Persecution of Ex-Muslims

Islam is the only major world religion that does not allow its followers the freedom to change faith. According to Shari'ah laws (extracted from the Qur'an and Sunnah), apostates of Islam must be sentenced to death. This has led to former Muslims often being persecuted, abused and killed. This treatment of apostates is not simply down to the issue of state-enforced religion as some may suggest. As you will find out on this page, the violence or threats of violence against apostates in the Muslim world usually derives not from government authorities but from family members and individuals from the Islamic communities themselves, who operate very often with impunity from the government. This point is further emphasised by the persecution and murder of former Muslims which has now become evident in many non-Muslim societies across the globe.

Afghanistan

• Taliban militants kill five Afghan men (including former mullah "Assad Ullah") who had converted to Christianity
• Christians subjected to police raids and threats. Two arrested for apostasy, and another beaten unconscious
• Christian convert on trial for apostasy, faces the death penalty. Senior clerics voice strong support for prosecution
• Protestors and government minister call for the execution of Christian converts. Reports of widspread arrests, torture and harrasment. 150 Afghan Christians living in exile
• Over 20 Afghan Christians detained after high-level leaders called for the arrest and execution of converts to Christianity
• Christian Red Cross worker and father of 6, to be executed. Jailed for eight months, he has been sexually abused, beaten, mocked, spat on, and deprived of sleep for leaving Islam
• Gunman enters bank in the eastern city of Jalalabad and shoots dead 42 "infidel" Afghans, including women and children. Says he thought they may be "converts to Christianity"

• Convert from Islam: "If I'm arrested, I would never say I'm a Christian. If you admit it, you (cannot stay in) the country," thousands in the Islamic nation still hoping for religious freedom, ten years after the Taliban's fall

Algeria

• Algerian Minister of Religion affirms that apostates from Islam should be killed
• Police publicly body-search and interrogate female ex-Muslim on trial for practicing Christianity
• Christian detained five days for carrying a Bible and personal Bible study books was handed a 300-euro (US$460) fine and a one-year suspended prison sentence
• State prosecutor demands two-year jail sentences and large $8145 fines for six Muslim converts to Christianity on trial for proselytism and holding an illegal religious gathering
• Algerian Court pressures woman to renounce her new Christian faith. "You reinstate Islam and I will [drop the case]; if you persist in sin you will undergo the lightning of justice."
• Muslim converts to Christianity targeted. Four Algerian Christians received jail terms for opening a place of worship without government authorization

Austria

• Muslim convert to Christianity goes into hiding after her father wants her killed for apostasy. Instead of protecting her, Austrian authorities suggest she returns to Islam. Now living in Germany under police protection

Australia

• "Let your Jesus help you," Hijab-wearing Muslim women who received threats from Muslims who falsely believed she had converted to Christianity, is raped by an Iraqi Muslim man as punishment
• Convert from Islam to Christianity, active in the migrant community, helping Muslims leaving detention centres, feared kidnapped by Muslim hardliners
• Muslim man tries to murder his brother for insulting a Muslim prophet, stabbed 7 times in the chest, back and flank, suffering a pierced liver and kidney, rushed to hospital with life-threatening injuries

Bangladesh

• Christian doctor who converted from Islam, killed by men local media described as militants
• Rights group urge US to rescue ex-Muslims in Bangladesh; a country spiraling rapidly downward into the hands of Islamic extremists. Christians are not safe, especially Muslims who convert to Christianity
• Muslim villagers deprive Christians of water, savagely beat 10 Christian converts from Islam with bricks and wooden clubs, threatening to burn down their homes. Extremists say they will kill two Converts
• Christian converts again beaten and threatened with death. Police assigned to protect them for 3 months pull-out after a week. Muslim villagers abduct convert
• Muslim villagers and foreign Islamist missionaries hauling recently converted Christians to mosques and forcing them to reconvert to Islam. Local Muslims also vandalizing their homes and taking their daily essentials
• Family of Christian converts beaten with iron rods and cut with machetes by Muslim neighbors. Local council threaten to burn home if they file assault case
• Muslim villagers coerce brothers to expel their elderly parents from home for converting to Christianity. Ishmael (70) and Rahima (55), now living in a shelter, say they would rather starve to death than return to Islam
• Daughter converts to Christianity in the US, and Muslims marginalize her family in Bangladesh. Her husband leaves her and family members cry out for divorce
• Death threats made against the family of a Christian who converted from Islam in Australia. Father ordered by Islamic group to “sacrifice” his son because the latter’s conversion has brought into disrepute the whole Muslim community
• A Christian convert's mother wants to convert. Her husband frequently tortures her for their son's conversion, beats her and burns her Bible. He threatens to do the same to her and her daughters
• Christian convert, his wife, and his child, flee their home which was set on fire by Muslims. All three have been threatened with death by a group of a hundred people
• Muslims protest Baptism of 55 converts. Two Christian families suffer severe beatings and extortion
• Muslim thief confesses to crime, but Police arrest and charge Christian convert instead
• Convert to Christianity kidnapped and tortured, stripped naked and forced to bow and stand for hours; they threaten to put a boiled egg in his anus. Now hiding in Hong Kong, but fears for families safety; house attacked
• Imam converts to Christianity while abroad. Returns home with his wife only to be ostracized by his community, threatened, forced to move from home to home and beaten almost to death. Spends two months in hospital

