03/17/06 India (Compass) EMI President Arrested at Gunpoint- Rajasthan state police officers today arrested the Rev. Dr. Samuel Thomas, president of Emmanuel Mission International (EMI) and son of Archbishop M.A. Thomas, EMI’s founder. The arrest took place in Noida, Uttar Pradesh state. Both Thomas and his father had gone underground after Hindu extremists accused them of distributing a controversial book that they alleged denigrated their religion and deities.

03/18/06 India (AsiaNews) Some 500 Tribal Christians “Reconverted”- The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) or World Hindu Council, a Hindu nationalist paramilitary organization, reconverted back to Hinduism some 500 people in Meherat, a community in the Indian state of Rajasthan. The ceremony took place last week when VHP activists visited area villages and placed a Hindu idol at the newly-constructed Baba Ramdev Temple and a yajna, a traditional service of acceptance into Hinduism, was performed. Until now the local community was included a variety of Christians, Muslims and Hindus. During the “visit” by VHP activists even the “non reconverted” were convinced to return to the Hindu fold.

03/18/06 Turkey (Compass) Media Bias Fans Anti-Christian Sentiment in Turkey- On March 8, five teenage members of the Nationalist Party Movement (MHP) at the book fair in the northwestern city of Bursa challenged Turkish Bible Society volunteers Samir Serkek and Vahit Yildiz for selling Bibles in a “Muslim country.” Normally, Turkish nationalists threatening to hang local Protestants for operating a Christian literature stall at the Bursa annual book fair wouldn’t have raised an eyebrow. But it wasn’t long before Turkish television video and newspaper commentary was running. And some of that commentary only further fanned anti-Christian sentiment.

03/19/06 China (ANS) 24 Chinese House Church Leaders Missing After Police Raid- 24 House Church Leaders are still missing following a police raid on a house church leaders' meeting in Henan Province, and reports have emerged of sustained extortion of confession by severe torture of one leader by Chinese authorities. At noon of March 13, a number of Public Security Officials raided a house church meeting at Wen County, Henan Province. Eighty Chinese house church leaders from different counties of Henan Province were attending a coworkers meeting.

03/20/06 India (AsiaNews/CBCI) Murdered: Goa Parish Priest Who Spoke Out Against Inter-Faith Violence- The Archdiocese of Goa condemned the murder of Fr Ferrão, parish priest of the Church of St Francis Xavier, in an official statement issued on 19 March. The priest was killed on the night between 17 and 18 March. What happened is not yet clear: the only certain thing is that the priest died of suffocation with a pillow, but the perpetrators are unknown. According to some witnesses, two men from Uttar Pradesh turned up outside the parish house on the night of 17 March and asked for a place to stay. Fr Ferrão welcomed them, fed them and gave them a place to stay: the police are now trying to track them down.

03/21/06 Burma (BosNewLife) Thousands of Christians Flee Burma's Military- Over 3,000 terrified predominantly Christian Karen villagers were in hiding Monday, March 20, after new attacks by the Burmese Army in Western and Northern Karen State. An unknown number of civilians were killed and several villages were burned in the latest offensive. The Burmese army is laying more landmines in the area, and forcing those villagers who have not fled to work as porters for the military.

03/22/06 India (The Hindu) Members Come Close to Blows in Assembly- A physical brawl between two MLAs belonging to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and the Opposition Congress over attacks by radical organizations on Christians was prevented in the Rajasthan Assembly on Tuesday by intervention of senior members. The House was plunged into pandemonium and adjourned twice to control the situation. The matter of the Christian community being targeted in the State and the alleged complicity of a Minister in the radical organisations' campaign came up in the House with the mention of a huge protest march and demonstration taking place outside the Assembly.

03/22/06 China (BosNewsLife) China Arrests And Tortures House Church Leaders in Crackdown- A house church pastor was in jail Wednesday, March 22, in China's Hubei Province after Chinese security forces broke up his Bible study group as part of a new crackdown on evangelical congregations which began last week with the arrests and torture of about 60 church leaders, including teenagers. Pastor Lian Changnian is now detained at the Detention Center of Xiantao City in Hubei Province. Pastor Lian, who is from Shannxi Province, was detained Monday, March 20, while leading a Bible study group of over 100 believers at a house church at Xiantao City.

03/23/06 Afghanistan (Compass) More Christians Arrested In Wake of ‘Apostasy’- An avalanche of media coverage of an Afghan man facing the death penalty for converting to Christianity has apparently sparked the arrest and deepening harassment of other Afghan Christians in the ultra-conservative Muslim country. Authorities arrested Abdul Rahman, 41, last month for apostasy, a capital offense under strict Islamic laws still in place in Afghanistan, which four years ago was wrested from the Taliban regime’s hard-line Islamist control. During the past few days, Compass has confirmed the arrest of two other Afghan Christians elsewhere in the country. Because of the sensitive situation, local sources requested that the location of the jailed converts be withheld.