Soft on Saudis

Persecution | Saudis arrest 40 Christians but get all-clear from the Bush administration | Priya Abraham

As Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud of Saudi Arabia jetted to the United States with a five-plane entourage, his religious police took care of business at home. In late April that meant raiding a Riyadh apartment and arresting 40 Christians.

The Christians—all Pakistani men, women, and children—were worshipping privately together in the Badeea district on April 22 when carloads of the mutawaa, or Islamic police, disrupted the group. Police arrested the worshippers and confiscated Christian tapes and literature. One official's explanation: "These people tried to spread the poison and their beliefs to others, by means of distributing pamphlets and [missionary] publications," according to a translation of the Middle East Media Research Institute.

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May 14, 2005, Vol. 20, No. 19

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