Yemen: Treatment of Christians by government authorities; whether Christians are accused of spying against Yemen

The Annual Report on International Religious Freedom 2000 states the following concerning religious freedom and the situation of the Christians in Yemen:

The Constitution declares that Islam is the state religion and also provides for freedom of religion, and the Government generally respects this right in practice. Followers of other religions are free to worship according to their beliefs and to wear religiously distinctive ornaments or dress; however, the Government forbids conversions, requires permission for the construction of new places of worship, and prohibits non-Muslims from proselytizing. The Constitution states that Shari'a is the source of all legislation.

Almost all Christians are temporary foreign residents, except for a few families living in Aden that trace their origins to India. ... There are several churches and Hindu places of worship in Aden, but no non-Muslim public places of worship exist in the former North Yemen, largely because northern Yemen does not have a history of a large, resident foreign community as in the south. However, Christian church services are held regularly without harassment in private homes or facilities such as schools, and these facilities appear adequate to accommodate the small numbers involved.

Christian missionaries operate in Yemen and most are dedicated to the provision of medical services; others are employed in teaching and social services. Invited by the Government, the Sisters of Charity run homes for the poor and disabled in Sana'a, Taiz, Hodeida, and Aden. The Government has asked the Vatican to open additional Sisters of Charity facilities. The Government issues residence visas to priests so that they may provide for the community's religious needs. There is also a German Christian charitable mission in Hodeida and a Dutch Christian medical mission in Saada. An American Baptist congregation has run a hospital in Jibla for over 30 years. The Anglican Church also runs a charitable clinic. An American nongovernmental organization (NGO), run by the Seventh-Day Adventists, works in the governorate of Hodeida.

Under Islam the conversion of a Muslim to another religion is considered apostasy, a crime punishable by death. There were no reports of cases in which the crime has been charged or prosecuted by government authorities. In January 2000, the director of the Aden office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) received a report that a Somali refugee, who allegedly had converted from Islam to Christianity after his arrival in Yemen, had been arrested for apostasy. The UNHCR's investigation found that the refugee had been detained previously by police in Aden and at the UNHCR's Al-Jahin camp. The refugee is registered with the UNHCR under a Christian name but maintains an address in Sana'a under a Muslim name. He is married to a Muslim woman and has an Islamic marriage certificate. The UNHCR believed that authorities detained the refugee on criminal rather than religious grounds. At the end of the period covered by this report, the refugee was out of police custody and living in Aden while the UNHCR explored resettlement possibilities (5 Sept. 2000).

In August 2000, Christianity Today reported that the Somali refugee, Mohammed Omer Haji, whose Christian first name is "George", was reunited with his family and sent to New Zealand which had agreed to take the family (28 Aug. 2000).

On its Website, International Christian Concern (ICC), a non-governmental organization (NGO) "for religious liberty and for assisting believers persecuted for their faith" reports that "Non-Muslims residents hold services in privates homes etc. without incident" (Jan. 2001). ICC mentions also that "no known prisoners are being held for their Christian convictions at this time" (ibid.).

When asked by the Yemen Times about the history of the Church in Yemen, a Christian priest responded the following:

I am an Indian catholic. The church in Yemen is deeply rooted in history. We teach poor people in local communities tolerance, peace, love, sympathy ... etc ...

The church was found since 670 i.e. after the birth of prophet Mohammed. I have been told that the church reached Yemen after the death of Priest Partolomio and that there was a church in Sanaa but it was destroyed. In Aden, the church came with the British colonialization. We had churches in different places in Aden. With the advent of communists to power in Aden in 1967, the church's properties were confiscated as its principles did not come a long with their communist principles. Before 1967, the churches that were found in Saudi Arabia, Qater, Bahrain, UAE and Oman were even supervised by 7 priests from Aden (8-14 Jan. 2001).

When the Yemen Times asked the priest what kind of problems the Church was facing in Yemen, he gave the following response:

Actually, we do not have any problems except for getting the properties of the church back in accordance with the orders of the president and minister of foreign affairs to the local authority in Aden. We know that the land of the church has been sold. We are waiting for the right time to get also the schools of the churches back (ibid.).

On their Website, the Christ Church in Aden gives the following description of the work they do in Yemen:

Christ Church in Aden was built in the 1860's and in fact Queen Victoria was one of the first benefactors. Between 1987 and 1995 the then Bishop of Cyprus and the Gulf, John Brown, was in negotiations with the government of southern Yemen and afterwards with the new united government of the Yemen Arab Republic to restore the church. The authorities very much appreciated Bishop John's offer to build a medical clinic in the church compound for the benefit of mothers and babies.

The matter was clinched when Bishop John received a fatwa from Sheikh Zabarah, the Grand Mufti of the Yemen, instructing that the church should be restored to him and that Christians should be permitted to worship freely, just as "Muslims are permitted to do in Britain".

His successor, Bishop Clive Handford, has overseen the completion of the church restoration and the clinic and both are now working successfully. The Church is a home from home for expatriate Christians, especially seamen, and the Clinic with its dedicated and devoted team, grows daily in its outreach to the poorest section of the community (30 Apr. 2001).

On the 1 January 2001, a bomb exploded at Christ Church in Aden (ibid. 9 Jan. 2001). A Yemeni government official told AFP that several Islamists were arrested in relation to this incident and others which had taken place in Aden on the same day (AFP 3 Jan. 2001). In his notes dated March-April 2001, the interim priest of the Christ Church in Aden states that the trial of the five suspects for the bombing of the church had begun in Aden (Christ Church).

No information on whether Christians are being asked to spy against Yemen could be found among the sources consulted.

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of additional sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

References

Agence France Presse (AFP). 3 January 2001. "Several Islamists Arrested after Yemen Blasts." (NEXIS)

Annual Report on International Religious Freedom 2000: Yemen. United States Department of State, Washington, DC. [Accessed 30 Apr. 2001]

Christ Church, Aden. 30 April 2001. "Please Continue to Remember the Team and Pray for Aden!" [Accessed 5 May 2001]

_____. March-April 2001. "Notes from the Interim Priest." [Accessed 5 May 2001]

_____. 9 January 2001. "Latest News Received from Rev'd Roger Bruggink." [Accessed 5 May 2001]

Christianity Today [Belmont, Calif.]. 28 August 2000. Barbara G. Baker. "Somali Convert Released from Jail in Yemen." [Accessed 30 Apr. 2001]

International Christian Concern (ICC). January 2001. "Yemen--Christian Persecution in Yemen." [Accessed 30 Apr. 2001]

Yemen Times [Sana'a]. 8-14 January 2001. "Priest Mathew to YT." [Accessed 30 Apr. 2001]

Additional Sources Consulted

IRB Databases

Internet sites including:

Access Christian

American Institute for Yemeni Studies

Amnesty International

ArabicNews.com

Church World Service

FIDH

Hahooa

Human Rights Watch

In the Lion's Den

Middle East News Online

Minorities at Risk

National Information Center

Open Doors

Persecution of Christians in the Islamic World

Yemen News Agency Saba

Yemen Observer

Yemen Web