Bring Back Our Girls Again!

 

More than 300 students and staff were abducted from a Catholic School in the Northern Region of Nigeria on Friday. International Christian Concern (ICC) President Shawn Wright issued a statement (see bottom of this release), calling on government leaders to do more to protect vulnerable Christian communities. The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) raised its estimate on Saturday of those taken from St. Mary’s School in Niger state on Friday to 315, including 303 students and 12 teachers, from an earlier estimate of 227. It is one of the worst kidnappings in the nation’s history, which has unfortunately become a flashpoint for Christian persecution. “Our hearts break, and we pray for the families affected by this latest tragedy,” Wright said. “The government of Nigeria must do more to protect Christian communities after years and years of ineffectiveness and empty promises. Yes, it’s a complex situation in Nigeria, but Christians have suffered from extremists’ attacks while government officials and much of the world have looked the other way.” Officials in Nigeria said on Saturday that no group has claimed responsibility for the most recent attack, but Islamic extremists have long terrorized the country. The Associated Press noted that Friday’s St. Mary’s School kidnapping in Niger state’s remote community comes four days after 25 schoolkids were taken in neighboring Kebbi state. The Trump Administration and members of the U.S. Congress have recently pressured the Nigerian government to do more to protect Christians. Estimates vary, but conservatively, more than 50,000 Christians have been killed in Nigeria during the past 20 years, with hundreds of thousands more displaced. With CAN’s revised estimate of the number abducted, the recent school kidnapping was the nation’s worst since the Islamic terrorist group Boko Haram seized 276 Chibok schoolgirls in 2014. Boko Haram is one of several militant groups operating in Nigeria with ties to radical Islam. The terrorist group has highly targeted Christians, but also the government, and Muslims who haven’t joined their cause. After Boko Haram declared allegiance to the Islamic State in 2015, part of the group splintered a year later into a separate terrorist group, Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP). Local extremists and radical Fulani militias have also attacked and displaced Christian farmers and communities. The Trump Administration recently named Nigeria a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) for failing to protect Christians. Nigerian officials have not had an effective response to the violence or protected vulnerable communities, such as in southern Kaduna state, where Muslim extremists have attacked Christians. ICC has served persecuted Christians in Nigeria for decades and documented countless attacks through news articles and special reports. To help persecuted believers, ICC has launched aid projects, such as communal farms and Christian schools in Nigeria, and supported legislation on Capitol Hill that has pressured Nigerian officials. Nigeria has also been featured in ICC’s annual Global Persecution Index as one of the worst places to be a believer in Christ. ICC President Shawn Wright Issues Statement for Nigerian and U.S. Officials After Recent Kidnapping “As President of the International Christian Concern (ICC), I am issuing a strong and urgent call to action in response to the horrific abduction of more than 300 students and 12 staff members this week from St. Mary’s Catholic School in Niger State, Nigeria. To the Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria: Your people — the students, teachers, and families of St. Mary’s — are in grave danger. This brazen assault on the innocent highlights a systemic breakdown in basic protection of Christians and schoolchildren in Nigeria. You must act now: Deploy specialized rescue forces immediately and recover the abducted       Christians without delay. Every hour that passes compounds trauma and risk. Ensure full accountability: Investigate and prosecute the perpetrators — those who stormed the school in the early morning hours — bringing them to justice in accordance with Nigerian law. Strengthen protection for Christian institutions: Boarding schools, churches, and Christian communities cannot continue to operate under constant threat of violence and kidnapping. You must enact and enforce robust security protocols, including early warning systems, secure perimeters, and close coordination with local law enforcement. Address underlying persecution: This attack is symptomatic of the wider climate of hostility faced by Christians in Nigeria. Government policy must explicitly recognize that Christians are a vulnerable group and guarantee equal protection under the law. Communicate transparently with families and the public: Keep them informed of rescue efforts, security changes, and the government’s plan to prevent future tragedies. Silence or obfuscation only breeds fear, mistrust, and further victimization. Inaction is not an option. The world is watching. Your citizens deserve better. To the Government of the United States of America: The kidnapping of 300+ Christian students in Nigeria is a glaring emblem of the intolerable persecution that Christians face around the world. The U.S. has a pivotal role to play — and I call on you to move with urgency and resolve: Immediately enact progressive economic sanctions, leveraging the recent CPC (Country of Particular Concern) designation to hold accountable those       Nigerian government officials, regional authorities, or entities who fail to protect religious minorities or are complicit in persecution. Condition assistance on results: Future U.S. aid to Nigeria — whether military, security, or development — must be contingent upon tangible improvements in protecting Christians and religious minorities. Support civil society & Christian organizations: Facilitate resources, intelligence sharing, and capacity-building for organizations protecting       persecuted Christians in Nigeria. Use diplomatic influence: Make clear publicly and privately that attacks on Christian children and schools will carry costs — for the perpetrators and for those who allow or enable them. The values the United States claims to uphold demand more than words. In the face of abducted Christian children, your actions — or lack thereof — send a message. Let it not be one of paralysis but of protection, justice, and solidarity. Final Word When children are hauled from their dormitories, when Christian teachers are terrorized, when entire communities live in the shadow of fear — silence is complicity. As ICC’s President, I stand with the kidnapped students of St. Mary’s and their families. I call on Nigeria’s government to act decisively and on the U.S. government to enforce the consequences of its own designations. Let this be a turning point: Not merely another headline of horror, but the moment the international community said enough — and stood firmly for the vulnerable. We will not forget. We will not relent. We will see justice done.” Shawn Wright, ICC President To read more news stories, visit the ICC Newsroom. For interviews, please email press@persecution.org. Since 1995, ICC has served the global persecuted church through a three-pronged approach of assistance, advocacy, and awareness. ICC exists to bandage the wounds of persecuted Christians and to build the church in the toughest parts of the world.

