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29 Catholic missionaries killed this year
New Vision (31.12.2003)/ HRWF Int. (06.12.2003) - Website http://www.hrwf.net - Email: info@hrwf.net - The Fides list includes all Catholics-- clerics, religious, and laymen-- who are known to have died while engaged in missionary work. As Fides explains, the list includes "not missionaries ad gentes in the strict sense of the term, but all members of Church personnel who chose to risk their lives rather than give up their mission and apostolate: they are 'martyrs of charity,' as Pope John Paul II fondly calls them." Fides points out that this list is not exhaustive; many other Catholics may have died for the Gospel without attracting public notice.
This year's list of slain missionaries includes one archbishop, 22 priests, one nun, 3 seminarians, and 2 lay missionaries. For the first time, an apostolic nuncio is listed in the year's martyrology: Archbishop Michael Courtney, who died in Burundi on December 29.
Africa was once again the continent where the greatest number of missionaries died this year: 17 people were killed there, including 6 in Uganda and 5 in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The most deadly nation in the Western hemisphere was Colombia, where six missionaries were killed.
The overall number of missionaries slain in 2003 is similar to that of previous years. In 2002, 25 people were listed in the Fides martyrology. In 2001 that figure was 33, and in 2000 it was 30.
The list of missionaries slain in 2003, according to Fides, includes:
Father Dieudonn Mvuezolo-Tovo of the Democratic Republic of Congo, killed in that country on March 11.
Father Nelson Gomez Bejarano of Colombia, killed there on March 22.
Father Martin Macharia Njoroge of Kenya, killed in Nairobi on April 11.
Father Raphel Ngona of Democratic Republic of Congo, killed there on May 6.
Three students from the minor seminary in Lachor, Uganda, who were killed on May 10. (Another 38 students from the same institution, kidnapped by rebels, are believed to still be captives.)
Fathers Aime Njabu and Francois Xavier Mateso, both of the Democratic Republic of Congo, killed on May 10 along with several parishioners.
Father Jairo Garavito of Colombia, killed there on May 15.
Father Manus Campbell OFM, an Irish missionary working in South Africa, killed near Durban on May 21.
Ana Isabel Sanchez Torralba, a Spanish mission volunteer, killed in Equatorial Guinea on July 1.
Father George Ibrahim of Pakistan, killed there on July 5.
Father Taddeo Gabrieli, OFM Cap, an Italian missionary stationed in Brazil, killed there on July 19.
Father Mario Mantovani, an Italian Comboni missionary, killed in Uganda on August 14.
Brother Godfrey Kiryowa, of Uganda, killed alongside Father Mantovani on August 14.
Father Alphones Kavendiambuku of the Democratic Republic of Congo, killed there on August 26.
Father Lawrence Oyuru of Uganda, killed along with 25 other people in a rebel attack on September 1.
Father William de Jesus Ortez and Jaime Noel Quintanilla of El Salvador, killed inside the cathedral of Santiago de Maria diocese on October 5.
Annalena Tonelli, an Italian medical volunteer, killed on October 5 at a hospital in Somalia.
Father Sanjeevananda Swami of India, killed there on October 7.
Father Saulo Carreno and Maritza Linares, both of Colombia, killed there on November 3.
Father Henry Humberto Lopez Cruz of Lebanon, killed in Colombia on November 3.
Father Jose Rubin Rodriguez of Colombia, killed there sometime after being kidnapped on November 14. (His body was discovered on November 21.)
Father Jose Maria Ruiz Furlan of Guatemala, killed there on December 14.
Father Anton Probst, a German Claretian missionary, killed in Cameroon after midnight Mass on Christmas Day.
Archbishop Michael Courtney, the apostolic nuncio in Burundi, killed there on December 29.
Christians second-class in Muslim lands
by Tom Heneghan
Reuters (31.12.2003)/ HRWF Int. (06.12.2003) - Website http://www.hrwf.net - Email: info@hrwf.net - Too many Islamic countries treat their Christian minorities as second-class citizens and bar them from building churches while Western states let their Muslims build mosques freely, according to a senior Vatican official.
Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, who recently retired as the Vatican's foreign minister, told the French Catholic daily La Croix Wednesday that Christianity and Islam faced "an enormous task" of learning to live together in mutual tolerance.
Tauran was the latest and highest-ranking Catholic official to voice concern about Vatican relations with Muslims, an issue seen as central for whoever succeeds the ailing Pope John Paul.
"There are too many majority Muslim countries where non-Muslims are second-class citizens," said Tauran, the church's top diplomat for 13 years before he had to step aside on being made a cardinal by Pope John Paul in October.
Stressing the need for respect for minorities, he singled out "the extreme case of Saudi Arabia, where freedom of religion is violated absolutely -- no Christian churches and a ban on celebrating Mass, even in a private home."
"Just like Muslims can build their houses of prayer anywhere in the world, the faithful of other religions should be able to do so as well," the French-born cardinal added.
Growing concern
Leading church figures have increasingly expressed concern about Islam in view of friction between Muslims and Christians in Africa and the Middle East and the difficult integration of Muslim minorities in traditionally Christian Europe.
La Civilta Cattolica, a Jesuit journal published with Vatican approval, said last October Islam had a "warlike face" throughout history and charged Muslim countries such as Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Pakistan discriminated against Christians.
This was seen as a departure from the more balanced approach the Vatican has taken toward the Muslim world, where it usually stressed both positive and negative aspects of its relations.
In Rome that same month to celebrate Pope John Paul's 25th anniversary as pontiff, seeral cardinals cited relations with Islam as a key issue for the next papacy, akin to the Communist challenge at the beginning of the Polish pope's reign.
The head of the United States bishops' conference, Bishop Wilton Gregory, spoke of potential religious violence.
Referring to Islam in the West and in Africa, he said: "It's growing in places it didn't exist before and it is growing in places where Christianity is growing. The world cannot afford a violence that is born of religious intolerance."
Saudi Arabia has rejected criticism of its ban on churches, arguing the Vatican would not let mosques be built on its land.
Abid Ullah Jan, a Pakistani writer based in Canada, wrote that the Civilta Cattolica article signaled the Vatican had "joined the ranks of intellectual warriors who are battling Islam with renewed zeal since the fall of the Soviet Union."
Since becoming cardinal, Tauran has taken a lower-profile post as Vatican librarian but has also been appointed to several important Church commissions for foreign affairs, Catholic doctrine, Eastern churches and bishops' appointments.
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Muslims, marriage and litigation
Interview with Professor Ana Qui?ones
Zenit.org).(06.03.2003)/ HRWF Int. (07.03.2003) - Website http://www.hrwf.net - Email: info@hrwf.net - What is the role of the woman in the family, according to Islam? To answer this question, ZENIT interviewed Ana Qui?ones, a specialist on the Muslim marital tradition of repudiation.
A law professor at Pompeu Fabra University of Barcelona, Qui?ones has written several books, including "Law and Immigration: Muslim Repudiation in Europe."
Q: What is Muslim repudiation?
Qui?ones: In Islamic law, repudiation is the privileged granted to the Muslim husband to put an end to his marriage unilaterally and at his own discretion. That is, by the sole decision of the husband and without the need of any reason whatsoever.
Q: Is the concept of the family in Islam in accord with Western legislation in general and with the European in particular?
Qui?ones: There are disparities in the legislation of Muslim countries and European legislation, so that it is not the same to apply either legislation in a case of matrimonial litigation.
These discrepancies are due to the lack of a religious reform and the consequent traditional patriarchal conception of the family.
Let's give some examples: the fact that a Muslim woman cannot marry a non-Muslim man; polygamy; marital repudiation; that the father has the right over the children; that daughters receive half the inheritance that sons do. These are some of the points of conflict.
Q: How does Muslim marriage differ from Christian and civil marriage?
Qui?ones: Marriage is not conceived as a sacrament in the Islamic religion.
It is a contract whose contents is decided by the future spouses within the limits of the religious public order -- for example, there can be an agreement against polygamy, which limits this privilege of the Muslim husband, but there cannot be agreement to a clause prohibiting the faculty to repudiate the wife.
