CHRISTIAN WORSHIP IN JEDDAH: FROM CONGREGATION TO

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 JEDDAH 000308

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

RIYADH, PLEASE PASS TO DHAHRAN; DEPARTMENT FOR NEA/ARP;
DEPARTMENT FOR DRL/IRF - PLEASE PASS TO AMBASSADOR-AT-LARGE
JOHN HANFORD; PARIS FOR ZEYA; LONDON FOR TSOU

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/17/2016
TAGS: PGOV PHUM SOCI KIRF SA
SUBJECT: CHRISTIAN WORSHIP IN JEDDAH: FROM CONGREGATION TO
DETENTION

REF: JEDDAH 237

Classified By: Consul General Tatiana Gfoeller for reasons 1.4 (b) and
(d)


1. (C) SUMMARY. The Consul General and ConGenOffs are
conducting a long-term inquiry into Christian worship in
Jeddah. So far, the investigation has revealed that the
Christian population in the city is large and engages in
regular, private, group worship. Despite the Kingdom's
strict laws prohibiting group worship by non-Muslims, many
Christians in Jeddah participated in Easter services on April
16 and plan to participate in Greek Orthodox Easter services
on April 23. On April 18, the CG had the opportunity to meet
with a leading Filipino Protestant preacher who spoke frankly
about his Jeddah-based church, his congregation, and the case
of a Filipino worshiper arrested and detained in Jeddah in
March 2006 for possession of Christian leaflets. The man was
officially arrested for drug-related charges but was released
two weeks later after the Saudi authorities failed to produce
evidence of the crime. END SUMMARY.

CHRISTIAN SERVICES: NOT JUST FOR EASTER


2. (C) The Consul General and ConGenOffs are conducting long
term inquiries into Christian worship in Jeddah, but focused
even more attention on the subject for the month preceding
Easter. (Reftel) The idea was to get a sense of the strength
of the area's Christian population and ascertain whether or
not services were more likely to be held during Easter, the
holiest of Christian holidays. Interestingly, while groups
organized themselves to hold special Easter services at
homes, makeshift churches, and Consulates on Good Friday and
Easter Sunday (and services are going on every evening at the
Greek Consulate General for the Holy Week of April 17-23),
April did not prove to be an exceptional time of year. While
is it common knowledge that the British Consulate in Jeddah
regularly holds Christian services, AmConGen Jeddah contacts
revealed that the British Consulate also held two large
Easter services - one Catholic, one Protestant - which were
open to Jeddah's sizable Christian population.


3. (C) Another Consulate contact informed ConGenOff that a
Western couple in Jeddah sponsors the monthly visits of an
Irish Catholic priest who lives in Dubai. In addition to
Bible study, these small masses held at the couple's house
include holy communion. The priest organizes several masses
during each of his visits. Similarly, a different group of
Catholics organize Filipino-only services on a weekly basis.
While this group meets weekly at different times and at
different members' homes, they did not host their own Easter
service, opting instead to attend the Catholic mass at the
British Consulate. "It was safer this way," said one of
female members of the all Filipino Catholic group. "We were
afraid that the Saudis would be looking harder for us during
Easter." This woman described their normal worship, adding
that the group's fifty-plus members communicate with one
another via cell phone text messaging services. All of the
group's members discretely carry rosaries with them and most
have small alters erected in their homes. While there are no
Bibles, occasionally a Jeddah-based Irish priest will attend
and bring one of his own.

VIBRANT BORN AGAIN CHRISTIAN MINISTRIES OF JEDDAH BOAST OVER
THIRTY "CHURCHES"


4. (C) On April 18, the CG met with a leading Filipino
Protestant preacher who has lived and worked in Jeddah for
twelve years. The preacher is a self-described Born Again
Christian. He told the CG that he estimates that there are
approximately 600,000 Filipinos in Saudi Arabia and, of that
number, 240,000 reside in Jeddah alone. The large Christian
Filipino population in Jeddah has given rise to a vibrant and
active group of Protestant ministries. Collectively they are
referred to as the "Churches of Jeddah". The ministry to
which this preacher belongs is called "Lord Reigns" and,
according to him, is comprised of some thirty churches in the
Jeddah area. Another ministry called "Jesus is Lord" boasts
twelve churches in Jeddah. While the Protestant population
is large, the preacher only knows of one functioning Catholic
ministry that worships in a single church housed in a private

JEDDAH 00000308 002 OF 003


residence.


5. (C) The Filipino preacher holds regular, private services
at his Jeddah home, which he has partially converted into a
functioning church. He noted that he and his congregation
are not proselytizing to the larger Jeddah community, nor are
they seeking to convert Muslims to Christianity or provoke
the Saudi government to take action against them. "It's not
like we want to go to the Balad (old part of Jeddah) and push
our faith...we just want a little freedom."


