Egypt: suicide or murder?
World Watch Monitor
Bahaa Gamal Mikhail Silvanus (23), a conscript in the Egyptian Army and the only Christian in his unit stationed in Suez, was found dead on 24 June in a chair in the office of the military base where he was stationed, with two bullet wounds in his chest and a gun at his feet.
The army says Silvanus killed himself. His family, friends and church pastors don’t believe it, because, first of all, Bahaa Silvanus was a happy man with a strong faith, a university degree in music and plans to enter the monastic life. Secondly, someone who kills himself with a gun never shoots more than once.
Mexico: all is calm
World Watch Monitor
In June, almost two months since 12 evangelical Christian families – 49 people in all
– were allowed to return to the village of
Buenavista Bawitz in the southern state of
Chiapas, the families say that all is ‘completely calm’.
The families returned to the village after
five years of exile imposed by village elders
and authorities for leaving the ‘traditionalist’
church (which blends aspects of indigenous
paganism and popular Catholicism). During
those years several children were born, while
older ones had been at school in the nearest
major city, Comitán. Some will continue to
go to school there, 30km from home, for the
remainder of the school year, before their
parents decide whether to re-enrol them at
the village school, which, unlike the city
school, conducts
lessons
in the
local
language, Tojolabal, and not Spanish.
Syria: ‘deliberate targeting’
World Watch Monitor
63 churches have been damaged or destroyed so far during four years of civil war in Syria, the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) said in May.
In a comprehensive 21-page report, first published in Arabic on 7 May and then in English, the rights group, known for being anti-government, launched a withering attack on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces, claiming they were responsible for almost two thirds of the attacks.