Southern Baptists Remain Wary of McCain
http://www.newsmax.com/politics/rel_southern_baptists/2008/06/11/103698.html
INDIANAPOLIS -- Four years ago, the Bush-Cheney re-election campaign hosted a reception for Southern Baptist pastors at a hotel across the street from their annual meeting.
The country is electing a president again, the Baptists are meeting again and John McCain's campaign is nowhere to be seen at a gathering of 7,200 people, most of them staunch Republicans.
The absence has some Southern Baptists wondering whether the Arizona senator wants their vote. Others are more sympathetic to a campaign still gearing up, a candidate not known for talking about his faith, and reticence McCain might feel over his recent rejection of two endorsements by high-profile, evangelical pastors.
In interviews, Southern Baptist leaders and the rank-and-file said they were warily waiting for McCain to inspire them while acknowledging that they will vote for him anyway now that Sen. Barack Obama, far too liberal for most Southern Baptists, has all but secured the Democratic nomination.
"There's a lack of fire and passion for (McCain) right now, and for him to win, that fire has to be kindled," said the Rev. Jack Graham, a former president of the 16.2 million-member denomination and among its most politically connected leaders.
"It's going to be a close election," Graham said. "That's why John McCain, in his attempts to run to the center, needs to make sure he doesn't forget the people who will support him most aggressively on the issues that matter."
Despite that sentiment, a poll released this week showed that evangelicals do not appear to be running away from McCain. The survey, conducted in April and May by Calvin College's Henry Institute for the Study of Christianity and Politics, found that about 10 percent of evangelicals planned to sit out the election, about the same number as in 2004.
The survey, taken before the Democratic field was settled, found McCain winning 59 percent of the evangelical vote, compared to President Bush's 65 percent at the same juncture in 2004.
"On the one hand, (McCain) can say, 'Where are the core traditional voters going to go, other than sit at home?'" said Corwin Smidt, director of the Henry center. "If you have limited resources, focus on groups that are more swing and more crucial. On the other hand, to ignore your base is to do so at your peril."
Jeff Sadosky, a McCain campaign spokesman, said Wednesday the campaign is working to build up its organization and motivate conservative voters "so we're successful in November."
The Rev. Frank Page, the SBC's outgoing president, said many evangelicals might not be enthused by McCain but most will vote for him. McCain's pledge to nominate Supreme Court justices with a conservative judicial philosophy is a huge draw, Page said.
Page saw some positive in the lack of a McCain campaign presence in Indianapolis.
"I have admonished _ lovingly but firmly _ our convention not to get too close to any political party," Page said. "Parties change. I think we need to stay close to issues, and not hold allegiance to political parties."
Page has kept his door open to politicians regardless of party, and has met with Obama. The Illinois senator, forced to reject his former pastor for his inflammatory rhetoric, has launched an ambitious faith-based outreach program. He met in Chicago this week with an array of religious leaders, including conservatives like Bishop T.D. Jakes and Franklin Graham.
"What I hear from people," said Richard Land, president of the SBC's Ethics and Religious Liberties Commission, "is, 'John McCain was not my first choice, John McCain was not my second choice, John McCain was not my third choice. However, I would rather have a third-rate fireman than a first-class arsonist.' And they view Obama as a first-class arsonist."
Land and others believe the California Supreme Court's recent decision to legalize same-sex marriage will energize evangelical voters.
On Wednesday night, SBC "messengers," or delegates, were to consider a resolution condemning the ruling as a "terrible wrong," supporting a state amendment to overturn it and calling for a federal constitutional amendment prohibiting gay marriage. McCain opposes a federal marriage amendment, believing the question is for states.
SBC messengers approved a separate resolution urging political engagement while warning leaders of the dangers of endorsing candidates and "politicizing the church and the pulpit."
If Brad and Amy Brandon of Lebanon, Tenn., are any indication, McCain has work to do. Neither would vote for Obama _ "never" both said _ but McCain remains a puzzle.
The couple stopped at a booth in the meeting's enormous exhibition hall that urged Baptists to "test their voting IQ" and join an e-mail list that will seek to get out the "values" vote.
Brad Brandon, a 36-year-old pastor, said he was leaning McCain but not excited about it.
"He's wavered on abortion," Brandon said. "I think he's pro-choice."
McCain isn't. His voting record is against abortion rights.
"I can see why a lot of people, especially Republicans, don't want to vote," Amy Brandon said. "There's so much uncertainty now _ on the economy, on immigration. You almost want a Reagan, someone strong. I don't think we have that in any of the candidates right now."
Senator Obama's Church Resignation Points to the Fact That His Membership Appeared to be Just a 'Political Commodity'
http://news.christiansunite.com/Religion_News/religion07281.shtml
WASHINGTON, (christiansunite.com) -- It has become painfully transparent that Senator Obama left his church only after his membership began to negatively impact his run for President.
Before the recent controversies surrounding Rev. Jeremiah Wright and others, Senator Obama spoke in glowing terms about his relationship with Trinity United Church of Christ and his pastor which appeared on the pages of his campaign website. Those pages have now been removed.
The difficult question that must be asked is, "What kind of person uses their church membership for political gain and then abandons it when it becomes a political liability?"
Asked another way, "How can Senator Obama be trusted to act with integrity and courage on the critical and pressing issues facing this nation, when he used his own church to advance his political career and left it when it became politically expedient?"
The answer to those questions is; a person who uses their faith tradition and church membership for political gain is not fit to serve as President of the United States.
Rev. Patrick J. Mahoney, Director of the Christian Defense Coalition, states, "The resignation of Senator Obama from Trinity United Church of Christ raises the troubling questions that Mr. Obama treated his church membership as a 'political commodity' for the advancement of his political career.
"Early in the campaign, the Obama for President website was filled with glowing reports about the positive and close relationship that Senator Obama enjoyed with his home church and the Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Once, it became clear that Rev. Wright and the church were becoming a liability for Senator Obama he resigned the church out of political expediency.
"Senator Obama openly and publicly discusses a deep personal Christian faith tradition on the campaign. Yet his actions over the past several days have betrayed and crushed the very Christian ideals and principles that he says guide and navigate his life.
"To Senator Obama we say, church should be a place where we come to worship, obey and honor God, build meaningful relationships, grow in the knowledge of our Lord and receive the Sacraments. The House of God should never be reduced to a stepping stone for career advancement."
