COLOGNE, Germany (RNS) — Posing a question on Facebook nearly cost Yahya Ekhou his life.
If God is real, he wondered, why would he allow tragedy to befall his believers?
Ekhou is from Mauritania, an Islamic republic in northwest Africa that designates Islam as the sole religion of the people and the state, meaning non-Muslims have neither rights nor citizenship. Mauritania also has among the strictest blasphemy and apostasy laws in the world, defining them as crimes punishable by death.
Ekhou was living in Germany in early 2019 and had already made plans to stay when a train disaster prompted him to post his question online. The next morning, he woke up to an onslaught of hate directed toward him. Mauritanians, including a representative of Parliament, demanded he be killed. The religious authorities issued a fatwa also calling for his death. Ekhou’s citizenship was revoked, and the country demanded that Germany extradite him so he could face charges for his apostasy.
Shortly afterward, his application for asylum in Germany was rejected.
He eventually found refuge in Germany with the help of Atheist Refugee Relief, a nongovernmental organization headquartered in Cologne.
Founded in 2017 by Rana Ahmad, an atheist refugee herself, from Saudi Arabia, the organization connects religious refugees with immigration lawyers and assists them with filling out gover …