WASHINGTON, D.C. (ANS) – An international human rights agency has learned that two Indian Christians working in Saudi Arabia have been arrested in Batha, Riyadh, and sentenced to 45 days in prison.

According to a news release from International Christian Concern (ICC), on March 11, Vasantha Sekhar and Nese Yohan were arrested and beaten. They were accused of proselytizing.

ICC contacts in Saudi Arabia believe they were arrested to keep them from practicing Christianity privately in their home.

ICC said while in prison awaiting trial, their apartment was ransacked. They face uncertainty regarding their future. An employer has returned the passport of one of the Christians, making it clear that his job is no longer available, and he will be expelled. The other Christian awaits information regarding his legal status and job.

ICC said Saudi Arabia has a long history of quietly cracking down on Christians.

In 2004, 28 Indian workers were arrested in Messriam for practicing Christianity. The charges were dropped, but in 2010 they were brought up again. One was deported, and one has been arrested.

In another case, ICC said, 16 Indian workers were arrested in Feb. 2008, and then released after three days. In 2010, eight left the country voluntarily and three of the remaining eight were issued deportation orders and expelled.

“These two Christians have faced false charges and false evidence. The Saudi government continues to engage in an array of severe violations of human rights as part of its repression of freedom of religion,” said Logan Maurer, ICC advocacy director, speaking in a news release.

ICC is a Washington-DC based human rights organization that exists to help persecuted Christians worldwide

For more information go to www.persecution.org.

SAUDI ARABIA (ANS) — Authorities in Saudi Arabia have detained a 28-year-old blogger, Hamoud Bin Saleh, for publicly writing about his conversion from Islam to Christianity on his website.

The Washington-DC based human rights group, International Christian Concern (ICC) www.persecution.org says Saleh was arrested on January 13, 2008, and detained at the Eleisha political prison in Riyadh due to “his opinions and announcement at his blog that he converted from Islam to Christianity,” according to a report by the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI).

ICC says that in addition to harassing him by detaining him two other times for similar offenses, the Saudi officials have now blocked Bin Saleh’s blog, “Masihi Saudi,” at http://christforsaudi.blogspot.com .

The ANHRI report cited by ICC further notes that Bin Saleh’s previous release from prison in November of 2008 coincided with the Saudi-initiated interfaith dialogue held at the United Nations in New York, suggesting that his release came only because his arrest might have “tarnished its image” and “expose[d] the Saudi government’s false allegations.”

Immediately following the conference, the ANHRI report indicated that Saudi officials chose to re-arrest Bin Saleh “because the entire world is busy following up on the aggression on Gaza, and the Saudi authorities may seize the chance to make an example with nobody watching.”

ICC says: “Bin Saleh’s case is especially urgent in that we know that this is not the first time that Saudi converts from Islam to Christianity have suffered terrible mistreatment.”

In August of 2008, ICC reported on the case of a female convert from Islam to Christianity who was burned to death by her father. Her father was a member of the mutaween (Commission for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice), an arm of the government that enforces religious purity and is the government’s face of persecution to Christians in Saudi Arabia. She had also disclosed her faith on a website (For the full text on the case of the martyred woman, see: www.persecution.org/suffering/pressdetail.php?presscode=236 ) .

ICC goes on to say: “Despite their intolerant policies and practices, the Saudi Arabian officials leave no stone unturned to portray themselves as champions of tolerance to non-Muslims. In 2008, they organized major international conferences on interfaith dialogue. Their practice, however, shows that such conferences are mere public relations gimmicks.”

Jeff King, ICC’s President, said: “The international community must hold Saudi Arabia accountable for its failure to live up to the basic rights of freedom of religion and press. Particularly the countries and organizations that are engaged in interfaith dialogue with Saudi Arabia must intervene in this case and win freedom for Bin Saleh.”

Please pray for Bin Saleh so that he will continue to persevere in his faith in Jesus Christ in the midst of the ordeal he is facing. Also please pray for his release from prison and protection after he is released.

Five months after the daughter of a member of Saudi Arabia’s religious police was killed for writing online about her faith in Christ, Saudi authorities have reportedly arrested a 28-year-old Christian man for describing his conversion and criticizing the kingdom’s judiciary on his Web site.