Cameroon

• Christian converts come under pressure as Muslims warn them to return to Islam at a mosque or “face Allah’s wrath”. Muslims break into church leaders home, tell his wife "they would get him no matter where he was hiding"

Canada

• Guinea Imam issues fatwa against son for converting to Christianity. Convert fights to stay in Canada

Chad

• Christian convert loses his family members. Muslim in-laws seize his wife and kill his young son

Comoros Islands

• In two separate incidents, young men are jailed for possession of the Jesus film. After his release from prison, one of the men with his eight-months’-pregnant wife flees the Island
• Three men and a teenager forced to share a cell while dressed only in their underwear. Sentenced to prison for three months for “involvement in Christianity”
• Ex-Muslim Shaykh forced into hiding after Muslims hunt him for converting to Christianity. Apostates regularly face violence, torched homes and travel restrictions

Denmark

• Church leader and convert, flees home with family after being attacked for displaying cross. Albanian beaten for considering baptism. Several non-Danish Christians "subjected to threats and attacks in Denmark"
• Muslims threaten to cut MP Naser Khader into pieces and trample him to death shortly after he criticized the Syrian president and declared that he was considering converting to Christianity
• Afghan convert to Christianity is attacked by a Muslim at an asylum center, cut in the back, arm and neck for leaving Islam. The convert had already received a panic alarm, but it failed to work

Egypt

• Christian convert from Islam and her Christian husband held in prison for several months, in an attempt to force her to return to Islam, divorce her husband, and to raise her child as a Muslim
• Christian convert committed into a mental hospital by parents. Beaten, whipped and given potentially fatal injections, doctors say he will remain there unless he returns to Islam
• Muslim sheikh jailed in Egypt for already 18 months is “under arrest for insulting Islam by becoming a Christian”. Told he will remain there unless he agreed to work as an informer against other converts to Christianity
• At least 22 Egyptian Christians arrested in a crackdown on apostates and those who support them, and are being beaten, interrogated, tortured and raped in an attempt to persuade them to return to Islam
• Ex-Muslim attempts to officialy convert to Christianity. Registry office staff swear at and beat him, and opposing lawyers advocate he be convicted of “apostasy” and sentenced to death
• Christian convert and her Coptic husband go into hiding from police and her Muslim family, after being arrested for marrying a Christian and her family completely burning off her Coptic cross tattoo
• Convert to Christianity and his wife and child go into hiding after Muslim scholars issue fatwas calling for his death. Wife threatened with death because she married a convert
• Ex-Muslim loses case to officialy convert to Christianity. Authorities illegally detain him and his daughter and confiscate his passport. Several calls for 'spilling his blood' have been issued
• Muslim curses Christian and shouts "Allahu Akbar" while attempting to behead him for leaving Islam
• Police break into converts home and assault him in front of his wife and children. Confiscating his computer, books and CDs, he is taken to jail and charged with "defaming Islam" for converting from Islam to Christianity
• Egypt's new constitution limits religious freedom. Criminal court sentences entire Christian family (a woman and her seven children) to 15 years in prison for converting from Islam

Ethiopia

• Former Muslim Imam, Hajji Husman Mohamed and his family, including his pregnant wife, severely beaten for more than an hour due to his conversion to Christianity. All of his property has been confiscated
• Mob led by 7 Muslim clerics brutally attack 50 or more Christians (including converts). Previous conversion of 2 also led to violent riots and beatings instigated by Muslim leaders
• Christian convert forcibly taken to a mosque on suspicion that he had left Islam. Attacked and stabbed by three Muslim men for refusing to enter and pray

