6. Recent Updates from[b] Sri Lanka, [/b][b]India [/b]and [b]China[/b]

Sri Lanka:
Sri Lanka's Christian community is facing renewed concerns about future
religious freedoms following the results from the November 17
presidential
election. Prior to his election, Mahinda Rajapakse had formed an
alliance
with the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), a party composed entirely of
Buddhist
monks whose primary purpose has been to pass anti-conversion
legislation in
Sri Lanka. In his first address as president, Rajapakse pledged to
protect
Buddhism but also provide freedom for all other religions. It remains
to be
seen how this will be demonstrated. His appointment of Ratnasiri
Wickramanayake as Prime Minister raises further concerns.
Wickramanayake
had previously served as Minister of Buddhism and was responsible for
the
introduction of the government's anti-conversion bill, ironically
called the
"Freedom of Religion Bill." For more information on Sri Lanka, go to
http://www.persecution.net/country/srilanka.htm. A video report from
Sri
Lanka is also available at http://www.persecution.tv.

India:
Last week, the Persecution and Prayer Alert reported on a threat to
burn
sixty Christians to death if they did not re-convert to Hinduism (see
http://www.persecution.net/news/india92.html). Compass Direct reported
on
November 21 that because of police intervention, the planned
"re-conversion"
ceremony was cancelled. The situation in the community remains tense.
Twenty villagers met on Sunday for worship, despite the threats.

China:
The Persecution and Prayer Alert reported on November 9 that the law
firm
representing Pastor Cai and several other religious rights cases had
been
suspended from operations for a year (see
http://www.persecution.net/news/china97.html). With the visit of U.S.
President Bush, the head of the firm, Gao Zhisheng, was ordered to
leave
Beijing to prevent him from contacting the U.S. delegation. According
to a
November 22 report from China Aid Association (CAA), Gao now faces the
removal of his license to practice law. He, his wife and 12-year-old
daughter have also faced threats from secret police. Gao reports that
the
police have repeatedly attempted to force his car off the road. Gao has
recently become a Christian and intends to be baptized in a house
church
soon.

CAA encourages concerned Christians, particularly those who know
Chinese, to
express their concern for Brother Gao. His email address is
[email protected] His telephone number is +86-10-81990759. You can
also
contact Wu Yuhua, Director General of the Beijing Judicial Bureau, to
express your concern about they suspension of Gao's law license at
[email protected] or phone +86-10-58575683.
***********************************
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Martyrs,
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