Persecution of Ex-Muslims (Comoros Islands)

In two separate incidents, young men are jailed for possession of the Jesus film. After his release from prison, one of the men with his eight-months’-pregnant wife flees the Island

Two young men jailed in the Comoros Islands last October for possession of the Jesus film have both been conditionally released, and one has since fled the country. Taki Islam, 22, was granted a \"provisional\" release from prison on January 17, after serving three and one-half months of his 10-month sentence. Islam had been arrested the first week of October for possession of multiple copies of the Jesus film in Shimaore, the local language. Both Islam and Hassan Ali Toibibou were found guilty on October 8 by a Moroni court on Grand Comoros Island of \"anti-Islamic activity and disturbing the peace.\" Although the two men reportedly did not know each other, they were tried together in a joint hearing. Toibibou confirmed that he had been granted a \"provisional\" release from prison on October 24. Nearly a month later, on November 22, he left the Comoros Islands with his eight-months’-pregnant wife.

Two Prisoners Released on Parole
World Watch Monitor, February 18, 2000

Three men and a teenager forced to share a cell while dressed only in their underwear. Sentenced to prison for three months for “involvement in Christianity”

Four men remained in jail in the Comoros Saturday, June 17, for their “involvement in Christianity” amid a crackdown on Christians on these Indian Ocean islands, well informed Christian sources said.

Christian rights watchdog Open Doors said police detained a former Muslim teenager, a married couple, an Islamic home owner and another Muslim who showed “much interest in Christianity.”

The predominantly Islamic Comoros, a republic of three islands situated between northern Madagascar and northern Mozambique, ranks 15th on Open Doors’ annual World Watch List of the 50 “worst persecuting countries in the world.”

“So far persecution of Christian came mainly from the local population. It is remarkable that the four men and one woman were arrested by Comoros’ police force,” said Open Doors from its headquarters in Ermelo, the Netherlands, about the May arrests.

INVESTIGATING PERSECUTION

Open Doors, which has been investigating persecution in Comoros, said the troubles began when the 15-year-old Christian, who it identified as ‘Timothy’, which is not his real name, was arrested after his older brother allegedly told police he was angry that Timothy decided to abandon Islam.

Under interrogation, the young Christian reportedly told police: “I am a follower of Christ and study the Bible.” Police forced him to reveal the address where the Bible studies were given, and soon arrested the Bible study leader Peter (not his real name) and the home owner, Open Doors said.

The organization did not reveal the real names of those detained, apparently for fears of possible revenge attacks. It said police also searched the home, and agents confiscated “a list with names of Christians and Bibles and other Christian materials.” A local television crew apparently reported the incident and allegedly threatened those attending the Bible study.

WIFE DETAINED

Peter’s wife was also detained after she came to visit her husband at the police station, Christian investigators said. Everyone was allegedly forced to spend two nights in their underwear in a dark prison.

Peter’s wife was briefly allowed to care for her children, but two days later deported to a women prison where she was allegedly mistreated by fellow prisoners and guards.

Peter en Timothy were forced to share a prison with the home owner and another member of the Bible study group, described as “a Muslim with much interest in Christianity,” Open Doors said.

PRISON TIME

A court has now given the four men a three months prison sentence, while Peter’s wife has been released, the organization added in a statement.

It comes amid concern among human rights investigators over reports that the president, Iranian-trained Sunni Muslim cleric Ahmed Abdallah Mohamed Sambi, popularly known as “the Ayatollah,” plans to introduce strict Islamic measures. The policy is part of his “Green Revolution” a reference to the green Islamic flags used in Comoros. He has dismissed charges from his opponents that he is an Islamic extremist.

Sambi won the May 2006 presidential election with 58% of the vote on promises to fight unemployment and corruption. Christians, mainly Roman Catholics, comprise about two percent of Comoros’ roughly 700,000-strong, mainly Sunni Muslim, population, estimates the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

Comoros Detains Christians Amid Concerns Over Persecution
BosNewsLife, June 19, 2006

Ex-Muslim Shaykh forced into hiding after Muslims hunt him for converting to Christianity. Apostates regularly face violence, torched homes and travel restrictions

Muslim rule on isles east of Africa effectively criminalizes faith in Christ.
. . .

Leaving Islam for Christianity accounts for most of the harm done to Christians, and this year saw an increase in such abuse as already-strained relations between the two communities deteriorated after the conversion in August of Sheikh Hijah Mohammed, leader of a key mosque in Chake-Chake, capital of Pemba.

News of Mohammed’s conversion spread, and zealous Muslims began hunting for him as leaving Islam warrants death under sharia (Islamic law). An Assemblies of God Church in Pemba swiftly moved him to a hideout in the village of Chuini, 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the airport.

Word of the hideout eventually leaked to Muslims, however, forcing the church to move Mohammed to an undisclosed destination. This time, church elders never revealed where they had taken him. Compass was not given access to him.

A Christian from the Tanzanian island of Zanzibar who recently visited the Comoros said those suspected to have converted from Islam to Christianity face travel restrictions and confiscation of travel documents. Speaking on condition of anonymity, he noted that security officers who had been monitoring the ministries of a 25-year-old Christian confiscated his passport at the airport in July.

The Christian deprived of his passport was still looking for a way to leave the country to pursue theological studies in Tanzania.
. . .
Law student Musa Kim, who left Islam to receive Christ nine months ago, has suffered at the hands of his kin on the Comoros. Family members beat him with sticks and blows and even burned his clothes, he said.

Kind neighbors rescued him, and Christian friends rented him a house at a secret location while his wounds healed. On Oct. 15, however, Muslim islanders discovered his hideout and razed the house he was renting.

Asked if he reported the case to the police, Kim was emphatic.

"No, reporting these people will get you into more trouble.”
. . .
The Comorian constitution provides for freedom of religion, though it is routinely violated. Islam is the legal religion for the Comoros people, and anyone found to be practicing a different religion faces persecution.
. . .

In May 2006 four men in the Comoros were sentenced to prison for three months for involvement with Christianity.

Comoros: Christians Oppressed on Indian Ocean Islands
Compass Direct, December 8, 2008

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