ICC
International Christian Concern (ICC) has learned that Saudi security forces arrested 42 Ethiopian Christians at a prayer gathering in Jeddah on Thursday. The location of the detained Christians is unknown.
On December 15, Saudi police and security officers raided an evening prayer meeting at the home of an Ethiopian Christian in the Al-Safa district of Jeddah. Those attending the service were reportedly beaten and threatened before being arrested.
"Security officials broke [into] the house and captured, beat and threatened them for death. They divided the men and the women and they are torturing them [in prison]," an Ethiopian and Eritrean Christian immigrant community living in Europe wrote in a desperate appeal for help to the ambassadors of European embassies in Riyadh on Friday.
"Saudi Arabian officials have arrested Christians in the past but it is unprecedented for them to arrest 42 Christians at one time," a church leader in Jeddah, who asked not to be named for security reasons, told ICC. "We are particularly concerned about the children of the detained Christians."
Two Ethiopian fellowships in Saudi Arabia informed ICC that they will temporarily postpone services until the situation calms. Christians in Saudi Arabia, most of who enter the country as foreign workers, are not allowed to practice their faith openly. Saudi police have been known to raid private worship gatherings in homes, arrest and deport congregants, and confiscate Christian materials, including Bibles.
Aidan Clay, ICC Regional Manager for the Middle East, said, "Though not permitting a single church building where Christians can worship in Saudi Arabia, the Saudi government goes even further to assault the religious freedoms of its citizens and foreign workers by hunting for and arresting Christians who attend services in the privacy of their own homes. As a signatory to the UN Convention against Torture, we urge Saudi Arabia to end the abuse that the Ethiopian Christians have reportedly suffered in prison and to ensure their immediate release."
1 comment:
I have some friends who did Christian mission behind the Iron Curtain in the 1980s and made several trips into Saudi Arabia. They told me then that the Saudis made the communist countries look like open societies in comparison.
A friends father was doing engineering work in one of the oil fields there back in the 80s. After several years he was tired and wanted to come home. The Saudis wanted to renew his contract, he didn’t. They kept upping the bonuses and perks but he kept declining. Finally they stopped sweetening the deal and turned to threats, etc. He asked for a little time to consider then got out before they had thought to pull his passport or do something else.
Another friend considered going to work over there after Vietnam. His friend who tried to recruit him said they would occasionally be invited to dinners and social events with the Sheiks and Saudi oil executives. He warned him that he might see servants beaten or even killed if they made a mistake, so he should not be alarmed or try to intervene. Needless to say, that was a deal killer for him.
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