...Or Does It Explode?

Iran Cracks Down (again) on Baha'is, Arresting Six

To be Baha'i in Iran is to tempt fate, thanks to the regime's complete ban on the faith:

Six Bahá’í leaders in Iran were arrested and taken to the notorious Evin prison yesterday in a sweep that is ominously similar to episodes in the 1980s when scores of Iranian Bahá’í leaders were summarily rounded up and killed.

The six men and women, all members of the national-level group that helped see to the minimum needs of Bahá’ís in Iran, were in their homes Wednesday morning when government intelligence agents entered and spent up to five hours searching each home, before taking them away.

The seventh member of the national coordinating group was arrested in early March in Mashhad after being summoned by the Ministry of Intelligence office there on an ostensibly trivial matter.

“We protest in the strongest terms the arrests of our fellow Bahá'ís in Iran,” said Bani Dugal, the principal representative of the Bahá’í International Community to the United Nations. “Their only crime is their practice of the Bahá’í Faith.”

“Especially disturbing is how this latest sweep recalls the wholesale arrest or abduction of the members of two national Iranian Bahá’í governing councils in the early 1980s -- which led to the disappearance or execution of 17 individuals,” she said.

“The early morning raids on the homes of these prominent Bahá’ís were well coordinated, and it is clear they represent a high-level effort to strike again at the Bahá’ís and to intimidate the Iranian Bahá’í community at large,” said Ms. Dugal.

Arrested yesterday were: Mrs. Fariba Kamalabadi, Mr. Jamaloddin Khanjani, Mr. Afif Naeimi, Mr. Saeid Rezaie, Mr. Behrouz Tavakkoli, and Mr. Vahid Tizfahm. All live in Tehran. Mrs. Kamalabadi, Mr. Khanjani, and Mr. Tavakkoli have been previously arrested and then released after periods ranging from five days to four months.

Arrested in Mashhad on 5 March 2008 was Mrs. Mahvash Sabet, who also resides in Tehran. Mrs. Sabet was summoned to Mashhad by the Ministry of Intelligence, ostensibly on the grounds that she was required to answer questions related to the burial of an individual in the Bahá’í cemetery in that city.

On 21 August 1980, all nine members of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Iran were abducted and disappeared without a trace. It is certain that they were killed.

The National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Iran was reconstituted soon after that but was again ravaged by the execution of eight of its members on 27 December 1981.

A number of members of local Bahá’í governing councils, known as local Spiritual Assemblies, were also arrested and executed in the early 1980s, before an international outcry forced the government to slow its execution of Bahá’ís. Since 1979, more than 200 Bahá’ís have been killed or executed in Iran, although none have been executed since 1998.

In 1983, the government outlawed all formal Bahá’í administrative institutions and the Iranian Bahá’í community responded by disbanding its National Spiritual Assembly, which is an elected governing council, along with some 400 local level elected governing councils. Bahá'ís throughout Iran also suspended nearly all of their regular organizational activity.

The informal national-level coordinating group, known as the Friends, was established with the knowledge of the government to help cope with the diverse needs of Iran’s 300,000-member Baháí community, which is the country’s largest religious minority.

Algeria Squeezing Tiny Local Christian Community

Many of the cathedrals in Algeria built under French occupation (as well as old synagogues) have been turned into mosques or civic halls. So it goes - all's fair in love and war, right? - especially since most Christians and Jews fled Algeria post-Independence. But what about the Christians who remain in Algeria today? The state's repression of this tiny community is not pretty:

Police issued written orders for three Algerian churches to cease activity this week, bringing to 19 the number of congregations told to shut down since November, an Algerian Protestant leader said.

In addition to the three churches, registered under the Protestant Church of Algeria (EPA), two independent congregations were verbally ordered to close their doors, EPA President Mustapha Krim said.

The church closures come amid a flurry of antagonistic media articles warning of campaigns by Protestants to “Christianize” Algeria...

But some critics have responded that Algeria’s Christians, not its Muslim majority, are the ones being attacked.

“The repression of evangelist proselytism has turned into the harassment of Christians,” columnist Mustapha Hammouche wrote in Liberte on Tuesday (March 25).

Indeed, Algerian Christians have claimed that the government has blocked them from carrying out the required re-registration of their churches.

