Posted on 11/30/2005 10:21:54 PM PST by DoctorZIn
Top News Story
Iran's President: "I will stop Christianity in this country"
Secret police crackdown results in the torture of 10 other Christians.
November 28 (Compass) – An Iranian convert to Christianity was kidnapped last week from his home in northeastern Iran and stabbed to death, his bleeding body thrown in front of his home a few hours later.
Ghorban Tori, 50, was pastoring an independent house church of convert Christians in Gonbad-e-Kavus, a town just east of the Caspian Sea along the Turkmenistan border.
Within hours of the November 22 murder, local secret police arrived at the martyred pastor’s home, searching for Bibles and other banned Christian books in the Farsi language. By the end of the following day, the secret police had also raided the houses of all other known Christian believers in the city.
According to one informed Iranian source, during the past eight days representatives of the Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) have arrested and severely tortured 10 other Christians in several cities, including Tehran. All the detainees have since been released.
One of the arrested Christians was reportedly interrogated about his involvement in relief work after Iran’s deadly Bam earthquake in December 2003. Another working with a legal organization defending human rights was accused of using it as a “cover” for church activities.
In addition, MOIS officials have visited known Christian leaders since Tori’s murder and have instructed them to warn acquaintances in the unofficial, Protestant house fellowships that “the government knows what you are doing, and we will come for you soon.”
A former Muslim of Turkmen descent, Tori had converted to Christianity more than 10 years ago, while in Turkmenistan.
After he returned to his native Iran in 1998, Tori began to share his new Christian faith with friends and relatives. Within two years, a small fellowship of 12 believers was meeting in his home.
But not all welcomed his message; at least one relative attacked Tori, scarring his face. In the past year he received several threats from Islamic extremists vowing to kill him if he did not stop sharing his Christian faith.
Tori is survived by his wife and four children, ages 3 to 23.
He is the fifth Protestant pastor assassinated in Iran by unidentified killers in the past 11 years. Three of the five were former Muslims, under Iranian law subject to the death penalty for having committed apostasy.
Tori’s murder came just days after Iran’s new hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called an open meeting with the nation’s 30 provincial governors. During the session, an Iranian source told Compass, Ahmadinejad declared that the government needed to put a stop to the burgeoning movement of house churches across Iran.
“I will stop Christianity in this country,” Ahmadinejad reportedly vowed.
“This was apparently a green light from the president of Iran to go out and start killing Christians,” the source said.
Slurring Non-Muslims
Last week a Zoroastrian representative in the Iranian Parliament protested a slur against non-Muslims on November 20 by a top aide to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, supreme leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
According to the government-run Entekhaab website, in a public speech Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati told youthful Basijis (members of a volunteer militia formed to enforce strict Islamic codes) preparing to join suicide missions that “non-Muslims are sinful animals who roam the earth and engage in corruption.” Jannati, who is secretary general of the powerful Guardian Council, is known to be a mentor and close advisor to Ahmadinejad.
Iranian Member of Parliament Kurosh Niknam declared the comment, “an unprecedented insult to religious minorities.”
Over the past month, Ahmadinejad has conducted a broad shake-up within the government establishment, replacing hundreds of governors, ambassadors and senior ministry officials with young and mostly inexperienced Islamists. Yesterday students at Tehran University protested noisily when a religious cleric without even a high school diploma was appointed rector of the nation’s oldest university.
In November, the new director of prisons also transferred a number of political prisoners of conscience into criminal wards with convicted murderers and drug dealers. At least one of these political prisoners has been killed by fellow inmates, sparking the fears of Iranian Christians for the security of Hamid Pourmand, serving a three-year sentence at Tehran’s Evin Prison for refusing to renounce his conversion to Christianity.
- U.S. Department of State published excerpts of Condoleezza Rice statements on the new direct US/Iran talks scheduled on Iran and her thoughts on sanctions in Iran.
- Agence France-Presse reported that the US State Department has sought to play down plans for the highest-level contact with Iran in decades.
- Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting argued that the new Iran-US talks on Iraq in Iran's national interest.
- CNN.com reported that Iran's space agency is trying to snap up technology from abroad as fast as possible.
- Golnaz Esfandiari, Radio Free Europe reported that the Iranian media have been reporting that in an official meeting Ahmadinejad said that the Hidden Imam will appear in two years.
- Hemscott reported that French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin said an agreement with Iran on its nuclear plans is possible if the country accepts European proposals.
- Agence France Presse reported that an Iranian convicted of armed robbery has had his left foot amputated in a prison.
- DEBKAfile reported that Iranian Military instructors have slipped into Lebanon with a new anti tank missile.
- The New York Times reviewed Richard A. Clarke's new novel, "The Scorpion's Gate" which portrays a fictional attempt to wage war on Iran by the US.
