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Discrimination, Persecution, and Pandemic: How COVID19 is Effecting the Persecuted Church

STARVATION
- “Denying food aid and discriminating among citizens is a crime,” Aftab Hayat, a Pakistani NGO leader, told ICC. “Christians often face discrimination and are victims of religious hatred. However, the situation for Christians in the midst of the COVID19 crisis is alarming and becoming worse. Therefore, the authorities must take note of the developing situation.”
- A neighborhood in Lahore made an announcement for everyone to come and get the government food aid that wasbeing provided due to the COVID19 pandemic. Whenever a Christian presented their ID card, they were told toleave because the food was for Muslims only.
- Christians in Karachi are being told they must say the “Kalma,” a tenet of the Muslim faith that all converts must recite, in order to receive their food aid. Because they refused, they were not given any food.
- A woman in Pakistan is believed to have committed suicide because she was denied aid during the COVID19 pandemic. An investigation is underway.
- Christians in Pakistan are used to receiving aid from Christians around the world. During the pandemic, that source of revenue is drying up. Christians in Pakistan are banding together to try and support one another, however the resources are incredibly limited to begin with, many barely able to sustain their own families.
- A local Muslim activist in the Punjab province has been reporting on the discrimination the Christians are receiving from the Muslims in the area. Over 100 Christian families have been denied food aid in that area. The Muslim activist is workingwith other liberal Muslims to circumvent the discrimination and provide food aid to these Christian families.
“These actions are simply reprehensible,” stated USCIRF Commissioner Anurima Bhargava. “As COVID19 continues to spread, vulnerable communities within Pakistan are fighting hunger and to keep their families safe and healthy. Food aid must not be denied because of one’s faith. We urge the Pakistani government to ensure that food aid from distributing organizations is shared equally with Hindus, Christians, and other religions minorities.”
- In Kaduna State, Christians are reporting that they get six times smaller rations from the state than their Muslim neighbors.
- Boko Haram is taking the opportunity to attack more and gain supplies, running off with many necessities.
- IDP requests for food and supplies has increased dramatically, which is likely due to the increase of attacks by the Fulani.The more attacks on villages lead to more people being displaced within their own country. This influx of IDPs into the camps will naturally raise the need for food.
- The Fulani are increasing their attacks on Christian communities, knowing that all the Christians are home. While attacking, they make sure to raze the food storage areas as well as the farmland in order to starve the Christians to death. In one instance, four Christians were killed, many infored, 320 displaced and their stores of food and grain burnt to the ground. It is becoming evident that the Fulani are taking full advantage of the pandemic. After a Fulani attack that killed preschool children and a pregnant woman, and burnt down houses and food storages, a regional chief called on the government to act. “With this coronavirus people are suffering, but this killing is more dangerousthan the coronavirus. How many people have the coronavirus killed in this country? But this incessant killings is getting too much.”
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- As of April 26th, the WHO reports 893 deaths for the whole African Continent, and John Hopkins reports 35 deaths for the country of Nigeria. Yet the Nigerian government will take drastic actions for the virus and almost no action against terrorism and genocide.
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- In Burma/Myanmar, the Kachins (many Christians) have been internally displaced. Kachin IDPs are leaving their camps everyday, sometimes twice a day, to go to work. Despite the lockdown, these people are in desperate need of money and food. They must work in order to provide food to their families. Because of the situation within the IDP camps, if COVID19 gets into the camp, it would spread like wildfire, and these people would have limited, if any, medical aid. Some PPE has been given to the camps, but is is insufficient in numbers in a population highly vulnerable.
- In Iraq, Catholic charities are complaining that they are usable to reach the Christian IDPs in the country due to the restriction placed by the government during the pandemic. Because they are unable to travel, they cannot reach the IDPs that are in desperate need of their help. These Christians have been displaced due to war and persecution, they have little money and few have jobs. Now that the country is in lockdown they have very little, if any, access to resources in a country where many want them dead.
- Because of COVID19, Mary Mohammadi’s court hearing was delayed. She had been arrested for her human rights activism regarding the downed plane in Iran. For a month, she disappeared and we later found out that she had been tortured. This month, she received her sentence of three months and a flogging of 10 lashes. Many political prisoners in Iran are complaining that during this pandemic, judges are absent, information about prisoners is non-existent, and the unfair judicial system is even worse.
- Because of COVID19 pandemic, the High Court has delayed the appeal of a couple on death row for blasphemy. The couple was sentenced to death under Pakistan’s blasphemy laws after they were accused of sending text messages deemed blasphemous. They were tortured into a false ;confession. The evidence against them were the text messages, written in English, a language that neither person knows. They have been jailed separately since 2014. Pakistan is known to be slow in hearing appeals of Christians and the delay has made that even longer for this couple. Sitting on death row for six years, they will continue to wait.
- China continues to monitor churches and its pastors. However, under COVID19 restrictions, the guards are now refusing people entrance to the properties. Instead of observing, they are now restricting.
- Online services have been banned in China. Online preaching has also been banned in Shandong Province.
- A Chinese pastor has been detained for sharing a post on social media about the virus.
- Sun Feng, a Chinese Christian, was seized by security officers after she asked friends to pray and fast during the outbreak.
- Christians in Wuhan, China have been arrested for handing out face masks.
- Authorities in Nepal are using COVID19 laws to falsely accuse and arrest pastors.
- Authorities in Nepal used the COVID19 laws to falsely accuse and arrest a pastor.
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- A few worshipers had shown up at the church and the pastor told them they would have to leave because services had been cancelled. Nevertheless, he was arrested. While in custody, Pastor Prem Bahadur was harassed and then released on bail. He will have to continue to fight the false charges once the lockdown in the country is lifted.
- Another pastor, Mohan Gurung, was arrested for going against the country’s COVID19 lockdown laws. The police jumped over the locked gate and arrested him despite the fact that there were less than 10 people in attendance. It was a private meeting, all attendees were people who lived on the premises, services had been suspended, and all laws had been followed. He has been released on bail but will have to fight the system when the country reopens.
- Pastor Keshab Acharya was arrested as he was praying over sick people. The officers feigned being Christians in need of prayer and surrounded him for arrest. The official charges were that he was spreading false information about COVID19. The evidence against him was a social media video where he rebuked the virus as he preached.
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- A Christian woman, in Nepal, was arrested for praying for the sick. Officials charged her with creating misleading about COVID19. Local pastors say that she always prayed for the sick and the community did not like it. Because of the pandemic authorities have been allowed to arrest and harass Christians.
- In India a Priest was arrested for walking 30 yards within the church’s compound, supposedly breading the COVID19 lockdown policies.
- The Government in China is using the pandemic to ramp up its anti-religious activities. Many churches, now unoccupied are becoming targets for cross removal and other demolitions.
- A Church in Shanxi was forced to watch the government tear up its property on Easter Sunday. The government destroyed the exterior staircase and the fireman’s elevator, leaving damage on the hutch building itself.
- Throughout the pandemic, China has continued demolishing churches, tearing down crosses, inspecting homes to remove religious symbols and raid churches that meet in private.
- Two house churches were raided during an online worship service because they were practicing “folk religion” during the pandemic.
- In Egypt, authorities put a lockdown into place for the health of its citizens. This lockdown went through Easter, forcing Christians in Egypt, like many other places, to worship at home and not congregate. However, as Ramadan approached the orders were relaxed in order to allow Muslims to congregate.
HEALTHCARE ISSUES
GOVERNMENT OVERREACH
HOPE

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