Capitol Computers Hacked by Chinese
http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/390962.aspx
CBNNews.com - WASHINGTON - Multiple congressional computers have been hacked by people working from inside China, lawmakers said Wednesday, suggesting the Chinese were seeking lists of dissidents.
Two congressmen, both longtime critics of Beijing's record on human rights, said the compromised computers contained information about political dissidents from around the world. One of the lawmakers said he'd been discouraged from disclosing the computer attacks by other U.S. officials.
Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., said four of his computers were compromised beginning in 2006. New Jersey Rep. Chris Smith, a senior Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said two of the computers at his global human rights subcommittee were attacked in December 2006 and March 2007.
Wolf said that following one of the attacks, a car with license plates belonging to Chinese officials went to the home of a dissident in Fairfax County, Va., outside Washington and photographed it.
During the same time period, The House International Relations Committee - now known as the House Foreign Affairs Committee - was targeted at least once by someone working inside China, said committee spokeswoman Lynne Weil.
Wednesday's disclosures came as U.S. authorities continued to investigate whether Chinese officials secretly copied the contents of a government laptop computer during a visit to China by Commerce Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez and used the information to try to hack into Commerce Department computers.
The Pentagon last month acknowledged at a closed House Intelligence committee meeting that its vast computer network is scanned or attacked by outsiders more than 300 million times each day.
Wolf said the FBI had told him that computers of other House members and at least one House committee had been accessed by sources working from inside China. The Virginia Republican suggested that Senate computers could have been attacked as well.
He said the hacking of computers in his Capitol Hill office began in August 2006, that he had known about it for a long time and that he had been discouraged from disclosing it by people in the U.S. government he refused to identify.
"The problem has been that no one wants to talk about this issue," he said. "Every time I've started to do something I've been told 'You can't do this.' A lot of people have made it very, very difficult."
The FBI and the White House declined to comment.
The Bush administration has been increasingly reluctant publicly to discuss or acknowledge cyber attacks, especially ones traced to China.
In the Senate, the office of Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., who chairs the Senate's subcommittee on humanitarian issues, asked the sergeant at arms to investigate whether Senate computers have been compromised.
Wolf said the first computer hacked in his office belonged to the staffer who works on human rights cases and that others included the machines of Wolf's chief of staff and legislative director.
"They knew which ones to get," said Dan Scandling, who currently is on leave of absence from his job as Wolf's chief of staff. "It was a very sophisticated operation," he said. "The FBI verified that it had been done."
Smith said the attacks on his office computers were "very much an orchestrated effort."
He said that after the first intrusion in December 2006, "that was the last time" his office put the names of dissidents on its computers.
Smith said the intrusions were discovered when House technicians found a virus that seemed designed to take control of the computers. Technical experts who cleaned the computers reported that the attacks seemed to come from the People's Republic of China.
In Beijing, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs had no immediate comment on the allegations by Wolf and Smith.
Last week, China denied the accusations regarding Gutierrez's laptop and the alleged effort to hack Commerce Department computers.
Wolf said he was introducing a House resolution that would help ensure protection for all House computers and information systems.
It calls for the chief administrative officer and sergeant at arms of the House, in consultation with the FBI, to alert members and their staffs to the danger of electronic attacks. Wolf also wants lawmakers to be fully briefed on ways to safeguard official records from electronic security breaches.
"My own suspicion is I was targeted by China because of my long history of speaking out about China's abysmal human rights record," Wolf said in a draft of remarks he prepared to give on the House floor.
He said Congress should hold hearings, specifically the House Intelligence Committee, Armed Services Committee and Government Operations Committee.
Speaking generally in May 2006, Wolf called Chinese spying efforts "frightening" and said it was no secret that the United States is a principal target of Chinese intelligence services.
Wolf thinks that President Bush should stay away from the Olympics because of China's human rights record.
He also has been outspoken on the subject of violence in the Darfur region of Sudan, where China has major oil interests.
Smith has introduced the Global Online Freedom Act which would prohibit U.S. Internet companies from cooperating with countries such as China that restrict information about human rights and democracy on the Internet.
Wolf and Smith both traveled to Beijing 17 years ago seeking the release of 77 people imprisoned or under house arrest because of their religious activities.
School Harasses Minnesota Sixth Grader Wearing Pro-Life T-shirts; Thomas More Law Center Files Federal Lawsuit
http://news.christiansunite.com/Religion_News/religion07282.shtml
ANN ARBOR, MI, (christiansunite.com) - The Thomas More Law Center, a national public-interest law firm, based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, announced today that it has filed a federal lawsuit defending the Constitutional rights of a sixth grader to wear t-shirts to school that express his pro-life beliefs. The lawsuit was filed in the U. S. District Court for the District of Minnesota against the Hutchinson Middle School located in Hutchinson, Minnesota.
The sixth grader, referred to in the lawsuit as "K. B." because of his age, is a Christian who believes that abortion is the wrongful taking of an innocent life and a grave offense to the Law of God.
School officials, including the principal and several teachers, on over a dozen occasions during April 2008, told "K. B." not to wear the t-shirts, publicly singled him out for ridicule in front of his classmates, removed him from class, sent him to the principal's office, forced him to turn his pro-life t-shirt inside out, and threatened him with suspension if he did not stop wearing the offending pro-life t-shirts.
During the period in question, "K. B." wore three different t-shirts, all produced by the American Life League, a national Pro-Life advocacy group. The t-shirts contained such pro-life messages as, "Abortion... growing, growing, gone, " "What part of abortion don't you understand?" and, "Never Known - Not Forgotten."
Richard Thompson, President and Chief Counsel of the Law Center, commented, "This courageous young Christian was ridiculed and threatened by teachers for expressing his deeply held beliefs. These school officials clearly violated the U. S. Constitution and the school's own written Dress Policy which specifically states it is not intended to abridge the rights of students to express political or religious messages."
The Thomas More Law Center is being assisted by Minnesota attorney Paul Taylor, an affiliated attorney with the Law Center.
Brandon Bolling, the Law Center attorney assigned as lead counsel stated, "The Supreme Court has held it permissible for public schools to limit student speech only when there is an actual and substantial disruption of school activity. That is not the case here. The only people who took issue with the Pro-Life t-shirts were the school's employees - in fact, if any one caused any disruption, it was the school's employees, by their constant public harassment of our client because they disagreed with his pro-life message."
