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Christians and the Struggle 

for Religious Freedom 

with Persecuted and Forgotten 2012 Update

Christians and the Struggle 

for Religious Freedom 

with Persecuted and Forgotten 2012 Update

Christians and the Struggle for Religious Freedom 


with Persecuted and Forgotten 2012 update 

©2012 Aid to the Church in Need. All rights reserved. 

Edited by John Pontifex and John Newton 

Christians and the Struggle for Religious Freedom by Austen Iveriegh 

Persecuted and Forgotten by John Pontifex and John Newton 

Published by 

Aid to the Church in Need 

12-14 Benhill Avenue, 

Sutton, Surrey 

SM1 4DA 

United Kingdom 

Tel: 020 8642 8668 

Fax: 020 8661 6293 

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2 

Email: acn@acnuk.org 

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A registered charity in England & Wales (1097984) and Scotland (SC040748) 

Printed in the UK by Cliffe Enterprise Print Partnership, Eastbourne, BN22 8TR 

Front cover image: A young Catholic girl attending Mass in Kunri, 

Hyderabad Diocese, Pakistan. Picture by Marc Fromager. Design by John 

Newton. All images © ACN except where noted. Maps taken from ACN’s 

Religious Freedom in the World Report 2010. © Istituto Geografico De 

Agostini, 2010. All rights reserved.


© Marcin Mazur 

Foreword 

by Bishop Declan Lang of Clifton 

Chairman, International Affairs Department, 

Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England & Wales 

© Marcin Mazur 

“Christ is hope and comfort in a particular way for those Christian 

communities suffering most for their faith on account of discrimination and 

persecution. And he is present as a force of hope through his Church, 

which is close to all human situations of suffering and injustice.” 

Pope Benedict XVI, Urbi et Orbi, Easter 2012. 

In many parts of the world, Christians find themselves under attack because 

of their fidelity to the Gospel. As this report shows vividly, the denial of 

religious freedom is becoming an ever-more serious problem and one that 

is found in a wide range of states. Whether caused by political ideology, 

criminality or religiously inspired discrimination, numerous believers are 

being persecuted because of who they are and their willingness to express 

that faith publicly. Those Christians facing sustained violence, especially in 

parts of Asia, Africa and the Middle East, show an extraordinary courage 

that should serve as an inspiration to those of us who do not face those 

dangers but are still called upon to give a witness to our faith. It also serves 

as a reminder that true religious freedom – rather than simply the ability to 

worship – is an essential foundation in creating and sustaining healthy 

3


societies; something Pope Benedict XVI emphasised in his speech in 

Westminster Hall in September 2010. Thus the Church promotes the rights 

of all – including those who profess no faith – to give public expression to 

conscience-driven belief, because to do otherwise would diminish both 

individuals and the public space that we share. 

In defending religious freedom in the face of those who would use terror to 

suppress the Gospel, Christians in many parts of the world give a witness 

that demands our support. Especially in the face of that violence, the call to 

interfaith dialogue becomes all the more urgent as an essential part of the 

Church’s work for peace. We are called to enter more deeply into solidarity 

with those who suffer for the Church and to do so through prayer, practical 

support and by raising our voices about this often-hidden crisis. ACN plays 

an important role is supporting some of the most vulnerable Christians. 

This important report is the charity’s latest contribution and I commend it 

warmly. 

4


Contents 

Christians and the Struggle for Religious Freedom 06 

Promoting Religious Freedom 20 

Persecuted and Forgotten 2012 Update Introduction 21 

China 24 

Egypt 30 

Eritrea 36 

India 40 

Iran 44 

Iraq 48 

Israel and Palestine 52 

Nigeria 57 

North Korea 62 

Pakistan 65 

Sudan and South Sudan 71 

Syria 75 

Zimbabwe 77 

5



by Dr Austen Ivereigh * 

Ask people what religious freedom is, and most will say: “the freedom to 

believe in God”, or “the freedom to convert from one religion to another”. 

Others might add: “the freedom to worship without being harassed or 

coerced”; still others, “the freedom to promote change inspired by your 

beliefs”. Most of us grasp that these are basic liberties, without which faith 

cannot flourish, and which are essential in any civilised, democratic 

society. 

But religious freedom is not just about freedom for religious people. It is 

the foundation of the rights and freedoms of the whole of society. As Pope 

Benedict XVI put it in January 2011, religious freedom is “the first of 

human rights, for it expresses the most fundamental reality of the person”. 1 

The denial of it, he added, leads to injustice, the stifling of peace, and the 

stunting of human development. Enabling and encouraging it, on the other 

hand, allows people to choose for themselves what is right and good, and to 

act on those beliefs, helping to build a better world. “Religious freedom 

should be understood,” he says, “not merely as immunity from coercion, 

but even more fundamentally as an ability to order one’s own choices in 

accordance with truth.” 

Yet everywhere this most basic and vital of freedoms, upheld in 

international charters, is under attack. We face nothing less than “a global 

crisis in religious liberty”. 2 Pope Benedict XVI is among many who have 

raised their voices in alarm at the worldwide spread in recent years of 

“persecution, discrimination, terrible acts of violence and religious 

intolerance.” 3 

As the Holy Father points out in the same address, it is mainly Christians 

who are the victims. “The most dramatic Christian story of our time,” says 

* Dr Austen Ivereigh is the co-founder and co-ordinator of Catholic Voices, and a 

regular contributor to various periodicals including America, Our Sunday Visitor, 

and The Guardian. Former deputy editor of The Tablet and later Director for 

Public Affairs for Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, he frequently appears in 

the media and is the author of Catholic Voices: Putting the Church’s case in an era 

of 24-hour news. 

6

the US journalist John Allen, “is 

that there is a completely nonmetaphorical 

war on religion, and 

on Christianity, afoot in a growing 

number of places in the world.” 4 

According to the Frankfurt-based 

International Society for Human 

Rights, a secular body, 80 per cent 

of the acts of religious intolerance 

in the world today are directed 

against Christians. 5 A Pew Forum 

study in 2011 estimated that 

Christians are persecuted, either 

by government or hostile social 

forces, in 130 of the world’s 193 

countries. 6 

In its 2012 report, the US 

Commission on International 

Religious Freedom (USCIRF) 

listed 16 countries which it said 

have committed the most heinous 

and systematic violations of 

religious freedom and perpetrated 

most egregious examples of 

religious persecution. Although 


At a time of increasing fundamentalism 

in Pakistan, Shahbaz Bhatti 

dedicated his life to defending religious 

freedom. A Catholic, he became 

Federal Minister for Minorities in the 

Pakistan cabinet. He championed the 

cause of people highly critical of the 

country’s notorious blasphemy laws. 

He was killed in Islamabad on 2 nd 

March 2011 aged 42. See page 65 for 

more information. 

people of many different religious affiliations are affected by persecution, 

discrimination, harassment, torture and imprisonment, only one group is 

persecuted in all 16 countries: Christians. 7 

Yet despite the overwhelming evidence that a whole new generation of 

Christian martyrs are paying with their blood for their faith, the story is 

largely ignored in the western media, who struggle with the notion of 

Christians as a persecuted minority. 

Sometimes the discrimination and persecution are de jure, e.g. in Saudi 

Arabia, where discrimination against non-Muslims is built into the law. But 

mostly they happen de facto – in places where religious freedom is 

officially respected, but in practice ignored – as in the state of Orissa, India. 

Here in 2008 police allowed an 18-day Hindu pogrom against Christians, 

7


leaving hundreds dead and thousands homeless. As Archbishop Silvano 

Tomasi, Permanent Representative of the Holy See to the United Nations, 

says, such episodes “deny in practice the principle proclaimed in law.” 8 

It is not just Christians who are the victims. When we raise our voice in 

favour of religious freedom, it should be to emphasise the right to freedom 

of religion for all individuals, for all communities of faith, and for every 

society, in all parts of the world. 

But given that Christians are today, by a very large margin, paying the most 

substantial price when religious freedom is denied, it is their stories that are 

told in Aid to the Church in Need’s annual report, Persecuted and 

Forgotten – an update of which is found in this booklet. 

Most Christians are simply not aware of the scale, and the horror, of what is 

happening. And it is worth asking: if Christians do not react to what is 

happening to their brothers and sisters in faith, how can they expect their 

governments to do so 

This essay, drawn from Catholic sources on religious freedom, is intended 

as a companion to the update of Persecuted and Forgotten It is an attempt 

to help ordinary people, in both the Christian community and outside it, to 

grasp the importance of religious freedom, and to defend and advocate it. 

In most places, the threats to religious freedom are literally matters of life 

and death. Yet religious freedom is also under pressure close to home, in 

the nations which should be its greatest defenders. In Europe and the 

United States, secular prejudice against religion is forcing Churches and 

their charities to the margins of public life. A report by the Vienna-based 

Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination against Christians in 

Europe (OIDCE) chronicles more than 200 of the “most striking” incidents 

of Christians facing either outright hate crimes or legal restrictions, 

including arrests and lawsuits, targeting their freedom of expression, belief 

and conscience. 9 The report said the head of the Commission of the 

Bishops’ Conferences of the European Community (COMECE), shows 

how “freedom of religion and the legal recognition of our Churches are far 

from being an established reality in some nations of the continent.” 10 

Religious freedom, in short, is under pressure both from religious 

fundamentalism and aggressive secularism, which are alike, says Pope 

Benedict, “in that both represent extreme forms of a rejection of legitimate 

pluralism and the principle of secularity.” 11 

8


There is no better or more urgent time to raise our voice in defence of 

religious freedom. To do that, we must understand what it is – and why it is 

so vital. 

Religious Freedom: The starting point for other freedoms 

There are principles which should be self-evident. The dignity of the 

human person, the sanctity of conscience, the separation of political and 

religious authority, the distinction between secular and religious laws, the 

idea of civil society existing prior to and independent of the state – these 

are the foundation stones of modern democracies, the products, in the main, 

of western Christian culture. But in many parts of the world they are not 

self-evident. And in the secularised cultures of the west, they are being fast 

forgotten. 

Religious freedom is humanity’s first and most important freedom, the core 

value or principle underlying all our other freedoms. It is a freedom which 

guarantees rights for believers, but for non-believers too. It is not a freedom 

conditional on one belief or another, but on our dignity as God-created 

human beings. 

Our first Master is God, the Creator, who creates us for a religious purpose 

and with a religious destiny. Our right to pursue this destiny precedes the 

state. Any attempt to restrict our right to worship, preach, teach, and 

organise is an attack on the cornerstone of human dignity. And any attempt 

to restrict our freedom to manifest our belief by peacefully serving and 

engaging society is a restriction on the very essence of our citizenship. 

Belief cannot be coerced. God invites and does not compel. “God not only 

respects human freedom: He almost seems to require it.” 12 This freedom 

lies at the basis of civilisation. Pope Benedict XVI states, “The task of 

constructing a culture is essentially spiritual, for culture has its home in the 

soul.” 13 

As the Pope also notes, religious freedom is “the fundamental path to 

peace. Peace is built and preserved only when human beings can freely 

seek and serve God in their hearts, in their lives and in their relationships 

with others.” 14 

9


That is why Pope John Paul II described religious freedom as “the litmus 

test for the respect of all the other human rights”. 15 Religious freedom 

“cannot be denied without at the same time encroaching on all fundamental 

rights and freedoms, since it is their synthesis and keystone.” 16 

From it flow the other freedoms which western society takes for granted – 

of speech, expression, assembly, and many other basic democratic rights. 

Our citizenship and our religious faith cannot be separated; as Pope 

Benedict says, “It should never be necessary to deny God in order to enjoy 

one’s rights”. 17 

Bishop John Han Dingxian of Yongnian 

spent 30 years in prison or under house 

arrest – including the last 10 before his 

death – refusing to be coerced by the 

Chinese authorities. In China Christians 

have their religious freedoms curtailed. 

There are currently three or four bishops 

in detention and 10 others are under 

surveillance or not allowed to move 

freely. See pages 25-29 for more 

information about detained clerics. 

10 

One of the state’s primary 

duties, in fact, is to nourish and 

protect these, our first 

allegiances, ensuring that we are 

not coerced or restricted by 

others. 

Instead, as Pope Benedict 

makes clear “in a number of 

countries… a constitutionally 

recognised right to religious 

freedom exists, yet the life of 

religious communities is in fact 

made difficult and at times even 

dangerous because the legal or 

social order is inspired by 

philosophical and political 

systems which call for strict 

control, if not a monopoly, of 

the state over society. Such 

inconsistencies must end, so 

that believers will not find 

themselves torn between fidelity 

to God and loyalty to their 

country.” 18 

It is an established principle in 

the major charters of 

international law that each 

person must be able freely to


exercise the right to profess and manifest, individually or in community, his 

or her own religion or faith, in public and in private, in teaching, in 

practice, in publications, in worship and in ritual observances. “The 

international order thus recognises that rights of a religious nature have the 

same status as the right to life and to personal freedom, as proof of the fact 

that they belong to the essential core of human rights, to those universal 

and natural rights which human law can never deny.” 19 

Some Myths 

Addressing the UN in March 2011, Archbishop Silvano Tomasi noted three 

common false perceptions in respect of freedom of conscience and belief. 20 

First, the right to express or practise a religion is not limited to acts of 

worship. It also includes the right to express faith through acts of charitable 

and social service. Providing health and education through religious 

institutions, for example, are important ways for people to live their faith. 

Freedom of religion must include the freedom to “manifest” faith. 

Second, as the UN Declaration on Religious Discrimination acknowledges, 

freedom of religion entails the right of faith communities to set their own 

rules for qualifications for religious office, and for serving in religious 

institutions, including charitable facilities. 21 Because these religious 

institutions are part of civil society, and not branches of the state, they 

should not be automatically bound by the same qualifications which 

international law demands of office holders. Thus, reserving the priesthood 

to men, as the Catholic Church does, should not be seen as a violation of 

employment laws preventing discrimination against women. “Religious 

tolerance includes respecting differences of opinions in these matters, and 

respecting the difference between a state and a religious institution.” 

Third, respecting the freedom to choose and practise another religion, 

different from one’s own, does not imply that all truth is relative and that 

one’s religion is no longer absolutely valid. It is instead to acknowledge 

that faith must be free. “The right to adopt, and to change, a religion is 

based on respect for human dignity: the State must allow each person freely 

to search for the truth.” 

Another myth is that Christians are only vulnerable when they are a 

minority. Yet even in Christian and Catholic countries, Christians are at 

11


risk. In Mexico and Colombia, for example, missionaries have been 

targeted by drug cartels or guerrillas. In France, 84 per cent of acts of 

vandalism and desecration were directed at Christians. 22 

Finally, there is a common myth that this is ‘all about Islam’. It is an 

undoubted fact that the rise of radical Islam has presented the largest share 

of the threat to Christians in recent years; yet, as Persecuted and 

Forgotten shows, there is no shortage of other threats from Hindus, 

Buddhists, crime syndicates, corporate interests, Marxist states, ethnic 

nationalists, etc. “The truth is that wherever a Christian takes a stand on 

behalf of justice in the name of the Gospel, whatever interests they are 

standing up against have a propensity to strike back.” 23 

Human Dignity 

The Second Vatican Council’s 7 th December 1965 declaration, Dignitatis 

Humanae, is the starting-point of contemporary Catholic thought on the 

rights and freedoms of a modern society. It forcefully sets out the case for 

religious freedom, telling lawmakers: “A society which promotes religious 

freedom will be enlivened and enriched; one that doesn’t will decay.” 

These rights are rooted, say the bishops, in the dignity of the human 

individual, created in the image and likeness of God. 24 This transcendent 

dignity is the basis of all rights. The ultimate source of human rights is “in 

man himself and in God his creator.” 25 Two “essential elements of human 

dignity” are the right to life and the right to religious freedom. These are a 

condition for the “moral legitimacy of every social and legal norm.” 26 

Freedom of conscience and freedom from coercion by the state are basic 

building blocks of religious freedom. On these is built the right to act in 

accordance with deeply held beliefs and principles which are fundamental 

to the freedoms of civil society: “No privilege is asked for, but only respect 

for an elementary right.” 27 

Dignitatis Humanae notes: 

12 

In all his activity a man is bound to follow his conscience in order that he 

may come to God, the end and purpose of life. It follows that he is not to 

be forced to act in a manner contrary to his conscience. Nor, on the other 

hand, is he to be restrained from acting in accordance with his conscience,


especially in matters religious. The reason is that the exercise of religion, 

of its very nature, consists before all else in those internal, voluntary and 

free acts whereby man sets the course of his life directly toward God. No 

merely human power can either command or prohibit acts of this kind. 28 

The corollary to freedom of conscience is immunity from coercion in 

religious matters. People “are to be immune from coercion on the part of 

individuals or of social groups and of any human power, in such wise that 

no one is to be forced to act in a manner contrary to his own beliefs, 

whether privately or publicly, whether alone or in association with others, 

within due limits.” 29 

The Church (or any religious body) should respect the moral freedom of 

individuals outside it not to be coerced in matters of religious belief and 

“At present, Christians are the religious group which suffers most from persecution 

on account of its faith. Many Christians experience daily affronts and often live in 

fear because of their pursuit of truth, their faith in Jesus Christ and their heartfelt 

plea for respect for religious freedom.” Pope Benedict XVI. 

Image © Catherine Senor-Clinton 2011 

13


practice. The state should meanwhile guarantee liberty for religions, not 

discriminating against either religious or non-religious believers but 

upholding the equality of both believers and non-believers before the law. 

The right to come together and to organise is a key religious freedom. 

“Relationship is a decisive component in religious freedom, which impels 

the community of believers to practise solidarity for the common good.” 30 

This means, for example, not to be hindered in the selection, training, 

appointment, or transfer of their own ministers; or in communicating with 

religious authorities and communities abroad; or in fundraising and erecting 

buildings. It means not being hindered in their public teaching and witness 

to their faith, or in holding meetings. It means being allowed to witness to 

the values of their faith in what concerns the organisation of society, and 

not be prevented from establishing schools, charities and other civil-society 

institutions, inspired by their religious ethos. 

This “freedom to manifest belief” is much more than the freedom to 

worship. It is the right, for example, to set up schools. Parents have the 

right to determine their children’s religious education in accordance with 

their own beliefs. As Article 5 of the UN Declaration on Religious 

Intolerance notes: “The parents or, as the case may be, the legal guardians 

of the child have the right to organise the life within the family in 

accordance with their religion or belief and bearing in mind the moral 

education in which they believe the child should be brought up.” In a 

religiously diverse society, this implies schools with different religious 

affiliations, where children can be educated in accordance with the deeply 

held convictions of parents. 

A state that respects freedom of religion protects and facilitates this right. It 

does not, for example, impose unjust burdens on parents who wish to 

exercise this right, creating an implicit form of coercion which makes it 

harder to educate in faith schools rather than secular schools. Freedom of 

conscience implies freedom to form consciences. 

Oppression, Discrimination, Marginalisation 

According to Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, the Holy See’s secretary 

for Relations with States, “there may be more than two hundred million 

14


Christians, of different confessions, who are in difficulty because of legal 

and cultural structures that lead to their discrimination”. 31 

And it is getting worse. We face religious cleansing in parts of the Middle 

East. In Nigeria scores of Christians died when Islamist bomb attacks 

targeted Christmas prayers. In Iran and Pakistan Christians are on death 

row, for “apostasy” – converting from Islam – or blasphemy. Dozens of 

churches in Indonesia have been attacked or closed down. Iraq’s Christian 

population has fallen by two-thirds since before the 2003 war. In Egypt and 

Syria, political upheaval and Muslim fanatics threaten ancient Christian 

groups. Christians face harassment in communist China and Vietnam. In 

India, extremist Hindu nationalists want to penalise Christians who make 

converts. In Africa, Christians face persecution and death as a result of old 

tribal and ethnic rivalries given a new religious veneer. In the Holy Land, 

local churches are caught between Israeli encroachment on their property 

and Islamist bids to monopolise Palestinian life. Followers of Jesus face the 

prospect of becoming a rarity in his homeland. 

As Pope Benedict noted in January 2011: 

It is painful to think that in some areas of the world it is impossible to 

profess one’s religion freely except at the risk of life and personal liberty. 

In other areas we see more subtle and sophisticated forms of prejudice and 

hostility towards believers and religious symbols. At present, Christians 

are the religious group which suffers most from persecution on account of 

its faith. 32 Many Christians experience daily affronts and often live in fear 

because of their pursuit of truth, their faith in Jesus Christ and their 

heartfelt plea for respect for religious freedom. This situation is 

unacceptable, since it represents an insult to God and to human dignity; 

furthermore, it is a threat to security and peace, and an obstacle to the 

achievement of authentic and integral human development. 33 

In 2010-12 there was a reassertion of control over religious activity in 

countries where previously there had seemed to be a relaxation of religious 

restrictions. The Chinese state, for example, sought to banish all religious 

practice outside of the state-sponsored associations; even the stateapproved 

religious organisations were reined in. Pressure was brought on 

all Catholic priests to join the Patriotic Association – an arm of the 

government that seeks to regulate the Church. Those who refuse can be 

detained and tortured. 

15


10-year-old Namrata Nayak was taken to hospital with injuries on 40 percent of her 

body after Hindu radicals attacked her family home in Kandhamal, India. She hid in 

the bathroom when they broke into the house and ransaked it. After they went she 

left her hiding place, but a bomb they left exploded, burning her face and wounding 

her face, hands, and back. Four months afterwards she said: “In Kandhamal, there 

is so much pain and suffering … [but] if God has saved me, he can save other 

Christians too.” See pages 40-41 for more details about the Kandhamal attacks. 

