Pastor Nadarkhani on hunger strike for his children’s future
Last September Iranian church leader Yousef Nadarkhani went on hunger strike for three weeks to protest his sons being denied their educational rights. Pastor Nadarkhani is himself in prison at the time of writing, serving an unjust ten-year sentence on charges relating to his church work. But he didn’t let his incarceration stop him from taking a courageous stand for the faith and future of his sons and other second- generation Christian children.
Many of you will remember Pastor Nadarkhani’s story. He spoke movingly at our conference in London in 2012, thanking CSW supporters for their prayers and campaigning for him. Originally arrested in 2009 after questioning the Muslim monopoly on religious education in Iran, he faced the death penalty for apostasy (abandoning a faith; in this instance, Islam). Over 60,000 of you campaigned for Pastor Nadarkhani and in 2012 he was acquitted and eventually released.
Despite this experience, Pastor Nadarkhani didn’t abandon his church activities. In May 2016 he was arrested once again and is currently serving a ten-year prison sentence alongside three other Christians, allegedly for ‘acting against the national security through propagating house churches and promoting Zionist Christianity.’
Held in an Iranian jail, but still protesting
He’s been fighting for 11 years for his children’s right to be exempted from Islamic studies at school. His children - Yoel, 15, and Daniel, 17 - have both been prevented from continuing their education unless they agree to take Islamic classes. Legally, members of religious minorities, including Christians, are exempt and in a 2009 ruling Iran’s Supreme Leader actually stated that children born into a Christian family have the right to receive a Christian education, even if the state considers their parents apostates.
Thus the restrictions on Yoel and Daniel are totally unwarranted, and their father risked his health in order to make a courageous stand for his children’s rights.
Faith and a future for all children
Stories like this led us to launch our Faith and a Future campaign two years ago. Since then, thousands of you have signed our petitions, joined us for protests, donated to the campaign - and prayed faithfully.
In October the UN’s Special Rapporteur on the right to education presented her latest report, and for the first time she mentioned freedom of religion in educational settings. Her report specifically referred to hate speech in textbooks, an issue we've focused on. This is an encouraging development and shows the importance of persevering in our advocacy and campaigning!
In Mexico, a very special first day back at school
In September, 10-year-old Kevin was able to return to school in Chiapas, Mexico! His dream is to be a doctor, but his education was interrupted when he and other members of his faith community were driven from their homes in 2018. Hundreds of you emailed the governor of Chiapas about Kevin’s case, and a Mexican organisation, Mision 21 Gramos, lobbied local officials.
Kevin and other children from his community can now continue learning and look forward to a brighter future.
Sadly we know that many more children in Mexico and all over the world are still missing out on an education because of their faith. Which means that we’re going to keep up our advocacy and campaigning! On the next page is a map we've put together of some key cases, to give you an idea of how widespread the issue is.
Where the campaign has taken us
These key cases give you an idea of the scope and scale of religious discrimination in education around the world.
China: Quanquan
Quanquan is just six, but he’s already been forced out of school more than once because the authorities in Beijing, China, are punishing him for who his father is. Wang Quanzhang is a prominent human rights lawyer who was detained in 2015, and has been charged with ‘subversion of state power’. He’s still in prison, with very limited family visits, and now his son has been prevented from going to school.
Meanwhile in Xinjiang Province, between one and three million Uyghurs (who are predominantly Muslim) are being held in re- education camps for ‘crimes’ such as owning a religious book or attending a religious meeting. Children are being separated from their parents and placed in state-run orphanages.
Iran: Daniel and Yoel
Pastor Yousef Nadarkhani’s two sons, Daniel and Yoel, have been prevented from carrying on their schooling until they agree to take Islamic religious classes. Last autumn their father undertook a three-week hunger strike to protest for their rights. At the time of writing, neither Daniel nor Yoel has been able to resume their education.
Mexico: Kevin and Alma
Kevin and Alma were both forcibly displaced from their homes because of their religion, and as a result their education was interrupted. Kevin has since returned to school after an international campaign, but Alma is still out of school.
Nigeria: Leah
Leah Sharibu was one of 110 girls abducted from their school in Dapchi by a Boko Haram offshoot in February 2018. The next month, following negotiations by the government, the surviving girls were put into vehicles to go home. However, Leah wasn’t among them. She wasn’t released because she refused to convert in exchange for her freedom.
We’ve been campaigning for Leah since she was abducted, and in October last year we joined a one-day prayer vigil with people across the world praying for Leah’s swift and safe return.
Pakistan: Breakthrough for fair textbooks
In schools across Pakistan, children learn from textbooks that distort history and encourage discrimination against religious minorities. Following a petition signed by over 5,000 CSW supporters, the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) agreed to re-examine its position to make sure no UK aid funds textbooks that promote bias and hate. We’re working with them to achieve this.