‘He Targeted My Child for Sexual Exploitation’: The Persecution of Christians, August 2024 :: Gatestone Institute

The following are among the abuses and murders inflicted on Christians by Muslims throughout the month of August 2024.

Muslim Slaughter of, Violence against, and Hate for Christians

Burkina Faso: According to an Aug. 30 report, Muslims had slaughtered more than 100 Christians, and kidnapped many more in just three months, between late May and late August. During the latest reported atrocity, which occurred on Sunday, Aug. 25, Muslim militants slit the throats of about 26 people inside a church: “All non-Muslim men over the age of 12 were separated out before being killed.” Not content with killing, they also vandalized the church, “tried to desecrate the tabernacle, and painted inscriptions on the wall that had a fresco of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.”

Uganda: On Aug. 19, sword-wielding Muslims slaughtered Yowabu Sebakaki, a 52-year-old Christian man who had been leading Muslims to Christ. Earlier in the summer, Sebakaki had, according to his wife, received threatening text messages, including:

“We are aware of some secret meeting you are undertaking. You have to stop preaching as well as converting our faithful Muslims to Christianity, and if not, then soon we are coming for your life.”

Sebakaki was murdered while returning home from a meeting with converts. David Nkomba, who had accompanied him on the trip home, said,

“Just when we were five kilometers from reaching the homestead, at around 6:20 p.m. a motorcycle came up just behind us, and in no given time Sebakaki was struck with an object which happened to be a ‘panga’ (long Somali sword) on the back near the neck. He fell down and then was cut by another panga at the head. Sebakaki became unconscious due to too much bleeding…. Other attackers were shouting, ‘Your time has come, and pray hard if your God will save you – you have been deceiving people about life after death given by Issa (Jesus).’ I took off, but I managed to recognize one of the attackers as Rashid Siriman, a well-known radical Muslim youth from Mbale.”

Sebakaki was rushed to a hospital but died en route.

Ireland: On Aug. 15, a Muslim teen randomly stabbed and nearly killed a Catholic chaplain. Prosecution described the attack as “indiscriminate, unprovoked, frenzied, and arbitrary.” According to the report,

“The 16-year-old boy, who cannot be named because he is a minor, was charged with stabbing Fr Paul Murphy at Renmore Barracks…. Fr Murphy, aged in his 50s, was attacked around 10.35pm and later taken to University Hospital Galway. He is recovering from multiple stab wounds after undergoing surgery. The teenage boy was brought before a sitting of the Children’s Court in Galway on Saturday where he was charged with assault causing harm. Detective Sergeant Paul McNulty told the court the attack was ‘frenzied’ and gardaí (state police) believe the accused holds a ‘radical Islamist mindset.’ … The court heard the chaplain had ‘seven deep lacerations’ to his arms which required surgery, as well as minor cuts to his body and face…. The judge directed that the boy have access to appropriate medical and psychological care.”

Egypt: According to an Aug. 17 post on X, Muslims attacked Christian families—including women and children—heading to a historic church in Qalybia near Cairo for a procession. Some of the Copts were severely injured and hospitalized in critical condition. (Click here for a short subtitled video of one of the attacked Christians explaining what happened.)

Lebanon: During a wild tirade, Reda Saad, a pro-Hezbollah commentator, did not even bother to hide a deep-seated antagonism against Lebanon’s Christians, who have historically been the largest demographic of the nation, although now they are a close second to Muslims:

“I fear that the Christians in Lebanon will face a similar destiny to that of the Afghans, when they clung to the wheels of the American helicopters and are thrown from the sky. I fear that you won’t have an airport or a port (to flee from). And perhaps the foreign warships are coming to take you, to the last of you…. Unfortunately, did you see where you ended up? You can’t even appoint a president!…. So let everyone know that the role of Christians in Lebanon has ended! You have become a minority in this country, and yet you still hold high positions… Nobody would accept this issue. The coming generations will not accept it. They will not accept that the president must be Christian; he must be a Sunni Muslim or Shi’ite.”

Muslim Rape and Abduction of Christian Women

Pakistan: On Aug. 10, Atia Bibi, a 28-year-old Christian woman and mother was subjected to a “harrowing ordeal” when a group of Muslim men attacked, beat, and robbed her entire family, before marching her into a nearby field where they repeatedly raped her for nearly two hours. “I begged them to leave me,” she recounted, “but they pushed me further into the sugarcane field and raped me multiple times.” Her husband, Naveed, also described the ordeal:

“They slapped and punched me repeatedly, leaving marks on my body. One of the robbers took my wife into the field while another held a gun to my head, threatening to kill my son if I resisted or made any noise.”

