LYON, France — The Christian community, Chaldean–Syriac–Assyrian people, and advocates of religious freedom worldwide have been shaken by the brutal killing of Ashur Sarnaya, a 45-year-old Chaldean–Syriac–Assyrian man with special needs, who was attacked during a live broadcast on social media in front of his home in Lyon on Wednesday evening, 10 September 2025.

According to media reports, Sarnaya was stabbed in the neck and suffered a cardiopulmonary arrest. The three perpetrators, dressed in dark clothing with hoods, fled the scene immediately and have not yet been identified. Authorities have launched an investigation to determine the circumstances of the crime.

Sarnaya, originally from Ankawa — a predominantly Chaldean–Syriac–Assyrian district of Arba’ilo (Erbil) in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) — was a familiar presence on the social media platform TikTok, where he often addressed religious issues and voiced sharp criticism of Islamist groups. His activism is widely believed to be the most likely motive behind the attack that ended his life.

In several live broadcasts, Sarnaya had revealed that he had received death threats, both through online comments and anonymous phone calls.

Sarnaya and his family had fled to France seeking safety and a new life after the Islamic State (ISIS) terrorist group seized large swathes of the country. Yet, security remained elusive. His radical persecutors appear to have tracked him down even in France, ultimately targeting and killing him in public.

This crime has sparked strong reactions across French society. Mohamed Chihi, Lyon’s Deputy Mayor for Security Affairs, condemned what he called a “heinous crime” and voiced hope that investigators would “uncover the circumstances of the case as soon as possible.”

According to a police source in Lyon, investigators are not leaning toward any single hypothesis, noting that no conclusive evidence yet points to whether the motive was criminal, political, religious, or drug-related. Preliminary findings indicate that a man lay in wait for Sarnaya — who has no police record — and stabbed him in the neck with a bladed weapon, the exact type of which has not yet been identified. An informed source added that “the perpetrator fled on foot.”

The case of Sarnaya has drawn comparisons to that of Salwan Momika, a Chaldean–Syriac–Assyrian activist who was killed in Sweden after repeatedly staging public burnings of the Quran and subsequently becoming a target of radical Islamists.

https://syriacpress.com/blog/2025/09/12/chaldean-syriac-assyrian-christian-and-islam-critic-ashur-sarnaya-brutally-murdered-on-livestream/