Muslim Persecution of Christians, December 2014

Christmas celebrations were, as usual, tense and sometimes bloody:

Somalia: Islamic terrorists boasted of successfully slaughtering Christians while "they were celebrating Christmas." Eight Islamic gunmen infiltrated the main African Union base in Mogadishu and killed three peacekeepers and a civilian contractor. Later, the Islamic group Al Shabaab claimed responsibility for the attack; it announced it had killed 14 peacekeepers whom it described as "Christian enemies": "We targeted the enemies at a time they were celebrating Christmas," said Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, spokesman for Al Shabaab. Western diplomats who were celebrating Christmas in Mogadishu were evacuated to safety bunkers until the raid was over. Witnesses reported hearing bomb blasts and volleys of gunfire throughout the day.

Iraq: In mid-December, as people in the West were doing their last minute Christmas shopping, churches under IS authority were turned into torture chambers for Christians. According to a witness, "churches are being used as prisons and for torture. Three of the Christian prisoners died because they were sick and nobody cared for them." The witness, known as Abu Aasi, said that Christian prisoners in the churches are being forced to convert and that IS members have been "breaking all the crosses and statues of Mary." Other reports told of how Christian prisoners — blindfolded and handcuffed — were held at the ancient Chaldean Church of the Immaculate Conception in eastern Mosul, and that St George's monastery was now a female prison.

Pakistan: Christian minorities celebrated Christmas "with religious fervor by offering prayers in different churches under tight security," said one report : "heavy contingents of police were deployed in and around the churches at cantonment and city areas where movement of other people was restricted and the citizens were allowed only after thorough body search."
In Peshawar alone, approximately "2,000 policemen were deployed in addition to personnel in plain clothes ... while the entry points leading to the churches had been closed by placing cemented blocks and barbed wire." Peshawar, of course, is where Islamic suicide bombers attacked the All Saints Church in September 2013, leaving nearly 90 worshippers dead — including many Sunday school children, women, and choir members — and approximately 120 injured.
Also in Pakistan, Elisabeth Bibi, a 28-year-old pregnant Christian mother of four, was "beaten, scorned and humiliated, deprived of her dignity [and] forced to walk naked through the town" by two Muslim brothers, the pregnant woman's employers, following an argument. In the ordeal, she lost her baby. Another report states that she was beaten with "pipes" and then robbed by the two Muslim men. Rights activists say the attack "was motivated because of Bibi's [Christian] religious beliefs." Bibi herself said that the Muslim family often tried to persuade her to convert to Islam. Police, as often happens when Muslims attack Christians, failed to arrest the two brothers, and Christian activists received threats to drop the charges.

Egypt: With the approach of the Christmas season, Islamic clerics and websites warned Muslims to refrain from any form of participation in Christian celebrations and condemned Muslims who offer their best wishes to their Christian neighbors during Christmas. There were also death threats and incitement to violence against churches, with particular reference to Christian communities in the governorates of Minya, Alexandria and Fayyum, where the Salafis and Muslim Brotherhood have a strong presence.
On December 24, or Christmas Eve, security forces "arrested seven members of a terrorist cell led by a 50-year-old deputy headmaster of a secondary school in the Minya governorate, who is accused of plotting violent acts during the Coptic Christmas celebrations," reports Zawya. Those arrested "were caught in possession of Molotov cocktails, pictures of the ousted Egyptian president [Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood], and circuitry connected to mobile phones to detonate bombs from a distance, as part of a plan to disrupt the Christmas celebrations."
Elsewhere in Egypt, Christians "had to pray outdoors in spite of the cold air and the coming of Christmas, as the police were unable to protect them from Islamists' attacks," in the words of the president of the Egyptian Union for Human Rights, and because many of their churches, despite military promises, remain partially destroyed after 2013 Brotherhood uprisings (see church section below for more).
Iran: On Christmas day in Tehran province, nine Christians were arrested after a paramilitary force and armed plainclothes agents raided a house church where they were celebrating Christmas. The Christians were transferred to an unknown location. NCR-Iran adds, "The clerical regime in Iran continued human rights abuses in Iran during Christmas. At dawn of the 25th December, on Christmas day when hundred[s] of millions of people around the world were celebrating the birth of the Christ, the barbaric regime of Iran hanged 7 people in mass execution in Shiraz."
Nigeria: The Catholic Diocese of Maiduguri, capital city of Borno State in Muslim-majority northern Nigeria, experienced another tense Christmas. The city has been besieged by the Islamic organization Boko Haram, and streets were left vehicle-free on December 25 to avoid suicide attacks. Most of the 5,000 displaced persons welcomed in Maiduguri are in fact refugees from other regions that have fallen to Boko Haram.
These people, said Fr. Gideon Obasogie "have no homes, cannot celebrate Christmas as usual with their relatives and friends and are forced to live in a state of hopelessness. Despite fears of terrorist attacks — including widespread rumors of suicide bombers disguised as nuns — "the Catholic faithful went to Christmas Mass ... to express their faith in an eloquent manner," reported the priest.

A Nigerian army emplacement in Maiduguri. (Image source: TV360 video screenshot)

Due to the continually worsening plight of Christians in the Middle East, even Britain's Prince Charles, who is often criticized of being overly sympathetic to and apologetic of Islam, said:

It seems to me that we cannot ignore the fact that Christians in the Middle East are increasingly being deliberately targeted by fundamentalist Islamist militants.... Christianity was literally born in the Middle East and we must not forget our Middle Eastern brothers and sisters in Christ... Yet today the Middle East and North Africa has the lowest concentration of Christians in the world — just four per cent of the population and it is clear that the Christian population has dropped dramatically over the last century and is falling still further.... We all lose something immensely and irreproachably precious when such a rich tradition dating back 2,000 years begins to disappear.

The rest of December's roundup of Muslim persecution of Christians around the world includes (but is not limited to) the following accounts, listed by theme and country in alphabetical order, not necessarily according to severity.

Jihadi Slaughter of Christians

Kenya: Gunmen from the Islamic organization Al Shabaab launched an early-morning raid on quarry workers while they slept in their worksite tents near the city of Mandera, along the Somali border. Christians and Muslims were separated before the Christians, thirty-six of them, were beheaded or shot dead. Afterwards, Al Shabaab posted a statement condemning the "crusaders" — a standard jihadi reference to Christians — and added: "We are uncompromising in our beliefs, relentless in our pursuit, ruthless against the disbelievers and we will do whatever necessary to defend our Muslim brethren suffering from Kenya's aggression." The killings occurred 10 days after Al Shabaab's attack on a bus and the massacre of 28 of its non-Muslim (primarily Christian) passengers. Again, Muslim passengers were singled out and left unharmed.

Libya: Unidentified men broke into a Christian household the middle of the night. They handcuffed and killed the father, according to his brother-in-law during an interview. Then they entered the children's bedroom. The mother was there, cried out, tried to fight back, and was killed. They took the oldest daughter, Katherine, and fled with her. The girl's body was later found in the desert, shot three times (graphic pictures here). The other two younger daughters were left for two-and-a-half hours in their bedroom with the body of their slain mother. In the early morning, they fled the house and ran toward their school where they were intercepted by the principal who asked them, "Why are you coming to school alone today? Where's your father?" They answered, "Daddy is in heaven." Ansar al-Sharia ("Supporters of Islamic Law"), an Islamist organization that rose to power during Libya's "Arab Spring," is believed to be responsible for the targeting of this, and other, Christian families. In February 2014, after Ansar al-Sharia offered a reward to any Benghazi resident who helped round up and execute the nation's Coptic Christian residents, seven Christians were forcibly seized from their homes by "unknown gunmen," marched out into the desert and shot execution style, some 20 miles west of Benghazi (graphic pictures appear here).

Nigeria: In Taraba State, over 100 Muslim Fulani herdsmen slaughtered 16 Christians, including a one-year-old infant and his mother, and torched several churches and Christians' homes in two separate village attacks. A resident from one of the villages said, "We have buried those killed in the attack, and the sad thing is that this is not the first time that such an attack was carried out on Christian communities here. No one cares about us. Lives and properties are being wasted on [a] daily basis, and the government is not doing anything to stop the killing of our people."
Catholic Priest Clement Mkperaga, whose church building was destroyed and who barely escaped with his life, said: "The village has been destroyed, and all my parishioners have been displaced. Ten of my parishioners were killed during the attack on our community. I have been forced to flee the village, as both the church building and the parish house have also been destroyed."
Many similar attacks on Christian villages have been launched by Muslim Fulani herdsmen who "are always working together with Muslim terrorist gunmen [Boko Haram]," said another Christian local: "Whenever they invade a Christian community, they kill and burn houses at will and go unchallenged. That is precisely how they attacked our village."

Christian Churches Under Islam

Egypt: Although the military promised to rebuild the dozens of churches damaged or destroyed by Islamic mobs angered at the June 2013 revolution that ousted the Muslim Brotherhood, parishioners are still waiting. According to the Global Post, "The army's work to rebuild the churches has been slow. Even the help they do provide is partial," meaning the congregation has to pay for the bulk of repairs. Some churches are not even receiving partial aid, such as the charred shell that is the Anba Moussa church: "Nothing has been moved since the day a mob burned and looted the church and the priest's apartment. They took everything, down to the doorframes and the toilet seats, after driving a car through the front doors. Only an ever-thickening layer of dust attests to the passage of time."
According to that church's caretaker, "They say the army will come, but up to now we haven't seen anything." Islamic law holds that new churches are never to be built in Muslim lands and existing ones never repaired. Even so, many of these partially wrecked churches continue to be used, and are even packed, during church services. (Click here for many pictures of these wrecked churches.)

