Apostasy

I picked up this from the Open Doors website
A Christian in Afghanistan facing "apostasy" charges punishable by death is still without legal representation after authorities blocked a foreign lawyer’s attempt to visit him in prison. Said Musa (45) was arrested in May after images of Christians worshipping were broadcast on a popular TV channel.

A Christian lawyer from the region, who requested anonymity, travelled to Kabul on behalf of an American Christian legal rights organisation, Advocates International, to represent Musa, but the authorities denied him access to Musa and to his charges file.

"If a man is not entitled to define his own beliefs and to change those ideas under the existing constitutional order of Afghanistan, then how is this government more moral than the Taliban’s?", the lawyer asked.

Musa has been imprisoned for seven months, even though an accused person has the right to be released if no valid charge is brought before the courts within 15 days of arrest.

The court hearing is expected to take place imminently but because of the sensitivity of the case, Musa is still searching for a lawyer who will defend him. In a letter from prison, Musa asked Christians to pray for him and for his country. Musa is married and has six young children.

Another Afghan Christian in prison for his faith is Shoib Assadullah, 25, who was arrested on 12 October for giving a New Testament to a man who then turned him in to authorities. Shoib is in jail in northern Afghanistan and, like Musa, cannot find a lawyer to defend him. Sources close to him have said that despite everything, he is not frightened and his faith is strong, but he desperately misses having a Bible.

Source: Compass Direct News

Please pray:

1. For Musa and Shoib, that able defence lawyers will be found to represent them in court and they get a fair trial.

2. That these men will be strengthened in prison, both in mind and spirit, and they would know they are not alone.

3. That God would bless Advocates International and raise up similar organisations, so that persecuted Christians would have access to legal representation in such cases.