“The administration offices in Tizi-Ouzou did not want to or could not say which measures to take in order to obtain the famous ‘certificate of conformity,’” church leaders wrote on March 26. They said the certificate was required to show that they were in line with a new March 2006 law governing non-Muslim places of worship.

“[The] result: the churches are closed, services forbidden, and nothing can change the situation!” reported the Algerian Christian website collectifalgerie.free.fr on March 26.

The Algerian authorities are clearly spooked by Christian evangelism. Is it be possible that the most effective dissident movement in North Africa is the one led by missionaries? Why else would the Algerian government be so afraid of what seems like a fringe phenomenon?

Sweet Jesus!: The Saudis Set Their Terms

Want a church in Saudi Arabia? Just one thing you gotta do:

No churches should be permitted in Saudi Arabia, unless Pope Benedict XVI recognised the prophet Mohammed, according to a Middle East expert.

While Saudi mediators are working with the Vatican on negotiations to allow places of religious worship, some experts believe it will not occur without this recognition.

Anwar Ashiqi, president of the Saudi centre for Middle East strategic studies, endorsed this view in an interview on the site of Arab satellite TV network, al-Arabiya on Thursday.

"I have taken part in several meetings related to Islamic-Christian dialogue and there have been negotiations on this issue," he said.

"It would be possible to launch official negotiations to construct a church in Saudi Arabia only after the Pope and all the Christian churches recognise the prophet Mohammed."

"If they don't recognise him as a prophet, how can we have a church in the Saudi kingdom?"

...A member of Saudi Arabia's Consultative Council, Abdelaziz al-Thinani, rejected the prelate's claims saying that there were no Christians among the Saudis who were all Muslims.

"Those few Christians do not reside in the country permanently, they come and go," he said.

He denied there were four million Christians in the kingdom and said the issue of human rights should not be used to call for the construction of a Christian church.

And he said it all with a straight face.

Saudi Pols Begin to Realize that "Anti-Religious Defamation" UN Resolutions Can Instead Get Them in Trouble

After all, they are the kingdom that accepts no substitutes:

The Saudi Arabian Parliament Monday rejected a recommendation to adopt an international agreement that forbids insulting of religions, prophets and clerics, the Saudi daily Al-Watan reported.

 

Seventy-seven members of parliament rejected the recommendation, claiming that if they adopted the agreement, they would have had to recognize the legitimacy of idolatrous religions, such as Buddhism.

 

The recommendation was put forward by MP Muhammad Al-Quweiha's. In his recommendation, Al- Quweiha's wrote that the Saudi Foreign Ministry should cooperate with the Arab and Islamic bloc in the United Nations to adopt the agreement.

 

"The concept of religions varies from one country to the other and from one culture to the other. Buddhism and Bahaism are considered religions in some countries, but must Muslims respect these sects and not condemn them," said MP Khalil Al-Khalil, who rejected the recommendation.

Yes, must the Saudis? That seems to be asking too much.

Yemeni Security Forces Arrest Teenagers for... Celebrating Religious Holiday

Hey, a belated Eid Al-Ghadeer Mubarak to everyone celebrating out in Yemen!

Attorney General Abdullah Al-Olofy expressed his helplessness against what he claims are high level instructions that do not adhere to the legal system in Yemen. He told this to representatives of over 150 protestors who held a two-day sit-in in front of his office, demanding the release of illegally detained relatives and friends.

The sit-in is one of many activities led by human rights organizations and activists promoting freedom of expression and religion in Yemen...

“This has been an on going policy by the political security under the pretext of terrorism. But the latest arrest of 8 minors on Dec. 27 for lighting fire crackers is too much,” said Ali Al-Dailami, director of the Yemeni Organization for Freedoms and Rights, who participated in the protest. [Some of the teenagers arrested are pictured above.]

The children, who are of the Zaidi sect, were celebrating their religious festival of Al-Ghadeer Eid on Thursday when they were thrown into jail. They had been carrying leaflets issued for the occasion explaining the religious celebration and what it means to Zaidis. According to lawyer Abdul-Rab Al-Murtadha, the leaflet is perfectly in line with article 19 in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, concerning freedom of expression, which Yemen ratified alongside the Yemeni constitution.

