Barnabas Site Search

Video footage of a convert from Islam to Christianity being slaughtered by Muslims has been shown on Egyptian TV in an alarming depiction of the threat posed to religious freedom after the Arab Spring.

Barnabas Fund's latest campaign in defence of religious freedom

The graphic incident, which is reported to have taken place in Tunisia, was aired on a programme called Egypt Today. The footage shows a young man being held down by masked men with a knife to his throat. One man chants a number of Muslim prayers in Arabic, mostly condemning Christianity. The man holding the knife to the Christian convert's throat begins to cut amid cries of "Allahu Akbar" ("god is great"). It takes him two minutes to sever the head.

The Egypt Today presenter was visibly distressed by the scenes. Then, referring to Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood and Salafis, who together hold the majority of seats in the country's parliament, he asked, "How are such people supposed to govern?"

The footage of this brutal beheading is the latest alarming indication of the violent threat to religious freedom in the post-Arab Spring order. That movement, which was initially heralded as a victory for democracy and freedom, has been hijacked by Islamists for whom those values are meaningless.

Islamists, who were restrained under the deposed Arab dictators, now dominate the political arena, and their influence is spreading through Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Kuwait and Syria.

Religious freedom in the region is under severe threat, and Christians, especially converts from Islam, are extremely vulnerable.

Last month, a leading figure in Egypt's Salafi movement, Sheikh Yassir al-Burhami, said:

Is it the right of the Muslim to convert to Christianity or another religion? Of course this is not a right; this is a matter that Sharia has clearly addressed, according to the agreed upon hadiths. It is impermissible, for any reason, for a Muslim to leave the community. Of course, you cannot coerce any infidel to enter into Islam [Quran 2:256] – except for the apostate. It is impossible to let the apostate remain in [a state of] apostasy, deeming it a form of "freedom."

The "agreed upon hadiths" to which Burhami refers include the following command regarding apostasy: "Whoever leaves his religion, kill him."

The Kuwaiti parliament passed a bill on 3 May that would make insulting key Islamic figures and the Quran punishable by death. But it required the approval of Kuwait's ruler, Sheik Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, before becoming law, and he rejected the bill on Wednesday (6 June).

Barnabas campaigns

Barnabas Fund has been campaigning for many years for the abolition of the Islamic apostasy law, which specifies the death sentence for an adult male Muslim who chooses to leave Islam.

Our latest campaign, Proclaim Freedom, aims to press governments to be active in promoting human rights – especially religious freedom – for all minorities in other countries. Sign our petition here.

This is not merely a professional matter for Barnabas Fund's International Director, Dr Patrick Sookhdeo; it is extremely personal. As a convert from Islam to Christianity himself, he is, according to Islamic law, deserving of the death penalty for his decision to follow Christ.

Dr Sookhdeo said:

To be beheaded for your faith in this day and age is utterly abhorrent. I will not rest from campaigning against this barbaric law, and call upon people of every faith and none to play whatever part they can to defend religious freedom, including the freedom to choose your faith, which is one of the cornerstones of a civilised society.

For more information about Dr Sookhdeo, visit his website: http://patricksookhdeo.com/

Christian women and girls in Pakistan are vulnerable to attack

A 13-year-old Christian girl was gang-raped in Pakistan and members of her family beaten up, causing a pregnant aunt to lose her babies.

The attack on the teenager from Narowal happened on 29 March. She was kidnapped as she walked past one of the alleged offender's house, drugged and taken to nearby fields where she was raped by three men. The Christian girl said that she was unable to cry out because her assailants stuffed cloth in her mouth.

She was found in the fields the following morning by her family, who had been searching for her since she went missing.

Police initially refused to register a case, urging the family to reach a settlement with the accused. But they refused, and around ten days later a rape case was lodged; a medical examination of the schoolgirl establishing that she had indeed been raped. The police have, however, already declared one of the accused, who is a retired inspector's son, innocent.

The incident has affected the teenager deeply; she has not returned to school and says she never wants to go back.

Babies stillborn

On 8 May, in an apparent attempt to put pressure on the family to withdraw the complaint, one of the suspects, along with his father, the retired inspector, and four other men broke into their home and beat them up. A pregnant member of the family gave birth the next day to two stillborn baby girls; their deaths are believed to have been caused by the attack. Other female members and children were also beaten up.

A case has been registered against the six suspects, who are accused of causing an abortion, assault on a woman, trespass, abetment, rioting and rioting armed with a deadly weapon. The police have not, however, arrested any of them.

The investigating officer in both cases, Sub Inspector Sarwat Hakeem, said that the 13-year-old girl had gone to the fields with the men of her own free will and had had consensual sex with one of them. He also dismissed the family's complaint that the two unborn babies had died as a result of their mother being beaten up.

The family is now coming under further pressure from the accused, who are trying to claim ownership of a plot of land that the Christians own and are in the process of building on. The claim has forced them to stop construction work.

Christians in Pakistan are frequently denied justice, and Christian women are particularly vulnerable to attack by Muslim men, with whom the police and judiciary often side.

Supporters of a separatist Islamist movement attacked churches and other Christian property in violent riots in Zanzibar.

The riots broke out in the capital, Stone Town CC BY-SA 2.0 / David Clay

Hundreds of members of the Association for Islamic Mobilisation and Propagation (UAMSHO) clashed with police during protests, which started in the capital, Stone Town, an historically important tourism centre, on Saturday 26 May, then spread to other areas over the ensuing days.

They torched a number of churches, including one in Mpendae and one in Tomondo; a Christian centre in Bububu was also set alight. An Assemblies of God church in Kariakoo was damaged and a senior church leader’s vehicle burned.

One minister whose church was attacked said rioters invaded the building, poured petrol over it and set it ablaze, reinforcing the fire with burning tyres.

The Islamists, who were armed with clubs, machetes and iron bars, also torched homes and bars, destroyed transport and communication systems, and blocked roads. 

Zanzibar Commissioner of Police, Mussa Ali, said:

The rioters were threatening people’s lives by torching churches and blocking roads… We couldn’t tolerate them as they were destroying government and people’s properties.

Despite police and witness statements to the contrary, UAMSHO has denied having any part in the violence. But on Monday 28 May, 30 members of the group arrested in connection with the riots appeared at court charged with illegal assembly and causing unrest.   

The Islamist group had launched the riots in protest against the arrest of senior members of its movement. UAMSHO is strongly opposed to the government and has called for a referendum on Zanzibar’s independence from mainland Tanzania.

Analysts say the Islamist group has been gaining support since Zanzibar’s main opposition Civic United Front party formed a government of national unity with the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi party. Zanzibar is a semi-autonomous, predominantly Muslim archipelago.

Zitto Kabwe, mainland Tanzania opposition MP, said:

We should never allow a few disgruntled people to plunge us into chaos over religion so as to achieve their own political goals.