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, November 2014

Both in the Islamic world and the Western world, Muslims continued to attack and slaughter Christians.
In Pakistan, "A mob accused of burning alive a Christian couple in an industrial kiln in Pakistan allegedly wrapped a pregnant mother in cotton so she would catch fire more easily, according to family members who witnessed the attack," reported NBC News:

Sajjad Maseeh, 27, and his wife Shama Bibi, 24, were set upon by at least 1,200 people after rumors circulated that they had burned verses from the Quran, family spokesman Javed Maseeh told NBC News via telephone late Thursday. Their legs were also broken so they couldn't run away.
"They picked them up by their arms and legs and held them over the brick furnace until their clothes caught fire," he said. "And then they threw them inside the furnace."
Bibi, a mother of four who was four months pregnant, was wearing an outfit that initially didn't burn, according to Javed Maseeh. The mob removed her from over the kiln and wrapped her up in cotton to make sure the garments would be set alight.

Shama Bibi (left) and Sajjad Maseeh, a Christian couple and parents of four children, were burned to death by a Muslim lynch mob in Pakistan because of a false blasphemy accusation.

Discussing this latest atrocity against Pakistan's Christian minorities, an AFP report states:

Blasphemy is a hugely sensitive issue in the majority Muslim country, with even unproven allegations often prompting mob violence.
Anyone convicted, or even just accused, of insulting Islam, risks a violent and bloody death at the hands of vigilantes.
A Christian woman [Asia Bibi] has been on death row since November 2010 after she was found guilty of making derogatory remarks about the Prophet Mohammed during an argument with a Muslim woman.
An elderly British man with severe mental illness, sentenced to death for blasphemy in Pakistan in January, was shot by a prison guard last month.

Two days after the Christian couple were burned alive, a policeman in Pakistan hacked a man to death for allegedly making blasphemous remarks against Islam.
About the Christian couple, Dr. Nazir S. Bhatti, President of the Pakistan Christian Congress, wrote a letter to U.S. President Obama expressing surprise that the U.S. did not even bother to condemn this crime:

It is surprising that neither US Administration under your honor nor US State Department even bothered to condemn this horrific crime of burning live of Christian couple by a mob living in country named Islamic Republic of Pakistan which is receiving billions of aid of US taxpayers.
I would appeal your honor to put pressure on government of Pakistan to end misuse of blasphemy laws against Christian, Ahamadiyyia and other religious minorities and condition US Aid to Pakistan on human rights and repeal of blasphemy laws.

Meanwhile, in America itself, in Oklahoma, Jimmy Stepney, a Muslim, stabbed Jerome Bullock, a Christian, after Stepney had said that Muslims need to "step up" beheadings. According to Koco5 News:

The [police] report went on to say Stepney had been making comments about beheading people.
"We were watching the news," said Bullock. "He said he felt like more Muslims need to step up to the plate and do certain thing. He was talking about beheading people."

The severity of the plight of Christians in the Middle East was further underscored by Dr. Alexander Yakovenko, Russian Ambassador to the United Kingdom, who wrote:

Russia is currently considering the possibility of initiating a draft decision of the UN Human Rights Council on the protection of Christians in the Middle East and North Africa. Russian experts are now working on this document.[…]
The scale of the problems demands the coordination of international efforts to protect Christians in the Middle East.
Further initiatives, new measures and relevant discussions aimed at finding durable solutions in this regard are strongly needed. Of course, we believe that Europe, including the UK, should make its contribution to these efforts, taking into account the Christian roots of the European civilization, which are now often forgotten for the sake of political correctness.[…]
The fate of the region's religious minorities is of the greatest concern. The mass exodus of Christians, who have been an integral part of the Middle Eastern mosaic for centuries, is particularly troubling.

The rest of November'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:

Muslim Attacks on Christian Churches

Bangladesh: Two Christian pastors from the Faith Bible Church of God were arrested for preaching the Gospel to Muslims. They could face two years in prison if convicted for "hurting religious sentiments" and luring Muslims to convert by offering them money. The pastors deny both charges. Police arrested the pastors and 41 other people, including Muslims, after a throng of Muslims disrupted a house meeting. According to a witness: "More than 100 Muslims headed by local Jamaat-e-Islami party members and Muslim clerics gathered at the house and started barking questions at the pastors—why did they propagate Christianity in the locality and convert some of them," and who gave them permission to preach to Muslims. "The pastors replied that it did not take any permission from any authority to propagate any religion and convert people to any religion. Suddenly the Muslims became apoplectic with rage, tried to pick a fight and started jabbing the pastors' faces."

Egypt: Father Timothy Shakar, priest of St. Mina Church in Port Said, confirmed that two homemade bombs were planted near the St. Mina Church but caused no injuries, or losses of life or property. Police searched other churches in the region for more bombs.

