Saudi Arabia reportedly detained 40 Pakistani Christians for holding prayers at a house in the Muslim kingdom, where practicising any religion other than Islam is illegal. Reuters news agency quoted newspapers as saying that a group of men, women and children were attending the service in the capital Riyadh when police raided the house.
Al Jazirah newspaper reportedly said that authorities also found Christian tapes and books. Another Saudi daily, Al Yaum, said the raid took place on Friday while a Pakistani preacher was delivering a sermon, Reuters reported. It was not clear what measures might be taken against the group.
Saudi authorities were not immediately available to comment.
MANY FOREIGNERS
There are around six million foreigners in the conservative kingdom, which has a population of 23 million, including many Christians from Europe, North America, Asia and other Arab states, Reuters said. In a rare official rebuke of a close ally last year, Washington accused Saudi Arabia of severe violations of religious freedom.
"Freedom of religion is not recognized or protected under the country’s laws and basic religious freedoms are denied to all but those who adhere to the state-sanctioned version of Sunni Islam," the State Department said in an annual report.
Analysts say that following the September 11, 2001 attacks, which were carried out by mainly Saudis, the Gulf Arab state’s religious establishment came under sharp criticism by the West for allegedly fostering militancy and intolerance of other religions.
TORTURED INDIAN
Late last year Christian human rights activists praised the unexpected release of a "tortured" Indian Christian from jail in Saudi Arabia as an answer to "prayers" and "international pressure."
In November Brian Savio O’Connor, a Protestant and quest worker from the Indian state of Karnataka, was sentenced to 10 months imprisonment and 300 lashes on charges of "spreading Christianity" in the Islamic kingdom, but released amid international pressure.
Despite his release, Christian rights group Open Doors remains concerned. It said recently that "there is hardly any religious freedom in the strict Islamic Kingdom of Saudi Arabia." Open Doors stressed that "Christians and other non-Muslims are not allowed to meet for public worship in the country" and that since 2003 "several foreign Christians were jailed. Some of them were subsequently deported to their home countries in connection with Christian activities such as involvement in house churches."
(BosNewsLife’s Vishal Arora in New Delhi and Stefan J. Bos in Budapest also contributed to this story).