- Shahram Kholdi, ScanIranic argued that Roya Hakakian, the Iranian-American writer and documentary film-maker, who just published in the Washington Post a novel approach to the culture of hate-mongering by the Islamic regime of Iran's propaganda machine.
- Tulin Daloglu, The Washington Times provided some suggestions to ensure success while dealing with Iran.
- Amy Kellogg, FOX News released her final report from inside Iran: Saddam's Iranian Victims. Video also available.
- Kenneth R. Timmerman, FrontPageMagazine.com provides an excellent review of what Iranian leaders have been saying publicly about their nuclear program. A must read.
- The Wshington Times in an editorial reported that Iranian officials have been gloating over what appears to be the latest retreat by the European Union 3 to seek further talks with the Iranians.
- And finally, ET, View from Iran provides a peek into a conversation in a Tehran Taxi.
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A new crusade has been long overdue
With the recent report of North Korean communists crushing Chrsitians there with a steam roller, it shows communism and Islamofascism are flip sides of the same coin.
Thanks for that. I'll be sharing it on other boards.
Thanks for posting the Compass article Doctor Zin.
I didn't find his statement surprising.
When one is a Jew hater; being a Christian hater seems
to be part of the evolution of the evil jihad thought process.
"I will stop Christianity in this country"
if he'd only do even a cursory review of history he could save himself a whole lot of headaches and failures.
in the anomoly that is Christianity, persecuting Christians is what makes the church grow.
if the goal is to wipe out Christianity, he needs to review the European model for doing so.
He can force Christianity out of Iran, but he can't force Jesus out of their hearts. :o)
MEMRITV.org - Video Clip No. 917: "A BRIDEGROOM TURNS INTO A SUICIDE BOMBER IN AN IRANIAN TV MUSIC VIDEO" (TRANSCRIPT SNIPPET: "Following are excerpts from a music video aired by Iranian TV channel IRIB/Jaam-e Jam3 on October 28, 2005, accompanied by a description of the footage:") (October 28, 2005)
MEMRI.org - Special Dispatch Series - No. 1018: "IRANIAN ANIMATED FILM FOR CHILDREN PROMOTES SUICIDE ATTACKS" (SNIPPET: "The following are excerpts from an Iranian animated movie for children, which aired on IRIB 3 TV on October 28, 2005, at 8 a.m. Iran time. To view this clip visit: http://memritv.org/search.asp?ACT=S9&P1=906 ") (November 3, 2005)
MEMRI TV.org - Transcript - Clip No. 736: "ON THE IRANIAN MOVEMENT OF 'MARTYRDOM SEEKERS'" (ARTICLE SNIPPET: "TRANSCRIPT SNIPPET: "The following are excerpts from a report about the movement of "martyrdom seekers" in Iran. Al-Arabiya TV aired this report on July 2, 2005.)
INTERNET-HAGANAH.US: "IRANIAN CARTOON FOR CHILDREN PROMOTES SUICIDE" (From MEMRI.org: "Abd al-Rahman, waiting for an Israeli military convoy to pass, ties a string of grenades around his waist. He pulls the grenade pins and leaps onto one of the trucks - when the smoke clears the Israeli soldiers and al-Rahman lie dead. A young Palestinian boy approaches al-Rahman's body, takes his bloody kaffiyeh, places it on his own shoulders, and walks off into the sunset.") (ARTICLE NOTE from INTERNET-HAGANAH.US: "The program was broadcast by the IRIB. To learn more about their satellite provider, see: Loral Skynet And The Islamic Republic Of Iran") (November 5, 2005)
MEMRI.org - Special Dispatch Series - No. 1018: "IRANIAN ANIMATED FILM FOR CHILDREN PROMOTES SUICIDE ATTACKS" (SNIPPET: "The following are excerpts from an Iranian animated movie for children, which aired on IRIB 3 TV on October 28, 2005, at 8 a.m. Iran time. To view this clip visit: http://memritv.org/search.asp?ACT=S9&P1=906 ") (November 3, 2005)
When the *** are we going to bomb Iran, thats what I want to know. Here is a country with a known terrorist as its head of state however much they deny.
Could this be a sign of things to come in the US? I just finished reading a story on WorldNetDaily about the bigotry that is being hurled @ Christians here....right here in our own backyard!
So with this information, why isn't Bolton demanding the UN to try the Iranian leaders, for crimes against humanity?
It is no different than Saddam's crimes. Or the Nazi's or the Sudanese.
Is it excused because it is condoned, even directed by Islam?
Iranian insanity ping!
A.A.C.
"The Final Crusade has commenced!"
It has always been that way.
If you think of Judaism as the parent and Christianity as the child, well, if you hate the child you're bound to hate the parent.
The overall situation in Iran becomes more barbaric with each passing day.
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