TEHRAN, IRAN (BosNewsLife)-- The son of executed Christian pastor Hossein Soodmand was still awaiting his trial in Iran for "promoting anti-government propaganda" Wednesday, November 12, some three weeks after being released on bail. Ramtin Soodmand, pastor of the Evangelical Church of Iran in the city of Mashhad, was freed October 22 after his family reportedly managed to raise about $22,000 bail money, ending two months of imprisonment. Soodmand was detained by Iranian security forces on August 21, originally on charges of "proselytizing," Christians with close knowledge about the procedures said. The charges were later changed to anti-government activities. His defense team has strongly denied the accusations, but concerns remain that he could still face years of imprisonment and even the death penalty. “The real reason for his arrest is the fact that he is a Muslim convert who is involved in Christian ministry,� said the well-informed Farsi Christian News Network (FCNN). The release of Soodmand came shortly after Shroder Ashur, an Assyrian Christian minister, was released after being charged with the "propagation of Christianity," said FCNN, which has close contacts with prosecuted Christians in Iran. Ashur was freed in the city of Urumieh on October 5, according to FCNN investigators. CONCERNS REMAINYet, Christians said they remain concerned over the plight over these and other Christians. Recently the Iranian parliament voted in favour of a draft bill, entitled "Islamic Penal Code", which would codify the death penalty for any male Iranian who leaves his Islamic faith. Women would get life imprisonment. The majority in favour of the new law was reportedly overwhelming: 196 votes for, with just seven against.Ramtin Soodmand's sister told British media she was "terribly anxious" about him. "Even though my brother is not an apostate, because he has never been a Muslim – my father raised us all as Christians – I don't think he is Rashin Soodmansafe," said 29-year-old Rashin Soodman, who now lives in London. "They assume that if you are Iranian, you must be Muslim," she told The Telegraph newspaper. Her brother's situation has ominous echoes of her father's fate. Rashin was 14 when her father, who was pastor of the Assemblies of God Church of Mashhad, was arrested. "He was held in prison for one month," she said. "Then the religious police released him without explanation and without apology. We were overjoyed. We thought his ordeal was over."CHRISTIAN FAITHBut six months later, the police came back and took Hossein Soodmand away again, she said. This time, they offered her father a choice: he could denounce his Christian faith, and the church in which he was a pastor – or he would be killed. "Of course, my father refused to give up his faith," Rashid recalled. "He could not renounce his God. His belief in Christ was his life – it was his deepest conviction." Two weeks later, he was taken by guards to the prison gallows and hanged.His death has been linked to attempts by Iran's rulers to use the 1979 revolution to turn Iran into an Islamic state, and to abolish the secular laws of the Shah. In the 18 years since Hossein Soodmand's execution, there have been no reports of judicially sanctioned killings of apostates in Iran, although there have been many reports of disappearances and even murders, Christian groups said.Rashin Soodmand eventually managed to leave Iran and, living in London, is now married to a fellow Christian from Iran who successfully applied for asylum in Germany. But she fears for her brother's future. "We just don't know what will happen to him. We only know that if they want to kill him, they will," she said. END (With reporting by BosNewsLife's Stefan J. Bos).

ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN (BosNewsLife)-- Dozens of Christian families in Pakistan's second largest city refused to vacate their homes Tuesday, November 11, despite the expiration of an order from authorities to leave immediately, Christian rights investigators said. The Lahore Development Authority (LDA) issued a notice to some 48 Christian families in Lahore on October 28, to vacate their houses within 72 hours without providing compensation and alternative housing, said the US-based human rights group International Christian Concern (ICC) with Website www.persecution.org. LDA is responsible for planned development in Lahore and also acts as a regulatory body for construction and related permissions for homes and commercial properties. The Christian neighborhood is scheduled to be demolished to make way for a widening of the main road in their Mariyam colony in Lahore's Quid-e-Azam town area, ICC said. "In violation of eminent domain law in Pakistan, however, the government is not offering these families any compensation.� The 67-year-old local resident Mansha Bhagat, who chairs the advocacy group Pakistan Masih Itehad, or 'Pakistan Christian Unity' said in published remarks that he and others would “never allow the administration to demolish their houses. "The local government does not treat us as equal citizens, and we are not provided the basic civic facilities as well."HUNDREDS OF HARDSHIPSBhagat added that the forefathers of the Christian community "faced hundreds of hardships to build this colony and now it is impossible for us to leave this place for the [notorious criminals]." He said he would be the "first one" to put himself "in front of the bulldozers when they come to bulldoze our houses." ICC said some 70 people threatened that they would commit “collective suicide� if government officials bulldozed their houses. Bhagat has urged authorities to allot alternative plots with complete civic facilities and compensation to all the effected families, ICC added. Several families have reportedly moved their belongings to their relatives' houses, but were determined to stay in their own houses even if that meant their deaths. “They complained that their children are experiencing severe emotional anxiety and could not go to school,� ICC said. Officials could not immediately be reached for comment, but ICC said there have been talks between LDA and representatives of Christians, who have been living in the neighborhood since 1984 and “regularly pay all their utility bills.�The group said it has urged its supporters around the world to contact Pakistani embassies to demand they "protect the rights of Christians and all religious minorities." There has been growing tensions over the perceived lack of protection of religious minorities in this mainly Muslim nation. END

