ISTANBUL, Turkey — An Indian national abducted and tortured by Saudi Arabia’s religious police for spreading Christianity remains jailed without trial 10 weeks after his detention.
Brian Savio O’Connor, 36, was accosted in the Mursalat district of Riyadh March 25 by four agents of the muttawa (religious police).
After seeing his Saudi identity card listing O’Connor as a Christian, they dragged him to a nearby muttawa office, chained his legs and hung him upside down for seven hours.
The four intermittently beat him on the chest and ribs and whipped the soles of his feet with electrical wires. In response to questions, O’Connor declared that he did preach the Bible, but denied converting Muslims to Christianity.
At 2 a.m., the muttawa took O’Connor to the Olaya police station and ordered him put under arrest on charges of preaching Christianity, selling liquor and peddling drugs.
A cargo agent for Saudia Airlines for the past six years, O’Connor currently shares a windowless cell with 16 other inmates at Al-Hair Prison. The All India Catholic Union, the Indian Bishops Conference and officials of the Indian Embassy have filed appeals to Saudi authorities on O’Connor’s behalf, but their inquiries have gone unanswered.
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