'A Variety of Tactics Designed to Induce Conversion': The Persecution of Christians, January 2025

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  • "Typically, kidnapped girls in Pakistan, some as young as 10, are abducted, forced to convert to Islam and raped under cover of Islamic 'marriages' and are then pressured to record false statements in favor of the kidnappers, rights advocates say. Judges routinely ignore documentary evidence related to the children's ages, handing them back to kidnappers as their 'legal wives.' — Morning Star News, February 7, 2025, Pakistan.

  • In just the three weeks between Christmas 2024 and these attacks of Jan. 15, at least 128 Christians have been slaughtered in the North Kivu region alone. — Congo.

  • "Paki establishment has created a nation where the rights of minorities are trampled upon with alarming regularity. By empowering hardline groups and allowing them free rein, the Army has nurtured a culture of extremism that targets Christians, Hindus, Ahmadis, and other minorities with brutal precision.... Police rarely act to protect victims, while legal loopholes and vague religious laws, such as the infamous blasphemy law, are weaponized against them. These tools of oppression serve not only to silence dissent but also to provide cover for the perpetrators of violence. In the case of minority girls, the judicial system often works to retain victims against their will, legitimizing forced conversions and marriages under the pretext of religious freedom. This legal framework is no accident—it is the product of an establishment that has long relied on radical Islamists as a tool of power. These alliances have turned Pakistan into a hotbed of extremism, destabilizing not just its internal fabric but the entire region. The unchecked violence against minorities is not an aberration but the inevitable outcome of decades of Army-sponsored radicalization." — News Intervention, January 7, 2025, Pakistan.

  • "There is also a new emphasis on targeting Coptic women who suffer physical or mental health problems, which make them doubly vulnerable. This enables the abductors to create confusion regarding the circumstances of a disappeared Coptic girl, creating a narrative of a love story utilizing existing relationships and communications, despite orchestrating the entire situation..." — Coptic Solidarity, January 29, 2025, Egypt.

  • Court documents make clear that these sentencings revolve around religion. — Iran.

  • According to multiple sources, non-Muslim students, many of whom are Christian, are being "subjected to a variety of tactics designed to induce conversion." — Malaysia.

  • "Somalia's constitution establishes Islam as the state religion and prohibits the propagation of any other religion, according to the U.S. State Department. It also requires that laws comply with sharia (Islamic law) principles, with no exceptions in application for non-Muslims. The death penalty for apostasy is part of Islamic law according to mainstream schools of Islamic jurisprudence. An Islamic extremist group in Somalia, Al Shabaab, is allied with Al Qaeda and adheres to the teaching." — Morning Star News, February 7, 2025.

  • "Christians in Indonesia say they are routinely pressured to make extra payments known as 'grease' to local officials or residents in order to obtain construction permits in the 83.3-percent Muslim country. When Muslim residents opposed to the St. Anthony church construction demonstrated in the street, one Catholic commented on social media, 'Those who demonstrate do it because there was no grease available.'" — Morning Star News, February 8, 2025.

  • According to an Indonesian attorney speaking on condition of anonymity, this "grease" is "a kind of bribery paid to protestors to keep them from blocking church construction, though not legally acknowledged even when it is paid in full view of police."

During the church funeral of Lucien Haddad, a Christian man who was "murdered by roving gangs of jihadists plaguing minorities" in Latakia, Syria, other Muslims connected with the ruling regime forced the congregation to recite the Koran's Fatiha chapter — which refers to Christians as "those who are astray" — before mourners could proceed with the Lord's Prayer. Pictured: Jihadist gunmen deploy outside the Greek Orthodox Cathedral of St George in Latakia on December 25, 2024. (Photo by Aaref Watad/AFP via Getty Images)

The following are among the abuses and murders inflicted on Christians by Muslims throughout the month of January 2025.