MOGADISHU, SOMALIA (BosNewsLife)-- Somali gunmen who kidnapped two Italian nuns during a raid on a Kenyan border town have taken them across the border deeper into Somalia, government officials said Tuesday, November 11.The abducted nuns' missionary group, the Movimento Contemplativo Missionario Padre de Foucauld, named them as Caterina Giraudo, 67, and Maria Teresa Olivero, 60. Witnesses said the armed men seized the women from their homes Monday, November 10, in the town of El Wak. They claimed kidnappers stole at least two vehicles.Italy's Foreign Ministry said Italian envoys in Kenya and the Vatican representative were working with local authorities to secure the nuns' freedom.RESCUE EFFORTS Somali officials said they were working around the clock to find the nuns. "We've been searching for the nuns and the bandits since last night and there's no trace of them," Hussein Sheikh Hassan, administrator of El Wak district in Somalia, told Reuters news agency. He added that the kidnappers were apparently heading towards Garbahaarey, about 175 km (110 miles) northeast of El Wak town."We are finding it very difficult to trail them. We ask Kenya's government to cooperate and help us coordinate the search ... We'll welcome any Kenyan delegation, whether security or elders, so as to rescue the nuns and recover the cars," Hassan was quoted as saying. MORE DANGER The kidnapping underscored the danger faced my Christian missionaries. Somali bandits have carried out an increasing number of kidnappings, often targeting foreigners or Somalis working with international organizations.In the latest show of force by the hardline Islamist al Shabaab group, its fighters seized two southern towns, Bulamarer and Qoryoley in the Lower Shabelle region, on Tuesday, November 11, news reports said.Battles between the Islamists and local militia also killed six people in El Dheer, in Galgadud region, and al Shabaab gunmen in trucks mounted with heavy weapons were also said to be heading towards Merka town, local officials said. Last week, gunmen stormed an airstrip in central Somalia, abducting four European aid workers and their two pilots.END

BUDAPEST, HUNGARY (BosNewsLife)-- An influential Jewish group said Monday, November 10, that windows of a synagogue in eastern Hungary were smashed on the eve of the 70th anniversary of the Nazi-incited riots of Kristallnacht.In a statement, the Rabbinical Center of Europe confirmed that the incident took place late Saturday, November 8, in a synagogue of the Jewish Community Center in the Hungarian town of Debrecen, about 230 kilometers (140 miles) east of the capital Budapest.Sunday. November 9, was the commemoration of Kristallnacht, or "Night of the Broken Glass," when 91 Jews were killed in violence whipped up by Nazi stormtroopers, while hundreds of synagogues and thousands of Jewish-owned businesses were ransacked in Germany and Austria. The Kristallnacht is seen as the beginning of the Holocaust, in which six million Jews were killed by the Nazis during World War Two. Some 600.000 Hungarian Jews were among those who perished in the Holocaust. "DAILY LIFE"The Rabbinical Center said anti-Semitic attacks were again "part of the daily life of Jews in Europe" and that it was necessary to educate young non-Jews about prejudice to combat its effects. Sunday's incident in Debrecen came amid concerns over rising right-wing extremism in Hungary and groups such as the Magyar Garda, or Hungarian Guard, whose members wear uniforms resembling the Nazi-era. It was not immediately clear who was responsible for this weekend's attack on the Jewish synagogue. END

