Christian from India, May Soon Be Free

(AsiaNews) – “I am confident that the Lord will turn this mess into a message and my test into a testimony,” said Brian Savio O’Connor when he greeted two representatives from the Indian Embassy in Riyadh who recently visited him in prison. O’Connor is an Indian Catholic jailed for allegedly preaching Christianity. AsiaNews spoke by telephone with Dr Naharan, who saw O’Connor in al-Hair prison on July 25. “I found O’Connor in reasonable physical conditions but he did suffer a lot,” Dr Naharan reported. “He said he had not yet been told on what charges he was arrested. The Saudi Muttawa or religious police accuses him of preaching Christianity and possessing liquor.” There is no religious freedom in Saudi Arabia . Any non Muslim religious activity is strictly forbidden. “Spreading Christianity in Arabia is illegal,” Naharan added. “We do not know for certain that O’ Connor is charged with this crime. We wrote to Saudi authorities in April asking them to explain why O’Connor was arrested – We do this for every Indian national arrested –, but so far the Saudis have not answered.” According to Middle East Concern, O’Connor was visited on July 26 by a representative of Prince Salman Ibn Abdul Aziz, governor of Riyadh Region. The Saudi official spoke with the prisoner for about an hour and told him that he should be released within two weeks and be back on the job or on his way to India.