{"id":1054290,"date":"2021-11-25T08:44:06","date_gmt":"2021-11-25T13:44:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1054290"},"modified":"2021-11-25T08:44:11","modified_gmt":"2021-11-25T13:44:11","slug":"victory-for-the-terrorists-blinken-faces-backlash-after-taking-nigeria-off-of-religious-violence-list","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/victory-for-the-terrorists-blinken-faces-backlash-after-taking-nigeria-off-of-religious-violence-list\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Victory For The Terrorists\u2019: Blinken Faces Backlash After Taking Nigeria Off Of Religious Violence List"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">30<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fvictory-for-the-terrorists-blinken-faces-backlash-after-taking-nigeria-off-of-religious-violence-list%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1054290&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Secretary of State Antony Blinken is facing backlash after taking Nigeria off of a list of countries that endorse or allow religious violence as Christian groups point to the high level of persecution in the African nation.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cState Department officials gave no reason for the move other than saying Blinken, upon the advice of various department sections, decided Nigeria didn\u2019t meet the legal threshold to be named as \u2018country of particular concern\u2019 in an annual religious freedom list released by the secretary of State,\u201d Politico <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2021\/11\/23\/christian-groups-blinken-nigeria-religious-violence-list-523258\">reported<\/a>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The move was made just before Blinken made a diplomatic trip to the country.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s a victory for the terrorists \u2014 it\u2019s a defeat for anyone concerned with human rights and religious freedom,\u201d former Republican Congressman Frank Wolf said.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Nigeria has been plagued by religious violence this year, with the number of Christians killed in July of this year already matching the total from last year, according to some <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/nigerian-pastor-says-government-fully-supports-killings-of-christians-report\">reports<\/a>.&nbsp;Many Christian aid organizations also rank Nigeria as a country with a lot of religious persecution, including Open Doors, which puts the African nation just inside the top 10 of worst persecuting countries in the world.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) was \u201cappalled\u201d at the State Department\u2019s decision, calling the move \u201cunexplainable.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201c[USCIRF] is especially displeased with the removal of Nigeria from its CPC designation, where it was rightfully placed last year, as well as the omission of India, Syria, and Vietnam. We urge the State Department to reconsider its designations based on facts presented in its own reporting,\u201d Chair Nadine Maenza <a href=\"https:\/\/www.uscirf.gov\/news-room\/releases-statements\/uscirf-appalled-administrations-removal-nigeria-list-violators\">said<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Outgoing Secretary of State Mike Pompeo designated Nigeria as a \u201ccountry of particular concern\u201d in December 2020, and a May <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/nigerian-pastor-says-government-fully-supports-killings-of-christians-report\">report<\/a> from the State Department seemed to confirm that designation.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Sam Brownback, who was the special ambassador for religious freedom under the Trump administration, said the decision was the \u201crevenge of the bureaucracy\u201d while noting that religion definitely played a role in the violence in Nigeria.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>One former State Department official told Politico that the move constituted \u201cdiplomatic malpractice.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou just gave leverage away. It was clearly tied to Blinken\u2019s visit. The Nigerians clearly cared about it. Did we get anything out of it?\u201d the former official asked.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Some officials pushed back, arguing that Blinken\u2019s visit to Nigeria and its delisting were not related. The removal instead had to do with the timing of the release of the list, according to one official.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>As Politico noted, however, deadlines are not always so strictly followed and Blinken had called out religious persecution in Nigeria earlier this year.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn Nigeria, courts continue to convict people of blasphemy, sentencing them to long-term imprisonment or even death,\u201d he said. \u201cYet the government has still not brought anyone to justice for the military\u2019s massacre of hundreds of Shia Muslims in 2015.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Some Christians on the ground in Nigeria say that their government doesn\u2019t care about them. Back in September, after the killing of more than 30 Christians by Islamic Fulani herdsmen, one local pastor said that the government was actually in favor of the persecution.