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Archive for December, 2012

US Citizen Who Converted To Christianity Arrested, Imprisoned In Iran While Visiting Family

12/22/2012 3 comments

By Lisa Daftari, Fox News – “A 32-year-old Iranian who is a U.S. citizen and a Christian convert has been imprisoned without notice of any formal charges while visiting his family in Iran, according to his wife and attorneys in the U.S., who are now hoping that a media campaign will help set him free.

The Rev. Saeed Abedini, who lives in the U.S. with his wife and two young children, was making one of his frequent visits to see his parents and the rest of his family in Iran, his country of origin and where he spent many years as a Christian leader and community organizer developing Iran’s underground home church communities for Christian converts.

On this last trip, the Iranian government pulled him off a bus and said he must face a penalty for his previous work as a Christian leader in Iran.

He is currently awaiting trial at Iran’s notoriously brutal Evin Prison, where he has been incarcerated since late September.

‘When he became a Christian, he became a criminal in his own country. His passion was to reach the people of Iran,’ Naghmeh, his wife, said in an exclusive interview with Fox News.

‘He comes from a very close-knit family, and he loved evangelizing and passing out Bibles on the streets of Tehran. This was his passion,’ she said.

In July, Abedini left his wife and kids to go to Iran to visit family and continue a humanitarian effort he began years ago to build an orphanage.

After a short visit to a nearby country, Abedini was traveling back into Iran to catch his flight back to the U.S. when members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard stopped his bus near the Turkey-Iran border and pulled Abedini from the bus, confiscating his passports and subjecting him to intense interrogation, according to his wife.” Read more.

Flashback: Iran: Islamic Republic Refusing Business License For Convert To Christianity, Orders Businesses Not To Employ Christians – “Iranian authorities refuse to allow a young man to start his own company because he converted to Christianity and was previously detained on charges of ‘apostasy’, or ‘abandoning Islam’, Iranian Christians said Saturday, July 14… Iranian Christians said the move is part if a wider government crackdown on non-Islamic minority groups, especially Christian converts, in society. At least dozens of Christians are known to have been detained in the country. Outside prison, government offices are reportedly ordered not to employ Christians and Christians have been deprived from high school or university education, or running their own schools…” Read more.

‘Deserved To Die’: Somali Christian Shot To Death By Muslims For Leaving Islam

12/22/2012 Leave a comment

Morning Star News – “Gunmen in central Somalia on Saturday (Dec. 8) killed an underground Christian who had been receiving death threats for leaving Islam, area sources said.

Two unidentified masked men shot Mursal Isse Siad, 55, outside his home in Beledweyne, 206 miles (332 kilometers) north of Mogadishu, for leaving Islam, Muslim and Christian sources told Morning Star News. The assailants fled immediately after the murder.

Siad’s oldest daughter (name withheld), 15, said her father was killed ‘because he failed to attend the mosque for prayers and used to pray at home. He used to share with us about Jesus.’ She said that he had received messages on his mobile phone stating, ‘We know what you are doing, and you must stop, otherwise you risk your life.’

Siad’s 42-year-old wife (name withheld), three daughters and two sons have fled the area, fearing for their lives.

A Christian source in Mogadishu confirmed the killing, and a Muslim resident of the Beledweyne area also said Siad was killed for leaving Islam.

‘Siad deserved to die because he was not committed to the Islamic religion,’ the resident said…

As the gunmen were masked, she was unable to say whether the assailants were local. The area is under government control and there is no indication that the killers belonged to the Al Shabaab rebels who have vowed to rid the country of Christianity, but the Islamic extremist insurgents are present in Buulodbarde, 20 kilometers (12 miles) away, and Christians believe a few Al Shabaab rebels could be hiding in Beledweyne.” Read more.

Flashback: Somalia: Muslims Gather To Watch Convert To Christianity Beheaded By Al-Shabaab Islamists – “Islamic extremists from Somalia’s rebel Al-Shabaab militants on Friday (Nov. 16) killed a Christian in Somalia’s coastal city of Barawa, accusing him of being a spy and leaving Islam, Christian and Muslim witnesses said. The extremists beheaded 25-year-old Farhan Haji Mose… A crowd assembled in the coastal city on Friday morning to watch the slaughter…” Read more.

