Two evangelical Christians had been jailed for ten months without charges ETHIOPIA (Religion Today) We reported in December that two evangelical Christians had been jailed for ten months without charges. According to Compass Direct, these men were still not released February 23 as expected. According to Compass, a local court judge remanded them back to prison. Under Ethiopian law, church leaders Kiros Meles and Abebayeh Desalegn, should remain under arrest only if a prosecutor can produce sufficient evidence to press formal murder charges against them. But instead, the hearing was postponed for two more weeks. Meles and Dsalegn were arrested after a mob of Orthodox Church extremists staged a two-day rampage last year against five evangelical churches. Local police named the two men as suspects in the death of a young Orthodox man shot dead during the last day of the riots. According to local evangelicals, the two Protestants are being used as scapegoats to exonerate an off-duty policeman accused of firing the fatal bullet. Pray God, the source of all authority, will move the local judge to release these believers. Pray God will protect these men and their families.

Christian taxi driver killed refusing to denounce Christianity and returning to Islam IRAQ (Charisma News) Ziwar Muhammad Isma'il, a Christian taxi driver, was killed in the city of Zakho after he refused to denounce Christianity and return to Islam. Ziwar, a Kurd, came to saving faith seven years ago and since then has been faithful and open about his faith. After his conversion, Ziwar was declared an apostate by a local mullah and abducted by relatives who threatened to kill him if he didn't renounce Christianity. After he escaped, he was threatened many times and arrested twice, though never charged. Pray God will protect Ziwar's widow and children, and make Himself very real to them. Pray the Holy Spirit will enable them to share their faith graciously in word and deed so that others may find the saving faith that Ziwar had.

Escalation of conflict and Islamic terror in the Southern Philippines PHILIPPINES (ASSIST News Service) There has been an escalation of conflict and Islamic terror in the Southern Philippines. A terrorist kidnapping gang operates in the south and the government believes the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) is harboring and training them. On February 19, suspected Islamic rebels attacked the Christian village of Kalawit in the region of Zamboanga. Grenades were lobbed into homes before the rebels gathered the residents together in the streets and sprayed them with machinegun fire. Fourteen Christians died, including several young children and an infant who was shot dead in his mother's arms. Pray Islamic militants and terrorists would be removed from South Philippines. Pray God will give the Christians faith and hope and an abundance of love toward those who want to destroy them. Pray our loving Father will place a shield of protection around the Christian community

Government of Sudan  continues jihad against the non-Muslim SUDAN (ASSIST News Service) In spite of peace talks and a signed cease-fire agreement, the Government of Sudan (GOS) continues its jihad against the non-Muslim, predominantly Christian south of Sudan. Once again the GOS is mercilessly attacking southern Sudanese civilians. Thousands have been displaced in the Western upper Nile region. Eyewitnesses report that GOS tactics include the abduction of women and children, gang rapes, ground assaults supported by helicopter gunships, destruction of humanitarian relief sites and the burning of villages.
Once again the GOS is following up the devastation with obstruction to the delivery of humanitarian aid. Once again the extreme suffering of the Christians of southern Sudan is virtually absent from the world media and political dialog. To view a video of how VOMedical changed the life of persecuted Sudanese Christian James Lidula, login to persecution.com* and click on media rooms. Pray that God himself, seeing no justice and no one to intervene to help the oppressed, will step in to save them with his mighty power and justice.

Vietnamese Police Torture, Execute Montagnard Christian (Missions Insider www.christianaid.org) In Vietnam, one can be beaten, raped, jailed and even executed for doing "nothing."
Vietnamese authorities recently executed one jailed Montagnard Christian. They also have brutally treated an 80-year-old grandmother and an 18-year-old girl, all apparently for doing "nothing." They just happened to be related to someone authorities do not like. And these are but a few among hundreds of Montagnards so mistreated.
Montagnard is a Vietnamese word meaning "mountain people" and includes several tribal groups dwelling in the Central Highlands of Vietnam. Most of them are Christians. Vietnamese authorities have seized part of their lands and the Montagnards staged peaceful mass protests demanding land rights and religious freedom in February 2001. The government cracked down on the protest using tanks, helicopter gunships and 13 regiments of soldiers.
Thousands of Montagnards fled for their lives into neighboring Cambodia. Then the Vietnam government offered bounties for the return of the Montagnard refugees, and the Cambodian government rounded up many of them and returned them to Vietnam for a price.
Vietnamese authorities blamed Kok Ksor for the uprising and hate him for publishing news of their repressive acts. Plus, Kok Ksor and the Montagnards sided with the U.S. in the Vietnam War. Kok Ksor is a Montagnard who escaped from Saigon the day before it fell and has lived in the U.S. since 1975. He heads the South Carolina-based Montagnard Foundation that advocates for Montagnard rights in Vietnam.
Kok Ksor's 18-year-old niece, H'Ngon, was among those the Cambodians forcefully turned over to Vietnamese authorities. They then took her to an undisclosed location where she was repeatedly raped over three days and nights as retaliation for her uncle being a political activist in the USA, though she, herself, had done "nothing." She continues to suffer trauma from the horror.
When Kok Ksor's 80-year-old mother, H'ble Ksor, refused to read a document denouncing her son over Vietnamese TV in May 2001, security forces beat her, breaking three ribs, and threatened to kill her, even though she "never did anything to criticize the Vietnamese government," according to the Montagnard Foundation. She now suffers pain from her injuries, but is forbidden to leave her village to seek medical help.
Similarly, on Friday, January 31, Vietnamese authorities tortured and executed Y-Su Nie with lethal injection. He was arrested last November for being a Christian and land-rights advocate, though no specific words or actions have been cited. In Buonmathout Prison he was tortured by beatings and electric shock and forced to publicly denounce Kok Ksor and Christians before other Montagnard villagers, even though he apparently was never tried in an open court or found guilty of anything.
They handcuffed him on January 30 and told him he "would soon die, but because the Vietnamese government is merciful, we will allow you to see your family one last time." Then they injected him with a lethal poison and released him. When he reached his family, he cried and told them, "The government let me come to see you for a few moments before I die; the police have already injected my body with poison."
He died the next evening, even though he, also, apparently had done "nothing."
These are only three of 264 victims of brutality the Montagnard Foundation lists on its website www.montagnard-foundation.org. Vietnamese Communist officials continue to persecute the Montagnards mercilessly. Pray that they may stand steadfast while suffering terribly at the hands of Vietnamese authorities. Information on indigenous Vietnamese ministries working among them can be obtained by writing to insider@christianaid.org and putting MI-408 740-PERS on the subject line.
Messages expressing your concern can be sent to: Nguyen Tam Chien Ambassador of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam Embassy of Vietnam
1233 20th Street NW, Suite 400 Washington, DC 20036 Phone: 202-861-0737 Fax: 202-861-0917 Email: info@vietnamembassy-usa.org

