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ACLJ probes forced conversions to Islam

The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) is investigating reported incidents in the Middle East involving Christians being forced to convert to Islam or face death.



The ACLJ has deployed some of its government affairs staff to Israel to look into a report out of the Gaza Strip that Hamas-linked militants forced a female Christian professor at gunpoint to convert to Islam. WorldNetDaily reported earlier this month that rival Palestinian group Fatah accused Hamas of kidnapping and forcibly converting Sana al-Sayegh of Palestine International University to Islam. Hamas denied the allegations; but since al-Sayegh's return to work, her family -- who believes she would never convert voluntarily -- has reportedly been told she, in fact, converted "willingly" and no longer wishes to associate with them unless they also convert to Islam.

ACLJ chief counsel Jay Sekulow says in what is "becoming unfortunately a more common practice," apparently Hamas is forcing Christians in the Gaza Strip -- "literally at gunpoint," he says -- to convert to Islam.

"It's not just the Gaza, though," he exclaims. "We've also learned now and been contacted actually by lawyers in Egypt and in Pakistan, on the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan. So this seems to be a fairly significant regional issue right now."

Sekulow says his group is also investigating those reports. "Our European office, which is in Strasbourg, France, is a non-governmental organization in special consultative status with the U.N.," the Christian attorney explains. "So we actually have the authority under our relationship with the United Nations to bring this before the Human Rights Council."

According to the ACLJ chief counsel, many of the nations represented at the U.N. have signed onto the International Declaration of Human Rights. "So we're planning right now, and we're working on it literally as we speak, to go to Geneva in September and at least open up the initial phase of this investigation through the U.N.," he says. The ACLJ has also requested that its staff in Washington, DC, meet with members of Congress to lodge necessary protests with those government embassies.

Sekulow considers the issue as yet another reminder of the violent nature of Islam -- and he accuses the mainstream media of virtually ignoring the persecution of Christians in Islamic countries because it is not a politically correct story.

"Nobody in the United States of any religious group is forced or compelled to convert to a particular religious belief at gunpoint," he points out, "but that's what's happening right now, not just in the Middle East but also in Asia Minor and that whole area. So ... basically [you have] media ignorance of this, although some are starting to talk about it."

According to a statement on the ACLJ website, the legal group is employing what it calls a "European strategy" in offering legal assistance to attorneys in Pakistan and Egypt who are handling the forced conversion cases there.