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Sean Nelson

SENIOR COUNSEL, GLOBAL RELIGIOUS FREEDOM

Sean Nelson serves as Senior Counsel for Global Religious Freedom with ADF International, where he advocates on behalf of Christians and other religious minorities being persecuted for their faith around the world.

Sean Nelson serves as Senior Counsel for Global Religious Freedom with ADF International, where he advocates on behalf of Christians and other religious minorities being persecuted for their faith around the world. In this role, he supports ADF International’s Allied Lawyer Network, who represent clients whose freedom of religion is suppressed. Based in Washington, D.C., he engages with the U.S. State Department, U.S. Congress, United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, and various other institutions and organizations to coordinate efforts to promote religious freedom worldwide.

Prior to joining ADF International, Nelson was an associate attorney at Jenner & Block LLP in Los Angeles, CA, where he focused on complex commercial litigation and government investigations. He earned his J.D. at Harvard Law School, where he worked as a research assistant helping to develop arguments for robust religious freedom protections in pluralistic societies. He also received an M.A. in English from the University of California, Irvine, and a B.A. in English and Art History from the University of Southern California. Nelson is admitted to the bar of the District of Columbia and to the state bar of California.

Current Cases
Rhoda Jatau talks with ADF International's Sean Nelson about her "blasphemy" experience

Rhoda Jatau: Nigeria

Rhoda Jatau, a Nigerian Christian and mother of 5, endured years of criminal proceedings, including a 19-month stay in prison, for charges of “blasphemy.”

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Statement of Faith

Based on our adherence to the inspired, infallible, inerrant, and authoritative Word of God in Scripture, we profess with the Christian Church throughout time and around the world the faith expressed in the Apostles’ Creed:

I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried;
On the third day he rose again;
he ascended into heaven,
he is seated at the right hand of the Father,
and he will come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting.
Amen.

Adah

Adah had to flee her home after being threatened by her family for her conversion and obtained a protective order in another state.

Pastor Ezekiel

Pastor Ezekiel was captured and tortured by unidentified men for two weeks in February 2024, and then handed over to the police, who released him.

David

David was captured and tortured by unidentified men for two weeks in February 2024, and then handed over to the police, who charged him with kidnapping and obtained a conviction without a lawyer in 3 days. In July, the High Court in Northern Nigeria overturned his wrongful conviction. He is now free.

Naomi

Naomi had to flee her home after being threatened by her family for her conversion, and obtained a protective order in another state.

Rhoda Jatau

Nigerian Christian mother of 5, Rhoda Jatau, has been acquitted after being imprisoned for 19-months for allegedly sharing a video on WhatsApp.

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Yahaya Sharif-Aminu

In March 2020, a dangerous mob burned down his house and the Hisbah religious police, an official authority in charge of enforcing Sharia law, arrested Yahaya. Shortly after, the young man was convicted in a Sharia court for his alleged “blasphemy” and sentenced to death by hanging. His Supreme Court appeal has the potential to overturn Sharia-based blasphemy laws in Northern Nigeria.