The Thomas More Law Center defends and promotes the religious freedom of Christians, time-honored family values, and the sanctity of human life through education, litigation, and related activities. It does not charge for its services. The Law Center is supported by contributions from individuals, corporations and foundations, and is recognized by the IRS as a section 501(c)(3) organization. You may reach the Thomas More Law Center at (734) 827-2001 or visit their website at www.thomasmore.org.
Southern Baptists worried by decline in baptisms
http://www.christiantoday.com/article/southern.baptists.worried.by.decline.in.baptisms/19461.htm
Baptisms in the Southern Baptist Convention have fallen to a 20-year low, a trend that is setting off alarm bells in America's largest evangelical denomination.
The number of people baptised in Southern Baptist churches and ceremonies, an important indicator of conversions and denominational growth, fell in 2007 for the third year in a row by 5 per cent to 345,941.
That was the lowest number since 1987, a trend on the minds of many of the 7,000 delegates known as "messengers" attending the SBC's annual meeting in Indianapolis.
This year's theme is called "Fulfilling the Mission" and the logo pointedly depicts a picture of a baptism in progress.
For Southern Baptists, a decline in baptisms is a worry because a major tenet of their faith is to spread it. Many believe the "unchurched" are doomed to an eternity in hell.
"We should always be concerned when baptisms dip. It's about salvation...We are commanded to go and preach the Gospel to every person," said Tommy French, a 77-year-old pastor from Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Several delegates interviewed by Reuters expressed their concern in such terms: fewer baptisms meant fewer saved souls. For Southern Baptists, a public baptism in water is a key rite of the conversion experience.
The trend of falling baptisms also has broader cultural and political implications as the 16-million member SBC is a big part of the Republican Party's conservative Christian base.
Twenty-five per cent of US adults now count themselves as "born-again" or evangelical Christians, making the movement one of the fastest growing and most influential in America. A slowdown in its growth could have a ripple effect on politics and other areas of American life.
Several Southern Baptists interviewed took it as an unhealthy sign of "weakness" or misguided attempts to find accommodation with the broader secular culture that some regard as corrupting and even satanic.
"We are using corporate-style marketing and worship services. It's a performance orientation that lacks authenticity," said JD Perry, also from Baton Rouge.
For SBC evangelist Jim McNiel of St Louis, the drop in baptism numbers was a sign that the biblical "end times" described in the Book of Revelation were drawing near.
"I see two factions. You have one for believers but you also have a faction from Satan and there is a strong battle looming," he said.
Total SBC church membership also dipped slightly last year to just under 16.3 million but "primary" or regular worship attendance increased slightly to 6.15 million.
Falling baptism numbers have also been attributed to the cultural background of new converts, who include a growing number of Hispanics who are seen as reluctant to take "the dunk" because it is considered a final step that breaks most ties with their past.
Secret Al-Qaida, Iraq Files Found on British Train
http://www.newsmax.com/international/britain_lost_documents/2008/06/11/103633.html
LONDON -- Secret government documents on al-Qaida and Iraq were left on a commuter train, prompting a major police investigation into the latest in a series of high-level security breaches, British officials said Wednesday.
A passenger found the envelope on an empty seat aboard a London commuter train Tuesday. The documents were then given to the British Broadcasting Corp., the broadcaster said.
Seven pages stamped "UK Top Secret" included the latest government intelligence assessment on al-Qaida and Iraq's security forces, the BBC said. The documents were also stamped "for UK/US/Canadian and Australian eyes only."
Two of the assessments were made by the British government's Joint Intelligence Committee. The report on Iraq was commissioned by the Ministry of Defense. The al-Qaida report was commissioned by the Foreign and the Home Offices. Some of the assessments came from intelligence material gathered from agents on the ground.
"Two documents which are marked as secret were left on a train and have subsequently been handed to the BBC," said a Cabinet spokesman, who spoke on condition of anonymity in accordance with government policy for civil servants.
The documents were in the possession of a senior intelligence official, he said, adding that government policy required such secret documents to be safeguarded.
Intelligence officers _ including representatives from MI6 _ regularly attend Cabinet meetings. The government, however, would not provide any information on the intelligence officer.
The security breach is the latest in a string of government data losses.
Earlier this year, a computer containing sensitive details on 600,000 prospective military recruits was snatched from the car of a Royal Navy recruitment officer in Birmingham, central England. The data included details of candidates' religions and some banking records. It was not encrypted.
Last year, tax officials lost computer disks containing information _ including banking records _ on nearly half the British population.
Irish brace for knife-edge vote on European Union's Lisbon Treaty
http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/europe/news/article_1410495.php/Irish_brace_for_knife-edge_vote_on_European_Unions_Lisbon_Treaty
Dublin - With a traditional eve-of-vote news blackout in operation in Ireland Wednesday, the country's three leading political parties, who have pushed hard for a yes vote, were holding their breath ahead of the referendum to ratify the EU Lisbon Treaty Thursday.
As polls show the result of Thursday's vote is balanced on a knife-edge, Prime Minister Brian Cowen told Irish national broadcaster broadcaster RTE Tuesday that if there was a no vote, Ireland could not wait another eight years for reform of the EU in order to compete with emerging economies such as China and India.
He added that Europe would go back to an uncertain situation if the Lisbon Treaty was defeated.
Cowen emphasized that all of Ireland's concerns had been catered for in the treaty, RTE reported.
He said it was his deeply held belief that the Lisbon Treaty was crucial to Ireland's future prospects. He was convinced people would see through the negative arguments and expressed confidence that by close of polls the yes side would have prevailed.
Opposition Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny described Thursday as 'a moment of truth' for Ireland.
Labour's Eamon Gilmore said a no vote would result in confusion and uncertainty with people worried about their jobs.
Figures released Tuesday showed Irish unemployment above 200,000 for the first time since 1999, the equivalent of 5.4 per cent of the workforce.
This 'was not the time for Ireland to raise doubts about our relationship with Europe,' he said.
Together the three parties hold 149 seats in the 166-member Dail (lower house). Only one party with parliamentary representation - nationalist Sinn Fein with four seats - has opposed the treaty.
Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams says he wants the government to renegotiate the Lisbon Treaty to include opt-outs or vetoes on issues such as neutrality, public services and workers' rights.
