Following a brutal government sweep of suspected insurgents in July, a village church in Laos that once had nearly 2,000 members has shrunk to only a few dozen daring to attend. Most of its leaders are still either in prison or under house arrest. Christian sources said only about 20 to 30 members of the previously 1,900-member Laos Evangelical Church in Ban Sai Jarern village, Bokeo province in north western Laos, are still meeting after authorities three months ago arrested 200 Hmong Christians falsely accused of being separatist rebels. Many of those arrested, including women and children, are still in prison.

A spokesperson for the Chinese Government has said that China will make sure the religious needs of athletes and visitors are met during the Beijing Olympics next August. Ye Xiaowen, Director-General of the State Administration for Religious Affairs, said that China will offer religious services "not lower than the level of any previous Games." These comments are in keeping with President Hu Jintao’s recent announcement that the Communist Party will now encourage religion to play a positive role in China’s social and economic development. 

Gao Zhisheng, Chinese human rights lawyer.

Photo: China Aid

Attorney Li Heping, a partner in a Beijing law firm, was kidnapped by unidentified people on September 29. They covered his head with a cloth bag, took him away, and brutalised him, telling him to take his family and leave Beijing. He was beaten with electric batons. When he asked who his attackers were, they identified themselves as members of the Beijing State Security Bureau.

The ordeal lasted around five hours before he was dumped in the Changping District. His personal belongings including the SIM card from his mobile phone and some of his legal papers had been taken away, while he also found that his laptop computer had been completely reformatted, and important data lost.

Gao Zhisheng, another lawyer who is serving a sentence under house arrest for "inciting subversion" – having exposed human rights abuse in China – has been arrested again after mailing an open letter to the United States Congress. He has been transferred to an unknown location.

Meanwhile, nine church leaders who were missing for almost two months have been located. Their relatives were finally informed that most have been sentenced to 12 to 18 months in 're-education through labour' camps. Of the nine, Ms Li Mei, 42, has so far been serving her one-year sentence in hospital as she was forced to have hysterectomy surgery after brutal beatings and torture. Another woman, Qin Daomin, is temporarily serving her sentence at home because she has a two-year-old child. The group were originally found having a Sunday worship service at the home of Ms Qin Daomin, and were later charged with "making use of an evil cult organisation to undermine enforcement of state laws". The four male leaders are Wang Caizhang (34), Ma Zhou (35), Yang Situan (39) and Du Dongliang (32). The other three women are Qin Daofang (40), Hu Rong (42), and Ren Xianxu (35). The leaders were from Anhui, Henan, and Shanxi provinces.

Serbia has seen an interesting trend in religious conflict: the number of attacks on minority religious communities has decreased, while the nature of the attacks has increased in severity, becoming more violent. At the same time, police are reportedly less and less willing to protect vulnerable religious groups, such as Protestant Christians, Muslims, Jews and Jehovah’s Witnesses. Few victims report to police after being attacked – mostly because they don’t feel it will do any good. One Muslim leader, Muhamed Zukurlic, had to hire his own body guard because he could not count on police protection in a time of need. Meanwhile, the perpetrator of the brutal stabbing of Zivota Milanovic, a Hare Krishna devotee, is still at large.

The Serbian Orthodox church is the country’s national church. Other Christian churches are considered "sects" and. discrimination against them is encouraged by those in authority. In September, a political leader held a televised press conference in front of a Baptist Church to warn Serbian society against the evils of such Christian "sects".

Mohammed Hegazy, 24, who is suing the Egyptian Government for the right to legally change his religion.

Photo: Compass

Mohammed Ahmed Hegazy, a former Muslim, is suing the Egyptian government so that he can legally change his identity from ‘Muslim’ to ‘Christian’.

In Egypt, it is possible to convert to Islam and change your religion on your identity card, but if you leave Islam for Christianity, there is no mechanism by which your change of religion can be legally recognized. In most cases, converts to Christianity conceal their conversion. Others even forge identity papers so that they can practice their faith.

Hegazy became a Christian when he was 16. Now 24, he and his wife, Zeinab, are expecting their first child in January. Unless they can legally change their identity, their child will not be recognized as a Christian. Consequently, their child will not be able to undertake Christian religious education classes at school, marry in a church, or openly attend Christian services without harassment. Hegazy and his wife already understand the difficulty their child will face: they underwent a Muslim wedding ceremony to have their own marriage recognized.

Hegazy’s bold move has caused a huge stir in the Egyptian media. He has received death threats and has since gone into hiding. Conservative Islamic lawyers have also offered their support to the government’s case.