> On 13 October 2006, WEA Religious Liberty News & Analysis issued a
> posting entitled “Australia: Girl’s conversion results in mother’s death”.
>
> That story needs to be updated.
>
> In summary, Australian media reported that on 9 October a 17-year-old
> girl named Kaihana Hussain was attacked with a knife by her father, Dr
> Mohammed Hussain, after she reiterated her commitment to convert from
> Islam to Christianity. According to the reports, Kaihana’s mother was
> fatally stabbed when she tried to intervene, and her father attempted
> to kill himself after Kaihana escaped the apartment. Police confirmed
> at the time that Kaihana was not a suspect. (Link 1)
>
> Dr Hussain was hospitalised in a critical condition and put in an
> induced coma. It has only been very recently that investigative police
> have been able to speak with Dr Hussain. He alleges that Kaihana
> stabbed her mother to death and attempted to murder him because they
> disapproved of her behaviour and her unsuitable boy-friend.
>
> Kaihana was subsequently arrested. She faced the Southport Magistrates
> Court on 7 November where she was charged with murder and attempted
> murder. She did not speak and no plea was entered. Kaihana Hussain is
> remanded in custody until her trial which has been slated for 22 May
> 2007. No further comment can be made as the matter is under police
> investigation. More details can be found at Link 2.
>
> Anyone who has posted WEA RLC’s 13 October release to their website
> should remove it. Thank you.
>
> Elizabeth Kendal
> Links
>
> Please feel free to pass this along to others giving attribution to:
> “World Evangelical Alliance – Religious Liberty News & Analysis.”
> For more information on the World Evangelical Alliance, please see:
> <http://www.WorldEvangelicalAlliance.com>,
> For the Religious Liberty Commission of the WEA, see:
> <http://www.WorldEvangelicalAlliance.com/commissions/rlc.htm>.
> All WEA RLC material is archived at <http://www.ea.org.au/rlc>.
> Advocates International <http://www.advocatesinternational.org>
> serves as the legal and judicial advisor to the RLC. Advocates
> International links many Christian lawyers and judges around the world
> and has been involved in religious liberty issues for many years.
>
> The Religious Liberty News & Analysis mailing list provides reports on
> the state of religious liberty and persecution around the world with
> those with a special interest in the field. Most members are involved
> in church-based religious liberty advocacy, academic research,
> missions leadership, creative-access missions, religious media, or
> have prayer networks supporting these groups, although anyone is
> welcome to join. Postings average one or two per week. Information
> shared does not necessarily reflect the opinion of World Evangelical
> Alliance, or of the WEA Religious Liberty Commission.
~~~

Subj: Australia: Girl’s conversion results in mother’s death.

A shocking killing on the east coast of Australia, in Queensland’s popular Gold Coast region, illuminates the great and urgent need for rigorous, open debate on what Western religious liberty means for Muslim immigrants, and what Islam’s rejection of apostasy means for Christians in terms of convert care.

——————————————————————————-

AUSTRALIA: GIRL’S CONVERSION RESULTS IN MOTHER’S DEATH

On the evening of Monday 9 October, Kaihana Hussain, the teenage daughter of Muslim immigrants, told her parents that she was converting from Islam to Christianity. Her father responded with unrestrained fury. Neighbours heard “blood curdling” and “terrifying” screams and cries of “Help me, help me, they’re trying to kill me”, but they were unsure which apartment the screams were coming from, and the voices were unfamiliar.

After a short time, Kaihana came running out of the family’s apartment, dressed only in her underwear, her clothes torn off, blood splattered over her severely scratched and cut body.

All that is known at this stage is that after her father began to attack her, Kaihana’s mother, Yasmin (41, and a strict and devout Muslim), intervened to aid and protect her daughter.

What police found when they entered the apartment was Yasmin bleeding severely from a fatal knife wound to the chest, and her husband, Kaihana’s father, Dr Muhammad Hussain (49) also bleeding from a potentially fatal knife wound to the chest. Blood was splattered on walls, floors and doorways throughout the three-bedroom luxury apartment. Yasmin died at the scene and Dr Hussain is presently hospitalised in an induced coma, in a critical condition. Police have confirmed that Kaihana is not a suspect in their deaths.

The Herald Sun reports: “Dr Hussain completed his medical training at the Chittagong Medical College in Bangladesh in 1982. In 2001, he completed a masters in family medicine in Australia and four years later was granted a fellowship by the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners.” (Link 1)

After migrating to Australia, the family settled in Adelaide, South Australia. They sent their daughter to the local non-denominational Christian school because of its high academic, and no doubt moral, standards.

It appears that Kaihana was profoundly influenced by this exposure to Christianity. The Australian newspaper reports that the family’s recent move from Adelaide, South Australia, to the Gold Coast, Queensland, was prompted by Dr Hussain’s fear that Kaihana’s Muslim faith was being threatened by her education. (Link 2)

Dr Hussain moved to the Gold Coast in September and Yasmin and Kaihana joined him on the weekend of 7-8 October, just after Kaihana’s 17th birthday, and only days before Kaihana told her parents she was committed to converting to Christianity.

The Herald Sun reported on 11 October, “A Muslim source told The Gold Coast Bulletin last night that Dr Hussain arrived a month ago to take up a position as a GP and prepare for his family to join him.

“‘From what we understand the daughter decided to tell her father of her radical plan to convert to Christianity which, in the eyes of most Muslims, is totally unacceptable and to be honest, sadly, many would react as he has done,’ said the source.

“‘It is the Islamic way that if a son or daughter does or plans to do something that is unacceptable or wrong for a Muslim then it is the mother who is automatically at fault and will bear the brunt of the blame.”‘ (Link 1)

Elizabeth Kendal

“World Evangelical Alliance – Religious Liberty News & Analysis.”

For more information on the World Evangelical Alliance, please see: <http://www.WorldEvangelicalAlliance.com>, For the Religious Liberty Commission of the WEA, see: <http://www.WorldEvangelicalAlliance.com/commissions/rlc.htm>. All WEA RLC material is archived at <http://www.ea.org.au/rlc>.

PRAYER: For those of you who would like more detailed information on situations for prayer and intercession, we recommend that you subscribe to the WEA Religious Liberty Prayer List. Each week a different nation or situation is highlighted. To subscribe, send an empty e-mail to <> with any or no subject.

Advocates International <http://www.advocatesinternational.org> serves as the legal and judicial advisor to the RLC. Advocates International links many Christian lawyers and judges around the world and has been involved in religious liberty issues for many years.

The Religious Liberty News & Analysis mailing list provides reports on the state of religious liberty and persecution around the world with those with a special interest in the field. Most members are involved in church-based religious liberty advocacy, academic research, missions leadership, creative-access missions, religious media, or have prayer networks supporting these groups, although anyone is welcome to join. Postings average one or two per week. Information shared does not necessarily reflect the opinion of World Evangelical Alliance, or of the WEA Religious Liberty Commission.