Award-Winning NBC News Foreign Correspondent Richard Engel Missing In Syria Since Last Thursday

12/18/2012 3 comments

I hope he is found safe …

Update: Engel has been released by a Shia Islamist group in Syria loyal to Assad / Hezbollah  …

By DAVID MCCORMACK, Mail Online – “NBC News chief foreign correspondent Richard Engel, one of the most prominent and accomplished international correspondents in the world, is reportedly missing in Syria.

Turkish newspaper Hurriyet reports that Engel, together with Turkish journalist Aziz Akyavaş, were last known to be in Syria and haven’t been in contact with NBC News since Thursday morning.

While the Turkish media have been circulating the report for several days, American outlets had been operating under a news blackout requested by NBC until today.

NBC colleague David Schuster is amongst those to have tweeted their concern about the missing journalist and author.

Engels, who is divorced and doesn’t have children, was promoted to NBC News’s chief foreign correspondent in 2008. He runs NBC’s Middle East bureau and has been reporting on the ongoing conflict between rebels and forces backing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

He last reported from inside Syria on December 11. He is also known as a regular Twitter user, but hasn’t tweeted since Dec 1.

Engel is widely regarded for his coverage of wars, revolutions and political transitions around the world over the last 15 years.

Most recently, he was recognized for his outstanding reporting on the 2011 revolution in Egypt, the conflict in Libya and unrest throughout the Arab world.” Read more.

Flashback: NBC’s Engel ‘Worried’ About ‘Ferociously Anti-Israel’ Arab Street and Concludes ‘This Thing Ends in Jerusalem’

U.S. Ambassador Tells Georgia To Vote For A ‘Palestinian’ State

12/18/2012 1 comment

Seems like the Obama Administration’s “official” opposition was all for show. Warning, Mr. President. Those who burden themselves with Jerusalem are playing with the fire of God’s fury, and we know what often happens to those who play with fire …

Zechariah 12:3, “And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.”

By Pamela Geller, American Thinker – “From the former Soviet Republic of Georgia comes news of an extraordinary betrayal by the Obama Administration. As Obama continues to abandon freedom in his support of Muslim Brotherhood and Sharia revolutions and regimes in Egypt and elsewhere, he has taken behind-the-scenes steps to further the international isolation of Israel, the only democracy in that Middle East.

Just before the November 29 United Nations vote granting non-member state observer status, the U.S. ambassador to Georgia, Richard Norland, an Obama appointee, met with Georgian Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili. During their conversation, Norland recommended that the Prime Minister that Georgia should vote in favor of a Palestinian state.

This happened despite the U.S.’s official opposition, as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called the vote ‘unfortunate and counterproductive … plac[ing] further obstacles in the path of peace.’ Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said on the day of the vote: ‘None of the vital interests of peace appear in the resolution that will be put forward before the General Assembly today and that is why Israel cannot accept it.’ He was right. But in Georgia, the U.S. was betraying a steadfast and true ally.

This information comes from Gabriel M. Mirilashvili, a prominent businessman and corporation owner in Georgia, who is Vice-President of the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress and head of the World Congress of Georgian Jews. Mirilashvili says that he heard this from Ivanishvili himself, and that there exists an official record of the conversation between Norland and Ivanishvili. When Mirilashvili urged Ivanishvili to oppose the Palestinian statehood resolution, Ivanishvili responded that the American ambassador had told him to support it.

It is also interesting to note that a few days before this meeting, Read more…

Muslim Brotherhood Member: Drowning-In-Debt America Is ‘Marching Towards Its Death’ … Because Of The Jews

12/16/2012 1 comment

The Muslim Brotherhood’s own stated goal is to destroy Western civilization from within. Yet this particular member is only capable of denigrating those evil Jews even while, according to him, destroying Western civilization from within is apparently part of their own “thieving” Jewish nature. If he actually believed his own blather, you’d think he’d be praising the Jews for doing what the Muslim Brotherhood has so far failed to do …

Mahmoud Khalil, Egypt TV 9/11/2012: “America is marching towards its death. It has the greatest debt in the world. The US debt amounts to 32 million miles of $100 banknotes. Its debt consumes 102% of its Gross National Product… America will disintegrate. This is inevitable… America is over. It is a thing of the past… The Jews brought their thieving (nature) to America. They have used all methods of global criminality… The Jews are money merchants. Throw a Jew into the sea, and he will emerge with a fish in his mouth… They successfully infiltrated the US political decision-making centers, and then they gained control of the world’s gold or money through the economy.”

