Christians Barred From Seeking Asylum

Christians Barred From Seeking Asylum After Leaving Refugee Camp Amid Harassment by Muslim Migrants

A Christian charity is pressuring the Greek government to change a policy that is preventing homeless Christian refugees who fled persecution, bullying and threats inside the Moria refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesbos from being able to apply for asylum and gain help via the United Nations.

The London-based British Pakistani Christian Association recently wrote to the U.N. and Greek authorities on behalf of Pakistani Christian refugees who fled from Lesbos Island's famous Moria asylum camp due to the level of persecution they experienced at the hands of Muslims inside the camp.

BPCA President Wilson Chowdhry told The Christian Post Monday that he has been told Greek authorities have put in place a "geographical restriction" that is effectively blocking asylum seekers who escaped persecution at one of the refugee camps on the Greek islands from being able to apply for asylum with the Greek authorities on the mainland without having to return to the very camp they were persecuted in.

Chowdhry explained that the only exception to that rule is if an asylum seeker has a severe health condition that qualifies as a mitigating factor to allow his or her asylum application to be assessed on the Greek mainland. Chowdhry said the policy is designed to make it easier to track asylum-seeking refugees.

He called on Greece's Ambassador to the United Kingdom Dimitris Caramitsos for help in seeking a change to the policy.

"I would like to bring to your attention several reports of persecution that have been raised with the British Pakistani Christian Association, relating to persecution of Christians within the Muslim-majority ... Moria Camp," Chowdhry wrote in an email to Caramitsos last Friday. "Christians are being prevented from holding church services, worshiping and praying by their Muslim neighbors. Moreover, reports of tents being burned down, violence, bullying, harassment and severe threats paint a very bleak picture of the quality of life for Christians caught up within the camp."

"The majority of Christian refugees escape but are being refused asylum by Greek authorities who only consider adverse health as a mitigating factor and not Christian persecution," Chowdhry's email continued. "We are seeking your help in obtaining a change in the current Greek policy in which the risk of proven re-persecution of Christians counts as a mitigating factor for asylum assessment for escapees of Moria Camp."

Caramitsos has not yet respond to Chowdhry's email.

Chowdhry explained that the failure to assess asylum seekers leaves them in a place of limbo with no status. This prevents them receiving statutory assistance from the Greek Authorities and help from UNHCR.

One of the Pakistani Christian asylum seekers suffering from the policy is Haroon Maqbool, who is father of two from Rawal Pindi, Pakistan.

Maqbool fled Pakistan, which ranks as the fourth-worst nation in the world when it comes to Christian persecution according to Open Doors USA, in 2015 after being imprisoned and tortured.

In August 2016, Maqbool arrived in Lesbos on a boat with other asylum seekers and the group was taken to Moria camp to register for asylum.

According to the BPCA: "Muslim's pushed the Christians to the back of the queue and told them not to enter the camp or they would be killed."

BPCA reports that Maqbool and the other Christian men in the group "realized they would not survive long in the camp." Even though they submitted their fingerprints at the camp, the group did not complete their asylum applications before they escaped the camp and the island.

"Haroon became bullied straight away and all the Christians left the camp ... and escaped by ship rather than be harrassed and bullied everyday," Chowdhry told CP in a phone call.

Even though it's been nine months since Maqbool fled the camp, the policy has prevented him from completing an asylum application on the Greek mainland, where he now lives as an illegal immigrant at risk of being arrested for overstaying his visa.

"In Haroon's case, you have a clear case of how the system is not working," Chowdhry asserted.

BPCA is helping aid as many as seven Pakistani Christian asylum seekers who were found homeless on the Greek mainland by another charity and are accepting online donations that will provide much-needed aid to homeless Christian refugees in Greece like Maqbool.

"The victims had no recognised status as they had fled Moria Camp due to persecution and bullying. The camps are severely under-policed and Christians were being told they were not allowed to hold worship services or pray to God," Chowdhry told CP. "Moreover through threats, intimidation and bullying attempts were being made to forcibly convert these Christians who had fled their homelands to be free of such oppression."

"To date many still have not been registered for asylum as they refuse to return back to Moria camp on Lesbos island, where they first entered Greece," he added.

Chowdhry asserted that it's not just Moria camp where Christians are being persecuted, adding that many Christians flee from refugee camps on the Greek mainland also. He noticed during a visit to a refugee camp on the Greek mainland earlier this year that there was very little policing inside the camp.

In addition to the persecution, refugees face dire and inadequate conditions inside the camps that force them to live in squalor.