The Muslim Abduction, Rape, and Forced Conversion of Christian Girls

Pakistan: On Jan 5, Muhammad Ali, a 35-year-old married Muslim man, abducted Saba Masih, the 12-year-old daughter of his Christian neighbor. He forcibly converted her to Islam, and "married" her through a fake Muslim certificate stating that the girl is 18-year-old, even though "Saba's physical appearance also doesn't match the age stated in the alleged marriage and Islamic conversion certificates," said her father, Shafique Masih: "Whoever facilitated this sham conversion and marriage should be equally punished along with Ali." When he first reported the kidnapping to police, "the police deliberately misstated Saba's age," writing down that she was 16, even though the father kept insisting she was 12. As of last reporting, authorities were intentionally delaying:

"The police told me that they needed official permission to go to Sindh Province to recover Saba, but three weeks have passed and there's no progress in the matter. I'm visiting the police station on a daily basis to plead with them to act, but it seems now that they are not serious in finding my minor daughter."

A Christian lawmaker in Punjab Assembly, Ejaz Augustine, expressed concern over the increasing cases of abduction:

"Forced conversions and marriages of minor girls have become a serious crisis for the Christian community. A bill criminalizing child marriages is pending in the Punjab Assembly since April 2024, but it is very unfortunate that despite our repeated demands for its passage, there's been no movement in this regard."

Separately, on Jan 20, three Muslim men broke into a Christian household and kidnapped Ariha, a 12-year-old girl, at gunpoint. According to Sumera, the girl's mother, the ringleader of the abductors is their 40-year-old neighbor, Sajjad Baloch. When the mother went to the Baloch family and pled for them to intervene and help retrieve Ariha, "The next day I received a phone call from Sajjad in which he threatened to rape Ariha and to sell her to sex traffickers if we pursued the matter."

Although the abductor's family continued to assure the Christian family that they would help, on Jan. 24, they simply relocated and disappeared. According to the girl's father, Gulzar, "We visit the police station every day with the hope that we will get some information about our child, but so far there's no breakthrough." Gulzar further "expressed concern that Ariha could become a victim of sexual exploitation through forced conversion to Islam and involuntary marriage to a man triple her age."

In yet another similar but separate story, on Jan. 9, five Muslims, most of them women, kidnapped a 14-year-old Christian girl. Her father, Sharif Masih, believes that her abductors will forcibly convert and marry her off:

"Saneha was lured out of the house by a Muslim girl whose family had recently moved to our neighborhood. A neighbor, Rehan Razaque, saw her being bundled into a van by the accused, which included two women, one of whom was the mother of the girl who had brought Saneha out of her home."

One of the suspects, the father said, was Muhammad Dildar, who had been making unwelcome advances toward his daughter, which she unequivocally rebuffed. Although police eventually arrested two suspects, and "despite repeated pleas to the police, they are not making any effort to recover Saneha or arrest the other accused," the father said:

"We even gave them some cell phone numbers to trace the whereabouts of Dildar, but nothing has been done to find him... The investigating officer of the case, Assistant Sub-Inspector Ihsan Ullah, is making no effort to track the accused. It's been nearly two weeks Saneha has been missing, and we fear that the accused will force her to convert to Islam and marry Dildar to give a legal cover to their crime."

Since the abduction, his wife has fallen ill and been hospitalized twice over worry for her kidnapped daughter.

Discussing the plight of these Christian girls in Muslim Pakistan, one report states that,

"Typically, kidnapped girls in Pakistan, some as young as 10, are abducted, forced to convert to Islam and raped under cover of Islamic 'marriages' and are then pressured to record false statements in favor of the kidnappers, rights advocates say. Judges routinely ignore documentary evidence related to the children's ages, handing them back to kidnappers as their 'legal wives.'

"Recorded cases of abduction and forced conversion numbered 136 in 2023, the highest annual total ever, according to the Center for Social Justice... Unofficial sources suggest that forced religious conversions linked to forced marriages affect as many as 1,000 girls belonging to religious minorities annually."

