Christian Mother of 11 Poisoned to Death in Uganda by Muslim Sister-In-Law Months After She Left Islam

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Christian Mother of 11 Poisoned to Death in Uganda by Muslim Sister-In-Law Months After She Left Islam

Uganda (Photo: Reuters/James Akena)

Christian Post Report – A church bell hangs from a tree brunch outside a catholic church and a school in Odek village, north of Uganda capital Kampala, February 14, 2015.

A Christian mother of 11 was poisoned to death last week by her Muslim sister-in-law in an eastern Ugandan village, neighborhood sources told a leading Christian persecution watchdog organization.

Namumbeiza Swabura, a Muslim convert to Christianity, succombed to food poisoning last Wednesday after enduring months of constant threats from local Muslims after she and her husband — a former Islamic school teacher [sheikh] — accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior in August 2014, sources informed Morning Star News.

Swabura is survived by her husband, Mugoya Muhammad, and her 11 children, the youngest being a 5-month-old infant.

Sources allege that Swabura’s sister-in-law, Jafaran Wowa, visited Swabura at her home around 4 p.m. last Wednesday in Kibuku District’s village of Nabuli and offered to prepare Swabura a meal known in Uganda as matoke, which consists of cooked plantains.

After preparing the dish, Wowa did not eat any and left quickly after Swabura finished consuming it. When Muhammed arrived back at the house shortly after his sister left, Swabura was complaining about an extreme stomach pain. The report states that Swabura told her husband that the pain started almost immediately after she ate the meal that Wowa cooked for her.

As Swabura’s condition worsened, her face grew pale, she began to vomit and her nose began bleeding uncontrollably.

While Muhammad frantically tried to find a rental car in order to drive his wife to the hospital, Swabura died inside the home. Since he was financially unable to pursue legal action for the loss of his wife, Muhammad buried Swabura the very next day.

The source who spoke with Morning Star News said they believe that Wowa was encouraged and possibly paid by other Muslims to carry out the murder of her convert sister-in-law, which she knew would leave 11 children without a mother.

“We suspect that Muhammad’s sister, Jafaran Wowa, was given a lot of money to carry out the heinous act,” the area source said. “This was a deadly drug, like rat poison or Bromethalin.”

Swabura and Muhammad have received numerous death threats since their conversion from Islam to Christianity last November, which is considered by some hardline Muslims to be apostasy and a crime punishable by death.

“We are fearing for our lives as the Muslims are threatening to kill us if we continue in Christianity,” Muhammad told Morning Star News in an interview in May.

The couple’s pastor, James Kalaja, who pastors the New Hope Church in Nabuli, has also received threats for his leadership role in the church, which has forced him to move his family to another village that he feels is a less dangerous environment for them. Kalaja asserted that Christians are not safe in Nabuli.

“I only go to conduct service,” Kalaja told Morning Star News. “Christians are facing threats here and the Muslims would not like to see a church in Nabuli village. It is sad that we have just lost our sister. The Christians are shaken by her death. We have been praying for Muhammad due to several threatening messages that he has been receiving through his phone.”

Source : Christian Post

Christian Watchdog Groups Praise Opening of New UN Human Rights Office in Seoul to Investigate North Korea’s ‘Unspeakable Atrocities’

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Christian Watchdog Groups Praise Opening of New UN Human Rights Office in Seoul to Investigate North Korea’s ‘Unspeakable Atrocities’

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (Photo: Reuters/KCNA)

Christian Post Report – North Korean leader Kim Jong Un gives field guidance to the newly-built Pyongyang City Mushroom Farm in this undated photo released by North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency in Pyongyang January 10, 2015.

A number of Christian persecution watchdog groups have praised the opening of a new U.N. human rights field office in Seoul, South Korea, which is going to be investigating some of the “unspeakable atrocities” carried out by the government of North Korea on its own people as outlined in a major 2014 report.

“This is a very significant step forward and will serve to keep the appalling human rights situation in North Korea on the agenda of the international community, and continue the process of documenting crimes against humanity in North Korea with a view to holding the perpetrators of such crimes accountable,” Christian Solidarity Worldwide’s Chief Executive Mervyn Thomas said in a statement.

“We look forward to working with the U.N. Human Rights Office to ensure that the truth about North Korea continues to be documented and reported and that justice is done.”

International Christian Concern added that there is “no doubt” that North Korea’s persecution of Christians will be among the human rights abuses investigated.

“This is an encouraging first step toward addressing the serious problems in the regime that is widely considered to be the world’s worst offender of human rights and religious freedoms. Pray that other nations will not stand in the way of genuine investigation and decisive action,” ICC said.

Voice of America reported that the U.N.’s new office officially opened on Tuesday, and is part of the ongoing effort to increase pressure on the regime of Kim Jong Un.

Investigators will be tasked with documenting human rights abuses carried out inside North Korea, which can serve for possible legal action in the future.

Human Rights Watch’s Phil Robertson suggested that North Korea’s leadership should be worried about what might be uncovered.

