In Depth:  Tim Dieppe

In December, no Government spokesman in the House of Lords would confirm that a Christian would be free from arrest if they proclaimed the uniqueness of Jesus.

In reply to a question by Lord Pearson, Baroness Williams of Trafford, the Minister of State for countering extremism, replied:‘The definition [of a hate crime] is: any criminal offence which is perceived to be motivated by hostility or prejudice based on a person’s actual or perceived disability, race, religion, sexual orientation or transgender identity. When flagged as a hate crime, the police will be satisfied that an offence has been committed and will then investigate evidence in support of the appropriate charge, as well as the aggravated element of hostility. It would not be appropriate for me, as I have just said, to confirm whether this [proclaiming the uniqueness of Jesus] is an example which would constitute a hate crime. That would be an operational decision both of the police and the CPS based on the specific circumstances.’

Baroness Cox hosted a meeting in the House of Lords on 13 March to highlight the serious problems that Christians in Northern Nigeria are facing at the hands of militant Muslims. Journalist Douglas Murray describes it as ‘ethnic and religious cleansing’ which appears to be taking place with the Nigerian government’s complicity.

Mark Lipdo of the Nigerian organisation Stefanos Foundation has been keeping records of the multiple atrocities that he hears about. The local Muslim Fulani terrorist group is rated as the fourth most deadly terrorist group in the world. Some 4,000 people have been killed since 2014 by this group. They frequently destroy crops and take over villages, with brutal attacks at night. The government knows about this, but is not challenging it. Even when they have video evidence taken by the perpetrators, but left behind on a dropped phone, nothing is done. They say that the security network is dominated by Fulani Muslims.