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(9-12-99)
SAUDI ARABIA INTENSIFIES CRACKDOWN ON CHRISTIANS
(1997 - 1998)
Thirty Christians Jailed and Reports of Torture
The Washington, D.C. based human rights organization International Christian
Concern is calling on the United States to condemn a recent wave of arrests and torture of Christians in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Reliable sources in Saudi Arabia, the mother country of Islam, known to be intolerant of other religions, have reported that yesterday another 15 Christians have been rounded up and detained by the Mutawah (religious police) and officers of the national security force. This brings to a total of 30 arrested, all victims of an apparent government effort to enforce the Islamic Sharia law which forbids any religious literature in the country other than that of the Koran. Some of the Christians arrested were believed to have been involved in distributing Christian materials, while the rest appear to have done nothing more than met in their homes for prayer and Bible study.
According to ICC sources, a number of those arrested have been tortured in an attempt to gain information about other Christians who are meeting in homes. These confessions have led to further arrests and torture during interrogations. The last 15 to be arrested are being detained in the notorious Mallas prison alongside hardened
Four of the detained Christians were arrested during the past three months and were imprisoned on charges of sharing their faith with a Muslim. Like the others, nothing is known about their condition.
One of the detained Christians is a Filipino woman who was pregnant and was interrogated while in the hospital soon after giving birth. She has been told that she must remain under house arrest until her husband returns from the Philippines in order that he too can be "questioned" about his religious activities while in the country. Saudi Arabia is an Islamic state which bans Christian worship, even in private homes. It is illegal to be overheard praying to Jesus Christ, to display any Christian symbol or to distribute any form of Christian literature, especially the Bible.
The recent crackdown against the Christian minority living in Saudi Arabia contradicts a statement made by Prince Sultan on September 24 published in the Middle Eastern Al-Hayat's newspaper. The respected prince said, "Islamic Sharia does not prevent believers of God [which includes Christians according to Muslim teaching] from exercising their religious rituals at their place of residence." There is a growing concern among the estimated 20,000 foreign Christians living and working in the country that all Christians who meet in their homes for prayer and Bible study may soon be rounded up and arrested with the others. Most of the believers have met in secret because of the customary laws forbidding foreigners or nationals from holding religious meetings in their homes. Presently, all Christians in Saudi Arabia have suspended all house church meetings. Concern, frustration and fear is spreading among the growing Christian community in Saudi Arabia. Believers are always at risk of arrest and torture if caught holding a church meeting in a home or found to possess Christian materials. Informants are frequently rewarded and torture is routinely used to punish and extract information in order to curtail Christian activities in the country.
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A Report on Freedom of Religion in Saudi Arabia
Freedom of religion does not exist. Islam is the official religion, and all citizens must be Muslims. The Government prohibits the practice of other religions. There are isolated reports of harassment and arrest of foreign workers conducting clandestine worship services, particularly around non-Muslim religious holidays. One Christian worship service was broken up by police and Mutawwa'in, and the man who hosted the service was punished by lashing.
Conversion by a Muslim to another religion is considered apostasy. Public apostasy is a crime under Shari'a law and punishable by death.
Islamic practice is generally limited to that of the Wahhabi sect's interpretation of the Hanbali School of the Sunni branch of Islam. Practices contrary to this interpretation, such as visits to the graves of renowned Muslims, are discouraged.
The Ministry of Islamic Affairs directly supervises and is a major source of funds for the construction and maintenance of almost all mosques in the country. The Ministry pays the salaries of all imams and others who work in the mosques. A governmental committee is responsible for defining the qualifications of imams. The religious police, or the Mutawwa'in, receive their funding from the Government and the general president of the Mutawwa'in holds the rank of minister.
The Shi'a Muslim minority (roughly 500,000 of over 13 million citizens) lives mostly in the eastern province. They are the objects of officially sanctioned social and economic discrimination (see Section 5). Prior to 1990, the Government prohibited Shi'ite public processions during the Islamic month of Muharram and restricted other processions and congregations to designated areas in the major Shi'ite cities. Since 1990, the authorities have permitted marches on the Shi'a holiday of Ashura, provided the marchers do not display banners or engage in self-flagellation. In May Ashura commemorations in the eastern province passed without incident.
The Government seldom permits private construction of Shi'ite mosques. The Shi'a have declined government offers to build state-supported mosques because Shi'ite motifs would be prohibited in them.
The Government does not permit public or private non-Muslim religious activities. Persons wearing religious symbols of any kind in public risk confrontation with the Mutawwa'in. The general prohibition against religious symbols applies also to Muslims. A Muslim wearing a Koranic necklace in public would be admonished. Non- Muslim worshippers risk arrest, lashing, and deportation for engaging in any religious activity that attracts official attention.
Excerpted from Human Rights Practices in Saudi Arabia, 1996 U.S. State Department
January 30, 1997
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