Indian Christian Abducted by Saudi Religious Police for Possession of A Bible Continues To Be Held Incommunicado in Saudi Arabia
(PRWEB) April 25, 2005 -- The Washington-DC based human rights group, International Christian Concern (ICC), www.persecution.org, 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 7:00 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 Arabias complete disregard of human rights and their zero-tolerance 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 Saudis 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 P.O. Pathanapuram, Kerala India
Passport No. E 8421022.
For A List of Saudi Embassies In Different Countries, please go to
http://www.persecution.org/newsite/countryinfodetail.php?countrycode=23
ICC is a Washington-DC 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 800-422-5441.
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