Abdulbaqi Saeed Abdo is behind bars for something many do every day: he posted on Facebook.
Abdo, a Yemini asylum seeker, has been in prison for two-and-a-half years because — after converting from Islam to Christianity — he began discussing theological matters in a private Facebook group with other recent converts to Christianity.
This week, the Alliance Defending Freedom International, the religious liberty advocacy group representing Abdo, announced the persecuted believer has declared a hunger strike in a recent letter sent to his wife and family.
Abdo was reportedly arrested by Egyptian authorities in 2021 for participating in a Facebook group, answering questions for and fostering conversations with people who had converted from Islam to Christianity. All of this happened as Abdo was living in Egypt after registering with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees as an asylum seeker who fled Yemen after becoming a Christian.
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The bogus charges the 54-year-old believer is facing, according to Amnesty International, include “joining a terrorist group” and “defamation of the Islamic religion.”
In the letter, originally written in Arabic before being translated into English by ADF, Abdo expressed how much he loves and misses his wife and family, writing, “I pray to God that he will protect you and make you successful in all your situation[s] of your life. And my prayer is that God will unite us together soon.”
He went on to inform his loved ones that he has started a hunger strike over the persecution he’s facing.
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Reprinted with permission from faithwire.com. Copyright © 2024 The Christian Broadcasting Network Inc. All rights reserved.
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