IRANIAN Revolutionary Guard Commander Says: “We Will Not Rest Until The U.S. Is An Islamic Republic”

by Shoebat Foundation 

By BI: Just like ISIS, this is the ultimate goal of virtually every Muslim on earth. A leading commander in Iran’s Revolutionary Guards has claimed his country’s ultimate aim is to turn the United States into “an Islamic Republic,” and rejected any possibility of a thawing in relations between Tehran and “The Great Satan.”

INN  Commander Hassan Abbasi went on to attack the US, noting the position of Iran’s leadership remains one of perpetual hostility towards America and opposition to its most fundamental values. “Just as we defeated the United States’ policies in Syria and Lebanon and Iraq and Yemen in the Middle East, we will not rest until we make the United State an Islamic Republic too.”

Girl arrested for blasphemy in Pakistan is 14 years old

Islamabad: An official medical review of a Pakistani Christian girl accused of desecrating the Quran has determined that the girl is a minor, a lawyer for the girl said Tuesday.

The finding, which means the girl will be tried in the juvenile court system, could possibly defuse what has been a highly contentious case in Pakistan, where blasphemy can be punished with life in prison or even death. The accusations against the girl have inflamed religious tensions in Pakistan, and sparked a mass exodus of Christians from the girl's neighborhood fearful of retribution from their Muslim neighbors.

The attorney, Tahir Naveed Chaudhry, said a report by a medical board investigating the age and mental state of the girl determined she was 14 years old.

He also said the board determined her mental state did not correspond to her age. It was not clear whether that meant she was mentally impaired. Some Pakistani media reports have said the girl has Down syndrome.

Chaudhry said a bail hearing has been scheduled for Tuesday, and that he would move to dismiss the case after the hearing, saying there was "no solid evidence" against his client.

He said he saw his client Saturday in the Rawalpindi prison where she's being held and that she was "weeping and crying."

The Associated Press is withholding her name because it does not generally identify underage suspects.

The girl was accused by a neighbor of burning pages of a Quran, Islam's holy book. But many aspects of the case have been in dispute since the incident surfaced a little less than two weeks ago, including her age, whether she was mentally impaired and what exactly she was burning.

The lawyer said a birth certificate provided by the church put her age at eleven years old, but in the end the medical board determined she was 14. Generally, birth certificates must be issued by the Pakistani government to be considered a legal document.

The case has spotlighted once again Pakistan's troublesome blasphemy laws that critics say can be used to settle vendettas or seek retribution. Many of Pakistan's minorities, including Christians, live in fear of being accused of blasphemy.

Hundreds of Christian families have fled the neighborhood where the girl lived, fearing a backlash from their Muslim neighbors.

Once someone is labeled as a blasphemer, even if they are never convicted, they can face vigilante justice by outraged Pakistanis. In July, thousands of people dragged a Pakistani man accused of desecrating the Quran from a police station, beat him to death and set his body alight.

The potential public backlash also means few people have spoken out to change or repeal the blasphemy laws. Last year two prominent politicians who criticized the blasphemy law were murdered, one by his own bodyguard who then attracted adoring mobs.

Gaza Christians protest over forced conversions

By The Associated Press

‘If things remain like this, there’ll be no Christians left in Gaza,’ says mother of one convert who demonstrators say is being held against his will

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Dozens of Gaza Christians staged a rare public protest Monday, claiming two congregants were forcibly converted to Islam and were being held against their will.

The small but noisy demonstration showed the increasingly desperate situation facing the tiny minority.

Protesters banged on a church bell and chanted, “With our spirit, with our blood we will sacrifice ourselves for you, Jesus.”

Gaza police say the two converts are staying with a Muslim religious official at their request, because they fear retribution from their families. Two mediators said the two — a 25-year-old man and a woman with three children — appeared to have embraced Islam of their free will. Forced conversions have been unheard of in Gaza before.

Since the Islamic militant Hamas seized power five years ago, Christians have felt increasingly embattled, but have mostly kept silent.

There are growing fears among Gaza Christians that their rapidly shrinking community could disappear through emigration and conversions.

Their numbers appear to have shrunk from some 3,500 to about 1,500 in recent years, according to community estimates. They are a tiny minority among 1.7 million Palestinians in Gaza, most conservative Muslims.

“If things remain like this, there’ll be no Christians left in Gaza,” said Huda Al-Amash, mother of one of the converts, Ramez, 25. She sat sobbing in a church hallway alongside her daughters, Ranin and Rinad, and a dozen other women. “Today it’s Ramez. Then who, and who will be next?”

Christians said the main reason for the shrinking numbers is emigration, since there are few jobs in Gaza.

Changing faith is a deeply traumatic affair in the Arab world, where religion is strongly interwoven with people’s identities and tribal membership. To convert often means to be ostracized by the community.

The two converts, Al-Amash, and Hiba Abu Dawoud, 31, could not be reached for comment. Abu Dawould took her three daughters with her, further enraging the community.

On Monday, groups of men and women stood in groups in the square of the ancient Church of Saint Porphyrius, angrily chanting, “Bring back Ramez!” One man angrily hit the church bell.

“People are locking up their sons and daughters, worried about the ideas people put in their head,” said Al-Amash’s mother, Huda.