Iran Threatens World War While Making Anthrax And Enough Plutonium For 24 Nagasaki-Type Bombs

12/16/2012 2 comments

By REZA KAHLILI, WND – “Russian scientists have helped Iran master four microbial agents for bombs, which the Islamic regime has used to arm 37 launch-ready missiles so far, sources have revealed.

The secret work is being done at a plant named Shahid Bahonar on a mountaintop by the city of Marzanabad off the mountainous Chalus road to the Iranian Caspian Sea.

The plant, under the supervision of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, is headed by Dr. Esmaeil Namazi, who oversees 28 Iranian and 12 Russian scientists, according to a source in the Revolutionary Guards intelligence division with access to the site.

There are several underground facilities at two levels with elevators reaching the lower level some 40 feet underground and where more than 100 personnel work on the microbial bomb project, the source said.

The plant has been expanded significantly in the last two years, and two high-power towers, one at the bottom of the mountain and one behind the plant, provide the needed electricity for the site. Homes have been built close by to accommodate personnel so they would not raise suspicion by commuting back and forth.

The scientists are working on 18 agents but so far they have developed four for weaponization, according to the source, who provided particulars on three of them:

  • Bacillus anthracis (anthrax). This bacteria was developed by the United States during World War II and through espionage was obtained by the Soviet Union, which has long mastered the production. Russian scientists have helped the Iranians to produce anthrax.
  • Encephalitis. The blueprint of this virus, Venezuelan Equine Encephalitis, was provided by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in an agreement two years ago with the Islamic regime.
  • Yellow grain. This third agent, developed with the help of North Korea but named “yellow grain” by the Iranians, has no smell and upon impact will destroy the body’s defensive system. Victims would have a hard time walking or breathing within hours and slowly their digestive systems would be destroyed, likely followed by death within 48 hours.

‘Yellow grain’ could be similar to ‘yellow rain,’ which the then-Soviet Union allegedly provided to North Vietnam and Laos to use against U.S.-backed rebels.” Read more.

Iran Army Chief: Patriot Missiles in Turkey Threaten ‘World War’ – “The planned deployment of NATO Patriot missiles along Turkey’s border with Syria could lead to a ‘world war’ that would threaten Europe as well, Iran’s military chief of staff was quoted as saying on Saturday. Turkey asked NATO for the Patriot system, designed to intercept aircraft or missiles, in November to help bolster its border security after repeated episodes of gunfire from war-torn Syria spilling into Turkish territory.” Read more.

Rumor: Iran Has Enough Plutonium For 24 Nagasaki-Type Bombs – “The secret, one-on-one nuclear negotiations President Barack Obama launched with Iran have run into a blank wall. A senior Iranian team member, Mostafa Dolatyar, said Friday, Dec. 14 in New Delhi that the diplomatic process for solving the nuclear issue with Iran was in effect going nowhere, because the demand that Tehran halt its 20-percent enrichment of uranium ‘doesn’t make sense.’ … ‘…experts tell us that the rapid extraction of weapons-usable plutonium from spent fuel rods is a straightforward process that can be preformed in a fairly small (and easily secreted) space.’ This means that Tehran can easily manufacture plutonium bombs without building a large plutonium reactor like the one under construction at Arak…  by this method, Iran could extract 220 pounds (just under 100 kilos) of plutonium, enough to produce as many as ’24 Nagasaki-type bombs’ …” Read more.

Sudan: Tens Of Thousands Of Christians Facing Bombings, Arrests, Starvation From Islamist Government

12/16/2012 1 comment

Romans 8:35, 38-39, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? [Shall] tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?… For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

ICC – “Tens of thousands of Christians, caught in a crossfire between Sudanese armed forces and rebels in Nuba Mountains, are facing indiscriminate air strikes, detentions, and starvation – with no access to humanitarian aid.

The Arab-Muslim dominated Khartoum government has ‘adopted a strategy to treat all populations in rebel held areas as enemies and legitimate targets, without distinguishing between civilian and combatant,’ says a Dec. 12 report by Human Rights Watch, concerning the conflict in Nuba Mountains, home to Sudan’s largest Christian population and non-Arab Muslims.

HRW’s field research shows that in the absence of an international call to end violence, bombings have greatly intensified in the Nuba Mountains state of Southern Kordofan.

Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) dropped 106 bombs in October, and 125 in the first half of November alone, the report says. ‘The persistent bombing has terrorized the population; most families have dug foxholes near their homes or moved to sheltered areas, and even small children now refer to the ‘Antonovs,’ the common name for the cargo planes used by Sudan to drop bombs.’

