ACN’s Raquel Martín recently interviewed an Afghan Christian called Ali Ehsani. Ali has lived in Italy for over 20 years, having fled there from Afghanistan. Ali tells his story and also of how he is helping Afghan Christians today.

By ACN Staff

Around 25 years ago, a 13-year-old Ali Ehsani arrived in Italy having fled there from Afghanistan. His parents had been killed in Afghanistan on account of their Christianity and Ali’s brother had died on the journey to Italy. Now, Ali is 38-year-old and a lawyer by profession. When in Afghanistan, Ali had to hide his Christianity and pretend to be a Muslim. In an interview with ACN’s Raquel Martín, Ali said the following about when he realised as a child that Christians were not accepted in Afghanistan:

“When I was 8 years old, I went to school and my classmates asked me why my father did not go to the mosque to pray. I went home and asked my father and he said, “Who said that?” My father impressed upon me that I was to tell no one that we were Christians. My father explained that Christians went to church. However, he left it at that because he was afraid that I would go out and talk about our faith and people would find out about us.”

The Taliban eventually found out that Ali’s parents were Christians. One day when Ali was at school, the Taliban came to their house, wrecked the home and killed Ali’s parents. Ali details what happened next:

“My brother and I were forced to flee Afghanistan. He was 16 years old and I was 8. The journey took five years. I described our odyssey in my book ‘Tonight we look at the stars’. It was a harrowing trip that took us through Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Turkey and Greece, until we reached Italy. My brother died along the way.”

The experience of the Taliban made Ali thirst for justice as an adult. For this reason, he decided to study to become a lawyer. Ali has never forgotten Afghanistan and is determined to help his fellow Afghan Christians. He was even able to contact a Christian family in Afghanistan and try to help them. Ali explained that the family had never been able to attend Holy Mass. He sent them videos of Holy Mass and even livestreamed a Mass for them through his phone. The family were extremely grateful.

The family were however discovered. Ali explains more:

“While watching one of the broadcasts of Holy Mass, they had turned up the television so that the entire family would be able to hear it. Through this, a neighbour discovered that they were Christians and betrayed them…The father was arrested and that was the last they ever heard of him. The family was forced to flee and hid away in a kind of bunker, paying a guard to protect them. Thanks to the Italian and Vatican authorities, we were able to get them out of the country. They are now living in Italy.”

The family were happy to have reached Italy where they could practice their Christian faith freely. Ali said that one of the first things they did was attend Holy Mass, and they were so moved that they cried during the Mass. The family fled Afghanistan with little more than the shirts on their backs. On Pope Francis’ recent flight from Hungary to Slovakia, a journalist gifted the pope the shirt that one of the children wore on the journey to Italy.

Ali lives a life full of joy of the Good News and has turned the pain and trauma of his childhood into determination to help others. He wasn’t sure if his parents ever had him baptised, therefore he decided to receive a conditional baptism at the Basilica of St. John Lateran in Rome. Ali has requested that ACN’s benefactors pray for peace throughout the world.