6. (C) While he expressed concern for his own safety and the
safety of those to whom he preaches, he also described the
measures he has taken to minimize the risk of being caught.
He explained that he has helped soundproof the walls of his
home by tacking up foam egg-crate mattresses. In addition,
people enter his home two-by-two so as not to draw attention
to themselves. At times, more than fifty Filipinos will
express an interest in attending his services. In that case,
he holds two separate ones on the same day. When asked
whether or not he varies the times of his Friday services, he
replied, "No, but sometimes people will come on Thursday and
stay through Friday so they don't get caught."


7. (C) Of particular interest was the fact that the
preacher's next door neighbor is a captain for the local
Saudi religious police (motawah). ConGenOff inquired as to
whether or not the motawah know about this makeshift church.
The preacher replied, "I think so. (My neighbor) sits in his
garden a lot and has seen people coming in. He asked me once
if I was Protestant. When I said 'yes' he said, 'I like
Christians.'"

FILIPINO WORSHIPER DETAINED


8. (C) AmConGen Jeddah first heard about the arrest of a
Filipino Christian man in Jeddah on April 9. A contact of
the Department's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor
(DRL) reported that John "Jun" Batara, a Filipino national,
was arrested on or about March 20 and was being detained at
the Briman prison in Jeddah. During the hour-long meeting
with the prominent Filipino preacher at the CG's residence,
AmConGen Jeddah was able to confirm that Mr. Batara was, in
fact, arrested around that time and was released
approximately two weeks later. The preacher described the
worshiper's ordeal in great detail, noting that the man works
as an office employee at a local Saudi company.


9. (C) According to the preacher, Mr. Batara was a "Roman
Catholic with a bad attitude" who "finally saw the light" and
became a Born Again Christian. His office colleagues noticed
the positive change in his personality and demeanor and asked
him about it. Mr. Batara proceeded to tell a close colleague
about his religion and showed him a pamphlet about
Christianity which was written in Tagalog. The colleague
asked Mr. Batara to translate it into English for him. Soon
another Pakistani colleague heard about the pamphlet and
asked to have it translated into Arabic. The preacher
believes, but could not confirm, that the Pakistani man
showed the translated pamphlet to someone else who then
informed the Saudi authorities about its existence. When
asked by the CG whether or not Mr. Batara's Pakistani
colleague inquired about the pamphlet as a "set-up", the
preacher said that he did not believe so.


10. (C) Mr. Batara was arrested on trumped-up drug charges.
While in jail, the local guards would go to him and say, "You
are so courageous. Why don't you become a Muslim? You would
be a good one." Mr. Batara resisted, stating repeatedly that
he was Christian. Incidentally, the Filipino preacher
informed the CG that he, too, has been told that he would
"make a good Muslim" and has been asked to convert to Islam
on a number of occasions. The CG remarked that she met a
Filipino man residing in Saudi Arabia who converted to Islam
six times because he was paid by the imams of six different
mosques to do so.


11. (C) At one point, Mr. Batara was being held in a cell
with five other Saudi men. "He felt that something was going
to happen to him, so he prayed. He was almost raped, but a
large Saudi man in a pure white thobe suddenly appeared out

JEDDAH 00000308 003 OF 003


of nowhere, pulled him away by his shirt collar and put him
in another cell before they could do it. He was saved,"
recounted the preacher, clearly implying that a miracle had
occurred. NOTE. There is a standing history of young
Filipino men being sexually exploited by Saudi men in the
Kingdom. The preacher himself admitted that he, too, had been
solicited by Saudi men to engage in homosexal activities in
exchange for money. With resigned sorrow he concluded that
young Filipino men wee only in the Kingdom to be "used" by
Saudi men. The preacher's outlook makes Mr. Batara's
"mirale" in prison all the more significant. Mr. Batar,
confined and without defenses, was in the maimum danger zone
for succumbing to this pattern of victimization when he was
in his shared jail cell. If Filipino men are often raped by
Saudi men, the fact that Mr. Batara escaped unscathed can
only be attributed to divine intervention. END NOTE.


12. (C) In the end the Saudi authorities could not produce
any evidence of the drug charges and so, accordingly,
released Mr. Batara after two weeks. The CG inquired about
Mr. Batara's demeanor in the aftermath of his arrest. The
preacher said that he was doing well and had even been
promoted at his company since his detainment. While this is
the only recent arrest case that the CG's contact was aware
of, the Filipino preacher did say that his Christian friends
in Khamis Mushait and Abha (both in the Western Province) are
concerned for their safety. He had received reports that
they had been regularly harassed by the Saudi authorities.

13.(C) NOTE. The CG framed this entire confidential
discussion with the Filipino preacher in terms of the USG's
larger interest in human rights issues. She discussed DRL
and the Department's Office of International Religious
Freedom as two initiatives undertaken by the USG, generally,
and the State Department, specifically, to address these
issues. The CG concluded the meeting by assuring the
preacher that their conversation was confidential, and by
reminding him that the lines of communication with the
Consulate are always open to discuss this and similar human
rights related issues. END NOTE.
Gfoeller