“Yes, Christians Are Infidels”: Muslim Persecution of Christians, February 2021

Gatestone Institute 

The following are among the abuses inflicted on Christians by Muslims throughout the month of February, 2021:

 Attacks on Converts to Christianity

Uganda:  A Muslim husband splashed acid onto his wife after suspecting she had converted.  After he witnessed a Christian couple praying with his wife, and in “the middle of the prayers, my husband walked out and began calling Muslims and mentioning that infidels were at his house,” Janati Kyoleka, a 25-year-old mother of three—aged 5, 2, and 5 months—who had secretly converted in December, explained in a Feb. 26 report:

When my friends saw the Muslims approaching the homestead, they took off….  My husband began questioning me whether I had embraced Christianity.  I kept quiet. He started beating me with sticks, and my 5-month-old began crying, and before the arrival of the neighbors, my husband had already poured acid on me, and I lost all consciousness.

She regained consciousness in a hospital bed.  Acid burns covered the right side of her body, from breast to thigh, including genitalia. “I know my marriage with my husband is over,” Kyoleka reflected, adding, “I am grateful to God that my children are with me.”  A local church couple have since taken her and her children in:  “The responsibility of taking care of Kyoleka and her three children is not easy, but God will give us sufficient grace and providence,” said a member of the Christian family.

Iran:  Four converts to Christianity that were arrested on the charge of “acting against national security by forming a house Church,” were sentenced to a combined total of 35 years in prison. By forming and meeting in a house church, they were further accused of “widespread association with missionary groups, as well as evangelical Christian groups outside the country.”  According to the Feb. 3 report, “Judge Moghiseh – who has earned the nickname the ‘Judge of Death’ for his harsh treatment of prisoners of conscience – reportedly spoke ‘obscenely’ to the Christians and would not listen to their defence, only citing the report of the intelligence agent.” Apparently deeming his sentencing too lenient, the “Judge of Death” further informed the Christian prisoners of conscience that “your actions are worthy of death.”

Malta:  A Muslim man stabbed a former Muslim who converted to Christianity in an attempt to kill the apostate and please Allah.  Simar Halil Hannan, 26, apparently with the help of an accomplice, stabbed Lamir Mohmmad, 29, in the neck.  The men are originally from Syria.  During the court hearing, testimony was offered that “In Syria there was a practice whereby if they kill an apostate, they are assured passage to Heaven in the afterlife.” Although prosecution insisted that his client “was now living in terror of the men,” which “led to a heated exchange with the court,” according to the Feb. 12 report, the accused were granted bail.

Somaliland: On Jan. 25, a Christian couple and their newborn baby were arrested.  On the next day, police searched and seized from their home recriminating evidence of Christianity.  Promoting any religion other than Islam is banned in Somaliland.  On that same day, they arrested Aster, an Ethiopian (and therefore likely Christian) woman that had been living with them. On Jan. 31, they were presented before a judge who informed them that they “are suspected of spreading Christianity.”  The prosecutor has 45 days from the date of arrest to complete his investigation and gather evidence, at which point they will be judged.  As last reported, they remain incarcerated and denied access to their lawyer.  This story is not without precedent: a few months earlier, on Oct. 5, 2020, a Somaliland police colonel announced that a husband and wife were also arrested for being “apostates and evangelists spreading Christianity.” Police reportedly entered the couple’s house after being alerted by “suspicious activities.” On finding Christian materials inside their home, police apprehended and hauled away the couple, who have three children. During the same conference, the police colonel repeated that “whoever dares to spread Christianity in this region should be fully aware that they won’t escape the hand of the law enforcement officers and that the spread of Christianity will not be allowed and is considered blasphemy.” He also encouraged citizens to report on those they suspected of being Christian, which may explain how this latest couple was outed as Christians.

Attacks on Christian “Blasphemers”

Pakistan:  Haroon Ayub and Salamat Mansha, two Christian men, both aged around 26, were arrested and are being charged with blasphemy—which carries the death penalty—because Muslims lied and told police that they were proselytizing, including by saying that the Muslim prophet Muhammad had “strayed” from the truth and other words that amounted to  “acts of terrorism.” On Feb. 13, the day of the incident, a group of Muslims came across the two Christians reading the Bible in a park.  The Muslims began questioning the two, including by asking them for any Christian literature that might help them understand their religion. The Christians gave them a booklet titled “Water of Life,” and the Muslims left.  Haroon then returned home, while Mansha stayed in the park. “A few minutes later,” and to quote from their defense lawyer,

the Muslim youths returned to the spot where Mansha was present and attacked him, claiming that he and Haroon had blasphemed against their prophet.  They also summoned the park’s security and lied to them that the two Christians were evangelizing to Muslims in the park and had used derogatory words for the Koran and the prophet [Muhammad]….  Mansha was taken into custody from the spot, while we have managed to obtain pre-arrest bail for Haroon Masih till Feb. 24.  Haroon and Mansha were not preaching to the Muslims as alleged in First Information Report [FIR] No. 61/21. In fact, they were reading the Bible and discussing it amongst themselves when a group of Muslim boys, including Ahmed [who filed the police complaint], overheard them and objected to their Bible study.