JERUSALEM/BERLIN (BosNewsLife)-- From Jerusalem to Berlin, people on Sunday, November 9, commemorated the 70th anniversary of 'Kristallnacht,' a night that became the prelude to the Holocaust, in which some six million Jews perished. International diplomats were among those attending a ceremony in Israel as it marked the 'Kristallnacht, the Nazi-inspired riots in which hundreds of synagogues and thousands of Jewish-owned businesses were ransacked in Germany and Austria. "They robbed everything out of the store and the synagogue was burning," recalled Holocaust survivor, Gerhard Mashkovski.At least 91 Jews were killed in the violence whipped up by Nazi stormtroopers and close to 30,000 Jews were arrested in the two-day pogrom and sent to concentration camps. Holocaust survivors and their descendants, and the German and Austrian ambassadors to Israel attended a solemn ceremony at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial here in Jerusalem on Sunday, November 9.Austrian Ambassador, Michael Rendi said it was important that Austria took over this year the presidency in the International Task Force on Holocaust Education, on Holocaust remembrance, on research. "I think it says and it shows that we have learned a very painful lesson. And the knowledge that is given on to the next generations is the key," he said.Kristallnacht, which means "Night of the Broken Glass," is seen as the beginning of the Holocaust, in which six million Jews were killed by the Nazis during World War II. On Sunday, November 9, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Israel "will never forgive or forget" the atrocities of Adolf Hitler's Germany. EUROPE REMEMBERS Events were also held in Germany itself and other European nations to remember the Kristallnacht.In Nazi Germany persecution of the Jewish population had begun long before Kirstallnacht. After Hitler had come to power, laws were passed placing restrictions on Jews, on where they could work, on who they could marry and where they could receive medical help.But on the night of November 9, 1938 the anti-semitism turned physical, Jewish people recalled. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said it was therefore crucial to "fight with determination" against racism and anti-Semitism. "Indifference is the first step toward endangering essential values," Merkel said during a speech at Germany'a largest synagogue in Berlin's Rykestrasse. "Xenophobia, racism and anti-Semitism must never be given an opportunity in Europe again."Kristallnacht, often viewed as the first major act that ultimately led to the Holocaust, was met with indifference by many Germans in 1938, Merkel noted on Sunday, November 9."There was no storm of protest against the Nazis, but silence, shrugged shoulders and people looking away -- from individual citizens to large parts of the church. We cannot be silent, we cannot be indifferent, when Jewish cemeteries are desecrated and rabbis are insulted on the street," she said at the ceremony, attended by Jewish representatives and diplomats. LINGERING PAIN German-born Pope Benedict XVI, speaking in Vatican City Sunday, November 9, voiced his lingering pain over the Kristallnacht. "Still today I feel pain over what happened in those tragic events, whose memory must serve to ensure such horrors are never repeated and that we strive, on every level, against all forms of anti-Semitism and discrimination.""I invite people to pray for the victims of that night and to join me in expressing profound solidarity with the Jewish world," the pontiff told crowds at the Vatican after his regular Sunday Angelus address.Pope Benedict, born Joseph Ratzinger in Bavaria in 1927, was forced to join the Hitler Youth as a teenager, though both his parents opposed the Nazis. Earlier this year the pontiff spoke in New York about his teenage years being "marred by a sinister regime," Reuters news agency reported.The pope is reportedly being lobbied by Holocaust survivors and their descendants to halt the process of making his wartime predecessor Pius XII a saint. Some Jews accuse Pius, who reigned from 1939 to 1958, of turning a blind eye to the Holocaust. The Vatican says he worked behind the scenes to help save many Jews from certain death. END (With reporting by BosNewsLife's Stefan J. Bos).

