Request succeeds

Friday, March 11, 2011

In a letter dated 9 February 2011 to Mr. Lawrence Cannon, Minister for Foreign Affairs, the Most Reverend Brendan M. O’Brien, Archbishop of Kingston and Chair of the Human Rights Committee of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, had asked that the Government of Canada intervene with the Government of Afghanistan for mercy and clemency for Mr. Musa Sayed. A citizen of Afghanistan and a married man with six young children, Mr. Sayed had been recently sentenced to death on charges of apostasy after having become a Christian.

According to reliable reports, the request by the Bishops of Canada as well as similar efforts by other faith communities and social groups have succeeded. Mr. Sayed is reported to have been quietly released from prison and to be no longer living in Afghanistan. Mr. Sayed had worked some 15 years for the International Committee of the Red Cross.