Persecuted and Forgotten

A REPORT ON CHRISTIANS OPPRESSED FOR THEIR FAITH 2022– 2024

CONTENTS

Foreword by Archbishop Bashar Warda of Erbil, Iraq

3 4 6

At-a-glance countries overview (map)

Main Findings Country Profile 1 Country Profile 2 Country Profile 3

Burkina Faso

13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39

Burma (Myanmar)

China

Case Study 1: Erin Shehata – another Egyptian girl kidnapped

Country Profile 4 Country Profile 5 Country Profile 6

Egypt Eritrea

India

Case Study 2: More than 300 Nigerian Christians massacred on Christmas Eve

Country Profile 7 Country Profile 8 Country Profile 9

Iran Iraq

Mozambique

Case Study 3: Nigerian priest survives abduction by extremists

Country Profile 10 Country Profile 11 Country Profile 12

Nicaragua

Nigeria

North Korea

Case Study 4: Worst treatment meted out to North Korea’s Christian defectors

Country Profile 13 Country Profile 14 Country Profile 15

Pakistan

Saudi Arabia

Sudan

Case Study 5: Pakistani Christian quarter consumed by flames

Country Profile 16 Country Profile 17 Country Profile 18

Syria

Turkey

Vietnam

Endnotes

Persecuted and Forgotten? A Report on Christians oppressed for their Faith 2022-24 Cover image: A woman comforts her child after the August 2023 violence in Jaranwala (© NCJP). See p. 35.

Published by Aid to the Church in Need | 725 Leonard Street, P.O. Box 220384, Brooklyn, NY 11222-0384 | Tel: (800) 628-6333 / (718) 609-0939 | www.churchinneed.org All photos © Aid to the Church in Need except pp. 11, 19, 22-24, 26 © Ismael Martínez Sánchez / Aid to the Church in Need; p. 16 used with kind permission of Raymond Ibrahim (www.raymondibrahim.com) and Coptic Solidarity (www.copticsolidarity.org); images on p. 24 © Hamed Saber, p. 30 © Magnus Manske, p. 31 © Cheying Photo and p. 33 © Richard Mortel and are used under Creative Commons license 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/); image on p. 37 © Roman Odintsov used under Creative Commons license 1.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/1.0/). ACN also thanks Father Stephen Ojapah, Jalang Mandong and the dioceses of Managua and Faisalabad for supplying photographs for use in this publication. Texts by John Pontifex, John Newton, Amy Balog and Daniel Beurthe. Special thanks to Tony Smith and Steve Riedlinger. Designed by Helen Anderson | Printed by Cliffe Enterprise, Unit 5D Southbourne Business Park, Courtlands Road, Eastbourne BN22 8UY. ACN is a Pontifical Foundation of the Catholic Church and is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Donations to ACN are tax-deductible to the fullest extent allowable under the law. EIN# 86-1089466. © 2024 Aid to the Church in Need.

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