A no vote would torpedo the ambitious Lisbon Treaty, which is designed to reform the 27-nation bloc and make it more efficient and effective in dealing with the challenges posed by globalization.
In 2001, Irish voters rejected the Nice Treaty, another reform project, but ratified it in a second vote 16 months later after a declaration was inserted clarifying Irish neutrality.
This time around it is fears about job security, farming, taxes and religion that have dominated the debate in a country that has been one of the main beneficiaries of EU largesse.
The mood has also been affected by a sharp fall in growth that has raised fears the 'Celtic Tiger' is losing its bite, leaving people worried about their financial future.
Sinn Fein has claimed the treaty would open the door to tax harmonization, forcing Ireland to scrap the low corporate taxes that have attracted many foreign companies to the country.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso has taken pains to point out that approval of the treaty would still leave Ireland with a veto on tax issues.
But no campaigners accused the EU chief of putting a gun to Irish heads when he stated in Brussels recently that Europe 'will pay a price' if voters reject the treaty.
Latest opinion polls show the outcome of the referendum hangs in the balance.
There has been a surge in support for the no campaign to 35-39 per cent, while those backing yes are down to between 30-42 per cent, leaving around one-third of the 3.1-million electorate undecided.
Exclusive: Hamas truce traded for Olmert’s survival in undercover Olmert-Barak deal
http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=5341
Israel’s embattled prime minister Ehud Olmert made a sudden U-turn Wednesday, June 11. He agreed to his Kadima party holding an early primary to elect a new leader. This was announced by Kadima MK Tzahi Hanegbi shortly after the security cabinet approved Olmert’s decision to accept the Egyptian formula for a truce with Hamas, instead of launching a large-scale military campaign in Gaza.
DEBKAfile’s political sources reveal that the two decisions were part of an undercover deal between Olmert and defense minister Ehud Barak (Labor leader) to allow the prime minister to hang onto office for several more months. Several initiatives have been afoot to remove Olmert from office over his suspected corrupt practices.
Barak agreed to hold his party back from voting for an opposition dissolution motion. The date for a general election was thus postponed, since without Labor there is no majority to dissolve the Knesset.
Olmert was safe in agreeing to a primary because the fledgling Kadima needs to formulate procedures for holding its primary ever, a time-consuming process, after which the various contenders will want more time for campaigning.
Barak for his part won the prime minister round to his preference for ceasefire with Hamas, however, shaky, rather than a definitive military action to scotch Hamas’ missile-rocket-mortar offensive against southwestern Israel from Gaza.
DEBKAfile notes the low marks for politicians and politics given in the Israeli Democracy Institution's latest poll this week: Only 17% of Israelis trust prime minister Olmert, and 15% the political parties.
Analysis: Bush is reconciled to a nuclear-armed Iran
http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=5343
In an interview with the London Times , June 11, US president George W. Bush said his aim now was to leave his successor a legacy of international diplomacy for tackling Iran. Regarding the Israeli minister Shaul Mofaz’s recent assertion that a military strike on Iran’s nuclear installations was “unavoidable”, the US president commented that this “really should be viewed as the need to keep pressuring” Iran. On a farewell trip to Europe, Bush added: “We ought to work together, keep focused” regarding Iran’s nuclear program.
DEBKAfile’s informed sources report that President Bush was also clearly bidding farewell to the option of an American strike against Iran’s nuclear program. With six months left of his presidency, his message to the Iranians was: They can either face isolation or they can have better relations with us all.” No third option, of a punishing military strike, was mentioned.
Iran’s president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad shot back by saying: “I tell him… your era has come to an end. With the grace of God, you won’t be able to harm even one centimeter of the sacred land of Iran.”
DEBKAfile’s Iranian sources report that Tehran is driving hard to attain a weapons capability by September or October this year, before Bush leaves the White House.
Nonetheless, the US president has shown no sign of departing from the current course of diplomacy and international sanctions against Iran, although it has in no way inhibited Iran’s race for enriched uranium which advances unchecked. This was implied by his reference to a possible successor: Bush voiced concern that the Democratic nominee Barack Obama might “open cracks in the West’s united front towards Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.” But, he hoped that after is successor assesses “what will work or what won’t work in dealing with Iran,” he would stick with the current policy.”
Iranian Leader Calls Bush a 'Wicked Man'
http://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/iran_us/2008/06/11/103714.html
SHAHR-E-KORD, Iran -- Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called President Bush a "wicked man" Wednesday. Addressing thousands of people in this central city, he said Bush had set out to damage Iran but failed to halt its nuclear program and would not succeed in his goal of attacking the Islamic republic.
"This wicked man desires to harm the Iranian nation. (Bush) made plans, moved into Afghanistan and then Iraq, and announced that Iran was the third target," Ahmadinejad said.
"I tell him ... your era has come to an end. With the grace of God, you won't be able to harm even one centimeter of the sacred land of Iran."
Bush on Wednesday repeated his stance that no options were ruled out in trying to get Iran to drop its nuclear ambitions. At a joint news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, he said: "My first choice is to solve this diplomatically, but all options are on the table."
Bush, who has seven months left in office, said he won promises from fellow leaders in the European Union to tighten pressure on Tehran with more U.N. sanctions and possibly other penalties.
Ahmadinejad said coercive measures won't force Iran to suspend uranium enrichment.
"In the past two, three years, they employed all their might, resorted to propaganda ... and sanctions. If the enemy thinks they can break the Iranian nation with pressure, they are wrong ... With God's help, today we have achieved victory and the enemies cannot do a damned thing," he said.
The U.S. and some of its allies accuse Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons. Iran denies that, saying its atomic program is aimed at using nuclear reactors to generate electricity.
The U.N. Security Council has imposed three sets of limited sanctions against Iran for refusing to halt uranium enrichment, a technology that can both produce nuclear fuel and turn out the material needed for nuclear warheads.
Iran has not only continued enriching uranium, but says it has expanded its uranium enrichment program, installing more centrifuges used to enrich uranium.
Iran Says West Fails to Stop Nuclear Advances
http://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/Iran_West_nuclear/2008/06/11/103516.html
Western pressure has failed to stop Iran's nuclear program from advancing, its president said on Wednesday, a day after the United States and the European Union warned of more sanctions against the Islamic Republic.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad voiced defiance just a few days before EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana is expected to travel to Tehran to offer economic and other benefits to Iran if it gives up sensitive atomic work.