In other cases, it is not the state per se but specific groups or individuals 

acting on their own initiative, often with the acquiescence of public 

authorities. Since the fall of Saddam Hussein in Iraq, attacks by militant 

Islamist groups against people of all minority faiths have caused a mass 

exodus of Christians. The Chaldean procurator to the Holy See, Mgr Philip 

Najim, described how “armed groups go into neighbourhoods where 

Christians live and kill indiscriminately everyone they find in their way… 

These are cold-blooded murders in broad daylight, before dozens of 

witnesses, as if these groups wanted to show that they can act with 

impunity; that they are in control of the city.” 34 

There are many causes of such persecutions, but in the period 2007-11 they 

were frequently linked to new religiously assertive nationalism hostile to a 

Christian minority. Christians – and in several cases other minority 

16


religious groups – are depicted as lacking in respect for the nation-state or, 

as has happened in Pakistan and Iraq, of being loyal to foreign powers. As a 

result, furious attacks have been unleashed on Christian minorities; 

Buddhist groups have done the same in Sri Lanka and Burma. 

Yet western governments seem reluctant to raise their voices in their 

defence, and the media are largely silent. The veteran left-wing French 

intellectual Régis Debray has observed that anti-Christian persecution 

unfolds in the political blind spot of the West: the victims are usually “too 

Christian” to excite the left, “too foreign” to interest the right. 35 

At a British parliamentary debate in December 2011, Lord Patten suggested 

that neither the United Nations nor the American Secretary of State, Hilary 

Clinton, would tolerate a government which persecuted other minorities the 

way that Christians are persecuted across the Middle East. “We must 

persuade our rulers to treat religious freedoms as being just as basic as 

other, much vaunted human rights. Religious freedoms belong in the 

premier league of human rights…” he said. 36 

Freedom to Manifest Belief 

The freedom to manifest belief is much more than the freedom to believe 

and worship. It is the freedom to act on those beliefs, to organise and to 

engage society, to witness and to persuade, and to serve others. 

Speaking to political leaders in Westminster Hall in September 2010, Pope 

Benedict said that “religious bodies – including institutions linked to the 

Catholic Church – need to be free to act in accordance with their own 

principles and specific convictions based upon the faith and the official 

teaching of the Church. In this way, such basic rights as religious freedom, 

freedom of conscience and freedom of association are guaranteed.” 

It is over this freedom that a new tension has arisen in Europe and the US, 

where a new secularist agenda seeks to banish faith to the private realm and 

deny its presence in the public sphere. This is a dramatic reversal from a 

previous era when a broad Christian faith provided the basis for a moral 

consensus which informed social policy and law. 

The contribution of religious communities to society is undeniable. 

Numerous charitable and cultural institutions testify to the constructive role 

played by believers in the life of society. More important still is religion’s 

17


ethical contribution in the political sphere. Religion should not be 

marginalised or prohibited, but seen as making an effective contribution to 

the promotion of the common good. In this context mention should be 

made of the religious dimension of culture, built up over centuries thanks to 

the social and especially ethical contributions of religion. This dimension is 

in no way discriminatory towards those who do not share its beliefs, but 

instead reinforces social cohesion, integration and solidarity. 37 

The loss of that moral consensus, and a growing detachment of the state 

from a Christian understanding, has created a vacuum. New legislation, 

drafted in the name of equality or anti-discrimination, in some cases makes 

it impossible, for example, for religious organisations to continue to receive 

public money unless they conform to new orthodoxies, thus driving them to 

the margins of society or forcing them to close. This is what Pope Benedict 

has memorably described as a “dictatorship of relativism”: in effect, the 

state must now adopt an ideological position, and all who disagree with it 

will face sanctions. “No one is forced to be a Christian,” says Pope 

Benedict. “But no one should be forced to live according to the ‘new 

religion’ as though it alone were definitive and obligatory for all 

mankind”. 38 

For the freedom to manifest religion to be protected, the state must 

understand the importance of civil society, and respect its independence. A 

vigorous civil society depends on religious freedom. People create and run 

church organisations because their faith inspires them to: hence the massive 

contribution the Churches make to the societies in which they are present 

through schools, charities, hospitals, hospices, and countless projects and 

associations combating poverty and alienation in all their forms. These are 

organisations at the service of all, whatever their belief; but the motives of 

those who create and run them are closely linked to their faith. Without the 

freedom to witness to those motivations, these organisations would wither 

and die. Religious freedom, in other words, is key to a vigorous civil 

society. The loss of religiously-motivated organisations is above all a loss 

to society as a whole. Defending the freedom to manifest religion is to 

defend the common good. 

This means being careful, in enacting laws, that religious organisations will 

not be forced to violate their conscience or flout the very values to which 

they are witnessing. And it means applying the law in a way that 

accommodates minorities and respects consciences, ensuring that members 

18


of that faith are not coerced into going against their conscience. A state 

which takes seriously freedom of religion will have many conscience 

exemptions. They are a sure sign of what Pope Benedict calls “positive 

secularity” – a state which is separate from religion but respects and 

encourages it. 

The freedom to manifest belief therefore demands a state that knows its 

limits. For the Pope religion “is not a creation of the state, it cannot be 

manipulated by the state, but must rather be acknowledged and respected 

by it.” 39 

It implies a dialogue between secular and religious institutions, between 

faith and reason, which enriches both. 40 Benedict XVI states: “The world 

needs God. It needs universal, shared ethical and spiritual values, and 

religion can offer a precious contribution to their pursuit, for the building of 

a just and peaceful social order at the national and international levels.” 41 

In his homily on a March 2012 visit to Havana, Cuba, Pope Benedict XVI 

summarised the benefits of religious freedom. “Strengthening religious 

freedom,” he said, “consolidates social bonds, nourishes the hope of a 

better world, and creates favourable conditions for peace and harmonious 

development, while at the same time establishing solid foundations for 

securing the rights of future generations.” 42 

19


Promoting Religious Freedom 

We hope that this booklet will impress on you the vital importance of 

religious freedom, and help you realise the scale of the threat to it. 

Religious freedom is a precious good which is under threat everywhere. 

What can you do to raise your voice in its defence 

There are a number of different actions you can take: 

Study and pray. The stories in Aid to the Church in Need’s report, 

Persecuted and Forgotten – the 2012 Update of which is found in this 

booklet – will help you enter into the lives of Christians in many different 

countries who are deprived of basic religious freedom. Bring those 

Christians into your prayer. Ask for them to be included in your parish’s 

bidding prayers. Hold special Masses of remembrance for those who died 

because they were denied religious freedom. 

Organise meetings to deepen awareness. In your parish, school or 

association you could organise a meeting to study the issues and stories 

in these pages. You could ask Aid to the Church in Need to send you 

materials or to provide a speaker. Or you could order more copies of this 

booklet, and discuss some of the situations you find here. 

Follow the stories. Once you become aware of the plight of Christians in 

one particular area of the world – the Copts of Egypt, for example – you 

can look out for news stories about them. This may mean doing some 

research; most stories never make the mainstream media. A good start is 

to visit the information section of Aid to the Church in Need’s website 

(www.acnuk.org/information). 

Direct assistance. Many of the Christian communities mentioned in 

these pages are in desperate need of support to continue their religious 

existence. A donation to Aid to the Church in Need will help rebuild 

bombed-out churches, provide Child’s Bibles, or keep open the lines of 

communication. As well as donating yourself, you could consider helping 

to organise a collection in your parish or school. 

Advocacy. Ask the Government to make religious freedom a cornerstone 

of British foreign policy. Write to your MP, and suggest others do the 

same. 

Reflection. Consider the ways religious freedom is being constricted in 

the UK and Europe, and consider how you can help to prevent this. 

20


Persecuted and Forgotten Update 2012 

Introduction 

by John Pontifex 

The importance of religious freedom becomes only too clear when it is 

denied. Rights that in a broadly free and fair society are perhaps taken for 

granted become conspicuous by their absence when they are trampled upon 

either by the state or by powerful groups within the community. Hence, for 

a realistic sense of the nature of religious freedom, its value to society as a 

whole and its proper context within any given community, it is necessary to 

assess those countries where such rights are seriously infringed. It is in 

these countries where the desire for religious freedom is most urgently felt 

and where its voice is so often silenced. 

Turning then to those regions where religious intolerance is worst, this 

section provides a fresh update on core countries of concern, looking at 

events over the period 2011-12. Drawing on first-hand reports received by 

Aid to the Church in Need, other charities, news agencies and leading 

human rights research organisations, this Persecuted and Forgotten 2012 

Update focuses on 13 countries with a particularly bad human rights record, 

especially regarding religious freedom. 

This research shows that, even in the period since the 2011 edition of 

Persecuted and Forgotten was produced, the situation in key countries 

became demonstrably worse. It bears out statistics already cited showing 

that Christians are the religious group which suffer the most persecution. 

Most notable among these are the findings that a) Christians are the victims 

of 80 percent of acts of religious intolerance around the world 43 and b) 

Christians are persecuted in 130 of the world’s 193 countries. 44 

An analysis of trends in the 13 countries under review in this 2012 

Persecuted and Forgotten update reveals the following: 

a) The Arab Spring has made the situation worse for Christians in 

many if not most of the countries where it took place. Far from fulfilling 

the hopes of many Christians struggling against ongoing discrimination, the 

political and social upheaval unleashed radical forces which until that point 

had been largely suppressed by decades-old regimes. Many of these forces 

John Pontifex is ACN (UK) Head of Press & Information. 

21


have proved to be militant Islamist in creed and as such bitterly opposed to 

Christians. Not that this was just a question of religion. The militants saw 

the Church as sympathetic to regimes which provided Christians with some 

degree of protection. Adding to the Islamist hatred was Christian 

communities’ links with the West, seen as neo-colonialist and quasi- 

Crusader in outlook. As early as summer 2011, senior figures, including the 

Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, were warning that the 

Arab Spring was proving to be “a very anxious time for Christian 

communities”. 45 Specifically, the political upheaval’s impact on Syria and 

Egypt proved particularly noteworthy in that the increase in oppression 

posed a direct threat to some of the largest Christian communities in the 

whole of the Middle East. According to human rights monitors in Egypt, up 

to 100,000 Christians were thought to have fled Egypt within the first six 

months after the fall of President Mubarak. 46 From Syria came reports of 

50,000 Christians fleeing the city of Homs, home to the second largest 

Christian community in the country. 47 Reports of Christians fleeing sparked 

fears of a repeat of what happened in Iraq, where an exodus has decimated 

the Church community. Hence, the conclusions reached in the 2011 

Persecuted and Forgotten report can be asserted even more strongly; 

namely that the future of Christianity in its ancient heartland hangs in the 

balance and risks disappearing into obscurity. The situation can only 

change as a result of concerted efforts to safeguard religious freedom. 

Senior religious and political figures have stressed the need for nation states 

to be held to account for treatment of vulnerable communities, especially 

Christians. 

b) The rise of Islamist anti-Christian oppression has also gathered pace 

in key countries outside the Middle East, most notably parts of Africa 

and also Pakistan. Historically speaking, there has been ongoing tension 

and indeed violence targeting the sizeable Christian communities living in 

culturally hostile environments in Nigeria and Sudan. However, after 

periods of apparent improvements and a return to relative peace, recent 

reports have indicated that once again the Christians are in the firing line. 48 

Again, religion has not been the only motive behind the violence, with 

ethnicity, poverty and social mobility each playing a part. That said, the rise 

of Islamist groups in Nigeria and the re-assertion of institutionalised 

intolerance in Sudan has put Christians in both countries under intense 

pressure. Radicals have declared an express intention of, to use Boko 

Haram’s phrase, “eradicating Christians from certain parts of the 

22


country”. 49 Reports stated that Boko Haram was responsible for the deaths 

of more than 1,000 people killed in more than 160 attacks after 2009. 50 

Meantime, Islamist extremism has claimed high-profile victims in Pakistan. 

The assassins of Punjab Governor Salman Taseer and Federal Minorities 

Minister Shahbaz Bhatti made clear that the two men were killed for their 

opposition to the blasphemy laws. Amid continuing reports of violence and 

intimidation against vulnerable Christian individuals and communities, 

evidence points to an institutionalisation of intolerance within the corridors 

of power. This has made it all the more difficult to combat religious hatred. 

More generally, this analysis is supported by statistics from Archbishop 

Silvano Tomasi, the Holy See’s permanent observer to the UN, who in 

2012 reported to the UN’s Human Rights Council that “attacks on 

Christians in Africa, the Middle East and Asia increased 309% between 

2003 and 2010”. 51 

c) Attacks by non-Muslim religious extremists have also emerged as an 

ongoing problem. Although militant Hindu violence and intolerance 

against Christians and other minorities in India declined overall, in certain 

parts of the country the threat remained very real. In the states of Karnataka 

and Orissa, attacks on minorities rose in the period 2008-11 and in 2011 

there were more than 1,000 cases of anti-Christian violence, most of them 

perpetrated by Hindu radicals. 52 Religious hatred against Christians and 

other minorities by other radicals including Buddhists also continued, 

although they mostly took place in countries outside the scope of this 

report. 

d) Dictatorial regimes traditionally opposed to religion – in particular 

Christianity – have renewed efforts to clampdown on the faithful, 

particularly those groups not recognised by the state. In China, 2011 saw a 

concerted effort to force Churches and other religious groups to accept 

government control of their internal structures. Failure to comply was 

harshly dealt with. In Eritrea, the suffering endured by unrecognised 

(Protestant) Christian communities provoked international condemnation 

with ongoing reports of people suffering torture and long-term 

incarceration and appalling acts of humiliation. Disturbing reports began to 

come out of North Korea suggesting that the death of Kim Jong-il and the 

succession of his son, Kim Jong-un prompted renewed determination to 

crush alleged dissidents, many of them Christians. 53 This in a country with 

probably the world’s worst human rights record. Meantime, in Zimbabwe 

both Protestants and Catholics have suffered as a result of a clash between 

23


Church and State over criticism of President Mugabe, with reports of 

confiscation of churches and church-run hospitals and other institutions as 

well as threats of violence. 54 

Taken as a whole, the impact of widespread violations of religious freedom 

forces Christians to consider radical steps to ensure their safety. For many 

of them, emigration becomes the only option. In so many of the countries 

assessed in this report, population shifts make it very difficult to provide 

reliable statistics on numbers of Christians. The problem is compounded by 

the fact that many Christians are forced underground. Such is the reality of 

persecution today. In renewing his call for religious freedom – a central 

theme of his pontificate – Pope Benedict has repeated again and again his 

concern about increasing violence and other forms of oppression against 

Christians. In his January 2012 address to the Diplomatic Corps accredited 

to the Holy See, he said: “In many countries, Christians are deprived of 

fundamental rights and sidelined from public life. In other countries, they 

endure violent attacks against their churches and their homes.” Reports 

from 2011-12 reveal the gravity of the persecution Christians and others 

face to the point that in some parts of the world the Church’s very survival 

is at stake. Defending an authentic vision of religious freedom has 

undoubtedly become a defining issue of our age and generation. We ignore 

it at our peril. 

24


China 

Population Religions Christian Pop. 

1.3 billion Atheist 40% 

Chinese religions 35% 

Buddhist 12%, Christian 5% 

Muslim 2%, Other 6% 

65 million 

In China there are “systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of 

religious freedom”, according to the US Commission on International 

Religious Freedom – with certain religious and spiritual groups being 

banned completely. However, despite such problems, religious 

communities continue to grow rapidly in China. 55 Legally, Buddhism, 

Taoism, Protestantism, Catholicism, and Islam are the only recognised 

religions and followers of these faiths are supposed to practise under the 

auspices of one of the state sanctioned ‘patriotic associations’. For 

Catholics this means the Catholic Patriotic Association (CPA) and for 

Protestants the Three-Self Patriotic Movement. These seek to control 

Christianity in line with Communist Party principles. But many worship 

outside of these official structures in what are often referred to as the 

‘Underground’ churches. In the case of the Catholic Church, many 

‘Official’ Church communities are loyal to Rome. An estimated 90 percent 

of ‘Official’ bishops and priests are recognised by the Vatican. 56 While the 

regime does not technically outlaw the ‘Underground’ churches, they are 

not permitted to hold public religious services or carry out other activities. 57 

In June 2010 China’s State Administration for Religious Affairs (SARA), 

gave figures of 16 million Protestants and more than 5.3 million Catholics 

worshipping in state approved churches. However unofficial estimates give 

much higher figures. The Pew Research Centre estimated that between 50 

and 70 million Christians attend unregistered religious churches. The Holy 

Spirit Study Centre in Hong Kong gave a figure of 12 million Catholics but 

other sources suggest there could be many more. 

There have been positive developments in the country. Hundreds of 

millions of Chinese are now able to manifest their beliefs openly and senior 

government officials have praised religious communities’ positive role and 

encouraged them to promote “economic and social development”. 58 

Nevertheless, the government continues to expand its control over religious 

activities. Unregistered Protestant communities have continued to be raided 

and have their activities monitored or disrupted. According to NGO 

25


ChinaAid, in 2011 more than 1,000 Protestants were detained and given 

sentences of more than one year. 59 The Three-Self Patriotic Movement has 

tried to bring unregistered house churches under its auspices. While the 

vast majority of house church leaders are reported to be opposed to 

government oversight of their religious teachings or theology, other groups 

have been prevented from registering by the Religious Affairs Office. 

Particularly controversial is the idea of “theological reconstruction”, which 

purges elements of Christianity which the Communist Party regards as 

incompatible with its goals and policies. 

However, even being registered does not protect congregations and at the 

beginning of 2012 worshippers belonging to the Three-Self Patriotic 

Movement found their property being impounded or destroyed in various 

places. Restrictions on religious practice are enforced at a provincial level 

and are open to local interpretation. Hence vastly different situations are 

experienced by ‘Underground’ and ‘Official’ Church communities across 

China’s provinces. In defending their actions, Chinese officials have 

become increasingly adept at employing the language of human rights and 

the rule of law to justify repressing religious communities, by citing 

purported national security concerns or using Chinese law broadly to 

restrict religious freedom. 60 

At the beginning of 2012 Archbishop Savio Hon Tai-fai, secretary of the 

Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples appealed for the release of 

bishops and priests who were in police custody or who were imprisoned 

without trial: “We need to pray for these bishops and priests ... but we must 

also appeal to those who are holding them”. 61 There are currently three or 

four bishops in detention and some 10 are under surveillance or not allowed 

to move freely. These include Bishop James Su Zhimin, 77, the ordinary of 

Baoding, who disappeared in 1996, and Bishop Cosmas Shi Enxiang, 88, of 

Yixian who disappeared in 2001. Given the periods of imprisonment and 

house arrest they suffered prior to their disappearances – and presuming 

they are still alive – Bishop Zhimmin will have spent 40 years in captivity 

and Bishop Enxiang will have endured at least 51 years. Arrests and 

detention have continued throughout the period covered by this report and 

in March 2012 ‘Underground’ co-adjutor Bishop Peter Shao Zhumin of 

Wenzhou and his chancellor Fr Paul Jiang Sunian were taken and made to 

attend re-education classes. 62 After relations began to improve between 

‘Official’ and ‘Underground’ Catholics following Benedict XVI’s Letter to 

Chinese Catholics (27 th May 2007), the CPA retaliated with a series of 

26


initiatives designed to bring ‘Official’ bishops back in line. ‘Official’ 

bishops are no longer allowed to meet one another without CPA 

representatives being present, and in several cases the prelates have had to 

undergo weeks, sometimes months, of seminars focusing on the importance 

of the Communist Party’s religious policy. 

February 2011: More than 100 riot police officers and 80 “hired 

roughnecks” raided a house where at least 20 Christians were meeting in 

Yangdang Town, Zaoyang City, Hubei Province. Officers destroyed video 

cameras, audio recorders, mobile phones, and other equipment capable of 

capturing the raid led by Fu Dewu, Head of Xiangyang Municipal Bureau 

for Ethnic and Religious Affairs and Li Guiming, Director of Zaoyang 

Municipal Bureau of Religion. Officers smashed the door open and broke 

into the house without presenting any legal documents. They then used tear 

gas on the group before beating them and taking them to the local police 

station. Authorities claimed the Christians had established “a site for 

religious activities… without approval”. 63 

March 2011: Security forces prevented Catholics in Hebei from attending 

the funeral of 95-year-old Bishop Andrew Hao Jinli of Xiwanzi following 

his death on Ash Wednesday. 64 

April 2011: ‘Underground’ priest Fr Chen Hailong was detained and 

tortured in a bid to force him to join the ‘Official’ Church. He was later 

released on 5 th August, having spent long periods denied food, before being 

sentenced to two years of “re-education through labour”. According to 

sources in Xuanhua and Xiwanzi Dioceses, at least 20 ‘Underground’ 

priests have been tortured to make them join the CPA over the past two 

decades. One of those priests was Fr Peter Zhang Guangjun who was also 

repeatedly beaten after being seized for a second time on 8 th March. 

