Yemeni School Denies that American Man Reportedly Shot by an Al Qaeda-Linked Group Was Proselytizing
- Posted on March 19, 2012 at 7:41am by
Billy Hallowell
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Joel Shrum (Image Credit: Lancaster Newspapers)
As The Blaze reported over the weekend, an al Qaeda-linked group has allegedly claimed responsibility for executing an American English teacher in Yemen. The individual, Joel Shrum, was accused of “proselytizing” and was apparently killed on his way to work on Sunday. Now, the school where he worked is denying that Shrum was engaged in faith conversion.
Shrum, who was from the Harrisburg, Pa., area, had been working at the International Training Development Centre for two years. CBN News has more regarding the tragic incident:
Officials said a motorcycle gunman and an accomplice pulled alongside the vehicle that American Joel Shrum was riding in and opened fire.
Shrum was on his way to work in the city of Taiz at the time of the attack. He served as deputy director of the Swedish Institute, a language school…
The assailants escaped after the shooting, but an al Qaeda-linked group quickly claimed responsibility for the attack.
A statement from the International Training Development Centre in Taiz identified the victim as Joel Shrum, an American development worker living in Yemen with his wife and two children since 2010.
The school denied that Shrum was proselytizing, saying that he “highly respected” Islam. It said Muslims and Christians work together on “human development, skill transfer and community development” projects there and that religious and political debates are not permitted.
The release said the school “is calling on the Yemeni people to rise up and rejects the hatred and violence in their country.”
Ansar al-Sharia (translation: Partisans of Islamic Law), the group behind the murder, allegedly sent a message to journalists that directly mentioned Christianity and the West. The message, which came from an unnamed source who claimed to represent the terror group, read, ”This operation comes as a response to the campaign of Christian proselytizing that the West has launched against Muslims.” The letter also dubbed Shrum ”one of the biggest American proselytizers.”
The car that reportedly belonged to Joel Shrum (AP).
“He was just motivated by especially seeing people coming out of poverty,” Shrum’s father, James, told The (Lancaster) Intelligencer Journal/Lancaster New Era.
YDR.com has more about Shrum:
At Donegal High School, Shrum was a standout football player, earning first- team All Lancaster-Lebanon League honors on both offense and defense in 1999.
He was captain of the 1999 team, one of the few juniors ever voted that honor.
Shrum’s former coach at Donegal, Gayne Deshler, remembered Shrum and his younger brother, Justin, “as the kind of kids that hung on every word. They were more about the team than themselves.”
He said the two brothers and other family members went to South America and Mexico for church-related work.
In the Human Rights Watch World Report 2012, Ansar al-Sharia is mentioned explicitly, as are some of the issues the terror group caused in Yemen in 2011:
In May the government…launched a military campaign in Abyan province against Ansar al-Sharia (Partisans of Islamic Law), an armed group reportedly backed by Yemen-based al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). Ansar al-Sharia had previously captured two provincial cities, Zinjibar and Jaar. On May 20, Central Security forces opened fire with assault rifles in a crowded market in Zinjibar, killing six merchants and shoppers and wounding three dozen others. The forces opened fire after a car bomb nearby killed four members of Central Security, but there were no reports of militants or other suspects inside the market.
A text message that circulated by mobile phone in Yemen said that “holy warriors” had killed “a senior missionary” in the central city of Taiz, shortly after the teacher was shot dead Sunday by two gunmen on a motorcycle.
It was impossible to confirm the claim of responsibility. Al-Qaida and other militant groups are active in Yemen, which has suffered a breakdown of central state authority during the country’s yearlong uprising.
Taiz security director Ali al-Saidi said Monday that the investigation is still ongoing.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Al J Zira
Posted on May 6, 2012 at 8:26pmThe school denied that Shrum was proselytizing, saying that he “highly respected” Islam. It said Muslims and Christians work together on “human development, skill transfer and community development” projects there and that religious and political debates are not permitted.
When are people going to realize that Islam doesn’t want anything to do with “human development” or “skill transfer” or anything else. They just want us dead.
Report Post »JackBauer45
Posted on March 20, 2012 at 7:50pmThis is heartbreaking news. I met Joel and his wife just weeks before they left for Yemen for the first time. We met at a Christian family camp and immediately fell in love with this family and with the heart they have for the lost. My wife and I were so struck by their passion that we decided to partner with them and have been so blessed to have been a small part in what the Shrums have been doing for the past few years. Please be diligent in your prayers for Joel’s wife and 2 young boys in the weeks to come. I can’t fathom the grief they must be experiencing right now but I also know them well enough to say that if Joel could speak to us now he would respond just as Jesus did while hanging on the cross…”Father, forgive them for they know not what they do”. I’m not sure I could respond in kind at this point as the injustice of this all has pushed me to the point of rage, but I know the forgiveness I’ve experienced and I know that it must be extended to even the vilest of offenders.
Report Post »vljanski
Posted on March 20, 2012 at 4:00pmI am very upset about this. I knew this young man and his family, personally. My son had dinner with him and he cared for people. He loved the Middle East, the language and the culture, it was “home” to him. He did not deserve this and my heart goes out to his children and the wife left behind.
Report Post »Not going to take it anymore
Posted on March 19, 2012 at 7:39pmSharia Law = Murder of the INNOCENT.
Report Post »TEARS FOR AMERICA
Posted on March 19, 2012 at 3:42pmLike the woman Cyd Mizell who was kidnapped and later viciously murdered in Kabul, Afghanistan, who was teaching the women how to sew and make things, and loved these Afghan women and children, reminds us that evil knows no bounds…and the feminists in this country were silent! Sacrificial women like Cyd live their love while leftists are hollow hounds. Her testimony will live forever. Thank you, Cyd.
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/02/27/afghanistan/index.html
Report Post »Infidel49
Posted on March 19, 2012 at 2:52pmWhat else are they going to say? They don’t want to get blown up also.
Report Post »MiddleAmerica2012
Posted on March 19, 2012 at 11:13amif your white stay out of the arab world, they are mentally ill people who care more about burning books than human life. they are backwards. it was his own fault for going there. We need more soliders to go door to door to exterminate these devils.
Report Post »Jenny Lind
Posted on March 19, 2012 at 11:10amHoly warriors my foot. Just evil, nasty, anti American, hatefilled, jerks and murderers.
Report Post »Gonzo
Posted on March 19, 2012 at 9:47amI don’t know why you would go to Yemen unless it was to proselytize.
Report Post »zoro51
Posted on March 19, 2012 at 9:37ammurdering muslums care not for a life or any life even thier own kind they will KILL for no reason n again this proves it MUSLUMS ARE MURDERS
Report Post »tricia
Posted on March 19, 2012 at 9:27amObama’s legacy, Christian persecution and murder on the rise. Egypt, Iraq, Iran, Libya, Sudan and on and on and on. But the boy who grew up muslim is a convert to Christianity, yeah right! By their fruits you shall know them.
Report Post »StrongViolentType
Posted on March 19, 2012 at 9:12amThe religion of peace in action. Cavemen
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