Elderly man released from prison in Indonesia

 Welp!  I know to never go to Indonesia because they put people in jail for insulting Mohammed and Islam on social media.  It's strange that millions of people in the world knowingly choose to follow the teachings of a man who purposely married a six-year-old when he was in his fifties.  The article from ICC is below.

 

After serving more than four years behind bars, an elderly Christian man has been released from prison in Indonesia.

International Christian Concern (ICC) field staff have learned that Apollinaris Darmawan was freed from the Kebon Waru Prison in November 2024. His release comes about a year earlier than expected after he received “several remissions” to his original sentence. This is the second time Darmawan has been imprisoned for his faith. 

Police arrested Darmawan in late 2020 after someone accused him of insulting the Prophet Muhammad and Islam on social media. The Bandung District Court sentenced Darmawan to a maximum of five years for blasphemy. The court also fined him nearly 800 million rupiahs (about $50,000) for “disseminating information aimed at causing hatred or dissension on individuals and certain groups of community based on ethnic groups, religions, races, and inter-groups.”  

In 2017, he was sentenced to four years in prison for insulting Islam. He was freed in March 2020 to help prevent and control the spread of the coronavirus.   

During his most recent imprisonment, Darmawan remained steadfast in his faith. Supported by dozens of letters from ICC’s Prison Letter Writing Campaign and several visits from ICC staff, he stayed spiritually and physically strong, walking nearly two miles inside the prison grounds daily, and relying on prayer to sustain him. 

Despite the years he spent in prison, Darmawan, a former Muslim who converted to Catholicism, still fervently believes he was correct to challenge the teachings of Islam. 

To read more news stories, visit the ICC Newsroom. For interviews, please email press@persecution.org. 

 

Suicide bomber attack at church in Syria

 

A suicide bomber detonated himself during worship on Sunday inside Mar Elyas Greek Orthodox Church in the Dwelia neighborhood of Damascus, Syria.  

The attack resulted in the deaths of at least 20 people, according to initial reports. 

