Actually, while he was entertaining Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah at the Western White House earlier this week, this had just played out back in the Prince's domain.
[April 24, 2005] RIYADH, Saudi Arabia -- Saudi Arabia has detained 40 Pakistani Christians for holding prayers at a house in the Muslim kingdom, where practicing any religion other than Islam is illegal, newspapers said yesterday.
A group of men, women and children were attending the service in the capital Riyadh when police raided the house, Al Jazirah newspaper said.
It said authorities also found Christian tapes and books.
Another Saudi daily, Al Yaum, said the raid took place on Friday while a Pakistani preacher was delivering a sermon. It was not clear what measures might be taken against the group.
Did President Bush bother to mention this during his cosy chat with Abdullah? If so, it hasn't been reported.
Then again, maybe he did.
40 Pakistani Christians who were detained over the weekend in Saudi Arabia for holding a joint Catholic-Protestant prayer service have been released, news reports said Monday, April 25.
Compass Direct, a Christian news agency, quoted the Pakistan Embassy in the Saudi capital Riyadh as saying that the last two men of the group, identified as Sardar and Emmanuel, were released late Sunday, April 24. Church sources say "several carloads" of Islamic religious police forces from the Committee for the Propagation and the Prevention of Vice raided the worship meeting at a Riyadh home Friday, April 22.
Surrounding the house, the police reportedly halted the sermon being preached by a man identified only as Emmanuel. The police forces beat some of the worshippers, upsetting the furniture and breaking Christian artifacts and symbols as they searched through the house, Compass Direct claimed.
