaganda.
Propaganda institutions (such as the Islamic Propaganda Organization) must establish an independent section to counter the propaganda and religious activities of the Bahá’ís.
A plan must be devised to confront and destroy their cultural roots outside the country.
C. Legal and social status
Permit them a modest livelihood as is available to the general population.
To the extent that it does not encourage them to be Bahá’ís, it is permissible to provide them the means for ordinary living in accordance with the general rights given to every Iranian citizen, such as ration booklets, passports, burial certificates, work permits, etc.
Deny them employment if they identify themselves as Bahá’ís.
Deny them any position of influence, such as in the educational sector, etc.
Wishing you divine confirmations,
Secretary of the Supreme Revolutionary Cultural Council
Dr. Seyyed Mohammad Golpaygani
[Signature]
[Note in the handwriting of Mr. Khamenei]
In the Name of God!
The decision of the Supreme Revolutionary Cultural Council seems sufficient.
I thank you gentlemen for your attention and efforts.
QUESTION OF THE VIOLATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS AND FUNDAMENTAL FREEDOMS IN ANY PART OF THE WORLD, WITH PARTICULAR REFERENCE TO COLONIAL AND OTHER DEPENDENT COUNTRIES AND TERRITORIES
Report on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran prepared by the Special Representative of the Commission, Mr. Reynaldo Galindo Pohl, pursuant to Commission on Human Rights resolution 1994/73 and Economic and Social Council decision 1994/263
G. Freedom of religion and the situation of the Baha’i community
46. In addition to the allegations enumerated in the interim report to the General Assembly (A/49/514, paras. 61-71, A/49/514/Add.1 and A/49/514/Add.2, pp. 11-12), the Special Representative received the following information.
47. The New York Times reported in its 1 August 1994 issue that the Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr. Jarad Zarif, had said that some evangelical Christian churches were in actual fact organizations of a political character: “We consider them to be political organizations. If someone wants to start a political organization they must go through the process to obtain permission, as is the case for Muslims”, he said.
48. In connection with the killing of Pastor Tatavous Michaelian, various inconsistencies have been noted in the police and court investigation. For example, Mrs. Farahnaz Anami, accused of the killing, allegedly said that the Pastor died from two bullet wounds, whereas the owner of the house in which the crime was committed said he had heard only one shot, and the office of the examining magistrate said that three bullets were found in the body. The testimony of the owner is said to have caused some controversy.
49. Farahnaz Anami reportedly confessed to killing Pastor Michaelian; identifying a place to bury the body of Pastor Dibaj in the Sorkheh Hesar woods in east Tehran; planning the killings of Archbishop Iraj Mottahedeh and Dimitri Belous; and planting explosives in the mausoleums of Hazrat Ma’soumeh and Imam Khomeini. Mrs. Batoul Vaferi Kaleteh and Mrs. Maryam Shahbazpoor are said to have confessed to being accomplices in these crimes and to have been arrested while they were trying to plant bombs at these mausoleums. No details are known about the inquiries into the killings of Pastor Dibaj and Pastor Hovsepian Mehr.
50. The situation of the Baha’is remains the same as that described in the Special Representative’s interim report to the General Assembly (A/49/514, paras. 66-71). The situation of two Baha’is sentenced to death because of their religion on 8 December 1993, Mr. Bihnam Mithaqi and Mr. Kayvan Khalajabadi, is still precarious, for no reply has yet been received to the appeal against the conviction lodged with the Supreme Court of Justice. These persons have been in prison since April 1989.
51. Five other Baha’is are still in prison because of their religion. Particular concern was expressed about the situation of Mr. Husayn Ishraqi, aged 72, who has been in prison since 1 April 1992 and has been sentenced to a term of 10 years. Another Baha’i, imprisoned since 17 October 1985, Mr. Bakhshu’llah Mithaqui, has been told verbally that he has received a further sentence of 10 years in addition to the term he is serving in Gohardasht prison. It was also reported that, while Mr. Ramidan’ali Dhulfaquari has been released, the charge of apostasy against him has not been withdrawn. This person had been sentenced to death in December 1993.
52. Further acts of discrimination and economic pressure against the Baha’is have been reported, particularly in Mashhad, a city where the private sector is said to be under pressure from the authorities to dismiss Baha’i employees. The Baha’is in Mashhad are reportedly facing major hurdles in carrying on their professional and commercial activities. Throughout the country, many Baha’is dismissed from the public sector on account of their religious beliefs are still unemployed and receive no financial assistance, grant or pension. It has even been reported that some Baha’is dismissed from the public sector were required to return the salaries and pensions they had received when they were working. Baha’i farmers are still denied access to farm cooperatives, which often provide the only opportunity to obtain credits, seed, fertilizers and pesticides.
53. It has been alleged that marriage, divorce and the right to inherit among the Baha’is continue to be unrecognized in law. Major difficulties, mentioned in information received previously, remain in obtaining passports and exit visas. It is asserted that young Baha’is continue to be denied access to higher education and, for the Baha’i community as a whole, the right to meet freely, to elect their representatives and to maintain their administrative institutions. The cemeteries, holy places, historical sites and administrative centres of the Baha’i community remain confiscated or have been destroyed. It is said that the Baha’is must bury their dead on waste land specified by the Government and that they are not entitled to identify the graves of their loved ones.
