Saudi Arabia Kidnaps Christians Off Its Streets



April 25 2005 The WashingtonDC based human rights group International Christian Concern ICC wwwpersecutionorg has just become informed about the abduction of a Christian off of the streets of Saudi Arabia Samkutty Varghese is an Indian national who traveled to Saudi Arabia on Jan 26th 2005 He was staying in Riyadh until his abduction off the streets by the Muttawa Saudi religious police It is being reported to ICC that the Muttawa approached Sam as he was waiting for friends near the city center of Riyadh on the evening of March 9th at approximately 700 pm Mr Varghese was awaiting a visa extension from the Saudi government The Muttawa asked Varghese for his passport However he was only able to give them a copy because the Saudi government had taken his passport since he was requesting a visa extension They then asked him what was in his bag In his bag he had one Bible in the Hindi language The Muttawa then took Mr Varghese away and there has been no communication from him since Friends of Mr Varghese went to the local police station but the police would not disclose any information in his regard Samkutty Varghese has a wife and small children waiting on word of his whereabouts back in India This is just the latest outrageous example of Saudi Arabia's complete disregard of human rights and their zerotolerance policy towards people of other religions at home while they spend billions of dollars every year building mosques and promoting Islam around the Western world The Saudi's have made a lot of noise recently about their efforts to clean up the religious radicals and the Muttawa but it seems it is business as usual ICC requests concerned individuals to contact a Saudi embassy to politely express their concern as well as to request the release of Samkutty Varghese Address Kalakunnel Puthenveedu Kurampakkara PO Pathanapuram Kerala India Passport No E 8421022 For A List of Saudi Embassies In Different Countries please go to httpwwwpersecutionorgnewsitecountryinfodetailphpcountrycode=23 ICC is a WashingtonDC based human rights organization that exists to help persecuted Christians worldwide ICC delivers humanitarian aid trains and supports persecuted pastors raises awareness in the US regarding the problem of persecution and is an advocate for the persecuted on Capitol Hill and the State Department For additional information or for an interview contact ICC at 8004225441



Saudi Arabia Kidnaps Christians Off Its Streets