Even though crime and rape are rampant in Pakistan, religious minorities are disproportionately targeted, as their victimizers know the system can be counted in to look the other way.

In a separate incident, on Aug. 9, a Muslim man abducted, forcibly converted, and married Fairy Shaukat, a 12-year-old Christian girl. According to the girl’s mother, Parveen, a widow with eight children,

“Fairy had gone to a nearby shop to buy groceries in the afternoon, but she did not return home. My sons started searching for her but could not find her. We then filed a complaint with the police, but their attitude was not welcoming. Instead of helping us, they delayed the registration of a First Information Report (FIR).”

Later, after a neighbor had informed the Christian family that he had seen a local Muslim man, Muhammad Asad, abducting the girl,

“We informed the police about the accused, but they still did not take any action, giving sufficient time to Asad to convert the minor child and contract an Islamic marriage with her…. On Aug. 13, my sons received the Nikahnama (Islamic marriage certificate) of Fairy through WhatsApp from an unknown number. We were shocked to see the document and urged the police to take action against this underage marriage. When the police finally raided the house of the accused, he was not there. It’s nearly 20 days now that I haven’t seen my child, and we have no information about her safety…. Fairy is just 12 years old. She had no access to a cell phone and rarely went out of the home by herself. She was abducted by Asad, who we have heard is a loafer. He targeted my child for sexual exploitation, and my heart sinks every time I think of how she is being treated in captivity.”

Discussing this case, a Christian attorney, Sumera Shafique, said

“I’m filing a petition in the Lahore High Court for the child’s recovery. It’s very unfortunate that police delay action in cases involving underage minority girls, which allows the perpetrators to scar these children for life… The accused not only kidnapped the child, he converted her and contracted an Islamic marriage to save himself from prosecution (a common practice by kidnappers to sexually exploit underage non-Muslim girls).”

Egypt: Sometime in early August, Christina Karim Aziz, a 20-year-old Christian girl, disappeared off the streets of Asyut, where she had gone to apply for a job. Her family immediately went to police to report the disappearance; police responded with nothing. Since then, the girl’s family has taken to social media, crying out to whoever will hear them—including President Sisi, whom they have publicly implored to intervene and help. She is only the latest of many Christian girls to disappear off the streets of Egypt. Earlier in the year, for example, and also in Asyut, Irene Ibrahim Shehata, a 21-year-old Christian also disappeared under circumstances very similar to Christina’s, including nonresponsive police, and the family crying out to Sisi. This entire process is discussed in a 2020, 15-page Coptic Solidary report, “‘Jihad of the Womb’: Trafficking of Coptic Women & Girls in Egypt”:

“The capture and disappearance of Coptic women and minor girls is a bane of the Coptic community in Egypt, yet little has been done to address this scourge by the Egyptian or foreign governments, NGOs, or international bodies. According to a priest in the Minya Governorate, at least 15 girls go missing every year in his area alone. His own daughter was nearly kidnapped had he not been able to intervene in time…. The rampant trafficking of Coptic women and girls is a direct violation of their most basic rights to safety, freedom of movement, and freedom of conscience and belief. The crimes committed against these women must be urgently addressed by the Egyptian government, ending impunity for kidnappers, their accomplices, and police who refuse to perform their duties. Women who disappear and are never recovered must live an unimaginable nightmare. The large majority of these women are never reunited with their families or friends because police response in Egypt is dismissive and corrupt. There are countless families who report that police have either been complicit in the kidnapping or at the very least bribed into silence. If there is any hope for Coptic women in Egypt to have a merely ‘primitive’ level of equality, these incidents of trafficking must cease, and the perpetrators must be held accountable by the judiciary.”

Muslim Attacks on Christian ‘Blasphemers’

Egypt: On Sunday, July 28, a military court sentenced a Christian conscript to three years in prison for “blasphemy” against Islam. According to court documents, Yusuf Sa’d Hanin was charged with “committing behavior that is harmful to discipline, order, and military requirements,” after he exchanged, what prosecution called, “statements offensive to Islam” in a private conversation via Messenger. These “offensive” statements were made last May, 2024, while Yusuf was on leave from compulsory military service, and celebrating Easter with his family in his residence in Beni Suef governorate. During this time, Yusuf got into a verbal altercation and exchanged insults with a Muslim man via text. The Muslim man immediately broadcast what the Christian said, otherwise private, personal exchanges.

