The Sealed

On Dec. 17, security police and undercover officers attacked a Christmas gathering of more than 70 newly converted Christians in the city of Karaj, Iran, according to Farsi Christian News. Officers photographed and videotaped the believers and also confiscated Bibles, Christian books and a computer. Christians were told they must be available during the period leading up to formal and legal interrogations and that they must appear before...

On Dec. 17, a mob of nearly 1,000 Muslims attacked a church building under construction in Bekasi Regency, near Jakarta, the capital city of Indonesia, according to VOM Canada. At midnight, Muslims arrived on bikes and on foot at the Church of Saint Albert. They stormed into the building, carrying banners and tanks of kerosene. One witness reported hearing them shout, “Destroy! Destroy it! Replace the church with mosque!” Muslims...

On Nov. 30, Shao Wangui, the leader of a house church in Wenzhou, Zhejiang province, was arrested without a warrant and later released, according to China Aid Association. Officials and local villagers targeted Shao Wangui after he and his brother, who are co-owners of the Xinba Shoes Factory, refused to pay a fee to support the building of a Buddhist temple in their village. Wangui also asked the members of his house church to refuse to...

Pakistani Christians Sandul Bibi and her father, Gulsher Masih, were released from jail today after a court found them innocent from charges of blasphemy against the Quran. The pair had been in custody since October 2008, when a radical Muslim mob gathered outside their home after mosque loudspeakers announced rumors that Sandul had torn pages from a copy of the Quran. Police arrested Sandul and her father, and filed a case under Pakistani...