France

• Priests and bishops refuse to baptize Muslim converts to Christianity, for fear of the consequences

Germany

• Iranian founder of German ex-Muslim atheist/agnostic organization living under police protection following death threats to her and other members
• Revered as a holy family in Turkey, the "descendant of Muhammad" from the Kurdish minority seek asylum in Germany. They convert to Christianity whilst in Germany and receive death threats from Muslims

Ghana

• Converts from Islam to Christianity face threats and violence

Greece

• In a Christian-majority country where Muslim immigrants violently riot in their thousands over perceived slights against Islam, popular Muslim politician reveals his apostasy and conversion to Christianity... after his death

India

• Young Christian girl (convert from Shi'ite Islam) kidnapped in Kashmir
• Converted Christian son of devout Muslim cleric remains on death list after at least four failed attempts on his life and numerous death threats by phone and by letter
• Two Muslims kill Christian convert in broad daylight as he chats with friends in his village
• Mother of two forcibly stripped naked and beaten by Muslims for converting to Christianity. Prayer meeting at home and Baptism of convert at church disturbed by Muslim mobs who threaten to burn down building
• Muslims hold three "infidel" female Christian converts hostage and threaten, "convert back to Islam or face dire consequences"
• Muslim converts to Christianity in Jammu and Kashmir are ordered to 'repent' or face social boycott
• Police in Kashmir Valley detain and beat Christian converts from Islam and are expected to arrest Christian workers after Muslim leaders allege that Muslim youth were being “lured” to Christianity
• Parents throw their daughter out and help Islamic "extremists" to beat her nearly unconscious, because she gave thanks to Jesus. Muslims threaten to kill a further 25 Muslim families who show an interest in Christianity

Indonesia

• "Punish her! Kill Rebekka! Hang her!" Women leaves Islam, and Muslim mob demand that the court hang her or "we, the people of Islam, will carry out justice"
• Muslims aided by local officials seize church and all its contents, including furniture, musical instruments, and vehicles, on rumors that the church was a haven for newly baptized Christians
• 3 activists have dialogue with a convert to Christianity, horribly execute him and dump his body in the forest after he "insults" them by refusing to believe in Islam. Police only able to identify him after taking DNA samples

Iran

• Name, age and method of execution records for 465 individuals charged with apostasy related offences between 1979 - 1990
• Church leader and convert from Islam (known by his congregation as the “Soul Giver”), found by authorities, hanging from a tree
• Arrested convert to Christianity faces possible execution on charges of apostasy from Islam and of proselytizing Muslims
• 53-year-old convert to Christianity who was attacked by a Muslim relative and had recieved several death threats, is kidnapped and stabbed to death. His beaten, bleeding body is thrown in front of his home
• Long-time convert to Christianity who was previously threatened with death for apostasy, under arrest and held by secret police for the past three weeks. May face official charge
• Christian couple punished by whipping for "apostasy" by six officials who visit their home
• Police in Tehran detain and torture a married couple who recently converted from Islam to Christianity and threatened to put their 4-year-old daughter in an institution
• Sixteen converts from Islam to Christianity arrested; including six women, eight men and two adolescents
• Two Christian women held for over four months in Tehran's notorious Evin prison for leaving Islam. There are growing concerns that they may face execution for apostasy
• Authorities arrest 27 converts from Islam to Christianity at a home church, seven still remain detained
• Imprisoned Christan pastor sentenced to death by hanging, for renouncing his Muslim religion
• Christian convert beaten to death by a Muslim relative
• Christian pastor, Behrouz Sadegh-Khanjani, 35, facing a possible indictment for apostasy
• 25 converts from Islam to Christianity (including church leaders and five married couples) arrested by authorities. Two couples separated from very young children
• 11 converts to Christianity who have fled Iran receive death threats warning them that they are being watched by “acute eyes of the unknown soldiers,” and if the do not repent, "they must be killed"
• "His crime is not converting others to Christianity," 2 years after his arrest and conviction for apostasy, Iran now tries to justify pastor's imminent death sentence with rape claim. 2010 court ruling show this claim to be false
• Muslim convert to Christianity missing after four plainclothes officers raid his home, confiscate his Bibles, and arrest him. Family threatened, told to remain silent and not talk about the incident
• Muslim convert to Christianity sentenced to six years in prison for "having his baptism performed in Turkey"
• Convert from Islam to Christianity who was arrested in her home by authorities is sentenced to two years in prison after enduring 5 months of uncertainty in notorious Evin prison
• 10 Christian converts arrested during prayer in a house church and transferred to an unknown location. Previously arrested on charges of “having a Christian faith”. Iran also bans Farsi speakers from entering churches
• School teacher and convert from Islam to Christianity charged with having faith in Christianity, denied access to a lawyer, sentenced to three years in prison
• 78 year old convert arrested and her home raided; another newly wed convert also arrested and his wife interrogated, he is denied visits from wife and family and his wedding video may be used to identify other converts
• In addition to a wave of arrests in Ahwaz, Shiraz, Esfahan and Tehran, 13 more Christian converts are insulted, abused and arrested in Kermanshah, their homes raided and some personal belongings confiscated
• "Where are you taking my daughter?" 2 converts arrested in their homes and taken to an undisclosed location, families not given access and are mocked by authorities who tell them, "Ask Jesus Christ to come and release her!"
• Unsuccessful in reducing the number of Christian converts by banning Farsi language services, the Ministry of Intelligence now orders church leaders to compile a list of names and National ID numbers of its members
• Muslim-born American pastor who converted to Christianity is imprisoned without notice of charges whilst visiting family, all communication devices confiscated and his family (also converts) placed under house arrest

