Photo of "Smuggling" of Christmas Trees in "Noel" Countries: From Saudi Arabia to Brunei
There are regions and countries in the world where Christian citizens are forced to hold religious ceremonies and celebrations, or those with a religious connotation, in secret.
A Facebook page has recently been launched in support of “persecuted Christians.” The page asks Christians to send pictures of their decorated Christmas trees to the page.
The project is called “Tridom” – a portmanteau of the English word for tree and freedom. Dozens of photos have been submitted to the page from around the world. For example, here’s one from Brunei, a small Southeast Asian country where two-thirds of its 430,000 people are Muslim. The sultan recently banned Christians from celebrating Christmas. Last year, he announced that the country would move towards Sharia law and has already added punishments such as stoning to death. However, some Christians have secretly put up Christmas trees, donned Santa hats and taken pictures.
Also on the page is a picture of the Syrian Kurdish town of Kobani, which briefly fell under ISIS control earlier this year but was driven out by Kurdish forces and remains the scene of intense fighting between the two sides. It would have been impossible to capture such a picture in the area last year.
A picture of Karbala, Iraq, has also been sent to this page. Currently, Christians living in this city are not in trouble. This city has even become a refuge or “paradise” for Christians fleeing other cities in Iraq, especially areas under ISIS control, but the senders of the picture have asked the question: how long can this situation continue? Christians living in this city are worried about the attack and advance of the ISIS group in Iraq.
In Saudi Arabia, a Saudi family has posted a picture of their Christmas tree that was “smuggled” from Bahrain. The practice of any religion other than Islam is banned in Saudi Arabia by the authorities. This is despite the fact that about 4 percent of the country’s population, or about 1.5 million people, are Christians, but there are no official churches in Saudi Arabia.
This image was also sent to this page from northern Nigeria, a region where Christians are in great danger due to the presence of the terrorist group Boko Haram, a group that has threatened Christians and recently announced an alliance with the ISIS group.
The page also posted images from countries where people were celebrating Christmas freely. People who posted their images showed their solidarity with “persecuted Christians.”
Pictures from Dubai, Bahrain and Iran have also been published on this page. In Iran, despite the freedom to practice their religion for Christians, Muslims who convert to Christianity may be prosecuted. However, Christmas is very popular not only among the Christian community but also among the country's Muslim youth, and every year during this time, many shops sell products specifically for this celebration, and young people gather together and celebrate on this pretext.
Source: RFI Persian