Reportedly he was physically and verbally abused and denied sleep for five 

consecutive days. 65 

April 2011: Local authorities in Guangzhou ordered Tianyun Church, with 

a congregation of about 200, to stop worshipping. Another Church in the 

area, Rongguili Church with a congregation of 4,000, was evicted from 

premises it used as an extension to host its bulging congregation. It owns its 

main worship venue. 66 

27


May 2011: Yang Caizhen, one of 10 Chinese house church Christians 

sentenced to jail and a labour camp in Shanxi province, was set free on 

medical parole after she nearly died in detention. Mrs Caizhen, whose 

husband was a senior leader of the Linfen Church network, was transferred 

in February from a prison hospital to a local hospital. A chest x-ray and 

blood test results revealed she was in poor health including a high fever and 

liver inflammation. The church leaders were arrested for organising a 

prayer rally in September 2009, one day after 400 police officers and others 

raided the unregistered church’s site, seriously wounding 30 Christians and 

destroying church buildings. 67 

July 2011: Fr Joseph Sun Jigen’s ordination as ‘Official’ Bishop of Handan 

was postponed because Fr Sun secretly sought and obtained the approval of 

the Holy See ahead of his ordination. He was taken into custody and 

reportedly remains under house arrest. 68 

July 2011: Authorities arrested 19 members of Shouwang Church in 

Beijing who continued to meet outdoors after they were evicted from their 

meeting place in April 2011. All but two of those arrested were released by 

midnight, and one was released the following day. Some church members 

have lost their homes or jobs and others have been subjected to verbal 

abuse because of their faith. 69 

August 2011: Security officials detained ‘Underground’ Church priests and 

lay leaders from Tianshui diocese in Gansu province. Those seized 

included diocesan administrator Fr John Baptist Wang Ruohan and retired 

Bishop Casmir Wang Milu. After being taken, they were forced to attend 

study sessions for four hours a day. The security officials’ actions appeared 

to be aimed at ensuring support for the CPA’s candidate for the next bishop 

in Tianshui. 70 

September 2011: A priest and a religious Sister were attacked by a dozen or 

so unknown assailants after they sought the return of two Church properties 

seized in Kangding, in the Sichuan province. Sister Xie Yuming was 

hospitalised with serious injuries to the head and chest. Fr Huang Xusong 

suffered minor injuries. 71 

October 2011: In the Tibetan capital of Lhasa, 11 house church leaders 

were detained “on suspicion of [belonging to a] cult group” and held for 

nearly a month. While Church leader Song Xinkuan was in detention, 

police officers insulted his faith and repeatedly beat him. Authorities 

28


confiscated religious materials and two laptops, which were described as 

tools for his criminal activities. 72 

November 2011: ‘Underground’ pastor Shi Weihan was released from 

prison. He served four years for “illegal business operations” after he was 

discovered printing and distributing free Bibles. 73 

December 2011/January 2012: ‘Underground’ Bishop John Wang 

Ruowang of Tianshui, 50, who was secretly ordained with a papal mandate 

last year, was seized from Taijing Church on 30 th December and taken by 

officials to a guesthouse in Tianshui city in northern Gansu province. In 

January 2012 he and some of his priests were forced to attend “education 

and conversion classes”. 74 

January 2012: ‘Underground’ priests from Suiyuan Diocese including 

diocesan administrator Fr Joseph Gao, seminary rector Fr Joseph Ban, and 

three parish priests – Frs Ding, Wang and Zhao – were arrested by police in 

Erenhot, near the border with Mongolia. Reports state they were meeting in 

a layperson’s home, discussing the transfer of parish priests, when around 

30 policemen and government officials raided the house and took them 

away. 75 

February 2012: Authorities demolished a 20-year-old church in Lieshan 

village, Anhui province. The church was officially registered with the 

Three-Self Patriotic Movement. No compensation was given. 76 

March 2012: In Shandong province, the Three-Self Patriotic Movement 

church in the town of Gucheng, in Shen county, was forcibly occupied by 

government officials. After the local government ignored requests to return 

the church, parishioners went to Beijing to petition central government. The 

delegations were met by police officers, who took them into detention. 77 

March 2012: The Three-Self Patriotic Movement church in Dafeng county, 

Jiangsu province, was demolished by local authorities. Two church 

members were beaten in the process, one of them had her back broken in 

the assault. 78 

29


Egypt 

Population Religions Christian Population 

84.5 million Muslim 87.5% 

Christian 12% 

Other 0.5% 

10 million 

For Christians in Egypt, the rise of Islamic political groups and a spate of 

violence strongly suggest that the Arab Spring is fast becoming a winter for 

the Church. By the spring of 2012, it was becoming clear that in the year 

since President Hosni Mubarak’s fall from office, the political initiative had 

been seized by hard-line political groups, likely to be opposed to religious 

tolerance. Elections to the Egyptian Parliament’s Lower House held in 

November 2011 and January 2012 produced results giving the two religious 

parties, backed by Salafist extremists and the Muslim Brotherhood, a 

combined total of 65 percent of the vote. Meantime secular parties polled 

less than 20 percent of the vote. Commentators underlined the more 

tolerant tendencies of the Muslim Brotherhood, despite the organisation 

being banned by Mubarak. With the Muslim Brotherhood’s party failing to 

win an outright majority, commentators suggested that it would seek a deal 

with its Salafist opponents, giving the latter potentially decisive influence – 

almost certainly to the detriment of non-Muslim groups. 

The Salafists’ political success was totally unexpected and sparked grave 

concern at the highest levels of the Church. In winter 2011, the official 

spokesman for the Catholic Church, Fr Antoine Rafic Greiche, said: “The 

Salafists speak about forbidding tourism… and forcing women to be totally 

covered up. They look at Christians and even moderate Muslims as Kuffars 

[a derogatory term for non-Muslims] and say they want to implement the 

Shari‘a Islamic law rigorously.” Fr Greiche added: “The Salafists’ attitude 

to Christians is to say that they can get their passport to go to the USA, 

France, UK or somewhere else in the West.” 

Evidence emerging soon after Mubarak’s fall from office suggested 

Christians did not need much prompting to leave the country. A report from 

the Egyptian Union of Human Rights Organisations stated that within six 

months of Mubarak’s downfall, 100,000 Christians had emigrated. Even 

though such a figure is a tiny fraction of the total Christian population, it 

was seen as a strong indication of a loss of confidence among the faithful in 

key parts of the country. Morale was low with good reason. A series of 

30


attacks on Christians during 2011 and into 2012 had a devastating impact. 

The period under review had got off to a bad start when more than 20 

attending the Divine Liturgy and at least 70 others were injured when a car 

bomb exploded outside an Orthodox Church in Alexandria where 1,000 

faithful had gathered to see in the New Year of 2011. On 7 th May, a Salafist 

attack on three Coptic Orthodox churches in the Cairo suburb of Imbaba 

left up to 15 people dead and more than 230 injured. When 25 people – 

most of them Copts – died and more than 200 were hurt while holding a 

demonstration in Cairo, the Catholic Church directly implicated the 

government in the violence. Perceptions of an anti-Christian government 

agenda were a cause for alarm and the tension was heightened by the 

ongoing threat of violent attacks on churches and faithful by Salafists. 

The fortunes of the faithful seemed to have undergone a complete reversal. 

In January 2011, there was a surge of optimism as pro-democracy 

campaigners appealed for freedom, democracy and tolerance in Cairo’s 

Tahrir Square. Within a very short space of time such hopes seemed to 

have been dashed. In March 2012 came the death of Pope Shenouda III. It 

seemed the faithful were not just mourning a man popularly credited with 

masterminding the massive growth of the Coptic Othodox Church. They 

were mourning the passing of an Arab Spring that had seemed to promise a 

break-through for Christians desperate for true religious freedom. 

February 2011: Extremists broke into the home of a Coptic Christian 

family and abducted 18-year-old Nesma Sarwat. She was the daughter of a 

building contractor responsible for erecting SS Mary and Michael Church 

in Tabiya, in Giza. The abductors wrote slogans on the walls of the home: 

“Islam is the solution” and “The church has to be demolished”. Names of 

other family members were scrawled on the walls, prompting observers to 

suggest that the abductors were warning of coming back to kidnap more of 

the family. Three months earlier, the church had been the scene of fierce 

clashes between state forces and Copts protesting at the closure of their 

church. The security forces used tear gas and live ammunition against the 

protestors, resulting in three Copts being killed and hundreds of others 

being injured. 176 Copts were arrested. 79 

March 2011: Christian man Anwar Mitri had his right ear cut off by 

extremists who claimed it was legitimate punishment for breach of Islamic 

Shari‘a law. Mr Mitri, 45, a secondary school administrator had a flat in 

31


Qena, Upper Egypt, and controversy broke after it was burnt down, when 

he was accused of letting out the premises to prostitutes and having an 

affair with one of them. Mr Ayman denied the allegations put forward by 

Islamists but, refusing to listen to him, they forced him into a chair where 

his ear was removed. He also received a 10cm cut on the back of his neck 

as well as cuts on his other ear, face and arm. He was told to convert to 

Islam but he refused. Only then did the Islamists call the police, reportedly 

saying: “We have applied the law of Allah, now come and apply your civil 

law.” At first Mr Mitri said he wanted full compensation but it was reported 

that a “reconciliation” meeting was set up by the local vice military ruler. 

The meeting concluded with Mr Mitri agreeing to drop charges against his 

attackers. Mr Mitri later appeared on Coptic TV channel CTV where he 

was asked to explain why he had dropped the charges. Mr Mitri sobbed, 

saying: “I was threatened and they threatened to kidnap the female children 

in our family.” 80 

April 2011: An ACN fact-finding and project assessment trip to Egypt, 

involving visits to all Coptic Catholic dioceses in the country, showed 

conflicting views of the impact of President Mubarak’s downfall on the 

Church. Some Church leaders expressed grave concerns about the rise of 

Salafist and other Islamist groups, until then scarcely known by the general 

populace. Meantime, other senior clergy spoke optimistically, suggesting 

that pro-democracy campaigners would successfully bring about greater 

democracy and religious tolerance. Many of the individual Catholics 

interviewed, especially in Luxor and parts of Upper Egypt, spoke of 

widespread harassment and intolerance towards Christians. Some spoke of 

radicals threatening to kill or injure Christians refusing to abandon their 

faith. Others referred to death threats made against women, including 

Christians, for refusing to wear a head veil. Others described being forced 

out of their jobs or being refused employment because of their Christian 

faith. 81 

May 2011: Three Coptic Orthodox churches in the Cairo suburb of Imbaba 

were attacked in the worst spate of Christian violence since the 25 th January 

Revolution which effectively brought down the Mubarak regime. With 15 

people dead and 230 others injured, Church leaders criticised state security 

for being “frightened” and “slow” to react as the violence got underway. In 

an interview with ACN, Coptic Catholic Bishop Antonios Aziz Mina, 

whose Giza diocese includes Imbaba, said: “The [security forces] will not 

stand up against the people who do this sort of thing. They want to stay 

32


neutral. The police appear but very slowly. They are frightened. They have 

not been strong enough.” Bishop Aziz paid tribute to one of his faithful, 60- 

year-old grandfather Naashaat Rateeb, who had died in the violence. 82 

June 2011: At least 10 people were injured when extremists torched 

Christian homes and businesses in the village of Western Kolosna, in 

Minya province, Upper Egypt. The trouble began when a Christian man 

tried to defend his wife who was being sexually harassed while they were at 

a bus terminal. For trying to stop the attack, the man was badly beaten. 

Shortly after, thousands of Muslim extremists descended on the village, 

which is 75 percent Christian, and began torching Christian property. The 

Christians hid in their homes. Several calls were made to Coptic TV 

channel CTV asking for help. A besieged resident reported how extremists 

had surrounded Christian homes shouting “Allahu Akbar”. Another caller 

reported: “They have cursed the cross, taunting us saying that we should 

stay inside and never be allowed in the streets again.” Six Coptic homes, 

including the home of the harassment victim and her husband, were looted 

or torched as well as three supermarkets and other businesses. Police were 

accused of inaction. Father Estephanos, a priest from nearby Samalut, said 

in a US TV interview: “The army commander and the military police were 

contacted but arrived three hours later and did not take action while the 

properties were looted and torched.” 83 

August 2011: Coptic Christian girl Nabila Sedky, aged 15, from the poor 

neighbourhood of Zawya el Hamra in Cairo, disappeared after leaving 

home bound for school. Later, a Muslim man confessed to abducting 

Nabila from the streets of Cairo. It was claimed that the objective was to 

force her to convert to Islam with a view to her marrying the man when she 

came of age. Despite this progress in the case, Nabila could not be found. 

Six months after Nabila disappeared, she appeared in a video recording on 

an Islamist website. In the video, Nabila states that she has converted to 

Islam and would only return to her parents if they converted too. 

Commenting on the video clip, Nabila’s father, Sedky Sobhy, said she 

looked like his daughter but did not sound like her. He claimed that she had 

been drugged or brainwashed. The case is among those seen as a revenge 

attack by Islamists in response to allegations that Coptic Christians were 

holding Coptic girls who had converted to Islam in a monastery against 

their will. 84 

October 2011: The Catholic Church officially implicated the interim 

military-led regime in the deaths of 25 people – most of them Copts – in 

33


violence on the streets of central Cairo. More than 200 others were injured. 

The Church claimed that the army and police “used” a mob of street 

fighters armed with rifles, sticks, stones and knives who launched an 

unprovoked attack on thousands of demonstrators. The protestors, made up 

of Muslims as well as Christians, marched to Egypt’s television 

headquarters, calling for greater action to protect Christians after a spate of 

attacks against them. Fr Rafic Greiche, official spokesman for the Catholic 

Church in Egypt, said,” We are accusing [state security] who used… a 

rabble force of street fighters, to attack the demonstrators. They did not 

have to use force. It was a peaceful demonstration.” 85 

January 2012: Copts in the village of Kobry-el-Sharbat, Alexandria, were 

attacked by a mob of 3,000 people led by senior Salafists who looted and 

torched homes and shops belonging to Copts. The violence was prompted 

by allegations that a 34-year-old Coptic tailor had illicit photographs of a 

Muslim woman on his mobile phone. The man denied the allegation and 

reported the incident to the police. Soon after, extremists looted and torched 

his workshop and home and his entire family – including parents and 

brother – were evicted from the village. The violence spread to other 

Christian homes. Reports from the village suggest the allegation was a 

fabrication used to start violence against Copts. The police reportedly said 

the woman in question had denied the story. Coptic sources in the village 

said there were no indecent photographs on the man’s phone. 86 

January 2012: A mob of extremists attacked Coptic Christians in the village 

of Kebly-Rahmaniya, in Upper Egypt. Chanting Allahu Akbar “God is 

great”, they burned down houses, huts, shops and businesses. A 16-year-old 

boy was wounded by a bullet and a man, aged 40, had facial injuries. 

Witnesses stated that the police were slow to react when the violence 

began, arriving 90 minutes later when most of the buildings were already 

ablaze. Sources stated that a hut belonging to a Coptic man was destroyed 

to make way for a mosque. The village now boasts 300 mosques compared 

to only one Christian church even though Christians are 50 percent of the 

population. Coptic sources linked the violence to upcoming parliamentary 

elections, stating that local Salafist extremists wanted to deter Christians 

from voting in an area where they had potentially decisive influence, with 

numbers of more than 20,000. 87 

February 2012: Christian teacher Makrem Diab was sentenced to six years’ 

imprisonment by a court in Assiut, having been found guilty of insulting 

34


the Muslim prophet Mohammad. The case was brought by a colleague who 

filed a complaint after overhearing a heated discussion between Mr Diab 

and another teacher. Mr Diab appealed the sentence, but a large mob 

prevented his lawyers from entering the court for an appeal hearing on 16 th 

March. The appeal hearing took finally place on 5 th April, when the judge 

upheld the six-year sentence. 88 

March 2012: The death of Coptic Orthodox Pope Shenouda III increased 

fears among Copts of worsening persecution amid a rise in Islamic parties. 

Copts interviewed while paying a final tribute to the late Pope’s mortal 

remains said that they had lost a powerful “protector” against growing 

intolerance and extremism. 89 

April 2012: An Egyptian court sentenced Coptic Christian student Gamal 

Massoud to three years in jail for publishing cartoons on his Facebook page 

satirising Islam’s Prophet Mohammad, actions that triggered violence 

against Christians in his village, in southern Egypt. The 17-year-old denied 

the charge, saying that fellow students had put the image on his Facebook 

page. The initial allegations prompted an attack on Gamal Massoud’s home 

in December 2011. Five other Christian homes were set alight. Several 

Christians were injured during the violence. Protestors gathered to 

condemn the incident but they were dispersed by security forces using tear 

gas. 90 

April 2012: The Coptic Orthodox Church announced its withdrawal from a 

panel charged with drafting Egypt’s new constitution. Church 

representatives said it was “pointless” to continue participating on the panel 

saying Christians were unable to exert any influence. The move prompted 

concerns that the new constitution would end up being written entirely by 

Islamist parties without due consideration of minority groups. 91 

35


Eritrea 


5 million Muslim 50%, Orthodox 40% 

Catholic 5%, Protestant 2% 

Other 3% 

2.25 million 

By spring 2012, countries from around the world were calling on the 

United Nations for action amid no sign of improvement in Eritrea’s human 

rights record, which ranks as one of the worst in the world. The 44 

countries expressed concern about the regime’s arbitrary detention and 

torture of its citizens, its refusal to allow international NGOs to operate and 

its systematic crackdown on dissent of any form. 92 In 2012, human rights 

watchdog Reporters Without Borders ranked Eritrea bottom in the world 

regarding press freedom, with other reports describing Eritrea as the most 

prolific jailer of journalists in Africa. 93 

The US Commission on International Religious Freedom, an official 

human rights watchdog, continues to give Eritrea a damning verdict. 

Defending its decision to continue listing Eritrea as a “country of particular 

concern”, in March 2012 the USCIRF concluded that “systematic, ongoing, 

and egregious religious freedom violations continue in Eritrea.” Examining 

an 11-month period up to the end of February 2012, the USCIRF listed 

violations including torture and other ill-treatment of thousands of religious 

prisoners, arbitrary arrests, detentions without charge, a prolonged ban on 

public religious activities and interference in the internal affairs of 

registered religious groups. 94 

The 1997 constitution guarantees religious freedom. However, making 

specific reference to religious freedom, in their latest reports authoritative 

human rights observers make clear that “the government has yet to 

implement the constitution in law and practice” and “generally” ignores the 

rights of believers. 95 In practice, the regime of Isaias Afwerki is no more 

tolerant of Christians than others – and in many cases they fare worse than 

most. 

In 1995, soon after Afwerki became president of the newly independent 

Eritrea, a government decree recognised the country’s four largest religious 

groups – the Eritrean Coptic Orthodox Church, the Evangelical Lutheran 

Church, the Catholic Church and Islam. In spite of this official recognition, 

during the period under review the government continued to harass 

36


members of the faithful and interfere in their internal religious affairs, in 

particular the appointment of leaders. In March 2012, concerns were 

expressed about the deteriorating health of Antonios, former Patriarch of 

the Coptic Orthodox Church who has been under house arrest since January 

2006. Now in his mid-80s, he has allegedly been denied access to 

healthcare despite suffering diabetes. Following state intervention, 

Antonios was deposed as Patriarch and replaced by the pro-government 

Dioskoros, whose authority is not recognised by many Orthodox faithful. 

Reports show that for Coptic Orthodox and other state-recognised faith 

groups, clergy residency permits have frequently been denied and there 

have been continuing concerns of clergy – including seminarians – being 

forced into military service. Reports from Eritrea received by ACN suggest 

slight improvements in state relations with officially approved religious 

groups. In February 2012, for example, Pope Benedict XVI was able to 

announce the erection of a new eparchy (diocese of Eastern-rite Church) of 

Segheneity, naming Fr Fikremariam Hagos Tsalim, vicar general of 

Asmara, as first bishop. 

By contrast, latest reports indicate worsening state-led oppression of faith 

groups not recognised by the Afwerki regime. Despite apparently fulfilling 

the requirements for state registration, the government has repeatedly 

denied it to a number of Protestant groups and has continued to take 

militant action to stop people practising their faith. Up to 3,000 Christians 

are understood to be detained, often in deeply inhumane conditions, 

huddled together in shipping and other metal containers baking in the 

African sun, or in underground bunkers. Sanitation is extremely poor and 

malaria and other illnesses are rife, with fatal consequences. Many 

Christians unauthorised by the state are among the nearly 500,000 people 

reported to have crossed the border to neighbouring Ethiopia and Sudan. 96 

Much of the information on modern-day Eritrea – especially concerning 

Christians – has come from refugees willing and able to tell their story. 

January 2011: A US Embassy cable published by Wikileaks has exposed 

the inhumane conditions in which prisoners – including many Christians – 

have been held. The leaked document stated that prisoners were fed only 

two pieces of bread three times a day. A bucket in the middle of the room 

served as a toilet between escorted bathroom breaks, but it frequently 

overflowed as a result of not being emptied enough. The Wikileaks report 

quoted a former prisoner stating that he and 600 other prisoners were kept 

37


in a 40 x 38ft cell adding: “It was not possible to lie down and barely 

possible to sit down.” He said that prisoners included people caught trying 

to flee abroad and common criminals and many ‘unregistered’ Christians. 97 

July 2011: Fears were expressed that an Eritrean Christian would be 

executed were he to be deported back home from Saudi Arabia where he 

was charged with proselytising. Eyob Mussie was arrested on 12 th February 

2011 in front of a mosque in Jeddah, Saudi’s second largest city. He had 

reportedly gone there specifically to talk to Muslims about Christianity. 

