Suleiman Khalil’s daughter, Natalie, with a CSI delegation in Washington D.C. csi
On November 1, President Donald Trump placed Nigeria back on the U.S. list of countries of particular concern (CPC) for religious freedom. In his announcement of the CPC designation, Trump stated that Christianity was “facing an existential threat in Nigeria,” where thousands of Christians were being killed. “Radical Islamists are responsible for this mass slaughter,” he asserted.
Christian Solidarity International (CSI) – which has been documenting attacks on Christians in Nigeria and providing aid to the survivors since 2013 – welcomed the move as a first step, but said action from the international community was required. “The United States, the United Kingdom and other countries should focus their attention on the Fulani militia groups who are carrying out a slow-motion ethnic cleansing campaign against Christians in Nigeria’s Middle Belt,” stated Director for Public Advocacy Joel Veldkamp.
“President Trump should direct his State Department to partner with the Nigerian authorities, both federal and state, and with local communities, to provide security,” wrote CSI’s president John Eibner in an op-ed published in the Zurich newspaper NZZ. “As they have in many other parts of the world, the U.S. and its allies can provide directly the support these communities need to defend themselves.”
Brazen attacks by Fulani militias
“There are strong indications that these well-armed militia networks receive at least tacit support from elements within the Nigerian security forces,” Veldkamp said. “Nigeria’s allies must investigate these ties, and demand that the Nigerian government take effective steps to hold perpetrators accountable and protect Christians in the Middle Belt.”
Indeed, over the course of November, Fulani militias were implicated in a number of brazen attacks on Christians in the Middle Belt.
On November 18, a Fulani Islamist militia group killed two worshipers and abducted 38 members of Christ Apostolic Church in Eruku, Kwara State. All 38 abductees were released five days later, the state governor’s office said.
Three days later, 315 children and teachers were abducted from St Mary’s Catholic school in Papiri, Niger State. Fifty later came free. It is believed to be the worst mass kidnapping of schoolchildren since 276 mostly Christian girls were abducted from a boarding school in Chibok in 2014. Close to 100 Chibok girls are thought to still be in captivity.
In addition to the Niger State school abduction, 24 schoolgirls were abducted from their dormitory in Maga, Kebbi State, on November 17. The same day, a Catholic priest, Bobbo Paschal, was abducted in Kaduna State. While the security forces were able to rescue the 24 girls, Father Bobbo remains in captivity.
Religious freedom in Armenia at risk
From November 13 to 17, a CSI delegation visited Armenia on a fact-finding mission. During the visit, the delegation met with lawyers and family members of people detained in the Armenian government’s campaign against the Armenian Apostolic Church, and was also granted an audience with the Armenian Catholicos, His Holiness Karekin II.
“We are profoundly disturbed by what we have witnessed during our visit to Armenia,” Joel Veldkamp said at a press conference CSI held in Yerevan on November 15. “We are particularly alarmed by the Pashinyan government’s intrusion into the affairs of one of the world’s oldest churches.”
The visit came during a crackdown by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on the Armenian Apostolic Church and its supporters. Dozens of supporters of the church, including three bishops, have been detained as the prime minister demands the resignation of the Catholicos, the head of the worldwide Armenian church.
During the visit, CSI was not granted permission by the Ministry of Justice to visit detained clergy and supporters of the Armenian Apostolic Church.
U.S. urged to break its silence
The following week, CSI carried its message of profound concern for religious freedom in Armenia to Washington DC. Speaking at a Capitol Hill briefing entitled “Repression of Christianity in Armenia,” Veldkamp detailed the oppression of the church in Armenia.
Veldkamp told the gathering that human rights organizations who the CSI team met with in Armenia had consistently highlighted the attack on judicial independence in Armenia and the grave threat to the rule of law.
Warning that the Armenian government’s campaign against the church threatened Armenia’s national identity and its free society, he called on the U.S. to “break its silence” over the religious repression playing out there.
Advocacy for Suleiman Khalil
In separate meetings in Washington, CSI highlighted the case of Suleiman Khalil, the former mayor of Sadad in Syria, who has been detained since February 8 without charge and without access to a lawyer. Khalil is widely credited with saving Sadad’s Christian population from massacre in 2015, when he organized the Syriac Orthodox town’s defense against ISIS.
The CSI team, accompanied by Khalil’s daughter Natalie, met with Congressman Pete Aguilar of California, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, and other officials and organizations in the capital, to tell Suleiman Khalil’s story and build support for his release.
Natalie recounted how the Syrian authorities have blocked her and her mother from making regular visits to Khalil in prison. She reported that her father’s condition had deteriorated and there were signs he could have been tortured.
CSI is committed to ensuring Khalil’s release from prison. Supporters are invited to send a message via the CSI website to Asaad al-Shaibani, Syria’s foreign minister, calling on the government to free Suleiman Khalil.
The case of Suleiman Khalil is the subject of the latest Christian Solidarity podcast, which can be listened to here.