“This is something that Kim Jong Un should be staying awake at night thinking about, because he’s going to be facing a determined team of professional investigators looking and speaking to people to find out the abuses that are taking place against them,” said Robertson.

A 400-page report from February 2014 released by the U.N. Commission of Inquiry on human rights in the DPRK said that while Kim’s government is committing “unspeakable atrocities,” the nation’s leader spends money lavishly on private movie theaters and luxury cars.

“The gravity, scale and nature of these violations reveal a State that does not have any parallel in the contemporary world,” the report stated.

It highlighted some of the abuses carried out, such as “extermination, murder, enslavement, torture, imprisonment, rape, forced abortions and other sexual violence, persecution on political, religious, racial and gender grounds, the forcible transfer of populations, the enforced disappearance of persons and the inhumane act of knowingly causing prolonged starvation.”

North Korea has been ranked as the worst country in the world for Christians for 13 consecutive years by Open Doors, another persecution watchdog group.

“It is number one on the World Watch List, the most brutal and dangerous place in the world to be a Christian, because the government requires and enforces with hostility a total dedication to the hero worship of their leader,” Open Doors CEO David Curry told The Christian Post in an interview back in January.

Source : Christian Post

Vicar of Baghdad Says Christians Are ‘Desperate’ and ‘Petrified’ by ISIS, but Worship and Love for Jesus Sustains Persecuted Believers

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Vicar of Baghdad Says Christians Are ‘Desperate’ and ‘Petrified’ by ISIS, but Worship and Love for Jesus Sustains Persecuted Believers

Displaced Iraqi Christians (Photo: Reuters/Ahmed Jadallah)

Christian Post Report – Displaced Iraqi Christians who fled from Islamic State militants in Mosul, pray at a school acting as a refugee camp in Erbil, Iraq, September 6, 2014.

The Rev. Canon Andrew White, known as the “Vicar of Baghdad,” has said that persecution of Christians at the hands of ISIS in Iraq has passed all expectations of extreme brutality. White said that while Christians have lost everything, it’s their faith in Jesus that’s keeping them going.

“It is happening now in our midst and the persecution of Christians is like we’d never expect would happen,” White told the audience at the Episcopal Cathedral Church of St. Mark in Salt Lake City, according to Deseret News. “All I know is we are not (ceasing) to love Jesus. We are still serving him.”

He added that Christians in Iraq are in constant fear of attacks.

“They’re all petrified. They’re all desperate. They all think they have no future,” he said.

White is a prominent church leader who served as vicar of the Anglican St. George’s Church in Baghdad until November 2014, when he had to flee the country.

  • Andrew White
    (Screengrab: Orthodox Christian Network)
    Rev. Canon Andrew White Speaks About The Persecution of Iraqi Christians.,

In previous interviews he has talked about the many Christians that have been killed by ISIS, which has captured a number of cities across Iraq and Syria. He also shared of four Iraqi Christian children who were beheaded last year by the Islamic militants for refusing to denounce their faith.

White said that the children, all younger than 15, refused to say that they would follow the prophet Muhammad and told the ISIS fighters that they will always “love” and “follow” Jesus.

“ISIS turned up and they said to the children, ‘you say the words that you will follow Muhammad.’ The children, all under 15, four of them, they said, ‘no, we love Yasua [Jesus]. We have always loved Yasua. We have always followed Yasua. Yasua has always been with us.'” White said at the time.

“[The militants] said, ‘say the words!’ [The children] said, ‘no, we can’t do that.’ They chopped all their heads off.”

The Vicar of Baghdad told Deseret News that amid all the horrors Christians are suffering at the hands of ISIS, “the fact that Jesus loves us is what keeps us going.”

Iraq has been torn apart by the war with ISIS after only beginning to recover following the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 to bring down the government of dictator Saddam Hussein. White said that while he at first supported the 2003 war, he now believes people were better off under Hussein than the current situation.

“Now, we have nothing. Now, we can’t even walk down the street,” White said.

ISIS’ atrocities have targeted other minorities as well, such as Yazidis, as well as Shiite and Sunni Muslims.

Earlier this week the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights revealed that two boys under the age of 18 were crucified by the jihadists for taking food when they were supposed to be fasting during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

Source : Christian Post

Bishop Fears Extremist Jews Pose Increasing Threat to Christians in Israel After Church Attack at Site Where Jesus Performed Miracle

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Bishop Fears Extremist Jews Pose Increasing Threat to Christians in Israel After Church Attack at Site Where Jesus Performed Miracle

