An Iraqi Christian living in France has been murdered in an apparently unprovoked attack.
It is not currently known who the perpetrator was or if the killing was religiously motivated.
Ashur Sarnaya, 45, was a refugee who had been living in France since 2014. According to SOS Chrétiens d’Orient Sarnaya was from Ankawa in Iraqi Kurdistan.
Sarnaya had a disability that required him to use a wheelchair. In March of this year he reported being physically assaulted by Muslims and had allegedly received threatening messages from Muslims on videos he had posted on social media, Evangelical Focus reports.
Sarnaya ran a TikTok account called Ashur.love, on which he talked about his Christian faith. His account has over 16,000 followers.
A regular at Saint-Ephrem parish in Lyon, Georges Shamoun Ishaq, President of the Assyrian-Chaldean Association of Lyon, described Sarnaya has "a very kind, discreet, deeply religious person who liked to talk about the Christian faith".
He was stabbed in the neck at 10:30pm on 10 September and actually managed to post a video of himself covered in blood. While medical teams were able to reach him, they were unable to save him as he went into cardiac arrest.
Speaking to RMC-BFM Lyon, Sarnaya’s sister said she had found out about the attack from friends who had seen the livestream posted by her brother.
“He was a normal person. He did live videos on TikTok to spread the word of God. He had no enemies, no problems with anyone," she said.
Another relative on Facebook said, "He spent his last moments doing exactly what he loved: spreading the Gospel. In my opinion, he is a martyr and his faith will always be an inspiration."
While no-one has been arrested for the murder and no motive has been declared for the killing, anti-Christian crimes in France have become an increasing cause for concern.
In 2020 three people were killed by a jihadi attack on the Notre-Dame Basilica in Nice and in 2016 Catholic priest Father Jacques Hamel was beheaded by a Muslim attacker.
Aside from these high-profile cases there have been numerous incidents of Islamic vandalism and graffiti on Christian churches and monuments.
The Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination against Christians recently said that more needs to be done to combat hate crimes against Christians in Europe.