Iraq: The Islamic State blew up yet another Christian church in Mosul. According to Pastor Behnam Raad, "Members of the extremist organization cleared the Church of Virgin Mary of its contents in al-Arabi area, north of Mosul and blew it up after [a] few hours." The nearby convent of the Chaldean Sisters of the Sacred Heart was also reportedly bombed by IS. Once a Christian-majority city, Mosul is now an IS stronghold.

Sudan: On December 2, police beat and arrested 38 Christians from Bahri Evangelical Church in North Khartoum, for still using the church that authorities had condemned to destruction, and which had already been raided and partially demolished during the previous two weeks. "We have enjoyed worshipping and praising God in prison," one of the arrested Christians said. "The power of God was present among us; let the name of God be praised and glorified from now and evermore."
According to Morning Star News, Sudan's security agents and police have "broad powers to arrest Christians and other lowly regarded people without cause, for creating a public disturbance. The Christians were released after being sentenced to pay a fine of $250 each."
And on December 21, security agents arrested and held the Rev. Yat Michael of the South Sudan Presbyterian Evangelical Church right after he delivered a sermon about standing firm against persecution at the North Khartoum church. "The level of persecution has become too much for us in Sudan," another church leader said. "But God is good all the time; He will help His church face this persecution."

Muslim Attacks on Christian Freedom: Apostasy, Blasphemy, and Proselytism

Kenya: A pastor of Somali descent whom Islamic Al Shabaab militants have threatened for leaving Islam lives in fear and terror. The Islamic group has offered a reward to anyone who kills the Rev. Mahad H. Birik. This comes after a video of the apostate describing his conversion from Islam seeped into Somali media two months earlier. Since then, disturbing signs — such as known hit men following him to church and masked men asking around about a "Somali pastor" — have taken place. "My family is now living in a sleepless state," said the father of two children — one aged 15 from a wife who, according to Islamic law, was taken from him when he left Islam, and a 2-year-old from remarriage. "My life and that of my family is in imminent danger. It is very serious and real, as Muslim extremists are strategizing on having my head."
On December 1, after two of Birik's Somali relatives argued with him over his conversion to Christianity, one of them said, "I wish I could get an opportunity to kill this infidel — just hit him right in his face." In Somali, converts to Christianity who get exposed are regularly beheaded by Islamists.

Pakistan: Eleven Christian residents of Islamabad, including a pastor, were collectively accused of blasphemy by Naseem Bibi, a former Christian woman who converted to Islam 20 years ago and married a Muslim man. She claims that Pastor Karamat Masih and 50 other Christians stormed into her home where they harassed and threatened her. Others, however, say the Muslim woman is exploiting the blasphemy law in order to avenge herself on some of the Christians with whom she has a personal dispute. Speaking of this case, a Pakistani Christian activist and lawyer, Sardar Mushtaq Gill, said, "There are always more and more frequent cases where the blasphemy law is used to target religious minorities or to settle cases of disputes and private rivalries, or simply as an instrument of blackmail."

Turkey: Approximately 10,000 New Testaments and other Christian books were destroyed during a fire that was started by a suspected arson attack at the offices of the Bible Correspondence Course in Turkey [BCC-Turkey], located in a multistory building, which also houses a church, in the Kadikoy neighborhood of Istanbul. There were no injuries or structural damage. Concerning the identity of the arsonist(s), David Byle, co-founder of BBC-Turkey, said "Our hunch is it is people who don't like people who do the activities we do here — mainly giving out free New Testaments and explaining the Christian faith to people." Concerning police response, Byle said,

"We were disappointed by how little interest it seemed was shown by the authorities investigating this. If a depot in Germany or England located right above a mosque, in the same building full of thousands of Korans, had a fire start right exactly where the Korans were stored, and if the policemen from England or Germany arrived at the scene and took a quick look and said, 'Oh, well this is obviously just an accident,' and then just tried to convince all the on-lookers it was an accident and didn't even bother to call the police in, that man would be out of a job very quickly."

(In April 2007, several terrorists attacked a publishing house in Malatya, Turkey, for distributing Bibles. They bound, tortured and slaughtered three Christian employees. One suspect later said: "We didn't do this for ourselves, but for our religion [Islam]…. Let this be a lesson to enemies of our religion.")

Egyptian Dhimmitude

According to the Justice Organization for Development and Human Rights, a Salafi plan exists in Egypt to expel the Christian Copts from the Upper Egypt governorates of Minya, Asyut and Beni Suef, where an Islamist presence is strong. Accordingly, unidentified people set four Coptic Christian owned shops on fire in Minya. Firefighters were barely able to extinguish the fire. Police later said the fire was caused by an electric short circuit, although most Copts are skeptical.

Separately, Mina Thabet, founder of the People's Initiative Party, said that cases of Coptic abductions for ransom are on the rise in Minya and are proving to be a lucrative "business" for "thugs and terrorists" of the Islamic persuasion in an area that is "at an all-time low and ridden with corruption." Thabet says that since January 25, 2011, the date of Egypt's original "Arab Spring," these kidnappings have cost Coptic Christian minorities over 120 million Egyptian pounds (nearly USD $16 million). According to Thabet, "incomprehensible laxity" concerning the safety of Christian minorities prevails, making them extremely vulnerable to profit-making kidnappings.

About this Series

While not all, or even most, Muslims are involved, persecution of Christians is expanding. "Muslim Persecution of Christians" was developed to collate some — by no means all — of the instances of persecution that surface each month.
It documents what the mainstream media often fails to report.
It posits that such persecution is not random but systematic, and takes place in all languages, ethnicities and locations.

Muslim Persecution of Christians, June 2014

During the Islamic State's June invasion and consolidation of Mosul, Iraq -- where Christians have been present since the first century -- countless atrocities against them were committed. Accordingly, the region is now reportedly empty of Christian presence.
The Islamic State, among other acts, reinstituted the collection of jizya, the "tribute" conquered Christians (and Jews) were historically required to pay in order not to be killed in accordance with the Koran (9:29).

In one instance, three Islamic State members burst into the home of a Christian family, demanding the jizya-money. When the father of the house pleaded that he did not have the money, the intruders raped his wife and daughter in front of him. The man was reportedly so traumatized that he committed suicide. Four other Christian women were killed for not wearing the Islamic veil.

Soon after taking over Mosul, the Islamic State also announced that it would destroy all Christian places of worship. Several churches were burned, including the Armenian church near the Al Salam hospital, and the Church of the Holy Spirit, after first being looted and desecrated. A large statue of the Virgin Mary disappeared.

Among the many Christians missing are two nuns from the Daughters of Mary Order, who managed an orphanage for girls in Mosul. It is believed they have been kidnapped.

Sister Utoor Joseph (left) and Sister Miskintah, are nuns who disappeared on June 28 in Mosul, Iraq, and are believed to have been kidnapped by Islamists.

The rest of June's roundup of Muslim persecution of Christians around the world includes (but is not limited to) the following accounts, listed by theme and country alphabetical order, not necessarily according to severity.

Church Attacks and Slaughters

Indonesia: Another Catholic community was attacked in the world's largest Muslim-population country. The Parish of the Sacred Heart in Pugeran, in the South of Yogyakarta, was targeted by three different groups of unknown assailants riding motorcycles during the first morning Mass. The incident coincided with the start of Ramadan, Islam's holy month, which often sees a rise in hostility for religious minorities. The attackers, who were dressed in black and covered their faces with masks, broke through the parish gates while shouting, "Allah is Greater!," Islam's historic war-cry. They attacked some Christian objects and posters placed there by members of the local Catholic community. Weeks earlier, on May 30, "Islamic extremists attacked a group of Catholics gathered in prayer, beating up the community leader; a week later, Pastor Niko, leader of the Protestant Christian community, was targeted by extremists 'accused' of having set up an 'illegal' house of prayer without permission," according to Asia News. It continued, "Indonesia is the most populous Muslim nation in the world. Increasingly however, it has become the scene of attacks or episodes of intolerance against minorities, whether they are Christians, Ahmadi Muslims or belong to other faiths."

Kenya: Approximately 50 militants from Somalia's Islamic Al Shabaab ("the youth") network attacked two hotels, a police station and other buildings in Mpeketoni, a predominantly Christian town on Kenya's coast, during the night of Sunday June 15. They chanted "Allahu Akbar!" ("Allah is Greater!") and killed whoever could not recite verses from the Koran. The militants reportedly also went door-to-door asking residents their religion and killing them if they said, "Christian." More than 57 people were killed, including six children of church pastors.

