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("Agence France-Presse," January 21, 2010)
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia – A SAUDI man reported to have raped more than 100 women after posing as a spell-caster to lure them into his clutches has been sentenced to death, Saudi media reported.

The "Qatif sorcerer" was originally sentenced to 10 years in prison and 1000 lashes, but after more victims came forth the sentence was changed to execution, Al-Riyadh newspaper reported overnight.

(author unknown) Saudi Arabia, Women

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("Agence France-Presse," January 21, 2010)
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia – A SAUDI man reported to have raped more than 100 women after posing as a spell-caster to lure them into his clutches has been sentenced to death, Saudi media reported.

The "Qatif sorcerer" was originally sentenced to 10 years in prison and 1000 lashes, but after more victims came forth the sentence was changed to execution, Al-Riyadh newspaper reported overnight.

(author unknown) Saudi Arabia, Women

Read the Full Article at Union of Catholic Asian News

The bishops’ commission on migrants is blocked from helping Filipino prisoners in Saudi Arabia because of strict rules against the practice of religions other than Islam there, Scalabrini Father Edwin Corros says. (more…)

(author unknown) Bishop, Saudi Arabia

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A Filipino domestic worker describes as "a prison" her experience in Saudi Arabia. For seven months she was not allowed to leave or have a bed to sleep on. Because of her Christian faith her salary wa…

(author unknown) Saudi Arabia

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The United States does not often find itself in a league with China, Iran, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia.

(author unknown) China, Death Penalty, Europe, Iran, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia

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(AP) – RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Much of the world knows Petra, the ancient ruin in modern-day Jordan that is celebrated in poetry as “the rose-red city, ‘half as old as time,’” and which provided the climactic backdrop for “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.” But far fewer know Madain Saleh, a similarly spectacular treasure built by the same civilization, the Nabateans. That’s because it’s in Saudi Arabia, where conservatives are deeply hostile to pagan, Jewish and Christian sites that predate the founding of Islam in the 7th century. But now, in a quiet but notable change of course, the kingdom has opened up an archaeology boom by allowing Saudi and foreign…

(author unknown) Archaeology, India, Saudi Arabia

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“There is a lot of money involved in Islamization of Coptic girls, as much as thousands of U.S. dollars, funded mainly by Saudi Arabia and Gulf states.”

(author unknown) Coptic, Egypt, Muslim, Saudi Arabia

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staff writers Crucifixion, Saudi Arabia

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LOS ANGELES, April 16 (Compass Direct News) – In a surprise move, a Saudi Christian arrested in January for describing his conversion from Islam and criticizing the kingdom’s judiciary on his blog site was released on March 28 with the stipulation that he not travel outside of Saudi Arabia or appear on media. Hamoud Saleh Al-Amri (previously reported as Hamoud Bin Saleh), 28, reportedly attributed his release to advocacy efforts by the Arab Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI). The Cairo-based organization had campaigned for his release along with other rights groups, reported Christian advocacy organization Middle East Concern. Gamal Eid, director of ANHRI, told Compass by telephone that he believed his organization had nothing to do with Al-Amri’s release. Rather, he said he believed officials were loath to keep a person of questionable mental stability in prison. “He is mentally not stable, because he had the courage to say in his blog that he is a Christian,” Eid said. “Anyone in his right mind in Saudi Arabia wouldn’t do that.” The country’s penalty for “apostasy,” or leaving Islam, is death, although in recent years there have been no known cases of kingdom citizens formally convicted and sentenced with capital punishment for the offense.

(author unknown) Conversion, Oath, Saudi Arabia

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The Vatican today sent a greeting to the world’s Buddhists on the occasion of the forthcoming festival of Vesakh, thanking them for their “inspiring witness of non-attachment and
contentment,” and emphasizing that Catholics and Buddhists share an appreciation of the spiritual value of poverty.

(author unknown) Abuse, Adoption, Birth Control, Bishop, Burqa, Catholic, Contraception, Court, Cult, Darwin, Divorce, Doctor Who, Embryo, Evangelical, Evolution, God, Holocaust, India, Intelligent Design, Iraq, Israel, Jesus, Judge, McCain, Nativity, Nun, Pakistan, Palin, Priest, Same Sex, Satan, Saudi Arabia, Spank, UFO, Vatican, Vicar

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The U.S. State Department designated Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Uzbekistan as “countries of particular concern” because of their religious freedom violations. Those same countries were named in 2006.

