"We were just informed by our source that, contrary to our original press release, none of the detained Christians are American citizens," said US-based International Christian Concern (ICC), with Web site www.persecution.org. "In fact, none of the Christians are foreigners at all."
However it with all Christians apparently being locals, "they are still being held in prison and face mistreatment by Yemeni authorities." ICC said it had urged supporters to pray that "the Lord will protect them from torture and other types of mistreatment,” and that they will find "strength and courage" and be "released quickly."
Yemeni news website Sahwa Net reported that Hadni Dohni, a Yemeni Muslim who converted to Christianity, and six fellow believers have been accused of "promoting Christianity and distributing the Bible…" The suspects were apparently detained last month in Hodiada province and transferred to the capital Sanaa where security forces investigate them "to know who support them," the website said.
Isaac Crawford, an American blogger who has been writing from Yemen on his Web site www.isaharr.com told BosNewsLife he is especially concerned about the Yemeni convert. He, "is the one that you need to pray for. The popular method of dealing with converts is to kill them," Crawford said.
"GROWING PERSECUTION"
ICC noted that the latest arrests are part "of growing persecution of Christians in Islamic countries," and said believers in Iran, Egypt and Algeria have also seen "a spike in anti-Christian activity." Yemeni officials had no comment.
The group also asked Christians in the United States and around the world to contact American senators via the www.house.gov and www.senate.gov websites or Yemeni embassies in their countries to demand the Christians’ release.
Four embassies were specifically mentioned in the US (phone +1 202 965-4760 or +1 202 337-2017 or e-mail ambassador@yemenembassy.org and political@yemenembassy.org ), Canada (phone +1 613 729-6627 or +1 613 729-8915 and e-mail: info@yemenincandada.org), United Kingdom (Phone: +44 (207) 584 6607 or +44 (207) 589 3350 and e-mail yemen.embassy@btconnect.com) and Germany (phone +49 (030) 897305-0 +49 (030) 897305-62 or e-mail: info@botschaft-jemen.de ).