Nigeria: Suspected Boko Haram jihadis killed nine Christians during a June 1 Sunday church service, hours before bombing a Christian area in neighboring Adamawa state. The blast resulted in nearly 50 deaths. In addition, at least 10 gunmen attacked the Church of the Brethren in Nigeria during worship in Attagara village. The jihadis killed nine Christian members who were volunteering as security for the rest of the congregation during service. Another Christian church in Central State Plateau was set ablaze by armed men who also killed at least eight Christian worshippers. According to the Italian news agency, AGI, "The police made their statement, saying that for now they have not assigned the blame for the action, even though the MO and the aims of the attack lead to presuming it was the work by the Boko Haram Islamic Fundamentalists, who have killed thousands of people since 2009." Speaking about the June 1 church attack, one area Christian leader said that the attackers were a small part of 200 assailants who have invaded Attagara and other predominantly Christian villages around Gwoza the past two weeks, destroying homes and churches: "Our church in Attagara was attacked also on Sunday," said Dr. Rebecca Dali. "There have been 24-hour-a-day attacks on Christian communities of Attagara, Hawul, and Gwoshe around the Gwoza mountains…. The Boko Haram Islamists have destroyed 36 churches in Gwoza area, including that of Attagara attacked on Sunday. We now have only two churches that have not been affected."
Sudan: Authorities in North Khartoum demolished another church building, that of the Sudanese Church of Christ. Bulldozers came and demolished the church just one day after authorities gave verbal notice of the decision during the congregation's Sunday worship service the previous day. Congregation members stood by watching their church razed to the ground. About 70 security personnel armed with guns and tear gas stood by, threatening anyone who dared to interfere or protest. "They wanted to beat us or throw tear gas on us," said one congregation member. Authorities gave no clear reason why the church, which has stood since 1983 and which has all the legal paperwork, was being destroyed. According to Rev. Kwa Shamal, the church's pastor who questioned the commissioner, "They did not want us to ask many questions on why they were demolishing our church." Because the government refuses to grant the church any compensation, "We will have to pray in a makeshift tent next Sunday" along the road, said the pastor.

Attacks on Christian Freedom: Apostasy and Blasphemy

Afghanistan: The New York Times told the story of "Josef," a Muslim convert to Christianity who is on the run from Afghani family members trying to slay him. The apostate from Islam lives in a 10-by-10 dilapidated room, his few worldly possessions a tattered Bible and wooden cross with the Sermon on the Mount written on it: "Josef's brother-in-law Ibrahim arrived in Kabul recently, leaving behind his family and business in Pakistan, to hunt down the apostate and kill him. When reached by telephone, Ibrahim, who uses only one name, offered a reporter for The New York Times $20,000 to tell him where Josef was hiding. 'If I find him, once we are done with him, I will kill his son as well, because his son is a bastard,' Ibrahim said, referring to Josef's 3-year-old child. 'He is not from a Muslim father.'" Earlier, when Ibrahim first discovered Josef's conversion to Christianity, he and his family attacked the convert, tied his hands and feet and were going to slaughter him until the father intervened, calling for time to investigate matters. Josef used the time to escape. Having had a long spiritual journey and closely studying all religions, the Christian convert said, "Even if I get killed, I won't convert back."

Egypt: Islamic vindictiveness against Coptic Christians accused of "blasphemy" and "apostasy" was in the air all throughout the month of June in President Sisi's not so "new" Egypt. First, Kerolos Shouky Attallah, a young Coptic Christian man accused of blaspheming Islam for simply "liking" an Arabic-language Facebook page administered by an anonymous group of Christian converts, was sentenced to six years in prison. According to Attallah's attorney, the Copt did not make any comments on the site, share any of the postings or upload anything to it, and removed his name from the page once he realized that it might offend Muslims. In the hours preceding the sentencing, a rioting mob burned down several Christian-owned shops in the area near Luxor. Safwat Samaan, Chairman of Nation Without Borders, a human rights and development group headquartered in Luxor, said, "The sentence today was a shock not just to Kerolos but to everyone who uses Facebook in Egypt. Any person who uses Facebook in Egypt and presses 'Like' on any page … can be put into prison for six years."
Also, An Egyptian appeals court upheld a blasphemy conviction against Dimyana Abdel-Nour, a Coptic Christian teacher, and sentenced her to six months. The ruling overturned an earlier sentencing, which only imposed a fine. The appellate court in Luxor stated that the elementary school teacher had insulted Islam in front of her pupils. Last year, three 10-year-old Muslim children complained to their parents that the Coptic teacher showed disgust for Islam when discussing it in class.
Bishoy Armia Boulous—more notoriously known as Mohammed Hegazy, the first Egyptian ever to try legally to change his religious identity from Muslim to Christian on his official ID—was sentenced to five years in prison. (Years earlier, when he first tried to change his ID, he was also imprisoned and tortured.) The judge cited "disturbing the peace by broadcasting false information" as the reason for sentencing the apostate, who in the weeks before, was documenting political unrest in Egypt brought on by innumerable Muslim extremist attacks on Christians. The exact section of the nation's criminal code that Boulous allegedly violated was not released. According to Boulous's lawyer, the real reason he was charged and sentenced is because he abandoned Islam and became a Christian: "The officer who arrested him, when he found that he hadn't committed a crime, made up things to keep him in prison so he could be sentenced," said the lawyer.

Uganda: After Muslim family members tried, but failed, to poison a relative who converted to Christianity, he was attacked again by Muslims who killed his young daughter. On June 16, four men forced their way into the home of Hassan Muwanguzi—a former sheikh who converted to Christianity in 2003. One of the intruders was shouting, "Today we shall kill you—you have been a trouble-maker and are not respecting our prophet's religion." Thinking they would not hurt Grace Baruka, his daughter, he fled into a room, but then heard the 12-year-old girl's cries as the Muslim intruders were strangling her. When he came out of the room they seized him: "They hit me with a blunt object, and I fell down. I just woke up and saw neighbors surrounding me while wailing, saying that my daughter is in critical condition." Neighbors took Grace to a clinic but she was declared dead upon arrival. Muwanguzi has suffered greatly for embracing Christianity: first he lost his wife and job as a schoolteacher after his conversion; then an aunt tried to poison him by putting insecticide in his tea; and now his 12-year-old daughter has been killed. Lamented the former Muslim, in tears, to Morning Star News: "I am regretting why I survived the poisoning. God could have allowed me to die. My daughter has died, and I am now mourning for her death as well [as] have pain all over my body."

Dhimmitude

Lebanon: The Abra Municipality, a predominantly Christian suburb in the coastal city of Sidon, released a memo urging all citizens—the majority of whom are Christian—to respect observant Muslims during Ramadan and abstain from eating in public. In his memo, Mayor Walid Nicolas al-Mchantaf stressed the importance of showing consideration during the holy month and refraining from dining at restaurants and cafes during the fasting period, which begins at sunrise and ends at sunset. A large Muslim community exists in the town and has been in the spotlight since last year's violent clashes between Islamic gunmen and the Lebanese Army.

Germany: Muslims were granted their own section at the cemetery in the Hessian town of Seligenstadt. And they have been allowed to conduct Islamic ceremonies, in which the corpse is wrapped in cloths and buried facing Mecca. Now these same Islamic communities, including Ahmadiyyas, are demanding that Christian symbols and crosses in the cemetery be removed or covered up during Islamic funerals.

United Kingdom: The National Health Services suspended a Christian health worker on full pay for nine months for praying with a Muslim colleague. Victoria Wasteney, a senior occupational therapist, was also accused of "bullying" the colleague after giving her a book about a Muslim woman who converts to Christianity. According to Wasteney, her relationship with the Muslim woman was friendly; the Muslim female often came to her for support; the Christian health worker did not think that she was behaving coercively or disrespectfully. Andrea Williams, the chief executive of the Christian Legal Centre, said the case demonstrated that "the NHS is increasingly dominated by a suffocating liberal agenda that chooses to bend over backwards to accommodate certain beliefs but punishes the Christian."

About this Series

While not all, or even most, Muslims are involved, persecution of Christians is expanding. "Muslim Persecution of Christians" was developed to collate some—by no means all—of the instances of persecution that surface each month.
It documents what the mainstream media often fails to report.

It posits that such persecution is not random but systematic, and takes place in all languages ethnicities and locations.

Muslim Persecution of Christians, May 2014

The deplorable state of religious freedom in the Islamic world really came to the fore in May with the arrest, imprisonment, and death sentencing of a pregnant Christian wife and mother on the accusation that she had left Islam for Christianity. On May 15, Meriam Ibrahim of Sudan, after repeatedly refusing to convert to Islam, was sentenced to being flogged with 100 lashes, followed by being hanged for apostasy.

During her 6-month imprisonment, with her one-year-old son by her side, she gave birth to another child. The girl was born with disabilities due to the harsh conditions of the prison cell in which she was delivered, and the chains with which her "apostate" mother was still shackled as she gave birth.

Because Meriam Ibrahim's plight made it to the mainstream media, however, Sudan released Ibrahim and her children in June.

Before her release, Islamic clerics were often sent to her cell where they repeatedly pressured, and threatened her with death, to convert to Islam. In a recent interview with Megyn Kelly on Fox News, Ibrahim said: "My faith was the only weapon that I had in these confrontations with imams and Muslim scholars because that's what I believe. Faith means life. If you don't have faith, you're not alive."

When Kelly asked her why she didn't simply do what the clerics wanted and convert to Islam in the interest of freedom, Ibrahim replied:

If I did, that would mean I gave up. It's not possible because it's not true. It's my right to follow the religion of my choice. I'm not the only one suffering from this problem. There are many Meriams in Sudan and throughout the world. It's not just me; I'm not the only one.... With regard to the situation of Christians, this is a well-known fact that they live under difficult circumstances and they are persecuted and treated harshly. They are afraid to say they are Christian out of fear of persecution. Sometimes imprisoned Christians with financial difficulties are told that the government will pay off their debts if they convert to Islam.... If you are a Christian and you convert to Islam it will become hard to leave Islam because if you do so you will be subjected to the death penalty.

As Ibrahim's son, imprisoned with her, is an American citizen from his father's side, many Americans wondered why the Obama administration was not saying or doing much. Speaking of Ibrahim's ordeal, Sen. Ted Cruz said, "There is urgency, a dire need for U.S. leadership. President Obama should speak out publicly and call upon the government of Sudan to free Meriam Ibrahim. Secretary of State John Kerry should speak out loudly and forcibly and call up on." [sic]

Members of Congress are increasingly urging Obama to speak up on behalf of persecuted minorities throughout the Islamic world.