The protestors, including a number of women, demanded the release of the well-known religious Yemeni Zaidi scholar Mohammed Miftah, who was also arrested on Thursday on charges of celebrating Al-Ghadeer Eid.

This story seems to reflect the wacky mix of openness and repression that characterizes contemporary Yemen. Hopefully the forces of openness will win the day.

Christmas Bonfire in the Desert outside Riyadh

Here's a shout-out to everyone celebrating Christmas in Saudi. Just remember to keep it on the low-down.

Friday Fotos: Destroyed Baha'i Cemetery in Isfahan

The story is a few months old, but it deserves repeating nonetheless.

Graffiti: “Hezbollah is active and hates Bahai’is.“

A Bahai’i cemetery in Najaf-Abad, Isfahan, was bulldozed over on September 9th and 10th [Persian]. Reportedly, prior to the attack, thirty local Bahai’i families had received threats. More pictures in the photoblog.

The Catholics of Arabia

Yesterday's meeting between the Pope and the Saudi king put an oft-ignored Middle East minority in the headlines, at least for a moment: nearly one million Catholics living in Saudi Arabia.

The catch is that these men and women and children are officially banned from practicing their religion inside the Saudi kingdom. No public services, no crosses, no bibles... and even clandestine services have been raided by the Saudi authorities - with participants deported just for the crime of praying.

The Pope and the King were all smiles during the photo-op, and the Pope did raise the issue of Saudi Catholics (only he didn't use that exact oxymoron). But does anyone think the situation for this sizable religious minority will be changing anytime soon?

Saudi Regime At Last Tackles Religious Freedom... in Europe

Europe may hardly be a paradise for interfaith relations, but this latest move from the government-controlled Saudi Human Rights Commission is a classic case of the pot calling the kettle black. It's also classic Saudi one-way invocation of "human rights" - i.e., protect my rights but don't even think about asking me to respect yours.

Saudi Arabia’s Human Rights Commission (HRC) will urge its counterparts in the European Union to ask their governments not to link terrorism to Islam and also to issue regulations to protect Muslims from prejudice and discrimination because of their faith...

The points are expected to be addressed during HRC’s official participation in the Second Arab-European Dialogue on Human Rights and Terrorism, which will take place in Copenhagen on Oct.21-23. “The dialogue is significant because it is being held in Denmark, where the controversy started over the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) cartoons,” the source told Arab News...

“HRC’s participation in the dialogue is part of its role to communicate and discuss with regional and international rights bodies matters that concern the rights of humans against discrimination on the grounds of race, religion, or sex,” the HRC said in an official statement.

Can't wait until next year's meeting of the council in Mecca, chaired by the Dalai Lama and featuring women chauffeurs and a stirring musical performance by Elton John in drag.

"Hand of God" in Libya?

Christian Today runs a report on the small re-flourishing of Christian life in Libya, apparently fueled by African migrants and Asian foreign workers. The article reveals new openings - but also severe (and humiliating) restrictions on the Christian community that remain:

A new wave of religious freedom is sweeping across Libya, say Christians in the north African country, after three decades of restrictions against the tiny Christian population.

"People are respecting us. They accept us. We are free," says Roman Catholic Bishop Giovanni Martinelli, who is based in Tripoli, the capital of predominantly Muslim Libya.

The 1969 revolution that brought Libyan leader Muammar Qadhafi to power led to church buildings being confiscated and then closed down. Catholics were allowed to keep only two churches, one in Tripoli and the other in Benghazi.

The formal name of the country is the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, but human rights organisations say the country is authoritarian.

"The biggest church was a cathedral, but was turned into a mosque. They took all the churches with the revolution," recalls Martinelli...

Most worshippers are Africans, mainly illegal migrants, and Asians, and Martinelli now celebrates three services in different languages every Friday, whilst the Muslims go to their mosques. There are Christian services in Korean and English in the morning, and in the afternoon there is a service in Philipino for the Philippine community. On Sunday the Mass is in Arabic...

The church building dates back to the 17th century. It was rededicated on 9 March, having been restored as part of a project to renovate the old City of Tripoli by a committee set up to protect the local heritage.

Still, the Anglicans can now only repaint the church, and must not add anything to the building. They are not even allowed to erect a cross.