Initially the Saudi authorities viewed Mr Mussie as mentally disturbed but 

after a mental test found he was fit to stand trial he was moved to a high 

security prison. After being found guilty of proselytism, the authorities 

decided that instead of sentencing him to death, he would be sent back to 

Eritrea. Christian Solidarity Worldwide, the religious freedom watchdog, 

said it was highly likely that the Eritrean authorities would carry out the 

death penalty and begged the Saudi government to “consider alternative 

countries for asylum”. 98 

October 2011: Reports described several Christians dying in military prison 

camps. Terhase Gebremichel Andu, 28, and Ferewine Genzabu Kifly, 21, 

died as the result of starvation and untreated health problems according to a 

leading human rights watchdog. They were arrested during a prayer 

meeting in 2009 at a private home in Tesenai. Held at Adersete Military 

Camp, they suffered two years of physical torture and were denied medical 

care. Two months earlier came reports of the death of Hiwet Tesfu, 23, and 

Zemame Mehari, 27. They had been arrested in April 2009 for attending a 

prayer meeting in Dekemhare. Reports showed that in the run-up to their 

death, they were in poor health and had been repeatedly tortured and denied 

medical treatment. Angesom Teklom Habtemichel, 26, who was 

imprisoned at Adi Nefase Military Camp in Asab, died at the end of August 

2011, according to government officials. Reports said he suffered from 

severe malaria but was “denied medical treatment because of his written 

refusal to recant his Christian faith”. 99 

February 2012: A woman who fled to the UK from Eritrea described the 

persecution of Christians in her native country who belong to 

“unregistered” churches. Ruta (not her real name) who escaped via Sudan 

aged 16, gave details of friends and family still in Eritrea. She said her 

brother’s ‘polite demeanour’ made his military superiors suspicious that he 

was a Christian. They then found a letter under his mattress with references 

38


to his Christian faith. After he admitted to being a Christian, he was asked 

to sign a statement agreeing to stop practising his faith but he refused. He 

was imprisoned for two years. Another friend aroused suspicion after 

refusing a drink at a military camp drinks party and likewise was 

imprisoned after admitting to being a Christian. Ruta said prisoners’ mental 

health frequently broke down as a result of being forced to “do ridiculous 

things” such as count grains of sand under the extreme heat of the midday 

sun. She said Christians longed to be allowed to go to church and were at 

risk of internment if caught with a Bible. 100 

March 2012: A total of 44 countries called on Eritrea’s government to stop 

arbitrarily torturing and detaining its people. In a statement to the UN 

Human Rights Council, countries from all over the world – including Asia, 

Africa, Europe, Latin America and North America, highlighted concerns 

about the government’s refusal to let national elections be held or allow the 

existence of opposition parties, an independent media or international nongovernmental 

organisations to operate, as well as a severe clampdown on 

religious practice. The statement also condemned inhumane prison 

conditions, the unexplained disappearance of people and extrajudicial 

killings. Conscription to the armed forces including mandatory national 

service was also listed as a key concern. 101 

March 2012: Calls were made to allow medical treatment to be given to 

Patriarch Antonios, (former) head of the Eritrean Coptic Orthodox Church, 

held by the Eritrean authorities at an undisclosed location since January 

2006. According to Church sources, 85-year-old Patriarch Antonios has 

been denied health care despite being diabetic and in increasing poor 

health. Eritrean Orthodox priest Fr Athanasius Ghebre-Ab said: “It is a 

miracle that he remains alive without medical care. We urge the Eritrean 

government to release the patriarch for humanitarian reasons.” Patriarch 

Antonios was detained after asking the Eritrean government to release 

members of his Church seized for criticising the state for interfering in 

Church affairs. 102 

39


India 


1.15 billion Hindu 80%, Muslim 14% 

Christian 2%, Sikh 2% 


23 million 

“For the Christian minority of Karnataka, 2012 has begun in terror,” said 

Sajan K. George, President of the Global Council of Indian Christians, 

speaking about attacks in the state at the beginning of this year. 103 In the 

states of Karnataka and Orissa attacks against minorities rose in the period 

2008-11, while generally in the country there was a more than 65 percent 

decrease. While in most places attacks on religious minorities have fallen, 

there were still more than 1,000 cases of anti-Christian violence in 2011. 104 

The problems partly stem from the prominence of Hindutva political 

parties, such as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), in local government in 

Karnataka and Orissa. Hindutva is a right-wing form of Hindu nationalism, 

which – broadly speaking – regards India as a Hindu country which should 

not tolerate other religions or cultures. 

Life for the Church is, in many places, overshadowed by the memory of the 

severe anti-Christian violence of 2007 and 2008 in Orissa State’s 

Kandhamal district. Hindutva groups were responsible for the Orissa 

atrocities and much of the subsequent violence. 70 churches and other 

Christian institutions were attacked and 600 homes were destroyed when 

extremists interrupted Christmas preparations in late 2007. Far worse 

followed in August 2008 when Hindu monk and political leader Swami 

Laxmanananda Saraswati was assassinated. The swami’s party, Vishwa 

Hindu Parishad (VHP), falsely accused Christians in Kandhamal of 

carrying out the killing. It sparked a campaign of anti-Christian violence 

resulting in the torching of 4,640 houses, 252 churches and 13 educational 

institutions. The Catholic Church reported 98 confirmed deaths but up to 

500 people may have died in the violence that continued for several 

weeks. 105 54,000 were made homeless, seeking shelter in hastily prepared 

displacement camps. 106 Progress in achieving justice for victims of largescale 

communal violence, in places such as Orissa, continued to be slow 

and ineffective. 107 A report sent to Aid to the Church in Need in August 

2011 by Christian lawyer K. J. Markose described how in Sundargarh 

district, north-west Orissa, reconstruction of Christian houses was being 

obstructed. 108 This was echoed by Archbishop John Barwa of Cuttack- 

40


Bhubaneswar who said local groups and lower level state officers in 

Kandhamal continued to block the supply of building materials needed for 

Christian homes and churches – despite good will from higher ranking 

officials. Even so, nearly 4,000 houses had been constructed by August 

2011, meaning that “most” of the people displaced in 2007-08 could go 

home. 109 

Many assaults used accusations of forced conversion as a pretext. Of 

India’s 28 states, five have ‘anti-conversion’ laws, which impose heavy 

fines and jail sentences for those ‘forcing’ others to change their religion. 

The ‘anti-conversion’ laws are imposed in the north-central states of 

Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, Orissa in the east, Gujarat in the west 

and Himachal Pradesh in the north. Hindu hardliners routinely engineer the 

arrest of Christians on charges of ‘forcible conversion’. In particular, 

attacks against small Evangelical churches appeared to be on the rise, 

particularly in Karnataka, southern India. Evangelical Christians’ highly 

assertive, and sometimes culturally insensitive, evangelistic approach has 

been described as provocative to local Hindu communities. 

The Dalit question continues to be important as many Dalits have converted 

to Christianity. Dalits – traditionally referred to as ‘Untouchables’ – are 

perceived as being at the bottom of the rigid caste system. Hence, the 

distinction between religion and social status is blurred. The deaths of 

Christian activists Micael Digal and Rabindra Parichha in 2011 were linked 

to their work with Dalits. 

February 2011: St Paul International School in Srinagar, Kashmir, was set 

on fire, completely destroying the administration block, library and 

computer centre. The principal, Grace Paljor, said that before the attack 

several threatening calls were made warning that it would be burnt down. 110 

July 2011: Baptist Pastor Minoketan (aka Michael) Nayak of Midiakia- 

Kutipada village in Baliguda, south-west Orissa, was killed. Surendra 

Nayak, the pastor’s eldest brother, said: “[His] dead body was lying in a 

pit; there was a hole-like wound below his ear. The body had no other 

bruises or cuts. Certainly it is not a case of accident, it is murder.” 111 

August 2011: Attackers targeted Mother Mary Syro-Malankara Catholic 

Church in Hyderabad, central India, setting fire to the main altar, Bibles, 

missals, hymnals, crucifixes and liturgical vestments. 112 

41


September 2011: Our Lady of Vailankanni Catholic Church in 

Kottenkulangara village was attacked by vandals wearing masks. The 

church is in Quilon diocese, South Kerala. The vandals destroyed the altar, 

vestments, and confessionals. Some Catholics living close to the church 

went to investigate, but the vandals threw them out of the building. Bishop 

Stanley Roman of Quilon suggested the attack was by Hindutva extremists 

opposed to plans to build a larger church. He said: “We have had, in recent 

years, a growth of these Hindu extremist groups in Kerala and we begin to 

suffer the consequences.” 113 

November 2011: Sister Valsa John was killed when up to 50 people broke 

into her home in Pachuwara village, Jharkhand State, reportedly pulling her 

from her bed and attacking her with a scythe and other sharp instruments. 

Sister Valsa had defended the rights of tribal people living in the Pakur 

district, campaigning against land acquisition by coal firms operating in the 

area. Cardinal Oswald Gracias, President of the Catholic Bishops’ 

Conference of India, described the 52-year-old Sister of Charity of Jesus 

and Mary as “a person of courage and faith who gave her life in service of 

the Gospel”. 114 

December 2011: The body of Catholic catechist and Dalit rights activist 

Rabindra Parichha was discovered in Parichha Bhanjanagar in the 

Kandhamal district of Orissa State. He left his family home after receiving 

a phone call from a neighbour. Mr Parichha’s body was later found with the 

throat cut and stab wounds to his hands and stomach. Mr Parichha, 47, was 

the third catechist to be killed this year in Kandhamal. Archbishop John 

Barwa, who taught Mr Parichha as a student, said: “Police have arrested 

three people in connection with the case and Hindu radicals could be 

behind the murder.” 115 

January 2012: Hindutva radicals armed with sticks and iron bars attacked 

20 Pentecostal Christians in a private home in Karnataka State. The 

nationalists accused the Christian group in Anekal, near Bangalore of 

proselytising and forced conversions. During the attack, Pastor 

Shanthakumar Srirangam lost a finger on his left hand. Church member 

Mrs Yashodamma was attacked, resulting in a head injury, and possibly 

permanent damage to a nerve in her right hand. 116 

January 2012: Graves in a Christian cemetery were destroyed by a 

bulldozer. Christians claimed the incident was instigated by local BJP 

councillor Chanchal Parmar. The area where the graves had been flattened 

42


was used as a car park. Representatives of All India Christian Council filed 

complaints at the Sabarmati police station alleging police inaction. 

Members also demanded the chief minister’s resignation. 117 

January/February 2012: Christian teacher Shrimati Sambhai, from Kanker, 

Madhya Pradesh, was prevented from starting her new job because of her 

Christian faith. The Madhya Pradesh government appointed Ms Sambhai as 

a pre-school teacher, but when she tried to start her new job the village 

head, Dhanuram Behari, and community leader, Hiralal Behari, persuaded 

the state to revoke the appointment because of her faith. Ms Sambhai filed 

a police complaint but six weeks later she was still not allowed to take up 

her post. 118 

February 2012: Dasrath Mandari expelled his Christian wife, Satwantin 

Mandari, from their home in Tuthuly village, Kanker, Madhya Pradesh 

after Hindutva extremists told Mr Mandari that they would ostracise the 

family unless his wife returned to Hinduism. He expelled her that evening. 

Mrs Mandari took shelter with a Christian family in Kanker. 119 

March 2012: Hindutva extremists attacked Christians holding a prayer 

meeting at a church member’s home in Kalkaji, New Delhi. They alleged 

that Christians had desecrated statues of Hindu gods and goddesses and 

made insulting remarks about them. The prayer meeting consisted of leader 

Jagdish Dey, six women and a few children. When the meeting finished the 

extremists dragged Mr Dey into the street, where about 30 armed men tried 

to beat him, but he was protected by the women. Police arrived and took 

him into custody at the local station. 50 Hindutva extremists arrived at the 

police station and reportedly pressured police into forcing Mr Dey to 

promise to stop holding prayer meetings. Church Pastor Chellappan said: 

“It was a false allegation against us – we do not talk about other people’s 

religion, nor teach people to talk ill against any other faith.” Local 

extremists are accused of stopping Christians from using the public water 

pump. 120 

43


Iran 


72 million Muslim 98.5% 200,000 


Officially a Shia Muslim country, Iran remains firmly in the grip of a ruling 

elite whose concept of religious tolerance inevitably places minority groups 

– including members of other Islamic denominations – at a distinct 

disadvantage. In 2012 the US Commission on International Religious 

Freedom reported: “Iran is a constitutional, theocratic republic that 

discriminates against its citizens on the basis of religion or belief. During 

the past year, religious freedom conditions continued to deteriorate, 

especially for religious minorities, most notably Baha’is, as well as 

Christians and Sufi Muslims. Physical attacks, harassment, detention, 

arrests, and imprisonment intensified. Even the recognised non-Muslim 

religious minorities protected under Iran’s constitution – Jews, Armenian 

and Assyrian Christians and Zoroastrians – faced increasing discrimination, 

arrests, and imprisonment.” 121 

The legally sanctioned Christian Churches are subject to restrictions and 

other problems. They are not allowed to worship in Farsi, the national 

language, and there were reports of indigenous Assyrian and Armenian 

Christian religious leaders being targeted. ACN has received reports of 

non-Muslim religious leaders being under close surveillance, even when 

outside the country. Religious leaders have also been required by the state 

to sign ‘loyalty letters’, promising to have no contact with Muslims. 

Unrecognised Christian communities, who do worship in Farsi, regularly 

have their activities violently disrupted and in 2011 dozens of members of 

the Church of Iran were criminally prosecuted and punished for their 

religion. Between June 2010 and February 2012 approximately 300 

Christians from various different churches and communities were 

arbitrarily arrested and detained. 122 Some Christian human rights 

organisations suggested that the true figure of Christian detainees was 

“almost certainly far higher”, claiming that most of those arrested were 

released after a few weeks or months. One watchdog reported on very poor 

conditions faced by detainees, including solitary confinement, sleep 

deprivation and denial of medical care. The report described the torture of 

44


people imprisoned for religious reasons, saying violence and psychological 

pressure were used to force people to make confessions and provide 

information about fellow Christians and their religious activities. 123 

The suppression of religious practice not authorised by the state makes 

reports of the growth of Christianity in Iran all the more remarkable. Some 

Church communities claimed that there are now hundreds of thousands of 

‘invisible’ Christians, known as Muslim Background Believers, most of 

them connected with underground ‘house’ churches. Ranking Iran as 

among the top five countries for Christian persecution, Open Doors 

declared: “Men and women, out of emptiness of their current situation 

spiritually, are turning to faith in Christ Jesus despite the literally lethal 

risks of doing so.” 124 

Of all the “lethal” crimes associated with religious practice, one stands out 

most strongly: apostasy. The prohibition on “apostasy” – renouncing Islam 

– is very firmly enforced both by the government and the family of the 

apostate. In September 2008, the Iranian parliament approved a new Penal 

Code which imposed the death penalty for the crime. However in 2009 the 

Parliamentary Commission for Law and Judgement decided to exclude the 

amendment which would have carried the death penalty for apostasy. 

Despite this, Christian Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani faces the death sentence 

for having converted to Christianity at the age of 19. He maintains he was 

not a Muslim prior to his conversion, but rather of no religious persuasion. 

Pastor Nadarkhani was arrested in October 2009 and sentenced to death the 

following month for “apostasy from Islam”. On 22 nd September 2010, the 

Court of Appeals upheld the death sentence for apostasy, but in June 2011 

the Supreme Court referred the case to the lower court for further 

investigation. 125 Pastor Nadarkhani’s ongoing case, chronicled in the 

incident reports below, has become a symbol for the persecution faced by 

Christians in Iran and has been widely reported in the religious media. 

January 2011: Behnam Irani, a 41-year-old pastor from Karaj, Iran, was 

convicted of crimes against national security and sentenced to one year in 

prison. He started his sentence in May 2011 but was told in October that he 

would have to serve five years because of a previous conviction. 126 

April 2011: Pastor Behrouz Sadegh-Khanjani of the Church of Iran and five 

other church members were sentenced to a year in prison for “propaganda 

against the regime” by the First Branch of the Revolutionary Court in the 

45


southern city of Shiraz. However the court acquitted the Christians of 

“acting against national security”. 127 

April 2011: At the 16 th special session of the United Nations Human Rights 

Council, Mohammad Hosseini, Iran’s Minister of Culture and Islamic 

Guidance, criticised the EU and US for discrimination against Muslims. He 

said: “We expect European countries to guarantee the individual and social 

freedoms of Muslims.” 128 

May 2011: The Revolutionary Court in the northern city of Bandar Anzali 

tried 11 members of the Church of Iran, including Pastor Abdolreza Ali- 

Haghnejad and Zainab Bahremend – the 62-year-old grandmother of two of 

the other defendants – on charges of “acting against national security.” 129 

July 2011: The Barnabas Fund said that Iranian authorities had been issuing 

anti-Christian propaganda via state media. A spokesman for the 

organisation said: “False and insulting stories about Christians have also 

appeared in government media. One such article that was published on the 

website Youth Online alleged that women evangelists were going into 

stores, using shopping as a pretext to enter into conversation with staff, and 

then suggesting sexual liaisons and insulting Islam.” 130 

August 2011: 6,500 pocket Bibles were seized as they were being 

transported between the cities of Zanjan and Ahbar in the north-western 

province. Speaking about the seizure, parliamentary advisor, Majid Abhari 

told the Mehr news agency that Christian missionaries were out to deceive 

Iranians, particularly young people. He said, “They have begun a huge 

campaign by spending huge sums and false propaganda for deviating the 

public. …The important point in this issue that should be considered by 

intelligence, judicial and religious agencies is that all religions are 

strengthening their power to confront Islam, otherwise what does this huge 

number of Bibles mean” 131 

September 2011: Authorities summoned Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani to court 

three times in four days and each time asked him to renounce his faith and 

embrace Islam. Nadarkhani refused. A Supreme Court ruling in June had 

ordered the lower court to conduct additional investigations. 132 

October 2011: A court in Rasht sentenced Pastor Nadarkhani to death for 

being a “Zionist traitor” and committing “crimes against national security”. 

Governor-General Gholam-Ali Rezvani announced the sentences through 

the FARS news agency. He said: “This is not a religious issue because in 

46


our system no one can be executed for having changed his faith.” 

Mohammad Ali Dadkhan, the pastor’s lawyer, said that this is the first time 

that the authorities have spoken about these charges: “At the time of 

sentencing the judges spoke of apostasy, making no mention of other 

crimes. These new charges have to be reviewed.” 133 

December 2011: Iranian authorities raided an Assemblies of God Church in 

Ahvaz, south-west Iran, arresting all the Christians. The majority were 

released within days, but its pastor, Farhad Sabokroh, and another church 

member were only released on bail after serving two months in prison. No 

charges were filed. 134 

January 2012: Pastor Nadarkhani was again asked to renounce his Christian 

faith and convert to Islam to secure his release. He again refused. Tiffany 

Barrans, international legal director at American Centre for Law and 

Justice, stated: “The latest attempt to pressure Pastor Youcef to 

acknowledge Muhammad as a messenger of God violates both the Iranian 

Constitution and various principles of international law, to which Iran is 

obliged to uphold.” 135 

February 2012: Christian convert Masoud Delijani was sentenced to three 

years’ imprisonment by the Revolutionary Court of Kermanshah Province. 

Charges included “having faith in Christianity”, “holding illegal house 

church gatherings”, “evangelising Muslims” and an unspecified action 

against Iran’s national security. Sources suggest that he was given no 

chance to defend himself. During a house-church meeting on 17 th March 

2011, Delijani was detained by plain clothes intelligence officers, along 

with his wife and nine other Christians. After 114 days in custody, mainly 

spent in solitary confinement, he was released in July 2011, after his family 

paid the equivalent of US$100,000 in bail. He was detained again two 

weeks later. 136 

February 2012: 78-year-old Mrs Hakimpour, a member of the Anglican 

Church of St Luke in Esfahan, was seized at her home in the early hours of 

the morning. She is a retired nurse, and the sister-in-law of the former 

Anglican Bishop, Iraj Motahedeh. She was eventually allowed home three 

days later. The Rev Hekmat Salimi of St Paul’s Church was also arrested 

on the same day. The minister’s home was raided by local government 

agents, and books, a computer and other personal belongings were 

confiscated. No reason was given for either arrest. 137 

47


Iraq 


30 million Shia 60% 

Sunni 37% 

Others 3% 

275,000 

The persecution of Christians in Iraq over the last decade raises serious 

questions about the survival of the Church in a country steeped in biblical 

history. In 2011-2 the Church in Iraq continued to suffer greviously. 

Bombers targeted churches and homes, priests and faithful were kidnapped, 

there were arson attacks on Christian-owned shops and other businesses, 

forced religious conversions, anti-Christian discrimination in the workplace 

as well as attacks in the media. 

