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Todays Martyrs 2014

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Todays Martyrs 2014 Today’s Martyrs 2014-05-18 through 2014-05-24 Central African Republic Kim Pozniak (Catholic Relief Services officer, said of the fighting between Seleka and anti- balaka factions “Without feeling safe, people are afraid to live in their homes, they don’t farm and they’ve either lost or abandoned their small businesses for fear of being killed. This has resulted in thousands of people now without food, proper shelter or a means to make a living...The situation for most people in CAR is dire. So many – nearly a quarter of the population – have been displaced by the violence and now live in unimaginable conditions, either in displacement camps or elsewhere in the open. They lack food, shelter, healthcare and any other essentials required to survive...the clock is ticking, as the window for successful planting closes at the end of May”, added that famine is a real possibility) Date reported: May 21, 2014 Source: http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/dire-situation-continues-in-central-african- republic/ China Pastor Yang (commenting on the destruction of the Sangjiang Church said "When it comes to our faith, the word jiaohui [church, congregation, fellowship] is not the same as jiaotang [church building]. It may be possible to deal violently with a jiaotang, but not with the jiaohui. Christians shouldn't be so sad. Maybe this is a good time to reflect and wonder if we have put too much focus on church buildings. With this jiaotang now destroyed, we should focus our efforts on building the jiaohui") Date reported: May 20, 2014 Location: Wenzhou, Zhejiang province Source: http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Zhejiang:-more-crosses-and-churches-demolished.- Domestic-and-official-Churches-persecuted-31127.html Mr Tang (house church member, said of Christians who have been trying to defend their churches from demolition by the local government “For those who have a job, they have been suspended. For those who have factories, their factories have been sealed. They will audit your tax documents. In a word, they will make you suffer greatly”) Date: May 22, 2014 Location: Wenzhou, Zhejiang province Source: http://www.chinaaid.org/2014/05/zhejiang-house-churches-order-to-stop.html Event: over 40 Christians have been detained in connection with the recent demolition of the Sanjiang Church Preacher Wang (detained) Ji (detained) Date: April 22, 2014 Zhou (detained in a hospital due to poor health) Date: April 2014 Brother Zhou (detained for seven weeks) Date: early April 2014 Pastor Lin (did not initially respond to a police summons because he was out of town) Date: April 22, 2014 Zhou (church elder, detained) Date: April 23, 2014 Yan (church staffer, detained) Zhao (church elder, detained, still in detention as of May 23, 2014) Date: April 24, 2014 Chen (church staffer, detained while on his way to the Sanjiang Church) Pastor Li (detained for a week for “disrupting public order”) Zhao (detained) Pastor Huang (detained along with his wife) Date: April 25, 2014 Mr Wang (detained) Xu (detained) Sister Li (detained eight days) Date: April 27, 2014 Lin (church staff member, detained for taking pictures of the demolition of the Sanjiang Church) Shang (detained for taking pictures of the demolition of the Sanjiang Church, held for one week) Mr Chen (detained for taking pictures of the demolition of the Sanjiang Church) Mr Chen (detained for taking pictures of the demolition of the Sanjiang Church) Mr Chen (detained for taking pictures of the demolition of the Sanjiang Church) Ms Wu (detained for taking pictures of the demolition of the Sanjiang Church) Ms Wu (detained for taking pictures of the demolition of the Sanjiang Church) Sister Zhou (detained for taking pictures of the demolition of the Sanjiang Church) Sister Yu (detained for taking pictures of the demolition of the Sanjiang Church) Sister Li (detained for taking pictures of the demolition of the Sanjiang Church) Brother Cai (detained for taking pictures of the demolition of the Sanjiang Church) Date: April 28, 2014 Location: Wenzhou, Zhejiang province Source: http://www.chinaaid.org/2014/05/names-of-more-than-40-detained-near.html Egypt John Adel Milik (said that Copts protested against a land management concern's 15 year failure to develop a plot allocated for a church) Date: May 18, 2015 Location: Sheikh Zayed City, Giza Source: http://www.mcndirect.com/showsubject.aspx?id=54339#.U3llAcLQcfg Karam Shehata Zachary (son of Teresa Shehata, abducted and assaulted on April 27, 2014, arrested on a motorcycle theft charge in el-Marg, Cairo when he attempted to file a police report on his abduction, mother said that the object of the abduction was actually his wife; UPDATE: said in an interview that he was tortured by the