Ashur Sarnaya, a 45-year-old Assyrian Christian in a wheelchair, was stabbed to death in Lyon near his home. Videos of him talking about his faith had tens of thousands of views on social media.
An image of Ashur Sarnaya shared on social media. / Photo: [link]X profile of SOS Chrétiens d'Orient [/link].
An Iraqi refugee who regularly shared his Christian faith on the social network TikTok was brutally murdered in Lyon (France) on 10 September as he was returning home.
French media confirm that Ashur Sarnaya, 45, who had a physical disability that required him to use a wheelchair, was stabbed in the neck at 10:30 p.m. A video posted by Ashur himself showed him with blood all over his head, according to the AFP news agency. When the medical teams arrived, they were unable to save his life, as he had suffered cardiac arrest.
Ashur Sarnaya's TikTok profile, called 'ashur.love', still has at least 13 videos posted in which the Assyrian Christian shares his faith with his more than 16,000 followers.
According to local media, the man regularly attended the Saint-Ephrem parish in Lyon. The president of the Assyrian-Chaldean Association of Lyon, Georges Shamoun Ishaq, has described him as "a very kind, discreet, deeply religious person who liked to talk about the Christian faith".
The Organised and Specialised Crime Division of the Lyon public prosecutor's office immediately opened an investigation. In the early days, investigators did not prioritise any particular line of inquiry, and the motive for the attack remains unclear.
The deputy mayor of Lyon, Mohamed Chihi, condemned the ‘despicable crime’ on the social network Bluesky.
Cette nuit, un homme de 46 ans en situation de handicap a été mortellement blessé dans le 9e arrondissement.
Un crime abject qui, je l’espère, sera élucidé dans les plus brefs délais. J’ai toute confiance en la police judiciaire, mobilisée pour élucider cette affaire.
www.bfmtv.com/lyon/un-homm...
[image or embed]
— Mohamed Chihi (@mohamedchihi.bsky.social) September 11, 2025 at 9:57 AM
The organisation SOS Chrétiens d’Orient has said that Sarnaya, born in 1979, came from Ankawa in Iraqi Kurdistan and had been living in France since 2014. He had reportedly received threatening comments from Muslims on his videos recently, and reported a physical assault in March this year.
France has seen an increase in attacks of religious intolerance in recent years. In August, the interior minister relaunched special protection efforts for Christian places of worship. The country has also seen an increase in anti-Semitic acts.
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