Magic Statistics

Mainstream media rarely carry news of religious persecution, but today is one of those infrequent occasions.  CTV reports on an Egyptian man who sought asylum in Canada as a refugee, claiming he was being persecuted for promoting Christianity in his bookstore.  Neither Immigration Canada nor a federal court believed him, so he was deported to Egypt last September.

CTV News has now obtained photographs and videotape, allegedly of the same man, which show fresh injuries on his back. They appear to be burns and welts, which he claims were inflicted by Egyptian authorities. He alleges that, since he was sent back, two security officers from Egypt's State Security Investigations (SSI) have detained, interrogated and threatened him several times. He also claims he was shocked with electricity, doused with water and beaten.

CTV News has also obtained an audiotape recording, which his supporters said is the man pleading for help.

The man’s name is being withheld by CTV for fear that Egyptian authorities could punish the man further.

The Egyptian Ambassador to Canada says that kind of thing isn't allowed in his country.

CTV News showed the pictures of the man's injuries to Egypt's Ambassador to Canada, in Ottawa.

"Officially, discrimination is absolutely unacceptable," Mahmoud El-Saeed said, after viewing the tape. "We have zero tolerance for discrimination on the basis of religion or any other matter so this is something we cannot accept."

Rubbish.  Religious discrimination is built into Egypt’s constitution, which mandates preferential status for Muslims; Christians and other religious minorities are victims of official discrimination. Churches cannot be built without the permission of the Egyptian president, nor repaired without permission from the local governor.

He added, "No one is persecuted." In an interview, El-Saeed gave his word that, if anyone in authority is responsible for man's injuries, they will be punished.

No one is persecuted in Egypt?  More baloney.  Coptic Christians have been jailed for “despising Islam”.  Girls and young women from Christian families are kidnapped and forced to convert to Islam and the authorities rarely do anything about it.

My assumption would be that the ambassador’s assurances of punishment for the guilty are about as reliable as everything else he has to say.

The man is supported by immigration lawyer Chantal Desloges and by the Toronto-based Christian group One Free World International.  They have shown the filmed evidence to officials in Ottawa.  Immigration Minister Monte Solberg says his office is taking the allegations seriously and will conduct a full investigate.

h/t: Persecuted Church Weblog

Previous related posts:

• Egyptian women sexually harassed in public
• Egyptian blogger arrested for insulting Islam
• Egyptian Christian girls kidnapped and forced to convert to Islam

Last month Glenn Penner, CEO of Voice of the Martyrs Canada, underwent a stem-cell transplant to treat his cancer.  Two days ago, he blogged from Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto and, although he spoke of his situation in a matter-of-fact manner, clearly he is suffering considerable pain.

Today at VOMC’s weblog, Glenn’s colleague Adele Konyndk has posted a special request for prayer.  Here’s the whole thing.

Glenn has asked for all of us to say a special and specific prayer of healing for him today. We praise the Lord that he has experienced some very significant improvements over the past week, such as healing in his mouth and an encouraging increase in his neutrophil levels. We also praise the Lord that his stem cells are reportedly taking!

But right now Glenn is experiencing problems with his lungs. Doctors have been unable to identify the source of the problem–all they know is that it seems to be some kind of infection. It is causing Glenn to have severe coughing fits and it is also making it very difficult for him to breathe.

Pray that the Lord will heal Glenn's lungs by the end of today. We do not always offer our Lord such specific or such time sensitive prayers but we cannot forget that we serve a God for whom nothing is impossible.

So please, pray that today will be a day of healing for Glenn and that the Lord will rid his body of all problems and infections.

Update: This afternoon, doctors identified the cause of Glenn's respiratory problems. He has Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV). The fact that it has been identified is a kind of answer to prayers, since now he can start treatment meant for this virus. So thanks be to God and may He continue to bless Glenn in the hospital.

RSV is a common virus with known treatments, but Glenn’s weakened condition makes him especially vulnerable.  Please pray for him, his family, the doctors and nurses treating him, and the important ministry of VOMC.  Glenn has also reminded us to keep praying for the persecuted.

Hot on the heels of allegations that healthy Ukrainian newborns are being kidnapped and killed for their stem cells—and that Ukraine is hindering the investigation—comes news that babies are being illegally bred in eastern Europe for sale to Western women.

Britain's Daily Mail recently reported on an Athens baby factory run by the Albanian or Russian Mafia.

[W]ealthy Western women unable to have children of their own . . . come from Britain, Europe and as far afield as America, hand over a huge wad of cash and take the child back home.

The baby factory in Athens is doing a booming trade. The girls selected by the gangs for the production line are mostly Bulgarians and Romanian gipsies.
. . .
The Greek authorities admit the babies-for-sale racket is worsening. 'This is an escalating problem, the scale of which is impossible to grasp,' said Lieutenant Colonel Antonia Andreakou, director of the Greek police's public security division, which handles cross-border crime.

