"It's A Pogrom." Head of Human Rights Federation describes situation in Egypt as "Ethnic Cleansing"

Naguib Gobarail, a Christian who heads the Human Rights Federation, described what has been happening as "ethnic cleansing."
"It's a pogrom. I have three sons I their late 20s, and they all emigrated with their families since Morsi took power. I've been threatened with death and my office burned three times."

A pretty good summary as to where things stand in Egypt at the moment.

COPTS FACE VIOLENT ONSLAUGHT IN WAKE OF MORSI OUSTER

by John Rossomando - July 16, 2013 - IPT via Breitbart News

Violence by Islamic radicals aimed at Egypt's Coptic Christian minority has increased in the wake of the military's July 3 ouster of President Mohamed Morsi.

Muslim Brotherhood supporters blame Coptic Orthodox Pope Tawadros II for supporting the Egyptian military's removal of Morsi.

"What is disturbing is the failure of the security apparatus to act -- which at times looks like collusion -- to protect citizens and their property who are being targeted on the basis of their religion, Ishak Ibrahim of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) told Agence France Presse (AFP). "Copts are paying the price of the inflammatory rhetoric against them coming from some Islamist leaders and supporters of the former president, who accuse Coptic spiritual leaders of conspiring to foment army intervention to remove Dr Morsi."

The Daily Mail reported Saturday about a "frenzied" attack on an elderly Coptic priest who refused to disclose the location of a Muslim woman who had converted to Christianity. The priest is in hiding, and his family fears for their safety. His son, a shop owner, cannot appear in public since he was arrested and tortured by Egyptian police sympathetic to the Muslim Brotherhood.

Copts in the Sinai, which has been ravaged by Islamic extremists, have particularly found themselves vulnerable.

A mob wielding axes, clubs and tree limbs rampaged through the southern Egyptian village of Nagaa Hasan, attacking a Coptic businessman and his nephew, the Associated Press reported July 10. The mob hacked and beat the Copts, killing the businessman, identified as Emile Naseem, 41. He had been the village's most prominent proponent of ousting Morsi. His nephew survived with wounds to his shoulders and head.

The mob also burned dozens of Christian homes and stabbed three other Copts to death.

Magdy Habashi, a Christian merchant in the northern Sinai peninsula, was kidnapped and later found beheaded in a cemetery with his arms tied behind his back.

A priest reportedly was killed by Muslim gunmen who opened fire during a weekly trip to the grocery store. Fr. Youssef Souby Zaky, a friend of the slain priest, reluctantly left his church in the northern Sinai after it was ransacked and torched, telling the Daily Mail it was unsafe for Christians to remain in his town.

Naguib Gobarail, a Christian who heads the Human Rights Federation, described what has been happening as "ethnic cleansing."

"It's a pogrom. I have three sons I their late 20s, and they all emigrated with their families since Morsi took power. I've been threatened with death and my office burned three times."

Malaysia 'Galloping' towards Islamization, says Prominent Bishop

Threats to close Vatican office as nation takes sharp pro-Islamic turn

UCA News via ICC/Persecution.org

In Malaysia, the tone of the anti-Christian campaign has become shriller. One of the new government’s first moves was to amend the Administration of Islamic Law so that consent from only one parent or guardian was required for a child to be converted to Islam. It drew flak from an array of rights groups, lawyers and politicians, and surprised by the fierce reaction, the bill was withdrawn earlier this month.

Yet it is not over yet. Some see it as an attempt by the government to shore up its conservative Muslim voter base, while others say it is a sign of the continuing Islamization of Malaysia. Other examples abound: the barely veiled threats against the papal nuncio Archbishop Joseph Marino, who has defended the rights of Malaysian Christians to use Allah as the word for God in the Malay language, are cause for concern.

"If he does not retract his statement in seven days, we will have….to ask the prime minister…to close the Vatican office and ask that the ambassador be sent back to the Vatican," said the radical Malay-Muslim supremacy organizations, Peraksa and Jati. Their accusations of an attempted ‘Christianisation’ of Malaysia signals rising tensions between the country’s disparate religious groups.

Around 60 percent of Malaysia’s population considers themselves to be Muslim; just over nine percent are Christian. Conflict between the two groups has been on the rise for several years, since the government in 2009 lifted a ban on the use of “Allah” as a translation for “God” in Malay-language Bibles. The ruling was followed by a series of attacks on Christian worship sites.

And last year, as the country prepared for elections, the government was forced to ditch the name of a seminar on "the threat of Christianity" after it was accused of attempting to stoke anti-Christian sentiment in a bid to win the Muslim vote.

While the debacle over the use of “Allah” can be seen as an issue of dissent between Muslims and Christians, the attempted conversion ruling would have affected all religious minorities in Malaysia. The big question is: what religion should children adhere to if ones parent leaves his or her religion to convert to Islam? There have been several cases in the past few years, where a father – in most cases a Hindu – converted to Islam and subsequently converted the children without having sought the mother’s consent.

The government claims the sole purpose of the bill was to rectify the lack of a legal provision for child conversions at the federal level. However, by attempting to legalize the right of the converted parent to convert the kids to his or her new religion, the government abandoned a cabinet decision made in April 2009. Back then the government agreed that minors were to be bound by the common religion of their parents while they were married, even if one parent later becomes a Muslim.

The prominent Bishop Tan had called the bill “morally and ethically wrong,” unconstitutional, and proof of the “galloping Islamization” underway in Malaysia. Many protested the ruling, from Chinese and Indian component parties of the ruling coalition Barisan Nasional, to the Malaysian Bar, to cabinet members and various rights groups.

 “It is not fair to say that one parent can determine a child’s religion if the parent decides to convert to Islam.... As a lawyer and a Muslim, I am not comfortable with the situation,” Tourism and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz had told the Malaysian daily, The Star.

The government has withdrawn the bill, yet more recently made Islamic and Asian Civilisation Studies compulsory for local students in private universities. With Chinese Buddhist organizations condemning the move as an “attempt at indoctrination,” it appears this conflict will continue well into the future.