This, as is often the case, instantly provoked unrest among the Muslim populace of the village. Local officials, however, managed to quell the nascent uprising by assuring the Muslims that the Christian would pay. On the very next day, Yusuf was ordered to return to the Central Security camp, to resume his military training. He was seized and taken blindfolded to a National Security headquarter, where he was savagely beaten, insulted, and interrogated, including on whether he was following any Christian preachers or involved in any Coptic organizations, all of which he denied. Soon thereafter he was sent to and sentenced by a military court to three years’ imprisonment.

Separately, a Muslim convert to Christianity, who has been imprisoned for more than two years in Egypt, has, according to an August 20 report, been on a hunger strike. The US Commission on International Religious Freedom summarized his great “crime” as follows:

“On December 15, 2021, authorities arrested (Abdulbaqi Saeed) Abdo, a Yemeni refugee, from his Cairo home. Abdo’s arrest followed his appearance on a Christian TV channel talking about his conversion to Christianity and alleged persecution Christians in Yemen face. Abdo had also been involved in Facebook groups for Christian converts. He was charged with joining a terrorist group (Art. 86 ECC), contempt of Islam (Art. 98(w) ECC), and discrimination against Islam (Art. 161 ECC).”

Pakistan: On Aug. 7, an irate Muslim mob of nearly 300 people attacked and tried to kill a Saima Masih, a 32-year-old Christian mother of two, after a neighbor, Muhammad Haider, accused her of desecrating the Koran. According to Akmal Bhatti, chairman of an organization called the Minorities Alliance Pakistan, “The mob would have lynched Saima if the police had not reached there on time and rescued her.” Once the jihadist genie of retribution had been uncorked, the raging Muslims also “attacked some other Christian residents of the village, forcing them to flee their homes and hide in the fields to save their lives.” Whipping up more violence, Islamic extremist groups were also present, inciting the mob against Christians. Bhatti suggested that Muhammad Haider had a personal vendetta against the Christian woman:

“Saima denied desecrating the Quran. She reportedly said that her neighbor, Haider, had asked her for an empty sack, which she gave him. However, after some time Haider returned with some other Muslims and accused her of placing defiled pages of the Quran in the sack, which she repeatedly denied.”

Although police “saved” the Christian woman’s life, they also “registered a blasphemy case against her under the pressure of the mob, which is very unfair,” Bhatti said. “The poor woman will now have to suffer in prison for years while her two children will be deprived of her love and care.” He added that the government was taking no action against the exorbitant abuse of Pakistan’s blasphemy laws: “Christians in Punjab are increasingly being targeted through blasphemy accusations, yet our state is not bothered at all.”

In a separate incident, according to an Aug. 29 report,

“A village fair meant for celebration became a nightmare for two Christian brothers when they were accused of desecrating the Quran. Like many other boys at the fair, the brothers, along with Muslim children, threw fake currency notes during a swing boat ride. Among the showered notes, some slips containing Quranic verses were discovered. It was assumed that these slips with Quranic verses were torn and thrown by the Christian brothers, leading to the arrest of their mother and grandfather. Although the Christian mother and grandfather were released after the boys were presented at the police station, the mother remains devastated by the arrest of her beloved sons.”

Muslim Attacks on Christian Churches, Crosses, and Cemeteries

Italy: On August 5, a Muslim migrant from North Africa was arrested for robbing a church in Turin. There were many other acts of arson, desecration (including of a Christian cemetery), statue breaking, and thefts targeting churches in Italy throughout the month of August, including here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.

Austria: According to an Aug. 19 report, Islamic graffiti—including phrases such as “Islam will win”—smeared on a Viennese church is no longer being dismissed as the work of “mischievous teens.” “In view of the recently foiled terrorist attack in Vienna,” that city’s VP leader, Karl Mahrer said in reference to the targeting of a Taylor Swift concert, “such graffiti is an alarming warning signal that must not be ignored. We are at a decisive turning point.” The vandalism of the St. Anthony Church is, he added, suggestive of “profound problems that are at the very heart of Vienna.”

