Thursday, January 24, 2008

Somaliland Officials Torture House Church Pastor


Somaliland's Islamist Flag

This flag proclaims in Arabic "there is no god but Allah and Muhammed is his prophet".

1/24/08 Somalia (International Christian Concern) - All the members of a house church based in Hargeysa, Somaliland, were forced to flee to neighboring Ethiopia after hearing that the government was preparing to arrest them.
The pastor of the church, Mohammed [name changed for security reasons], however, decided to stay in Somaliland.

On the order of one of Somaliland's high-ranking government officials, Mohammed was imprisoned on December 3, 2007, for leading the official's niece to Christ.
Though Pastor Mohammed was released on December 7, 2007, he has been placed under 24-hour surveillance by Somaliland security officials.

During his imprisonment, Somaliland's Criminal Investigation Department tortured Pastor Mohammed in order to obtain the names of the members of his house church, but failed to obtain any information from him.

Somaliland is a breakaway de facto state in Somalia. The country has not been recognized by the international community, though it has had a functioning government since 1991.
When ICC asked about the incident, a representative of Somaliland to the United States, Dr. Saad Noor, said that "there are no Christians in Somaliland."

Our sources indicated that Somaliland's Criminal Investigation Department is currently infiltrated by Islamic Jihadists, "who have compiled a list containing the names of several Somali church leaders whom they have vowed to eliminate using the Somaliland justice system."

Our source further noted, "All these anti-Christian Islamic militants are members of the fundamentalist Salafi movement which gave birth to Al-Qaeda."

ICC's Regional Manager for Africa, Darara Gubo, stated, "Somaliland should prove to the international community that it is a democratic country where freedom of religion is upheld.
The international community should closely monitor and condemn the activities of Islamic fundamentalists who have infiltrated the security forces of Somaliland."

Source: http://www.persecution.org/suffering/newsdetail.php?newscode=6921

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hello S4Jesus,

You are much better than those men in Washington who produced the report with an antagonising theme while also holding onto a weak source.

We have Human Rights Watch office in Hargeisa and yet these people wish to not seek help from such an organisation only few stone throws away.

I am very disappointed to see an organisation spreading the message of one God to be used by people with a different agenda. Somaliland's independence is not against Christianity nor Islam, it's a right which belongs to us.

It's just inappropriate for your brothers to address us as Somalia or to associate us with the blue flag of Somalia.

Respectfully yours.

Anonymous said...

Walaal,
Iminka ICC waxay isticmaaleen calanka SL oo wey bedeleen kii buluugga ahaa.

HRW xafiis ay leedahay in uu ku yaal Hargeisa waa heer sare balse Masiixiyiinta reer SL kuma kalsoona inay u ashtakoodaan xafiis shaqaalihiisu 100% ay Muslim yihiin.

Waxaa qumanaan lahayd in aad Desk gooni ah u samaysaan arrimaha Masiixyiinta si ay ugu yaraan ula hadli karaan SLander Masiixi ah.

Mahadsanid,

Rev Filsan

Anonymous said...

Hi Filsan,

Thanks for that confirmation. I such an improvement will help the dissemination of this article to Somaliland news web sites.

I only found this by searching Google, and have not seen it at Somaliland web sites.

Yours Respectfully