Germany: Nine men who had earlier broken into, vandalized, and robbed several Christian churches in the Cologne area—including by stealing money from the collection boxes and liturgical vessels—were caught during a massive raid. Apparently, all of the arrested are German by nationality, but Muslim by background and heritage. Some were also identified as "Salafis"—especially fundamentalist Muslims—connected to international terrorist organizations. Some had even raised hundreds of thousands of Euros from native Germans to support overseas "charities," the proceeds of which actually went to terrorist groups such as ISIS.

Iraq: As cries of "Allahu Akbar" emanated from surrounding mosques, Islamic State militants blew up yet another Christian church -- St. George's Church and its associated nunnery in the city of Mosul -- along with other non-Sunni sites. Separately, after breaking the cross from off the dome of the St. Ephrem Church dome (before and after pictures here) and selling its pews and other furnishings, the IS transformed the church into a mosque and council seat for the jihadis.

East Jerusalem: Despite constant and ever bolder attacks on a church, police refuse to respond to pleas for help from the Christian congregation. According to Morning Star News, "The attacks, driven by both intent to seize property and opposition to Christianity, have been mounted by young men with ties to Palestinian militants who for more than three months have been trying to force Living Bread Church from its rented building. Church pastor Karen Dunham and others have filed at least eight police reports about the assaults." The most recent incident took place on November 5, when the gas tank of a car owned by a church volunteer was filled with sugar. On November 2, a car owned by one of the pastor's relatives was stolen. And on October 16, three American Christians were injured while trying to repair a metal security door: A crowd of Palestinian men attacked them with box cutters, sticks, clubs and pepper spray. According to the church's attorney, authorities "have their [the assailants'] pictures, they have their names, they even have their national ID numbers, and still they do nothing.... The level of brute force compared to the level of lack of response of the police force there is pretty shocking.... It almost seems like if someone is going to go in and murder her [Dunham], that no one is going to lift a finger."

Malaysia: Approximately 70 local residents in Petaling Jaya protested the construction of a church. They claimed the growing number of Christian places of worship in the area is part of an attempt to evangelize and convert Muslims to Christianity. An NGO, the local branch of Pertubuhan Sahabat, supported the claims of the Muslims. They argued that there are three churches in the vicinity, although close to 70 percent of the residents in the area are Muslims. According to a spokesman, "Even before the church is built, flyers on Christianity have been distributed to our homes, and this could confuse our children and divert them from the path of Islam." The vacant plot was previously occupied by squatters, a car park and several food stalls. Another local Muslim added "None of our neighbours are Christians, we can vouch for that... it is an insult to Muslims to allow a church to be built here, but none of our representatives seem to have the time to listen to us." One demonstrator hurled large rocks at the temporary steel fence around the vacant plot.

Jihadi Slaughter of Christians

Kenya: Members of neighboring Somalia's Islamic group Al Shabaab—"the Youth"—hijacked a bus carrying 60 passengers in the town of Mandera, near Kenya's border with Somalia. They singled out and massacred 28 non-Muslims, the overwhelming majority of whom were Christian. According to an eyewitness, "When we got down, passengers were separated according to Somali and non-Somalis. The non-Somalis were ordered to read some verses of the holy Koran, and those who failed to read were ordered to lie down. One by one they were shot in the head at point blank range."

Nigeria: On November 10, a suicide bomb attack on a Christian secondary school as students gathered for morning assembly killed at least 47 people. The Islamic group Boko Haram— meaning: "Western education is forbidden"—is believed to be behind the blast. In a separate incident, Christians from the predominantly Christian city of Mubi in Adamawa state were tortured and killed after Boko Haram took control of the town. Churches and homes were torched throughout the city, which was renamed Madinat al-Islam, or "the City of Islam." In yet another separate incident, Boko Haram militants raided the mostly Christian town of Shani. According to a resident speaking to Reuters, "They rode on motorcycles and were more than 30 men. They started throwing bombs into houses... then the Boko Haram fired shots at people fleeing. They set ablaze the police station, houses and a telecom mast... I saw people fleeing, some bodies on the ground." Reuters continues: "The Sunni jihadist movement is fighting to revive a medieval Islamic caliphate in Nigeria's north."

