There’s no way to definitely list every Christian murdered for his or her faith, even if the survey is limited to just recent years.
What is known, according to those who monitor the martyrdom of Christians, often by Muslim extremists following the Quran, is that more Christians have been killed for their faith in Nigeria than anywhere else in the world.
The World Watch List documenting those murders regularly highlights the death toll and offers petitions for protection and justice.
“In the past year, at least 4,849 Christians are reported to have paid the ultimate cost for following Jesus,” a mainline report from Open Doors recently confirmed. “Put differently, on average, that’s 13 Christians killed every day for following Jesus. Since many incidents go unreported, the true figure is likely to be higher.”
And 3,490 of those murders were in Nigeria.
The death penalty often is imposed on Christians for being Christian, for living as a Christian, and especially, for leaving Islam for Christianity, The judgments and executions often are at the hands of Boko Haram, or Fulani people groups, both dedicated Islam followers operating in Nigeria.
But now a new development has come out of that nation’s courts. A ruling has been issued that Islamic religious police there have no authority to arrest a Christian woman for leaving Islam.
A report from ADF International reveals the Federal High Court delivered a judgment “that curbs the reach of Sharia enforcement units operating in northern Nigeria.”
“The ruling came in the case of Sarah (not her real name), now 22, who fled her family home in Kano State in 2025 after suffering abuse from her elder siblings, who were also attempting to force her into marriage against her wishes. (Sarah’s parents had died years prior.) Sarah took refuge with a Christian family, the Abaras, and while living with them, converted to Christianity herself,” the organization reportd.
“Sarah’s siblings worked with local Hisbah police to have her arrested. She was detained for four days, during which she was beaten and pressured to accept the marriage she had fled. Fearing further threats after her release, the Abara family helped Sarah relocate to Jos in January 2026. Her siblings then accused the Abaras of kidnapping Sarah, and the family was arraigned without legal counsel on 26 February 2026.”
The next step was a rights enforcement petition Sarah filed, and now the court has ruled in her favor.
The decision enjoins Kano state and the Hisbah from “pursuing her arrest over her conversion or her refusal to marry,” ADF International confirmed.
The court said the police actions against her were a “flagrant violation” of Sarah’s fundamental right to human dignity and freedom of religion.
Further, the court ordered the offenders to pay her financial compensation.
Sean Nelson, lawyer for the legal team, said, “Sarah’s choice to convert and reject a forced marriage is her right under law, and it is outrageous that the Christian family, the Abaras, that has protected her and helped her reach safety is now facing false criminal charges by these same forces.”
The criminal case against the Abara family continues, and the ADF is aiding their defense.
ADF International said Nigeria is “one of the most dangerous countries in the world to be a Christian. Thousands are killed for their faith each year.”
Other punishments by Islamists, the report said, include “blasphemy laws, threats of death, violations of due process, and the destruction of property through mob violence.”
