SAUDI ARABIA

03 May 2005

FORTY CHRISTIANS ARRESTED FOR ‘TRYING TO SPREAD THEIR BELIEFS’

On April 22nd forty Christians were arrested in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, after attending a Christian service in a private apartment. The group included men, women and children, all of whom were foreigners.

The service was held in the Thaharat al-Badi’a neighbourhood of western Riyadh, the Saudi capital, and led by a Pakistani Christian. The raid took place as he was delivering a sermon. The Saudi religious police, the mutawwa, had followed the forty Christians who attended the service, collecting information on their activities. Saudi press reports stated that the apartment was equipped as a church with crosses, Christian pictures and many evangelistic books and cassettes. The service itself had included prayers, preaching and communion.

According to Saudi press reports the raid was part of a sweeping police operation in Riyadh, conducted on the orders of Riyadh Governor Prince Salman bin Abd Al-‘Aziz.

While non-Muslims in Saudi Arabia are supposed to be allowed to practise their faith in their own homes, it is illegal to hold non-Islamic religious gatherings and to promote religions other than Islam. A police official was quoted as saying the Christians were arrested because they had ‘tried to spread the poison and their beliefs to others’. One of those arrested was a Pakistani Muslim who said he had been influenced by their Christian beliefs. At present all forty are being detained while they are investigated. If they are convicted of proselytizing they may face harsh prison sentences followed by deportation.

PRAYER ITEMS

* Please pray for the quick release of the whole group. Pray especially for the children that they will not be unduly traumatised by the experience.

* Pray for Christians in Saudi Arabia, that they may have courage to continue to worship the Lord even in the face of such opposition. Pray also for their protection.

* Pray that Saudi Arabia may respond to criticisms of its ‘severe violations of religious freedom’ and allow Christians and other non-Muslims to follow their chosen religions without persecution.

* Pray for Riyadh Governor Prince Salman bin Abd Al-‘Aziz, and for the mutawwa officers who have come into contact with the Christians, that the peaceful responses they see in the Christians will soften their hearts.

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