Iran, the world's fourth-largest oil producer, has repeatedly ruled out suspending nuclear activities which it says are solely aimed at generating electricity but which the West suspects are a covert bid to make bombs.
"With God's help today (the Iranian nation) have gained victory and the enemies cannot do a damned thing," Ahmadinejad said in a speech broadcast live on state television.
The United States and the 27-nation EU, at a summit in Slovenia, said on Tuesday they were ready to impose more sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program on top of three rounds of limited U.N. sanctions since late 2006.
Washington has pressed the EU to deny some Iranian banks access to the world financial system. European External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner said further EU steps could entail a freeze on Iranian bank assets.
"NUCLEAR HEIGHT"
Iran, which says it earned about $70 billion in oil revenue last year, has shrugged off the impact of Western punitive measures on its economy.
An Iranian newspaper this week said Iran was withdrawing assets from European banks and converting some of them into gold and stocks in a bid to neutralize tightening sanctions.
"They've tried by military threats ... and political pressure to stop you from your luminous path but today they have seen that all their planning has failed," Ahmadinejad told the crowd in the western city of Shahr-e Kurd.
"Today the Iranian nation is standing on the nuclear height," said Ahmadinejad, who often attacks the West.
The five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council -- the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China -- and Germany agreed last month on an enhanced package of incentives to coax Iran into giving up nuclear enrichment.
Solana is expected to travel to the Iranian capital within the next week to present the package to Iranian officials, but he has played down prospects of a breakthrough.
In 2006, the six countries offered incentives including civil nuclear cooperation and wider trade in civil aircraft and energy but Tehran spurned that offer.
Enriched uranium can be used as fuel for power plants or, if refined much further, provide material for arms.
U.S. President George W. Bush, attending his last summit with the 27-nation EU, said on Tuesday that an "Iran with a nuclear weapon would be incredibly dangerous for world peace."
Ahmadinejad said Bush's "era has ended" and that Iran's foes would not be able to "harm even a centimeter" of its territory.
To defuse row with Baghdad, Bush denies US seeks permanent bases in Iraq
http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=5340
On the long-term treaty regulating the US military’s future role in Iraq, Iraqi politicians are challenging what they call American demands to maintain more than 50 permanent bases in Iraq. The US president, on a farewell tour of Europe, said in Berlin June 11 that he believes his administration will finish the treaty.
DEBKA-Net-Weekly 352 of June 6 disclosed the terms of the troop level agreement, which is still in negotiation, and reported that the construction of US permanent bases is nearing completion. Iraqi PM Nouri al-Maliki has his work cut out to fend off domestic criticism and grapple with Tehran’s threatening stance against his acceptance of a long term US military presence in Iraq.
In Iraq meanwhile, the US military reported the capture of an Iranian-trained Shiite bomb expert at his home south of Baghdad. He is accused of having made several trips to Iran for explosives instruction and smuggled weapons and bomb-making materials in to Iraq.
Reports say al-Qaeda Weakening in Iraq
http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/390695.aspx
CBNNews.com - President Bush is pointing to more progress in Iraq.
The Washington Times reported that the number of suicide bombers entering Iraq has dropped sharply.
Bush administration and intelligence officials say that foreign fighters from Saudi Arabia and North Africa are discouraged by the success of the U.S. troop surge.
They say the surge has severely weakened al-Qaeda in Iraq and made it more difficult for foreign fighters to enter the country.
Officials also suggest that young Arabs have become turned off by al-Qaeda's extremist message.
US denies coalition ground troops crossed into Pakistan
http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=5339
The US military responded to the Pakistani army’s bitter charge Wednesday, June 11, that US-led coalition troops were responsible for the deaths of 11 Pakistani paratroops by destroying a Pakistani Frontier Corps post at Gora Prai, 80 kilometers northwest of Peshawar. The Pakistani military said the incident risked damaging cooperation with the US in the war on terror.
The US military replied that coalition forces had indeed come under fire “during an operation previously coordinated with Pakistan.” In self-defense, said the statement, coalition forces fired artillery rounds at the militants operating near a checkpoint on the Pakistani side of the border. Based on surveillance from an unmanned aircraft, “close-air support” was then called in to assist the fight.
Details of the incident remained sketchy, but some sources say that Afghan troops found themselves in a fight against a combination of Pakistani soldiers and Taliban insurgents.
“At no time did coalition ground forces cross into Pakistan," the U.S. military release stated.
Pakistan, mired in economic problems, will freeze defense budget, prime minister says
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/06/10/business/AS-GEN-Pakistan-Defense-Budget.php
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: Pakistan will freeze its defense budget for the year, the prime minister said, a move that comes as the country faces severe economic problems.
Pakistan, which has received billions from the U.S. to fight terrorism, has a defense budget of about 275 billion rupees. Last year, that amounted to about US$4.5 billion. But the weakening rupee means it now is worth US$4.1 billion.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani noted to lawmakers Monday that the freeze was essentially a cut. He called it "a measure of our tangible display to seek peace with our neighbors."
Indirectly referring to rival India, he said, "We hope to see a reciprocal gesture from our neighbor for the sake of peace and prosperity of the region."
After years of sizzling economic growth, Pakistan is now challenged by large trade and budget deficits, chronic power shortages and double-digit inflation.
Admiral: Next Attack Coming Out of Pakistan
http://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/mullen_pakistan_terror/2008/06/10/103450.html
Any future terror attack against US interests would most likely be carried out by Islamic militants based in Pakistan's restive tribal belt bordering Afghanistan, the top US military official said Tuesday.
Admiral Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a press conference that tribal groups with ties to Al-Qaeda in Pakistan's federally administered tribal area represent the worst security threat to the United States.
"I believe fundamentally if the United States is going to get hit, it is going to come out of the planning of the leadership in the FATA -- Al-Qaeda specifically," he told reporters.
"That is a threat to us that must be dealt with," Mullen said of the radical groups sheltering in the no-man's land between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Pakistan's government, under the leadership of new prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, launched peace talks with the Islamist militants after coming to power in March.
The new government, Mullen said, "has significant challenges as it gets under way, and at the same time is looking to the best way to best deal with this challenge."