A few weeks earlier, human rights activists criticized the U.S. president for not addressing the plight of Christians and other minorities during his talks with leaders in Saudi Arabia, where Christianity is banned.

Many Christians, far from being released, are killed for being Christian and refusing Islam.

Around the same time the world was hearing about Ibrahim's plight, a prominent underground church Christian leader was killed by Muslims from the al-Shabaab group in Somalia. "Sadness and grief has befallen our community when our dear brother Abdishakur Yusuf was mercilessly murdered in Mogadishu by unknown gunmen," said a local source: "He was found outside his house lying in a pool of blood… He was shot in the head multiple times, so that his face is barely recognizable." Yusuf leaves a widow and three children, ages 11, 8 and 5. Weeks before this murder, al-Shabaab Islamists publicly beheaded a mother of two girls and her cousin after discovering they were Christians. According to local sources, the Islamists "called residents to the town center to witness the executions of the 41-year-old mother, Sadia Ali Omar, and her 35-year-old cousin, Osman Mohamoud Moge." Before slaughtering the two women, an al-Shabaab member announced, "We know these two people are Christians who recently came back from Kenya—we want to wipe out any underground Christian living inside ofmujahidin [jihadi] area." The two daughters of one of the women, ages 8 and 15, "were witness to the slaughter," sources said, with the younger girl screaming for someone to save her mother.

According to the Washington-based International Christian Concern advocacy group, Obama did not "publicly broach the subject of religious freedom" during talks on March 28 with Saudi King Abdullah, despite a letter from 70 members of Congress urging him to "address specific human rights reforms" both in public and in direct meetings with Abdullah and other officials.

"This visit was an excellent opportunity for the president to speak up on an issue that affects millions of Saudi citizens and millions more foreign workers living in Saudi Arabia," said Todd Daniels, ICC's Middle East regional manager. He added that it was "remarkable that the president could stay completely silent about religious freedom" despite pressure from Congress "to publicly address the issue, as well as other human rights concerns, with King Abdullah..."

Another report appearing in May further highlighted the U.S. government's indifference. Deborah Peters, a Christian teenage from Nigeria girl told of how Boko Haram came to her household and slaughtered her father and brother because they refused to convert to Islam. After abusing her, they tied her up and left her in a state of shock between the two corpses. Emmanuel Ogebe, the human rights attorney who helped Peters come to the United States after the murders, said that visa requests filed on Peters' behalf were denied "multiple times" in 2011, with the State Department citing no family ties in the U.S. as the reason. The incident became public only this May.

Similarly, a month earlier, the United States Institute for Peace brought together the governors of Nigeria's mostly Muslim northern states for a conference in the U.S., but the State Department blocked the visa of the region's only Christian governor, an ordained minister, citing "administrative" problems.

The rest of May's roundup of Muslim persecution of Christians around the world includes (but is not limited to) the following accounts, listed by theme and country alphabetical order, not necessarily according to severity.

Muslim Attacks on Christian Churches

Iran: Plainclothes security authorities raided an Easter service in a house-church in southern Tehran. They arrested and hauled off all those in attendance. Neighbors said that security authorities were "very disrespectful to those in the house-church as well as to the neighbors."

Malaysia: Two Catholic nuns in the Muslim-majority nation "were viciously attacked on the grounds of the Church of Visitation in Seremban in what is believed to be a robbery attempt early this morning," reported the Malaysian Insider. Sister Juliana Lim was hospitalized in critical condition and on a respirator, while Sister Mary-Rose received treatment for various injuries. "Both nuns from the Infant Jesus Convent, were left bruised, bleeding and in shock following the attack, said Fr Chan in his Facebook posting, adding: 'As I anointed them [two nuns], tears streamed down my face. I couldn't help it. How wicked it is to do this to our nuns, who have given their whole life to God.'" In response, the Council of Churches of Malaysia said: "The voices of antagonism and hatred have been on the increase in the country and it would be no surprise if the attack on the nuns were not conspired by those out to cause inter-religious conflict in the country."

Nigeria: Seven churches were attacked and 29 Christians slaughtered. On Sunday, May 25, during a worship service, Islamic terrorists from Boko Haram killed 21 Christians of the Church of Christ in Nations congregation in town of Gwoza. The next day, Boko Haram Islamists burned down six churches and slaughtered eight more Christians in the area.

Palestinian Authority: St. George's Orthodox Church in Bethlehem was attacked by Muslims during its annual St. George's Day services on May 6, leaving one Christian stabbed, several injured, and the building damaged. According to Leila Gilbert, "Some local Muslims either tried to park a car too close [to] the church and/or tried to enter the church during a service honoring St. George—the initial instigation isn't clear. But when the intruders were asked to leave, one of them stabbed a Christian man who was outside the church serving as a guard. He was hospitalized. Several then started throwing stones at the church. 7 or 8 Christians were injured and some physical damage was done—broken windows etc. The police didn't show up for an hour."

Tanzania: Two churches were attacked. As Christians were gathered for overnight prayers in the Assemblies of God church, around 80 Muslim men armed with arrows and knives attacked the church building while shouting "death to apostates." They set fire to the church, leaving its interior in ruins, and then went looking for its pastor, a Muslim convert to Christianity, presumably to slaughter him. Separately, a homemade explosive device in a plastic bag left inside the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tanzania exploded in the face of a female employee who found it, causing serious injuries to her face and legs and leaving her in critical condition.

Turkey: At least one Turkish church's website was labeled "pornographic" and blocked from computers at the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, prompting one legislator to demand an investigation. When asked, the speaker for the ruling Islamist Justice and Development Party (AKP) said it was likely a technical glitch, but Aykan Erdemir, the legislator who discovered it, said "I wouldn't be surprised if there was some malicious intent." Umut Ṣahin, general secretary for Turkey's Association of Protestant Churches, said the ban was "horrible... It's a shame. It really pains us at having this kind of accusation when we have a high moral standard."

Muslim Attacks on Christian Freedom: Apostasy, Blasphemy, Proselytization

Egypt: A Coptic Christian teacher, Bishoy Camille, was sentenced to four years in prison and fined 10,000 Egyptian pounds [$1,400 USD]. He was found guilty of sharing cartoons of the Islamic prophet Muhammad on Facebook, prompting Muslim riots against the Copts.

Iran: A May report by Morning Star News said that "Iran's secret police and Revolutionary Guard are subjecting Christians to a continuing wave of arrests, and increased torture and brutal beatings, in an effort to crush the house-church movement, activists said. Human rights activists confirmed that there has been a noticeable increase this month in the number of reported assaults against Christians imprisoned in Iran. The assaults, which are taking place against converts who lead house churches, are meant to send a message to Christians in the country, said a Middle East Concern [MEC] researcher who focuses on Iran." On May 5, for instance, internal security agents arrested Silas Rabbani, a leader with the Church of Iran in Karaj. Rabbani, a former Muslim, has been "informally charged" with apostasy and was accordingly beaten while in custody. "He was then transferred to Gohardasht Prison, also known as Rajai Shahr, where the torture has continued."

Kenya: Three weeks after converting to Christianity, Hassan Hussein Mohammed, a 26-year-old former Muslim, was severely beaten in a mosque. Although he was training to become a Muslim leader, he met some Christians, discussed religion, and eventually converted. According to Morning Star News, "Mohammed later went to the mosque only to collect his identification papers, but leaders ordered him to stay and conduct evening prayers. After some hesitation, he agreed. A voice within, he later told church leaders, told him not to lead the prayers, and when he tried to say them his mind blanked. He then admitted that he had accepted 'Isa,' Jesus. Those in the mosque beat him with a blunt object, kicked him and struck him until he was unconscious, he told church leaders. When he regained consciousness a few minutes later, he said, 'I am ready to die for Isa, and I forgive you for what you have done to me.'" He managed to escape, but after news of his conversion spread, Mohammed began receiving threatening phone messages and texts. One said: "You will regret why you left the prophet's religion."

Pakistan: When a Muslim religious leader discovered that four Christians, a married couple, and two women, were handing out Christian pamphlets, he immediately informed police who arrested the Christians, taking them away from a growing crowd of angry Muslims. According to Fr. Arshad John of the Archdiocese of Karachi, who is engaged in the protection of minority rights: "The claims that the religious minorities are free to practice and preach their religion, is clearly evident from this act. Although the act of distributing the religious material and preaching in such areas is not very wise, in the past such cases have produced unfortunate results. We pray for the group and hope they will be released soon." Separately, the Pakistan Christian Post reported that Dr. Nazir S. Bhatti, President of Pakistan Christian Congress, was concerned about a recent example of double standards concerning the implementation of blasphemy laws. He said that when any Muslim commits blasphemy on electronic media watched by millions, he or she is pardoned after a simple apology note, but when a Christian or Ahmadiyyia community member is accused of blasphemy by one Muslim wittiness, then he faces death sentence even if he swears that he did not insult the name of prophet Muhammad: "All Christian victims of blasphemy laws after arrests have publicly denied committing blasphemy but not any court or complainant have pardoned them but when a Muslim cleric or any Muslim very openly defiles name of Prophet Mohammad then uproar of Islamic decrees appear to Pardon these Muslims."

Sudan: In the town of al-Gadarif on Sudan's eastern border with Ethiopia, another Christian woman, like Meriam Ibrahim, was incarcerated on the accusation that she had apostatized from Islam. Immigration authorities arrested Faiza Abdalla, 37, when she responded to officers' questions about her religion that she was Christian. They immediately arrested her based on her Muslim name. (Her family had converted to Christianity before she was born but kept their former name.) As with Meriam Ibrahim and others, a court went on to annul Faiza's marriage to her husband, a lifelong Catholic from South Sudan, on grounds that she had committed "adultery" by allegedly having left Islam and married a Christian.