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  • Church of Loaves and Fishes(Photo: Reuters/Baz Ratner)
A nun stands at the scene of a fire in the Church of Loaves and Fishes on the shores of the Sea of Galilee in northern Israel, June Christian Post Report – 18, 20Christian Post Report – 15. An arson attack on Thursday gutted part of the church at the site where Christians believe Jesus performed a miracle by feeding 5,000 people with five loaves of bread and two fish on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, the Israeli fire brigade said.
  • Israel(Photo: Reuters/Baz Ratner)
    • A nun looks at damage caused by a fire in the Church of Loaves and Fishes on the shores of the Sea of Galilee in northern Israel, June Christian Post Report – 18, 20Christian Post Report – 15. Fire gutted part of the Church on Thursday and investigators suspected arson as a possible cause, a police spokesman said. The church, which Christians believe is where Jesus performed the Miracle of the Multiplication of the Loaves and the Fishes, lies on the shores of the Sea of Galilee and is a traditional site of pilgrimage in the Holy Land.
  • Church of Loaves and Fishes(Photo: Reuters/Baz Ratner)
    • A man looks at graffiti that reads in Hebrew “banish false gods” spray-painted on a wall in the Church of Loaves and Fishes on the shores of the Sea of Galilee in northern Israel, June Christian Post Report – 18, 20Christian Post Report – 15. An arson attack on Thursday gutted part of the church at the site where Christians believe Jesus performed a miracle by feeding 5,000 people with five loaves of bread and two fish on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, the Israeli fire brigade said. A verse from a Hebrew prayer denouncing the worship of “false gods” was spraypainted in red on a church wall, suggesting Jewish zealots were responsible.
  • Church of Loaves and Fishes(Photo: Reuters/Baz Ratner)
    • Partially burnt leaflets are seen on the floor of the Church of Loaves and Fishes on the shores of the Sea of Galilee in northern Israel, June Christian Post Report – 18, 20Christian Post Report – 15. Fire gutted part of the Church on Thursday and investigators suspected arson as a possible cause, a police spokesman said.The church, which Christians believe is where Jesus performed the Miracle of the Multiplication of the Loaves and the Fishes, lies on the shores of the Sea of Galilee and is a traditional site of pilgrimage in the Holy Land.
  • Church of Loaves and Fishes(Photo: Reuters/Baz Ratner)
    • A religious icon is seen on the floor of the Church of Loaves and Fishes on the shores of the Sea of Galilee in northern Israel, June Christian Post Report – 18, 20Christian Post Report – 15. Fire gutted part of the Church on Thursday and investigators suspected arson as a possible cause, a police spokesman said.The church, which Christians believe is where Jesus performed the Miracle of the Multiplication of the Loaves and the Fishes, lies on the shores of the Sea of Galilee and is a traditional site of pilgrimage in the Holy Land.

    A Roman Catholic bishop in Jerusalem says he’s afraid that Jewish extremists are now posing an increasing threat to Christians in the Holy Land after an arson attack last Thursday at a local church in Tabgha, an area believed to be where Jesus performed the miracle of the feeding of the 5,000.

    The warning “all idols will be smashed” — an extract from a Jewish prayer — was also sprayed in red paint on a wall outside the church, according to a report from Aid to the Church in Need.

    Auxiliary Bishop William Shomali of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem told Aid to the Church in Need that the attack on the Catholic Church of the Multiplication of the Loaves near the Sea of Galilee, which left a Benedictine monk and visitor with smoke inhalation, has heightened his concern that extremists are targeting other faith groups, particularly Christians.

    “There is a real escalation in the anti-Christian violence, from a small fire which leaves little damage to a bigger fire and finally to an arson which intends to produce great damage and even killing,” said Shomali. “We are allowed to ask: what will happen next?”

    “I am inclined to think that the act is perpetrated by a very small and aggressive group. … I cannot put all Israelis in the same basket, since there are the liberal and intolerant Jews, those who are less [tolerant], and finally those who hate the non-Jews. … My fear is that these radicals are increasing in number and in the degree of intolerance,” Shomali noted.

    Many buildings on the holy site including a souvenir shop, an office for pilgrims, and a meeting room were said to have been badly damaged in the blaze which destroyed Bibles and prayer books.

    Nicole Jansezian, director of Christian friends of Shalva, an organization in Jerusalem that cares for children with special needs regardless of race or religion, told The Christian Post in an interview early Tuesday that she believes Israel is quite safe for Christians.

    “While the attack was tragic and shows that some extremists have a racist and antiquated view of Christianity, Israel is still the only country in the Middle East where Christians are safe and not under threat of persecution. We live and worship in freedom and are very rarely, if at all, threatened by the Jewish majority,” she said.

    She noted, however, that altercations between religious Jews and priests in the Old City are ongoing.

    “Does this show an escalating cycle of violence in Israel vs. Christians? I don’t know the answer to that question and I haven’t been affected, personally. I do feel safe and integrated into society though, despite religious differences,” she added.

    Israeli President Reuven Rivlin condemned the attack hours after it occurred and insisted that the Holy Land would remain a place for all faiths, according to the report.

    “Such terrible desecration of an ancient and holy place of prayer is an attack on the very fabric of life in our country,” said Rivlin.

    “Israel, as a state and a society, is obligated to protect and preserve the holy sites, for all faiths,” he added.

    Contact: [email protected]; follow me on Twitter @leoblair

    Source : Christian Post