By all accounts, the house of Mirza Abbas Nuri was a masterpiece of Islamic architecture. Mirza Abbas Nuri was a renowned 18th century Iranian calligrapher, and his home in Tehran — marked by a verdant veranda, flowered courtyard, and tasteful tile-work — was considered among the most beautiful houses of that period.
The demolition in June 2004 of the house of Mirza Abbas Nuri, a renowned 18th century Iranian calligrapher, reflects the Iranian government’s willingness to destroy its own cultural heritage to eradicate the Bahá’í Faith from Iran
In the summer of 2004, however, Iranian authorities demolished the house. The reason was all too clear: the home was considered by Iran’s Bahá’ís as a sacred and historic site, inasmuch as Mirza Abbas Nuri was the father of Bahá’u’lláh, the Founder of the Bahá’í Faith.
Islam the religion of peace and tolerance?
Or…Islam the religion of violence and extreme prejudice?
The chief of police in the southern Iraqi city of Basra has warned of a campaign of violence against women carried out by religious extremists.
It has, Maj-Gen Abdul Jalil Khalaf said, included threats, intimidation and even murder.
Some victims were dressed in indecent clothes by their killers or had notices attached to them, he said.
Women interviewed by the BBC said they no longer dared venture on to Basra’s streets without strict Islamic attire.
“There is a terrible repression against women in Basra,” Maj-Gen Khalaf told the BBC.
“They kill women, leave a piece of paper on her or dress her in indecent clothes so as to justify their horrible crimes.”
Forty-two women were killed between July and September this year, although the number dropped slightly in October, he said.
In one case, he added, a woman was killed in her home along with her six-year-old son, who was rumoured to have been conceived in an adulterous relationship.
Maj-Gen Khalaf, sent to Basra this year by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki to impose order in the city, said the police were often too scared to conduct proper investigations into the killings.
“The relatives are reluctant to report the crimes for fear of a scandal or because they despair of the police’s ability to solve them,” he added.
‘Shot in the legs’
A female lawyer in Basra contacted by the BBC by phone from London, who asked not to be named for fear of reprisals, said attacks on women in the city were occurring “every two or three days”.
The lawyer also said that graffiti was painted on walls warning women to cover their heads or “be punished”.
“We warn against immodest dress. Violators will be punished. God is witness that we have conveyed the message.” -Message written on a Basra wall
BAGHDAD, 13 November 2007 (IRIN) – Male gynecologists are being targeted by Islamic extremists in Iraq as they are accused of invading the privacy of women. Women’s NGOs have raised concerns as there are few women gynecologists in the country and their male counterparts are scared to continue working.“Because of the extremists’ religious views, doctors are scared to continue with their work and the number of women gynecologists is very low and cannot meet the demand,” said Mayada Zuhair, spokeswoman for the Women’ Rights Association (WRA).
“Extremists say that [male] doctors are not allowed to see the private parts of women and two male doctors were reportedly killed last week after leaving their clinics. A message was left near their bodies saying that was the end for any doctor who insists in invading the privacy of Muslim women,” Mayada added.
An Iraqi Medical Association (IMA) spokesman, Walid Rafi, told IRIN it knew of at least 22 male gynecologists who had been sent threatening letters.
“In one case the extremists tried to carry out their threat. They kidnapped the son of a doctor and only released him after the doctor had closed his clinic in Karada district, in Baghdad,” Rafi said. “We are worried about women’s health in this country. Few of them have access to good medical care and now with the fear of male gynecologists, few remain in the job and this could have a serious impact in the coming months.”
Rafi added that aggression against doctors who treat women had also been reported in the northern provinces. “We don’t know the exact number of doctors who have been killed but we can confirm that four doctors were killed in the north for refusing to circumcise young girls.”
Case in point
Yasser Issam, a gynecologist in Baghdad, said that since 20 October there had been two attempts on his life and he had received a letter asking him to stop treating women in his clinic as he was offending the privacy of Muslim women.
“I didn’t have a choice. I preferred to leave my job altogether with two other colleagues who were in the same situation. We left the clinic in the hands of two female colleagues who later said they could not cope with the demand and have started to turn down patients,” Issam said.
The Ministry of Health has said it is investigating the cases and has asked the Ministry of Interior to protect doctors and nurses countrywide.
Heath services in Iraq have been seriously undermined by the shortage of doctors. According to the IMA, at least 75 percent of doctors, pharmacists and nurses have left their jobs at universities, clinics and hospitals. Of these, at least 55 percent have fled abroad.
“There are days when we find more than 80 patients per doctor in our hospital, an average of 170 daily. All of them are divided among the two women gynecologists who are left in our clinic,” said Afaf Abdul-Qahar, a gynecologist at Karada Maternity Centre, in the capital.
Saint Michael the Archangel,
defend us in battle.
Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil.
May God rebuke him, we humbly pray;
and do Thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Host -
by the Divine Power of God -
cast into hell, satan and all the evil spirits,
who roam throughout the world seeking the ruin of souls.
Amen.
A man mourns his father who was killed Tuesday in a bombing attack on a Baghdad funeral procession.
The demolition in June 2004 of the house of Mirza Abbas Nuri, a renowned 18th century Iranian calligrapher, reflects the Iranian government’s willingness to destroy its own cultural heritage to eradicate the Bahá’í Faith from Iran
Scarlett Crusader 
Say what?