Iraq

• False rumours create hatred and suspicion against convert couple. Persecuted and now stranded in Jordan
• Christian convert who had been threatened by his relatives and other Muslims and twice arrested for his beliefs, shot and killed after refusing to return to Islam
• Christians, including converts from Islam and people involved in mixed-faith marriages, being crucified by Muslims
• Son murders his father (a former Interpreter for the United States Military) for converting to Christianity. Many Iraqis, including civilians and senior clerics, say he deserved to be killed in accordance with Islam

Italy

• Converts from Islam to Christianity are exposed to threats, even in the West, revealing why it is difficult to ascertain specific data on the number of converts from Islam
• Moroccan immigrant hangs himself after his Muslim family bitterly opposed his decision to convert to Catholicism, threatening and savagely beating him
• Teenager at the centre of a prostitution probe says her father threw a pan of boiling oil over her when she was 12-years-old after she told him she wanted to convert to Catholicism

Jordan

• On trial for converting from Islam to Christianity. Jordanian flees country after Muslim relatives violently attack him and his 10-year-old son in their home and his father sues him on charges of apostasy
• Apostates are stripped of all legal rights in Jordan. Sharia court annuls ex-Muslim's marriage

Kenya

• Children of Christian converts abducted by Muslim relatives and taken to Somalia to be enrolled in 'rehabilitation' centers
• Muslims beat a suspected Christian convert from Islam unconscious with iron rods and wooden clubs. Stripping him naked and dragging his bleeding body to a church, they leave him for dead
• 54 year old convert, who had his house burned to the ground by Muslims, is bound and beaten by them with sticks and metallic objects. They stomp on his stomach, damaging his urinary system
• 60 year old convert, whose family was shunned by friends and relatives for his absence from mosque prayers, seeks to flee with his family after Muslims post his photo in a mosque, accusing him of being a threat to Islam
• "We did not succeed in killing your brother, but today we are going to kill you." 7 Somali Muslims beat another suspected Christian convert from Islam unconscious

Kosovo

• Gun held to a youth’s head during an attack on a church, for forsaking his 'Muslim heritage'

Kuwait

• 44-year-old persecuted convert flees to an undisclosed location in America

Kyrgyzstan

• Official campaign against Christian proselytism may be launched due to Muslim anger at conversions from Islam to Christianity
• A long series of incidents involving Muslim intolerance culminates in the Murder of Christian convert
• Young girl forced to work in a sewing workshop after being tortured and beaten unconscious by her parents because she left Islam, converted to Christianity

Libya

• Libyan intelligence officials detain and torture four Christians for converting from Islam