France: On Aug. 4, the tabernacle of Saint Pierre Church was broken and set on fire, and its religious statues and icons were smashed on the floor. “We can only regret this completely scandalous act,” said Philippe de Gonneville, mayor of Lège Cap-Ferret. “The town is normally very calm; we were very surprised, it seems totally improbable…. There is an ostensible desire to destroy the sacred.”

United Kingdom: During the night of Aug. 7, a beloved statue of Mother Mary was desecrated at the St. Joseph’s Church in the Goan district of Wembley. According to the report, “The Goan community has a great devotion to the statue of Mother Mary, with throngs of Goans stopping by to pray in front of the statue throughout the day and night.” After saying that he had contacted Muhammad Butt, leader of Brent Council under Wembley, G.O.A. UK President Ravi Vaz, said that “Butt has assured that everything will be done.” However, “If needed, I will escalate this to a higher level.” Discussing this incident, Joyce De Souza of the Labour Party, said:

“We are parishioners of this Church and this news was shocking…. While this anti-social activity was done to target and hurt the community’s religious feelings, Elvis (her husband) and I appeal to the community to stay united at this difficult time…. Let us support communal harmony which is of utmost importance during this crucial time.”

There were at least two other instances of theft and desecration in UK churches during August, here and here.

Turkey: On Aug. 24, a Christian cemetery in Istanbul was desecrated. Workers at the Agios Eleftherios Cemetery found that the barbed wire fence surrounding the graveyard had been cut, the guard dogs sedated, and several gravestones and crosses desecrated. The Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate condemned the vandalism, denouncing it as a “deliberate act of desecration and hatred for the Greek Orthodox community of Constantinople,” one that evinced a “contempt for religious freedom.” The Turkish government’s lack of response and commitment to protect the “increasingly precarious position of religious minority communities in Turkey” was also criticized.

Indonesia: On Sunday, Aug. 18, a mob consisting of local officials forcibly dragged a Christian pastor from his church and sealed off its site on the dubious claim that the place had originally belonged to the government. After characterizing the incident as “violent and anarchic,” the pastor, Herri Soesanto, said,

“I was harassed and dragged by a mob that I estimated was about 50 people… What was disappointing was those people who closed my church were my friends… I never imagined the violence that government officials made, causing upset among the congregation.”

He added that when the church purchased the site, no one, including the real estate agent, had said anything at the time suggesting that the government owed the land. Indonesia is approximately 83% Muslim and 11% Christian. According to Open Doors 2024 World Watch List, which tracks the plight of Christians around the world, the persecution level in Indonesia is “very high.”

Egypt: On Aug. 30, a massive fire “broke out” in the Coptic Christian Diocese of Beni Suef in Egypt, consuming all of the five-story Christian building’s contents—reception halls, offices, libraries, precious books, furniture, and computers—as well as more than 300 wooden benches belonging to the adjacent Church of the Virgin Mary, which were in the diocese courtyard at the time for repairs. At least ten people, including a clergyman and several staffers, were injured and hospitalized.

Diocese spokesmen who were present said that it was only due to “Divine Providence” that a large number of children present in the building, which houses three children’s schools, were saved. It took approximately five hours for firefighters to put out the blaze. Although initial reports stated that a full forensic investigation as to the cause of the fire would be underway, a security source quickly announced that the fire was caused by “faulty electrical wires.”

As critics point out, however, this is only the latest of many churches in Egypt—see here, here, here, and here—to be torched and immediately attributed to “faulty wires” and other natural causes. In one month alone, August 2022, a full 11 churches reportedly “caught fire.” Forty-one Christian worshippers, including many children, were killed in just one of these fires. Also “interesting” is that “accidental” fires in mosques—which outnumber churches in Egypt by a ratio of 40 to 1—are completely unheard of.

Raymond Ibrahim, author of Defenders of the West, Sword and Scimitar, Crucified Again, and The Al Qaeda Reader, is the Distinguished Senior Shillman Fellow at the Gatestone Institute and the Judith Rosen Friedman Fellow at the Middle East Forum.

About this Series

While not all, or even most, Muslims are involved, persecution of Christians by extremists is growing. The report posits that such persecution is not random but rather systematic, and takes place irrespective of language, ethnicity, or location. It includes incidents that take place during, or are reported on, any given month.

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