Government forces burned 26 Nuban villages, destroying schools, homes, churches, food crops and grasslands, in the Nuba Mountains in November alone, according to the Satellite Sentinel Project, which analyzes satellite imagery and eyewitness reports from the ground.

The U.N. estimates over 200,000 people have been displaced and fled over the borders, mostly into South Sudan. The people of Nuba Mountains are also living in constant danger of arbitrary detention, which is taking place on a massive scale and being seen as a new method of intimidation and terror to force them to leave their villages, writes Osman Naway, a local human rights defender, in an article on allafrica.com.” Read more.

Flashback: Sudan Imam: ‘We Will Never Forgive Christians For Not Being Muslims’, Suggests That Christianity Must Be Eliminated Throughout The North – “… Muslims vie to take school land and anti-Christian messages emanate from a nearby mosque loudspeaker on most Fridays. Muslim leaders have been asserting through the mosque loudspeaker that Christian institutions should not be permitted in Sudan, as the country should be a ‘purely Islamic state’ since the secession of South Sudan on July 9, 2011, he said. ‘We are expecting the level of persecution to rise in Sudan in the coming days,’ a pastor who works at the Bible school told Morning Star News by phone, adding that hostilities against churches and Christians were intensifying.” Read more.

Flashback: North Sudan: President Al-Bashir Moves Forward with Rewriting the Country’s Constitution to Implement Sharia Law – “Sudanese leader Omer Hassan Al-Bashir is moving forward with rewriting the country’s constitution to implement Shariah law, according to reports from organizations with links inside the Muslim-dominated nation… a Shariah-compliant constitution will mean more suffering for Sudan’s remaining Christians. ‘This new law (Shariah compliant constitution) is going to affect a significant number of Christians who live in places like Khartoum (the capital city). There are still a significant number of Christians in Sudan,’ Racho said.” Read more.

Nigeria: Teenage Christian Kids Shot Dead By Muslims Praising Allah

12/16/2012 3 comments

Revelation 6:9-11, “When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held. And they cried with a loud voice, saying, ‘How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?’ Then a white robe was given to each of them; and it was said to them that they should rest a little while longer, until both [the number of] their fellow servants and their brethren, who would be killed as they [were], was completed.”

Osun Defender – “The non-Muslim population resident in the Muslim dominated northern Nigerian State of Kano continues to suffer death in the hands on the native Kano indigene.

Information available to 247ureports.com indicates that two teenage students, aged 16 and 17 years were shot dead by unknown Muslim gunmen on Thursday December 6, 2012 at the Yankaba area of Kano metropolitan city near Hadeja road.

Eyewitness reports indicate that the shooting incident occurred some minutes after 7pm near Yankaba area popularly referred as Anambra – line when unknown gunmen riding on a motorbike instantly shot the two teenagers to death at close range – while wailing ‘Allah is Great’ in Arabic. The gunmen escaped immediately.

The names of the two teenagers killed were Daniel Nwachukwu, aged 17 [from Owerri] and Chukwuemeka Emmanuel Agazie [from Umuchu], aged 16. Both were childhood friends who grew up in Yankaba. Daniel recently secured university admission in Imo state.

247ureports.com spoke to the fathers of the murdered boys, Solomon Agazie and Nwachukwu. They expressed shock and disbelief over the killing of their innocent sons in cold blood. Mr Nwachukwu who was heavily saddened, cried repeatedly ‘Who killed my son? What offence has he committed to be shot instantly to death without justice?’

The father told our correspondent that on Thursday, Daniel visited his friend, Chukwuebuka and while Chukwuebuka was seeing off Daniel just 200 metres away from his home, when Chukwuebuka sister, who was in the bathroom had two gun shots, rushed out to the scene, only to discover that her brother and friend had been shot to death.

In panic, she alerted her parents. Both fathers rushed out to see the dead body of their two boys lying in a pool of blood – bullet riddled body.

Within about 10minutes after the shooting, the agents of the Joint Task Force [JTF] stationed in Kano arrived and carried the bodies of the teenagers to the Bompai Police station where the incident was recorded and thereafter the bodies were taken to the Murtala Mohammed Specialist Hospital mortuary for autopsy.” Read more.

