Jordan tallied 27 Christian expulsions in '07

Joni B. Hannigan/BP

A girl in an orphanage operated by Catholic Franciscan nuns in Amman, Jordan, plays with her doll while Baptist relief workers from America carry in loads of food and other basic items needed for the children there. Believers in the country say increased pressure by the government has led to the deportation of many Christian leaders working with local churches.

ISTANBUL (BP) — Jordan has increased pressure on foreign Christians living in the kingdom, expelling many long-time residents over the past 13 months in what local churches see as an attack on their legitimacy.

Authorities deported or refused residence permits to at least 27 expatriate Christian families and individuals in 2007, many working with local churches or studying at a Christian seminary, Compass Direct News confirmed.

In all but one case, officials refused to provide written explanations for the decisions. But many of those expelled said they had been questioned by intelligence officers regarding evangelism of Muslims.

“They said that I am a threat to Jordanian security and I am making the society unstable,” said Hannu Lahtinen, a Finnish pastor deported in December. “They have a thousand ways to say you are preaching the gospel.”

“We are a legal entity, and many of these foreigners have been granted visas as clergy working in legal Jordanian churches,” Nazarene pastor Afeef Halasa said. “Suddenly kicking them out without giving a reason communicates that our churches are not legitimate.”

Though not illegal, Christian “public proselytism” of Muslims is against government policy, according to the U.S. State Department’s annual report on religious freedom in Jordan.

But a Jordanian spokesperson told Compass that the government only deported foreigners who had broken the law or had been dishonest in their application for residency.

“There have been incidents where individuals have violated the legal terms of their residence in the country or have deeply offended religious and public sensibilities, or both,” said the official.

According to pastors from Jordan’s five official evangelical churches, recognized by the government as “societies,” authorities have long provided a wide degree of freedom for religious minorities.

Joni B. Hannigan/BP

A Palestinian schoolgirl keeps an eye on her baby brother while her mother receives milk and diapers from Baptist relief workers at an Islamic women’s center in Jordan.

Uncertainty about the future of evangelical Christians in Jordan caused almost all local and foreign pastors who spoke with Compass to request anonymity. Several foreign Christians, now outside the kingdom, agreed to be interviewed solely based on the hope that publicity might help halt the crackdown.

Christians, including Catholics, Protestants, and Orthodox, make up three percent of Jordan’s population but hold almost 10 percent of the seats in parliament. Catholic and Orthodox churches have their own family court system.

Evangelicals, who number approximately 5,000, have fewer rights than the historical churches but are tax-exempt and can sponsor residence permits for foreign clergy.

In July 2006, Jordan published the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in its official Gazette, giving the covenant, which protects freedom of religion, force of law.

Christians from the United States, Europe, South Korea, Egypt, Sudan, and Iraq were among those deported or refused visas in 2007.

Intelligence officers handcuffed and blindfolded Finnish pastor Lahtinen after detaining him at an Amman gas station in early December. Police held the clergyman for two days and then deported him without an official explanation. Lahtinen’s wife and two young sons returned to Finland the following week.

One month later, upon official inquiry from the Finnish Foreign Ministry, Jordanian authorities provided a written explanation of the pastor’s deportation.

Lahtinen was accused of being a threat to the country’s social stability and illegally residing in the kingdom, and he was in personal danger, according to a letter from Jordan’s Foreign Ministry to the Finnish embassy, Finland’s Ambassador Pertti Harvola confirmed.

At least 10 of those deported in August and September 2007 were non-Jordanian Arab students at the Jordan Evangelical Theological Seminary. In addition, Jordan rejected the visa applications of all foreign JETS students requesting residency for the 2007-08 academic year.