The owner of the store had received multiple threatening phone calls leading up to the attack and similar attacks occurred a year earlier. The constitution designates Islam as the state religion and prohibits religious discrimination. Christians are represented in government, media, and academia in numbers higher than their percentage in the population. 9 seats out of the 80 seats in the Lower House of Parliament are reserved for Christians. The government tends only to recognize only the more established religious groups.
Governmental recognition is required to register property in the name of the organization.
Private members may practice their religion without government recognition. Proselytizing by non-Muslims is illegal. Muslims who convert to Christianity report some government, and social, discrimination. Christian students in public schools are not required to take classes in Islamic instruction. No government sponsored acts of religious persecution have been witnessed.