CultNEWS101 Articles: 12/18/2020 (Jehovah's Witnesses, Eritrea, Religious Freedom, Homeschooling, France, Islamist Extremism, Cult Recovery, Order of Saint Charbel, Little Pebble, Australia, Legal )

Jehovah's Witnesses, Eritrea, Religious Freedom, Homeschooling, France, Islamist Extremism, Cult Recovery, Order of Saint Charbel, Little Pebble, Australia, Legal  

Reuters: Eritrea frees 28 Jehovah's Witnesses prisoners, group says

"Eritrea has released 28 members of the Jehovah's Witnesses group after they served prison terms of up to 26 years, the Christian denomination said in a statement seen by Reuters on Monday.

In 1994 Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki signed a decree revoking citizenship for members of the group for reasons including their conscientious objection to military service. Eritrea has maintained conscription for more than 20 years.

Since that decree, Jehovah's Witnesses members have been subjected to detentions, torture and harassment in Eritrea, in part to compel them to renounce their faith, according to the group and international human rights organisations.

In its statement, the Jehovah's Witnesses said 28 of its members incarcerated in Eritrea were freed on Dec. 4 after serving sentences of ranging from five to 26 years. Another 24 remain in prison, it said."

The Australian: French Ban On Homeschooling Targets Islamist Extremism

"Homeschooling will be banned for all children in France from the age of three as President Emmanuel Macron presses ahead with plans to clamp down on radical Islam. Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin, a hardline conservative who Mr Macron appointed in July to head his security push, said the aim was to save "these children who are outside the scope of the republic". He was referring to the several thousand children, and ­especially girls, who are educated at home by fundamentalist families and disappear off the radar of the education system. About 50,000 children receive home education in France out of 12 million pupils. A draft law to curb the spread of a radical "separatist" culture in France's big Muslim population will receive cabinet endorsement this week. However, the homeschooling ban may be struck out of the law as unconstitutional when it is examined by the state Constitutional Council, the government has been warned. All children in France will have to attend recognised schools once they turn three and will be recorded with individual identification numbers in the education system."

The Family Survival Trust: Offers online psycho-education support group meeting, via Zoom. 

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Support Group booking/donations via Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.com/o/the-family-survival-trust-18774911807

The Daily Examiner: Paedo cult leader 'hopeful' of return to NSW 'holy land'

"A paedophile cult leader known as Little Pebble is quietly hopeful a court will allow him to return to his "holy land" on the NSW South Coast in the coming weeks, sources say.

William Costellia-Kamm branched off from the Catholic church in the 1980s to start his own sect at a Nowra property where he claimed the Holy Virgin Mary appeared to him each and every day in the expanse of bush land.

The self-proclaimed leader of the Order of Saint Charbel called himself 'Little Pebble' and - at the cult's zenith - claimed to have half a million followers across the globe.

But in the mid-1990s the shepherd began preying on his own sheep. A teenage acolyte would write letters to the Virgin Mary and Little Pebble would pretend to receive the responses, documents before the NSW Supreme Court say.

"(Kamm's) responses were directed to persuading the victim to do things which would satisfy his sexual desire for her," court documents say.

The girl's devoted mother was supportive of Kamm's abuse of the underage girl, the documents say.

The cult leader was sentenced in 2005 and again in 2007 for abusing the teenager and another girl who he claimed was a "princess" who would become a "queen" in the cult through his abuse."

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Jehovah's Witnesses' release in Eritrea a rare sign of religious toleration

The release of 28 Witnesses follows the freeing of 20 Pentecostal and evangelical Christians who had been imprisoned for their faith.

Fredrick Nzwili
Religion News Service
December 10, 2020

NAIROBI, Kenya (RNS) — In Eritrea, members of the Jehovah’s Witnesses group who had been serving long prison sentences were set free on Friday (Dec. 4), a surprising development for the east African country, where freedom of religion or belief is severely suppressed.

The denomination announced that two women and 26 men had been freed after spending between five and 26 years each in prison. The group, as well as another 24 Witnesses who are still in prison, had been incarcerated for their faith.

“Several of those jailed are male Witnesses who are conscientious objectors to military service. However, the majority — including women and the elderly — are imprisoned for their religious activity or for undisclosed reasons,” said the denomination in a statement.