Psychiatric Drugs To Blame? AP Reports Connecticut Killer Suffered From Personality Disorder And Autism

12/15/2012 6 comments

If Adam Lanza did indeed suffer from a “personality disorder” and was “somewhat autistic” as his brother reportedly claimed, then there is a good likelihood that he was prescribed psychiatric drugs for his condition. Michael Savage seems to think so. According to medical experts, drugs classified as SSRIs (Selective Serotonin Re-uptake Inhibitors) may be prescribed to adults suffering from autism. The National Center for Biotechnology Information also recommends SSRIs for treatment in patients with personality disorders. And as you can see in the 2007 video from ABC News below, often with devastating results …

Adam Lanza, 2005

Adam Lanza, 2005

By Jason Howerton, The Blaze – “A law enforcement official says that the 20-year-old suspect in the Connecticut school shootings killed his mother at their home Friday and then drove his mother’s car to the school where he went on a deadly rampage.

The 20-year-old killer, identified as Adam Lanza, committed suicide at the school, bringing the death toll to 28, authorities said.

In an interview with ABC News, a relative said Adam was ‘obviously not well.’

Another friend said he ‘was not connected with the other kids.’ Further, other family friends described Adam as a troubled young man…

Meanwhile, in New Jersey, Adam Lanza’s older brother, Ryan, 24, of Hoboken, N.J., was being questioned by law enforcement in New Jersey and was extremely cooperative, said a second law enforcement official who was briefed on the investigation. Ryan Lanza is not believed to have any involvement and is not under arrest or in custody, but investigators were still searching his computers and phone records, said the second official.

Ryan Lanza told law enforcement that his brother was believed to suffer from a personality disorder and be ‘somewhat autistic’ and lived with the mother in Connecticut, the second official added.” Read more.

Flashback: Canadian Judge Rules SSRI Antidepressants Like Prozac Can Cause Children To Commit Murder – “The use of antidepressant and psychiatric drugs, particularly among children, is an extremely risky activity that could have fatal consequences for both the individuals that use them, as well as their friends and family. According to the National Post, a Canadian judge recently ruled that the extreme mind-altering effects of the antidepressant drug Prozac were in large part responsible for causing a 15-year-old boy to thrust a nine-inch kitchen knife into one of his closest friends.” Read more.

Categories: Man-Made Disasters

Expert: New Egyptian Arms Deal With North Korea ‘Gives Us The Sense That The Egyptians Want To Attack Israel’

12/15/2012 Leave a comment

By MICHAEL CARL – “‘It gives us the sense that the Egyptians want to attack Israel,’ claims International Assessment and Strategy Center Senior Fellow Richard Fisher, on an arms deal that will send North Korean Scud missile parts through China to Egypt.

According to a story in the Washington Free Beacon, U.S. intelligence officials learned that North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un – in violation of United Nations sanctions – is sending Scud missile parts to Egypt.

‘Intelligence reports from mid-November were circulated to senior officials in the State Department, Pentagon and intelligence agencies,’ the report said. ‘The shipment would be the first by the North Korean regime to the new Egyptian regime headed by Mohammed Morsi, the Muslim Brotherhood-backed president.’

The State Department has not responded to WND’s request for comment.

Fisher told WND that Egypt first received Scud missile technology from the Soviet Union in the 1970s before President Anwar Sadat made peace with Israel.

A former Defense Department analyst who asks not to be named, however, says that North Korea has supplied Scud missile parts to Egypt for several years and that China has been a conduit for several years, so this shipment by itself isn’t unusual.

Still, Fisher sees Egypt’s acquisition of the parts as a sign that Egypt is revving up its missile capability. If so, Fisher believes this is bad news for Israel.

‘The deal makes sense if they want to attack Israel,’ Fisher said. ‘Missiles are more able to make it through Israel’s air defense system.’

At the same time, Fisher says this arms deal is Read more…

Spain Threatens To Revoke Refugee Status, Deport Ex-Muslim Creator Of New Anti-Mohammed Film

12/15/2012 2 comments

Click read more to watch the full video in question …

By Chris Knowles, Right Side News – “The Spanish language publication El País reports  (1) that the Spanish Government has effectively threatened to withdraw refugee status from Imran Firasat.  They do this for their own twisted political reasons.

For those who are unfamiliar with his case Imran runs a website called Mundo sin Islam (World without Islam).  He is an apostate from Islam and has produced a film called The Innocent Prophet. Ordinarily this would not be a problem but the prophet in question happens to be the Islamic Prophet Mohammed.  The actions of Western politicians give the impression that Mohammed is entitled to greater reverence and superior protection than other Prophets.

