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Canadian evangelical on trial in Lebanon for spying
Bruce Balfour went to Lebanon to replant the country's biblical cedars. He's now on trial on charges of spying for Israel against Hizbollah guerrillas and the Lebanese army.

"I expect him to be found innocent because there is no serious evidence against him," his lawyer, Ibrahim al-Hariri, told Reuters. "This is not a judicial trial, it is ideological."

The trial has been postponed several times since his July 10 arrest as the prosecution has attempted to "find" witnesses.

Many officials in the Canadian government and many Canadian evangelicals are outraged by the arrest. (Balfour's organization has many past news articles on its site)

The next hearing is scheduled for next Wednesday, when the military tribunal is expected to issue a verdict. Balfour faces three to 15 years of hard labor.

Andrei Okhotin likely to go free this week
Meanwhile, similarly trumped up charges against Harvard Divinity School student and Baptist missionary Andrew Okhotin continue to be discussed in a Moscow court.

The 28-year-old is charged with smuggling $48,000 into the country. He declared the money—intended for local Baptist churches and ministries—on a form, but mistakenly walked down the wrong customs corridor at the airport. He says customs agents only arrested him after he refused their demands for bribes of $10,000 and $5,000.

The prosecution's argument is so weak that it backed down from seeking a five-year sentence. Yesterday, prosecutors asked only for a six-month suspended sentence.

But Okhotin says it's the money, not his freedom that he's concerned about. "I would like to ask you to give the money back," he told the court yesterday. "It doesn't matter what decision you will make about me."

A verdict is expected tomorrow morning at 10 a.m. (2 a.m. EST).

No exodus yet
The Ten Commandments showdown at the Alabama judicial building yesterday sounds a bit anticlimactic. Nearly two dozen protesters supporting the monument were arrested on trespassing charges. The U.S. Supreme Court turned down Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore's request to stop the removal. And U.S. District Court Judge Myron H. Thompson, who has ordered the monument's removal, is meeting with his attorneys today to decide whether to fine the state $5,000 a day for keeping the monument where it is. The showdown continues. Meanwhile, here's the media coverage:

• Jurist defies deadline on monument | $5,000-a-day fines may begin (The Washington Post)
  
  
• Also: Alabama judge defiant on commandments' display | Hundreds applauded Chief Justice Roy Moore's refusal to remove a monument of the Ten Commandments from the lobby of the State Supreme Court (The New York Times)
  
  
• Commandments appeal fails | The Supreme Court refuses to intervene hours before a judicial deadline for removal of a religious display from a state building (Los Angeles Times)
  
  
• Court won't stop monument move | Twenty-two protesters, part of a group that has vowed to block removal of the monument by civil disobedience, were arrested after refusing to leave the court building and jailed on trespassing charges (The Birmingham News)
  
  
• Also: Protesters removed, monument stays (Montgomery Advertiser)
  
  
• Circuit judge gives chamber a look at Moore case possibilities | They may not be as emotionally involved as the general public, but judges find the whirlwind around Alabama's Chief Justice Roy Moore's 10 Commandments monument just as fascinating (The Birmingham News)
  
  
• Prayer rally at courthouse here to support display of biblical law | Demonstrators support Ten Commandments displays in Lucas County Courthouse, and in Alabama (Toledo Blade)
  
  

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August (Web-only) 2003, Vol. 47