Insurgents who find refuge in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas regularly supply weapons and ammunition into Afghanistan, while a number of suicide bombers have come from Afghan refugee camps based in Pakistan.
Mullen recognized that a solution to the problem is a long way off.
"We're not going to solve it overnight," Mullen said.
"There is no simple answer, no easy solution here," he warned, adding that at all cost, "it has got to be dealt with."
The Taliban were removed from government in a US-led invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001 and are waging an insurgency that has gained pace in the last two years.
Mullen held two days of counter-terrorism talks with Pakistani army top brass in Islamabad last week, on his third trip to the nuclear-armed nation since parliamentary polls in February.
The United States and Western allies have warned the new government's efforts to strike peace deals with extremists will lead to an increase in cross-border attacks into Afghanistan.
Nine House Church Christians in Henan Detained for Helping Quake Victims; Two Bible Teachers in Shandong Sentenced to Criminal Detention
http://news.christiansunite.com/Religion_News/religion07284.shtml
HENAN, China, (christiansunite.com) -- China Aid Association has learned that on June 1, 2008, during a Sunday service at Taikang County Henan Province, approximately 6 PSB and RAB officials disrupted the house church meeting and forcefully detained 7 of the participants. Police officials did not state the reason for the detention. During interrogation, police officials questioned the members as to who would be taking donations to the earthquake disaster area.
One woman and her child were released, however the other 6 remain in detention under a charge of sending money to a disaster area in the name of a house church. Both PSB and RAB officials have claimed that they would not release those detained until each paid a 1000Yuan fine.
China Aid Association has also learned that, on May 28, two Christians in Hua county, Henan province were detained under the charge of religious inciting on obstruction to earthquake relief work. One was released on June 2 after paying a 500 Yuan penalty and gifts worth more than 4000Yuan value to PSB officers. Another one is said to be released on June 3.
In further progress of the case reported on May 27, concerning the attack on a house church seminary in Weifang city, Shandong province. Principal Lu Zhaojun and teacher Zhang Yage as well as teacher Jin Xiuxiang were released on May 28 after CAA's report of the case. However, when Lu and teacher Jin Xiu Xiang returned to the PSB office at 8am in the morning of June 2 inquiring about the official documents of confiscated goods, including a bank card worth 300,000Yuan and a mini van, they were re- detained and sentenced to one month criminal detention for allegedly committing an illegal business operation. The seminary's items including Bibles and other Christian literature, the mini-van and the 300,000Yuan bank card have not been returned.
In recent years, the Chinese government has used the charge of "illegal business operation" against those house church believers who either managed bookstores or printed Bibles.
"The House Churches deserve the right to do charitable work such as providing relief to earthquake victims," said CAA President Bob Fu. "We urge the Henan government to change its backward mentality from discriminating against those who continue to do good deeds."
To voice your concern please contact:
Chinese Embassy in Washington DC
Address: 2201 Wisconsin Avenue, N.W., Washington D.C. 20007
Tel: (202) 338-6688, (202)5889760
Fax: (202) 588-9760
Report Shows U.N. Development Program Violated U.N. Law, Routinely Passed on Millions to North Korean Regime
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,365676,00.html
NEWS ANALYSIS — After more than two years of accusations and probes into the operations of the United Nations Development Program in North Korea, a weighty report finally reveals how routinely, and systematically, the agency disregarded U.N. regulations on how it conducted itself in Kim Jong-Il’s brutal dictatorship, passing on millions of dollars to the regime in the process.
The 353-page report, by a three-member “External Independent Investigative Review Panel” appointed by UNDP to investigate itself, was published with much fanfare last week after nine months of political maneuvering and research.
The report depicts an organization that for years apparently considered itself immune from its own rules of procedure as well as the laws and regulations of countries that were trying to keep weapons of mass destruction out of Kim’s hands.
It also shows that UNDP apparently considered itself above the decisions of the United Nations Security Council itself when that organization tried — as it is still trying — to bar Kim from gaining the means to create more weapons of mass destruction.
That is the same Security Council whose decisions, U.N. officials argue, have the weight of international law when applied to the United States and the rest of the world.
Yet despite those rules, and in the midst of a growing international storm of concern over Kim’s behavior, UNDP’s North Korea office, as well as other UNDP offices, continued to hand over millions in hard currency to the Kim regime and to transfer sensitive equipment with potential for terrorist use or for use in creating weapons of mass destruction.
“What this report shows is that UNDP has operated lawlessly for far too long,” said Mark Wallace, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations who brought many of the original accusations against the U.N. anti-poverty agency to light in January 2007 after examining confidential UNDP internal audits of its North Korean operation.
“U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has indicated that integrity is a high U.N. priority," Wallace said. "It is now up to UNDP to follow that direction.”
The latest panel report initially was passed on to reporters on June 2 by UNDP boss Kemal Dervis at an unusual press conference where he hailed the report’s conclusions, saying that “we finally have some closure on the allegations made against UNDP.”
The actual authors of the report were not available for questioning or comment, Dervis said, until they presented the document to a meeting of UNDP’s supervisory executive board in Geneva. The meeting begins June 16.
But a close reading of the long and dense document, replete with mind-numbing footnotes, shows that Dervis is wrong.
Among other things, the report confirms that UNDP hired North Korean government employees to fill sensitive core staff posts, in violation of its own regulations, and that the Kim regime picked the staffers.
Previously this had been revealed by a report done by the United Nations Board of Auditors in May 2007 in the wake of Wallace’s concern. The 2007 report noted that the same violations had been reported in internal UNDP audits going back to 2001.
The UNDP office in North Korea paid the salaries of these staff directly to the government in hard currency — another forbidden practice. The report dryly notes, in a footnote on page 96, “It was not clear how much of these amounts were paid to the National Staff, if any.”
In an effort that may have been aimed at keeping at least some staffers from starving, UNDP gave them all hard-currency supplements in cash — another violation of its own rules.
The regime employees filled such critical jobs as UNDP finance officer; program officer slots that helped to design and oversee UNDP projects in the country; technology officer, who maintained all of UNDP’s internal and external communications and servers; and even the assistant to the head of the UNDP office, who presumably was in a position to see much, if not all, of the boss’ paperwork.
Those violations already were known, although only in the barest detail. But the latest report reveals a fact that makes matters much worse: The regime-appointed finance officer — the person who wrote UNDP’s checks for 10 years — also was responsible for reconciling UNDP’s bank statements with the checkbook.