In the Orwellian pro-sharia Europe some prophets are obviously more equal than others. Questioning minds have to give Mohammed a wide berth.  This is sharia law and it is being applied in Western Europe against the interests and the wishes of the European public.  Europe is moving back to restrictions on thought and expression that most people thought that we had permanently left behind during the Spanish Inquisition!

Of course it was the imminent publication of The Innocent Prophet on 14 December that sparked the draconian and shariaesque attitude of the Spanish Government.  If he had made a film about Moses, Christ, or Siddhārtha Gautama Buddha there would be not problem.  There would certainly not be a threat of deportation to Pakistan – an Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) member state well know for tolerating religious persecution within its borders.

One might speculate the degree to which the OIC itself has influenced this decision.  It obviously has great influence over Western governments who put its interests before the interests of their own people.  The OIC effectively wants the religious laws of Pakistan imposed on the whole world.  Western government are apparently going along with this agenda.  As we reported yesterday the third round of the OIC’s Istanbul Process recently took place in London.  Western governments are increasingly supporting sharia both at home and abroad.

The action of the Spanish state follows the state of Belgium increasing its security threat level specifically due to the imminent Read more…

Muslim Cleric In Iraq Issues New Fatwa To All Iraqi Christians: Choose Islam Or Be Killed

12/15/2012 Leave a comment

John 16:2b, “… the time is coming when those who kill you will think they are doing a holy service for God.”

Matthew 10:22, “And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved.”

By Joseph Mahmoud – “Baghdad (AsiaNews) – An Advent of light and shadow for Iraq’s Christians, who are celebrating the reopening of the cathedral of Baghdad but at the same time subjected to new – and heavy – threats from a radical Shiite Muslim leader. From studies of a television broadcaster based in Egypt, an Iraqi Ayatollah launches a fatwa against the religious minority on the eve of Christmas: ‘Conversion to Islam or death.’ However, strength of faith overcomes the fear of violence as witnessed by celebrations for the ‘rebirth’ of the Syrian Catholic cathedral in the capital, the scene of a bloody attack at the end of October 2010.

In an interview last December 13 on Egyptian television Al Baghdadia, the Shiite ayatollah Ahmad Al Hassani Al Baghdadi issued a fatwa against Christians in Iraq. Labeling them as ‘polytheists’ and ‘friends of the Zionists’, the extremist leader stressed that they must choose ‘or Islam or death,’ while ‘their women and girls may legitimately be regarded wives of Muslims.’ Al Baghdadi is known for his ‘jihad’ positions and for attacking Americans in the past during their presence in the country, and today he lives in Syria, supporting the armed opposition.

Catholic sources in the capital tell AsiaNews that it is ‘a very serious fatwa,’ but ‘it is unlikely that people will be upset too much.’ The government pays ‘attention’ to these proclamations by extremists, however it is possible that such words could ‘create panic in some areas of the capital,’ where there are now ‘very few’ Christians.” Read more.

Flashback: Iraq: Islamic Extremists Want to Eliminate Christians From Country, Mass Movement of Christians Continues Unabated – “Ongoing violence against Christians in Iraq has produced an accelerated exodus of believers recently and numbering in the hundreds of thousands over the last 10 years, said Open Doors USA officials… ‘At the beginning of the summer, Open Doors estimated the number of Christians remaining in Iraq at 345,000. However, the number decreases every month,’ officials stated. ‘It is an estimation; some even think there are less Christians left in the country than that,’ another Open Doors member said.” Read more.

Flashback: Iraq’s ‘Twilight of Christianity’: Fleeing Islamic Extremism, Exodus From North Signals Iraqi Christians’ Slow Decline – “Iraq’s dwindling Christians, driven from their homes by attacks and intimidation, are beginning to abandon the havens they had found in the country’s north, discouraged by unemployment and a creeping fear that the violence they had fled was catching up to them. Their quiet exodus to Turkey, Jordan, Europe and the United States is the latest chapter of a seemingly inexorable decline that many religious leaders say tolls the twilight of Christianity in a land where city skylines have long been marked by both minarets and church steeples. Recent assessments say that Iraq’s Christian population has now fallen by more than half since the 2003 American invasion, and with the military’s departure, some Christians say they lost a protector of last resort.” Read more.