Nigeria: Abductions of Christian leaders
Kaduna state witnessed the abductions of several Christian leaders in December.
19 December: Rev Luka Dani of the Evangelical Church Winning All Church was abducted following an attack on the Galumi community in Gwagwada, Chikun Local Government Area (LGA). He was eventually released on 23 December and has now left the area.
21 December: Rev Thomas James of Godiya Baptist Church, Gwazunu, was abducted following an attack by over 100 well-armed men on the Gwazunu community in Gwagwada. The militia went on to attack the Gbaja Katarma community, killing eight people and injuring four others.
24 December: Mrs Jumai Luka, the wife of Rev Luka Shaho of the Assemblies of God Church in Ungwan Waziri, Chikun LGA, was abducted by armed men who had beaten her husband ‘mercilessly’.
26 December: Pastor Emmanuel Egon Bako, the state chair of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN), was abducted along with his wife Cindy during an attack on the Albarka Prayer Camp in Jema’a LGA. The couple was released on 27 December, reportedly following payment of a ransom.
Abductions have continued into 2021.
Pakistan: Murder based on ‘religious differences’
In November Dr Tahir Mahmood, 31, an Ahmadi Muslim, was murdered. He was shot in front of his family at his home in Nankana Sahib District, Punjab, Eastern Pakistan, just after they had finished their afternoon prayers. His father Tariq and his uncles, Saeed and Tayyab, were also shot, but survived. The suspect who was taken into police custody confessed to carrying out the attack based on ‘religious differences.’
The Ahmadiyya community, the most persecuted religious group in Pakistan, has faced increased targeting and killings in the last year.
Eritrea: Prisoners released
Seventy Christians were released from prison in January and February.
On 27 January, six female prisoners who’d been detained for worshipping in public in September 2020 in Dekemhare, south-east of Asmara were released. Then less than a week later on 1 February, 21 female and 43 male prisoners from Evangelical and Orthodox backgrounds were released. They had been held without charge or trial for periods of between two and 12 years. In December 2020, 28 Jehovah's Witnesses were released, three of whom had been detained for 26 years.
There is speculation that these releases are an attempt by the Eritrean regime to distract international attention from the country’s active role in the ongoing war in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, where Eritrean troops have been accused of committing atrocity crimes.