SWAT VALLEY, PAKISTAN (BosNewsLife)-- Christians and women from different religious backgrounds were anxiously awaiting the end of fresh violence in Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province Sunday, November 9, after militants attacked a girls school and kidnapped a father for sending his daughter to school, police said. Since Friday, November 7, fighters, apparently with links to Taliban and al-Qaida groups, blew up a girls’ primary school and a basic health unit in the province's militancy-hit Swat Valley, near the main town of Mangora, Pakistani and Indian media reported. There were apparently no serious injuries in the two attacks. The Taliban have so far destroyed at least 120 schools – 82 girls and 38 boys’ schools – in the province, including Christian run institutions. Taliban militants also kidnapped a person, identified as named Muhammad, apparently for allowing his girl to study. There were no immediate reports of his whereabouts. Christians have been reeling from other attacks, including last month, when Taliban militants bombed a Catholic-run girls’ school in Swat Valley. CONVENT GIRLS The militants attacked the Convent Girls’ School in Sangota, run by the Presentation Sisters, a Catholic religious order that has opened girls’ schools around the world. Christians said militants had threatened the school frequently for offering education to females.Fighting also continued between government forces and militants in North-West Frontier Province, injuring at least five civilians and several soldiers since Friday, November 7, authorities said. The clashes followed several suicide attacks this week, in which at least a dozen tribesmen loyal to the central government were killed. Aid workers and other foreigners have also been caught up in the fighting. The Polish Foreign Ministry said efforts were underway to free a Polish engineer kidnapped September 28, some 200 kilometers south of the Pakistani capital Islamabad. The kidnappers reportedly killed his three accompanying guards.POLE ALIVE"We have new information, which we cannot present at the moment, but which proves that the Pole is alive. We can never be sure that all the information we receive guarantees a 100 percent certainty," added Ministry spokesman Piotr Paszkowski in a statement. A video recording appeared on television in mid October, with the Pole appealing to Pakistani authorities to fulfill the demands of the kidnappers, including the release of jailed Taliban fighters. Taliban and al-Qaida militants are battling against the Western-backed government of Pakistan and have made clear they want to establish a state based on a strict interpretation of Islamic law, which would include a ban on education for girls. END

BEIJING, CHINA (BosNewsLife)-- A key leader of China's rapidly growing underground house church movement who disappeared last month, was free Saturday, November 8, after Chinese authorities released him and other family members, Chinese Christians confirmed. Pastor 'Bike' Zhang Mingxuan, his wife and her sister were released October 27 from detention in the city of Nanyang in China's Henan province, said China Aid Association (CAA), a Christian rights group. "It is believed that the three were being held to prevent them from attending the third anniversary of the Chinese House Church Alliance which was held in Beijing on October 20," CAA added. Pastor Bike, who leads the Alliance and also works as an evangelist, was reportedly one of some 300 delegates invited to attend the celebration. "Because of police harassment," only about 100 delegates reached the Chinese capital, Chinese sources said. Pastor Bike was first detained on October 16, after his sons, Zhang Jian and Zhang Chuang, were beaten by police and his wife was evicted from their apartment, US and other officials explained. WOMEN DETAINEDThe two woman were brought to Nanyang city, while Pastor was held in the PSB office of Shilin city of Yunnan province, allegedly with some 15 PSB officers watching and questioning him.Although the pastor and his family, including his sons, are now free to move in Nanyang city, theystill suffer of harsh police treatment, CAA claimed. Especially his two sons "are still recovering from their injuries," the group said. Yet Pastor Bike's younger son, Zhang Chuang, has been ordered by his landlord to leave his Beijing apartment, Christians said. "The landlord has been under pressure from PSB officers to formally evict Zhang Chuang to force him permanently out of Beijing," CAA noted. Zhang Jian, Pastor Bike's oldest son, was evicted from his apartment immediately following the October 16 police attack. CAA linked the crackdown to a government backed directive which requires Beijing citizens to "report those engaging in activities that endanger state security by utilizing religions." China's Communist government has denied human rights abuses, saying Christians are free to worship within the state-run churches. END

BARNEVELD, NETHERLANDS (BosNewsLife)-- International Christian broadcaster Trans World Radio (TWR) confirmed Friday, November 7, that it has secretly distributed thousands of radio receivers in North Korea, one of the world's most isolated Communist nations.

KHAR/BAJAUR, PAKISTAN (BosNewsLife)-- Minority Christians and other residents in northwest Pakistan braced for more violence Friday, November 7, after suicide bombers killed at least a dozen pro-government Pakistani tribesmen and security forces in two major attacks, government officials told BosNewsLife.

ASHEVILLE/WASHINGTON (BosNewsLife)-- The frail, well-known evangelist Billy Graham, celebrated his 90th birthday Friday, November 7, with a promise to pray for Barack Obama as the nation's next leader begins his work, his son told reporters.