Egypt: On Jan. 29, Coptic Solidarity published a 53-page report on "The Epidemic of Abductions and Forced Disappearance of Coptic Women and Girls," written by Sonja Dahlmans. According to a Coptic Solidarity:

"The report sheds light on the evolving tactics of Muslim trafficking groups who target Coptic women and minor girls for forced conversion and marriage.... Many hundreds of Coptic women have been forcibly disappeared in the last decades in Egypt, but government officials and legislators in the West have been hesitant to speak out... A major change in tactics by these Islamic conversion groups (assisted by implicit or explicit support by certain authorities) is the use of grooming and/or luring instead of just utilizing abrupt abductions. There is also a new emphasis on targeting Coptic women who suffer physical or mental health problems, which make them doubly vulnerable. This enables the abductors to create confusion regarding the circumstances of a disappeared Coptic girl, creating a narrative of a love story utilizing existing relationships and communications, despite orchestrating the entire situation... Coptic women and their bodies are sometimes [also] used to shame and/or avenge the entire Coptic community."

The Muslim Slaughter of Christians

Nigeria: Headlines of the "pure genocide" of Christians from the month of January follow:

Congo: On Jan. 15, at least 53 Christians were massacred, and 16 abducted, over the course of two jihadist raids. The Islamic State Central Africa Province (ISCAP, also known as the Allied Democratic Forces) announced the killings in two social media posts. According to one, "By the grace of Allah Almighty, the soldiers of the Caliphate attacked the village of Makoko in the Lubero region and killed 41 Christians [who] were stabbed with knives." The other post said 12 Christians were killed in the village of Masakuki. In just the three weeks between Christmas 2024 and these attacks of Jan. 15, at least 128 Christians have been slaughtered in the North Kivu region alone.

Syria: According to a Jan. 27 post on X, during the church funeral of Lucien Haddad, a Christian man who was "murdered by roving gangs of jihadists plaguing minorities" in Latakia, other Muslims connected with the ruling regime forced the congregation to recite the Koran's Fatiha chapter—which refers to Christians as "those who are astray" — before mourners could proceed with the Lord's Prayer.

Pakistan: On Jan. 6, "radical Islamists" murdered a Christian mother and severely injured her daughter in the attack. After giving the few known details of the attack, which occurred in Gujranwala, the report elaborates on the causes behind such nonstop abuses against Christians and other non-Muslim minorities in Pakistan:

"The rise of such heinous crimes stems directly from a Pak Army apparatus that has systematically allowed radical Islamists to wreak havoc on vulnerable communities. Paki establishment has created a nation where the rights of minorities are trampled upon with alarming regularity. By empowering hardline groups and allowing them free rein, the Army has nurtured a culture of extremism that targets Christians, Hindus, Ahmadis, and other minorities with brutal precision. The systemic failures of law enforcement and the judiciary further amplify the plight of minorities. Police rarely act to protect victims, while legal loopholes and vague religious laws, such as the infamous blasphemy law, are weaponized against them. These tools of oppression serve not only to silence dissent but also to provide cover for the perpetrators of violence. In the case of minority girls, the judicial system often works to retain victims against their will, legitimizing forced conversions and marriages under the pretext of religious freedom. This legal framework is no accident—it is the product of an establishment that has long relied on radical Islamists as a tool of power. These alliances have turned Pakistan into a hotbed of extremism, destabilizing not just its internal fabric but the entire region. The unchecked violence against minorities is not an aberration but the inevitable outcome of decades of Army-sponsored radicalization."

Muslim Attacks on Christian Freedom: Apostasy, Blasphemy, and Proselytism Laws

Iran: According to "The Tip of the Iceberg: Documented Rights Violations Against Christians," a report published by Article 18 in January, the persecution of Christians, almost all of whom are converts, is worsening. For instance, Islamic courts handed out six times more prison time to Christians in 2024 than in 2023. Also in 2024, 96 Christians were sentenced to a total of 263 years in prison for practicing their faith; by comparison, only 22 were sentenced to a total of 43 years in 2023. Court documents make clear that these sentencings revolve around religion. For example, four converts were sentenced to 10 years each in prison for "engaging in missionary activities." Another Christian was given a 15-year prison sentence for "undermining national security and promoting Zionist Christianity." Others were charged with engaging in "propaganda contrary to the holy religion of Islam."

