The prison guards brutally beat Zamir and his friends, leaving them with scars and injuries that caused lasting pain. In addition, the hard floor Zamir slept on aggravated an old back injury.
Authorities offered Zamir an early release if he could pay bail, but he had no family support and could not come up with the funds on his own. Eventually, however, he received hope in the most unexpected way — through the ongoing torture.
As the guards continued to beat him regularly, Zamir’s wounds required medical care. And authorities allowed doctors and nurses connected with a local church to provide care to inmates under watch of the guards, who made sure their own abusive treatment was never revealed.
During one of these visits, a nurse named Eva treated Zamir’s back pain. Although Eva was from Europe, she spoke fluent Arabic as a result of living in Yemen for several years.
While working with Zamir, Eva cautiously asked questions about his health. She also asked for his family’s address, explaining that she wanted to persuade them to provide Zamir’s bail.
A month later, when Eva brought Zamir a brace for his back, she told him that his siblings still wanted nothing to do with him. “Don’t worry,” Eva reassured him. “I will try to help you.”
One morning, the prison warden called Zamir to his office. When he walked into the room, Zamir was surprised to find Eva waiting for him ... and even more surprised to learn that his bail had been paid. He was suddenly free.
Eva introduced Zamir to the pastor of her church, and after Zamir shared his story with him the pastor offered him help. “You can stay here,” the pastor said. “We have a clinic with a pharmacy here; you can help in the pharmacy.”
As they worked in the pharmacy together, Zamir and Eva discussed faith and the differences between the Bible and the Quran. When Zamir admitted that he had never read the Bible, Eva gave him one.
“I was excited to get the Bible because it is illegal in Yemen,” Zamir said.
Eventually, Zamir came to faith in Christ. He started attending church regularly, despite the risk. In Yemen, leaving Islam for another religion is considered apostasy, which is punishable by death.
When Zamir learned that Eva’s visa had been revoked and the government had expelled her and other foreigners from the country, he assumed the authorities had been watching him. Believing he would be pursued for becoming a Christian, Zamir fled to Aden and eventually to a different country. In the new country, Zamir met some believers who worked for a Christian radio ministry. After telling Zamir about their plans to start a Yemeni radio station using the Yemeni dialect, they offered Zamir a job on the spot.
He took the job and began hosting a radio show in which he reads Scripture and takes questions about the Bible. The radio broadcasts make God’s Word more accessible inside Yemen and help believers like Zamir who have fled Yemen and now live in nearby countries.
Read the full story, along with others focused on persecuted Christians in the Middle East, in the August 2023 issue of The Voice of the Martyrs magazine.