FRANCE: Ashur Sarnaya, Disabled Christian Murdered Live on TikTok, Arrest Made
Lyon, France - Ashur Sarnaya, a 45-year-old disabled Iraqi Christian who fled ISIS persecution, was brutally stabbed to death on September 10, 2025, while livestreaming about his Christian faith on TikTok outside his apartment building in Lyon, France.
The attack occurred at approximately 10:30 p.m. in the Gorge de Loup neighborhood of Lyon's 9th arrondissement. According to local newspaper Le Progrès, Sarnaya, who used a wheelchair due to disability, was returning to his apartment at 53 Rue Sergent Michel Berthet when an assailant waiting for him struck him in the neck with a knife, severing his carotid artery.
Sarnaya was livestreaming on TikTok at the time of the attack. In footage that circulated online, he appeared with his face covered in blood streaming from his nose and mouth. Emergency services found him in cardiac arrest and were unable to revive him.
Born in 1979, Sarnaya was originally from Ankawa, a Chaldean-Syriac-Assyrian district of Erbil in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. He and his sister fled Iraq in 2014 after the Islamic State threatened him for his Christian beliefs and had lived in Lyon for over a decade.
Sarnaya regularly hosted live sessions on TikTok in the evenings where he spoke about Christianity and shared testimonies of faith in Arabic. According to his social media posts cited by Aleteia France, his content was frequently blocked or suspended due to reports from Muslim users. In March 2025, Sarnaya revealed he was receiving death threats from Muslims and reported being physically attacked.
"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," his sister told RMC-BFM Lyon. She was alerted by friends who were watching the livestream at the moment of the attack. "When I arrived, he was dead. He was on the ground, there were lots of people, the police, the firefighters."
Georges Shamoun Ishaq, president of the Assyro-Chaldean Association of Lyon, described Sarnaya as "a very kind, discreet, deeply religious person who liked to talk about the Christian faith."
Witnesses reported seeing three perpetrators dressed in dark clothing with hoods flee the scene immediately after the attack. The Organized and Specialized Crime Division (DCOS) of the Lyon public prosecutor's office launched an intentional homicide investigation.
Marine Le Pen, leader of the right-wing Rassemblement National party, stated on X (formerly Twitter) that Sarnaya "was savagely stabbed to death in Lyon by an Islamist. While granting asylum to the persecuted is legitimate, our uncontrolled immigration policy now leads us to welcome their executioners."
SOS Chrétiens d'Orient issued a statement saying, "It is unimaginable that a Christian who fled persecution should be murdered in France." The organization called for prayers for the repose of his soul and for his family.
One of Sarnaya's cousins described him as a martyr on Facebook:
"He was preaching live when his life was tragically taken," adding that his faith would always remain an inspiration.
The killing comes amid a significant increase in anti-Christian incidents in France. According to official figures, 401 anti-Christian acts were recorded between January and June 2025, a 13 percent increase compared with the same period in 2024. Vandalism and desecration of churches account for the majority of these attacks.
On August 7, 2025, Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau asked prefects to reinforce protection of Christian places of worship, particularly around the feast of the Assumption.
On September 8, 2025, just two days before Sarnaya's murder, a statue of the Virgin and Child was deliberately set on fire during Mass at the Basilica of Notre-Dame de Bon-Secours in Guingamp, Brittany. The same statue had been targeted by arson in 2015 and 2021.
Observers have compared Sarnaya's murder to that of Salwan Momika, another Chaldean-Syriac-Assyrian activist who was assassinated in Sweden after publicly burning Qurans and becoming a target of radical Islamists.
THE CRUSADERS OPINION
A disabled Christian refugee murdered on camera for preaching Christ. This is what Islamic tolerance looks like in Europe.
Ashur Sarnaya escaped ISIS only to be hunted down and slaughtered in "civilized" France by the same Islamic savagery he fled.
He sat in a wheelchair, defenseless, proclaiming the Gospel. Muslim attackers waited in ambush and slit his throat live on TikTok.
His "crime"? Criticizing Islam and sharing Jesus Christ. For this, he received death threats, account suspensions, physical attacks, and finally martyrdom.
France's suicidal immigration policy imported his executioners. The same Islamic extremism that drove Christians from Iraq now murders them on French streets.
This wasn't random violence. This was Islamic terrorism targeting a Christian for evangelism. France knows it. The world knows it. Yet authorities refuse to call it what it is.
Four hundred one anti-Christian attacks in six months. Churches desecrated. Statues burned during Mass. Christians murdered for their faith. This is France under Islamic colonization.
Ashur's blood screams from French pavement. His murderers deserve capital punishment and eternal damnation for this evil.
Every European leader who enabled mass Islamic immigration bears responsibility for Christian blood.
France must expel Islamic extremists, prosecute hate crimes against Christians, and defend its Christian heritage before more believers are martyred.
Ashur Sarnaya is a saint. His killers are demons who will answer to God's justice.
Take Action: Demand Justice for Ashur Sarnaya
Voice of the Martyrs - France: https://www.persecution.com/countries/france/
SOS Chrétiens d'Orient: https://www.soscretiens.org/
Demand:
- Full prosecution of Sarnaya's murderers as a hate crime
- Protection for Christians sharing their faith in France
- Accountability for France's failed immigration policies
- An end to anti-Christian violence and church desecrations
Pray for Ashur Sarnaya's family and all persecuted Christians in France.