Jehovah’s Witnesses activities are banned or restricted in several countries, including China, Russia, Singapore and many Muslim-majority countries. In the case of Eritrea, the constitution guarantees the right to the freedom of religion or belief — a possible reason why the jailed Witnesses have never been formally charged or sentenced — but this freedom has never been granted in practice.



“Although we welcome the release of the … Jehovah’s Witnesses prisoners, we stress that it is very sad that the citizens of Eritrea continue to be incarcerated because of their religion or belief,” the Rev. Francis Kuria Kagema, general secretary of the African Council of Religious Leaders, told Religion News Service.

The U.S. State Department has cited Eritrea for its religious intolerance, alongside Myanmar, North Korea, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and the latest entrant on this blacklist, Nigeria. In September, Eritrea released another 20 prisoners from Pentecostal and evangelical churches who had been imprisoned for their faith.



Nearly 63% of Eritrea’s 6 million people were Christian in 2016, with Muslims comprising 37%, according to the Pew Research Center. Only four religions — Roman Catholic, Eritrean Orthodox, Evangelical Lutheran and Sunni Islam — are recognized by the state.

The four are also heavily regulated. Last year, the government nationalized religious schools and closed Catholic health institutions. Also targeted were evangelical churches and Islamic sects.

Problems for Jehovah’s Witnesses in Eritrea started in the mid-1990s, when President Isaias Afwerki revoked citizenship for the members of the group by decree.

The group had angered the leader after they refused to participate in the country’s 1993 campaign for a referendum for independence from Ethiopia. The Witnesses have a religious objection to serving in the military.

Eritrea’s government has long carried out indefinite conscription into the military or civil service for low pay, with the troops serving under abusive conditions, according to Human Rights Watch.

The authorities have frequently imprisoned, tortured and harassed Jehovah’s Witnesses with the goal of changing their faith as well as punishing their refusal to participate in national life. Four Witnesses have died in incarceration in Eritrea.

“We want to remind Eritrea that all people, including its citizens, have the right to practice their religion without the government dictating to them where they should belong,” said Kagema. “We strongly urge the government to change and allow the faiths freedom.”

Attempts to reach the government for comment were unsuccessful.

https://religionnews.com/2020/12/10/jehovahs-witnesses-released-in-eritrea-a-rare-move-toward-religious-toleration/

Eritrea frees 28 Jehovah's Witnesses prisoners, group says

Reuters

December 7, 2020

KAMPALA (Reuters) - Eritrea has released 28 members of the Jehovah’s Witnesses group after they served prison terms of up to 26 years, the Christian denomination said in a statement seen by Reuters on Monday.

In 1994 Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki signed a decree revoking citizenship for members of the group for reasons including their conscientous objection to military service. Eritrea has maintained conscription for more than 20 years.

Since that decree, Jehovah’s Witnesses members have been subjected to detentions, torture and harassment in Eritrea, in part to compel them to renounce their faith, according to the group and international human rights organisations.

In its statement, the Jehovah’s Witnesses said 28 of its members incarcerated in Eritrea were freed on Dec. 4 after serving sentences of ranging from five to 26 years. Another 24 remain in prison, it said.

“Eritrea arrests and imprisons Jehovah’s Witnesses and others without trial or formal charges. Several of those jailed are male Witnesses who are conscientious objectors to military service,” the statement said.

“However, the majority - including women and the elderly - are imprisoned for religious activity or undisclosed reasons.”

Last year Human Rights Watch accused Eritrea of continuing to force thousands of students and teachers into indefinite military service, frustrating hopes that a 2018 peace deal with former arch-enemy Ethiopia might lead to the end or scaling back of Asmara’s conscription policy. Asmara’s government spokesman did not respond to requests for comment at the time.

Eritrea, a secretive, highly militarised nation, has been ruled by Afwerki since its independence from Ethiopia in 1993.

Jehovah’s Witnesses are also known for their door-to-door preaching, close Bible study, and rejection of blood transfusions.

Writing by Elias Biryabarema; Editing by Mark Heinrich

https://www.reuters.com/article/eritrea-politics-religion/eritrea-frees-28-jehovahs-witnesses-prisoners-group-says-idUSKBN28H1IE

RUSSIA'S JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES BAN IS FAR FROM THE ONLY OPPRESSION THE GROUP FACES AROUND THE WORLD

JASON LE MIERE
Newsweek
May 5, 2017

Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia are still reeling from a decision by the country’s Supreme Court last month to ban all activity of the Christian denomination under an anti-extremism law. But, while that decision has garnered much attention and condemnation around the world, Russia is far from the only country guilty of oppressing the U.S.-founded religion.

