"was persecuted because of" is correct and usable in written English.
You can use it when you want to convey that someone was targeted or treated unfairly due to an indicative cause. Example: The poet was persecuted because of his political views.
But the judge and board rejected arguments that Mr. Hernandez-Montiel was persecuted because of membership in a particular group.
Mr. Smejkal, 54, grew up poor in Communist Czechoslovakia, where, he said, his father was persecuted because of his fervent Christian faith.
Attorney General John Ashcroft has declined to intervene in an immigration case for a Guatemalan seeking asylum in the United States on the ground that she was persecuted because of her sex.
Her supporters say she has been persecuted because of her religion.
They left the Soviet Union, Mrs. Polezhayev said, because they were "persecuted" because of her Jewish roots.
Sikhs are being persecuted because of their faith - and the media is completely ignoring their plight, according to campaigners.
In 2007, International PEN monitored the cases of more than one thousand writers who were persecuted because of their writing.
The Immigration and Naturalization Service has occasionally granted asylum to foreigners who claimed they were persecuted because of their sexual orientation.
An intelligent animal with a reputation for cunning and swiftness, the coyote has long been persecuted because of its predation on domestic or game animals.
Their lawyer, J. W. Carney Jr., said they were the victims of a state witch hunt and were being persecuted because of their religion.
He accused prosecutors of engaging in a "witch hunt" and argued that Peter Gotti was being persecuted because of his notorious surname.