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have never seen an evil government in this country like the one of today. The government is fully in support of the bloodshed in Nigeria. We are being killed just because we are not Muslims,\u201d Rev. Jacob Kwashi said.<\/p>\n<p>He added: \u201cThese evil Fulani jihadists are enjoying the backing of the government to go about killing people, destroying their houses and farmlands, yet when we try to defend ourselves, the government will go about arresting our people. What kind of justice is this?\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and&nbsp;counter-cultural&nbsp;outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1615934302565000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHOV8alRjqO61ImZWCRpqOILgWzkg\">member<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Secretary of State Antony Blinken is facing backlash after taking Nigeria off of a list of countries that endorse or allow religious violence as Christian groups point to the high level of persecution in the African nation.\u00a0\u201cState Department officials gave no reason for the move other than saying Blinken, upon the advice of various department sections, decided Nigeria didn\u2019t meet the legal threshold to be named as \u2018country of particular concern\u2019 in an annual religious freedom list released by the secretary of State,\u201d Politico reported.\u00a0The move was made just before Blinken made a diplomatic trip to the country.\u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s a victory for the terrorists \u2014 it\u2019s a defeat for anyone concerned with human rights and religious freedom,\u201d former Republican Congressman Frank Wolf said.\u00a0Nigeria has been plagued by religious violence this year, with the number of Christians killed in July of this year already matching the total from last year, according to some reports.\u00a0Many Christian aid organizations also rank Nigeria as a country with a lot of religious persecution, including Open Doors, which puts the African nation just inside the top 10 of worst persecuting countries in the world.\u00a0The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) was \u201cappalled\u201d at the State Department\u2019s decision, calling the move \u201cunexplainable.\u201d\u201c[USCIRF] is especially displeased with the removal of Nigeria from its CPC designation, where it was rightfully placed last year, as well as the omission of India, Syria, and Vietnam. We urge the State Department to reconsider its designations based on facts presented in its own reporting,\u201d Chair Nadine Maenza said.Outgoing Secretary of State Mike Pompeo designated Nigeria as a \u201ccountry of particular concern\u201d in December 2020, and a May report from the State Department seemed to confirm that designation.\u00a0Sam Brownback, who was the special ambassador for religious freedom under the Trump administration, said the decision was the \u201crevenge of the bureaucracy\u201d while noting that religion definitely played a role in the violence in Nigeria.\u00a0\u00a0One former State Department official told Politico that the move constituted \u201cdiplomatic malpractice.\u201d\u201cYou just gave leverage away. It was clearly tied to Blinken\u2019s visit. The Nigerians clearly cared about it. Did we get anything out of it?\u201d the former official asked.\u00a0Some officials pushed back, arguing that Blinken\u2019s visit to Nigeria and its delisting were not related. The removal instead had to do with the timing of the release of the list, according to one official.\u00a0As Politico noted, however, deadlines are not always so strictly followed and Blinken had called out religious persecution in Nigeria earlier this year.\u00a0\u201cIn Nigeria, courts continue to convict people of blasphemy, sentencing them to long-term imprisonment or even death,\u201d he said. \u201cYet the government has still not brought anyone to justice for the military\u2019s massacre of hundreds of Shia Muslims in 2015.\u201dSome Christians on the ground in Nigeria say that their government doesn\u2019t care about them. Back in September, after the killing of more than 30 Christians by Islamic Fulani herdsmen, one local pastor said that the government was actually in favor of the persecution.\u00a0\u201cWe have never seen an evil government in this country like the one of today. The government is fully in support of the bloodshed in Nigeria. We are being killed just because we are not Muslims,\u201d Rev. Jacob Kwashi said.He added: \u201cThese evil Fulani jihadists are enjoying the backing of the government to go about killing people, destroying their houses and farmlands, yet when we try to defend ourselves, the government will go about arresting our people. What kind of justice is this?\u201dThe Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and\u00a0counter-cultural\u00a0outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a\u00a0member.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":200,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1054290","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1054290","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/200"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1054290"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1054290\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1054290"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1054290"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1054290"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}