I just read about this Christian young man from India who is imprisoned in Saudi Arabia for “spreading Christianity.” He has been in prison in Riyadh since March 25th without a trial or even any formal charges filed against him.
You can read more about this case here at Compass Direct. Here’s an excerpt from their article about what happened to O’Connor after he was kidnapped from a public street:
O?Connor was then dragged to a mosque with an adjacent muttawa office just behind his home. There, O?Connor later told friends who visited him in prison, his legs were chained and he was hung upside down. For the next seven hours, his muttawa captors alternately kicked and beat him in the chest and ribs.
According to International Christian Concern, a U.S.-based advocacy group who first broke the news of O?Connor?s arrest on March 31, O?Connor was ?whipped on his back and soles of his feet by electrical wires,? causing intense pain.
After some time, one of his tormentors told him that he would not be harmed any further if he just ?told the truth.? When questioned, O?Connor declared that he did preach the Bible, but he denied converting Muslims to Christianity. A few minutes later, the beatings resumed, along with painful squeezing of his face.
I don’t like to read about this kind of stuff anymore than anyone else does. I get that sort of helpless feeling: what can I do? Especially I get that feeling when I go to the website for Compass Direct (Compass Direct is a Christian news service dedicated to providing exclusive news, penetrating reports, moving interviews and insightful analyses of situations and events facing Christians persecuted for their faith.) and see all the other reports of Christians being persecuted and imprisoned and tortured for their faith around the world. However, I am going to write a letter or two and try to to do something to help this one brother today. And I will pray. This blogger, Being or Nothingness, lists lots of addresses to write to protest this egregious violation of human rights.