In the law of Muslim countries, not only is it possible to put an end to marriage through judicial divorce, but the break is facilitated for the husband.
The husband has, as we have seen, the privilege to repudiate his wife without the need to give a reason.
Only the woman needs a judicial divorce to break a marriage. However, in the marriage contract, the woman can reserve the possibility of requesting that her husband repudiate her by paying him indemnity.
This measure, like the anti-polygamy clause, is usually adopted by women with means.
Q: What relation does the Muslim family have with the elderly?
Qui?ones: The values of the traditional family, among which is care of parents and grandparents, enrichment through the experience of the elderly, and an extended -- not nuclear -- conception of the family, are presented in a more accentuated way in Muslim societies than in the Western.
In the West, increasingly the option is no longer for a nuclear family but for a more individualist conception of personal and family life.
I think, although it is my personal opinion, that solidarity and family ties -- but not understood in an authoritarian way -- are what benefits everyone: the elderly, grandchildren, and fathers and mothers who must carry the burden within and outside the home.
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Report on human rights violations and discrimination against Jehovahs Witnesses around the world in 2002
Armenia: Jehovahs Witnesses have been repeatedly denied registration. They were therefore not allowed to hold large meetings and import literature. The Minister of Interior launched campaigns of denigration that prejudiced school personnel against Jehovah's Witnesses and their children. Armenia refuses to recognize its obligations deriving from its membership to the Council of Europe and continues to imprison young Jehovah's Witnesses for conscientious objection to military service. Presently, sixteen of them are still imprisoned. On two occasions, the prosecutors appealed convictions to obtain longer sentences.
Austria: Jehovahs Witnesses filed a supplement to the complaint they lodged on February 27, 1998 with the Court of Human Rights (Jehovahs Witnesses v. Austria) regarding their recognition as a religion. Refusal of recognition as a religion after three decades of continuous attempts resulted in discrimination in schools, taxes, and military exemptions. For instance, Philemon L?ffelmann and Markus Gtl, full-time ministers of Jehovah's Witnesses, have been denied exemption from military and alternative service. Both cases are now pending before the European Court of Human Rights.
Belarus: On May 29, 2002 two Jehovah'sWitnesses in the city of Pinsk were fined for participating in religious meetings on the ground that registration has been denied to the community. Their application for registration was introduced in October 2000.
Bulgaria: On November 30, 2002, a mob led by one of the city councilors vandalized a place of worship under construction in Burgas. The application Arabadjiev and Stavrev v. Bulgaria has been declared admissible by the European Court of Human Rights. In this case, the applicants complain about the attack of their house of worship on May 4, 1998 by a mob which included the mayor of the city in Plovdiv. They were also fined because of participating in the meeting of a religion which was not registered at that time. The authorities still refuse to grant registration in Plovdiv.
Eritrea: Five Jehovahs Witnesses are still confined in prison camps. The government sent letters to JW to warn them against holding religious meetings in their homes. A number of JW lost their jobs and their homes. Children were expelled from school. Many Jehovahs Witnesses fled the country, seeking asylum elsewhere.
Georgia: In 2002, there were 144 attacks and acts of religious intolerance. 791 criminal complaints were filed but no one has ever been arrested though the aggressors are known to the police. Persecution of Jehovahs Witnesses continues.
