Defining Religious Persecution

I was once closely involved in discussions surrounding the establishment of the World Evangelical Alliance’s (WEA’s) International Institute for Religious Freedom (IIRF). At the same time, I proof-read a text: Re-Examining Religious Persecution. Here is the author’s definition of such persecution: 

“Religious persecution should be understood as an unjust action of varying levels of hostility directed at a believer or believers of a particular religion or belief-system through systematic oppression or genocide, or through harassment or discrimination which may not necessarily limit these believers’ ability to practice their faith, resulting in varying levels of harm as it is considered from the victim’s perspective, each action having religion as its primary motivator” (Charles Tieszen). 

I’m not sure, though, about religion as the primary motivator. Does this do justice to what really happens on the ground? Some real examples: a pastor reveals corruption discovered through counselling, and is framed -- or a Church dismisses an employee for gender based violence, and is sued. OBSERVATION: I might try a definition like this: “Religious persecution is suffering at the hands of others for religiously grounded practices”. Of course, there might be religiously grounded practices for which one deserves to suffer!