Malaysia

• Convert to Christianity is arrested, stripped naked and forced to enact the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Tortured and physically assaulted, he passed blood in his urine and was not allowed sleep for days at a stretch
• Hindu convert held at an Islamic 'rehabilitation' center for six months. Subjected to mental torture for insisting her religion is Hinduism, and forced to eat beef
• Ex-Muslim attempts to make her conversion to Christianity officially recognised to retain the right to raise children. Goes into hiding after she and her legal advisor are threatened with death
• 'Muslim' woman who as a seven year-old child was coerced by a government welfare home into accepting Islam, fights to be recognized as a Hindu. Unable to register her marriage to a Hindu man
• Former Muslims being taken to "re-education" centers to be forced back to Islam
• Malaysian agency vows to enforce apostasy law due to "scores of Muslim converts" leaving Islam
• Family hands student over to the Islamic Religious Affairs Department after he admits convertion to Christianity. Student repents and Court orders him to surrender passport, attend mosque, and report to its imam for 6 months
• Malaysian Senator vows to burn down news outlets in defense of Islam and will wage war against infidels who convert Muslims, including a threat to the "Muslims" who abet the non-Muslims
• Muslims demand action against those who proselytize Muslims to Christianity, and 22 Islamic non-governmental organizations call for laws banning apostasy
• "This is slander of the worst kind," Malaysian Muslim furious over Internet apostasy (hit?) list with names of 430 Muslims who had allegedly embraced another religion, either Christianity, Hinduism or Buddhism

Maldives

• "I am learning the hard way that there is no place for non-Muslim Maldivians in this society." Atheist who desperately sought asylum to escape persecution hangs himself. Muslims complain about non-Muslims being buried in the same cemeteries as Muslims
• Police file case against atheist despite 'recanting' after 3 days of 'religious counselling' for his public declaration at a Zakir Naik Q&A of being a non-Muslim (for which he was attacked by Muslims who called for his death)

Morocco

• Growing number of converts to Christianity irk the Islamic nation
• Persecution on the rise as Islamists use Facebook to vilify and expose the identities of Christian converts and their families. 7,000 Muslim clerics sign a statement denouncing all Christian activities
• Netherlands refuses Christian convert's asylum application and expels him back to Morocco. Rejected by family and forced to move from his home village, he's now serving 15 years in jail for speaking openly about his faith
• Christian Convert from Islam stabbed multiple times by 4 Muslim men as he leaves a house church. They claim he "dishonored his family and Islam by becoming a kafir". He regains consciousness after three days
• Ex-Muslim atheist activist who received several death threats, now in hiding after police interrogate his father at work and break into what they thought was his home. If found, he faces a possible trial and prison sentence

Netherlands

• The heads of Dutch and German ex-Muslim organisations are both living under police protection following death threats
• The chairman of the Committee for ex-Muslims, and his girlfriend, are attacked for the third time and beaten by Muslims. Now under permanent police protection and in hiding. He has received dozens of death threats
• Reports of growing persecution of former Muslims in the Netherlands, with some being forced to move to different cities after death threats from Muslims
• American Christian convert flees Netherlands amid death threats

Nigeria

• Cattleman arrested and severely tortured by the police for converting to Christianity, detained for four days and receives death threats from Muslims
• Christian pastor (himself a convert) faces arrest if he does not "produce" another recent convert from Islam, even though they are aware that he has been abducted from his house by Muslim militants
• In different states, two Muslims convert to Christianity and both are fleeing from Muslims who want to kill them
• Muslims shoot and kill two children of an ex-terrorist because he refused to kill a Christian and instead converted to Christianity

Norway

• "If you do not return to Islam, we will kill you." Ex-Muslim convert to Christianity attacked with boiling water and acid by Muslim asylum seekers at an ‘asylum reception centre’, leaving him with a severely disfigured back
• “This is Jihad, holy war, and we are waiting for a fatwa (licence to kill) from the local imam.” After management ignore their pleas for help, 5 Christian converts from Islam flee in fear from Muslims at asylum reception center
• Two Iranian converts from Islam to Christianity stabbed by masked men. Attackers shout 'Kuffar' (Arabic for non-believer or infidel) during the attack. Passing nurse provides first aid and ambulance takes them to hospital

Oman

• Persecution a "part of daily life for Christians in Oman", former Muslim in Salalah is "treated" with electro shocks for their conversion to Christianity

