** Two Men Deported from Saudi Arabia for Owning Bible, Christian CDs **

According to a press release from Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), two Filipino men who were caught in possession of a Bible and some Christian CDs when police raided their room in March 2001 in Saudi Arabia have been deported to the Philippines. A local court had sentenced Filipino Christians, Danilo de Guzman, 38, and Benjamin Diaz, 40, to a month’s imprisonment in April 2001 and a higher court increased their sentence to include 150 lashes in January 2002. CSW reports that de Guzman was not given a lawyer and that only his company liaison officer was present during the hearings. In addition, de Guzman paid fines for the pocket Bible and each CD. The men were spared the lashes, but were deported last week instead.

The public expression of religious belief other than Islam is forbidden in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, reports CSW, but senior Saudi officials have repeatedly stated that non-Muslims are free to practice their faith in the privacy of their own homes. Over the summer months of 2001, 14 expatriate Christians were detained in connection with their Christian faith in a spate of arrests. The last of these detainees was finally deported at the end of March this year. According to CSW, three men suffered 80 lashes each, even though none appeared before a court and they were not formally charged with any crime. (Source: Christian Solidarity Worldwide)

~~~

** Christians Forced To Renounce Their Faith In Turkmenistan **

A report from Keston News Service says that a group of Christians in the village of Deinau, in the east of Turkmenistan, have been forced to publicly renounce their faith. They were summoned by the local political police and forced to swear an oath renouncing the Bible and their faith in Jesus. Three Christians who refused to comply were expelled from the village and are now subject to a manhunt ordered by the political police in the capital, Ashgabad.

According to Keston, the summons came after a package addressed to one of the Christians in the village was opened at the post office and found to contain a Christian magazine. This was reported to the local political police (KNB), who then summoned all the known Christians in the village and demanded that they renounce their faith. The three Christians who refused to do so had the gas and electricity to their homes cut off and were then expelled from the village, even though all three were registered as residents there. On receipt of a report on their expulsion the KNB headquarters in the capital issued instructions that the three Christians should be seized and that the local KNB should “take measures” against them. The three Christians are reported to be in hiding at unknown locations.

Turkmenistan has the most repressive religious policy of all the former Soviet republics. Only communities of the state-sanctioned Muslim Board and the Russian Orthodox Church have been recognized by the state. All other religious groups are treated as being illegal. This has resulted in the past in non-Russian Orthodox Christians being fined, imprisoned, beaten and deported. Places of worship have been destroyed, while private homes used for worship have been confiscated. (Source: Keston News Service)