Although the constitution provides for religious freedom, the reality on the 

ground is very different. 138 Nor are Christians alone in suffering violence 

and other forms of oppression; those affected include people of all faiths, 

such as Yezidis as well as Muslims of different traditions. The Christian 

experience however has been especially painful. Reports released in spring 

2012 showed that over the past eight years 71 churches were attacked – 

most of them bombed – 44 of them in Baghdad and 19 in Mosul, a northern 

city with ancient Christian links. 139 A few months earlier, leading Church 

sources reported that nearly 600 Christians had been killed in religious and 

politically-motivated attacks – almost 60 percent of them in Baghdad, the 

rest mostly in the north. The dead included 17 priests. Two bishops were 

kidnapped, one of them, Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho of Mosul, died in 

captivity. In most cases, those responsible for the crimes said they wanted 

to rid the country of Christians. 140 Latest reports list the grotesque killing of 

very young Christians, including a seven-month-old baby, and two 14-yearold 

boys, one reportedly decapitated for being “a dirty Christian sinner” 

and another “crucified in his village on the edge of Mosul”. 141 

Such violence caused a continued exodus of Christians from Iraq, a 

principal feature of previous Persecuted and Forgotten reports. By 2012, 

concerns had grown about the fate of many thousands of Christians who 

had fled to Syria amid reports of persecution eerily similar to what they had 

experienced in Iraq. Meanwhile, during 2011, facts and figures emerged 

showing how Christians in Baghdad had fled in vast numbers following the 

31 st October 2010 siege of the Syrian Catholic Cathedral of Our Lady of 

48


Succour, which left 58 dead and more than 70 injured. In the months that 

followed, thousands of people fled Baghdad and other centres of conflict. 

Within six weeks of the atrocity in the cathedral, more than 3,200 had fled 

their homes and by the start of 2011 nearly 6,000 had arrived in the north. 

Many of these displaced people were desperate for safe passage, ultimately 

to the West. Official figures for Iraq’s Christian population showed a fall 

from as high as 1.4 million in 2003 to perhaps only 400,000, although 

Church sources put the current figure at well below 300,000. 142 

An Aid to the Church in Need fact-finding and project assessment trip to 

Iraq in spring 2012 concluded that in key parts of the north, extremism was 

becoming a problem, meaning that Christians were now unsafe in the very 

part of the country where they had sought sanctuary. An attack on 

Christians and their businesses in the ancient Christian city of Zakho in late 

2011 showed the extent of the problem. Archbishop Bashar Warda of Erbil 

told ACN that only in parts of the Kurdish capital of Erbil, most notably the 

Christian quarter of Ankawa, did Christians feel truly safe. He reported that 

the city had seen a huge surge in Christians who had come in from other 

parts of the country. Christians in the Zakho area complained that the 

regional government had returned only 40 percent of land lost when they 

fled persecution in the 1960s. Much of the land given back proved very 

difficult to irrigate, they claimed. The problems are compounded by 

regulations stating that identity cards include the holder’s religion. This has 

made it easier for employers to discriminate against Christians, who 

complained of being denied jobs on spurious grounds. 

With ACN experts pointing to a significant deterioration in the situation for 

Christians in Iraq, many Middle East observers suggested the exodus would 

probably have sped up were it not for the crisis unfolding in Syria, until 

recently the country of choice for many emigrating faithful. 

January 2011: Senior Iraqi priest Archdeacon Emanuel Youkhana said 

Christians were being systematically attacked in a bid to drive them out of 

the country. The archdeacon, who coordinates humanitarian aid for 

Christian families in Iraq, told ACN that neither the government in Iraq nor 

the international community had done enough to stem the exodus of 

Christians in the region. Archdeacon Youkhana, who is from the Assyrian 

Church of the East, denounced the Iraqi government and the media for 

denying that Christians had been specifically targeted in the attacks. Noting 

49


that Baghdad University’s music department had been closed because 

music was incompatible with Shari‘a law, he added that Islamisation now 

affected every aspect of Christians’ daily lives. He said Christian women 

now felt pressurised to wear the veil in public. 143 

April 2011: At least two Iraqi policemen and two passers-by suffered 

shrapnel wounds in a bomb blast on Easter Day outside Sacred Heart 

Church, in Baghdad’s Karrada district. In a second attack, four police 

officers were wounded in a firefight with gunmen outside St Mary the 

Virgin Catholic Church. People attending Easter Day Mass huddled inside. 

One parishioner later said: “Thank God nobody was hurt and everyone 

made it out safely.” 144 

May 2011: The decapitated body of Ashur Yacob Issa, 29, a Christian man, 

was discovered in Kirkuk city, a few days after he was kidnapped. Mr 

Issa’s family had been unable to pay the £61,500 ransom the kidnappers 

demanded. Archbishop Louis Sako of Kirkuk condemned the killing, 

paying tribute to the strength and faith of Christians in the city in spite of 

the continuing violence. Speaking to a Catholic news agency, Archbishop 

Sako appealed to “those who were capable of committing such an inhuman 

act” to remember Mr Issa’s widow and the children they had orphaned. He 

added: “If there is no human justice, sooner or later there will be divine 

justice.” 145 

August 2011: At least 13 people were injured when a bomb exploded at 

Holy Family Church in Kirkuk. Another bomb at an Evangelical church in 

the city reportedly failed to explode. Commenting on the attacks, Chaldean 

Auxiliary Bishop Shlemon Warduni of Baghdad said: “Our hope is in the 

Lord alone. I ask everybody to pray for peace and security and to 

[encourage] the governments to do something good for Iraq and the Middle 

East.” The bishop went on to allege that organisations outside Iraq were 

supplying arms to those who carry out acts of violence and condemned 

countries which sell weapons. About 10 days earlier, bombers targeted St 

Ephraim’s Syrian Orthodox Church, close to the Chaldean cathedral, in the 

city centre. The bomb exploded at 1.30am and nobody was hurt but St 

Ephraim’s was seriously damaged in the blast. 146 

September 2011: Iraq Archbishops Amel Nona of Mosul and Bashar Warda 

of Erbil told Hermann Van Rompuy, President of the Council of Europe, 

that there was no religious freedom in Iraq. The two Chaldean-rite bishops 

appealed for help to build schools. Archbishop Warda said that, with 

50


Muslims filling 90 percent of places available, Church-run schools 

benefited the whole of society and were important for promoting inter-faith 

cooperation. Archbishop Warda said: “Education would help to develop a 

new culture as well as freedom of religion, opening up new perspectives for 

young people.” 147 

October 2011: Two Christians were found shot dead in Kirkuk. 30-year-old 

Catholic, Bassam Isho was killed by an armed group in Muthana District 

and the body of 60-year-old Emmanuel Polos Hanna was found shot dead 

by the side of a road leading to Baghdad. A source in Kirkuk told 

AsiaNews that “the attacks on Christians continue and the world remains 

totally silent. It’s as if we’ve been swallowed up by the night.” 148 

December 2011: A campaign by radicals to force the closure of an 

allegedly ‘immodest’ beauty parlour in the Kurdisah city of Zakho turned 

violent with Christians being among the worst to suffer. Zakho Christians 

received death threats and 20 Christian-run shops were set ablaze. At least 

30 people were injured and the damage to businesses was later valued at 

US$5 million. The mob swelled to more than 3,000 and went on to attack 

Christian property in nearby Dohuk. The following morning, a mob of 100, 

mainly youths, threw stones at a church and homes belonging to Christians. 

Leaflets were put on the walls of burned shops, threatening owners with 

death if they reopened them. 149 

January 2012: At 1.15 pm on the 11 th , terrorists opened fire on the front of 

the Chaldean Archbishop’s residence in Kirkuk. The gun shots came from a 

white Kia car. Security guards returned fire and nearby police officers also 

shot at the car. Two of those in the car were killed and one was arrested. 

Five police officers were wounded. No reason was given for the attack, but 

police believe it may have been politically motivated as Jala Niftaji, a 

member of the Iraqi parliament, was attacked three days before the 

Archbishop’s house was targeted. 150 

March 2012: St Matthew’s Syrian Orthodox Church in Baghdad was hit 

during bombings by extremists in attacks that killed 52 people. In the attack 

at St Matthew’s, two guards were killed and five others were wounded. The 

Iraqi government said the attacks were intended to “present a negative 

image of the security situation” in Iraq ahead of the Arab League summit. It 

was alleged that targeting a church would generate more media coverage 

and concern in the West. 151 

51


Israel and Palestine 

Israel 

Palestine 

Total Pop. 7.5 million 4 million 

Religions Judaism 75%, Islam 20% 

Christian 2.25% 


Islam 80%, Judaism 12%, 

Christians 1.25% 


Christians 210,000 

In 2011 and the first few months of 2012 there was an increase in sporadic 

acts of aggression towards Christians in the environs of Jerusalem with 

hard-line ultra-Orthodox Jews, in particular the Yad L’Achim group, 

targeting Messianic Jews. Settlers disaffected with government policies 

have also taken out their aggression on religious targets, including church 

buildings and graveyards. 

Christian emigration continues – a key reason for this being a deepening 

climate of discrimination affecting Christians and other minorities, 

particularly by Islamists in the Palestinian Territories. Not all reasons for 

emigrating are religious in nature. The continuing problems caused by the 

West Bank Barrier are a contributing factor. This is a 420-mile (670km) 

barrier which Israel began building in and around the West Bank in 2002 

after a wave of suicide bombings by militants. Christians in the Palestinian 

Territories have reported major economic problems caused by the resulting 

restrictions on their movement. While the Israeli military says it is 

alleviating restrictions and that thousands of landowners have permits to 

reach their farms, farmers in the Palestinian Territories claim the army 

frequently does not grant them the regular access to their land on the other 

side of the security wall. 152 Bethlehem, which overlooks the barrier, reflects 

many of the issues faced by Christians. In 2000 half the population of urban 

Bethlehem was Christian, but in the years since at least 10 percent have 

emigrated. According to UN statistics, the monthly average of tourists 

entering Bethlehem fell from nearly 100,000 to fewer than 10,000 in the 

space of four years. 153 The 200 tourist buses that arrived every day had 

dwindled to barely a dozen by 2006. Fewer tourists meant that Christians 

who made their living as wood carvers were badly affected economically 

leading to emigration. According to UN figures, in 2008 70 percent of 

people in the town were living in poverty. ACN began helping some of the 

families of wood carvers to remain in Bethlehem by selling their goods to 

its benefactors, thus providing a vital income stream. Tourist access to 

Bethlehem has improved over the last few years. More than 100,000 people 

52


visited the city over the Christmas period in 2010 – the highest in a decade 

– rising to 120,000 visitors in 2011. 154 

The Israeli government has made it harder for non-Israeli priests, religious, 

and seminarians to get visas. Visas are now valid only for one year instead 

of two. Fr Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Franciscan Custodian of the Holy Land, 

said: “There is a bit of confusion. We do not know whether it reflects 

ministerial policy or if it is due to certain officials dragging their feet. 

Perhaps it is an ambiguity that is intended.” The visa problem has made it 

especially difficult for seminarians training for the Latin Patriarchate, 

whose jurisdiction covers Israel, the Palestinian Territories, Jordan and 

Cyprus. Students train at the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem seminary in 

Beit Jala, near Bethlehem. At present restrictions are growing, especially 

for Jordanians who constitute two thirds of seminarians. Their visas are 

very often valid for only one entry. In the past, they had multiple-entry 

visas, enabling them to visit their families three or four times a year. In the 

case of Jordanians these restrictions are remarkable, as Jordan and Israel 

signed a peace treaty in 1994. 

Christians also face significant difficulties in areas under the Palestinian 

National Authority, both in the West Bank but more especially in the Gaza 

Strip. Since Hamas took over Gaza in June 2007, Christians have come 

under pressure from Islamists to conform to Muslim practices. For example 

women have been forced to cover their heads in public and police have 

stopped Christians from selling alcohol. As Islamisation has increased, men 

have been banned from appearing bare-chested on Gaza beaches. Clothes 

shops have been told to remove mannequins displaying lingerie. 155 Some 

Muslims regard Christians as symbols of the West, responsible for their 

problems. Christian homes, shops and churches have been attacked 

frequently. In a massively overpopulated region of 1.5 million people – of 

whom half are children – there are no more than 5,000 Christians. 156 In the 

West Bank, Christians have been subject to pressure from Islamist groups 

whose appeal is growing among the population. According to Michael 

Oren, Israel’s ambassador to the United States, the Christian population in 

the area, once more than 15 percent, is now less than 2 percent. 157 Muslims 

have been buying up souvenir shops around the Basilica of the Nativity. “In 

the 1950s, there was only one mosque in Bethlehem,” a local woman said. 

She added: “Today, there are many more, built on purpose near Christian 

places of worship.” 158 

53


February 2011: A fatwa was issued in response to a question about Islam’s 

position on the killing of innocent civilians in the course of attacks by 

Sheikh ‘Ahed Ahmad ‘Abd Al-Karim Al-Sa’idani (aka Abu Al-Walid Al- 

Maqdisi), the leader of Jama’at Al-Tawhid Wal-Jihad, a Gaza-based 

Jihadist group. The fatwa, posted on the web, stated that while Islam 

prohibits the killing of innocents, Jews and Christians may be targeted 

because they are not innocent but “aggressive combatants”. 159 

February 2011: Dr Maher Ayyad, a Christian surgeon in the Gaza Strip, 

had a bomb hurled at the car he was travelling in. He was unharmed but the 

vehicle, which belonged to his brother, was damaged. Following the attack 

55-year-old Dr Ayyad received text messages warning him to stop his 

“evangelical work” or face the consequences. 160 

April 2011: The heads of Christian churches in Jerusalem expressed grave 

concern over “aggressive” moves by Israeli authorities to impose an 

“arnona” (property tax) on church buildings and properties. A statement 

issued by the 13 Christian churches officially recognised by Israel, calling 

itself the “Heads of the Churches of the Holy City of Jerusalem,” stated 

that: “It would represent a significant worsening of the conditions of the 

churches in the Holy Land.” They said a tax on Church properties would 

“contradict the solemn promises given to the Churches by successive Israeli 

governments, most notably confirmed in the wake of the June 1967 war”. 161 

June 2011: Auxiliary Bishop Giacinto-Boulos Marcuzzo of Jerusalem made 

a statement saying that the minority Christian community in Nazareth is in 

danger of dying out. A wave of Christian emigration began more than a 

decade ago after local Islamists started attempts to build a mosque next to 

the Basilica of the Annunciation, the city’s main church. While tensions 

over the church have been largely resolved – Islamists still regularly protest 

on the proposed site – the bishop said “Our problem is not religious, but it’s 

the political situation of insecurity, of non-peace, of non-justice, of nonequality 

among the people”. 162 

June 2011: In Mevasseret Zion, a suburb west of Jerusalem, Yad L’Achim, 

a hard-line ultra-Orthodox Jewish group, placed leaflets around the home of 

Messianic Jews Serge and Naama Kogen, aged 37 and 42 respectively. 

That same week a full-page advert was taken out in a local newspaper 

printing the couple’s address, and calling for a public protest outside their 

house, saying the Israeli-born residents were part of a missionary group 

“targeting” the community. About 20 people demonstrated outside the 

54


couple’s home, denouncing them over megaphones for around 90 minutes. 

The protests came after Yad L’Achim lost a legal case against the Kogens 

and Asher Intrater, leader of the Ahavat Yeshua Congregation, in which 

they accused them of “proselytising” minors. 163 

September 2011: Flyers were posted in public places with the addresses 

and phone numbers – and in some cases photographs – of Messianic Jews 

in Mevasseret Zion. Asher Intrater said he thought the flyers were “an 

effort to drive us out of the neighbourhood”. 164 

September 2011: Dr Adwan Adwan, a faculty member in the Arabic 

Department at Bethlehem University, was attacked by some 20 Israeli 

settlers who threw rocks at him, injuring his head, shoulder, and stomach. 

The attack, which illustrates the serious problems which all Palestianians – 

including Christians – can face, occurred in the early hours of the morning 

after his car was blocked by a pile of burning tyres as he travelled in the 

West Bank between the Palestinian villages of Al-Lubban and Turmos Aya, 

near the Israeli settlements of Ofarim and Bet Ariye. He said: “I felt lucky 

to escape with my life.” On the same day near the settlement of Shiloh in 

the Palestinian Territories, Miss Yara Odeh, a postgraduate student at 

Bethlehem University, had her car pelted with rocks by Israeli settlers when 

she was caught in a traffic jam. Escaping from her car through the 

passenger door, she ran toward nearby Israeli soldiers, calling for help. She 

claims that she was refused help and was told to return to her car. 165 

October 2011: At least five tombs were smashed and about 20 others 

sprayed with graffiti in Muslim and Christian cemeteries in Jaffa, Tel Aviv, 

on Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement. The graffiti in Hebrew 

included slogans such as “Death to Arabs!” and “Price Tag” – the latter 

phrase being used by militant Jewish settlers in the West Bank and their 

supporters objecting to steps to move settlements built without Israeli 

government permission. As well as the vandalism, a firebomb was thrown 

at a synagogue. Sami Abu-Shehadi, a member of Tel Aviv-Jaffa 

municipality said: “these extreme settlers… are not paying a price for 

anything… Settlers have been saying that they want to bring the conflict 

inside [Israel] and this is exactly what they are doing now.” Israeli 

president Shimon Peres condemned the vandalism, saying: “The 

desecration of graves is a forbidden and criminal act that defames our 

honour and is contrary to the moral values of Israeli society.” 166 

55


February 2012: Vandals spray-painted “Death to Christians” and “We’ll 

crucify you” on Jerusalem’s Baptist Church. Similar graffiti were placed on 

a Greek Orthodox monastery in the city. It was believed to be the work of 

Jewish extremists who have vandalised Christian and Muslim holy sites as 

well as Israeli military equipment to protest against the government’s 

allegedly anti-settler policies. 167 

February 2012: Fr Pierbattista Pizzaballa, custodian of Holy Places in the 

Holy Land, asked Israel’s President Shimon Peres to help put an end to the 

vandalisation of Christian holy sites. Mr Peres’ office said the president 

was treating the request “very seriously” and that he was working on the 

matter personally. 168 

April 2012: Two parish priests living in the Palestinian Territories, Fr 

Faysal Hijazeen and Fr Ibrahim Shomali, spoke out against “false 

allegations regarding Palestinian Christians made in recent weeks by Israeli 

spokespeople, such as Ambassador Michael Oren” – and the fact that 

thousands of Palestinian Christians from the Gaza Strip and the West Bank 

would be unable to attend Easter celebrations in Jerusalem’s Church of the 

Holy Sepulchre. They said that such spokespersons have inaccurately 

stressed Christian persecution by Muslims, when several recent studies 

have shown “that the Israeli occupation and settlement activities are the 

main reason for Christian emigration”. They highlighted the problem of 

land being taken from Palestinian Christians, referring to a recent attempt 

by the state to confiscate land between Bethlehem and Jerusalem belonging 

to 58 Palestinian Christian families.” 169 

April 2012: Israel’s Ambassador to the US, Michael Oren, telephoned an 

American television station to complain about a documentary exploring the 

falling numbers of Christians in the Holy Land, while it was still in 

production. The programme, shown on America’s CBS channel at the 

beginning of April as part of the channel’s 60 Minutes series, examined 

how the exodus of Christians could eventually leave cities with a historic 

connection to Christianity, like Jerusalem and Bethlehem, without an 

indigeneous Christian population. Talking about his complaint, Mr Oren 

said: “It seemed to me outrageous. Completely incomprehensible that [a 

programme should focus on Israel] at a time when these communities, 

Christian communities throughout the Middle East are being oppressed and 

massacred, when churches are being burnt…”. 170 

56


Nigeria 


160 million Muslim 40% 

Christian 40% 

Local religions 20% 

64 million 

On Christmas Day 2011, 44 people were killed and more than 80 others 

were injured when extremists targeted Massgoers at St Theresa’s Catholic 

Church in Madalla, near the Nigerian capital, Abuja. The attack was one of 

many that day, but its ferocity and high death toll meant that it came to be 

seen as a watershed moment in an emerging security crisis. A problem 

concerning extremist attacks was now a national crisis with the potential to 

cause a Christian exodus from parts of the country. In the months that 

followed, rarely a week went by without Christians being targeted at 

Sunday services. Those responsible also targeted markets, banks, police, 

government buildings and schools, but the Church bore the brunt of the 

violence. The perpetrators, Boko Haram, a Jihadist Islamist group with 

links to Al Qaeda, had made their objective clear: to replace secular 

government with an Islamic system centred on Shari‘a law. 

Nigeria is no stranger to religious, ethnic and social tension and violence. 

Boko Haram (which translates as ‘Western education is forbidden’) has 

roots dating back as far as 2001 and the Islamist group’s attacks grew in 

number and intensity over the course of the next decade. It is against this 

backdrop that the Church in the most populous country in Africa has grown 

exponentially. The country boasts more than 5,000 seminarians – the most 

of any country on the continent. 

That vote of confidence for the future of the Church is now facing its 

greatest test. Although Christians in the period under review faced 

particular harassment in the Muslim-dominated north, where Shari‘a is 

practised, violence also broke out elsewhere. The precise cause of the 

tensions between Muslims and Christians is intricate. The US State 

Department’s report on religious freedom concluded: “Violence between 

Christian and Muslim communities increased in several regions arising 

from complex factors including economic disparity, ethnic identity and 

seasonal migration patterns.” 171 Catholic bishops often went further, 

arguing that apparent religious tensions concealed root causes in ethnic and 

social problems. 

