Muslim community leaders in the Philippines have expressed their support for the beleagured Christian community in Marawi. The crisis there has entered its another weeks since 23 May when Maute terrorists occupied the city, torched the cathedral, burning down schools, and forcing the civilian population to flee. They kidnapped about 200 people, including Fr Teresito (Chito) Suganob and 15 parishioners.

With the proclamation of martial law and the massive intervention of the Philippine army to free the city, the terrorists are now confined in a small area and hide themselves in some underground tunnels.

In the last few hours, the army captured Cayamora Maute in Davao, father of the two brothers Abdullah and Omar Maute, founders of the terrorist group.

Although Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has officially said that “there will be no negotiations with the terrorists,” Fides reports that the arrest of Cayamora Maute could be useful for informal negotiations aimed at the release of hostages who are now being used as human shields.

The Bishop of Marawi, Edwin de la Pena said: “Fighting still continues in Marawi and we fear for the hostages. We have no news about their condition: They were kidnapped, they may need food, water and medicines, and they are surely exhausted. We pray for them.”

The Bishop said he was appalled at the release of a video on social media, showing young armed militants desecrating statues and sacred images and destroying the cathedral.

“It is an immoral act of blasphemy. Terrorists want to instill hatred in Christians and provoke a reaction. Our reaction will only be prayer, brotherhood and interreligious solidarity that many Muslim friends have shown us recently. They have also been helping and defending the Christians of Marawi, “ he said. “Our spirit is the evangelical spirit of love for the enemy,” Bishop Edwin said.

Several Muslim leaders have expressed their grave concern. Alim Abdulmuhmin Mujahid, vice president of the Ulama Council in Basilan condemned the profanation of the cathedral saying it was “non-Islamic.”

The Governor of the autonomous Region of Mindanao, Mujiv Hataman has invited all Muslims in Mindanao to “condemn the action of terrorists linked to the Islamic State” and asked Muslims and Christians “not to fall in Maute’s trap” that want to trigger social and religious conflict.

Mashal Khan, a student who was lynched for blasphemy, never uttered an offensive word towards the prophet, this according to the official joint report by Pakistani police and intelligence agencies.

The Supreme Court had ordered the probe to shed light on one of the most violent episodes in the history of modern Pakistan.

The report notes that the death of Mardan University student was the result of a plot orchestrated by faculty members and student rivals who wanted to punish him for daring to complain about widespread corruption.

Relieved by the conclusions, Mashal’s father, Muhammad Iqbal, said that the findings had vindicated his son. “This proves my son was not a blasphemer,” he said. On 13 April (Maundy Thursday), the 23-year-old student was stripped, beaten, and killed. After he died, a mob desecrated his body with kicks, punches and sticks. The killing was instigated by members of Khan’s own Pakhtun Students Federation, who felt threatened by his growing prominence as a critic of rising fees and alleged corruption at the university, as well as by the institution’s staff.

“Unfortunately, blasphemy charges have been used all too frequently to settle even smaller scores, [but] So great is the emotional wave around a blasphemy case that it often results in riots, making an honest inquiry next to impossible,” says an editorial in The Dawn, Pakistan’s largest English language daily newspaper.

A Pakistani Christian sewer-age cleaner has died after three doctors refused to treat him until his sludge-covered body had been washed. The physicians said their Ramadan fast would be invalid (“makruh”) because he was “un-clean” and belonged to a low caste. The word for low caste, “chuhra,” especially derogatory, is reserved for sanitary workers and often used in Pakistan synonymously for “Christian.” Irfan Masih died on June 1, in Umar Kot Civil Hospital, Sindh, 300 kilometers from Karachi. Umar Kot has about 75 Christian families; almost all of them work as sanitary workers, a job that many Muslims refuse to do.

Writer Ethan Casey notes: “Most Pakistani Christians today still do the same work as their untouchable ancestors: sweeping the streets and doing other menial jobs formerly deemed ritually or literally unclean by higher-caste.” Unmarried 35-year-old Irfan Masih, who lived with his family, reached his workplace at about 7 a.m. on June 1. Two Christian sanitary workers – Shaukat Masih and Yaqoob Masih – were ordered by their seniors, with Irfan, to unblock sewerage lines. They were not provided with any protective gear, his brother Parvaiz told World Watch Monitor.

Vietnamese bishops have told high ranking communist officials, they are critical of a new religion law that is to take effect next year while also finding fault with the government’s belligerence toward religions. In a formal statement, the bishops criticized the Law on Belief and Religion because it “continues to strengthen asking-and-granting mechanism.” The bishops’ statement said the law replaces words “asking permission” and “giving permission” with “registering, informing, proposing,” which still request “religions to inform government authorities about their activities that authorities may or may not approve.”

“This mechanism shows that religious freedom is really not considered a human right but a grace that needs permission (from the government),” said the statement signed by Archbishop Joseph Nguyen Chi Linh, head of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Vietnam and Bishop Peter Nguyen Van Kham, its secretary general. “It is the mechanism itself to legalize the government’s intervention in religions’ internal issues and its tight control over religious activities,” they said. The Catholic Church serves 7 million Catholics in Vietnam. The Vietnamese government currently recognizes 39 religious organizations from 13 religions, with 24 million followers.

For a Pakistani Christian like Shameela Masih, divorcing her abusive husband meant two choices — both nearly as bad as staying in the marriage.

“I have to prove adultery allegations against him,” said Masih, a 34-year-old mother of two. “The other option I have is to convert to Islam.” Masih recently filed for divorce from a husband she said “frequently beats me up” and a mother-in-law who she said burned her leg with coal.

But under the majority-Muslim country’s laws, she must produce a witness who would testify to committing adultery with her husband. As a result, she’s now reluctantly planning to renounce her faith.

“Converting is the easiest way out,” she said. “My family tells me that they will disown me as a Muslim, but I don’t have a choice.”

Masih is one of thousands of Christians in Pakistan who have converted to Islam to divorce their spouses under laws stemming from the British colonial period, when traditional morals held sway.

Now Pakistani officials are considering revising the law to make it easier for couples to part ways.