Ms Andreakou said her department had traced nine sales of Bulgarian infants in the first six months of this year and arrested 33 suspected mediators - 24 Bulgarians, seven Greeks (including doctors and lawyers) and two Albanians.

'This is just a fraction of the number of cases,' she said. 'We need to prove that money has exchanged hands, as this is what makes the transaction illegal, but that is very difficult to do.

Girls and young women are recruited with offers of false passports and passage from poor Balkan nations to Greece.  Upon arrival, a girl is handed a bill far beyond her means to pay and given an offer she can’t refuse: Get pregnant and give up your baby, and we’ll consider the amount paid.  The girl is impregnated by a member of the gang.

Police say that, once a girl has given birth and cared for her baby for about a month, the baby is taken away, and the mother is either killed or forced into prostitution.

Child trafficking by organised criminal gangs has also become a serious problem in Chechnya.  The gangs do not entrap women into giving birth, but poverty and social norms impel single mothers to sell their babies.

[E]vidence suggests that after a decade of conflict and turmoil in Chechnya, the number of childless families has risen drastically and people are ready to pay large sums to adopt a newborn baby - and frequently to resort to illegal methods to acquire one.

The problem is compounded by the fact that Chechen society considers illegitimate birth shameful and there is very little formal adoption. The transactions are extremely secret and good data is hard to come by. However, the Chechen prosecutor's office has registered cases of children having been sold or illegally handed over to assumed adoptive parents.

On November 13 last year, prosecutors filed a case against an alleged criminal group charged with trafficking minors. 

Several criminal prosecutions for child trafficking are pending.  Those found guilty face up to ten years in prison.

Chechnya has no orphanages, so unwanted children are left at maternity or children’s hospitals.  Trafficking often begins when hospital officials or employees remove children in order to sell them to parents desperate to adopt.

The story from Institute for War and Peace Reporting quotes a Chechen resident asking a good question: Where are the fathers of the “unwanted” babies?  When a woman is arrested for selling her own child, authorities should apprehend the father as well, so he can assume his share of the responsibility.

h/t for Daily Mail link: LifeSite

Previous related posts:

• Ukraine removes official investigating allegations of stem-cell harvesting
• Healthy newborns killed for stem cells?
• Russian mob killing for control of economy

Every time I think Canada’s system of socialised medical care is completely bonkers, news arrives of turmoil at Britain’s National Health Service.

Only a few months ago, it was reported that thousands of new nursing graduates in the UK are unable to find jobs.  Today, a leaked report forecasts extreme shortages of nurses and GPs by 2011.

A severe shortage of nurses and GPs in the next few years is predicted in a leaked Government report which reveals a staffing time-bomb in the NHS.

The document, which was written by senior civil servants in the Department of Health, also discloses that there will be an estimated 37,000 job losses this year as trusts in deficit struggle to balance their books.
. . .
But in 2010-11 it predicts that the NHS will be short of 14,000 nurses, 1,200 GPs, and 1,100 junior and staff grade hospital doctors. At present, there are about 500,000 nurses, 32,000 GPs and 31,000 consultants in England.
. . .
The document says that there are "very volatile" shifts in the number of staff needed and predicts a "sharp reduction" in numbers this year. It predicts a 2.7 per cent loss of jobs, which is substantially more than the 20,000 estimated losses that the Government denied last year.

So, government-imposed financial austerity is forcing NHS to lay off medical staff now, but in only a few years, more staff will be needed.  Not surprisingly, the government is being criticised for myopic management.

The same report says the NHS has too many medical consultants (“specialists” in North America).

Thousands of doctors qualified to become consultants could face unemployment instead, the NHS says.

A leaked copy of the Government’s pay and workforce strategy reveals that by 2011 there will be 3,200 more consultants than there are jobs. It suggests that they will be employed in more junior roles at lower salaries, a move bitterly opposed by the British Medical Association.
. . .
The BMA reacted with anger to the proposals. Jonathan Fielden, the chairman of the BMA consultants’ committee, said: “It is absurd to suggest that the NHS in England needs fewer hospital consultants. NHS consultants have driven the massive cuts in waiting times and continue to deliver real improvements in patient care.”

Typical government incentive system: Punish the most effective employees.

To top it all off, surgical procedures are being cancelled to meet budget restraint targets.

Patients are being denied basic operations, including treatments for varicose veins, wisdom teeth and bad backs, as hospitals try frantically to balance the books by the end of the financial year, The Times can reveal.

A Yorkshire medical trust that is away over budget has told hospitals that they will not be paid for patients seen or treated too quickly.  Any patient given “elective surgery” (anything not posing an immediate threat to life or limb) in less than 16 weeks is at the hospital’s own expense.

Previous related posts:

• Nurses report higher work stress, greater job dissatisfaction
• No jobs for UK nurses? Come to Canada
• US wants more nurses