Sean Nelson, Senior Counsel, Global Religious Freedom for the Alliance Defending Freedom International, has told US lawmakers that Sharia law is used to imprison Christians in Nigeria unjustly.

Nelson spoke on Tuesday when lawmakers gathered to investigate allegations of Christian genocide in Nigeria, which the Nigerian government continues to deny.

Nelson gave firsthand accounts from Christians in Nigeria he’s worked with of the violence and terror the Christian communities face, with no help from the government.

Nelson said, “Our cases have involved Christians unjustly imprisoned by Sharia courts, false allegations of crimes merely for evangelism or protecting Christian converts or operating charities, Christians kidnapped and tortured, girls taken from their parents and forced into marriages and forcefully converted to Islam, and both Christians and minority Muslims charged with blasphemy accusations. I have met with clients who have shared their heartbreaking testimony directly with me, many of whom barely escaped being murdered by extremists or even people that they knew within their communities. I have visited with villages directly attacked by Fulani militants and witnessed the aftermath of pastors beheaded, mass graves, widows and orphans, churches and homes torched, destroyed farmlands, and the pains of mass displacement and the constant sense that Christians are defenseless against these religiously-motivated attacks, and that the government has regularly failed to protect them.”

Nelson explained the Nigerian government’s failure to protect Christian communities, often leaving them to fend for themselves against heavily armed militant bands of terrorists.

Nelson continued, “Officials in Nigeria dismiss any consideration that religion plays a role in these attacks, and have put very few resources into the areas where Christians have been hit hardest, in the Middle Belt. When Christians report imminent attacks, their pleas are often ignored by law enforcement and officials, leading to tragic results. Nigeria also maintains and enforces one of the most draconian blasphemy laws in the world. In the 12 northern Sharia states, a person can be sentenced to death for alleged blasphemy, one of only seven places in the world with such a law. These laws inspire terrible mob violence, including against Christians like Deborah Yakubu and Rhoda Jatau.”

ASA