Contact: Jeff Walton, Institute on Religion and Democracy, 202-682-4131, 202-413-5639 cell, jwalton@TheIRD.org

WASHINGTON, Feb. 17, 2012 /Christian Newswire/ -- Imprisonment in Saudi Arabia of 35 Ethiopian Christians arrested for praying in a private home on December 15 has prompted religious liberty organizations and the Washington-area Ethiopian community to join together demanding their release.

Event Details:

What: Protest demanding Saudi Arabia release Christians arrested for praying in a private home

Who: Washington, D.C. area Ethiopian Community, International Christian Concern (ICC), IRD

When: 10 a.m. Tuesday, February 21

Where: Embassy of Saudi Arabia, 601 New Hampshire Ave NW, Washington, DC 20037

Non-Muslim religious worship is forbidden in the Saudi Kingdom, which does not permit even immigrant workers to worship at small gatherings in the privacy of their homes.

Both the Institute on Religion and Democracy (IRD) and International Christian Concern (ICC) are charging that Saudi Arabian government officials have severely mistreated the prisoners because of their Christian faith. Saudi officials assaulted the men and performed humiliating body cavity searches on the female prisoners. One high ranking official told the Ethiopians, "You are non-believers and animals. You are pro-Jews and supporters of America."

In February, the Saudis also began pressuring the Christians to convert to Islam. The Christians were visited by a Muslim preacher who, according to one prisoner, "vilified Christianity, denigrated the Bible, and told us that us that Islam is the only true religion."

In addition to participating in Tuesday's demonstration, IRD will help promote ICC's petition to the Saudi government and also urges concerned Americans to call the Saudi Embassy (202-342-3800) and ask them to release the Christian prisoners and allow them to leave the country.

IRD Religious Liberty Program Director Faith J.H. McDonnell commented:

"Once again we have a striking example to demonstrate the intolerance, lack of human rights and religious freedom, and total hypocrisy of the Shariah-adherent Islamic Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

"The Ethiopian Christians, 29 women and six men, who were working in Saudi Arabia, have no church to attend. That, of course, is forbidden. They were meeting in a private home for their weekly Bible study and were arrested, supposedly for 'mixing with the opposite sex.' But everyone knows that they were arrested for being Christians.

"The Saudi government hypocritically funds innumerable interfaith dialogues on religious tolerance around the world, but has zero tolerance for religious freedom in their own country."