Algeria: A 43-year-old married Christian father of four was sentenced to five years in prison for reposting a cartoon of Muhammad, the prophet of Islam on his Facebook account—three years ago, in 2018.  To his surprise, on Jan. 20 of this year, authorities appeared at his door concerning the said cartoon; they ordered him to appear at court, which he did on the following day. According to the Feb. 1 report, “After questioning him about a caricature of Muhammad recorded on his Facebook account with a screenshot by agents from Algeria’s cybercrime unit in 2018, the prosecutor requested he be punished with five years in prison under Article 144 of the penal code against insulting Muhammad.”  The judge complied, sentencing him to five years imprisonment and the payment of a 100,000 dinars fine (equivalent to about USD 750).  “It is a tragedy for us and for his family,” local Pastor Seighir said: “When a member of the Body of Christ is sick, the whole body feels the pain. Brother Hamid was naive in accepting this cartoon on his Facebook account. That this story goes back three years and only now it’s resurfacing – it’s hard to digest.”  The pastor added that the accused’s wife and four children—aged 6, 4, 3, and 3 months—are especially “dejected and dismayed, especially since one of the children is seriously ill.”  Article 144 bis of the Algerian penal code finds guilty,

Whoever insults Prophet Mohammed (Peace Be Upon Him) or the rest of the prophets, or ridiculed the basics of the religion or any of the Islamic rituals either in writing, drawing, expression or any other method. The General Prosecution shall initiate the litigation procedures spontaneously.

In 2016 and 2017, two other Christians were respectively sentenced to prison for blaspheming against Muhammad.

Attacks on Churches

Kenya: According to a Feb. 3 report, Muslims torched five separate churches between Jan. 20 and Jan. 24.  “A majority of the church members were afraid to attend services [in or near the ruins] in the aftermath of the burning of the churches, fearing that the arsonists might follow them right into their homes, risking the lives of their families,” a local source said.  As occurred when vandals in France used human excrement to draw a cross on the Notre-Dame des Enfants Church in 2019, so these Kenyan arsonists also “committed the heinous acts of scooping human feces onto the buildings,” the source added.

Sudan: The ninth church to be torched in Muslim-majority Sudan in two years occurred, according to a Feb. 17 report.  Before it was set aflame, local Muslims shed light as to why they attack churches: “In every city or village where Muslims live, they should not allow anything that belongs to infidels such as church buildings to be there,” one Muslim wrote on social media; another insisted that, wherever Muslims allow the existence of a church, that place becomes “disgraced.”  In short, and in the words of the Rev. Kuwa Shamal, of the Sudanese Church of Christ, “They targeted the church because they do not want to see any sign of the cross in the area.”

Authorities also apprehended, beat, and threatened a Christian leader because he spoke out against the burning of this latest church.  On Feb. 14, masked men believed to be national security personnel seized Osama Saeed Kodi, chairman of the Christian Youth Union, handcuffed and blindfolded him. “We will kill you if you continue with Christian activities in Tambul,” he was warned before being released. “I have been brutally beaten by national security personnel on my chest and on my right leg,” Kodi later said. “I am still in pain as a result of this beating. I thank all those who stood with me during the detention. I shall continue to defend the right of the church despite all these obstacles.”

Nigeria:  Suspected Muslim arsonists set Holy Family Catholic Church ablaze on Sunday, Feb. 21.  According to a report from that same day, on learning that “armed bandits” were approaching their village, Christian locals fled.  On finding no one to victimize, “the armed bandits set ablaze the place of worship and the two houses.” Another report is less sparing on the possible identity and motive of the arsonists:

While the gunmen in this particular incident remain unknown, Kaduna State has experienced countless attacks at the hands of Islamic terrorist groups, led by Fulani militants and Boko Haram. Christian communities are targeted, and thousands of believers have been kidnapped, tortured and killed with nowhere to turn for safety. While the government denies religious motives behind these attacks, the frequent burning of churches and targeting of believers shows that a hatred of Christianity plays a key role in violence throughout the Middle Belt.