Pakistan

• Attacked by her own family and raped for converting to Christianity, ex-Muslim leaves her home city of Karachi with her Christian husband and two young daughters
• New apostasy bill to impose the death penalty on Muslim men and life in prison on Muslim women in case they leave Islam
• Teenager who converted to Christianity goes into hiding after escaping death at the hands of her family, who beat her and unsuccessfully demanded she return to Islam
• New poll finds 78% of Muslims support the death penalty for leaving Islam ('extremist' Muslims are not the minority)
• Schoolteacher and Ahmadi Convert from Islam who faced opposition from relatives and whom local clerics declared “liable to be killed”, is shot dead in front of students
• Woman who has a Christian husband is accused of apostasy, 25 men assault her, shave her head and parade her through her village
• 60-year-old converts from Christianity to Islam without reprisals, then reconverts to Christianity, is threatened by clerics, and disgraced by Muslims who torture her, shave her head, garland her with shoes and parade her
• 16-year-old Christian convert from Islam remains missing some two weeks after being kidnapped by Muslims in the volatile Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Provinces

Palestinian Authority area

• Missing Muslim convert to Christianity returned to his family, slaughtered and cut into four pieces by Muslims
• Christian covert who was arrested and tortured over several months in P.A. jails for his apostasy, shot dead by masked gunmen
• Shunned by family and friends and declared 'apostates' for their unorthodox beliefs, Ahmadi couple endure insults and death threats from neighbors, and are forcibly divorced by Palestinian court

Philippines

• Converts from Islam facing death threats by Muslims who warn church leaders "blood will flow" if they continue to minister to Muslims

Saudi Arabia

• Imprisoned Saudi convert to Christianity, not the only Saudi Christian in jail
• Member of the Muttawa (religious police) cuts off his daughters tongue and burns her to death for her conversion to Christianity
• Authorities detain blogger for publicly writing about his conversion from Islam to Christianity on his website
• Interpol and Swedish authorities aid hunt for female who fled the country after "illegally" converting from Islam to Christianity, 2 men arrested and charged with "complicity in her conversion and escape"
• Saudi website editor could face death for apostasy

Somalia

• College student who converted to Christianity is shot and killed for refusing to join crowds chanting verses from Qur'an during lunar eclipse
• British teacher who converted from Islam to Christianity is shot dead by militant Muslims who "believe it is ok to kill any man who was born into Islam and left the faith"
• Aid worker beheaded in front of a crowd to chants of “Allah Akubar” for converting from Islam to Christianity
• Christian convert shot and forced to pay US$266 by a camp “court” for his conversion "dishonoring Islam". Muslim gangs raping and killing converts, denying them access to water and burning their homes
• Immigration officials beat and verbally abuse "pagan" pastor for carrying Christian literature and threaten to kill him unless he returns to Islam. His money and possessions are 'confiscated'
• Seven prisoners accused of abandoning the Muslim faith and being spies are beheaded. Sisters and wives attend police station to collect mutilated bodies
• Converted church leader hunted down and shot dead, and Christian mother and daughter raped and held captive for five days
• 4 ex-Muslim Christian orphanage workers kidnapped and beheaded because they declined "generous offer" to return to Islam. Families of victims are denied their bodies "as Somalia does not have cemeteries for infidels"
• Monitored for not attending mosque, a convert from Islam to Christianity is shot dead near the Kenyan border
• Muslims gun down converted church leader, as he leaves a worship service. Widow and daughter are now in hiding. 15th Christian leader killed in one year
• Muslims beat and torture convert before executing him with 2 gunshots to the head. His remains have no front teeth and broken fingers
• Christian convert from Islam killed in soccer stadium because his apostasy "insulted the prophet". The execution was attended by hundreds of people, including school children who were forced to watch
• Muslims kidnap 15-year-old Christian girl as punishment for her parents apostasy
• Teenage Christian girl tortured, force-fed medication, and shackled to a tree by her Muslim parents, later shot dead by relatives for leaving Islam
• Mother of 4 suffers a slow death as she is dragged out of her home in front of villagers and has her throat slit by Qur'an-waving Islamists for converting to Christianity
• Muslim convert to Christianity is kidnapped, blindfolded, imprisoned and tortured after Bible pages are found in his home. He is beaten with wooden batons and told he is going to be executed, but manages to flee
• 21-year-old convert to Christianity dragged out of his house and shot to death by two Muslims as part of a campaign to rid the country of Christianity
• Muslims kidnap Christian convert from Islam, behead him, then dump his headless corpse on the street. Body left to rot for two days in the open as locals feared Islamic reprisals
• Convert from Islam to Christianity faints after she is paraded before hundreds of cheering spectators and publicly flogged as punishment for embracing a “foreign religion”
• Two teenagers convert to Christianity, their Muslim father is arrested because he failed "to raise his sons as good Muslims". Father will be detained indefinitely unless sons return and possibly face execution for apostasy
• 7-month pregnant convert to Christianity is divorced by her husband, then moves in with parents who also throw her out and threaten to kill her for her conversion. She eventually finds refuge in safehouse for ex-Muslims
• "Recant or face execution", Muslims become suspicious of 3 Christian converts from Islam because they do not attend mosque, militants enter their home and open fire, all 3 hospitalized after suffering gunshot wounds
• Muslim militants in the coastal city of Barawa accuse a 25-year-old Christian of "spying", behead him for leaving Islam
• "Siad deserved to die", Muslim residents approve and confirm death of Christian convert, murdered outside his home by two gunmen for leaving Islam. Surviving widow and five children flee their home in fear