"Many just choose to be homeless rather than return back and stay at those camps," Chowdhry said. "Those camps are extremely terrifying."

Chowdhry has been informed that UNHCR is compiling a list of cases like Maqbool's where asylum seekers are too frightened to return to island refugee camps to complete their asylum applications.

"We hope that that report will help redefine accepted mitigating factors for registration for escapees from asylum camps on the basis of religious persecution," Chowdhry said. "In the meanwhile, we have written to the Greek Ambassador to the U.K. and have asked him to intervene on behalf of Haroon Maqbool and other Pakistani Christians."





Cred: Christian Post

Smiling and Laughter

Bible Verse of the Day: Job 8:21

Job 8:21 (KJV)

21 Till he fill thy mouth with laughing, and thy lips with rejoicing.

Wisdom's Warning

Today's Scripture: Proverbs 2

Proverbs 2 (KJV)

1 My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee;

2 So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding;

3 Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding;

4 If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures;

5 Then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God.

6 For the Lord giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.

7 He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous: he is a buckler to them that walk uprightly.

8 He keepeth the paths of judgment, and preserveth the way of his saints.

9 Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; yea, every good path.

10 When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul;

11 Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee:

12 To deliver thee from the way of the evil man, from the man that speaketh froward things;

13 Who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness;

14 Who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the frowardness of the wicked;

15 Whose ways are crooked, and they froward in their paths:

16 To deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger which flattereth with her words;

17 Which forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her God.

18 For her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the dead.

19 None that go unto her return again, neither take they hold of the paths of life.

20 That thou mayest walk in the way of good men, and keep the paths of the righteous.

21 For the upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall remain in it.

22 But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it.

Scripture Meaning

Promises to those who seek wisdom. (1-9) The advantages of wisdom. (10-22)

Verses 1-9: Those who earnestly seek heavenly wisdom, will never complain that they have lost their labour; and the freeness of the gift does not do away the necessity of our diligence, (Joh 6:27). Let them seek, and they shall find it; let them ask, and it shall be given them.

Observe who are thus favoured. They are the righteous, on whom the image of God is renewed, which consists in righteousness. If we depend upon God, and seek to him for wisdom, he will enable us to keep the paths of judgment.

Verses 10-22: If we are truly wise, we shall be careful to avoid all evil company and evil practices. When wisdom has dominion over us, then it not only fills the head, but enters into the heart, and will preserve, both against corruptions within and temptations without.

The ways of sin are ways of darkness, uncomfortable and unsafe: what fools are those who leave the plain, pleasant, lightsome paths of uprightness, to walk in such ways! They take pleasure in sin; both in committing it, and in seeing others commit it. Every wise man will shun such company. True wisdom will also preserve from those who lead to fleshly lusts, which defile the body, that living temple, and war against the soul.

These are evils which excite the sorrow of every serious mind, and cause every reflecting parent to look upon his children with anxiety, lest they should be entangled in such fatal snares. Let the sufferings of others be our warnings. Our Lord Jesus deters from sinful pleasures, by the everlasting torments which follow them. It is very rare that any who are caught in this snare of the devil, recover themselves; so much is the heart hardened, and the mind blinded, by the deceitfulness of this sin.

Many think that this caution, besides the literal sense, is to be understood as a caution against idolatry, and subjecting the soul to the body, by seeking any forbidden object. The righteous must leave the earth as well as the wicked; but the earth is a very different thing to them. To the wicked it is all the heaven they ever shall have; to the righteous it is the place of preparation for heaven. And is it all one to us, whether we share with the wicked in the miseries of their latter end, or share those everlasting joys that shall crown believers?

Scripture Application

Each day we walk through the Bible chapter by chapter making an application of our text to help us grow in the Lord. Many applications can be made from each day's text. Today we continue with the Book of Proverbs with Chapter 2. In our text today we see that wisdom is from the Lord and His Wisdom will keep us from a lot of heartache.

The Bible says that anyone who lacks wisdom should ask of God who gives wisdom liberally and abraideth not. In making application we have God's Words on the Pages of the Bible and Proverbs is full of God's Wisdom. If we apply the Bible's text to our lives - then we too will avoid the heartaches to come. How about you? Do you seek the Wisdom of the Lord? Let us learn from our text today and listen to the Word of God for His Direction for Wisdom's Warnings.

Iran Cracks Down on Christian Converts

Iran Cracks Down on Christian Converts, Sentences Believers to 10-Years in Prison

Authorities in Iran are increasingly targeting Christian converts with arrests and imprisonments, according to the New York-based Center for Human Rights In Iran.