Egypt: Two Christian men, Abdulbaqi Said Abdo and Nour Gerges, who "unjustly" spent more than three years in prison "on blasphemy charges," to quote the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), were finally released on Jan. 31. They were originally arrested in 2021 after participating in a Facebook group dedicated to helping Muslim converts. Speaking after his release, Abdulbaqi lamented his lost years in prison:

"It isn't right that a government should tear me away from my family, keep me in these awful conditions, only because of the faith in which I peacefully choose to believe."

During their more than three years' imprisonment, Nour was "tortured by prison guards," while Abdulbaqi "was sent to solitary confinement after a fellow inmate told authorities he had written down Bible passages." Although the two Christian men have been released, Egypt has not dropped the charges against them.

Somalia: On Jan. 20, after a Muslim woman found that her husband had a Christian over to study the Bible, she beat him with a heavy iron object which caused him to lose his speech. A month earlier, around Christmas time, when 35-year-old Abdulai Ramadan had become Christian and invited a few other believers over, his wife said to him, "The religion that you have brought to our family is a big embarrassment to family, relatives and Islamic community."

He responded, "I refuse to recant my faith in Christ. I am willing and ready to provide all that you need, but to renounce my faith in Christ is what I cannot do." A month later, on the day of the attack, when she returned home from visiting her parents, she learned from one of her younger children that Abdulai had a friend over, and they studied the Bible and prayed.

The Muslim wife became irate, saying, "We had agreed that no Christian activities are to take place in our home, but instead you continued doing the opposite," at which point she hit him with a heavy metallic object, as one of their children recalled:

"My father fell down only to regain consciousness the following day in the morning. My mother left early in the morning without telling us where she was going. My father removed his phone but could not ring with it. He used some sign language and showed me the person to call."

A pastor soon arrived, and according to him, while he was there, Ramadan's wife and five of her relatives returned. On seeing the Christian preacher, the wife began to cry, "Bad religion, bad religion—go away." The pastor recounted:

"On seeing the mood, I tried to cool the situation, but the wife continued insulting the husband as an infidel. The husband could not utter a word. The in-laws were also demanding a divorce to take their daughter back home with the children."

When other Muslim neighbors and passersby began to congregate, according to the pastor:

"I started sensing danger and quickly put Abdulai inside my car and drove away as the wife was uttering insults. The wife said, 'Disappear immediately and never come back again.' Ramadan had a deep cut in his forehead, his clothes were soaked in blood, and he was in great pain."

According to the report:

"Upon arriving at the hospital, a doctor determined that Ramadan had lost his speech due to the impact of the metal object that hit him, the pastor said. Ramadan, who has four children ages 11, 8, 6 and 3, is still receiving hospital treatment."

The report adds:

"Somalia's constitution establishes Islam as the state religion and prohibits the propagation of any other religion, according to the U.S. State Department. It also requires that laws comply with sharia (Islamic law) principles, with no exceptions in application for non-Muslims.

The death penalty for apostasy is part of Islamic law according to mainstream schools of Islamic jurisprudence. An Islamic extremist group in Somalia, Al Shabaab, is allied with Al Qaeda and adheres to the teaching."

Pakistan: On Jan. 26, police arrested a mentally handicapped Christian man on blasphemy charges, despite being aware of his condition. Farhan Javed Masih, 28, was arrested after a local villager, Muhammad Bilal Khan, accused him of speaking against Islam, according to the Christian man's mother, Parveen:

"We were at home when Bilal and some other Muslims came and told us that Farhan had committed blasphemy. I pleaded with them to forgive him keeping in mind his mental state, but they did not listen to me and called the police, which arrested him."

