the Middle-East within a decade. A report which was commissioned by the British foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt and published in May 2019 stated that the level and nature of persecution of Christians in the Middle East "is arguably coming close to meeting the international definition of genocide, according to that adopted by the UN." The report coted Algeria, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Syria and Saudi Arabia where "the situation of Christians and other minorities has reached an alarming stage." The report attributed the sources of persecution to extremist groups and the failure of state institutions. Afghanistan In Afghanistan in 2006, Abdul Rahman, a 41-year-old citizen, was charged with rejecting Islam, a crime which is punishable by death under Sharia law. Since then, he has been released into exile in the West under intense pressure from Western governments. In 2008, the Taliban killed a British charity worker, Gayle Williams, "because she was working for an organization which was preaching Christianity in Afghanistan" even though she was extremely careful not to try to convert Afghans. Algeria Since independence, there has been a rise of Islamism. The 1996 murder of Pierre Claverie, OP, Bishop of Oran was an act of violence by Islamic militants against the Christian community. On the night of 26–27 March 1996, seven monks from the monastery of Tibhirine in Algeria, belonging to the Roman Catholic Trappist Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance (O.C.S.O.), were kidnapped in the Algerian Civil War. They were held for two months and were found dead on 21 May 1996. The circumstances of their kidnapping and death remain controversial; the Armed Islamic Group (GIA) allegedly took responsibility for both, but the then French military attaché, retired General Francois Buchwalter, reports that they were accidentally killed by the Algerian army in a rescue attempt, and claims have been made that the GIA itself was a cat's paw of Algeria's secret services (DRS). A Muslim gang allegedly looted and burned to the ground, a Pentecostal church in Tizi Ouzou on 9 January 2010. The pastor was quoted as saying that worshipers fled when local police supposedly left a group of local protestors unchecked. Many Bibles were burnt. Bangladesh There has been large scale persecution in Bangladesh which has included forced conversions, the destruction of Churches, the seizure of land from Christians and killings of Christians in Bangladesh over decades. This included abductions, attacks and forced conversions on