The persecution Christians experienced at the hands of Muslims in just one month – August.
The following are among the abuses Muslims inflicted on Christians throughout the month of August, 2020:
The Slaughter of Christians
Philippines: On August 24, 15 people were killed in twin suicide bombings, carried out by the widows of two terrorists, and targeting a cathedral in the Muslim majority city of Jolo; about 80 others were injured in the blasts. Abu Sayyaf, a jihadi terror group, claimed responsibility. “There were two bombers. A suicide bomber was involved in the first explosion,” a military spokesman confirmed. “The second suicide bomber blew herself up after she was arrested after the first explosion.” “They have died as martyrs witnessing to their Christian faith,” said local Bishop Charlie Inzon of those who died, “as they braved to stay in Jolo despite constant intimidation and risks…. [I]t was treacherous, inhuman and an evil act of violence” “This crime,” added Church in Need, a human rights group, “is even rendered more unconscionable because of the hardships our people are going through during the Covid-19 pandemic.”
Ethiopia: At least 500 Christians—“including pregnant women, children and whole families”— were slaughtered between late June and August 27 in what were reported as “relentless door-to-door” attacks. Soon after a popular singer from a Muslim majority tribe was allegedly assassinated on June 29, “extremists arrived in cars and, armed with guns, machetes, swords and spears, sought out and slaughtered Christians.” The report continues:
Children were forced to witness their parents being brutally murdered with machetes…. An Oromo Christian was beheaded for refusing to deny his faith by tearing off the thread around his neck (worn by many Ethiopian Christians as a sign of their baptism)…. Christians’ business premises and houses were burnt down, vandalised or destroyed by the extremists. Billions of dollars of damage was caused to property… The severity of the atrocities shocked local witnesses who gave accounts of harrowing scenes. In Dera, a witness described how the killers desecrated corpses by ‘dancing and singing, carrying the chopped or hacked body parts of those they slaughtered.’ Another witness reported how the hacked bodies of an elderly Christian couple, who were beaten to death in their home, were dragged through the streets… Thousands of traumatised survivors have fled for their lives, including orphaned children, and many are being sheltered in churches and community centres.
Cameroon: Late in the night of August 1, the Islamic terror group Boko Haram sent in two suicide bombers, one of whom was a girl, into a village, while its residents peacefully slept after a hard day’s work. Their target was the village’s Catholic Mission. At least 28—including seven children between the ages of 3-18—were killed in the subsequent detonations: “The scene was horrific,” as explained by the leader of the targeted Catholic mission: “I was at home when they came. We heard gunshots and then shouts from the vigilante committee alerting us. So we fled … When they got in, they first fired shots (randomly), and then people started running.” One of the terrorists, a young girl, concealing her identity and intentions before a group of women and children who were hiding, claimed she was hurt and pleaded for their help. “They were duped,” the church leader said. “She detonated the bomb and killed many people.” According to the report,
Further details about the bombers, including their origins, are unknown though reports in recent years indicate that Boko Haram has kidnapped thousands of children. Last year, the UN recently stated that since 2009, an estimated 8,000 children have been abducted by Boko Haram. And according to a UNICEF report, at least 117 of these children have been used as suicide bombers since 2017—and more than 80 percent of them are girls.
Nigeria: Throughout the month of August, the “ignored genocide of Christians” continued at the hands of Muslim herdsmen and Fulani tribesmen. According to an August 4 report, in Kaduna State, at least 171 Christians, many of which were women and children, were slaughtered. On August 10, armed jihadis stormed the Lion of Judah Church in Azikoro and opened fire on worshippers; four Christians were killed. An August 24 report states that “Fulani herdsmen attacked a predominantly Christian village in north-central Nigeria, killing one resident, burning a church building and kidnapping four children among others.”
Uganda: A Muslim family severely beat two cousins for embracing the Christian faith; one died of his wounds. Last reported, the surviving cousin, Ahmad Waisana, 23, still barely “clings to life,” and suffers severe injuries to his head and a kidney. From a sick-bed at an undisclosed place of refuge, he said, “I have been spending sleepless nights thinking of my [cousin and] best friend, Jalilu [Kamutono, aged 20]. The whole of my body is aching. I am not sure whether I will get well or die and go to be with Christ.” Earlier, both cousins, after listening to and attending various sermons in late 2019, “made a public confession of faith in Christ.” Word instantly reached their fathers, who are brothers, even before the cousins returned from the event to house they all lived in. The fathers “angrily chased” the apostates out of the village. After several months of moving around and trying to eke out a living, which became increasingly harder due to COVID-19 lockdowns, “we decided to return back home hoping that we were going to be welcome,” Ahmad continues:
At home we were questioned whether we were Christians, and we affirmed to them that we were still Christians but pleaded that we be received back. To our surprise, we were received with hostility, and the relatives arrived and started beating us with sticks and blunt objects before burying us in banana leaves.
According to the report, “Their relatives were about to set them on fire when some cattle herders and Christians happened by,” prompting their violent family to flee. “At the hospital we were diagnosed, and the finding was that Jalilu had internal bleeding, and after two weeks he succumbed [on August 5] to the injury” and died. “I could not remain at the hospital, and so I went to a nearby church.” After the hospital called Jalilu’s family to come and retrieve their son’s corpse for burial, “They were reluctant at first, but pressure from the government and the problem of COVID-19 made them to yield, and they took the body for burial; that was on Aug. 7.”
Germany: Hamzar D., a 25-year-old Muslim migrant from Tunisia, strangled the 28-year-old German mother of his child to death, partially because she had baptized the child into Christianity. They originally met at a disco; by July 2019, she gave birth to his son. “But after the birth, she changed,” explained the aggrieved killer. According to the report, she “withheld his son from him for a long time, and then she made his boy a Christian too.” This and other disagreements led to his strangling her during one of their meetings.
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