India: Police Join Hindus in Expelling Missionary (Missions Insider www.christianaid.org) Police in a village in northern India have joined radical Hindus in expelling a native missionary from their village.
The missionary is a native of India who graduated from a locally run training institute in that region.
"He was leading the most successful ministry in one of our stations," the leader said. "In the last two years, he established a congregation of more than 40 believers and had another 40 who were being prepared for baptism. He recently conducted a crusade in his village where about 500 people came and heard the gospel. Many were miraculously healed."
The leader said as news spread throughout the surrounding villages and his ministry gained reputation, he became a target of the fanatics from nearby cities. The Hindu radicals went to his village, threatened him and took him by force to the police station, saying he was converting Hindus to Christianity. The police sided with the fanatics, threatened him and told him to leave the place.
"He showed up here with all his belongings this morning during our church worship," the leader said Sunday. "The whole congregation was moved as he testified."
Both the missionary and the believers he left behind stand in need of prayer. One of the local elders is continuing the ministry in that place and the missionary will go to a new place.
Such incidents are becoming more and more common. On the same day, Gospel for Asia reported one of their missionaries was undergoing the same kind of drilling at the hands of local authorities.
For more information about this ministry or to learn how you can support it, write to insider@christianaid.org and put MI-408 660-HEM on the subject line.

India: Spiritual Hunger Prevails Despite opposition from hostile Hindu groups, local ministries in India are seeing a great spiritual hunger among the people of India.
In one month, one missionary saw 200 people accept the Lord in Andhra Pradesh State. Over 100 responded from one village, while the rest came from a number of other villages.
In the Bastar tribal district of Madhya Pradesh State, missionaries took the gospel to more than two-dozen villages. Though no tally of conversions was given, the missionary said, "People are taking great interest and are coming in large numbers to hear the Word of God."
The same ministry saw six youths accept the Lord in Uttaranchal State in North India, and at least 41 persons accepted Christ in Chattisgarh, the state that was formed out of the northernmost part of Uttar Pradesh in 2000.
Another ministry held a gospel crusade in Karnataka State. The night meetings were attended by more than 4000 people, and 70 persons accepted Christ as their Savior.
Christian Aid gives financial assistance to over 130 indigenous ministries in India. To learn how you can support these ministries, write insider@christianaid.org  and put MI-408 600-WMN on the subject line.

India: Militant Hindu Group Cleared in Staine's Murder Four years after the murder of Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two sons, India's Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI) has claimed that none of the suspects are members of the militant Hindu group, Bajrang Dal.
Graham Staines and his two minor sons--Philip and Timothy--were burnt alive as they slept in a vehicle in a rural village in Orissa State on January 23, 1999. Eyewitnesses to the murder said that those torching the vehicle were shouting, "Bajrang Dal Zindabad" ("Long live Bajrang Dal"). Several of those arrested for the murder also were said to be members of that group that actively opposes Christianity and Islam in India and trains volunteers to fight against them.
The website for Bajrang Dal http://www.hinduunity.org   acknowledges that they are a militant organization, saying, "Hindus who love India and wish to protect Hinduism and are willing to die for it are behind this organization." However, Bajrang Dal denies any responsibility for the attack on Staines.
Christian spokesmen in India believe the group benefits from its close association with national leaders of India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.
Pray that the truth will be found as the trials and investigations continue and that Christians will have complete freedom of religion throughout India to believe, practice, and promote their faith. This article appeared elsewhere and is adapted for Missions Insider readers.

Indonesia: Aid Provides Hope for Maluku Refugees Indonesian refugees from the Maluku Islands have been driven from their homes by Muslim Jijad terrorists and forced to live in squalid refugee camps. Sadly, many children have been separated from their parents. Some were forced to watch in horror as terrorists murdered their parents before their eyes.
Though all are considered "Christian" by their Muslim attackers, many are Christian in name only and have never heard the gospel that they can be born again through the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ and the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit.
Hundreds have responded to articles published over the last two years on the attacks on Christians in Indonesia. Several times Christian Aid has sent financial help to those aiding Christian refugees. In recent months an indigenous ministry utilized funds sent by Christian Aid to reach out to some of these refugees in camps near Tobelo in North Maluku Province. The group distributed clothing and food among hundreds of refugees and gave this report:
"We were blessed to minister to the refugees, their children, and the youth in particular. God enabled us to help them overcome the trauma of war and loss through care groups and Bible study. Praise God for the 200 adults and 450 young people who came to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ through this outreach. All glory and praise to Him."