This marks the first known suicide bombing targeting a church in Syria. While no group has officially claimed responsibility, the Syrian Ministry of Interior stated that the attacker was believed to be a member of the Islamic State group.  

The assailant reportedly opened fire on worshippers before detonating an explosive belt, causing mass casualties and chaos inside the sanctuary. Local social media sources reported that children were among the victims. 

Father Youhanna Shehata, the parish priest of Mar Elyas, courageously assisted in carrying more than 20 bodies of the deceased following the blast. He estimated that 350 to 400 Christians were present in the church at the time of the attack. 

To read more news stories, visit the ICC Newsroom. For interviews, please email press@persecution.org.  

Escalating persecution in Africa

 

International Christian Concern (ICC) released a comprehensive report, “Troubling Trends: Escalating Persecution of Christians in Africa,” highlighting the alarming increase in violence and persecution against Christians across the continent. The report details a disturbing rise in targeted attacks, particularly in countries with large Christian populations, such as Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and Kenya. It presents specific incidents from the first quarter of 2025, revealing a pattern of brutal killings, abductions, and displacement. Nigeria, in particular, continues to be identified as one of the most dangerous countries for Christians, with thousands murdered for their faith in recent years, and ongoing violence spreading from northern states into the Middle Belt and further south.

The report underscores the critical role of Islamic militant groups, including the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) in the DRC and al-Shabab in Kenya, in perpetrating these atrocities. In the DRC, where 95% of the population is Christian, the ADF has been responsible for widespread terror, leading to numerous deaths and mass displacement, especially in the eastern provinces like North Kivu. Similarly, in Kenya, despite a Christian majority, radical groups and complicit government officials contribute to the increased persecution, particularly in the northeast and coastal areas.

The report expresses concern over the international community’s insufficient focus on these escalating crises, with neither the U.S. Dept. of State nor the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) yet identifying DRC as a Country of Particular Concern. This designation would enable specific sanctions and policy actions.

ICC is calling for urgent international attention and action to address these escalating trends. The report highlights ongoing efforts in the U.S. Congress, such as H.Res. 220, which seeks to reinstate Nigeria’s classification as a Country of Particular Concern. ICC urges U.S. citizens to contact their representatives and advocate for its passage.

To read the full report, click here.

 

To read more news stories, visit the ICC Newsroom. For interviews, please email press@persecution.org. 

Iranian refugees receive a six-month extension in Panama

 

Artemis Ghasemzadeh, a 27-year-old Iranian woman, and other Christian asylum seekers in Panama were given a six-month extension this week to find a new home. 

Ghasemzadeh is in a Panama City hotel with two Christian families from Iran. They were first given 30 days to stay in Panama, then a two-month reprieve until June 7, and now a six-month extension to find a haven. 

Ghasemzadeh’s journey began in late December 2024 when she and her older brother, Shahin, fled Iran and entered the United States illegally through Mexico. Refugees fleeing religious persecution have traditionally been granted asylum on American soil, but they faced more stringent border and refugee laws under the Trump administration. 

The siblings were detained for five days in San Diego and then separated: Ghasemzadeh was flown to Panama with other refugees, and Shahin to a Houston detention facility where he still awaits his immigration hearing. 

International Christian Concern (ICC), nonprofits, government agencies such as the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), and Christians globally have been following their case, praying and advocating for them since The New York Times broke their story in February. 

The Iranian believers will face extreme persecution if returned to Iran. ICC sent an emergency petition on Ghasemzadeh’s behalf, signed by 1,302 people, to 10 refugee-friendly Western countries, including Germany, Spain, France, and Italy. 

Their case also caught the attention of U.S. Rep. (D-Ariz) Yassamin Ansari, an Iranian American, who introduced the Artemis Act in Congress. The bill would stop the expedited removal of refugees fleeing countries known to persecute Christians and other religious minorities. Under the law, the refugees could claim asylum in a U.S. immigration court. 