The mother, who was widowed six years ago, said that her son's mental condition worsened following his father's death, at which point he also turned to and became addicted to drugs: he was eventually fired and began to "loiter around the village all day saying absurd things. The entire village knows that he is of unsound mind." The man who accused Farhan of blasphemy says he was watering his crops when the Christian appeared "and started speaking absurdities." Farhan reportedly said:

"The holy personages of your [Muslim] religion are false, and I don't want to live among Muslims, because you belong to inferior status."

If convicted, he faces between 5 and 10 years imprisonment.

Sudan: According to a Jan. 16 report, "the Muslim family of a young man... has disowned him and compelled his wife to divorce him because he converted to Christianity."

Problems began last year when a "hardline Muslim" known only as "Sheikh Amaar" first learned about the conversion. He threatened the young man (whose name was withheld for security reasons) "to return to Islam or face serious consequences."

Before long his family also turned against him, telling him "You are no longer a member of our family, because you have changed your religion." He eventually left his family home and village and, last reported, was living in hiding.

Generic Muslim Persecution of Christians

Malaysia: According to a Jan. 16 report, the Malaysian government, "in collaboration with the Islamic institution JAKIM, is employing tactics to pressure non-Muslim students into converting to Islam during university orientation programs." According to multiple sources, non-Muslim students, many of whom are Christian, are being "subjected to a variety of tactics designed to induce conversion." These include:

"Religious indoctrination: Students are exposed to intense religious teachings and propaganda that promote the virtues of Islam and the drawbacks of other faiths.

"Social pressure: Students are also made to feel isolated or excluded if they do not express interest in conversion. They are offered social or academic benefits in exchange for converting.

"Threats or intimidation: In some cases, students are threatened with negative consequences, such as academic repercussions or social ostracism, if they refuse to convert."

The report adds that those students who do convert to Islam are told to keep the conversion secret from their non-Muslim families.

Sudan: Authorities prevented internally displaced Christians from celebrating Christmas in the park where they had taken refuge. They initially gave the Christian refugees permission, but kept making the requirements more stringent. At first, they said all the Christians must do is "refrain from using microphones and other sound system equipment," which they happily agreed to. But when Christmas Day came, the authorities' demands and strictures grew, until the planned celebrations were canceled altogether.

Indonesia: On Jan. 17, 24 and 29, hundreds of Muslims took to the streets to protest the presence of two evangelists at a major gospel event, Peter Youngren, founder in Canada of World Impact Ministries, and Swiss evangelist Jacob Wendesten. The event, Friendship Festival, "was originally planned as an inter-faith event, but the uproar from Islamic groups reportedly compelled authorities to limit it to Christian activities."

Muslims objected to Wendesten because he once made reference in a video to a "small radical Muslim group." Youngren's crime was that he "published a book on efforts to achieve (spiritual) 'victory' in (spiritual) 'enemy territory." According to the report, Muslims protested in part to preserve "harmony":

"Hundreds of Muslims... launched the Jan. 29 demonstration in front of the Aston Hotel, where Youngren and Wendesten were staying in Palu. They reportedly blocked the Friendship Festival venue and called for it to be cancelled. The local Indonesia Ulema Council ... and Muslim figures from other organizations also reportedly repudiated the event on grounds of security and harmony..."

Separately, Muslims "threatened massive protests against the construction of a Catholic church," according to a Jan. 9 report, "in the latest standoff over Christian worship in the world's largest Muslim country." The Muslims also said they were preparing to sue the partially constructed Sang Hyang Hurip St. Anthony Catholic Church for obtaining building permits which local Muslims claim were granted through "improper means and without their permission." While discussing this development, one report stated:

"Christians in Indonesia say they are routinely pressured to make extra payments known as 'grease' to local officials or residents in order to obtain construction permits in the 83.3-percent Muslim country. When Muslim residents opposed to the St. Anthony church construction demonstrated in the street, one Catholic commented on social media, 'Those who demonstrate do it because there was no grease available.'"

According to an Indonesian attorney speaking on condition of anonymity, this "grease" is "a kind of bribery paid to protestors to keep them from blocking church construction, though not legally acknowledged even when it is paid in full view of police."

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.

Previous reports

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Related Topics:  Persecution of Minorities
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