Professor Tarfa Acquitted.

 

Free at last – we thank God for this victory We are truly encouraged by your support in prayers…’ – Professor Solomon and Mercy Tarfa We’re delighted to share that last Thursday a court in Kano State, Nigeria, acquitted Professor Solomon Tarfa on charges of ‘running an illegal orphanage’ and ‘criminal conspiracy and abduction of minors’. Hallelujah! This is truly amazing news, and we praise God.  The professor has faced a series of false charges, including child abduction and forgery, and appears to have been targeted simply for running a Christian orphanage. You may remember that on Christmas Day 2019, over 60 plain clothes policemen raided the Du Merci Centre in Kano City and arrested the professor. Over the coming days, 27 children were removed from the Du Merci centres and placed in a government-run home, where they have been harassed, prevented from attending church, and reportedly assaulted. More than 3,000 of you have campaigned on behalf of Professor Tarfa and his family and so many have been praying over the last 18 months. Thank you! The Tarfa family’s ordeal is not over. Sixteen children are still waiting to be returned home, and Professor Tarfa will appear in court again on 27 July to defend the forgery charge. Please keep praying that the children will be returned quickly, and that the final charge against Professor Tarfa will also be dropped. ‘I never knew that I would be a real Nehemiah to protect the churches in India’ We’re sad to report that our friend and colleague Nehemiah Christie, a Christian human rights defender in India, passed away on 6 June at the age of 40 due to COVID-related illness. He is survived by his wife Deepika and their daughters Elena Abigail (12) and Neginah Yale (4). As a Christian leader and human rights defender, Nehemiah lived under the threat of violence every day. Yet he still devoted his life to pursuing justice and championing religious freedom for everyone. He told us, ‘They [my parents] chose my name Nehemiah, but I never knew that I would be a real Nehemiah building the walls of Jerusalem to protect the churches and the victims in India.’ We give thanks for his friendship, his faith and the countless lives he impacted through his tireless advocacy work.  >> WATCH our interview with Nehemiah last year​ Stand with religious communities made more vulnerable by the pandemic For many of the religious communities we work alongside, the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed and exacerbated the inequalities they already faced.  Governments around the world are continuing to use the pandemic to advance political agendas, to cement an invasive control of society and to justify repression of religious communities. In some cases religious communities have been singled out by the government or media and blamed for outbreaks.  For example, a church in Vietnam has been attacked in the press and social media and is now under criminal investigation for allegedly ‘spreading COVID-19’ after over 200 cases of the virus were linked to a May meeting of Revival Ekklesia Mission (REM). However, the church’s leader says there were only seven people at that meeting– well within legal restrictions – while the government has allowed some large gatherings. Nguyen Bac Truyen is a Hoa Hao Buddhist and legal expert who has provided pro bono legal assistance to persecuted religious communities. He is one of countless prisoners of conscience in Vietnam. Since the pandemic began, some of these prisoners of conscience have not been allowed family visits or permitted to receive the usual amount of food parcels.  Our advocacy called for the government to ensure that, in the absence of in-person meetings, longer and more frequent phone calls to loved ones were arranged.