Amid the current unrest in Saudi Arabia in the wake of America's war on Islamic
terrorists, Middle East Newsline is reporting arrests and even torture of
Christians in the "moderate" Saudi kingdom.
"Christian sources in the kingdom said at least 15 Christians from Africa
have been arrested in Jedda over the last few months for conducting non-Islamic
services in private homes. Three of them are said to have been tortured in
prison," said the defense news service.
It was the first confirmed report of physical torture of Christians detained
for worship in the kingdom, according to the report.
"Saudi Arabia does not allow the worship of any other religion other than
Islam. Jews are not allowed in the kingdom and Christians are warned that they
risk arrest if they participate in private prayer gatherings," said the
report.
Persecution of Christians rampant
Indeed, according to the November issue of Whistleblower magazine, titled
"JIHAD: The radical Islamic threat to America," the current report
from Saudi Arabia is part of a widespread pattern of persecution of Christians
throughout the Islamic-controlled nations of the Middle East, northern Africa
and elsewhere.
In his Whistleblower article, "Islam: from toleration to terror,"
Paul Marshall, one of the world's leading authorities on religious persecution,
states: "The Saudi restriction on the expression of any religion besides
Islam means, quite simply, that Christian worship is banned. It is illegal to
wear a cross or to utter a Christian prayer. Christians cannot even worship
privately in their own homes."
Because they operate under the Islamic Shari’a law, adds Marshall,
"the Saudi government pressured the allies in Operation Desert Storm about
religious observances. They demanded that Christian and Jewish soldiers not be
allowed to wear any symbols of their faith when they were in service in Saudi
Arabia. This was mandated, even though the troops were there to defend Saudis
from invasion by Iraq."
Religious repression in Saudi Arabia has only increased since the Gulf War, says
Marshall.
While the West frequently focuses on Shari’a law for its brutal
punishments, including amputations, "its legal procedures can be equally
terrifying," notes Marshall. "The Saudi judicial system provides
little chance of a reasonable defense against accusations, since defendants
have no right to be represented by lawyers. Torture is widespread. Confessions
obtained under torture can be accepted by courts as evidence -- sometimes the
sole evidence -- for a conviction."
While scarce Western press attention has focused on the horrendous persecution
– including forced conversion to Islam, slavery, torture and
crucifixion -- meted out to the Christians and animists in southern Sudan by
the radical Islamic regime in the northern capital of Khartoum, even less
Western media focus is drawn by the persecution of Christians in so-called
"moderate" Mideast nations like Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
Egypt -- kidnapping, rape, forced conversion
In November's Whistleblower magazine, Marshall, author of "Their Blood
Cries Out," documents a number of examples of Christian persecution and
forced conversion in modern Islamic nations. Here is one:
Mary, a young Egyptian girl, displays her fragile wrist, which is encircled by
an ugly bracelet of scarred flesh. Her disfigurement bears mute witness to the
brutal abduction, rape and nine-month captivity she endured at the hands of
Islamic kidnappers. As part of their program to transform Mary into a Muslim,
her captors poured sulfuric acid on her wrist to remove the tattooed cross she
wore as a statement of her faith.
Mary grew up among Egypt's 6 million Coptic Christians, a minority community
that faces increasing mistreatment from Islamic zealots. At 18 years of age,
she was visiting a friend's home when she was kidnapped by a group of radicals
from the "Gamat Islamiya."
After they raped her, Mary's captors moved her from one suburban hideout to
another. Along with sexual abuse, she was required to fast, pray, and memorize
portions of the Qur'an.
At first, Mary tried to refuse to wear the traditional Islamic veil. "They
warned me that if I removed it they would throw acid on my face," she
later told reporters. Eventually, unable to resist her captors' demands, she
signed official papers of conversion to Islam.
While Mary was held hostage, her father went to the Cairo police. They told him
to forget Mary – she was in the safe hands of Islam. In fact, the
distraught man was forced to sign a pledge that he would cease his search for
his daughter. Along with other family members, he was warned that if any of
them interfered with Mary and she was harmed, they would be held responsible.
Fortunately, Mary escaped. She was given assistance by a clandestine group
called "Servants of the Cross," who sheltered her. Although
conversion to Christianity from Islam is considered apostasy in Egypt, and
Shari'a law calls for a death sentence, the Servants aided her as she
reconverted to Christianity. In Egyptian society, rape victims are often held
responsible for their plight, and are sometimes killed. With this in mind, the
organization also helped Mary find a Christian husband.
Servants of the Cross took Mary to a tattooist, who reapplied the cross to her
wrist, just above the disfiguring scar. One of the organization's
representatives explained, "I supervise between 30 and 35 reconversions
every month. In all Egypt there are between 7,000 and 10,000 cases of forced
conversion to Islam. It is our duty to save them."
"These circumstances exist not simply despite Islam," notes Marshall.
"Unfortunately, they are expressions of a particular and increasingly
powerful form of militant Islam."
Marshall's in-depth piece in Whistleblower focuses on the plight of Christians
in five Islamic countries -- Sudan, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Egypt.
Meanwhile, in Washington, D.C., the U. S. Commission on International Religious
Freedom is urging the Bush administration not to ignore flagrant human-rights
abuses in the interests of holding together its coalition with Saudi Arabia and
other "moderate" countries. According to Middle East Newsline, the
commission wrote a letter to Bush demanding that, "in forging alliances
against terrorism, the United States not compromise its commitment to human
rights including religious freedom and democracy. We oppose such policy
trade-offs."