Algeria: Although all mosques were given permission to reopen on Feb. 15, churches were denied the same greenlight.  According to a press release from the Prime Minister’s office, “all mosques on the national territory are opened, in strict compliance with health measures and protocols for the prevention and protection against the spread of the Coronavirus, in particular the preventive support system put in place for mosques.”  As one report, notes, however,

Churches were notably omitted from the press release, despite the fact that the same social distancing and health protocols could apply to churches, just the same as mosques.  Churches in Algeria were already facing pressure prior to the pandemic as nine churches were closed in 2019. None of the 2019 closed churches were reopened, primarily due to the claim that they were unregistered or unregulated by the state. Now, new health regulations indicate that churches may continue to be disadvantaged and so far have not been awarded the same benefits as other religious buildings of worship.

Sexual Assaults on and Forced Conversion of Christian Women

Bangladesh:  Two Muslims brutally raped a married Christian mother.  On the evening of Feb. 5, the 43-year-old woman was at home alone (her husband worked nights and her son was studying at a distant school).  Two men broke in and attacked her.  According to the woman,

With their faces covered, they looked like thieves, but instead they wanted sex and started beating me up.  As I tried to disentangle myself, I recognised Mohammed Alam’s face [a neighbor]. They kept beating me; I was scared and helpless. I asked for some water and they gave me a glass mixed with a sleeping pill that made me unconscious for three days.

When her husband returned home from work on “the next morning he found the door open and his wife on the floor, undressed and unconscious.”  He proceeded to file a complaint at the local police station against his neighbor, Mohammad Alam, and his accomplice.  Mohammad was arrested, though his friend remains on the run. “Alam thought that since we were very weak Christians we would not raise our voices,” his victim explained.  Her husband said that, although their Muslim neighbors initially “showed their solidarity and denounced the attack,” once he filed the complaint, all these same “local Muslims sided with Alam, claiming he could not have done it…  His brothers also offered me money to withdraw the complaint, but I told them that I want punishment for the attackers.”

Pakistan:  After Arooj Karamat, a 23-year-old Christian girl applied for the position of math instructor in a school adjacent to a mosque in Islamabad, the Muslims around her began to harass and insult her—to the point of threatening her with rape and death if she did not convert to Islam.  Initially Arooj’s female Muslim colleagues began to discuss religion around her; she assiduously refused to respond, even when they made comments “about Christianity [that] were hateful and derogatory.”  Before long, those same teachers began to pressure her to convert to Islam.  In a Feb. 16 interview, Arooj gave her story, which culminated with a violent abduction attempt.  After explaining how she did not want to take the job, as it was so close to a mosque, the 23-year-old explained (grammar slightly adjusted for readability):

I started facing religious criticism from my co-workers who talked bad about Christianity. There were three female teachers and one male teacher; he taught Quran (religious studies) to students. One day on July 20, 2020 that man named Muhammad Abdul Basit offered me to convert to Islam and be a Muslim if I want to go to heaven and if I want to live a peaceful life; he was a kind of extremist person, he belongs to some religious group who spread Islam… I refused to accept Islam; then he started cursing me, speaking bad things about Christianity and then threatening me that he will rape me and kill me for denying Islam.

She quit that same day, told her family everything, and her father and younger brother always stayed near her whenever they ventured outdoors.  Four days later, the family was out shopping. When Arooj and her mother stepped out of the store, and as they were walking towards the waiting male members of the family, they passed by a mosque.  From it, Muhammad Abdul Basit came running out; at the same time, a big pickup truck pulled up behind the Christian women. Arooj continues:

[F]our men with black turbans on the head and white gowns with long beard came out with guns and a rope in their hands; they covered us from all sides; I  started screaming for help and they pushed away my mother and one of them  hit my mother with a gun and broke her arm; others were grabbing my arms and legs while Muhammad Abdul Basit was trying to tie my hands with rope and forcing me towards car; I was shouting for help and my mother was laying on road injured, screaming and shouting for help; people on the road gathered around us  to see what is going on and my brother and father also came there to see what was happening; when they saw us they both fought with them to protect us; my brother and father grabbed my legs and arms out of the car; then those men beat my father and brother—they beat my father so bad and injured him badly while Muhammad Abdul Basit was hitting me with slaps on my head and face, and those four men took out big guns and loaded them; they were about to shoot me but the public had gathered by them; it was a big crowd there so they could not shoot me at that time  and went away but were  threatening us loudly that they will come back to kill me.

