In Chains: Christian Persecution - 2019, Issue 1

‘kaYira’ [inYidel].”
They said she must divorce her husband and
return to her Sudanese family in Saudi
Arabia in order to save her life. It was then
that they further threatened to kill her
husband and daughter, now 11, if she
refused.
After she told them she would rather die
than return to Islam, one of the kidnappers
brought a copy of the Koran and began
reciting verses that call for the killing of
those who leave Islam. Between verses they
shouted, “Allahu Akbar,” the jihadist slogan,
“God is greater,” she said.
The extremists then untied her, forced her to
lie on the Yloor and ripped her clothes. In
spite of her pleas to stop, they raped her in
turns, she said.
“This is lesson number one,” one of the men
told her.
After leaving the room brieYly, they returned
and began spitting on her as they insulted
her with obscenities, describing her as
“adulterous” for being the wife of a pastor,
she said. One of the men was taking photos
and video.
Four other men entered the room, two
Sudanese and two Egyptians. By now her
eyes were no longer covered. The Egyptians,
she said, were called Abu Mahmoud and Abu
Ali.
“This time I saw them clearly,” she said.
One of the new arrivals ordered her to
repeat the shahada, the Islamic profession of
faith, after him. When she refused, he had
one of the others shove her onto the chair
and tie her hands and legs again; her chest
and back were in great pain, she said.
Placing a cup of water and a piece of bread
on the Yloor, they tried to force her to take
them, but she refused.
After leaving the room for a while, they
returned and covered her eyes as they
discussed whether to keep her on the chair.
They then forced her to kneel at length,
paining her legs, and one of the men sat on
the chair and began smoking a cigarette.
The man burned her back with the cigarette
26 times trying to force her to say the
shahada, she said. They laughed with each
cigarette burn, she said; the room was full of
smoke.
They tied her to the chair again. Refusing
their ultimatum again, she was slapped on
her face and kicked several times, she said,
as they continued ordering her to renounce
Christ and save her life.
“Baya [a nickname for Ebtehaj], say the
shahada and confess that Muhammad is the
prophet of God,” they told her.
Mostafa collapsed to her left. They left her in
the dark room. When they returned, they
turned on the light and asked if she wanted
to say something.
“You are tired, did you change your mind?
Are you sure you want to keep with Jesus?”
they asked her in turns.
They again tried to force her to say the
Muslim profession of faith, and when she
again refused, they asked her why she
worships three gods: Mary, Jesus and God.
“This is not true, I believe in God the Father,
God the Son and God the Holy Spirit – one
God,” she told them.
Before leaving the room, they told her that
this was her last chance to return to her old
religion before they are allowed to kill her.