VZCZCXRO7788
PP RUEHDE
DE RUEHJI #0308/01 1091300
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 191300Z APR 06
FM AMCONSUL JEDDAH
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9079
INFO RUEHZM/GULF COOPERATION COUNCIL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY 1356
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS PRIORITY 1434
RUEHRH/AMEMBASSY RIYADH PRIORITY 6429
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/DIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY

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