Nigeria: Based on the diary of Naomi Adamu—one of the many school girls abducted by Islamic militants of Boko Haram in 2014 to much international attention (before it was revealed that they were overwhelmingly Christian)—some of what they went through is becoming known.  According to a Feb. 20 report,

Adamu wrote on the days when it was safe, after compulsory lessons on the Qur’an and foraging for meagre rations from the forest.  The small act of rebellion gave her strength. When her Boko Haram minders told her she would be killed if she did not convert, marry a fighter and bear his children, she refused and was beaten with the butt of a rifle…  [She and others who refused to comply] were condemned to backbreaking labour as ‘slaves.’ ….   ‘I became the leader of our girls because I was the eldest among them and I was the most stubborn. Boko Haram wanted me to convert as an example because they knew the other girls listened to me – they beat me and bullied me and threatened to kill me, but I told them even if the heaven and earth come together I will not marry.’ … Soon, some of the hostages were openly insubordinate, refusing orders and being beaten repeatedly. They began quietly singing hymns when their guards were distracted. Then the singing got louder.  A small group of the most defiant students was separated. Adamu, their leader, was dubbed ‘the chief infidel’ by furious Boko Haram leaders. ‘When they realised we don’t wear hijab like the other girls they beat us and said they would cut off our heads. They made us wear hijab and pray but we decided together to fake the ceremony. We mouthed Christian prayers and told each other the story of Job,’ said Adamu.  Once again the students were told they would be killed if they did not submit and convert. Again the small group of rebels refused. ‘At a certain point we had seen so many bodies, we were no longer afraid to die.’

Slaughter of Christians

Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC): On Sunday, Feb. 14—St. Valentine’s Day—Islamic terrorists of the Allied Democratic Forces killed 13 civilians in the Christian majority nation, and burnt down a Catholic church during a raid.  Three soldiers and four terrorists were also killed in the subsequent firefight.  The Allied Democratic Forces, which is connected to the Islamic State, killed about 850 people in 2020.  Discussing this and other attacks on DRC’s Christians, Illia Djadi, a human rights activist acquainted with the region, said that

These predominantly Christian communities are attacked by an Islamic extremist group with a clear Islamic expansionist agenda.  We need to pay attention to these events because what is happening in eastern DRC, the killing of innocent civilians on an almost daily basis, is an underreported tragedy.

Nigeria: A Muslim colonel stole weapons from an armory and then blamed the 12 soldiers on duty of the theft.  Six of those 12 soldiers—all Christians—were then executed on Jan. 25.  According to lawyer Emeka Umeagbalasi,

The government of today detests Christianity…  This administration is running on ethnic agenda against the Igbo [Christian] population….  This has never been a practice in the Army. Things got changed the moment this present administration [of Muhammadu Buhari] came to power.  Things are happening before that didn’t happen. It’s not only about these six soldiers….  Nigeria is becoming like Somalia and Rwanda. That was exactly how it started, with the government taking sides and backing the members of a particular ethnic group. That’s the situation. Even in the security forces, Christians are being targeted.

The Feb. 4 report elaborates,

Many Nigerians now believe the Army fights for Islam, not Nigeria…  In the country’s predominately Christian south, people call it ‘Boko Haram’s Army.’ Muslims hold all the most important leadership positions.  The Army’s lack of action to protect Christians comes directly from its leaders in government… When troops go into areas controlled by radical Islamists to defend Nigerian Christians, the government orders them to retreat. Then, Islamist rebels shoot them in the back.

As for those Christians killed “illegally” by Muslim terrorists in Nigeria, some of the more notable follow:

• On 17, in Niger state, Islamic gunmen attacked a boarding school for boys and killed a Christian student; 42 others were abducted and subsequently released.
• On 16, Fulani herdsmen shot dead Mati Sani, a 65-year-old elder of the Evangelical Church Winning All; three other Christians were abducted during the same raid.
• On 14, Muslim herdsmen shot and killed four Christians, all members of the Evangelical Church Winning All.
• On 7, Muslim Fulani herdsmen killed another church elder and four other Christians.
• On 2, Fulani herdsmen ambushed and killed two Christians traveling on a road.

Generic Attacks on Christians

Indonesia:  On Feb. 8, authorities publicly flogged two Christian men for drinking alcohol and gambling in Aceh, which enforces Islamic law, or Sharia.  A masked man administered 40 lashes with a stick on each of their backs.

