Green Energy
Thank you to Esther, at Islam In Europe, for sending this over to me:
SAUDI ARABIA : POLICE ARREST FOUR EAST AFRICAN CHRISTIANS
Detainees held at Jeddah's deportation jail.
June 15 (Compass Direct) – Ten Saudi Arabian police armed with woodenclubs raided a private Christian worship meeting in the coastal cityof Jeddah on June 9, arresting four East African citizens leading theservice.
At press time the two Ethiopian and two Eritrean Christians remainedin the city's deportation jail.
More than 100 Eritreans, Ethiopians and Filipinos were gathered forworship in a home in Jeddah's Al-Rowaise district at 11 o'clock lastFriday morning when a group of Saudi police entered the meeting,wooden clubs in hand.
The startled worshippers brought chairs to seat the policemen, who satand waited for the three-hour worship service to conclude. None usedtheir clubs or physically mishandled the worshippers.
"Actually, some muttawa [Muslim religious police] came to thisgathering about two weeks before," a local source told Compass, "but they did not do anything."
But after the June 9 weekly praise and prayer service finished, police arrested four leaders of the group: Ethiopian Christians MekbebTelahun and Masai Wendewesen, together with Eritrean Christians FekreGebremedhin and Dawit Uqbay.
The four were jailed in the Jeddah Terhil (Deportation) Center, whereguards have since permitted an acquaintance to bring them all a changeof clothes. Three of the men are married; Wendewesen is single.
A Christian who spoke with the detainees by telephone reported theywere "doing fine, with okay morale." But he said he did not know howthey were being treated, or whether they were undergoinginterrogation.
According to local sources, the incident has been reported to consularofficials of the Philippines and the United States.
Typically the Saudi government deports expatriate Christians caughtconducting worship meetings in their homes or privately owned villas,forcing their employers to terminate their work contracts.
Under the kingdom's strict interpretation of Islamic law, publicnon-Muslim worship is prohibited.
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Green Energy
Saudi Arabian Religious Police Arrest Christians
Thank you to Esther, at Islam In Europe, for sending this over to me:
SAUDI ARABIA : POLICE ARREST FOUR EAST AFRICAN CHRISTIANS
Detainees held at Jeddah's deportation jail.
June 15 (Compass Direct) – Ten Saudi Arabian police armed with woodenclubs raided a private Christian worship meeting in the coastal cityof Jeddah on June 9, arresting four East African citizens leading theservice.
At press time the two Ethiopian and two Eritrean Christians remainedin the city's deportation jail.
More than 100 Eritreans, Ethiopians and Filipinos were gathered forworship in a home in Jeddah's Al-Rowaise district at 11 o'clock lastFriday morning when a group of Saudi police entered the meeting,wooden clubs in hand.
The startled worshippers brought chairs to seat the policemen, who satand waited for the three-hour worship service to conclude. None usedtheir clubs or physically mishandled the worshippers.
"Actually, some muttawa [Muslim religious police] came to thisgathering about two weeks before," a local source told Compass, "but they did not do anything."
But after the June 9 weekly praise and prayer service finished, police arrested four leaders of the group: Ethiopian Christians MekbebTelahun and Masai Wendewesen, together with Eritrean Christians FekreGebremedhin and Dawit Uqbay.
The four were jailed in the Jeddah Terhil (Deportation) Center, whereguards have since permitted an acquaintance to bring them all a changeof clothes. Three of the men are married; Wendewesen is single.
A Christian who spoke with the detainees by telephone reported theywere "doing fine, with okay morale." But he said he did not know howthey were being treated, or whether they were undergoinginterrogation.
According to local sources, the incident has been reported to consularofficials of the Philippines and the United States.
Typically the Saudi government deports expatriate Christians caughtconducting worship meetings in their homes or privately owned villas,forcing their employers to terminate their work contracts.
Under the kingdom's strict interpretation of Islamic law, publicnon-Muslim worship is prohibited.
- Saudi Arabia Declares Destruction Of All Churches In Region
From Mission Report: Earlier this month, news reports surfaced out of Saudi Arabia that raised the red flag for Christians. Todd Nettleton, a spokesman for Voice of the Martyrs USA, says, "The Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia—the top Islamic official in...
-
Press TV: Dozens of protesters arrested in Jeddah Dozens of protesters have been arrested in Saudi Arabia's second biggest city after they protested against the weaknesses of infrastructure of Jeddah. The protests were triggered on Friday after floods...
-
New York Daily News Saudi court punishes group of men and women for mingling at a party with lashings, prison time In Saudi Arabia, fighting for your right to party could get you beaten and thrown in jail. A group of four men and 11 women were convicted...
- Bowling For Clitorectomies
SAUDI ARABIA: Let's take the morality police bowling When the men from the Committee to Promote Virtue and Prevent Vice arrived unexpectedly at a shopping mall in Jeddah, the trendy Saudi youth in their Western-style attire were seized with...
- Is Pope Benedict Calling For Christians To Be Killed?
Saudi Arabia does even not allow its citizens to own a Bible, much less make the choice of free conscience to become a Christian. So why, then, is Pope Benedict lauding the Christian presence in Saudi Arabia? What purpose does such an acknowledgement...