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Somalia: Even Those Suspected of Being Christians Face Execution

  • Veronica Neffinger

    Veronica Neffinger wrote her first poem at age seven and went on to study English in college, focusing on 18th century literature. When she is not listening to baseball games, enjoying the…

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  • Updated Jan 27, 2017

Christians in Somalia face severe persecution, with reports surfacing that when there is even a suspicion that someone is a Christian, they are executed.

On this year’s recently released 2017 World Watch list from Christian persecution charity Open Doors, Somalia ranks as the second worst country for Christian persecution, only behind North Korea.

According to ChristianToday.com, however, some say that Somalia is even worse than North Korea regarding persecution of Christian because the moment someone is suspected of being a Christian, that person is beheaded without any kind of trial.

"Unlike in North Korea, on their [Christian converts'] discovery they would not last a day in a trial or ever get the chance to be sentenced to a labor camp," said Yonas Dembele, an International Law analyst for the World Watch Research Unit at Open Doors.

In order to survive as Christians in this Sunni Muslim-dominated nation, Christ-followers “must pretend not to be Christians,” according to Dembele.

The Islamic State and al-Shabaab terrorist groups also target Christians in the country.

Despite these severe dangers Christians face in Somalia, there are also reports of many Muslims converting to Christianity.

Greg Musselman of the Voice of the Martyrs said, "we do hear these many stories of Muslims having visions and dreams of Jesus.”

 

Photo courtesy: Thinkstockphotos.com

Publication date: January 27, 2017