57


Whatever the precise causes, by 2012 it was becoming clear that Christians 

were under direct threat. Boko Haram was warning that it was about to 

wage a “war on Christians”. Christians were fleeing en masse from parts of 

the north-east including Maiduguri. Any hope that the state of emergency 

declared by President Goodluck Jonathan in January 2012 would restore 

law and order was left in tatters as Boko Haram stepped up its campaign of 

terror. In March 2012, a Boko Haram spokesman declared that a campaign 

was underway to in effect eradicate Christians from parts of the north. The 

spokesman declared: “We will create so much effort to have an Islamic 

state that Christians will not be able to stay.” Reports indicated that the 

tensions were being exacerbated by so-called revenge or retaliation attacks. 

Calling for calm but stating a determination not to be cowed by acts of 

aggression, bishops in Nigeria rallied the faithful with statements calling 

for prayer and the pursuit of justice by peaceful means. In the Archdiocese 

of Jos, in the north-east, one of the areas worst affected by the violence, 

Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama told ACN: “When I visit the people, I see the 

injustice they suffer… We must not look at the suffering as a sign that God 

has condemned us. Rather, it is a challenge and sets us on the road to unity 

with him.” With no sign of an end to the attacks, there were growing 

concerns about the security services’ capacity to enforce the rule of law. In 

the meantime, the fate of many Christian communities, especially in the 

north, hangs in the balance. 

January 2011: Six villages near Jos in Plateau State were attacked overnight 

by a group of militants. Five people were killed. The attacks on Nding Jok, 

Lo Hala, Wereh Fan and Ratatis in the Barkin Ladi local government area 

took place between midnight and 3am. It took up to two hours for police to 

arrive. State security arrested 29 men thought to be involved in the attacks, 

who were heavily armed with automatic weapons, axes and machetes. The 

security also allegedly found 25 automatic weapons in a nearby mosque. 172 

July 2011: Christians in northern Nigeria’s Borno state, already forced to 

abandon religious services as a result of attacks by Islamist sect Boko 

Haram, were bracing themselves for a massive assault commemorating the 

death of the extremist group’s leader at the end of the month. Christians 

were reported to be “streaming” out of Maiduguri, in north-east Nigeria, 

where some of the worst-hit churches are located. Churches were reported 

to be shutting down after many faithful were killed. Witnesses said most 

58


church buildings in the Maiduguri area were “shuttered” and guarded by 

state security. Some clergy bold enough to re-open their churches changed 

the times of worship services in a bid to outmanoeuvre militants working 

on the basis that most Sunday services start at 10am. 173 

December 2011/January 2012: President Goodluck Jonathan declared a 

state of emergency in parts of the country following attacks by Islamist 

group Boko Haram. The measure was enforced in four states in the northeast, 

the centre and the west of the country with the president vowing to 

“crush” Boko Haram and closing international borders in the process. It 

followed a spate of violence climaxing on churches and other targets on 

Christmas Day. In one attack that day, 44 people were killed and more than 

80 others were injured when extremists targeted Massgoers at St Theresa’s 

Catholic Church in Madalla, near the Nigerian capital, Abuja. The vast 

majority of the dead were very young and included four-year-old 

Emmanuel Dilke who was killed alongside his father, his brother and his 

sister. Also dead were Chiemerie Nwachukwu, an eight-month-old baby 

who was killed alongside his mother. Their bishop, Martin Igwe Uzoukwu 

of Minna, told ACN: “Our people have suffered so much but our response 

should not be one of anger but one seeking peace and justice.” 174 

January 2012: A fresh wave of violence against churchgoers in Nigeria left 

27 people dead and spread security fears across the country. The 

religiously-motivated massacres, three in as many days, targeted Christians 

in Mubi and Gombe, both towns in the north-east where President 

Goodluck Jonathan declared a state of emergency the week before. Some 

17 other deaths have been reported in other regions. At least nine people 

died and 19 were injured in a shooting at an Evangelical church in Gombe 

city in the north-east. Pastor Johnson Jauro told reporters that gunmen burst 

into his church killing people including his wife. He said: “The attackers 

started shooting sporadically. They shot through the window of the church. 

Many members who attended the church service were also injured.” Boko 

Haram claimed responsibility for the attack, carried out by extremists who 

rushed over from a nearby mosque. Up to 20 people died in Mubi, 

Adamawa State as gunmen opened fire in a town hall where Christian 

traders were meeting, holding prayers. 175 

January 2012: Christians in the region of Bauchi city, north-east Nigeria, 

suffered a series of attacks. In the town of Tafawa Balewa, Christians 

travelling to Sunday services came under fire, the Evangelical church was 

destroyed in a bombing which killed at least eight people and left many 

59


injured, and St Paul’s Anglican Secondary School was partially destroyed. 

In Bauchi city, a reported bomb attack at Our Lady of Loreto Catholic 

Church caused minor damage, with no casualties. 176 

February 2012: Five were injured by a car bomb just as Sunday morning 

worship got underway at Christ Embassy Church, in Suleja, near the 

capital, Abuja. The bomb was planted in a car parked directly in front of 

the church and observers later said that it was also intended to cause 

damage to another Protestant church, also nearby. Boko Haram was 

strongly suspected. 177 

February 2012: Boko Haram claimed responsibility for a suicide bomb 

attack during Sunday service at a Protestant church in Jos, central Nigeria. 

At least three people died, including a young girl, and 50 others were 

wounded. The media quoted witnesses saying a car “packed with 

explosives” rammed the gate of a perimeter fence at the church and 

exploded a few yards from a wall of the 800-seat church. Boko Haram 

spokesman Abdul Qaqa told reporters: “We attacked simply because it’s a 

church and we can decide to attack any other church. We have just 

started.” 178 

March 2012: The President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria, 

Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama said the attacks on Christian communities 

would not succeed in driving Christians from the north of the country. He 

said: “Evil has taken place but it will not triumph. This tragedy will not 

erase Christianity… He called on Christians not to seek vengeance. 

Quoting St Paul in the Bible, he added: “Nothing can separate us from the 

love of God… We call for calm not because we are cowards but because of 

the reason that killing is irrational and criminal.” He made his remarks 

while comforting people grieving after a bomb attack at St Finbarr’s 

Catholic Church, in Rayfield in his Archdiocese of Jos. Up to a dozen 

people died and 42 others were injured when early morning Mass at St 

Finbarr’s was interrupted by a suicide car bomb attack. Boko Haram later 

claimed responsibility. The attack sparked violence between Christians and 

Muslims leading to more deaths. 179 

March 2012: Islamist group Boko Haram declared a “war on Christians” 

saying that it would launch a series of “coordinated” attacks in order to 

“eradicate Christians from certain parts of the country. A Nigerian news 

website quoted an unnamed spokesman for Boko Haram as saying: “We 

will create so much effort to end the Christian presence in our push to have 

60


a proper Islamic state that Christians won’t be able to stay.” Human rights 

group International Christian Concern’s Jonathan Racho described the 

reports as “alarming”. He added: “Since Christmas, Boko Haram has 

martyred about 100 Christians in northern Nigeria. They think they have 

not met their goal for eradicating Christians. They are prepared for more 

bloodshed… I urge Christians around the world to contact their 

governments and ask them to get Nigeria to protect its citizens.” 180 

April 2012: Up to 40 people died and at least 30 were injured after a suicide 

bomber detonated explosives in a busy part of Kaduna city after being 

refused entry to a nearby church where an Easter Day service was taking 

place. Security guards at the gates of the First Evangelical Church, in 

Gwari Rd, denied access to a man driving a car packed with improvised 

explosives. The man then drove off and detonated the bomb at a nearby 

hotel, close to an evangelical church and a third church, some of whose 

windows were smashed by the explosion. An estimated 60 buildings within 

a 500-meter radius of the blast were severely damaged by the blast and 

eight cars and several commercial vehicles were burnt. In a message of 

condolence to people grieving lost loved ones, Church leaders went on to 

praise the quick-thinking and bravery of the security staff who turned the 

bombers away from the Evangelical church. Nobody has claimed 

responsibility for the bomb blast but commentators have pointed out that it 

was very similar to a series of attacks by Islamist group Boko Haram. This 

year alone, Boko Haram has targeted people attending Sunday services at 

churches all over the country. 181 

April 2012: At least 21 people were killed and more than 20 others injured 

on the 29 th in an attack on Christian students attending a Sunday service at 

Bayero University in Kano State. Students at the university were shot by 

gunmen as they tried to escape. A chapel in Maiduguri belonging to the 

Church of Christ in Nigeria was also attacked. Nobody claimed 

responsibility for the attacks. Archbishop Kaigama said: “The rampant 

attacks show that government security is not working. The government is 

not able to cope with the security situation and we feel quite apprehensive 

as a result.”The archbishop, whose northern diocese of Jos has been among 

those worst affected by Islamist violence, added “Those young people 

killed at the university represented the hope of our country. It defies all 

logic. They were people trying to build a better country.” 182 

61


North Korea 

Population Religions Christians 

24 million Atheist 70%, New religions 13%, 

Animist 13% 

Christian 2%, Other 2% 

475,000 

Kim Jong-un’s rise to power in December 2011, following the death of his 

father, Kim Jong-il, put the media spotlight on North Korea’s continuing 

clampdown on freedom of expression. The situation for Christians and 

others reportedly worsened after Kim Jong-il’s death, with reports of 

restrictions being tightened to prevent alleged dissidents from exploiting 

the delicate transition of power. Leading human rights observers said the 

Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea) “remains one of the 

world’s most repressive regimes, with a deplorable human rights and 

religious freedom record.” 183 The state continues to discriminate against 

and harass those involved in both authorised and unauthorised religious 

activity. They risk arrest, torture, and even execution. 184 It is thought that at 

least 25 percent of the country’s Christians are interned in labour camps. 185 

Asylum seekers repatriated from China continue to be mistreated and 

imprisoned – particularly those with religious affiliations or carrying 

religious literature. 186 

Although North Korea’s constitution provides for “freedom of religious 

belief”, there is essentially no freedom of religious practice or conscience. 

Officially an atheist state, the North Korean government propagates a 

nationalist ideology based upon the cult of personality surrounding both 

Kim Il-sung and his son, Kim Jong-il. 187 All citizens not adhering to this 

ideological system face severe fines and penalties. However, in 1988, the 

North Korean government created religious federations for Buddhists, 

Chondokyists (followers of a syncretic belief system largely based on 

Confucianism), Protestants and Catholics, similar to the patriotic 

associations in China. These federations have built a Catholic church and 

two Protestant churches in the capital, Pyongyang. The Protestant churches 

are lay led and there are no Catholic clergy in North Korea, but visiting 

priests occasionally say Mass. Since 2006 there has been a Russian 

Orthodox church in the capital, run by a North Korean priest who studied at 

seminary in Russia. The church was constructed on the orders of Kim Jongil 

after a visit to Russia in 2002. Nothing is known about churches 

elsewhere. It has been suggested that the churches in the capital are there to 

62


“project a presence of religious observance to outsiders”. 188 Former 

refugees and defectors have stated that the federations are led by party 

loyalists who maintain churches as both cultural and tourist attractions, and 

direct assistance programs from humanitarian organisations. 189 

The Vatican has declared the three North Korean dioceses – Pyongyang, 

Hamhung and Chunchon – to be vacant sees, under the administration of 

South Korean diocesan bishops appointed by Rome. In 2012 the Vatican 

still lists Francis Hong Yong-ho as Bishop of Pyongyang, but notes he is 

missing. 190 He has not been seen since 10 th March 1962, and if still alive he 

would be well over 100. However, the Vatican has stated that it “cannot be 

excluded that he may still be a prisoner in some re-education camp”. 191 

Since the communist regime began in 1953, 300,000 Christians have 

disappeared. Nothing is known about the priests and nuns who were in 

North Korea at that time – they are generally assumed to be dead. 

The North Korean government claims that there are 500 officially approved 

house churches in the country. There are credible reports from South 

Korean academics that the participants in these gatherings are individuals 

whose families were Christians before 1950 and are therefore allowed to 

gather for worship under the law, albeit without leaders or religious 

materials. 192 However, as unofficial religious activity in North Korea 

increases so it appears does the regime’s attempts to halt its spread. 2009 

investigations by Human Rights Watch and the UN found that people 

caught praying – especially if it involved foreign organisations – were 

likely to be executed. Prisoners are subject to torture, murder, rape, medical 

experimentation, forced labour, forced abortion and execution. Religious 

detainees routinely receive harsher treatment. 

June 2011: Sixty-year-old Jun Young-Su, a naturalised citizen of the 

United States living in North Korea, was released, having been imprisoned 

on charges of proselytising. The US envoy for North Korean human rights, 

Robert King, escorted Mr Young-Su out of the country. 193 

December 2011: A state-run website described the lighting up of a 

Christmas-tree like tower in South Korea near the border of the two 

countries as a form of “psychological warfare”. North Korea warned South 

Korea of “unexpected consequences” if it switched on the lights of the 100- 

foot (30-metre) high structure sited on a hill 2 miles (3km) from the border. 

Despite the warnings, politicians and celebrities in South Korea attended 

63


the lights switch-on ceremony on 22 nd December. Seoul’s annual tradition 

of lighting up a Christmas tree tower was suspended in 2003 following 

improved relations between the two countries, but was resumed in 2010. 194 

January 2012: It was reported that Christian churches faced increased 

persecution following the death of Kim Jong-il. Thomas Kim, executive 

director of Cornerstone Ministries, which works with churches in North 

Korea, said: It’s been very difficult for the last month and I think it’s going 

to continue.” Thomas Kim suggested that problems were caused by the 

desire for a smooth transition after Kim Jong-il’s death. 195 

January 2012: Christian charity Release International presented a 48,000 

signature petition calling for religious freedom to the North Korean 

embassy in London. The petition followed a staged funeral procession and 

prayer vigil, which organisers said symbolised the death of freedom in the 

country. The petition was the climax of a year-long campaign by the charity 

calling for an end to oppression in North Korea. 196 

64


Pakistan 


175 million Muslim 95%, Hindu 1.5% 



2.5 million 

The assassination of Shahbaz Bhatti, Pakistan’s Federal Minister for 

Minorities on 2 nd March 2011 drew international attention to a growing 

crisis facing minorities in a country lurching towards extremism. Bhatti’s 

rise to Cabinet status from lowly beginnings as a Catholic in a small village 

had given new hope both to his co-religionists as well as Sikhs, Hindus and 

others who together represent barely five percent of the population. Shia 

Muslims and moderate Sunnis suffering discrimination also had reason to 

be grateful to Bhatti. By the time of his death, he had become an outspoken 

critic of human rights violations in his country – especially concerning 

religious freedom. 

Bhatti’s death was a double-blow coming so soon after the murder of 

Salman Taseer, Governor of the Punjab. Both men’s struggle for greater 

tolerance had centred on Asia Bibi who in November 2010 became the first 

woman in Pakistan to receive the death penalty for blasphemy. The case of 

the 45-year-old mother of five rested on verbal insults she is alleged to have 

made against the prophet Mohammed. Under 295B and 295C of the Penal 

Code, known as the blasphemy laws, dishonouring the prophet is a crime 

punishable by death, and disrespect to the Qur’an (for example tearing a 

page containing Quranic verses) receives a sentence of life imprisonment. 

Rarely had blasphemy law allegations ended up in convictions and the case 

against Bibi – apparently far from strong – seemed to show that extremism 

was now becoming institutionalised at the heart of law and government. 

Bhatti, in particular, was seeking to combat a growing culture of 

intolerance towards religious minorities. 

The period under review saw reports of violations against religious 

minorities – churches attacked, Christians and others dying in suspicious 

circumstances, illegal confiscation of property owned by minority groups 

and sexual molestation of women. Many of these took place in the context 

of blasphemy law allegations – which were ongoing in 2011-12, often 

resulting in people – including pro-tolerance Muslims – being hunted down 

by Islamist mobs and forced into hiding and sometimes asylum abroad. Of 

65


particular concern as well was the denigration of Christians and other non- 

Muslims in the state curriculum. 

The US State Department’s Religious Freedom Report for Pakistan 

(September 2011) stated that “societal intolerance and violence against 

minorities and Muslims promoting tolerance [had] increased” over the 

previous year. The report accused the Pakistan Government of inaction: 

“The government rarely investigated or prosecuted the perpetrators of 

increased attacks on minorities… which deepened the climate of impunity.” 

The report also criticised the state for “not taking adequate steps” to tackle 

Blasphemy Law abuses and reform of the controversial legislation. In 

spring 2011 the UK Government sparked criticism with plans to double UK 

overseas aid to Pakistan to more than £400 million by 2015. Underlining 

the strong cultural and business links between the UK and Pakistan, Mr 

Cameron’s administration said action was vital in support of the 36 million 

people in Pakistan reportedly below the poverty line. But many, including 

Scotland’s Cardinal Keith O’Brien, Archbishop of of St Andrews and 

Edinburgh, called on the UK to push for religious freedom in Pakistan as 

part of its aid discussions with the Pakistan authorities. In October 2011 

former Shadow Cabinet minister Ann Widdecombe, speaking as ACN’s 

special envoy on religious freedom, said that in many countries 

homosexuals and hedgehogs “stand a better chance of representation” than 

Christians. Mr Cameron later told the BBC that “British aid should have 

more strings attached in terms of do you persecute people for their faith or 

their Christianity…” 

January 2011: Salman Taseer, Governor of the Punjab, was shot dead by 

his bodyguard, Malik Mumtaz Qadri, near his home in Islamabad. Qadri 

reportedly said he killed Taseer for his opposition to Pakistan’s blasphemy 

laws. Taseer had termed the controversial legislation ‘black law’ and had 

spoken up in defence of Christian woman Asia Bibi sentenced to death for 

blasphemy. Qadri was later sentenced to death. 197 

February 2011: The family of a man who died in suspicious circumstances 

claimed he was killed by his employer for reasons connected with his 

Christian faith. Imran Masih, 24, was found dead in a cattle shed beside a 

farmhouse owned by his employer, Chaudhry Maqsood Cheema. Mr 

Cheema claimed that Mr Masih, who worked as a tractor driver at his farm 

in the Punjab’s Gujranwala district, had hanged himself. But Christian 

66


lawyers, acting for Mr Masih’s family, found that medical experts’ 

conclusion of death by hanging may have been “influenced” by Mr 

Cheema’s cousin, who had reportedly been present at the autopsy. The 

lawyers also said the men who washed the dead man’s body had reported 

that he had injuries inconsistent with hanging. They said he had probably 

been beaten in his private parts and that he had a bruised head. Imran 

Masih’s father, Lal, said his son had had no reason to kill himself: he had 

recently married and was expecting the birth of his first child. He also said 

that police only began investigating the death after local Christians 

protested by blocking the village’s main road. 198 

March 2011: Shahbaz Bhatti, federal minorities’ minister in Pakistan’s 

cabinet, was shot dead in Islamabad. Bhatti, a Catholic aged 42, had fought 

for religious freedom, including changes to Pakistan’s blasphemy laws. 

Islamist group Tehrik-i-Taliban claimed responsibility for the killing, 

calling him a “known blasphemer” and warning: “We will continue to 

target all those who speak against the law which punishes those who insult 

the prophet.” In an interview just before he died, Mr Bhatti admitted 

receiving death threats but he vowed not to give up. He said: “The forces of 

violence – militant banned organisations including the Taliban and Al 

Qaeda – want to impose their radical philosophy. Whoever stands against 

their radical philosophy will be threatened. I am leading this campaign 

against the Shari‘a law and for the abolition of the blasphemy law. I am 

speaking up for the oppressed and marginalised and persecuted Christians 

and other minorities... I want to share that I believe in Jesus Christ who has 

given his own life for us. I know what is the meaning of [the] cross and… I 

am ready to die for this cause. I am living for my suffering people and I 

will die to defend their rights…” 199 

March 2011: St Thomas’ Catholic Church, Wah Cantt, near Islamabad, 

became the third church in Pakistan to be attacked within a week. It 

followed the public burning of a Qur’an in the USA. Armed men hurled 

stones at the church and tried to set fire to it. Nobody was hurt. The 

Salvation Army church in Hoor Camp, Hyderabad was also attacked. 

There, youths opened fire on a congregation holding a prayer meeting. Two 

men were killed: Yunis Ilyas, a father of four aged 47, and Jameel Masih, a 

newly-married man aged 21. The violence came after US Pastor Wayne 

Sapp burned a copy of the Qur’an. St Thomas’ parish priest, Father 

Yousaf, said: “Although the Catholic Church has officially condemned the 

[Qu’ran burning in the US] and we have also displayed a banner outside 

67


our church condemning the incident, still the innocent people are facing the 

consequences.” 200 

April 2011: Islamist group Tahreek-e-Ghazi Bin Shaheed ambushed a 

Protestant clergyman and his family, seriously wounding the minister’s 24- 

year-old son. The Rev Ashraf Paul, 55, and his family were driving in 

Hamza town near Lahore when two men on motorbikes started firing at the 

vehicle. Mr Paul’s son, Sarfaz, was taken to Mayo Hospital, Lahore, where 

doctors removed three bullets, including ones from his jaw and waist. 