Armenian, Assyrian, and Catholic communities exist in Iran. Yet, like other Muslim-majority countries in the Middle East and beyond, Iran has strict anti-conversion laws that are punishable by imprisonment or death. Ghasemzadeh and Christian converts worshipped as part of Iran's growing underground church community. 

“In Iran, being a Christian when you’re born is OK,” Ghasemzadeh told ICC in a previous interview. “There are even beautiful churches. But if you’re a Muslim and you convert to Christianity, it’s a problem. The police want to catch you because it’s not good for [the country].” 

To read more news stories, visit the ICC Newsroom. For interviews, please email press@persecution.org. 

Islamic extremism permeates throughout Nigeria's security forces

 

It seems the frequency of jihadist attacks in Nigeria is matched only by the infrequency of successful prosecutions against the perpetrators. And even when these attacks take place near military bases, the response times are disturbingly slow.

Many Nigerian Christians feel this chronic cycle of violence and impunity is all by design, and that their country has people in high places who have a vested interest in letting the cycle continue. 

Emeka Umeagbalasi, a criminologist who established the Nigerian human rights organization Intersociety, did not hesitate to place blame. 

“The Nigerian security forces, especially the military and police crack squads (special operations units), are the greatest problem facing the country's Christians,” he said.   

Umeagbalasi said that the last 10 years have seen a large rise in Islamic radicalization within Nigeria's military and “jihadists conscripted through the back door into the country's security forces.”   

Other concerned Nigerians have spoken out about federal government efforts to “reintegrate” self-described “repentant” jihadists. There are concerns that these allegedly former jihadists are finding their way into the nation's security agencies.  

Umeagbalasi said that such problems became widespread during the presidency of Muhammadu Buhari, who held Nigeria's top office from May 29, 2015, to May 29, 2023.  

Buhari, the son of a Fulani chieftain, is a retired army major general who also served as head of state in the mid-1980s when Nigeria was under a military dictatorship. 

Umeagbalasi said that Buhari's recent presidential tenure saw increased Fulani jihadist access to state armories. He added that many attackers in Nigeria derive significant benefits from “international jihadist support funds.” 

Since the 1980s, Fulanis who have obtained wealth in the cattle industry have been supplying their fellow tribesmen with numerous AK-47 assault rifles. 

Nigerian civilians are technically permitted to own certain types of firearms, but the requirements are stringent and subject to the discretion of officials.  

Umeagbalasi said the laws are “observed lopsidedly” in a way that discriminates against Christians and empowers their attackers. He added that the Nigerian military has raided Christian homes across much of the country and “seized most, if not all,” of their weapons, thereby depriving them of any real chance at self-defense.  

Christians in Nigeria are almost always woefully outgunned by their attackers, wherever those attackers may come from.  

Although “Boko Haram” is a name that tends to evoke more terror, Fulani jihadists are responsible for most of the current religious violence.  

Umeagbalasi attributed at least 60% of the attacks on Nigerian Christians to either extremist Fulani herdsmen or jihadist Fulani bandits. He explained that Fulani jihadists will routinely decimate entire Christian communities and leave nearby Muslim communities unscathed. 

He added that not even 1% of Fulani jihadists have been arrested. And far fewer have ever been convicted.   

With virtually no deterrents, these jihadists partake in a buffet of criminality. They can loot and kidnap for profit. Or they can indulge themselves through sexual attacks. If feeling inclined to proselytize, they can undertake forcible conversions, beheading those who refuse.  

Umeagbalasi would like to see the U.S. Department of State acknowledge Nigeria's ongoing lethal jihadist Fulani problem by designating both “Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen” and “Jihadist Fulani Bandits” as Entities of Particular Concern. 

It's worth mentioning that Nigeria — home to the majority of Christians killed for their faith each year worldwide — has had a curious relationship with the U.S. State Department’s list of “Countries of Particular Concern” (CPC) for violating religious freedom.  

