Pastor William Devlin: Take my life, free him

Pastor William Devlin, in response to the death sentence of a Christian, said: "Take my life, free him."

Sandy Jackson, a Christian citizen from Nigeria, was sentenced to death for acting in self-defense against an attack by a Fulani Islamist. The sentence was handed down by Nigerian judicial authorities on March 7.

Pastor William Devlin is a leader of Infinity Bible Church and director of several charitable organizations who has supported persecuted Christians around the world for years and has been following and pursuing Sandy Jackson's case since her initial death sentence was issued in 2021.

The judge, while handing down the death sentence to Sandi, stated that Sandi should have fled the scene of the conflict and that since he did not flee and got involved, his punishment is death. His death sentence was upheld by the Nigerian Supreme Court in early March.

In response to the death sentence for Sandy Jackson, Pastor William announced during a press conference his readiness to sacrifice his life for the freedom of Jackson. In a statement about this decision and support for Sandy, he said: "My relationship with Jesus Christ requires me to sacrifice my life to save others, like him. I am 72 years old and Jackson is 30 years old. God has given me a long life and if I can save his life by my death, I will do it immediately."

Rev. William Devlin also called on other Christian leaders to work to get Jackson pardoned from the death penalty, but if that fails, he would be willing to give his life to save Jackson. "This is the same mission that Christ did for me, and now I want to do it for someone else," he said.

Following Pastor Devlin's appeal for Christian leaders to save Sandy, leaders of the Christian Association of Nigeria issued a statement calling for Sandy Jackson's pardon and calling the death sentence against her a miscarriage of justice. They said that Sandy Jackson had been awaiting trial for several years, but that her trial had been completely unfair.

Christian activists say the increasing number of violent attacks on the Christian community in Nigeria, often without justice or accountability, is a symbol of a genocide committed by Islamist extremists against minorities, a crime that the Nigerian government has consistently denied.