Verbal abuse, threats and robbing
- 1. Victims Teona Kruashvili and Vakhtang Akopashvili on March 3, 2002 in Rustavi
- 2. Victims Madonna Zakaraia and Tamta Gerenava on April 3, 2002 in Senaki
- 3. Victims Ketino Vardanidze and Omar Lomaia on April 26, 2002 in Tskhaltubo
- 4. Victim Nani Nanava on May 27, 2002 in Zugdidi
- 5. Victim Khvicha Korchilava on July 15, 2002 in Abasha
- 6. Victim Guram Pachkatashvili on August 19, 2002 in Gldani
- 7. Victims Dali Aivazova and Jana Aivazashvili on August 22, 2002 in Napareuli
Physical assaults including on women, children and elderly:
- 1. Victim Suliko Khojenashvili on January 24, 2002 in Rokhi
- 2. Victim Kvvtiso Japiashvili on February 3, 2002 in Kareli attacked by a policeman
- 3. Victim Constantine Gachechiladze on February 22, 2002 in Akhaltsikhe
- 4. Victim Albert Turkia on March 25, 2002 in Pirveli Maisi near Abasha
- 5. Victim Elichka Valieva on March 29, 2002 in the Gldani district of Tbilisi
- 6. Victims Madonna Zakaraia and Tamta Gerenava on April 3, 2002 in Senaki
- 7. Victims Manuchar Giorgashvili and Omar Kavelidze on April 12, 2002 in the village of Variani, near Gori
- 8. Victims Ketino Vardanidze and Omar Lomaia on April 26, 2002 in Tskhaltubo
- 9. Victim Shalva Nadibaidze on May 7, 2002 in the village of Bershueti, near Gori
- 10. Victims Temur Tamoev and Misha Ibragimov on May 23, 2002 in Tbilisi, in the region of Merve Polki
- 11. Victims Kakha Kuprava and Mirza Kurashvili on May 28, 2002 in Kutaisi
- 12. Victim Svetlana Sukhiashvili on May 30, 2002 in Zestafoni
- 13. Victim Koba Gagua on June 26, 2002 in Martvili
- 14. Victims Guram and Gia Pachkhatashvili on July 1, 2002 in Gldani-Nadzaladevi with police consent
- 15. Victim Ketevan Giguashvili on July 1, 2002 in Gldani-Nadzaladevi
- 16. Victim Kirile Kepuladze on July 10, 2002 in Nadzaladevi, Tbilisi
- 17. Victim Murtaz Jikia and Gocha Ekizashvili on July 14, 2002 in Vazisubani, Tbilisi
- 18. Victim Khvicha Korchilava on July 15, 2002 in Abasha
- 19. Victim Iuri Shamatava on July 15, 2002 in Chkhorotsku
- 20. Victim Achiko Liluashvili on July 17, 2002 in Telavi
- 21. Victims Guram Shonia and Kakha Tsaava on July 17, 2002 in Chakvi, near Kobuleti
- 22. Victims Nodar Kechagmadze and Giorgi Arbolashvili on August 6, 2002 in Ozurgeti
- 23. Victim Shalva Mamporia on August 15, 2002 in Ortasheni
- 24. Victims Natela Giorkhelidze and Ineza Kintsurashvili on August 25, 2002 in Napareuli
- 25. Victims Gia Kurua and Vakhtang Akopashvili, and Joni Bairamashvili on September 25, 2002 in Rustavi
- 26. Victim Lili Tsitlashvili on September 26, 2002 in Napareuli
- 27. Victim Kakha Babisashvili on September 26, 2002 in Napareuli
- 28. Victim Giorgi Meparishvili on September 29, 2002 in Digomi, Tblilisi
- 29. Victim Suzanna Azatian on October 5, 2002 in Varketili
- 30. Victim Alexander Gomarteli on October 7, 2002 in Gldani
- 31. Victim Lado Kokosadze on November 7, 2002 in Gldani
- 32. Victim Alecko Gvritishvili on December 6, 2002 in the Ponichela region of Tbilisi
School Physical aggression
- 1. Victim Inga Kavelidze on October 10, 2002 in Aspindza by her teacher
Unlawful detention
- 1. Victims Guram and Gia Pachkhatashvili on July 1, 2002 in Gldani-Nadzaladevi with police consent
- 2. Victim Alecko Gvritishvili on December 6, 2002 in the Ponichela region of Tbilisi
Burial disruption
- 1. In Sachkere on September 9, 2002
- 2. In Sachkere on December 4, 2002
Religious Meetings disruption by aggressive mobs
- 1. In Dusheti on February 9, 2002
- 2. In Gldanula district of Tbilisi on March 4, 2002
- 3. In Ozurgeti on March 17, 2002
- 4. In Tskhaltubo on March 28, 2002
- 5. In the Ponichala region of Tbilisi on April 7, 2002
- 6. In Zestafoni on April 28, 2002
- 7. In Akura on July 28, 2002
- 8. In Napareuli on August 22, 2002
- 9. In Rustavi on September 25, 2002
- 10. In Rustavi on September 25, 2002
- 11. In Digomi, Tbilisi on September 29, 2002
Home looting and robbing
- 1. In Khashuri on February 10, 2002
- 2. In the Ponichala region of Tbilisi on April 7, 2002
- 3. In Ortashemi on August 15, 2002
- 4. In Kaspi on August 15, 2002
- 5. In Rustavi on September 25, 2002
- 6. In Varkitili on November 13, 2002
Incendiary attack
- 1. In Gori on June 28, 2002
- 2. In Ortashemi on August 15, 2002
- 3. In Kaspi on August 15, 2002
- 4. In Chiatura on October 25, 2002
Kazakhstan: There were 28 cases of prosecution against Jehovahs Witnesses for holding religious meetings without having previously registered the congregation or group. Meanwhile, local authorities denied or indefinitely delayed registration of congregations.