These two functions are supposed to be separated as protection against fraud. The importance of that separation is strongly underlined in UNDP’s basic guidelines called the “Internal Control Framework for UNDP Offices.”
The potential for fraud by a North Korean government employee, however, is discussed in the report only in dry bureaucratic language.
Despite that the review panel brought documents showing millions of UNDP financial transactions out of North Korea, the report shows — in a footnote buried on page 53 — that the panelists never saw any of some roughly $16.6 million worth of cancelled checks that were signed by UNDP. The reason: Kim’s bankers won’t release the originals or copies.
Without the checks, it is impossible to see if the finance officer made them out to cash or if the names on them match UNDP payment records and bank statements.
The North Korean regime also refused to let the panelists interview the finance officer.
The potential fraud risks are huge. The report notes that in 78 percent of a transaction sample of UNDP payment records that they reviewed, the signature on payment receipts could not be verified. For all the rest there was no sign of a receipt at all.
The report declares, with great understatement, that “it is difficult to determine the ultimate beneficiaries of payments made by UNDP-DPRK on behalf of itself.”
The panel sharply hikes — by millions of dollars — the amount of hard currency that previous probes indicated UNDP had passed on to the nuclear-arming Kim regime from 1997 to 2007, as Kim was ramping up his nuclear weapons program and ultimately setting off a nuclear explosion.
Hard currency transfers to Kim of any kind supposedly were forbidden, but the 2007 investigation already had shown that the rule was violated not only by UNDP but other U.N. agencies in the country.
The latest report says that UNDP spent $23.8 million on behalf of itself and other U.N. entities in North Korea, almost all in hard currency that never was supposed to reach Kim. The panel estimates that 38 percent of this, or $9.12 million, went directly to the North Korean government.
But that is not all. The report also notes for the first time that other UNDP offices and agencies outside the country chipped in anywhere from $9.5 million to $27.4 million more in hard currency to the Kim regime over the same period, on behalf of the North Korean office.
Using the 38 percent yardstick that the panel applied to in-country spending, anywhere from $3.6 million to $10.4 million of those totals might have been directly passed on to the government.
In addition, the report makes passing mention of an even bigger flood of cash: $381 million that flowed into North Korea from non-U.N. donors through an arrangement called the Agriculture Recovery and Environmental Protection, or AREP, Cooperation Framework. UNDP projects in North Korea formed part of that framework and, more importantly, helped to support the entire arrangement. But the report goes no further in tracing those funds.
Unauthorized hard currency by no means was the only support UNDP was offering Kim. The report greatly raises the number of sensitive “dual use” items — good for civilian use and for terrorist purposes or helping to create weapons of mass destruction — that UNDP handed over to North Korea. These included computers, software, satellite-receiving equipment, spectrometers and other sensitive measuring devices: 95 items in all.
The policy of unquestioned transfer of dual use items continued even as the Kim regime in 2006 conducted ballistic missile tests and exploded a low-yield nuclear device to the outrage and dismay of the rest of the world; moreover, UNDP acquired at least some of the items in misleading fashion.
The report notes that when some items were purchased, “it was not explicitly stated … that the equipment would be utilized by DPRK nationals working under the auspices of UNDP projects in DPRK.”
In at least one instance, the report says, an employee with a UNDP sister agency even supplied false information to a Dutch manufacturer nervous about end-users in North Korea, telling him that the equipment would be used by the UNDP office in Pyongyang when it really was intended for a faraway rural location.
The report also shows that UNDP itself rarely asked its suppliers about any possible limits on the use of sensitive export goods and, even when it was explicitly informed, made little, if any, effort to keep records of dual use limitations on equipment.
(The report does not say so, but with North Korean government employees operating as program officers, the lack of conscientious record keeping might not come as much of a surprise.)
The report then dismisses any notion of holding anyone at UNDP accountable for these spectacular lapses by invoking a concept of blanket immunity.
UNDP and its officials, the report notes, are immune from the enforcement of U.S. and other national export control laws imposed for anti-terrorist or national security reasons, under an international U.N. Convention on Privileges and Immunities.
The document notes that despite that free pass, a U.N. legal opinion has held that the world organization can be bound by at least some export license limitations when it is retransferring those sensitive goods.
But the people really exposed to penalties for most of the transfers are UNDP vendors who supplied the goods, because they lack U.N. immunity. The panel notes that in many cases, lack of knowledge of the true use of the equipment is not considered a legal defense by many nations, including the U.S.
Having said that, the report tries to sweep under the rug the explosive topic of UNDP’s obligations to the U.N. itself when the U.N.’s chief executive body, the Security Council, calls — as it did twice in 2006 — for bans of sensitive technologies to Kim. Those bans are known as U.N. Resolution 1695, passed on April 15, 2006, after Kim sent test ballistic missiles in the direction of Japan; and Resolution 1718, passed on Oct. 14, 2006, five days after Kim’s low-yield nuclear blast.
Resolution 1695 applied to equipment that might be used in Kim’s ballistic missile program. Resolution 1718, however, was much more sweeping and called for bans on any equipment that might be used in any kind of weapons of mass destruction, as well as travel bans for officials associated with the weapons program.
The panel report tries to take as little note of these sanctions as possible. Resolution 1718, for example, is mentioned in a footnote on page 195 of the report. The footnote calls its applicability to UNDP programs “relatively minimal,” and adds, “a significant majority of the equipment bought in connection with the UNDP-DPRK program was purchased before the passage of this resolution such that [it] was inapplicable.”
Since the report also notes that the records were badly kept or non-existent, this is a hard assertion to contradict. But it is a highly questionable assumption, at best. The report earlier notes that any UNDP-purchased equipment in North Korea belonged to UNDP until it was officially transferred to a host government. That happened to all the items of dual use equipment in North Korea at the same time — in March 2007.
At that time, UNDP shut down its programs after the hue and cry over UNDP practices in North Korea caused the agency to amend some of its practices — changes that the regime refused to accept.
UNDP officials have argued, and the report tacitly echoes their view, that the transfer of equipment when agency projects are closed down is normal practice.
Hardly normal are Security Council calls for the world, presumably including the U.N. itself, to stop transfers of exactly the kinds of equipment UNDP gave to Kim. There is no sign, for example, that the agency gave any thought to finding another method of asserting its property rights until the sanctions were lifted or of asking other U.N. agencies in North Korea to try to keep tabs on the gear.
