Prisoner Updates

Egypt

Shaiboub Arsal – Sentenced to 15 years hard labour on June 5, 2000 for a double murder in El-Kosheh. Open Doors believes he is a Christian scapegoat.

Hisham Ibrahim – A convert to Christianity, Hisham was arrested in early May 2000, and imprisoned on criminal charges. He was falsely accused of reviling Islam.

Indonesia

S Ongirwal – wrongly convicted of abducting and forcibly converting a teenage Muslim girl in 1999. Jail sentence of 6–10 years was appealed and he is awaiting hearings.

Sudan

Aladin Omer Mohammed, a Muslim who converted to Christianity, Mohammed endured interrogations, beatings, drug injections and death threats by the Islamist Khartoum authorities until he went into hiding in February 2002. He has now left Sudan.

RELEASED

Saudi Arabia

Seven months and seven days after he was arrested, tortured and jailed on charges of 'spreading Christianity', Indian national Brian O'Connor was deported back to his homeland unconditionally on November 2^nd, 2004. During Brian's seven months in jail, 21 of his cellmates came to Christ through his active witness.

Ethiopia

Kiro Meles and Abebayeh Desalegn were charged as suspects in the death of an Orthodox Church member. They were jailed for 10 months before being released on March 7^th, 2003.

Pakistan

Four Christians accused of killing a Roman Catholic priest were ordered released on bail by a Pakistani lower court in late September, eleven weeks after they were arrested by local police.

In a September 24^th hearing, the Okara Additional Sessions Court accepted a bail petition to release Christians Sharif Masih, Naimat Masih, Aslam Masih and Parveez Masih along with Muslim suspect Mohammed Afzel, from judicial lock-up in Okara.

Peru

David de Vinatea – After serving eight years and 10 days in prison, falsely convicted of drug trafficking, Colonel David de Vinatea, a decorated officer in the Peruvian army and an evangelical Christian, regained his freedom on November 19^th, 2003.

Indonesia

Rev. Rinaldy Damanik walked free on Tuesday November 9^th, 2004 – almost a year earlier than his original release date.

Rev. Damanik, a prominent figure in peace negotiations between warring Muslim and Christian communities on the island of Sulawesi, was convicted on charges of illegal weapons possession in June 2003 and sentenced to three years' imprisonment.

Witnesses in court said they were tortured by police and forced to give false evidence. Judge Somanada admitted that many irregularities had occurred during the alleged discovery of the weapons and during the trial, but he still delivered a guilty verdict.

A leading Muslim cleric became a staunch advocate for Rev. Damanik's release after hearing about his campaign for peace.

R Marthinus – wrongly convicted of complicity in the abduction of a teenaged girl because he tried to get her registered in a Christian school in East Java. His six-year sentence was reduced and he was released April 22^nd, 2003.

Yanawardi Koto – also wrongly convicted of complicity in the abduction of a teenaged girl. On parole since October 21^st, 2003. He hopes to remain in Jakarta until 2006, possibly attending a theological seminary, until his full sentence is served.

Turkmenistan

Shagildy Atakov – an active Baptist pastor – was arrested and imprisoned in Turkmenistan back in 1998.

During his time in jail, we received many worrying reports of torture and mistreatment by the prison guards, prompting worldwide intercession for him.

Shagildy was released from prison unexpectedly in January 2002.

Turkey

Soner Onder was arrested at the age of 17 on charges of taking part in a Kurdish terrorist attack that left 12 people dead in Istanbul in late 1991. Although Soner was originally given the death penalty, his sentence was reduced because he was a minor at the time of his arrest.

Soner was released on June 22nd – exactly 12 years and six months after his arrest.

Soner has also lodged an appeal with the European Court of Human Rights and, in an unusal move for the ECHR, they have agreed to hear his case but no decision has yet been handed down.

It is expected that a decision by the ECHR in Soner’s favour would not only clear Soner's name but would require the Turkish government to pay him a sizeable amount in compensation.

ACQUITTED

India

Ian Stillman – missionary to the deaf – charged with drug smuggling on August 27^th, 2000, was freed December 7^th, 2002.

Pakistan

Parvez Masih, who was arrested and jailed in April 2001, was released in April 2006. After five years of trials, inhumane treatment, threats and beatings, the headmaster of a private Christian middle school was found not guilty of blaspheming the prophet Muhammed.

After nearly six years in jail on false charges of blasphemy, acquitted Christian prisoner Ayub Masih slipped out of Pakistan in early September 2003 for residence in a safe, undisclosed location. He is doing well, but misses his family.

Rasheed and Saleem Masih were given life sentences in prison for a quarrel over ice cream bowls. Jailed since June 1999, they were acquitted and released March 19^th, 2003.

Turkey

Kemal Timur, facing up to a year in jail for an alleged insult against Islam, was acquitted on June 26th 2002, by a criminal court.

Pastor Ahmet Guvener was acquitted February 3^rd 2003, of making illegal architectural alterations to a building designed to serve as his congregation's worship centre.