Nor do the reports gloss over an increasingly violent and chaotic situation in Iraq. Here is just one of the many examples provided: “Christians in Basrah reportedly were forced to pay protection for their personal welfare. Women and girls reportedly often were threatened for not wearing the traditional headscarf (hijab), assaulted with acid for noncompliance, and sometimes killed for refusing to cover their heads or for wearing western-style clothing.”
With respect to Saudi Arabia, the reports find there is “no religious freedom,” “no right to change the government,” “arbitrary arrest,” “denial of fair public trials,” “political prisoners,” and a catalogue of other horrors.
Well-known atrocities, such as the genocide in Darfur in western Sudan, are covered in the reports, but so are obscure ones — such as the activities of the Lord’s Resistance Army in Uganda. Regarding the latter, a roving band of marauders that preys on children, the reports relate that, since it was founded in the 1980s, the group has kidnapped an estimated 38,000 children to serve as fighters, porters, and sex slaves. The LRA is responsible for an estimated death toll of 200,000 from fighting and disease and the displacement of two million Ugandans. These figures are identical to those given in updates for the Darfur genocide, yet the Lord’s Resistance Army has received scant international attention.
Suppression efforts in one Chinese region:
This time, however, the policemen do not dare bend the rules. An internal police contact revealed to the priests that “the government has made up its mind to destroy the underground church of Hebei,” the region with the greatest number of Catholics. “This time,” the contact says, “the government wants to isolate him completely: you will become a flock without a shepherd.”
In fact, Zhengding’s Church has suffered a long series of arrests over recent months:
Finally, via Jen Ambrose, Hong Kong Bishop Zen’s response to a Reuter’s interview with an official with the Chinese Patriotic Association. PDF file. Sorry. But good strong stuff and worth a read!
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