Nigeria made the CPC list for the first time at the end of 2020. The following year, it was removed from the list — even though the situation there did not improve. 

Those concerned with religious freedom in Nigeria were aghast when, in 2023, a State Department official said that, “after careful review, Nigeria would remain excluded from the list of religious freedom violators." 

As of May 31, 2025, Nigeria has yet to reappear on the list, which was last updated at the end of 2023.  

Meanwhile, some prominent Christians in Nigeria have spoken publicly about how the ongoing massacres are not just about killing Christians but also about forcing the surviving Christians to flee their land forever.   

Wilfred Anagbe, the bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Makurdi in Nigeria's Middle Belt region, said, “The quest to Islamise the land is high on the agenda of some of the most powerful and influential Muslims in Nigeria.”    

Many Nigerian Christians suspect that the goal is to bring radical Islam to as much of Nigeria as possible, eventually taking over the oil-rich southern region, which is predominantly Christian. 

Recent years have even seen jihadists making headway in southern Nigeria. Regional authorities there have been rendered ineffective in addressing issues at the national level.  

And so, Nigeria's Christians — who comprise almost half of the population — have a far more troubled situation than they do in most countries where Christians are only a tiny minority.  

Umeagbalasi described it as “a sorry state of utter vulnerability.” 

To read more news stories, visit the ICC Newsroom. For interviews, please email press@persecution.org. 

Eyewitness account of Muslims killing his family members

 

They say the world only burns when the fire reaches your doorstep. Otherwise, it is just another spectacle, far-off smoke, a sound you can sleep through. It is all right, they say, to watch the flames of violence swallow others, so long as they don’t swallow us. So long as the ash does not settle on our roofs. Some even say it is acceptable if it is our own doing the burning. Then, the silence is justified. The gain is holy. 

But what happens when the flame forgets its lane? 

It will. It always does. 

My name is Uren. I am from Hurti, a small village in Daffo, Bokkos, Plateau state. I am in SS3 at the Government Secondary School in Manguna. 

In Bokkos, we farm potatoes, maize, and whatever the land agrees to yield because that is what we know best. That is how we survive. Occasionally, we trade. But it is the land that feeds us. 

During a recent weekend, my people, the Ron and Kulere, enjoyed our annual festival. People came from all over. Not because everything was alright, but because the festival gave us strength. It reminded us that we are still here. We are still alive. And even though we keep losing people to violence, we cannot stop living. Besides, we know everyone will die someday. 

On Wednesday morning, before the sun rose, my mother reminded me that we needed to head to the farm early before the heat turned cruel and drained our energy. There is always work to be done on the farm; come rain, come sun, dry, or green. Life in our village follows that rhythm. 

For some reason, that morning, I woke with the weight of Oswald Mtshali’s “Nightfall in Soweto” pressing heavily on my chest. Mr. Mallo, our literature teacher, painted it vividly when he taught the poem. “Feel it,” he said. “Poetry is meant to be felt.” 

I felt it, alright. The fear. The dusk was falling like judgment. I felt it because it was no longer just poetry. It was no longer Soweto. It was Plateau. It was Bokkos. It was home. It was real. 

My classmate told me that in their village, Josho, and even in Ganda and Manguna, they no longer sleep at night. The men and the boys had started spending the night in the trees, like hunted animals. They went up there not to fight. They went there to act as sirens. Human alarms.  

When the raiders came, they were the voices screaming, “Run!” 

And the raiders? They always came. 

In our history class, Mrs. Mafwil told us that once upon a time, invaders galloped in on horses, with spears, bows, and arrows slicing through the air with ancient rage. Today, they arrive on iron horses, humming death and machines that spit fire and thunder. 

They come knowing they will not be stopped. 

They come knowing their mission has been carved into the silence of complicity. 

They come. They slaughter. They leave. And they come again. Their faces are not hidden. Their names are whispered. Their language portrays who they are. Yet, somehow, they remain unknown.  