Dhimmitude: Generic Hostility, Abuse, and Discrimination

Egypt: Lawyers for a Muslim man who attacked Christian properties and persons—stabbing one Coptic woman to death—maintain that he is innocent by reason of insanity, even though psychiatric evaluations found him sane and fit to stand trial. Last February, Mahmoud Mohamed Ali went on a violent rampage, attacking three Christians with a knife. When his intended victim, a male Coptic pharmacy clerk, fought him off, Ali fled. Next, Ali stabbed Demian, a Coptic shopkeeper in another Christian-owned pharmacy; he severed an artery in her neck. She fell to the floor and bled to death. Soon after, Ali stabbed a female Coptic high school student, who barely managed to escape with her life. But according to Morning Star News: "Confirming fears of human rights activists who said attorneys for Mahmoud Mohamed Ali would use a tactic that has freed other Muslims from punishment for premeditated, religiously motivated murder, the lawyers are challenging results of the evaluation."

Some Islamic teachings state that the life and worth of a Muslim is greater than that of an "infidel" and so they should not be punished, or should receive the minimum punishment when they kill non-Muslims. Egyptian human rights activist Osama Wagdy said the "insanity" plea is a tactic commonly used in Egypt by those who have violently targeted Christians: "They are pretending, because that is how they get out of cases... Nobody thinks he is mentally ill. He went from one place to another knowing what he was doing and told one of the victims, 'You deserve it.'" Separately, five "unidentified persons" kidnapped a Coptic Christian pharmacy owner at gunpoint in Sohag, Upper Egypt. Shortly after Friday mosque prayers, a car pulled up in front of the pharmacy and opened fire on it before the assailants raided it and drove off with the kidnapped owner, Mr. Marcos, a 52-year-old Copt, at gunpoint.

Eritrea: Five Christians of the Evangelical Lutheran Church were arrested after their church announced that they were set to be ordained for pastoral ministry. "The arrests clearly show how even government recognized churches, namely the Catholic, [Eritrean] Orthodox [Church] and Evangelical Lutheran churches, are not free from government control," said a source from the Open Doors organization on condition of anonymity. "The arrest of these pastoral candidates reminds us of one of the greatest challenges churches in Eritrea face.... Due to the constant turnover of pastors due to arrest or threats, continuous and biblically consistent pastoral care for Christians is hampered." Further, "1,500 Christians are languishing in prison for their faith." In 2010, an estimated 3,000 Christians were incarcerated for their faith; most were held in shipping containers in desert camps and others in underground cells; some were tortured to death while others perished in the desert trying to escape.

Germany: A Turkish man being treated in a hospital attacked his nurse because there were too many crosses on the wall. According to Mainpost, a German publication (as translated by Nicolai Sennels for Jihad Watch), "A 34-year-old went to St. Joseph Hospital early on Saturday morning due to a 'gastro-intestinal flu.' Suddenly he refused to be treated, because he thought there were too many Christian crosses on the wall. Because of the crosses, the man started insulting the nurse, calling her a bitch, fascist, and the like. Then the man, according to police report, also started becoming physically aggressive. The hospital called the police. The officers seized the man in front of the hospital and checked him."

Pakistan: Five Christian families that, according to Agenzia Fides, were "kidnapped and enslaved by their Muslim employers" in the Punjab were released after nearly three decades of slavery. After their release, one of the families told of their suffering: they were victims of forced labor and were treated as slaves for over 25 years. One of the women, Safia Bibi, began working at the brick kiln along with her husband, Anwar Masih, right after her wedding. When their nine children were old enough, they also started to work in the same place. They lived in the factory complex with no toilets and often did not receive compensation. If they tried to leave their job, they were beaten and tortured, left days without food. In 2013, Safia's husband died due to illness and weakness; no doctor was called. Her children could not attend his funeral—or go to prayer meetings or celebrate Christmas—because they were forced to work.

Nasir Saeed, a human rights activist, said: "It is sad to see that even in the 21st century slavery continues to exist in Pakistan. The owners of furnaces are often wealthy and influential and are rarely prosecuted. The workers, often Christian, work a life in slave-like conditions to pay their debts, that last generations. Sometimes they are sold from one furnace to another. The government is aware of the situation, but has never taken serious measures."

Turkey: According to ANSamed, "Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government plans to turn Istanbul's Hagia Sofia Basilica into a mosque in the afternoon and evening and a museum in the morning. The historical monument, which draws millions of tourists every year, will have the Byzantine [Christian] frescoes covering its walls cast into shadow by 'dark light' so as to avoid offending Islam. The government would thus like to turn what is today seen as a symbol of Christianity back into a place of worship for Muslims, as it was after the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople in 1453." A campaign to turn the Hagia Sofia back into a mosque has been brewing for quite some time now, raising alarm among Christian communities in the east. Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew I, said that, "We and all other Christians will oppose it." And Athens called it [sic] an "insult to the religious sensibilities of millions of Christians." Even so, the Islamist party submitted a formal motion in parliament to transform Hagia Sofia into a mosque.

The Turkish government plans to convert Istanbul's Hagia Sofia Basilica, currently used as a museum, into a mosque. (Image source: Wikimedia Commons/Jerzy Kociatkiewicz )

About this Series

While not all, or even most, Muslims are involved, persecution of Christians is expanding. "Muslim Persecution of Christians" was developed to collate some—by no means all—of the instances of persecution that surface each month.

It documents what the mainstream media often fails to report.

It posits that such persecution is not random but systematic, and takes place in all languages ethnicities and locations.

Raped And Slaughtered: Muslim Persecution Of Christians, April, 2014

From one end of the Islamic world to the other, the abduction and rape of Christian girls at the hands of Muslims—both terrorists and laymen—was a dominant theme in April.
On Easter Sunday morning, for instance, four Muslim men raped a 7-year-old Christian girl named Sara in a Pakistani village. Last reported, the child was in an intensive care unit in "critical" condition. According to Asia News, "the police, instead of arresting the culprits, helped the local clan to kidnap the girl's father; Iqbal Masih was taken and hidden in a secret place to 'force the family not to report the story, to reach an agreement with the criminals and to avoid a dispute of a religious background.'"

According to a human rights lawyer involved in the case, "Such cases are frequent: abuse against women and girls by Muslim men are examples of how the minorities in Pakistan live under constant fear of persecution. We believe that many cases of violence go unreported." A new report appearing in April by the Solidarity and Peace Movement—a coalition of NGOs, associations and institutions including the "Justice and Peace" Commission of the Pakistani Bishops—confirmed that "an estimated 700 cases per year involve Christian women, 300 Hindu girls…[T]he true extent of the problem is probably much bigger, since many cases are not reported." (Click here for a better understanding of the extent of this tragedy.)

The biggest story, however, came from Nigeria, where the Islamic terrorist organization known as Boko Haram abducted nearly 300 teenage schoolgirls, mostly Christians. The group justified its actions in Islamic terms. Its leader, Abubakar Shekau, declared on video, "I abducted your girls. I will sell them on the market, by Allah. ...There is a market for selling humans. Allah says I should sell."

Some of the Nigerian schoolgirls who were abducted by Boko Haram. (Image source: Boko Haram video)

The so-called mainstream media, which generally downplays or ignores Boko Haram's terror campaign, actually reported on this particular atrocity, prompting Western authorities—who are much more accustomed to, and comfortable with, pretending these sorts of things do not exist—to respond in awkward, hypocritical and bewildering ways.
Secretary of State John Kerry, after saying the U.S. had been in touch with Nigeria "from day one" of the crisis, then asserted, "I think now the complications that have arisen have convinced everybody that there needs to be a greater effort. And it will begin immediately. I mean, literally, immediately."

It is not clear to whom Kerry was referring when he said, "convinced everybody"—unless he was referring to himself. After all, there might not have been any need for "greater effort," or the need to act "immediately. I mean, literally, immediately," had Kerry only let the Nigerian government do its job a year ago, when it was waging a strong and successful offensive against Boko Haram in the same region in which the schoolgirls were kidnapped.

Back then, in May 2013, soon after Nigerian forces killed 30 Boko Haram members, Reuters reported that "U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry issued a strongly worded statement [to the Nigerian president] saying: "We are … deeply concerned by credible allegations that Nigerian security forces are committing gross human rights violations, which, in turn, only escalate the violence and fuel extremism" from Boko Haram.
As for Kerry's predecessor, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, she publicly bemoaned the lot of the kidnapped girls. "[It's] abominable, it's criminal, it's an act of terrorism and it really merits the fullest response possible," she said from a position to help offer "the fullest response possible." But she repeatedly refused to designate Boko Haram a "foreign terrorist organization," despite the countless atrocities it had already committed; despite that under her tenure Boko Haram had boasted that it would "strike fear into the Christians of the power of Islam by kidnapping their women," and despite extensive urging from the CIA, FBI, Justice Department, and several congressmen and senators.

Her logic was once voiced by her husband, former U.S. President Bill Clinton. In February 2012, he declared that "inequality" and "poverty" are "what's fueling all this stuff"—a reference to Boko Haram's terror—and he warned the Nigerian government, "It is almost impossible to cure a problem based on violence with violence."
The rest of April's roundup of Muslim persecution of Christians around the world includes (but is not limited to) the following accounts, listed by theme and country alphabetical order, not necessarily according to severity.