Medics later said he was recovering well. Rev Paul had earlier received 

threats and demands for money but he refused to pay. 201 

April 2011: Sehar Naz, a 24-year-old Christian woman, was abducted and 

raped by a man claiming to be a police officer. The sexual assaults were 

carried out in Lahore and Faisalabad over four days before Sehar was left at 

Faisalabad Railway Station. Police opened a file against the man, who said 

he was Major Rana Atif. However, he could not be traced. 202 

April 2011: Christian families living in Chichawatni, Punjab, fled for their 

lives after threats of violence following accusations that a Christian man 

with profound mental health problems uttered profanities against the 

prophet Mohammed and other Muslim holy men. The three families 

disappeared after Muslims were enraged by reports that 25-year-old Babar 

Masih had walked past a mosque shouting criticisms about Mohammed. 

Muslim clerics surrounded his house and reportedly demanded that he be 

handed over to be killed but police intervened and charged him in 

connection with the blasphemy law. Friends and relatives of Mr Babar 

asserted that he was unfit for the trial because of his mental instability. 203 

May-July 2011: Farah Hatim, a Christian woman aged 24, from Yar Khan 

in southern Punjab, was abducted by Zeehan Ilyas and his brothers Umran 

and Gulfam and was forced to convert and marry one of her kidnappers. 

The incident sparked international outrage and the Catholic Church’s 

Justice and Peace Commission brought a case against her abductors. The 

case was transferred to the Supreme Court which ruled that she should stay 

with her new family. Farah’s family claimed that she had been put under 

intense police pressure to abandon her old family. Archbishop Silvano 

Tomasi, the head of the Holy See’s permanent observer mission to the UN, 

called the alleged crime against Farah “a violation of human rights, 

freedom of conscience and religion, and an abuse of personal freedom.” 204 

68


May 2011: Bookshop owners Gulzar Masih and his son Suleman fled 

Sialkot they after they were accused of burning a copy of the Qur’an. 

Problems began when Suleman Masih discovered some burnt pages of the 

Qur’an under their shop’s protective shutter when he opened up one 

morning. Employees of rival bookseller Abdul Rauf – Gulzar Masih’s 

former business partner – began to shout, accusing the Masihs of 

blasphemy. A crowd gathered to attack Suleman Masih but he fled. In the 

meantime the mob tried to set fire to the shop, but they were stopped by 

police. Fr Naeem Taj suggested that the burnt pages were planted to frame 

the Christian businessman and that Mr Rauf was behind it. “The blasphemy 

law is being once more as a pretext to settle a personal score,” said the 

priest. 205 

August 2011: A group of Christians were attacked by extremists while 

watching a film about Jesus Christ. The Christians were set upon while 

watching the motion picture in the area of Abbottabad, northern Pakistan. 

As well as assaulting the Christians, the attackers also smashed the film 

projector. 206 

October 2011: Saqib Masih, a 22-year-old Christian man, was killed and 37 

others were injured when a mob of around 60 extremists descended on the 

village of Mian Chiannu, Punjab. The mob came to the village to claim a 

plot of land “sold” to two Muslims by a workman. It was alleged that the 

worker had no right to sell the land since it had been allocated to him by the 

government. The “buyers” arrived with around 60 armed accomplices and 

attacked the female members of one family. When other villagers rushed to 

their aid, the assailants opened fire on them. Among the injured were a 12- 

month-old infant and seven other children. The wounded were taken to 

hospital and six of them were described as being in a critical condition. 207 

January 2012: Pakistan’s Punjab government was accused of “brutal 

injustice” for sending bulldozers into a church-owned site and demolishing 

homes for the poor, the elderly and the homeless as a well as a school and a 

church. Poverty-stricken families living on the two-acre site in Lahore were 

woken at 6.30am and were asked to evacuate their homes immediately. All 

the buildings on the site were destroyed including the church and at least 

seven houses which still had the occupants’ belongings inside. With 

nowhere to go, a number of the victims camped out overnight on the 

demolished site in Allama Iqbal Road in Lahore’s Garhi Shahu district and 

protest marches were held. Bishop Sebastian Shah, Apostolic Administrator 

for Lahore Archdiocese, said the Church had proof of ownership dating 

69


back to 1887 and accused the Punjab government of “carrying out a 

criminal act of land-grabbing”. He added: “What the state government of 

Punjab has done is a very, very brutal act of injustice.” It emerged that the 

government had acted after one of the destitute women living at the centre 

had converted to Islam and claimed rightful ownership of two rooms 

allocated for her use. Church authorities denied that ownership had been 

passed into her name but the government had yet to close the case. 208 

March 2012: Research showed that up to 30 percent of Christian and Hindu 

women in employment have faced sexual harassment. The data came from 

1,000 women in the Sindh and Punjab provinces who were interviewed by 

the Catholic bishops’ National Council for Justice and Peace (NCJP) during 

2010-11. The report, titled Life on the Margins, also showed that 43 percent 

faced religious discrimination in the workplace, schools and other 

educational establishments and in their local neighbourhoods. Around 27 

percent said they faced problems getting admission into educational 

institutions and only 47 percent were judged to be educated. The research 

also showed that babies born to Christians and Hindus had a high mortality 

rate of 10.3 percent (314 deaths among 3,050 births). Most non-Muslim 

children were forced to take Islamic studies because of the lack of a 

suitable alternative. 209 

March-April 2012: Christian woman Shamin Bibi, a mother of five aged 

42, was beaten and stripped of her clothes by local Islamist thugs. They 

lambasted the family for dressing smartly and said they should only wear 

outfits befitting their status as manual workers belonging to a minority 

religious group. The family’s landlords, brothers Sajid Ali and Abid Ashan, 

both Muslims, stand accused of the attack carried out in the Punjab city of 

Gojra. When Mrs Bibi’s son, Naqshaq tried to intervene, the attackers 

threw bricks at him but missed. Fr Yaqub Yousaf, parish priest of Gojra, 

said: “Landlords have no pity. They walk around with guns and have no 

respect for Christians. Social injustice and divisions are used by cruel 

landlords to protect their vested interests and maintain people on the 

margins of society in conditions of inferiority.” Mrs Bibi filed a case with 

the police. A month later the police were accused of inaction amid 

allegations that no progress had been made in the case. 210 

70

Sudan and South Sudan 



38 million Muslim 70%, Christian 15% 



5.5 million 211 

The March 2012 arrest of actor George Clooney for civil disobedience 

during a protest outside the Sudanese Embassy in Washington DC, USA, 

demonstrated the scale of concern about a new humanitarian crisis looming 

over Sudan and South Sudan. Reports both from Clooney and elsewhere 

made clear that Christians were among the worst to suffer. The Hollywood 

actor’s brief detention followed a rally at which he spoke out against statesponsored 

violence alongside a Sudanese bishop forced into exile as a 

result of persecution. Anglican Bishop Andudu Adam Elnail, of Kadugli, 

South Kordofan reported that in raids on his diocese, churches had been 

looted, priests attacked and church buildings burnt to the ground, including 

his cathedral, guesthouse, and the bishop’s house. 

Attacks on churches and Christian leaders formed part of an upsurge of 

violence and oppression affecting not just South Kordofan but elsewhere in 

what is now Sudan and South Sudan. A few months after South Sudan’s 9 th 

July 2011 independence from Sudan, it was becoming clear that many 

regions were returning to conflict. In a number of cases, the violence was 

eerily reminiscent of the deadly 1983-2005 civil war, which left three 

million dead and up to five million displaced. In many areas across the new 

border with South Sudan, violence erupted in summer 2011, affecting 

Damazin in the Blue Nile State as well as South Kordofan. In the latter 

case, the conflict became increasingly protracted. Meanwhile, President 

Omar al-Bashir’s regime in Khartoum was reasserting itself and seeking to 

impose its Arab-Islamist vision, by force where necessary. In the capital it 

was tightening up enforcement of Shari‘a law with reports of women 

whipped for not wearing the head veil and violence against people accused 

of Christian ‘evangelisation’. 

By then a mass exodus of people was underway. People fled Khartoum and 

made for their tribal and ancestral homelands in the South. People in Sudan 

with roots in the South were required to obtain identity cards for citizenship 

of the South. It was reported that their number included up to 700,000 

Christians. Most of them lacked the means to travel to the South, necessary 

71


to obtain the permits. Human rights observers condemned the Khartoum 

government’s policy as tantamount to forcing people out of the country on 

ethnic and religious grounds. In South Sudan, the arrival of so many 

displaced people was putting huge pressure on the new government in a 

country largely if not completely without the infrastructure to cater for such 

a vast influx of people. Renewed violence was also reported in the South, 

including attacks on Christian communities, amid signs of continued 

collusion of local rebels with the Lords Resistance Army, allegedly backed 

by Khartoum. Taken as a whole, over the period under review, the situation 

for Christians in the area, especially in Sudan, massively deteriorated. 

Indeed, human rights organisation Open Doors announced in early 2012 

that worsening oppression over the past two years had caused Sudan to 

climb 19 places to 16 th in its league table of Christian persecution. Leading 

Catholic bishops were warning that problems were likely to worsen, 

particularly in the short term. Such problems were, they said, a particular 

cause for concern if the Khartoum regime applies force in its renewed 

pursuit of an Arab and Islamist Sudan. In which case, the fear was that 

people with roots in other countries and adhering to other religions would 

become at best second class citizens. 

June 2011: Nimeri Philip Kalo, a seminarian from St Paul’s Major 

Seminary, Khartoum, on pastoral placement in South Kordofan, was 

detained near the United Nations Mission in Sudan in Kadugli’s al Shaeer 

area and shot dead in front of bystanders. The seminarian was one of a 

number of Christians fleeing Kadugli after militia loyal to the Sudan 

Armed Forces (SAF) attacked and looted at least three churches in the 

town. Christian sources said SAF intelligence officers detained and killed 

him. The source said: “They shot him in front of our eyes and forced us not 

to cry, or else we would face the same fate.” On the same day, Islamic 

militants loyal to the SAF slaughtered a young Christian man, Adeeb 

Gismalla Aksam, 33, a bus driver whose father is an elder of the 

Evangelical church in Kadugli. 212 

July 2011: Neville Kyrke-Smith, UK Director of Aid to the Church in 

Need, called for an end to violence in South Kordofan after reports of 

thousands of people in the region coming under fire in attacks which also 

targeted churches. More than 70,000 people fled their homes to escape 

bombs dropped by jets. A UN report showed how churches had been 

72


targeted. Other sources said Christian bookshops had been torched by the 

Khartoum regime. Mr Kyrke-Smith said: “Any attacks at this sensitive time 

will undermine the fragile peace... and these attacks on churches will be felt 

by Christians across both Sudan and the new South Sudan.” 213 

December 2011: Christian teenager Hilba Abdelfadil Anglo said she had 

forgiven the gang of extremists who had kidnapped her and carried out 

physical and sexual attacks. In June 2010 the then 15-year-old girl was 

abducted before being beaten unconscious. She was held in Khartoum and 

her abductors threatened to kill her if she tried to escape. They called her 

family ‘infidels’ for being Christians. She was raped by the gang leader. 

After a year in captivity, she had convinced her captors to think they had 

converted her to Islam which meant they relaxed controls on her. She 

escaped and found her way back to her family. When she went to the police 

to report the gang, they refused to act unless she converted to Islam. In her 

latest report Hilba stated that she was praying for her attackers. She said 

God “forgives them for what they did to me… I also thank God for all 

those around the world who pray for people like me and my family. It was 

because of your prayers that my situation changed.” 214 

January 2012: Two church leaders were seized – and one of them beaten – 

after Sudan’s Ministry of Guidance and Religious Endowments threatened 

to arrest pastors caught praying in public. Church leader James Kat of the 

Church of Sudan was beaten while in police custody. The previous week, 

another church leader, Gabro Haile Selassie, was arrested. Selassie refused 

to be evicted from his home in Khartoum which the government gave to a 

Muslim businessman. Selassie refused to leave before receiving official 

government authorisation. 215 

January-February 2012: Two Catholic priests – Father Joseph Makwey, in 

his 40s, and Father Sylvester Mogga, in his mid-30s – were seized by men 

who smashed through the gates of their parish compound in Rabak, on the 

White Nile south of Khartoum. According to neighbours, the attackers 

arrived in a huge truck filled with people. Besides abducting the priests, 

they looted the property, taking electrical goods and other valuables 

including laptops and other computer equipment. Speaking from Khartoum, 

Auxiliary Bishop Daniel Adwok of Khartoum said he was “very worried” 

for the two priests, adding that one of them had health problems. The 

kidnappers’ identity was unknown but Bishop Adwok said he feared the 

two men would be conscripted to fight amid reports of worsening conflict 

involving Sudan and South Sudan. He told ACN: “It is not as if the law 

73


cannot be maintained – it seems that this abduction was deliberate. The 

kidnappers would have known that these two men were priests.” The 

abductors demanded a ransom but the Church refused to pay. Eventually 

after two weeks the priests were released with minor injuries. 216 

February 2012: Heiban Bible College in South Kordofan was bombed on 

the first day it opened for classes. Nobody was hurt. Eye-witnesses reported 

that it took four fly-over passes before the building with its cross on the top 

was hit. The Sudanese Air Force reportedly carried out the attack. In the 

previous six months four churches were destroyed by bombing action. 217 

March 2012: Attacks on the Nuba Mountains, allegedly carried out by 

Sudan government armed forces, were aimed at ridding the area of 

Christians, according to an aid worker. Speaking on condition of 

anonymity, the aid worker reported that, while Muslims were also under 

attack, churches and Christians were especially targeted. He said: “The 

Islamic north [Sudan] sees Nuba Christians as infidels who need to be 

Islamised through Jihad… This war is ethnic cleansing – a religious as well 

as a political war.” Reports state that between June 2011 and March 2012, 

20 Christians were killed and four churches destroyed. 218 

April 2012: An Islamist mob set light to a Catholic church in Khartoum 

frequented by Christians with roots in what is now South Sudan. Witnesses 

and several newspapers said a mob of several hundred torched the church, 

shouting insults at “Southerners”. Firefighters were unable to put out the 

blaze. One newspaper, Al-Sahafah, said the church was part of a complex 

that included a school and dormitories. Ethiopian refugees living in the 

Sudanese capital also used the church. No casualties were reported. The 

church, in Khartoum’s Al-Jiraiff district, was reportedly built on a disputed 

plot of land. Commentators said the incident, which took place on the 

evening of Saturday, 21st April, was related more to the fall-out from 

ongoing hostilities between Sudan and South Sudan over an oil-rich town 

in a disputed border area. 219 

74


Syria 


22.5 million Muslim 92.75% 



1.17 million 

As 2012 wore on, fears grew that the crisis in Syria would spark an exodus 

of Christians similar to what has happened in neighbouring Iraq over the 

past decade. In Iraq persecution has prompted the Christian population to 

fall from well over one million in 2003 to below 300,000. The comparison 

between the two countries has added poignancy, given that until recently 

Syria was seen as a safe haven for Christians in a region where taken as a 

whole the faithful have experienced increasing intolerance. The situation is 

even more tragic since Syria was for many years the destination of choice 

for many Christians wanting to flee Iraq but stay in the Middle East. 

The comparison with Iraq goes further to show that in both countries 

Christians have been under threat of attack from rebels who see them as 

sympathetic to a regime which to a certain degree protected them. In spring 

2012, reports suggested that in Homs, the city home to Syria’s second 

largest Christian community, the faithful have been particularly at risk. 

Video footage, apparently shot in the Christian quarter of Homs, showed 

bomb-blasted churches, homes and villages. Meanwhile, in March 2012, 

one leading Catholic news agency stated that it had received a ‘note’ from 

the Syrian Orthodox Church stating that 90 percent of Christians had in 

effect been expelled from the beleaguered city. It came amid unconfirmed 

reports that Christians had been forced from their homes. ACN sources in 

the region however repudiated such reports, stating that Christians had fled 

the violence of their own volition and that in their absence many of their 

homes had been occupied by Muslims. Whatever the precise cause, most 

sources agreed that early in 2012 up to 50,000 Christians from Homs were 

seeking sanctuary outside the city, many of them in outlying towns and 

cities. Working in close cooperation with senior clergy including Chaldean 

Bishop Antoine Audo SJ of Aleppo, organisations including Aid to the 

Church in Need dispatched emergency aid packages providing food and 

shelter. 

The full story of recent events in Syria has yet to emerge. But what is 

already clear is that yet another Church with ancient roots is in deep 

75


trouble. Only time will tell what will remain of a Christian community with 

a heritage stretching back to the earliest days of the Church. 

January 2012: A secret report stated that Christians were being murdered 

and kidnapped as part of the violence spreading to key regions of Syria. 

The source, who could not be named for safety reasons, said the spate of 

attacks had taken place over three weeks after Christmas, and were 

motivated by factors including religious intolerance. According to the 

report, two Christian men, one aged 28, and a 37-year-old father with a 

pregnant wife, were kidnapped by rebels in separate incidents and were 

later found dead. The first was found hanged and the other was reportedly 

cut to pieces and thrown in a river. Four others were kidnapped and 

abducted – their captors threatening to kill them too. The reports came amid 

claims that 100 Christians had died in the anti-government unrest. 220 

March 2012: In an interview with ACN, Bishop Antoine Audo of Aleppo 

described the crisis facing Christians who had fled their homes in Homs 

after reports of “ethnic cleansing” by militants. Speaking from Aleppo, 

Bishop Audo said: “The people we are helping are very afraid. The 

Christians don’t know what their future will hold. They are afraid they will 

not get their homes back. It is very important that we do whatever we can 

to help the people. He thanked ACN for agreeing an emergency aid 

package of €80,000, to be split between Christians from Homs and other 

faithful seeking sanctuary after a bomb hit the Christian quarter of 

Aleppo. 221 

76


Zimbabwe 


12.5 million Christian 71.5% 



8.75 million 

Increasing violence and intimidation by the government – or those 

purporting to act on behalf of the authorities – have placed growing 

pressures on the lives of people already reeling from economic melt-down. 

Individuals or groups who stand in opposition to brutal oppression find 

themselves facing the wrath of President Robert Mugabe’s regime. In 

common with Anglican Church leaders, Catholic bishops, priests and other 

senior figures have suffered as a result of their oft-stated determination to 

protect the rights of the marginalised and the many who live on as little as 

one meal every two days. 

In reports received by Aid to the Church in Need, senior Catholic clergy 

described arrests and threats of violence against clergy, religious Sisters 

and others. They spoke of how priests were arrested, churches and other 

church buildings seized and threats of violence made against clergy and 

Sisters. One bishop said: “In some parts of Zimbabwe we see now the 

beginnings of a real persecution of the Church, especially where Christians 

refuse to be co-opted by the [ruling] Zanu PF [party]”. 

The reports showed how anti-Christian persecution has begun to spread. In 

the early years of Mugabe’s regime, Church-state relations were good as 

the new leader sought to rebalance power in favour of the poor and 

marginalised. But tensions grew as the bishops criticised the regime for 

economic mismanagement and spoke out against state-led violence and 

other forms of oppression. Relations broke down completely when the 

Anglican Bishop of Harare, Nolbert Kunonga, was excommunicated by 

fellow bishops for inciting violence and speaking out in favour of acts of 

oppression, apparently carried out in collusion with Mugabe’s Zanu PF 

party. 

With most Anglicans refusing to side with Kunonga, the regime has backed 

the former bishop’s bid to confiscate churches, schools, hospitals and bank 

accounts and has committed acts of violence and harassment against those 

determined to remain part of the wider Anglican communion. All through 

the summer of 2011 outrage grew at what was being described as 

77


“persecution” of the Church by Kunonga. Such criticisms were voiced by 

the most senior figures within the Anglican Church in Zimbabwe. They 

produced evidence to show Kunonga’s attacks on fellow Anglicans were 

being supported by Mugabe’s Zanu-PF party. 

Urgently seeking to stem the crisis in October 2011 Archbishop Rowan 

Williams of Canterbury paid a visit to Zimbabwe. In a meeting with Mr 

Mugabe he handed the president a dossier detailing a number of attacks on 

Christians. The document contained reports of bishops receiving death 

threats – some at gunpoint – and gave details of how one Christian was 

killed for refusing to follow Nolbert Kunonga. The dossier told how 

congregations were forced to flee after being attacked with tear gas and 

how parishioners were ‘assaulted’ and needed hospital treatment. In one 

diocese, 65 churches had been confiscated and a similar number of priests 

had been evicted from their homes. Church-run schools, clinics and 

ophanages and hospitals were also taken over by Kunonga’s men. Their 

senior staff were replaced by people loyal to the excommunicated 

bishop. 222 Reports showed that Kunonga continued his campaign despite 

Archbishop Williams’ visit and calls for President Mugabe to intervene and 

stop the violence and intimidation affecting the Church. In November 2011, 

Kunonga ignored a High Court ruling and evicted a priest from his 

presbytery, warning that he would be arrested if he refused to leave. 

Reliable information about Zimbabwe is in short supply amid reports that 

propaganda has replaced the work of a free press following the arrest of 

journalists and the intimidation of others. Huge economic problems 

continue to blight the lives of many people, with reports of crop failure. 

Hyper-inflation dating back a number of years has touched the lives of 

almost everyone in the country with food and fuel shortages, mass 

unemployment, closure of schools and hospitals. 

April 2011: Catholic priest Father Marko Mabutho Mkandla was arrested 

and charged with Public Order offences after holding a church service in 

which he prayed for the victims of an outbreak of violence in Zimbabwe in 

the mid-1980s. He was charged under the Public Order and Security Act for 

“holding a public meeting without police clearance”, “communicating false 

statements against the state” and “causing offence to a particular tribe”. The 

service took place in Lupane, a rural district in west Zimbabwe, where a 

Protestant minister was arrested en route to a meeting at Victoria Falls. 223 

78


April 2011: According to reports, armed riot police attacked 600 people 

attending an ecumenical church service in Harare. A number of others were 

injured and 14 people were arrested and taken into police custody where 

they were charged with “causing public offence”. They were released after 

two days. The United Reformed Church condemned the violence. 

