No Ordinary Hero

Said Musa


The following was brought to my attention by Father Tim Moyle, in an article he linked to and commented on this morning here.

Said Musa is a Christian in Afghanistan, though he was raised a Muslim.  That is a crime there, punishable by death.  So, he waits in a detention center for the inevitable.  Oh, and by the way Canadian, British and American troops over there are fighting to defend the government and people, including those who would kill this man.


Mr. Musa is an amputee, the father of 6 and husband of one woman,and a firm believer in the love and atoning mercy of Jesus Christ.


Here is how his original arrest came about as reported at Compass Direct News last November 16, from Istanbul:

Authorities arrested Said Musa, 45, on May 31, days after the local Noorin TV station broadcast images of Afghan Christians being baptized and worshiping. Though there were other arrests in May and June during the ensuing man-hunt against Christians, Musa is the only known Christian facing a court case.

The deputy secretary of the parliament had this to say about converts to Christianity:

The subject of Afghans leaving Islam for Christianity became national news following the Noorin TV broadcast and ignited a heated debate in the country’s parliament and senate. In early June, the deputy secretary of the Afghan parliament, Abdul Sattar Khawasi, called for the execution of converts.

“Those Afghans that appeared on this video film should be executed in public,” he said, according to news sources. “The house should order the attorney general and the NDS [National Directorate of Security] to arrest these Afghans and execute them.”

Here is a hand written letter from Mr. Musa reported yesterday in the National Catholic Register, though the letter was written last Fall, and was first published on November 16, complete with grammatical and language challenges:

“To the international church of world and to the President Brother Barak Obama President of the United States and to the head of ISAF [International Security Assistance Force] in Afghanistan!


“My name is Said Musa 45 years old. I have been working since 15 years as a Physiotherapist in I-C-R-C [International Committee of the Red Cross] orthopaedic centre in Kabul, Afghanistan. About four and a half months before by security force of Afghanistan I [was] captured, due to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, Saviour of the world.


...Since that time I am in jail. The authority and prisoners in jail did many bad behaviour with me about my faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. For example, they did sexual things with me, beat me by wood, by hands, by legs, put some things on my head, mocked me ‘He’s Jesus Christ’, spat on me, nobody let me for sleep night and day. Every person spat on me and beat me. Also the prosecutor wrote something wrong against me. He told from himself something wrong against me on my file.


“He is stimulating every day the prisoners against me, ‘He is also in jail due to spy for Iran country’, to reveal the church in Kabul. I’m in a very and very bad condition in the jail.


“I agree with long imprisonment about my faith even for long life. Because I’m the sinnest person in the world. Because sometimes they treated for died I refuse my faith due to died. Sometimes I tolerate the persecution but immediately I acknowledge my sin before Lord Jesus Christ: ‘Don’t refuse me before your holy angels and before your Father.’ Because I am very very weak and sinful man…


I am alone between 400 handlers of terrible values in the jail like a sheep. Please, please, for the sake of Lord Jesus Christ help me. Please send a person who should supervise my document and my file, what I said in it. My prosecutor has told something wrong to the judge because he asked [for] money but I refused his request. Please, please you should transfer me from this jail to a jail that supervises the believers. I also agree with died on cross of my pride. I also agree with the sacrifice [of] my life in public, I will tell the faith in Lord Jesus Christ son of God and other believers will take courage and be strong in their faith. Hundred percent I am stable to my word. I have family of seven - one wife, three daughters and three sons. My big son [is] about eight years old. One of my daughters can’t speak, she has some mental problems.


“This is a request from me to all over the world, people please help me. I could not have any person to help. For [the] sake [of] Lord Jesus Christ please pray and immediately help me and rescue me from this jail. Otherwise, they will kill me, because I know they’re very very very cruel and hard hearted!


“Your destitute brother in the world.


“Please my English writing is not enough good. If I did some mistake please forgive me! From Kabul Provincial jail.”

Barnabas Aid took up Mr. Musa's case back in the Fall, and published an article on November 16 to that effect.  The penultimate conclusion is important:

Dr Patrick Sookhdeo, International Director of Barnabas Aid, said:

The West can no longer turn a blind eye while the Afghan regime that it fought to put in place imprisons and tortures ordinary Christians and is calling for them to be killed simply because of their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

However, the final conclusion is most important:

Please Pray:

That the Afghan government will come under increasing international pressure to release Said and uphold the right to religious freedom throughout the country.

That the Lord will strengthen and uphold Said who, despite his ordeal, is determined to proclaim his faith in Jesus.

The Barnabas Fund article from February 7 had this to say here:

Hundreds of British (Canadian also) and US troops have lost their lives fighting a violent insurgency by the Taliban, whose hard-line Islamic regime was ousted in 2001. But despite these ongoing and costly efforts to support the new government and constitution, Afghan citizens - especially converts to Christianity - are being denied the fundamental right to choose their own faith. The constitution upholds international standards of human rights in theory, but in practice the government's policy towards converts appears no different from that of the Taliban.

Persecution of Christians, Catholic or Protestant, takes many forms.  This is the most overt form, though the criticism that fundamentalist Christians level against Catholics and their faith is little different, just not as violent. 

It has the same root cause, ignorance, and the determination to be right at the expense of others freedoms and beliefs.