(author unknown) China, Eritrea, Iran, Korea, Saudi Arabia

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AP – On its final working day in office, the Bush administration re-designated eight countries as severe violators of religious freedom but waived possible sanctions against Saudi Arabia and Uzbekistan, officials said Monday.

(author unknown) Saudi Arabia

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USA (MNN) — Next, millions of Christians are persecuted all over the world for their faith in Christ. The Washington, DC–based human rights group International Christian Concern has just released its annual Hall of Shame Awards, a list of the world’s top ten persecutors of Christians. In order of rank, they are: North Korea, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, India, China, Pakistan, Iran, Eritrea and Vietnam. ICC is calling on journalists and believers everywhere to help shine the light on persecution in 2009. See FULL STORY below for more information.

(author unknown) China, Eritrea, India, Iran, Iraq, Korea, Pakistan, Persecution, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam

Read the Full Article at International Christian Concern

A Saudi woman is sentenced to prison and one hundred lashes because she was raped by five men. Saudi Arabia applies Sharia law that violates basic rights such as freedom of religion and rights of women.

(author unknown) Saudi Arabia, Women

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A 28-year-old blogger who recorded his conversion from Islam to Christianity has been detained by authorities in Saudi Arabia. The arrest came just five months after the killing of a Saudi official’s daughter who converted to Christianity.

Dibin Samuel Conversion, Saudi Arabia

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AP – A Saudi Arabian official says mosques can be the only places of worship in his country, rejecting pressure to change heavy restrictions on religious besides Islam.

(author unknown) Saudi Arabia, Worship

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In Saudi Arabia,a Christian leader is appealing for help after receiving threats from Islamists.

(author unknown) Saudi Arabia

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USA (MNN) — Next, North Korea has again been named as the worst place on earth to be a Christian. Open Doors USA released its annual World Watch List yesterday, ranking North Korea number one for the seventh year in a row. Rounding out the top six are Saudi Arabia, Iran, Afghanistan, Somalia and Maldives. Moeller says this is about more than making a list. “We’re actually formulating agendas for serving those persecuted Christians. We’re actually going into those countries in clandestine ways and providing relief and support so that they might remain a light in a very dark place.” Moeller says the desire of Open Doors is to support the needs of the national church. “Whatever they need, we go and get for them. In most cases, it’s to be remembered in prayer. Also, they usually ask for a copy of God’s Word of their very own. Most of these countries either outlaw the Bible or make it very difficult to get, and it’s certainly impossible to distribute widely.” If you’d like to see the complete World Watch List, follow the links in FULL STORY below.

(author unknown) Afghanistan, Bible, Cult, God, Iran, Korea, Prayer, Saudi Arabia

Read the Full Article at Christian Newswire: All Releases

Contact: Jerry Dykstra, Media Relations Director, Open Doors USA, 616-915-4117, JerryD@odusa.org
SANTA ANA, Calif., Jan. 30 /Christian Newswire/ – On Tuesday, Feb. 3, Open Doors will release its annual World Watch List of 50 countries that are the worst persecutors of Christians worldwide.
For the past six years, North Korea has topped the list. Last year Saudi Arabia was No. 2. Iran was No. 3. 
The World Watch List ranks countries according to the intensity of persecution Ch Source: Open Doors USA

(author unknown) Iran, Korea, Persecution, Saudi Arabia

Read the Full Article at Compass Direct News

LOS ANGELES, January 30 (Compass Direct News) – A prominent foreign pastor in Saudi Arabia has fled Riyadh after a member of the mutawwa’in, or religious police, and others threatened him three times in one week. Two of the incidents included threats to kill house church pastor Yemane Gebriel of Eritrea. On Wednesday (Jan. 28), Gebriel escaped to an undisclosed city in Saudi Arabia. A father of eight who has lived and worked as a private driver in Saudi Arabia for 25 years, Gebriel told Compass that on Jan. 10 he found an unsigned note on his vehicle threatening to kill him if he did not leave the country. On Jan. 13, he said, mutawwa’in member Abdul Aziz and others forced him from his van and told him to leave the country. “There was a note on my van saying, ‘If you do not leave the country, we will kill you,” Gebriel told Compass by telephone. “Three days after that, [Aziz] said, ‘You’re still working here, why don’t you go out of the country?” Two days later, Gebriel told Compass, four masked men – apparently Saudis – in a small car cut off the van he was driving. “They said, ‘We will kill you if you don’t go away from this place – you must leave here or we will kill you,’” he said.

(author unknown) Eritrea, Pastor, Saudi Arabia