CV NEWS FEED // In light of the International Day Commemorating the Victims of Violence Based on Religion or Belief—celebrated on August 22—religious freedom advocates have issued a warning against rising violence against Christian converts from Islam.
In a recent press release, the Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination Against Christians in Europe (OIDAC) highlighted increased anti-Christian violence in Europe, particularly against converts from Islam who have immigrated from Middle Eastern countries.
“In the West we tend to think of violence against religious believers as primarily a problem of countries in Africa and Asia. While it is important to highlight these dramatic examples of persecution, we must also pay close attention to what is happening in Europe,” OIDAC Europe Executive Director Anja Hoffmann stated in the release.
According to Hoffmann, Christian converts from a Muslim background have been “particularly vulnerable to experiencing violence” recently. “The right to convert is an essential element of religious freedom. European governments must therefore do their utmost to protect, in particular, Christian converts from a Muslim background who are at high risk of violence,” she added.
In May, the release reported, a British court sentenced a man to prison for the attempted murder of Javed Nouri, a Christian convert from Islam. The man said he believed Nouri to be an apostate, “who deserved to die.”
In another similar instance in April, an Italian court ruled on a case in which a Tunisian Christian convert “was beaten up by fellow countrymen for ‘attending a Christian church.’”
Since the beginning of 2024, the watchdog group reported, 25 cases of physical violence, threats, and attempted murder have occurred against Christians in the UK, France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Austria, Poland, and Serbia.
In one case, the group noted, a Seventh-day Adventist church in Dijon, France was attacked with tear gas during a church service, leaving nine people injured.