That Wednesday, they walked into our morning as we worked on the farm. My mother, father, five siblings, and I cleared the land so we could plant soon. We were engrossed in tearing up weeds with calloused hands and brushing the earth off our feet when we heard the buzzing of motorbikes, many of them, and the cracking of gunfire all around. 

It was loud and close — a rhythm now too familiar. First at night, now in broad daylight. A group of attackers was moving in on our village, and the nearby villages too. 

We froze, not knowing what to do. Big black clouds of smoke began rising. Houses were burning. We saw people running, screaming. Although it wasn't near us yet, the land was flat; we could see everything. We were certain the attackers had seen us. One cannot hide easily out there. My mother’s face twisted. 

“Home,” she whispered and broke into a run. But my father ran after her and held her back. She began to shiver. “My children, my children,” she said, as tears welled up in her eyes. 

My two younger sisters were at home; one was sick, the other left to look after her. The ground where my mother stood turned wet. She had urinated on herself out of fear.  

The sky was no longer blue. It had become a sheet of thick black smoke. In the distance, homes coughed fire, and people ran like ants from an overturned nest. Screams scattered in the wind. The attackers chased those who ran toward our farm. They were coming. We had been seen. The land offers no cover here. It is flat and wide. It betrays you. 

My father’s mind raced faster than the bikes. He pointed to a narrow hole. The opening was wide enough for us to squeeze through, and we did. We did not ask what was inside. We did not think where it would lead. We just entered. 

We smelled the damp scent of death all around us. We squeezed in, my siblings and I, while my parents and one of my brothers covered the hole with dry leaves and grass. They stayed outside. There was no room for all of us. From that tiny breath-hole, I watched. 

The men on bikes came. Five of them. With their guns slung carelessly around them, they chose to use knives instead. Long, rusted, personal. They circled my parents and brother like wolves around tired prey. They chanted a “God is great” prayer to a God they no longer feared. And then, they cut wherever their razors could reach. Blood was everywhere. 

My father begged, his voice cracking like old wood. My mother shrieked as they cut, and they cut again. They struck my brother down with the butt of a gun. 

“Soon, you are all gone!” they shouted in Hausa with a Fulani accent. Then more chants of “God is great,” and more bikes revving into the distance. Their glee was carried by gunshots and war cries as they made their way to join the others. And then, there was silence, except for my mother’s sharp and soul-piercing wail. She crawled to my brother’s lifeless body and pulled it close. 

My father just sat there, blood pooling around him. His eyes were vacant. He was staring like he could see a world we could not. I could not take it anymore. I blacked out. My young mind had given up. 

When I finally came to, I learned my father had died. My two sisters, who were left at home, were slaughtered with knives. My mother was still in shock.  

We saw the assailants and what they looked like. We heard the language they spoke and how they prayed to their god. We also know that their kind occupies many of the villages around that have been razed. 

It is said that when people are pushed to a wall, they will push back, not out of bravery, but out of necessity. I fear what will happen now that we are near that point. Survival is not cowardice. It is instinct. But how long do you stay law-abiding while the law does not consider your blood worth avenging? How long do you bow to a system that rewards those who live outside it? 

First, it was Jos, now christened the “Jos crisis,” then Riyom, Barkin Ladi, Bassa, Mangu, Wase, and Kanam. Everywhere in Plateau is getting a taste of the 21st-century jihad.  

I hear that there are people who gain from the fire. People who watch it from high windows and sip their tea. People who call for peace but fund the bullets. And then, there are people like me, Uren, who only ever wanted to farm, to live, and to love my land. 

The invaders have awakened something dangerous, not just pain, but memory. 

And memory, when soaked in blood, never forgets. 

International Christian Concern (ICC) continues to work in Nigeria, helping our brothers and sisters there overcome ongoing attacks from Islamic extremists. Join us in this work by making a donation today.

To read more news stories, visit the ICC Newsroom. For interviews, please email press@persecution.org.