Saudis transfer foreign Christian detainees

JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia — Saudi Arabian authorities have transferred the last five of 14 foreign Christians from their Jeddah prison cell to a deportation center, according to nine other Christian prisoners already moved there on December 22 and 23.

Fourteen Christians have been jailed without formal charges or consular access in a sweep of arrests that began last July in Jeddah, a port city of Saudi Arabia. Saudi’s religious police detained the men, who are all active members of house churches in the city. Under the kingdom’s strict version of Islamic law, non-Muslims are prohibited from meeting for public worship, and private Christian house meetings that become known are raided and stopped.

The prisoners include nine Ethiopians, two Eritreans, one
Filipino, an Indian and a Nigerian. The religious identity of one Ethiopian prisoner in the group remained unconfirmed.