Saudi Christian Arrested for Blogging
On July 23, Saudi police re-arrested Hamoud Bin Saleh (28) and
blocked access to his online blog, according to reports from The Arabic
Network for Human Rights Information. Saleh had used his blog to express
his opinion on religious issues and discuss his conversion from Islam
to Christianity.
Saleh was previously arrested for his faith in 2004 and
imprisoned for nine months. He was also arrested and briefly detained
in November 2008 and was released shortly before the Saudi-sponsored
interfaith dialogue conference held November 12-13 at the UN
Headquarters in New York. Sources believe officials released him to
avoid tarnishing Saudi Arabia's image of religious tolerance, as at the
conference King Abdullah spoke out against mankind's "preoccupation with
differences between the followers of religions."
At last report, Saleh
was detained in the Eleisha political prison in Riyadh, the nation's
capital.
Pray for the release of Saleh. Pray for strength and
protection for him in prison. Ask God to enable him to grow in
Christlikeness through the opposition he faces for his faith (James
1:2-4).
Saleh had been areested before in 2009 and 2011 for blogging about Christian issues and each time received flogging. This time it seems Saleh could be tried for a capital offense as prosecutors are pushing for a charge of "activities against the Prophet and by an infidel". The penalty for such crimes are death.
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