Churches were guarded by armed police in the Indian state of Orissa last night after the death sentence was passed against the ringleader of a mob that murdered an Australian missionary and his two young sons by burning them alive as they slept in their Jeep. Thousands gathered outside the court as Dara Singh, a Hindu activist whose supporters formed “Dara’s Army”, was sentenced to be hanged for killing Graham Staines, 57, and his boys Philip, 10, and Timothy, eight, nearly five years ago. The murder of the boys and Mr Staines, a Baptist who spent 30 years in India working with leprosy patients, at a church in a remote village in eastern Orissa, sent a wave of disgust around the world. Twelve other men were sentenced yesterday to life for their part in the murders, among the worst hate crimes for years against the Christian minority in India, just 2 per cent of the 1.2 billion population. Full Story
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