Muslim Slaughter of Christians

Afghanistan: Three Americans were shot and killed at a Kabul hospital funded by an American Christian charity. The murderer was a policeman employed as a security guard at the hospital. The Taliban has claimed responsibility for similar attacks this year, but issued no comment. Those killed were a doctor and a father and son visiting the hospital. "As they were walking out of the hospital, the security guard opened fire on them, killing three and wounding another one," said a statement from the Interior Ministry. The attack was one of increasing attacks against Christians and Westerners in the country. Three weeks earlier, Associated Press photographer Anja Niedringhaus, 48, was killed and reporter Kathy Gannon, 60, wounded while they were sitting in the back of a car in the east of the country. Also in March, a gunman shot dead Swedish journalist Nils Horner, 51, outside a restaurant in Kabul.

Central African Republic: Father Labbe Christ Formane Willbona was slaughtered by Muslim herdsmen believed to be close to the Islamic rebel organization, Seleka. Local security sources reported that the corpse was mutilated before being buried.

Egypt: A Coptic Christian teacher at the Marzouk prep school in Minya province was shot in the head by a student belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood. Eyewitnesses said that the student was caught smoking in class and was reprimanded. Apparently he decided to show his "infidel" teacher his place, and therefore shot him in the head while he was returning home. Two more Christian Copts were killed in villages near Asyut, according to Agenzia Fides, during "sectarian clashes" over land disputes between a Coptic family and local Muslims. On the same day as the Coptic funeral, a young Coptic entrepreneur, Mohsen Morris, was also kidnapped near Asyut. The kidnappers extracted a ransom of 250,000 Egyptian pounds [$35,000] from his family.

Libya: Three more Coptic Christians—all cousins—were targeted in post "Arab Spring" Libya. One was slaughtered and brought back to Egypt to be buried in a Coptic cemetery; another, half dead, was carried back home in an ambulance, with a bullet lodged in his skull; another cousin disappeared and is believed to have been killed by Islamic militants. Islamic enmity for Christians has been regularly on display in Libya after the U.S.-supported "Arab Spring": Christians—including Americans—have been tortured and killed (often for refusing to convert) and churches bombed. Earlier, Islamic militants said they would reward any Muslim who finds and kills Christians. Such persecution did not occur under the leadership of the late Colonel Moammar Gaddafi.

Pakistan: A Muslim security guard is accused of murdering a Christian worker who refused to convert to Islam. According to Morning Star News,

Sunny Masih, a father of two, was working as a cleaner at a branch of Bank Islami under construction on Nisbat Road in Lahore. On Wednesday morning (April 16), the bank security guard informed police that Masih had shot himself in the forehead with a pump-action shotgun that the guard had left unattended before going to the washroom.
The guard, Omar Farooq, of Khushab District in central Punjab Province, told police that Masih "looked depressed" when he arrived at the bank at 8 a.m. Sub-Inspector Muhammad Iqbal of the Nolakha Police told Morning Star News that Farooq told officers Masih was in the lobby of the bank when Farooq went to the washroom, leaving his weapon unattended.
...
Haider Masih, father of the deceased, told Morning Star News that his son was a lively young man and had shown no signs of depression.
...
On April 15, my son told me that Farooq had mocked his Christian faith and had asked him to 'embrace' Islam. He told my son, 'You are a good-looking boy, and I don't like to see you sweeping floors and cleaning the washrooms. If you embrace Islam, I'll connect you with people who will take good care of you, provide you with a decent job and even get you married into a wealthy Muslim family.'"
Masih said his son told Farooq that he was satisfied with his Christian faith, and that he should stop nagging him.
"My son told me that when he snubbed Farooq, the guard had threatened him that he would have to face the consequences for refusing the Dawaat [an invitation to accept Islam]," the grieving told Morning Star News at the Mayo Hospital mortuary. "I took the matter lightly and told my son not to worry, as being Christians we have to face such people every second day. I told Sunny to avoid discussing religion with Farooq even if he brought up the matter and keep distance from him, and everything would be alright. Little did I know that my son would end up in a mortuary a day later."

According to a Christian activist involved in the case,

Masih was hit on the forehead just above his eyes, and his skull and brain were completely blown away by the impact at point blank range. The doctor said he found it hard to believe that Masih could have shot himself in the head with a big weapon such as a shotgun. This is what we want the police to find out, but instead they are trying to cover up the matter. We believe the police are showing bias in its probe because it involves a 'righteous Muslim' who was trying to convert a Christian.

Syria: Frans van der Lugt—a 76-year-old Jesuit priest from the Netherlands who had established a community center and farm near the city of Homs where he had worked for over forty years for the betterment of people with disabilities and for Christian-Muslim harmony—was shot dead in the garden of the community center. After the Islamist-led siege of Homs, the priest continued to care for the sick and the hungry. In early 2014 he made a number of YouTube videos, asking the international community to help the besieged city. Yet he chose to remain in Homs, struggling with the daily bombings and the lack of food, until he was slain.

Uganda: The teenage daughter of a Muslim man managed to attend one church service after converting to Christianity before her father killed her. Abdul Hakim Ibanda severely beat his 17-year-old daughter and her 19-year-old sister with a blunt instrument after learning that they had attended a church service on April 6. The surviving sister said, "On Sunday morning we arrived at the United Believers Church... After prayers we then went to church, where the pastor introduced us to the church and that we were new members of the church. The church faithful were cheerful to receive us." However, local Muslims who saw them enter the church immediately reported it to the father. He gathered a group of 32 "youths" to attack the church but the mob was eventually dispersed without incident. When the girls returned home, the father, described as "furious," began questioning and eventually beating them with a blunt object, killing the girl. According to the pastor of the majority-Christian nation, where Muslims make some 11.5 percent, "The girl [surviving sister] is still traumatized as a result of the death of her sister and needs prayers and counseling." Said the girl: "I know I cannot go back to my father because I have become a Christian. I am grateful to the church for welcoming me and taking me as their child. I now have a new home."

Muslim Attacks on Christian Churches

Austria: After reportedly listening to Muslim chants, a man, known only as Ibrahim A., went on a church-vandalizing spree, desecrating four churches. According to the Vienna Times, "the attack left Lazaristenkirche with all of its statues and side altars largely destroyed as well as statues damaged at St. Stephen's, the Breitenfeld church in Josefstadt and the Neuottakring church in Ottakring." The Archbishop of Vienna described the attack on churches as "so far the worst act of vandalism in my time as Archbishop…. I am shocked by the devastation in the churches. I hope that the perpetrator or perpetrators did not know what they were doing." Ibrahim A., 37-years-old, was caught in the act of vandalizing St. Stephan's but was released at the time because police did not realize it was one of many attacks that that had been carried out that day. Police have since been unable to find him.

Nigeria: According to AP, "Witnesses and an official say angry Muslim youths set ablaze a Catholic church and tried to destroy an attached school in northern Nigeria over an alleged insult to the Prophet Muhammad. Witness Tukur Musa says soldiers on Monday stopped the mob from setting ablaze the school in Funtua town in Katsina state, but they arrived too late to save St. Rita Catholic Church. He says the town was in an uproar about an examination question last week which they considered an insult to the Prophet Muhammad. They reported the matter to district authorities. When no action was taken, young Muslims attacked. Deputy Police Superintendent Aminu Abubakar Saddiq confirmed the church was burned and school damaged but said no one was injured. Religious strife is common in central and northern Nigeria." Also, during early Easter Sunday morning, unknown gunmen, later attributed to the Islamic terrorist organization Boko Haram, launched an attack on the Christian-majority regions of Taraba State. The Christian Church of Nigeria was burned down, as well as many Christian homes. At least 15 corpses were seen littering on the streets.

Syria: Gregorios III Laham, Greek-Melkite Catholic patriarch of Antioch, visited some of the dozens of Christian churches hit by Islamic rebels, particularly churches in the historic town of Ma'aloula, where the Christian inhabitants still spoke Aramaic, the language of Jesus, and where some were executed for refusing to convert to Islam. (Click here for several pictures of the types of desecration that churches undergo if they fall into the hands of the Islamic terrorists. In St. Mary's Greek Catholic Church alone, icons had their faces scratched out, church pews broken, statues of the Virgin Mary and Christ smashed, and Bibles burned.) In the prelate's words: "An apocalyptic spectacle presented itself. Other churches have been destroyed in Syria, but I have never seen anything like this. I cried and I sought in vain a moment of solitude to pray. I am heartbroken. Ma'aloula's four historic churches were hit. Our parish church, dedicated to Saint George, is riddled with bullets. The convent's dome was damaged in two places. The walls were ripped open by cannon fire. Some parts of the convent is in danger of collapsing and must be rebuilt. The icons are scattered on the floor, dirty, or stolen. It is currently completely uninhabitable." The patriarch further described the wanton destruction of churches as a "war crime."

Attacks on Christian Freedom: Apostasy, Blasphemy, Proselytism

Malaysia: An Islamic organization known as Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia accused a Christian church of trying to evangelize to Muslims, simply because they used Bahasa Malaysia, the national language, for an Easter pageant. The organization's website said that while freedom of religion for non-Muslims was guaranteed by the Federal Constitution, the open use of Bahasa Malaysia to promote the event outside the church compound was an abuse of this liberty. The organization also called on Muslim officials "to closely monitor this Easter Musical." It further declared that "the notion of Easter was against Islam." In Malaysia -- regularly portrayed in the West as an example of a moderate Muslim nation—any attempt to promote religions other than Islam is illegal.

