The Malta Humanist Association has expressed concerned at what it said appeared to be a sharp increase in militant persecution of minority religious and non-religious belief-systems.

In a statement, it said that apart from various incidents of violence perpetrated on Christians in particular, but also on other minority faiths, there were also a spate of criminal prosecutions targeting Christians and atheists alike over ‘blasphemy’ against the Islamic faith.

Defendants were sentenced to death in absentia and there were persecutions in various countries where a single dominant religious faction sought to impose its values on the entire population, including those who did not adhere to the majority faith.

The association said that all such acts of intolerance were worrying, but what was of particular concern was the apparent collusion of organs of the state in the active repression of minorities.

It appealed for greater tolerance of minority religious and non-religious belief systems in countries where persecution is an unfortunate daily reality.