Spain

• Indonesian Ulema Council and Islamic militants threaten to exterminate ex-Muslim, his wife and his children. Spanish police officers blame him for threats against his family because he went against the Islamists

Sudan

• Ex-Imam and lawyer imprisoned for his conversion to Christianity
• Student who converted from Islam to Christianity is threated with death by his uncle. Arrested, beaten, and tortured by security police at his family's instigation. Fingernails pulled out with pliers. Under virtual house arrest
• Convert to Christianity has her belongings burnt, is assaulted and thrown out by her husband, beaten and nearly knifed by her brother, and jailed. Another convert is under house arrest by her family
• Scholar calls for President Barack Obama's execution on the grounds that he is an apostate. Crowds chant "The apostate must be executed. The apostate must be executed. The apostate must be executed... Allah Akbar"
• Human Rights Watch fear torture of arrested female humanitarian worker accused of "christianizing" children. Government releases photos of her looking fatigued and bruised. May face the death sentence for apostasy
• Husband, wife and baby thrown out of their home and attacked by knife-wielding assailants after relatives learn of conversion to Christianity. Brother breaks his Christian sister's leg, but hospital reluctant to treat an apostate
• Authorities tracking down converts from Islam in a bid to rid the country of Christianity; threaten to kill one Christian for refusing to divulge names

Sweden

• "It is the duty of every Muslim to kill those who leave Islam." Stockholm Imam speaking on Radio Sweden calls on Muslims in Sweden to kill those who convert to Christianity. Authorities rule it as "not hate speech"

Tanzania

• Swahili man kidnapped by his extended Muslim family after openly confessing his conversion to Christianity
• One Christian convert left with multiple injuries after being beaten almost to death by family members, while another is in hiding from family members who have threatened to kill him
• Arrested Christian convert escapes being lynched by Muslims. Pleads guilty to charges of burning the Qur'an, choosing the relative safety of a prison cell over the prospect of facing the enraged mob calling for his death
• Christian convert from Islam reports burglary but, with help from his own family, he is arrested and severely beaten by police after they discover his Bible. Incarcerated for 8 months without trial and disowned by his family

Tunisia

• "Let Allah be avenged on the polytheist apostate", convert to Christianity beheaded by Muslims to Islamic prayers and cries of "Allahu Akbar!" (Allah is greater) because he refused to renounce his "polytheistic" religion
• "Do you know that it is not forbidden to kill you?", convert to Christianity threatened by Muslims

Turkey

• After Sunday church service, the church leader and convert from Islam is beaten unconscious twice by five Muslims and threatened with a knife to return to Islam
• Two Turkish converts to Christianity and a German at a Bible publishing firm tied up and murdered by having their throats slit
• Two Christian converts subjected to official harassment. Standing trial for "insulting Turkish identity"
• Student who left Islam and was filmed eating at a Christian summer camp is described on national news as "an evil missionary" intent on "brainwashing" children, parents disown him and tell others that he is dead
• Iranian refugee is severely beaten and loses another job as co-workers learn of his conversion to Christianity
• Christian convert has his head draped with the national flag and held hostage at knifepoint. Muslim threatens to slit the throat of the “missionary dog” in broad daylight
• Iranian convert seeking asylum is attacked for his beliefs, employer refuses to pay his wages, tells him he has no rights, and then he and several other employees brutally beat him before spilling hot water all over his body
• 11-year-old convert spat on, bullied, attacked, and threatened with death by Muslim classmates. Regularly beaten, with permission from principal, by teacher with a 2-foot rod because he wouldn't say the Islamic Shahadah

