Source: www.persecution.org
Date: April 19, 2023
Libya (International Christian Concern) – Two American school teachers accused of being “missionaries inviting Muslim Libyans to convert to Christianity” were detained and deported to Tunisia last week by the Libyan Internal Security Agency in the country’s capitol, Tripoli. There are reports also of two Libyan Christians associated with them being arrested and condemned for apostasy. A series of videos containing the missionaries’ confessions of their sentencing for “inciting our children to renounce Islam and convert to Christianity.”
Such arrests have been common in Libya for years, with Gaddafi-era laws still in place prohibiting Christian proselytizing and the distribution or publication of Christian literature. Conversion from Islam for a Libyan can carry the death penalty in regions of the country being governed by Sharia Law, and all attempts by the foreign Christian population in the country to lead Libyans to Islam is widely considered a threat to “national security and societal structures” in the Muslim country.
These arrests are just another series of arrests related to Libyan Christians under accusation of “apostasy” for converting to Christianity from Islam. Several individual Christians are still awaiting execution after being given the death penalty. They face enormous pressures to return to Islam, and if not, face the death penalty with no protection under Libyan law. ICC is committed to protecting and assisting with the needs of Christians in extreme persecution situations.
HOW TO PRAY: Pray for protection for all four of these individuals. Pray for greater freedom for Christian leaders in Libya. Pray for fair treatment of minorities under the law in Libya.