Today’s Headlines:

CHRISTIAN ACCUSES EGYPTIAN COURT OF BIAS AFTER RECEIVING JAIL TERM

MISSION AGENCY TRIES TO REFOCUS WORLD’S CONCERN ON PAKISTAN

JORDAN-BASED MINISTRY DISTRIBUTES AID, BIBLES IN MIDDLE EAST

JAARS TO CELEBRATE TRANSLATION OF GULLAH NEW TESTAMENT

Today’s Top Stories:

CHRISTIAN ACCUSES EGYPTIAN COURT OF BIAS AFTER RECEIVING JAIL TERM

A Christian of dual U.S.-Egyptian citizenship faces one year in prison after a trial in which he was accused of raping and beating Magda Refaat Gayed at his Cairo shelter for troubled women. Following last month’s final hearing in the case of Shafik Saleh Shafik, the three judges of Cairo’s Abbassiya Criminal Court No. 15 had postponed the verdict three times. On Thursday, Oct. 20, the court sentenced Shafik to one year in prison. Defense lawyers believe that the guilty verdict was based on religious prejudice, stating that the court has shown a consistent pro-Islamic bias. Shafik agreed that the court’s decision was religiously motivated, saying the chief judge “understood the whole time that I am innocent. But the other two with him, they are very Islamic, so they are thinking they want to put me in jail.” (Compass)

A family of four Iranian Christians received a last-minute reprieve from forcible deportation back to Iran by Turkish authorities last week after U.S. officials intervened in their case. Zivar Khademian and her three adult children, Fatemeh, Hossein and Kazem, faced an Oct. 20 deadline to leave Turkey or be sent back to Iran where they could be arrested and sentenced to death for apostasy. Recently the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) informed the family by telephone that American officials wanted to interview them for possible admission to the U.S. By Friday, Oct. 21, UNHCR representatives had confirmed that the family was scheduled to be interviewed by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on Monday, Oct. 24. Following two eligibility interviews, they were issued individual letters certifying that they were under consideration for U.S. refugee resettlement. To date the family has been given no indication how long a process could be required for them to leave Turkey for resettlement in the U.S. should their case be approved. (Compass)

* HCJB World Radio worked with Words of Hope and local partners to help establish Radio Shema, an FM station in Ankara, Turkey, in 2003.

MISSION AGENCY TRIES TO REFOCUS WORLD’S CONCERN ON PAKISTAN

Pakistan’s earthquake relief efforts seem to have already faded off the front page with the advent of Hurricane Wilma and other natural disasters, says World Hope’s Joann Lyon. Even now there are reports surfacing that indicate without swift help, the death toll in Kashmir could double. Thousands more are still susceptible to injuries, cold and hunger. Still, it’s a challenge to keep the focus on Pakistan when there are so many needs in disaster zones worldwide. “With all the tragedies that have been happening, one right on top of the other, we forget the last one,” Lyons said. As the world’s attention moves from one issue to another, it’s the survivors who fall through the cracks. “For example, with Hurricane Wilma we’ve kind of forgotten about Guatemala, we’ve forgotten about Pakistan. .. . . We tend to think it’s all fixed in our minds, but it isn’t. Sri Lanka and Indonesia are kind of far in our memories now.” Lyon added that the ministry’s Pakistani partners were called to help in the quake zone because of their earlier work in Afghanistan. “This opened up the door to be able to share and they have to do it in ways that they know how to do in an appropriate way. Actually, it’s the love of Jesus in tangible form. They’ve been able to do that . . . they’re still working up there.” (Mission Network News)

JORDAN-BASED MINISTRY DISTRIBUTES AID, BIBLES IN MIDDLE EAST

Manara Ministries, an evangelical relief and development agency based in Amman, Jordan, has been filled with significant events in recent days, said President Isam Ghattas in a recent report. In Damascus, Syria, workers visited the two largest churches that are hosting Iraqi refugees. “Along with providing 2,000 Bibles, we were able to distribute some food parcels for needy widows in the area,” Ghattas said. “We praise the Lord for obtaining government permission to ship 50,000 [Bible storybooks] for children into Syria.” Manara continues to operate Christian bookstores in Amman, Jordan, and Baghdad, Iraq, although book shipments from main suppliers in Cairo, Egypt, are sometimes blocked due to security problems. The store in Amman was recently relocated “because of increased business,” Ghattas explained. “We are (trying) in God’s will to reach with the Christian bookstore as many people as possible.” Manara, in collaboration with a local church, has organized the first widows’ conference in Iraq. It will be held in Kirkuk Nov. 15-19. “There will be about 80 widows attending this conference from across Iraq,” Ghattas said. (Assist News Service)

JAARS TO CELEBRATE TRANSLATION OF GULLAH NEW TESTAMENT

JAARS, a ministry that provides technical support for Wycliffe Bible Translators and SIL International, is hosting a celebration at its headquarters in Waxhaw, N.C., Saturday, Nov. 5, to mark the completion of the Gullah translation project. Gullah is a little-known language spoken by descendants of West African slaves brought to the U.S. from the late 1600s until the mid-1800s to work on rice plantations along the Atlantic coast in South Carolina, Georgia and northern Florida. The Gullah language is derived from an older form of English and West African language forms. Now that the 26-year-long translation project is complete, preachers will no longer have to make up translations into Gullah on the spot, and the translations will not be different each time. (Mission Network News/JAARS)