Pope alerts world to hostages being held, mistreated in Sinai desert
December 06, 2010
Pope Benedict XVI has called international attention to the brutal treatment of hostages being held in the Sinai desert.
At his Angelus audience on Sunday, December 5, the Pope asked for prayers for the many people facing intolerable suffering, including Christians in Iraq and Egypt. He then turned his attention specifically to “the tragedy of the hostages—Eritreans and of other nationalities—in the Sinai desert.”
Several hundred people—refugees from Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Sudan—are being held captive by kidnappers in the Sinai desert, near the Egypt-Israeli border. Human-rights activists report that the captives are being tortured, threatened, and in some cases killed by their captors, who are holding them for ransom.
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Further information:
- Pope urges peace for Iraq, Egypt, release of Sinai hostages (Vatican Radio)
- World ignores horror of Sinai hostage (Vatican Radio)
- - Prayer in Situations of Violence, Intolerance, and Suffering (VIS)
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