Pakistani Persecution

A few days after the Christian couple, mentioned earlier, was burned alive, a 35-year-old Christian father of five known as "Mithu" was arrested on false charges by police and tortured to death in prison. According to the deceased's brother-in-law: "It was a fake allegation, because the raiding party failed to recover any contraband from Mithu's person and his house... On the morning of Nov. 22, we were informed by Ilyas Gill, a local councilor, that Mithu had died in police custody because of heart failure.... Young Christian men are made scapegoats to show police performance while the real culprits are carrying out their illegal activities right under the police's nose." Morning Star News adds: "Area police routinely round up young, impoverished Christians on false charges of drug peddling and bootlegging, and then force their families to pay heavy bribes in return for their release... family elders had seen signs of torture on the body..."
Christian families in a Punjabi village were forced to flee after a Christian man married a Muslim woman—an act forbidden by Islamic law. According to the Pakistani report, "The Muslims in this village became enraged when this occurred and began threatening them.... When the news of the marriage was learned, the Muslims in Sahiwal attacked Shahab's [the Christian husband's] family as well as other Christian families in the village. The Muslims demanded that Ruksana [the Muslim wife] be returned immediately, according to Sharia which prohibits Muslim women from marrying a man from another religion…. the entire Muslim community was threatening to kill Shahab's father and all of the village's Christians.... The Christians' pleas for help from the local police were all in vain."
And Qaiser Ayub, a 40-year-old professor of Christian background, was arrested and charged with insulting Islam's prophet Muhammad. The computer science professor had been a fugitive avoiding the police since 2011, when he was first accused of having written blasphemous comments on his blog.

Dhimmitude: Generic Contempt and Hostility

Denmark: In an apparent replication of the Islamic world's modus operandi, Muslim refugees in the European nation are persecuting Christian refugees. According to 10news.dk, "Christian asylum seekers are repeatedly exposed to everything from harassment to threats and physical abuse by other refugees in the asylum centers, simply because they have converted from Islam to Christianity." According to Niels Eriksen Nyman, who led the study, "There are certainly many more cases around the country than the ones we hear about in the church. I hate to say it, but I'm afraid that on some of the asylum centers there are some very unhealthy control mechanisms when the staff turns their back... I refuse to support Islamophobia, but we have a serious problem here." Two recent examples: "An eight year old Christian at the Center Sandholm was bullied and beaten by the larger Arab boys on their way to school. Now the boy nolonger [sic] dares to go to school. On the island Bornholm, somebody had tampered with a Christian asylum seeker's bike so that he crashed and broke both hands."

Egypt: The Islamic State called on its followers to take the jihad to Egypt. Abu Mus'ab al-Maqdisi, a leader in the Islamic State, said in a statement titled "Advice to Egypt's Mujahidin" that "It is necessary to take the battle to Cairo, until the Sinai is safeguarded from the apostates [reference to Egyptian government] and becomes a rear base [qaeda] from which to expand the jihad." He also called on the jihadis in Egypt to "target the Copts," the nation's indigenous, Christian minority: "For targeting them, following them, and killing them is one of the main ways to serve the cause of our virtuous male and female hostages of the tyrants."

Iraq: Christian homes in Tel Isqof were looted by Kurds who, after fighting the Islamic State, took control of the area on August 17. According to Agenzia Fides, "The city of Tel Isqof was occupied on August 7 by jihadist militias who already in June had conquered Mosul. Faced with the advancing of jihadists, the civilian population, mainly Christians, had fled to the autonomous Region of Iraqi Kurdistan, leaving the city deserted. Ten days later [on August 17], with a counter-offensive the Kurdish Peshmerga had regained control of the city. But it is precisely since then that [Christian] residents periodically return to the city to check the status of their homes, and acknowledge that the doors of a growing number of homes and businesses have been forced and property looted: money and jewelry, technical equipment and electronic instruments." As in the Islamic State, most Kurds are Sunni Muslims.

Islamic State: IS issued a document breaking down the purchase prices of Christian and Yazidi women being sold as sex-slaves. Apparently these enslaved unfortunates are priced based on age— the youngest being the most expensive. The breakdown is as follows (with USD equivalency in brackets): 40-50 years old: 50,000 dinars [$43]; 30-40 years old: 75,000 dinars [$64]; 20-30 years old: 100,000 dinars [$86]; 10-20 years old: 150,000 dinars [$129]; 9 years old: 200,000 dinars [$172].

Spain: Real Madrid, a professional football (soccer) team, stripped the traditional Christian cross from its club crest as part of a deal with the National Bank of Abu Dhabi. "It is believed the European champions' new crest, minus the Christian cross, was created so as not to offend Muslim sensibilities in the United Arab Emirates, where a marketing drive will take place," wrote the Telegraph. Club president Florentino Perez said, "This agreement will help the club to keep conquering the hearts of followers in the United Arab Emirates."

Syria: As of November, Raqqa, which once had approximately 1,500 Christian families, had only 23 Christian families remaining in it—the others were driven out or killed by the Islamic State. Those few remaining were unable to leave the city for lack of resources or for reasons of age and health. On November 16 they were told that they must pay $535, an exorbitant sum (human sex-slaves are being sold for as little as $43). "In all likelihood Christian families, impoverished by the war, will not be able to pay the tax and will have to leave their homes" or convert to Islam, as many elderly, debilitated Christians unable to flee have already done.

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.