DAMMAM – The Bureau of Investigation and Prosecution (BIP) in Al-Khobar has accused two men, a Saudi and a Lebanese, of forcing a girl to convert to Christianity and abscond to Lebanon. The two men were arrested after the girl's father failed to convince his daughter to return to the Kingdom and give up her new faith. The girl insisted on her position and told her father that the church is her only abode. BIP's sources told Al-Eqtisadiya daily that authorities started looking into the case last week right after the father filed a complaint against the two men and accused them of helping his daughter illegally flee the Kingdom and embrace Christianity. The same sources said the story began when the girl, who worked in a bank, met a Saudi colleague and both started going out together on shopping trips at local malls. Later, the girl was introduced to the Lebanese man who worked in the bank as well. After meeting the girl several times in different meetings, he asked her to visit him at his home with the Saudi man. All three had met several times sporadically and in each instance, the Lebanese man tried to convince the girl to embrace Christianity. It is alleged that he gave her several religious books and encouraged her to join an online religious chat room. The father claimed that she had been influenced by the Lebanese man who instilled misconceptions about Islam in her and “shook her beliefs." It is also alleged that she began to fall in love with the Lebanese man. Denying rumors on forums and social networking sites that the girl had grown up outside the Kingdom, the sources said she had never lived outside the Kingdom for a long period. Both men were released on bail while the case will be referred to a court in Al-Khobar. The father has objected to their release. However, the charges leveled against them do not fall under major crimes which require detention. — SG