Jehovah's Witnesses began in Pennsylvania toward the end of the 19th century and now count 8.3 million members around the globe. The group headquartered in upstate New York is perhaps best known for going door-to-door to spread their message. as well as refusing military service and blood transfusions. Their stance on blood transfusions was cited by Russia's justice ministry as evidence that they constituted an extremist organization. However. their position has also been credited with encouraging doctors to come up with less risky alternatives to using blood.

Still, their beliefs remain controversial in many parts of the world. The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom released its annual report last month detailing various abuses committed against almost all religions all over the globe. Numerous abuses involve Jehovah’s Witnesses:

Eritrea
The plight of Jehovah’s Witnesses is particularly serious in Eritrea. The African country officially recognizes just four religious groups—the Coptic Orthodox Church of Eritrea, Sunni Islam, the Roman Catholic Church and the Evangelical Church of Eritrea—all other groups must register. Many minority faith groups are persecuted, including Jehovah’s Witnesses. A decree from the then- and current-President Isaias Afwerki in 1994 revoked Jehovah’s Witnesses’ citizenship due to their refusal to take part in national service or participate politically. Three Jehovah’s Witnesses remain imprisoned for that time, as part of a total of 54 Jehovah’s Witnesses currently imprisoned without trial.

Tajikistan
A decade before Russia’s ban on Jehovah’s Witnesses, the Central Asian country of Tajikistan did the same thing. With, at the time, a congregation of just 600 in the country of around 8.5 million, Tajikistan’s Culture Ministry in 2007 decreed the group’s activity “illegal” and, again largely citing their refusal to partake in military service, issued a nationwide ban.

Turkmenistan
Also deemed a “Country of Particular Concern” by USCIRF, Turkmenistan, has what Human Rights Watch has called an “atrocious” record when it comes to human rights. Jehovah’s Witnesses have been singled out for some of the worst treatment. Members of the group have been fired from their jobs and even evicted from their homes, according to human rights organization Forum 18. Jehovah’s Witnesses have also reported being imprisoned without charge and tortured.

Kyrgyzstan
In unquestionably the most bizarre form of oppression carried out against Jehovah’s Witnesses, a mother and daughter spent 31 months under house arrest, until their release in October 2015, for alleged witchcraft. Their precise crime was said to be conjuring snakes from eggs and stealing a woman’s life savings, according to Forum 18. Jehovah’s Witnesses allege that the punishment was retribution for their failed applications to register their faith with the state.

Uzbekistan
Central Asia’s most populous country regularly disrupts Jehovah’s Witnesses meetings and, as with those of other religious groups in the country, particularly Muslims, often punishes those in attendance for possessing religious literature.

Azerbaijan
in Azerbaijan, where all religious groups must register with the government, Jehovah’s Witnesses have been subject to raids, arrests, fines and having religious texts confiscated. In 2015, two Jehovah’s Witnesses were jailed for almost a year for sharing the Bible’s message with their neighbors. Jehovah’s Witnesses have also been jailed for refusing to perform military service.

Kazakhstan
Neighboring Russia, constitutionally secular Kazakhstan has repeatedly fined Jehovah’s Witnesses for sharing their faith with others, either verbally or through religious texts, and even inviting people to meetings. Just this week, a Jehovah's Witness was sentenced to five years in prison, accused of propagating ideas that "disrupt interreligious and interethnic concord."

Belarus
Jehovah’s Witnesses in the former Soviet country have been threatened with liquidation for holding religious meetings without permission and distributing religious texts. Last year, a Jehovah’s Witness was fined for refusing to perform military service, even though he offered to perform civilian service.

Egypt
Despite there being an estimated 1,500 in the country, Jehovah’s Witnesses, along with the Baha’I faith, has been banned in Egypt since 1960. Members of the religious group remain prohibited from having places of worship, even if in recent years they have been permitted to meet with fewer than 30 people in private homes, according to the USCIRF report.

http://www.newsweek.com/jehovahs-witnesses-russia-ban-oppression-594839