UNDP “normal practice” apparently trumped world peace and security. The report passes over that complication, involving a rogue regime that had conducted illegal atomic blasts, and that the U.N. itself had declared an outlaw, without comment.
With the same effect of sheltering UNDP from charges that it aided in endangering the peace and security of the world, the panel report declares that any charges that UNDP inadequately supervised the projects in North Korea under its care are untenable.
It based that conclusion on voluminous paperwork provided by UNDP that proved, the panelists said, that site visits to the project took place frequently and were unimpeded.
But the report fails to put those inspections in the context of the fact that four of UNDP’s program and liaison officers, who manage and help to create programs and perform liaison with institutions and vendors involved in the projects — also were North Korean government employees.
(The report is equally silent on the role of the Kim regime employee who served as UNDP technology officer, who was in charge of all of the UNDP offices' internal and external communications and its computer servers. UNDP communications and computers are supposed to be sacrosanct in terms of host country snooping. Instead, in North Korea, the potential snoops were in charge of the equipment. The potential implications of that fact are completely unexplored.)
Overall, one of the most striking aspects of the report is its lack of curiosity about whether individual members of the UNDP staff should be held accountable for egregious, longstanding and dangerous violations of UNDP rules and international law, not to mention common sense.
This applied notably to the presence in UNDP’s North Korean safe for more than a decade of $3,500 in defaced U.S. counterfeit $100 bills — “Super-Note” fakes that the Kim regime famously passed around the world. Possession of counterfeit U.S. bills is a crime. Even given U.N. legal immunities, it might seem an important matter to bring to the attention of one of the organization's biggest donors.
Yet no-one informed U.S. authorities and senior UNDP officials claimed no knowledge of the fake funds, even though the bogus money was listed on annual reports of the safe contents for years.
The report’s assessment: “There is no evidence that anyone acted in bad faith or in a fraudulent or deceptive manner. Instead, the Panel finds that there was a clear lack of attentiveness at the [office] and Headquarters levels and that communications between the Country Office and UNDP headquarters were inadequate.
“Inadequate communications” is the explanation often given in the report for failures that allowed rule-breaking to continue, even as Kim openly brandished his nuclear weapon. The report notes that in August 2006 — four months after the passage of U.N. sanctions Resolution 1695 — the UNDP office in North Korea asked headquarters for guidance on dual use equipment transmissions to North Korea. It never got any. The project, which was based in part on receiving satellite imagery, had equipment that the report says already had been purchased.
Then, on Oct. 11, 2006 — two days after the Korean nuclear blast — a UNDP regional supervisor in Thailand answered the guidance request. He ordered UNDP not to purchase any equipment and “to close down the project immediately.” In the same message, according to the panel, the supervisor, Romulo Garcia, said he had received clearance from his bosses to close down the project in late 2005.
As it happens, U.N. Resolution 1718, imposing more drastic sanctions on North Korea, went into effect three days after Garcia’s sudden desire to follow up on a two-month-old guidance request.
The panel report’s conclusion? The 2005 decision to shut down the project “does not seem to have been communicated to the UNDP-DPRK office, as equipment purchases continued throughout 2006, including some dual use items.”
That Garcia apparently did not double-check on whether this highly sensitive order was carried out until a nuclear device exploded and another U.N. sanctions resolution loomed is never discussed in the report.
But the lack of discussion speaks volumes, both about UNDP bureaucratic efficiency and about the apparent level of UNDP concern and internal discussion of Kim’s dangerous nuclear plans.
There is one prominent exception to the report’s attitude of sympathetic understanding toward UNDP lapses: the whistleblower who brought most of them to outside attention and inspired U.S. diplomats to call for multiple investigations, including the panel report.
The report concludes that the whistleblower, a former UNDP-DPRK operations manager named Artjon Shkurtaj did, in fact, perform a service when he brought the situation in the UNDP’s North Korea office to light. But the report emphatically denied there was any retaliation against Shkurtaj when a promotion he already had been given was withdrawn and other short-term contracts he held expired.
Such claims, the panel concluded, were “without merit,” as it also made attacks on Shkurtaj’s personal integrity.
At the same time, the report offers evidence that the North Korean regime may have been pressuring UNDP to keep Shkurtaj out of the job and reveals the alarming fact that the regime apparently had veto power over UNDP’s ability to fund the position.
For his part, Shkurtaj has declared that the authors of the report violated customary U.N. practice when they failed to show their conclusions to him prior to publication. He has appealed to the U.N. chief ethics officer, Robert Benson, to investigate.
So it may well be that the ultimate message of the report is that passing on potentially dangerous equipment to a ruthless dictator who threatened his neighbors and defied the U.N. itself apparently was regrettable but otherwise a lapse in communication. Talking about such things outside UNDP apparently was something else.
Rather than bringing “closure on the allegations against UNDP,” as the organization’s boss, Dervis, hopes, the North Korean investigative report ought to raise bigger and more urgent questions about UNDP operations around the world.
If Kim Jong Il’s despotic government was able to twist UNDP’s rules and its adherence to international law with such ease, what is going on in UNDP offices in dictatorships such as Zimbabwe and Syria?
Most urgently of all, as the U.N. wobbles toward further sanctions on the nuclear-ambitious Islamic regime in Iran, what is going on in UNDP offices in Tehran?
Christians Found "Guilty" for Seeking to Convert Muslims in Algeria
http://news.christiansunite.com/Religion_News/religion07285.shtml
(christiansunite.com) - Four of the six Christians detained by police while leaving a prayer meeting in Tiaret on May 9 (see www.persecution.net/news/algeria11.html for more details) were given suspended sentences and fined by an Algerian court on June 3 for seeking to convert Muslims to Christianity, according to a June 3 report from Compass Direct.
The court gave Rachid Muhammad Seghir a six-month suspended sentence and a 200,000-dinar fine ($3,282 CAD). He was originally charged with "distributing documents to shake the faith of Muslims."
Chabane Beikel, Abdelhak Rebeih and Djillali Saibi were each given two-month suspended sentences and 100,000-dinar ($1,640 CAD) fines.
The two other believers on trial, Mohamed Khene and Abdelkader Hori, were acquitted.
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