Saudi Arabia Denies Access to Jailed Christians

(Compass) – Five East African Christians arrested at a private Christian worship service three weeks ago are being refused access to visitors. Officers of the Mabahith internal security force told an expatriate friend who attempted to visit the three Ethiopians and two Eritreans last week at the Riyadh prison facility where they are jailed that the Christian prisoners would only be allowed visitors after one month. The muttawa (Islamic religious police) who raided the April 29 worship service and arrested the men have authority to detain suspects for only 24 hours. “However in practice, persons [are] held weeks or months and sometimes longer,” the U.S. State Department’s 2004 human rights report on Saudi Arabia notes.