Libya: A wave of Christian arrests

As reported by The Guardian on 3 May 2023, six Libyan nationals are facing the death penalty because they converted to Christianity and are accused of proselytizing. A US citizen was also arrested, but has since been released and has left the country. It was also reported in May that a group of Egyptian Coptic Christians had been arrested in the east of the country following accusations of proselytizing (Eastern Province News, 27 May 2023). Earlier on in February 2023, 6 Coptic Christians were abducted for ransom, but they were freed after intervention by the Egyptian Foreign Ministry (AP News, 17 February 2023).

World Watch Research analyst Michael Bosch comments: “The Libyan and US Christians were arrested in March 2023 by the Internal Security Agency (ISA), which states on its website that it, among other things, ‘combats … dangers and threats that target [Libya’s] religious and social values’ (ISA, accessed 2 June 2023). The agency has connections with the Islamist RADA Special Deterrence Forces, which also functions in the capital Tripoli under the auspices of the Ministry of the Interior. It is very worrying that the UN-backed Government of National Unity (in Western Libya) is supported by and working together with radical Islamic forces that severely threaten the Freedom of Religion and Belief of all Christians, both Libyan and expatriate. The Egyptian nationals arrested in Eastern Libya were in all probability simply in possession of Christian materials intended for personal use. The Eastern part of the country is controlled by the Government of National Stability, which is linked to strongman Khalifa Haftar.”

Michael Bosch continues: “Both reports confirm the severe limitations on religious freedom throughout the country, both in the East and the West. Whereas both parts are politically divided, they are united in suppressing Freedom of Religion and Belief. Foreign Christians must behave very carefully and cannot even safely have a personal copy of the Bible with them. For Libyan converts from Islam to Christianity there is no place at all in Libyan society.”