police and by the Salafis who originally abducted him) Date: May 20, 2014 Source [with photo]: http://www.mcndirect.com/showsubject.aspx?id=54383#.U3wQZsLQcfg Hani Sameh (aged 12, abducted) Date: May 19, 2014 Location: Nag Hammadi, Qena province Source [with photo]: http://www.mcndirect.com/showsubject.aspx?id=54364#.U3wSH8LQcfg Said Fayez (attorney and human rights activist, said that the abduction, rape, and forced conversion to Islam of Christian women and girls "have grown into the thousands") Fr Boulos Nasif (has operated a safe house for Coptic girls who have escaped abduction) Date reported: May 5, 2014 Source: http://members4.boardhost.com/acnaus/msg/1399260705.html Shenouda Radi (automobile destroyed by arson) Date: May 20, 2014 Location: Deir Abu Hennis village, Mallawi district, Minya province Source: http://www.mcndirect.com/showsubject.aspx?id=54414#.U31ixMLQcfg Amgad Elisha (farmer, son of Elisha Habib, prevented from farming due to threats) Elisha Habib (farmer, father of Amgad Elisha, prevented from farming due to threats) Date: May 23, 2014 Location: Kasr village, Nag Hammadi, Qena Source: http://www.mcndirect.com/showsubject.aspx?id=54470#.U4AjccLQcfg Bishoy Armiya aka Mohammed Hegazy (Egypt's 'most famous' convert, arrested before December 5, 2013 in Minya province and charged with "inciting sedition by communicating to a US-based [Coptic] channel unfounded information on Copts persecution in Egypt"; UPDATE: attorney stated that the court has no intention of releasing him) Date: May 23, 2014 Source: http://www.mcndirect.com/showsubject.aspx?id=54471#.U4Ak4cLQcfg Eritrea Dr Berhane Asmelash (Director of Release Eritrea, stated "It is hard to comprehend why the Eritrean government is persecuting Christians. This is so barbaric and unacceptable to keep innocent citizens in dungeons for over ten years, and should be strongly condemned by all justice and peace loving people. Please pray for prisoners as well as for the underground church workers") Date reported: May 19, 2014 Source: http://www.asmarino.com/press-releases/2080-eritrea-religious-persecution-continues- unabated Patriarch Abune Antonios (UPDATE: has begun his seventh year in detention) Date: May 23, 2014 Location: Asmara Source [with photo]: http://theorthodoxchurch.info/blog/news/2014/05/seven-years-of-illegal- detention-of-patriarch-abune-antonios-of-eritrea/ Haiti George Knoop (aged 77, missionary, U.S. citizen, stabbed to death in his apartment, no known motive) Date reported: May 19, 2014 Location: Port-au-Prince Source [with photo]: http://www.charismanews.com/world/43904-us-missionary-murdered-in- haiti-killer-on-the-loose Iran Mohamad-Reza Partoei Kourosh (convert, arrested on February 8 2012; sentenced to three years and eight months in prison on June 16, 2013; UPDATE: conditionally released from prison) Vahid Hakkani (convert, arrested during a home church meeting on February 8 2012, charged with “acts harmful to the Islamic Regime”; sentenced to three years and eight months in prison on June 16, 2013; UPDATE: has ended his hunger strike following the conditional release of Mohamad-Reza Partoei Kourosh) Date: May 19, 2014 Location: Adel-Abad prison, Shiraz, Fars province Source: http://mohabatnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=8642:christia n-prisoner-conditionally-released-from-adel-abad-prison&catid=36:iranian- christians&Itemid=279 Pastor Saeed Abedini (aged 32 in 2013, convert; convicted on January 27, 2013 of undermining the government by spreading Christianity and sentenced to eight years in prison; recently hospitalized and tested for his chronic stomach pain - which resulted from prison beatings; UPDATE: severely beaten in the hospital by Revolutionary Guards, returned to prison) Date: May 20, 2014 Location: Karaj Source: http://aclj.org/iran/pastor-saeed-abedini-beaten-forcibly-removed-from-hospital- returned-to-iranian-prison Kazakhstan Oksana Alekseyeva (aged 37, unemployed, fined US$ 1,000 for sharing her faith with another, appeal dismissed) Tatyana Vongai (aged 59, pensioner, fined US$ 1,000 for sharing her faith with another, appeal dismissed) Dates: March 28 and April 18, 2014 Location: Taraz, Jambyl province Akmaral Serikova (UPDATE: fined US$ 1,000, appeal dismissed) Dates: March 28 and April 23, 2014 Location: Oskemen Gulsuna Kadenova (UPDATE: fined, appeal dismissed) Dates: February 13 and March 13, 2014 Location: Oskemen Source: http://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=1960 Kenya Hassan Hussein Mohammed (recent convert, beaten unconscious in a mosque when he admitted that he had become a Christian, received threatening text messages, arrested without charge, whereabouts unknown, fellow Christians suspect that the Muslims told police that he converted fraudulently for terroristic purposes) Pastor Victor Kurui (converted Hassan Hussein Mohammed,
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