Ghana: An armed gang attacked an all-night Christian prayer service around 2 am on Feb. 6.  Three Christians—one only 2-years-old—were injured after one of the assailants opened fire; the rest of the congregation fled and hid.  “All three victims sustained minor gunshot wounds on their legs,” one of the congregants added.  Discussing this incident, another report offers context:

Ghana has historically been a safe country for Christians, with over 70 percent of the population claiming to follow Christ. While Muslims and Christians have generally lived peacefully amongst each other, fears of religious tensions have increased, especially towards the northern Burkina Faso boarder. Though it is unclear if this attack was religiously motivated or just a random act of crime, attacks on churches is a bad sign for the freedom of religion in a region where Islamic radicalism and attacks on Christians is growing rapidly.

Sudan: According to a Feb. 22 report, on the day that the only Christian program on Sudanese television first aired, outraged Muslims urged authorities to remove it. “Christians and Jews are not only infidels, but they are cursed by Allah,” Muzemil Fakhiri, a popular imam complained in an online video:  “Now Sudan TV is openly broadcasting infidel programs instead of playing Islamic programs.  Yes, Christians are infidels!”

Raymond Ibrahim, author of Crucified Again and Sword and Scimitar, is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Gatestone Institute, a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center, and a Judith Rosen Friedman Fellow at the Middle East Forum.

About this Series

The persecution of Christians in the Islamic world has become endemic.  Accordingly, “Muslim Persecution of Christians” was developed in 2011 to collate some—by no means all—of the instances of persecution that occur or are reported each month. It serves two purposes:

1)          To document that which the mainstream media does not: the habitual, if not chronic, persecution of Christians.

2)          To show that such persecution is not “random,” but systematic and interrelated—that it is rooted in a worldview inspired by Islamic Sharia.

Accordingly, whatever the anecdote of persecution, it typically fits under a specific theme, including hatred for churches and other Christian symbols; apostasy, blasphemy, and proselytism laws that criminalize and sometimes punish with death those who “offend” Islam; sexual abuse of Christian women; forced conversions to Islam;  theft and plunder in lieu of jizya (financial tribute expected from non-Muslims); overall expectations for Christians to behave like cowed dhimmis, or second-class, “tolerated” citizens; and simple violence and murder. Sometimes it is a combination thereof.

Because these accounts of persecution span different ethnicities, languages, and locales—from Morocco in the West, to Indonesia in the East—it should be clear that one thing alone binds them: Islam—whether the strict application of Islamic Sharia law, or the supremacist culture born of it.

Previous Reports:

• January, 2021
• December, 2020
• November, 2020
• October, 2020
• September, 2020
• August, 2020
• July, 2020
• June, 2020
• May, 2020
• April, 2020
• March, 2020
• February, 2020
• January, 2020
• December, 2019
• November, 2019
• October, 2019
• September, 2019
• August, 2019
• July, 2019
• June, 2019
• May, 2019
• April, 2019
• March, 2019
• February, 2019
• January, 2019
• December, 2018
• November, 2018
• October, 2018
• September, 2018
• August, 2018
• July, 2018
• June, 2018
• May, 2018
• April, 2018
• March, 2018
• February, 2018
• January, 2018
• December, 2017
• November, 2017
• October, 2017
• September, 2017
• August, 2017
• July, 2017
• June, 2017
• May, 2017
• April, 2017
• March, 2017
• February, 2017
• January, 2017
• December, 2016
• November, 2016
• October, 2016
• September, 2016
• August, 2016
• July, 2016
• June, 2016
• May, 2016
• April, 2016
• March, 2016
• February, 2016
• January, 2016
• December, 2015
• November, 2015
• October, 2015
• September, 2015
• August, 2015
• July, 2015
• June, 2015
• May, 2015
• April, 2015
• March, 2015
• February, 2015
• January, 2015
• December, 2014
• November, 2014
• October, 2014
• September, 2014
• August, 2014
• July, 2014
• June, 2014
• May, 2014
• April, 2014
• March, 2014
• February, 2014
• January, 2014
• December, 2013
• November, 2013
• October, 2013
• September, 2013
• August, 2013
• July, 2013
• June, 2013
• May, 2013
• April, 2013
• March, 2013
• February, 2013
• January, 2013
• December, 2012
• November, 2012
• October, 2012
• September, 2012 
• August, 2012
• July, 2012
• June, 2012
• May, 2012
• April, 2012
• March, 2012
• February, 2012
• January, 2012
• December, 2011
• November, 2011
• October, 2011
• September, 2011
• August, 2011
• July, 2011