"In less than two months, since June 2017, Judge Mashallah Ahmadzadeh of Branch 26 of the Revolutionary Court in Tehran has issued long prison sentences to at least 11 Christian converts and the former leader of the Assyrian Pentecostal Church in Iran," CHRI said in a report.

"Christians are recognized as an official religious minority in Iran's Constitution, but the state continues to persecute members of the faith, especially converts," said CHRI's executive director Hadi Ghaemi. "The state must respect its own laws and international obligations and allow Christians and all religious minorities full freedom of worship."

On July 6, the judge sentenced four Protestant Christian converts to 10 years in prison each "in a trial completely lacking due process," the group said, quoting Mansour Borji, the advocacy director of a London-based group, Article 18, which defends Christians in Iran.

The four converts - Yusif Farhadov, Eldar Gurbanov and Bahram Nasibov from Baku in the Republic of Azerbaijan, and Iranian national Nasser Navard Goltapeh - were arrested at a reception hosted by their Christian friends in Andisheh last June.

Prosecutors couldn't produce any evidence to show the converts had acted against national security, Borji said. Yet they were convicted of being "Zionist Christians" who "acted against national security with the intention of overthrowing the state in a soft war."

Iran Court Confirms 5-Year Prison Sentence for Christian Convert
Two weeks earlier, the same judge had given Christian converts Yousef Nadarkhani, Mohammadreza Omidi, Yasser Mossayebzadeh and Saheb Fadaie 10-year prison sentences for propagating house churches and promoting "Zionist Christianity."

The lawyers of these four Christians are preparing to appeal the verdict.

A ruling is still overdue for a decision on an appeal by Omidi, Mossayebzadeh and Fadaie against a sentence of 80 lashes each for drinking wine during a communion service.

The Christians were arrested May 13 during a series of raids by security service agents on Christian homes in Rasht.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani was recently reelected largely due to his promises to improve civil and political rights in Iran, Ghaemi said. "Yet we're seeing an increasing number of arrests of religious minorities, as well as activists, by the Intelligence Ministry, which is supposed to operate under him. … Rouhani must use all his authority to reign in the ministry and ensure it stops its trampling of citizens' rights."

The U.K.-based Christian Solidarity Worldwide has also criticized the government of Iran for persecuting converts.

"We are deeply disappointed by these excessive sentences, which are based on spurious charges and are clearly part of an intensified campaign of judicial harassment aimed at intimidating members of minority faiths," CSW's Chief Executive Mervyn Thomas said in a statement.

Thomas added: "We reiterate that the national security charges leveled in all of these cases amount to the criminalization of the Christian community for exercising the right to freedom of religion or belief, and that this is occurring despite the fact that the Iranian constitution recognizes Christianity. We urge members of the international community to extend the sanctions still in place against Iranian individuals to include members of the judiciary who are implicated in ongoing and severe harassment and persecution of religious minority communities."

Christians face severe persecution in the Shia Muslim country, including regular crackdowns and jail sentences due to their faith.

House churches are not permitted, and Christian converts are beaten and arrested for gathering to worship.






Cred: Christian Post

Algeria President gives Partial Pardon for Imprisoned Algerian Christian

Algeria- Algerian Christians are grateful that Slimane Bouhafs, imprisoned since September 2016 for blasphemy, has received a partial pardon.His three-year sentence was reduced by 16 months on July 5, the national day of Algeria, following a decree by President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, which provided clemency to several prisoners on account of good behavior in prison. As a result of the partial pardon, Slimane has nine months remaining on his prison sentence.

Family members have again requested his release. According to Slimane’s daughter Tilleli, this request will be considered on 18th July. Slimane was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment on 7th August 2016 (reduced on appeal to three years on 6th September 2016) after he posted information on Facebook which was considered blasphemous against Islam and the Prophet Muhammad.

Slimane was initially imprisoned in Sétif, then in Constantine, and for almost two months has been in prison in Jijel. A request by his family to transfer him to the prison in Bejaia, closer to their home, was turned down. With support from human rights activists, family members have consistently demanded Slimane’s release and condemned the arbitrary judicial process leading to his sentencing and imprisonment.

In October 2016 his family appealed to the President to pardon Slimane, whose health has deteriorated significantly since his imprisonment. According to Tilleli, Slimane has also suffered aggressive treatment from other inmates because of his Christian faith, particularly during his time in prison in Constantine. Tilleli comments: “My father is ill and we are worried about him.”






Cred: Middle East Concern