Catholic peace organization condemns sexual enslavement of Mozambican Christians

Sanaa, Yemen, Mar 24, 2020 / 04:40 pm (CNA).- A Yemeni appeals court run by Houthi rebels on Sunday upheld the death sentence of a member of the Baha’i religion. The court also ordered the dissolution of Baha’i institutions.

Hamed bin Haydara was detained by Houthi rebels in 2013, and was denied access to a March 22 appeal hearing in Sanaa which upheld an earlier death sentence.

“This alarming decision is an egregious violation of religious freedom and the fundamental rights of Yemeni Baha’is,” Gayle Manchin, vice chair of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, said March 23. “USCIRF has been long concerned with the welfare of Mr. bin Haydara and the Yemeni Baha’i community. We call on Houthi authorities to immediately reverse this verdict and cease their baseless persecution of this peaceful religious minority.”

According to USCIRF, bin Haydara was charged with “with spying for Israel, teaching literacy classes deemed incompatible with Islam, and attempting to convert Muslims.”

The Baha’i International Community said it was “utterly dismayed at this outrageous verdict” and demanded the court reverse the decision, AFP reported.

“At a time when the international community is battling a global health crisis, it is incomprehensible that the authorities in Sanaa have upheld a death sentence against an innocent individual solely because of his beliefs instead of focusing on safeguarding the population, including Baha’is,” said Diane Ala’i, a Baha’i representative to the United Nations in Geneva.

According to AFP, the Houthis have sought to ban the Baha’i religion.. The Houthi movement’s courts have started proceedings against 20 members of the religion, six of whom have been detained. The movement controls Sanaa and much of the westernmost part of the country.

In January, Pope Francis told Holy See diplomats that the crisis in Yemen is “one of the most serious humanitarian crises of recent history.”

The civil war between Iranian-backed Houthi rebels and a Saudi Arabian-led coalition has killed over 100,000 people since 2015. According to a Center of Strategic and International Studies report, the war has also caused nearly 24 million people to be in need of humanitarian assistance. 

Restraint on humanitarian organizations and aerial attacks has left 80% of Yemen’s population in need of food, fuel, and medicine, the CSIS Task Force on Humanitarian Access reported.

The Associated Press reported in February that half of the United Nations’ aid delivery programs had been blocked by the Houthi rebels. The rebels had requested that 2% of the humanitarian budget be given directly to them, heightening concerns that the group has been diverting charitable funds to finance the war.

In recent years, the pope has often asked for prayers for the Yemeni people in his public audiences.

“Pray hard, because there are children who are hungry, who are thirsty, who have no medicine, and are in danger of death,” Pope Francis said during an Angelus address in February 2019.

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Monrovia, Liberia, Jun 14, 2019 / 04:01 pm (CNA).- Liberian Church leaders have visited the Vatican after a priest claimed to have been mentally and psychologically abused by two bishops, reportedly in retaliation against him for refusing sexual relati… […]

Rocket shells are left on the grass outside a house where civilians and soldiers were killed by Hamas militants days earlier, Oct. 11, 2023, in Be’eri, Israel. / Credit: Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty Images

CNA Staff, Oct 11, 2023 / 16:10 pm (CNA).

An Israeli woman whose father was taken hostage by Hamas terrorists urged world governments Wednesday for assistance in contacting loved ones and ensuring their safety amid widespread reports of kidnappings. 

Social media feeds and news reports have indicated that considerable numbers of Israeli citizens, including many women and children, have been kidnapped by Hamas militants in the days since Hamas first launched missiles against Israel and invaded its borders. 

At an Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) press conference on Wednesday afternoon, 40-year-old Israeli citizen Noam Perry told reporters that her father, 80-year-old Haim Perry, had been taken by soldiers from the Gaza Strip during the initial invasion. 

“Dozens of terrorists invaded the kibbutz and started butchering the residents, going house by house,” Perry said. “They butchered my friends, people I grew up with. There is no family in the kibbutz that was left unhurt.”

Perry said her father is among the 80 missing members of the kibbutz where they lived. Upon encountering Hamas invaders in his home, he was “able to push [them] away, giving my mother precious minutes to hide,” Perry said. He was subsequently taken. 

“We haven’t heard anything from my father or the other kidnapped members of the kibbutz since Saturday,” Perry said. “It has been five long sleepless days and nights.”

The hostage crisis has brought international condemnation and calls for the release of noncombatant captives. Pope Francis in his weekly general audience on Wednesday asked “that the hostages be immediately released.”

President Joe Biden on Tuesday denounced Hamas for what he said was the “brutality” and “bloodthirstiness” of the terrorist group. 

The president called it “abhorrent” that Hamas “has now threatened to execute [hostages] in violation of every code of human morality.”

Biden said he has directed his cabinet “to share intelligence and deploy additional experts from across the United States government to consult with and advise the Israeli counterparts on hostage recovery efforts,” including the recovery of American hostages. 

In Israel, Perry urged governments around the world to “help us contact our loved ones.” 

“Ask our governments to assist in contacting the kidnapped and assure they are alive and have what they need to survive,” she said. “I know you and your governments can make a difference and save their lives.”

During a brief question-and-answer period, MFA spokesman Lior Hayat responded to a query about mediations with hostage-takers by stating: “I don’t think this is time for negotiations.”

“We’re still fighting with terrorists that are entering Israeli territory,” he said. “We will get to that when we finish with the military operation.”

Shortly thereafter, Hayat quickly ended the press conference, explaining that the news team was being called to a nearby emergency shelter. 

“There is apparently an attack on Israel right now,” he told journalists before signing off. 

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