EU Called Upon to Support Persecuted Christians

At the Open Doors meeting in Brussels, the European Union was called upon to support persecuted Christians.

Every year, reports are published through organizations supporting Christians regarding the situation of Christians around the world. On the occasion of the release of the annual report by the global Christian organization Open Doors concerning the situation of persecuted Christians, on February 14, corresponding to Bahman 25, a meeting was held in the European Parliament with the presence of representatives from the Christian organization “Open Doors,” the European Union’s Special Envoy for the Promotion and Protection of Freedom of Religion, Christian activists from Yemen and Sudan, and representatives from the European Parliament in Brussels.

This year’s reports focused on Sudan and Yemen, with Christian activists from the two countries speaking about the persecution of Christians in these nations and their resistance. In this year’s list of the Open Doors organization, Yemen ranked fifth, Sudan eighth, and Iran ninth among the ten most anti-Christian countries.

In last year’s review, the Open Doors report to the European Parliament focused on Iran, where Rev. Dabrina Bet-Tamerz, a Christian priest and activist, delivered a speech.

In this year’s meeting, Miriam Lexmann, a member of the European Parliament from Slovakia, was the opening speaker. She emphasized the expansion of anti-Christianity worldwide and declared that Europe must support persecuted Christians more extensively and explicitly.

Anastasia Hartmann and Christian Nanni, representatives of Open Doors, also attended the meeting and reported on the situation of Christian persecution worldwide with statistics and figures. The Christian organization Open Doors, which has been supporting persecuted Christians since the 1950s, published reports last year indicating that at least 365 million Christians have faced severe threats to their lives, livelihoods, and churches due to their faith and beliefs, and at least 4,998 Christians worldwide have been killed because of their faith and religion.

The Open Doors organization released a statement on Thursday, February 15, titled “Challenging the European Union to Support Persecuted Christians in the Middle East, North Africa, and Beyond.” The statement reads: “Those present in the European Parliament, consisting of members of the European Parliament and their colleagues, European diplomats, and representatives of non-governmental organizations based in Europe, heard testimonies from Christian converts in Muslim-majority countries. These individuals have been persecuted by their own governments and ostracized by their own societies.”

Activists and citizens from Yemen and Sudan who had converted to Christianity also attended the meeting. They spoke about persecution against Christians, the resilience of Christians in their countries, and the importance of the civic duty in democratic countries to be “the voice of the voiceless.” They emphasized that freedom of religion and belief is the right of all, including non-believers, not just Christians.

François van Daele, the European Union’s Special Envoy for the Promotion and Protection of Freedom of Religion, also spoke at the meeting: “Among my priorities for my mission has been to open dialogue channels with countries that wish to engage in conversation.”

Yasir Eric, who was formerly a radical and extremist Islamist who despised Jews and Christians and participated in attacks aimed at physically eliminating Christians, is now the Bishop of the Anglican Church and attended the annual meeting. He referred to his past at this meeting, saying: “My uncle, who was a radical Islamist, became a Christian, and his family rejected him. After converting to Christianity, I was imprisoned, rejected by my family, and to my father, I am considered a dead person, and even an empty grave exists for me in my village.” He spoke about the time he was imprisoned in Sudan and emphasized the importance of prayer in his life and for the persecuted church.

Another person from Yemen named Hassan Al-Yamani attended the meeting and, while referencing the vibrant presence of Christianity in Yemen before Islam, said: “Many Yemenis have become Christians today, and only secret home churches exist in that country.”

In addition to the above individuals, Kamal Fahmi, founder of the organization defending freedom of religion and belief from Yemen, also attended the European Parliament and stated: “We only seek simple and fundamental freedoms, which include fundamental human rights—freedom of thought, belief, and the right to change religion. The freedom to have or not have religion and belief for all citizens.”

During the question-and-answer session with Parliament members, a representative of Article 18, while referring to the publication of an annual report last year by Open Doors, two other global Christian organizations and Article 18, and the submission of recommendations to the United Nations for support of Iranian Christian refugees, asked a question about whether “any changes have occurred in the UN’s operations in this regard.” Anastasia Hartmann answered: “Currently, it is not easy to assess the impact of the recommendations that Open Doors and three other Christian organizations have submitted to the United Nations; however, we will continue our work at the United Nations and are prepared to present specific recommendations of the European Union in the next report.”

Following Anastasia Hartmann’s remarks, Kamal Fahmi stated: “In some cases and places, people working at the United Nations discriminate against Christian converts, and efforts should be made to change this.”

While emphasizing the importance of supporting those imprisoned for their beliefs, he also stressed the importance of changing laws in countries that violate freedom of belief and continued by quoting Martin Luther King: “It is true that morality cannot be legislated, but law can restrain the immoral. Laws may not make a man love me, but they can prevent him from lynching me, and that is important to me.”