In China, the government has started to crack down on Jehovah’s witnesses. Officially, China is a country with religious freedom; however, they have many laws put in place that restrict certain religious activities. Recently, Chinese police officers arrested and deported two Spanish missionaries who were practicing Jehovah’s witnesses. China is becoming a place for continuing persecution against certain religious groups. To combat this, some religious people in China are taking extra precautions included installing new security systems and steel doors in their meeting places.
In today’s day and age, we don’t or at least I don’t think about religious persecution as an ongoing issue in the developed world, but clearly it is. It is hard to believe that two world superpowers, China and Russia, still persecute against people based on their religion. I am honestly surprised that we don’t hear more about them persecuting religious groups. I think that this goes to show just how strong the government’s hold is over the media in these countries and what news if any comes out of them. Most of the reporting must be being reported by NGO’s within these countries that the government has trouble restricting.
Two Saudi sisters fled to Hong Kong to escape an abuse family. After they arrived in Hong Kong they hoped to seek refuge in Australia. However, when they got to the airport they intercepted by two unidentified men who told them to fly back to Saudi Arabia and had their flights to Australia cancelled. One of the men has been identified as Saudi Arabia’s consul general in Hong Kong. They now fear that they will be forced to either return to Saudi Arabia or go to Saudi consulate in Hong Kong, as their passports have been invalidated and they cannot travel internationally. If they are forced to go to Saudi Arabia or the consul general in Hong Kong, they fear for their lives because they both renounced Islam.
This story reminds me of the women who fled Saudi Arabia and sought refuge in Canada. It will be interesting to see what ends up happening with these girls because whatever does end up happening could have a global impact similar to the impact caused by the murder of Jamal Khashoggi. As an ally of Saudi Arabia, the United States cannot be happy about this. I think this makes the United States government look even worse especially since after the death of Jamal Khashoggi they did relatively nothing. If I were the United States, I think I would try to impose some sort of sanctions of Saudi Arabia as if to say you cannot act like this. However, I would try to keep a strong alliance with the Saudis as they are a crucial ally of the United States in the middle east.