Stones Cry Out

Malaysia
Two Americans, Ricky Rupert and Zachary Harris, have been arrested in Malaysia, accused of handing out Christian pamphlets outside a mosque in a country where constitutionally protected religious freedom periodically collides with the prohibition on the conversion of Muslims.

A Royal Malaysian Police spokesman said Thursday the two men had been apprehended while handing out pamphlets outside the mosque in Putrajaya, Malaysia's new administrative capital south of Kuala Lumpur.

Some 60 percent of Malaysia's population are Malay Muslims, while large ethnic-Chinese and Indian minorities practice Christianity and other religions. Despite being multi-cultural, Sunni Islam is the official religion. Muslims are not permitted to convert to another religion.

"The constitution provides for freedom of religion; however, it recognizes Islam as the country's official religion and the practice of Islamic beliefs other than Sunni Islam is significantly restricted," the State Department says in its most recent report on global religious freedom. (Source)

China
From Voice of the Martyrs: Pastor Cai Zhuohua from Beijing, was arrested September 11, 2004, by National Security operatives, for printing “illegal religious literature.” Cai’s wife, Xiao Yunfei was also arrested November 27, 2004. According to a recently released fellow inmate, Pastor Cai was repeatedly tortured by electric shocks and was forced to falsely confess, which could lead to a ten to fifteen year prison sentence under the current criminal code. The Chinese government has repeatedly threatened his attorney not to defend him.

Pastor Gong Shengliang was sentenced to life in prison October 10, 2002, by the Court Hubei Province. He is now being held at Section Four, Te Yi Hao, Miaoshan Development Zone, Jiangxia District, Wuhan City, Hubei Province. This case involved the arrest and sentencing of many women of Pastor Gong’s church who were tortured into falsely accusing Gong of rape.

According to eyewitness reports, Gong’s mental and physical health has suffered due to the harsh treatment in prison.

Mr. Chen Jingmao, age 74, of Chongqing City, was sentenced October 10, 2002, to four years in prison for sending his granddaughter to a Bible class training school. Chen is now being held in Sanxia Prison, Chongqing City. He is reported to be in very poor health and will die in prison if he is not released soon.

Although China has amended its constitution to protect human rights, these three cases exemplify both the arbitrary nature of what passes for justice in the People’s Republic of China and the sad state of religious freedom there.

Eritrea
According to Compass Direct, in Eritrea, 16 full-time pastors are among nearly 900 Eritrean Christians known to be jailed in local prisons, military confinement camps and shipping containers for daring to meet secretly for prayer and worship outside government-sanctioned churches.

Despite a heavy-handed clampdown by Eritrea’s security police, evangelical sources in the tiny northeast African nation have managed to compile a documented list of 883 Christians now being held without trial or charges because of their faith.

Only a handful of prisoners have been released -- after recently being coerced to sign pledges to stop attending religious services of the unregistered, “illegal” denominations.

In an interview April 5 with Agence France Press (AFP), the director of the Eritrean President’s office, Yemane Gebremeskel, claimed that arrested members of the banned Christian groups “are maybe held for five hours and then let off with a warning.” He also accused human rights groups criticizing Eritrea’s violations of religious freedom of getting their information off the internet and giving “arbitrary figures.”