True Story, a Christian family makes a dash from prison to the border.
 |
| Makset Djabbarbergenov in his prison cell,
where blankets draped from the bunks
provided a measure of privacy (photo courtesy
of Makset Djabbarbergenov). |
For 90 days last fall,
Makset Djabbarbergenov lived in a Kazakh prison cell, under threat of
deportation to his native Uzbekistan to face almost-certain years of
harsh jail time.
His alleged crime:
Leading small Christian communities in house churches without
official registration. By 2007, this had made “Pastor Makset” a
wanted criminal, and he fled across the border into Kazakhstan to
escape arrest.
By 2009, he and his
family had won refugee status there from the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees, or UNHCR. So far, Kazakhstan has refused
to recognize the family’s refugee status.
Last year, Uzbekistan
bumped up the convert pastor’s “criminal accusations” to
charges of terrorism, and demanded the Kazakh government send him
back home to face trial and a potential 15-year prison sentence.
His pregnant wife, Aygul,
and their four young sons were left watching wide-eyed as the Kazakh
police arrested him in their Almaty home at noon on Sept. 5. It would
be three months before they saw each other again.
In late December, a few
weeks after they had flown to safety and a new life in Europe, they
told the story of their family’s faith ordeal in a series of
interviews with World Watch Monitor. Their location is being withheld
to preserve their security.
--Read the full story
of Makset's family's daring
escape at
www.WorldWatchMonitor.org
I invite you to Join
me on Facebook.
– Bill
Hunt, World Afire
Copyright
2013 World Watch Monitor
World
Watch Monitor is distributed to raise awareness of Christians
worldwide who are persecuted for their faith. Articles may be
reprinted, with attribution, by active subscribers only. For
subscription information, contact: info@worldwatchmonitor.org
.
Dare
to Pray for this Whole World by
turning
to www.OpenDoorsUSA.org .
No comments:
Post a Comment