Saudi police arrested Hamoud Bin Saleh on Jan. 13 “because of his opinions and his testimony that he had converted from Islam to Christianity,” according to the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information ANHRI. Bin Saleh, who had been detained for nine months in 2004 and again for a month last November, was reportedly being held in Riyadh’s Eleisha prison.

On his web site, which Saudi authorities have blocked, Bin Saleh wrote that his journey to Christ began after witnessing the public beheading of three Pakistanis convicted of drug charges. Shaken, he began an extensive study of Islamic history and law, as well as Saudi justice. He became disillusioned with sharia Islamic law and dismayed that kingdom authorities only prosecuted poor Saudis and foreigners.

“I was convinced that the wretched Pakistanis were executed in accordance with the Muhammadan laws just because they are poor and have no money or favored positions, which they had no control or power over,” he wrote in Arabic in his Dec. 22 posting, referring to “this terrible prejudice in the application of justice in Saudi Arabia.”

A 2003 graduate in English literature from Al Yarmouk University in Jordan, Bin Saleh’s research led him to an exploration of other faiths, and in his travels he gained access to a Bible.

Compass Direct News.

Middle East business news website Zawya.com reported that the man, who is a prominent member of a “virtue committee,” first cut out his daughter’s tongue and held a one-sided religious debate with her. He then burned his daughter alive.

Observant Muslims hold that their Prophet Mohammed taught that Muslims who convert to any other religion must be killed, often in extremely brutal fashion.

By Michael Ireland
Chief Correspondent, ASSIST News Service

SAUDI ARABIA (ANS) — Saudi Arabia is set to deport 15 Christians on Tuesday, August 5, for holding private worship meetings in a house in the city of Taif.

International Christian Concern (ICC) www.persecution.org says that on Friday, April 25, twelve Saudi Arabian police raided a house where 16 Christians were holding a prayer meeting.

In an e-mail report obtained by ANS, ICC says: “The first officer to enter the house after breaking down the main gate pointed a pistol at the Christians and ordered them to hand over their resident permits and mobile phones. The other 11 police followed quickly and started searching the entire house. They confiscated an electronic drum set, an offering box with 500 Saudi Riyal in it ($130), 20 bibles, and a few Christian books.”

ICC says the police initially accused the Christians of preaching the Bible and singing. They later changed the charge to holding a “dance party” and collecting money to support terrorism.

The report goes on to say that during the raid, the police mocked, questioned and harassed the Christians for four hours.

“Then they took them to a police station where the head of the station interrogated them. The head of the police then wrote down their ‘statements’ in Arabic and forced the Christians, who are immigrants and not able to read or write Arabic, to sign the statements.”

After the interrogations, the Christians were incarcerated and held incommunicado. After three days, the Christians were finally released on April 27, 2008 at 8 PM, ICC said.

The ICC report stated: “Upon release, one of the Christians permanently departed the country. The others, thinking that their ordeal was over, went back to their daily lives and work but soon received letters demanding that they leave the country immediately.”

ICC says the arrested Christians are hard working people who came to Saudi Arabia to improve their lives and to contribute to the economic growth of the country. The Saudi officials’ decision to deport them for practicing their faith is despicable.

ICC adds: “The decision to deport them runs contrary to recent attempts to portray the kingdom as a beacon of reconciliation among Christians, Muslims, Jews and others. Three weeks ago, Saudi Arabia hosted an interfaith conference in Madrid, Spain. During the conference that took place from July 16-19, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia called for reconciliation among various religions.”

Jeff King, ICC’s President, said, “Deporting Christians for worshiping in their private homes shows that King Abdullah’s speech is mere rhetoric and his country is deceiving the international community about their desire for change and reconciliation.”

Please pray for the Christians that face deportation so that Saudi officials will change their decision and allow them to continue working in the country.

ICC is a Washington-DC based human rights organization that exists to help persecuted Christians worldwide. ICC delivers humanitarian aid, trains and supports persecuted pastors, raises aware ness in the US regarding the problem of persecution, and is an advocate for the persecuted on Capitol Hill and the State Department.