Archbishop Sarah has met with Layan Nasir, the 26-year-old Palestinian Anglican woman who has spent three periods in Israeli administrative detention and prison over the last five years.
Layan, who is a member of St Peter’s Anglican Church in Birzeit, Palestine, was released from Israel’s Damon Prison in May this year. Layan’s parents, Lula and Sami, welcomed the Archbishop to their home during her visit to Birzeit on 21st June.
During their conversation, Layan told the Archbishop about her experience and its impact on her. Archbishop Sarah listened to her account and prayed for her and her family. She also assured Layan of the prayers of many in the Church of England.
Layan’s case has been the subject of significant advocacy and prayer from global Christian organisations, including from around the Anglican Communion, due to her being the only Palestinian Christian woman held in Israeli detention during much of the last five years.
Following a service at St Peter’s Church this morning, the Archbishop also spoke with the parents of Natalie Abuddayeh, a Lutheran Palestinian Christian from Beit Jala, who was arrested from her student apartment in Birzeit earlier this month and placed into Israeli administrative detention.
The Archbishop is currently on a pilgrimage through Palestine and Israel with Archbishop Hosam Naoum, the Anglican Archbishop in Jerusalem. Archbishop Sarah is making the pastoral visit to express prayerful solidarity with the Episcopal (Anglican) Diocese of Jerusalem and the wider Palestinian Christian community.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Revd Sarah Mullally, said: “It was a great joy to meet with Layan Nasir in Birzeit today after her release from Israeli prison. I’m grateful to Layan’s family for their hospitality in their home. I will pray for them, and for God’s blessing and healing for Layan after the terrible ordeal of her incarceration. I pray for the release of all people who have been unjustly imprisoned, here in Palestine and Israel and around the world.”