Pakistan: Eight days after a court in Lahore sentenced Sawan Masih, a Christian man, to death for allegedly insulting Islam's prophet, Muhammad, another illiterate Christian couple in Punjab Province was sentenced to death for allegedly sending blasphemous text messages. Along with Asia Bibi, a wife and mother incarcerated since 2010, there are now four Christians on death row in Pakistan for allegedly blaspheming Islam or its founder. Also, a Muslim landlord almost beat to death his Christian tenant and employee, Saleem Masih, for observing Easter. According to Mushtaq Gill, a Christian activist and lawyer, because Saleem took time off to observe Easter, "the landlord became furious and beat him severely. He was eventually rescued and saved by some other villagers, otherwise he could have been beaten to death." Gill added that many other Christian field workers "are forced into bonded labour, denied minimum wages and harassed and implicated in fake cases if they try to resist the oppression of their influential masters." As for Mushtaq Gill, the Christian lawyer representing these Christians, he is facing death threats. In his own words: "On April 2, a stranger came to the Lahore Court and warned me that I might be attacked or involved in some fake criminal cases or even killed." Such threats are not limited to "extremists." Gil received information that he could also be expelled and barred from practicing law. "What am I supposed to do, stop?" said Gil. "Psalm 118 says: 'The Lord is with me, I have no fear of anything. What can man do to me?' My other colleagues and I have been threatened and attacked several times by strangers because of our work for human rights in Pakistan. But we are not afraid. We know that we could be killed because we support the campaign for the abolition of the blasphemy law. But this will not close our mouth and will not stop our work on human rights. The Lord tells us to have courage."

Uganda: Muslim relatives of a convert to Christianity tried to poison him to death. Hassan Muwanguzi converted to Christianity in 2003. Soon thereafter, his wife left him and he was fired from his job as a schoolteacher. Most recently, he was hospitalized after an aunt put insecticide in his tea. According to Hassan: "After eating and taking tea, I started feeling stomachache, then I realized that she was the one responsible for it—and I believe she did not do it alone, since they have been hunting for me directly and indirectly, because when I left them and converted to Christianity it pained them so much. The reason they want to kill me is very clear—it is because of being a convert to Christianity; above all, to them it is like I brought shame by converting…" During the family meeting, when he started to feel ill, he telephoned a local Christian bishop, who advised him that he should leave secretly. "I knew if he were to mention to them that he was getting sick, they would harm him more," said Bishop Kinyewa.

Uzbekistan: Christians are being prevented from burying their dead in the state cemeteries of the Muslim-majority nation. There have been three known cases so far this year. Most recently, the family of Gayrat Buriyev, who died on 9 April, was told by officials, "The cemetery is state property, but is under the management of the local mosque, and if the imam is against the burial then it will not take place." And the local imam said he was "acting in accordance with sharia law," even though Uzbekistan is officially a secular state. The imam also cursed the family for being Christians, calling them "unclean and defiled infidels." Although they took the matter to local authorities, officials refused to intervene, siding with the imam. (According to Islamic teaching, being buried next to an "infidel" could cause the Muslim corpse to suffer the "torments of the grave.")

About this Series

While not all, or even most, Muslims are involved, persecution of Christians is expanding. "Muslim Persecution of Christians" was developed to collate some—by no means all—of the instances of persecution that surface each month.

It documents what the mainstream media often fails to report.

It posits that such persecution is not random but systematic, and takes place in all languages ethnicities and locations.

Muslim Persecution of Christians, March 2014

Along with an especially jarring list of atrocities committed against Christian minorities throughout the Islamic world, March also saw some callous indifference or worse from the U.S. government.

President Barack Obama was criticized by human rights activists for not addressing the plight of Christians and other minorities during his talks with leaders in Saudi Arabia, where Christianity is actively banned.

According to the Washington-based International Christian Concern [ICC] advocacy group, Obama did not "publicly broach the subject of religious freedom" when he spoke on March 28 with Saudi King Abdullah, despite a letter from 70 members of Congress urging him to "address specific human rights reforms" both in public and in direct meetings with the king and other officials.

"This visit was an excellent opportunity for the president to speak up on an issue that affects millions of Saudi citizens and millions more foreign workers living in Saudi Arabia," said Todd Daniels, ICC's Middle East regional manager. He added that it was "remarkable that the president could stay completely silent about religious freedom," despite pressure from Congress "to publicly address the issue, as well as other human rights concerns, with King Abdullah..."

U.S. officials reportedly responded by saying that "Obama had not had time to raise concerns about the kingdom's human rights record."

Separately, after the United States Institute for Peace [USIP] brought together the governors of Nigeria's mostly Muslim northern states for a conference in the U.S., the State Department, citing "administrative" problems, blocked the visa of the region's only Christian governor, Jonah David Jang, an ordained minister. The USIP confirmed that all 19 northern governors were invited, but the organization did not respond to requests for comments on why it would hold talks without the region's only Christian governor.
According to Emmanuel Ogebe, a Nigerian human rights lawyer based in Washington, the Christian governor's "visa problems" are due to anti-Christian bias in the U.S. government: "The U.S. insists that Muslims are the primary victims of Boko Haram. It also claims that Christians discriminate against Muslims in Plateau, which is one of the few Christian majority states in the north. After [Jang, the Christian governor] told them [U.S. authorities] that they were ignoring the 12 Shariah states who [sic] institutionalized persecution … he suddenly developed visa problems… The question remains—why is the U.S. downplaying or denying the attacks against Christians?"

March's roundup of Muslim persecution of Christians around the world includes (but is not limited to) the following accounts, listed by theme and country alphabetical order, not necessarily according to severity.

The Slaughter of Christians

Egypt: During pro-Muslim Brotherhood riots, a young Coptic woman named Mary was murdered—simply because her cross identified her as a Christian to Brotherhood rioters. According to an eyewitness who discussed the entire event on the Egyptian program 90 Minutes, Mary Sameh George was parking by the church to deliver medicine to an elderly woman: "Once they saw that she was a Christian [because of the cross hanging on her rear view mirror], they jumped on top of the car, to the point that the vehicle was no longer visible. The roof of the car collapsed in. When they realized that she was starting to die, they pulled her out of the car and started pounding on her and pulling her hair—to the point that portions of her hair and scalp came off. They kept beating her, kicking her, stabbing her with any object or weapon they could find…. Throughout [her ordeal] she tried to protect her face, giving her back to the attackers, till one of them came and stabbed her right in the back, near the heart, finishing her off. Then another came and grabbed her by the hair, shaking her head, and with the other hand slit her throat. Another pulled her pants off, to the point that she was totally naked."
Nigeria: A Muslim father allegedly slaughtered or had someone else slaughter his daughter with a machete, wounding a pastor and four others in the attack, because she had earlier converted to Christianity. According to police reports, "the suspect allegedly sneaked into the church premises and inflicted machete cuts on the four persons," which seriously wounded them and killed his daughter. Before that, the father had threatened his daughter to return to Islam or else, and she had taken refuge in the church. Police did not make clear if it was the father or an accomplice who committed the assault.
Separately, Muslim Fulani herdsmen launched another night raid into a Christian majority region. They massacred over 150 people, including a pastor, his wife and children; around 200 homes were torched. A surviving eyewitness said there were about 40 attackers, armed with knives, guns and other unidentifiable equipment. They came in the night, set fire to the homes, and burned dozens of Christians alive: "Those that tried to escape were butchered or gun down."
Pakistan: "A young Christian girl was killed by the Pakistani Taliban in the northern region of Pakistan," reported Agenzia Fide: "The girl had spent a few months on the run and in hiding with her cousin, a Muslim who converted to Christianity a few years ago. Since the conversion, the man is considered an 'apostate' and since then he has been the target of the Taliban. In past days, some militants discovered where the two were hiding: the girl in the escape was reached by a bullet and was killed, while the man managed to escape."
Somalia: Members of the militant Islamic group, al-Shabaab, publicly beheaded a mother of two girls and her cousin after discovering they were Christians. According to local sources, the Islamists "called residents to the town center to witness the executions of the 41-year-old mother, Sadia Ali Omar, and her 35-year-old cousin, Osman Mohamoud Moge." Before slaughtering the two women, an al-Shabaab member announced, "We know these two people are Christians who recently came back from Kenya—we want to wipe out any underground Christian living inside of mujahidin [jihadi] area." The two daughters of one of the women, ages 8 and 15, "were witness to the slaughter, sources said, with the younger girl screaming and shouting for someone to save her mother. A friend helped the girls, whose names are withheld, to relocate to another area." She said, "We are afraid that the al-Shabaab might continue monitoring these two children and eventually kill them just like their mother."

