(The Guardian) Six Libyans are facing the death penalty for converting to Christianity and proselytizing under laws increasingly being used to silence civil society and human rights organizations, say activists.
The women and men – some from Libya’s minority ethnic groups, including the Amazigh, or Berbers, in the west of the country – were separately detained in March by security forces. A US citizen was arrested by Libya’s Internal Security Agency (ISA) last month, but was released and is understood to have left the country.
The six Libyans have been charged under article 207 of the penal code, which punishes any attempt to circulate views that aim to “alter fundamental constitutional principles, or the fundamental structures of the social order”, or overthrow the state, and anyone who possess books, leaflets, drawings, slogans “or any other items” that promote their cause.
The ISA said in a statement that the arrests were to “stop an organized gang action aiming to solicit and to make people leave Islam”. A lawyer for one of the detainees said their families discovered they had been arrested when videos of their confessions were posted online by the ISA.
One of the videos showed Seyfao Madi, an engineer and father of one child, confessing that he converted to Christianity in 2017 and had tried to convert others. His face unclear in the video, Madi said: “I was born in 1977 and I was arrested by the Internal Security Unit for converting to Christianity. I joined a group of Libyans and foreigners inside Libya calling and circulating for Christianity.
“In 2016 my friend introduced me to other friends, among them a Christian from the US. We talked and discussed … then I converted the next year and he baptized me.”
A lawyer, who asked to remain anonymous for safety reasons, said he renounced his Christian faith under torture.
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This article was written and published at The Guardian
