Zprávy HCJB 12.3.2008

	Žádosti o milost nepomohly – pákistánský křesťan oběšen
	Mladý křesťan byl dnes (ve středu 12. března) v šest hodin ráno místního času oběšen na základě obvinění z vraždy muslimského chlapce. Podle obránců lidských práv soud neproběhl spravedlivě. Bez ohledu na žádosti o milost byl 28letý Zahid Masih popraven v ústředním vězení ve městě Multan v pakistánské provincii Pandžáb. Jeho slaboučká matka a další příbuzní byli spatřeni, jak neutišitelně pláčí před vězením, když jim byly dvě hodiny po popravě předány jeho tělesné ostatky. Až do samé popravy žádali jeho obhájci, křesťanské skupiny i ochránci lidských práv milost nebo alespoň odklad popravy po Velikonocích. Masihův obhájce princ Rehan Ifikhar řekl, že osobně “žádal o milost prezidenta a další vysoce postavené osoby zvlášť zorganizovaným telefonickým hovorem.” Řekl, že během soudního řízení “nebyla Zahidu Masihovi dána žádná možnost, aby se hájil,” a dodal, že “pákistánská vláda s ním jednala jako se psem. Nikdo nevyslyšel náš hlas žádající milost.” Zdroj: BosNewsLife
	Všechny zprávy v angličtině
	STATE IN INDIA REVOKES ‘ANTI-CONVERSION’ AMENDMENT BILL Sources: Compass Direct News, Christian Solidarity Worldwide On Monday, March 10, the government of western India’s Gujarat state revoked the “anti-conversion” amendment bill in an apparent attempt to implement an older version of the legislation passed in 2003 that has remained dormant. Ruled by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the state repealed the Gujarat Freedom of Religion (Amendment) Bill of 2006 in the assembly House as Gujarat Gov. Nawal Kishore Sharma had refused to give his assent to it last July. “The repeal of the amendment bill seems to be a step towards bringing in force the Gujarat Freedom of Religion Act of 2003 which remains pending ever since it was passed,” said Lansinglu Rongmei of the Christian Legal Association. Sharma last year said the measure “violated the right to religious freedom.” Following the governor’s move, the Gujarat government on Aug. 1, 2007, officially declared that it would reactivate the dormant 2003 anti-conversion law. India’s anti-conversion laws are supposed to curb religious conversions made by “force,” “fraud” or “allurement,” but Christians and rights groups say that in reality the laws obstruct conversion generally, as Hindu nationalists invoke them to harass Christian workers with spurious arrests and incarcerations. Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) welcomed reports that an amendment to the ‘anti-conversion law’ in Gujarat state was officially withdrawn, but called for the original law to be repealed. “Although we welcome this news, it is not enough that the amendment is withdrawn,” said CSW Advocacy Director Tina Lambert. “As long as the original anti-conversion law exists on the statute books, it contributes towards creating a culture in which religious conversions are anathema, and a climate of fear exists among religious minorities. We call for a full repeal of the Gujarat anti-conversion law.” CHRISTIANS AMONG THOSE KILLED IN PAKISTANI SUICIDE BOMBINGS Sources: Assist News Service, BosNewsLife Twin suicide bombs killed more than 31 people and injured 200 in the eastern city of Lahore, Pakistan, on Tuesday, March 11. Two suicide attackers detonated two large truck bombs, one hitting the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) police headquarters and destroying nearby key Christian buildings, and the other targeting an advertising firm, police and Christian officials said. “The impact of the blast was so powerful that it broke all the windows and doors of [our office],” said Atif Jamil, national director of Christian aid agency Caritas, located near the FIA complex. The blasts killed the watchman of the Caritas office, two female Christian receptionists and a trainee identified as Clara Yousaf. “The head of one of the suicide bombers has been found lying on top of the roof of the Caritas building,” Jamil said. It was not clear who was responsible for the attacks, but at least one official told French News Agency AFP that terror group al-Qaida was behind the blast. A story by The Chicago Tribune’s Kim Barker said the incidents deepened the crisis in the troubled nation, increasing pressure on embattled President Pervez Musharraf, blamed by many for instability in the country. * HCJB Global Hands sent two medical teams from Ecuador to Pakistan following a powerful earthquake on Oct. 8, 2005, that left tens of thousands dead and thousands more injured and homeless. Staff members helped SIM International with relief efforts. UPDATE: PAKISTANI BELIEVER HANGED TO DEATH DESPITE APPEAL Source: BosNewsLife A Christian man was hanged to death at 6 a.m. local time today (Wednesday, March 12) after being convicted of killing a Muslim boy in what rights groups described as an unfair trial. Zahid Masih, who was in his 20s, was executed at the Central Jail in the city of Multan in Pakistan’s Punjab province despite appeals for clemency. His frail mother and other relatives were seen crying inconsolably outside the jail when they received Masih’s human remains, two hours after the execution took place. Up until Masih’s execution, his defense team, church groups and human rights organizations urged Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and other authorities to grant him clemency, or at least a postponement of the death sentence until after Easter. Masih’s lawyer, Prince Rehan Iftikhar, said he had personally “filed a mercy appeal to the president and other high-ups via an especially arranged telephone call.” He said that during court proceedings “Zahid Masih was not given any chance to defend himself,” adding that “Pakistan’s government has treated him like a dog. No one heard our voice for mercy.” U.S. EVANGELIST SEEKS TO REBUILD SPIRIT OF UNITY IN ANGOLA Half a year before Angola stages its first elections since ending the civil war, old rivalries are resurfacing. With peace formally beginning in 2002, the country’s parliamentary elections are a keystone in the country’s reconciliation process. However, both the government and the rebels are trading heated accusations. Evangelist Sammy Tippit was recently in Angola laying the groundwork for a grassroots-level change. “Part of what we’re doing is trying to rebuild the spirit of the country,” he said. “We’re trying to provide for the masses the message of Christ, the gospel for the leaders, and do some teaching and training with them.” Despite the political disillusion Angola has a bright future ahead, Tippit said. “One of the things that we’re doing is expanding our partnerships and multiplying our relationship there to help them to become all that God wants them to become in that nation.” SCHOLARS FIND TREASURE TROVE OF GREEK NT MANUSCRIPTS Source: Religion Today Normally two or three New Testament manuscripts handwritten in the original Greek are discovered each year. Last summer the Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts (CSNTM) found a treasure trove of them during a trip to Albania. The Center, based near Dallas, Texas, devotes itself to the high-resolution digital preservation of these early copies of the New Testament. Scholars tried for decades to gain access to the National Archive in Tirana with little success, partly because Albania is a former police state. Until now, only two manuscripts of the 13 known to Western scholars had been photographed. However, CSNTM Director Daniel Wallace recently received permission to send a four-man team to Albania to photograph the manuscripts with state-of-the-art digital methods. By the end of their first day in Tirana in July, they realized there were far more than 13 manuscripts. The catalog at the National Archive listed 47 New Testament manuscripts, and at least 17 were unknown to Western scholars. Evidence suggests that some of the other manuscripts had been presumed lost elsewhere in Albania, but no final determination has been made. © Copyright 2008 - HCJB Global - Colorado Springs, CO USA

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