Attacks on Christian Churches

Egypt: After countless death sentences were handed out to convicted Muslim Brotherhood members, their supporters protested and rioted in the streets. According to Spero News, "Violence spilled over from demonstrations in the Cairo suburb of Ain Shams when Muslim protesters attacked a Coptic Orthodox Christian church on March 28. Four people were killed in the attack on the church... Among the dead are a 25-year-old journalist and a Coptic Christian worshipper. When Egyptian security forces intervened, violence spread throughout the surrounding neighborhood. Muslim radicals are frequently whipped up into frenzy by their religious leaders on Fridays when they gather for prayer."
Kenya: During Sunday worship service, two heavily-armed gunmen entered the Joy in Jesus Church in Mombasa—a region which according to authorities has a mosque with ties to the Somali Islamic terrorist group al-Shabaab. The gunmen "sprayed the congregation with bullets, killing at least seven Christians and leaving several others in critical condition," including the assistant pastor, according to the Morning Star News. The newspaper continues: "As the attackers fled Joy in Jesus Church, a box holding 26 bullets dropped outside the church" - an act indicating that they intended even more carnage. According to one church leader, "We, as the church, feel that what happened is a retaliation for the attack [by police] that took place in Masjid Musa Mosque recently. When the Muslims are attacked, there is a false generalization that the Christians are the ones doing it. We as the church became a scapegoat for the recent attack on the mosque." (This logic is similar to the barrage of church attacks the Coptic Christians of Egypt suffered after the Muslim Brotherhood and former president Morsi were ousted during the June 30 revolution.
Pakistan: One day after Christians placed a cross on a partially-constructed church that was being built on a fellow Christian's land, a Muslim mob "damaged the building and the land by ploughing the ground with the help of a tractor" and "desecrated" the cross according to the Express Tribune. The chairman of the Human Liberation Commission Pakistan added that "the Christian community was not protected in Pakistan and that they face discrimination at every level." Discussing this incident, Agenzia Fides reported that "when a large group of Islamic extremists saw the Christian symbol [the cross] they arrived unexpectedly with bulldozers and started demolishing the building. ... the perpetrators were not arrested, thanks to the political clout they have. Christians in the neighborhood who have asked for protection to civil authorities, on the other hand have received threats and have to abandon the idea of the project to build a church."
Uganda: In the predominantly Muslim districts of the Christian-majority nation, "Islamic extremists burned down two church buildings of the Free Church of Christ in February and the home of a church leader" in March, as reported by the Morning Star News. Bishop James Kinyewa, 47, said: "While I was preaching, I heard loud noise, people saying, 'Fire! Fire!' coming from nearby neighbors." He went on to say that he found "rowdy Muslim youths with clubs and machetes" who prevented him and others from trying to put out the fire from his house. "They were shouting, 'Allahu Akbar' [Allah is greater]." he said. "Now the same militant group is hunting for my life. My family and I are now hiding ourselves, homeless and waiting for God's intervention." Everything inside the two razed church buildings, which served 240 people, was destroyed. "My church members have no place to worship," the bishop said.

Attacks on Christian Freedom: Apostasy, Blasphemy, Proselytism

Brunei: A new penal code in the Muslim-majority nation threatens school principals and schoolteachers with five years' imprisonment and up to $20,000 in fines if they teach or speak to a Muslim child of religions other than Islam. (Future punishments may include amputation and execution.) According to the new law, based on Sharia, or Islamic law, it is a crime "to persuade, influence, incite, encourage a child with non- Islamic teaching." It is also a crime to "expose the child to any ceremony or act of worship which is not Islamic or allow the child to participate in activities for the benefit of other religions." The new law is of especial concern to private Christian schools, which Muslim students also attend.
Iran: Vahid Hakkani, a Christian man who was imprisoned and sentenced to 44 months in jail, after being found guilty of "attending a house-church, spreading Christianity, having contact with foreign [Christian] ministries" and "disrupting national security," began a hunger strike in prison to protest the rejection of his conditional release appeal by the Revolutionary Court, despite concerns for his health. Far from rethinking his sentence, according to his family, "prison authorities will transfer him to solitary confinement because he refuses to stop his hunger strike."
Separately, eight more Christians were detained, blindfolded, and interrogated by security forces for their "Christian activities," said rights activists. Some members of the group had their personal items, including cell phones, confiscated.
Kazakhstan: Christian preaching is "extremely harmful to mental health of the people": such was the ruling of a law court which led to the sentencing of a Christian pastor, Bakhytzhan Kashkumayev, to four years in prison. According to Agenzia Fides, "the [67-year-old] Pastor, who is responsible for the Grace Church in the Kazak capital Astana was found guilty of 'causing serious mental disorder' to a presumed victim Lyazzat Almenova. The Pastor will also have to pay a heavy fine ... for the 'moral damage' inflicted." The pastor's lawyer said that this is one of the "strangest cases he has ever come across, in terms of legality."
Pakistan: Sawan Masih, accused of blaspheming, has been sentenced to death at a hearing held in his prison cell, "out of fears that Masih might be attacked on his way to court." In March 2013, after Masih, a Christian, was accused of maligning the prophet of Islam, he was arrested by police. Even after his arrest, thousands of Muslims attacked Christian colonies, and burned churches and homes. Christians who protested were attacked by the police. To this day, not one of the thousands of rampaging Muslims has been convicted.
Separately, two other Christians, a paralyzed, sickly man and his wife, also accused of "blasphemy via sms"—that is, blaspheming via text messaging—remained in prison. According to "World Vision in Progress," the "judges of the High Court were initially convinced of what was said by the defense. But after pressure from Muslim religious leaders and the threats of extremists in Gojra, the judges denied bail, saying the case will be completed within two months. Radical Muslims had already threatened defense lawyers many times." Concerning the aforementioned Christian man sentenced to death, Fr. James Channan OP, Director of the Peace Center in Lahore, Pakistan, said the following: "It was a dispute over a matter concerning property. But the Muslim took advantage, finding a shortcut and accused Sawan of blasphemy. The whole world knows what happened next. Over 100 Christian homes of Joseph Colony, a Christian neighborhood in Lahore, were destroyed, 2 churches burned, Bibles desecrated and Crosses destroyed by an angry mob of more than 3,000 fanatics. The Christians of Joseph Colony still live in danger and fear that the mob might attack again at any time. ... After Sawan's death sentence, I ask myself: where is justice? Why is nothing done against these innocent Christians who have been attacked and have lost their possessions? What about the churches which were desecrated, Bibles burned and crosses destroyed? Is this not blasphemy?"
Uganda: When a 23-year-old Muslim woman converted to Christianity and a neighbor informed her father, "My father began beating me with clubs and blows, and I started screaming in great pain," she said. "While I was down on the floor bleeding, my father went looking for a knife to kill me. A neighbor named Saleem arrived and helped me escape." She found lodging from a nearby church and was taken to a hospital the next day.

Dhimmitude

Bangladesh: The home of a Catholic family was torched and destroyed during the night, and the culprits, according to residents, "could be Islamic fundamentalists." The family, two women and two children, managed to escape the blaze. According to one of the women, "Three days before the fire we saw some people unknown to us behind our house. They asked around if we were Christians. We feel that this attack was premeditated by them. We have lost in [sic]everything, including our Bible and the crucifix. All we have left are the cloth[e]s on our backs." A local priest adds: "This is an attack against the minority, and could be the hands of Islamic extremists. They are very powerful in the area."
Iraq: A Christian politician and member of the Assyrian Democratic Movement "denounced some officials of the Nineveh province after collecting documented evidence on the corrupt system where many properties—land and houses—belonging to Christians change hands in an illegal and secret manner, without any mandate on behalf of their legitimate owners." He also called on Iraqi Christians who fled their homeland to check the status of the property they left in Iraq and reaffirm their full rights to them.
Pakistan: A March report by Agenzia Fides offers a glimpse of the endemic rape and sexual abuse of Christian girls at the hands of Muslims: "The rape of girls belonging to religious minorities is a very common phenomenon in Pakistan. Christian women are a prime target, because the most vulnerable and defenseless. The majority of cases are not even reported to the police and, when it happens, the perpetrators of violence often go unpunished. The Christian community is still shocked by the recent case of Sumbal, a 5-year-old Christian girl, raped by a group of Muslim men on a street in Lahore. ... Another recent case ... concerns a Muslim man from Lahore who attempted to rape two Christian girls, sisters, aged 1 and 3. ... A few months ago another case aroused indignation: that of a 9-year-old Christian girl who suffered a gang rape by three young Muslims. Violence against children are [sic] committed with ease, explains a source of Fides that assists victims, especially because the perpetrators remain unpunished: injustice fuels the vicious cycle of violence. In 2004, a case that caused uproar around the world was the brutal rape of a-two-year old child Neha Munir, raped because her father, Munir Masih, a Christian, refused to convert to Islam."
Syria: Al-Qaeda-linked Islamic jihadis crossed into Syrian territory over the Turkish border and launched an attack on the Christian Armenian town of Kessab. Among other acts, "Snipers targeted the civilian population and launched mortar attacks on the town and the surrounding villages." Reportedly eighty people were killed. The jihadis later made a video touring the devastated town. No translation is needed, as the main phrase shouted throughout is Islam's triumphant war cry, "Allahu Akbar." About two-thousand Armenians were evacuated to neighboring areas. While occupying Kessab, the jihadi terrorists desecrated the town's three Armenian churches.

Jihadists pose in the deserted streets of the Christian Armenian town of Kessab, Syria, after conquering it and reportedly killing 80 people. (Image source: Salma Media Center YouTube video)

Turkey: Five men held in prison as suspects in the 2007 "Malatya Massacre"—when three Christian missionaries were tortured to death—were released. The five walked free from their high-security prison because their time in detention while still on trial exceeded new legal limits. "It is deeply disturbing to hear that the five men responsible for these brutal murders have been freed on bail, including three who were arrested at the crime scene," said Christian Solidarity Worldwide's chief executive Mervyn Thomas. "We urge the Turkish authorities to take every necessary measure to ensure they remain in the country to face justice, which has been exceedingly long in coming. This trial has been ongoing for six years with no indication of a conclusion in the near future. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families and friends of the victims, to whom the release of these men has dealt yet another blow, no doubt leaving them with a deepening sense of uncertainty as to whether they will ever see justice for their loved ones. For their sakes, the Turkish authorities must ensure that justice is served as a matter of urgency."

About this Series

While not all, or even most, Muslims are involved, persecution of Christians is expanding. "Muslim Persecution of Christians" was developed to collate some—by no means all—of the instances of persecution that surface each month.
It documents what the mainstream media often fails to report.
It posits that such persecution is not random but systematic, and takes place in all languages ethnicities and locations.