Macedonia: In Prilep, mobs destroyed twice a house of worship under construction (April 22-26, 1999 and September 10-12, 1999). The courts failed to convict the perpetrators. On September 20, 2002 the Constitutional Court granted reservists the right to conscientious objection. As this decision was not retroactive, a conscientious objector served his 30-day prison term in November 2002.
Romania: Jehovahs Witnesses have lodged a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights against the Ministry of Culture and Religions on the grounds that it fails to comply with the decision of the Romanian Supreme Court and Control Note No. 7/1335/1998 of the Romanian government, approved by the prime minister, both of which confirm that Jehovahs Witnesses are an officially recognized religion in Romania. This results in various forms of discrimination, even regarding burials. For instance, in the Brasov County, Jehovah's Witnesses were forced to bury a deceased person 60 km away from the Homorod commune because there are no public cemeteries in the region, only denominational cemeteries. Several physical and verbal assault have also been reported in Bude?ti, Bistri?a-N?s?ud County (March 15, 2002), Targu-Frumos, Ia?i County (April 5, 2002), Clinceni, Ilfov County (April 10, 2002), and Pite?ti, Arge? County (May 13, 2002).
Russia: The application Chaykovskiy and Others v. Russian Federation was filed in the European Court of Human Rights on December 12, 2001. This application challenges the discrimination and decisions of the Moscow City Courts application of the 1997 religion law. The registration and re-registration process has been impeded in Moscow and legal proceedings are in progress. On October 28, 2002, the Chelyabinsk Regional Court ordered registration of a local JW congregation in Chelyabinsk that had been denied registration 11 times over six years. The application Kuznetsov and Others v. Russian Federation was filed with the European Court of Human Rights on March 1, 2002. This case involves a human rights commissioner who used police to forcibly break up a sign-language meeting of JW in Chelyabinsk.
South Korea: There are 1,452 Jehovahs Witnesses in prison due to conscientious objection to military service. Discrimination is practiced in application of parole.
Transnistria: A trial to liquidate the corporation used by Jehovahs Witnesses has been initiated by the public prosecutor in Tiraspol, Mr. I. M. Lesucov and is still pending. The head of the Ministry of Religion spearheaded the action. Recently, a new textbook which contains defamatory information concerning JW was published for the use of teachers and students at college and university levels.
Turkmenistan: Jehovahs Witnesses are completely deprived of freedom of association and peaceful assembly even in their own homes.All attempts to obtain registration have been unsuccessful. JW were subject to persecution and discrimination. There have been reports of torture and cases of inhuman treatment of those who are imprisoned due to their religious beliefs. Usually it is impossible for them to be released ahead of time by amnesty, as the prisoner is required to swear on the Koran as a condition to his release. Four JW are presently in prison, sometimes in inhuman conditions: Nikolai Shelekhov (1 ? year), Oguldzhan Yangibayevna Dzhumanazarova (4 years), Ikhtiar Khalikov (3 ? years) and Kurban Bagdatovich Zakirov (8 years).
Yugoslavia: In Belgrade, Indjija, Sremska Mitrovica and Vrbas mobs attacked worshippers and damaged houses of worship. On one occasion a bomb was even thrown in the yard of the place of worship. Importing religious literature was severely restricted.
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