Compass Direct News

A Vietnamese man violently forced to recant his fledgling Christian faith faces pressure from authorities and clansmen to prove his return to traditional Hmong belief by sacrificing to ancestors next month.

Sung Cua Po, who embraced Christianity in November, received some 70 blows to his head and back after local officials in northwest Vietnam's Dien Bien Province arrested him on Dec. 1, 2009, according to documents obtained by Compass. His wife, Hang thi Va, was also beaten. They live in Ho Co village.

For the second time in 10 days, Protestant history was made in Vietnam Sunday when 12,000 people gathered for a Christmas rally in Hanoi.

The event, which took place in the large square in front of the entrance to My Dinh National Stadium in the heart of Hanoi, was said to be 10 times larger than any prior Protestant gathering in history in northern Vietnam. On Dec. 11 in southern Vietnam, an estimated 40,000 people attended a Christmas celebration in Ho Chi Minh City (see "Unprecedented Christmas Gathering Held in Vietnam").

On Friday evening, history was made in communist Vietnam.

Christian sources reported that some 40,000 people gathered in a hastily constructed venue in Ho Chi Minh City to worship God, celebrate Christmas and hear a gospel message— an event of unprecedented magnitude in Vietnam.

Chinese authorities have quietly sentenced Uyghur Christian Alimjan Yimit (Alimujiang Yimiti in Chinese) to 15 years in prison on the apparently contrived charge of "providing state secrets to overseas organizations," according to China Aid Association (CAA).

The charge against the 36-year-old house church leader, held for more than two years at Kashgar Detention Center in China's troubled Xinjiang region, was apparently based on interviews he granted to media outside of China, according to his lawyer, Li Dunyong.

(In this image released by China Aid Association, Alimujiang Yimiti is shown with his wife, Gulinuer, and one of the couple's two sons.)

Bypassing the court system, China arbitrarily sentenced five more leaders of the Fushan Church in Linfen City, Shanxi Province, on Monday, this time to re-education labor camps for two years, according to China Aid Association (CAA).

A Chinese court last week sentenced five house church leaders to three to seven years in prison after they were arrested en route to Beijing to file a complaint about an attack on their church, according to the advocacy organization. The five leaders sentenced to labor camps this week were accused of "gathering people to disturb the public order" after they organized a prayer rally of 1,000 people the day after military police and others attacked their church members and building on Sept. 13.

Pastors Yang Rongli (left) and Wang Xiaoguang, shown In this image released by China Aid Association, were among 10 house church leaders sentenced to prison or hard labor in recent weeks.  

A Uyghur Christian in China's troubled Xinjiang region was released earlier this month after serving two years in a labor camp for alleged "illegal proselytizing" and "leaking state secrets," according to Compass Direct News sources.

House church leader Osman Imin (Wusiman Yaming in Chinese) was freed Nov. 18, sources said. Authorities had called for a 10- to 15-year prison sentence for Osman but significantly reduced the term following international media attention.

(Photo: China Aid Association)

Following a mob attack on a church in northeastern China and the demolition of their worship site last month, the government put officials on alert to use military force against churches to quell potential "unrest," according to a leading advocacy group.

Citing reliable government sources, China Aid Association (CAA) reported that the central government on Sept. 26-27 ordered officials in "all relevant government agencies" to prepare to use military force against Christians who might react to the attack on a Fushan Church branch congregation in Linfen city, Shanxi Province.

(Photo: More than 100 people were hurt when 400 police officers demolished this church site in Linfen city Sept. 13. Image courtesy of China Aid Association.)

Amid a violent crackdown on protestors and a purge of opponents within the Iranian government, more than 30 Christians were arrested in the last two weeks near Tehran and in the northern city of Rasht.

Two waves of arrests near Tehran happened within days of each other, and while most of those detained—all converts from Islam—were held just a day for questioning, a total of eight Christians still remain in prison.

Local authorities in Vietnam have balked at registering house churches, contributing to a recent uptick in sometimes violent harassment of congregations.

Four police officers and two government officials broke up the Sunday morning worship service of a house church in Tran Phu Commune in Hanoi on July 26, announcing that it was illegal to worship and teach religion. The police chief of Tran Phu Commune in greater Hanoi, Dang Dinh Toi, had ordered the raid.

A member of Iran's Parliament reportedly revealed last week that the country's Parliamentary Committee has stricken the mandatory death penalty for those who leave Islam from proposals for an amended penal code.

(Photo: Underground Christians in Iran)

Citing a BBC Persian news service report on Tuesday, United Kingdom-based Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) announced on Friday that a member of Iran's Legal and Judicial Committee of Parliament, Ali Shahrokhi, had told the Iranian state news agency (IRNA) of the decision to eliminate the mandatory death penalty amendment, which had drawn international protests.