Turkmenistan

• Convert to Christianity from Islam jailed on trumped-up charges. Fears he will not survive the brutal treatment in labor camp
• Wife and children of imprisoned convert told by the local mullah, administration officials and officers of the political police (the KNB), that they must convert to Islam. They issue a separate threat to confiscate her home

Uganda

• Threats and expulsions by family and other Muslims for Christian convert and her husband. Anti-Christian violence in Muslim area where missionaries were slain
• Father locks 14-year-old girl in room with no food or water for 6 months because of her conversion to Christianity. Child survives on eating mud and licking water off the floor, but loses the use of her legs
• “I have been witch-hunted since I converted to Christianity," ex-Muslim Christian pastor disfigured and blinded in an acid attack following a Christmas Eve church service. Assailant shouts ‘Allah Akbar’
• Convert to Christianity kicked out of home by family, his wife leaves him, he loses his job as a teacher, and enraged Muslims beat him. Islamic cleric (and "rival") falsely accuses him of "defiling" his underage daughter
• Member of Islamist group who converted to Christianity is threatened with death, kidnapped and beaten over 3 days in order to make him reconvert. Wife tries to poison him, and his father kills himself. Now in hiding
• Father beats one of his daughters to death with a blunt object after discovering she and her sister converted to Christianity, gathers a group of 32 youths to attack their church

United Kingdom

• While Christians who turn to Islam are feted, the 200,000 Muslims who turn away are faced with abuse, violence and even murder in the UK
• Some 3,000 Christians in the UK are in danger because they have chosen to convert from Islam
• 1 out of every 3 young British Muslim believes that Muslim apostates should be executed
• Daughter of UK imam (in hiding for ten years) living under police protection after receiving death threats from her father for converting to Christianity. Moved house 45 times after relatives pledged to hunt her down and kill her
• Convert to Christianity forced to leave home after three weeks of being bullied by relatives, constantly being beaten by her mother, and being threatened with death by her father
• Convert to Christianity spat at and threatened with death by two Afghan Muslims in London
• Vice Chancellor of City University London, allows the Islamic Society to host Muslim preacher who advocates the murder of gays and apostates
• Two Converts from Islam to Christianity are being sent back to Afghanistan despite fears that they'll be killed. "If the Taliban don't execute me for being a Christian, my family will"
• Afghan convert to Christianity punched, kicked, and beaten with a plank of wood in the street by two Muslims. Prosecutor says the victim's conversion "did not sit well with the defendant"

United States

• Falls Church conference registration and entrance process under tight security to protect converts who fear for their lives
• Planned opening of a refuge center for Christian converts in New York City, as the plight of ex-Muslims in western countries continues to be ignored
• Ohio teenager in State custody after her father threatens to kill her because she converted to Christianity
• Runaway teen convert to Christianity who suffered from random, violent, and unprovoked beatings from her father, gets internet death threat: 'We need to kill her'
• Convert's brother brags he leaked her foster care location to Muslim stalker-blogger, who issues veiled threat, "if she's not safe in Ohio, she's not safe in Florida"
• Ex-Muslim atheist ostracized and threatened with death by Muslims temporarily living in Tulsa. His mother is told "You're not going to see your son anymore", and his Muslim wife is offered $10,000 to leave him
• Father attempts to assault his daughter and have her marriage annuled after learning of her conversion to Christianity
• New imam at the Ground Zero mosque believes people who are gay were probably abused as children and that people who leave Islam and preach a new religion should be jailed

Uzbekistan

• Apostates are being refused access to drinking water, subjected to severe beatings, publicly humiliated and hounded out of their homes and jobs for converting to Christianity
• Subjected to severe beatings, Christian convert and pastor marks one year in prison

Yemen

• At least nine ex-Muslims remain detained for converting to Christianity, amid international concerns they may be tortured or killed for abandoning Islam
• Threatened with death, tortured and beaten for weeks in prison, Somali refugee receives the death sentence for converting from Islam to Christianity

Videos showing Persecution of Ex-Muslims

• UK - Persecution of 3000 Muslim Converts to Christianity
• Turkey - Muslim converts to Christianity face upto 3 year jail
• Germany - Persecution of Muslim Converts to Christianity
• Egypt - Persecution of Muslim Converts to Christianity
• Malaysia - Persecution of Muslim Converts to Christianity

This page is featured in the core article, Islam and Apostasy which serves as a starting point for anyone wishing to learn more about this topic

See Also

• Persecution - A hub page that leads to other articles related to Persecution
• Qur'an, Hadith and Scholars:Dhimmitude