Baptist church trying to save Afghan Christian asylum seeker from deportation

By Michael Gryboski - Posted at The Christian Post:

A Baptist congregation in Tennessee is seeking to help an Afghan Christian asylum seeker avoid being sent back to Afghanistan, where she could face persecution for her religious beliefs.

Second Baptist Church of Memphis has been supporting a 21-year-old asylum seeker named Sakina, who arrived in the United States last August with most of her family.

Sakina is being held at the El Valle Detention Facility in Raymondville, Texas, and faces two hearings related to her case, including a hearing on an appeal of her deportation order.

Second Baptist Church Senior Pastor Stephen H. Cook told The Christian Post in an email that Sakina and her family would face credible danger if returned to Afghanistan, which the Taliban terrorist group has overrun since the U.S. withdrew troops from the country that sits at the crossroads of the Middle East and Asia.

“They are part of a persecuted ethnic minority group (Hazara) in their homeland,” Cook said. “Likewise, one of Sakina’s brothers converted to Christianity while in Afghanistan and was arrested and tortured by the Taliban.”

“The entire family, though not all of them are Christian, has been labeled ‘apostate’ by the regime and are subject to arrest and execution there.”

Continue here...