Riyadh nabs 14 OFWs for practicing religion

THE Catholic Church is alarmed with the arrest and detention of 14 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) for participating in a Christian worship in Saudi Arabia. This was after Migrante Middle East (ME) appealed to the government to help the 14 OFWs arrested by the Saudi cultural police for participating in a Christian worship.

In a report to the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines by John Leonard Monterona, regional coordinator of Migrante-ME, the 14 OFWs, whose names are yet to be verified, were included to more than 100 foreigners apprehended by the Saudi authorities for practicing Christianity.

“There are two OFWs, who refused to be named, who had called me, separately, and told me about the incident. They are appealing for help,” he said.

In the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Monterona said, it is prohibited to perform any kind of religious worship, except Islam.

“However, despite this, there are still Christian denominations and other religious groups which perform religious activities secretly,” he said.

In the meantime, the Migrante case officers have been instructed to coordinate with the concerned Philippine Embassy officials and to get more information such as the names of the OFWs so that their respective employers would be immediately informed and ask them to get their detained OFWs a provisional release under their custody.

Migrante had cautioned OFWs that they must be extra careful in practicing their religion in order to avoid persecution and arrest. –JOMAR CANLAS, Manila Times