Spokesman Simon Loveitt said: “The brutal attack… represents a new level 

of oppression and violence in the long litany of human rights violations by 

the Zimbabwe Republic Police... Even places of worship can no longer be 

considered as sacred or safe places – and this raises serious concerns about 

the fundamental human rights of freedom of thought, conscience and belief 

in Zimbabwe.” 224 

June 2011: In an attack on the Anglican Church, six churchgoers, including 

an elderly woman, were arrested and detained and several priests turned out 

of their homes in Harare diocese. “Representatives” of renegade Bishop 

Nolbert Kunonga, excommunicated for his pro-Mugabe stance, tried to 

evict another priest from his home and in response some of the clergyman’s 

congregation seized the attacker and took him to the police station. The 

police, however, sided with Kunonga and arrested the church members. 

Bishop Chad Gandiya of Harare said: “Our parishioners are greatly 

traumatised by all this. Please continue to pray for us as a diocese.” 225 

August 2011: Parishioners were denied access to their churches and were 

forced to worship outside after a renegade bishop, excommunicated as a 

result of his support for President Mugabe’s suppression of opposition, 

confiscated churches. A court ruling gave Bishop Nolbert Kunonga, former 

Bishop of Harare, permission to take over church hospitals and schools. 

Kunonga and his supporters ejected bishops and officials from churches. 226 

October 2011: Anglican Archbishop Rowan Williams of Canterbury, 

visiting Zimbabwe, handed President Mugabe a dossier listing attacks on 

Christians and churches by excommunicated Bishop Kunonga of Harare, 

violence apparently carried out in collusion with the regime. Archbishop 

Williams also issued a strong criticism of the Mugabe regime and spoke out 

against attacks on the Church. During a homily given in an indoor sports 

centre in Harare, the Archbishop denounced the regime, telling the 

thousands present: “…their greed and violence have tried to silence your 

worship and frustrate your witness in churches, schools and hospitals… 

The message we want to send out from this Eucharistic celebration is that 

we do not have to live like that – in terror, in bloodshed.” 227 

79


January 2012: Zimbabwe police stopped a retreat of 80 clergy, claiming 

that their meeting (retreat) had not received police clearance. According to 

Zimbabwe’s Anglican Church, forces loyal to excommunicated Bishop 

Kunonga descended on Peterhouse private school, east of Harare, and 

disrupted the retreat. The clergy, who included two bishops, denied 

wrongdoing and refused to leave. They dispersed after being threatened 

with violence. Anglican Bishop Chad Gandiya said afterwards: “We 

deplore this action and call upon the higher authorities to intervene. So 

much for freedom of religion.” 228 

January 2012: Reports of “the beginnings of a real persecution of the 

Church” were received from a number of sources within Zimbabwe. The 

report, passed to the UK Catholic Herald by ACN, quoted a bishop who 

could not be named for security reasons, stating: “The Church, because it 

opposes the politics of violence, has become herself a victim of that 

political violence.” The bishop went on: “All people of this country, who 

do not actively support the unjust policies of Zanu PF are victims of 

violence, discrimination, injustice, persecution, arrests and even murder.” 

The ACN report detailed reports of priests, religious and lay people 

threatened with violence, confiscation of church property including schools 

and disruption of church activities. According to one ACN source, religious 

Sisters were told they would be beaten if they refused to hand over a 

Church-run hospital. Describing the seizure of a medical facility, he said: 

“Suddenly, a group of men came in, threatening the Sisters, shouting and 

running around the hospital, frightening the patients. They demanded the 

hospital be handed over immediately.” 229 

80


Notes 

1 Pope Benedict XVI, Address to the 

Diplomatic Corps, 09/01/12. 

2 Archbishop Charles Chaput, A 

Heart on Fire: Catholic Witness and 

the Next America (New York: 

Random House, 2012), ebook. 

3 Pope Benedict XVI, Message for 

World Peace Day, 01/01/11. 

4 John Allen, Address to Religious 

Education Conference, Los Angeles, 

March 2012. 

5 John Allen, ‘Memo to bishops: 

think globally on religious freedom’, 

National Catholic Reporter, 18 

November 2011. 

6 Pew Forum on Religion & Public 

Life, Rising Restrictions on Religion 

(09/08/11). 

7 US Commission on International 

Religious Freedom, Annual Report 

2012. 

8 Archbishop Silvano M. Tomasi 

(permanent observer of the Holy See 

to the United Nations), Speech to the 

UN Human Rights Council, 

01/03/12. 

9 OIDCE, Annual Report 2011. 

10 Quoted in Osservatore Romano, 

21/03/12. 


World Peace Day, 01/01/11 

12 Pope Benedict XVI, homily, 

Santiago de Cuba, 26/03/12. 

13 John Courtenay Murray, ‘The 

construction of a Christian culture’, 

quoted in Archbishop Chaput, A 

Heart on Fire. 



15 Pope John Paul II, Address to 

Participants in the Parliamentary 

Assembly of the Organisation for 

Security and Cooperation in Europe 

(OSCE) (10/10/03), 1: AAS 96 

(2004), 111. 



17 Ibid. 

18 Ibid. 

19 Ibid. 

20 Archbishop Tomasi, Speech to 

the UN Human Rights Council, 

01/03/12. 

21 United Nations General 

Assembly Resolution 36/55 of 25 

November 1981: Declaration on the 

Elimination of All Forms of 

Intolerance and of Discrimination 

Based on Religion or Belief. 

22 OICDE, Annual Report 2011. 

23 John Allen, ‘Five myths about 

anti-Christian persecution’, National 

Catholic Reporter, 13/01/12 

24 Cf. Catechism of the Catholic 

Church, §1700; Compendium of the 

Social Doctrine of the Church 

(Vatican City: Libreria Editrice 

Vaticana, 2004), pp. 62-65. 

25 Compendium of the Social 

Doctrine of the Church, pp 84-5. 



27 Pope John-Paul II, Redemptor 

Hominis, §17. 

28 Dignitatis Humanae, §3. 

29 Dignitatis Humanae, §2. 



31 Address to the Eighteenth 

Ministerial Council of the 

Organisation for Security and 

81


Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) 06- 

07/12/11, Vilnius, Lithuania. 

32 Religious Freedom: Pillar of the 

Human Rights Policy in the External 

Relations of the European Union 

(Brussels: COMECE, 2010), p. 4. 


World Peace Day, 01/01/11, §1. 

34 Aid to the Church in Need 

(International), Religious Freedom 

in the World Report 2010, 

http://www.kerkinnood.be/jaarversla 

g/eng/pdf/iraq.pdf 

35 John Allen, ‘Five myths about 

anti-Christian persecution’, National 

Catholic Reporter (13/01/12). 

36 Hansard, 09/11/11: Column 936. 



38 Pope Benedict XVI with Peter 

Seewald, Light of the World: The 

Pope, the Church and the Signs of 

the Times (London: CTS), pp. 52-3. 



40 Pope Benedict XVI, Address at 

Westminster Hall, London, 17 

September 2010. 



42 Pope Benedict XVI, Homily, 

Plaza de la Revolución José Martí, 

Havana, 28/12. 

43 Figures from International Society 

for Human Rights, Frankfurt, quoted 

in a report by Bishop William Lori 

(Committee on Religious Liberty) at 

the USCCB fall meeting, Baltimore, 

14/11/12 to 16/11/12. 

44 Pew Forum on Religion & Public 

Life, Rising Restrictions on Religion 

(09/08/11). 

82 

45 Archbishop Rowan Williams, 

BBC Radio 4 interview (14/06/11). 

46 Egyptian Union of Human Rights 

Organisations report (September 

2011). 

47 ACN News 26/03/12. 

48 Nigeria in Crisis (ACN Report, 

February 2012). 

49 BBC News (Online), 16/03/12. 

50 CBN, 24/02/12. 

51 Catholic News Service, 05/03/12; 

News.Va, 02/03/2012 

http://www.news.va/en/news/holysee-rising-restrictions-on-religionaffect-mo 

52 Catholic-Christian Secular Forum 

on Anti-Christian Violence 

12/01/12. 

53 Christian Post 30/12/11 quoting 

Release International. 

54 Zimbabwe’s Cry of Suffering 

(ACN Report, January 2012) 

55 Forum 18, 20/03/12. 


Religious Freedom 2012 Report, p. 

143. 

57 2010 Report on International 

religious Freedom, 

http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/201 

0/148863.htm 


Religious Freedom 2012 report, 

pp.136-7. 

59 Ibid., p.145. 

60 Ibid., p. 137. 

61 AsiaNews 17 01 2012; AsiaNews 

16/01/2012; Catholic Herald online 

18/01/2012. 

62 UCAN (UCA News)22/03/2012. 

63 China Aid, 14/03/11. 

64 The Washington Times, 14/03/11


65 AsiaNews, 12/04/2011 & 

05/08/2011 & 26/08/2011; UCAN, 

13/01/2011; Independent Catholic 

News, 14/04/11. 

66 AsiaNews, 01/04/11. 

67 Mission News Network, 23/05/11; 

BosNewsLife, 27/05/11; Christian 

Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), 

06/09/11. 


Religious Freedom 2012 Report, p. 

144. 

69 Baptist Press, 06/07/11 

http://www.sbcbaptistpress.org/BPne 

ws.aspID=35703 

70 UCAN, 23/08/11; Associated 

Press (AP), 24/08/11. 

71 AsiaNews, 07/09/11. 


Religious Freedom 2012, p. 146; 

ChinaAid 13/12/11. 


Religious Freedom, p. 147. 

74 Zenit, 18/01/12; UCAN, 11/01/12. 

75 UCAN, 31/01/12. 


Religious Freedom 2012 report, p. 

147. 

77 China Aid, 20/03/12. 

78 China Aid, 20/03/12. 

79 AINA, 19/02/11. 

80 AINA, 26/03/11. 

81 Egypt – Faith in a Time of 

Turmoil (ACN report, Summer 

2011). 

82 ACN News, 10/5/11. 

83 AINA, 01/07/11. 

84 AINA, 04/08/11. 

85 ACN News, 10/10/11. 

86 AINA, 28/01/12. 

87 Asia News, 21/01/12. 

88 Middle East Concern, 20/04/12. 

89 Independent, 19/03/12. 

90 AP, 31/12/11; Reuters, 04/04/12. 

91 The Christian Post, 04/04/12. 

92 CSW, 14/03/12. 

http://dynamic.csw.org.uk/article.asp 

t=news&id=1177 

93 BBC News (Online) Africa, 

22/02/12 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/worldafrica-13349077 



70. 

95 US State Department International 

Religious Freedom Report 

(13/11/11) 

http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/201 

0_5/168406.htm 

96 Information received by ACN 

from various sources in the country, 

spring 2011. 

97 International Christian Concern, 

20/01/11 

http://www.persecution.org/2011/01/ 

20/wikileaks-exposes-torture-ofchristians-in-eritrea/ 

98 AsiaNews, 23/07/11. 

99 Open Doors, 26/10/11;Voice of the 

Martyrs, 24/08/11 

http://vomcblog.blogspot.co.uk/2011 

/08/two-eritrean-christians-die-inmilitary.html 

; Christian Post, 

26/10/11 

http://www.christianpost.com/news/ 

eritrea-3-more-christians-die-inside- 

military-prisons-toll-now-at-21- 

59357/ 

100 Christian Today ,18/02/12 

http://www.christiantoday.com/articl 

e/hoping.for.spring.in.eritrea/29344. 

htm 

101 CSW, 14/03/12. 

83


102 International Christian Concern, 

14/03/12 

http://www.persecution.org/2012/03/ 

14/imprisoned-head-of-eritreanorthodox-church-in-urgent-need-ofmedical-attention 

103 AsiaNews, 01/12/12. 

104 Source: Catholic-Christian 

Secular Forum on anti-Christian 

violence; DNA, 12/01/12 

http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/re 

port_2011-saw-1000-anti-christianviolence-cases-acrossindia_1636388 

105 ACN interview with Bishop John 

Barwa; Asia News, 04/11/08. 

106 All India Christian Council 

http://indianchristians.in/news/conte 

nt/view/2332/45/ ; AsiaNews, 

04/11/08 

http://www.AsiaNews.it/index.phpl 

=en&art=13658 



304. 

108 ACN News, 26/08/11. 

109 ACN News, 23/08/11. 

110 Christian Post, 24/02/11. 

111 ACN News, 26/08/11. 

112 ACN News, 07/09/11. 

113 Agenzia Fides, 06/09/11. 

114 ACN News, 29/11/11. 

115 ACN News, 23/12/11. 

116 AsiaNews, 12/01/12. 

117 Indian Express, 01/02/12 

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/ 

graves-razed-in-cemetery-angrychristians-warn-of-stir/906468/ 

118 CDN, 29/03/12. 

119 Ibid. 

120 Ibid. 


Religious Freedom 2012 Annual 

Report, p. 78. 

122 Ibid., p. 85. 

123 CSW, Iran: Summary of 

Concerns and Recommendations, 

01/09/11. 


125 Human Rights Watch (HRW), 

30/09/11. 



Report, p.85. 

127 International Campaign for 

Human Rights in Iran, 04/05/11 

http://www.iranhumanrights.org/201 

1/05/stop-pr/testant-persecution/ 

128 Ibid. 

129 Ibid. 

130 CNS News, 26/08/11. 

131 CNS News, 26/08/11; US 

Commission on International 



132 HRW, 30/09/11. 

133 AsiaNews, 01/10/11. 



Report, p.85. 


136 BosNewsLife, 29/02/12. 

137 Farsi Christian News Network, 

03/03/12 

http://www.fcnn.com/index.phpopti 

on=com_content&view=article&id= 

2791:arrest-and-release-of-theelderly-christian-lady-in-esfahan-amore&catid=127:iranianchristian&Itemid=593 

138 US State Dept International 

Religious Freedom Report 13/09/11 

84



0_5/168265.htm 

139 Ibid.; AINA (Assyrian 

International News Agency), 

Incipient Genocide, The Ethnic 

Cleansing of the Assyrians of Iraq, 

22/03/12. 

140 ACN interview with Archbishop 

Bashar Warda of Erbil. 

141 AINA, 22/03/12; US State Dept 

US State Dept International 

Religious Freedom Report, 13/09/11 


0_5/168265.htm. 

142 US State Dept International 

Religious Freedom Report, 13/09/11 


0_5/168265.htm ; Correspondence 

with Fr Andrej Halemba, ACN 

(International). 

143 ACN News, 17/05/11. 

144 AINA, 24/04/11 

http://www.aina.org/news/20110424 

154010.htm 

145 ACN News, 20/05/11. 

146 ACN News 18/08/11; AINA, 

15/08/11 


181710.htm 

147 ACN News, 14/09/11. 

148 AsiaNews, 03/10/11. 

149 Barnabas Fund, 08/12/11 

http://barnabasfund.org/UK/News/A 

rchives/Death-threats-against- 

Christian-owners-of-torched-shopsin-Iraqi-Kurdistan.html 

150 AsiaNews, 11/01/12. 

151 AINA, 22/03/12 


021611.htm 

152 AP (Associated Press), 15/09/11. 

153 Courage and the Cross (ACN 

Report, Spring 2007). 

154 Christian Post, 25/12/10; BBC 

News (Online), 24/12/11. 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/worldmiddle-east-16325524 

155 Reuters, 04/08/09. 

156 ACN News, 08/01/09. 

157 Wall Street Journal, 09/03/12. 

158 ACN interviews with locals in 

the holy land, December 2007. 

159 Middle East Media Research 

Institute, 05/02/11. 

160 CBN News, 28/02/11. 

161 Armenian Mirror Spectator, 

21/04/11. 

162 Voice of America, 01/06/11. 

163 CDN, 20/07/11. 

164 CDN, 15/09/11. 

165 Email correspondence to ACN 

from Bethlehem University. 

166 Guardian, 09/10/11 

167 AP, 27/02/12. 

168 Ibid. 

169 Jerusalem Post, 16/04/12. 

170 CBS News, 22/04/12 

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301- 

18560_162-57417408/christians-ofthe-holyland/tag=contentMain;contentBody 

171 US State Department – July- 

December 2010 International 

Religious Freedom Report 13/09/11 


0_5/168424.htm 

172 CSW, 28/01/12. 

173 CDN, 13/07/11. 

174 BBC News (Online), 01/01/12, 


; Comfort my 

people, says your God: Nigeria in 

Crisis (ACN Report, Spring 2012). 

85


175 BBC News (Online), 05/01/12 

and 07/01/12 


; 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/worldafrica-16442960; 

The Guardian, 

09/01/12. 

176 CDN, 20/01/12 & 24/01/12. 

177 CDN, 21/02/12; 

http://www.rescuechristians.org/201 

2/02/23/boko-haram-attackschristian-church-bomb-injures-5-atchrist-embassys-church-in-sulejanigeria/ 

178 Crisis Consulting International, 

27/02/12 

http://www.cricon.org/2012/bokoharam-attack-on-christian-church-injos 

179 Christian Today, 11/03/12 

http://www.christianpost.com/news/ 

church-bombing-kills-10-in-nigeriareprisal-attacks-see-bloodshedcontinue-71215/ 

180 International Christian Concern 

05/03/12. 

181 CSW 10/04/12; (Nigerian) 

National Post 08/04/12. 

182 ACN News, 30/04/12. 

183 The US Commission on 

International Religious Freedom’s 

2012 report, p. 41. 




185 Open Doors US, 2012 World 

Watch List 

http://www.worldwatchlist.us/worldwatch-list-countries/north-korea/ 




86 

187 Ibid. 

188 USCIRF Annual Report 2007 – 

Korea, Democratic People’s 

Republic of 

http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/publi 

sher,USCIRF,,PRK,4855698dc,0.ht 

ml 




190 Annuario Pontificio 2012 

(Vatican City: Libreria Editrice 

Vaticana, 2012), pp. 591, 289, 173. 

191 Asia News, 08/05/10. 




193 Mission News Network, 

01/06/11. 

194 BBC News (Online), 11/12/11; 

New Tang Dynasty (NTD) 

Television News, 22/12/11. 

195 ASSIST, 14/01/12. 


197 BBC News (Online), 04/01/11 

and 01/10/11. 

198 CDN, 16/02/11. 

199 BBC News (Online), 02/03/11. 

200 Christian Today, 01/04/11 


e/pakistani.christians.suffering.after. 

us.pastors.koran.burning/27762.htm 

; Pakistan Christian Post, 24/3/11 

http://www.pakistanchristianpost.co 

m/headlinenewsd.phphnewsid=269 

7 

201 AsiaNews 28/04/11. 

202 Ibid. 

203 CDN, 06/05/11. 

204 AsiaNews, 25/07/11; British 

Christian Pakistani Association


Blogspot 10/05/11, 23/07/11 and 

30/07/11. 

205 AsiaNews, 11/05/11. 

206 The Christian Post, 16/08/11. 

207 Barnabas Fund, 13/10/11. 

208 ACN News, 12/01/12. 

209 UCAN, 16/03/12 

http://www.ucanews.com/2012/03/1 

6/check-commission-highlightswomen-issues/ 

210 AsiaNews 18/04/12. 

211 These statistics refer to the 

unified country of Sudan prior to 

South Sudan gaining independence 

in July 2011. With the significant 

movement of people that has 

occurred there are currently no 

reliable figures available for the 

separate nations. 

212 CDN, 17/06/11. 

213 ACN News, 21/07/11. 

214 International Christian 

Concern/Voice of the Martyrs, 

22/12/11. 

215 CDN, 25/01/12. 

216 ACN News, 17/02/12. 

217 Voice of the Martyrs, 25/02/12. 

218 CDN, 20/03/12. 

219 AP, 22/04/12. 

220 Barnabas Fund, 18/01/12 

http://barnabasfund.org/Christiansin-Syria-targeted-in-series-ofkidnappings-and-killings-100- 

dead.html 

221 ACN News, 26/03/12. 

222 Dossier of Abuses committed 

against the Anglican dioceses of 

Zimbabwe (2011). 

223 All Africa.com – SW Radio 

Africa (London), 15/04/11. 

224 Christian Today, 23/04/11. 

225 Christian Today, 03/06/11. 


e/crackdown.on.anglican.church.in.z 

imbabwe/28091.htm 

226 Reuters, 10/10/11. 

227 Reuters, 09/10/11 

http://af.reuters.com/article/zimbabw 

eNews/idAFL5E7L90K020111009 

sp=true 

228 AP, 03/01/12. 

229 Catholic Herald, 20/01/12. 

87

About Aid to the Church in Need 

Aid to the Church in Need supports Christians wherever they are 

persecuted, oppressed or in pastoral need. ACN is a Catholic charity, 

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“A vital booklet to inform, inspire and challenge you. Inside you will find 

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challenges facing Christian communities in countries where Christians 

suffer oppression and persecution.” 

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© EPA/LUSA 

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On Christmas Day 2011, 44 people were killed and more than 80 others 

were injured when extremists targeted Massgoers at the church. It is one 

of more than 100 individual incidents of violence and oppression in 13 

key countries of concern described in this report. 

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